John slowed to a walk as he passed the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. After leaving the Carousel Boutique he had asked for directions to the farm, then took off at a fast jog in the direction he was pointed. It felt good to run after so long stuck in the hospital bed. He probably could've gone faster if he wanted, but, with his arm in a sling and a duffel bag on his back, running was a bit awkward. Regardless, he made the trip in about ten minutes.

Unfortunately, John had no clue where to go from there, so he decided to stop by the farmhouse to ask for directions. As he approached the farmhouse, he spotted a red stallion, who he assumed was Big Mac, pulling a cart out of the barn next to the house, so he altered his course to intercept the pony.

"Excuse me, do you think you could point me in the direction of-"

"Eeyup" Big Mac pointed his hoof out toward one of the fields.

John raised an eyebrow. "Um... Thanks." He began walking in the direction the pony pointed. "That was weird..."

He had never seen so many apple trees in his entire life. John had been walking for about five minutes through nothing but rows upon rows of apple trees. He was starting to think that Big Mac had pointed him in the wrong direction, but then he heard the sound of ponies arguing and veered toward the noise.

"What the buck do you mean, 'Not Authorized'!?"

"I meant precisely what I said. This is a restricted area, and you and your platoon aren't authorized to enter."

As John got closer, he could see that there was a rather red-in-the-face construction pony arguing with a royal guard. He also saw a group of bored looking ponies, dressed in construction attire, sitting under an apple tree, and also a ring of guards surrounding what looked like the crash site. He couldn't quite make out the crash through all the trees, but he knew it was close.

"What the hay! I was sent, by Celestia herself, to remove this, thing, and take it to Buckland Air Base."

"Well, I am under orders, from Celestia herself, to keep this area under lockdown. Only she, or somepony called John, whoever the buck that is, can lift it. Until then, nopony is allowed in."

By now, the workers had noticed John approaching, and they began to whisper to each other and point hooves at him. He paid them no mind and went straight to the two arguing earth ponies.

John cleared his throat and walked up to the construction pony. "I assume you're with the Engineer Corps?"

The pony looked over him for a moment, a rather sour look on his face. "Yeah, and who are you?"

John ignored the question and turned to the guard. "And you're here to guard the crash site?"

The guard nodded. "Yes, and I'm going to have to ask both of you to leave. This is a restricted area."

John rolled his eyes, having heard the argument. "Not anymore. Name's Lieutenant John Killinger. This is my crash site, and these ponies," He gestured at the engineers, "are with me."

The guard looked surprised, and snapped off a salute.. "Y-yes sir, sorry sir. I'm Sergeant Ironhoof. Me and my guards will remain here until you no longer require us, or the wreck is removed. We currently have a perimeter set up around the crash with a radius of one hundred meters and guards are stationed at thirty meter intervals."

John was intrigued by the name and the fact that the ponies used the same units of measurements as humans, and when he checked, the sergeant had what looked like an iron gauntlet encasing the lower half of his right foreleg. He was also impressed with the security that the sergeant had in place. He quickly did the math and figured that there were around twenty guards present. "Outstanding. With any luck, we'll be able to get this thing out of here within the next couple of days. Now, does Ponyville have a Fire Department?"

"Yes sir, it does. It's volunteer based, though, and not very big."

"Alright, I want you to send someone notify them of the situation here and, if they can spare it, have them send something out here in case we need it. Also, I want a few doctors on hand, just in case. After you've sent someone, come join me with the others." He pointed at the tree with all the engineers under it. "Oh, and I'm expecting a visit from a few ponies: corporals Lightning Flash and Star Streak, and civilians Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. Also, if Applejack comes by, she's allowed in as well. I want everyone else kept out for now."

"Y-yes, sir!" Ironhoof looked a little shaken at the mention of possibly needing the fire department, but he kept his concerns to himself as he cantered over to a nearby pegasus guard.

John began walking toward the group of engineers.

"Well, lieutenant, it was nice of you to drop by. You're late, by the way."

"Sorry about that. Had some things I needed to take care of in town, and I got a little lost."

The pony chuckled. "It's fine. We were gonna start without you, but Iron-head over there wouldn't let us." John chuckled at the joke. "After hearing that we might need the fire brigade, I'm kinda glad he stopped us." They arrived at the tree and all the engineers, about ten in total, looked quizzically at John. "Anyways, I'm Ratchet, and these are my ponies. We've got ranks, if you want them, but we never use them."

"As long as they all pay attention and can follow my orders to the letter, I don't really care about rank. Now, do you have anyone that specializes in electronics?"

Ratchet thought for a moment. "Yeah, I do. Sparks! Front and center!" The pony in question, a yellow unicorn mare with an electric blue mane, stepped forward.

"Yeah, boss?"

John dropped his duffel bag, unzipped it, and pulled out the radio "I have a special job for you." He tossed the radio to the mare, who caught it with magic. "I want you to try to duplicate this. It's called a radio, and it's used for long-distance communication. Try to be careful with it, I only have three of them." The pony nodded and examined the device. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Take all the time you need."

John heard the sound of hooves behind him and turned around to see Ironhoof, followed by Lightning, Star, Rainbow, Twilight, and Applejack.

"Hey guys, glad you could make it. Didn't think you'd be here this early though."

Lightning shrugged. The LT didn't have anything for us, so we got something to eat, found Miss Dash and Miss Sparkle, and came over. We picked up Miss Applejack when we passed the farmhouse."

"Well, you're just in time for the safety brief." John looked at Ironhoof. "What's the word?"

"I sent out a messenger, and he should be back in a few minutes."

"Ok, good." John motioned for the five ponies to stand with the others. "Now, I want you all to pay attention to every word I say with no interruptions." Every pony nodded. "The crash site is currently very dangerous, and I don't want anyone to get hurt. In the event that something does happen, I have requested the presence of medical and, if they can spare it, fire fighting personnel." Applejack raised her hoof. "Yes, Applejack?"

"Ah can understand th paramedics, but why would y'all need fireponies?"

"My aircraft is powered by something called fuel, which is a highly flammable liquid, and it is stored in large tanks on and in the aircraft."

"Oh, so it's like the oil we use in lanterns, right?"

"Yes, except more flammable. During the crash, those tanks probably ruptured, spilling the fuel onto the ground. If that fuel were to catch fire, then it would set fire to the aircraft, the orchard, and it would also cook off any ordinance after a given amount of time. If any ordinance goes off, depending on the size and type, it would destroy the aircraft, a good portion of this field, and could very well kill everyone here." All the ponies looked nervous. "That brings me to my next point. All of the aircraft's ordinance is a different color than the plane itself. If you see anything, that doesn't look natural, that is green or white in color, and is not attached to the plane, you are to notify me immediately and, under no circumstances, is anyone allowed to touch said object until I deem it safe. I will go over proper ordinance transport procedures when the time comes." John took a moment to survey the group in front of him. "Does everyone understand?" All the ponies nodded. "Are there any questions?" One hoof raised, and John pointed at the pony.

"What exactly will we be doing?"

"Well, as soon as the doctors get here, I'll take a team to go assess the damage and determine how safe the area is. After that, we'll begin to gather up any and all loose pieces and take them to the edge of the field for transport. Once that's done, we'll move the aircraft itself. It may still me somewhat intact, so we may need to partially dismantle it in order to get it out of here. Everything will then be put on a train and shipped to Canterlot, where it will be air-lifted to some Air Base. If everything is done correctly and according to plan, no one will get hurt, and we should be out of here in a few days. Any more questions?" This time, no one raised their hoof. "Outstanding."

John heard hoofsteps behind him, and he turned to see a pegasus guard walk up to him. Apparently, he had landed in the middle of the brief and had waited until John was finished to approach.

"Sir, doctors are on their way, as well as a fire wagon. The doctors will meet you here, and I have instructed the fireponies to park their wagon at the edge of the field closest to the crash. They'll meet you here as well.

"Great. Thank you." The guard saluted, then trotted off to return to his post.

Applejack, who was followed by Twilight and Rainbow Dash, walked up to John. The trio, including Rainbow, looked extremely nervous. "Are ya sure nopony is gonna get hurt?"

John sighed. "If I do my job right, everyone will be fine, AJ... I can call you that, right?" She nodded and relaxed a little. Rainbow wasn't too convinced though.

"If everypony will be alright, then why would you need doctors and firponies?"

"They're just precautionary measures, in case, heaven forbid, something does happen. I want to be prepared in the event of a worst case scenario. There's a little phrase that I like to keep close to my heart: It's better to have, and not need, than to need, and not have." John paused for a moment. "As far as I know, there were no fires when I crashed, which was a miracle, and the engines have had plenty of time to cool down. Therefore, the only way for the fuel to ignite would be from electrical shock or carelessness. I'll make sure to turn off the batteries when I get there, which will rule out electrical shock. That only leaves carelessness, and if I see anyone being careless or clumsy, I will ask them to leave for everyone's safety. As for the ordinance... We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

While waiting for the doctors and fireponies to arrive, John talked with Ironhoof about the crash site and various emergency procedures. He had found out that he had actually crashed outside of the field, but the aircraft's forward momentum brought him into the orchard. He had also unconsciously threaded a needle, crashing in such a way that his aircraft had skidded in between two rows of trees. This gave john a bit of hope, but an equal amount of dread. The main body of his aircraft would hopefully be relatively intact, however, there was only about fifteen feet in between rows of trees. His aircraft had a wingspan of about 17.5 meters, almost sixty feet... There were going to be big things turned into small things, whether it be trees or his aircraft. Stuff would be broken.

It didn't take too long for the emergency services to arrive. When they did, John briefed them on the situation, and what was expected of them if something happened. When he finished, he checked the position of the sun and judged the time to be around noon. He walked over to the group of engineers, Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack.

They were all talking with each other and didn't notice him. "Okay!" Everyone grew silent. "I need a group of three volunteers to help me scope out the crash site." Ratchet and two other engineers stepped forward. "Alright, you're with me. Everyone else is to remain here until either we come back, or I send someone to get you." Everyone nodded and John grabbed his clipboard and started walking towards the crash site with the volunteers in tow.

It only took them a few minutes to reach the crash site. They would've been there sooner, but John had stopped every few steps to smell the air and scan his surroundings. When the wreck came into view, John felt his heart drop.

When the aircraft had gone between the rows of trees, it had stayed toward the right of the gap, so the entire right wing, engine, and tail section had been ripped off. The left side of the aircraft had fared a little better. The wing had still been sheared off, but there was a small stump jutting out from the side of the fuselage where it had been. Also, the left engine and tail section were still relatively intact. To their credit, both wings had completely smashed through the first trees in each row before being ripped off. The main body of the aircraft, however, had been bent upon impact. The front half was sitting in a rut a few feet deep, whereas the back half was jutting slightly into the air.

John motioned for the three ponies to stay put as he proceeded ahead. He could smell the faint, pungent smell of jet fuel in the air as he walked up to the cockpit. He flipped a few switches, turning off the batteries and any electrical devices. After two weeks, the batteries were probably dead, but he didn't want to take any chances.

He gestured at the ponies, and they walked up to him. "Ok, it looks pretty safe, but I want to make sure. Spread out and look for anything smoking, sparking, wobbling, tipping, turning, or doing anything you don't like." They three ponies split off into different directions while John stayed with the aircraft. He looked back down the rows of trees, past the tail of the aircraft, and examined the rut. Ruts would be a better term. Out past the edge of the field was the first one, but it ended a few feet before the start of the field and began anew a few feet inside the perimeter of the field. John figured that the aircraft had "hopped" after impact.

After deciding that the site was safe, John sent Ratchet back to retrieve everyone else. Even though the wreck looked pretty bad, Most of the pieces were still relatively intact. Hopefully, with enough elbow grease, and a ton of magic, the plane would be able to fly again. In short order, all the ponies had gathered around John by the main body of the aircraft, and were waiting for instructions.

“Alright, first order of business. I want ten ponies to go collect the wings over there,” John pointed at the two large objects near the edge of the orchard, “and take them out into the field. There will be ordinance attached to the underside, so be carful, and call me over if anything falls off, or has already fallen off. Be sure to lay the wings upside-down so that the ordinance is on top. They may be difficult to flip, so if you need help, ask for it. The rest of you are to grab any smaller pieces and take them into the field as well. Dash, Twilight, Applejack, Lightning, and Star are with me. Everyone clear on what needs to be done?” Everyone nodded. “Great, and remember, if you see any ordinance on the ground, call me immediately and don’t touch it.”

With that, Ratchet started dividing the engineers into different groups, and Twilight, AJ, Rainbow, Lightning and Star walked over to John. Twilight and her friends had seen the aircraft when they first found John, but Lightning and Star hadn’t. They were wide-eyed as they looked over the wreck.

“So, you’re telling me, that this thing can fly?” Lightning tapped the side of the fuselage, making a low ‘thunk’ sound.

“Yeah, but it’s not supposed to look like this.”He gestured at the wreck, then pulled out the clipboard and flipped to a clean sheet of paper. He roughly sketched two outline of an A-10, one from the top and one from the side. “This is what it’s supposed to look like. These are the wings, which are over there.” He pointed at the wings on the diagram, then at the bent, broken pieces of metal that the engineers were busy trying to dislodge from the trunks of a few trees. “They provide the lift so that I can get off the ground. The engines,” He pointed at the diagram, then at the two engines, one of which was still attached but the other was a crumpled mess next to a smashed tree. “make the plane go fast, as well as provide the power to keep everything running. The tail helps keep the aircraft stable.”

Twilight was, of course, intrigued. “How exactly do these ‘engines’ work?”

John spent the next few minutes explaining how the engines used fuel and air to provide thrust and power. Rainbow had gotten bored by all the technical talk, and had wandered off. Lightning and Star were staring in awe at all the switches, buttons, and knobs in the cockpit. Applejack simply stood in place and gaped at all her destroyed trees.

“Hey John!” Rainbow came running up to him. “I think I found one of those ordinance things you were talking about.”

“Show me.” Rainbow led him past the nose of the aircraft. After a few steps, she pointed her hoof at a tree. John turned to the group, who were looking at him with concern. “Alright, everyone wait here.” John walked toward the tree that Rainbow had pointed at. When he got close, he saw a 2,000 pound Mk-84 bomb, stuck in the side of the tree. On the ground, he saw several small ruts in the ground, leading back towards the crash. The Mk-84s were stored on the bottom of the main body of the aircraft, so this one must have come loose when the aircraft had hopped, sending the bomb skipping down the row. Upon closer inspection, he could see that the bomb was bent slightly, and the outer casing was cracked. There was no way that he was going to arm his aircraft with structurally unsound ordinance,

Seeing enough, John turned around and headed back toward the waiting ponies. “Lightning, does the royal guard have an explosive disposal team?”

Lightning looked confused. “Yeah, why?” John smiled.

“Twilight, can you send a letter for me?”

“Hey LT, they’re here!”

“Alright, thanks Star!” John walked out into the field where the engineers had just placed one of the wings, and were currently working on moving the second one. The fireponies’ wagon wasn’t too far away, and John noticed that it had been joined by two chariots pulled by royal guards.

As John, exited the orchard, he saw Princess Luna, followed by Princess Celestia and Shining Armor, walk towards him.

“Greetings, Lieutenant. Why hast thou requested our presence, as well as our sister and Captain Armor?”

John saluted. “Ma’am, before we began the process of removing my aircraft from the orchard, I issued a safety brief to everyone that would be near the wreck. I told everyone about the ordinance that my aircraft carries, and everyone here has standing orders to report any loose ordinance. Due to my injuries, I am currently unable to help with the removal process, so I have been telling Miss Sparkle about how my aircraft functions.” Celestia and Shining Armor didn’t look to happy about this.

“You brought my student here!?”

“Ma’am, I requested her presence because I thought she would be interested in the aircraft. Rest assured, she, as well as Miss Dash and Miss Applejack, were present at the safety brief. I also took a team and ensured that the crash site was safe, before allowing anyone to approach. Also, as you can see, I have requested the presence of firefighters and medical personnel in case of an emergency.” Celestia seemed to relax, but Shining Armor still looked rather irked.

“Anyways, while speaking with Miss Sparkle, I was informed by Miss Dash that she had found something that had matched the description I gave of any suspected ordinance. Upon closer inspection, I determined that the object in question was indeed ordinance, to be more specific, a 2,000 pound bomb. Unfortunately, the bomb’s structure has been compromised, and I am not going to risk the safety of anyone by attempting to reuse structurally unsound ordinance. In this situation, standard operating procedure is to dispose of the ordinance, and the most effective way of doing this is to detonate it.”

Applejack overheard the last few words and galloped over. “Ya want ta WHAT!? No. No no no no no NO! Y’all are NOT blowin’ up mah farm!”

John chuckled. “I’m not going to blow up the orchard. I’m going to have the ordinance removed, and detonated at a safe location.” John looked around, then pointed at a small hill about a mile away. “Do you mind if we use that hill?”

“As long as it’s not in mah farm, it’s fine by me.”

John nodded, then Shining Armor spoke up.

“So I assume that’s the reason why one of my ERD teams is here?” Shining Armor pointed a hoof at the second chariot. It looked like a large box on wheels, as opposed to the open-air chariot sitting next to it, and was painted black and had a ramp in back.

“ERD, sir?”

Shining deadpanned. “Explosive Removal and Disposal”

“Ah, then yes.”

Princess Luna looked confused. “Why are the three of us here, then?”

“I wanted the three of you to be here because the Mk-84 is the one of largest weapons that I have at my disposal. I wanted you to witness part of what I am capable of, once my aircraft is repaired. A sort of sneak peek, if you will.” John thought for a moment. “It’s probably going to take some time to get everything set up, so you’re welcome to examine the crash site if you wish. Just don’t touch anything in the small pit with the chair in it. You’ll know when you see it.”

Luna’s eyes brightened, and she nodded. “We think we will. We are quite curious about your flying machine.” She trotted into the orchard, followed by Celestia.

John looked at Shining Armor. “With your permission, sir, I would like to speak with the ERD team.”

The captain began walking towards the black wagon, and gestured at John for him to follow.

“Sergeant! Specialist! Front and Center!”

Two ponies walked out of the back of the wagon, dressed in black, full-body armor that looked like it belonged to a medieval knight but looked beefier and sturdier. They wore accompanying helmets, but the visors were raised.

“Sir!” Both ponies saluted as best they could in the bulky armor.

Shining pointed a hoof at John. “The lieutenant, here, is going to brief you on the situation.”

John took a step forward. “Before we get started, do you have the ability to detonate things remotely, and do you have any explosives in that wagon of yours?”

One of the ponies nodded. “Yes sir. We have several blocks of P4, as well as other charges, detonators, and safety equipment.”

“Excellent. Now, you’re going to be dealing with a 2,000 pound, Mk-84, General-Purpose bomb. It has been structurally compromised and needs to be disposed of, so, we’ll move it to that hill over there,” John pointed at the hill, “and detonate it up remotely. The bomb is perfectly safe, so I’ll have the engineers transport it, but I’ll need you two to rig it up and push the button after I give the all clear. Questions?”

The same pony from before shook his head. “None, sir.”

“Excellent, now grab a few blocks of that P4, a detonator, and sit tight while we move this thing.”

It had taken them the better part of an hour to move the bomb, due to the sheer mass of it. After dislodging it from the tree, it took several of the unicorn engineers to levitate the bomb out of the orchard and into the back of the chariot that the Princesses and Shining Armor had ridden over in. They had then pulled the thing across the mile of open ground and up to the top of the hill, where the ERD ponies had rigged up a few blocks of explosives along the crack in the bomb’s casing while everyone else returned to the impromptu staging area.

While waiting for the explosives experts to return, John spoke to the fireponies, who were gathered around their wagon. When the bomb was detonated, they would make their way to ground zero and put out any fires started by the explosion

When the ERD ponies had walked about halfway back, John sent the chariot to retrieve them, which only took a few minutes. Not long after they landed, everyone was gathered in the staging area, the engineers having stopped work to watch.

John glanced at the ERD pony holding the detonator. "Are we good to go?"

"Yes sir, just waiting on your signal."

"Outstanding." He turned to the rest of the ponies. "You all may want to cover your ears." He then gave a thumbs up to the pony with the detonator, who nodded to his partner.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE! FIRE IN THE HOLE! FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

*beep*

There was a small flash at the top of the hill...

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMmmmmm!!!!!!!

The fireponies boarded their wagon and proceeded to where the hill was..... or used to be.

Every pony that was present now had to pick their jaw up off the ground. As the dust cloud rose and began to dissipate, Rainbow Dash broke the silence.

"That. Was. AWESOME!!!!!"

John laughed. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. Heh, you all should see your faces."

Shining Armor stared at John, mouth agape. "And you can drop those!? From your plane!? While flying!?"

"Yes sir. I am able to deploy bombs of that size and caliber from as high as 45,000 feet above sea level, and can place said bomb with extreme precision and accuracy."

The captain sat down, a dumbfounded look on his face. Twilight, however looked unconvinced. "At that altitude, you can't possibly be that accurate."

John chuckled. "Twilight, from that altitude, I can drop the bomb, guide it down the chimney of Princess Celestia's bed chamber, and leave before the bomb even hit. By the time you figured out what happened, I would already be miles away." Twilight mirrored her brother's expression.

Of course, John knew that performing such a feat with a Mk-84 would be almost impossible, since they weren't guided. The JDAMs in the castle basement, however, were another story.

"Alright, everyone, that's enough gawking, let's get back to work!"

Author's Note

Had some fun with this one. Just so you all know, John is still wearing the sling, in case you all were still wondering.

Anyways, y'all know the drill.... FEEDBACK! GIMME!