"What in the blue fuck was that?!" Sergeant Duzenbury asked over the intercom.
"I don't know. But I do know we arn't over the Pacific anymore and there's no water behind us. I have no idea." Tibbis said.
"There's a big empty field ahead that we can set her down in."
The co-pilot looked at Tibbits. Tibbits knew that this may be enemy territory and they risked death if they landed, but they had to find out where they were since none of the map's the navigator had matched the area.
~~~
The plane skidded to a halt just before it would have plowed into a fence at the edge of the field. The flight engineer shut down the engines and the crew opened the hatch and climbed out. Once the crew had assembled by the plane they drew names from a flak helmet to see who stayed with the plane.
"Jeppson, Nelson, Ferebee, and Beser stay here." TIbbits said pulling the names from the helmet.
The men checked their pistols and loaded every chamber.
"Now you four remember what we discused right? If you're attacked you are to detonate the bomb. Don't detonate it unless someone shoots at you. Got it?" Tibbits asked. The four men nodded. "Good. The rest of you follow me. I think I saw a town about a mile to the west before we landed. Maybe we can figure this shit out there." Tibbits said as he led the men towards the town.
The men trudged through thorn bush after thorn bush and began to see signs of civilization. They noticed an apple orchard off in the distance and a small cottage near an ominous looking forest. Finally the men reached the small bridge that led into town. Tibbits read the sign by the bridge.
"Ponyville. Population: 250. Who the hell names a town that?" he asked.
"At least the sign ain't in Japanese." Caron said.
The men began crossing the bridge when they heard a loud gasp. The men stood in shock as a pink horse welcomed them to town and just kept rambling on.
'I think doc gave us some bad chocolate.' Tibbits thought to himself. As suddenly as she had appeared the pink horse vanished. Tibbits and his men continued into town with their guns drawn and ready to fight in this new weird world. As Tibbits peeked around the corner of a building he could see it was a cafe and there were more of those horse things sitting and enjoing coffee or a pastry. Turning back towards his men he told them what he had seen. The men knew what the Colonel said was the truth because Tibbits was a very serious person. Tibbits peeked around again but this time someone saw him. The mare screamed and pointed Tibbits out to the other patrons. The next thing Tibbits knew him and his men were being held down by white unicorn stallions in golden armor.
~~~
Back at the plane the four men had no idea as to the happenings in town and continued to keep an eye and ear open. Ferebee stood near the nose of the plane and kept an eye on the small group of trees in front of him. Then he heard something in the trees, he could hear someone singing. Walking towards the trees Ferebee could hear the singing get louder as he walked into the group of trees. It was the most beautiful singing he had ever heard and had managed to find the area where it was coming from and as he was about to peek through the bushes to see the girl who was singing, WHAM!, a tree branch hit Ferebee in the head, knocking him out cold.
~~~
In town it wasn't going any better for the other's who were now hog tied and being held in the town's library. The unicorn stallions still stood guard over the men as five mares stood in a corner talking. From what Tibbits could see there were two unicorns, a pegusus, and a couple of normal horses or ponies or whatever the hell they were. They stood talking and glancing over at the men every so often. Finally a purplish one walked towards the men. From what Tibbits had gathered she was the leader of the group.
"Who and what are you?" she asked.
"Untie me and I'll tell you." Tibbits said.
A purple glow surrounded the ropes around Tibbits wrist's and ankle's and he felt them go lax.
"Now tell us." she ordered.
"I am Colonel Paul Tibbits, U.S. Army Air Force." Tibbits said as he stood up. "And these are members of my crew."
"Twilight you wont belive the creature I found!" came the quietly excited voice from the door.
Tibbits noticed that when she saw him she began to get more quiet and nervous till she only let out a small squee. He saw her eyes suddenly move from him to the other men who were still hog tied. She rushed over and began untieing them.
"Fluttershy what are you doing?!" the purple unicorn asked with concern.
"Twilight thats what I was here to tell you about. I found one of these creatures in the woods. Apperently Angel hit him on the head with a branch and gave him a good size bump." she said untieing the last of the men.
"You found one of my men?" Tibbits asked.
"Yes. why were there more?" the yellow pegusus asked.
"Yes but I can't tell you their position." Tibbits said remebering the bomb.
"Can you take me to see the man you found?" Tibbits asked.
"yes." the pegusus replied in a near inaudable tone. She led him out the door towards her home.
~~~
"So what's your name?" Tibbits asked hoping to ease the pony's uneasy felling about him.
"Fluttershy." she said.
"Well thank you for taking care of one of my men for me Fluttershy." Tibbits said looking down at the pegusus walking along side him. As they rounded a bend Tibbits could see the cottage that they had seen on the way towards town. As they neared he could also see animals looking out the windows at Fluttershy. As they entered he saw almost every kind of animal. He saw cats, birds, a rabbit, and they just went on and on. Then he saw Ferebee sitting on the couch.
"Come on Ferebee lets go!" Tibbits ordered. Ferebee stood up and walked towards the door with Tibbits and Fluttershy. As they walked towards the library Ferebee began to tell Tibbits what happened. He explained how he had heard her singing and went to investigate and got hit on the head by a fairly good size branch and how he had woken up on Fluttershy's couch all bandaged up and figured that they must have travled to some diffrent world. When they arrived at the library they saw a large chariot infront of the library. As they walked in Tibbits saw there were more guards and there were two mares there that must've arrived since they left. He saw one was a deep, dark shade of blue with a mane that matched her coat and managed to wave even with no wind. Then he looked at the one next to her. She was taller then the other and was white with a pink, green, and blue mane that, like the other mare's, managed to wave without a breeze.
"Mister Tibbits, this is Princess' Celestia and Luna. They are the rulers of our country." Twilight said as Tibbits stepped forward.
"Colonel Paul Tibbits?" Celestia asked looking at him.
"Yes, ma'am?" Tibbits said stepping infront of her.
"You have alot of explaning to do for us. First off, how did you get here?" Celestia asked looking the Colonel dead in the eye.
"To be honest ma'am, I don't know. We were flying along and suddenly we appered here." Tibbits said.
"That's impossiable! You don't even have wing's!" Luna said after hearing this.
"We do of sort's." one of the men said. Tibbits turned his head and shot the group a look of anger for that comment.
"What does the man mean Colonel?" Celestia asked. Standing up, Tibbits motioned towards the door. He knew it would be easier to just show them.
~~~
"Hold your fire!" Tibbits yelled as he neared where the plane was. The ponies behind him didn't seem to have as much trouble moving through the brush. When they entered the field the ponies jaw's dropped. The three men left guarding the plane were breifed on the situation from Tibbits and seemed calm about being stranded on an alien planet with abunch of technicolored ponies. The ponies aproched the airplane and began looking it over. Tibbits just hoped they wouldn't want to look inside.
"May we see inside?" Celestia asked. Tibbits had hoped they wouldn't ask but he knew they would eventually. "Of corse but I will need to have some of my men secure some things before hand for safety." Tibbits said keeping his cool. "Very well." Celestia said. Tibbits now had a new task for his men, he needed one man to stand guard at each end of the bombay. If the ponies opened the hatch they would have acess to the bomb. Tibbits knew that even though the bomb was unarmed, it still posed a risk. "I don't know what their magic could do to it and frankly I DON'T want to find out." Tibbits told his men in their huddle. Two men entered the plane and stood by the hatches, guns drawn. "It's good!" Tibbits announced. One by one the ponies piled in. They seemed in awe of the hundreds of intruments in the cockpit and how they could tell everything from airspeed to altitude. "What's this little screen here?" Twilight asked from the flight engineer's seat. Tibbits walked over by her chair. "That's the radar. It can tell us where other aircraft are but it also has a bad tendancy to pick up flocks of seagulls." he said looking down at the round black screen. "Why isn't it showing anything?" Twilight asked. "Because it isn't on." Tibbits said flipping a switch. The screen came to life and a couple of green blurs appeared. "What are those?" Twilight asked. "The guards outside. This can detect objects as close as fifty feet and as far away as five miles." Tibbits said looking at the screen. "Thats amazing!" she said in awe of this technology. Tibbits saw the co-pilot demonstaiting how the controls worked to a blue pegusus in the pilot's seat. "Would you like to see a demonstation of the aircraft?" Tibbits asked the pegusus. Her eyes grew wide at this question. "YESYESYESYESYES!" she said excitedly. "Colonel Tibbits, since you are taking off anyways, would you please fly your aircraft to Canterlot for study?" Celestia asked. "Of corse. But you can't stay on board the aircraft." Tibbits replied. "And why is that?" Celestia asked, now noticing Tibbits' odd behavior. "The airplane has a maximum takeoff weight. If we exceed that the plane may stall and crash, and that wouldn't end well for alot of people." Tibbits said trying to stay relaxed. "Very well. But would you be able to carry any of these ponies?" Celestia asked waving her hoof in the direction of the six mares. "Well lets see, I'd say they're about the size of a Lab and probably around the same weight so maybe three, four at the most." Tibbits told Celestia. "Fine. Twilight, you and two of your friends stay onboard. We will meet you in Canterlot." Celestia said as she climbed out of the bomber. Twilight, two of her friends, and the men were the only ones left on the bomber. Tibbits waved for everyone to clear the props and the flight engineer started the engines. Tibbits turned the bomber and lined up with the far end of the grassy field. "Full flaps, superchargers low and latched, prop pitch full!" Tibbits called to the flight engineer. "Full flaps, superchargers are low and latched, prop pitch full!" he called back to Tibbits. "Lewis, we're gunna hold the brakes and let the engines get to max rpm then we start rolling." Tibbits told his co-pilot. Lewis mearly nodded and watched the rpm gauge. "Release brakes!" Tibbits ordered and the bomber jerked violantly forward. They were rolling and they kept getting closer to the fence on the other end of the feild. "Pull her up Paul!" came the excited cry from the navigator. "No I want her going as fast as possable when we take off!" Tibbits replied. Tibbits began to pull back on the controls and the bomber clawed towards the sky. Tibbits circled the field till he reached eight thousand feet then leveled out. "All right girls, lets see what she can do!" Tibbits yelled over the engines. The mares pupils shrank as they saw the grin on Tibbits' face. Tibbits began to turn the wheel till the bomber was at ninty degress. "Damn it Paul you know I get sick when you do aerobatics!" a voice from the waist of the plane said before he threw up. "Sorry Rob. Forgot you have a weaker stomach then your wife." Tibbits said laughing. "Kiss my ass Colonel." Rob replied before throwing up again. "So where is this Canterlot place?" Tibbits asked the girls who were now between the pilot's seats. "That place up ahead with all the towers." the blue pegusus said. "Never got the rest of you guy's names." Tibbits said looking at the pegusus and the orange pony beside her. "I'm Rainbow Dash." the pegusus said extending her hoof. Tibbits took his right hand off the control and shook her hoof then extended it to the orange mare. "Ah'm Applejack." the mare said as she shook his hand. "Nice to meet you." Tibbits said as he turned back to the windows to begin desending.
Tibbits landed the plane on a length of cobblestone road that was just long and strait enough to act as a runway. When the crew and ponies climbed out Celestia and Luna were waiting for them. "Welcome Colonel. Twilight how was the flight?" Celestia asked. "It was amazing Princess. Like nothing i've ever experienced. I never knew that a machine could fly." Twilight said excitedly. "Sounds like fun. Now Colonel could you assist out scientists in their research?" Celestia asked Tibbits. "Sure. But if they break anything I'm gunna be pissed." Tibbits said with a smirk. "Good. Luna, I want you to show the Colonel the research facility. I'll handle the other guests." Celestia said turning to her sister.Luna nodded and began leading Paul towards a large hanger like building surrounded by razor wire fences. As they got closer Tibbits could see ponies in lab coats waiting for them. "Good evening. I am Test Tube, head of research for the Princess'." the head pony said extending a hoof to Tibbits. After introductions the group entered the facility. "We have some of the most advanced devices in Equestria. We also have machines and other things that appear here from diffrent worlds." Test Tube said as they walked along. Suddenly something caught Tibbits' eye. "What's under that tarp?" Tibbits asked. "Peices of metal that were found in the woods. A tangled mess. Took us weeks to get all the parts separated. And we can't read what is writen on some of them. One peice has a rather odd mark on it" Test Tube said as he pulled the tarp off the table. Tibbits looked at the peices and saw the largest peice in the center. "German's. The mark on the big peice is German." Tibbits said as he stared at the peice. Remembering the Messershmitt fighters he had seen when he flew in Europe. "What kind of mark is it then?" Test Tube asked. "A swastika. On my planet it is a sign of the devil. The man it represents slaughtered six million innocent men, women, and children and it was often done brutally and painfully. We finally defeated that bastard after we let him run amuk for years." Tibbits said with anger starting to build in his voice. Test Tube heard this and quickly covered the peices. "Why did you let him do such things?" Luna asked. "We didn't know about it till we defeated him a few months ago. If we had know we would have fought harder to try and save more people." Tibbits said, his rage now turning to sadness. "Shall we move along? Colonel why don't we open the doors and you can bring the machine in here?" Test Tube asked. "Sounds good." Tibbits said as he turned to get the bomber.
The research ponies had seen machines before but nothing like this one that Tibbits had just parked in the center of the facility. "It's far bigger then I expected." Test Tube said as he stared at the giant silver beast that sat before him. Within minutes ponies were swarming all over the plane like bee's and a hive. Suddenly a pony approched Test Tube. "Sir, my geiger counter detected large amounts of radiation in the other side of the bulkhead." he said. "Luna, get your sister and the girls down here." Tibbits wispered. A look of fear spread across Luna's face at the Colonel's worried look. Test Tube looked at Tibbits. "Colonel, what's in the airplane?" Test Tube asked as he stepped closer to Tibbits. "When the Princess' arrive I will breif all of you on it. But for now I can't tell you." Tibbits said. As he walked over to a table near the plane he saw a pony was drawing the plane. The young stallion looked up at Tibbits who was watching him draw the bomber. "Looks good kid. You're one hell of an artist." Tibbits said as he sat down across from the pony. "Thanks. My family says it's a waste of time so I draw on my brakes here." the young stallion said as he went back to shadeing the underside of the bomber. Tibbits saw Luna enter with a slightly worried Celestia and the girls. Tibbits met them infront of the bomber. "Celestia, Luna, come with me." Tibbits said as he pointed to the Princess'. As they entered the plane they saw ponies studying the bomber's controls. "Everyone out!" Tibbits ordered. The ponies piled out and the look of worry on Celestia and Luna's faces intensified. Tibbits walked over to the bulkhead and opened the hatch to the bombay. He stepped inside, followed by the Princess'. Tibbits walked over and pulled a tarp off an object hanging from the top of the bombay. It had a narrow shape and a blunt front and was about ten feet long. "What is that?" Luna asked. "An atom bomb. What's the largest city in Equestria?" Tibbits asked Celestia. "Manehatten. It has about one million ponies there." Celestia replied. "Well this device could take a city that size and turn it to ash and rubble in seconds." Tibbits said. The Princess' looks of worry turned to horror. "Who would use such a device?" Celestia asked. "My government. They hand picked me to deliver this device on an enemy city. They say it will kill hundreds of thousands but will save millions from being killed by invadeing the enemy country." Tibbits said. "We were on our way to drop it" he continued "when we arrived here. We developed this to end the war. But they say that other countries are working on their own. We don't want that so we keep the secrets of the bomb to ourselfs." Tibbits looked down and suddenly remembered something. The bomb had been armed after takeoff back on earth. The bomb was live! "We need to breif the others on this." Tibbits said, not telling the Princess' his relization.
As they approched the others their faces turned to consern upon seeing the Princess' faces. After giving a breif description about the war on earth Tibbits told them about the bomb that would end it. "The way I see it we have two options." Tibbits said. "We either disarm it and risk detonating it by accidental static discharge in this metal building or we drop and detonate it in a remote unpopulated area." "So you are sure there is no way we can use magic to disarm it?" Twilight asked. "Posative. I have no clue what magic could do to it and I don't want to find out this close to it either." Tibbits replied. "Is there a desart in Equestria?" the Colonel asked. "Yes why?" Celestia asked. "Then it's decided." Tibbits said "We'll drop the bomb in the desart and land the bomber back here."
The bomber's had been airborne for over four hours now and they still over the vast pacific.
"How much longer Colonel? If I have to look at this god damned ocean any longer I'm gunna go mad." came the voice from the headphones.
"About two more hours Bob." Colonel Tibbits called back to the tail gunner.
On the bomber's wings were two other modified B-29 Superfortress'. But these just carried camera's and research equpment, nothing like the cargo in the Enola Gay. Colonel Tibbits had been presant at the first explosian of the atom bomb at the Los Alamos back in July and saw the power of the weapon he had in his plane. He knew it could take a city the size of Hiroshima and turn it to rubble in seconds. Every now and again Captin Parsons would open the hatch to the bomb bay and check to see if the bomb was alright. After a few minutes a diffrent voice could be heard on the headphones.
"This is Great Artiste to Enola Gay. I got something on my radar at our twelve o' clock and I can't tell what it is."
"Enola Gay to Great Artitste. It can't be a nip, we're to far out."
"Well then what in the blue hell could it be?!" the pilot asked.
Colonel Tibbits didn't have an answer.
"This research flight. I've got it on my radar too and it looks like its about five miles, still at our twelve, sir."
"Is it moving?"
"No sir, it isn't."
Now Tibbits was really confused. 'Maybe the radar picked up a thunder cloud or something.' Tibbits thought to himself. Major Ferebee, the bombardier, looked out the nose of the plane.
"Hey, is it just me or does the sky ahead look a little, blurry or something?" Before anyone could answer the blur surrounded the plane.
~~~
"What do you mean the plane is gone!?" the air controller asked.
"It just disappeared. POOF! Into thin air. And it didn't explode or anything cause we're still here and it didn't break up cause we didn't see any debris falling or hit the water. Like I said, it just vanished." the pilot of Great Artiste said.
It was clear that he was just as confused as the controller.
"Well General Arnold isn't going to be happy about this Houdini shit!" the controller said, now slightly pissed. "And I can guarantee that he is going to love explaning this one to Truman."