The Silent Killer of The Everfree Forest

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Forest
Chapter 2: Filly of Stone
Chapter 3: discovery
Chapter 4: To make matters worse
Chapter 5: The forest is dense
Chapter 6: The bigger problem

Chapter 1: The Forest

0547, Middle East, Iraq.

SSGt Lopez

Operation: Morning sun

-0500, Earlier that morning-

The walk to the debriefing tent was short; the crisp autumn air cooled Roberto’s cheeks as he walked. The man was adorned in his regular vest and sand shade camouflage.

He had a German Shepard following at his side. The dog’s name was Duncan. Roberto wasn’t Duncan’s trainer, nor did he have anything to do with his training. He knew what commands to tell Duncan and how much he could handle. He never really did much more than pet Duncan whenever the dog was close. Duncan, on the other hand, had taken a liking to Roberto and was always by his side. No one really understood why, but Roberto didn’t really mind.

Entering the tent, he found several other servicemen inside waiting for him.

“Sorry, had to take Duncan out to uhh, you know, kill the little grass there is.” He apologized, rubbing the back of his head while Duncan panted.

“It’s fine. Now let’s get started,” First Lieutenant Holloway said. He pulled down a chart from the stand next to him. “Ok, so as you all know, anthrax is a bacteria that travels as spores. These spores can live in the ground for years and are extremely deadly. Our intel shows that a small house in the deepest part of the Dohuk Forest is stockpiling the stuff. The house is located roughly 10 miles in. Your job is to go in and take it out. There is roughly 300 gallons of anthrax in that house. I need you guys to take it out. This house will consist of guards here, and here.” He pointed to two dots standing to one side of the house. “There will be five guards on the roof, one of which is a sniper. Lopez, that’s where you come in. You’re going to take out that sniper before the rest of the squad moves in. Once you take out that sniper, mop up the rest of the guards patrolling the area. There should be guards posted in the woods in this vicinity.” He pointed to two smallish circles that covered roughly 20 yards around. “Watch for IEDs on the way over. Have Duncan sniff them out if need be. Once you all have secured the anthrax, I want you to bury it three feet deep and torch it. Am I clear?”

“Sir, yes sir!” They shouted in unison. Duncan even barked.

“Good, now move out!”

They all left the tent, headed towards the armory to ready themselves for the upcoming mission. Roberto walked into the armory and the first thing he got, was his M40A5. This weapon shot a 7.62X55 NATO bullets. He had several attachments to his weapon; A Tactical 8x - 80x56 scope, a straight pull bolt, suppressor, and bipod. His secondary weapon was Beretta M92FS. This little pack of power, shot 9mm bullets. He had equipped a laser attachment, as well as an extended mag designed to hold up to 30 rounds. He grabbed the rest of his tactical gear, survival gear, etc.

Soon they made their way towards the humvees, Duncan sat with his trainer between himself and Roberto. On the top, manning the .50 caliber machine gun was a new grunt, fresh out of training.

This is gonna be a long day, thought Roberto before the humvees took off down the road.

-0547 Dohuk Forest-

The sound of the three humvees’ engines roaring through the desert was the only sound Staff Sergeant Roberto Lopez could hear. He was in the last humvee in the small squad sent out on this mission. The sun had yet to come up over the horizon as they kept driving.

The humvee slowed to a stop. Roberto knew what he had to do; he had been thinking about it for several minutes.

“Lopez, remember to take out sniper first. Then take out the other four guards before they can alert anyone else,” Murel, the driver, said.

“Ok, I’ll make sure to hit them right on the dot.”

“Ok, Johski, you’re going with him. We’re leaving you approximately 900 yards away from the target. You have 50 minutes before the sun comes up, do not disappoint me.” Roberto and Johski climbed out. “This is your stop. We’ll be up the road. You’re about 950 yards away from the target, make it count.”

“Yes sir.” Jumping out of the truck, Roberto led Johski over to the vantage point. It was a small hill, with a clearing that was just above the tree line. Grabbing some dead bushes and weed vines he started to weave together a ghillie suit for himself.

After 37 minutes, he had his suit prepared and ready.

“Ready?” He asked Johski, setting up his rifle.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” said the spotter, looking through his tripod telescope.

“Ok, give me the first target.”

Scanning the roof, Johski spotted the first target. “Rooftop, center, bipod placed. He’s wearing all green making him blend in slightly. He’s lying on top of a crate.”

Roberto trained the cross hairs on his target. “Give me the wind direction and the altitude.”

“Aim high, we have, uhh, 2 miles per hour wind direction coming in from the East.”

Aiming, high and slightly east, Roberto took his shot. The bullet cut through the air with ease, passing through the target’s right cheek, a red mist exploding outwards.

“Hit. Aim further east and take out the lone guard on the right side of the house.”

Aiming where his spotter indicated, Roberto took aim and lowered his scope. He took the shot. The shot went straight through the air and lodged itself through the guard’s chest. He fell back, dead.

“Hit. Another guard approaching on the right side of the house.”

Roberto watched the guard patrolling the rooftop. He hadn’t even needed to change the placement of his scope as he just waited for the clueless man to walk straight to his doom. Pulling the trigger, watched as the bullet implanted itself in the back of the guard’s head. Poor fool never knew what hit him.

“Hit. Out to the woods, by the entrance to the house.”

Aiming to the woods he noticed a small glint of light. Before he could even take aim a bullet slammed into the soldier next to him. He died on impact. Aiming back down his sights he took aim and shot at the sniper, the first bullet hitting in front of him. Pulling back the straight pull bolt he aimed higher as a bullet whizzed right past his ear, he could feel the air distort as it passed. The blood splattered out from his scope as the bullet went straight through.

The next target was harder to hit than anyone could admit. The soldier had planted itself up in a tree. He was aiming down on the road, waiting for something to happen. He was holding a large shoulder-launched Multi-purpose weapon, otherwise known as a SMAW.

“Crap, if he gets an aim on those humvees…” Checking his watch, he took aim for the sniper. “Only five minutes left, this needs to be quick, and clean.

It took him several minutes but eventually he was able to get a shot off. The bullet went straight through his shoulder causing him to fall off of the tree. Unfortunately for Roberto when he fell, the soldier had pulled the trigger while falling toward the ground, causing a large eruption to come from the projectile. The sound of an explosion had alerted the rest of the guards on top of the building. They now noticed the dead sniper on the crates just above them as blood trailed down it. He could hear distant shouting but not much.

“Դիտեք ծառերը եւ պատրաստ պայթուցիկ.!” was all he could make out. (English: Watch the trees and ready the explosives!)

“Crap!” Roberto swore, and grabbing the dead soldiers helmet talked through the SINCGARS RT-1523E Radio to warn his fellow troop members. “Sierra One to Alpha Company. We have a situation. They’re armed with explosives. I don’t know which kind, and I’ve been compromised.”

“Understood. We’re approaching the stopping point.” the mic crackled in his ear. “Make your way to us.”

“Roger.” he planted his rifle on his back, loaded the rest of the equipment and picked up his fallen ally and making the long walk towards his squad.

-18 minutes later-

Slowly, on top of a hill roughly 30 meters from the house, SSG Lopez looked down to find the military troops fighting off the enemy. Dropping the body of Lohski, he took out his rifle and lined the scope. Looking through, he a muzzle flash in the top window. Aiming quickly, he fired one bullet before seeing an all too familiar flash. He had hit the gun. Reloading, he lined up his scope again. Taking a deep breath, he fired again, and saw a red splatter appear on the window.

He focused his aim towards the house, firing round after round as guards appeared in doorways and leaned out windows. After about thirty minutes of the firefight, the sound of gunfire stopped. He grabbed the body of his dead partner and headed towards the small group waiting by the house.

“How many did we lose, sir?” he asked walking up to Sergeant Major Murel.

“We lost two, Jensen and Freeman. Looks like 3 now.” the man replied, looking over and seeing Johski.

“Tagged by a sniper near the entrance.”

“Damn shame,” Murel replied.

“I know sir. I didn’t want to leave him behind.”

“Good, and thank you. Now let’s go finish clearing the rest of the house. Lopez, you and Garcheski, go cover our asses and make sure that no one comes from the bushes.” he ordered.

“Sir yes sir!” the two replied in unison.

Grabbing the dead soldiers M4A1, a carbine rifle that fires a .223 caliber 5.56 NATO round. It has several options and attachments such as, a single shot and full auto capabilities. The attachment on the weapon he picked up was a supressor, a harris bipod, an M203 40mm grenade launcher, and a ACOG reflex sight.

“C’mon, Garcheski.” Lopez said, picking up the weapon and planting himself by the door, behind a few crates the terrorists had just used as cover.

Soon the small squadron made their way inside the house, clearing rooms as they went. They searched the entire house.

The search lasted for several minutes. SSG Lopez stocked up on ammo for his weapons in case things got dicey. He could hear Duncan inside, barking and growling, but ultimately stopping when the team made it to the roof. Duncan came down to his trainer as Lopez heard the order to don gas masks. Lopez put on his mask, and watched as Garcheski put a small gasmask on Duncan.

Kneeing down, Lopez started petting Duncan. The long rifle on his back jostled a bit with the movement, thumping against his suit. He continued to pet Duncan, eyes still scanning the surrounding area. Surprisingly, Roberto was calm. Not the forced calm you get when you’re in a ghillie suit in a forsaken desert under a thorn bush, or blending in with a cacti, barely moving so you don’t get pricked. No, this was the kind of calm that you could only get in the morning when all was silent, and nothing was stirring. He was happy, just being able to pet Duncan. Unfortunately, that all ended when the sound of trucks came roaring through the woods.

“Sir, we have a problem!” Lopez said as a truck was seen in the distance, followed by several more.

“What’s that?” asked Merel, still clearing the anthrax.

“Contact!” Lopez yelled as he ran to one of the Humvees. He drove it over for cover, several soldiers doing the same with the other humvees as the attackers arrived. The two sides shared gun fire as the .50 caliber bullets tore through each group.

“This is Master Gunnery Sergeant Garcheski! We’re under heavy enemy fire and we’re requesting back-” the sound cut off as a .50 caliber bullet passed straight through his helmet and brain.

“Lopez! Duncan’s trainer’s down! Give him the commands!” Murel shouted.

“Yes sir!” he replied aiming his M4A1 back up and aiming at the enemy. “Duncan, here!” he yelled over the gunfire. Duncan ran over and waited for the next command.

“Go! No-” he was cut short as he felt heat envelope him. He could barely see what was going on around him, and he felt a small tugging at his waist. Looking down he saw Duncan; the dog’s paw was missing, his tail singed off, and he was bleeding through several points in his body. The last sight Roberto saw was Duncan lying down on top of him after Duncan had taken another few bullets to the back. The most loyal companion he had ever met was dead. He felt the slow cool darkness of death slowly take control of him as well, the weapons and ammo no longer weighing him down.

-Unknown location, time, and date-

The first thing I felt when I woke up was a strange licking. It was constant, and while annoying, it was surprisingly soothing. After what felt like an eternity, I finally decided to open my eyes. I was not expecting what I saw. From what I could remember, I had just gotten my ass blown up by… I don’t really know. Duncan had died on top of me, and I had bled out. I expected Heaven. I was always a religious man, but I never tried to shove my religion down someone else's throat. I prayed and I got baptized and all that. I tried to be good, to always put a good outlook on things, and to always be as nice as I could, so I kinda expected that. What I wasn’t expecting, was to see trees. I mean I know I just left a forest, but this was different. It was much darker here than the forest I left, and it gave me the willies. I looked down and saw the source of the licking.

It was Duncan! The dog that died by my side was here! I felt overjoyed at his presence!

Standing up, I stretched, checking my surroundings. Something about this place was just… off. It wasn’t like the forest I was just in. It seemed darker, and wilder somehow. There were vines everywhere. It looked and felt more like a swamp but I’m not wet, and my gear doesn’t- my gear! I had been so wrapped up in my thinking that I had forgotten to check if I still had my gear! Feeling my body, and petting Duncan a bit (He really was an amazing dog), I felt my body and relaxed when I felt all my gear, just like it was before. Well, almost like it was before. My helmet was gone. I took an inventory of what I had on me.

Hmmm, let’s see: 9 magazines for my Beretta, 10 for the M4A1 (thank god for taking Johski’s ammo and gun.), and 7 magazines for my rifle. Everything seems fine with these. But where’s the rest of my stuff?

Looking around, I noticed a few gleams in the light. Grabbing the tomahawk that I keep on my vest, I slowly walked over towards the glimmer. I smiled when I found that it was my weapons, backpack and helmet. They weren’t all neat and nice though. They were, in fact, scattered. I found the helmet hanging from a tree branch, and my guns spread across the forest floor. Picking up everything, I checked the weapons, put on my helmet, and slid on my backpack full of MREs. I checked the radio, but all I got was static. I tried several different frequencies for about 30 minutes, but I always got the results.

Enough of this, I thought. I picked up my backpack, called Duncan, and headed towards a small hill I could see in the distance. If I was gonna see how to get out of this forest I might as well have a vantage point. This is gonna be a long day, I thought, heading out towards the hill.

We walked on for several minutes before a loud growl emanated from the woods nearby. I noticed several pairs of glowing eyes, as well as Duncan’s growling, and thought only one thing. “Fuck,” As a beast from legends slowly emerged from the bushes. Growling loudly and raising its scorpian like tail, while the large beast slowly stalked towards me. “Why did it have to be that?”

Chapter 2: Filly of Stone

Coming out of the brush was a manticore. A fucking manticore. It slowly stalked forward, its tail bouncing up and down as it sulked towards me. Pulling out my Beretta I fired a loud warning shot.

The shot rang out like an explosion, echoing throughout the woods, making it sound much louder than it normally would. The manticore flinched visibly but kept creeping forward.

Duncan was growling loudly, on his toes, ready to pounce. I aimed my gun at its feet, ready to fire another shot as it got even closer. Now it was so close that I could see its teeth!

I fired another shot as the beast lunged forward, tackling me to the ground and pinning my right arm with its huge paw. Duncan leapt at the beast, biting its neck and thrashing violently. The beast roared loudly as a result.

I grabbed my battle hawk from my vest with my left arm and swung it. It hit the creature straight in what I could only assume was the temple.

The mighty beast roared loudly, wailing in pain. Bringing my arm back up, I swung again, hitting it in the same spot. I saw it rear up its stinger and bring it down towards my head at an alarming speed.

The stinger missed my head to the right by just inches. I swung my Tomahawk into its temple again.

Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, I twisted my body as best I could and brought down the tomahawk into the exoskeleton of its stinger. It hit straight in between the joints, causing the tail to snap and hang in the air limply. The stinger was no longer usable.

I was now able to see my right arm. It had been torn in several different places, mostly in the larger muscular regions; much better than my wrists. The wound bled lightly, but I could make out the pink muscle underneath.

I flinched when I saw it and made a grab for my Beretta. Unfortunately for me, the manticore decided it wanted revenge and clawed at the back of my shoulder. A scream of pain escaped my lips.

Grabbing the Beretta out of sheer desperation I aimed it into its chin and fired several shots through its head. The world around us became silent as the monstrous beast fell to the ground with a loud thud.

My entire body slowed to a stop as the giant fell on top of me. Finally releasing the manticore, Duncan fell back. I wriggled my way out from underneath it. Duncan and I sat there as I pulled out the medic kit out of my bag and readied some morphine, disinfectant and bandages for my wounds. I was just about finished putting the bandages on when I heard more bushes rustle.

Scared shitless, I raised my gun and aimed at the bushes. I watched them slowly emerge from the bushes, tiny barks echoing in the now quiet woods. My heart fell as I saw three baby manticores come out of the bushes, howling in grief. That’s when it hit me.

She was protecting her children. My heart fell into the deepest crevice of my body as I saw these little babies cry for their mother.

Walking over I kneeled by them. They flinched and squealed as I stopped in front of them. They could see their mother’s blood on my ghillie suit. Taking off the suit, I threw it aside and got down to their level.

I was laying down on the ground looking them straight in the eyes. Slowly, they came closer to me. It was obvious they were hesitant, but as the first one made it to me, I slowly lifted my hand and let it sniff it. Soon, I was able to pet the first, let’s go with cub, behind the ear and it relaxed slightly.

I got up soon after and made for the woods again. I heard a few more howls of woe from the cubs before I left. I stopped dead in my tracks halfway through and grabbed some vines from the trees.

I walked over to the cubs. “I took your mother away, and you can’t survive out here on your own.” The first cub was easy; he let me put on the makeshift leash like it was nothing. The second two were harder. I not only had to get down to their level but I also had to take out an MRE and give them some meat.

The second cub took the meat I offered while the third one proved to be more stubborn. It took three pieces of my meatloaf MRE before it finally trusted me enough to put the vine around its neck.

Now the hard part started. I led the way through the forest, pulling the cubs along with the makeshift leashes. They were obviously wild animals; they gnawed, pulled, and resisted the leashes every step of the way.

The forest should have been simple to walk through it. Duncan easily walked through the bush and shrubbery. I was having a problem though. These cubs kept gnawing at the leashes.

The cubs would only stop gnawing at the leashes to cower when something rustled in the bushes. Duncan growled at every little thing that moved. Each noise put me a little more on edge.

I continued to walk through the forest. Something was definitely wrong. This forest was dark; much darker than any other forest I’ve seen. There was many strange plants I’ve never seen as well.

I could see some small things like rabbits, nibbling on some plants at the bottom of a small hill. Realizing I might need some food later on, I decided to shoot them. I couldn’t do anything with them right then; I had to cook them to make sure they were safe to eat.

Sighing, I started up the hill that had become my goal. The hill wasn’t that steep; the angle made it hard, but not impossible. Arriving at the top after a 5 minute hike, I looked out at the scenery before me.

The tree tops were a green, unending ocean. Out in the distance, I could see a small protrusion through the trees. It seemed to be a small rock formation.

I pulled out my rifle and looked through the scope towards it. It seemed to be more than just a rock formation.

It is a tower! A cobblestone tower! That means there’s someone out here! Ok I know what I gotta do!

Starting for the tower, I noticed Duncan growling at something in the distance. I decided that my best chance was to just grab Duncan and head for the tower.

Meanwhile in Twilight’s library

Twilight scratched her head with a hoof as she read. She had never seen what she had seen yesterday. It was a small explosion of fire within the Everfree Forest, but the sound it made erupted like a dragon’s roar.

Earlier today, she had heard two similar explosions from the Everfree again. Though they were quieter than the ones yesterday, they were still obviously there. It had scared everypony in town.

The explosions were so loud that she decided that the best option would be to call the guards and have some trotting around the town.

Her friends had stopped by to ask her about the explosions, but she told them to wait so that she could do some research. They idly chatted with each other while they waited.

Twilight had only heard THAT kind of explosion once before, and that was from a dragon attacking a changeling hive; the gas from the egg chamber ignited in a massive fireball.

At least that’s what the teacher said. The recording stopped soon after.

So, she thought, time to research dragons. It would be a disaster if there truly was a dragon heading towards Ponyville.

Unfortunately for her, she had no books on dragons in her library. The only book she had Spike had taken with him on his last trip to Canterlot. Sighing, Twilight Sparkle walked towards her friends on the lower level.

“Well, the dragon book that we could use is currently unavailable.” she said dejectedly.

As if on cue, all the mares in the room turned to look at the lavender alicorn. Her mane was a dark purple as well as her tail, and had a pink stripe through it. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of purple, darker than her coat. Her flank was adorned with a large six-pointed star, symbolizing her talent in magic.

“Are ya sure it’s a dragon, Twilight?” an orange earth pony mare replied. Her golden mane and tail were tied back, and on top of her head she wore her trademark Stetson. Three deep red apples on her flank showed her talent with apple farming, and her eyes were a lavish sea green.

“I doubt anything else could do that AJ,” a cyan-colored pegasus interrupted. Her eyes were a fiery magenta, her mane and tail were a luxurious rainbow color. Her flank was adorned with a cloud; a rainbow bolt, firing from it, showed off her talent in weather.

“I agree with Rainbow Dash, darling. There is no creature I know of that can do anything as bothersome as to roar that loudly. It woke me up from my beauty rest!” the white unicorn mare complained. Her mane and tail were a dark, sleek, purple; her eyes a deep blue. She had three diamonds on her flank.

“Ooh ooh! Maybe we can have a ‘Welcome to Equestria, Dragon.’ party!” a pink earth mare said. Befitting her talent, this bubbly mare loved parties as evidenced by the three balloons sprawled over her flank. One was a nice butter yellow, and the other two a light shade of baby blue. Her eyes were the same color as her blue balloons.

“U-umm Pinkie Pie, I don’t think a dragon will be able to come to Ponyville.” A meek butter colored pegasus mare spoke up. She had a cotton candy colored mane and tail. Her eyes were a cyan color, and she had three butterflies on her flank. These showed her talent with animals.

“Yeah, I have to agree with Fluttershy on this one Pinkie Pie. A dragon in Ponyville would be devastating.” Twilight sighed. “We’re going to have to go to the Everfree to make sure that whatever that was, it doesn’t make it to Ponyville.”

“Yeah, I agree. Let’s keep the Everfree IN the Everfree.” Rainbow Dash responded, jumping up and flapping her wings to take off.

“C’mon girls, take your elements and let’s go.” Twilight replied grabbing her large crown.

The mares grabbed their respective element before heading out towards the forest; the place that caused tons of controversy between ponies.

SSgt Lopez POV

Well this is different, I thought, looking upon the massive structure. When I saw a tower, I never thought it would be a- well… I didn't actually know what to expect. I looked down at Duncan who gave me a shrug. D-did… w-what the fuck I-I don’t even…

I tied the cubs to a rock in the clearing near the entrance of the castle and looked around.

“Duncan, sniff out the east wing. I’ll cover the west wing.” I said, again looking down at Duncan.

Duncan responded by barking, which was normal. Before I left, I took one more look at Duncan who made eye contact. I will neither deny nor confirm that I nearly shat myself when I saw Duncan raise his eyebrow as if to ask me what was wrong.

“Uhhh… Nothing…?” I responded nervously.

Duncan just shrugged again and started sniffing around. I think I need to pay more attention to him, I thought. I don’t know what’s going on, and at this point I honestly don’t know if it’s something to worry about.”

Walking towards the west wing, I pulled out my Berretta. Switching on the laser designator, I kept it aimed downwards as I silently stalked around.

I walked around for nearly an hour before walking back to the front of the castle and sitting down on a rock. I started grabbing some bushes and leaves. Grabbing some vines, I started weaving myself another ghillie suit.

About twenty minutes later Duncan came out of the front doors. He walked over to me and laid down. This may be stupid but maybe this’ll work. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen, I thought, looking down at Duncan.

“You find anything Duncan?”

In response he looked up at me and nodded.

Guess he can understand me. Oh fuck. I talked a lot of shit about other people to this dog… I thought, a feeling of paranoia stirring through me.

“Really? What’d you find?”

Duncan just got up and gestured his head towards the door. I just followed setting down my weaving material. I put my gun on my back and walked with him.

The walk was short. Duncan stopped in front of a large door. We had passed through many halls on our way over. Although my side contained only a large courtyard and a library, it seems that Duncan had the more… scenic route.

We passed through several decorated rooms, each aligned with paintings and pictures, but we stopped at the largest room at the end of the hall. It appeared to be a throne room of sorts, but what really struck me as odd was that there was a strange figure standing in the middle of the room.

The creature stood, as if frozen for years, dusty and cracked. It was a statue of a strange, horse like animal. It was small, only up to my knee, but it had the wings of a pegasus.

Now I’m glad I watched Hercules a lot as a kid, I thought, eyeing the strange figure.

“Hey Duncan. You know how this got here?” I asked, knowing full well that he wouldn’t.

Feeling a small tugging at my pants I looked down to find him gesturing to a small chicken like creature behind the pegasus. Looking towards it, I noticed three things: One, it had the body of a serpent and the head of a chicken; two, its neck had several puncture wounds which were slowly bleeding out, and three, it was still alive.

“Duncan…. what the hell is that!?” I asked walking over to it slowly.

Duncan just shrugged in response. I didn’t get more than 2 steps before Duncan grabbed my pant leg and gestured to something behind me. Looking back, I noticed that the once cobblestoned pegasus was now coming alive.

“Duncan, behind cover! Now!” I yelled running behind the large throne in the room. Once there I aimed my Beretta at its once stone head.

I studied how this creature shifted when released from its stony prison. I just continued to study it while Duncan slowly came out of his hiding spot.

“Duncan, get your doggy ass behind something!” I whisper-yelled at him. He just turned his head in response. Oh you son of a bitch, I thought.

Apparently the pony returned from its daze faster than I thought. Its head whipped around. It was looking straight at me now and I froze, watching those sharp eyes scan over the area I was hiding in.

“H-hello…? I-Is somepony there.”

Chapter 3: discovery

SSGt Lopez POV

“D-did….I don’t even fucking care anymore! Better with a strange child sounding pegasus than being shot at in a forest!” I thought glumly looking closer at the pony.

So what I hadn’t mentioned earlier was its size. I mean I did say it was small, but what I hadn’t said was how small we’re talking about. Looking closer at it, I noticed that this pony stood about up to my knee. I had always been somewhat of a tall person; I was 6 feet, 2 inches last I checked, but this pony looked to be only about 2 and a half feet. That wasn't what struck me odd though; what truly struck me was its voice.

“W-who’s there?” It asked, seemingly scared.

Duncan was the first to answer. He gave a loud bark, scaring the filly and making her yelp. She calmed a little after seeing Duncan slowly walk over to her.

“O-oh, hey little- errr, big doggy. What’s this weird thing on your back?”

Okay, so she’s definitely a girl. She’s too small to be an adult. Maybe. Either Way, I decided that it’d be best for me to show myself. Lowering my Berretta, I slowly came out of the shadows and looked down at the pony.

Now, I’m not exactly proud of what happened next. Being somewhere you know nothing about which is clearly not the same place as before, and when going home is not in your control, people tend to get stressed out.

“H-hello…?” The child was scared at this point. She was shaking from fright.

“Hi, what’s your name?” I asked trying to sound as nonthreatening as possible. Unfortunately for me, she wasn’t expecting me to talk, it seems.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” she yelled.

So damn loud. I swear, even the blast from a C4 rigged car wasn’t this loud.

“GAHHH! FUCK! MY EARS!” I yelled, causing her to recoil in return. I didn’t even have enough time to register what was going on before I heard sniffling on the floor in front of me. That I could hear at all was a mystery to me.

Looking down to the floor, I noticed she was crying, holding onto Duncan. Duncan just glared at me in response.

“Don’t look at me like that you bastard! I swear my ear drums popped!”

Duncan just shook his head, and carried the little girl on her back and walked out. I truly felt like a jackass. Sighing, I walked towards where I saw Duncan go. Retracing my steps was easy since Duncan decided that I needed to learn my lesson and left me alone in the hallways. I made it out with ease. Looking around I noticed the little girl talking to Duncan who was wrapped around her. She was snuggling with him, no longer crying loudly, just silently sobbing into him. She was talking to him though, and that was good enough for me.

“-so scary?” I heard her ask. Obviously she was talking about me. Duncan just shook his head and gestured to some blood on the rock.

“H-he’s hurt?” The small child asked curiously.

Duncan nodded his head.

I wasn’t hurt as far as I could tell. The only thing I could tell from where the rock sat that it was from a rabbit I shot.

“W-why did he yell though? Even mare’s don’t say those kinds of words, even when they’re mad.”

Ok, so I don’t know much about horses. But this may be a what are they called? Filly? Yeah that’s it. I’m sure she is, considering her size.

“Hey, little one… I’m sorry for, you know. Yelling at ya.” I said, sheepishly, earning a gasp from the filly.

“O-oh, h-hi. I-it’s ok.” She lied. I knew she was scared. Hell, I would be too if some giant weirdo started freaking out at me..

“I truly am sorry, my ears just, well they felt like they were gonna explode.”

Giggling the filly smiled through her tears. “Did I do that?”

Wow, this pony has to be bipolar. She went from crying to giggling in seconds… or maybe she’s just acting like a kid would…. hmmm I never had any kids, thankfully.

“Yup. You were louder than anything I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard jet planes quieter than you.” Chuckling I looked down at the filly who just looked at me with a perplexed look.

“What’s a ‘jet plane’?” She asked, obviously confused.

Duncan just smiled at me and nodded. I’ll ne’er get used to Duncan being able to understand me.

“A plane is basically a machine that allows people to fly. Today we use them for commercial flight. Basically those who can afford a ticket can use them. A ‘jet’ plane, goes faster. Some, can even break the sound barrier 6 times over. They’re pretty cool.” I said, with a bit of pride in my voice.

“Whoa… I wish we had animals that could go that fast, but I do have one question.” She said full of hopeful excitement.

“Well they aren’t exactly animals. They’re machines. Anyway what’s your question?” I asked, feeling a bit awkward.

“Well, whats a sound barrier?” the little filly asked curious.

“Well, the easiest way I can say it is, the speed that the sound travels.” I explained.

“Wait… these are machines that do this? That isn’t possible! Nopony can make something that advanced!” The filly shouted, smirking. She thought she had won, but I had something up my sleeve.

“I have videos of them.” I said smirking.

“Wait, you don’t have a video projector.” She eyed me suspiciously.

“It’s fine, I don't need one.” I saw her look falter a bit as I pulled out my Ipod. After she saw what it was, she looked at me like I was a true idiot.

“That’s not video film. It looks like a glass box… and what’s that silver thing?” She asked, pointing a hoof.

After I turned on my Ipod, a stark black background showed a simple image: a bitten apple. “This isn’t just a glass box. It’s technology from my world. You know what a phone is?”

“A what?”

“This is going to be a long talk.” I said turning on the display. “Ok, so a phone is used to-”

-3 hours later-

“-and that’s what this is. A cross between an MP3 player, and an Ipod. With the added benefit that it works as a phone.” I finished smiling down in triumph at the shocked filly.

Her mouth had been hanging open since hour 2, when the cubs started yowling in hunger. She was curious as to what it was and when I showed her, she went crazy. She was terrified of these cubs. She watched me prepare some rabbits, and feed them to the cubs, it caused the filly to throw up in the bushes for 10 minutes, she proceeded to ask me what I ate. After I told her that I was a omnivore, I had to explain what a omnivore was. She started to back up towards the bushes, only to be stopped by Duncan who was standing behind her, and nuzzled her side a little bit. She calmed after a few minutes of me explaining that, while I ate meat, I would never eat a pony. She was still very hesitant but I didn't mind. I expected this out of an herbivore.They’re basically my prey. I knew I could get through to her though.

“Don’t worry. I’m not gonna eat you young one. I wouldn’t eat a pony.” I said, slowly advancing forward towards her.

She was very hesitant, but eventually let me lay my hand on her head, as I pet her. “I-I know. I-It’s just scary.”

“I know, but trust me. I wouldn’t hurt you. You’re just too cute.” I said, smiling down at her.

She blushed profusely and giggled. “Well, you seem nice enough…. But how do I know you won't eat me in my sleep!?”

“Because there are scarier things in this forest than me. I’m not gonna eat you when I have things that can eat me just around the corner. Like I said, you’re a cute little…… child.” I said, ruffling her hair.

“I’m a filly, not a ‘child’. I don’t even know what that is.” She said glaring at me.

“Sorry. A child is what we call our young. What you would call fillies, and ..ummm..colts, I think. Either way, let’s go back inside of the castle. It seems to be free of beasts. At least my side is.” Sighing, I picked up all my weaving materials, my gear, and the cubs’ leashes before heading inside, followed by Duncan and the filly.

“I just realized, I never got your name.” I set down my gear and started setting up a small camp.

I looked over and noticed that Duncan had started playing with the cubs. They fought for dominance, Duncan naturally winning, while the cubs tried their best to match his attack skills.

“I’m Soft Soil. Who are you?” she asked, looking curiously at what I was doing.

“Nice to meet you Soft Soil, I’m Staff Sergeant Roberto Lopez, But you can just call me Roberto.” I said, setting up a small fire. I used the old bow trick from my childhood, and while it was hard, I eventually I accomplished my task. I took the hot ashes to a small pile of dead and dried leaves.

“Staff Sergeant? You’re in the royal guards?” Soft Soil asked curiously.

“Uhhhh no. I’m not in the ‘royal guard’.” But now I know that your country has a military system. I’m gonna have to remember that.

“Oh… so… are you a representative from another country?” she asked curiously.

“Well… I guess that’s as good an explanation as any. Say, is there any settlement nearby?” I inquired.

“Oh! We could always go to Ponyville! It’s nearby. I can take you! C’mon, let’s go!” the filly shouted excitedly jumping and down.

Holding her in place, I chuckled at her antics. “Calm down, you’re like a little ball of ADD.”

“Hey! I am not little!” she retorted.

“Yeah you’re not little at all. I mean, you’re as tall as my knee.” I smirked back at her.

“Hmmmph.” she pouted.

“Oh calm down. You’re fine just the way you are.” I said chuckling a bit.

She giggled, “So when do you wanna go to Ponyville?”

“Well… I don’t just wanna go in. I’m alien to them. Let me make us some ghillie suits and we can study them.” I said, starting to weave the head part of my suit.

“What’s a, ‘ghillie suit’?” she inquired.

“It’s a suit a soldier with my skills use. It allows me to remain unseen. I go days by myself without anyone seeing me. Especially on an important missions, I'm usually the first one on the scene, so I use what’s nearby.” I sighed and continued to work on my suit. “I’m gonna make you one also, same with Duncan. Just so we can work and hide at the same time.”

“Ooh that sounds so cool! I can’t wait until you make mine!” she yelled excitedly.

“I know, but this takes a while. Don’t expect to go today.” I said continuing my weaving.

-6 hours later-

I sighed, leaning backwards on my rock. I was able to finish all the suits that needed to be done. I hit a snag halfway through when I found that Duncan’s was too small for him. I was halfway finished dismantling it when the filly jumped in my lap and popped her head out through the top. She slid her arms through the sleeves, and giggled while looking it over. The body of it was twice her size, but her arms and head fit like a charm. So I spent the next hour or so making it smaller.

After I finished with that I made a hole for her tail, finished the holes for her back legs and made sure it all fit correctly. When I finally finished, I moved on to Duncan’s. Crafting it correctly, this time, I slid it on and smiled. It fit like a charm. We had an hour of sunlight left so I decided that I would find out all I could about “Ponyville”.

“So… what can you tell me about Ponyville?” I asked, checking the gear I had gotten earlier this morning.

“Oh! It’s a great place! It has all kinds of ponies! Like unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies and there’s even an alicorn princess now!” she shouted excitedly.

“Princess? That’s the kind of government you have?” I asked, a bit more dumbfounded than I meant to sound.

“I guess. Something wrong?” she asked tilting her head to side.

“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just not used to it.” I said turning on my night vision goggles and looking through them into the dark forest. They were still in working condition, so that was good.

“What do you mean? Doesn’t your home have princesses?” she asked innocently.

“Well, no. We have something better than a princess. We have a president, but I don’t wanna get into that right now.” I said checking my grenades

“But I wanna know! Cmo-” before she could finish her sentence, we heard a few voices coming out from the woods.

“C’mon Rainbow Dash! It’s obvious that manticores do have children! How else would they reproduce!?” I heard a feminine voice yell out through the woods.

“Maybe they use some kind of magic! I mean, there are plenty of species that use magic to reproduce!” Another female voice said. This one was still feminine but it had some-what of a tomboyish deepness to it.

“Crap! Inside before they come!” I whisper yelled, grabbing my weapons, gear and ushering the cubs in who followed without protest. Soft Soil jumped on Duncan’s back, who ran inside with me. We all had our ghillie suits on, minus the cubs, and we hid behind a fallen tree, sitting silently. I ended up going completely prone and looking out towards the entrance of the castle.

“There’re only a few animals that can reproduce magically and they only use it to paralyze the female! The manticore has sex traditionally!” The same first voice yelled.

Soon, I saw six ponies, and what I can only describe as a lizard man, come through the entrance of the castle.

“Hey, that’s the princess I was telling you about!” Soft Soil whispered.

“Shhh, I don’t want them to see us. Not yet.” I said, holding Soft Soil to prevent her from jumping up and down from excitement. Apparently it wasn’t good enough; she hit the ground with a soft thud before I was able to stop her completely.

“They can- did you guys hear that?” the pony with the rainbow hair and tail said.

Chapter 4: To make matters worse

I looked on as the rainbow haired pegasi flew directly towards us.

“Hey guys. I think there’s something in this bush,” she said.

“Duncan, go out and distract them,” I whispered to Duncan.

“There’s something over here, guys! I just heard it!” she yelled back at her friends.

“Then get away from it, Rainbow!” The lavender purple pony shouted. She had both wings and a horn. I hazarded a guess at her being the alicorn pony.

“Well, whatever it is, it talked! I think it’s a pony!” Rainbow yelled out.

Duncan walked straight out after that, startling the six ponies.

“Twilight, dear, if I may… what in the name of Equestria is that!?” a white, well-groomed unicorn shouted.

“I think Fluttershy’s the only one that can answer that. Rainbow, get back here!” Twilight commanded.

“Calm down, egghead. I think this’s a dog,” Rainbow replied, petting Duncan’s head. Duncan barked happily in response.

“That’s a strange looking dog. I’ve never seen a dog made of leaves before,” a soft-sounding lemon yellow pegasi whispered. Honestly, I don’t know how I heard her.

“Ooh! Ooh! Maybe we can throw a “new doggy breed party”!” a pink pony with poofy hair exclaimed.

I couldn’t take this anymore. I slowly got up from my hiding space, dragging the cubs with me. Soft Soil followed me and we slowly stalked towards an opening in the castle wall. I ran in and whistled so that Duncan would follow me. Unfortunately, when Duncan ran towards us, the rainbow-maned pony followed him. The pegasus caught eye of me and froze in mid-air, only her wings moving to ensure that she stayed airborne. I held still, unsure of what action to take next.

“Uh…. Hi,” I said, before striking her in the side of the head. The blow knocked the pony out, and I continued running, picking up the cubs and Soft Soil as I ran. All four creatures plus my gear was an unimaginably heavy load. I heard voices behind me; someone was trying to chase me, but ultimately failing when they realized that their friend needed them. Duncan was hot on my heels keeping the ponies in check.

“Soft Soil, we need to somewhere to hide! Do you know anywhere else other than the forest!?” I yelled.

“EEEP!” Soft Soil squeaked.

I could hear the sound of flapping wings growing closer and louder.

“C’mon Soft, we need to get out of here!” I yelled again as the flapping grew louder.

“There’s a cave! That way!” she yelled, pointing towards the exit.

I made my way towards it, only to be tackled halfway out the exit by a pink and yellow blur.

“Let her go!” a harsh -- but sweet -- voice called. The voice scared me, despite its gentle tone.

My glance upwards was met by a pair of turquoise eyes. Angry turquoise eyes. Duncan got into a pouncing position, while I slowly pulled out my battle hawk and got ready to hit it against her skull.

Duncan beat me to the blow and grabbed the pony by the throat, slamming her into the wall. We could hear the distinct sound of bones snapping as her back and head made contact with the cobblestone wall.

“She’ll be fine… I hope,” I muttered, getting up and running towards the forest again.

Something grabbed my backpack, making me fall flat on my back. Dazed, I stood up and whirled about and found myself facing the small group of ponies. The lavender one shot something at me from its horn, but the beam had no effect.

I stared her down and saw her eyes widen. I glanced to the left just in time to notice the orange pony running towards me. We made brief eye contact as she reared herself up and kicked me in the chest, sending me flying. In all honesty, it didn’t hurt as much as you’d expect. It was like a 15 year old boy punching you, thanks to my bulletproof vest.

I got up, but noticed that the cubs had been knocked out of my hands, as well as Soft Soil. One of the cubs had its stinger forced into the orange pony's flank. I rushed to the pony’s side and I did something that may -- or may not have -- warped my relationship with this pony forever. I grabbed her flank and started sucking out as much blood as I possibly could.

After several seconds of sucking in and spitting out, I felt something slam into my side.

Now this one hurt like a bitch. It hit me square in the top corner of my head and made me feel as if I was in bootcamp again, training in hand to hand combat with the other cadets, except this cadet was a body builder.

I got up and saw that the rainbow pony had slammed into me. Honestly, the only thing that kept me from completely shattering my skull was the helmet I had planted on my head. The last thing I saw before going into darkness was the purple pony rushing over to me and doing something with her horn as Duncan did his best to try and protect the filly and the cubs, growling and barking furiously.

-unknown time, date, and location-

An all-too-familiar sound woke me up: an incessant beeping. I flickered my eyes open and found myself in a small bed. It was too small for me by at least a foot.

I stood, stretched, and cracked my back as I did so. I scanned the room and found that none of my gear was near me… and that I was bare ass naked in the middle of the room.

“Dammit,” I cursed, looking around the room for anything to cover my shame.

Unfortunately for me, I found nothing. Something did catch my attention though. There was a door next to my bed. Close, but not too close.

I walked towards the door, but stopped when I noticed a small aura surrounding it. It was incredibly faint; barely noticeable to the naked eyes, but it was there.

I grabbed the door knob and found that the door wouldn't budge. Pressing harder, I felt like the biggest idiot in the world when I realized that you were supposed to pull instead of push. So I pulled and found all of my gear inside the small closet, minus my knife and battle hawk.

“Crap, I needed those,” I swore grabbing my gear and setting it on the bed. Hardly a second after I set my gear on the bed the door handle moved and the lavender winged unicorn came in. I had only spent about ten seconds opening and gathering my stuff, so I was surprised to find them here so quickly. She was flanked by two guards, both carrying spears.

We stayed frozen for several seconds, looking each other dead in the eyes. No one dared to move.

I slowly grabbed my boxers from the bed and put them on, never breaking eye contact. They stayed quiet as I pulled on my trousers; they stayed silent and stared at me as I pulled on the trousers to my ghillie suit. I slipped on my tee, my kevlar, my molle vest and finally the top of the suit. Once I finished dressing, the helmet that stood atop my head slightly obscured my face from noticeability. I grabbed all my gear very slowly as the tension rose to heights where you can just… feel it, as if it were a physical form.

I walked slowly towards the trio, and decided to try and NOT fuck up on anything.

“Uhhh… excuse me?” I looked like a total dumbass, but I didn’t want to get through them by force.

“HALT!” the largest of the three shouted. It was obviously a male’s voice.

“Ok, ok, calm down.” I walked back a bit. “I don’t want any trouble, buddy.”

“Yeah, me neither,” another guard growled, this one’s voice obviously feminine. Her coat was a white hue, and she had a tatoo on her flank (like all the other adult ponies I've met) of a large magical blast. The colors were pure aqua blue, and a deep and dark red.

“Uhh... yeah… You see here, I kinda gotta go-” I tried, but was interrupted by Twilight.

“I’m sorry, but you cannot go. You’re facing charges from several different ponies,” she replied, a little irritation slipping into her voice.

“What? What the fuck am I being charged with!?” I yelled.

“Well, you molested Applejack, you’re facing fillynapping charges, assault charges from Fluttershy and more assault charges from Rainbow Dash,” the mare accused, more irritated than before.

The guards had taken this time to bring out some handcuffs from the bags on their flanks. I took this time to pull out my iPod. I tried pressing its play button, in hopes that it was turned on. It wasn’t.

Damn. That complicates things. I thought.

Looking up, I found that one of the guards was rushing me. I twisted to the side in order to avoid the spear. The blade barely scratched my ghillie suit, I pulled back the mares head and body and held my Baretta to her head.

“Stay back, or I swear I’ll blow her head off!” I yelled, looking at the iPod on the ground.

The guards stopped and shut up, fearing that I’d follow through with my threat. Twilight had started charging something in her horn which I easily put a stop to.

“You. Twilight. Give me that iPod on the ground,” I said calmly as she started charging her horn again. “Without your horn!” I yelled.

She stayed silent as she grasped it in one wing and set it down on the bed. I wrapped my arms around the mare’s throat and squeezed slightly.

I grabbed the ipod and unlocked it. I saw the two guard ponies stare at me with a wonder-filled hate as I held the poor mare by the throat. That’s when I felt it, the mare bit my arm. I dropped her the instance she did, but kicked her in the ribs and held my foot on her back to keep her from moving.

“Damn it!You ponies are starting to piss me off!” I exclaimed, finding the app I wanted. “Eat dog whistle, you assholes!” I yelled, pressing the high frequency dog whistle, sending all the ponies in the room into a shocked state as they fell to the ground in pain.

I took this opportunity to run out of the room and into the hospital ward. Everypony was freaking out as I passed. I ran into several guards but ran down a different hall each time I did.

“I swear! This hospital’s a fucking maze!” I cursed as I continued. Eventually I found a window on the second floor and opened it. Looking down, I noticed that I was only about 8 feet off the ground. I jumped, hit the ground, rolled, and then ran it off. I had no idea where I was going. I just knew I had to get as far away as I could from the hospital.

Many of the guards would try and intercept my path but evading them was easy: a quick jump for the regular and unicorns and a sidestep for the pegasi. Eventually I saw something jetting straight for me. It was the rainbow pony from before!

“Damn it!” I yelled, running into an alleyway and through a small maze of an alleyway. I saw that the pony had since left. Once I ran around the corner, I felt something hit me in the chest and knock me onto my back.

“Oh no you don’t!” I heard whatever was on my chest say.

“Ugh... get off of me!” I shouted, pushing the pony off of me and standing up, cracking my back. Looking at the pony, I noticed she was the same pony as before. Her mouth was agape and her eyes wide.

“You know, you’re not that smart. I beat you last time, and I could easily do it again.” I ran after I finished and headed straight for a small cottage outside of the town.

“It’s right next to the forest, maybe they’ll give me some food or I’ll get an animal to eat or something,” I thought out-loud, running directly towards it. I could now hear voices heading towards me from behind. “I’ll just leave them a little present for them,” I said, looking behind me. I saw that there were 10 of them. 5 were covered with armor and held spears at their sides, and the others were the same ponies as before. I grabbed a concussion grenade from my molle vest, and pulled the metal ring. Once I made it halfway through, I dropped the concussion and continued to run. I waited only a few seconds before I heard the explosion. I heard some pained shouting behind me as I ran into the pathway leading to the house. A familiar voice sounded from inside the house.

“-but I’m not little! Even he knew I could take care of myself!” Soft Soil shouted.

“Oh, I-I’m sorry, but I can’t. You’re not small, but you aren’t big enough to go out by yourself,” a soft, soothing voice replied.

“Then let me take Duncan! He’ll protect me!” Soft Soil shouted again. Duncan barked in agreement.

“Oh, no. I’m sorry but I can’t let you. He’s twice your size, and even bigger than I am,” the soft voice replied.

I’m done with this. I knocked on the door and waited for a response. “Oh, that must be Rainbow Dash. She promised to help me around the house since... well... you know. Could you please open the door?”

“Fine,” I heard an agitated Soft Soil say.

I waited for a few seconds before Soft Soil opened the door.

“Hi Rainbow Da-” she didn’t finish her sentence when she saw me. Instead she just jumped me, hugging me forcefully. “I knew you’d come back to get us!”

“Who’s at the door, Soft Soil?” the soft voice asked.

“You’ll see,” Soft Soil replied, “C’mon in, we can pick up the others and leave.”

“Oh no, it isn’t “it”, is it?” the soft voice queried, a bit of fear in its voice.

“You know, it’s not nice to refer to people as, “it” right?” I asked, walking in and seeing the butter-colored pony in a wheel chair. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt.

“Eeep!” I heard her reply, covering her face with a broken hoof.

“Oh, calm down. It wasn’t my fault Duncan attacked you. You attacked me. C’mon Duncan, lets go,” I replied as Duncan got up -- still in his ghillie suit -- and walked over to us. He dropped to the ground and let Soft Soil get on his back.

“Just where do you think you’re going!?” I turned to find that the ponies had recovered from their daze and were now standing at the door way. The armored ponies had raised their spears towards me.

“Drop the weapons and release the hostages!” one of the armored ponies demanded.

“What hostages!?” I yelled, raising my M40A5 up to the air. “This one let me in,” I said, gesturing to Soft Soil. “This other one is my dog and she’s just been taking care of them for me!”

“I said drop the weapon!” the same guard yelled.

“I have a better idea. How about I leave with Soft Soil, Duncan, and my three manticore cubs?” I asked, putting my M40A5 on my back and pulling out my Beretta. “I don’t want to have to hurt you guys.”

“Please! What can YOU do to US!?” another guard scoffed.

“Uhh, actually-” the white mare from the hospital tried to explain, but I cut her off.

“Fine, you wanna be a smartass, I’ll treat you like a smartass,” I said, raising my Beretta and firing two shots off into the ceiling before running into the kitchen, grabbing a large kitchen knife and running out the backdoor. Once outside I ran, and opened a small fence containing the three cubs who ran out with me immediately. The six of us then took off towards the forest.

We heard shouts coming from behind us as we entered the forest and ran deep into the woods. We could hear the clang of armor approaching us with great speed. They were closing in fast when I noticed a large golden chariot-like vehicle approaching from the sky.

“This day just keeps getting better and better!” I yelled as a large winged unicorn stepped out of the chariot.

“Guards! Seize it!” I heard her yell.

“Great,” I muttered sarcastically, running into the brush. We could hear the stomping of the guards behind us as we ran. They were closing in and we knew it.

Chapter 5: The forest is dense

SSGt Lopez POV

I continued to run through the brush, with both Duncan and the cubs following close behind me. Eventually our running took us to a small bridge. Looking around, we found a single set of stairs leading down. It had been taken by the overgrowth of the forest and was hardly noticeable.

“Let’s keep going. If we get caught down there, we’re done for,” I said, running past it.

The sun’s dying beams shot fingers of salmon pink and sherbet orange across the sky before extinguishing itself behind the horizon. We sat down in a small clearing next to a pond. It wasn’t the biggest clearing, as it could barely fit all of us and leaving only a few feet of space for the fire.

After I got the fire lit I grabbed the small radio from the bag and fitted it around my head, before starting the search.

“This is Staff Sergeant Roberto Lopez. If there are any others in the area please respond immediately.”

I repeated the phrase countless times for the next half an hour. After that I gave up the search and turned off the radio. Slowly and methodically, the warm embrace of sleep took me, and I was numb to the world.

0800 hours, Everfree Forest

I awoke to the abrupt sound of branches and sticks popping. The sun was up over the horizon and the fire was slowly dying, almost completely gone. All that remained was the green leaves and sticks that had fallen on it, causing the loud pops as some strange sap popped from it. I looked at a nearby tree and noticed there was more sap leaking out of the tree I was laying back on. The sap was nowhere near me but it was slowly making its way down towards me. I was gonna reach up and collect some but Soft Soil stopped me.

“Wait! Thats poison sap! Dont touch it; it goes into your skin if you do.” She looked away as she thought of what to say next. “You’ll be gone, again… You’ll be gone forever.”

I moved away from the tree and laid beside Soft Soil who was still in her sitting position. I smiled at her and pet her head. “Don't worry Soft. I’m not leaving you, I’m not gonna leave you again.” I smiled as she laid beside me and hugged me. I hugged back with one hand and turned on the radio with the other. I set the option to “search” and waiting for less than 20 seconds before a voice cracked up on the radio for a few seconds before it changed again. I blushed and sat up quickly when Soft glared at me after falling on her ass. I changed the station back to the station where I had heard the voice. It was definitely a recording but it was another soldier’s voice nonetheless.

“If there are any missing or scattered military personnel, we are in the area. This is base camp Phoenix. Head towards the sunset, we do not know where this region is placed so sunset is north and sunrise is south. We have food and water, come now,” The message continued to repeat this message for a little, while Soft Soil sat in my lap and looked at me curiously.

“What’re you doing?” Soft Soil asked cutely, looking up at me with big eyes.

“Listening to a message. C’mon, we gotta get out of here.” I picked up Soft Soil holding her close and tapping the cubs on the head. All three woke up and yawned cutely which woke Duncan, who was snuggled around them, and caused him to yawn too.

“C’mon, we need to go. The meat in my backpack is bad so we have nothing to eat for breakfast,” I said, kneeling by the pond and filling my water-sack while dropping 10 drops of iodine into the very cloudy water. “We need to get moving,” I repeated.

We all walked “north”, I was just hoping we would make it to the base before something found us. Soft Soil was sitting atop my head and tapping my head like a bongo drum while she giggled. Duncan was keeping the cubs in check by walking behind them and nudging their behinds when one stopped to sniff the ground or simply to look up at a passing butterfly or something. He was really taking a parental role in their lives. Mulling on this thought for a bit, something just bit at me: Who would play the parental role in Soft Soil’s life? I didn’t know what to think about this. “I mean, I could try being a parent to her but I doubt I could be a father. Hell, I’m barely 23, but I’m not cut out to be a father; the kid would probably die from getting too much candy and sweets or something,” I thought as Soft Soil hugged and snuggled my head close. “Maybe I will be a good father. Who knows, I might even be able to get her a real family.”

We walked off towards the “north” as the sun continued on its pathway. We walked for what seemed like hours before we heard a loud bang from the left. It seemingly echoed forever as we all started running towards what we could assume was the base. We continued to run for a long time, running towards what we hoped was the origin of the explosive echoes.

Eventually, after twenty minutes of running we ran into an open field and found what we had been searching for: Base Phoenix.

It was a wide open space, with a large enough plain to allow planes to depart. There were soldiers walking in all directions. We walked into the base, and heard fire from one side. I ran towards the sound and found something that made my blood go cold. A tank and several troops opening fire on a strange rock alligator-like creature; the body looked like any other alligators, except it was made from rock. It had the tusks of a boar but it certainly wasn’t one. I was so distracted watching these men fight off this creature that I hadn’t noticed the soldier walk up behind me.

“Soldier, who are you and where did you come from!?” The man shouted surprising the five of us.

Looking back as fast as I possibly could, I found a soldier standing behind me. I looked at the patch on his sleeve and found that he was a Master Sergeant in the United States Army. “Sir, Staff Sergeant Lopez, sir!”

“At ease, soldier. Who are these?” he asked gesturing to the cubs and the filly on my head.

“These are… uhhh… companions sir. This is an inhabitant of this country and these,” I gestured to filly and cubs. “I killed their mother sir, they wouldn’t have survived a night alone, sir.”

“So we have a native. Figured something was wrong when we found we had gone from the desert into forest in the blink of an eye. Come soldier, I’m sure Captain Shan would like to speak with you,” he said sarcastically, walking away as I followed close behind.

“Uh... yes, sir.” I honestly didn’t know what to say, all I knew was that Soft Soil’s tail started to coil around my neck.

He said nothing, and started towards the metallic buildings on the edge of the base camp.

We walked inside a large building serving as a base of operations. I took off my helmet upon entering the building. I could see several computers inside. All of the men were trying to connect to any satellites around the globe. A visual of the forest tops were presented on several screens. I noticed a few golden dots in the forest but thought nothing of it as I walked passed the men working on the computers and stopped in front of Captain Shan.

I saluted as well as the soldier beside me. “Sir!” we said in unision.

“At ease, soldiers. Who are these?” he asked, gesturing towards the cubs and the fillies.

“Natives, sir.” I looked at the soldier next to me, but he decided to stay quiet.

“Why are they here?” Captain Shan responded stoically.

“These three lost their mother, and this one. I simply don’t know, ask Staff Sergeant Lopez,” the soldier replied.

“Thanks for putting me on the spot, asshole,” I thought bitterly.

“Well, Mr. Lopez?”

“Sir, this young filly was caught in stone when I-” I got interrupted by Soft Soil who happily blurted out my answer for me.

“He saved me from a scary cockatrice. He was brave and just was all like “I’ll save you!” Then he rushed in and made the cockatrice unstone me and sent the cockatrice running away like a little filly!” she yelled happily squeezing the back of my head.

“Uhhh, yeah. That’s… sort of what happened,” I said scratching Soft Soil’s lower back in an attempt to scratch my neck.

Soft Soil giggled in response to my scratching. “Stop it, that tickles.”

“Sorry,” I replied somewhat embarrassed. “Didn’t mean to.”

Soft Soil just continued to giggle until the man in front of us cleared his throat, robbing our attention from each other.

“I’m sure you have a lot to talk about now that you all are… safe, but I think that since we are stuck in our current situation that, Soft Soil should… “educate” us about the different beings of her world. I know she’s a child, and you may not be comfortable with this, but we need information,” the Captain said in a gruff voice.

“I understand sir, all I ask is that I stay with her during the questions, sir,” I said. I could feel Soft Soil tense up a bit, thinking about being asked questions of her world.

“Uhh, Mr, Captain… I… I dont know alot of things about my world… I-I’m only 9,” Soft Soil squeaked. Captain Shan was pretty intimidating.

“Anything you have will suffice. Now go with Master Staff Sergeant Browski,” Captain Shan finished gesturing to the man next to me.

“Yes, sir!” I saluted.

We followed the soldier outside the building as some people started arguing to each other about what they were seeing on their screens. We left before we could really see any of the “anomalies” (as they called them) on their screens. I tossed the arguments aside as we left the room.

“You guys are going to be sleeping in this tent here. Those four can share the bed on bottom. Make sure they stay quiet. We need our men in tip-top shape for the day’s activities, and we can’t have our men sleepy,” Browski said to us, before stopping in front of a bunk bed.

“Will do, sir,” I responded, before Browski left to do whatever his duties of the day would be. I waited until he left before planting my bag to the side of the bed and taking off the rest of my ghillie suit, as opposed to only my helmet. I noticed Soft Soil was nuzzling the top of his head happily. “What, you doing up there, Soft?”

I heard Soft Soil give a cute giggle before jumping on the top bunk and looking at me in the eyes. “Just having fun!” Soft Soil gave out a small, erratic shout. She was happy, and it made me smile some.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, giving her shoulder a playful shove, which she returned to my arm. We went back and forth for a bit before I dodged out of the way and caught her with an arm before putting her back on the top bunk. “Can’t beat me, Soft.”

She just giggled and hugged my face. “I’ll beat you one day.”

I smiled and hugged her back, petting her mane a bit before releasing her. “Okay, Duncan and I’ve got to go do some things. You’re in charge… well… of these three.” I gestured to the cubs. “Until we get back.”

“Okay!” Soft Soil shouted, happily hopping and latching herself onto my chest before jumping onto the pillow behind Duncan.

“You’re gonna sleep again? You just woke up,” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, but we ran through the forest and that got me tired,” she said defensively.

“You were riding on my shoulders,” I deadpanned.

“And you were bouncy,” she giggled. “Besides, it’ll give all of us something to do until you get back.”

“Fine. C’mon, Duncan,” I said, tilting my head towards the exit.

I looked down at Duncan who was currently nuzzling the cubs as they slowly got up when he left the bed. They wanted to follow him but Duncan growled lowly at them, making them turn to Soft Soil and go lay down by her.

“That’s weird… it’s like he’s talking to them.” I shrugged at my thoughts. “I guess he really HAS filled in in their lives as their father… And I still don’t know what I’m going to do about Soft Soil.”

I sighed as we left the Alaskan-style tent and walked out into the sun. “I’ll ask Soft Soil later today, before bedtime. Who knows. Maybe she WANTS me as her dad… though I kinda doubt it,” I thought before everyone in the area heard a loud blaring shout over the intercom.

“All Marksmen personnel in the southern face of the base, report to the eastern conference room immediately!” the intercom announced.

“I guess that’s me. Duncan go do your running regimen,” I said as he tilted his head to me. “Don’t give me that bullshit. You’ve been understanding me since day one in this damn forest.”

I heard Duncan growl a bit before rolling his eyes and walking towards the track. I sighed and walked towards the eastern wing conference room. The walk was a short one, only two minutes before I opened the door and took a seat with the other 40 men in the room. It was only five minutes before everyone was seated and the meeting started.

“Hello, men. I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here. Well, it’s simple; I’m sending all of you out on a recon mission,” the man said, smiling a bit. “Now, we had a few Shadow UAVs survey the area, and we found a small village south of our location. Only about a mile or so. The populace of this town are… well, ponies. Yes, I know how ridiculous it sounds, but believe me. It is true. Now I want you all to go get ready. You will leave in a few hours.”

We all stood and and saluted as we left the tent. I ran straight back to my tent to explain to Soft what would be happening in a few hours. Once I entered I found one problem… She was gone!

“Crap.”

Chapter 6: The bigger problem

SSGt Lopez POV

I sighed noticing that Duncan and the cubs were also gone. “Of course it had to be Duncan. He’s probably just showing them around the base or something.” I reasoned with myself as I grabbed my gear. I ran to the south face of the base camp where all the other marksmen were already suiting up, making sure to have their ghillie suits in place. The second I put my stuff down and got out my suit, a fellow marksmen helped me get my items in check before putting my ghillie suit on. I got some help making sure I looked not only presentable… well as presentable as a man wearing leaves, some straw, mud and a little bit of crap on the outer edge of the suit, can be; but I made sure I also looked very camouflaged.

“Attention!” We heard Master Sergeant Browski bark. We all snapped to attention in almost perfect unity with the exception of a Private. He had joined in at the wrong time, coincidentally when we were sent away from our planet. “Adese.” We all snapped our left leg at shoulder width, our left hand crossing the small of our backs in perfect unity, right hand on the barrel of the rifles.

“Today I have a very special mission for all of you. As you all know we aren’t on Earth anymore. We are in unknown territory and know only what the drones have told us about the landscape. You should all have enough ammo to get out of any jam that should come but remember, if you encounter a populace do not engage. The last thing we need is another war. Considering reinforcements will never arrive we’re going to have to keep our relations as best as we can. Staff Sergeant Lopez, has already had an encounter with the local populace, even saving a young one, will lead this mission. Am I clear!?”

All in unison, as if one person, we yelled, “Yes, Sergeant Major!” With that, we departed going into the thick woods.

-1 hour later-

We slowly ran through the forest. It was more of a fast walk to be honest. We continued on, our footsteps muffled by the dirt, and grass. The forest was humid, to say the least. Before it had been nice and cool but now it was warm and moist. Strange how weather works aint it? Anyway we continued on until we could clearly make out a clearing of the tree’s and the large romps of marching.

“Everyone stay silent, stay hidden. Let’s move in.” I ordered silently, jogging briskly forward yet still managed to stay silent. Once we were ten feet away from the clearing we stopped and spread out, looking through the bushes, just the a few pairs of binoculars glinting behind some leaves as the sun's rays tore through them.

We saw a battalion. A battalion of ponies, dressed in gold armor only covering their chests, backs and heads. There were roughly 6 companies. It was huge: 2 platoons each.

I continued to look on, in almost amazement, as a white pony trotted out to speak to her troops, her voice was regal yet loud. Soft, and motherly but so commanding and strong. It was beautiful in a sense.

“Hello, my little ponies, today we are set on finding the infamous human. He has committed crimes against equestria, even assaulting several elements of harmony,” She spoke “We need to find him so that he is punished and so that he can no longer harm the ponies of equestria. From what we could gather, he is a master of disguise, immune to magic, and technologically superior to us. We do have an advantage though, he is one and we are many. Together, and united, we shall bring this criminal to justice.” The crowd rang out with loud cheers as she finished.

“Damn she has a way with the crowd, probably would’a made me stand and cheer if I wasn’t the criminal.” I thought, looking around at the ponies surrounding the stage. There were three different kinds of ponies, earth ponies, winged pegasi, and unicorns. I grabbed my arm unconsciously seeing the pegasi. It may not have been a pony, but it sure as hell had wings. I let my arm go, and pulled back, hiding into the thick close-knit forest, before meeting up with the rest of my team.

In a whispering tone, I addressed them. “Well guys, guess we know that someone is a criminal. I guess I understand how i’m being considered a criminal... Here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna go. Just go. we’re gonna get back to base camp and tell them what we saw and heard. Am i clear?”

“Yes.” Several men spoke up, standing up a bit, before we all walked back towards the compost.

Silence surrounded us, as we walked back to base camp. The walk was just as long as before and we walked right in without much a problem. That was the beginning of a war unlike these ponies had ever seen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THREE MONTHS LATER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SSGt Lopez POV

I loaded another clip into my rifle when I heard the screams. They were the screams of terror. Time had gone by faster than the world could have imagined. The first few days of the war were simple enough. No casualties, no wounded and no attacks. It was a war of charting the unexplored land. The fight was slowly dwindling, until a scouting team had ran into a pony scouting party. It was a single bullet that changed the history of the country. No one actually knew what had happened. Only, rumors. I looked out onto the city before me, aiming through the city blocks firing upon any pony that appeared to be holding a weapon. During the day I saw all there was to see; mothers running with their children, stallions bringing up resistance, guards attacking marines, even a zebra holding off a small alleyway with nothing but martial arts and a bamboo staff before being taken down by a 5.56 NATO round. The ponies of course that weren’t killed were taken in as POW’s. Even I had to struggle with keeping soft soil out of it. That’s a story for another time though.

The rest of the ponies in the compounds weren’t tortured or killed or anything that the ponies were thinking, but they were kept in a large camp. We had them work for pleasantries like they would in a town. We gave them dollar bills, which we just started reprinting using the printing presses in the town, and they worked like anyone would. The children were placed in homes with regular families to try and instill some normalcy into their, already hectic, lives. It mostly went without a hitch, but sometimes some patrols needed to be called. Of course, the children could still see their families, but the visiting hours usually ended with some kids not being able to see their parents.

I looked across the town in time to see the last of the guards fleeing from it. This was their fourth time trying to take the town back. Originally, the POW’s were kept in town and let things go on like nothing was wrong but after some guards attacked we decided we had to move them back into the forest. The base wasn’t the first option, but after weighing our options it was the best option.

I stood up and walked forward. It was a silent walk only to get back to my regular vantage point atop the town hall. This vantage point had proven useful, for a good while now, but only now have I really appreciated it. Looking at the small calendar I had set up up there I saw that it was thursday. I felt happiness flow through my body as I aimed across the city again. I saw nothing but rubble.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

It had been two hours since I saw anything. A spotter had come to help me out but after seeing how silent the town had been he soon became bored. That’s what led us to this.

“I spy, with my little eye…. something… blue.” I said, looking 90 yards away at a small blue shrapnel of night guard armor.

“Is it…. that body?” he asked looking at a body that some grunts were moving.

“No.” I replied.

“Is it… that house?” he asked pointing towards a blue colored home down the street.

“Not the house either.” I replied.

This went on for a half hour before two soldiers came to relieve us. I was happy to go back to the camp, and to soft soil. I walked down the stairs and into a truck that drove a large amount of us back to camp. I looked out the side of the large truck and saw a batch of fresh recruits training hard. There were a few humans but mostly there were changelings. The human population was dwindling in people that were grown. There wasn’t many people, and seeing how our species was in danger, every one at the age of 14 entered their basic training. These changelings though. Man were they different. They were trained very young: at 8 I think. They trained in the basics of combat, sneaking and going incognito. They were out on the front lines and were perfect to help us in our war.

The truck came to a halt as we all jerked forward. I didn’t pay attention as I hoped out we were called into formation. The sun was in the middle of the sky when we were dismissed to

do our own accord. That was the worst 12 hour shift ever. I made my way into the bunk and put my rifle down along with my rucksack. I grabbed my towel and walked over to the showers.

After a good shower, I went back to my bunk and put on my cammies and walked out into the warm sun. I walked to the schoolhouse where I saw many kids playing around the fields waiting for their parents to pick them up. There hadn’t been much interaction between the foals and their “foster” parents in the first month of them being there but that changed after the first month. I saw a few ponies hug their “parents” as they came up and the occasional few would jump on them as well. They had soon became closer to each other than before, but i’m sure many of them hurt about this whole incident. Turning my attention back to looking for my filly it didn’t take long for me to find her.

“Robert!” I heard Soft shout.

“Hey softy,” I responded taking a knee and letting her hug me. “How was school?” I asked picking her up and leaving through the gates that served as the only opening into the school.

“It was fun, we learned how to add fractions today!” she started excitedly. “We also had a lecture about, uhhh, firearm safety and, and, and I even got to shoot one today!” she said excitedly. She also decided she wanted to sit on my shoulders so she ended up climbing on me while playing my head like a pair of bongos.

“Wow, that’s pretty cool.” I said looking up at her.

“Yeah, it was really fun.” she giggled happily.

“What weapon did you shoot today?” I asked curiously.

“I shot a, uhh, a M9 or uhh, hmmmm….” she started trying to remember something from within her memory.

“An M9 Beretta?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah! It was so awesome! It was really hard though, I had to use the tip of my hoof and I only got it to work by forcing it slightly…” she said as if she was a bit hesitant.

“Don’t worry, it’ll get easier with time.” I said as we entered the bunks.

“I guess,” she said jumping on the ruck. “it’s just so hard.”

“I know,” I said with a smile. “I mean it’s not like I have to have great aim for a living for anything.” I got into bed with her as she crawled to me and hugged me tight.

I sighed as I hugged her back. This had become somewhat of a habit for us, where, since I worked the night watches, i would go pick her up then come back to my ruck where we would sleep for a while and she would always love napping with me. I fell asleep as Soft nuzzled my chest and yawned before falling asleep as well.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

~15 hours later~

I looked out from the truck towards the convoy behind us. We easily had 4 infantry transport trucks, 4 M1A2’s, 2 M104s Wolverines (with assault bridges),3 AH-1 Super Cobras, 2 F/A 6 Hornets and 2 m270s. We were trying to gain a foothold in the country and, while there were many other options, we decided that the best place to attack Equestria was their capital. I Breathed a silent sigh as I looked at the moon. It shone brilliantly in the night sky and only reminded me of the falling temperature. Three months ago, it was nice and cool, now... its a frosty chill.

Looking around as we halted several miles away from the mountain that held the capital high above the ground. I mentally sighed as the convoy stopped to inspect the best route to look up the mountain. As I looked up, I saw the mountains and the moon. It only served as a reminder as to how the weather has changed over the few months. It had gotten much colder and now I thought about what we were all doing. Humans, the violent species from another world, Vs. Ponies, the love and tolerant species trying to stop the aliens. I mentally grimaced at what the POWs told me about their species. My first encounter, after Soft Soil of course, with these damn ponies wasn't very loving or tolerant at all. I was arguing with myself mentally when it happened. I felt nothing but heat and pain for several minutes before opening my eyes and seeing nothing but greyness, blood and burning soldiers as I tried to stand. I felt someone force me to lay on my back after i tried to stand up. I saw a recruits face semi-soaked in blood before he pulled something out of his pack. The next few seconds I felt nothing but the cold tingly feeling of nothingness grasp me before silence reigned king.