From Humans, to Cryptids, to... Ponies?

Chapters

The More You Know...
Chapter 2: A Warm Reunion
Chapter 3: Got Off On The Wrong...Hoof?
Chapter 4: No Better Freind, No Worse Enemy
Chapter 6:"Sweet" Apple Acres
Chapter 7: "Get Sum!"
Chapter 8: Meet Einstein's Personal Pony
Chapter 9: So Many Questions
Chapter 10: Vultures, Drones, And Sentries, Oh My!
Chapter 11: Make You Believe...
Chapter 12: A Helluva Discovery
Chapter 14: Forgive And Forget
Chapter 15: A Royal Pain
Chapter 16: Operation: Sand Viper
Chapter 17: Home Sweet Home.. Kinda
Chapter 18: Apples and Hives
Chapter 19: Marine vs Pegasus
Chapter 20: A Blast From The Present
Chapter 21: Killjoy
Chapter 22: Some Things Never Change
Chapter 23: A Biological Disaster
Chapter 24: De-Contamination
Chapter 25: Just Another Day
Chapter 26: More Questions, More Minds-Blown
Chapter 27: Meet The 'Night Stalkers'
Chapter 28: Someone's Gonna Cut 'Em Down
Chapter 29: When Strykers Stryke
The More You Know #2
Chapter 30: New Friends
Chapter 31: Welcome to Paradise
Chapter 32: Kill First, Ask Questions Later
Chapter 33: UGV (Unidentified Ground Vehicle)
Chapter 34: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Chapter 35: Misconceptions
Chapter 36: Bragging Rights
Chapter 37: Mad Devil Dogs
Chapter 38: Eavesdropping
Chapter 39: Looks Can Be Deceiving
Chapter 40: Back In The Day
Chapter 41: Cake-Eaters
Chapter 42: What's In Store For Us
Chapter 43: What's In Store For Them
Chapter 44: New Toys
Chapter 45: A Thought For Thoughts
Chapter 46: Aviation, Weaponry, and Spontaneity: Part 1
Chapter 47: Tying Up Loose Ends
Chapter 48: Oops...
Chapter 49: MEDIC!
Chapter 50: All Inside...
Chapter 51: Back From The Brink
Chapter 52: Weaponry and Spontanity: Part 2
Chapter 53: The Cryptids Are Coming...
Recommendations and Your Thoughts!
Update: A Bit Of News... (And Vodka!)
Prologue
Chapter 1: This Looks Familiar...
Chapter 5: They Are Everywhere
Chapter 13: Same Shit Different Day

The More You Know...

Author's Note

(As of December 4, 2016, this chapter has been edited)

For those of you who know about Extinction, the characters you play as aren't really given any background info on them. So I decided to get a bit creative and give 'em a bit of information on who they are and their load-outs. Hope you guys don't get bothered by this, but hey.. The More You Know.. :) This chapter's optional in case you're curious to know them more. So just wait until the next chapter! (And sorry for the unholy Wall 'o Words and repeated usage of 9/11. I do NOT in ANY WAY attempt to mock or disrespect that day nor the event. Hope you're not offended. And sorry for giving the south a bad taste and that one part about the Muslim guy. Again I don't mean to insult anyone or their religion or their residence

The More You Know...

Sergeant Marcus "Hunter" Ramirez
Age: 22
Weight: 221lbs
Height: 6'4ft
Born on: July 4, 1994, South Central Los Angeles

Weaponry: Remington R5 with a custom Red Dot Sight, vertical grip, and 35 round magazine, his great grandfather's M1911 .45 with a leather grip and rust chrome tint, KSG-12 with slug rounds, Red Dot Sight and muzzle brake, 5 M48 flash-bang grenades, 3 M18A1 Claymore mines, and 4 M67 Frag grenades

Marcus Ramirez was born on a poor neighborhood ruled by gang violence, police brutality, ect. His family was rather poor and was heavily involved in gang activities and drug trafficking, since his father was involved in the drug trade in Mexico. He got heavily involved with the Bloods and Crips as his own gang tried to survive the seemingly endless drive-by's and shootouts. It was on September 11, 2001 where Marcus saw what happened to his fellow countrymen. He made a secret promise to himself that he would join the Marine Corps when he had the chance, not wanting to allow any of this to happen again. He wanted to protect his family, friends, and citizens the best way he knew how. Marcus was 12 years old when his father and brother, Carlos Ramirez were gunned down by a Blood member, who was never found and brought to justice.

He was the first to arrive on the scene as he held his brother and father close to him as they bled out in his arms. That moment shattered his life for a very long time, he became non-social, depressed, and vowed to kill every last Blood member until he found the man. He never did. His mother, however, was really the only thing he cared about in his life, protecting her at all costs. At age 14, he found his mother in the basement of his home, with her head and right arm cut clean off. After that, he could take no more. He did not want to go on in his life, since he thought he had nothing to live for. He tried to commit suicide several times until he was finally able to clear his mind when he met a girl named Jamie Rodriguez.

He was finally able to recover from all of the horrible things he experienced in his childhood, that and watching a cartoon show named, "My Little Pony". He never told anyone he watched it. He was a "Closet Brony". He feared his reputation of being tough and brave would fall before him if anyone knew. Not even Jamie knew.

With the strong resolve of his grandfather's past and the events of 9/11 still fresh in his mind, when he turned 18, he decided it was finally time to enlist. His girlfriend, however, didn't want him to go, but she understood why he wanted to do it. After going through Officer Candidates School, he was sent on his first tour in Afghanistan where he met Jackson and Kayla, but was reassigned to the USMC's Marine Special Operations Regiment (MSOR), and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his acts of valor during the Tel Aviv War.

After a couple years, he finally proposed to Jamie, who, you guessed it, said yes. But things took a turn for the worst. After finding out about the cryptid outbreak in Caldera Peak, Colorado, he was more devastated to find out that Jamie was there to visit some relatives. He waited anxiously for any news about the survivors. The media and military intel confirmed that there were no survivors during the outbreak. Including Jamie. This made Marcus re-enlist to join the newly formed Rapid Reaction Force, along with Jackson and Kayla, who also had family there. They were assigned to be under the command of Godfather Castle, in his own special group called CIF Team 1...

Notes: Constantly puts the ones he cares for ahead of himself, regardless of the situation, which can lead to reckless, foolhardy behavior. Blames his shortcomings due to the loss of his brother and his mother. Tends to hides his true feelings through humor or sarcasm. Before the events at Caldera Peak, he was still doing as much as he could to investigate his brother's and his mother's murder case and bring some sort of closure.

Due to his past, he suffers from chronic insomnia. Ramirez is at high risk of developing acute symptoms such as muscular weariness, hallucinations and/or double vision. His teammates monitor him very closely. (Is based on the Tank class.)

Corporal Jackson "Lightweight" Torres
Age:21
Weight: 198lbs
Height:5'6ft
Born on January 1, 1995, Mobile, Alabama

Weaponry: M27-IAR w/ foregrip, flashlight, and hair trigger, Beneli M1014 w/ chrome barrel, flashlight, pistol grip and adjustible stock, and his own "bean bag" rounds, a SIG Sauer P226, 5 AN-164 Thermite grenades and 4 blue flares.

Jackson was born to a fairly decent family, aside from his two sisters, his life was pretty average. As one might expect, he wasn't really born to a racist neighborhood. In fact, no racism was shown where he lived. Until September 11, that all changed. His neighborhood was mainly consisted of those with an Islamic background.

Later during the night of that dreadful day, riots broke out in the neighborhood, he was looking through his window as he saw some white people burn down his neighbor's house, who was a Muslim. He then saw the man run out of his burning house, on fire himself as he rolled on the grass, trying to snuff the flames. The neighbors didn't take kindly to this, as they beat him brutally until the fight was broken up by the sound of sirens in the distance. After about a month, he and his family moved to New York to escape the terrible neighborhood.

When he arrived, his family visited the ruins of the WTC, he wanted to do something to help his country, but didn't know what to do. He moved on, turning into a high school football legend. He was satisfied with his life, but eventually he turned down a scholarship to Notre-Dane, and instead joined the Marine Corps, finally able to help his country after all those years, becoming a combat engineer. After a while, he met Marcus and Kayla and worked in several missions. He also found out about the Cryptid outbreak. His two sister were in Caldera Peak during the time, only to find out his sisters didn't survive the outbreak. He then joined the newly formed Rapid Reaction Force and the special group, CIF-1...

Notes: Has a knack for putting people at ease, always appearing comfortable despite any situation. He constantly strives to make sure that those around him are taken care of and feel safe and is highly protective of people close to him. (Is the equivalent of the Engineer class.)

Specialist Kayla "Prowler" West
Age: 22
Weight: 154lbs
Height: 5'5
Born on February 3rd, 1994 Manhattan, New York

Weaponry: MR-28 marksman rifle w/hybrid sight and extended magazine, AAC Honey Badger w/extended magazine and under-barrel 12-gauge shotgun, standard issue M9 Berreta, 3 M18A1 Claymore mines, and her stainless steel, 9-inch, black tinted combat knife.

Kayla was born in New York herself. She was just an average girl and was an only child, since her parents thought "one was enough".
Her father was a businessman and worked in the World Trade Center, and her mother was a kindergarden teacher, giving her a boost in her intelligence. On September 11, her life was shattered when 2 passenger jets hit the towers. She was in her classroom when this happened. She knew that not only her father was there, but her mother took her class to a field trip to the top of the second tower.

She moved in with her grandparents near Buffalo. She attended school there and became close friends with Jackson. She became the number one female wrestler in her high school's history and was the best swimmer in her grade, beating even the senior swimmers when she was a freshman. After graduating, she enlisted to the Marines with Jackson. Since combat exclusion rules were lifted for females, she became a deadly marksman(markswoman?) and ended up in the same group as Marcus and Jackson. After hearing about the outbreak, she re enlisted to join the R.R.F and ended up in the same team as the other guys. She knew they couldn't live without her amazing sniping skills..

Notes: Her military training as a highly trained sniper has left West with an inflated ego. She can be aggressive, impulsive, and overly confident. She is quick to action, which can be an asset or fatal depending on the situation. (Is based on the Weapon Specialist class.)

Private First Class James "Lucky" Thompson
Age:19
Weight: 173lbs
Born on April 1st, 1996 Buffalo, New York

Weaponry: M4 Carbine w/ foregrip and EO Tech optic, R870 MCS w/ flashlight and muzzle brake, a looted Panzerfaust with 3 rockets, 4 M67 grenades and a standard issued combat knife.

James was born with an average family and had an average life, also being an only child. The only thing that was unique about him was his intelligence, already knowing his multiplication tables before finishing 2nd grade, therefore his maturity level was higher. But it came at a cost. He was consistantly bullied and beaten up long into his junior year in high school. He went to the same school with Jackson and Kayla. He didn't have many friends, so he developed a caring passion for animals, dogs and ponies especially.

He was also what was called a "Brony". When his secret was discovered, his bullying problem grew worse. Jackson then one day stood up for the kid. Everyone was shocked that the best, well known football player stepped up for James. Since then, him, Jackson, and Kayla were best friends until they left for the Marines. He then proceeded to try to become a doctor, but the urge for him to enlist grew bigger every day until he eventually gave in and signed up, believing that sitting behind a desk was not the way to save a person's life. He then reunited with high school friends and met Marcus along the way. After hearing about the outbreak, he followed in his friends' footsteps and joined the R.R.F, winding up in CIF Team 1...

Notes: Is a proficient field medic but is very quiet and keeps to himself for the most part. Only talks when necessary and prefers to let his actions speak for themselves. Is highly protective of his team mates and will usually follow them wherever they go, wanting to stay close to those he knows and trusts. (Is based on the Medic class.)

Chapter 2: A Warm Reunion

Author's Note

(As of July 31, 2017, this chapter has went through moderate changes.)

(If you'd like to see the original, un-edited version of this chapter, click this link. I will be doing this for every chapter from here on out. As I edit more and more chapters, there will be a link at the very end of each doc that will lead directly to the next or previous un-edited chapter. I should have done it for the first chapters before this, but better late than never. :twilightblush: )

2 words: Dirty. Harry. :rainbowdetermined2:

Chapter 2: A Warm Reunion

"I come in peace, I didn't bring artillery. But I am pleading you with tears in my eyes: If you fuck with me, I'll kill you all."-Marine General James Mattis, to Iraqi Tribe Leaders

About 1 mile away from Marcus' position...

Kayla slowly opened her eyes, covering them due to the multiple rays of sunlight hitting her face from the treeline above. She hissed slightly and looked down at the ground, a shocked expression slowly formed on her face.

"I'm!...I'm alive...?" She asked herself quietly, feeling the grass with her hands, before quickly crawling backwards in a sudden panic, backing into a tree which made her gasp and look up at the treeline, as well as noticing the cave a couple yards away from her.

"H-how the...but...wh...I..."

Kayla tried to calm herself down, almost convinced that she had either officially lost her mind or that she's in a sort of heaven. As she looked around, she noticed a majority of her equipment and weapons splayed out on the ground, in relatively good condition.

She slowly stood up, trying to make sense of her current situation and control her shaky breathing, "Gotta...gotta find the others...agh..." She groaned and reached for her weapons, quickly picking up her MR-28 and checking the magazine, which was full, as well as doing the same with her Honey Badger, with the same results.

"Still have everything..." She muttered, patting her person as she double checked to make sure she had all her equipment, as well as grabbing her radio, "Guess I can't really complain about that..."

Before Kayla could speak into her radio, she heard a loud, painful groan beside her.

"Agh, damn...where the...what?!"

Kayla recognized from anywhere, "Jackson...!" She turned and saw Jackson laying on his back, slowly lifting himself up. Kayla quickly made her way towards him and began to help him up, feeling a small wave of relief come over her at the sight of her friend.

He groaned again, looking up and almost falling back down when he saw Kayla, relief flowing over him, "Kayla...? Oh thank God. I thought I was the only one here..."

As Jackson got up, he looked around, also trying to take in the fact that they're now in a forest, "...where the...how did we even get here? Where is this place?..."

"I'm about as lost as you are, Jacks...panicking won't do us any good."

"Right...right. It's just so...I don't know what to think right now. Am I the only one you found?"

"Yeah. Marcus isn't anywhere to be found here, and Thompso-"

"Wha...agh...I...-"

Kayla and Jackson both quickly turned around and saw Thompson keeled over, vomiting as he tried to maintain his balance. They both quickly went and helped the medic back up on his feet after he finished. Jackson checked him for any visible injuries, while Kayla patted his back. "Christ...looks like you had a full meal before we even came here."

Thompson coughed a couple times and spoke quietly, "I uh...ugh, I had a couple MREs before we arrived at Exodus, remember?"

"Yeah," Jackson chuckled, "you ate the last chicken fajita pack I called dibs on."

Thompson just smiled a little and was slowly walked over to a relatively flat tree stump for him to sit on. Kayla handed him his canteen, which Thompson gratefully and quickly took, twirling off the cap and drinking from it, drinking almost all of it before handing it back to Kayla.

"Ah...th-thanks."

"Damn...looks like we're gonna have to find some sort of stream or pond to refill." Kayla muttered, barely drinking enough for herself and Jackson.

"Sorry...my throat burns a bit is all."

"No worries man," Jackson smiled, "How ya feeling now?"

Thompson rubbed the side of his head to get rid of his dizziness, "Like I drank for two days...nonstop." He then proceeded to vomit again, this time over his shoulder.

Jackson picked up his own gear and weapons, as well as Thompson's. "So...any of you know why we're not dead? And why all of us have our gear?"

Kayla shrugged, looking above them, the sunlight barely gleaming through the dense treetops, "Maybe the whole MEDUSA device...teleported us somehow? Like, maybe we're just in the forests of Maine or something? Somewhere the Cryptids haven't overran yet?"

Jackson and Thompson both thought about this. They knew that even before the detonation of the MEDUSA device, there were still plenty of military forces fighting the Cryptids all across the world, especially in the United States, even if it was all a war they couldn't win.

"Well, if that's really the case, then where the hell is Marcus?" Jackson spoke up. A long silence fell onto the three, thinking about where exactly their squad leader could be.

Thompson then spoke out, a hint of fear in his voice"...what if he...didn't make it? Or didn't get teleported with us here?"

Jackson thought about it for a good minute, but doubt took over and he shook his head, "Nah...nah, I doubt it. He must be here somewhere. Think about it, it's too much of a coincidence for all three of us to be teleported so close to each other."

"Well, none of us know that. I mean, all we knew about that thing was that it could fry the brain of any Cryptid. We never even knew it could teleport us, let alone put us all in one location." Thompson countered.

"True...but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to at least look for him around here."

"I never said we shouldn't. I wanna find him as bad as you guys do, bu-"

"Guys, guys, hold on..." Kayla spoke up, looking upwards at the treeline, barely making out a faint line of smoke through the dense forest rooftop. She then slowly grabbed her MR-28 and adjusted the hybrid sight on it, getting a much clearer and less obstructed view on the line of smoke. As she pointed it out to the others, who could also see it, but not as clear as her, she began to speak.

"There...a line of smoke...north-east of us. I know it's a bit of a long shot but what if Marcus made some sort of a camp?"

Thompson then came up with his own theory, "Or maybe a distress signal?...even if it's not him, maybe it's some survivors? Or some cabin dwellers who could maybe help us?"

"Good point..." Jackson then asked Kayla, "How far do ya think it is?"

Kayla thought for a moment, then estimated, lowering her MR-28, "About 2 or 3 clicks west from here...we should get going before it gets dark. From the looks of it..." She looked up towards the direction of the sun, as best she could, "...we have about two hours of daylight left.

Jackson whistled slowly then spoke in surprised tone. "Already, huh? Guess time does fly by when you're having fun."

"Wait..." Thompson spoke up quietly as he also observed the position of the sun, "Wasn't it around morning when we arrived at Exodus?"

"What does that have to do with this?" Kayla grunted as she stood up and collected her gear. "We're wasting time on this, let's just get moving!"

"No, like, if we are in America still, like in Maine, there should still be a good seven or eight hours left of sunli-"

Before he could finish, the trio heard a series of howls, followed by an ear-piercing scream.

Kayla spoke in worry, "You think that was Marcus...?"

Jackson laughed, trying to otherwise hide his nervousness, "C'mon, really? Since when does he scream like a little bitch?"

Kayla was about retort, but heard a familiar sound echo through the forest...

Gunshots...

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Dash has been following the strange creature at a moderate distance for quite a while, and despite having possibly been the first pony in history to find some sort of alien life, she was bored and annoyed out of her mind. She looked up to the sky and saw that the sun was setting, relatively quickly

"Ugh!...maybe I should just tie this thing up and see if Twilight knows anything about it..." She began contemplating on whether she should just show herself to the creature and knock it out or something, until she heard more howls that broke her train of thought.

"Yeah...it's probably for the best. I hate being out he-"

Until she also heard a scream that she immediately recognized...

Rainbow then quickly paused mid-flight with a look of horror and worry on her face, "F-Fluttershy?..."

She quickly looked around, having lost sight of the creature in the dense forest. She then heard more screaming and quickly calculated the direction it came from. Rainbow quickly flew under the treeline, gaining a couple scratches from the loose branches as she followed a trail that contained the weird creatures' footsteps.

Then, as she flew beyond a couple bushes, she finally spotted Fluttershy, cowering herself back onto a rotting tree, surrounded by the charred bodies Timberwolves, as well as the creature crouched in front of Fluttershy, holding the weird long, tan object and seemingly aiming it at Fluttershy herself.

"No...no, no, nononono! Rainbow Dash flew speedily towards the creature, anger and a determination to save her friend flowed through her veins as she pulled back both of her hooves, ready to pin and punch the creature for all she was worth.

"DON'T YOU BUCKING TOUCH HER!"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marcus' P.O.V

Marcus kept his R-5 up the whole time as he ventured deeper into the forest. He needed to find his squad. Fast. He took note as to how quickly it was getting dark, at how fast the sun was setting, at how unnatural everything seemed.

"I'm not going to die in the middle of a fucking...forest..."

After walking for what seemed like hours, he heard another pair of howls, only this time it was much closer.

"Pinche mierda...that was way too fucking close..."

Marcus slowly walked towards some bushes and went prone, waiting and hoping the wolves would not catch his scent or notice him, clutching his R-5 tightly and keeping his breathing quiet and at a minimum.

He then noticed shadows in the distance, and what looked like wolves, 7 of them, but there was something off about their appearance...

They were made of wood.

Marcus was in absolute shock, so much so that he gasped "What the...fuck? Wood?...I'm REALLY starting to wonder if this is another planet...or if I've completely lost my mind..." He mumbled, but concentrated on what the wolves were doing. It seemed they were surrounding something, since they were snarling and growling.

He then heard a scream, and saw what their prey was.

A yellow horse with a pinkish mane. With wings.

And it fucking screamed.

Marcus was confused beyond belief, on the verge of completely losing it, if he wasn't already. "What...the fuck..." He subconsciously said out-loud. The wolves turned to the source of the noise, and started toward the bush he was in, their heads hunched down as their growls grew louder and closer.

"Aw shit..." He thought, then he quickly switched the safety off his R-5 into semi-auto and quickly stood up on his feet, stepping out of the bush, startling the wolves and making them back up a little bit as Marcus stepped forward, away from the bush. He then raised his Remington up to him, aiming at the wolves.

"Thank god for incendiary." He thought with a small smirk and pulled the trigger. The rounds flew out of the barrel at subsonic speed, impacting the wolves, immediately setting them alight on impact, making the wolves howl in pain as the flames engulf them.

Marcus proceeded to take down 4 of the 7 wolves in quick succession, the 2 remaining wolves panicking and running back into the woods, not wanting to turn up the same way the others did. He lowered the R-5 when he turned at the horse, who was shaking like it just came out of swimming in the Arctic.

He proceeded to walk towards it slowly, trying not to seem as intimidating, "Hey...uh...you're okay now. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

The horse only yelped and jumped back, its eyes unusually huge and looked like it was about to have a heart attack.

Marcus spoke even softer, reaching his gloved hand out to it, as a gesture of peace and friendliness, "I'm not going hurt you, I swear on my life. Just come out. Do you have any injuries on you?..."

The horse slowly relaxed and looked at his hand, contemplating on whether she should take the odd creature up on his gesture, But before she could, Marcus heard a loud, raspy voice behind him.

"DON'T YOU BUCKING TOUCH HER!"

"...bucking?..." He wondered as he quickly turned to the source of the voice, only to be met with two hooves grabbing onto, launching him forward and being forcefully pinned onto the tree by a strong creature.

He opened his eyes and coughed, dazed and barely able to make out the creature, only to be staring at something that completely made him lose his last bit of sanity.

Another fucking horse with wings.

After the dust settled, he looked at the horse clearer, noticing it had cyan fur and rainbow hair, and its eyes looked fierce, burning with a desire he couldn't quite pin point at the moment. The magenta coloring only making it look more menacing and determined.

Marcus shook his head and his training kicked in. He head-butted the cyan horse right as it was pulling back its hoof to punch him, making it stumble back and fall onto its back. He took this to his own advantage and pinned the horse's forelegs with both of his legs and took out his KSG-12 from his back, pumped it once and aimed it at its forehead, seeing its eyes widen in both shock and anger.

"Just give me a reason to blow your fucking head off..." He thought, breathing heavily, but the creature swiftly headbutted him back. It barley fazed him, but it was too late, the horse slipped from under him and took a defensive stance several feet away from Marcus, wiping its mouth with its forehoof, its wings fully extended and it was breathing in and out from its nostrils like a bull. So much so, that he could have sworn he saw steam coming out of them.

Needless to say, the horse was pissed.

Marcus took this opportunity to shout at the horse, willing to get some answers "Who and what in the flying fuck are you?!"

The horse was taken aback by the sudden shout, but regained its composure. It spoke with anger in its voice "Someone you don't wanna buck with, pal."

Marcus smirked and gripped his shotgun tighter, "Try me."

The horse replied with a smirk of its own, "I feel like I could take you on and buck you to Tartarus and back. And I feel more than lucky to get the opportunity to whoop your flank for you trying to hurt my friend here." It growled.

Marcus didn't know what Tartarus was, but he guessed it was some sort of equivalent to hell, "I wasn't trying to hurt your friend...I saved from those...things."

"Liar! You wanted her for yourself, that's why you killed the Timberwolves! It explains why you were aiming that...thing at her. You monster." She growled, pawing her hoof, as if she was ready to tackle him.

Before the cyan horse even could however, several footsteps came from behind it. When it turned around, her defensive stance faltered as she was greeted with three other similar creatures, holding similar weapons as the one it was about to tackle. All three of them were holding their weapons tightly, daring the horse to make a move.

Marcus couldn't help but smile proudly and laugh in both relief and pride at seeing his squad. He then spoke in a more cocky voice.

"I suggest you stay where you are if you don't want an early grave dug for you."

Chapter 3: Got Off On The Wrong...Hoof?

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 4: No Better Freind, No Worse Enemy

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 6:"Sweet" Apple Acres

Reminder: If anything has the word 'sweet' in it, run.

Marcus opened his eyes and yelled, swinging his right arm to whatever touched him, his fist only hit air as he felt something move away from his side, then a raspy voice spoke in surprise.

"Woah! What the hay, dude?!"

Marcus, breathed heavily and looked to his left, seeing Rainbow Dash with a look of surprise and a bit of anger, and the rest of his squad still sound asleep. He then shook his head and rubbed his eyes to recover from what just happened in his dream. He then apologized.

"Uh.. sorry Rainbow, I had a.. well nightmare to say the least.. what were you doing next to me?.." Marcus asked confused.

Rainbow scratched the back of her head with her forehoof, blushing slightly "Uh.. s-sorry. I got. Well. Cold. We're in a cave, after all. And the rocky floor doesn't really help anyway."

Marcus nodded and stood up "Ok, good enough." He silently chuckled and walked to his squad.

"If only I had my IPhone with me right now.." He thought with a shit-eating grin, but instead shouted this at the top of his lungs:

"WAKE THE FUCK UP YOU WEAK SCUMBAGS OR I WILL SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK!" Marcus yelled, he didn't remember the full sentence The Gunny said from F.M.J, but he didn't care, as it still proved good results.

"What the HELL, man?!" Kayla said as she checked her ears in case they were bleeding

"Ugh.. screw you, Marcus.. I was having a good dream, you ass!" Thompson yelled as he stood up, rubbing his eyes.

Jackson slowly stood up, yawning and stretching. He then looked at Marcus, who looked shocked "Hey dude...what? You looked surprised. Heheh.."

Marcus just stood there, not even breathing for a couple seconds, but spoke up, the shock clearly showing as he spoke "But...wha..the.. .how?"

Jackson just chuckled as he walked to his backpack "What? You know I'm a heavy sleeper. Maybe next time, dude. At least you got Kayla and Thompson. Hell, even Fluttershy didn't even wince! Nether did Rainbow!"

Marcus responded "That's cause they were already awake. You watch you back, thought. I'm not done yet." He grinned manically, as Jackson just rolled his eyes and gave him the finger."

Rainbow walked up to Marcus "He's right though, you did kinda fail."

Marcus gave her a look "Whatever.. I got plans.." His grin returned as he packed his things. He stopped for a second, thinking about telling the squad about his dream. He shook it off, thinking it was just a flashback "But why did it show a mine shaft instead of a hive? Unless-" His thoughts were cut off when Rainbow called out to him.

"Hey, Marcus! We're ready to go! You coming or staying?" She said impatiently, hovering and crossing her forehooves.

Marcus put his backpack and his weapons on his back and walked to the squad "Yeah, I'm ready. You know where to go?"

Rainbow nodded "Yep, we just gotta go North-West and we'll be at the farm before late morning."

Marcus replied "Ok, lead the way then."

The squad then followed Rainbow into the forest, with Jackson and Marcus walking beside the rest in case something else decided to attack them on the way.

...

After a couple hours of silence, Jackson spoke to Marcus "Hey dude, you think we'll be able to go back to Earth?"

Marcus looked at him confused "Go back? Why the hell would we do that? For all we know, Earth is already taken over by those cryptid fucks.. and if it's not, you remember when the president gave the orders for "Scorched Earth"? Our home is nothing but a ruined wasteland now.. ruled by those Godforsaken cryptids, man.." Marcus said the last part sadly and quietly.

Jackson decided to not push the subject further, since him reminding Marcus about all that he lost was more than enough for a day. Or the rest of his life. So they just resumed walking in silence.

Rainbow Dash's P.O.V

Rainbow was flying at her normal pace towards Sweet Apple Acres, but couldn't help but eavesdrop on what Marcus and Jackson were talking about. After their conversation ended, she started wondering.

"Cryptids?...Scorched Earth?... ruined wasteland? Where the hay did these guys come from?.. I doubt they mean Earth ponies. Maybe I'll ask them later after I take them to Twilight's place... "

She flew higher, and saw several apple trees that made her mouth water at the sight alone "Finally.." She thought as she flew back down to tell the rest

"Hey, the farm's just up ahead! I'll meet you guys there!" She flew off to the closest apple tree she could see.

Rainbow took an apple from the tree and immediately bit into it, relived she finally had something to eat. She looked behind her and saw the squad jump over the wooden fence. She swallowed and spoke "Imma go get my friend Applejack and introduce you guys to her. Maybe she'll make some breakfast or something."

The squad nodded as she flew off to the barn.

Marcus's P.O.V

Marcus looked up at the apple tree and pulled an apple from it, he saw that it was ripe and ready to be eaten. He bit into it.

"Oh my GOD...this is fucking tasty as hell!" He thought, never has he eaten a better apple in his life, it was perfect. Either that, or he was just too hungry to even care. He could literally eat shit right now and think that it was good.

He then heard an angry, feminine voice behind him with a slight Southern accent.

"HEY! WHAT THE BUCK ARE YOU DOIN' WITH MAH APPLES YA VARMIN!"

"Oh God.." Marcus thought. He turned around, only to be bucked right in the crotch.

Author's Note

Sorry for the short chapter, I got a 110 degree fever.. so you know what that means!

A visit to the doctor! Whoop-De-Fucking Do!

Chapter 7: "Get Sum!"

"One does not simply kick a Marine in the balls.."

Marcus turned around and was kicked in the crotch. The kevlar surrounding his crotch did little to nothing as he doubled over, his hands covering his family jewels. His mouth was in the shape of an oval and behind his shades, his eyes were wide to a point where they could rival a pony's. The ironic part is that the kevlar had written words on it. The words spelled out "Get Sum!" across it.

Marcus then though "Wait.. why isn't it hurting? He slowly pulled his hands away, thinking the kevlar plate took the full force. Until the unholy pain hit him like a freight train "OOHH....NEVERMIND...OH SWEET JESUS-COVERED-IN-GRAVY, THIS FUCKING HURTS!!!" He then proceeded to pass out, of pain.

Rainbow Dash's P.O.V

Rainbow asked Big Macintosh were Applejack was. He said she was out in the orchard, bucking trees. She thanked Bic Mac and flew back to the guys, until she heard Applejack, who sounded very suprised and mad

"HEY! WHAT THE BUCK ARE YA DOIN' WITH MAH APPLES, YA VERMIN!?"

Rainbow then heard her hit something soft.

"Oh no.. the guys!" She flew speedily back to the group. What she saw when she arrived confirmed her fears. Marcus was on the ground, unconcious with a look of pain, and Applejack was getting yelled by the group, their black weapons aimed at her. Fluttershy was beside Marcus, trying to wake him up.

Rainbow flew in the middle of Applejack and the group "Woah, woah! Calm down, everypony. Tell me exa-" She was cut of by Applejack.

"Rainbow! Thank Celestia you're here! Can ya help me take these ape-things OUTTA mah FARM?!" Applejack said, putting emphasis on 'outta' and 'farm' as she glared at the guys.

Rainbow responed nervously "Actually A.J, I was gonna tell you if they could eat some of your apples. I'll pay you back, I swear!"

Applejack gave her a look "Wha- why? One of 'em looked like it stole one of mine!" She pointed at Marcus, who was still unconcious.

Fluttershy spoke up. "A-actually, he saved me from a pack of Timberwolves, saved all of us from a Manticore, and him and his freinds took me and Rainbow in to eat and sleep in a camp they made."

Applejack was suprised, but a bit unconvinced "Timberwolves? How many then?"

"Five outta seven." Rainbow answered. Applejack looked at Fluttershy, who nodded to confirm she was right.

Applejack sighed and spoke "Wow. Five? Darn, shouldnt've bucked him. Poor thang must be hurtin' alot."

Jackson spoke up "Well yeah! In case you didn't notice, you kicked him right in the groin! And he's out cold! Damn, he's gonna be pissed when he wakes up."

"Bucked in the groin by A.J? Ouch.." Rainbow winced a bit just thinking about it.

"Ah'm sorry ok!" Applejack exclaimed "Ah didn't know!"

Jackson replied "Yeh, but you don't simply kick a Marine in the balls."

Applejack asked "A wha-?"

Rainbow spoke up "Lets just say you'd rather have him as a friend than an enemy." She answered.

Jackson then chuckled "Don't worry about it. He'll forgive ya. He ain't that cold."

That statement was put to the test when they all heard a groan and Marcus' voice.

"Whoever kicked me is gonna get a faceful of buckshot.." He stated.

Fluttershy gasped, while Rainbow tried to stifle a laugh, and Applejack raised an eyebrow, looking back at Jackson

Jackson nevously chuckled "Eheheh.. maybe you should just apoligize to him now.."

Marcus' P.O.V

Marcus woke up, the pain was definatley there, he groaned and spoke "Whoever kicked me is gonna get a faceful of buckshot."

He then heard a gasp and stifled laughter. He put one hand on his groin and tried to kneel.

Marcus heard Jackson say something, but groaned again as he kneeled, putting a hand on his shades and taking them off, throwing them on the ground. He then heard the same voice from before he was kicked.

"Eheh.. hey there, partner.. you okay?"

Marcus looked up and immediatley recognized who it was "Applejack..heh... go figure."

He coughed a few times and replied "I've been better..ow."

Applejack smiled nervously "I'm sure ya have. Look, ah'm sorry for bucking your... yeah. Ah thought you were some monkey trying to steal mah apples." She said.

Marcus chuckled "Don't worry, I forgive you. But uh..could you bring me some ice or something cold, please?"

Applejack nodded "Sure thing, sugercube." She ran back to the barn.

Marcus looked at the group. Rainbow just straight up laughed when he looked at her.

"What? Did I say something?" Marcus asked, confused.

Rainbow spurted out "Buckshot?! HAHAHAH!" She laughed manically.

Marcus was still confused as hell, until Fluttershy whispered what it meant.

Turns out 'buckshot' is the same as 'cumshot'.

Marcus' eyes widened again as his face turned so red it could melt iron. This only made Rainbow laugh even harder, pounding her forelegs on the ground, literally ROFL'ing.

His squad immediatley put two and two together and laughed along with Rainbow. It was at that moment that Marcus facepalmed and learned a very valuable lesson...

...karma is a bitch.

Jackson then spoke up "So much for 'balls of steel', huh?" He laughed.

Marcus replied "Fuck you, at least I still got my balls, you pussy."

"And my 9-bangs.." He thought as he grinned manically.

Rainbow and Jackson said in unison "What're YOU smiling about?!" They said with shit eating grins.

Marcus replied, his grin still on him "Oh nothing. Just remember that karma's now in my favor..." He stated.

The laughter died down when Applejack came back with a pack of ice cubes.

Marcus took the bag "Thanks." He said as he turned and put the bag of ice in his pants.

"Aaah... that's better." He thought as he sat back down.

Thompson asked "Can you walk?"

Marcus replied "No, not for a couple hours.."

He heard Rainbow groan as Applejack asked a question "Why? Where ya'll headin' to?"

Marcus thought "I think you know why.." Then Rainbow spoke up

"I'm gonna take these guys to Twilight. Maybe she'll have some answers." She theorized

Marcus spoke up "Maybe you should bring her here. Unless you wanna wait like 4 hours, which I doubt you do."

Rainbow nodded "True... okay then, I'll be back in a bit. But be ready for a flank-load of questions. She's kind of an egghead." She warned.

"So I've heard.." Marcus thought, then responded "Don't worry, I think I can handle it."

Rainbow's eyes widened a bit, then she closed them, shrugged, and flew off to get Twilight.

"The fuck did I just say?.." Marcus thought.

Author's Note

There's a little easter egg with the name of a certain rapper in this chapter. Find it, and you get a cookie. :rainbowkiss:

Chapter 8: Meet Einstein's Personal Pony

"Curiosity killed the cat, but not the pony..."

After Rainbow Dash left to bring Twilight, the rest just ate their apples and looked around, until Marcus turned to Applejack and apoligized.

"Hey, um.. sorry for what I said back there. Didn't know that... well, buckshot meant what it meant here.." He said, as his face grew a bit red.

Applejack chuckled "It's all good, sugercube. But ah am curious though.."

Marcus swallowed "About?"

Applejack said "About y'all in general, but ah think Twilight's got that covered. But what does 'buckshot' mean where you're from?" She asked hesitantley.

Marcus put the apple on the ground, reached into the ammo pouch, and pulled out a single, red shotgun shell. He then held it infront of Applejack, who confused.

He then started to explain "See this? It's called a shotgun shell. Inside this little tube are a bunch of small, metal balls. You then insert this into this" He pulled his SPAS-12 from his back and into his lap "..small hole below the shotgun, pump this back and forth once, and when my finger clamps down on the trigger, the balls fly out of the barrel, and will hit whatever's standing in its way until a certain distance. To do that, you need a special ammuntition type called buckshot. There are several other types of ammunition, but buckshot is my perferred ammo."

Applejack slowly understood what Marcus said "Okay, ah kinda got it, but when you said your were gonna given a faceful of...buckshot, does that mean you were gonna shoot me?"

Marcus smiled and shook his head "Hell no, I said that metaphorically!"

Applejack still wasn't convinced "Meta-wha?"

Marcus rephraised "As in I wasn't actually gonna do it. I was fazed and mad when I said that. Nobody's gonna hurt anybody. Er, anypony for that matter.. did I say it right?"

Applejack gave him a look, then smiled and said "Ok, ah can tell you're being honest. And yeah, you said it right."

Marcus then put his SPAS-12 down and bit into his apple. He then complimented Applejack on the apples.

"I gotta say, these apples are the best one I've eaten in my entire life!"

Applejack replied "Why thank ya very much. We here at Sweet Apple Acres grow only the finest apples in all of Equestria!" She exclaimed proudly.

"I shecond that." Said Jackson with his mouth full. Everyone chuckled and continued eating in silence, until they heard hoofsteps, becoming louder and faster as they came closer.

Marcus stood up, put his shades back on, and looked down the drirt trail, barley making out two outlines. One being a pegasus, and the other looked liked a unicorn, with saddlebags overflowing with papers and quills.

Marcus lifted his shades "Mother of God..." as the figures got closer.

He then heard Rainbow Dash's voice "INCOMING TWILIGHT, BRACE YOURSELF!" She warned. Twilight then braked, making a screetching noise as she came to a halt, bumping into Marcus. She looked up at him, while Marcus smiled and said "Um... hi?"

Twilight's eyes got freakishly huge, then unloaded a salvo of questions upon Marcus..

"OhmyCelestiayouspeakourlanguagehimynameisTwilightSparklewhatsyourswhoandwhatareyouwhereareyoufromeareyoualoneareyouhungryareyouconfusedareyoukevinspaceyhowoldareyouwhereareyoufromwillyou-" She was cut off by Rainbow, who put a hoof in her mouth and was panting.

"Twi- *gasp* slow- *gasp* DOWN. He can't *gasp* UNDERSTAND YOU." She said in-between gasps.

Marcus smiled "She out ran you?"

Rainbow responded "When Twilight gets told something THIS nerdy, nopony can stop her. Not even me! I told you she was an egghead! You try stopping her next time!" She said in defense.

Twilight took Rainbow's hoof out of her mouth, and spoke "Nerdy?! Rainbow, this is the scientific discovery of the MILLENIUM. A new species! Perhaps an entire CIVILIZATION exists exclusivley just them!" She said as she got into Rainbow's face. Twilight collected herself and spoke to Marcus, who was deep in thought.

"What's left of our civilization.." He though.

"Heheh... sorry. Got a bit carried away there. Anyhow, let me introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia's Star Pupil and personal student." She exclaimed.

Marcus shook his head, nodded, and introduced himself "Pleasure to meet you, Twilight Sparkle. I'm Sergeant Marcus 'Hunter' Ramirez of the United States Marine Corps and member of the Rapid Reaction Force. Same goes with my squad over there." He pointed to his squad behind him "You can just call me Marcus or Hunter. Whichever you feel like."

Twilight nodded "And you can just call me Twilight! Also, who else did you meet here, besides me and Rainbow Dash?" She asked.

Marcus answered "I met Fluttershy and Applejack. Lets go back with the rest of our freinds and I'll answer your questions there."

Twilight replied, sounding very anxious to ask him questions. "Okay then!"

They walked back to the squad, who looked a bit nervous, but were still willing to answer any questions the lavender unicorn had to ask.

Marcus then turned to Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy "You girls might find this boring, so you all can go if you want. It'll be a while."

Rainbow replied "I.. actually want to know how you and your freinds got here in the first place." She admitted hesitantly.

"Me too.." Fluttershy said "...if you don't mind."

"Aw shucks, why not. Ah am kinda curious mah'self." Applejack said.

Marcus shrugged "Okay, but things might get sappy..." He then turned back to Twilight, who had a quill and paper ready.

"Ok Twilight, ask away."

Author's Note

Again, sorry for the short chapter. In the next chapter, the girls will know alot more about Marcus and the squad. And what Twilight has in her basement...

As for the cryptids... just wait a bit longer... :rainbowdetermined2:

Chapter 9: So Many Questions

"The Marines have it [Pride], and benefit from it. They are tough, cocky, sure of themselves and their buddies. They can fight and they know it."-General Mark Clark, U.S Army

"Ok Twilight. Ask away." Marcus said.

Twilight double-checked her quills and papers. Then dipped a quill in a small ink bottle and spoke "Before I really start, are you the leader of your squad over there?" She pointed a hoof at Marcus' squad.

"Yes, I am. In case you're wondering, I know quite a bit about them. I can answer for them." Marcus then turned to his squad "You guys don't mind, right?"

His squad shook there heads and each of them gave a thumbs-up.

"Okay then, great! Now, first question. Who and what are you exactly?" Twilight asked.

"We are called humans, or Homo-Sapiens, which is our scientific name. My name is Sergeant Marcus 'Hunter' Ramirez of the United States Marine Corps, or USMC for short, and member of the Rapid Reaction Force. Just call me Marcus or Hunter. Whichever you feel like."

Twilight stopped writing for a second "Fascinating... never thought I'd be intervewing an alien.. sorry, next question. Where are you from and where were you born?"

Marcus replied "A galaxy far-far away..." He smirked at the overused movie quote "...in a planet called Earth, with 7 continents, and 4 big oceans, splitting some apart. One of the continents was called North America, with 4 major countries. The biggest on was called the United States of America, which were basically 50 united states ruled under a Democratic government. One of those states was called California, in the city of Compton, near a bigger city called Los Angeles. I was born there.."

Rainbow spoke up "Compton? California? Sounds alot like Clopton, Coltifornia if you ask me.."

"Oh no, not the cheesy, city references!" Marcus thought, but then spoke "Does YOUR version of Compton have gang violence and drugs?" He asked.

Rainbow looked a bit suprised at the question "Um.. no. Clopton's pretty peaceful. Why? Does YOUR version of Clopton have those things?" She asked, playfully mocking him.

Marcus sighed "Oh yeah... plenty. That kind of stuff took my.." He stuttered "...my... can we switch questions please? I don't wanna talk about where I came from right now..."

Twilight quickly responded "Of course. Uh.. you mentioned being a Marine for your country. Is that like somepony who works with fish or something?"

Marcus regained his composure and chuckled lightly "Not exactly. See, the United States has a huge military, and I mean HUGE. They had the world's second biggest army, the biggest air force, and the biggest navy. I am part of the Marine Corps, which is a branch of the Navy, but we consider ourselves better than the standard army." He turned to his squad "Oorah?"

"Oorah!" They replied in unison.

Marcus chuckled and continued "I joined the Marine Corps the day I turned 18."

Twilight spoke in a bit of suprise "Woah.. ponies here sign up for the Royal Guard at age 23 or more. They won't accept younger than that."

Marcus continued "After I passed training, I worked up the ranks and joined the Marines Special Operations Regiment, or MSOR."

Rainbow spoke up again "What makes the...uh... MSOR different?"

"Well, for starters, only the best of the best Marines can join, and we do missions regular Marines can't handle. Like hostage rescues, takedowns, and assasinations." Marcus explained

"Wow.. a-assasinations? Like... killing?" She asked in suprise.

Marcus sighed again "Human history isn't all sunshine and rainbows no pun intended. Our history is filled with wars and gruesome battles. In fact, we've had two world wars and several others wars after it. I joined the Corps to defend my country, my people, and my freinds. I'd be more than happy to die for them. And I have killed, yes, when I was in the Tel-Aviv War. Was I proud of doing so? No. Did I enjoy it? No. It's a Marine's job to kill or be killed or get your buddy next to you killed. It changed me... but I did it because if I didn't, more would suffer, more would die... And before you ask, I won't even lay a finger on you girls. Nor will my squad."

Twilight seemed rather convinced, but Rainbow was in shock by what she heard. He basically told her that he killed for a living. But she knew there was more to it. She then came up with another question

"Why would people kill each other like nothing?"

"Rules, religions, belifs, politics, rescources, some just simply want to see the world burn... It was a cruel world... then, the cryptids showed up.." He said.

Twilight asked "Cryptids? What are those?"

Marcus answered "Well according to the scientists that studied them, these cryptid things were around longer than humans... 300 million years, I think. These things were found by a man named David Archer during one of his missions in an area called Swattee Valley, in a country named Pakistan. When the higher ups debreifed him, they though he was fuckin' crazy...until the cryptids showed up in the U.S during the war.."

Twilight scribblled furiously "Which state was it, California?"

Marcus explained "No, It hit the state of Colorado... when I got the news, I re-enlisted to join the newley-formed Rapid Reaction Force, or R.R.F. Along with my squad, we became part of the first CIF Team."

Twilight then pondered "So just the four of you, right? Were part of the Team?.."

Marcus shook his head and sadly spoke "No.. there were originally six, but they were... killed during one of our missions.."

Twilight gasped silently "I'm...so sorry.. I-"

Marcus cut her off "No need to apoligize. You didn't know. It's not your fault."

Rainbow then softly spoke "Can you tell us why you... joined the R.R.F?"

Marcus nodded and spoke to her "I joined because..." He became hesitant "..because..." He closed his eyes, exhaled and said coldly

"They took her away from me.." He said, gritting his teeth.

"Wh-who did they take away from you?.." Rainbow asked sheepishly.

"My fiancèe..her name was Lorita.. she helped me through my life.. my fucked up life.. I promised myself and to her that nothing would take her from me. She was like the sun slicing through the dark clouds of hell. My personal hell. I was gonna keep that promise. But those..FUCKING CRYPTIDS... killed her.. I wasn't there to help her. I only spoke to her.. I didn't see her for a year before. And I never fucking will! Why?! CAUSE THOSE FUCKS. KILLED. HER. AND KILLED EVERYONE ON THE DAMN PLANET!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, then put his hands on his face. Then coldly muttered

"I vowed that I'd kill every Godforsaken cryptid that dared to even look at me. We ended up here by sacrificing our lives so that a chosen few could live and pass on my vow.. but no matter how many of them I kill, I can't bring her back. I-" He was cut off when he felt several cyan feathers embrace him in a freindly, comforting hug. Along with the rest of the ponies. His squad also made a circle around them, making the hug even stronger. Marcus then returned the embrance with his own.

They stayed like this for about a minute, then let go.

"Thanks.. I needed that." He chuckled and smiled.

The rest smiled in return, then Twilight spoke up. "If you all don't mind, we could head back to my place for some lunch. I want to send this to Princess Celestia soon also."

Marcus smiled "Sure, just let us pack our stuff."

The squad started packing as the girls waited. Jackson walked with a big, black box full of ammunition, until he tripped over a rock, the box flew out of his hands, spewing rounds onto the ground.

Kayla walked to him and helped him up "You clumsy dumbass.." She joked.

Twilight went over to help by picking up the box. She turned it and noticed yellow words on it. They read:

7.62mm NATO Armor Piercing...

"7.62mm? Wait.. the stuff in the basement!" Twilight remembered as she called to Marcus..

"What's up?" He asked

"7.62mm, I saw this writing on some stuff in my basement!" She said excitedly.

"Wait, what?!" Marcus said, clearly shocked "Twilight, if you're serious, take us there ASAP." He then turned to his squad, who were picking up shells one by one. He turned to Twilight "Um.. can you help 'em out?"

"Of course!" She said, using her magic to levitate the shells off the ground and into the box.

Marcus yelled at the group, waving his hand over him "Okay people, lets go!"

Author's Note

What did you guys like/disliked about this one?

Oh and get ready for some singing next chapter. And alot of toys..

..deadly, self-controlled toys :pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 10: Vultures, Drones, And Sentries, Oh My!

After the group gathers their equipment and weapons, they start walking to Twilight's house. Then, Marcus came up with an idea and turned to his squad.

"You guys wanna jog the rest of the way and cadence?" He asked.

"Hell yeah! Let's do it!" Jackson exclaimed happily, the rest nodded and got into formation. Marcus turned to Twilight

"We're gonna jog to your house, jog with us if you want." He said.

"Okay, sure!" Twilight said, then turned to her friends and told them to jog next to the squad.

"Okay, let's jog. You know what to do, right guys?" Marcus asked his squad again.

"Yeah, let's do it!" They replied in unison. Marcus started jogging and then sang out loud for his squad to hear. They sang back the same line in unison, while the girls just jogged alongside and watched.

"Mama, mama, can't you see?"

"Mama, mama, can't you see?"

"What this Corps has done for me?"

"What this Corps has done for me?"

"Put me in a barber's chair.."

"Put me in a barber's chair!"

"Snip, snap, and I had no hair."

"Snip, snap, and I had no hair"

"And if I die in a combat zone!"

"And if I die in a combat zone!"

"Box me up and ship me home."

"Box me up and ship me home."

"Put me in a set of dress blues.."

"Put me in a set of dress blues!"

"Comb my hair, and shine my shoes"

"Comb my hair, and shine my shoes!"

"Pin my medals upon my chest!"

"Pin my medals upon my chest!"

"Tell my mama I did my best!"

"Tell my mama I did my best!"

"My mama don't you cry!"

"My mama don't you cry!"

"The Marine Corps motto is 'Do or Die'!"

The Marine Corps motto is 'Do or Die'!"

The girls were confused by the song, and a little saddened by the lyrics, but understood the feeling the song was trying to give. They stopped jogging and were looking down into a small town.

Marcus asked "Is this the place?"

Twilight answered "Yeah, just go and head straight through. The folks might look at you funny, but they're really nice once you fit in with the town. For now, they'll just be very confused and maybe scared."

Marcus nodded "It's all good. I'm sure they'll get used to us." He turned to his squad "How about we give 'em a first impression?"

They nodded and got back into formation. Marcus then jogged and sang out loud a different song.

"I used to sit at home all day!"

"I used to sit at home all day!"

"Letting my life waste away!"

"Letting my life waste away!"

"Then one day a man in blue!"

"Then one day a man in blue!"

"Said 'Son I got a job for you!'"

"Said 'Son I got a job for you!'"

"There's travel, adventure, and loads of fun!"

"There's travel, adventure, and loads of fun!"

"We'll even teach ya' how to shoot a gun!"

"We'll even teach ya' how to shoot a gun!"

"There's room and board and a plate of food!"

"There's room and board and a plate of food!"

"And a brand new tailored business suit!"

"And a brand new tailored business suit!"

"I used to drive a Bonneville!"

"I used to drive a Bonneville!"

"Now all I do is run up a hill!"

"Now all I do is run up a hill!"

"I used to drive a Chevrolet!"

"I used to drive a Chevrolet!"

"Now all I do is sleep in the hay!"

"Now all I do is sleep in the hay!"

"I used to drive a Cadillac!"

"I used to drive a Cadillac!"

"Now all I do is hump a pack!"

"Now all I do is hump a pack!"

As the squad sang and jogged through Ponyville, the ponies looked terrified, and yet awed at the weird creatures that suddenly appeared, but the thing that really confused them is that the Elements of Harmony were at their side, jogging. They were about to confront the creatures, until Rainbow Dash saw the looks on their faces, and spoke up to them.

"Hey, calm down, everypony. These guys are with us! They don't bite." She reassured the ponies looking on.

Some ponies just shrugged and went on with their day, but most just looked at the creatures in awe, as they reached Twilight's library.

Marcus looked at Twilight "Is this your place? A tree made into a house? Sick."

Twilight smiled "Yep, this is it. And thanks. Come on in!" She said as she opened the door, the squad walked in along with the rest of the girls. Marcus looked around. It was bigger than what he'd seen in the show. And alot more roomy.

"Nice place you have here. And that's alot of books.." Marcus drifted off as he looked around.

Rainbow flew up to him and whispered into his ear "Told ya she was a bit of an egghea-"

"A-HEM." Twilight said, cutting of Rainbow "I have ears too, you know!"

Rainbow flew down and apologized "Heheh... sorry, Twi." She said with a sheepish grin.

Twilight smiled slightly before continuing "Anyways, just place your stuff down near the couch. And I'll show you what I have in my basement."

Marcus and the squad nodded, letting their weapons lean on the wall, and dropping their equipment on the couch. Then following Twilight to basement.

"Okay, here's what's down here. Tell me if it's similar to anything you've seen or have." She said as she opened the door, letting the squad in.

"I'm sure it's nothing simila-" Marcus' words drifted away into nothing as his jaw dropped at what he saw.

What he saw completely made him both confused as hell and happy at the same time. Right there in front of his face, were eight M-5 Sentry Guns which had Armor Piercing rounds in a box magazine, 3 Self-Controlled Vulture Drones attached with M240 LMG's and 2 rocket pods on each, 4 Intelligent Munitions Systems that were fully loaded with 2 other canisters, a fucking Death Machine with what seemed like it was loaded, 4 rectangular phone-like devices to turn on the drones and sentries, a small drone with 6 Hell-fire missiles on its wings, a SOFLAM Laser-Designator, a wrist pad that shot out a grappling hook, and 2 IPhones.

Marcus and the squad were completely blown away "Wha... how.. my.. HOW?!" HOW DID YOU GET ALL THIS?!" He said, both confused as shit and happy.

Twilight answered nervously "Uh... I was learning a new spell that teleported things from somewhere to here.. I didn't know it was a trans-dimensional spell, I swear!" She exclaimed.

Then Jackson spoke up "Wait... are those IPhones?.." He asked

Twilight looked at him, confused "Um.. what are 'IPhones'?"

Jackson walked up to the devices, picking them up "Hey! Marcus! These IPhones here, there OUR IPhones!"

Marcus ran up to him, getting one of the IPhones "Seriously?! Dude, this is sick!" He turned on the phone, happy to see that it was at 100% battery. He typed in his password, then an image of the him and his squad showed up from back when they were in Camp Leatherneck, confirming it was his actual phone

Jackson then spoke up "And you thought I stole it, you rascist." He joked.

Marcus replied in defense "Hey, I thought you stole mine as payback from the night after!"

Twilight and the girls walked down to meet them, Kayla and Thompson were studying their new toys.

Rainbow walked up to Jackson and Marcus, looking at their devices "What are those and what do they do?" She asked

Marcus answered, not taking his eyes of his long-lost phone "Well, for now, it's only good for playing songs. And it's a good thing. I think I got like 3,000 songs here or something.. How 'bout you, Jackson?"

"I got like 2,000 or so. And my battery is full." Jackson answered.

Rainbow spoke suprised, but unconvinced "3,000 songs?! Pfft, that little thing? Show me then." She dared.

Marcus grinned and showed the device infront of her, she looked closely as he put his finger on the screen and slid it up, the screen scrolling through his songs seemingly endlessly. He saw Rainbow's eyes widen as it kept scrolling, he couldn't help but laugh and pull the phone back before she passed out or something.

"Believe me now?" He said, chuckling.

Rainbow was dazed, but then shook her head and nodded "Can you play a song? I wanna know if you humans have good songs."

Marcus turned to Jackson, who was grinning "You know what I'm thinking?"

Jackson nodded "Oh yeah, man.. what should we play?"

Marcus thought for a second, but then came up with a song "I got it! 2Pac?"

Jackson nodded "Ok, sure. I'll play it."

After the song ended, Marcus and Jackson looked at Rainbow for a response.

"It was actually really good. Can I borrow your... uh.. thing to play songs while I do stunts?" She asked

Marcus responded "Hell yeah! I got alot of good songs that'll make anything you do epic. But only if I can see you do the stunts."

"Deal" Rainbow said.

"Okay, but first thing's first.." Marcus said as he walked to one of the Vulture drones, grabbing the black rectangular device that turned them on as he went.

"Do these things work?" He said as he turned on the device and pressed the screen, turning on the Vulture machine and letting it hover in the air.

"Woah..." The girls said in awe as they saw the device hover. Then the Vulture's laser mounted on the M240 turned on and scanned the room.

"Um.. what is it doi-" Fluttershy was cut off as the laser aimed right between her eyes, her eyes were like pinpricks as she looked at the beam. The Vulture made a beeping noise, but before it could do anything, Marcus immediatley turned it off.

"Eheheh... sorry Fluttershy." He said.

Author's Note

I know the spell thing is a cliche.. but how else was I supposed to prepare the squad for the cryptid slaughtering that will come in about 3-4 chapters?

I MEAN... THERE... UM... I-

Marcus: You just let the cat outta the bag, dumbass..

Rainbow Dash: Oh yeah.. big time..

L.P: SO?! THEY KNOW CRYPTIDS ARE GONNA SHOW UP, THEY JUST DON'T KNOW HOW.

Rainbow Dash: Lemme guess... Ro-

Marcus: SHH! Don't spoil it!

Youtube vids belong to the rightful uploaders, not me.

Chapter 11: Make You Believe...

"You never know who's gonna take your life.. it could be that Haji over there.. or your new best friend.."-Unknown

Marcus picked up the Vulture Drone and placed it on the table, along with the pad. Applejack asked about the drone.

"What was it gonna do if ya didn't turn it off?" She asked curiously.

Marcus turned around and answered "You don't wanna know.. and again, sorry about that Fluttershy. But Twilight, did you turn them on at all before we were here?"

Twilight shook her head "No, I didn't even know you could with those black pads."

"Good, cause otherwise thing's would've gone downhill real fast." Marcus then saw another thing that caught his eye. A wrist pad with a grappling hook.

"Aw nice!" He said as he put it on his right wrist and turned it on, happy to see that it was in working condition "I got myself a new toy." He said to the group, who looked in confusion. Then Thompson spoke up.

"You ass, I was about to get that!" He said jokingly, but with a tinge of jealousy in his voice.

"Too bad. I never even knew grappling hooks existed. Well, one this small at least." Marcus said as he walked over to the Death Machine leaning against the wall.

"I still can't believe you teleported all of this.. including this thing!" He said as he lifted up the Death Machine by the grips, pressing a button and spinning it up. The barrels turned at an unholy rate as the girls watched in awe and horror.

Rainbow asked "What does that.. t-thing do?" She said nervously.

Marcus chuckled and said "You saw what I did with the wolves with that other weapon, right?" She nodded "Well, that would be nothing compared to this baby.. the weapon I used shot 631 rounds a minute. THIS thing shoots at about... 1,675 rounds a minute?"

Rainbow's eyes widened to an impossible size, and so did the rest of the girls. He just chuckled, released the button, and put it back down.

"Twilight, is it okay if we leave our stuff down here? I don't want anyone.. er pony, to be suspicious if we carry this, or any of our weapons in general. And you must promise me you will not touch them." He stated.

Twilight blinked a few times and nodded "Okay, I will. But can you give us a demonstration on one of your.. weapons?"

Marcus looked confused "Don't you guys have firearms, or anything like that?"

Twilight shook her head "No, we only use magic, swords, spears, crossbows, and shields. And our navy has cannons."

"Figures.." He thought, then spoke "Okay, but we only have so much ammunition. So only a quick demonstration, okay?"

Twilight nodded as they walked out of the basement, only to be met by a small, purple dragon who was holding a couple of books. He dropped the books on sight of Marcus and his squad.

"Uh.. who... what.." He started blubbering nonsense until Twilight spoke up.

"Don't worry, Spike. They're not gonna hurt you or anything. Right, guys?" She asked.

"Is... he a... d-dragon?.." Jackson asked, awed and confused.

"Uh.. yeah, I am. What? Never seen one before? What are YOU?" Spike asked.

"We're humans. Bad-ass humans, to be exact. And no, we haven't seen any dragons before. Where we come from, they're also a thing of myth and legend." Marcus said.

Spike shrugged "Well, we're real. You guys seem cool. Just don't hurt the girls, okay?"

Marcus chuckled "You got it, kid." He squated and gave Spike a bro-fist. He stood up and motioned the girls to follow him outside.

"Okay, let's go out to that field and I'll show you all. I don't want anypony wondering what sound this thing's gonna make." Marcus said.

They walked to a field behind Twilight's library, Thompson then pulled an M.R.E and placed it ontop of a rock. He then gave Marcus a thumbs-up and jogged back.

The girls watched as Marcus took out his M1911 and flipped it with his finger. He aimed down and turned to the girls.

"Cover your ears as hard as you can, unless you wanna go deaf." He asked.

The girls did as they were told. Marcus pumped the cocked the pistol and re-adjusted his aim. Then fired in semi-auto, the .45 caliber rounds flying out of the barrel and connecting to the M.R.E. It flew up into the air and fell back down, what was left of it. The girls just watched in awe, as Marcus lowered the M1911, smirking.

"Hey Rainbow, got a little on ya." He said, laughing as Rainbow wiped her face frantically. After she realized he was kidding, she glared daggers at him, making him laugh harder.

"You want to play pranks, eh? You are SO on.." She stated with a devilish grin. Marcus only smiled and rolled his eyes.

"You know what I did to Jackson.. if it's a prank war you want, then you're on.." He said, grinning manically. The two just stood there, staring at eachother until Kayla spoke

"Ok Marcus, you can stare at her all you want later." She joked "We need to set up camp here."

"You bet your ass I will.." Marcus thought... outloud. He then realized what he just said "Wait..-" Before he could finish, he hear uncontrollable laughs from his squad and giggles from the girls. He then heard a 'FWOMP* like sound as he turned to Rainbow with her wings fully extended and blushing so much it could burn the ground beneath her. The giggles then turned to full blown laughter.

"Wait.. what the? No.. I thought you meant the pran- oh you know what?! Screw you, Kayla you ass!" Marcus yelled "The fuck did I do to you?"

Kayla just kept laughing to the point where she was on her knees. Marcus just gave her the finger and turned to Rainbow, who was still in the same position.

"Uhm.. listen, Rainbow.. sorry I-" He was cut off when Rainbow regained her senses and turned to Marcus with rage in her eyes.

"Sorry? Sorry?! First you bucking headbutt me, then completley humiliate and emberass me infront of my freinds, and all you BUCKING say is SORRY?!" She roared angrily, the laughs and giggles were long gone by now.

Before Marcus could say anything, Rainbow turned and bucked him in his left kidney with all her strength. Marcus still had his M1911 in his right hand, so as his left hand clutched his side, his right hand thoughtlessly pulled the trigger as pain soared through him. The pain dissapeared when a .45 caliber bullet went throught the right side of his jaw and into his head.

Before he pulled the trigger, he heard an echoy voice instead of Rainbow's, one he knew all to well...

David Archer..

"Make beileve... Make you believe.."

Author's Note

Hey! Guess what's gonna happen in the next chapter?

CRYPTIDS. :pinkiecrazy:

How will they appear and where, you ask?

Be patient and you will know..

Also give meh your thoughts on this chapter! :rainbowkiss:

Chapter 12: A Helluva Discovery

Abandoned Diamond Mineshaft, 102 miles from Appleloosa, same time as Marcus was shot..

Underground in an abandoned diamond mineshaft, Diamond Dogs were going about with their ongoing digging and pickaxing away at the ground and walls, trying to desperately find some diamonds to sell at the black market in Saddle Arabia. Fido was digging about with his paws, not finding a single thing, until he heard one of the other dogs yell out something.

"JACKPOT!! WE HIT THE JACKPOT!" One of the dogs yelled out, throwing his pickaxe down, and waving his arms crazily.

The other dogs and the guards rushed up to him, but were confused to what they were seeing.

Rover, the leader of the dogs, spoke up confused and angry "What in the heck is this crap? It's just some stupid flat rock!" He shouted. Around the dirt and rocks, there was a small patch of perfectly smooth rock. It had strange circles on it, and was very cold. Like touching metal.

"Yeah, but it's.. different. What if it's some sort of treasure chest or something like that?" The dog stated.

"Or some ancient ruins... but it could have treasure!" Spot spoke, picking up his pickaxe and waiting to dig the rock.

Rover thought about it for a while. This WAS something that he or his team have never seen before. So he picked up his own pick and shouted.

"Okay, let's dig this thing, get whatever treasure is in here, and finally quit digging!" He stated, the dogs whooped and shouted in happiness, and started hitting the rock with their picks. The rock didn't even dent when the picks hit it.

"Okay...this is gonna take a while.." Spot said, hitting the rock with all his might, but not making any progress.

"Yep.. go and get the guards to help dig too. We need all paws on this!" He shouted. Fido shouted at the guards and waved them over as the other dogs handed them pickaxes. They leaned their spears and swords on the walls and too the picks, grumbling.

After about 7 hours of endless digging, the number of dogs digging quadrupled since more were called in to dig. They finally dig through, but saw that it wasn't just a rock..

It was a cave..

"DAMN IT!!" Rover said, throwing his pick at the ground, angrily, but Spot spoke up.

"Wait! Let's get a torch in here and see what's in here!" He said, signaling on of the guards to bring him a torch. He complied and brought him one.

"Fido, go in there and tell us what you see." Spot said, handing him a torch and a sword.

Fido nodded, took the items, and walked into the cave. He noticed that the floor was also very smooth and cold. It looked like it was made from the same rock. He then bumped into what seemed like a tall, skinny, rock, but he rose his torch and saw something that instantly made him drop his sword.

It wasn't a rock, but a chamber of some sort.. it glowed a bright blue and had what seemed like a glass casing over it and writing of some sort. He'd never seen anything like it, but what scared him the most is what was inside of it..

It was a tall, bipedal creature with an oval-shaped head, and what seemed like tentacles where its mouth should be, a small, glowing center where its nose should be, and four eyes, two on each side of its face.

Fido just stood there in awe and horror, until Rover called out to him, snapping him back into reality.

"Hey! Fido! You there? What do you see?" He asked.

Fido responded, still in shock "Uh... I.. i-it's something alright.. come look! And bring some guards here too!"

Rover and about six guards went inside the cave, they then saw what Fido was looking at. They stood there with shocked expressions, then Fido spoke up.

"I don't know..what this is.. but I don't think we're gonna get a single bit outta this.." Fido spoke.

"What if we-" Rover spoke, but was cut off when the ground below him started to shake. He looked around frantically and called for the rest of the guards to come in the cave, along with the other dogs.

Fido then saw what looked liked a staircase leading down towards a second floor, he walked to it, stumbling as he did so since the ground was shaking like crazy. His eyes met an odd rocky like pillar with similar writing on it, but the difference was that it had a glass window on it, and some sort of flat surface with words on it.

"Oh my Celestia.." Spot said as the ground stopped shaking. The so called cave was lit up by a light hovering above the chamber containing the weird creature. What shocked him the most is that behind it was more of these things..

About 3 rows of them.. in the same chambers, with tubes of blue light on each, all leading to one huge tube that connected to the one they first found. Then the creature's eyes and body lid up in a bright blue color.

"Guards, prepare yourselves!" Rover shouted. The seventy or so guards raised their spears, swords, and shields as the top of the chamber slowly opened, then fell to the ground, shattering it like glass.

Rover was about to give the orders to attack, until the ground shook again. He turned around and saw what looked like a fist punch through the smooth rock like nothing, then it rose up from the ground, revealing its glowing face, and it had a fierce look with what looked like hundreds of teeth. It had what looked like a protective plating over its upper body, like an armadillo. It punched its fists into the ground, making a little shockwave and disorienting the guards.

"ATTACK THAT THING!" Rover shouted. About four guards went up to kill it, holding their shields and spears. The creature roared and sprinted at them like a bull, ramming into one of the dogs into a wall, a sickening sound of flesh and bone was heard as the dog spitted out blood and screamed in agony. The creature then put its left arm on the dog's face, pushing it against the wall. The dog's screams got louder and louder until they heard a very loud 'CRACK'. It then proceeded to slash the dog's stomach, letting its insides spill out like a can of beans. The ground shook again as another creature showed up from the roof of the cave. This one looked different. It was glowing purplish pink and also had teeth and a glowing face, but it had no plating on its back. Then about nine more appeared from behind the line of chambers and ran toward the dogs with two feet, roaring and screeching.

The guards roared back and rushed at the creatures with their swords help up high. One of the creatures pounced on one of the guards, its teeth clamped onto the dog's neck and shook it left and right angrily, the dog screamed for help as its body was violently thrashed side by side on the ground. Another one then grabbed the dog's head with its short, but sharp hands and ripped its head clean off. Blood sputtered everywhere as the creatures ate what was left of the dog.

The fighting went on and on as more and more of the creatures started appearing, outnumbering the dogs by an unbelivable amount. For every cryptid killed, about 6 dogs were brutally eaten, and more kept showing up for every cryptid killed, about 7 for each one.

It wasn't long before Fido, Spot, and Rover were the only ones standing. Fido had several deep cuts all around him, Spot was trying to keep his intestines from falling out of him as he swung his sword, and Rover had lost his right arm and his left eye and was bleeding out fast.

To the dog's horror, one of the creatures inside the chamber slowly rose from its broken chamber, seemingly levitating towards the dogs. It looked at them with a look of murder and mercilessness in its eyes. The cryptids were all but attacking, as if they were ordered to somehow. They were just eating what was left of the dogs they had so viciously killed.

Rover looked up at the levitating creature, and whispered softly with a shaking voice, pleading for mercy ""P-please... don't kill us.. we're sorry we-ACK!" He was cut off as the creature rose its right hand, he then felt his throat being constricted by an unknown force. He was levitated and brought towards the creature's face. He then heard an echo-y voice in his head..

"You.. and your species.. all who live here.. will be obliterated.. soon.. oh so soon, you stupid mutt.." He heard, then the grip on his neck grew stronger. He tried to plead for mercy, but they were nothing but desperate gasps for air. He then felt blood slowly pour onto the ground, and then his neck was snapped all the way to a full circle.

Spot looked in horror as their leader was killed right before them. The creatures rushed up to his corpse and started devouring him, ripping his limbs as the sound of flesh an bone being ripped echoed. The creature then pointed a finger at him and Fido. The cryptids looked at them and screeched, rushing towards them.

"Spot! RUN! I'LL DISTRACT THEM! GO!" Fido said, he ran towards the opposite direction, grabbing all of the creature's attention. They chased after him as Spot ran from the cave, he then heard screams of pain. He started frantically climbing over rocks and dirt until he reached the original mineshaft they were in. He then ran towards the exit.

"I need to warn everydog.. and pony about this.." He thought as he ran.

Author's Note

Oh yeah... here we go!

Was it a good introduction for the cryptids or nah? :rainbowwild:

Now in the next chapter, we'll see what Marcus has to 'think', and what the squad will do in response to his 'death.'

Chapter 14: Forgive And Forget

Nurse Redheart was sitting behind the main desk while drinking some coffee, thinking about the events that happened earlier that day. She was one of the many ponies to see the bipedal creatures jog and sing through town. She wondered where they came from, what they were wearing, and what in the hay a 'Cadillac' was. What shocked her the most was that four of the Element bearers were jogging steadily alongside them. Before she could ponder any further, she heard the main doors open somewhat forcefully. She put her coffee down and spoke.

"What seems to be th-" Her voice faded as she saw what she saw earlier. The black-clothed bipedal creatures stormed in with the four Element bearers alongside them. Two of the creatures were carrying one of their own, who had what seemed to be sunglasses barley hanging on its face, and had a hole in its jaw, which was letting out a steady flow of blood and a trail of it behind them. It also had a hole on the top right of its head.

Redheart put a hoof in her mouth "Oh... oh my.. what happened?.."She said in shock. Twilight frantically ran to her and spoke quickly.

"I'll explain everything later! Right now that guy they're carrying needs serious medical attention right now, or he's a goner!" She said frantically. Redheart took another glance at the creatures, who were caring for their fallen friend. She then nodded assertivley and called out for two unicorn doctors. When they rushed downstairs, they had the same look as she had.

"Don't ask, cause I don't know either. Just take that one and patch him up as best as you can!" She stated while pointing a hoof at the injured one. The unicorns both nodded and carefully levitated the injured creature. They carefully took it upstairs to one of the rooms as Redheart followed behind them.

Jackson and Thompson took a seat and took their helmets off, panting. Kayla turned to Twilight and spoke.

"You sure these docs know what they're doing?" She asked. Twilight sighed and responded.

"I honestly don't know. They have no clue of your species' body structure or anatomy.." She said hesitantly.

"But we're similar to apes in body structure! Would they at least take a hint?"

Twilight shook her head " They're doctors, not vets. If animals or pets needed care, they usually go to Fluttershy."

Thompson spoke up "I can help the doctors with whatever they're doing."

Then Fluttershy spoke "I-I can help too.. if it's alright with you all."

Kayla nodded and told them to go help the doctors and the nurse. They rushed upstairs and went into the room. The lobby fell silent after they heard the door shut. Then everyone looked at Rainbow Dash, who was sitting there, looking at her bloody hoof in horror and with widened eyes.

Rainbow Dash' P.O.V.

Rainbow's shock was slowly fading away as reality kicked in. She looked at her hoof which was caked in Marcus' blood. The events flashed through her mind as she did so, taking in all that had happened in the short amount of time.

Her eyes started to slowly form tears. Then, without taking her eyes off her hoof, she whispered.

" I... I kil..I killed M-" She choked up as tears slowly, but freely flowed out of her eyes. She started breaking out into a sob until she felt Twilight and Applejack hug her.

"Don't worry, sugercube, he ain't dead. You didn't mean to hurt him." Applejack said calmly.

"Yeah, he's gonna be fine. Besides, he'll forgive you" Twilight said reassuringly.

But Rainbow wasn't convinced "But I-I almost killed him over something s-so-" She stopped when she felt something pat her head. She looked up and saw Jackson, smirking.

"Man, he almost died doing a bunch of crazy stupid shit long before we knew him. This ain't anything new; he's one crazy mothafucka and we love him for it." Jackson said chuckling.

"Yeah. We're not pissed at you anymore. But why DID you have to kick him? Seems like you couldn't take a joke. You got some overbearing pride or huge ass ego or some shit like that?" Kayla asked.

Rainbow was a bit offended and was about to fire back at her, but she sighed and amitted defeat "M-maybe a teeny-tiny bit.."

Jackson then spoke "Well that 'teeny tiny bit' almost took out Marcus. Just try to keep it in check, okay? For now lets just forgive and forget."

Rainbow sniffed and nodded. Twilight and Applejack let go, then Twilight remembered something.

"Oh! Applejack, can you bring Spike over here so I can tell Princess Celestia about this?" Twilight asked. Applejack nodded and sprinted towards the library. After a couple minutes she came back with Spike. They were sending the last of the letters to Celestia when Fluttershy came back downstairs. Everyone looked up at her until she spoke.

"M-Marcus is awake now.."

Marcus' P.O.V.

After fading back into darkness, Marcus heard several slurred voices around him. He slightly opened his eyes, only to be meeted with a bright, white light.

"Son of a-" He turned his head to the side, only to feel a sharp, dull pain wave all around his skull. He yelped in pain as the light moved away from him.

"Marcus! Marcus! You awake there, man?" He heard Thompson's voice.

Marcus groaned "I don't wanna go to school..." He joked as he felt a small grin appear on his face.

He then heard Thompson chuckle "Yep, you're awake. Fluttershy go tell the others the bad- I mean good news!" He joked.

Marcus opened his eyes and rubbed them to get his vision back. He sat up straight while clutching his throbbing head "Heh.. screw you.. ow.." He groaned.He then heard Fluttershy downstairs.

"M-Marcus is awake now.."

He then heard what he could've sworn was an F-16 fighter jet soar upstairs.

"Shit.." He thought as he immediatley felt something hug him so hard he felt like he was in the hold of an anaconda. He looked down to see a certain rainbow-maned pegasus hugging him. He then felt his shirt get a little wet. He looked closer to see that Rainbow was... crying? and that the fur around her eyes looked like she had been doing so before.

Marcus just smiled and tried to return the hug with his own, but he was only able to place a hand on her mane. He patted her when Jackson and the rest walked in.

Jackson smirked "Back from the brink, Sarge?"

"Out of the frying pan is more like it." Marcus said. They chuckled as Jackson patted him on the shoulder. Twilight then ran into the room.

"Guys, Princess Celestia said she'll be here soon!" She exclaimed.

Marcus smirked "This should be good..."

Author's Note

GIVE ME YOUR SPLEEN- I mean THOUGHTS on this chapter!

Richtofen: But... vat about zhe spleens..

L.P: You mean cryptids and flashbacks? Wait a bit longer...

Chapter 15: A Royal Pain

Kayla was just leaning on the doorframe, chuckling at what Marcus said. She then noticed that Rainbow was hugging him tightly. A manical grin slowly formed on her face as she remembered what she told.

"Hey Rainbow, remember what I told you.." She said a bit menacingly. Marcus raised an eyebrow at her then he looked down at Rainbow, with her eyes widened.

"Yo Kayla, lay off a bit will you? And what the hell did you tell her?" Marcus asked as he patted Rainbow reassuringly.

"She said she was gonna shoot Rainbow if she touched you.." Twilight said. Everyone looked at Kayla, who had her eyes focused somewhere else.

Marcus groaned "Please tell me you all made up while I was out..."

"Yep." Everyone said simultaniously. Marcus sighed in relif. But then Rainbow spoke up.

"Are you and I still on good terms?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. Marcus nodded, but wanted some answers to his questions.

"Yeah, but why'd you kick me?" He asked. Rainbow jumped off the bed as he shifted himself more comfortly.

"Uh... just not used to being joked around like that. Opens up old wounds, y'know?" She said the last part hesitantly.

"You have no idea..." He said quietly, but Rainbow heard him barley.

"What was that?" She said with an eyebrow raised. Marcus shook his head as he stretched his arms. He was pleased to hear several bones crack, making the girls wince a bit. He then felt a jolt of pain on his left side hit him like a lightning bolt. He yelped and clutched his left side.

Jackson chuckled "She kicked ya hard?"

"It's the bruise..." Marcus said as he lifted his shirt. The girls gasped at the huge, purple sore. Rainbow felt a twinge of guilt return before Marcus spoke.

"Pfft... this isn't even a flesh wound!" He said, making Jackson chuckle again. Then out of nowhere, a bright flash of light appeared in the middle of the room, like someone tossed a flashbang. Marcus and the rest rubbed and blinked several times.

"Princess Celestia!" They heard the girls say. They bowed, but the squad just stood there. The one they called Celestia had white fur, a mane that swayed majestically in the air, aside from no wind or any gush of air in the room, and had both a horn and a pair of wings, and was tall, about the same height as Marcus.

"You may rise, my little ponies." She said in a motherly tone. Then Twilight spoke up.

"Did you read through all my letters of information?" She asked. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, Twilight. I did. Now where are these creatures? I am very anxious to meet them." Celestia said. She then looked around and saw that the creatures were right behind the Elements. They stood at attention and saluted her.

"Oh! I apoligize for not noticing." She said.

"It's not a problem, Princess." Jackson said "Our leader is right there on the bed, resting a bit."

Celestia turned and saw their leader lying on a bed with bandages on his jaw and head. He then saluted.

"It's an honor to meet you, Princess." Marcus said.

"And the same to you, Sergeant. But please, just call me Celestia. I was never really one for formalities." She stated. Marcus nodded.

"Okay, Celestia. I'm guessing you have some questions for us?" He asked.

Celestia nodded " Yes, but I was also wondering if you or your friends have some of your own."

"We do, but let's answer yours first." Marcus said.

Celestia nodded "Very well then. Tell me, what exactly happened to your home planet."

Marcus' expression deepened as his mood sank like a rock "Our planet was taken over by these creatures called 'cryptids'. Which awoke after millions of years. They wiped out our entire species and took over our planet. We used all we had. And used our nuclear missiles. Only to create a wasteland and lose to those cryptids... It didn't even take them a year."

The girls and Celestia felt sorry for what happened, but his answer only generated more questions "H-how many of your kind existed?.." Celestia asked.

"Seven billion..." Marcus said, with a deadpanned expression. The girls gasped, but Celestia's royal poker face remained, but utter shock soared through her. Then she regained her composure.

"What about your family? Did they... survive?" She asked. Marcus felt like he was shot in the heart with a shotgun shell as tears formed in his eyes. The girls and Celestia noticed that she hit a sensitive spot. Hard. But before she could apoligize, Marcus answered.

"Yeah... they did." He looked up at Jackson, Thompson, and Kayla, who were sitting on chairs. ".. and I'm looking at them."

His squad smiled warmly at him "Oo-rah." They said in unison. Marcus then looked at the two empty seats next to them. Hi smile slowly faded as he looked down.

"Except for two..." He said quietly. The room fell into a deadly silence as memories invaded into Marcus' conciense. Before they could reach any further, Celestia spoke.

"May we see what these cryptids look like?" She asked. Marcus looked at her confused.

"How? I don't have any pictures."

Celestia shook her head "No, I mean I have a spell that can let me see what you think, and place it on a wall so others can see."

Marcus retorted "First of all, I have memories deep down inside my head.. ones that I refuse to re-think and re-live. And to have them plague all of your minds? Hell no."

"We can only see what you think, not go around your mind and memory as I please." Celestia said reassuringly.

"Presicley..." Marcus thought. He sighed and threw his hands up "Okay then. But don't say I didn't warn you.."

Celestia nodded as her horn glowed. She then touched his forehead with th tip of her horn. She saw Marcus put up a picture of a Scout cryptid on a wall next to the girls. Fluttershy let out an 'eep' and cowered behind her mane as the rest watched in awe and horror. Marcus mentally turned the image so they could get a full 360 degree veiw. He saw their reaction and chuckled.

"And that's the weakest cryptid.." He said as he replaced the image with a Breeder cryptid. He heard their jaws drop to the floor as he showed them every cryptid he knew and killed, all the way to the Anscestors.

Twilight asked a question she'd soon regret "H-how tough and destructive a-are they?"

Marcus then replaced the images with a flashback...

Over a suburb in Tusla Oklahoma, United States of America..

Marcus and his squad were flying towards a N.O.R.A.D underground bunker in Colorado in a V-22 Osprey until they were directed to provide suppresive fire for a civilian evacuation site in the heart of a suburb in Tusla. The pilot switched radio frequencies to listen in on th ground units.

"FIREFLY, WE GOT A SHIT-TON OF CRYPTIDS HEADING TOWARDS THE HELICOPTERS! TAKE 'EM OUT!!" He heard a soldier yell in the radio over gunfire. Marcus told the pilot to lower the ramp so he could provide the cover they needed and to keep the Osprey hovering. The pilot nodded and lowered the ramp. As the ramp lowered, Marcus unfolded an M103 Minigun from the right side of the Osprey and spoke on his radio.

"All units, this is CIF Team 1, hovering Northwest of the evac point. Permission to engage.." He looked and saw the carnage below. Burning and destroyed houses, wrecked cars, and several ruined helicopters. At the evac point, he saw cryptids all around trying to get in the safe-zone. The evac point was being heavily defended by National Guardsmen with M16's and the local police department. Alongside them were three Stryker vehichles. One had a 105-mm cannon and was blasting away, the other two were infantry transports with .50 Cal machine gun turrets on top, their gunners pumping lead into the cryptids brutally. At the middle was a Bell UH-1 Huey med-evac chopper. The two Strykers and the Huey were being loaded with civvies. Out in the distance were ten F-16 Fighting Falcons fighting alongside 14 Russian MIG-21's against Gargoyles for air superiority. Then Marcus heard a voice on the radio.

"CIF-1, WE GOT SCORPION CRYPTIDS TAKING ON HIGH GROUND, YOU ARE CLEAR TO ENGAGE ANY AND ALL HOSTILES!!" He could barley hear over the gunfire and the screams of petrified civilians.

"Understood, CIF-1 raining hell."Marcus spun up th M103 at the Scorpions on the rooftops. The explosive rounds connected with the acid-filled bulbs on their backs, making each Scorpion burn on their own shower of acid along with their limbs and flesh getting ripped apart. Marcus then heard a voice on the radio.

"This is Bonny 3-1, thanks for the assist! Taking these civvies to the U.S.S Enterprise near Galveston." Said a female pilot.

Marcus saw the Huey fly off at a dangerously low altitude. He was about to warn her until he saw a Rhino cryptid on a rooftop leap onto the right side of the Huey. The chopper tilted from the immense weight as it spiraled uncontrollably towards the ground. He then heard a huge explosion and saw a fireball rise from the ground. Marcus then heard the pilot shout.

"WE ARE AT BINGO FUEL, WE'RE PULLING OUT!" He shouted.

"WE CAN'T GO! THEY STILL GOT CIVILIANS THERE!" Marcus retorted.

"A-10 WARTHOGS FROM A NEARBY A.F.B ARE EN ROUTE, THEY CAN HOLD ON! FOLD THE MINIGUN BACK SO WE CAN GO!" He shouted.

As Marcus re-folded the minigun, he heard a faint whistling sound that got louder and louder. He looked up and saw three F-16's soaring downwards towards the evac point. Several Gargoyles were gnawing away at what was left of the jets. As the ramp closed, he heard 3 simultanious explosions...

End of flashback...

Marcus opened his eyes to see the girl's reaction to it all. They all looked confused, shocked, and utterly horrified to an unholy point, and were on the verge of tears. He looked at Celestia for her reaction. Let's just say the royal poker face didn't even last 2.4 seconds....

After about half an hour, Twilight spoke very quietly.

"W-was this your teams first... m-mission?"

Marcus shook his head "Not even close..."

Rainbow Dash was the second to phase back into reality "Then.... what was?"

Marcus mentally facepalmed "They just don't know when to quit... He thought.

Author's Note

For those of you who want to know, Marcus has a bit of memory loss and doesn't remember anything from his dreams.

...Yet.

And give me your thoughts, like always!

P.S: Richtofen says 'Thanks!'

Chapter 16: Operation: Sand Viper

Author's Note

Here, you will know Marcus' and his squad's very first mission together, how he got his Medal of Honor, and the other two missing members of his squad. This was Operation: Sand Viper, a mission in which fifty Tier-One and MARSOC operators worked together to fight off five hundred enemy forces from invading a civilian hospital. This is also how Task Force: S.T.A.L.K.E.R, or the 'Ghosts' were formed, and was before the Cryptid outbreak. Go to the CoD: Wiki to know more. Otherwise, enjoy!

(Also Elias T. Walker, Gabriel Rorke, Merrick, and Keegan from the Ghosts campaign were in this battle, but their appearence won't change anything. Just a helluva cameo. Hope none of you mind, and tell me your thoughts!)

Chapter 16: Operation: Sand Viper

Marcus looked at Rainbow Dash with a saddened expression "I don't feel like remembering the events of when we first met.. I don't think my squad does either."

Jackson spoke up "Actually, Marcus.. I think they deserve to know more about us, man. It's the least we could do. And I'm comfortable talking about it."

Marcus shook his head "I don't want to fill their minds with the horrible images of war! Even less of our mission! Did you see the look on their faces when they saw what happened in Tusla? Imagine if-" He was cut off when Twilight spoke.

"War? Wow... we've never been in a war for a little more than a thousand years..." She said in shock.

"And that furthers the point! Our planet is almost always at war. You girls don't need any terrible thoughts roaming through your heads." Marcus said.

Celestia spoke "If it's too much for us, we'll tell you to stop. We also want to help you all in all the horrors you've seen. You never know..." She said in a motherly tone. The girls nodded frantically.

"Jesus, you're all hard-headed.." Marcus thought. He sighed and spoke.

"First of all.. can someone bring me my backpack from wherever I left it?" He asked. Rainbow nodded and flew downstairs to the lobby to retrieve his backpack. After a couple seconds, she returned and put the backpack on Marcus' lap. He thanked her and opened the back pouch and fumbled around a bit. He then pulled out a small, black box. He opened it as the girls leaned in to see what was inside it. In the box was a bronze colored medal with a star shape. Engraved on it was were humans holding some unknown devices. The medal was held onto by a sky-blue colored strap and in the middle of it were 13 white stars. Marcus' squad gasped at the sight slightly. He then pulled out a paper that was below the medal and unfolded it. It read..

"For unbelievable and astonishing acts of bravery and valor above and beyond the call of duty as a Sergeant of one of MARSOC's 'Raider' Regiment near the Syrian-Israel border and fought for five days of endless combat along with his squad and other Tier-One Operators against five hundred enemy forces from July 3rd to July 8, 2016. Sergeant Ramirez and his squad held off enemy forces from over-running a civilian hospital. He then proceeded to lead the remaining soldiers and Marines to the point where they killed all but one of the enemy forces, and successfully defended the hospital until reinforcements arrived. In addition he lead other operations of counter-terrorism all over Israel and Syria. His unmatched bravery, remarkable combat skills, inspiring leadership, fierce loyalty, and dominant fighting spirit were distinctive factors in the offensive battles of the Tel-Aviv War."- President Keith L. Soyenter.

The girls were awed by the said acts that Marcus and his squad did. They looked up to see him trying his hardest to hold back tears, and then spoke softly.

"I... do you girls still want to know?.." He whispered. The girls looked at each other, then to Celestia. They all nodded as Marcus let out a ragged breath "How about you guys? Ready to take a trip through memory lane?" He asked his squad. They nodded in return. Marcus turned to Celestia and nodded. She lit her horn as the tip touched his forehead again, and saw Marcus put together the events of those days....

"Some wounds never heal...." He whispered as the flashback played on the walls in front of him.

Somewhere near the Syrian/Israeli border in a civilian hospital....
Operation Sand Viper
July 3, 2016
U.S.M.C MARSOC 1st Battallion 'Raiders'

Marcus and his five man squad were chosen to assist Tier-One operators on a mission to prevent a civilian hospital from being over run by Syrian troops. The amount of hostiles were unknown, but they suspected the numbers to be low. His squad was chosen mainly because other MARSOC units were on different operations, or were recovering from earlier operations. His squad members were him, Kayla, Jackson, Thompson, Ryan, and Johnathan. Their callsigns were Hunter, Prowler, Lightweight, Lucky, Cassanova, and Albino respectivley.

"Ma'm, you need to calm down, or he will not be able to take care of you!" Marcus said to a middle-aged woman as she spoke frantically in a language he didn't understand, but was pointing at her right leg, which was bleeding heavily and cut open to the point where the bone was noticeable "Lucky! Get some Morphine in her system, and patch her up!"

Lucky reassured the woman as he pulled out a needle and injected her with morphine. Her eyes rolled back into her head as the medicine took its toll on her. Lucky then pulled open his med-kit and treated the wound. The hospital building shook when a mortar landed outside the doorway as women and children screamed in fear. In the hospital were about 170-ish civvies, with more than half of them injured or in critical condition. Also inside were 44 Tier One operators, rainging to Delta Force's Charlie Company, to the legendary Seal Team Six.

"Hey, Keegan. You got eyes on whose shooting those fucking mortars?" A SEAL with a beard spoke into his helmet radio.

"I got nothing, Merrick. See if you can bring me another sniper to help me out." The one called Keegan responded.

"Wilco." Merrick then turned to Marcus' squad "Hey Marine, you got a scout sniper that could lend one of my boys a hand?"

Marcus nodded and called out to Kayla "One of the SEAL snipers need a hand. You'll be escorted to his position. Got it?" Prowler nodded as she was escorted cauciously outide by two Delta operators to Keegan's location. The rest of the men could do nothing but try to calm the civvies and pray to God the mortars don't hit the building.

Day 1: Zero killed. 4 Civilians wounded, two in critical condition.

July 4th..

"We got word from command that the number of hostiles is.. substancial. About four to five hundred of those fucks. With them, they brought around five to ten technicals.." Rorke spoke with a deadpanned expression. The men were shocked at this news. Lightweight then spoke up.

"What about air support, huh? What's their excuse?" He said irritatingly.

"Easy, Jackson.." Marcus warned.

"They reported SAM sites all around the region before our Predator drone was shot out of they sky." Rorke replied "And a sandstorm is gonna move in here in a day or so.."

"And the entire city's in lockdown by the enemy.." Elias added.

The room fell silent, aside from a couple sobs from the civvies. Then Hunter spoke.

"So what now? We can't leave these civvies here to die!"

Rorke thought for a second "Let's just prep ourselves for the long fight to come.."

The men gathered their weapons and gear and headed outside. Keegan and Prowler took position on the hospital roof with Keegan covering the East side, and Prowler covering the North. Delta operators took position on the North with the SEAL's, as MSOR dug in on the East.

The entire force waited about nine hours before the attack came. Had Kayla and Keegan not warned the rest, the hospital would've been lost. Marcus and Johnathan fires their M4 Carbines at several enemy troops with AKM-71's. Tracer and incendiary rounds brightened the night as the two forces exchanged brutal and heavy gunfire. The enemies started pulling back until Marcus heard a whistling sound.

"MORTARS!! GET TO COV-" He was cut off as a fast traveling object flew over him. Then another. And another. He then heard three explosions and yells of utter pain. Keegan then reported on his radio.

"YOU GOT THREE TECHNICALS HEADING TOWARDS YOU! AND RPG TROOPS ON THE ROOFTOPS!" He shouted. Marcus turned and saw three technicals with .50 Cal machine guns on the back, four heavily armed hostiles with PKM's and RPG-7's. He ordered Jackson to return fire. Jackson went prone, unfolded the bipods on his M27, and let out long bursts of F.M.J rounds. Johnathan saw the sillouettes of RPG troops on the rooftops of ruined buildings. He started picking them off one by one as his tracer rounds lit up the battlefield, but a couple were able to shoot off their RPG's at some Delta operators. He then started running towards the Delta operators to help the wounded, until a mortar shell landed in front of him, launching him back as the pressure and shrapnel tore his leg and sliced through his neck.

Kayla and Keegan were picking off the gunners on the technicals, until they saw that the mortars were getting closer and closer. They gathered their gear and ran downstairs when a mortar shell hit home, making the staircase crumble beneath their feet. After gathering themselves, they helped the civvies inside to take care of them.

The sun rose up on the morning of July 5th. The soldiers and the squad had fought like hell, taking out more than half of the hostile forces and nine technicals. But it came at a huge cost. Over sixteen Delta operators were killed by the unexpected mortars and RPG troops, and one of the mortars had hit a part of the hospital, killing thirty civvies and injuring forty two.

Marcus and his squad rounded up the bodies of their fallen brothers, until he realized one of his squad mates was missing. He looked around and saw the corpse of a Marine laying in a huge pool of blood and bits of flesh with his left leg severed from his kneecap below. He carefully turned the body and immediatley recognized him.

"Johnathan..." He whispered. He just kneeld over his lifeless corpse and looked at him. He was very pale and had a long, deep, cut on his neck, oozing unspilled blood. His wound had sand and flies over it. Marcus then reached down and pulled off his dogtags.

"... I'm sorry." He whispred as he kissed the blood-covered tags, curled them up in a fist and put it in his pocket. He stood up and heard a whistling sound once more.

"MORTA-" Marcus heard Ryan yell before a loud explosion cut him off and landed between three SEAL's, maiming them as they howled in pain and shock. He then turned and saw three hostiles prop up two RPD's and one PKM. The place turned into a killzone yet again, taking the entire force by suprise. Marcus then saw Ryan run for cover until he was riddled in the back by 7.62mm rounds.

Marcus sprinted towards him until he felt a round hit his thigh, but Miss Adrenaline took over Marcus instead of pain. He reached Ryan and grabbed his vest straps and dragged him to covery until another mortar shell landed behind Marcus, making him fall. The ceramic plating on his back took the full force of the blast and shrapnel. he turned over to Ryan to carry him, but his lowerd body was gone and his intestines were spilled and mangled, covered in blood and sand. He just stood there in a blur until Jackson brought him into the hospital.

Day 2: 430 enemy K.I.A. 29 K.I.A, 30 Civilian K.I.A

Day 3...

"We can't hold them off another day, we need to get these civvies outta here today!" Elias stated.

Rorke knew he was right. There were only fifteen left, and over seventy enemies left. He thought about it for a second "Let's get one of the SEAL's to lead the civvies to one of the nearby villages we flew over."

"What do we do?..." Jackson said.

Rorke looked outside. The bodies of their fallen bretheren were spewn all over the battleground. He then saw a huge wind of dust coming in from the East. He turned to the remaining soldiers and Marines.

"Avenge our fallen..."

After sending out one of the SEAL's to escort the remaining civilians to a nearby village, the remaining fourteen men camoflauged themselves into the ground. Marcus layed in wait in between Johnathan and Ryan's bodies. He felt utterly defeated. He had sworn that he would protect everyone in his squad regardless if his life was put at risk. And now he way lying in between their pools of blood. The very men he swore he would protect, were now dead. His mind and personality changed and took a dark turn as he lay in wait. He wanted nothing more than to viciously murder every one of them. He felt his bloodlust return, since the day his mother was killed. And he felt it coarse through his veins forcefully and strongly. And did he ever so enjoy it.

The sandstorm kicked in, blending in with the blood on Marcus' face. The enemy came in small groups of 10-15. As they walked over the bodies, they were brutally slaughtered by the remaining Americans. They used their knives until they went dull, then used their hand to choke and beat the remaining enemies to death. Then the last enemy walked into Marcus' path. He grabbed him and pinned him to the ground, beating him like a savage. It took the other 13 to get Marcus off of him. They let the final one go, as a message and a warning to those who would even dare fight against them...

End of flashback...

Marcus then closed his eyes, put his hands on his face, and started sobbing and shaking uncontrollably.

Chapter 17: Home Sweet Home.. Kinda

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 18: Apples and Hives

Meanwhile in Appleloosa, same time as the flashback..

Several apple farmers were gathered around the body of a diamond dog that was found outside a wooden fence from one of the orchards. The citizens were horrified and disgusted by the condition of its corpse. Never have they seen anything so gruesome in their entire lives, and they hope they never will. The dog's body was very pale, and sun-bleached from the long heat exposure of Celestia's sun. Around its body were its intestines, which were covered in dry blood and dirtied from dirt and sand, and had several deep, long claw marks all over his body filled with what seemed like small, green, eggs of some sort. Like a frog when it places its eggs. Some ponies just started crying, others started vomiting a bit.

"Who would DO such a terrible thing to ANY poor creature?!" A sobbing citizen said. The sheriff of the town was inspecting the body, thinking what creature would cause such damage to a Diamond Dog A Manticore? No, they don't live out here.. Griffons? No, we made a peace treaty with them just three years ago.. His thoughts were put on hold as Braeburn called him over.

"Hay! Uh.. sheriff! Ya might wanna take ah look at this!" Braeburn shouted. The sheriff and the other farmers rushed over at why Braeburn was calling him.

When they arrived, they were both confused and scared "Wha... what is that thing?" One of the mare farmers said

"Is it a mutant apple or somethin'?" Another spoke.

The sheriff responded to the two questions "Ah... ah don't know.. but the thing in the middle seems to be opening and closing slowly.." He said.

What they were looking upon was a huge, red, glowing plant-like organism. It looked like it had tentacles sprawled all over the area, but they didn't expand for long, since they led down to the ground. It also had a flower-like top on it, but inside it was a throbbing layer of outer flesh-like substance, kinda like jell-o. And it had three seperate 'mouths', kinda like a Venus Flytrap, and it opened and closed slowly.

"Ah found it when ah was digging a ditch to make ah small pond from the water over at the lake over there. Do ya know what it is?" Braeburn asked. The sheriff shook his head as he looked at the plant-thing in awe.

"Ah have no idea, Braeburn.. but ah think we should get some of the scientists from Canterlot here to see if they know anything.. maybe they'll know what this.. thing is, cause ah'm just as confused as you all.." The sheriff said.

"Hey! Sheriff! Look at these hoof-prints over here!" One of the farmers shouted. He walked towards the location and was even more confused by what he saw. The hoofprints were made by anything but a hoof. It looked at least twice the size of a hoof. He looked closer and saw claw marks. His eyes widened as he saw that blood was mixed in with the dirt. His eyes followed the prints until they saw that it went into a thick pair of bushes.

"Uh.. sheriff? Don't go in there! Whoever killed the poor Diamond Dog, it could easily jump out and get us too!" One of the farmers said, making some of the ponies back away in fear.

"Don't worry, ah don't play on going any further than this.." He stomped his hoof where he was currently standing "Ah need to go back to town and tell the Princess about this.." He said as he backed away and started trotting towards the station. He then paused and turned to Braeburn.

"Oh, and before ah forget, Braeburn, you might wanna tell Applejack about this. Ah have a feeling we'll need her and her friends for this..." He said. Braeburn nodded as the sheriff ran off quickly. He then slowly trotted to the weird plant and just stared at it. He then turned to the dead Diamond Dog, who was being covered in a white sheet as Unicorn paramedics carried it away into a cart.

"How did that poor dog get over here?.. and why did it have those weird green eggs in it?.. Ugh.." He shuddered at the idea. He turned and saw some Unicorns trying to use shovels and pickaxes on the plant, with no effect.

"Ah got a bad feelin' about all this..." Braeburn thought.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A day before...

Spot was frantically trying to hold in his intestines as he sprinted and stumbled to Appleloosa. What he didn't noticed was that a Cryptid was following his trail of blood...

Spot was slowly fading in and out of consciousness as he had lost a great amount of blood. He kept hearing cricket-like sounds as he noticed an apple orchard.

"Oh thank Luna's Moon..." He thought as he felt a burst of new found energy soar through his veins, but it was quickly drained out by a loud screech. He turned in fear as he squeezed his intestines tighter, wincing in pain as more blood oozed through his paws onto the ground.

"No...NO! PLEASE! PLEA-" He shouted, but the Cryptid leaped at him and pinned him. All Spot could do was close his eyes and wait for his inevitable fate. The Cryptid breathed slowly and looked down at the dog. If the Cryptid could smile, he would be manically grinning. It enjoyed the feel of its fear radiating out of the poor soul. He screeched and started slicing the dog with its claws, blood splattered everywhere as the dog screamed in agony. The Cryptid then grabbed its intestines and pulled at them hard, ripping them clean out of his stomach. Spot was gurgling on his own blood, but he was able to let out his last shriek of pain as his head hit the ground again. He saw the Cryptid drop eggs into his stomach. It then looked at Spot. His life flashed before him as the Cryptid lunged its mouth towards his neck.

As he felt his throat being torn apart, he heard a voice in his head before he died.. a voice that had a somewhat heavy Manehattan accent...

"All part of the plan... and it's just begun..."

Author's Note

The Cryptid that layed those eggs is called a "Cricket". In Extinction, the Cricket was cut from the game for unknown reasons, but I found it on the CoD Wiki and saw that it was pretty legit. It's nicknamed the Cricket because it makes a cricket-like noise, or that's what the CoD Wiki said. And it layed eggs near or in corpses or dark corners. The image is at the very bottom is the picture of it. Sweet dreams!

And tell me your thoughts like always! I'll have another chapter out tonight, because this was a bit too small for my liking, so sorry for the short chapter!

Dempsey: "Holy shit dude, why not add ME in the story so I can whoop some ass?!"

L.P: "Are you in Extinction? No. So shut up."

Dempsey: "You son of a bitch..." *Glass shatters as a burst of an M16 goes off in the background*

Chapter 19: Marine vs Pegasus

After pulling himself up onto the cloud with ease, Marcus chuckles as Rainbow Dash gloated about her win. He takes the time to look around, noticing that her house is much bigger than what he remember'd from the show, and notices that there were a couple rainbow fountains around the outside.

"Go figure..." He thought as he walked up to the liquid rainbow. Before he could even kneel, Rainbow spoke up.

"Um.. I wouldn't taste that if I were you, dude. It's pretty spicy." She warned while smirking. Marcus raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Really, eh? I'll be the judge of that.." And with that, he cupped his hand and put it under the rainbow fountain, it felt smooth, thinner than, but still somewhat thicker and a bit heavier than water. As he filled his hand, he looked back at Dash, with a look on her face that said 'Are you REALLY this stupid?...'.

"Surley you can't be serious.. I mean, don't you know how HOT pure rainbow is?..." She said hesitantly for some reason.

"I'm serious." Marcus said as he was about to put his cupped hand to his mouth. He stopped mid way and smirked at Dash "And don't call me Shirley."

Marcus then put his hand onto his mouth and drank the rainbow. The first thought that came to him was that, although it was pretty spicy, it had a somewhat sweet flavor. Like the chili-lime Mexican candy powder he ate as a kid. He concluded it was no spicier than a bottle of Tabasco sauce, but still tried not to cough and prove Dash right.

"Hmm.. you were right, it's pretty hot. But nowhere NEAR as hot as a Ghost Pepper." Marcus said with a maniacal grin, which made Dash raise an eyebrow.

"A Ghost Pepper? What's that? I mean, I know what a pepper is, durh, but what does it look like?" She asked.

Marcus internally chuckled "Just be careful next time you eat soup..." Rainbow tilted her head a bit, then looked at him with an unamused expression.

"Yeah, whatever. Let's go inside my house so I can show you where you sleep." She started towards the door. Marcus followed behind her as she opened the door and spoke.

"Welp! Here it is, my radical, huge, awesome house!" She gloated. Marcus was about to retort until he looked around. For starters it was pretty huge, to the point where it could be considered a mansion of sorts. And there were several areas, like your regular kitchen, living room, ect. It also had similar designs someone would see in Greek arcitechture He also noticed a cloud staircase, which was probably where the bathroom was at. The room that caught his attention most was a room filled with weights, pull-up bars, benches for, well, benchpressing, a hanged punching bag, and other exersizing equipment.

Rainbow saw the look in his eyes and smirked "Yeah, it's called a 'work-out' room." She said sarcastically "I'm also a black-belt in karate."

Marcus turned his attention back to her "Really? Nice. How often do you work out?"

Rainbow grinned "Enough to beat you at a hoof-wrestle.." She stated while flexing her right forearm and kissing it.

Marcus laughed. He wasn't gonna lie, she did look pretty strong and a good muscle tone to be considered just right for anyone, and she even looked a lot stronger than Jackson, but being a Marine and living in the ghetto has its perks "Oh really? You wanna go?" He challenged her feircefully, pulling up his right shirt sleeve to reveal his arm. His arm wasn't overly-muscular, but it would make Hulk Hogan give him a pat on the back.

Rainbow's grin and confidence grew "Bring it on.." She stated, accepting the challenge and forcefully slamming her left hoof into the cloud floor. The Marine and Pegasus walked towards the kitchen table and sat down. Rainbow cracked her neck side to side as she put her right forehoof on the middle of the table. Marcus cracked his knuckles loudly and shook his right arm. He then lifted it onto the table and put his hand on her hoof.

"Best two outta three?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah.. you're gonna need it." Rainbow said as she started counting down.

"Three..."

"Two.." Marcus drummed his fingers on Rainbow's hoof.

"One!" She shouted. Marcus was in a state of shock when he felt the full-blown strenght of the rainbow-mained Pegasus hit his arm. He was momenterally fazed before he could recover. It was too late, though. His hand hit the table in no less than two seconds.

"Yeah! See? I warned ya!" She gloated "Ready for the final round? Cause I am!"

Marcus nodded. Since he now knows the strenght Rainbow posseses, he now knew how to win easily.

"Three..." She counted down again.

"Two..."

"One!" She shouted again. Marcus put every fiber of his strenght into his right arm, he could feel the energy radiate before him. And it payed off, he was happily grinning as he heard the sound of a hoof hit the table hard and fast, in 1.5 seconds, but it was immediatley wiped away by a feeling of worry "Oh shit... did I put too much strenght?" He opened his eyes hesitantly to look at Rainbow.

Instead of seeing a face of pain, he saw a face of shock and awe. His worry faded quickly as his grin returned back in full-swing.

"You were saying?" He said. Rainbow glared at him and shook her head.

"I never said I'd stop at a tie. Last one wins all."

Marcus nodded as they readjusted themselves. They both now knew each other's strength and both had a similar idea.

"Three.." They said together.

"Two..."

"ONE!" They both gave every bit of strength they had. Rainbow felt like her hoof was made of iron and had a grip like one. Unfortunately, so did Marcus' grip.

After about seven minutes of teetering and tottering, Marcus finally heard the tip of her hoof touch the cloud table. He let go and sighed loudly in relief. He won, but only within milliseconds of getting his hand compressed like he stuck out his arm in the Mariana Trench.

"I...OW.. gotta say... you'd beat Jackson.. OOOWW... any day... ugh.." Marcus said,as he straightened out his hand.

"Thanks.. about time I meet somepony who stood a chance.." Rainbow said

"... and won." Marcus added, grinning like he got a gold medal.

"I hate losing.. and I hate you." She said bitterly. They looked at each other for a second until they laughed it up and walked to the living room.

"Okay, it's getting pretty late. You can sleep on the couch.. or anywhere really. It IS a cloud house." Rainbow said. Marcus nodded as he jumped face-first onto the cloud and stayed still.

He heard Rainbow chuckle, then let out a long yawn that he could've sworn sounded like Pikachu.

"Alright.. I'm beat. Night Hunter." She said. Marcus made a 'peace' symbol, not wanting to get up from his position. Rainbow chuckled again as she flew upstairs to her room. After a couple of minutes, Marcus was fast asleep, in a dream where he was walking through a park he used to go as a kid.

"If adorablness could kill, her yawn would've given me a heart attack.. wait, what?.." He then heard a cold, familiar, female voice echo around him..Almost non-human...

"We meet again, Sergeant Marcus.."

Almost...

Author's Note

And here we go! Step One!

Dempsey: "Secure the keys?"

L.P: "YE- wait, what?"

Hope you all liked this one. Marcus will get his memory of his past dream come back to him soon!

Now excuse me as I go sleep on my chair because I can...

Giv me... thought... or.. no.. wunder... *Yawns* ...waffle *Snores*

Chapter 20: A Blast From The Present

Marcus was once again, in a room of darkness. He looked around for Samantha, but she was nowhere in sight. Frustrated, he sighed and spoke angrily.

"What the fuck do you want, Samantha? Haven't you caused enough shit already?! What is it now?!" He shouted. Samantha appeared in a light blue haze in front of him, chuckling.

"You don't remember, do you?" She asked.

"Remember what?" Marcus replied annoyingly.

"What I told you the last time we talked... about the similarities of this planet to your former." She said. Marcus thought for a second as his mind tried vigorously to remember what he and Samantha were talking about while he was out. He slowly remembered what had happened. The similarities.. the planet... the warning of the Cryptids actually being here.. and when he was in Caldrea Peak with Jamie..or was it Rainbow?..

"Oh... oh shit. Wha- what about it? You want to psychologically torture me again by sending me to another one of my flashbacks? Well some ponies already beat you to it, you fuck.." Marcus said, clenching his fists together to both suppress his anger and memories.

Samantha only chuckled coldy at this "No.. I have something to tell you about what happened in this new world you and your friends are in.." She then walked closer to Marcus, who was a bit uneasy on this. Before Marcus could do anything though, he appeared in a field in the middle of the night. He looked around and noticed an apple orchard in the desert.

"Samantha... what the fuck is this and where am I?" Marcus asked, clearly pissed of at her antics.

"Calm yourself, Sergeant. Look to your left.." Marcus hesitantly complied and turned around. He saw what looked like a bipedal dog, who looked pale and saw he had a hand.. er, paw on his stomach, with blood oozing out of it. Marcus was about to run up to the dog until he heard a screeching sound he'd recognized anywhere...

"Cryptids.." He thought as he looked around frantically for the source of the sound, while also looking around for a weapon.

"SAMANTHA! GIVE ME A WEAPON, WILL YA!?" Marcus yelled angrily.

"Just watch, Sergeant.." Samantha said calmly. Marcus was about to retort until he saw a silhouette of a Cryptid on two legs run towards the dog. The dog turned and shouted in fear.

"No..NO! PLEASE! PLE-" The dog shouted, pleading for mercy, but he was cut off when the Cryptid pounced and pinned him. Marcus then recognized that the Cryptid wasn't a Hunter... it was a Cricket..

"Always hated those shits..." He shivered as he saw the Cricket slash and rip the intestines out of the dog's stomach. The dog screamed in pure agony, until the Cricket bit and ripped his throat, nearly decapitating him. The Cricket then placed several eggs in his stomach cavity and ran off into the orchard.

"Poor bastard.. why the hell did you show me this?" Marcus asked.

"You really are a bit empty in the head, aren't you Marcus? This Cryptid is here.. in the planet YOU'RE all currently in. Which means?.." She asked.

Marcus' eyes widened as he facepalm'd. Hard. "Fucking hell.. are they SERIOUSLY HERE?! FUCK!!" He shouted in anger, punching a nearby apple tree, denting it a bit. "WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?!"

Samantha was taken aback by his sudden urge of anger, but answered his question. Kinda. "I don't honestly know.. but I do know that when you appeared in this world, you must have made some sort of pulse, like what the Cortex does. Except instead of killing them, it acted as a beacon for the Cryptids, waking them up, like what the Ancestors did to wake up the Arks. I don't know how many Arks there are in this planet, all I know is that you woke one of them up.. and they don't seem too happy about it."

Marcus' anger grew into a full blown rage, his lust for killing Cryptids were seeping from his pores, but before he could do anything he would most certainly regret, he calmed himself slowly before asking another question "Who.. how close are they?"

"They seem to come from near those mountains. This event happened while you were out. I think they already have scientists and.. 'guards' stationed here in this little town." Samantha said.

"What's the town called?" Marcus asked.

"I don't know, but I think a relative of that one orange pony lives here. You need to tell everyone.. or pony in this case, about this and do NOT forget." She said sternly.

"Good thing you're still on our side and that you're looking out for us.. in a way." Marcus said, which made Samantha chuckle. Then Samantha dissapeared and Marcus was taken back into his dreamless sleep.

Meanwhile in Sweet Apple Acres...

Jackson and Applejack were walking through the orchard on their way to the barn. Jackson was still awed at how many trees were in this orchard. Applejack saw this and chuckled.

"Ya never seen anything quite like this, have ya, Jackson?" She asked. Jackson shook his head, still wide-eyed and looking at the apples, which made her chuckle again.

"I've seen farms before and all that.. just not one THIS damn huge." Jackson said, breaking out of his trance "Oh, and those apples were the best I've had in all of my damn life. Never tasted anything like 'em."

Applejack smiled "Thank ya' kindly, Jackson. And before ah forget, can ya cut down on your swearin' here? Ah don't want Applebloom pickin' up words she don't need ta know." She asked kindly.

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it, AJ. And who's Applebloom? Your little sister?" He asked. Applejack nodded.

"Yep! She's kinda.. well, y'know how little sisters are, don'cha?" She asked.

"Oh you have no idea." He said chuckling at his childhood memories with both of his sisters "So, are your parents gonna be okay with me being here?"

Jackson was still looking around until he sensed something odd. He turned to his right side and saw that Applejack was behind him, dead in her tracks. He saw that her eyes were distant and saw tears forming up.

Jackson mentally slapped himself "Oh.. oh shit. I'm.. I'm sorry, AJ, I didn't know tha-" He started to apologize, but Applejack lifted up a hoof.

"It's okay, Jackson.. ya didn't know. Ah know you don't mean anything by it, but can we not talk about this?" She asked, blinking and trying to clear her eyes.

"Of course." Jackson said as he waited for Applejack to regain herself and catch up. They started walking in silence, until they heard a deep voice in the distance.

"GET AWAY FROM MAH SISTER, YA APE!" Someone yelled. Jackson then heard heavy trotting come closer and closer. He saw a cloud of dust in the distance, then a large, red pony running towards him with anger.

"Oh COME ON.." Jackson thought. Before he could do anything, he heard Applejack yell at the red pony.

"BIG MAC! CALM DOWN, HE'S JUST AH FRIEND OF MINE! STOP! NOW!" She shouted. Jackson winced as he heard a screeching sound, like a car breaking while going at top speed. Jackson then felt a soft bump on his chest. He looked down and saw the red pony.

"Oh.. sorry Applejack. Ah thought he was-" The red pony spoke, but Applejack shook her head.

"It's okay, Macintosh. Ya were just trying ta protect me is all. But ah can handle mah own. Also, this here is Jackson." She pointed a hoof at Jackson.

"Oh.. hay there. Sorry for what ah was gonna do. Ah thought you was gonna hurt mah sister." Macintosh said. Jackson chuckled.

"I'd never hurt you or your sister. Besides, I think you could've broken more than just my rib cage if you did tackle me.." He said. Macintosh turned his head to the side, which made Jackson grin.

"Well, ya must be pretty tired. Hey Mac, Jackson here is gonna stay at the barn for ah couple of days. That okay?" Applejack asked.

"Ah suppose. Ah'll go ahead and tell Granny Smith and Applebloom." Macintosh said as he ran off towards the barn.

"Alright then, I'll head towards the barn and set up my stuff. You can come along if you want." Jackson said. Applejack nodded as they walked towards the barn.

Meanwhile at Fluttershy's...

Thompson was getting his stuff set down as Fluttershy catered to the various animals around the cottage. Thompson still couldn't believe it. He was actually IN Equestria. More specifically FLUTTERSHY's cottage. Before he could lose control of his excitement, he felt a soft kick on his foot.

He looked down and saw a small, white, little demon "Angel... anything but.." Thompson though. Angel pointed a finger at Fluttershy, who was feeding some brids. He then looked at Thompson and punched his fist into his hand.

Thompson put his hands up "Don't worry. I won't hurt or try anything to her." He said. Angel raised an eyebrow at him, still unconvinced. Then Fluttershy spoke up.

"Um.. what are you both talking about?" She asked, then backed away ever so slightly "If you don't mind me asking.."

"Your pet bunny here is worried I muight hurt you or try something. Can you reassure him?" Thompson asked.

Fluttershy nodded and walked up to Angel "Don't worry, Angel bunny, he won't hurt me or do anything to me." She said, but had a twinge of doubt as she turned to Thompson "Right?..."

Thompson smiled and nodded "Not in a million years."

Fluttershy blushed pink slightly as she nodded to Angel and went outside. Thompson saw Angel smirk and shake his head as he hopped away. Thompson rolled his eyes and went back to rearranging his equipment.

Meanwhile at Twilight's...

Kayla was looking around the bookshelves as Twilight was cleaning her room, while Spike was checking things off on a scroll.

"Quills?" Twilight said.

"Check!" Responded Spike.

"Scrolls?"

"Check!"

"A 30,000 word story with us in it?"

"Che- wait, what stor-"

Before Spike could finish, Kayla called Twilight from downstairs.

"Hey Twilight!"

"Yeah?" She yelled back.

"Where do I sleep?" Kayla asked.

"You can sleep on the couch! There's some pillows and blankets in the basement closet!" Twilight answered.

Kayla walked to the basement door and opened it, walking down the steps and towards the closet, moving a MAAWS rocket launcher out of the way. She opened the closet and saw several items inside. She reached for a pillow, but saw something hidden below it. She pulled it out from under. She gasped as her face turned a deep crimson red at what she was looking at. Then an evil grin formed on her face.

"Hey Twilight!" Kayla yelled.

"What?" She responded.

"Why do you have a male, human Playboy magazine?" Kayla asked with a demonic grin. After a couple seconds, she heard Twilight gasp, making her chuckle.

"Uh.. I... um.." Kayla heard her stutter. She yawned and decided now was not the time for pranks.

"Nevermind! I'm just gonna go sleep and just pretend like nothing happened!" She yelled, then heard Twilight sigh in relief.

As Kayla walked upstairs, she wondered how she was gonna prank Twilight tomorrow morning..

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter will be full of cute.. and PRANKS. And how will Marcus tell them abou-

Nikolai: VODKA.

L.P: ...

Nikolai: *Standing with his bottom lip pushed out and his left eye twitching slightly*

L.P: As I was saying... How will Marcu-

Nikolai: VODKA.

L.P: ..... How wi-

Nikolai: VODKA.

L.P: ...How-

Nikolai: VODKA.

L.P: .......H-

Nikolai: *Leans in closer* VOD. KA.

*L.P puts up his hands and walks out the door, shaking his head.*

Chapter 21: Killjoy

"If I had one more division like this First Marine Division, I could win this war tomorrow." General Douglas McArthur

Rainbow hears a whistling sound and a loud explosion. She jumps up and opens her eyes and looks around, finding herself in what seemed like a ruined house, covered in burned wood, bricks, and a collapsed roof. She then notices that the sky is orange and that there's several streaks of white in the sky, and loud cracks in the distance.

"Where.. where the buck am I?.." She asks herself, but yelps as she hears somepony yell out outside.

"MOVE BACK! LEAVE THE MORTARS AND MOVE TO THE HUMVEE!" They yelled. She then cautiously walked to a scorched door. When she put her hoof on it to open it, it fell down and snapped in half. She then looked outside, and saw where she was.

"Oh my.. wha... where.." She blurted out incoherently, noticing that the entire sky was orange and black, and that she was in a neighborhood that looked similar to the one Marcus showed in his first flashback. Rainbow then looked around for the source of the voice. Then another voice shouted, one that she recognized immediately.

"Marcus?..." She thought as she ran over to a pile of burned sandbags. Then saw him and others wearing the same stuff as him. He was shooting his weapon at Cryptids, as he yelled at the others.

"GET ON THE M-2, AND FLUSH THOSE BASTARDS OUT! I'll COVER YOU! GET OUT OF HERE!" He shouted. The others obeyed and ran to some sort of machine with wheels, and were the same desert tan colors as him. One of the others got on top of the machine and got inside a hole in the top. He then proceeded to aim and fire at oncoming Cryptids.

"GET OUT OF HERE! GET TO THE OTHERS AND GET THE FUCK OUT!!" Marcus shouted as he kept shooting of his weapon. Rainbow noticed that he was shooting upon a huge swarm of Cryptids, rapidly making their way towards him and the others.

"YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO DEAL WITH ME IF YOU EVEN WANT TO TOUCH THEM!" She shouted as she soared up into the air. After soaring a good distance above the Cryptids, she then flew down in a straight line, her speed increased as she planned to do her famous Rain-nuke. She knew that it wouldn't kill them, but maybe faze them so they could escape in time, without leaving Marcus behind.

Rainbow screamed in anger as she connected with the ground. She expected to hear a deafening explosion, but when she opened her eyes, she saw that she didn't even create an explosion. The Cryptids were still advancing, even more aggressive than before. Her eyes widened as one of the 'Hunter' Cryptids advanced straight towards her, then ran through her.

She looked at herself as more Cryptids phased through her like she wasn't there "What the.. oh no.." She turned around and saw Marcus shooting off rounds at the advancing Cryptids, giving the other soldiers enough time to speed off towards saftey.

"No.. NO!" She thought as she ran towards one of the Cryptids, turned around, and tried to buck it with all her might. But her hind legs simply did nothing, as they passed through the Cryptid.

"BUCK!! MARCUS!!" She shouted, but Marcus looked around at the surrounding Cryptids slowly stalking him while walking in a circle, making sure he had no escape.

Marcus then unseathed his large black tinted knife, got into a defensive stance, and said silently "Okay... who's first?.." He said with
venom and determenation seemingly dripping from his tongue as he spoke.

Rainbow wanted to help him, but knew it was futile, since she couldn't even touch the Cryptids. A Hunter Cryptid screeched and slowly walked into the circle with Marcus. Instead of panicking, however, he smiled wildly.

"Time to pay for your unforgivable sins, you soulless sack OF SHIT!" He shouted the last words as he lunged at the Hunter, but it dashed to the left and swiped its claws at Marcus, slicing his left thigh. He grunted in pain as he kicked the Hunter under the jaw, fazing it a bit. Marcus took this oppertunity to jump on its back and slam the huge knife into the Hunter's weak spot behind its armor plating. Rainbow's stomach weakened as she heard the sickening sound of the knife slice through the Cryptid with ease, then her blood ran cold as Marcus laughed coldly.

"Who's next, you little fucks?! WHO?!" He shouted between his laughs. Rainbow saw that all the Cryptids were slowly walking towards him, snarling. Marcus stopped laughing as he closed his eyes and spoke softly.

"I'll be seeing you all in hell.. may God have mercy upon all your souls.." He said as the Cryptids screeched and pounced on him, tackling him and ripping him apart with their claws. Rainbow watched in horror as they tore and ate him, but what shocked her the most is that he wasn't panicking or screaming in agony. In fact, he looked rather calm. That was until a Rhino grabbed the sides of his head and ripped it clean off with the sickening sound of flesh, bone, and skin being torn from their original position.

"N-.. no.. NO.. NO! THIS ISN'T FREAKING REAL!!" Her mind shouted as her entire body shook as she sobbed uncontrollably. She then looked up beyond the Cryptids and saw a silhouette of a pony in the distance. She looked closer and saw that it had a horn, then its wings spread.

"L...Luna? Cel..Celestia?" Rainbow whispered. The pony then opened its eyes, which showed a deep red. Rainbow looked confused, but her eyes turned to pinpricks as she saw hundreds of what Marcus described as 'Gargoyle' Cryptids soar up from behind the Alicorn. It then aimed one of its wings at Rainbow. The Gargoyles roared as they soared down towards Rainbow, with their claws extended in front of them as their speed increased.

Rainbow was still too shocked to move. And moving so would be futile, since there were hundreds of them. She then closed her eyes and waited for the moment claws of the Cryptids to slice through her.

It never came, since she opened her eyes and woke up.

Rainbow woke up with a long scream. She frantically looked around, but her eyes were still a bit blurry. After rubbing her eyes, she looked around again, only to find out that she was still in her room.

"Wha.. oh thank Celestia. Wait.." Rainbow then looked at her right hoof, which was shaking violently, and she sweating like crazy. She then got out of her cloud bed and decided to check on Marcus downstairs.

"Heh.. cute." She thought as she saw Marcus sleep. He was, for some reason, still wearing his black vest, filled with canisters inside the pouches. Without thinking, she silently trotted up to him and flapped her wings, softly landing on his chest. She then curled up and rested her head onto the area carrying the canisters, careful not to touch the exposed top of them.

"If he says anything about this, I'll buck him to next week.." Rainbow though as she smirked and drifted to a dreamless sleep.

Marcus' P.O.V

Marcus slowly drifted back into reality as he started waking up. The first thing he noticed was that his chest was a bit heavier than usual. He rubbed his eyes as he got his vision back. He then saw that a small cyan ball with rainbow hair was sleeping peacefully on his chest.

"Cute.. but why?.." Marcus raised an eyebrow and smirked, but then shook his head and stroked Rainbow's head softly. The first thing he noticed was that her hair felt like silk. Then Marcus formed and evil grin on his face.

"Let me be the first to fire off the shots to declare the prank war..." He thought as he reached for his backpack and opened the smallest pocket on the front. He then pulled out a mask that had a skull painted on it. He put it on along with his shades.

"Hey.. hey Rainbow. Wake up.." Marcus said quietly as he softly shook Rainbow. She responded with a grunt and lazily spoke.

"Ugh.. five more minutes.." She said, groaning in annoyance and turning her head to the other direction. Marcus chuckled quietly and shook her with a bit more force.

Rainbow then groaned loudly in annoyance and yawned, rubbing her eyes with her hooves "Ugh.. what is- AAAAAHHH!!"

She screamed when she saw Marcus, wearing a skull balacava, jumping off of him and falling to the floor.

Marcus was laughing hysterically as Rainbow looked at him, clearly very pissed. He then looked up, still laughing, but it immediately turned into worry as he pointed his finger at her.

"WHA ISH IH?!" Rainbow shouted, but noticed that she had something in her mouth. She spit the item out and onto her hoof. Her eyes widened.. it was one of the canisters from the pouches. She then looked up at Marcus, who was holding the pin on his finger. His eyes widened as he noticed he was holding the pin, and she somehow got one of the canisters when he scared her.

"Oh.. BUC-" Rainbow was cut off by a series of flashes. She screamed as she dropped the canister to the floor, only for it to slowly toard making more flashes that blinded her. She yelled loudly as the exploding flashes got faster and faster, until it all of a sudden stopped.

She rubbed her eyes, slowly regaining her eyesight, then looked down at the canister, which had several small holes on it now, then looked up at Marcus, who looked like he didn't even flinch.

"What the BUCK was that?!" Rainbow yelled "And how are you NOT blinded?!"

Marcus chuckled and pointed at his sunglasses "These things.. and also, I shut my eyes. You should consider yourself lucky that they were only my prank flashbangs. Real ones could've hurt you badly if you were holding 'em." He then picked up the steaming canister, examining it.

"Flashbang? That's the name of it? How fitting..." Rainbow said under her breath, but Marcus chuckled.

"Oh and another thing.." He said, taking off his mask and shades "Why were yo-" He stopped mid-sentance and looked at the canister. It had one hole that wasn't yet popped.

"SHI-" Marcus was cut off by a loud BANG as the last hole exploded, blinding him and making him fall, screaming.

"Fuck me.. and fuck you karma.." He said outloud. Once he regained his hearing and eyesight, the first thing he heard and saw was Rainbow on the floor, laughing her fucking ass off.

"That... was.. TOO PERFECT!" She exclaimed as she laughed again. Marcus just rolled his eyes and threw the canister out the window, in case karma decides that it wasn't yet finished.

"I guess we're even, huh?" Marcus asked. Rainbow got her bearings and nodded, still chuckling a bit "Alright, but I have a question.. why were you sleeping on my chest?"

Marcus' grin returned as he saw Rainbow's face turn crimson red "I.. uh.. heheh. You see.. Ugh, look. Just don't tell anypony.. or anyone. Okay?"

Marcus nodded as he turned around to collect his gear. Then he remembered what Samantha had told him. He then turned to Rainbow.

"Oh shit.. Rainbow. Can you go into town and gather up all of your friends and my squad, please? I have something to tell them. And it's gonna be pretty shocking to them. Also, have Twilight bring Spike, and her writing materials."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow "Why? Is there something wrong?"

Marcus nodded a bit, which made Rainbow lean in closer "I'll explain all of it later, but I think we have a.. you could say.. a threat to national security.. if you know what I mean. Just bring 'em here and I'll explain everything."

Rainbow saluted and flew out the door speedily, leaving her signature rainbow trail behind her "A threat to national security?.. Jeez, hope it's not something too drastic. And why DID I-" She then heard a voice in the back of her head with a heavy accent.

"You're all just puppets.. your precious rulers are just puppets.. pulled. Pulled by the Ancsestor's strings..."

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter, you'll see how the squad will react to all this.. and what did Arch- I MEAN the voice in Rainbow's head mean by-

Dempsey: *Walks into the room* Hey, LP. Who's cooler? Me? Or Rainbow Crash?

Rainbow Dash: *From the living room* IT'S RAINBOW DASH, DAMN IT!!

Dempsey: *Yells back* WHATEVER! Also, can I PLEASE be in the story?

L.P: No dammit! Why are you all even HERE?!

Nikolai: Because you decided to write a crossover about Extinction whatever the fuck, instead of US!

L.P: Uh... g-go home, you're drunk.

Nikolai: VODKA.

L.P: HEY RAINBOW!!

Rainbow Dash: *Flies in room* What's up?

L.P: *Hands her a bottle of vodka* He wants vodka. So give it to him. *Winks*

Rainbow Dash: *Smirks and nods, then smashes the bottle over Nikolai's head, knocking him out*

L.P: Thanks.

Takeo: SUSHI.

L.P: GAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Tackles Takeo, with glass heard being broken in the background*

Chapter 22: Some Things Never Change

"You'll never get a Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!"-Captain Henry P. Crowe USMC Guadalcanal, 1943

Rainbow Dash decided to head towards Sweet Apple Acres first to pick up Applejack and Jackson, then pick up Fluttershy and Thompson, and then Twilight and Kayla. She was still wondering about the voice in her head, but she had something to do, and Marcus said it was pretty urgent. At this, Dash flew faster until she was flying over the hundreds of apple trees. She hovered and looked around to spot Jackson and AJ.

"C'mon.. where the hay are you guys?" She said quietly as she scanned the are. After a couple of minutes, she sighed and flew down towards the barn. She landed in front of the doors and slowly poked her head in, noticing that Jackson was lying on a pile of hay, storing some stuff in his backpack. He looked to Rainbow's direction and spoke.

"Hey Rainbow, what's up? You need somethin'?" He asked.

"Yeah, kinda. Marcus said he needs everypo- I mean, everyone to meet at my place. He said that he needs to tell us about something important, and that it could be a threat to 'national security' or something like that. Can you tell AJ also? She knows where I live, so she'll take you there, I need to get the others and tell them. Okaythanksbye!" Rainbow said as she flew off towards Fluttershy's cottage, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.

Jackson shrugged as he gathered his equipment and backpack. At the same time, Applejack walked in.

"Hey there Jackson. Ah heard Rainbow talking out here. What'd she say?" She said, yawning and rubbing one of her eyes with her hoof.

"She said that we need to go to her house, and meet with Marcus. She said it's a matter of 'national security', or something. And we should go like, right now. Cause I know when Marcus is serious, and he doesn't joke about this kind of shi- I mean, stuff." Jackson said, stopping himself from cussing.

Applejack grinned and nodded "Okay then, ah'll lead ya to her house, but we can't go inside it exactly. She lives in a cloud house."

Jackson thought about it for a second "How the hell? She didn't mention she lived in a cloud house.. and how could Marcu- OW my head.." He shook his head, as he followed AJ.

Rainbow then arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, and out of breath. Instead of knocking, she busted the door to the side forcefully with her hooves, making Fluttershy jump and hit the roof, while Thompson pulled out a knife and looked at Rainbow, with a piece of lettuce hanging from his mouth.

"Sorry... guys.. I.. -GASP- both.. Marcus.. my place.. national security.. NOW!" Rainbow said, gasping for air. Thompson immediately put the knife back in the sheath and nodded, while helping Fluttershy back up.

"O-okay, Rainbow. We'll be there in a second." Said Thompson as he then went to gather his gear.

Rainbow nodded and flew towards Twilight's place, at an even faster speed than before. She didn't even bother going for the door as she decided to fly through the window.

"Aw, buck it.." She thought, then yelled at the top of her lungs before she impacted "INCOMING!!" She said, then crashed into the window and landed on a chair. Luckily, she didn't even get a scratch, but she then heard a sound upstairs that sounded like a train horn, making her fold her ears back and wince at the sound.

"BLAAAAAAAAAARP"

Kayla's P.O.V

Kayla woke up a bit earlier than Twilight, so she decided to have a bit of fun. She yawned quietly and stretched, with several bones cracking as she stood up from the couch, which was rather small. She grinned at what had happened last night, and decided to walk down the basement to see if Twilight had anything else that would catch her eye.

Kayla opened the door and walked down, looking through shelves and boxes. Then she found something that made her grin ear to ear.

An air horn.

"Oh man.. this should be good." She thought as she quietly made her way upstairs and out of the basement. She closed the door and proceeded to silently walk towards Twilight's room, opening the door and creeping in. Kayla noticed that Twilight was snoring peacefully on her bed, with her back towards Kayla.

"Oh.. this is too perfect.." She whispered as she made her way towards Twilight. She stopped and froze when the floorboards creaked under her weight, but she started towards her a bit more slowly.

"Wakey-Wakey.." Kayla whispered to Twilight, but she just groaned and shuffled a bit. Kayla grinned and whispered again

"Okay.. your choice.." She put the air horn up to one of her ears, but then heard a raspy, feminine voice outside

"INCOMING!"

Kayla then heard glass shatter, which made her yelp, and made Twilight sit up from her sleep.

"What the hay wa-" Twilight was cut off as she looked into the air horn, but before she could move, Kayla had pressed the air horn.

"BLAAAAAAAAARP!"

Twilight shrieked as she jumped out of the bed and fell to the floor. Her ears rang, but she could see Kayla on the floor, laughing like a maniac. Then, she saw Rainbow Dash on the doorway, looking at them both with an eyebrow raised.

"What the buck happened?" She asked. Twilight's hearing slowly returned as Kayla explained what she did.

"I.. I blew an air horn into her face while she was asleep, and oh my GOD was it hilarious!" She said as she fell down to the floor, holding her sides as she laughed even more. Twilight saw Rainbow trying terribly to hold in a burst of laughter, but she couldn't help it as she started laughing.

After a couple of minutes, the laughter died down as Rainbow looked at them "Okay.. now to tell you why I came here. Marcus said that he needs everyone and everypony at my place ASAP. He said it was something that could threaten 'national security'. I'll meet you girls there. And Kayla, Twilight knows where I live, so she'll take you there. Okayseeyabyegonow!" She said as she ran down the stairs and flew out the window back towards Applejack and Jackson.

Marcus' P.O.V

Marcus was readying himself to tell his squad and the rest of the ponies about the Cryptids. He was still pondering why Rainbow was sleeping on his chest, but he decided he'd ask later. Right now, he was wondering how the squad would take all this in, hell, if they would even believe him. He would also have to tell the Princess' about this, but he was sure Twilight could take care of that.

"Well, here goes nothing.." Marcus thought as he aimed his grappling hook towards a nearby tree on the ground. He shot it, and then he was slowly dragged towards the tree. He put his legs in front of him as he forcefully hit the tree, making him grunt. Then he jumped down to the ground as the grappling hook went back into its holster.

"Heh, that was more easier than I thought.." Marcus said as he turned around, noticing the girls and his squad ahead, and they had their equipment with them. He waved at them as they ran up to his location.

"Yo Marcus, what's up?" Said Jackson, running up to him and giving him a fist-bump, which Marcus returned. The others just smiled and
waited for him to speak.

"A lot of shit, dude. I got something to tell you all." He said. The others complied and waited for him to explain.

"Alright.. I don't know if you're gonna believe me, but y'know Samantha Cross?" He asked his squad. They nodded as Thompson spoke.

"Yeah, what about her?.." He asked with a bit of worry.

"Well, she somehow got into my fucking dreams.. and told me a bit more about this planet. And figures out this planet was made similarly to ours.." Marcus said. The others wondered for a while, before Jackson was the first to put two and two together, as his eyes widened.

"Wait.. so that means?.."

"If you're about to say Cryptids.. then you're spot on. How do I know? In my dream last night, she showed me that somehow, a Cryptid attacked a dog about one day ago in a desert near an apple orchard.. and that the Cryptids have their own planet and everything. I don't know how to show you, but you've got to believe me.." Marcus said.

The girls and his squad looked at him in shock, it didn't help to know that they knew what the Cryptids were capable of, and now he said that the Cryptids were in THEIR world, which made them even more horrified. Then Kayla sighed and looked at the ground, with an annoyed and saddened expression on her face.

"Some things just never change.." She said quietly, getting an 'Oo-rah' from the guys.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait (kinda) and the short chapter. Didn't want to bunch up two chapters in one, since it might get a bit confusing. Otherwise, hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you think!

Dempsey: Wait, before you end this shit, tell your readers who's better: Me or Skittles?

Rainbow Dash: IT'S RAINBOW DASH, YOU STUPID APE!

L.P: WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT. THE FUCK. UP?!

Dempsey and Rainbow Dash: Okay! Sorry! *They then realize that they said it in unison, and glared at each other.*

L.P: Okay.. anyways, I guess I might as well ask you guys: Who is more awesome? Rainbow Dash? Or Tank Dempsey?

Nikolai: *In the background* I AM THE BEST!

L.P: *Facepalm*

Chapter 23: A Biological Disaster

Marcus just waited for everyone to take in what they heard. The girls were mumbling to each other, while the squad were still planning on what to do and how to find out more about all this.

"Wait, did Samantha tell you about where the Cryptid came from?" Asked Jackson.

Marcus pondered for a second to remember what Samantha said in his dream before answering "I think she said that it came from the mountains outside the town.." The squad nodded, but then Applejack spoke up as they turned their attention to her.

"Ah think ah know where that place is.. did ya mention a desert and apple orchard?" She asked. Marcus nodded "Well, that location is called "Appleloosa', and mah cousin, Braeburn lives there.." She said, with a slight hint of worry in her voice.

"Okay then, thank you. And just to ease off a bit of worry, I know who got attacked. It was a dog, not your cousin, I promise." Marcus said, as Applejack sighed in relief, but then Twilight asked him about who got attacked.

"Wait, a dog? Was it bipedal?" She asked.

"Yeah, why? Is it a regular resident or something?"

Twilight shook her head "No, those dogs are called Diamond Dogs. They.. well, find diamonds underground and sell the to the black market in Saddle Arabia."

Marcus raised an eyebrow "This place has a black market? Heh, figures."

"But that isn't the only thing they do.." Twilight said with a tone of sadness "Every year, they come up from underground and kidnap ponies to use them as slaves in the mines.. ranging from fillies to the elder.."

"Then it got what it was coming to him.." Marcus thought, but nodded and continued.

"Alright then, also, the Cryptid that killed the dog was a Cricket. Y'know, the ones that lay eggs, and breath through their necks? Like a fish?" He asked his squad, who nodded.

"Oh, those fuckers? Goddamn, I hate those things. Wait..." Thompson said, but he came up with a problem "Those shits lay eggs.. did you see it lay eggs near the dog's corpse?"

Marcus nodded "Yeah, and I know what you're thinking.. she also told me that scientists and guards were already on scene. Oh shit! They have no fucking clue what could happen to them if those eggs hatch!" He then turned to the girls.

"Okay Twilight, we need you to send a letter to Celestia and tell her about the dead dog. Tell her that no matter what they do, they CANNOT touch those eggs, and that the scientists need to quarantine it as soon as possible!" Marcus said with a serious tone. Twilight nodded.

"Okay, I'll tell her to arrange us all tickets so we can travel to Appleloosa and Canterlot." She added.

"Alright, good. But let's head over to your place so we can get our weapons." Marcus said. The girls looked at him in worry and confusion. He sighed and added "Look, I know what you're thinking, but it's for our own saftey. I hope we won't have to use them, but we will. On the Cryptids." The girls eased a bit as they ran towards the library.

Rainbow Dash flew next to Marcus and whispered in his ear as they ran "Hey, do you think we could help you guys out if.. well, those things do show up?"

Marcus thought for a second before responding. "Shit.. they have saved this world several times. But they've never faced anything like we have. No, not even close. And I don't think this world can risk losing the bearers of the Elements.. not a single one. Besides, we can take care of this." He then responded.

"I don't think you girls should be risking yourselves for this. So as of now, no. And it's not because I don't think you girls can't handle yourselves in a fight with them, it's just that I don't think you've ever faced anything like this before, but we'll see, ok?" Marcus said.

Rainbow was hesitant, but nodded. She knew that Marcus and his squad are more than capable of taking care of the Cryptids, but she still couldn't help but think that he was underestimating her and her friends, but she couldn't blame him, they didn't know that they were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, heck, Twilight hasn't even told them yet!

After running for a while, they finally made it to Twilight's library. The squad went inside and gathered up their weapons and re-stocked their pouches with ammunition. Marcus then picked up a Vulture drone and strapped it to the back of his backpack while Twilight sent the letters to Celestia.

Marcus then turned to Kayla "Hey Kayla, I'll trade ya my R-5 for your Honey Badger?" He asked. Kayla pondered for a second, before nodding and handing her Honey Badger to Marcus, to which he gladly took. Rainbow and the other girls just watched as they stocked up on their weaponry and ammo, then Applejack spoke.

"Why did ya switch weapons with her, Marcus?" She asked. Marcus chuckled

"Because this one right here.." He held the Honey Badger up to Applejack and Rainbow, who leaned in for a better view ".. has an intergrated silencer on it, which means the shots are extremely quiet when I shoot, but not quiet enough you can't hear them, you just won't go deaf. And also, it has a shotgun on the bottom of the barrel." He said while putting his hands on the trigger and pumping it, ejecting a 12-gauge shell, making the girls jump back a bit. He smirked and added ".. also, because it looks freaking awesome."

Twilight then walked downstairs, holding an envelope "Okay, I got the tickets! Celestia said that we need to get to Canterlot ASAP. Do you guys have your stuff ready?" She asked to the squad. They nodded. "Good. Then follow us to the train station!" She said as they ran out of the library and towards the train station, with the squad following right behind them.

Inside an underground lab, one mile below Canterlot.. One hour earlier..

Unicorn Scientists were busy in a small, white, room, deep below Canterlot. This is where new technology, medical advances, and new magical spells are tested and decided whether they should be brought to the public. Right now, four scientists were studying the body of a Diamond Dog, which was brought in by paramedics after several unknown claw marks and green eggs were found inside its corpse.

One of the unicorn scientists, Scientia Diversity, were brought in from Manehattan University's biological team to study on the eggs and what they contained. The scientists took DNA samples from inside the claw marks, and took several rapid tests to determine the exact species of who caused these injuries, but the results came back as an unknown species.

Scientia was inside his brand-new temporary office, writing down notes on who could have caused this, while sipping on coffee.

"Ugh.. the DNA samples don't match anything.." He said while groaning and leaning his head back, scratching his head in annoyance. Then, another scientist came inside, Neuro Remedium. She was part of the neurological team from San Fransiscolt, who was brought in to try to find cures for new diseases that were traced from Trottingham, but she was still informed about the new discovery and the dead dog, which caught her attention. She decided to find and ask the leader of the operation. After about an hour, one of the guards told her where the leader was.

"Hey there. Did you find any matches on who caused those injuries on the creatures?" She asked as she trotten in and took a seat, looking at the papers that had pictures and descriptions of several animals that could have caused this.

"No.. these DNA samples don't match any known creature here. Maybe it's a new species? The closest match we got was from a Griffon, but our feud with them ended in a treaty just last month! And even if it was them, how would that explain the eggs?" Diversity said as he took another long swig from his coffee, and sighed "Honestly, this is just so.. ugh.."

"Mind-bending?" Neuro finished his sentance. He nodded and rubbed his eyes.

"Well, let me show you what we got on the eggs." He got out of his chair and walked out the door to the hallway "C'mon."

Neuro complied as she walked out of the room. Diversity turned the light off and closed the door, then proceeded to walk down the hall. For Neuro, this was her first time here in the labs, so every time they passed by one of the white rooms, she'd take a quick glance inside to see what other ponies were working on. In one room, they were testing new magic spells, one of which turned rock into a brick of solid iron, another room had some guard ponies testing out new armor, which was still gold, but it had a layer of lightweight iron plating inside, which would protect them from high-firing crossbows and several deadly spells. Another had medical ponies testing out a possible cure for the flu, and were testing it on monkeys and fish, who had the flu.

"Okay, here's the room." Diversity said. The room was guarded by two royal guards, one was a unicorn and another was one of Neuron's best friends, Flash Sentry.

"Hey! Is that you, Flash?" Asked Neuro. Flash looked up and grinned, walking up to her.

"Neuro? Damn, it's been a while! How've you been?" He asked as he hugged her with one hoof, since he was holding a spear in the other. She returned the hug and responded.

"I've been good. In fact, I was just transferred here to study on a new cure for the disease that was found in Trottingham." Neuro said. Flash nodded as he turned towards Diversity

"I'm guessing you're here to see the body?" Flash asked Diversity nodded "Well, I must tell you that the eggs have grown substantially since you last came here yesterday."

Diversity's eyebrow raised "Really? How big are they now?"

"They're as big as a pony's head. We got three other scientists checking the eggs out with biohazard suits on. If you want in, then you need to find yourself a suit from inside the biological testing rooms." Said Flash.

Diversity nodded and told Neuro to follow him, but before he could even turn around, he heard a panicked voice in the room.

"Oh my CELESTIA! WHAT IS THA- GAAAH!! GET IT OUT!" Shouted a voice as a sickening sound was heard, along with glass breaking and screecheing of an unknown kind. Then, another voice was heard.

"Oh CRAP! GUARDS! HELP! NO-" The other voice was cut off as another screech was heard, along with flesh being ripped. Diversity turned around and saw the guards run inside. Diversity decided to rush in to help them, while Neuro decided to stay behind and watch, but not without a feeling of worry. The door closed behind them as she could hear Flash yell out.

"Stop! Get off him, you ugly creature! Diversity, watch ou- AAAAHHHH!" His voice faded into a gurgle as she heard frantic hoof steps, and several screams. She was shaking a bit as she slowly walked towards the door. But before she could open the door, it swung open, and she saw Flash's corpse fall to the ground, covered in scratches and his head was nearly ripped off, hanging only by a couple strains of tissue. Neuro screamed and stumbled to the ground, frozen and horrified to see what had happened to her friend she knee since she was just a filly.

Then, a weird creature, about the size of her, crawled out of the room slowly, covered in flesh, brain matter, and blood on its face. Neuro noticed that it had hundreds of teeth, and had several eyes, and some sort of exo plating on its head. It also had claws, and turned towards her.

She screamed and ran for her life, but she heard a screech and running behind her.

"Please.. please.. AH!" She was tackled, but not before she could switch on the warning siren lever. The entire facility glowed in red as the sirens went off, causing all the nearby pin es to run out of their rooms and panic. Neuro was helpless as the creature dug it's claws deep into her skin and flesh. She screamed in agony , but she looked over the creature and saw more of the same kind rush out of the room and run around, tackling and shredding those near them. Then, she heard the creature that was pinning her screech. Neuro looked up and saw felt its teeth sink into her neck, tearing her veins, flesh, and crackling her bones. She could do nothing but scream in agony until she was choking on her own blood. Then, everything was muted around her as she faded into black, hearing a female laughing manically as her eyes rolled back to her head and stared into nothingness.

Author's Note

Alright.. shit's getting real now. Tell me your thoughts!

Richtofen: OH THE GLORIOUS BLOOD.. I WANT MOAR!

Dempsey: Heh. I knew you were a Brony..

Richtofen: ... shaddap.

Nikolai: Why not settle this over a bottle of *Rainbow Dash smashes another bottle over his head*

L.P: I owe you one..

Takeo: Why do you ignore my so much? Rascist..

L.P: I am not! It's just that.. well.. you're boring as fuck.

Rainbow Dash: He's got a point..

Takeo: Shut up, gay pride. *Slashes most of her tail off with his katana*

Rainbow: Why you LITTL-

L.P: *Hands Rainbow a sledgehammer, then turns to you* Use your imaginatio- *Hears a sickening splat*

... :rainbowderp:

Chapter 24: De-Contamination

"Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellow-legs alone. Strike the American Army." -Orders given to communist troops in the Korean War. Shortly after, the Marines were ordered not to wear khaki leggings.

The squad and the girls arrived at the Ponyville train station a couple of minutes later, and started boarding until one of the guards halted the squad.

"Halt! What are those things you are carrying?" He asked, raising his spear at his temple, but Twilight intervened.

"Woah, hold on! They're not here to hurt anypony! We need to go to Canterlot, it's an emergency!" Twilight exclaimed, but the guard wasn't convinced.

"I'm sure the other Royal Guards can take care of it without the help of mutant monke-" The guard was cut off as Marcus grabbed his throat and lifted him to his face. Marcus stared coldly and narrowly at the guard, who was making choking sounds as he strengthen his grip on his throat.

"What were you gonna call us?" Marcus said, getting right up into the guard's face, as he barley loosened his grip to let it speak.

The guard's eyes opened in shock that he could talk, but he then sputtered out frantically "N-nothing.. S-ir! ACK!"

Marcus squeezed his neck for about five more seconds before he threw him to the side. He motioned the squad and the girls to follow him into the train. They were shocked, as so were the other ponies around, but the squad and the girls followed quickly behind him, as the guard gasped for air, and coughed.

"Goddamn it.." Marcus thought as he took a seat and sighed. He then looked up to the girls, who were still wide-eyed at what he just did.

"What the hay was that, Hunter?!" Asked Rainbow Dash, flying up to his face.

He sighed again "Sorry.. just not used to being disrespected here. Or anywhere, really. Still though, I won't act like that again."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this, but she nodded and flew towards the seats. Jackson then looked around, taking in the look of the inside of the train.

"Dude... I think I just lost my man card." He said. Marcus chuckled while the others smirked.

"When I saw the outside of the train, my cool card and man card just burned in front of me." Marcus said, then turned to the girls "No offense."

"None taken!" They said in unison, smiling.

The train then started moving, slowly as it picked up speed along the way. Not long after, it was at full speed towards Canterlot.

"Alright then. Twilight, did the princess say why they needed us in Canterlot? I think the situation in Appleloosa is more.. well, drastic." Marcus said, with a serious tone.

Twilight pulled out the scroll out of her saddlebag and handed it to Marcus. He took it from her magical grip, unrolled it, and read what it said.

Dear Twilight Sparkle..

I have been informed from the underground Canterlot laboratories that a dangerous mishap has recently occurred at the biological section of the laboratory. As of right now, we have sent five elite guards down there to secure and detain whatever had happened. Unfortunately, I fear that they might be in trouble, since they have not returned from their mission. Reasons for what might have caused this are not known, but I feel that I should tell you that paramedics have brought the body of a Diamond Dog into the laboratories when a tragic attack happened outside of Appleloosa. What I will say next might disgust you, but due to several biologists being interested in what might have cause the wounds that were found on the body, they have decided to take sample of it to study it. Furthermore, I was told that inside the body were 'small, green, eggs' that seemed to grow in size. I have noticed that they looked similar to the eggs that one of the Cryptids Marcus showed us in his memorial flashbacks, and if what Marcus said to you is true, then we might have an extremely dangerous situation on our hooves. Tickets for you and the rest are inside the scroll. Please arrive to Canterlot as soon as possible, with Marcus and his friends.

-Princess Celestia

Marcus put the scroll down aside from him and spoke "Wait, you guys have an undeground lab?"

"Yeah. It's where we do research for new technology, medicines, magic spells, and other stuff. I've only been there once, but that was a long time ago. I can't even imagine how different it looks now!" Twilight said with excitement.

"Okay, but how deep is it? How many floors?" Marcus asked. Twilight thought for a bit, before answering.

"I don't specifically remember.. but I do know that it took quite a while for us to reach the first floor. And I think it has about two to three floors.. but I might have expanded since. It WAS a long time ago.. when I was a filly."

"Then we'll just have to ask Celestia when we get there. Speaking of which, how long will it take for us to arrive in Canterlot?" He asked.

"About four or five hours." Applejack said with a nonchalant tone.

"Really? Shit.. then let's hope that those Cryptids don't do any more damage.." Marcus said, inspecting the Honey Badger in his hands.

"How do you plan on taking those things out?" Rainbow asked as she watched him fumble around with the weapon.

"Well.. we're gonna go down there, use this.." He took the Vulture drone from behind his backpack, and showed it to her. The drone was about half size of Rainbow, but it was heavier, due to it having a remote M240 machine gun turret ".. and have it watch our backs as we clear out every room, find any survivors, and kill those Cryptids."

Fluttershy was shaken a bit from what he said, but she knew that these Cryptid things were bred-killers. During his flashback, she tried looking into their eyes, but saw nothing but murder and a soulless creature, bred to kill. She did not want them to kill them, but she fully understood why they had to, and she wasn't going to stop them anytime soon, as it would be futile anyways.

"So that means that we can't help you guys on this?" Rainbow asked. Marcus shook his head.

"We have more experience with this kind of stuff. I'm not saying you or the rest of you girls are weak, but we are trained for this kind of stuff. I think I proved that at the hospital, didn't I?" He asked. Rainbow nodded, but still couldn't help but break the ice and tell him who they really were.

"Yeah, we know that. But I still can't help but think you're underestimating us and our power, dude. Do you even know who and what we represent here in Equestria?" She asked.

Marcus knew exactly who they were, but he sure as hell wasn't gonna tell them that he did know, he was worried that it would freak the living shit outta them "Honestly, no..." He lied.

Twilight took control of the conversation "Well, let's past the time by telling you guys exactly who WE are." She said with a smirk. The Marines watched as they got out of their seats and stood straightly with pride. Then, Twilight walked up and handed Marcus a book from her saddle bags. On the front of it, it read "Elements of Harmony". The others then leaned in to read the cover. Marcus opened the book, and inside were six gems, attatched to golden necklaces. One was an orange apple shape gem, another was in the shape of a pink butterfly, a blue balloon, a diamond-shaped gem, a red thunderbolt, and in the middle of the book, was a gold tiara studded with sapphires and a magenta star-shaped gem in the middle. They gleamed in the sunlight as they looked at them.

"Damn, they look pretty badass. Even better in person, but nowhere near as beautiful as MY medal. Still.." He thought with a smirk, but was still awe struck at the sight that he was looking at. Then, Jackson looked at them with an eyebrow raised.

"Damn, these look like they costed a shit-ton.. but why're you showin' us this?" He asked. Twilight smiled and lifted the necklaces and the tiara out of the book and in front of the Marines.

"These aren't just some regular gems.. these are the Elements of Harmony. The most powerful force in Equestria. They were found thousands of years ago by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from the Tree of Harmony. They each represent an element of friendship, and work when all the element wielders are together." Twilight exclaimed.

"So.. I'm guessing you guys the wielders?" Kayla asked. The girls nodded.

"Yes. There are six elements, honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and magic. I am the Element of Magic." Twilight said, proudly.

"And ah'm the Element of Honesty!" Applejack said with the same amount of pride.

"I'm the Element of Loyalty!" Said Rainbow Dash, huffing out her chest and smirking.

"And I'm the Element of K-Kindness.." Fluttershy said quietly, but with a smile.

"What about the other two?" Asked Jackson.

"The others are Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, but they're all in different areas right now, but you'll meet them soon. In fact, I think they should be back after you're done in Canterlot." Twilight said.

"So you've like what, saved Equestria several times from its destruction?" Jackson asked.

"Yep." They all said, smiling.

"Holy shit.." The squad said in unison, making the girls grin.

"Eh, it's not a big deal." Rainbow said, sarcastically.

"My ass it ain't! That's pretty fucking badass if you ask me!" Said Jackson, making the girls laugh.

"Seriously though, I can't believe that we've been talking to world heroes. Damn, it's an honor." Said Jackson as he got up and looked around the train.

"Well, you should know that it's an honor to know all of you, too. If anypon- I mean, anyone deserves respect here, it's you guys!" Exclaimed Twilight.

The squad chuckled and gave her a thumbs-up. Marcus then got up and put the Vulture drone on a table, and started double-checking the ammo for it, and its electrical systems. Twilight and the rest just watched as he re-fixated the drone with ease.

"Hey, Kayla! Can you pass me a box of ammo from inside your pack?" Marcus called out.

Kayla nodded and reached into her backpack for a box of 5.56mm rounds for the M240. Marcus took it from her hands as he attached the box into the M240 and connected it to the wires and cocked it. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the black phone device that was used to turn it on, but before he was, he switched the Vulture from 'engage' mode to 'passive' mode. After a couple of adjustments, he turned it on. The girls watched in awe as it hovered from the table and over Marcus' head.

"How fast is this little guy?" Rainbow said as she stood up and tried to swing at the drone with a hoof, but the drone swayed to the other side, making her miss as she frowned.

Marcus couldn't help but smile warmly and chuckle at this. She was acting like a cat swinging a dangling mouse from high up "It's actually pretty damn slow. I can walk faster than the thing, but it'll follow at the same pace if I just switch a few buttons."

Rainbow laughed "You sound kinda like Twilight when you said that. You're an egghead too?"

Marcus raised and eyebrow and laughed "Anything but. I just know how to turn this on. Seriously, I had to read the instruction manual five times for every damn part." He said, snickering. Rainbow smiled and shook her head. Then, they heard Thompson gasp.

"Holy shit.. is.. is that Canterlot?" Said Thompson, looking outside the window. "Already?... damn." Marcus looked outside and saw the huge castle on a cliff with a couple buildings below. How it was stable was beyond him, but the scenery was beautiful, he had never seen anything like it on Earth. He let out a slight gasp as Twilight chuckled.

"Yep, this is it. Quite a view, isn't it?" She said.

"I've never seen anything near this beautiful on Earth.." Kayla said as the view was cut short as the train went through a tunnel.

"Really? I'm sure there are at least SOME things that could compare.." Twilight asked, a bit taken back by Kayla's comment.

Kayla shrugged as the train came out of the tunnel. They were just outside the walls as the train came to a halt. Marcus took a deep breath, picked the Vulture from the sky, turned it off, and stored it in his backpack.

"Alright, let's go and clean whatever mess is down there.." He said as they all walked out of the cabin and stepped foot outside. As he expected, several ponies gasped in shock and surprise, but then Twilight spoke up.

"Don't worry! They're not here to hurt us! The princesses have requested them, and they are harmless!" She yelled out. Several of the ponies sighed in relief and walked away, but others kept looking in awe. The squad ignores their looks and followed the four girls towards the castle.

Marcus looked around him, seeing that several civilians were hiding from his view and rushing into houses or shops. He even saw a pony dive into a trash can, then poke his head out from it, which he though was comical, but he kept his composure.

"Thank God for my shades.." He thought as they walked along. Then, Jackson nudged him.

"Just like Afghanistan, huh?" He whispered. Marcus smiled and nodded "Ain't it just?"

After a while, they finally reached the courtyard. Marcus took in the scenery as they looked around. It was kinda similar to a courtyard they saw when they were stationed in a base near London. It was rare when they had free time, but damn, did they see some things there..

"Halt!" Shouted a Royal Guard. Marcus sighed as he and his squad knew what was coming, but were suprised to see that the guards didn't raise their spears at them, but instead, asked him a question

"Are you the creatures Princess Celestia sent?" On of the guards asked, still holding his spear in position, but Marcus could see that he was a tad bit nervous.

"Yes we are. Can you lead us to her?" He asked.

"They are busy at the moment, but I was ordered to lead you all to the elevator that will lead you to our underground labs. Follow me." The squad and the girls nodded and followed, but the guard halted the girls.

"Sorry, ladies, but this is a dangerous military mission." The guards said.

Rainbow retaliated " Like hay we are! We're going with them! "

Marcus admired her loyalty, but he knew that it was best that they stayed here " Rainbow, it's okay, we can take care of ourselves. We don't want any of you getting hurt."

"I know that! But this goes against my element! We can take care of ourselves too." Rainbow retaliated.

"And she ain't going alone." Applejack stated, stepping up front, with a determined look. The other girls followed, even Fluttershy.

" I hate to say it, but she does have a point, man.." Jackson said. Marcus sighed and thought about it for a second.

He looked at the girls again, knowing that he wasn't gonna win this argument "Okay, fine. But two of you have to stay here in case the princesses come back. Now, who's coming with us?"

The girls looked at each other, then huddled in a small circle and stated whispering to each other. Marcus couldn't make out what they were saying, but they then broke out of the huddle and Twilight spoke up.

"Alright then, Rainbow and Applejack are gonna go with you. Me and Fluttershy will stay here." She said. Marcus nodded as he turned to the guard.

"Look. I don't know if you trust us or not, because I don't give a shit, but you need to stay here with the girls. You don't know what we're gonna handle, but we do. And frankly, I have no plans on having any pony die down there, okay?" Marcus asked with a serious tone. The guard hesitated, but nodded.

"Then let me at least show you to the elevator. Also, if you find any other guards down there, bring them up as quickly as you can." The guard said in a worried tone. Marcus nodded as they followed the guard to the elevator, which was to the right of them. The doors were made of wood and metal, kinda like those that were on the Titanic, but about four times bigger and twice as tall.

"Here it is. Just press the buttons there, and go to the biological floor. That's where the incident happened. Good luck." The guard trotted away rather quickly, almost happy that he wasn't the one going down there.
..
"Alright, you girls are a out to witness how we deal with these fucks first-handed. This is your last chance to back out." Marcus said, looking at them with a serious look. They shook their heads wand walked into the elevator with determination.

Marcus sighed as they walked into the elevator, pushing open the gates. Thompson went over and pushed the button to head towards the biological area.

Marcus then pulled out a 30-round magazine from one of his pouches, tapped it against his helmet, and slid it into the Honey Badger, and pulling back the lever.

"Let's do this."

Rainbow Dash' P.O.V

Rainbow Dash knew deep down inside her that she might have done a very stupid decision to go along with them on this. Marcus was right, they had zero experience with the creatures he had shown them, and it scared her honestly, but her gut told her otherwise, no matter what feeling, she wasn't about to let them go alone. It would be against her element if she did so, and she knew that they had her and A.J's back.

"Let's do this." Marcus said as he pulled out the little machine from his backpack, and switched it on, but he then pulled out a strange dome device with straps around it.

"Alright, this thing'll make the drone not attack you girls. Here, let me put them on you. Jackson, put this one on AJ." Marcus then handed Jackson the same device. Rainbow nodded as Marcus started to put the device on.

"Oh, and uh.. watch it with the wings.." She said. Marcus nodded as he put the dome over her chest, and attached the straps on her back, not touching her wings, then he switched on a small switch on the dome, as it flashed white once, then he gave her a thumbs up.

"Alright, you're both set. Remember, stay behind us at all times. We don't need any of you going missing here, okay?" Rainbow nodded, along with Applejack. She watched as he and the others pulled out their smaller weapons from their hips, along with a flashlight. They held them both, with their flashlight below their weapons as the elevator slowed down.

"Alright, get ready, guys.." Marcus said as their raised their weapons up to the doors. The elevator stopped, made a beeping noise, and then slowly opened. The flashlights lit up the dark hallway as Jackson and Thompson walked out, kneeling and looking around them. Then, Marcus and Thompson walked out, with Marcus taking point. Then Applejack and Rainbow walked cautiously out, staying behind them.

"Jesus Christo.." Marcus said as he looked around. The walls were white, but they had several lines of crimson blood and bits of flesh covering them and staining both the floor and walls. There were a couple of lights still on, but other than that, it was pretty dim. She also saw that some rooms were broken into, explaining why several pieces of glass were scattered on the floor, and in the distance, there were several lumps on the ground, covered in blood and being covered with a couple of flies, which almost made her vomit at the sight.

"Alright, I'll take point, and have the drone fly over us." Marcus said as he slowly walked up, Rainbow watched as he slowly and carefully walked into a room. The lights were off and several scratch marks covered in blood were on the floor. He then walked JP to two unicorn ponies who were on the floor, with their coats ripped, shoeing several deep gashes, and covered in dried blood. He checked each of their pulses before turning to the squad, shaking his head as he got up to check on the other room.

Rainbow was horrified at the scenery around her, but she knew that she and AJ were in their protection,. Plus, they could easily defend themselves if the time called for it. Marcus came out of the room, shaking his head again as they kept walking down the hallway. The drone flew over her as it took point when they arrived at a four-way intersection. They all stood quietly as the drone looked around,.

"Alright, move u-" Marcus was cut off as the drone made a beeping noise and a red line came in view as the drone turned to the right side of the hallway. A screech was heard, but it was muffled out at the drone started shooting at the source of the screech. Rainbow yelped and covered her sensitive ears as hard as she could, along with Applejack. After what seemed like an eternity, the drone stopped firing and turned off its red line. Marcus walked towards the drone and looked to his right. He smirked as he signaled the rest to move up. As they walked forward, Rainbow saw the corpse of a Cryptic, with orange. Blood spattered everywhere, and it was resting on a body of a Royal Guard.

Rainbow stared at it for a while, in shock over seeing the body, but she was pulled back into reality when Marcus patted her on the head. She looked up at him, but was reassured as he stroked her mane as they moved along. They looked around as the squad cleared more rooms and checked more bodies, until they came upon the room that held the body of the dog, which held several green eggs that were huge in size and were proturging out of its body. On the doorway, there was the body of a guard who was missing most of its neck, and just outside, was the body of a unicorn scientist, who was barley recognizable.

Rainbow slowly walked over to the egg without thinking, and just stared at it. Then, it started moving slowly inside.

"Rainbow! Get away!" Marcus shouted, but before she could move, the egg bursted open, splattering green too everywhere, and onto Rainbow, making her just stand there in utter shock as a small Cryptid was standing there, covered in the too, and was looking around. It then put its eyes on her, screeched, and leaped towards her. Rainbow regained herself and tried to roundhouse kick the Cryptic, but she chose her timing poorly as the Cryptid pinned her on the floor. She tried to kick it off, but its claws swung at her left wing, causing her to shout in pain. Before it could do anything else, Marcus lifted the Cryptic from its armpits and threw it onto a wall like a ragdoll. Rainbow watched as he unsheathed his huge knife and sprinted towards the Cryptid,. She winced as the blade slid into its stomach with ease.

She heard Marcus whisper something before he pulled the knife out and pressed his pistol onto its lower jaw.

"Don't. Touch. Jamie." Then he pulled the trigger as orange blood splattered onto his face and shades, making him smile.

Author's Note

PTSD is a bitch for Marcus.Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I needed a bit of inspiration for the labs, so I played the zombies map "Five" until round 37 in the labs alone, so I could get a good feel on what to write. So just imagine something similar to that, except more humane, bigger, linear, and filled with Cryptids! Oh, and a couple pony corpses here and there, so tell me what you thought!

(Oh, and I don't know if you guys could, but I could use a bit of fan art! And if so, I could use it for a new story cover instead of the one I have right now. Thanks!)

Dempsey: What, can't you do your OWN?

L.P: I have the fucking drawing skills of a 2'nd grader.. I suck at it.

Richtofen: I can make on outta shpleenz! I have so many left over! Mmmm... shpleenz..

L.P: ... :rainbowderp:

Chapter 25: Just Another Day

Marcus' P.O.V

Marcus looked at the giant eggs, which looked more like the green plants they saw everywhere back in the underground pyramid, only it contained a small Cryptid inside. He then saw Rainbow slowly trot up to the thing, and just stared at it. Then, the inside of the egg started moving slowly, making a swish-like sound.

"Rainbow! Get away from the egg!" He shouted just as the egg exploded, spreading green goo everywhere, and showing a Scout Cryptid setting its sights at Rainbow, who was also covered in a bit of goo. The Cryptid screeched and pounced towards her. Rainbow tried to pull of some sot of karate kick on it, but the Cryptid was faster, and pinned her on the floor.

"Kill you all.." Marcus heard a female voice in his head. He looked at Rainbow again, but his mind flashed a memory of Jamie on the floor, being pinned by a Cryptid, and screaming as it dug its claws onto her sides.

Without thinking, he ran up to the Cryptid, lifted it off her, and threw it to the wall behind him like the Cryptid was nothing but a ragdoll. He slowly walked up to it while un-seathing his combat knife, then lifted the Cryptid up from the ground, and slammed it to the wall, pinning it.

He looked at, grinning manically as he slowly slid the knife into its neck. Orange blood squirted everywhere as the Cryptid choked in its own blood. He kept sliding in the knife excruciatingly slowly until all that was visible was the grip of the knife.

"Don't. Touch. Jamie." Letting out a dark chuckle, he then sliced its neck with ease, letting it slide down to the floor as more blood spurted out. The Cryptid then slowly died and lost its color beneath Marcus' feet. He then put the knife back into its seath, and smiled.

His mind then slowly turned to normal as he turned to Rainbow, who was on the floor, covered in a bit of goo, claw marks on her wings, and was looking at Marcus with a look of worry and shock. Before he could do anything, he noticed that his left hand was shaking uncontrollably.

"Fuck.." He said as he grabbed his hand to try to control the shaking as Thompson and Kayla ran to Rainbow to clean and patch her up.

"Rainbow? You good?" Kayla asked as he wiped the goo off of her fur. Rainbow kept staring at Marcus as he took of his helmet and sat down on a steel crate, holding his shaking hand. She then shook her head and nodded silently, wincing a pit as Thompson treated her wounds.

"Um.. why did Marcus call me 'Jamie'?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know, but it might have something to do with his PTSD.. has he told you about Jamie?" Kayla asked her.

Rainbow shook her head. "No, only when Twilight asked him questions. Did.. did he really care about her that much?"

"He never told us the full story.. but yes. He did. From the looks of it." Kayla said, pondering. Then, she chuckled silently. "Y'know. I remember when we got back from a mission in Afghanistan, the first thing he did, was he jumped his ass out of the Humvee, ran straight for his laptop, and Skype'd her. They didn't stop talking for hours."

"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.." Rainbow thought as she got back on her hooves. Applejack then ran up to her with a worried look.

"Rainbow! Are ya okay! I was with Jackson on the other room, and ah heard screechin'!" She said, looking at her slightly bandaged wing.

"Don't worry about it, AJ. I'm fine. How about you and Jackson?" Rainbow asked as they both walked out of the room, leaving the Marines to finish whatever they were gonna do inside there.

"Ah didn't see anything, but he just went into the rooms and turned on the lights inside. Ah also saw.." Applejack's voice floated away as she seemed distant, but cleared her throat and kept speaking. "Ah saw a lot of bodies of.. well.. yeah. But none of those.. well, things." She said, pointing a hoof at the Cryptid inside the room.

"Yo, Marcus, you okay, man?" Jackson asked as he picked up the Cryptid's body and laid it on a metal observation table.

Marcus was still getting his bearings as he stood up, his hand was no longer shaking as he got up and pulled out his Honey Badger from his back. "Y-yeah.. I'm fine, Jackson. Let's just clean this place up and take out anything else that tries to fuck with us."

"Alright, man. What you got in mind for the other egg?" Jackson asked as he pointed at the other egg stem, which was a bit smaller than the other one, but it was moving a bit.

"Just walk out of the room and go with the girls. It's gonna get a bit gooey in here.." Marcus said. Jackson nodded as he went to Kayla and Thompson and told them to go out of the room. They all walked out of the room and shut the door, then they and the girls watched from a distance as Marcus aimed the underbarrel 12-gauge shotgun at the egg, pumped it, and shot it. Rainbow and Applejack shivered a bit as the egg exploded, covering Marcus and the entire room in green goo, and showing the unborn body of another Scout Cryptid tumble onto the floor. He then opened the door and walked into the hallway.

"The janitor's gonna have a helluva mess to clean up while we're here.." He said, chuckling to lighten the mood. His squad chuckled, but the girls didn't find too much humor in his comment.

"Alright, let's just clear out the rest of the rooms and get out of here." Marcus said. The squad nodded as they walked down the hallway. The girls stayed behind as the Vulture drone flew over their heads, making a slight buzzing sound.

"Nothing in here.." Thompson said, shining his flashlight inside one of the rooms. He was surprised that it was intact, and that the room was not even scratched or covered in blood. "That's a first..."

Jackson was about to speak up, but he double checked a room, and saw a Scout Cryptid chewing on the foreleg of a scientist's corpse. He then rose his M1014 to fire at it, but then he heard the sounds of footsteps running on metal above him. He looked up, only to see a Hunter Cryptid fall down towards him, digging its claws into is shoulders.

"Jackson!" Thompson shouted as he raised his M4 Carbine, and shot off five rounds at the Hunter. Two of the bullets hit its armor plating on its head, but the other three found its eyes, penetrating its cranium and killing it instantly. He then lowered his M4 and ran up to Jackson to help him up, but then the Scout Cryptid from inside the room crashed through the glass and pounced on Thompson, biting at his chest, but not hitting his flesh. Thompson screamed as he tried to rip the Scout off him.

"GET IT OFF!" He screamed, slamming the Scout on the wall, making it lose its grip on Thompson for a bit. He then took this opportunity to rip it off of him and throw it on the ground. He stumbled back as Kayla raised his Remington R-5 and fired off six round into its head.

"Nice one, Kayla." Jackson said as he stood up and cracked his neck. "Let's keep moving. I'll take point." They all then followed Jackson as they cleared more rooms in case more Cryptids were around and waiting to attack them. Marcus walked alongside Rainbow and Applejack, keeping his Honey Badger up and ready. They couldn't see Marcus' eyes through his shades, but he was on the verge of tears, since memories of Jamie kept pummeling his head like the mortars back in Tel-Aviv.

They kept walking in silence. The only sounds were the sounds of their boots hitting the white floor, along with the clopping sounds of hoofsteps, and the drone's buzzing. They then walked to the left, and stopped when they saw a door covered in blood.

"I got this." Thompson said, walking to the door and taking out his Remington 870. He pumped it as he slowly opened the door, with the rest of the squad following behind and looking around. Inside was several cleaning and repair tools, and on the side of the wall, was a Royal Guard, who was breathing heavily, and using his left forehoof to cover a found on his stomach. His armor was badly scratched and bloody. The guard then looked up at the Marines with wide eyes, and whimpered.

"P-please.. don't k-kill me.." He whispered as tears started forming in his eyes, using his right forehoof to cover his eyes from the flashlight on his face.

Marcus walked up to him, put his Honey Badger on the floor, and kneel'd next to him. The guard the turned his head to the side with a look of fear, and jumped when Marcus put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry. We're not gonna kill you. We're here to help. I promise." He said in a calm voice, patting the guard's shoulder, noticing that he was shaking violently. He then hesitantly turned his head towards Marcus, as his shaking subsued.

"Who.. what are you?" He asked.

"We'll explain later. We're gonna take you back up to get you some medical attention, okay?" Marcus said. The guard nodded, but then asked worriedly.

"Did y-you find anypony else a-alive?" He asked. Marcus shook his head.

"Sorry, but it seems you're the only one we found alive." The guard then lowered his head in sadness. Marcus then called for Thompson. "Hey, Thompson! Treat this guy's wounds! We're gonna go back up and let the ponies take care of this mess!"

Thompson nodded as he lifted the guard up and helped it out of the room. The guard then noticed Rainbow Dash and Applejack. He tried bowing, but winced as he did so.

"No need for that, guard. You need to patch yourself up, pronto!" Rainbow said. The guard nodded as he was helped out by Thompson back to the elevator. The rest then followed behind Thompson to the elevator except for Jackson and Kayla.

"Yo! I found the generator switch!" Jackson said from inside the room.

"Then switch it on, dude!" Kayla said. After a couple of adjustments, Jackson switched on the generator. The entire floor lit up with bright white light, as a humming sound echoed through the area.

Applejack yelled loudly as she covered her eyes. "Ya could've warned us!"

Jackson chuckled as he gathered his gear and ran to the elevator and caught up with the rest at the elevator.

Twilight's P.O.V

Twilight was waiting outside the elevator doors, along with Fluttershy, several Royal Guards, and Unicorn Paramedics as they heard the elevator make a noise, telling them that the elevator was heading back up.

"I hope they're okay.." Fluttershy said quietly and worriedly.

"They'll be fine. They can handle themselves. I'm sure they can take care of Rainbow and Applejack.." Twilight said assuringly. Then, the elevator stopped making a noise. They all waited anxiously as the doors opened. Everypony's jaws dropped as they noticed the condition of the Marines, and the injured Royal Guard. Twilight then looked at Marcus, as he chuckled and spoke outloud.

"Don't worry, just another day for me and my squad."

Author's Note

Sorry for the short chapter, just a follow up on the squad's trip to Appleloosa and their hunt to find the Cricket. Next chapter should be more promising and.. well, better in general!

Chapter 26: More Questions, More Minds-Blown

Everyone just looked at Marcus and his squad in confusion and shock. Mostly because the guards and paramedics didn't expect such a creature to talk. Marcus saw this and chuckled, but then stepped aside to let the injured Royal Guard to be treated by the paramedics, who rushed to him as soon as he stepped away. Twilight and Fluttershy then rushed towards Rainbow and Applejack, hugging them.

"Oh thank Celestia you girls are okay!" Fluttershy said, hugging Rainbow, but then noticed the bandage on her left wing. "Oh my.. what happened?"

"One of those things jumped on me and scratched my wing." She said, stretching her left wing a bit. "I tried to kick it, but that thing was quick. Then, Marcus threw it to the wall and killed it."

Fluttershy's eyes widened at this, but nodded as she looked at Marcus, who was covered in green goo, and was talking to some guards.

"So how DID you kill them so quickly?" One of guards said. Marcus chuckled as the guards circled him and asked him questions, like fangirls meeting their favorite celebrity.

"With this." He then brought out his Honey Badger. The guards looked in awe and confusion at it. They've never seen anything like it, since their level of weapons technology was nowhere near what Marcus had.

"Is it like a crossbow?" One of them asked.

"Kinda. It shoots out these." He then slid out the 30 round magazine, and pulled out a single 300 AAC 7.62x35mm round. The guards leaned in and stared at it. Marcus chuckled as he put the round back into the magazine, and put the magazine back into his weapon.

"I'll explain how it works and everything later. Me and my squad still have some unfinished business." Marcus then stood up and walked towards his squad, who were waiting for him and the girls. He then felt something tug his shoulder as. He turned and saw the injured guard they found at the laboratories.

"T-thanks for saving me.. whoever you are. I didn't catch your name.." He said in a raspy voice.

Marcus patted him on the shoulder. "Don't mention it. It's basically my job in a way. And you can just call me Hunter. For now, I have to go, but I'm sure I'll see you around." He then called for the girls, who followed him as they walked down the hall towards the courtyard.

"Hey, thanks for killing that thing that bounced onto me." Rainbow said as she walked next to Marcus.

"No problem. But let that be your first lesson. When you see eggs like those, never stick around, or else that'll happen again. Ok?" He said, ruffling her mane with his right hand.

Rainbow smiled nodded as they walked out of the castle and onto the courtyard, where they spotted a couple more guards, and another pony with a white coat, and was wearing a tuxedo in a way. When they walked passed him, Marcus heard one of the ponies speak quietly.

"Ugh.. why did they let such disgusting creatures in here? They look like mutant gorillas.. and such ugly uniforms. Don't even get me started on the smile on them. Such disgusting sods.."

Marcus then stopped dead in his tracks as he took in the words he said. The squad and the girls then turned around to see what Marcus was doing. They were all confused except for Jackson, who had a shocked look on his face.

"Oo-oh shit.." He said quietly. The girls looked at him confused, then back to Marcus, who slowly turned around to the white pony.

Marcus chuckled as he slowly walked to the pony, who looked back at him, glaring daggers at Marcus. "What was that? I couldn't hear you?"

The white pony walked up to him, standing tall, still staring at him. "I said: 'Why did they let such disgusting creatures here? You are all a bunch of mutant gorillas with stupid uniforms, and a ridiculous looking sticker on your helmet'. What is that? An eagle? A globe? And anchor? What does that mean?" He said laughing.

He didn't realize that he pushed Marcus over the line until he was lifted from the ground, and thrown onto a pile of wooden crates. Marcus looked down at him, crouched, and took off his shades, chuckling.

"I am someone you really do not want to piss off. Unfortunately, it seems you did just that.." Marcus then stood up and walked towards the pony, lifting him up by his collar, choking him slightly.

He looked him straight in the eyes, which slowly kindled with rage behind them. "Now. I want you to apologize to me and my friends here. Right. Now." He said, getting right up to his face, squeezing his neck harder as he spoke out the last words.

The white pony sputtered as he tried to speak, but the creature held onto his neck like he was being constricted by an anaconda. "I..*ack* am..*sputter* SORRY!"

Marcus grinned as he put his mouth closer to the pony's ear and whispered words that the pony would soon never forget. "If I catch you talking shit about me or my friends, you will know suffering beyond your darkest fears.." With that, Marcus threw him back into the pile of broken crates and turned back to his squad and the girls, who had their jaws hanging. They then closed their jaws as they followed Marcus back to the train.

As they stepped into the train, Twilight shouted at Marcus. "Do you even know who that was?!"

Marcus shook his head. "Nope. Why? Should I care?" He said as he took a seat on a chair. Twilight and Rainbow sat on the other side of the table, with Twilight having a look of shock and anger.

Then, Rainbow spoke up, trying to stifle a laugh. "Dude.. that was Prince Blueblood! He's freaking royalty! And you just whooped his flank in front of a bunch of guards!"

Marcus' eyes widened. "Oh shit.." He thought as Rainbow saw this and lost complete control. Her head hit the table as she laughed non-stop.

"Yeah.. and he's Celestia's distant nephew!" Twilight said, adding salt to the wound. Marcus then chuckled as he regained himself.

"Well, I was never one for being all buddy-buddy with trash talkers. I prefer that instead of talking behind my back, they grow a pair and say it to my face. Besides, aside from Celestia and Luna, I never liked Monarchy. In fact, back in my world, Monarchy was frowned upon, due to several of the rulers mistreating their power, and living an easy, wealthy life, as others suffered through poverty and famine." Marcus said, taking off his helmet and putting it on the table.

"Wait, so what type of governments do you have where you live- er, lived?" Twilight asked, taken aback a bit by what Marcus said. She knew that Celestia and Luna would never mistreat the amount of power, aside from when Luna turned into Nightmare Moon.

"We're gonna go for another round of questions, eh?" Twilight and Rainbow nodded. "Alright then. I'll keep it short and sweet."

"THANK YOU." Rainbow said, sighing in relief. Twilight rolled her eyes as Marcus just grinned and responded to her question.

"Well, let's start off with the basics. My country is called the United States of America, or U.S.A for short. It's basically what the name is. It consists of forty eight contiguous states, and two other states separate from the mainland, called Alaska and Hawaii. Our government is a constitutional Republic and a representative Democracy, and is regulated by a system of checks and balances. And basically, everyone in the country gets to vote to who gets to control the country. Whoever gets the most votes, wins and takes an oath. They don't have full power however, and are limited in power by other departments and shit. Look, I'm sorry, but I'm not politician." Marcus said, raising up his hands. The girls chuckled and told him to go on. "Anyways, the president can only have serve two terms if they get re-elected. Each term is four years. Once they do two terms, they're out."

Twilight was fascinated by what Marcus was saying, and, surprisingly, so was Rainbow, to a certain point. "How many people lived in the U.S?" Twilight asked.

"About three-hundred-eighteen million." He said with a deadpanned expression. Their jaws dropped as Marcus chuckled.

"How big was your guys' military?" Rainbow asked as she raised up her jaw with her hoof.

"Well, our military is made up of an Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps." Marcus said the last branch proudly. "And the president is the commander-in-chief, and appoints its leaders, the Secretary of Defense, and Joint Chiefs of Staff. We have several departments, such as the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of the Navy. We have a Coast Guard, which is run by Homeland Security during peacetime, and the Navy during wartime. In total though, we had about 2.3 million troops."

Rainbow nodded, surprised that she actually understood most of that. Then, Twilight spoke up again. "Do you guys have a military budget?"

Marcus nodded "Yes, we do. What about here? How much is it?"

"I think about 4.5 million bits." Twilight said, with a hoof on her chin.

"Heh, well ours was about $700 billion dollars." Marcus said, rolling his eyes as their jaws dropped again.

"That much?!" They said in unison. Marcus shrugged.

"My world was in war all the time. So yep. That much." He said with his arms crossed. "We had the biggest Navy, Air Force, and the second biggest army."

"Who was the first?" Rainbow asked.

"A country called China." Marcus answered. "I forgot how many, but we weren't far off. Or was it North Korea?"

"What did the flag of your country look like?" Twilight asked.

Marcus got the helmet from the table and turned it, showing the side that had the flag that he strapped onto. The girls gasped in awe as they admired the look and texture of the flag.

"It looks pretty damn awesome.." Rainbow said, with Twilight nodding. Marcus smiled and put the helmet back down on his head.

Rainbow still had a plethora of questions, and so did Twilight. "Oh, and you said something called 'nuclear missiles'. What exactly are those? They sound similar to my Rain-Nuke."

"Rain-Nuke?.." He thought, then went into his backpack and pulled out his IPhone. "Well, do you guys have TNT in this world?" The girls nodded. "Well, imagine and explosion like that, only it creates a mushroom cloud-"

"Like my Rain Nuke!" Rainbow said, huffing her chest, proudly. Then Marcus continued.

"Only powerful enough to wipe out a city five to ten times the size of Canterlot. And when it explodes, it vaporizes anything in a certain radius. The heat that it lets out at the time of detonation, is more hotter than the surface of the sun, and if the explosion wasn't bad enough, it leaves a fallout of radiation filled debris. In other words, it's the ultimate tool of death and destruction."

Rainbow pride was switched with a feeling of doubt. "Wha... no way. There's no. WAY there's en explosion that big to do that much damage."

"I was hoping you'd say that." Marcus then went onto his playlist, and played a video. He turned the phone towards the girls and pressed the screen as they leaned in to watch.

"Tsar Bomba?" Rainbow said, clearly confused.

"What you're about to see, is the most destructive weapon we humans have ever made.." With that, he pressed play.

After the video ended, Marcus looked at their faces. If they weren't shocked before, they were now.

Rainbow's eyes were freakishly big, while Twilight had a look of horror, and had her jaw hanging, both of the girl's left eyes twitching slightly. Marcus chuckled as he played another video.

"And that last part of the video was taken 99 miles away from the detonation site. The mushroom cloud rose up to 34 miles. Luckily, only one was made." Marcus said as he put his phone back into his pocket.

After Twilight recovered from her deep thinking, she spoke up quietly. "I-is this how your government retaliated against those.. things?" She asked hesitantly.

Marcus nodded "Yes. Our country alone has a nuclear weapons aresnal of around 9-12,000 nuclear warheads. We used most of them. And we were there when they launched the first missile.."

Flashback
November 17, 2017
300 feet below the Pacific Ocean, 250 miles from Ohau, Hawaii
U.S.S Michigan(SSBN-727)

Marcus and his squad departed from Pearl Harbor in the U.S.S Michigan, which was armed with 24 Trident 1 missiles, each carrying 5 nuclear warheads. This was also where Godfather was stationed at this whole time. They were sent there en-route to a rescue mission near Kyoto, Japan, but it was put on hold when Godfather got a call from the president.

"Yes Mr. President.. understood. The operation will start in a couple minutes. Thank you, Mr. President. Goodbye." Godfather hung up the phone and sighed heavily, rubbing his face with his fingers.

"General, what's going on? Why did we stop?" Marcus asked, walking into the control room wearing a black frogman scuba gear.

"I recieved a call from the president. Operation Scorched Earth is a go.." He said as he sighed again.

Marcus was utterly shaken up by this news. "Oh.. fuck.. w-where are the missiles gonna hit?"

"Anywhere in the U.S where new Ark's have sprung up. He gave me the coordinats right here." Godfather then lifted a small notepad with five coordinates. Marcus then looked on as Godfather read the coordinates out loud onto the mic.

"Understood. Launching five Trident 1-C4 W-76. Nuclear Warheads?" A voice over the radio asked.

"Affirmative." Godfather confirmed.

"Copy. Firing on designated cities now."

Marcus watched on the small GPS screen as green dots appeared over the West Coast of the U.S. His mind read the names of the cities that would soon cease to exist.

"San Fransisco..." A little beeping noise sounded everytime a city was locked onto.

"Seattle.."

"Monterey.."

"Bakersfield.."

"Los Angeles." The green circles flashed three times as the sailor spoke into the mic again.

"Missiles launching!

"So this is how the end begins.. going out with a bang.. and a whimper." Marcus thought deeply and sorrowfully as the submarine launched its nuclear missiles, streaking out of the sea and through the surface beyond the clouds, where they would streak down towards the cities and wipe everything from the plane of existance.

End flashback..

Author's Note

(I blew their minds away.. get it? Because of the title? With all the nukes?... No?.. Ok.. :fluttershbad: )

Damn it, that's it. Sorry for the waits. I promise no more waits longer than two days. Aside from that, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Tell me what you thought about it! And I know I said I'd make this a longer chapter, but I have a lot of stuff in my life I have to do, along with me doing a collab. Regardless, this story will be updated so much quicker.

Demspey: LIES!!

Nikolai: You are making all these fucking stories, and you haven't made a SINGLE one about US? You selfish American

L.P: I AM BUSY YOU SHITHEAD! AND I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS FOR STORIES THAT I STILL HAVE THREE PLANNED! INCLUDING ONE WITH YOU ALL IN IT! YOU HAPPY NOW?!

Main Four: Yes.

L.P: :facehoof:

Chapter 27: Meet The 'Night Stalkers'

Author's Note

Alright! It seems like you guys are cool with moar humans! So, I will do just that in this chapter. I will be adding one aircraft and one ground vehicle. In this chapter, you'll see the aircraft that I planned on adding. The AH-6J Attack/Transport Little Bird helicopter! I also noticed that a couple of you guys wanted me to add characters from other CoD's, but I plan on making this story more realistic, instead of just adding different characters from other games. So sorry about that, but that isn't happening anytime soon. BUT there is an MW2 cameo here if it makes you feel any better. Also, sorry for the short chapter.

I will also be making a chapter similar to 'The More You Know'. To give you guys a lot more background and detail about who these guys are and what they have in their arsenal. Aside from that, tell what you thought about this chapter!

If you can guess what land vehicle I'm gonna add, I'll... um..

Nikolai: Give them vodka!

Dempsey: Or how about a Wunderwaffle?

Richtofen: I still have extra shpleenz!

Rainbow Dash: Why not all three?

L.P: Ok, all three. Now, GUESS!

Chapter 27: Meet The 'Night Stalkers'

March 5, 2018
4 months after the Ark Event, one week after the event in San Diego
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, United States

In the parking lot of a ruined Wal-Mart in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, twenty Army Rangers from the 75th Regiment were dig in deep inside as they fired outside, while M1-A2 Abrams tanks kept firing shells at the oncoming swarm of Cryptids, which had already over run four tanks, and destroyed three M113 APC's, which were carrying more Army Rangers.

"Ramirez! Get on the .50cal, we'll cover your advance!" One of the Army Rangers, Sergeant Foley, shouted at Private Ramirez, who was concentrating his fire at the Gargoyles shooting down spikes at the Abrams tanks outside, but having no effect on its depleted-uranium armor.

"Roger that, I'm moving!" Ramirez shouted as loaded a new magazine into his M16A4 and sprinted outside the Wal-Mart towards a pile of sandbags with a mounted .50 cal Browning behind it. Scout and Hunter Cryptids advanced towards him, but the other Rangers opened fire, moving them down as Ramirez leaped and landed behind the sandbags. Then, a frantic voice on the radio was heard.

"Be advised, this is Badger 2-3! We are being over run, I say again, we are being over run! We need support!" Shouted the gunner of one of the Abrams tanks. Ramirez peeked over the sandbags and saw several Hunter and Phantom Cryptids slashing away at the top of the Abrams tank, noticing that they had ripped off its 7.62mm coaxal M240 machine gun.

"Alright, take them out!" Shouted an Army Ranger. Ramirez then got his hands on the .50 cal, pulled the lever back, and started firing the Cryptids onto of the Abrams, easily mowing them down, and giving the Abrams a new orange paint job. He had an iron grip on the Browning, but it started steaming as he let go of the turret and brought up his M16A4, taking down some Scout Cryptids that were trying to flank him by climbing onto the trees to the right of him.

"Badger 2-5 Gunner! Behind the wreckage of the APC! Five Rhino's!" Sergeant Foley shouted of the radio. Then, one of the Abrams, callsign Badger 2-5, turned its turret towards a wreckage of one of the APC's, noticing five Rhino Crypid's slowly getting up from the ground.

"Target acquired!" The gunner responded over the radio, confirming it had sights on the designated target.

"FIRE!" Foley shouted. The Abrams then shot out a 120mm high explosive shell from its XM-256 Smoothbore cannon, connecting with one of the Rhino's, and killing all five within the explosion.

"Targets destroyed!" The gunner shouted as it turned its turret to a large group of Hunter Cryptids, and opened fire at the group with its .50 cal M2 machine gun.

"Alright! Everyone, move up with the tanks!" Foley shouted. Ramirez then made his way towards the other Rangers, who were jumping out and running through the parking lot, shooting away at the advancing Cryptids, taking cover behind the ruins of cars and tanks as they kept moving.

"Shit! Ancestors!" One of the Abrams gunners shouted. Foley looked up and saw three Ancestors floating their way towards the tanks. Behind them was a swarm of Cryptids, ranging from Scouts to Rhinos, and were moving along with them at a slow pace. Then, one of the Ancestors lifted up its right hand, forming a black hole in its hand, and launched it at one of the Abrams at a surprisingly fast speed. The projectile connected with the Abrams, imploding, then exploding, turning the tank into nothing but melting, burning, hot pieces of metal.

"Fuck! We lost Badger 2-3! Open fire!" Foley shouted. Him and the other Rangers rose up from cover as opened fire. Their M16's and M4 Carbines hitting the Ancestors hard with their armor-piercing rounds, making it shriek and lose its focus. It then rose its arm up again, and pointed a finger at the direction of the Rangers and the remaining tanks. The Cryptids all screamed as they advanced towards them.

"Shit.." Foley thought as he aimed his Scar-H at the Cryptids, then shouted over the radio.

"Open fire!"

The tanks and Rangers were about to start shooting with everything they had, until they heard the rapid sound of rotor wings in the distance.

"Yo! Up there! On the right side of the street!" Ramirez shouted, pointing a finger at the right side of the sky. The Rangers looked up, then spotted some things that they would recognize anywhere.

"Little Birds! Incomi-" Foley was cut off as the Little Birds opened fire at the Cryptids below them, firing off their M134 Gatling Guns from their machine gun pods below the wings, along with their two missile pods, which contained twelve Hellfire ATGM missiles. The Rangers covered their ears as the Little Birds commenced their strafe run, the 7.62mm rounds from the miniguns tearing them to shreds, while the Hellfire missiles streaked down towards the Ancestors, making them take more damage as their bodies were torn apart, sending a lot of pieces flying towards the sky, along with gushes of orange blood that fell back down to the ground, covering the asphalt below the Cryptid's feet. The Little Birds then disappeared behind a tree line to the left. Then, Foley's radio crackled to life again.

"Be advised, this is Starstreak One-Niner, part of the 160'th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. You missed us?" The pilot of one of the Little Birds asked over the radio. The Rangers whooped in happiness. Foley remembered his time back in Syria where he and his squad of Rangers and Marine Recon were fighting alongside the alleyways and streets, being supported by the infamous Little Bird pilots from the 160'th SOAR.

"You have no idea how happy we are to see your fucking asses, One-Niner!" Foley said over the radio. He then loaded in a fresh magazine into his Scar-H, but noticed that one of the Ancestors was slowly getting up from the pile of dead Cryptid corpses. It then looked towards one of the Little Birds, formed another black hole projectile and launched it at the Little Birds.

Starstreak One-Niner's P.O.V

Seven minutes earlier, Fort Campbell, Kentucky

"Get in the Little Birds! Go! Go!" Shouted Sergeant Mike H. Preston as he raised his modified AR-15 at the oncoming swarm of Scout Cryptids and fired. The .50 Beowulf rounds tearing into their skulls. He was grateful for the immense amount of stopping power these rounds contained.

"C'mon, Preston! Let's go! They can hold 'em off!" Shouted Captain Randy P. Treston from inside the Little Bird as he was prepared to take off. Mike then shot off the last of his rounds as he climbed inside and put on his helmet.

"Alright, let's go!" Mike shouted. Randy then lifted the Little Bird off the ground rapidly as the Cryptids lunged at it, but missed by inches. Mike then looked down at the scenery below him.

"Jesus Christ..." He said under his breath as he looked below. He and Randy were part of the 160'th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, or SOAR. Nicknamed the 'Night Stalkers', they were stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, which they just took off from. The base was being heavily over run by Cryptids, and several of their aircraft were destroyed during the battle. Mike saw several Army Rangers and Delta Operators down below, fighting with everything they had to fend off the Cryptids. He then saw a Humvee get swarmed and toppled over as it tried to drive to a safer place and provide fire with its M2 .50 cal machine gun.

"C'mon.. we still gotta go to help our guys at Hopkinsville!" Randy said as he flew the helicopter away from the base. Alongside them were two other Little Bird helicopters, with pilots also part of the 160'th SOAR. They then flew towards Hopkinsville, where they were reported that a group of Army Rangers and M1A2 Abrams tanks were stuck near a destroyed Wal-Mart.

"Fuck dude.. we just lost the entire base in less than twenty minutes! Fuck!" Mike said as he put a fist down on his knee in anger.

"I know, but there's nothing we can do for them now. We still got a job to do, and damn it, we're doing it!" Randy snapped back. They then flew the rest of the way without saying a word, until one of the other pilots spoke over the radio.

"Starstreak One-Niner, this is Starstreak Two-Six. I got a visual on the Rangers and tanks below. And a huge swarm of Cryptids accompanied by three Ancestors; requesting permission for gun run, how copy?"

"This is Starstreak One-Niner. You are clear for gun run on those Cryptids." Randy responded back.

"Understood. All Little Birds; commence gun run on Cryptids below."

The Little birds then got into a triangle formation as they tilted their helicopters forward and flew thirty feet above the ground. They then all saw the swarm of Cryptids advancing towards the Rangers.

"All Little Birds, rain down hell." Randy said over the radio. With that, he looked through through the visor on his helmet, and activated FLIR imaging. He then aimed the crosshairs over the Cryptids, pressed the trigger on the sticks, and heard the miniguns spin up, and open fire, sending a volley of explosive rounds down towards the Cryptids. With his left hand, he occasionally pressed another button, launching one missile from each side of the Little Bird's rocket pods and down towards the ground. The Little Bird shook a bit as he held down the trigger until they all flew over the Cryptids. Or what was left of them.

"Be advised, this is Starstreak One-Niner, part of the 160'th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. You missed us?" Mike said over the radio, changing frequencies to communicate with the Rangers below.

"You have no idea how happy we are to see you fucking asses, One Niner!" A male's voice came over the radio. Mike chuckled as Randy turned his Little Bird to commence another gun run.

"Alright, we're coming in for another gun run. Stand by." Randy said as he got into formation with the other Little Birds. They started approaching the area again, until Mike noticed a black-hole like projectile soaring towards them.

"Shit! Twelve o' clock! Evasive maneuvers! Oh SHI-!" Mike shouted. The other Little Birds swayed left and right, easily avoiding the projectile, but Randy could not move, since he wasn't about to risk a collision with one of the other Little Birds. His eyes widened as the projectile connected with the Little Bird, enveloping it in a dark-purple haze, then imploding.

Chapter 28: Someone's Gonna Cut 'Em Down

Meanwhile, in another Universe...

Marcus put his IPhone away as he asked Rainbow Dash a question. "So how big is your 'Rain-Nuke'"? He asked, trying to stifle a laugh at her shocked facial expression. Rainbow then shook her head and brought herself back to reality.

"Huh? Oh.. sorry. What was the question?" She asked.

"How big is your 'Rain-Nuke?'" Marcus repeated his question.

"Oh! It's about.. well, I destroyed Applejack's old barn with it about a week ago when Twilight went a bit crazy.." She said, tapping a hoof on her chin.

"Hey!" Twilight said from the other cabin. Marcus and the girls laughed, then Rainbow continued.

"Still, I have to admit. My Rain-Nuke is nowhere near as big as that 'Tsar Bomba' thing!" She said, using her hoofs to make an explosion like someone would do with their hands. Marcus chuckled as her little move as he stood up and walked to Jackson, who was leaning back on the wall, listening to his music with his earbuds. Jackson then turned to Marcus' direction and flipped him of with a smirk. Marcus returned his gesture with his own, flipping him off with both hands as he leaned next to Jackson, who still had a shit eating grin.

The girls watched their antics in confusion, but decided to ask later as they started trotting towards the cabin to join the other girls and engage in a conversation.

Jackson and Marcus watched as they disappeared behind the door into the other cabin. Jackson then took off his earbuds and turned to Marcus. "So? What did you and Rainbow do while you were in her house?" He asked. Marcus blushed a bit, but Jackson didn't notice since he was still wearing his Ghost mask.

Marcus turned to Jackson and replied. "Nothing much. She just showed me around, where I'd be sleeping, y'know, the usual shit. Oh, and we arm-wrestled."

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "Really? Who won?" He asked.

Marcus smirked and pointed a thumb at himself. Jackson chuckled, but Marcus continued. "But seriously dude, she's fucking strong as hell. Nearly as much as me. We kept teetering and tottering for about seven minutes!"

Jackson's eyes widened. "Damn. That strong? Shit, at least you won. That would've broken your streak." He said as he put his earbuds back into his ears.

"Yeah. Being a Marine has its perks." Marcus said.

"Yeah. Oo-rah." Jackson replied, giving Marcus a fist-bump as he leaned back to the wall, listening to his music. Even though he was from the East Coast, he still had respect for the West Coast, since Marcus was from California. Every once in a while when they were stationed in Syria, they would have rap battles against each other. Nothing too competitive, but damn was it fun.

Marcus then pushed himself off the wall, turned around, and looked out the window. "Oh shit. We're in a desert?" He said in surprise.

"Yessir. This is where Appleloosa is at!" A female voice with a southern accent spoke behind him. Marcus turned back around, noticing Applejack trotting towards him and Jackson. "Also where mah cousin Braeburn lives!"

Marcus smiled and nodded, turning around and noticing a medium-size town. Like something he'd see back in the Wild West. "Is that Appleloosa there?" He asked. Applejack then got on her hind legs and looked out the window besides Marcus.

"Yep that's Appleloosa right there!" She said, confirming it enthusiastically.

"Alright then." Marcus then walked towards Jackson, tapped him on the shoulder, and handed him his M27-IAR. "Let's get packed up then."

Jackson nodded as he put his earbuds away and started gathering his stuff. Applejack ran back towards the other girls as the train halted to a stop. Marcus then picked up his Honey Badger and double checked his magazine.

"Alright. Let's get this over with." Marcus said as Jackson and the rest followed behind him. They walked into the cabin where the girls were waiting for them, and then followed along with them. Marcus then pulled out his IPhone and his own earbuds and scrolled through his playlist.

"You using that thing to watch another video?" Rainbow asked, watching him curiously.

"Nah, just putting on a song to fit the mood." Marcus opened the door and stepped out of the train, the heat hit him like a ton of bricks as he winced for a second. His squad did the same as they also stepped outside.

"Damn.. feels just like Afghanistan.." Kayla said, as she grunted, adjusting the ghillie suit hanging from her shoulder.

"Yeah, ain't it just?" Thompson said, chuckling.

"Alright. Applejack, can you lead us towards Braeburn?" He asked.

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, just follow me. Also, just ignore all the looks you get around here."

"It'll take some getting use to.." He thought sarcastically as he picked the perfect song for the location. He then rose the volume to '100' as they walked off the train station platform.

"You can run on, for a long time.
Run on for a long time.
Run on for a long time.
Sooner or later God'll cut you down.
Sooner or later God'll cut you down."

Marcus put his shades on as they walked down the steps and towards a small crowd. The ponies all gasped as Marcus just smirked and walked along.

"Go tell that long tongue liar.
Go and tell that midnight rider.
Tell the rambler,
The Gambler,
The back biter.."

Marcus then saw the ponies look up into the skies behind them, scream, and run off like cockroaches exposed to the light. Marcus paused the music as his curiosity took over and he looked to the skies behind him. He saw a huge dark purple black hole in the sky, then a loud bang.

"INCOMING!" Jackson shouted. Marcus then heard a loud buzzing sound, and the whining of an engine. He looked up again at the skies, and saw what he could've sworn was a AH-6 Little Bird helicopter. And it was flying towards them. They then ducked down as the helicopter flew over them, the rotors barley missing them as it swayed to the right, tilting and crashing into what seemed to be a sheriff's office. Screams were heard all around as smoke rose from what was left of the office, and the tail rotor stuck out from the roof.

"WHAT THE BUCK WAS THAT?!" Rainbow shouted as she looked around in shock and anger.

Marcus then turned to Twilight and asked her a question. "Do you guys have helicopters here?!"

Twilight looked at him confused. "What's a helicopter? That one thing you showed us in your flashback?"

Marcus mentally facepalmed as he nodded and stood up. he accidently pressed the 'play' button as he did so. The music started up again as Marcus faintly heard Johnny Cash through his hanging earbuds.

"Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down.
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down."

Chapter 29: When Strykers Stryke

March 6, 2018
2 Hours after the Little Bird disappearance
Detroit, Michigan

What this chapter is heavily based off of. You don't have to watch it, but it could give you a good idea of what it might look like. Plus, the soundtrack is awesome.

A group of thirty plus soldiers ran down the battered and destroyed streets of Detroit's ghetto areas, running down a street hill as they occasionally turned around and fired back behind them, killing or hitting the huge horde of Cryptids that were chasing them down as they ran. They have been running for half a mile nonstop, shooting and killing as they ran. They were running away from a landing zone that had been overrun by Cryptids, and killing twenty of their own men as they fought back and retreated.

"Keep running! Don't stop!" Shouted a Delta Force member as he turned around and fired off four rounds from his M4 Carbine and killing two Cryptids. Several other soldiers did the same, firing off several rounds into the horde, but doing little to stop the Cryptids from advancing.

"How far is the damn rally point?!" Shouted a Ranger running alongside him, sliding in his last magazine for his M9 pistol.

"About half a click away, just keep running!" The Delta Operator shouted. The group then heard streaking sounds from above them as they saw purple-white projectiles streak down towards them. They all looked up and saw three Gargoyles, shooting down at them with its tail.

"Take cover! Take cover! Take cover, and fire back!" Another Delta Operator shouted. They all agreed as they scattered around for any cover they could find. One of the Rangers got behind the wreckage of a car and mounted his M4, firing off several rounds into the horde, killing several and slowing down the horde, but not by much. The Ranger with the M9 then slid alongside the other Ranger, pulling up his M9 and firing off into the horde alongside him.

"Anderson, I'm out of ammo!" The Ranger shouted as he took cover behind the car, taking out the empty magazine and looking up to the Ranger called Anderson.

Anderson didn't respond to this as he shot off his last remaining rounds of his M4 into the horde. He then pulled out his own M9 and fired three shots, killing a Scout Cryptid.

Two Delta Operators then ran behind the wreckage of a van. One of them stabilized his M16A4 on the door, firing off in bursts, while the other aimed his M4 up at the sky and shot off at one of the Gargoyles, making it drop to the ground as its wings were no longer usable. The Gargoyle then landed on top of a Ranger. The Ranger yelled and tried to push it off, but the Gargoyle just slammed its clawed foot onto his neck, crushing his neck.

"Fuck!" The Delta Operator shouted in anger. He then switched to full automatic, firing off his entire magazine into the Gargoyle. It yelled in agony as it collapsed under the dead Ranger.

"Ancestors!" Another Ranger shouted. Everyone looked at the horde, and saw an Ancestor right in the middle, slowly making its way towards them.

"Shit! We gotta move! Now!" Anderson shouted as he slammed in another magazine into his M4. He then turned around and started running down the street.

"Fall back! Fall back!" A Ranger shouted as he shot off more rounds from his M16A4 into the horde. They then all lifted up their weapons and started running down the street. They could hear the screeches of the Cryptids behind them, getting closer as they ran for their life.

As they ran down the street, they noticed a couple Scorpion Cryptids climbing on the side of the walls of some destroyed buildings. One of the Rangers then lifted up his M240 and shot off several rounds into them, making one of them tumble to the ground as it burned in its own puddle of acid, with another Ranger doing the same to the other, making its yellow bluges on its back explode. Another one of the Rangers slid away their radio piece from his mouth as he vomited, cleaning up his mouth with his sleeve as he coughed up a bit more.

"Fucking hell..." He thought as he adjusted his radio piece back in front of his mouth and continued running. Behind him, a Ranger collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion, with another tripping over him as a Delta Operator helped them up. Anderson then turned around and kneel'd, shooting off his M203 grenade launcher at the oncoming Cryptids, the 40mm grenade slamming into the horde, sending several body parts flying up into the air, while the Ancestor screamed in pain. Then another Operator turned around and shot off more rounds from his M240. The Rangers then recovered and caught up to the rest of the group as they kept running.

The sleep deprivation was getting to Anderson as his mind played tricks on him. Silhouettes of children, running alongside and in front of him started appearing, waving, smiling, and laughing at the Tier-One Operator. The area around him was suddenly taken over by a cloud of thick smoke as he kept running, trying to ignore the mind games his mind was playing on him. Anderson then saw on the sides of the street, what seemed like several people, cheering and motioning at him and the others to keep on running as they clapped and cheered.

Anderson was suddenly brought back into reality as he noticed the outline of a Stryker vehicle driving up towards him and others, firing off its .50 Cal machine gun at the Cryptids behind them, being accompanied by what seemed to be soldiers from the Michigan Army National Guard climbing out out of the Stryker, and firing alongside the Stryker at the Cryptids.

Stryker Crew's P.O.V

"Alright, your orders are to take your Stryker and the group of National Guards into the ghetto's of Detroit. We have reports of one of our evac sites being overrun, and there are still soldiers M.I.A. Presumably Army Rangers and Delta Operators. You go in there, and lead them out." Said Command over the radio.

"Roger that, Warlord. Sandstorm 3-7 is moving now." Said the Stryker's driver, Sergeant Dempsey T. Grant as he drove the Stryker towards the gates of the base. The gates opened as he drove out of the base, and onto the ruined streets of what was left of Detroit. Inside the Stryker, were nine soldiers from the Michigan Army National Guard's 1'st Batallion 125'th Infantry Regiment.

"Let's go find our boys." Said the Remote Weapons Station controller, Corporal Kevin P. Marston. Dempsey then gave Kevin a fist-bump as they drove down the street towards the last known location of the Rangers and Delta Operators. The National Guardsmen double checked their M16's and M4's as they awaited deployment.

Kevin kept his eyes on the screen that was connected to a camera on the .50 Cal. He was also holding a controller, which allowed him to turn the turret 360 degrees, and to let him fire at will. He slowly turned the turret around, in case any Cryptids decided to ambush them. The weapons system was also capable of turning on thermal-heat imaging, in case he decided to shoot out the smoke grenades, to allow him to shoot at any targets while they were safely covered in the smoke.

Dempsey kept driving at full speed, eager to come to the rescue to the Rangers and Delta Operators. Command had planned to add more Strykers to this rescue mission, but they were all either already deployed, destroyed, or being repaired. They were told that they were going to be accompanied by a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter to provide support, but it was already deployed. He then heard gunshots in the distance as he turned the corner. He then pressed the gas as he saw several silhouettes of soldiers running away from Cryptids at the end of the street.

Kevin also saw this as he turned around to face at the Guardsmen. "Alright, we spotted our boys up ahead! Get ready for this one, because it looks like there's a shit-ton of these fuckers chasing 'em!" He warned. The Guardsmen nodded as they turned their heads toward the back doors, eager to go outside and provide support. Kevin then turned his attention to the screen, gripping his controller tightly, waiting to engage.

Dempsey they halted the Stryker, and shouted. "Alright! Go! Go! Go!"

The Guardsmen pushed the doors open as they ran out from the Stryker, and set up a defensive perimeter around it, shooting away at the Cryptids behind the Rangers and Operators.

"Alright Kevin, light 'em up!" Dempsey shouted.

With a grin, Kevin pressed the trigger on his controller, and fired the .50Cal turret into the horde of Cryptids. The Stryker moved back a bit from the recoil of the gun, but Kevin kept firing in rapid five round bursts. The Rangers and Delta Operators then took cover behind the wreckages of cars and buildings as they fired off their weapons.

Dempsey noticed that there were about thirty soldiers, including the Guardsmen. He then decided to only carry the injured inside the Stryker, as the Guardsmen and the rest ran alongside the Stryker back to the checkpoint.

"Oh shit! Ancestor!!" Kevin shouted. He noticed through the camera that there was an Ancestor right in the middle of the horde. He fired upon the Ancestor, but it pulled up a blue energy shield, the bullets being absorbed by the shield as its other hand formed a black hole like projectile.

"Fuck! Pull back, Dempsey! Pull back!" Kevin shouted. Dempsey then started backing the Stryker away as the Ancestor launched its projectile to the Stryker.

"Incoming!!" A Guardsmen shouted. Him and the other soldiers around him stood up and ran away from the projectile as it impacted with the Stryker, enveloping it in a dark purple haze as it imploded, making the Stryker disappear in a blinding flash. Dempsey and KEvin were immediately knocked into unconsciousness as the projectile hit the Stryker.

An Unknown Amount Of Time Later...

Kevin's eyes slowly opened, revealing a hazy and blurred vision as he groaned in pain. He lifted a hand up to his forehead as he cleared his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that the control panel was completely destroyed, and flicking sparks around him. His vision then faded back into darkness as he turned around to the doors of the Stryker, and saw what seemed like four silhouettes of horses slowly trotting towards him.

"F...fuck me..." He thought as he faded back into unconsciousness.

More Info On The Stryker. In Case You Are Curious.

The More You Know #2

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 30: New Friends

"Good timing, Johnny.." Marcus thought as he turned off his IPhone in case the song said some else smart.

"What the buck was that thing?!" Rainbow shouted as she stood back up, shaking her head, and coughing from the dust that the rotors built up.

"I think it was a Little Bird.." Jackson said as he re-adjusted his helmet and ran up to Kayla to help her up as Thompson picked up her dusty ghillie suit from the ground.

"A 'Little Bird'? It looked anything but 'Little'!" Rainbow said.

"No, it's just a nickname for it. I think it was a helicopter." Jackson replied.

"And it crashed right into the sheriff's office!" Twilight shouted in shock as she pointed a hoof at what remained of the wooden building, which had the back rotor of the helicopter sticking out from the top, and had smoke coming out from it also.

Marcus picked up his Honey Badger and turned to his squad and the girls. "Then let's get moving and see if anyone's hurt, c'mon!" They complied as they ran towards the office. In the distance, several ponies that wore fighefighter outfits ran towards the office, holding what seemed to be a water hose that extended from a wooden wagon.

"Wow.. next thing you know, we'll be seeing ponies in bio-hazard suits.." He said sarcastically as they got closer to the office.

Little Bird Pilot's P.O.V.

"Shit! We're hit! We're hit!" Randy shouted as he tried to regain control of the Little Bird, but he then noticed that the entire helicopter was inside the portal. He looked closer and saw that they were in some sort of teleportational portal, since it seemed like it was bending the light around them, making it seem like they were traveling at the speed of light.

"Ho-oly shiiit! Where the fuuck are weee!?" Mike shouted as the Little Bird seemed to be floating by itself, and somehow not moving or spinning wildly out of control, aside from all of the electronics being turned off, and the rotors slowly whining.

"I am so fucking HIGH!" Randy shouted as he laughed somewhat manically, losing his last bit of sanity. Mike just looked at him with a shocked expression as he looked back in front of him.

His eyes widened at what he was looking at. Mike then turned to Randy and shouted. "Randy! Look! That looks like the way out! I see the sky up ahead!!" Mike shouted in happiness and surprise, but his words fell on deaf ears as Randy kept laughing, not giving a shit.

Mike shook Randy violently. "Randy!! Get your shit together!! Aim for the blue exit in front of us!!" He shouted.

Randy then shook his head and looked at Mike. He then nodded as he tightened his grip on the control sticks and moved the Little Bird towards the blue exit in front of them. It seemed like time slowed as the small attack/transport helicopter flew through the portal smoothly.

Randy smiled as he looked down at the control panels, noticing that the Little Bird's electronics and rotors were back in action. Mike noticed this too as his N.V.G's (Night Vision Goggles) came back online.

"Yes!! Thank Go-" Mike started shouting in happiness, but then they heard a deafening 'boom' behind them, making them cover their ears. Randy then looked in horror as he saw that the unknown blast had disrupted their electronic systems and the engine.

"Oh come ON!" Mark shouted as he heard the engine of the Little Bird sputter and whine as Randy tried to move the sticks, but to no avail.

"Oh fuck! We're gonna crash down there!" Randy shouted. He noticed that they were flying towards what seemed like a small town below. It looked like one of those desert towns from back in the Wild West. Randy then looked closer and noticed that near a train station, there were what seemed to be four humans in black combat gear, and one of them was holding a gray and dull green ghillie suit over its shoulder. But that wasn't what made him go insane.

Randy also noticed that there were four technicolored horses walking alongside them, and they were looking right up at the Little Bird. He then turned his eyesight a bit and noticed that there was a group of what seemed like miniature horses, some of which were wearing pieces of clothing and hats, were also looking up at the Little Bird with a look of confusion and horror.

"I must be high as a fucking plane... or in this case, a helicopter.." He thought.

"What the fu-uck!!" Mike shouted as he also noticed what Randy was looking it. The helicopter's whining started to fade as the rotors started spinning again, and the electronics started coming back online some how.

"Randy! Avoid those things down there!" Mike shouted as he shook Randy. Randy then gripped his hands on the sticks again as he noticed that the Little Bird tilted to the left and was getting closer and closer to the group of the humans and technicolored horses.

"Fuu-uuck!" Randy shouted as he pulled the sticks back and to the right. Time seemed to slow down again as he noticed that the rotors of the Little Bird nearly sliced the heads off the horses and humans, but they ducked as the Little Bird soared over their heads, and started tilting to the right.

"Oh thank God.." Randy and Mike said under their breaths. They looked in front of them, and noticed that they were about to collide with a two-story wooden building.

"Randy, you wanna switch the engines offline or what?" Mike shouted as the Randy tried to swerve away from the building.

"Hold on tight, Mike!" Randy shouted. Mike then got a hold of his seat, and braced for impact. "We're going in hard!"

The Little Bird then crashed forcefully and violently into the wooden structure's side. "Fuck!" Randy said as his head collided with the front window, making it crack. Mike then accidentally pressed the buttons on his sticks, shooting off some rounds from the miniguns as the Little Bird crashed hard into the floor of the building. His head hit the front of the panel as he yelled in pain and faded into unconsciousness.

Sheriff's P.O.V

"Okay. When did the Princess' say they were gonna bring in the investigators?" The Sheriff asked one of the Royal Guards, who had just returned from Canterlot.

"They said they were gonna bring in a group of those weird creatures that the Element Bearers found in the Everfree. She said they know more about these things than anypony else." The Royal Guard said.

"Okay well, what do these 'creatures' look like?" The Sheriff asked.

The Guard shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea, but they should be here within a couple of minutes. Along with four of the Element Bearers."

The Sheriff sighed as he took off his cowboy hat and leaned back on his chair, being very stressed out about this whole situation that has plagued the town. He then went into deep thought about this entire situation. "There hasn't been a murder here since Luna was banished to the Moon. Now, we got a murder that was caused by some unknown creature?.. Ah really need a drink after all this. I have ah feeling that the poor folks around here are getting more worried by the day.." He sighed again as he took another sip of his coffee. "What more can possibly go wrong?.."

The Sheriff then heard several ponies outside talking in a tone of confusion and fear. He turned around and looked outside. He noticed a black hole in the sky, and then came along a deafening explosion, which made him yelp and cover his ears. The Sheriff then opened his eyes and saw a huge, black object falling towards the town. The ponies screamed and ran in all directions as it came closer. The Royal Guard then ran outside and joined the group, but stopped midway to see what everypony else was looking at.

"Oh my Celestia.. what is that?.." He whispered in shock. The Sheriff's eyes were glued onto the weird object as he noticed that it had some sort of set of propellers on the top of it. They then started twirling at an unimaginable rate as it disappeared out of his view.

"GET DOWN!" He heard somepony say. A series of screams were heard, then he heard the sound of whining come closer to his office. He then looked up at the roof above him as the whining got louder and louder.

"Oh my-" The Sheriff was cut off as he saw the object collide into the building and crash through the roof like a knife through butter. He then had enough time to jump over his desk as the object collided with the floor. He heard a deafening blast as the whining started fading away.

The Sheriff then opened his eyes and noticed that most of his office was destroyed. Smoke bellowed the entire room as he coughed. He noticed that there were two creatures inside the front of the object that were unfamiliar to him, and they looked like they were wearing some sort of aerobatic outfit, and were both wearing helmets with visors on the front. It also seemed like the object had windows on the front, which were separated by a black line on the middle, and had huge cracks on each side. The front also was sparking what seemed like sparks of electricity. The top propellers stopped spinning as black smoke fumed out of the top, along with the back propellers, which stuck out of the roof like a sore thumb. The inside of the object was

"-Cough, cough.- Are you okay there, uh.. creatures?" The Sheriff said as he slowly approached the front of the object, avoiding the huge pieces of wood and splinters all around the floor. He thought that these were the creatures. As he reached out to touch the object, he heard the door being kicked open.

"Woah! Stop right there! Don't touch that thing!" Somepony shouted. The Sheriff turned around and saw that there were four bipedal creatures in the doorway; one of them was aiming a strange stick at him. He complied as he walked away from the object. The Sheriff then noticed that the four Element Bearers were right behind them.

"Don't worry, he knows what he's doing." The Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle said reassuringly. The Sheriff nodded.

Then, the creature climbed into the object and spoke. "Looks like we got a few more friends..."

Meanwhile In The Everfree Forest...

Shining Armor and a group of two of his elite Royal Guards were patrolling the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, due to recent reports of several Manticores attacking local wildlife and in one case, nearly killing a pony. So they were sent by Luna to contain the Manticores.

"I can't believe that we're out here to take care of a couple of Manticores.." One of the guards complained as they walked along the dirt road.

"Yeah.. don't they have Fluttershy for that?" Another one of the guards asked.

"Yeah. But she's named 'Fluttershy' for a reason." The guard replied.

Shining Armor gave the guards a glare, which made them shut up. He didn't like anypony talking anything negative about Twlight or her friends. They continued walking until they came upon the carcass of a decaying Manticore on the side of the road.

"Oh Celestia.. who did that?" A guard said, nearly vomiting at the gory sight. They noticed that most of its stomach and upper body was missing, while its entire head was nowhere to be found. Several pools of dry blood were all around the carcass.

"I have no idea.. but l-let's just keep walking." Shining Armor said. The guards complied as they walked down the road, careful to avoid the pools of blood, and what seemed like pieces of flesh, bone, and brain matter.

"You think those weird ape creatures the Elemnets found did that?.." One of the guards asked Shining Armor.

Shining chuckled. "I don't think there's anything that could do that without using a lethal explosive magic spell. Besides, I doubt that those weird ape things would be as dangerous as us."

The guards nodded and chuckled, until they heard a loud explosion in the distance, which made them yelp, and their smiles turn into a look of fear.

"Speaking of explosions.." One of the guards muttered, adding some dark humor to the situation. Shining glared at him as he regained his composure. Then, another one of the guards spoke.

"I see a line of smoke in the distance! Maybe that's where the explosion happened?"

"Alright then. Let's go see who or what caused it. Move!" Shining shouted. They then ran down the dirt road at full speed, their armor making clanking sounds as they ran towards the line of smoke. They then got closer and closer until they reached it. They then got behind a pile of bushes as they looked through the openings.

"What the.. what is that thing?" One of the guards said silently, but in shock.

Shining armor then poked his head through the bush to see what the guards were looking at. "What? Whart is it-" His eyes widened in surprise. In the middle of a marsh, was a huge, metallic-looking object that was stuck in the marsh. It was huge; about twice the size of a Royal Carridge, and had several holes and tubes in the back and on the sides. Shining then slowly walked out of the bush, along with his squad, and walked towards the object.

"It looks like a metal wagon or carridge of some sort.." The Unicorn guard said quietly. They also noticed that it had four circles on its lower side. They looked like wheels, but looked a lot more advanced. The front of the object looked slightly slanted, but its right side was stuck in the mud. On the top was a huge, black stick with wires and a bulb on its side.

The Earth pony guard noticed that there were metal doors on the backside of the object."Sir, permission to inspect the inside of the object?" He asked Shining Armor.

"Granted." He replied. "But watch yourself in there. We'll be right behind you."

The Earth pony guard then slowly walked to the doors of the object. Shining opened them slowly with a metallic creak. He and the Earth pony walked inside and gasped. There were black benches on the left and right side, and it looked big enought to fit 3 squads. They then noticed what looked like an ape sitting on a chair and what looked like a black window shooting out sparks of electricity, and was wearing what seemed like a desert tan uniform and some sort of helmet with a visor. It lifted its head from a small metal table with something on it, mumbled something, groaned, and layed its head back down.

The Earth guard then spoke up"Hey, are you alri-" A flash of yellow light appeared for a breif moment further back.

The Earth pony was cut off as a loud bang echoed through the interior, making Shining close his eyes and cover his ears as a ringing sound took over and a warm liquid gushed onto his face and neck. He re-opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the guard beside him. Shining then noticed the Earth pony crumpled up on the floor, with half of his head missing, and blood, skull fragments, and brain matter coating him and the walls.

Author's Note

Hope you guys enjoyed this one! I just love cliffhangers, and Murphy's Law, don't ya'll? :ajsmug:

Chapter 31: Welcome to Paradise

Author's Note

Tell me what you all thought of this chapter, and if there's any complaints you guys have. Otherwise, enjoy!

Also, yes, the Stryker and Little Bird are heavily damaged, but they will be repaired. How?..

.... :twilightsmile:

Chapter 31: Welcome to Paradise

Marcus and his squad ran past the group of firefighters and stood outside the Sheriff's office. Marcus then brought up his Honey Badger to his shoulder, then turned his head to his squad.

"Okay. Let's go and see if the pilots survived the crash. Do not engage them or any ponies inside. Also, Fluttershy, can you tell the firefighters to hold what they're doing?" Marcus asked. Fluttershy nodded as she trotted towards the firefighters. They all waited as she explained what he and his squad were about to do. The firefighters looked his way, then back at Fluttershy. They nodded in agreement as they ran back to the wagon.

"Alright. Three. Two. One. Go!" Marcus then turned and kicked down the door, adding in more dust and debris to the inside of the office. Marcus walked in first, aiming down the iron sights as he rapidly walked in and looked to the left and right, while his squad followed along right behind him, using their side arms and shotguns to save up space in the cramped area. The girls followed behind them, watching them as they did their work.

Marcus saw the figure of a pony, who was about to touch the front of the Little Bird helicopter. He then aimed his Honey Badger at the pony. "Woah! Stop right there! Don't touch that thing!" Marcus shouted. The pony looked at him in confusion, but nodded as he slowly backed away from the cockpit.

Twilight saw the look of confusion on the Sheriff's face and spoke to him. "Don't worry, they know what they're doing." She said reassuringly. The Sheriff nodded again, making him more calm.

Marcus then turned his Honey Badger and hit the door of the Little Bird with the buttstock, making it more loose. He then lowered his Honey Badger and let it hang from his right side as he pulled open the door, making a loud metallic creaking noise. Inside, he noticed two pilots wearing black aviation suits, and helmets. One with a cracked visor over it, and another with Night Vision Goggles strapped to it. He carefully unstrapped the helmet off the one wearing the N.V.G's, making sure that if he had a neck injury, he wouldn't make it any worse. Marcus then pressed two of his fingers on each of their necks, feeling a strong pulse in each of them.

"Looks like we got a few more friends.." He said as he unstrapped the other pilot's helmet and set it down on the ground. He pulled himself back and looked at both of their faces. They had several scratches and deep cuts on their faces, covered in blood. Marcus then turned around and faced towards Thompson, who was looking at the condition of the outside structure of the Little Bird.

"We got live ones! Thompson, come over here and help me pull them out." Thompson then went towards Marcus and helped pull out the co-pilot. Marcus pulled out his combat knife, and sliced the straps holding him onto the seat. He then went behind the seat and lifted up the co-pilot from his shoulders, while Thompson lifted his legs and they started pulling him out of the Little Bird slowly and carefully.

"Easy.. Easy.. Lay him on that table over there." Marcus moved his head towards the table behind Thompson. They then started carrying the co-pilot over towards it.

"Hey, Jackson help us out, will ya? Clear the stuff from the table." Marcus asked. Jackson then ran towards them and sweeped the items and pieces of wood from the top of the table as they met the floor.

Jackson then turned to the Sheriff. "Hope you don't mind." He said, chuckling.

"Jackson, come help me pull out the other pilot!" Kayla called. Jackson ran over to her as they started pulling put the pilot.

"Alright. Ready? Lift!" Marcus and Thompson then lifted the co-pilot with ease and put him gently on the table.

"Thompson, you think you and Fluttershy can patch these guys up?" Marcus asked. Thompson smiled and nodded as he ran outside and called out to Fluttershy. Marcus then turned to Kayla and Jackson, who were having a bit of trouble freeing the pilot from the wreckage. He ran over and helped them out. They then put him on the table besides the co-pilot while Thompson and Fluttershy rushed back inside the office, with Fluttershy carrying a first-aid kit in her mouth.

Marcus then ran back into the Little Bird and looked around for any useful supplies. He saw that the control panels were damaged, but he was sure that one of the pilots could fix it. The outside, however, was battered and beaten. The tail and its rotor were steaming out black smoke, and the tail was nearly snapped in half, hanging from a line of wires and small metallic parts. Marcus was no engineer, but he knew that nobody in his squad, nor the pilots, could fix this without finding some sort of blueprints or something. He also noticed that this Little Bird variant must have been an AH-6J, since it had both room to carry four men on the interior, and it was armed to the teeth; carrying what seemed like missile pods and miniguns. Somehow, the missiles didn't explode on impact, and the weapons seemed like they didn't take much damage. Marcus then found a small compartment on the walls, with its lock missing. He opened it, and inside, was a huge blue roll of paper, with white lines all over it. He grabbed it and unrolled a bit of it, noticing that it was blueprints to the Little Bird's design. Both inside, and outside. Marcus then turned to Twilight, who, along with Rainbow, were watching Thompson and Fluttershy patch up the pilots.

"The Cryptids are in for a fun time.." He thought as he kept looking inside the Little Bird's interior. He found an AR-15 on the floor near the ammo box for the Little Bird's miniguns, a MP5 below the control panels, and a P-90 with several attachments on it behind one of the seats. He carried all of the weapons in both his hands as he slowly walked out of the interior.

"Looks like we got some new toys.." He said as he dusted off a part of the floor and laid down the weapons. He then turned to the girls. "You can look at them, just don't touch them." With that, he switched the saftey on all of the weapons in case. The girls walked over to the weapons and looked at them. Twilight was using every fiber of her being to not ask any questions about the weapons until later, while Rainbow Dash thought that they looked pretty slick and cool. Applejack, however, was behind the wreckage, trying to get a hold of something.

"Hey Applejack, what're you doing behind there?" Marcus asked. Applejack then walked out from behind the wreckage, and was holding a long stick in her mouth. When she turned around to face Marcus, he noticed that it wasn't an ordinary stick..

..it was a Winchester 1873 lever action. His jaw dropped at the sight as Applejack spit out the glorious weapon from her mouth. "Is that one of your weapons ya'll carry 'round?" She asked.

Marcus slowly nodded as he walked over and picked up the Winchester. He was a huge fan of the Winchester rifle designs, and the grin on his face grew as he pulled the lever on the Winchester to look at what rounds it chambered, noticing it was fully loaded with .45 Colt rounds.

He then turned to Twilight. "I-I thought you girls said you didn't HAVE firearms like this!" Marcus said as he lifted up the Winchester to his shoulder and aimed it at what remained of the ceiling.

Twilight then turned around to answer his question. "Uh, we don't. Maybe one of the others brought it with him here?" She theorized.

"Well then, that explains it. Still, I can't figure out why they'd bring a Winchester rifle here.." Marcus said as he laid the rifle down with the other weapons for the girls to look at.

"Holy buck.. that thing looks so cool!" Rainbow said excitedly as she gazed on the rifle.

"Just wait 'till you see how it works." Marcus said with a grin as he let the girls look at the weapons. "Remember, don't touch them. And Twilight, I know you have a volley of questions for me.." Marcus said, making Twilight blush a bit. "..But you can ask me them later when we get back on the train. And figure out how we're gonna get this thing out of here and repair it."

Twilight nodded and grinned as she turned back around to look at the weapons. Then, they all heard a groan.

"Ugh... where the fuck?.." A voice said. Marcus ran over to where the pilots were laying, and noticed that the co-pilot was awake, with his eyes looking like two fried eggs as he looked at the ponies around him, and his squad.

Marcus grinned and looked down at him. "Welcome to paradise."

Dempsey's P.O.V

...

"Ugh.. what the fuck?.." Dempsey said quietly as he raised his bruised head off the controls. He groaned as one of his hands clutched his throbbing head, but noticed that he was still wearing his helmet. He used both of his hands to unstrap it and he lazily took it off, making it hit the floor with a thud.

"Damn.. this isn't cool." He said as he looked at the condition of the inside of his Stryker. Dempsey noticed that most of the electronics and systems were fine, but were on the brink of turning into nothing but electronic scrap parts. He started unstrapping himself from his seat, until he heard voices outside the Stryker.

"Sir, permission to inspect the inside of the object?" A voice outside asked.

"Granted. But watch yourself in there. We''l be right behind you." Replied another voice.

"Aw shit... looters. Not on my fucking watch.." Dempsey thought as he got himself free from the seat so he could move freely now. Dempsey then looked around for a weapon nearby him. As he did, he heard footsteps inside the Stryker, and whoever was inside, they were moving slowly. It sounded like they were walking with metal boots on.

Dempsey then looked to his right and saw his M16A4 on the other seat. He grinned as he reached out for it. He then grabbed it, turned the safety to 'semi-automatic', cocked it, and looked to the back of the Stryker. The lights inside the Stryker were off, so they couldn't see him as he noticed two small horses walking inside, both of them wearing what seemed like gold armor, one was holding a shortsword, and the other had a horn sticking out of its head. Dempsey then looked at his remote gunner, Kevin, who lifted his head slightly, groaned, and laid his head back on the control panel.

"What the fuck?.." Dempsey thought as he noticed the horses have now stopped and looked at Kevin. It then did something that completely blew Dempsey's mind.

It spoke. I know.. cliche..

"Hey, are you alri-" Before it could finish, Dempsey, without even thinking, raised his M16A4 at the horse and fire off a round. The noise of the weapon echoed all around the interior of the Stryker as he saw the 5.56mm rounds connect with the horse's skull, piercing through the gold helmet like butter, and literally obliterating half of its skull. The other pony was in shock for a second as he looked down at his now dead partner. It then looked towards Dempsey's direction. Dempsey then noticed its horn started glowing a bright light blue, covered in white streaks of electricity as it started shooting off white streaks of blue energy at his direction. The streaks hit randomly as the pony sprayed and prayed all around. One of the streaks hit the control panel, and made it come back to life, while another hit the control panel behind Dempsey, bringing back the engine and weapons systems.

Dempsey was about to end the other pony, until he felt a heavy feeling in his chest, and a surging amount of electricity go thorough his very veins. As he collapsed on the floor, he heard a faint female voice in his head.

"Just one more wreched soul to feed the demons..."

Chapter 32: Kill First, Ask Questions Later

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 33: UGV (Unidentified Ground Vehicle)

Marcus and Jackson smiled as the Hive's plant-like top started shaking violently as matter and blood-like liquid spurted all over the place. The miniguns kept firing non-stop until the Hive let out a screeching sound, and the top exploded, sending more matter and blood around as it stopped moving, rendering the Hive useless. The Little Bird's miniguns stopped firing, as the helicopter lowered itself to the ground, and Fluttershy stopped shaking and took her hooves out of her ears as the rotors started building up more dust around them. Jackson and Marcus picked up their remaining supplies as they ran towards the sides of the Little Bird and climbed in, with Thompson and Kayla helping them in.

"Nice to see you guys again!" Kayla shouted over the blaring sounds of the rotors, helping Marcus inside. The girls then moved around a bit to make room for the Marines to sit.

"Same! I was starting to think we were gonna run back to the town!" Marcus shouted back. Then, he went up to the front and patted the pilot on the shoulder. "Welcome to Equestria! As you can see, we have talking ponies, magic, and best of all, Cryptids!" Marcus said with a smile.

The pilot smiled and shouted back. "I wouldn't have it any other way!" He responded laughing, which the Marines returned. Marcus and Jackson then sat on the right side of the Little Bird, and strapped themselves, so they wouldn't fall down. Their legs hung from the sides as the Little Bird rose up from the ground in a swirl of dust.

"So what's your name and rank, pilot?" Marcus asked the pilot. The pilot turned around, while Marcus noticed that under his helmet, his forehead was covered in a strap of gauze, and he was wearing an eye patch, which he found nearly comical.

"Captain Randy Treston, 160'th SOAR!" The pilot shouted back as he controlled the Little Bird to fly back to Appleloosa.

"Callsign?"

"Pathfinder!"

"Alright, we'll do introductions later. We should go and tell the townsfolk the good news about the Hive!" Marcus said, with Randy nodding back in agreement. Then, Rainbow asked a question to the pilots.

"How fast can this thing actually go?" She asked, still fascinated by the Little Bird's ability to fly, even though it's made of metal, and has no 'wings'.

Mike then turned around and responded for Randy, so he could keep flying. "About two hundred and fifty miles and hour! Right now, we're going about one hundred and eighty seven!"

Rainbow's eyes widened with surprised by the speed this thing could reach. She knew she was way faster than the Little Bird, but she knew and saw first hand that this thing was something not to be fucked with.

"Wow! That's pretty impressive! Not as fast as me, but still!" Rainbow replied, huffing her chest out a bit in pride as Mike looked at her with confusion.

"How fast can you go?" He asked curiously.

"I can do a Sonic Rainboom, if that gives you an idea of how fast I am." Rainbow said proudly, but Mike didn't understand what a 'Sonic Rainboom' was. Twilight saw the look of confusion still on his face, so she decided to answer for her.

"She can basically break the sound barrier." Twilight said simply. Mike's jaw dropped a bit, but he decided not to go against it and nodded.

"So what about you, Randy? How did you react when you woke up?" Marcus asked, turning around.

Randy chuckled for a second before responding. "It could've been better, that's for sure!"

Flashback: Ten minutes after Marcus and Jackson left...

Kayla was returning from trying to get a couple of Unicorns to help them repair the Little Bird. She was able to get about three Unicorns, who were obviously nervous and untrustworthy of the humans, until Twilight and the girls reassured them. Twilight and the other Unicorns were looking over the blueprints of the Little Bird with Mike as Thompson, Kayla, and Fluttershy were treating to the main pilot, who was still out cold, and laying on the table.

"Hey Fluttershy, can you hand me the sterile gauze?" Thompson asked as he brought out a small med-kit, used for treating sucking chest wounds, and minor head injuries. Fluttershy nodded as she reached into her own med-kit and brought out a small piece of gauze and handed it to Thompson with her mouth. He took it as he stitched the pilot's cuts and gashes on his head with butterfly closure strips. He then used a small bottle of alcohol and dropped a bit of drops into the pilot's scratches and wrapped the gauze around the pilot's head, then put the bottle of alcohol back into the med-kit.

"Alright, his head is good. You can work on the rest of his injuries now, Fluttershy." Thompson said as he moved away a bit as Fluttershy grabbed a sterile eye patch and started to lean down to place it on the pilot's bloody eye, until his bloodshot eyes sudden opened in shock. Fluttershy let out a loud 'eeep!' as she stumbled and started to fall on the floor. Thompson caught her in mid-air, making her let out a little squeak as the pilot thrashed around and landed on the floor below.

Randy then looked at both Thompson and Fluttershy, who looked like a pair of frozen salsa dancers. They looked back at him, with Thompson having a look of confusion and a bit of anger on him, while Fluttershy had a look of utter fear.

"Where the fuck am I and what does that pony have fucking wings?!" Randy shouted. He then saw the pony's eyes turn into pinpricks as he shouted. The man then put the pony down as it cowered behind his legs, whimpering.

"Woah there, dude! Calm down and let me explain.." The man wearing black combat gear started saying as he put his hands in front of him in defense. Randy then looked around for his MP5, thinking he was being experimented on. He then saw someone else enter the room and look his way. Randy then realized it was his co-pilot, Mike Preston, who looked pretty banged up by the looks of it.

"Hey Randy! Calm down, dude! They're just trying to help you! Mike said, grabbing a hold of Randy's shoulders to make sure he stays in place.

"But... wha.. where... I-" Randy started blabbering away, until Mike put a hand on his mouth, silencing him.

"Look dude, I am just as confused as you are, but right now, you need to get your shit together. And these guys are Marines, and part of the Rapid Reaction Force, so don't worry about us being the only ones here. Their leader said he'll answer our questions soon, but we need your help to come help repair the Little Bird." Mike said, calming Randy down a bit, but creating a helluva lot more questions.

Randy took in a deep breath and sighed. "Okay.. wait, what do mean 'we'?"

"Look, as I said before, everything'll be explained later. But outside is our Little Bird. Long story short, Unicorns pulled it out, and are now repairing it, but we need your skills to help us out a bit. Can you do that?" Mike asked, shaking Randy's shoulders a bit and making him wince a little.

"Yeah.. yeah, I can. Where is it?" Randy asked. Mike pointed to the door, then walked towards it. Randy soon followed, until stopped and noticed the pony- er, Pegasus still cowering behind the Marine. He kneel'd down and got closer to the Pegasus. It whimpered and backed away in fear, its eyes looked like two fried eggs.

Randy chuckled. "Um.. I'm sorry about that. I could've reacted better. That was a fault on my part. I didn't know you were medically healing me.." He said honestly. The Pegasus then let out a small smile and handed Randy what seemed to be an eye patch with her hoof. He smiled back and took it, placing it on his left eye, which was coated in blood.

End of flashback

Marcus and his squad were chuckling at the story Randy told. The girls were just smiling, while Fluttershy hid behind her mane, but not without letting out a small smile as Thompson patted her back.

"We have so much shit we gotta tell you guys.." Jackson said as he looked down at the ground below him, The Little Bird swayed to the right a bit as Mike responded.

"Oh yeah you do.. and I'm guessing the girls here have a lot of questions they want to ask?" He said, turning to the girls, who nodded in response. Mike chuckled as he turned back around and looked out the front. The Little Bird flew over a set of train tracks, which had a really girly-looking train on them, speeding along down the tracks. Marcus looked at it, but thought nothing of it. As the Little Bird swayed closer, he noticed something on one of the flat transportation carts that made his mind explode in confusion and curiosity.

"You guys... look at the train below us and tell me what it's carrying on one of its transport carts.." Marcus said. The squad complied as they looked down. They then gasped. The girls decided they wanted to see what they were looking at, but the Little Bird was already too far away to notice.

"What was it?" Rainbow asked, turning to the Marines, who seemed like they were trying to comprehend what they saw. Then, Marcus spoke up.

"One of the transport carts had a Stryker strapped to it..."

Author's Note

Sorry for the short chapter, if you did find it short anyways. Hope this clears up a couple of things! Al- *Hears door open and slam close

Nikolai: We're baaack!

L.P: Great.. where the fuck were you guys anyways?

Dempsey: I just felt like going outside to get some fresh air.. maybe go to the mall and by myself a fucking tiara! What the hell do you think we were doing, we were fucking killing zombies!

L.P: That explains why you're holding a Wunderwaffe...

Dempsey: WUNDERWAFFLE!

Richtofen: Stupid Americans, it's 'Wunderwaffe!'

Takeo: And I go-

Everyone else: Shut up Takeo! Nobody likes you!

*Takeo just stands there, then shrugs and walks out of the room, drinking a bottle of Quick Revive*

Dempsey: How can he even drink that shit?.. Hey! You added me into the story! Sweet!

L.P: Yeah, I did. Can you quit your bitching now?

Dempsey: Alright! As long as I don't die!

*L.P rubs hands together with an evil smile on his face*

No spoilers... :pinkiecrazy:

Chapter 34: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Everfree Forest, five hours earlier...

Shining Armor took his eyes away from the nearly decapitated corpse that was lying on the floor and looked at where the bright flash had come from. All he noticed was a long, black, odd-looking stick pointing out from the back. It then moved and pointed to him. Shining's horn rapidly glowed a bright blue with electricity surrounding it as he closed his eyes and shot off several blue streaks of electricity wildly. Whatever that stick was, it made him deaf, and he panicked. The bolts hit all around the inside, sparks flew all around as he fired non-stop.

Shining then opened his eyes slowly. The first thing he noticed was that the inside of this vehicle was now engulfed in light. He looked around and saw that the window screen inside was now showing an image, like a theater screen, but it looked like it was showing the outside somehow. Shining then quickly took his eyes off the screen as he cautiously moved more to the front. He saw that the entrance to the main front was smaller than the back, but he was easily able to pass through. He then also saw more screens in the front, a pair of what seemed to be stick-like controls, and other features that looked so... alien...

He was about to move in deeper until he saw another one of the odd, ape-like features sitting limply on what seemed to be a chair a bit too big for a pony. It wore gray and black clothes with several pouches, a large backpack that contained Celestia-knows-what, and a helmet with what looked goggles; strapped to the front of its face, but it had three holes instead of two. Shining's curiosity was then replaced with anger and a hint of sorrow as he looked down and saw that the creature was gripping the stick with its claw-like appendage. He then used his magic to make the creature release its grip as he levitated the stick and moved it to the front of his eyes.

Shining then studied the stick. He saw that it was big for a stick, about the size of a spear. It looked somewhat bulky and squared, yet smooth, curved, and slanted at the top and in other various locations. The entire stick was colored a medium shade of black, and it seemed like it had a trigger and a trigger guard at the bottom with a grip, much like a crossbow, but it seemed way too small for use with a hoof. "So this thing used its claws to fire it.." Shining thought as he looked back down at the creature's claws. "But what did it shoot out?"

Shining then looked closer to the side of this weapon. Overall, it had the similarities of a crossbow, but to say it looked more complex and advanced would be an understatement. He was about to set the weapon down until he saw a bit of words on the left side.

Colt M16A4, 5.56x45mm NATO

"Colt?..." Shining thought with his head tilted to the side in confusion. "Why would they name a weapon 'Colt'?.." He shook his head and placed the weapon down. Shining then felt something touch his shoulder.

Shining yelled and turned to face whatever was behind him, ready to attack. He then eased up as he noticed that it was the Pegasus guard, who recoiled slightly, but regain his composure. Shining saw his lips move and point a hoof at the dead body of the Earth pony guard.

"WHAT?!" Shining shouted. The Pegasus guard seemed to speak again, but all Shining heard was a ringing in his ears. Then, his mind put two and two together.

"Oh wait.. I'm deaf." He though as he face-hoof'd. Shining then put his hoof in front of him to silence the guard as his horn glowed again and he heals his ears with a spell that brings back his hearing. His hearing starts returning to normal with a small 'pop' sound in his ears as he rubbed them with his left hoof for good measure.

"Sorry about that. Can you repeat that again?" Shining asked.

"What the hay happened in here?! I heard a loud bang sound and electric sounds, so I decided to come inside to see what was going on. When I came inside, I saw Romulus laying on the floor, with half his head missing, blood on the walls, and on you!" The guard started saying, but he stopped as he noticed the ape-like creatures sitting on chairs. "Wh-what the hay are those things? Did they kill Romulus?"

Shining looked back at the ape things, and slowly nodded with his head down. "Yes. Or at least one of them did. I don't know how, but we need to apprehend them before they wake up." He then walked towards the creature that was sitting in front of the screen near Romulus' body. He looked at the screen, noticing that it wasn't just putting out a picture of the woods, but it was doing in in real-time. He put one of his hooves over the control panel, and the screen switched to a light and dark grey, but enough to the point where it was visible and it outlined the trees and bushes around it perfectly. He was awestruck, along with the other guard, who was looking over Shining's shoulder. They then noticed the outlines of six ponies walking in front of the view of the screen, with most of their bodies being highlighted in bright white. Shining shook his head as he turned around and faced the Pegasus guard.

"You see the guards outside?" Shining asked. The guard nodded. "They must be part of one of the other larger patrol units around here! C'mon, let's go!" Shining said. They then ran towards the back of the vehicle, avoiding Romulus' corpse. They then stumbled out and put themselves in the other patrol unit's line of sight.

"Hey! Over here!" The Pegasus guard shouted. The guards in the other unit turned to him and raised their spears and swords, but eased up as they noticed who it was. They then stood at attention when Shining Armor walked out from behind the guard.

"Captain Shining Armor." The leader of the other unit said, saluting to him.

"Sergeant Ironhoof." Shining said, returning the salute. "It's a good thing you came when you did. We have an issue."

Ironhoof nodded, and looked at the vehicle in confusion. "Um, permission to speak freely?" He asked. Shining nodded. "What in the name of Celestia is that?" He said, pointing at the vehicle.

"I have no idea, Sergeant. But we have a huge issue on our hooves, and we need all the help we can get." Shining said, leading the unit and Ironhoof to the back of the vehicle. They climbed in, and gasped at the view. They saw the same thing that he and his unit saw, but they stopped dead in their tracks as they noticed Romulus' body on the floor. One of the guards ran up towards him, who had a cutie mark of two longswords and a medical cross. in the background. He kneel'd next to Romulus' corpse and turned his head. His eyes shot open wide in horror as he just looked at the horrible fatal wound that Romulus had obtained. Shining trotted slowly up to him and placed a hoof on his shoulder to calm him. He saw that tears were slowly rolling freely down his face, until he stood up and ran outside. They all watched him run out the vehicle, then turned their attention to the corpse while they heard the sound of heavy vomiting, and weeping from outside.

"Damn... that's his brother, yo.." One of the guards said, taking of his helmet and lowering his head down. Shining looked up to him, a bit confused.

"Wait.. that was Remus?" He asked. The guards nodded as they also took of their helmets and lowered their heads in respect. "Oh crap.."

"Who killed him?.." They heard Remus faintly ask from outside.

"One of the creatures.." Shining answered. He started walking outside, but stopped as he turned around to face the guards. "I need you all to clean the inside up. Don't touch the creatures or anything inside here." He then turned to Ironhoof." I need one of your Unicorn guards to sent a warning to Celestia. Also, I need one of your Pegasus guards to go to the train station in Ponyville and arrange a transport cart. We're taking this machine over to Canterlot."

Ironhoof saluted in understanding as he ordered one of his Unicorn guards to send a letter, while he sent another to Ponyville to arrange the train. Before Shining could step outside, he heard Ironhoof ask a question.

"What about the creatures? What will we do with them once we transport this?"

Shining paused for a second, before looking over his shoulder. "We'll leave them in here, but they'll be on tight security. If they wake up, do whatever you have to to make sure they go back to sleep." He said coldly as he walked out of the vehicle and let the guards do what they were ordered to do. Shining then walked up to Remus, who was silently sobbing as he looked his right hoof, which was stained in his brother's blood.

"I.. why? Why did he die?.. He'd never do anything to hurt anypony innocent!" Remus shouted in anger as he turned to Shining, who had a depressed and tired look on his face.

"I don't know, Remus.." Shining said as he approached Remus with a look of determination. "But that thing will pay for what he's done. He will be brought to justice, you understand me?" He said assertively to Remus, who still hung his head low, but nodded. Shining patted him with a hoof as he reassured him. "But right now, you need to help us take these things to Canterlot so we can do so, and we need your help."

Remus nodded as he and Shining walked back to the vehicle. As they did, Ironhoof poked his head out the back and called for Shining.

"Hey! Captain!"

Shining rushed over to him, along with Remus. "Yes? What is it?"

"We sent the letter to Celestia, and we got the transport ready. We just need to take out Romulus before we can move it." Ironhoof said hesitantly because Remus was behind Shining. They both nodded.

"Good work. We'll move Romulus out of there and take him to the hospital outside of Ponyville." Shining said. Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"I'd like to go with him and just.. well.. s-say goodbye and stuff.." Remus said, trying not to sound weak as tears started to reform in his eyes. Ironhoof and Shining nodded as they stepped aside to let Remus inside. He then reached into his saddle bag and slowly pulled out the Royal Guard flag and handed it to the two Unicorn guards tending to Romulus. They took it, slowly unraveled it, and draped it over Romulus, who was laying on a makeshift stretcher. They, along with Remus, started to carry out Romulus' corpse out of the vehicle.

"Okay, take him to Ponyville General." Shining said simply. They nodded as they trotted down the dirt path that lead to Ponyville. Then, one of the Unicorn guards shouted from inside.

"We got the creatures detained! We're ready to go!"

Shining nodded, wiped his forehead, and sighed. "Now that that's taken care of, let's move this thing over to the train station." Shining then waited until the guards walked out of the vehicle. They stood behind Shining as he closed his eyes and his horn glowed once again in a light blue color. He then shot out an energy beam, surrounding the vehicle in the energetic aura. He then concentrated and used all of his strength to lift it. He pulled and pulled, but he was only able to get the vehicle out of the marsh by a couple feet. He kept going and going, putting on more energetic strength until he collapsed, breaking the energy beam and letting the vehicle fall back into the marsh with a loud 'squish', splattering mud and water all around.

"That... thing.. is... too.... HEAVY!" Shining said, gasping. "I can't do it... by myself..."

"Don't worry about that." Ironhoof said. He then looked at his Unicorn guards and pointed a hoof at the vehicle. They nodded as they walked besides Shining and aimed their horns at the vehicle. Shining saw this and stood up with a slight groan and aimed his horn back at the vehicle again.

"On three.." Shining said, with beads of sweat rolling down his head.

"One.."

"Two.."

"Three!"

They all shot out an energy beam simultaneously, engulfing the vehicle in a mix of light blue, yellow, purple, and red. They then pulled the vehicle out of the marsh once more with all of their strength. They gritted their teeth as they moved it over their heads and made it hover next to them.

"Alright.. let's.. get.. MOVING!" Shining shouted. They then slowly trotted towards the dirt trail that lead to Ponyville as they carried the vehicle over their heads, using all of their mental strength to do so.

"I'm gonna.. break a vein.. form this.. SIR!" One of the guards complained, almost losing their grip on the vehicle, making the others lose their balance and strain out even more of their strength.

"S-shut up.. and MOVE!" Shining said as they kept moving, with Ironhoof, and the remaining guards forming a perimeter around the Unicorns, protecting them in case any of the dangerous creatures in the Everfree decided to attack.

After about half an hour of painfully slow walking and deadly mental straining, they finally made it to the Ponyville train station, where the train was awaiting them. The guards ignored the looks of confusion and shock they were getting as they slowly brought down the vehicle down onto the transportation cart. The engineering ponies that conducted the train were just as confused, but they covered the strange vehicle with tight ropes to steady it so it wouldn't fall off as they traveled. The Unicorns collapsed and breathed heavily, most of them getting severe migraines as they held their heads in pain.

"Ugh... I think I'm gonna get permanent migraines from all of that.." Shining said as he slowly stood up, with a hoof still on the side of his head.

"Told you.." The same guard said, also standing up. Ironhoof and the other guards helped the Unicorns into the train and prevent them from any further injury. They put Shining on the seats with the Pegasus guard as they tended to the other Unicorns. Then, one of the train engineers walked in and told Ironhoof that the vehicle was tightly locked in. Ironhoof nodded as the train started to slowly move and pick up speed as they left Ponyville.

Shining was then handed a bag of ice by one of the attendants. As little as it did to help, he took it anyway. As he placed it on his head with a hiss, he looked at the Pegasus guard, who also had a bag of ice on his head.

"You know, when I went inside the vehicle, I saw the thing that the creature used." Shining said.

The Pegasus looked up. "Really? What was it?" He asked. Shining shrugged slightly.

"Hay if I knew, it had some things that looked similar to a crossbow, but it looked so much more.. well.. different!" He said.

"Did the thing have a name?" The Pegasus asked.

"Yeah.. on the side of it, it had the name 'Colt M16A4, 5.56 x 45mm NATO. I don't know what the hay the words beyond 'Colt' mean, but they named the weapon 'Colt'. Can you believe it?" Shining said, chuckling and trying to brighten the mood. The Pegasus chuckled and shook his head. Their chuckling then rose to a full-blown laughter. The guards around them looked at them like they had lost their minds, but they decided to just with the flow. After about three minutes of laughing and gagging, they finally calmed down, leaned their heads back, and went to sleep to pass the time.

Sergeant Ironhoof's P.O.V

After about four hours or so, the train was smoothly going through Appleloosa. Sergeant Ironhoof was outside at the back of the train, just sitting with a cup of cider and looking at the sunset. He sighed as he reminisced the events of the day. Worst of all, they had lost one of their own. The battalion's very best. Romulus. The good times they had when they were stationed at a forward operating base near Saddle Arabia, where he would drink and go around pranking the NCO's, and the cadets. He chuckled as he took another sip of his cider. Ironhoof looked to the left and saw that one of the buildings in Appleloosa were burning, and destroyed. He couldn't tell which building it was specifically, but it seemed like the townsfolk and the firefighters were tending to the situation well. He then set his attention back at the sun, which was setting over the town behind the Appleloosian Mountains.

"Damn.. I need to get out more often. Maybe I'll take my marefriend to the nearby mountains and just relax.. or arrange me and my unit to train up there.." Ironhoof thought with a smile. He was about to head back inside the train, until he caught something in the corner of his eyes, and heard a faint buzzing sound in the distance.

Ironhoof turned around and saw the silhouette of something flying through the skies at a pretty high speed. It looked very odd, something that he had never seen before. It looked somewhat curved and had a circle-like shape to it with what seemed to be a long pipe sticking out of the back. It soared through the skies as he noticed that he saw some little sticks dangling from the side of the flying object.

"What the.." Ironhoof said outloud as he shook his head. "Maybe it's.. nah.. no, it's not. I'm just seeing things." He turned around and just as he put a hoof on the door, he heard a deafening 'zoom' and the figure of the flying object over him.

Marcus' P.O.V

"What's a 'Stryker'?" The girls asked simultaneously as the Little Bird turned around and changed directions and flew towards the train.

"A Stryker is an Infantry Fighting Vehicle, or I.F.V. This one seems to be a mobile gun system, but it has no 105mm cannon on it. Strykers are basically made to transport infantry to a battlefield safely, and some are made to support the infantry in battle." Marcus said as he kept his eyes locked on the train.

"Fascinating..." Twilight said out loud. The Marines chuckled a bit before they got serious.

"But how the hell did they get a Stryker?.." Jackson asked.

"Maybe they found it? Maybe it was teleported here like us? It looks like it has mud on the front.." Thompson said.

"Then we should go in and see if that Stryker came with her crew..." Marcus said. He then turned to the pilot. "Fly us over the train."

The pilots nodded as they increased their speed and flew down to the train. Marcus noticed a pony wearing silver and gold armor at the transportation cart looking up at the Little Bird. The helicopter then slowed down a bit and maintained the same speed as the train.

"Alright, you're at a good altitude if you want us to drop you off. What's the plan, Marines?" Mike shouted. Before Marcus could answer, the entire helicopter showed a bright flash of purple as a scroll appeared in front of Twilight. She took it with her magic, unwravled it, and started reading it. As she read, the Marines were waiting anxiously.

"Well, what does it say?" Marcus asked.

Twilight put the scroll down with her magic, showing her face which held a look of confusion, fear, and worry. Twilight then turned to Marcus.

"Celestia wants to see you all. Right now..."

Author's Note

And so the plot thickens..Sorry for the short chapters, but I don't like mashing up chapters too often. Will Dempsey or Kevin wake up in the middle of the train? Or naw? Also..

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot stands for 'What The Fuck' in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet.

Chapter 35: Misconceptions

The Marines thought about what had happened that would want Celestia to visit them at such sudden notice. They then came up with their own theories as the Little Bird kept flying over the train.

"You think she wants us there for the Cryptids? Maybe we missed one down there?" Thompson said.

"No way, man. We never miss a Cryptid whenever we do a mission!" Jackson retorted.

"Oh shit.. what if that little royal prick that I sorted out snitched?" Marcus said with his eyes widening at the thought. He then clenched his fists. "Oh, I swear to God if that's the case.."

Kayla patted Marcus' shoulder. "Don't worry, Marcus. I think she just wants to know about what happened back at Appleloosa." She said, reassuring the entire squad. Marcus slowly nodded as he turned to Twilight.

"What else does the letter say?" He asked. Twilight handed him the scroll with her magic as he grabbed it and read it himself.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

There has been an extreme situation that must be resolved immediately. Please inform Marcus and his squad, for they will play a big role in this situation.

Princess Celestia

"Eh, I expected a better explanation. She must be in a rush then.." Marcus thought as he handed back the scroll to Twilight, but Randy had enough time to look behind him and notice the name at the bottom.

"Who's Celestia? The President?" Asked Randy.

Twilight spoke up to answer his question. "Kinda. She's one of the princesses of Equestria, alongside her sister, Princess Luna."

Randy looked at her with a bit of a confused expression on his face, before he turned around again and nodded. "Okay, I somehow understood that a bit, but I'll save questions for later." He said. The others nodded in agreement as they kept flying about twenty feet above one of the train cabins.

"So what's the plan then? Do you guys want to go and see why they got a Stryker, or what?" Mike said, turning around from his seat and facing the Marines and the girls. They all then looked at Marcus, who was pondering as he thought for a second, then spoke up with his plan.

"Let's follow the train and see if it's heading towards Canterlot. Since you guys don't know where it's at, just fly above it. If it isn't going to Canterlot, then I'm sure the girls here know the way." Marcus said as he turned to the girls, who nodded in response.

"Alright then, good plan. I'll bring us up another fifty feet so we don't scare or confuse the living shit outta the ponies that might be inside." Randy said.

"Uh, I think you might be a bit late on that one..." Rainbow said as she looked down a pointed a hoof at the train. The heads of ponies were sticking out, looking at the Little Bird. Some with a look of confusion, others with curiosity, and others with utter fear. Marcus also looked down and saw that some of the ponies were wearing gold helmets that resembled Spartan helmets. Randy and Mike also saw this as they rose the Little Bird up, the pony's heads getting smaller and smaller as they did so.

Shining Armor's P.O.V

Shining Armor was still sleeping, his head resting on the table, until he felt a slight shake, then a very faint voice.

"Shining, wake up! There's something you gotta see!" The voice said somewhat loudly, but it was then drowned out by what he could've sworn was faint maniacal laughter behind whoever was trying to wake him up. Shining groaned as he raised his head from the table, and cracked his neck side to side.

"Ugh.. what is it?" Shining asked as he rubbed his eyes. He then noticed that it wasn't only him who was shaking, it was the entire cabin.

"There's something hovering right above us! And it doesn't look like anything we know of, or anypony else in general!" The voice shouted. Shining opened his eyes, and saw that it was the Pegasus from his squad. The next thing he heard was a heaving buzzing sound. Like a fly, but much louder.

"What do you mean? Is it a group of Parasprites or something?" Shining said louder, since the buzzing itself got louder.

"No, it's not!" Sergeant Ironhoof said, rushing into the cabin and in front of Shining. "It's not even close!"

Shining looked at him with an eyebrow raised, then he looked out the window, and saw a swirl of dust surrounding the outside of the cabin. "A dust devil?.." He guessed, but quickly shook it off, since dust devils don't make a buzzing sound. The Pegasus saw the look of his confusion and pondering and decided to speak up.

"Look out the window and see for yourself, sir."

Shining complied as he lifted up one of the windows next to him, and poked his head out. He then immediately closed his eyes as the dust around him attacked his face brutally. He then slightly opened his eyes to the point where they were only slits, and saw a black, odd-shaped thing flying above the cabin at about seven or so. Shining couldn't see the front of it, but he saw that the back of the thing had a long, black, thick stick pointing out from the upper back. At the very end of it, was a rapidly spinning circular object, spinning rapidly like a parasprite's wings. It also seemed to have several odd barrels on one the lower sides of the 'wings'. He then saw what seemed like forelegs wearing boots and black pants sticking out from the sides of the object as it started to buzz even faster and more aggressive as it rose rapidly from the ground and disappeared from his point of view as the train went into a tunnel.

Shining then pulled his head back into the cabin, which was now being brightened by the lights inside, and turned to face Ironhoof and the Pegasus, who were waiting for him to explain what he saw.

"I have no idea what the hay that thing was, but I think I know who might be controlling it."

"What? Who?!" Ironhoof and the Pegasus said in unison. Shining then pointed to the door that lead to the transport cart, that was carrying the vehicle they found. It took Ironhoof and the Pegasus a while to figure it out, but once they put two and two together, their eyes widened.

"Wait.. no. It doesn't.. t-that means.." Ironhoof started saying, but Shining cut him off.

"I don't know, but I think they might not bee too happy with what we did.." Shining said, as the train came out of the tunnel and rolled into Canterlot. "Look, let's just take these things to Celestia and see what we'll do with them." He said, as he looked back out the window and noticed the object was now flying extremely higher than it was before, and going into Canterlot's airspace. "And see if we can't get an explanation for those things.." Shining then turned to Ironhoof. "Ironhoof, you're coming with me. Go gather up some of your Unicorn guards and tell them to transport the creatures inside the vehicle. We're gonna take them to Celestia."

Marine's P.O.V

After getting to a good altitude, they flew right next to the cart that carried the Stryker as the train disappeared into a tunnel in a mountain, which made Randy turn the Little Bird around to avoid a head-on collision. After a while, the train came back out and entered the city. Mike saw the city of Canterlot, and the castle, which made his jaw drop.

The girls and the squad saw this and they laughed. "That's exactly how you guys reacted!" Rainbow exclaimed, pointing at the squad, who rolled their eyes.

"And for good reason.. this place looks.. well, I've never seen anything like it!" Mike said in excitement.

"I'm sure there are at least some places from where you came from that could compare.." Twilight said, a bit taken back by his comment. Mike just shrugged as Randy lowered his speed as they approached the city. Marcus looked down again as the train was now in the train station they were at a couple hours ago, with some guards coming out and making a small circle around the Stryker, and started opening the back, but before he could see anymore, their sight was covered by a thick layer of trees from a nearby park.

"There is. Er, was at least. I'll show you when I get the chance, but for now, we got some business to deal with.." Marcus said as he turned his attention back to the inside. The Little Bird drastically slowed down as they entered its airspace. Then, Randy and Mike caught something at the corner of their eyes.

"What the hell are those?" Randy and Mike said in unison. They saw at least three blue and gold streaks flying towards them, leaving behind a gray trail a smoke. Then, Rainbow shouted back at the pilots as she looked upon the streaks soaring at them.

"It's the Wonderbolts!"

Mike turned around and looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "The Wonder-what?" He asked. Rainbow was about to respond, but Randy slowed down to a halt as the Little Bird hovered in the air. Then, he saw what looked like a Pegasus in a blue and gold aerobatics uniform fly up in front of the Little Bird.

"What the hell?"

His eyes widened a bit at the sudden appearance, but he remained calm as he saw the Pegasus look at him and point a hoof towards the ground. Randy looked at the direction the Pegasus was pointing at, and noticed that right in front of the enormous castle, was a courtyard filled with what seemed to be more ponies in gold and iron uniform in a secure formation leading to a huge pair of doors. Randy then looked back at the Pegasus, who shot its hoof out and pointed at the courtyard. He nodded as two more Pegasi flew next to the other and created a triangular formation alongside and behind the Little Bird as he slowly tilted it forward and flew down, the Pegasi staying well away from the rotors as he did so.

"What do they want us to do?" Mike asked. Randy then pointed at the courtyard.

"They want us to land right there."

Marcus then set Mike's MP5 on the floor behind his seat, and Randy's Winchester rifle behind his. "Alright, you guys stay near the Little Bird, and make sure they don't go anywhere near the thing. Remember the Rule of Engagement, while we go inside with the girls and see what the problem is, alright?" The pilots nodded as they got closer to the ground. The guards then, for some reason, aimed their spears and swords at them as the Little Bird got lower.

"What do you want us to do, Marcus? And are you going to attack them?" Twilight asked, poking his back.

"Just come with us in case. Besides, Celestia did say to come with us. And c'mon, Twilight? I thought we told you about our Rules of Engagement." Marcus said.

"Oh, sorry! I just didn't know if those rules applied to them." Twilight apologized with a sheepish smile.

"Well, they do. So don't worry about us. We're just here for.. well... I guess we'll see." Marcus said as Randy lowered the Little Bird onto the courtyard. A slight swirl of dust and debris formed. Not much, but enough to make the guards around cover their eyes with a foreleg. Marcus then put on his shades and unbuckled the straps as Mike shut off the weapons system, and electronics.

"Alright, let's go!" Marcus shouted

As soon as the Little Bird touched the ground, Marcus and his squad jumped out, and formed a defensive perimeter around, crouching, with Marcus and Jackson on the right, Kayla and Thompson on the left, as the Little Bird's engine whined and the rotors quit spinning. Marcus then saw some guards on top of the balconies aiming crossbows at them, glowing with a fiery magical aura. Marcus was still a bit shocked by their hostility, and didn't want to cause any trouble, so he turned to Jackson and gestured his arm in a 'down' motion. Jackson nodded as he lowered his M27, and Marcus lowered his Honey Badger. Kayla saw this and did the same to Thompson. Aside from the clanking of the engine coming from the Little Bird, the courtyard was then engulfed by a wave of silence until the girls stepped out of the Little Bird. The guards eased up a bit, and the pilots stepped out and stood next to the doors.

Twilight looked around nervously for a bit, while Applejack and Rainbow just looked around, also confused why the guards were acting so aggressive. The tension was so thick they could cut it with a knife, while Fluttershy hid behind the three, not looking forward to was could go down. The girls were about to question the guards, until the doors in front of them opened up, and out walked three guards.

Dempsey's P.O.V

"Are they awake?"

"I don't think so.. did Shining say to wake them up?"

"Not until we bring them to Celestia. Besides, I don't want these things to kill me too."

"Good point. Let's just get this over with."

Dempsey heard faint voices as he then felt a slightly odd and warm feeling envelope his entire body. He then felt like he was being levitated from where he was. Dempsey pulled his hands up to rub his eyes, but he wasn't able to, since he couldn't pull them any further. He pulled again, and saw that his hands were tied behind his back.

"Damn it.. what the fuck is going on?.." He thought as he grunted quietly in frustration. Dempsey then slightly opened his eyes and noticed that he was enveloped in a light green aura, and that he was being carried away from the inside of the Stryker. He then turned his head slightly and saw his partner, Kevin, was also being carried away in the same direction, but it looked like he was still out-cold. He then looked around and saw several more ponies around him, some wearing gold and iron armor, like the one he killed.

Like the one he killed..

Dempsey's eyes widened in shock as he remembered what he did. "Oh shit..." He then saw that some of the ponies with armor noticed that he was now awake. "Fuck me, and my PTSD, man..." Dempsey then was levitated up higher as he was put right in front of the face of the pony that was levitating him. He noticed that it was a Unicorn, and that it was glaring at him with a burning rage behind its eyes.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do, mutant ape..." The Unicorn said, bringing his face closer to him, and evilly smirking. Dempsey tried to spit at him, but he guessed that the aura of light surrounded him like a bubble, which would only result in the spit returning back to his face, but he still wanted to sock the Unicorn in the face for calling him a mutant ape. After a while or glaring at each other, Dempsey was lifted up into the air and carried as they started moving again.

Dempsey felt humiliated and disrespected by the way they were treating him and Kevin, but he couldn't really blame them for doing so. But he knew that one way or another, he was not going to be a prisoner in a weird world full of talking, colorful ponies. As he thought of this, he noticed that they were in a large hallway. On his left, were several windows. Like those he'd see in a church that displayed events. He then heard in front of him a pair of doors open, and several footsteps. "Or hoofsteps?" He thought as he closed his eyes, but he was quickly brought back to reality as he heard a conversation.

"Are these the ones that killed Romulus?" Asked a voice that sounded feminine and somewhat smoothly and calmly.

"Yes, Princess. I think this is the one that did it." Another voice said.

"Princess? Aw shit, here we go again..." Then, he was brought down as he was slowly re-opened his eyes. He then saw a very tall pony with pink eyes, a white coat, and a gold necklace with a purple gem in it. It looked like it was just as tall as Dempsey, but it had both a horn and wings. He also noticed that her mane and tail was multi-colored, and swayed majestically in the air, even thought there's not even the slightest breeze. "What the hell..?"

The so-called 'Princess' looked over at Dempsey, and then turned to Kevin, who groaned silently. "Very well. Thank you guards. Now, can you please go and tell Shining Armor to bring in Twilight and her friends?"

Dempsey guessed that the guards agreed as the light green aura disappeared from around him, and the ropes that detained them, along with Kevin. Dempsey then rubbed his eyes, and looked behind him, noticing that the guards were running down the hallway, and disappeared when they turned to the right. Dempsey then turned around and saw that the Princess was looking at him. What shocked him the most, is that, unlike the Unicorn, she wasn't looking at him with anger in her eyes. Instead, she motioned her head over towards Kevin, who was on the floor with one knee, groaning and rubbing his eyes. Dempsey rushed over to him to help him up.

"Ugh.. Jesus. What happened?" Kevin said as Dempsey put his arm over him, and helped him up.

"We're in another world, Kevin. Don't ask how, cause I have no idea.." Dempsey said. Kevin opened his eyes and the first thing he noticed was the Princess, calmly and patiently waiting for them to finish. Dempsey saw the look in his eyes, which meant he was about to ask a volley of questions, but Kevin just turned around to him.

"I thought we were in a Stryker?" He said, a bit breathlessly.

"We were taken in here after I did... something." Dempsey replied. He then turned to the Princess, who nodded slightly as she used a wing to signal them to come inside the room. Kevin looked at Dempsey again, who nodded. They then both nervously walked into the room, which contained two guards with spears guarding each side. As the Princess stepped in, the guards closed the doors and stood at attention, but not without giving a glare at the soldiers. Then, Dempsey sighed and spoke up.

"So I'm guessing that you know what happened, right?"

The Princess nodded as she sat down at her throne.

"Well, shit.."

Shining Armor's P.O.V

Shining Armor was walking down the hallway, along with Sergeant Ironhoof, and the Pegasus pony from his squad. They were walking outside to meet the creatures that were outside. As they walked, they heard the sound of buzzing slowly come to an end, and then an eerie silence. Shining got a bit nervous ever since he was informed that four of the Element Bearers were with the creatures, including Twilight Sparkle.

"C'mon, let's move!" Shining shouted as they sprinted down the hall to the doors, worried that something might happen between the creatures and the guards. They then approached the door, and stopped. Shining looked back at Ironhoof and the Pegasus, who nodded back at him. Shining then turned back to face the door, nodded, and pushed it open with his magic. Ironhoof and the Pegasus stood next to him, as they took in the scenery.

Shining noticed that there were six of the creatures, four of them wearing what looked like a black uniform of some sort with several pouches and other accessories. They also had helmets, one of them had shades, similar to Twilight's friend, Rainbow Dash's. He also noticed that they carried several long sticks, which he assumed were different variants of the weapon he found inside the vehicle. He also noticed the object that he saw in the sky, and that it was surrounded by the creatures, along with two of them on either side of what looked like doors. Shining then set his eyes on the Element Bearers, which were inside the defensive perimeter the creatures have made. Shining then set his eyes on Twilight, who also looked at Shining.

"B.B.B.F.F!" Twilight said, running past two of the creatures towards Shining.

"Twily!" Shining said as Twilight ran into him, hugging him. Shining returned the hug as he looked back at the creatures, who were now standing up. One of them walked in front of the other three and spoke.

"Alright. Kayla, Jackson, and Thompson, you're coming along with us. Mike and Randy, you guys stay here and protect the Little Bird. Do not engage unless engaged first, understood?" The creature asked. The others nodded in return. Shining was a bit shocked at this. They had the same Rules of Engagement as they did, but they looked more militaristic and combat-ready than his guards. The creatures walked towards Shining, with Twilight moving behind the other girls.

"Mind showing us the way to where Princess Celestia is?" The creature with the shades spoke. Shining was a bit taken aback, but he nodded as they stepped aside to let the creatures walk through. Twilight saw the nervousness in her brother's eyes, as she placed a hoof on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Shining. They're not gonna hurt anypony." She said as they walked along. Shining nodded, but he had a feeling that her statement might change soon.

Marcus' P.O.V

"Well that went better than expected..." Marcus thought as they walked along with the guards and the girls. "Didn't even tell us to take our weapons... noobs..." He thought with a smile. As they walked, they noticed more guards along the hallway, all of them giving him and his squad death glares.

"What the fuck is going on?..."

Marcus thought it was about time he got some answers into why the guards were acting like this, so he tapped the one know as 'Shining' on the shoulder. "Can you give me some answers on why the guards are acting so pissy? What the hell did we do?"

Shining looked back at Marcus with a slight scowl on his face. "Princess Celestia will answer your questions in a bit."

Marcus just rolled his eyes. "Damn, him too?"

After getting more glares than the time they were in Kabul, Afghanistan, they then approached a set of huge doors. Shining and another guard opened them as they all walked in. Then, two other guards shut them closed. Marcus then saw two other humans, both looking up at Celestia, who was sitting at her throne. The humans seemed like they were in uniform. Marcus and his squad rushed up to their aid.

"Hey!" Marcus shouted as they approached them. "U.S Marines!"

The two other guys turned around, and sighed a loud breath of relief as they noticed Marcus and his squad. Marcus noticed they they were wearing their combat gear, but not their helmets. "Are you guys the gunners from the Stryker?"

One of the guys' eyes opened in surprise. "How the hell did you know?"

Marcus shrugged. "Lucky guess. Also, when we got here, we noticed that the train was carrying a Stryker. But let's save those type of questions for later What are your guys names?"

"Sergeant Dempsey Grant, U.S Army, 8th Armored."

"Corporal Kevin Marston, U.S Army, 8th Armored."

"U.S Army? Eh, whatever. Could've been the Coast Guard.. heh." Marcus thought. He then nodded as he looked at Celestia. "So why did you need us here, and what was so urgent?" He asked.

"Well, there was an 'incident' involving the guards, and your soldiers." Celestia said.

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "What was this 'incident' about? Did they hurt one of your guards?" He asked. Then, he heard a voice behind him.

"He killed one of our own..." Spoke a Pegasus guard. The girls gasped in shock, while the Marines tried to comprehend what he just said.

"Wait.. what?" Jackson said, wanting to make sure he heard what the Pegasus said correctly.

"He killed one of our own!!" The Pegasus shouted more aggressively. He then gritted its teeth, shouted in anger, and rushed towards Jackson, being fueled with pure rage. Jackson started to raise up his M1014 to shoot him, but the Pegasus was stopped by a magical aura. Marcus and the others turned around and noticed that it was Celestia who stopped the Pegasus.

"Please guard. Resume your posture while we settle the situation at hoof- er, hand." Celestia said calmly. The Pegasus breathed heavily, with tears running down his eyes, but he complied as he got behind Shining and another guard. Then, Dempsey sighed heavily as he looked at Celestia.

"Look, Princess Celestia. Can I please explain why I acted the way I did?" He asked. Celestia nodded. "Okay.. I have a disorder called Post Tramatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. I'm assuming that this disorder exists here too?" Dempsey asked.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, but nopony has ever had PTSD for about 1,000 years."

"Holy Crap..." Dempsey thought, but he continued. "Alright. The reason why is because long story short, I've probably seen more combat then any of your guards. And that type of combat tends to mess your mind up. When I woke up, I thought that looters were gonna come in and take our stuff, and probably kill us. I had no idea that they were your guards whatsoever, or even the fact that we were in another planet! You've gotta understand that it was my instincts taking over for the sake of protecting myself and my fellow soldier here." He said, nudging at Kevin, who also nodded. "I know that what I did was probably unforgivable in your eyes, especially if you said that nothing like this had happened here before, but note that me and Kevin come from a place that has been invaded by newcomers who wouldn't give a flying fuck about who they killed."

Marcus then spoke up. "The Cryptids?"

Dempsey then turned around to face Marcus. "Yeah. How the hell did you know?"

Marcus smirked slightly. "Because you're looking at the members of CIF Team One, soldier."

Dempsey and Randy's eyes shot open "Wait, seriously? I thought you guys died back at the Exodus Launch Site!" Dempsey said.

"We did. Well, kinda. We got teleported here somehow, we met the ponies, the Cryptids exist here, yada, yada, yada. Now we're here!" Marcus said, spreading his arms. Dempsey then mentally replayed what Marcus said.

"Wait.. the what exist here?"

"The Cryptids are more wide-spread than you think. They exist here." Marcus said nonchalantly. Dempsey and Randy's jaws dropped at the sudden news. They were about to ask how, but Marcus lifted up a hand. "I'll explain later. We just got back from destroying a Hive. Oh, and speaking of Cryptids." Marcus then looked at Celestia. "The Hive and the Cryptid that killed the Diamond Dog are no longer." He said.

Celestia smiled and nodded, but she had another question. "Wait, are you all from the same planet? With the same situation?" She asked. They then all nodded.

"Yeah. If there's one thing we all have in common, is that we were all defending our planet from those Cryptid fucks..." Marcus said. Celestia nodded again in understanding. "Anyways, back on topic. I don't know what you think of Dempsey's actions, but they were not acted on purpose. We understand that a punishment might most certainly come out of this, but I'm sure that there's some other way we could repay this."

Celestia just sat there in silence as she went into deep thought about the entire situation. The guards wanted justice for their fallen friend, but she knew that it was just an honest mistake, unintended, but it was still her job to make sure that justice and equality was served and given rightly. The entire room fell into a deep silence, to the point where they could barley hear each other's heartbeats.

Then, Celestia got out of her deep thinking and looked at the humans, who were patiently waiting a response from her. She then spoke up. "I understand that what happened was an accident, but it is my job serve out justice no matter what, but I have seen your actions and your brave and honorable acts you all have done to your country and ours. I will not write this off due to youthful vigor and patriotism, but I will conduct and talk to the commanders of the Royal Guard and court martial. Aside from that, I wouldn't be too worried about it."

Everybody's jaw inside the room dropped to the floor. "Holy crap..." Dempsey thought. He then turned to the guards, who also had a look of shock, but also had a look of anger and curiosity.

Celestia started walking out of the room, until she turned around. "Also, I need you all to stay here in Canterlot for a day. Tomorrow you will be brought into the court." She stated.

"Not a problem, Princess." Marcus said with a nod.

Celestia started opening the door, until Shining Armor spoke up. "Princess, with all due respect, are you seriously going to let these creatures off that easily?! They killed one of our guards, for pete's sake!"

"Captain, I suggest you please calm down. And they have been through a lot in their lives. They deserve respect and honor, not an execution." With that, Celestia walked out of the room, leaving only the guards, the humans, and the girls by themselves.

Shining then sighed in frustration, shocked that Celestia let them get away with such an act. "So killing a guard means getting honor and respect?!" He said in disbelief. Twilight then slowly walked up to Shining, and put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Shining, she kinda has a point. They've been through things that nopony in here has ever gone through.. They deserve much more than what they have gotten." Twilight stated.

Shining looked at Twilight in shock. "What?... you too? What did these things do to possibly avoid punishment for killing a guard? What the hay have they done to deserve respect and honor?!" Shining said, with his voice raising at the last four words. Twilight flinched a bit at his sudden shout, but then Marcus walked over to them.

"Do you really want to know what we do?.." Marcus said quietly and calmly as he stared down at Shining. Shining stepped back a bit, but he glared back at Marcus with anger.

"Whatever you creatures have done.. will be nothing compared to what me and the Royal Guards have done in our history.." Shining said, the words dripping with cockiness and determination. When he said this, Marcus snapped. He then turned to Twilight, who saw that she and the other girls gritted their teeth and had an expression on their face that read 'Oh fuck'.

"Twilight... use that one spell to project one of my memories."

Twilight stepped back a bit in hesitation, but he saw that if she didn't, then something bad was going to go down. She then hesitantly walked towards Marcus, touched the tip of her horn onto his forehead, and played out yet another flashback on a window nearby as everyone/pony in the room watched.

December 17, 2017
Seventeen miles away from the coast of Nii-jima island, Japan
Onboard the U.S.S Wasp (LHD-1)

Marcus and his squad were stationed on board the U.S.S Wasp, an amphibious assault ship, after they got out of Ball's Pyramid and were taken to the ship via a V-22 Osprey. They were sent there to support the evacuation of Japan's surrounding islands. The Wasp has led several successful evacuation missions along the islands, and they were now preparing to conduct the final rescue operation on the island of Nii-juma.

Marcus was at the bottom of the ship, taking control of one of the ship's Phalanx CIWS turret systems, which consisted of a radar-guided 20mm Gatling gun on a swiveling base, similar to the ones he and his squad used to destroy the Kraken. He was controlling it via a computer, shooting down Gargoyles and giving the pilots on board the top deck some breathing room.

"Hunter! Hurry up, we got one mike before we head out!" Kayla shouted from the other side of the hallway. Marcus kept shooting down the Gargoyles until he saw one of the ship's AV-8B Harrier jets take off to the skies, turn around, and engage the remaining Gargoyles in the skies.

"I'm on my way!" Marcus shouted as he got out of the chair and let an waiting weapons technician take control of the Phalanx. As he ran out of the room, he picked up his ARX-160, which had a customized black finish to it, along with white streaks. He then caught up with his squad, who were waiting for him near a set of stairs. Once they noticed Marcus, they then ran down the stairs to the well dock, which contained a LCAC (Landing Craft Air Cushion) hovercraft awaiting them, the same one that took them on board the Stormbreaker.

"Double check your weapons and ammo. And don't take too much shit with you, this mission won't last long." Marcus said as they ran towards the hovercraft.

"Yeah, that's what they said in the movie 'Black Hawk Down'..." Jackson replied. Marcus didn't respond back as they ran into the hovercraft and double checked their entire arsenal. Marcus was right though, they only had to rescue a small amount of civilians from one of the abandoned villages in the island. The hovercraft then lifted its landing ramps as the Wasp's back doors slid open to let the hovercraft out. It then slowly floated out of the ship and into the sea, where the LCAC increased in speed and soared towards the shore.

Marcus then used the radio in his helmet to remind his squad about the mission. "Alright, here's the plan. We land on the shore, go into the village, find the rest of the civilians there, and take them back here for extraction via a Chinook helicopter before the Air Force drops white phosphorous bombs all over the island. As we do this, we'll have three Super Cobra attack helicopters supporting us from the air until we land. Any questions?"

His squad looked at him, and shook their head as they prepared themselves for the landing.

"I like that plan." Jackson said with a smirk.

Marcus nodded as they awaited landing. Then, the three AH-1 Super Cobra helicopters from the nearby U.S.S Makin Island, another Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, flew over them, pre-firing away 2.75mm rockets at the shores ahead. Then, they slowed their air speed and flew in a triangular patter above the hovercraft.

"CIF Team One, this is Deadly 1-2, along with Deadly 1-3 and 1-5. We gotcha covered up here." The pilot of the middle Cobra said over the radio.

"Copy that, Deadly. Mind doing a strafe run on the shores ahead to clear out any Cryptids hiding in the brush?" Marcus replied.

"Copy, moving into position now."

Marcus then looked above him as he saw the three Cobra's fly away speedily to the right and position themselves. They then lowered their altitude slightly and leaned forward as they opened fire on the shores ahead once more. The Cobra's Gatling guns and 2.75mm rockets streaked to the beach in front of them, blowing up huge walls of sand and black smoke as they did so. Marcus couldn't see them for a second, due to the black smoke and sand, but he then saw the Cobra's fly through without a scratch, then fly over the hovercraft.

"Strafe run complete. We'll stick around for a bit longer as you guys land, how copy?" The pilot said on the radio.

"Solid copy, Deadly 1-2. Landing now." Marcus said as he saw that the LCAC has slowed down and was now hovering over the beach. The landing ramp in front of the Marines then lowered and hit the sand with a thump.

"Go go go!" Marcus shouted as he and his squad ran out of the hovercraft and onto the beach. They then a leapfrog pattern, where one would move up at a time, while the others provided support until the one who was moving made it to their designated location. Marcus then went prone, the sand hitting his face as he aimed down the sights of his ARX-160.

"Be advised, CIF One, this is Lawman 2-6, we're pulling out of the beach. A Chinook helicopter will be on station to pick you guys up in three mikes. Go get 'em. Out." The driver of the LCAC said over the radio. Marcus looked over his shoulder as he saw the LCAC pull away from the shores and speed back towards the Wasp, along with one of the Cobra helicopters to serve as an escort.

"Contact!" Thompson shouted. Marcus turned back around as he saw seven Hunters rush at them with full intentions on slicing and dicing them. Marcus and the others opened fire, with Marcus using all of his thirty rounds to bring down one Hunter, as Jackson also went prone, shooting his Chain SAW at three of the Hunters. The Super Cobra's above then then opened fire, shooting steady streams of 7.62mm rounds from its Gatling guns at the Hunters, while making sure they didn't engage the ones that the Marines had already acquired.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Marcus shouted. The gunfire stopped as Marcus and his squad stood back up from their prone position, and ran into the brush, following a dirt trail that lead to the village.

"Be advised CIF One, this is Deadly Actual; pulling out now. Evac is on its way in two mikes. Stay safe out their." The Super Cobra pilot said as they turned their helicopters around and flew back to the ship.

"Understood. Out." Marcus replied simply as he ran through the brush. They kept running until Jackson looked up and saw a Scorpion perched on a branch. It screeched at him as it aimed its tail at him to shoot out a ball of yellow acid. Jackson however, was faster, pulling up his SAW and mowing down the Scorpion. It let out a death screech as it fell down to the ground below and in front of the Marines. Marcus jumped over the carcass and kept running, along with the others. Jackson jumped, but he tripped and fell face first on the ground with an annoyed grunt.

Thompson turned around and ran to help Jackson back up to his feet. "C'mon man, let's go." He said as he helped him back up. Jackson picked up his SAW, nodded at Thompson, and they both ran to catch up with Kayla and Marcus, who were already at the village, next to a large wooden hut.

Marcus motioned them to take position on the sides of the door. Jackson and Thompson leaned next to the door, while Kayla watched their six. Marcus then wordlessly counted down to one and kicked open the door. Screams were heard as the Marines entered the hut. Marcus then shushed their screaming as he used his hands to calm them down.

"Do any of you speak english?" Marcus asked. One of the civilians spoke up.

"I-I do.. are you going to get us out of here?" He asked. Marcus nodded assertively.

"You bet your ass we are. Tell the rest of the civilians to gather up in that corner over there, while I call in a helicopter to take you all out of here." Marcus commanded. The man nodded giddily as he turned to the rest of the civilians and spoke to them in Japanese. They then did what Marcus wanted them to do. Marcus then counted the amount of civilians as he spoke into the radio.

"Seven... eight... nine. We got nine civvies here. Seven children, one teenager, and one adult. We're ready for evac." Marcus said over the radio.

"Copy that CIF One, this is Sierra 4-2, pilot of the Chinook. Get your asses over here in thirty seconds; We're low on fuel as we speak." The Chinook pilot stated.

"Copy that, moving out now. Hold your fire to the northwest." Marcus replied as he motioned the civilians to follow him and his squad.

"Solid copy, out."

"Alright, let's move out before our skin peels!" Marcus shouted as he and his squad picked up as many of the children as he could and started running back down the trail, with the adult and teenager following close behind. They jumped over the Scorpion's carcass, making the children yell in somewhat happiness despite themselves. They then heard the deafening sound of rotors as they came out of the brush and noticed that the Chinook helicopter was just barley landing and opening its back hatch. They ran towards it as four Navy SEAL's with K7's stepped out, crouched, and set a defensive perimeter on the outside of the hatch.

"C'mon, Leathernecks, let's get a move on!" One of the SEAL's shouted, patting Marcus' shoulder. The Marines ran into the Chinook and set down the children on the seats. The adult and teenager then sat down beside them to comfort them. Then, the SEAL's started climbing into the Chinook as it rose up from the beach.

"Be advised, the island is now fully evacuated. It is now clear for the white phosphorus strike. I say again, you are clear for white phosphorus." The Chinook pilot said as they flew away from the island.

"Solid copy; Viking 4-7 and Viking 3-9 moving in to drop our payloads." The pilots of nearby F-35ll Lightnings said.

"Be advised, Viking 4-7, all units in the area are at a safe distance. You are clear for the strike." Godfather said over the radio.

"Copy that, dropping bombs now; Enjoy the fireworks."

Marcus and the others aboard the Chinook looked up at the sky and saw the F-35's fly over the entire island, dropping their Mark-77 bombs over it. They exploded in mid-air, and covered the island in white phosphorus.

End of Flashback

Marcus then blinked severl times as he shook his head to regain control of his bearings. He then turned around, only to see that four of the guards have fainted, and that Shining had a look of shock, awe, and horror. And his right eye twitched slightly.

Author's Note

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, even though it may be a bit too long, and I have an iffy feeling for this chapter. And the frequent flashbacks might be getting a bit annoying to some of you, but at least it gives them more of a hint on what they've gone through, and why the ponies should not fuck with them, while all the more giving them the reason to be grateful they're not their enemies. :rainbowwild:

Also, for those of you who are pissed at why the humans haven't gotten a punishment, is because that will be revealed next chapter. Not as bad as you might think..

And give me your overall thoughts on this chapter! The next one will be filled with a volley of questions too, since the newcomers must know what challenges awaits them in this new world they're in.

Oh, and a little demonstration on what kind of weaponry the humans have to show the guards.

Chapter 36: Bragging Rights

Author's Note

I know I said there'd be a section where I'd show the weapons, but that'll come tomorrow, since this stupid shit won't let me go pass the word limit I want to. Damn update...

And the fact that I typed this all up on my IPhone doesn't help.

Chapter 36: Bragging Rights

Marcus then stood up from his crouched position and looked down at Shining, who's eye was still twitching slightly. He silently chuckled as he looked back to the girls, who were also in a state of awe, but not as much, since they saw their flashbacks before. He then turned back to Shining.

"Well? You still think we're a group of worthless, cold-blooded killers that kill without any intentions whatsoever?" Marcus asked Shining calmly. After a couple of seconds, Shining got out of his trance, looked at Marcus, and slowly shook his head.

"Good. You're probably wondering what those weird things we were killing were?" Marcus asked. Shining nodded. "Well, they're called 'Cryptids', and we just found out that they are here in your world." Marcus said. Shining froze in horror, but one of the guards who just woke up spoke up.

"I don't think that those things you call 'Cryptids' looked very effective. I mean, you guys took them out without breaking a sweat!"The guard said, but then quickly added. "Take that last one as a compliment."

"Well, to answer your first question, it's because you only saw three of the Cryptid variants that exist. There are a lot more than those, and where we came from, there were billions of them, or even trillions. Our military could only do so much. It came to the point where most of our military, and the world in general, were wiped out, and there were only a few of us left." Marcus said with a deadpanned tone. "For your second statement, it's because we are trained to kill the Cryptids swiftly and often times, brutally, and in large numbers."

The guards and Shining nodded in understanding as they waited for him to go on. "And we weren't the only ones fighting, but we were, and are, the best of the best. You might think that killing these things is a bad thing, but trust me when I say this. It's not. Especially if they nearly your entire species. Their only intentions and goals is to kill, and take over. Nothing else."

Shining was shaken up by all the information he was absorbing, but he was able to pull through and ask another question. "Y-you said that there were several variants. Can you show us?" He asked.

Marcus shook his head. "Maybe some other time, we got a couple of friends outside that are probably waiting for us to come outside." He said. Dempsey and Kevin looked at him with confused expressions.

"Wait.. there's more?" They both said in unison. Marcus nodded.

"Well duh! We're Marines, not pilots!" Marcus exclaimed a bit annoyingly. He then turned to Shining. "I need you and your guards to lead us to the Stryker after we're done telling the others outside what happened, got it?"

"Wait, you mean that one metal thing with wheels?" One of the guards asked to be sure. Marcus nodded as he turned to the squad and the girls and motioned them to follow him. They did so as they all walked out the doors and ran down the hallway to the courtyard.

Meanwhile, In The Courtyard...

Mike and Randy were just standing aside their Little Bird, patiently awaiting for the others to return from talking to the Princess. The guards all around them were still skeptical about them, but they eased up a bit. The guards on the balconies, however, were a different story.

Mike was putting in .50 A.E rounds into one of his magazines for his Desert Eagle, until he looked up at the guards on the balconies, who were still aiming their crossbows at them, along with a couple of Unicorns, ready to throw their spears.

"Hey! Do you mind quitting it with that thing? It's not like those things can hurt us anyways!" Mike shouted up at them. The guards kept their position as one of them shouted back at him.

"Do not speak, unless you are spoken to, ape! And don't you dare underestimate our weapons! We are capable of restraining you and neutralizing you swiftly and quickly!" The guard shouted back.

Mike slid in the seven round magazine into the Desert Eagle with a satisfying 'slap'. He then pulled back the top, then let it go, making a metallic 'clink' sound. " I think it should be you guys who shouldn't underestimate us. It seems like you are both stubborn and very cocky. I wouldn't be doing so if I was you. Especially if our weapons tech is over 500,000 years more advanced than a spear!" Mike retorted.

"I highly doubt you weapons are of that level! We have cannons that can blast through castle walls, for one! It looks like all you have there is a shiny piece of metal! What is that? A deformed sword that you broke trying to swing at a tree trunk?" The guard shouted back. Laughter from the surrounding guards formed.

Mike was about to lift up his Desert Eagle above his head and fire off a round, but Randy put his hand down. "Don't do it, man. It's not worth it. We'll show them later." Randy said.

Mike grunted as he spun his sidearm with his finger and reholstered it. Randy just shook his head as he leaned back and inserted a .410 Bore shotgun shell into his Taurus 'Executioner'. The doors then swung open, as Mike and Randy saw Marcus and the others walk out calmly. The laughter died immediately as they walked up to the pilots.

"Alright. Looks like our punishment will be uncovered tomorrow. The Princess said we're staying here for the night while she talks to court martial." Marcus explained. The guards around them started whispering quietly, but angrily.

Twilight then turned to Shining, who had a look of guilt on his face. "Shining, can you take us to the vehicle you and your guards found? I don't think they'd like to be here much longer."

"Yeah. If they do, then they're gonna drop some of that white stuff on us!" Rainbow said. Everypony glared at her with an unamused expression. "What? It could happen, no?" She retorted, defending herself and crossing her forelegs. Rainbow then turned to Marcus and the others, who were talking to each other next to the Little Bird. "Hey! We gonna go to the 'Stryker' thing, or what?"

Marcus then turned towards Rainbow and the others, then back at the pilots. They were whispering, while making hand motions swiftly. Marcus then nodded and ran towards Shining. "We need those guys to stay with the helicopter, but can you tell your guards to give them some breathing room?" He asked. Shining nodded as he ran up towards the commander of the squad.

"So what are you things exactly?" One of the ponies asked behind him. Marcus turned around and saw an Earth pony with iron and gold armor, a brown coat, and light brown mane.

"We're humans. Not apes; let's get that out of the way first. And second, we're Marines. I'll explain later. We still got something to do." Marcus said quickly. The guard nodded as Marcus turned back around, noticing Shining running back towards him.

"They've agreed to leave them alone for the time being, but they still don't trust you." Shining said. Marcus nodded.

"It's all good. Besides, I know you don't trust us yet either." Marcus said. Shining nodded with a slight look of guilt. "Then again, I can't blame you, but we'll talk more after we get inside the Stryker, okay?"

Shining nodded again as he lead the group out of the courtyard and into the main city. Marcus and the squad looked around them, taking in the full detail of the city. It looked similar to a medieval European town, but with a couple modern buildings here and there. It seemed like a sophisticated city, with several ivory towers having gold spires on them, several waterfalls, and rivers. When they walked through what seemed to be the busiest area, ponies gasped and hid away from the view of the Marines and the gunners, who ignored this. Marcus turned around and saw a coffee shop, with a pony poking his head slightly out of a trash can, wearing the lid like a hat. He chuckled as he found it comical. They all walked through, noticing several shops, a high-class restaurant that, for some reason, had a closed sign, a race track, a theater, and even what looked to be the outside of an art gallery.

They then walked out of the cringe-fest area and were now looking upon the train station and the train itself, which looked and was the same train they took to come here in the first place, but the only difference was that it had a flat-bed transportation cart at the very back, and on the cart, was a Stryker I.F.V.

"Is that the 'Stryker' you all keep talking about?" Shining asked, pointing a hoof at the cart. The gunners nodded as they ran up to it, along with the others.

"Wow.. that's a lot of.. mud? And what's that weird rumbling sound?" Rainbow said as she and the others walked alongside the side of the transport cart. The Stryker was covered in dry mud on most of the front, and it was slightly bent on the left side, but the M2 Browning turret's barrel seemed to be intact, along with its outer cameras, and M8 smoke grenade launcher tubes. The Stryker was also somehow already turned on, but its front lights were still off. Dempsey and Kevin both climbed on the back of the Stryker, and climbed inside. Kevin then noticed that his M4 Carbine was leaning next to the desk that had the control panels and sticks.

"Well, at least I found my M4. What about you, Dempsey? Where's you M16?" Kevin asked, as he took out the magazine and inspected the inside. Dempsey then walked to the remote weapons station, noticing that the inside of the Stryker had been cleansed of blood and brain matter from when he killed the guard. He then walked towards the seats, noticing that his M16A4 was laying right in the middle.

"It's right here. Along with a couple of shell castings." Dempsey said as he picked up his own primary weapon and climbed into the driver seat. There would be a commander in the other seat giving coordinates, but with the lack of soldiers back on Earth to go around, he had to play the role of being both a driver and a commander, while Kevin played the role of the gunner and loader.

"What the?.. how the hell is it on?" Dempsey said as he noticed his helmet was on the seat. He picked it up, put it and strapped it on, and sat down. He then looked on the control panels that the fuel was at ninety one percent.

"Who the hell turned on the FLIR?" Kevin said as he took a seat and faced the screen of the remote weapons station. He picked up the joystick and spun the M2 Browning turret around, smiling as he could turn it to a full 360 degrees. Kevin then shut off the FLIR systems, and switched back to regular view. The camera was a bit fuzzy, but he could fix it easily. The gunners then heard a hard knock on the side of the Stryker.

"Hey! You guys good in there?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah, we're good! Just checking the systems and stuff. You mind cutting the straps so we can roll this thing out of here?" Dempsey asked as he brought down the visor of his helmet.

"Sure thing." Marcus replied as he climbed on top of the side of the Stryker, and climbed up. He then turned around. "Hey Rainbow, can you give me a hand- er, hoof? Whatever?"

Rainbow chuckled as she nodded and flew over to Marcus to help him take off the straps. Marcus then reached down to his side, and unseathed his nine-inch combat knife. Rainbow grew a bit anxious when he did this, but once he saw him use the dull part to cut the straps, he then turned to Shining, who was eyeing his combat knife nervously and curiously.

"You don't think the conductors or whatever will be mad that we cut these, right?" Marcus asked.

Shining shook his head. "No, they'll be fine with it. Besides, it's not like it would've mattered anyways. You're already cutting it." He replied. Marcus chuckled and shrugged as he went back to cutting the straps. The knife cut through the ropes like butter as he slung them off the Stryker, and looked around to see if he missed any. After Rainbow spit out the straps from her mouth, Marcus jumped off the Stryker, while Rainbow hovered above it.

"Alright, you guys can move now!" Marcus shouted as he gave the Stryker a loud pat on the side.

"Gotcha. We're moving it now! Steer clear!" Dempsey shouted from inside. They all backed away a couple of feet as the engine roared.

"W-what is that n-noise?" Fluttershy asked quietly and fearfully.

"It's the sound of the engine the Stryker makes. Don't worry." Thompson said, reassuring her.

Shining then peeked towards Marcus, who was gripping onto the huge knife with his right hand. "Hey, um.. you. First of all, what's your name?" Shining asked.

"My name's Marcus. I also go by my callsign 'Hunter', but just call me whatever you feel like." Marcus replied.

"Alright then, Hunter. Um, why do you have such a big knife? It's looks like more than half the size of a spear!" Shining said in astonishment.

"I know, right?" Rainbow added, as she eyed his knife. Marcus chuckled as he held out the knife in front of him, but not pointing it at anyone, or pony, whatsoever.

"Well, this here is a Entrek Ranger Combat Knife. It's about nine inches long, and it takes a while to fully dull. I have it in case I have to engage in close-quarters combat. My fists themselves are just as dangerous, but it's good to have a backup weapon when you need it." Marcus said as he put the knife back into its sheath.

"Wait, you know karate too?" Rainbow asked with an eyebrow raised. Marcus nodded.

"In a way, but I'll tell you more about it later. Right now, we gotta get into the Stryker, and show you guys how awesome they are." Marcus said. None of them even noticed that the Stryker had rolled off the cart and onto the ground. Jackson and Kayla then ran to the back of the Stryker, and opened the doors. They then all stood behind them as Kevin waved them in, bringing the small ramp down for easier access.

"Wow... this looks really roomy!" Twilight exclaimed as she walked inside, looking around.

"Yeah, but looks can be deceiving, Twi." Applejack said bluntly as she sat down on the seats.

"Hey, c'mon! There's a lot more to this thing than just roomy-ness and seats! Here, strap yourselves in, and we'll show ya'!" Kevin said. Marcus and his squad sat on the left side, while the girls and Shining sat on the right. Twilight then used her magic to strap them inside, while Marcus and his squad just leaned back against the wall.

"Alright. Shining, I don't know how the civvies will react, but I'm gonna go through the same path we came from, alright?" Dempsey shouted from the front.

"No! Just follow the road on the right, and keep following it! It'll take us back to the courtyard without us freaking out the civilians!" Shining shouted back.

"Alright then! Here we go!" Dempsey said. The Stryker then did a whirring-like noise as it moved and turned. The girls all gasped in surprise, while Shining just sat there with a nervous look.

"Woah! This feels.. weird, but in a good way!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Yeah. It feels like we're moving in a carriage, but so much smoother!" Twilight added.

"Ah don't like the seats very much, but it sure as heck feels better than the carriages!" Applejack said.

"It feels quite nice, but a bit odd, if you don't mind me saying..." Fluttershy said. Kevin just chuckled as he rose form his seat and sat in the middle of the girls.

"We don't mind at all. But now that we got time, do you have any questions for us?" Kevin said. Right as those words left his mouth, their eyes grew into an unimaginable, cartoonish size.

"Aw shit.." Kevin thought. Hooves shot up in the air like the nuclear missiles that destroyed the Earth, but Kevin decided to choose Shining first.

"Alright. Shining.."

"Awww...." The girls said loudly. Everyone else chuckled at this as Shining spoke up.

"Okay. I have a big question. What exactly are you? Like.. what's your profession? Is it similar to the guards?" Shining asked as he pointed a hoof towards Marcus and his squad.

Marcus then pushed himself off the wall, and leaned froward. "Well, let's start off with this. Me and the rest of the guys.. and girl, come from a different world called 'Earth', in a country called the United States of America, or 'U.S.A', for short. In that country, we had the best military in the world. There are five branches of military: Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and the Marine Corps. Me and these four others.." Marcus then pointed a finger at each member of his squad. "Are part of the United States Marine Corps.. or 'USMC', for short."

Shining was intrigued by what he was saying. "So what's the difference? Do you guys have a motto? An emblem? A code of ethics? Anything at all similar?"

Marcus grinned as he was about to speak, but Kevin looked at him. "Do you mind if we take turns explaining?" Kevin asked. Marcus nodded as he leaned back a bit and waited for him to talk.

Everypony's eyes were now focused on Kevin. He cleared his throat as he started to speak.

"Well.. Marines are different in several ways. I'm part of the Army, but they're still very different. For starters, they like to think they're the best, and in most cases, they are and have proven themselves to be so." Kevin started off, then nodded towards Marcus. They then looked at him as he continued.

"Yeah, it's true. And our culture is a warrior's spirit..."

"So kinda like Pegasi?.." Twilight asked. Rainbow huffed her chest a bit with pride as Marcus chuckled and went on.

"In a way... but we consider ourselves warriors because we have an obligation to be the most ready when our nation, the United States, is the least ready."

Rainbow's chest deflated a bit as she leaned in closer to hear, as this caught her interest, along with the others.

"We do the kind of things that our nation would ask of its elite warriors. Such as the Army's Delta Force, or Rangers, and the Navy SEAL's, which are special operations groups that were formed for various other tasks and reasons. We're smaller than the armed forces, and we're more oriented on combat." Marcus explained. They all nodded as he continued.

"And throughout times, killing is necessary. And we understand that what we do is a brutal business, but we never lose our humanity, or our faith. And our combat capabilities most of the time overlaps the Army." Marcus then nodded towards Kevin.

"And they're arguably the most functional of all the armed services. Since their code of ethics and other stuff really sets them apart from the others, like the Army." Kevin then looked over at Kayla.

"And our motto is 'Semper Fidelis', which is Latin for, 'Always Faithful'. We also have a special comradery to others, and to each other." Kayla then looked towards Jackson.

"A lot of people believe that us Marines are idealists to the core, who believe that we can make a difference in this world. Some of us are, all four of us included, but we live in such a tough world, that our idealism has to be cloaked in a shell." Jackson then looked to Thompson.

"And the professional warrior, like us, have a very strong emphasis on the code of ethics, which are Honor, Courage, and Commitment." Thompson then looked at Marcus.

"We are the United State's first line of defense." Marcus then looked over to Kevin.

"And their reputation has been well earned over the last two hundred and forty two years." Kevin said.

"Wow..." The girls and Shining said in pure awe. Then, Shining rose up a hoof.

"Wait.. two hundred and forty two years? We've been around longer!" Ironhoof exclaimed.

"Yes, as I said, they're oriented on combat, so they're reputation and legacy is the biggest and proudest of all of the other services." Kevin added, countering any cockiness. Shining nodded in understanding. He felt a bit insulted that his guards were being degraded, but by the sound and looks of it, it seemed that the Marines were telling the truth.

"Yeah. And me and my squad have two basic missions." Marcus added.

"What are they?" Rainbow asked.

"To make more Marines, and to win battles."

The girls' eyes widened in curiosity as they leaned in a bit more to hear Marcus easier.

"See, our main job is to win our nation's battles. We're warriors.... and it's what we do. The basic job of the Marine is to get their first, ready to fight, and willing to kill and/or die if necessary. We also pride ourselves on mission accomplishment. We'll pick up, move out, draw fire, shape the battlefield, and plant the flag." Marcus finished by tapping the United States flag on his helmet. The girls and Shining just sat there in awe as their minds processed what they just said in a small amount of time, and a silence took over the inside, aside from the rumbling of tires and the engine.

Then, the Stryker came to a halt, which made everyone lean somewhat forcefully to the right. Dempsey turned around and shouted. "Hey! We got a shit ton of guards blocking access to the courtyard, Shining! And they seem pretty freaked out! Can you go out there and tell them to let us through?"

Shining shook his head to regain his thinking as he nodded and climbed out of the Stryker. Dempsey looked through the slanted roof as he saw Shining talk to the line of guards. The guards looked at the Stryker, then back at Shining. they hesitantly moved out of the way as Shining used a hoof to motion the Stryker into the courtyard.

"Well, here we are again! And who's waiting for us in the middle of the courtyard!" Dempsey said as he moved the Stryker into the courtyard, and stopped right in front of the Little Bird. He then shut off the engines and electronic systems, but not before Kevin re-opened the back doors.

"Alright, let's get out of this thing!" Applejack said as she jumped off from the seat and getting out of her deep-thinking trance. The other girls and guards did the same, while the Marines followed.

"Hey! You're not gonna meet the pilots?" Marcus asked.

"Nah, we're gonna double check everything to make sure this baby's intact the next time we use it!" Dempsey shouted back.

"Alright then. Just call us if you need some more help, okay?" Marcus shouted back as his boots touched the ground. He then noticed that the guard ponies that were blocking the gate were staring at him and the Stryker quizzically. Marcus waved at them, but their eyes just got wider. He shrugged as he walked over to the pilots.

"Hey! What'd we miss?" Marcus asked.

Randy slung his Winchester rifle over his shoulder and shrugged. "Nothing much, but those guard ponies over there were showing off their spears and crossbows, calling our weapons weak and useless. And to top it all off, they set up a make shift target practice area behind us." Randy said, jabbing a thumb behind him. Marcus then noticed that the guards have set up a target practice area made up of wooden pony mannequins wearing gold and iron armor, and stuffed with hay.

"Oh really?" Marcus said, bringing up his Honey Badger."Let's change that... hey, Kayla!" Marcus shouted. Kayla put down her ghillie suit next to the Stryker and ran up to Marcus.

"What's up, Marcus?" She said.

"Can I borrow your Barrett for a second?"

Kayla looked at him confused. "Uh.. sure?" She then gave him her Barrett, while he gave her the Honey Badger back. "Can I ask why?..."

Marcus then pulled the spite back, chambering a .50 Caliber incendiary round. "Just tell the girls and the others to cover their ears."

Kayla looked at him like he was insane for a second, before returning back to the girls. As Kayla whispered, the girls and his squad shot him a worried and confused look, before doing what they were told. Marcus then turned around to tell Randy and Mike, but they were already doing so in advance as they moved towards the side.

The guards were about sixty feet away from the mannequins, shooting away arrow after arrow. Marcus then slowly brought up the Barrett to his shoulder as he crouched and aimed down the SASR (Special Applications Scoped Rifle) scope. He held the Barrett with an iron grip, but eased up slightly, since it was nicknamed the 'Light Fifty' for a reason.

Marcus then breathed in deeply until his arms shook, then breathed out, and pulled the trigger. The deafening sound that the Barrett produced pierced through the air as it whizzed by the two guards, and connected with one of the mannequins. The fifty caliber round tore through the gold plate, and created a huge burst of flame on direct impact, engulfing the entire structure for a split second, before it shrunk to the size of a small rock, but it was enough to make it spread. The round was so powerful, that it penetrated the castle wall behind it, and sent concrete dust all over.

Marcus grinned as the guards looked at him in utter shock and fear. Before he could stand up and massage his shoulder blade, he heard a 'twang!' sound as he turned around and saw an arrow streaking towards him.

Chapter 37: Mad Devil Dogs

The Marines and the girls watched in horror as the arrow from one of the guard's crossbows streaked towards Marcus', who had just stood up and looked at the arrow. The arrow then connected with Marcus' forehead with surprising force. The arrow penetrated the Kevlar helmet, but stopped halfway, since his helmet was thicker, and had more protection that the standard Advanced Combat Helmet.

"Marcus!" Rainbow shouted as Marcus stumbled and fell to the ground on his back, the arrow sticking out of his helmet. The smoking Barrett .50 Cal laid on his side as Jackson and Rainbow ran over to him. Jackson then looked over Marcus.

"Oh shit... the fucking.. how does it even penet... no..." Jackson said in a fumble of words as he tried to form a sentence. Rainbow just stood there, with her mouth agape and in a state of shock and horror. She then looked over her shoulder, noticing that the rest of her friends, and the Marines, also had a look of shock. Even Shining, who was now glaring at the guard on the balcony.

"Why the buck did you fire at him?!" Shining shouted in a roaring voice. The guard just stood there with the same expression as the Marines at what he just did. The guard then looked over at Shining, with his lips trying to form words to explain his actions. If he had any.

Kayla was the first of the squad to break out of the state of shock as she lifted up her Honey Badger, switched off the safety, and aimed it at the guard.

"Put your fucking weapons DOWN!" She shouted. The guards who were at the target range then used their magic and readied their spears to throw them at Kayla. Thompson noticed this as he crouched behind Kayla and aimed his Remington R870 MCS shotgun at the guards, waiting for either of them to make a single move. Shining then took a stance and aimed his horn at the pair, ready to shoot them with the combat spells he had obtained during training.

Randy got behind a hay barrel, switched off the safety, and aimed his AR-15 at Shining, while Mike slung out his P-90 and aimed it at the two guards on the ground.

Jackson then swiftly turned around after Kayla shouted and noticed the situation. Once he noticed Shining also making a stance, he rose his M27-IAR and aimed it at him. Rainbow and the girls just stood there, as the tension in the air grew so thick that a single swipe of a hoof or hand could slice it.

"Put.. your weapons... down.. Shining..." Jackson said bitterly as he aimed down the iron sights of his M27, keeping them on Shining's chest.

"N-not before you put your weapons down!" Shining replied, stumbling over his words. Beads of perspiration slid down his face as he started right into the brown, cold eyes of the Marine.

"You all have five seconds to put your weapons down!" Kayla shouted. The guards just stood there, albeit anxious, they had their weapons ready.

"Five..." Kayla started counting down.

"Four..."

"Three..."

The Marines then put their fingers on the triggers as they prepped to engage the guards. The girls then slowly crept away and towards Rainbow, who was still besides Marcus.

"Two..."

Meanwhile, Inside the Stryker...

"Holy shit! Did that guard just shoot Marcus?!" Dempsey said in disbelief as he peeked outside.

"Yeah.. aw fuck, I think the arrow penetrated through his helmet!" Kevin said as he looked through the screen, aiming both the cameras and the M2 Browning turret at Marcus, who was being tended to by Jackson and that one rainbow-haired pony.

"Fucking A.. the Rules of Engagement still apply, right?" Kevin said as he switched to FLIR imaging on the screen.

"Yeah. And I think shit's about to hit the fan..." Dempsey said. Kevin then looked again, and saw that the Marines and the guards were having some sort of Mexican stand-off, waiting for any of the two to make a move.

"Put your fucking weapons DOWN!" The female Marine that had the ghillie suit shouted at the guards.

"N-not before you put your weapons down!" The guard known as 'Shining' replied back, with an anxious tone.

"Shit man... what do we do?" Kevin said as he zoomed the camera to focus on the guards.

"Just wait and see what happens.. shit's gonna go down." Dempsey said quietly. They then heard the female Marine count down.

"Four..."

"Three..."

Kevin then noticed that the four ponies that were with them before were hiding next to the body of the Marine in fear of what would happen between the remaining Marines.

"Two..."

"Alright, fuck this!" Kevin shouted. He then used the joystick to swivel the M2 Browning turret, switched on the red dot, and aimed it at the guards that were on the balcony. He then pressed the button and fired.

First/Third Person P.O.V

"Two.." Kayla said quietly as she and the others adjusted themselves to engage. The guards, however, looked ready to flee than fight. Before Kayla could count down to one, she heard a mechanical swivel behind her. She and the other Marines looked over her shoulder and saw that the Stryker's M2 turret was aiming above her and the guards on the ground. Kayla then turned back around, and noticed a red dot on the wall above the guards who were on the balcony.

One of the guards saw what the others were all looking at as he turned around, and also noticed the red dot above his head. "What the-"

The guard was then cut off by a monstrous roar, and a streak of yellow as he and the others hit the floor, covering their heads as blocks of white concrete and dust fell from above them. They covered their heads and eyes in fear as the roar kept roaring, and the streaks kept hitting the wall behind them, fearing that one of those streaks would find their way to their heads.

Kayla and the others hit the ground as she saw that the Stryker was now shooting of its M2 Browning at where the red dot was aimed. The guards on the balcony were also laying on the floor, as the .50 Caliber rounds tore away at the wall behind them, dropping pieces of concrete and white dust on them. The M2 was still firing off its rounds relentlessly as the Stryker shook from the heavy hitting power of the weapon, with empty .50 shell castings falling from the roof and down towards the ground.

The girls screamed as the Stryker kept firing, but the screams were drowned out as it kept its unrelenting fire.

"KEVIN! HOLD YOUR FIRE! HOLD YOUR FIRE!" Dempsey shouted as the Stryker kept shaking, and the .50 kept firing.

The Stryker then stopped shaking, as the .50 stopped shooting suddenly. Kevin then set the joystick down on the floor as he leaned back against his chair and looked through the screen. The white dust then cleared as the wall behind the guards on the balcony was torn to shreds, to the point where it would probably be damaged beyond repair. The guards on the ground, then slowly opened their eyes and uncovered their ears, along with the girls and the Marines.

Kayla then slowly rose form the ground as she saw that the Stryker's .50 had stopped firing. Her ears, which were previously ringing like a jingle bell, were now slowly recovering. She looked around her, noticing that everyone and pony was alright on the ground. She then looked up and saw the guards that were on the balcony still laying on the floor, shaking like they took the ice bucket challenge in Siberia.

She then turned to the Stryker and ran to the front and shouted. "Why the FUCK did you fire?!"

Kayla then heard a voice reply from inside the Stryker. "Rules of Engagement! They fucking killed Marcus!"

Before Kayla could respond, they heard a normal, yet annoyed voice. "Who said I was killed?"

The girls yelped as they jumped back and looked at Marcus, who had his eyes open, squinting slightly. He then pulled his legs back and shot them out, now in a standing position. He then looked around to see the look on their faces.

Everybody, including the guards, were stunned. Marcus then looked up at the balcony, noticing the two guards that were cowering behind what was left of the wall behind them. Marcus glared at them and gave them the throat-cutting sign as he turned his attention to his squad.

"Damn... the hell did I miss? Looks like you're all about to have a Mexican stand-off or something." Marcus said with a chuckle.

Kayla just stared at him until her mind slowly humbled back into reality. "Wha... were you fucking sleeping?!" She yelled.

"Easy there, Kayla." Marcus said with an eyebrow raised. "And I was. In a way..."

"How so?" She asked, easing her tone.

"After some fucker with a crossbow shot an arrow at me..." Marcus paused and glared at the guard, who gasped slightly and hid behind the wall again. "...I hit the ground hard, and I got knocked out for a bit. What the fuck happened?"

"We were about to engage the guards because we thought they killed you." Thompson said honestly. Then, Kayla bumped in again.

"So.. the arrow just knocked you out? That's it?" She asked.

"That's it." Marcus replied.

"Then thank fucking God..." Kayla sighed in relief as she lowered her weapon, along with the others. Marcus nodded as he turned around, noticing the four mares behind him, staring at him in disbelief.

"Yes?..." Marcus asked, leaning in a bit.

Rainbow was the first one of the four to regain herself. "Wha... but.. HOW?!" She asked loudly in awe.

Marcus shrugged. "I'm just awesome like that." He said with a smug look. He then thought about it for a second.

"Or just lucky... or both. Yeah, it's both." Marcus thought with a nod. Rainbow gave him an unamused look, then smiled and shook her head.

Twilight was the next one to regain herself. "Um.. you got the arrow.." She pointed at his helmet.

"Oh. Right." Marcus said. He then gripped the arrow and pulled it out with ease. He inspected it, noticing that it was made of cheap wood, but it had a nondeforming metal point. He knew that Kevlar was made to deflect or deform bullets, but not knifes or arrows. Some types were, but not the ones he had in his helmet. The armor vests Thompson carried in several cases were made to sustain the slashes and bites the Cryptids gave, but they weren't wearing them.

Marcus just shrugged, snapped the arrow in half, and threw it over his shoulder.

Jackson saw this and chuckled. "Marcus. You'se one crazy mothafucka, ya know that?"

Marcus smirked. "Aren't we all?"

Jackson nodded. "Hell yea, man. We Devil Dogs are mad as fuck."

Marcus then turned his attention to Shining, who stepped back in nervousness as he eased up his pose.

Before Marcus could go to him, he felt a tug on his leg. He looked down and saw Twilight, with a worried look on her face. "Please don't hurt Shining. He didn't mean for any of this to happen!" She said, with tears forming in her puppy eyes.

Marcus was about to retort, until her eyes grew even bigger, and more innocent. He sighed and nodded. "Okay. But I want to set a verbal point. And a visual one too.." With that, Marcus turned around and walked up to him slowly as Shining backed up in fear. He then hit the wall, noticing that he had nowhere to go.

Shining then looked to the left and right, noticing that his guards were just standing there, not daring to go against the Marines. Shining then looked up at Marcus with fear present in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry for what m-my guards did! I promise it won't h-happen again, I s-swear!" Shining said, pleading like the grim reaper had come to taken him. Marcus chuckled as he crouched and looked at Shining right in the eyes.

"I know you won't, but here's what I want. I want that one pony who shot me court-martial'd as soon as possible." Marcus ordered. Shining nodded furiously as he went on to his second request. "Alright. Wait a second." Marcus then turned to Randy and Mike, who were still behind the hay barrel, but had their weapons across their chests, aimed at the ground.

"Hey, Randy! Mike! Who was the guard that thought our weapons were weak?" Marcus asked.

"That bastard over there." Randy pointed at the guard who was next to whatever was left of the target range. The guard's eyes widened in fear as they all smirked at him. Marcus nodded as he turned back to Shining.

"I want you and your guards to reset a new target range. You all think our weapons are weak and useless pieces of metal." Marcus then looked back up at the remains of the wall, then at the Stryker, which had several hundred .50 Caliber shell castings surrounding it on the ground and on the top. He then looked at the Barrett .50 Cal that way laying on the ground, and back at the area he shot it at. The mannequin was still burning. "Heh.. looks like the Styker and the rifle proved otherwise. But I want to further the point. Drive it home. Okay?"

Shining nodded furiously as he ordered the guards and Ironhoof to set up a target range for the Marines. Marcus then turned around and faced Kayla. "Gather up all of your weapons, and save a round. We're gonna show these over-glorified cops what our toys can do." Marcus said sternly. Jackson nodded as he ran towards the Stryker to call for Dempsey and Kevin.

Kayla then walked up to Marcus while picking up her Barrett. "You want us to use all of our weapons?" She asked as she handed Marcus her Remington R5.

Marcus nodded. "Oh yeah. We're gonna give them a little history lesson on our weapons, what they shoot out, the basic shit." He said. Kayla nodded as she motioned over Mike and Randy, who had their weapons ready. Marcus then gathered the girls and the guys over next to the Stryker.

"Alright. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna shoot all of our weapons. Show these fuckers who's boss. Twilight, I need you and the girls to cover your ears, or do some sort of muting spell. Okay?" He asked. Twilight nodded. "Alright. Shining, gather the guards to sit next to the girls, while we do our thing."

Dempsey then spoke up. "Wait a second, what about ammo? We only got so much."

Marcus thought about it for a second. "Which is why we're only gonna waste one mag. We'll deal with the ammo problem later. Maybe we can mass produce them or something similar along those lines."

"The targets are ready!" Ironhoof shouted from behind the group. Marcus turned around, noticing about seventy or so pony mannequins wearing gold and iron armor, and stuffed with hay.

"Good. Now go with the girls and watch us." Marcus said. Ironhoof nodded as he and Shining called over the guards. Marcus noticed that the four guards on the balcony were flying down to the ground. He shot the guard a glare before turning back around to the targets. His squad, and the others stood behind him in a formation. Marcus then walked in front of them, and turned to the guards and the girls, who were sitting down inside a purple bubble, which made everything less noisy, but not by much.

"So! One of you weak bastards said that our weapons were 'weak' and 'useless pieces of metal'! Well, that huge-ass machine over there.." Marcus yelled and pointed at the Stryker. "And that huge-ass rifle.." Marcus then pointed at Kayla's Barrett. "Said other wise! But I have a feeling that some of you haven't gotten the message through your thick skulls! So, we'll give you faggots one more reason why you should never fuck with us!" Marcus shouted at an even louder tone.

"Yes sir!" The guards replied. Marcus wasn't a drill instructor, but he sure as hell felt like one.

He then slung out his Remington R5, holding it in his right hand, while holding a 5.56mm incendiary round in his left hand. He then walked towards the guards and stood outside the bubble. "See this? This a 5.56 millimeter NATO round. I won't go into full detail, but this thing goes into this.." Marcus then took out the thirty-five round STANAG magazine. "This thing here is called a 'magazine', which carries thirty five rounds in it itself! Now, this type of round is a special type. It is incendiary, which means that whatever I shoot at, it will burst into flames, while the round penetrates through the target.."

Marcus turned around and aimed at one of the mannequins. He switched off the safety and put it on semi-auto, brought it up to his shoulders, and aimed down the Red Dot Sight's reticle, which was, ironically, a tiny blue dot. He then pressed down on the trigger, firing off a single round. The round hit the mannequin with a loud 'pang!' right in the skull, engulfing the target in flames once more.

"Like so..." Marcus said as he looked over his shoulder, noticing the look of awe on the pony's faces. He smirked as he turned around again and switched to full auto. He aimed at the same target again and shot off three more rounds, with one of them going through the mannequin's chest, and impacting the wall behind it, leaving a small black hole, surrounded by charred concrete. He then slowly walked forward, holding down the trigger as he shot off the entire magazine, pumping the mannequin with the remaining thirty one rounds. As he heard the 'click' of an empty gun, the mannequin was burning brightly, and the gold armor was dripping onto the ground like butter.

"That, was the assault rifle known as the Remington R5." He said as he took out the empty magazine, stored it, and inserted a fresh one. "Next up, is something for close quarters combat."

Marcus put his Remington on the side of the Stryker, and pulled out his SPAS-12, which had its stock folded, and was on the side of his backpack. He brought it out in front of him, letting the pony's get a good view of the shotgun. The only distinctive feature the SPAS-12 really had, was its black and desert tan paint-job, and a leather grip on the pump. He then unfolded the stock, and put it on his shoulder.

"This is the SPAS-12 shotgun. Shotguns are made for close-quarters, and shoot out shells like these." Marcus showed them a single 12-gauge shell. "It reloads differently than an assault rifle. You insert these shells in here. It can hold up to eight shells." Marcus then inserted the shell into the bottom of the SPAS-12, pumped it, and aimed it at the targets.

"Who needs spears and swords, when you got this thing that shoots out several small metal pellets?" Marcus then got closer to one of the other mannequins, and fired off a single shell. The metal balls soared towards the mannequin, and hit it with force, making it wobble back in forth. Marcus then pumped it, ejecting the now-empty shell cartridge. The ponies noticed that there were several small holes all over the body of the mannequin.

Marcus then aimed at the same target again, and fired. This time in semi-auto. He shot off one round, then fired off the remaining six shells in rapid succession, the ponies keeping a close eye on his trigger finger as it pressed it rapidly. The SPAS-12 rose up heavily as he fired, but most of the pellets found their target. As he lowered the shotgun down, the mannequin was anything but, and its armor was literally ripped open.

Before the ponies could say anything, Marcus slung out his M1911 and fire off seven .45 ACP rounds in quick succession once more, ripping off whatever was left of its skull, and making it tumble over.

The smoke from the barrel eased as he ejected the empty magazine, letting it fall onto the ground as he inserted a new magazine.

"That was the M1911 you just saw me bring out." Marcus said as he cocked his sidearm. "Thompson, you're up next."

Marcus then walked over to Thompson's position and stood there, while Thompson himself walked over to where Marcus was. He then brought out his main weapon, which was his M4 Carbine, which had no carrying handle.

"Okay. This here is the M4 Carbine, which is, er, was, a standard weapon for our military. It's lightweight, compact, durable, and reliable. It also shoots out the same rounds Marcus showed you all; The 5.56 millimeter round. Except mine is more sharper, since it's made to penetrate enemy body armor." Thompson said, pulling out a single 5.56 A.P round. He then brought out the magazine for the M4, and inserted the round into the magazine. "The magazine on this gun carries thirty rounds instead of thirty five." He said, cocking the M4 and chambering a round.

Thompson then rose his M4 up to him, aimed down the EO Tech holographic sight, and fired at one of the mannequins. He switched to full-auto, and fired a single shot. The ponies gasped, as the round hit the mannequin's chest, and left a hole more than half the size of a hoof right in the middle. Thompson then fired off another three rounds, but this time into its helmet. Sparks flew as the helmet busted open, letting several pieces of gold metal fly out. He then fired off the rest of his magazine.

"And there you have it." Thompson said as he slung his M4 back behind him, satisfied by his handywork. The armor, or what was left of it, dangled and stuck to the mannequin. He then brought out his Remington R870, which had white with black stripes on it as a paint job.

"This is another type of shotgun, called the Remington 870. It's similar to Marcus' SPAS, but this one had more range, more accurate, and hold more shells. Twelve in fact. It carries the same 12-gauge shells. The only major difference is that this is fully pump-action. Not semi-automatic." Thompson said as he pumped the 870 and aimed it at the same mannequin he shot before. He then pulled the trigger, the recoil making him step back a step or two, but it proved to be worth it. The pellets shredded and maimed the mannequin's two forelegs, making it hit the ground face-first. If it had a face.

Thompson smiled as he pumped it again, ejecting the empty shell, and fired off the remaining shells at the mannequin that was laying on the ground. After he shot off the last shell, pieces of the mannequin were everywhere, and the only thing that was intact of the mannequin, was the pole it was stood on.

"And that's it. Kayla, you're next." Thompson said. As he walked towards Kayla's position, he heard one of the guards speak.

"A-aren't you gonna show us what that big tube thing does?" The guard asked. Thompson shook his head.

"I only have two specific ammunition types left. I'm not gonna waste them." He said as he sat down in Kayla's place.

Kayla then set down her Barrett .50 Cal on the ground, with the bipods up. "I'm guessing you all know what this does." She said with an all-knowingly voice. The guards nodded in fear. Kayla smirked as she crouched and brought out the magazine. She then pulled out a single .50 Caliber round, holding it in the palm of her hand.

"Well, this is the round Marcus shot. This is a Fifty Caliber BMG round. Bigger than my hand. This one is incendiary, like Marcus' 5.56." Kayla said, holding it out to let the ponies look at it closer. Kayla then put the round in Fluttershy's hoof. Fluttershy's eyes widened as she noticed that the single round was more than twice the size of her hoof. Kayla chuckled as she took it away and put it back into the huge magazine.

"This magazine hold seven of these bad boys." Kayla said, inserting the magazine into the Barrett itself. She then brought out her Honey Badger, sliding the stock out and bringing it up to her shoulder.

"This one is called the 'AAC Honey Badger'. It has an integrated silencer, and holds thirty-five rounds of the same ammo Thompson has." She said, keeping her eyes on the mannequin. Kayla then switched to full-auto, like everybody else, and held down the trigger. The rounds tore through the mannequin in a similar fashion to Thompson's, except the shots were significantly quieter. The mannequin then fell back on the ground, as pieces of its armor slung out in the air like confetti.

Kayla then moved her hands onto the bottom of the Honey Badger. "This weapon also has a shotgun at the bottom. It's called the 'MAUL' underbarrel shotgun, or simply the 'Bulldog'. It shoots the same rounds as the other shotguns, but this one reloads from a tube, not shell-by-shell."

Kayla then walked over to the mannequin, standing above it. She then fired the Bulldog shotgun, the pieces of the mannequin's body shot to the air, and all around as she wasted the entire nine-round tubular magazine into it. With a smirk, she kicked its head off and walked back to the group.

"You're next, Jackson." Kayla said.

"Fuck yeah."

Jackson stood up and ran into position, while bringing out his M27-IAR. He then crouched and set up the M27 on its bipods. "This baby is called the M27 IAR. The 'M' stands for 'Marine', since it was tested and mainly used by the Marine's 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. The 'IAR' portion stand for 'Infantry Assault Rifle'. It hold one hundred 5.56 rounds. That's right. See these drum magazines?" Jackson asked. The ponies nodded, with their eyes filled with wonder and awe. "They each carry fifty 5.56 rounds. Let me show you what this baby can do..." Jackson said. He lifted up the M27 and aimed it at the mannequins.

Jackson then turned to the ponies with a smirk, and spoke. "Oh.. and did I forget to mention that these bullets are explosive?"

Rainbow's head tilted. "Explosi-"

Before she could finish what she was saying, Jackson had already opened fire at the mannequins. The rounds soared at the mannequins at subsonic speed. Once the rounds connected, a medium-size explosion accompanied its impact, blowing away the mannequins to kingdom come. Debris, armor parts, and dirt flew up from the sky and rained down on them, but Jackson didn't let go of the trigger for even a moment. The blaring sound the M27 made was nearly shunned out by the sheer number of explosions that accompanied the rounds.

"JACKSON! HOLD YOUR FIRE! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Marcus shouted, but the sound of the M27 made him inaudible to Jackson. After a couple more seconds, the M27 finally ran out of ammo, but not before Jackson wiped out half of the mannequins.

"God DAMN, I have to do that more often!" Jackson said with a huge grin. He then turned to the ponies, who were utterly mortified.

"Um.. I mean, it's been TOO damn long since I've done that!" Jackson rephrased.

Their eyes grew to an even bigger, unimaginable size.

Jackson scratched the back of his head. "Um... heheh.. too much?" He said with a sheepish smile.

"I told you..." Marcus said with a deadpanned expression. Jackson just flipped him the bird without even looking before he pulled out his next weapon.

"Alright, if you're all done with your little panic-attack." Jackson said annoyingly. The ponies nodded in guilt, while Applejack blushed a bit and hid her face behind her Stetson. "...I'll move on to the next weapon."

Jackson then brought out his M1014 shotgun. "This here is the shotgun of all shotguns. The M1014. It's fully automatic, and it carries seven incendiary rounds." He then aimed at a pair of three mannequins.

"Or as I like to call 'em, 'Dragon's Breath'." With that, Jackson pulled the trigger and unleashed a volley of burning-hot pellets onto the trio. Flames spurted out of the barrel like fireworks. The flames reached the mannequins, burning them as they were maimed and torn by the pellets. All seven shots were depleted in less than five seconds. The barrel of the M1014 steamed as Jackson saw that the trio of mannequins were unrecognizable, and their plastic outer shell was pure black, and burning.

"I'm just a fucking boss." Jackson gloated. "Your turn, Randy."

Randy shrugged as he stood up with his weapons and walked to the front of the targets. He held out his weapons in front of him.

"I'll make it short and sweet for you all. This here is an MP5A3. It's a sub-machine gun, used for CQB." He then gave it the infamous HK Slap, aimed it down the range, and fired his thirty round magazine into the armor chest plate of a mannequin. He then pulled the lever back, and slapped the magazine out.

"It uses nine millimeter rounds. Smaller than the others shown, but deadly if used in CQB. Which is why this weapon used the caliber." He then brought out his AR-15.

"This is the AR-15. This one is modified to carry .50 Beowulf rounds."

"Beo-wulf?" Rainbow asked with her head tilted slightly. "That sounds cool!"

Randy smirked, and cocked the AR-15. "Cause it is." He then swiftly pulled up the rifle and shot a single round into a mannequin wearing nothing but a helmet. Not only did the helmet come off, the head flew over the wall after the Beowulf round decapitated it.

"I'm not gonna waste a full mag. I only got so many of these bad boys." Randy said, putting down his AR, then bringing out his Taurus Judge revolver.

"This fucker is a revolver that shoots these." Randy held a single .410 Bore shotgun shell. The guards gasped as he inserted the shell into the Judge. "Think of it as a mini-shotgun. A hand-cannon, if you will. It's also known as the 'Executioner', due to it being included in some sort of repetitive video game or something. And for good reason."

Randy then shot the same mannequin again with two shots. The Executioner kicked like a mule, but it made up for it with its sheer power. The mannequin's chest tore open, as the second shot shot off its left foreleg and hind leg.

"Well, that's it for me. Mike, come over here and take the spot." Randy said. Mike nodded as he stood up and walked to the same position.

"I'm old fashioned. This is the gun that won the Wild West. The Winchester 1873. It's a shotgun, but it's not pump, semi, or full auto." He said, giving a smug look at Marcus, Kayla, and Jackson, who all rolled their eyes simultaneously. "This here is a lever action."

"What's the point?" Twilight asked.

"Because lever-action makes a man." Mike said. He then shot off the Winchester. Firing shot after shot, pulling the lever out and in, out and in, out and in, until he depleted all six rounds into five mannequins. He let go of his Winchester, pulled out his Desert Eagle, and shot a single .50 A.E round into the wall behind the mannequins. The round bore into the wall, making a huge hole. It was so loud, that the ponies still had to cover their ears even when Twilight was using her spell. As quickly as he took it out, he put his chrome-plated Deagle back into his holster, and reached to his left side. He then slung out his P90, and fired off the seventy five rounds of 9mm rounds with only his left hand, at the hip.

"I think he's lost it..." Dempsey said as Mike continued to shoot the volley of bullets.

"We all have." Marcus said, shaking his head and grinning. Mike stopped firing as he put his P90 away, turned to the ponies, bowed, and walked back to the group.

"Then there's me..." Dempsey said, sighing as he picked up his M16A4. He then clicked the safety off and switched to a three-round-burst.

"This here is an American classic. The M16A4. Made in 196-"

"GET ON WITH IT." The humans shouted from behind him. Dempsey growled as he cleared his throat.

"As I was SAYING... This beauty is best used in a three round burst. Now, unlike the Miss Camel-Toe's Honey Cock over there." Dempsey said, pointing at Kayla, who glared daggers at Dempsey, but had a slight blush. "This thing shoots 7.62 millimeter rounds. Bigger than your average, weak 5.56. Watch."

Dempsey raised his M16A4 and shoot a single burst into the chest of a mannequin. The bullets each entered the same hole, doubling the penetration, and exiting out of where the tail bone should've been if it was a real pony. He then aimed at the legs and shoot four bursts at the upper joints, shooting all four legs off. Once the mannequin was on the ground, Dempsey shot off the remaining five bursts into the skull, and making it anything but.

"See? Told ya!" Dempsey said with a victorious smirk. " M-1-6, baby. LOVE IT OR HATE IT!" Dempsey then turned and motioned over to Kevin.

As Kevin stood up, they walked by each other. "Try and top that, Corporal... Dempsey muttered.

Kevin stopped dead in his tracks for a second. Then, a satanic grin emerged on his face as his hands lowered and gripped the M203 grenade launcher.

Kevin then walked over to the same area and stood there, still grinning manically.

"Uh.. are ya alright, surgarcube?" Applejack asked, a bit concerned.

"Yeah.. it look hey, wait a minute! You're using the same weapon as Thompson!" Rainbow complained, glaring into Kevin's eyes.

Kevin just turned around, gripped his M203, and aimed it at the last pair of mannequins.

As Dempsey seat down, he saw what Kevin was holding. Then, his eyes widened. "Oh hit.. Kevin, don't do it.. you cheesy mother fu-"

Too late.

"SAY HELLO TO MAH LITTLE FRIEND!" Kevin shouted as he shot of the 40mm grenade from the M203. The grenade whizzed through the air as it collided with the wall behind the last mannequins, blowing it up as the mannequins fell apart and were blown forward, their armor blackened out from behind, as chunks of blackened concrete and dirt soared above the air, and rained down on what remained of the mannequins, while Kevin laughed like a madman, and shot his M4 at full auto at the ground, firing from the hip.

Chapter 38: Eavesdropping

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 39: Looks Can Be Deceiving

"You want options, I'll give you options..."

Marcus kept going over those words as he slept. He expected someone to come into his dream and tell him something about the Cryptids, as Samantha has been doing for quite a while. That moment never came, however. Instead, he was greeted with the sight of a pony with a dark blue coat and a lighter blue, wavy mane, similar to Celestia's.

"Princess Luna?"... Marcus said quietly. He then saw the silhouette of a man wearing a black vest along with a full set of black BDU's, and a red beret on his head.

"Archer..."

The man slowly approached Luna as Marcus watched with growing concern.

Princess Luna's P.O.V

Princess Luna was now done raising her moon, and was now watching the night sky while standing calmly on the balcony, pondering about the odd creatures that had appeared in Equestria not even a week ago.

"I wonder if thy creatures will cause any harm to thy citizens of Ponyville... it seems they are civilized to the point where they quickly earned the trust of four of the Element Bearers. Oh, I hope that Celestia makes the right decision when they come to court.. She did mention something about 'horrifying monsters' posing an immense threat to Equestria, and that 'these creatures are our only hope'. What are they?.. What do they want from us?..." Luna thought as she lowered her head and sighed. Never had she had to deal with this much stress since she was banished to the moon. She wondered what caused her sister to have such confidence in these new creatures. What would happen if they were given such trust? What options did they have?

"I'll tell you what they want..." A deep male voice with an accent spoke coldly behind her. Luna gasped in surprise and turned around. Her eyes went wide as she was now facing what was one of the supposed creatures found by the four girls. It stood on two forelegs, and had the similarities of an ape. Except it was wearing a black uniform along with some sort of vest, kinda like a toolbelt, but much more sophisticated and useful for specific situations. The creature also had a dark tan helmet with a flag on it, and was wearing a pair of black tinted shades. It also had a tan and black tinted metallic stick slung on its back.

"H-how did you... did you just read m-my thoughts?.." Luna asked nervously, giving the man a questioning look.

The man just smiled coldly, which made Luna uneasy. "Please forgive me your majesty, but I couldn't help but see you pondering about what has happened. And as for how I read your mind..." He chuckled darkly. "Well... let's say that my species can do quite a few interesting things."

Luna took a few steps back out of pure nervousness before asking another question. "How much do you know about thy m-monsters my sisters keeps mentioning?"

"All I know is that I'm here to give you a couple of options on what to do here. For starters, the thing about the monsters. They want nothing more than to kill every living thing on this little planet of yours." The man said, leaning against the concrete railing, looking at his hands.

"W-what?" Luna said in utter shock. "Why would they want to do that?"

"To expand. They have an entire ecosystem underground. They're bred for battle, and cause nothing more than death and destruction." The mans said in a matter-of-fact tone to his voice. Luna's eyes widened even more as she looked at the ground below her hooves, raising one up in fear, disgarding the fact she and him are on the balcony. The man saw this and chuckled internally.

"But... that was back where we came from. Here on this little planet of your, however, that's not the case."

"W-what do you mean, creature?" Luna asked, somewhat relieved at the news, but not by much.

"What I mean, is that when we came here, we didn't just bring our type here. I found out that when we were brought here, we also brought a couple of those things here. When the Diamond Dog was found dead, that was just because the poor mutt was unfortunate enough to find the thing."

Luna nodded nervously in understanding. "I... I see. Are there any more, though?" She asked.

The man shook his head. "Your sister, Princess Celestia, sent us on a mission to eliminate the little bugger. And since me and my squad have, you have nothing to worry about. But I will still however, give you two options..."

The man then slowly walked forward towards Luna, who was backing away from him, looking side to side nervously until she hit the railing. She then turned to the man with a look of fear on her face. "P-please, do not come closer to thee!" She said with a shaky voice.

The man just chuckled as he got right up into her face. The green in his eyes were replaced with nothing but blackness, as if she was staring at death herself. Luna's mouth quivered slightly as she no longer felt herself have full control of her mind, or herself in general, and was now obliged to do anything he said without hesitation.

"On second thought, I will give you only one option..." The man said coldly while staring straight into her soul. "You will do whatever you can to stop those soldiers from finding our hives.." The man said, his voice taking a much deeper and corrupted tone.

"Or else..." The man then played a mental image in Luna's head. She saw something that would haunt her for the rest of her eternal life. It showed what looked like Canterlot, and the castle, destroyed, and covered in red and being taken over by the monsters her sister was mentioning about. The skies above her were light blood red, along with the surrounding areas covered in red plant-like things he called 'Hives'. She then slowly looked down below her, and saw that she was standing upon several hundreds of thousands of empty pony skulls, and other skulls varying from Griffon's to Dragons. She wanted to scream, to run, to help, to escape it all, but she was still not in complete control of herself, so she could do nothing but watch in utter horror.

"And that's just the start, your Majesty. You will help us..."

Luna, in her mesmerized state and brainwashed state, nodded slowly as her mind slowly formed into something she never felt before. She had the sudden urge to... wake them up. To raise them from their slumber and unleash them to the world..

The man chuckled. "If you do as we expect, then you, unlike the other pathetic, worthless creatures, will be spared."

Luna nodded as the man backed away slowly, his entire body going static as he did so, still giving Luna a dark smug look. "You will play a big part in this.. do not disappoint us. We have a lot to do and to talk about.. soon. Oh, so soon..." The man backed away into the frame that lead to the hallway, which was dark. The man then disappeared in a midst of blue smoke.

Luna now had slight control of her mind, as she blinked several times and tried to take in what just happened. She still didn't feel her complete self, however. That part that wanted to unleash those horrid creatures into her world still remained. And it just wouldn't go away.

She hit the floor as the real side of her was overwhelmed by everything. She then started weeping silently to herself as the other side started to slowly take over her mind, her personality, and herself in general.

Marcus' P.O.V

"What.. the fuck.." Marcus whispered as he watched Archer disappear in a midst of blue smoke, leaving a confused, scared, and utterly shocked Luna to cry and weep for herself. Marcus cursed to himself as he thought over about what happened.

"Jesus.. where's Samantha when you actually need her?" Marcus said outloud to nobody in general. He then felt a slight tap on his shoulder as the see-through portal closed, leaving him in the dark once more.

Marcus swiftly turned around, only to be facing Samantha herself. "Speak of the devil..." He thought, but his relief was short lived when he saw her eyes take on a dark shade, just like what Archer did. Marcus' eyes widened, but before he could do anything, Samantha cocked back her fist, and sent it forward, connecting to Marcus' face. He then stumbled back, only to find himself going into a spiral, as everything around him stretched out.

Marcus was then turned around as he fell, noticing that he was now falling down from the sky, with an ocean being below him. He was about to position himself to go into a straight dive, until he saw the water break below him, showing the Kraken Cryptid that was now below him, with its mouth open, waiting anxiously for Marcus to fall. He put his arms in front of his face as he fell. As he fell, he heard five words echo through his mind endlessly.

"All part of the plan...."

...

"AAAHH!"

Marcus screamed as he rose himself from his bed, wide-eyed as his training kicked in. He was breathing heavily, noticing that he was drenched in sweat, and was somehow holding his knife in his hand. He then looked around frantically, noticing that his fellow Marines and soldiers were already waking up. Light from the sun beamed through the curtains in thick, straight lines. He noticed that Jackson was looking at him with a confused and worried look on his face.

"Yo man, you okay there?" He asked. Marcus eased his breathing and nodded, putting his knife back in his sheath. "What the hell were you dreaming about?"

"Nothing, just..." He hesitated for a moment, deciding that this wasn't the best time to tell them about what happened. "Just an odd dream."

"Odd? How?"

"Let's just say it's a good thing it was just a dream." Marcus replied. "I hope..."

Jackson gave Marcus a skeptical look before nodding and collecting his stuff. Marcus then did the same, while the others slowly woke up from their slumber.

"Ugh.. what the hell? Who yelled?" Randy asked as he got up.

"Sorry, just.. my PTSD is getting the better of me more often than not right now.." Marcus lied, not taking his eyes off his backpack as he stored his equipment.

"Ah.. alright then. No worries, man. Just warn us next time." Randy said with a smug look. Marcus just smirked and shook his head as he finished packing his stuff.

"So.. today's court day, huh?" Kayla said in a disappointing tone while she slung her ghillie suit over her shoulder. Marcus and the others responded with a nod and a 'Eeyup'.

"Let's just hope it goes smooth as we think it should.." Marcus said as they prepared to walk out of the room, but before they could, they heard a knock on the door.

"Look's like our escort's here." Thompson said as he walked over to the door. He grabbed the handle and opened the door, showing the four girls that were sleeping next door, along with Ironhoof.

"Are you all ready?" Ironhoof asked.

"As ready as we'll ever be, I suppose." Thompson said. Ironhoof then stepped aside as the humans walked out of the room and onto the hallway.

They then walked down the hallway and turned to the right, with Ironhoof leading the way towards court martial. He then turned around, looking over his shoulder. "So how did you all sleep?" Asking the group behind him.

"I think I speak for everyone here that it was better than sleeping on the ground, that's for sure." Dempsey said, getting nods of approval from the other humans.

"Better than the ones from boot camp." Kevin said as he cracked his back loudly, making the girls wince a bit at the sound.

"What about you four?" Ironhoof asked the girls.

"They were a bit rough, at first. Like sleeping on a huge slab of bricks. I'm guessing they haven't been used in a while?" Twilight asked. Ironhoof nodded.

"Ah still think it's better than sleeping in hay, right Jackson?" Applejack asked Jackson. He chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"I slept pretty good in them, even if they were a bit rough here and there, if you don't mind me saying..." Fluttershy said in a quiet voice. Ironhoof chuckled and shook his head, telling her not to worry.

"It was nowhere near as comfortable as sleeping on a cloud, but it was... 'meh'..." Rainbow said, shrugging her shoulders. A smirk then appeared on her face as she remembered something. "Oh, and a couple spots on Twilight's mattress were a bit whiter than the rest..."

Twilight was now blushing deeply as everyone and everypony was now looking at her. Rainbow saw this and started laughing like a maniac at her expense. Twilight gathered herself somewhat as she tried to retaliate. "It-it wasn't what you think it was! Maybe it w-was just paint when they remodeled the room!" She said hopefully.

"Hate to break it to you, but that room hasn't been remade in any way for about four years." Ironhoof said, making Rainbow's laughter increase in sheer volume, while the humans chuckled and the other two girls giggled. Twilight grunted in anger as they continued walking.

"Aw cheer up, sugarcube." Applejack said, patting Twilight's back reassuringly. "We were just messin' with ya!"

"Yeah, ease up a bit, egghead." Rainbow chimed, nudging the Unicorn. "Who wouldn't laugh at the fact you probably slept in a bed where two other ponies were 'getting it on'?" Rainbow asked teasingly. Twilight just rolled her eyes as they continued walking.

As they turned the corner, Mike noticed two ponies wearing black and white suits with shades and a mouth piece watching him and the others like a pair of hawks.

"Suspects are being escorted to the courtroom now.." One of them spoke quietly into the mouth piece. They then quietly followed the group behind them.

Mike then leaned down to Twilight. "Who are those guys following us?" He asked.

"One of them is asking a question to Twilight Sparkle.." Mike heard a faint whisper behind them.

"They're the Royal Secret Service." Twilight quietly responded as she walked along nervously. "Their main job is to look or spy on anything or anypony that might harm the Princess' and its inhabitants."

"You guys have a Secret Service here too?" He asked surprised.

"Buck! We've been made!" The pony whispered vigerously into his mouth peice.

"Abort! Abort!" The other pony said.

Mike then quickly turned around, clearly annoyed by their antics. Once he did, he saw that the two 'agents' were trying to conceal themselves behind two Royal Guard statues.

Mike turned back around, mentally facepalming as he walked. "That's their take on the Secret Service? Oh God... I wonder how their 'special forces' are like... if they even have one..."

They then stopped walking as they now were facing a huge pair of doors. "Welp, here's the courtroom..." Ironhoof said. The girls nervously took in a breath of air, while the humans were now already bored to death while thinking 'What the hell are you four worried about?'

After standing in utter silence for a good three minutes, Kevin stepped forward. "I'm bored. Let's go."

Kevin then pushed the doors open, revealing a medium-sized courtroom. To their surprise, the room was, for the most part, empty. The only ones inside besides the group were two guards, a single judge, and the two Princess'.

They calmly walked down the tiled floor and down to the podium where the judge was. The four girls and Ironhoof bowed, while the humans saluted to show somewhat a bit of respect.

The Princess' nodded as the ponies rose and awaited for the judge to speak.

The judge cleared her throat and looked at the humans. "We've been discussing the issue which involved Sergeant Dempsey Tank, and Private Romulus, in which he was accidentaly killed while in a patrol in the Everfree Forest yesterday. Is that correct?"

"Yes, your Honor." Dempsey replied.

"And you are blaming your actions on a certain disorder you have developed?"

"Yes, your Honor."

"What is this disorder you say you have called?"

"Post Tramautic Stress Disorder."

The judge nodded slowly and rose her glasses higher up. "Well, I'll be honest with you, Sergeant. I haven't heard that type of excuse in a while.."

Dempsey was a bit hurt by her statement. "With all due respect, your Honor, it's not an excuse, it's a fact."

The girls' eyes widened in shock, but the judge wasn't moved. "Then with all due respect, Sergeant.." The judge then slung of her glasses and leaned in. "I think that what you said is a load of bullshit."

The girls gasped loudly, even the guards looked a bit stunned. "Your Honor!" Celestia said sternly at the judge. "Do not speak in such a tone!"

Dempsey, however, was chuckling. "Whatever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'?"

"I apologize, but such a disorder has not been spoken of in over one thousand years! And then, out of nowhere, comes an ape-like creature that claims they have it?" Asks the judge skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

That's when Twilight spoke up. "Your Honor, I don't think that you should be so skeptical about them. They have seen combat at an unimaginable level to which ponykind has not seen at all."

"My student here is right, your Honor. They have all been and gone through the horrors of war. I can't even begin to describe the ways they went and gone through suffering for the greater good of their country, and possibly their world." Celestia added.

The judge pondered for a while. A long while. Then, Marcus bumped in. "Look, we are American soldiers, and Marines. All of us here are basically idealists. We believe that we can make a difference in the world, and if it is to come at the cost of our lives, then so be it. Sergeant Dempsey here had no intentions to harm the Royal Guard, or create any tensions between us and Equestria in general. "

The judge only nodded at these words as she still pondered. After about three minutes, she sighed and looked at the humans, more specifically Dempsey. "I've officially come to a conclusion. You will not be jailed for your actions, Sergeant Dempsey, but I do not want to see you anywhere near any member of the Royal Guard unless the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor here, allows it. You and your squad will also be escorted by two elite guards when inside the Canterlot Castle, and when outside of where you are currently staying. You will not engage in any action unless given the permission to do so."

"Great, we're gonna be babysat and watched. Eh, could've been worse.. a whole lot worse." Marcus thought as he heard the girls sigh in relief, and the guards nodded in agreement. The gunners whooped in happiness, as they felt a weight being lifted from their shoulders.

"Thank you, your Honor." Dempsey said with a hint of gratitude.

"Don't ever let me see you creatures in this court room again. Also, I have yet to see your so called 'acts of valor'." The judge said.

"Unless you want to have the horrid images of war embedded into your innocent little mind of yours for the rest of your life, I suggest you save yourself and not ask to see them ever again." Marcus and Dempsey warned.

"Still, I want to see what you did to get such a disorder. I want the truth." The judge said, not backing down until she got what she was asking for.

Dempsey has now had enough of her. He swiftly turned around and faced the judge. "You can't HANDLE the truth!" He bellowed, making everyone in the room cover their ears.

The judge was taken aback by this, and watched in silence as the ponies and humans walked out of the room, with Celestia and Luna by the humans' side, and the girls behind them, with the guards on the sides.

"Well, that went smoother than I expected.." Kevin said, giving a slight sigh of relief, but now without a hint of sarcasm to go along with it. "I'm just glad it didn't turn into a shit-show."

"It almost did. But holy crap, she was nowhere near as scary and as stressful as court martial back on Earth, dude..." Dempsey commented.

Celestia and Twilight were a bit curious by his statement. "You have court martial back in your former world too?" Celestia asked. The humans nodded.

"Oh yeah. I guess our justice system here is somewhat similar to the ones here, but I have a big enough headache already... can we drop it for now?" Dempsey pleaded, holding his head with his left hand. The girls just giggled at his action and nodded.

"Okay. You all might want to head back into your rooms. We have much more to discuss. Ironhoof here will lead you all to the dining room so we can discuss some 'issues' and 'solutions' while we eat." Celestia said. The others agreed, albeit a bit nervous on what they were going to discuss. Ironhoof and another guard were about to escort the humans and the girls back to their rooms, until Marcus remembered something.

Marcus turned to Luna, who was calmly walking by Celestia's side. "Hey, um, Princess Luna?"

"Yes?" Luna asked.

"Sorry for the random question I'm about to ask, but did you happen to have an odd dream last night?..." Marcus asked, still very skeptical about what happened when he slept, and was wondering if it was more than just a dream.

"I have not had any odd dreams whatsoever. For has Celestia not told you that I raise the moon at night?" She responded. Marcus chuckled.

"No, she's told us. I guess I was just a bit worried about something I dreamed about. Sorry for asking." Marcus apologized.

"It is quite fine. I have questions of my own, if you don't mind me asking thee." She asked. "What's up with her voice?"..

"Don't hesitate to ask them. But let's wait until breakfast." Marcus suggested. Luna nodded as they continued walking down the hallway, not noticing Luna's eyes switch to a pure black shade for a split second, and her smirk.

Author's Note

I have officially chosen that this story takes place less than a week after the events of 'Lesson Zero'. I think that's a good place to add it to.

Aside from that, I have an iffy feeling for this chapter, but please, don't bail out. It'll all make sense soon.... Please tell me if you enjoyed it or not, and why.

Chapter 40: Back In The Day

The group continued walking down the hallway, with the two Princess' separating from the main group, leaving the ponies and the humans to talk with themselves.

After walking in silence for a couple moments, Twilight broke the silence. "So.. what do you gir- I mean, guys, want to do now?"

They though for a second on what the could do. There wasn't much, now that they thought about it. "I don't know. Usually, when we come back from something, we just chill and talk." Jackson said.

"Or hit the gym." Marcus added.

"How about we all just go check out on the vehicles and just talk? I mean, I know you all still have a couple of questions." Thompson suggested.

"A couple?" Rainbow said with a raised eyebrow.

Thompson just shrugged in reply as the others nodded in agreement. They proceeded to walk at a slower pace towards the courtyard. As they did, Marcus was getting a bit curious on how the citizens of Ponyville were going to act when they returned.

"Hey Twilight?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you think the citizens of Ponyville will act when we return? I'm still kinda surprised the news of the guard being killed spread so quickly here, and I'm pretty sure the news already spread there also."

Before Twilight could respond, Ironhoof answered his question instead. "I'd be surprised if it hasn't already hit Manehattan.. "

"And with Rarity there, it might've spread beyond the Badlands.." Rainbow mumbled, albeit still getting glares from the other three girls. "What? I'm just sayin'!"

Ironhoof continued. "Let me rephrase; Probably. The guard who was killed, Romulus, was taken to Ponyville General, where his twin brother, Remus, followed-"

"Wait a minute, hang on.." Dempsey cut the guard off mid-sentance. "That guy had a twin brother?!" He asked. Ironhoof nodded with a slight sadness expressed on his face.

Dempsey's eyes shot open with surprise. "Oh shit.."

"Looks like you got a guard to talk to when we get back, dude..." Kevin said, patting Dempsey's shoulder, trying to lighten the mood somewhat.

"Let's just hope he's forgiving, and won't try to rip your throat out."

"Don't worry, we'll be there when we get back. Besides, it's not like he can really hurt us.." Kevin said, he then turned to Ironhoof. "No offense to the other guards, or you."

Ironhoof waved it off, but Kayla bumped in. "I don't know, dude. When someone you know gets killed, especially if it's your brother or family member, it can fuel you with unstoppable anger..." Kayla said teasingly. The other chuckled, except for Marcus, who just walked in silence as they walked, and seemed to be deep in thought.

Thompson noticed the look on his face and nudged him. "Hey Sarge, you alright?" He asked, breaking his trance. Marcus just nodded in reply as he listened in on the conversation.

"Yeah, remember when we went on that one tour in Iraq, and had to calm down an entire family to-" Jackson started to remind them of an event in which they had to calm down a family that had lost their mother and son in an accidental airstrike while searching for ISIS troops, but Kayla bumped him in the shoulder and shook her head. Jackson got the message as he turned back around towards the ponies. "Nevermind."

The ponies were about to ask, until Thompson started chuckling out of nowhere. The others looked at him with a look of confusion. His chuckling then turned into a full-blown laughter.

"What are you laughing about?" Jackson asked with an eyebrow raised. Thompson then controlled his laughter as he turned to face the other three Marines.

"Speaking of Iraq, you remember our second mission there as a group? When we were on the lookout for some tanks that some members of ISIS stole from the Iraqi Army?" Thompson said. The others stopped for a second to think about what could have been so funny, but then it hit them.

"Oh... OH! You mean when we went into that village and our old Lieutenant and some Iraqi soldier asked the locals if they'd seen any tanks?" Kayla asked. Thompson nodded as the Marines started laughing at the memory, but the ponies were utterly confused.

"What's so funny?" Applejack asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh man, do we got a story to tell you..." Thompson said as he started to explain the events on that day in detail.

July 6, 2016 Before the Tel-Aviv War
In the neighborhoods of Fallujah, Iraq
The Middle East

Back before the entire Cryptid outbreak, Marcus and his entire squad were new to the whole thing. The 'F.N.G's if you will. They were stationed in one of the camps, called Camp Baharia, and were taken out by their old Lieutenant, named Keith Zennins, to the bustling neighborhoods of Fallujah to try to get any information on the locals about ISIS members and insurgents rolling around in stolen M1A3 Abrams tanks they stole from the Iraqi Army.

They were driving into a somewhat dense neighborhood in a heavily modified Humvee, which had no doors, no roof, and had a .50 Cal turret on the back. It had enough room for five Marines, and one gunner. The Humvee stopped as the four Marines and the Lieutenant hopped out, along with an Iraqi soldier, who would double as a translator.

Keith turned around to the other Marines. "Alright, you four stay here and guard the Humvee. Me and Meesh here are gonna go and ask the locals for any signs of tanks, or tank ruins, alright?"

"Yes sir!" The Marines replied in unison. Keith nodded as him and the Iraqi soldier walked down the sand road, while Marcus and two of the other Marines set a defensive perimeter around the Humvee, kneeling with their weapons down as they watched the Lieutenant and the Iraqi soldier talked to two of the locals. One who was elder and seemed to be having a goat with a rope as a leash, like a pet, while the other was an elder woman wearing black clothing.

Thompson was in charge of gunning the .50Cal, so he, along with the others, were watching them. After a while, he got the nerve to speak. "Dude... what do you think they're saying?" He asked to no one in particular.

After a couple of seconds of thinking, Jackson spoke up.

"Excuse me Meesh..." Kayla said in a weak, fragile tone, clearly mocking their Lieutenant as he saw him talk to the Iraqi soldier for him to translate to the two locals. "Tell the man that we come in friendship."

"Then Meesh is all: 'Dude! My big American friends are going to fuck you up if you don't show him some blown-up tanks!' " Jackson mocked the Iraqi soldier as he saw him talk to the locals.

Marcus then spoke up. "Then the Haji's all: 'Habadabada? Daba daba'. " He said, clearly mocking the the elder man as he talked to Meesh.

"Then Meesh is all: 'Dude, these Iraqis love the fact that we are here. They fucking love freedom, and they thought the fireworks last night were fucking wicked, dude'. You Americans have killed a lot of sand. The sand was very eevill.' " Jackson said in a Middle-Eastern accent, as he watched the elder man talk to the two.

Then, Kayla got into the mocking-spree again. "Then the Lieutenant's all: 'Meesh, I just shit my panties.' " She said in the same tone as Jackson, getting a chuckle from Jackson himself as she continued.

" 'Tell the nice man that if he doesn't show me at least one blown up tank, I'll look very stupid and the other officers will laugh at me.' "

"And Meesh is all: 'Dude, throw me a friggin bone here. How 'bout a friggin puck-up truck with bald tires?' " Jackson said.

"Bro, and the Haji's all: 'Habdaba? Dabity-daba.' " Marcus said. "Then Meesh is: 'Lieutenant, this Haji dude is bummed he can't save your career. He's got no tanks, but check it out. You can have his bitchin' daughter.' "

"And the Lieutenant's all weepy and shit." Kayla said as Keith and Meesh walked back to the Humvee, with Meesh carrying the goat in his arms.

"Fucking frat-house pussy..."

Keith then looked up at the Marines. "Back to camp, I'll ride with Team Two." He ordered. The Marines got up as they climbed into the Humvee. Marcus stood up from his crouched position and looked at Meesh.

"Hey." Meesh said as he approached the Humvee.

"What'd the old man say?" Marcus asked.

Meesh stopped walking as he explained. "Ah, he's afraid we're going to bomb his village tonight." He then sighed. "LT turned it down..." He said, looking down at the goat. "And I am really hungry."

"Mount up." Marcus said as he awaited Meesh to climb into the Humvee first. As he did, Jackson noticed Meesh and spoke up.

"You take the fur off before you eat it, right?" He asked. Meesh just shrugged as Jackson shook his head with a smile and turned on the Humvee. He then drove it down the road, where the rest of the Humvee convoy was awaiting them. As they did, they heard Keith's voice over the radio explaining the situation.

"Assassin, this is Assassin Two Actual, over."

"This is Assassin Actual, Send it."

"Uh.. we have found some indication of ISIS tanks and heavy armor operating in the area, but uh.. evidence on which devasive EDA is... inconclusive so far, over?" Keith said. The Marines laughed as they drove with the convoy back to base.

End of flashback

The Marines were just starting to recover from their laughing as they regained themselves and looked at the ponies. They were a bit nervous, but the only ones who were even snickering were Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"We never did find the tank..." Marcus added as they opened the doors that lead back to the courtyard. Mike and Randy chuckled

"Why the hell can't the Army be like you guys when it comes to fucking around?" Mike said. The Marines shrugged as they walked along.

"Uh.. this might be a bit late, but what exactly is a Tank?" Rainbow asked as she floated above the group.

"I'll put it in the simplest words I can. Think of it kinda like the Stryker over there." Marcus pointed at the Stryker. "But it has a huge cannon in the front, has nearly inpenetrable armor, kinda like a tortoise, but it moves quite fast for its weight and overall size. Plus, it's got tracks instead of wheels."

"Alright.. I can kinda get the picture.. kinda." Rainbow said honestly as they walked towards the vehicles, which were both under a light blue dome of magical energy. Marcus stopped and pulled out his IPhone.

"Here, I think I got an image of a tank here somewhere.." Marcus said as he slid through the long list of pictures he and his squad took in the Middle East. "Uh... there it is!" He then shows the screen to Rainbow, along with the other three girls taking a peek.

"Woah..." The girls said in unison, with Ironhoof's eyes widening in surprise.

"That thing looks bucking sweet!"Rainbow said, pumping a hoof into the air. "What's it called again?"

"It's called the M1A3 Abrams Tank. One of the best there was. That huge tube is its main gun, or cannon. And does it pack a punch."

Rainbow and the girls let out an 'awwww' as Marcus put away his phone. As he did, Dempsey nudged him.

"How the hell does your phone work here?" He asked. Marcus shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm guessing it still works because when we spawned here, it did some sort of electromagnetic pulse or something? I'm not complaining."

They then looked at the force field around the vehicles. "Looks like Shining wasn't kidding. Heh. Trust intensifies." He thought as he put a hand on the barrier.

"Need a hoof with that?"

The humans and ponies turned around, noticing Shining Armor walking out of the doors, along with two other guards. "Morning."

"Likewise." Kevin said. "Can you take off the force fields from our vehicles?"

Shining nodded as he walked towards the vehicles and deactivated the force fields. The Marines and soldiers thanked him as they went to check on the Stryker and Little Bird respectively. Dempsey and Kevin walked in via the back, and checked the insides. Dempsey turned the Stryker on, emitting a roar that made the ponies cover their ears. Dempsey saw that the gas was at a steady 94%, and that all of its electronical equipment was functioning, except for its GPS, which was static and showed the words 'No Satellite Service'.

"Gee, I wonder why..." Dempsey thought sarcastically as he turned to Kevin, who was sitting down on his seat, and was swiveling the turret around, making sure it wasn't jammed. Kevin then switched on the FLIR thermal imaging, and aimed the turret at the ponies.

"I see you..." Kevin snickered as he saw their eyes widen. He then turned the turret another direction as he switched the turret offline, and stood up from his chair, turning to Dempsey. "Is everything good on your end?"

"Yeah, everything's stable. You?"

"Exactly the way we left it."

"Then let's go out there and talk with the others." Dempsey said. Kevin nodded as they walked out of the Stryker, closing the back doors.

Meanwhile, in the Little Bird, Mike and Randy checked their NVG's and switched the Little Bird on. It made a slight whining sound as it came to life. In less then a minute, its rotors were spinning rapidly, and picking up some dust from the ground below them. They switched to thermal, then night-vision, then regular, giving each other a thumbs up. Mike checked the weapons. Its Hellfire missiles were all ready to use, and were stocked. Its 2.75 inch rocket tubes were mostly full for the most part, and its 7.62mm M134 miniguns were also ready for use. Randy then climbed out, shutting down the Little Bird as they gave a thumbs up to the Marines.

"The Little Bird is ready for use at anytime. We just need to oil some stuff here and there, and we'll be good." Randy exclaimed.

"The Stryker is in perfect condition, but still has a shit-ton of mud in the front. We'll take care of it later. The only thing we should do right now with the Stryker is reload that Browning." Dempsey said.

"I'm on it." Kevin said as he jogged back into the Stryker, and climbed into the back, looking around the storage area to find a box filled with .50 Cal rounds for the Browning turret.

"So now what?" Rainbow asked, getting bored by the second.

"We can just sit here and talk about some more random shit." Mike suggested. They all nodded as the Marines sat on top of a couple of hay stacks, while the pilots leaned against their Little Bird.

"What about you Army guys?" Marcus asked, pointing at them. "You guys got any funny stories to tell us?"

"We got one.." Kevin shouted as he walked out of the Stryker, holding a two hundred round ammo box in his hands. "When we were stationed in Camp Phoenix in Kabul. It was when I first really met Dempsey, before we went into action." He said as he threw the ammo box on top of the Stryker, making it hit the roof with a loud 'clang'.

"Alright then. Enlighten us." Jackson said.

"Gladly." Kevin replied as he climbed on the side.

June 14, 2016, 1:37 AM
Camp Phoenix, Kabul, Afghanistan
The Middle East

Kevin was also new to the whole thing. He was partnered with a Sergeant named Dempsey, which he sworn he could've remembered that name from a video game he played as a teenager. He was assigned to be the main gunner of the Stryker's remote turret system, with Dempsey being in control of driving the thing. It was midnight in the camp, but most of the people in the camp were still wide-awake, and working on their vehicles, eating, working out, or just goofing off in general.

For Kevin, he'd always try to go for the fourth option.

As he got out of the bathroom stalls, scratching his ass, he walked towards a group of FNG's who were just talking about random shit, mostly about how their wives or girlfriends miss them, and how hard they're gonna fuck them when they get back to the States.

One of them, and officer that went my the nickname, 'Ray-Ray', noticed Kevin approaching him. "Good dump, Private?" He asked.

"Excellent." Kevin replied. "Shit my brains out. Not too hard, not too runny."

"Sucks when it's runny, and you have to wipe fifty times.." Said another soldier named Twombly.

"That's not what I'm talking about. If it's too hard, or too soft, then something's not right. You might just have a problem that could affect your combat readiness." Kevin replied, getting a couple chuckles from the soldiers.

"And it should be a bit acidic, Twombly. Burn your asshole a little when it comes out." Ray said.

"Yeah, well, maybe on your little bitch asshole, Ray." Kevin replied. "... from all the cock that's been stuffed up it."

The other soldiers gave out 'Oooh's in surprise he talked back to an officer, let a lone a Private doing so, but Ray was an easy-going guy, so he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

"Man..." Twombly groaned. "We soldiers are so homoerotic. It's all we talk about! You ever realize how homoerotic this whole thing is?"

"Shit.. not as much as the Marines..." Ray said, getting a couple of 'Hooah's from the soldiers. They then resumed talking, but Kevin looked beyond Ray's shoulder, noticing what seemed to be the silhouette of a man laying on the ground below a Humvee.

"I'll be right back..." Kevin said as he walked away from the group and towards the man below the Humvee. As he approached, the man heard his footsteps and turned his head to face him.

"Hey! C'mon down here!" The man said in a loud whisper. Kevin shrugged as he went prone and crawled below the Humvee. "What's your name?"

"Private Kevin Marston, sir."

"Alright then, Kevin. My name's Sergeant Dempsey Grant. Aren't you the one who's gonna be controlling the gun on my Stryker?" He asked. Kevin nodded. "Well, I have something I need you to do."

"What is it, sir?" Kevin asked.

"See those Abrams tanks crossing the bridge there?.." Dempsey pointed at two Abrams tanks crossing a makeshift bridge over a nearly dry river, heading towards a dirt road next to the Humvee. "Wait until you can feel the ground shaking."

Kevin nodded as they waited for the tanks to go through the checkpoint. After a couple of moments, the soldiers let the tanks in. Kevin then heard the ground shake underneath him as the tanks rumbled closer. He turned to Dempsey. "What do you want me to do."

"Okay... look, if you lay with your cock against the ground while the tanks go by, it feels fucking great." Dempsey said. To say that Kevin was stumped would be an understatement. He started at Dempsey in utter confusion.

"C'mon! Try it!"

Kevin hesitated for a moment, until he shrugged his shoulders and did what he was told. As he did, the tanks got closer and the ground was now shaking like an earthquake. Kevin's face turned into one of utter shock as he let out a gasp of pure pleasu-

"OKAY! MOVING ON!" Dempsey shouted, stopping Kevin before he could go into further detail. The guards, Marines, and the girls were laughing their asses off, literally rolling on the floor.

"Oh man! I can't... BREATHE!" Mike said, as he grasped his sides.

After a couple of minutes, the laughing stopped, with only a couple of snickers now and then. Then, Ironhoof spoke up. "You humans are more hilarious than I thought!"

"What about you guards? Got any good stories to tell us?" Jackson asked, looking at the guards.

"Eh.. I guess it's only fair." One of the Pegasus guards said. "Alright, I got a short one, but eh.." He hesitated.

"As long as you make us at least chuckle, it's all good." Marcus said, giving the guard a reassuring smile. The guard nodded as he started to speak.

"Okay, so back when I was at boot, we were just going through our second week. It was early morning, so we were just doing our standard crap. Y'know, pull-ups, wing-ups, the usual." The guard said. The humans nodded as he continued.

"So not long after we got out of the mess hall, we heard that one of the other recruits got in trouble for trying to sneak in food into the barracks. So the Drill Sergeant made us do even more wing-ups, along with the screw-up. When we did, he told the screw-up to shout 'WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?!' every time we pushed up, since he told him that that was the only thing he'd learn to say." The guard explained, making the humans laugh.

"So as we did wing-ups, the screw up did what he was told. It went like this:"

" 'Down!' The D.S shouted."
'One!' We shouted back."
'Up!' "
'WOULD YOU LIKE FRIED WITH THAT?!' The guy shouted."

'Down!'
'Two'
'Up!'
'WOULD YOU LIKE FRIES WITH THAT?!'

"I never laughed so hard in my life. I almost failed the wing-ups because the ground below me was wet and slippery from the tears I let out from laughing." The guard said. The humans' laughter turned into sheer pandemonium.

After a couple of more moments, they stopped laughing and just relaxed. Sitting there and fidgiting with their stuff and equipment for a couple of minutes, until Randy and Mike spoke up. "I'm bored as hell.. what time is it?"

The Pegasus guard got up and flew back into the hallway. After a moment, he flew out. "It's 9:35"

"Damn.. when did Celestia ask for us to meet her at the chow hall?"

They all thought for a second before Kayla spoke up with the answer. "About 11:15. Why? Got something in mind?" She asked. Mike and Randy nodded simultaneously. They then turned to the girls and the guards.

"You all want to take a quick fly by around Canterlot in the Little Bird?" Randy asked, patting the door of the Little Bird. Their eyes widened and gleamed with excitement as they nodded vigorously.

"Yeah!"

"I-if it's alright with you, of course..."

"Sure!"

Randy and Mike chuckled as they motioned them to climb into the Little Bird. Mike then turned to the Marines and the gunners. "You guys wanna come along?"

"Sure, why not?" Marcus said, picking up his helmet and strapping it on.

"I'll tag along" Kayla said.

"I'll pass. I want to check out the Stryker." Jackson said, with Thompson nodding.

"Suit yourselves." Mike said as he climbed in and put on his helmet, sliding down the visors. As the ponies and the two Marine climbed in, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see that a certain rainbow-maned Pegasus was anxious for something.

"Can I race this thing? I want to see how fast it is!" She said with a competitive smile. Mike shook his head, making her smile turn into a frown. "Sorry! We only got so much fuel. Until we can find more, we're just gonna fly around the city once and land back just in time!" Rainbow nodded as she leaned back on the seat, pouting, but still willing to join the humans and her friends regardless.

"It might not have the speed..." Randy said as he turned on the Little Bird. "But it's got the firepower!"

"I second that!" Marcus said as he sat on the left side of the Little Bird, his legs hanging from the side as he strapped himself in, along with Kayla doing the same thing on the right side.

"Yo Marcus!" Kayla shouted as the rotors of the Little Bird gained speed, therefore making it louder. "Can I borrow your shades? This freaking dust is gonna make me go blind!"

Marcus nodded as he threw the shades to Kayla, with Twilight aiding him with her magic. "Thanks, Twi!" The Marines said in unison. She nodded as she handed them to Kayla. The Little Bird was now causing an uproar, as the people and ponies surrounding the Little Bird stepped away, covering their faces.

"You think you can play a song while we fly?" Randy asked loudly.

"Gladly!" Marcus replied as the Little Bird rose from the ground, swiftly until the soldiers and ponies below were merely colored dots. He pulled out his IPhone once more and looked through his playlist. He then pressed the screen, picking a good song as the Little Bird lurched forward and started increasing in speed, flying away from the courtyard.

"Do you got some sort of speaker system in here that can make songs louder?" Marcus shouted at the pilots.

"Yeah! Just plug it in that little container, and put on the song!" Mike shouted back. "It better be good!"

Marcus nodded as he did what Mike instructed. He then pressed the screen again, starting up the song.

Guitars started playing smoothly as more instruments joined along. Then, an empty, echo-y voice joined in.

"Ooooohhh..."
"Ooooohhh..."
"Ooooohhh..."
"Oooohhh..."

Then, the actual lyrics started to play as the Little Bird moved forward.

"Oh, a storm is threat'ning.
My very life today.
If I don't get some shelter...
Oh yeah, I'm gonna fade away.."

The chorus sung by a female started to play as the Little Bird leaned to the left side, with Marcus grabbing onto the side for support as it approached a tower.

"War, children! It's just a shot away..
It's just a shot away!
War... children! It's just a shot away..
It's just a shot away-y!..."

A small solo came along as the Little Bird lowered its speed and flew lower as it got closer to the tower. Then, the lyrics came back into play

"Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'..
My very street today.
Burns like a red coal carpet..
Mad bull lost its way."

As the main chorus came back, the Little Bird did a fly by in front of the tower. Marcus noticed that Princess Celestia was standing there, looking at the Little Bird as it flew in front of her. Her ears perked up as the song played into her ears.

"War, children! It's just a shot away...
It's just a shot away!
War... children! It's just a shot away..
It's just a shot away-y!..."

Marcus waved at Celestia with a smile as she looked at them in shock, the Little Bird flying away, with her still looking on as the chorus went one once more.

"War, children! It's just a shot away...
It's just a shot away!
War... children! It's just a shot away...
It's just a shot away-y!..."

A guitar solo played as Marcus looked below his feet, noticing a crown of ponies looking up at the Little Bird. He waved down as the lyrics came back in full swing.

"Rape, Murder!
It's just a shot away...
It's just a shot away!"

He then saw two grey streaks of grey soar at them from the crowd. He then noticed that it was two members of the Wonderbolts. One of them had a fiery yellow tail, while the other had a light bluish grey tail. They looked at Marcus in confusion while keeping a good four feet from the Little Bird. Marcus just saluted to them as their ears also perked up at the music.

"Rape, Murder!"
It's just a shot away...
It's just a shot away!"

"Rape, Murder!
It's just a shot away..
It's just a shot away!"

Their mouths dropped at the lyrics. Marcus just laughed and mouthed. 'Keep listening! It gets better!' The lyrics then returned to their ears.

"The floods is threat'ning...
My very life today.
Gimme, gimme shelter!
Or I'm gonna fade away...

War, children!
It's just a shot away,
It's just a shot away!
It's just a shot away,
It's just a shot away!

I tell you love, sister. It's just a kiss away..
It's just a kiss away!
It's just a kiss away,
It's just a kiss away!
It's just a kiss away,
It's just a kiss away, kiss away, kiss away!"

The Wonderbolts stopped flying and looked at Marcus and the Little Bird with confusion. Marcus just laughed as the Little Bird increased speed and flew away.

Author's Note

Special thanks to HBO's 'Generation Kill'.

Google it.

(And Reddit. I am also planning to re-edit a couple of chapters, including chapter seventeen, so it'll be longer, and with more detail. The next chapter might not come for a week, since I'm going to Nova Scotia for Thanksgiving, so I hove this satisfies until then. Tell me what you thought of this chapter!)

Chapter 41: Cake-Eaters

As the song ended, the girls were a bit uneasy at hearing the lyrics, and the overall meaning. It sounded somewhat like an anti-war song, which was ironic. Regardless, they found it catchy, especially Rainbow, who was laying back against the seat, with her forelegs behind her head as she felt the breeze of the wind enter the inside of the small attack helicopter.

"That song was... something." Twilight said. The others nodded, except for Fluttershy, who was slightly shaking. Not because of the wind, but because she wasn't used to hearing that type of stuff in a song. Applejack put a foreleg over her and hugged her slightly, comforting her to a certain degree.

"Yeah, Vietnam was the days.." Randy sighed as he turned the helicopter to the right, and slowed down to nearly a hover.

"Vietnam?" Asked Twilight.

"Yeah. Back in our world, there was a war called the 'Vietnam War', which was a proxy war, which means that it's a war instigated by a major power that doesn't want to get involved." Mike explained. Twilight's ears perked up at this.

"Why did it happen?"

Mike shrugged. "There's a lot of shit behind it, but the main reason is to stop the spread of a government called 'Communism' , which is a socioeconomic system, from spreading into Southeast Asia. If you want me to go further in Communism, then prepare for a shit-ton of politics."

Twilight shook her head. "Please, no politics. I really don't like talking about that kind of stuff."

"Then you and the rest of us got something in common." Mike said with a chuckle.

"So how long did this war last?" Twilight dared to ask.

"It lasted for about nineteen years." Mike answered. The girls' eyes widened, but Mike just chuckled once more. "That's not even our longest war."

"H-how many d-died?" Twilight asked with major hesitation in her voice. Before Mike could answer, Randy spoke for him.

"Five hundred and thirty six thousand United States troops were sent there.." Randy said, not looking away. "And more than fifty thousand of them died." Randy said with an emotionless tone. The girls were now filled with somewhat sorrow, and Twilight was mentally slapping herself for completely killing the mood, while getting soul-piercing glares from Rainbow and Applejack, who was hugging Fluttershy tighter as she weeped silently in her shoulder.

Randy didn't help either as he went on. "And don't even get me started on the overall amount of deaths and injuries, or the POW's.."

Mike punched his shoulder. "Shut up! Don't you think we've corrupted their minds enough, you mindless fuck?" He whispered harshly. Randy sighed as he kept quiet and turned back to the front, with Mike turning around to see how they were holding.

Twilight didn't dare ask anything else as the helicopter fell into a dead silence again, with Randy flying the Little Bird back to the courtyard, and Marcus and Kayla shaking their heads in disappointment.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard...

Jackson, and Thompson were helping Dempsey and Kevin with maintenance on the Stryker, while the guards kept a close eye on them. Their trust for and respect for the humans were increasing by the hour, but they still had their doubts, and were overall still skeptical about them, but only to a certain point.

Ironhoof was once again inside the Stryker, very curious on how the inside worked still, and was now looking over Kevin's shoulder as he sat on the seat, using the joystick to swivel the turret.

"Wow.. these cameras look so much more clearer and sophisticated than the ones we use for security." Ironhoof said in awe as he looked at the screen. He then noticed that Dempsey was now on the screen. Dempsey waved at them with a smile as he returned to cleaning off the mud from the top of the Stryker. Ironhoof's eyes then went wide as the screen suddenly turned white and grayish, showing Dempsey being colored in bright white, and had something on his chest that made it blink rapidly on the screen.

"What did you do?" He asked, still confused at the sudden screen change.

"I switched to thermal imaging, or as we call it, 'FLIR'. It highlights anything that emits a heat source in bright white, like Dempsey here, while everything that doesn't, stays black and gray, but it gives a better view of the area, and even easier to spot targets." Kevin explained as he pressed a button, switching back to regular.

"Wow... You humans are really advanced in technology. You guys should share it with us!" Ironhoof exclaimed, already getting a bit giddy at the idea.

Kevin just chuckled as he switched the camera off. "We'll see. We don't want any bad guys here getting our tech, but you guys seem cool. Maybe if we feel like it."

Dempsey was now scrubbing away, with the help of the Pegasus guard they met earlier, who handed Dempsey a hose. "Thanks."

"No problem." The guard said with a smile as he went back down to the ground. Dempsey was careful not to wet the inside of the Stryker, which would require electronical repair, and assuming from what they've seen, that was something that they could not afford.

He then heard a voice behind him. "You sure you don't want us to help ya'?" Dempsey turned around and saw that it was Jackson. He smiled at him and shook his head.

"No, we're good! Besides, we're almost done!" Dempsey shouted back. Jackson shrugged as he turned around and pulled out his own IPhone. He scrolled through his playlist and chose a somewhat relaxing song.

As he set his phone down on the hay, the beat started flowing through as he pulled out and used his cleaning kit to clean the inside of his M27. As he detached the dual drum magazines, he felt like he was being watched. He turned around, noticing that the two other guards were looking on in curiosity, and were curiously listening to the beat, but looked away after Jackson looked back. Jackson just chuckled internally as he went back to fixing his gun.

Thompson was using one of the wipes from Jackson's own cleaning kit as he wiped the scope of the Panzefaust and the leather grip and handle. They were cleaning their weapons in peace as the song started playing its lyrics.

"Just waking up in the mornin', gotta thank God,
I don't know, but today seems kinda odd..
No barking from the dog, no smog,
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog.
I got my grub on, but didn't pig out.
Finally got a call from a girl I wanna dig out.
Hooked it up for later as I hit the door,
Thinking I will live another twenty four?"

"I gotta go, cause I got me a drop top.
And if I hit the switch, I can make the ass drop.
Had to stop at the red light.
Looking in my mirror, not a jacker in sight.
And everything is alright. I got a beep from Kim,
And she can fuck all night.
Called up the homies and I'm asking y'all:
'Which park are y'all playin' basketball?'
Get me in the court, and I'm trouble.
Last week, fucked around and got a triple double."

"Freaking niggas everywhere around like M.J,
I can't believe, today was a good day."

The guards have never heard this type of music, let alone the beat before. They hesitated grinning from a couple of the lyrics, but any negative thoughts or overall skepticallity they had were now either gone, or reduced severely.

They watched as Thompson carefully set down his Panzerfaust, and started scraping off the rust it had acquired from the back pipe area. He unslung his pack and set it on the ground, zipping it open and pulling out a containter. The guards looked on as he switched it open, revealing several tubes ad other oddly-shaped objects.

Jackson was now re-attaching the barrel onto his M27 as he turned to see what Thompson was up to. He noticed that Thompson had pulled out one of his several black containers he always carried with him. Thompson was now pulling out several explosive devices. He carefully laid out twelve Bouncing Betty mines, eight Claymore mines, seven Semtex grenades, five Canister bombs, four NX-1 grenades, and forty Venom-X grenades, ranging from regular corrosive, to fire, electricity, and Seeder turret pods.

"I thought you had pipe bombs in there too?" Jackson asked.

"I don't, but Kayla has another case filled with them, along with a couple of sticky flares, and a lot of schematics she stole." Thompson replied. Jackson nodded as he focused his attention back onto his light machine gun.

The guards continued to watch them until one of them built up the courage to ask the Marines a question. "What are those things exactly?"

"Explosive devices." Thompson replied, not looking away from the weapons displayed in front of him. "I'd keep my distance if I were you." He said again with a casual tone, still not looking up at the guards as they backed away nervously. The Marines chuckled as they heard the guards shuffle further away. Thompson then re-organized the explosives back into the box, for use later.

As he did, Jackson sighed. "You know what's making my fucking head hurt, man?" He asked.

"What?"

"How the hell does Twilight have our stuff 'n shit?"

"Don't you remember that she said she used a trans-dimensional spell or something along those lines?"

"She did? Damn, that explains why our shit always kept disappearing on our missions after they get destroyed.." Jackson said. They then started to go into deep thought on the one instance where their equipment kept disappearing more frequently than other times...

November 26, 2017
Onboard the Stormbreaker, Tasman Sea, South Pacific Ocean
26 Days after the Nightfall Program Termination

Marcus and his squad were on the storage area of the decomissioned Chinese stealth destroyer, and were about to enter the control room of the ship and find Archer, who, by Godfather's words and terms, was 'A necessary evil' that would benefit the human species as a whole to win the war against the Cryptids.

"The drill's under attack!" Jackson shouted as he used his combat knife to cut the throat of a Scout, who was angrily swiping away at his armored legs, causing not too much damage. He swung his knife, as it sliced through the Scout's throat, making a heavy amount of orange blood spill as the small Cryptid stumbled and collapsed on the floor, completely defeated and losing its urge to fight as its own foreign orange blood filled its throat and lungs.

"I got it!" Thompson shouted, shooting a Seeder turret that was shooting back at him, trying to penetrate his armor, with little effect. His CBJ-MS, which was equipped with armor-piercing rounds, took down the turret with ease. He then slung it to his side as he crouched and started re-fixing the drill.

"Cover me!" Thompson shouted again as he fixated the drill's battery system. Even when in the midst of all this chaos, he was still very cautious of avoiding the blue laser beam that cut away at the metal door.

"Don't worry, I'm placing a sentry gun!" Marcus shouted as he slung out a set of tripods, spread the legs, and placed it on the ground as Kayla used her MK14 to cover both him and Marcus from a Seeker that tried to shoots acidic projectiles at them. Marcus then placed the main gun part on the tripods, and activated it online. "Sentry gun's online!" He shouted as he jumped down the balcony and engaged a Seeker, who was trying to pull a Solid Snake on Kayla. The explosive rounds that his Ripper contained exploded near the Seeker, killing it with the fragments, making it explode itself in a heap of plasma and flesh. The sentry gun opened fire, taking down Scouts and Hunters with ease, but was having a bit of trouble acquiring a specific Cryptid.

"Shit! We got a Phantom inbound!" Jackson shouted, reloading his Chain SAW as fast as he could. The Phantom jumped from crate to crate, disappearing in a puff of bluish black smoke as it jumped. It then appeared right in front of Marcus while he was reloading. The Phantom was about to pounce him, until a 7.62mm round pierced the side of its stomach by Kayla's MK14, making it flinch and scream in pain as it ran towards the flight of stairs and jumped towards the Sentry gun.

"It's gonna get the Sentry!" Marcus shouted, running towards the stairs, with Scouts and Hunters following him. Kayla got on one knee and fired at the, taking them down swiftly as Marcus ran up the stairs, only to notice the Phantom already tearing away at the Sentry gun. Marcus switched the Ripper to SMG mode, and opened fire on the Phantom, the explosive rounds literally ripping away its limbs, and exposing its intestines. Its shrieks of pain were anything but heard as its corpse launched from the balcony to the floor below. Marcus checked on the Sentry, noticing that its health was severely low, and was letting out sparks of electricity.

"Drill's repaired!" Thompson shouted as he smacked the battery for good measure, and stood up. He then reached behind him, and launched a Vulture drone to the sky, activating it. Kayla and Marcus noticed this and did the same, with Kayla's having a small pod able to shoot small incendiary rockets. The Vultures flew side by side as they fired away at the oncoming Cryptids that spawned from the smaller hives on the roof.

Thompson checked on the Sentry gun. He then turned to Marcus and shook his head. "Don't even bother defending it, Sarge. It's too low to repair."

Marcus nodded. He looked over Thompson's shoulder, noticing that the drill was half way finished. He grunted at this, then turned as he saw one of the shipping crates slowly being dropped to the ground by one of the crane machines. As it did, he could hear loud banging coming from the inside.

He and his squad rose their weapons, aiming at the crate. After killing the remainder of the Cryptids, the Vultures circled the crate. Utter silence took over, aside from heavy breathing from the Marines, the buzzing sounds of the Vultures, and the constant sound of the waves hitting the ship. The crate's side doors were then launched open, revealing two enraged Rhino's.

"RHINO'S!" Marcus shouted. They then all fired simultaneously at the Rhino's. They flinched, especially at the explosive rounds, then roared in pure agony as the incendiary rounds engulfed their entire bodies, making them burn inside out from their bodies being covered in an armored shell. They ran towards the Marines, roaring in both pain and anger. They both then jumped up towards the balcony.

"Get out of the way!" Marcus shouted again as the Marines split into two, getting out of the way as the Rhino's smashed their fists onto the metal floor, making a metallic sound, and a small shockwave, that made Jackson stumble and fall to the ground. One Rhino noticed this, and was about to smash him in, until a bright purplish flash came out of nowhere, blinding them, and the Rhino's.

"Aghhh!!"

"What the fuck was that?!"

"I can't fucking see!"

"God damn it!"

The Marines then regained their vision, noticing that the Rhino's were heavily dazed and confused from the flash. They set the event aside as they engaged the Rhino's, taking advantage of the moment, taking them out with ease as the explosive and incendiary rounds worked wonders. After the Rhino's collapsed dead, they noticed that their sentry gun and Vulture's were gone.

"What the hell? Where's our Vulture's?!" Asked Jackson, clearly confused and awaiting an explanation.

"No fucking clue.. did someone use a flashbang?" Asked Thompson.

"Since when do flashbangs cause a purple flash?" Asked Marcus in an annoyed tone. Thompson just shrugged. "Seems like our sentry's gone too.."

"Damn it, dude... that was my last fucking Vulture!" Kayla groaned.

The sound of the drill then stopped, as the metal door leading to the control room fell down into the room. The drill then fixated itself to store its laser. The Marines then slowly walked into the room, with Thompson picking up the drill, and Kayla covering their six with her MK14.

End flashback

"Well, that explains a lot... heheh." Thompson said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah. Wait, Twilight said she used a 'trans dimensional' spell, right?" Jackson asked, now wondering about something beneficial.

Thompson nodded. "Yeah.. why'd you ask?"

"If it's trans-dimensional, do you think she'd be able to teleport some stuff here to help us out or something?" Jackson suggested jokingly, yet curiously. Thompson gave him a look, but they both the started to chuckle at the thought, thinking it was way too far fetched.

"Yeah, next thing you know, we'll be wearing exo-skeletons.." Thompson said, making both of their laughter increase in volume. As the laughter died down, they went into deep thought about the actual possibility that it could be pulled off.

"Actually.. now that I think about it.. it coul-" Thompson started to say, coming to the conclusion that it could be possible, but was cut off as he heard a buzzing sound near them. They looked behind them, then above then, noticing the silhouette of a Little Bird helicopter approaching the courtyard. They got up, collected their equipment and weapons, and slowly stepped back as the Little Bird descended towards the ground. Dust built up around them as the buzzing sound of the rotors made the guards cover their ears, and made everybody cover their eyes to prevent dust entering their eyes.

As the Little Bird touched down, Marcus and Kayla unstrapped themselves, and jumped off, while the girls followed behind them. Randy shut off the engines, while Mike shut off the electronic systems. They then swung open the doors and jumped out, the engine whining and the dust settling as they walked towards Jackson and Thompson.

"Had a nice ride?" Jackson asked, walking over to the two Marines.

"Just peachy. Until someone mentioned the Vietnam war..." Marcus replied, staring over at Randy.

"Hey, don't blame me, it was Twilight who asked!" Randy said, pointing at Twilight.

"I said I was sorry!" She shouted back. Jackson could see that a huge argument was about to commence, so he just shut everyone up before the argument could grow into something more worse.

"Alright, alright! Shut up! Jesus... sorry I asked." Jackson said, making them all calm down. He sighed as he turned around to the guards. "What time is it?"

The guard then ran up the stairs and into the hallway. After a couple of seconds, the guard came out. "It's 10:42!"

"Damn.. already?" Marcus said, scratching his head. "Well shit, we should go then. Ironhoof, you know where the dining room is?"

Ironhoof nodded. "Yes, I do. Just follow us."

The Marines nodded as they called to the gunners, who nodded as they got off the roof of the Stryker, and jogged towards them. Jackson picked up his IPhone, stored it, then they walked up the steps, walking behind the guards as they led them back inside.

"So what the hell did you guys do to make them ask about the Vietnam war?" Thompson asked.

"Rolling Stones." Marcus replied casually. Thompson and Jackson chuckled. "What did you guys show them?"

"Ice Cube, man. Today was a good day." Jackson said in a smooth tone. Marcus smirked as he gave him a bro-fist, something they'd always do instead of a salute or anything similar to that. Since they were in the Spec-Ops community, they could do almost anything that the regular military of navy couldn't.

"What else?"

"Thompson here was organizing the explosives we still got, and the guards got a bit curious.." Jackson turned to the guards. "We didn't show them what they actually do. We only got so much."

"Yeah. We're gonna need to find a way to make sure we'll be kept in good supply." Marcus then turned to Twilight. "Do you know any sort of duplication spell or anything like that that could be similar?"

Twilight put a hoof on her chin. "Hmm.. I don't as of right now, but if you want, I can try to find one in the archives. I remember when I went there to find the trans-dimensional spell, I saw one. I looked at it, and it said that I need to learn what and how an object is made. Like its dimensions, items, material, inte-"

"I think they get it, Twi..." Rainbow said annoyingly. Twilight blushed a bit and nodded.

"Alright. If you could find it soon, then it'd be very useful to us." Marcus said grateful that there could be an easy solution to the limited ammunition problem. They then stopped walking as they approached a set of huge doors. Ironhoof and the Pegasus guard stood on the side of each door, and opened them. The humans' jaws dropped at the sight. It was like they just walked into something similar to the Cindarella move or something like that. On the table, were several covered plates, and food everywhere. Like. Everywhere.

"H-holy crap.." They said in unison. The guards smiled and the girls giggled as they walked in.

"This is better than any freaking mess hall." Kayla said. The others just nodded in unison as they followed behind the girls. They also noticed that Princess Luna and Princess Celestia were already sitting at the very back. The humans took their seats and looked at the plates. Marcus looked over, seeing that there was a slight skinny line of drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. He would've smiled, if his mouth wasn't watering too. The princess' noticed this, and chuckled.

"Go ahead. 'Dig in'." Celesita said. "You all must be starving."

"Oh HELL yes." Kevin said happily as he and the others took of the tops. They then saw that they all got about seven pancakes with strawberries, and a lot of syrup. Along with it, was a serving of two eggs, and a huge serving of hash browns.

"PUNCAKES!" Kevin shouted out loud as he found a fork next to his plate, and literally stabbed the pancake to death, quickly scarfing it down. The others did the same, digging into their food with glee, while the ponies watched in horror and shock, except for Rainbow, who just shrugged and started eating.

Kayla swallowed her food and looked at the others. "Do you not now any manners?" She said as she put more pancakes in her mouth. They laughed as they kept eating, but then turned to the ponies. Applejack and Rainbow were laughing along with them, while Fluttershy and Twilight looked like they were about to vomit. The princess' however, were chuckling.

"I see I was right." Celestia commented as she started eating herself, at a much slower and 'mannerful' way. "How long has it been since you've eaten?"

The three Marines looked over to Marcus. He lifted a finger as he swallowed before answering. "Last time we really ate was at Sweet Apple Arces, so about.. four days?"

"The last time we ate was about three.. back when we actually had time to eat our MRE's..." Dempsey answered as he swallowed.

"I can't fucking remember, and I don't care! This is incredible!" Kevin said with a mouthful of food. The princess gasped as he called over a guard. She whispered into his ear. The guard nodded assertively as he ran out the door.

"What was that about?" Jackson asked.

"If it has been that long, then we're gonna need more food." Celestia said with a smile. Kevin whooped in happiness as he and the others kept eating. Marcus then turned to Celestia.

"So what do you want us to do next after this? Do we need to meet someone, or something?" He asked.

Celestia nodded. "There's still a bit more we need to talk about. I will keep it simple, and say that you must meet our Generals and military officials. They have been eager to ask some questions to you, and they need you and the others to explain what kind of threat really hides within Equestira."

The sounds of forks dropping could've put the best tambourine player to shame.

"Since you've all faced the Cryptids before, I am sure you know how we can deal with these things. I have faith within you. But for now, let us just eat in peace." Celestia said. The humans picked up their forks and nodded, now eating much slower and in silence.

As they did, Luna turned to Celestia. "May I be excused?"

"Yes you may, Lulu."

Luna nodded as she stood and walked towards the door, looking at the humans with a smile. They ignored this, except for Marcus, who kept looking at her with curiosity as she walked out the dining room and into the hallway.

Then it hit him.

"Oh shit..."

Author's Note

I hope you guys enjoy me adding the music and stuff. I just add whatever feels right on the situation. Some of you guys might not like rap, but I will be using more songs in the future. Speaking of songs, do you guys prefer if I just link the video, or keep it as it was the previous chapter?

Aside from all that, I hope you enjoyed it, and as always, tell me what you think!

Also Cake-Eater: A slang term for naval officers.

(Also, 115 likes? I swear, Samantha Maxis is fucking with me so hard right now... either way, I can't thank you guys enough for the support this has gotten!)

Chapter 42: What's In Store For Us

As Luna waked out the dining room, Marcus saw her eyes turn into a shade of pure blackness for a split second. He then swallowed his food quickly and asked to be excused.

"What seems to be the issue, Marcus?" Celestia asked. Marcus shook his head.

"Nothing, just need to clear my head for a second, that's all." Marcus replied as he stood up and pushed his chair in, also walking out of the dining room. As he did, the girls had a look of both confusion and worry, along with the soldiers and Marines, but they kept calm and kept eating.

"What do you think that was all about?" Kayla whispered to Jackson, who was sitting right next to her.

"No idea. Maybe he's just getting himself ready to talk with the higher-ups here?" Jackson guessed. Kayla shrugged as they finished eating, only to witness a couple of pony chefs bringing in more food in carts filled with plates.

Marcus walked beside the chefs as they made their way to the dining room, ignoring the wonderful smell of the food the carts contained. He walked faster as he saw Luna's tail briefly before disappearing into a room. He then slowed his pace to a painfully slow crouch. His back then hit the wall as he peeked his head over, looking into the room.

"Shit..."

Marcus saw that Luna was in the room that contained five ponies wearing military uniforms filled with several medals and awards, in which he figured it were the generals, commanders, and top military advisors. He then noticed that Luna was looking at them with a mischevious look, and was slowly making her way to where they sat.

One of the ponies who wore a red beret and had grey stubble looked at Luna quizzidly. "Um.. can we help you with something, Princess Luna?" He asked, nervously taking a step back as she walked closer.

Luna smirked demonically, making the ponies very uneasy as they slowly rose from their seats. "Yes, I do need your help.." She then disappeared in a midst of blue smoke, only to re-appear in front of the pony with the red beret. "We need your help.."

The pony jumped back a bit, startled by both Luna's sudden disappearance and re-appearence."Uh.. forgive me, but.. 'We-"

The pony was cut off mid-sentance when he felt a sudden tingling feeling around his throat. The feeling then suddenly turned to a vice grip as he noticed that he was forcefully being choked by Luna herself. He tried to use his forelegs to ease the grip, but the efforts were futile, and resulted in Luna slamming him onto the wall behind him.

"Luna! What the hay are you doing?!" One of the advisors shouted at Luna.

"Put him down!"

"Let him go!"

The four other ponies rushed to the general's aid, only to be suddenly launched to the surrounding walls by a bluish haze energy wave, leaving them gasping for air and in total shock.

The general was now unable to do anything, he tried to shout at Luna to let him go, but all that came out were weak croaks and pathetic whimpers. As the surrounding corners of his eyesight faded into black, he faintly hear a stallion's voice shout.

"LUNA!"

The anaconda-like grip around the general's throat suddenly disappeared, leaving him gasping for air as he used his hooves to soothe his neck, hitting the floor as Luna turned swiftly and angrily towards the source of the voice.

Luna glared at Marcus, who was standing in the doorway with an M1911 .45 in his right hand. Marcus then saw Luna's eyes turn back to normal as she shook her head and looked around in utter confusion. "Wha- what happened?.." Luna then looked behind her, noticing the terrified looks she was getting from the five ponies. "What happened?!"

Marcus saw that Luna was on the verge of tears as she looked at him, desperate for an explination. He lowered his M1911."You mean to tell me that you don't remember nearly choking the life out of that pony there?"

"No!" Luna shouted with a broken and desperate tone, tears slowly making their way down her face. She then turned around, facing the ponies once more. "Did... I did this?..." She whispered to no one in particular.

Marcus put his M1911 back in his holster, walking calmly towards Luna and placing a hand on her shoulder. He felt her briefly jump at the touch. He then walked forward and crouched next to the general, who was now coughing while massaging his throat. "Are you okay, sir?"

The general coughed a couple more times before nodding. "Y-yes.. I'm fine.." He responded with a weak and raspy voice before he then looked up at Marcus. "Are you the creatures that everypony keeps talking about?" He asked. Marcus nodded. "I was told that there were more than just you..."

Marcus chuckled briefly. "That's because the others are eating." He then stood up and walked to Luna, who was quietly sobbing and trying to comprehend what just happened. "We'll be right back with the others. I need to talk to Luna, if you don't mind."

The general nodded. As pushed himself back onto his hooves, he heard Luna quietly whisper to him between sobs. "I-I'm... s-sorry.."

"Don't be, your highness.." The general responded with a small smile on his face. "You did not mean to do so."

Luna then wiped the tears out of her eyes as she stood back up on shaky hooves, with Marcus placing his left arm around her to comfort her. "C'mon, Luna. We need to head back.."

As they walked out of the confrence room, one of the commanders spoke up. "What the hay do you think that was all about?"

"Don't know..." The general replied. "Let's just... hope it never happens again anytime soon."

"What do you think about the creature? 'Hyoo-mans', right?"

"I think. That one looked somewhat young and tall... yet mature and something else I can't put my hoof on.."

"And what was that weird metal stick he aimed at Luna?" An advisor asked. "Some sort of crossbow?"

"I don't know. Let's just save our questions for when they come back..." The general replied as he lifted a chair from the floor.

"Celestia better be right about all of this being a threat to national security..." The advisor mumbled. "I'm supposed to be in Las Pegasus right now... "

Marcus and Luna started slowly walking down the hallway in silence, passing by a couple of guards who, in return, took a quick glance at him before proceeding down the hallway. After a couple of moments, Marcus sighed and looked over at Luna.

"Okay Luna, I know what you're hiding..." He said, breaking the silence.

Luna tensed up and refused to respond, as she walked a bit faster than before, but Marcus wasn't having any of it. He stepped in front of her, preventing her from going any further. "Luna... tell me exactly what happened last night." He asked calmly, but not without giving her an accusing glare.

Luna flinched at this and sighed in defeat before speaking. "O-okay..." She then took a deep, ragged breath. "L-last night... I was standing on the balcony outside my room, in the tower right out there." She then pointed outside a window to a tower with concrete railings. "After I rose the moon, I w-was confronted by a creature. Now that I look back... it looked exactly like you... but with a different voice." She then looked at Marcus fearfully. "A-are you the one?..."

Marcus quickly shook his head. "No Luna, I swear it wasn't me, otherwise, I wouldn't be so worried. But I have a good idea on who it might've been..."

Luna looked at him with a look of confusion. "Wh-who?..."

"I'll explain once we sit down with the advisers and generals, but let's just say that the person you saw last night wasn't who you think he was. Think of him as a visual and mental 'manipulator'. A shapeshifter or something along those lines."

"L-like a changeling?.." Luna theorized.

"The hell's a changeling?..." Marcus thought briefly before shaking his head "Don't know what that is, but no. But back on topic; What else did he tell or show you?"

"H-he put me in some sort of mental t-trance, and showed me..." She then choked mid-sentance before breaking down in sobs, "I-it was horrible!"

Marcus then gently gave Luna a comforting hug as she buried her muzzle in her chest. "Don't worry, Luna. I think I know how to deal with this." Marcus then let go of Luna. She nodded as she sniffed. "Just whatever you do, do not fall for his tricks. We have enough trouble already. Now c'mon, let's go get the others." Luna nodded again as they walked down the hallway once more in silence.

After a couple of minutes, they walked into the dining room, noticing that everybody had just finished eating, and were now just chatting.

Kevin let out a long burp before looking over at the two. "Hey, look. It's about time you two showed up. What'd we miss?" Kevin asked.

"Nothing much. We just mt with the generals and advisers for a second before coming back. Speaking of which, they want us there now." Marcus replied. The others nodded as they stood up from their seats and started walking out of the dining room.

"That was probably the best breakfast I've ever had." Kayla said, earning several nods in agreement.

"Better than any MRE, that's for sure." Jackson added, getting a couple chuckled as they walked down the hallway. As they walked towards the conference room, Marcus walked besides Celestia and looked at her to ask a question.

"What do they want to know about us specifically?" He asked.

"Well, the general, General Swordswipe, wants to know what kind of things you and your squad specialize, such as how you handle missions, and what specific jobs you each do individually. The advisers, one of them who happens to be from the Wonderbolts base near the Appleloosian mountains, wants to know the type of vehicles you all have, and their specifics. The Commander of the Royal Guard, Commander Shearslice, wants to give you all a job opportunity of some sort, and wants to know more about your military. And everypony in general wants to know what threat looms over Equestria with the so called 'Cryptids', and how and why they are here." Celestia replied simply.

They then stopped in front of the conference room doors. Ironhoof and another guard who was stationed outside the room itself opened the doors, revealing five well-dressed ponies, one of them wearing a sliver spartan-like helmet. They stood up from their seats at full attention as the pony with the silver helmet walked up to the group. Despite his poker face and 'no-funny-business' attitude, he was still more than surprised to see eight of the creatures Celestia had mentioned, and were also accompanied by four of the Element Bearers. They looked to be all wearing their combat gear, and were carrying several elongated and oddly shaped metal sticks. He was told that they were their weapons, and if the rumors were correct, then they were armed to the damn teeth. Especially the four wearing black uniforms and gear. Calmly, he walked up to them and saluted them. The creatures saluted back in return. He then stepped aside and geistured them to sit down. "Please take a seat, gentlecol-, er... men. We have a lot to discuss."

The humans obliged and sat down on the seats. Luckily, the room itself was quite huge, and the table had enough spaces for all of the ponies and humans, but Celestia and Luna stood aside to watch instead of sitting down. After they all sat down, the General took his seat at the far front. He then cleared his throat before speaking. "Thank you all for coming here. As you all may know, I've been told that you eight are the 'Humans' Princess Celestia has been telling us about, and furthermore, she has also told me that you are all heavily experienced in combat, both offense and defense, along during maritime, and wartime. Firstly, can I ask which group of you is the most heavily experienced in combat?"

The four humans wearing black and tan uniforms rose their hands. "Alright then. Please state your names and ranks."

They nodded. One by one, they gave out their names and rank.

"Private First Class James Thompson, sir."

"Specialist Kayla West, sir."

Swordswipe noticed that the one named Kayla looked different from the others and had a more feminine voice. "I'm guessing you're female?" He asked.

Kayla nodded. "Yes, I am. Is there an issue?"

Swordswipe shook his head. He didn't want to create any unnecassary tensions. "No, not at all. Please continue." He said. Kayla nodded once as she looked at the one human who had a darker skin tone than the others, and had a belt of metallic items around his neck.

"Corporal Jackson Torres, sir."

Then, the one wearing shades and a tan helmet spoke.

"Sergeant Marcus Ramirez, sir."

Swordswipe nodded as he turned to the soldiers. "What about you four?"

"Captain Randy Treston, sir."

"Sergeant Mike Preston, sir."

"Sergeant Dempsey Grant, sir.

"Corporal Kevin Marston, sir."

Swordswipe nodded again as he turned to Marcus. "Are you the leader of the other three?" He asked. Marcus nodded. "Can I ask what is your group called, and what part of your military you're all apart of?"

Marcus nodded again. "Yes sir. Me and the three others are part of the United States Marine Corps. We are specifically part of Marines Special Operations Regiment, or 'MSOR'. Which means we are the best of the best Marines, and we specify in several tactics, and go through even tougher training. Furthermore, we are one of the teams in the Rapid Reaction Force, which is also a Tier-One group that specifies in eliminating Cryptids, which I'm guessing you've heard of..." Marcus paused, waiting for the general to nod. Once he did, he continued. "In the Rapid Reaction Force, there are several teams. We are part of the very first team formed, called 'CIF Team One'. Our team callsign in simply 'CIF-One'."

Swordswipe nodded slowly before taking off his helmet and placing it gently onto the table, revealing his yellow coat and light black mane. "Alright, so you four are Tier-One operators? The best of the best?" He asked again to be sure. The four Marines nodded. "Okay. Can I ask what you all specifically specialize in as a group?"

Marcus nodded again. "Us four have been trained to deal with several situations. Such as Direct Action, Special Reconnaissance, Counter-Terrorism, Unconventional Warfare, Information Ops, Foreign Internal Defense, Counter-Insurgency, Deep Reconnaissance, Hostage Rescue, and other types of missions. Not to mention the obvious that we also have the main mission to find and kill any sort of type of Cryptid that appears or is reported."

When Marcus finished, Swordstrike was more than astonished by all the types they could do and complete their missions assign to them. The commander was on the verge of bursting with utter excitement and as much as they both wanted to see them in action, they kept their composure and moved on to ask a couple of more questions.

"What specific jobs do you all have individually when on duty?" Swordstrike asked.

"Just like I said before, I lead my squad into action, give and take orders, but I'm also a kind of weapon specialist. I can use Kayla's sniper rifle.." Marcus pointed at Kayla, who placed her Barrett .50 Cal on the table with pride, making the general's eyes widen in surprise. "I can use any type of weapon they can, but I'm also both trained and self-trained to take both mental and physical pain than most other Marines, with a boost of endurance than most." Marcus answered.

"I specialize on taking care of heavy weapons, such as this big toy here." Jackson exclaimed, pulling out his M27 and unfolding the bipods before also placing it on the table. "And I am also trained to take physical damage, more so than the regular spec ops soldier or Marine. I also specialize in taking care of the wounded to a certain degree."

"I'm trained to take out targets at a distance with this beauty right here." Kayla said, tapping the scope on her Barrett. " but I can take care of myself in close quarters, and I know how to easily repair electrical equipment, and communication systems."

"I'm the most experienced in the medical field, and I can patch up wounds faster than you can say 'Oh God, I'm hit!'. I am also the most experienced when it comes to handling electronics, and I can fashion a pair of night vision goggles onto a scope." Thompson said proudly. Swordstrike nodded.

"You all act somewhat mature, yet look so young and not very old..." One of the advisers spoke up.

"Uh... does military discipline ring any fucking bells to you, McNarma?" Marcus thought annoyingly, surprised he would ask such a thing before the adviser continued.

"How old are the four of you?" He asked.

"I'm 22." Marcus answered simply.

"I'm 21." Jackson said.

"I'm 22 also." Kayla answered.

"And I'm 19." Thompson followed along.

The four Marines then glanced around the room, clearly noticing the surprised looks on the ponies', including General Swordstrike and the Princess, who looked like they just saw a ghost, but the most surprised were the advisers and the four girls.

"Wait... didn't we tell you our ages?" Marcus asked the girls. They all shook their head in unison.

"Th-that's around the same age as us..." Twilight answered with a surprised tone. Then, the Wonderbolts adviser, Nimbius, spoke up.

"How old are the rest of you four?" He asked, looking at the soldiers.

"I'm 21." Randy answered.

"I'm 20." Mike followed.

"I'm 22, same as those two Marines." Dempsey said.

"And I'm the same age as Mike. 20." Kevin said, lifting and resting his feet on the table.

The room grew into a deep silence, the ponies taking in the ages of these humans. "We expected you to be around their late twenties, or even mid thirties due to all of the action you've all seen and have gone through." Luna commented in a slight state of shock.

"Because we have long hair and stubble, huh?" Thompson asked with a smirk. Luna nodded with a slight pang of guilt. "It's just one of the perks of being in the spec ops community. We get to grow out our hair and have beards instead of getting buzz-cuts and shaves so we can blend in better with civilians, and it just makes us look better."

Luna nodded as she stopped herself from asking another question. After a couple of minutes, Celestia spoke up and broke the silence.

"I would be lying to you all if I said I wasn't surprised. You are all so young and have gone through all of that? That you've showed us?" She asked the Marines. They slowly nodded. "I.. I am speechless. You all seem simply too young to go through such... things..."

The Marines and the soldiers just shrugged. "We weren't forced to do so. It was our choice. We do what we do to make sure people, or in this case, ponies, don't ever have to go through what we do. It's selfless service. 'Loyalty', to a certain, or an extreme degree that very few have ever experienced. We don't do it for fame or money. We do it because we chose to defend our country and rid of the world's evils. And as far as I know, none of us regret doing so." Marcus responded, getting assertive nods from the other Marines and soldiers.

Then, General Swordstrike spoke up. "So you four are part of the special operations from where you came from? At such a young age?"

The Marines nodded. "But we're not the only ones part of the special forces..." Jackson hinted.

"Oh? Who else?" Swordstrike asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Marines then looked over to Mike and Randy, who were smirking in return. "Yep. Us. We're not Marines, but the MSOR isn't the only special operations group out there. There's several in the spec ops community, but me and Mike here are part of the United States Army. More specifically, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, or 'SOAR', for short. Our nickname is the 'Night Stalkers', because we usually fly at night at high speeds, low altitude, and on short notice. It consists of the Army's very best aviators. A Night Stalker's main job is to provide aviation support for other special operations forces in the United States Military."

As he finished explaining, the Wonderbolts adviser was immediately interested. "So you guys use that big black flying machine to fly in these other guys?" He asked. They nodded. "Nice. What does your insignia look like?"

Mike and Randy moved their shoulders to show him and the others their shoulder patches.

"Eh.. doesn't look as cool as the Wonderbolts, not gonna lie, but I still think you guys are all awesome nonetheless." Rainbow commented, getting a couple chuckles from the humans.

"What about you two? Are you the ones who control that huge metal thing my guards brought in on the train?" Swordstrike asked. Dempsey and Kevin nodded.

"Yeah. We're also part of the Army, but we're not special forces. We're part of the 8th Armored Division, which means we get to use those big heavy machines to support and transport infantry, and occasionally, also special forces. It's not really much to brag about, but if the Cryptids are really here like the Marines say they are, then they're gonna need us, no doubt." Dempsey commented, giving a smirk to the Marines.

"Never said we weren't gonna need ya'." Jackson shot back.

"Alright, before we jump into this whole 'Cryptid' thing, I have one more question for you Marines," Swordstrike spoke. "What are your insertion techniques?"

"Patrolling, helicopter touchdown, rappelling down or fast roping down from the helicopter, HALO or HAHO, which stand for 'High Altitude Low Opening', and 'High Altitude High Opening' with parachutes, or if our mission's near water, we use SCUBA gear, or use a Kayak or Canoe." Marcus answered simply.

"Interesting. I'll keep all of those, including your main tactics, in mind." Swordstrike said. "Now, let's talk about what we really came here to in the first place. These 'Cryptids', you so call them. How did you know they were here?"

"Well... it started when a couple of scientists brought in the corpse of a Diamond Dog into the laboratories here in Canterlot. They found that inside the corpse, there were several small green marble-sized eggs in its chest and neck cavity. After a couple of hours, two of the eggs grew to an immense size, and spawned two 'Scout' Cryptids. From what we were told, and saw, they killed nearly everypony in the labs, including a couple of top scientists. We were told by Celestia about this, and we went down there and took out the threat ourselves before it got out of hand. After we killed them and disposed of the corpse and eggs, we found a heavily wounded guard hiding in the closet. After turning on the power, we took him back up and let the medics take care of him." Marcus explained what had happened down at the labs. Swordstrike nodded as Marcus continued. "... then we left Canterlot and went back out to Appleloosa, where we found Mike and Randy. After that, we went into an apple farm and found a 'Hive'. We then searched for the Cryptid who laid the eggs and killed the Diamond Dog. After we found it and killed it, we used the helicopter to destroy the Hive."

"Alright.. nice detail. But can you explain how the Cryptids are even here in the first place?"

"Yes. The Cryptids have actually been around for around 550 million years, back when our planet was being formed. A little birdie told me about how that this planet and our former were formed the same way as ours. The Cryptids, after a comet hit the planet and caused a massive fire storm that obliterated nearly everything that lived, were forced to live underground. As they did, they evolved and survived under the harsh underground climates. Turns out that when we came here, we must've activated one of their Arks, therefore waking up the entire colony."

"So now that they're 'awoken', they want to wreck havoc and destruction on our planet for the sake of conquering it?" Swordstrike asked.

"In a way. From what I was told, we only woke up one Ark." Marcus replied.

"Okay, I'm sorry, but I am really confused." Spoke up Commander Shearslice. "Can you show us what exactly we're up against? And what you've faced?"

Marcus nodded and turned to Twilight. "Can you help us out by using that spell again to help them get a better view of what these Cryptids look like?" He asked. Twilight was hesitant, but she nodded. Once again, she used the spell, making Marcus able to place mental images and show them on the wall. The ponies watched as Marcus started to explain.

"The Cryptids came from another planet and evolved and thrived before any other major life form. When the comet hit, they evolved underground, making more than one type of Cryptids, and even making their own ecosystem. As of right now, I am going to show you each and every type of Cryptid we've fought and killed. Pay close attention, because this is crucial information, and trust me when I say this: You. WILL. Need. This. Information." Marcus warned. The ponies nodded as they used the papers from the desk to take notes. They then waited for him to continue.

"Okay, so, the first thing I'm gonna show you is this. These are called 'Hives'..."

"The Cryptids cultivate and defend huge fungal colonies called 'Hives'. The Hives emit some sort of pheromones that stimulate Cryptids' cold blooded metabolism, and overall urge to kill and conquer. These things can be created quickly and are placed in anywhere that the Cryptids can put and make them. The more they have, the more their urge to kill and conquer grows, not to mention that they can also create and spawn Cryptids themselves if there is a certain amount. The Hives possess a kind of rapid cellular regeneration renders the hives nearly indestructible, unless met with relentless and brutal firepower, or if the stems are cut off from the main Hive itself. Speaking of the stems, the Hives get their own energy from geothermic heat from deep underground instead of sunlight like a plant."

Next up is an actual Cryptid species that I've mentioned before. They are called 'Scouts'.

"Scouts are the ones that we killed back at the labs. These Cryptids have two small eyes and two concave armor plates on the top of their heads, capable of deflecting bullets and melee attacks, unless using armor-piercing rounds, or aiming at their weak spots, which is usually anywhere else but the plates. They also glow a distinguishable and unique yellow-orange aura, which makes them relatively easy to spot at a distance. Like most other Cryptid species, Scouts primarily run or walk on four legs. The Scouts are the weakest among the Cryptids to defeat, taking only a couple shots, and even though their teeth and claws look menacing, if you're wearing good armor, they might as well be playfully poking you. But if they are in groups of four or more, they can really take you down quickly and with ease."

"The next one is like the Scout's big brother. The Hunter."

"The Hunter is at least three times bigger than the Scouts, and are a lot more of a threat. The Hunters are actually average in physical size, with a silver tint to they outer skin, and have a red aura instead of an orange like the Scout's. Also just like the Scouts, their heads are lined with armor plating that is significantly stronger, but again; Armor Piercing rounds can do some magical things. Hunters will charge at you on two legs, making them quite distinguishable from the others. If you don't have the right armor, they will take you down with ease. They are deadly if in groups of three or more."

"Next up is the annoying one we hate. The Scorpion."

"This fucker is a bit bigger than a Hunter, but instead of it trying to hack and slash you like a Samurai on steroids, it had an elongated tale that, when provoked, will shoot out an acidic projectile at you, or the ground near you. Scorpions have four large yellow eyes on a round face with sharp, malicious teeth. They are also four-legged like the majority of the Cryptids, and have polyp-like growths on their back, which store the acid. Even though they look menacing, and are quite annoying, they are actually quite weak, since their weak spots are the yellow growths on their back itself. Their long tails also have yellow plop growths on them, storing even more acid, but making them even more vunerable at the same time. They also tend to jump around a lot, usually on top of rooftops, or even sticking to the side of the walls. When their acid projectiles hit, they not only create an acidic puddle, it also creates a gas cloud that's like a combination of mustard gas and tear gas. Thompson here has gas masks inside his pack, and we all wear special type of ceramic boots so that we can walk over the puddles without worry." Marcus lifted his feet and rested them on the table, showing his boots and their special design.

"And here we got the ones that can either make or break you. The Seekers."

"These bad boys make a helluva'n appearence. They appear in meteorites from the sky, and you can tell when the meteorites about to land when a random lightning strike hits the ground. When it hits the ground, they come in in groups of three to four Seekers. Seekers have a fiery aura around their back and they move very fast and will explode when killed or when in contact with someone or somepony. They have purple growths on their back, making it very easy to kill them. Their explosion consists of a type of plasma that can easily burn through flesh and light armor, and their fiery aura doesn't help when they mix. As soon as the Cryptids were discovered back on our planet, everybody in the military was equipped with a special type of armor that makes it hard for the plasma to seep through."

"The next one is the one 'normal' Cryptid that everybody should fear, and can cause huge amounts of havoc of not dealt with immediately. The Rhino."

"Wait... that's normal?" Nimbius asked, his shock level raising even higher. Marcus nodded before he continued.

Once the images showed up, the girls shuddered, having a brief flashback of their own from when they saw one take down a helicopter in one of Marcus' own flashbacks.

"The Rhino is one of the biggest normal Cryptids out there. They weigh about half a ton, and most of their body is covered in an extreme layer of armor, kinda like an armadillo. In fact, its armor is strong to the point where sometimes, Armor Piercing rounds won't even cut it. So instead, we use incendiary rounds." Marcus said, pulling out the magazine from his M1911 and pulling out a single .45 caliber designed to be incendiary. The advisers, the General, and the Commander leaned in closer, impressed by the look and design.

"One one of these, or any type of incendiary bullet makes contact with the Rhino, it'll engulf their entire, and I mean their entire outer body in flames. In other words, it'll cook them from the inside out. So that huge armor plating the Rhino has is like a double-edged sword if you think about it. The Rhino can either come out from the ground, and you'll know it's a Rhino when you see a huge grey fist punch through the ground." He explained, and couldn't help but chuckle noticing the ponies look down briefly at the floor. "The Rhino gets its name because it will usually charge at you like a... well... a Rhino, and will tend to either rip your chest open, or slam you into the ground. Speaking of which, they also punch their fists onto the ground, creating a small shockwave that can disorient anyone near the radius. Once there's a Rhino in sight, you first priority should be to kill it as soon as possible."

"The next one is the Rhino's big brother. The Mammoth."

"The Mammoth looks similar to the Rhino in various ways, but it also has its own special features. For starters, instead of having a red aura, it has a blue aura, and a blue inscription on its forehead. Another thing is that a Mammoth is exceptionally stronger than a Rhino, having an even bigger and thicker layer of armor. It can also burrow through the ground, and appear anywhere near you. As if that wasn't bad enough, these fucks, when they slam their fists on the ground rapidly, can summon three to six Hunter Cryptids to assist them. But otherwise, they attack in similar fashion to the Rhino, and can take a massive amount of bullets before going down."

"Here we have another special type of Cryptid. The Phantom."

"The Phantom similar appearance to the Hunter albeit having a blue aura, and its skin and armor plate is a bit stronger, and are more agile. What makes it so special, however, is that whenever they jump, they disappear in a dark blue cloud and turn invisible until they make contact with another surface. Behavior-wise, the Phantom can be a 'mixed bag'. It bounces around similar to Scorpions, yet they will attack quite frequently. The hits that the Phantom lands are very powerful and can easily tear of a limb with a single swipe, but they're just about as easy to kill as a Hunter, but not by much."

"Next one is a rare one we've only encountered in one location. The Seeder".

"The Seeder has a similar appearance to the Seeker, but it's more closely related to the Scorpions, because it can also shoot out the same type of acid from its mouth, and has the same growths on its back instead of the ones the Seeker contains. The Seeder gets its name because it can lay larvae that can sprout into a mutated plant, which we call 'Seeder Turrets'. Seeder Turrets are kinda like huge stems with the same plant design as the Hives, but these plant things are capable of rapidly shooting plasma projectiles, and can easily tear through our armor if there are enough of them around. The Seeder usually jumps around as much as the Scorpion, but it will usually try to avoid you, but if you come close to it, it'll spit out its acid at you. Overall, they're not too hard to kill, but nowhere near as easy as killing a Seeker or Scorpion. When killed, it explodes like a Seeker, and leaves the same poisonous gas cloud as a Scorpion."

"Next up we have the tiniest of the Cryptids. We call them 'Bombers'."

"They're kinda like mini flying dragons, but they have a green bulb in the middle of their body that explodes on contact, so think of them as small, flying Seekers. Their main job is just to fly at you and explode. They don't really cause much damage, they're just really a nuisance."

"Next up we got it's big brother.. and I mean big. Meet the Gargoyle."

"Paleobiologists back where we came from had a Latin name for these things, 'Gurgulios'. Like Godfather said, the rest of us call them Gargoyles. They have prehensile wings, high-acuity night vision, radar reflective epidermal tissue, retractable claws, and a chitin tail blade. In other words, they can see clearly in the dark as if it was daytime, they can't be spotted on radar, their claws are kinda like a cat's, and they have a tail blade. They're strong enough to rip off the tail off of the helicopter the SOAR dudes use with their bare mouths. Their tail also has the ability to store and shoot red crystalline 'bullets' at a rapid rate. Their wings, however, are very delicate and if one of them are shot even once, they're rendered useless, and will try to attack you from the ground. Back where we came from, these fuckers had air superiority over all of our cities, bases, and launch facilities."

"The next one is the Cryptid that laid the eggs in the Diamond Dog's corpse, and the one we killed back in Appleloosa. The Cricket."

"This is one of the freakiest and 'unique' Cryptids we've ever fought and seen to date. They are about seven feet tall. Or to put in in easier terms, about a foot taller than me." Marcus said, giving them an idea on how tall the Cricket is. He smirked when he saw the ponies look up to the roof. Even Celestia. He then continued. "The Cricket gets its name due to the clicking noise it makes when the 'whiskers' rub together, attracting its victims, or making you aware that there's a Cricket near you, and it's ready to fuck shit up. It has purple and greyish skin, and also has an armor plate like the Hunter, but it's a lot less effective. It also breathes through its neck like a fish. And if that wasn't enough to freak you out, it has several small eggs on its stomach kinda like a frog. The eggs are usually larve of Cryptids, and are often placed in or around corpses. They can grow to the size of a Scout, because it usually contains one. It also spits out a jet stream of pure acid, different from the ones the Scorpion and the Seeder use. This acid will just burn through you rapidly on impact, and our armor isn't strong enough to counter it. So when we see or hear a Cricket, our first priority is to take it out quick and brutally."

"Okay. Now we're gonna go through the big ones.. and I mean big ones. Mares and Gentlecolts, I present you the Breeder."

As soon as the image popped up, all of the ponies gasped, while Fluttershy let out an 'eep' and hid below the table. Swordstrike was dumbfounded, Shearslice was on the verge of collapsing, and the adviser from Las Pegasus was now laying on the floor.

"Wh-who is that pon- person looking at that... thing?!" Asked Nimbius, completely shocked.

"That would be me." Kayla said nonchalantly.

"Yeah, it was her. Pretty ballsy move for someone who doesn't have balls." Jackson commented, getting slugged in the shoulder for his troubles, but this only made him laugh harder.

"Ah the Breeder... this thing is something. Let's start of with its size. It's about forty or so feet tall, and has several ways of attacking. One of them is a 'machine-gun' like attack, where it brings out two of its appendages from behind its back and aims it at whoever it wishes to kill. These appendages shoot out light purple crystalline projectiles at a monstrous rate of nearly nine hundred a minute. The Breeder also uses its huge front appendages to slam and slash whoever and whatever is in front of it. Kayla there was lucky enough to dive for cover near a huge propane tank before she got slammed herself." Marcus explained the event simply, looking over at Kayla, who just rolled her eyes in return. "The Breeder can also launch huge 'spores' that explode on impact, emitting a dangerous mixture of gas an hormonic chemicals. Even our gas masks can't protect us from this gas, so we just usually move and avoid them, or shoot them in mid air. The Breeder earns its name because it can also launch two to six eggs that can rapidly grow and give birth to a Hunter in a matter of seconds. Most of the Breeder's body is covered in a very tight armor plating except for that little dot on its forehead, which is its main weak spot. It also has a huge weak spot on its stomach, which can easily burst open, and make its organs and entrails vulnerable to gunfire or anything else. We've only faced one of these, but we've been told that there are more than just one."

"The next one is the biggest Cryptid there is to have ever been known to exist. Meet... The Kraken."

"You mean like that old mare's tale about a huge squid that lives in the ocean... eep.." Rainbow's voice faded away as soon as she saw the image.

Marcus chuckled at her reaction. "Heheh... not quite. This one-hundred foot monstrosity is no joke. As the name suggests, the Kraken has the looks of a giant squid, except much more terrifying. Each of its enormous tentacles are topped with fleshy beaks that will snap at and attempt to bite you if you stray too close. It has a huge head, with a gigantic gaping mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. It's skin is white, like all the other cryptids, and it's eyes and pores glow with a ghostly orange light, similar to that of other Cryptids. When it emerges from the sea, it will let out a deafening roar that causes shell-shock. It will then try to slam you with its huge tentacles, which those themselves causes a mini-shockwave capable of distorting anyone near it. It's most devastating attack thought is when it latches it tentacles around the given area you might be standing upon. It'll then begin emitting heat from its body and onto the surface you're standing on, making it seem like you're swimming on lava. The only way to avoid it is to stand on a pair of Cryptid corpses, or stand on one of the Hive remnants. But when it does this attack, however, it's also at its most vulnerable and weakest. That little dot on its forehead is its weak spot. It also has a second type of roar, which emits a thunderous and devastating electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, destroying or distorting any and all electronics within its range. We've only faced and defeated one of these things, but we are not sure if there are more."

"The next one is the second to last one. It'll be short, because we've never faced this Cryptid before. From reports we've read, they've named it 'The Screecher'."

Before Marcus could continue, he heard four 'thump' like sounds behind him. When he turned, he saw that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had actually fainted, along with Nimbius.

"Poor bastards... heheh.."

"Yep.. I wouldn't blame them. The Screecher gets its name because, from what we were told, it uses sound to move and attack, and when it does detect movement, it screeches loudly into the air that attracts every type of Cryptid into the vicinity so they can back the Screecher up. It uses something similar to sonar, like a bat. This Cryptid is different from the others, because it had two mouths, a springy tail, and it's formed in a more similar style to a human. It has a very muscled body and torso, has no arms, but it has two legs and is bipedal like a human. We were told that they can reach speeds of about thirty miles an hour, and its feet contain razor sharp claws that can be used to disembowel somebody with one good swing. Again, we've never faced this... yet..." Marcus mumbled the last part.

"Alright. Now we've reached the final Cryptid, and probably the most dangerous of all. The Ancestor."

"The Ancestors. They're the ones behind the entire thing. They have complete and full control of the entire Cryptid species, and the Cryptids work for them. The Ancestors' head is elongated and has two glowing eyes which sit over a large group of tentacle-like tendrils, which gives the head a resemblance to a squid. The Ancestors are capable of telekinetic abilities, including but not limited to sending commands to creatures that are capable of receiving them and seeing the world through the minds of humans who can be used by Ancestors. One of the victims happened to be someone who was, and still is, very valuable to the human race. Dr. Samantha Cross, but we'll get to that some other time. They're physical bodies are relatively fragile, but they can project a powerful gravimetric field to deflect attacks, and they can even levitate. We suspect the Ancestors are virtually impervious to small arms fire while the field is active, unless using supersonic Armor-Piercing rounds, or this thing." Marcus unslung his NX-1 Disruptor. "This thing uses the brain of an Ancestor, called the Cortex, as ammunition. We'll get to all of this later. Now back to the Ancestor. They can attack by either launching a black-hole like projectile at you, dazing you and making you vulnerable for its second attack, which involves it using its telekinetic abilities to levitate you and choke you to death, unless the Ancestor is interrupted."

"How did it manipulate you humans to see the world while they were 'asleep'?" Nimbius asked.

"It can either infect someone with a minmetic virus, or use one of their own to shapeshift into a human itself, and brainwash whoever their victim may be to do what they want them to do..." Marcus took a quick glance at Luna, who was still focused on the image, and looked as if she was deep in thought.

"Well... this is all very useful information. We got it all written down." Swordstrike said.

"Good. You're gonna need it. Trust me." Marcus replied simply. Nimbius was a bit uneased by this, so he asked him a question.

"I- we suppose that you will all take care of the situation and help us in this effort?"

Marcus sighed lightly and leaned in. "I don't make promises I can't keep. Neither does my squad.. but we aren't done talking just yet. We've only just begun..."

Author's Note

I am SO sorry for the wait! Hope the wait was somewhat worth! I've been thinking about turning this into a multi-crossover.

As I said before, it won't. BUT with a couple of exceptions.

What are they?

Well...

I hope you still remember Twilight's Trans-Dimensional spell. It will bring in ~~The Hyena Infra-Dead~~ some 'interesting' items....

:raritywink:

The ages for the Mane Six might tick off a couple of you, so sorry in advance.

Chapter 43: What's In Store For Them

As one of the advisers handed out new clean sheets of paper to write on, Sworstrike was intrigued by what Marcus said about here being more to talk about. "Oh? Well what other things should be know about?"

"I know you all have questions for us, so let's start with those." Marcus replied. The others nodded.

"So what did you mean about us knowing other things? You said you just mainly mentioned the Cryptids, Hives, and their leaders. What else is there really?" Swordstrike asked.

"Oh man... where do I start?..." Marcus said, leaning back into his chair and going into deep thought for a couple of moments on what he should first talk about. Before he could speak, Nimbius was already in the process of asking a question himself.

"How did these Cryptids appear in your world? Where you all came from? You mentioned how briefly, but can you go more in depth?" He asked.

Marcus snapped his fingers. "That's easy. Alright. The Cryptids. Back on our planet, which was called 'Earth', the Cryptids appeared long before us Humans, around 550 million years ago. They evolved before the dinosaurs, when Earth was just a huge planet of gas and fumes. Skies were stained black from countless volcano eruptions when the planet was slowly forming. Sometime later, a comet came in and ignited the oxygen from the atmosphere, causing a devastating fire storm that incinerated all life on the surface of the earth. The Cryptids foresaw this catastrophe, and devised an Ark to ensure their survival of the ancient apocalypse in an underground cave area under Colorado, which was a state in our home country called the United States."

"What's this 'Ark' you speak of?" Nimbius asked.

"I'll get to that in a moment. Several millions of years later, in the year 2016, our country was fighting two wars. One was the Federation War, which involved South American countries uniting as one, and planned to take over the United States. The other war was the Tel-Aviv War, which was fought in the Middle East, and was the war we were all mainly involved in. During the war, the Federation took over a space satellite, the S.S Odin-"

"Wait, your planet had a space station?!" The girls asked in astonishment. Marcus nodded as he noticed that Rainbow and Applejack had recovered from fainting.

"Yes. We had four stations, actually. The Odin satellite, or the Orbital Defense Initiative, is an orbital kinetic bombardment weapons platform developed by the United States. The station was armed with a battery of sophisticated kinetic projecticle launchers that can launch tungsten rods with pinpoint precision anywhere around the world. The tungsten rods were 6.1 by 0.3m and had the equivalent of a small tactical nuclear warhead, but without the fear of nuclear fallout, reaching speeds at about Mach 10, or ten times the speed of sound, and can reach its target in a matter of minutes, about 12-15 minutes in fact."

"Wait... ten times the speed of sound?!" Rainbow asked in shock.

"Yep." Marcus responded back simply. Only to see Rainbow faint once more. "What's with her and fainting all of a sudden?.."

"Eheh... anyways, long story short, soldiers from the Federation took over Odin, and were planning to use the tungsten rods on our own cities. One of those rods hit a small town called Caldrea Peak in the state of Colorado. When the rod hit the mountain, it unveiled a huge underground Cryptid colony. When the Cryptids were awoken, they..." He paused for a moment before continuing. "They went towards the small town and basically killed every living thing there." Marcus explained. Swordstrike and Shearslice nodded slowly and silently before he continued. "Three military units, two CIF Teams and one Tier-One squad were sent there to eradicate the Cryptids and activate a nuclear device that was dropped near the colony, but never detonated. Two of those units were eradicated in less than an hour after deployment, and were never heard from again."

"They then sent in a third squad, called 'Task Force Spectre', and Night Stalkers to the site where they successfully detonated the nuke, eradicating all of the Cryptids there."

Then, Mike butted into the conversation. "And we were the ones who deployed two of the teams."

The Marines turned to the pilots. "You were?..." They asked in unison. The pilots nodded in response.

"Small world..." Kevin muttered, getting a chuckle from Jackson before Marcus continued.

"But this is where it really starts to get interesting..." Marcus said, showing the ponies a picture of a man wearing a red beret on his head, and was equipped with a black vest.

"This is David Archer. According to General Godfather Castle, our old commander, he was 'a top shooter in the Special Air Service, another type of Tier-One special operations group, but foreign, until he washed out on a Section 8, which means he was mentally scarred, being deemed mentally unfit to return to duty'. He was initially known as someone who wouldn't crack under pressure. But intel says otherwise. Archer was also fighting in the Tel-Aviv war, where he and a six-man kill team were assigned to a black ops in Swat Valley, Pakistan. After the op, they were denied extraction, having to hide out in caves for six weeks with his team. He claims that he made contact with "Aliens" in the cave. He was told that he was insane for thinking of such a thing, but damn whoever told them that must be regretting it right now, huh?" Marcus asked, trying to add a bit of dark humor. As an awkward silence loomed over, he continued. "Cheeky bastards... anyways, after he learned about the Cryptid outbreak in Colorado, he went to the quarantine zone and smuggled Cryptid specimens out while the U.S. Military fought against the outbreak. Then, he created the Nightfall Program."

"What's this 'Nightfall Program', you speak of?" Nimbius asked.

"I'm glad you asked! I thought I would never had said it in the first place!" Marcus said, sarcasm dripping down each and every word. He then sighed and explained.

"The Nightfall Program was a research project lead by Captain David Archer. Archer founded the program in 2016, a year after encountering the Cryptid colony in the Tel Aviv War. The program consisted of at least 127 scientists, employees, and private military contractors based out of Point Barrow, in the state of Alaska, the site of the project's headquarters. While its benefactors believed it was investing in biochemical weaponry, Nightfall's true intentions were to investigate a means of severing the ties between the Cryptids and their masters, gaining control of the creatures themselves." Marcus explained simply.

"So.. let me get this straight," Shearslice bumped in. "This 'Nightfall Program', was established to gain control of the Cryptids and use them yourselves? For what?"

"In a way. The program was funded by the United States Government, thinking that the entire thing was to develop new biochemical weapons. But really, the true purpose of Nightfall was much more sinister; to find a way to seize control over the Cryptids for Archer's own use. I don't know what, but I'm guessing it's not too far off the line of the old 'taking over the world' cliche.. but it would make sense."

"Anyways, During an archeological dig in South America, Nightfall uncovered numerous structures surrounding a Cryptid meteor covered in complex heiroglyphics, showing signs of it having ancient relations to ancient tribes and languages. This is the part where he recruited a woman named Dr. Samantha Cross, a vey well known natural code breaker, and has a PhD in Paleontology Linguistics, but we'll get to her in a second. After the ODIN strike on Caldrea Peak and revealing the Cryptids underground, he was intrigued, prompting him to lead an investigation of the site. He returned with numerous Cryptid samples and a large obelisk carved of obsidian rock and inscribed with Cryptid heiroglypthics, known as an 'Ark'. As Cross began tirelessly decoding the Ark, Archer expressed interest in finding more of the items globally, believing one to be located in the South Pacific that inspired the lost continent of Mu, which was a former continent in which the Cryptids inhabited back then before the meteor hit. Requiring a ship and crew, he began covertly negotiating with a Chinese client known only as 'Contact 28' by Godfather, offering Nightfall's impressive weaponry and research to the country in exchange for his requests. Meanwhile, Cross, now fearful of Nightfall's true intentions, breached the location of their head facility to the U.S. government, revealing Nightfall's true as well as sabotaging the hatchery that contained live specimens, under the influence of the Cryptid masters who had brainwashed her with the mimetic virus as she decrypted the Obelisks."

"With over 100 scientists, soldiers, agents, and contractors killed in the outbreak, Nightfall was deemed terminated by the U.S. after we, CIF Team One, de-contaminated the overrun facility. However, the few who survived the outbreak, including Archer and a captured Dr. Cross, attempted to recover from the fallout and sailed for the second Ark aboard Stormbreaker, a decommisioned Chinese stealth destroyed ship, Archer's vessel supplied by Contact 28. Onboard, the survivors focused their attentions on experimenting with anti-Cryptid technology, and ways to transform Cryptids into friendlies still to protect themselves from another attack, as well as the defecting Samantha Cross, who was surgically bonded to a Beacon Amplifier that would aid them in their travels to the second Ark, and alert them of Cryptids both in the ship, and nearby in the sea, since they're known to swim easily. However, problems arose when the crew began experiencing vivid nightmares from the increasingly-hostile mental presence of Cross, rumors threatening a mutiny and even some going against Archer's commands. Then after a couple of days,almost all of the ship's crew abandoned ship to keep their lives and sanity. After they abandoned ship, Cross summoned the Ancestor's aquatic guardian, The Kraken, to keep Nightfall from reaching its ultimate goal. Due to that happening, it igniting a third outbreak in the process, which we had to deal with. We arrived and defeated the Cryptids, and The Kraken itself in less than seven hours. Nightfall had completely dissolved when the U.S Government found out At this time, Archer himself defected as a double-agent to the United States, 'helping' us out in the process."

As he finished explaining, the whole room fell into a deadly silence for almost four minutes as the ponies soaked in all of the information, while also writing down important parts to it, which was basically everything he said. Before the four minutes turned into five, Swordstrike looked up at Marcus. "What happened to Archer after he left the ship?" He asked.

"Long story short, we found him in the second Ark, and left him for dead." Marcus responded with a deadpanned tone. The ponies gasped, but before they could say anything, Marcus went into further detail. "We did it because one, he could not, I say again, could not be trusted. He was still focusing on his own agenda, and we couldn't help but think he would turn on us again. Secondly, we're in the military. We follow orders. We were ordered to leave him."

The ponies thought about it for a moment or so before accepting the fact that they most likely did the right choice, especially if Archer was planing to still go along with what he had in mind. "Reasonable, and understandable, but I have another question." Swordstrike asked.

"Shoot."

"You said that while they were on the Stormbreaker, they invented anti-Cryptid technology. Can you tell us what they built specifically?" He asked.

"Sure. One of the first things we found in the ship was something called the 'Hypno Trap',"

"The Hypno Trap is made up of orange container sheets, a metallic sheet that acts as a pressure plate on top, wires, electrical equipment, cell batteries, and biolum, which are canisters that contain 'brain juice' inside them. The Hypno Trap is able to convert Cryptids that touch it into friendlies, and able to even turn Rhinos to become friendly. However, it cannot turn Gargoyles or the Mammoth into friendlies, and the downside is that the hypnotic-friendly state only stays for about five minutes before their hearts stop and they die instantly."

"That's a bummer. You could show us how to build them, which would help us in the technology department, and in the whole Cryptid thing in general." Swordstrike suggested, getting nods from the other ponies.

"I'll think about that. But that's not all we found. We also found a similar trap. The Tesla Trap."

"The Tesla Trap is made up of orange container sheets, wires, tape, Amolecular Magnets,and a Nucleic Battery. This trap is able to shock Cryptids that are around it periodically. There are four pylons in the middle, which creates for a maximum damage, and can chain with other Tesla Traps to create a huge barrier. The downside to these traps, is that their batteries last for around fifteen minutes, and are very rare to come by."

What happened to Archer after he left the ship?" He asked.

The ponies thought about it for a moment before finally coming to the conclusion that they did the right thing, and that they did what they were told.

"We could produce them to create barriers when we need to..." Nimbius suggested. "The Tesla Traps, I mean." Marcus and the others nodded as he continued.

"Alright there's one more important item, but I'll save it for last. Now we have another person to talk about. Dr. Samantha Cross." Marcus spoke, mentally grimacing at the look of her face as he looked upon her. He then continued. "he is a doctor in paleolinguistics and a former member of the Nightfall Program, where she studied the origins of the Cryptids. She received her PhD in Paleontology Linguistics from Harvard University almost a year before the events of Nightfall. She turned down a seven figure contract with the NSA, a.. well, think of it as a 'spying' agency, and instead decided to "dig holes in the jungle", or in other words, look through the jungle, solwing ancient languages that were lost thousands of years ago. In an interview, she revealed that she was born with a rare neurological condition, which allows her brain to process complex patterns into a code or language. Because of this condition, she is known as a natural code breaker. Because of her publicity, Cross was brought out to the Nightfall Program's head facility in Alaska by David Archer to study the Cryptid specimens he retrieved from Colorado." Marcus then paused for a moment, waiting for the ponies to finish writing before he continued.

"Cross had spent months at the Nightfall facility learning about the Cryptid species. During her time there, Archer and the other members of the project denied her questions she wanted answers to. After four months of learning the origins of Cryptids, Archer tasked her with the decoding of the Obelisk, an obsidian stone carved with Cryptid glyphs found at the Colorado colony. After weeks of insomnia caused by her devotion to decode the obelisk, Archer unveiled his newest creation, the monstrous Breeder, causing Samantha to fear the true intentions of Nightfall. Giving into her suspicions, she breached the facility's location to the U.S. government, begging them to put an end to the group's work. Unbeknownst to Cross, her ongoing translations of the Ark began affecting her subconscious, making her suffer from the mimetic virus the stone carried, allowing her to broadcast the telepathic commands sent to the Cryptids from their distant commanding Ancestors. Under their influence, Cross breached Nightfall's hatchery in an outbreak that slaughtered 127 of the Program's employees, her being one of the remaining survivors due to the Cryptids' refusal to harm her."

"Why did they refuse to harm her?" Nimbius asked.

"To be honest.. it.. she never really explained why. I guess she's like some sort of 'Goddess' to the Cryptids. The Cryptids can't and won't kill her, but she could kill them with ease and without retaliation." Marcus explained.

"What happened to her?"

"Well, after Samantha reported Nightfall's true intentions to the U.S Government, the U.S. Military organized a Rapid Reaction Force, us, to retrieve Dr. Cross, gather intelligence related to the Nightfall project and eradicate any and all Cryptids and Hives in the process. We were under the command of RRF's General Castle. After we encountered and defeating the Breeder in the first area of the facility, Castle declared Cross among the deceased killed, and the mission switched from a search-and-rescue, to a salvage and de-contamination mission. But as we entered the main laboratories/storage area however, Samantha herself revealed over the intercom she was hiding in one of the facility's research rooms. After we breached the lab, Cross actually prepared to kill herself after finally finishing the translations of the Ark, as her brain slowly turned further to the Cryptid's favor. Moments later, Archer, being the cheeky little shit he is, quickly incapacitated Cross by shooting her in her shoulder and kidnapped Cross. We tried to shoot our way through the glass and into the room, but the shit was bulletproof, and we couldn't risk killing Cross. Godfather then told us that her and Archer were escaping from the compound in a vehicle. When we made it outside, we saw it drive away, leaving us with a pissed of Breeder to deal with. After we killed the Breeder, we called in a Napalm strike on the facility and awaited evacuation about half a mile away in the freezing ice. As we did, an unconscious Cross was taken aboard Stormbreaker, Archer's escape vessel, and oversaw the bonding of her brain to the Beacon Amplifier, a device designed by surviving Nightfall scientist Dr. Kassar, to lead Archer and his men to the next Ark."

"What an unfortunate.. I can't.. wow." Twilight whispered as she payed close attention.

"Yeah... but without her, we wouldn't be here, really. After we escaped the facility, we tracked the location of theStormbreaker and got in to find Cross. When we couldn't find her, Godfather told us that she and Archer were already at the second Ark. So we went there after killing The Kraken. When we arrived at the shored, Samantha was already inside the Ark with the Ancestors, and the Ancestors showed her what exactly they had planned for us. She foresaw the Ancestors' intentions: to awaken all of the Arks and release the Cryptids onto the Earth's surface, eliminating the human race. After Archer and his squad arrived in Ball's Pyramid, she saves Archer's life by cutting off his right arm due to a poisonous infection and offered him a deal; she will guide him and his soldiers into the Ark for the brain of an Ancestor's for a passage off of the island, which Archer accepts. Once Archer received what he needed, however, he attempted to shoot Cross. Samantha responded by taking control of Archer,forcing him to kill his men and shoot himself in the leg. Cross left him to die, but we arrived, took the Cortex, and left. As we did, we encountered Samantha on the way, and escorted her out along with us."

"What happened to Samantha after that?" Rainbow asked.

"Again, long story short, we flew in to help fight off the Cryptids laying siege to the last remnants of human resistance. We were one of the last hopes for all of Humanity. Our main goal was to get key personnel to safety by restoring power to a space shuttle and launch it to the safety of a low earth orbit space station, where they would be able to go into a cryogenic sleep for a thousand years." Marcus explained.

"A thousand years?" Twilight asked, clearly shocked.

"Yes. A thousand years. The shuttle was filled with the top scientists, paleobiologists, elite soldiers, and leaders. Where someday our species would fight back, and reclaim the Earth. The four of us are actually supposed to be in a cryogenic slumber right now, but we were denied access to board the shuttle, since we were the only ones who could hold off the Cryptids until it launched." Marcus explained in a somewhat saddened tone. "But it was worth it. Kinda."

He was responded by several strong 'Oorah's' and 'Hooah's'. The ponies however, were saddened by this news, but decided not to push it further.

"Very... very informative. Now that's generated even more questions for us. First of all, what are these Arks?" The Las Pegasus adviser asked.

"The Arks are underground pyramids made by the Ancestors to help them survive basically any ancient apocalypse or natural disaster, while also housing millions, or even trillions of Cryptids in each, along with dozens of Ancestors. Back on Earth, there were at least one hundred-or-so Arks. Or at least enough that the Arks were spread worldwide, and were able to take over about ninety percent of the planet's surface in less than two hundred hours." Marcus said in a dark tone.

"T-they took over in less tha-than..." Swordstrike stuttered. "Two hundred hours?..." The humans all nodded at the same time. "A-and their intentions are to kill and take over, right?..."

"Yes. They're basically bred for war and to take over." Jackson added.

General Swordstrike's eyes widened as sweat started to roll down his forehead. He then collapsed onto his chair before whispering. "Oh my Celestia..."

Before anyone else could panic, Nimbius spoke up with a question of his own. "What is the Cortex?"

"The Cortex is a tissue sample collected from the brain of an Ancestor. After we used a prototype drill to scan several obelisks, we arrived into the Ark room with the Ancestors and Archer. Archer was holding a Cortex when we entered, so we took it, along with other items. The Cortex sucks up bio-electric energy, stores it like a psychic battery, then detonates like a neutron bomb if focused in a way. It's also the main part to creating the NX-1 Disruptor."

With that, Marcus lifted up his NX-1 Disruptor from the table, showing the ponies the weapon. The other Marines did the same, all of them having their own NX-1's. The General and the Commander looked closer at the pulsating brain that was known as the Cortex.

"This weapon.. oh man, is it something. It overheats at ten rounds, which are pure energetic kinetic rounds at the ready. One of the best things about this weapon, is that it has
basically unlimited ammunition, since it cools down, setting a round at the ready every few seconds. And these shots are so powerful it can take out a Rhino in about four shots, whilst killing Scouts, Seekers, Hunters, Scorpions, Bombers, and the Leper in one well-aimed shot. These shots do take time to hit their target, so it is ill advised to attempt to shoot aliens from afar. Pulling and holding the trigger will charge a very powerful, huge, slow-moving Disruptor round which upon making contact with a Cryptid the ball of energy will disperse, killing weaker Cryptids, and damaging tougher Cryptids. It will also disable the Ancestors' shields, making them vulnerable to other conventional means of firepower."

"Wow..." The ponies said in unison, making it the understatement of the century. Marcus and the others chuckled before putting their NX-1's on the floor.

"So... I know you all want to know how we operate, but we have time for that later. What other questions are there?"

That's when Commander Shearslice spoke up. "Okay then.. first of all, how will you all help us out on this entire thing?"

Marcus and the others did their best to hold in a breath of disappointment before he responded. "Well I thought we were already helping out? Seriously though, us alone aren't enough to take them all out. We don't have a clue on how many Cryptids there are, but I'm guessing there's more than we can all count. We're gonna need everybody's help if we're to even stand a chance against these things."

Shearslice tilted his head to the side a bit. "Well, what do you propose we do? It seems like you all know how to handle situations involving Cryptids. We have no clue where they are, and how many."

Marcus went into deep thought once more before responding. "Well even with all eight of us alone, we most likely will not be enough to deal with the Cryptids. And no offense, but you and your guards are nowhere near in the condition to even be thinking of fighting the Cryptids head on."

Swordstrike nodded in understanding. "I see your point. I have seen how your weapons operate and the sheer power they possess."

"Yeah. Our weapons are several thousand years ahead of yours. I see guards here equipped with spears, swords, shields, and even slingshots! The only modern weaponry we've seen are cannons and crossbows. The problem with that is that the cannons just fire huge balls of lead-"

Shearslice cut him off. "Can't those be effective at all?"

Marcus shook his head. "They can be to a certain degree, but they're slow to move and reload. The cannonballs don't even explode!"

"What about crossbows?"

"They could be, but the problem with that is they're made of wood and cheap metal. The crossbows that existed in our world were made of pure, sleek, strong metals, rope or metallic ropes, and sophisticated firing mechanisms. Even then however, they are not standard issued to most, if not, all modern military due to them being so obsolete."

"What about magic crossbows with lethal spells on them?" Nimbius suggested. Again, Marcus shook his head.

"The arrows themselves won't be powerful enough to even penetrate their skin. Unless you have invented explosive-tips." Marcus asked.

"We have explosive, incendiary, and poison spells, but they only last around five to seven seconds on a solid object, let alone on an arrow." Shearslice replied. He then thought for a couple of seconds before coming up with an idea. "I got it! How about you show us how to build your weaponry? We can customize them to be used by ponies, Unicorns especially, and we could at least help out in operations, which would make things easier."

As the Commander said this, red flags popped up all over the idea. Marcus and the others were very skeptical about this. And from the looks of it, so were the Princess' themselves.

"I see some problems with this. First of all, I don't want to burden this entire planet with our weapons, and secondly, what if they fall into the wrong hands? I mean, I know that this place is peaceful and all, but not everything is all sunshine and rainbows. Especially since we all now the Cryptids exist here." Marcus exclaimed. The ponies nodded in agreement, clearly seeing the issues with this problem.

"We could keep this whole weapons project thing a secret to the public?" Shearslice suggested. "I can assign the weapons to only the very best of the Royal Guard, and the Lunar Guard."

"Have you heard the saying 'what's done in the dark, will be brought to the light'?" Marcus asked with an eyebrow raised. Shearslice nodded. The entire room fell into a silence as everybody went into deep thought once more.

After what seemed like an eternity, Marcus spoke up. "Look... I don't know about the weapons, but I can, however, give you the schematics on the traps if it'll help. Better something than nothing, right?" He said with a sly smile. The ponies nodded.

"I suppose. I'll give you a couple of days to think about what we should do. On another note, I am awfully curious on seeing how that 'NX-1 Disruptor' of yours works. Would you mind showing us?" Swordstrike asked. Marcus was about to retort, until he saw that the others were also interested in seeing the NX-1 in action, including the soldiers and the Princess'.

Marcus then sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine. Let's go outside, and we'll give you all a show." As he said this, the girls whooped, along with Kevin, who quickly shut himself up. The Marines chuckled as they stood up from their chairs. Marcus then turned to Kayla. "Hey, can you give the General here the schematics? We already have enough equipment back at Twilight's library."

Kayla nodded and handed over the Tesla schematics over to the General, who took it in his mouth. She then turned to Celestia to ask her a question. "Do you still have the bodies of the Cryptids we killed back at the lab?"

Celestia nodded, albeit a bit hesitant. "Yes. Why do you ask?"

"Because those schematics are gonna need the 'brain juice' from the Cryptids for the cell batteries." Kayla said simply. Celestia kept a straight face and stopped herself from shivering and nodded. After the General stored the schematic, they walked out to the hallway once more.

Before another silence could approach the group once more, Celestia turned to Marcus. "I forgot to ask.. is there anything you will need at all?" She asked.

Marcus nodded. "Yeah, there is actually. For starters, we don't want to stay at the girls' houses for an extended period of time." He then turned to the girls. "No offense. We just don't want to occupy your space and store our stuff there."

"Don't worry about it," Twilight responded. "we understand."

Celestia also nodded. "I can arrange a construction group from here to be sent to Ponyville to build you all a place to stay. It will take a bit of time, and the construction workers are going to need specifics, but it should be done easily."

"Thank you, Celestia. We can also double it as a forward operating base." Marcus said thankfully, with the others having the same look of gratitude.

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes. And this will not only benefit us, but everypony in general. First of all, how many guards are in the whole entire guard?" He asked.

General Swordstrike spoke up. "There's about seventy two thousand guards spread all over Equestria, with four hundred Lunar Guards, and only twenty in our newly formed special forces."

Marcus lifted an eyebrow. "When were these special forces made?"

"It was formed when we got into some political and territorial heat with the Griffon Empire. We decided to keep it."

"You might want to increase your guard count in general. Trust me when I say that even with us ourselves, we're not going to be enough to fight the Cryptids. I suggest you and Commander Shearslice, along with Captain Shining Armor, try to increase your guard count, especially in the special forces area." Marcus suggested. "We'll help out in any way we can with the effort. Hell, we can even train them."

The General was very into doing this, along with Shearslice and Celestia herself. "We'll see."

"Also, once we get all of our stuff organized, we can go and find where the Cryptids came from. Since the Cricket came from beyond the mountains, I guess we can search up there. But it's too early to tell right now."

They all nodded in agreement. As they walked out of the hallway and into the courtyard, Dempsey spoke up.

"Wait, what about the locals in Ponyville? Surely the news had already spread that I.. well, you know. How are gonna deal with them?"

The girls thought for a second, until Twilight came up with a possible solution. "I got it! Nightmare Night is just around the corner, isn't it?" She turned to the girls. They nodded with a smile as they now had the same idea as Twilight."

"Oh yeah! You guys can warm up with everypony there by participating in the event!" Rainbow suggested with a smile.

Dempsey was into it, along with the others. "Sounds good.. except I have one more question. What's 'Nightmare Night'?"

Twilight was about to answer, but Rainbow did it instead. "To put it simply, it's where mainly colts and fillies dress up and go around getting candy and stuff." Rainbow said. She then turned over to Twilight, who was glaring daggers back at her. "What? I just saved us an hour is all!" She said, crossing her forehooves, and making the humans chuckle.

"She's got a point, Twi." Applejack added. Twilight just rolled her eyes as they stopped walking and watched the Marines pull out their NX-1 Disruptors. They then aimed at whatever remaining mannequins were left from their weapons demonstration before.

"Alright. We're gonna show you all how fast we can shoot it, then we'll show you the best part this thing has to offer." Marcus said. With that, the four Marines got in a line, five feet from each other. After pressing a button on the side that extended the barrel and switching the Cortex on, they all raised their NX-1's simultaneously and took aim.

Marcus rose his left hand slightly and used his fingers to count down from three. As soon as he only had one finger left, they unleashed hell on the mannequins. Their trigger fingers squeezed and left as quickly as they came into contact with the trigger, doing it as fast as they could over and over. Dozens of balls of blue, pure electrical energy came into contact with the mannequins, melting straight through and leaving a gaping hole with each shot. The shots then connected with the concrete wall behind it, causing a mini-detonation, while also creating a mini-electric shockwave. The balls of energy then stopped as soon as they started, their NX-1's making a slight, yet rapid beeping sound, indicating that the Cortex needed a couple of seconds to recharge.

The Marines then turned to the ponies. "Well?" Jackson asked.

The girls' reactions were about the same as showing them the Barrett .50 Cal, along with the Princess'. Swordstrike and Shearslice were very impressed, along with the advisers. "Woah... that looks very painful. And that was like what?... ten seconds flat?"

"Oh, that's nothing..." Marcus said. The Marines then turned back around and raised their NX-1's once more. As they did, they all held squeezed on the trigger, but not letting go however. As they held the trigger, the ponies noticed that all of their NX-1's were slightly shaking every half second, and were making a sort of energy-filling sound. After about nine seconds, their NX-1's were now shaking violently in their hands, along with a bright blue energetic light emitting from the barrel. They then let go of the triggers, and out came a single huge blue ball of electrical energy from each of their NX-1's, while making all of the Marines step back a couple of steps from the sheer recoil. The balls moved slowly at the wall. After three seconds, the balls made contact with the wall. The balls emerged as one and shrunk to the size of a penny, before emitting a deafening boom, and causing a shockwave that made the Marines and the ponies stumble, while causing a small dome of energy emerge and spread quickly before dissipating. Once everybody recovered, they looked back, noticing an enormous black stain on the once pure-white concrete wall. Another thing they noticed, is that there were no signs of mannequin remains.

"I... Uh... Wo-... Holy..." The General was at a loss of words. The Marines also noticed that everypony's manes were now slicked all the way back from the sheer force of the blast, let alone the energy dome. The funniest of all, however, were the looks on the Princess' faces. They looked as if they'd just seen their castle blow up right in front of them, and their manes were also slicked back in an awesome fashion that would make the singers from K.I.S.S jealous. They resisted the urge to laugh as Celestia recovered herself and fixed everypony's manes back to their original style.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Rainbow shouted in pure joy of what she'd just witnessed. The girls nodded in agreement, even Fluttershy. Nevermind that she was hiding behind the others the entire time.

"That was something..." Nimbius said. What an understatement...

"Yeah.. oh yeah, it sure as hell was. But we still have some more stuff to show you." Marcus added as he and his squad shut off their NX-1's and stored them.

"Oh really? Care to tell us?" Nimbius said with a slight smile and an eyebrow raised.

"Nah. We'll show you instead." Marcus replied with a smile as Nimbius waited anxiously to see what else they had in store. Marcus then turned to Twilight.

"Hey Twi, do you think you can teleport some of our stuff from below your basement at the library over here? I'm sure these guys would like to see what else we have in store..."

Twilight was once again a bit hesitant. "Oh... I don't know. I haven't really mastered long-range teleportation yet.."

"Please? Can you at least try?" Marcus asked politely. Twilight was about to retaliate, but she sighed.

"O-okay, fine..." Twilight then took in a deep breath as she stepped forward. She then turned to the humans and the other ponies. "Everypony, stand back..."

They all did what they were told as Twilight breathed in once more and aimed her horn at the ground. It then started to sparkle as she closed her eyes and focused on the spell. After a couple of seconds, she was then able to cast a beam of magic onto the ground in front of her. With a final grunt of frustration, the beam stopped and emitted a bright purplish flash on where it aimed. Everybody covered their eyes as Twilight breathed in heavily and smiled. They then all waited for the slight smoke to clear. But they all saw something that they didn't really expect.

Instead of seeing a Sentry Gun, or a MAAWS, as they intended...

They saw what looked like a black sniper rifle.

"What the hell?" Marcus said with an eyebrow raised, in utter confusion. The Marines then all walked forward. That's when Kayla reached down and picked up the slightly steamy sniper rifle.

As she did, the first thing they noticed was that it was about near the same size as Kayla's Barrett .50 Cal, except it had several clear differences. The first, and the most obvious one, was that it was black, but it had several strange red markings all over the gun. The second one was that it seemed a lot more bigger in width, especially the magazine. The third one was that it had two wired connected to the scope, and seemed to be bolt-action.

"What kind of a sniper is it, Kayla?" Thompson asked, looking at the sniper in awe.

"I... I don't know.. but it's pretty damn heavy. Like this shoots 20mm rounds..." Kayla said, studying the sides of the weapon. She then noticed some slight writing etched into the magazine of the sniper rifle.

"What does it say?..." Jackson asked.

"Uhm..." She narrowed her eyes a bit. "It says... '40935115'... 'Proto Hyena Infra-Dead'?... Whatever that means." Kayla then turned around and looked down the sight of the sniper. "Woah! Check this shit out!"

"What is it?" The other Marines asked in unison.

"This thing has a infrared scope on it!" Kayla said with glee. Marcus couldn't help but let out a throaty chuckle at her reaction.

"I'm gonna shot this thing and see if this is just a modified fifty, or a twenty millimeter...or something from fucking Star Wars..." Kayla said as she crouched and aimed at the blackened concrete wall. Everybody then took a couple steps back as they watched curiously at what this new weapon was. For all Marcus and Jackson knew, it looked like some sort of Russian prototype sniper rifle of sorts. Thompson however, thought it was something from Star Wars, like Kayla said.

"Alright... let's see if this baby packs-a-punch..." Kayla muttered as she aimed at the wall. She took in a deep, quiet breath of air from her mouth to steady her aim. Once her hands started shaking, she slowly breathed out as her hands, let alone her entire body, stood still for a precious second.

That's when she pulled the trigger.

"Oh fuck!" Kayla said, being knocked onto her ass by the sheer force of the weapon. It had about twice the amount of recoil of a Barrett, made an odd 'Pew' sound combined with a deafening boom as she clutched her shoulder as the sniper rifle. Her shoulder started throbbing as her fellow Marines went to help her. As they helped her up, Kayla noticed that there was what looked like to be a huge metal arrow-like bullet lodged onto the wall right where she aimed at, and it emitted a beeping sound that got faster and faster by the second.

"Shit! Everybody! Get down!" Kayla shouted. Everybody did what they were told as the beeping got louder. But not loud enough to hear a male pony's voice from above.

"What the bu-"

That's when the rod emitted a deafening explosion.

Meanwhile, on the balcony...

As the Marines aimed their NX-1's at the mannequins, Prince Blueblood was inside of his room, just outside the hallway, taking a nap, and resting himself after what had happened with the human and his weird machine. He was still very pissed off about the creature disrespecting him like that, and he was going to get them back hard..

... but not before he took a 'beauty' sleep.

Blueblood was snoring rather peacefully, until he heard slight, odd sounds outside. He grunted as he rolled over on the couch and tried to ignore it. After a couple of seconds, he was once again drifting into his sleep, but then he heard a monstrous, nearly deafening blast from outside.

He yelped as he jumped off from his royal couch and hit the floor below with another yelp. He was now wide awake, thanks to anger and sheer confusion flowing through his veins. With an angry grunt, he stood up on his good foreleg and limped towards the door.

"Grrr.... whoever that was is really going to get it now... ungrateful slobs, don't they know I need my sleep?!" Blueblood thought angrily as he stupidly used his bad hoof to push open the door. He hissed in pain, but kept on going out of his room. He then slammed the door shut with as he looked to his left and saw a Unicorn maid carrying a plate with water cups with her magic.

As Blueblood walked past, he stumbled on his bad leg and fell next to the maid with a grunt, spilling all the water on her. Blueblood quickly stood up and huffed.

"Watch where you're going!" He shouted as he walked and stumbled forward faster to a balcony. As he did, he heard a deafening 'boom'-like sound mixed with a 'pew' noise, and a beeping noise started to emit slightly.

As he reached the doorway of the balcony, he heard a couple of voices over the beeping, which had started getting louder by the second.

Once he stepped outside, he saw the eight creatures, the four Element Bearers, a couple of guards, and both of the Princess' themselves. He then heard a female voice yell out.

"Shit! Everybody! Get Down!"

Blueblood made his way to the railing, noticing an orange light blinking rapidly on the white concrete wall. He was then deafened by a huge purple explosion, blowing away the wall as if it wasn't there.

"What the bu-"

Is what he would've said if he wasn't knocked out by a slab of the wall itself that was launched at him by the explosion.

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed! The Scavanger isn't the only weapon. It was just a mere teaser...

Now here comes a question for you all: Should I equip the ponies with modern weaponry like the Marines have, or think of other alternatives? I have ideas for both, I just want opinions and see where this'll take me.

Speaking of weapons... recommend which Wonder Weapons/PaP'd you'd all like to see! (As in CoD Zombies weapons) The fact that I added a Pack-A-Punched weapon into Extinction is probably enough to tick a couple of you off, but trust me. This ~~and the XS-1 Goliath~~ is the closest thing you'll see to a multi-crossover. Hope you see why.

Tell me what you think of this chapter, and go nuts with the suggestions!

(For those of you who don't agree with this, let me tell you this: When you and an entire country are in danger of possibly facing against millions, perhaps trillions of Cryptids, you'd at least want some firepower. Very brutal firepower, regardless of what it is or where it comes from. Besides, give it a chance! )

Chapter 44: New Toys

(EDIT: Please note that these 'New Weapons' may or may not be used. I went overboard on them, but chances are they will see action, but
in am more realistic and believable manner)

After the dust cleared and the debris stopped falling from the sky, the ponies and humans slowly and somewhat clumsily rose from the ground and back onto their feet and hooves.

"That... was... something. Ugh..." Rainbow mumbled, shaking her head as the ringing in her ears subsided to the point where she could hear to a degree. She didn't get a response, aside from Fluttershy making a slight whimpering noise.

"Is everybody okay?" Thompson asked, clutching his head with his left hand. He got several 'Uh-huh' 's in return, along with several thumbs-up from the soldiers and the other three Marines.

"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!" Twilight shouted in worry, running over to their side. "Are you both okay?!" She asked frantically.

Celestia and Luna both nodded. "Yes, Twilight. We're fine. Though we didn't expect such a thing to happen." Celestia responded with a curious tone to her voice as she looked over to Kayla.

"Um... sorry. I didn't expect the thing to blow up the entire wall." She responded with a sheepish smile as she slowly turned around, noticing that the wall she shot at was completely annihilated by the rod-like explosive round. Her eyes widened at the sight, getting a light chuckle from Celestia herself.

"Don't worry about the wall." Celestia said calmly and reassuringly. "You didn't know what would happen either."

Kayla nodded slowly as she clutched her throbbing shoulder, wincing as she sat back down on the ground. Thompson noticed this and walked over to Kayla, who was now sitting down on the ground once more. Thompson crouched next to her with a slight smirk on his face. "Thought you could handle that shot. Y'know, since you brag about doing more pull-ups than the guys." He said, his smirk turning into a shit-eating grin as he pulled out a small med-pack.

"You try shooting it then! It has like three times the recoil of my Barrett." Kayla shot back with an annoyed look on her face. "And when the hell did you get so cocky and sarcastic all of a sudden?" She asked.

"Ever since I've seen you get knocked on your ass by a sniper, in which you always brag about how you master them and shit..." Thompson replied with a chuckle as he put his hands around her shoulder and applied a bit of pressure, making her hiss in pain.

"Ugh... bite me..." She said through her gritted teeth, making Thompson chuckle once more. As they were talking and healing, Marcus looked over his shoulder, placing his eyes on the sniper rifle. He then walked over and picked it up from the scope with a silent grunt.

"She's got a point, Thompson..." He said, examining the sniper rifle even more. "Shit's heavy as hell." He then pulled back the bolt and pulled out the magazine. As he looked inside the magazine, he saw about seven of the same rod-like explosive rounds. He then turned to Twilight, who was helping out Applejack and Kevin get their hearing back with a spell. "Hey Twilight. Do you remember having this before we came to Equestria?" Marcus asked.

Twilight shook her head as she walked closer to the weapon Marcus was holding in his hands. "I don't remember storing this in my basement, let alone teleporting it here with the trans-dimensional spell." She then went into slight deep thinking. "I might've read the instructions wrong..." She muttered with a frown before she looked back up to him. "I can try it again, if you want?" She suggested with a slight smile now.

Marcus nodded. "Sure, but try to teleport something small." He then turned to the others. "You guys ready for another go?" He asked. They all nodded, a bit hesitantly, but they still agreed nonetheless. They then stepped back, as Twilight prepared herself to do the spell once more.

"Don't stress yourself, Twilight!" Marcus shouted as he put the Hyena Infra-Dead next to a slab of burnt wall, making it lean onto it.

"Yeah! No pressure!" Rainbow added.

Twilight just rolled her eyes as she pointed her horn at the ground once more. The group then close their eyes as Twilight grunts and completes the teleportation process, with much less mental strain, and focus. A bright flash enveloped them for a couple seconds before slowly dissipating, but keeping whatever Twilight teleported in a haze of black dust.

The group then slowly blinked their eyes open and focused on the ground once more. The first thing they noticed was a small item on the ground. Marcus then slowly walked towards it. He looked closer, noticing that it was about the size of a P-90 submachine gun, and around it were several oddly-shaped 'magazines'.

"What is it?.." Twilight asked, as she and the others leaned in closer to get a better look at what she had just teleported.

Marcus saw that the weapon was steaming slightly, but his gloved hands prevented any injury. He picked it up with his right hand from the handle.

"Okay.. what and where the fuck is all this shit coming from?" He said outloud to nobody in particular as he studied the weapon. The weapon looked like something out of a space comic. The gun was red in some areas, along with black furniture around it, and it had a circle-shaped thing on the top of the handle. As he turned the gun to the sides, he saw that there were two small sets of grill-like plates, containing some sort of glowing green energy inside a glass tube. The same was for the more front part of the gun, which also contained glowing green energy in a glass tube, but it seemed a bit more longer, and more exposed. The inside and outside of the tube were also connected with two black wires, which he guessed generated some sort of electric pulse. He then aimed down the sights, which were tinted green on the sides from the front iron sight.

"That thing looks kinda cool, to be honest." Jackson commented. The others nodded once, but were still curious and suspicious on the weapon Marcus was examining with care.

"What does it shoot? For all we know, it could just be some weird water gun.." Kayla said.

".. or a special gun that shoots out acid, or radioactive waste." Thompson also said.

Marcus ignored their theories as he looked around for the magazine. He then looked at the back of the weapon, noticing a slightly bulged out 'stick', and on the side were two small buttons. He pressed them both quickly, making a series of beeping noises as the green liquid energy inside started to slightly glow.

Marcus then lifted the gun, aiming it at a wooden crate that contained hay inside. "Only one way to find out..." He muttered as he prepped himself to fire the weapon.

He breathed in and squeezed down on the trigger, the gun 'spitting' out a burst of three green laser-like projectiles, along with a laser-gun like sound. The recoil made him take a slight step backwards, but the results were quite pleasing. The three laser projectiles went through the crate as it it wasn't even there to begin with. Marcus then gathered his footing and placed a tighter grip on the weapon before firing again, having the same results.

He lowered the weapon before sighing. "This day's getting weirder and weirder by the fucking minute..." He muttered, then turned to Twilight. "Are you sure you're using you teleportation spell? Or are you using your trans-dimensional without even knowing?"

"I swear, I read the teleportation spell so many times, I can easily tell the difference!" Twilight retorted. "I know what I'm doing! Just let me keep trying! Please, I can do it!" She pleaded.

Marcus sighed again before nodding, picking up the odd magazines from the ground. He then stopped and looked at the back of the weapon. Pressing what seemed to be the release button, he tugged on the back, making it slide out the same oddly-shaped magazine he was holding in his other hand, along with two small glass tubes falling to the ground, seemingly depleted of what they contained before he fired, along with making more beeping noises.

"So that's how you reload this thing..." He muttered before sliding the magazine back inside the weapon, making it emit even more beeping sounds. Marcus then bent down and picked up one of the glass tubes, that was steaming itself.

"What are those?" Dempsey asked, his arms crossed and raising an eyebrow.

"They look like cold cell batteries. The same ones that are used to make the traps, except a helluva lot smaller and skinnier." Marcus replied. He then turned to Twilight. "Alright, you can go and try again..."

Twilight nodded as she turned to the ground once more. "I'll try to teleport more than one thing now..." She muttered. The group nodded as she used her spell once more, taking even more time than both, due to her trying to teleport more than one thing, also causing an even brighter flash, and a slight wave of heat hitting them. Heavily breathing, Twilight looked up.

"Oh, come ON!" She shouted in frustration. The others opened their eyes and looked at what Twilight was looking at. The Marines sighed in relief as they saw something they actually recognized.

"Hey! I remember this!" Thompson shouted as he walked over to the thing Twilight had just teleported.

"I swear I'm- wait, what?!" Twilight shouted in confusion and frustration, watching as Thompson passed by her.

"It's an Assault Drone!" Thompson shouted again in happiness.

"Um... call me dumb, but what's so special about it?" Rainbow Dash asked, making Thompson chuckle.

"It's a robot machine that can move around with- oh wait, there's no laptop here..." Thompson said sadly. "... if there was, I could control it and show you how- oh wait, nevermind!" His tone changed, noticing a control laptop panel next to the drone. Rainbow chuckled as Thompson opened the laptop and turned it on.

"The drone is outfitted with what looks like a wired MK46 light machine gun... and a tube that contains some anti-personnel rockets. A lot of them, it seems..." Thompson spoke as he switched on the Heads-Up-Display (HUD) on the laptop and switched the drone on with a beep. The ponies watched in awe as he used the right joystick to move the upper part of the drone, which contained the wired MK46 and the rockets, along with a huge battery pack, a camera set, and several boxes of 7.62mm ammunition.

Thompson then used the left joystick to more the drone. The drone made a whirring noise as it moved along with its caterpillar tracks. The drone moved at a decent speed, making its way towards Twilight and Rainbow. Twilight looked at it with a look of curiosity on her face as she lightly touched the barrel of the MK46 with her hoof before walking around it. The drone was then moved in front of Rainbow, who looked right at the camera with a raised eyebrow, before pulling back and watching it do a slow 360-degree turn.

"We could really use this for specific operations and situations. Such as when we need a first-aid station, we could remove the guns and rockets, and set medical supplies and such. This thing is very versatile, to put it simply." Thompson said as he moved the drone back to his position before manually shutting it off. Closing the laptop and storing it in his pack, he put both hands under the drone and lifted it up with a grunt. As he did, he saw a couple words on the side of the drone's rocket tube.

MANUFACTORING, METAL STORM LIMITED
ENCINO, CA
REMOTE ASSAULT DRONE. 1-SFOD(D) SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED
MODEL A501
U.S GOVT. PROPERTY
READ OPERATOR'S MANUAL
BEFORE USE.

"Looks like this thing was made in California, Marcus." Thompson said with a heavy chuckle as Marcus helped him with the drone. Swordstrike and Nimbius watched as they set it down next to them, allowing them to further get a better look on the drone.

"See? I told you I could do it!" Twilight exclaimed with a slight competitive smile.

"We never once doubted you, sugarcube." Applejack said with a slight smile.

"Well, actuall-" Rainbow started to explain, but stopped as she got glares from Celestia and Applejack. "I-I mean, Yeah! What A.J said!"

"I'm gonna see if I could try it one more time..."Twilight said with a smirk as she positioned herself again, but stopped when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned around, noticing Celestia looking down at her.

"No need, Twilight. I think you've stressed yourself enough for one day. Allow me." Celestia said with a smile. Twilight quickly gathered herself and nodded, stepping away. The humans watched in awe as Celestia calmly lowered her horn to the ground and prepared to do the teleportation spell herself. They were then quickly blinded by a bright yellow-ish light as she did the same spell, but with much more ease and simplicity, not even breaking a sweat. She even had a peaceful smile on her face.

After blinking a couple of times, they looked at the same area once more, noticing a tiny silhouette as the smoke cleared.

"What the-?" Kayla said out loud. Celestia slowly walked to the item, clearing the smoke with each step. She then looked down on the item, and with a look of confusion, picked it up with her magic.

"Is this.. a toy?" She asked, turning around and facing the group. The humans leaned in close, noticing that she was holding a Cymbal Monkey. Or at least, that's what it looked like it was based out of...

"Oh God... the fuck's up with its eyes?" Kevin said, pointing to its red, beady, proturging eyes.

"Oh... oh my..." Fluttershy spoke quietly. They all turned to her, noticing that her pupils were the size of pinpricks, and she looked quite pale, even through her light-yellow coat. "I-Is that... b-blood?" She asked.

Celestia examined it. It seemed like it actually did have rusted blood stains mixed with its rusted metal on its tiny hands, torso, legs, and where not. Hesitantly, she nodded slowly. She regretted it immediately when Fluttershy froze in place and tilted side to side. Applejack went up to her and comforted her.

Then, without thinking, Celestia slowly turned the wind-up piece next to the Cymbal Monkey's side.

Marcus then noticed that the monkey had something on its back. His eyes widened as he was about to speak up about the T.N.T on its back, but was cut off by the monkey itself.

"I LOVE You..." The monkey's voice said creepily, banging its cymbals as Celestia stopped winding it up. Everybody's eyes widened in shock as Celestia's poker face turned into one of horror as she yelped and threw the Cymbal Monkey to the hay barrels behind her, the monkey itself letting out a yell, and several 'oom-phs' as it landed on the ground. The monkey then started playing some sort of carnival music while it hopped around in a circle and banged it cymbals.

"Make it STOP!" Fluttershy shouted as she covered her ears, pleading for the music to stop as she whimpered quietly. The others did the same. Then, the monkey spoke up again.

"Here I come, Sam!" The monkey said outloud over the music and the banging cymbals before exploding, making the girls yell and drop to the ground. The humans just stood there in shock at what the hell just happened.

"Well that... no. I don't even..." Kayla said, at a loss of words to explain the previous events.

After a couple of minutes to recover from their state of shock and confusion, they were finally able to speak, but not without a hint of fear from the ponies themselves.

Marcus looked over to Celestia. "Can you keep on trying? I'm sure we can get the right stuff. I mean, we've already gotten one thing, we can get it again." He asked hopefully. Celestia let out a small sigh before hesitantly nodding in agreement.

"Okay.. but please note that if I get one more of those... 'things', I will have to stop." She said.

"Duty noted."

"Okay..." Celestia then positioned herself to do the spell one last time. They all covered their eyes one last time as Celestia used the spell to transport whatever might come next. They were all sick and tired of getting odd items, especially what had happened after the Cymbal Monkey incident not even ten minutes ago. She then completed the spell successfully, without letting out any smoke of steam of any sort whatsoever.

"Okay. It's done." Celestia said tiredly. The humans and ponies looked up hesitantly, noticing a pile of what seemed to be a variety of weapons.

"Oh shit!!" They all shouted in unison as they actually ran up to the pile. The ponies watched in a mixture of confusion and slight happiness from their reaction, and from probably getting something 'normal'. For their defenition of the word, at least.

Thompson noticed what looked like two odd weapons that were on the very top of the pile. He immediately recognized them as the under-rated High Standard Model 10 semi-automatic shotgun, or HS-10, for short. He quickly picked up the two shotguns with happiness. As he did, he noticed that these two shotguns didn't have a flashlight connected to them like normal models of the gun, and that it had weird makings all over the body of the shotguns, similar to the ones seen in the Hyena Infra-Dead.

"This is sick!" Thompson shouted, fixating both HS-10's to fit on both of his shoulders. He turned around and looked at the ponies, who looked like they didn't know whether to be happy for him, or terrified because he's aiming the shotguns at them. Thompson quickly noticed this and lowered them with a sheepish smile. He then quickly placed it down next to the Hyena Infra-Dead.

As he did, Applejack chuckled. "Ya looked kinda funny holding those things in both yer hands. It just doesn't look right." She commented. Thompson just shrugged and walked back to the group, right when someone let out a slight gasp.

"Woah, dude! Check this shit out!!" Dempsey shouted at the top of his lungs. The four Marines and the ponies quickly ran up to him. The first thing they noticed was that he was putting on what seemed to be a fuel pack on his back, and he was holding a flamethrower gun, along with a tube that connected the tank with the main flamethrower gun, except it was glowing blue, along with the two fuel tanks.

"What the.. is that a flamethrower?!" Mike asked. Dempsey nodded gleefully.

"Hell yeah, it is! It's heavy, but I don't give a shit! This is the kind of thing that I like to use!" He said happily.

"Um.. a flamethrower?" Applejack asked. "Does it do what ah think it does?..." She asked. Again, Dempsey nodded.

"Pretty much. This is a very old M2 Flamethrower. Its name basically says it all. It spits out flames at an effective range of 20-40 meters, and it weighs about sixty-three pounds. Including the fuel tank I'm carrying." Dempsey informed Applejack and the others.

"Wait a second..." Rainbow bumped in. ".. if it shoots out flames, then why is the tube there blue?" She asked.

Dempsey looked at it questioningly for a second, never realizing that it was glowing blue this whole time. "Uh... oh crap. I didn't even notice." He then looked over his shoulder and smirked. "Let's find out, sha'll we?"

The Marines and the other soldiers nodded as they watched Dempsey fixate his footing and aimed the flamethrower at a slab of burnt, broken off wall. Dempsey then squeezed the trigger. They were all surprised when they found out that instead of it spitting out flames, the flamethrower gun spit out a large stream of crystalline blue, making a crystalline-like sound, as if it were shooting crystals. Dempsey did a quick burst, but it was too late. The blue stream connected with the wall slab. They watched in awe as the wall slab was immediately engulfed in frozen ice to the very core. As it made a slight cracking noise, the wall then combusted into nothing but icy dust into the air, making it rain down like snowflakes.

Dempsey, with his eyes wide, slowly looked down at the majestic weapon he held in his hands. He then noticed some writing on the side of the flamethrower gun.

U.S GOVT.
M2A3 FLAMETHROWER
PROTO #115
LIQUID NITROGEN

"This isn't a flamethrower..." Dempsey said as he saw cold white steam emit from the barrel of the gun. "This shit shoots out liquid nitrogen!"

"Well, that explains a lot." Twilight commented. "I would be lying if I didn't say that look pretty sweet."

"Yeah! That looked even better than a flamethrower!" Rainbow said with a very wide grin. " It's a nitrogen-thrower!... What?.." She said, crossing her forelegs and shrugging. "It was worth a shot!"

Dempsey just chuckled as he walked toward the group. "I think I'll look into this beautiful thing further later. There's still some weapons there. Or at least I think that's what they are..."

"You got that right!" Kevin shouted. The group looked over at him and noticed that he was already standing up from the pile, picking up another weapon. "That flame- nitrogen-thrower isn't the only old thing hidden in this pile! Look at this!"

The humans' jaws dropped. "I-Is that what I fucking think it is?..."

"Great, a Nazi weapon..." Kayla muttered.

"I didn't know these things were still even operational!" Kevin said, looking at the StG-44 like an ancient relic. "And this looks like a re-made antique. Looks at the damn furnishing."

"It also looks operational. I mean, look at the size of that damn magazine! Looks like it could hold fifty rounds!" Jackson said. Kevin nodded.

"Let's see if this thing's really useful." Kevin said with an evil smirk. Before they could cover their ears, Kevin aimed the StG-44 at the sky and shot randomly. The first thing they noticed about the sound is that it had the same 'pew' sound that the Hyena Infra-Dead, except a lot less louder. Kevin quickly lowered the gun and quit shooting. "That answers that."

"Ugh... yeah..." Swordstrike muttered, rubbing his ears.

"Oh, come on. It's not that loud!" Kevin said.

"I'm not as young as I used to be..." Swordstrike retorted. Kevin just shrugged, taking out the magazine and storing it.

"No use in really using that gun. It's outdated as hell. And if we are gonna make guns for the guard, we're not gonna equip them with Nazi weaponry." Marcus said sternly. Kevin nodded as he walked over, still holding the StG-44. "If anything, I'd want to equip these guards over here," He leaned to Swordstrike and Shearslice. "with weapons made from Heckler and Koch. Not Sturmgewehr."

"Speaking of which..." Jackson spoke out loudly. "Here's something that we should consider arming some of them with..." He said, holding a light machine gun in his right hand, and two pistols in his left.

"I second that..." Dempsey said, looking at the light machine gun in awe. Marcus looked over at him, and he could've sworn he saw the slightest trail of drool seep from the corner of his mouth to the ground.

"Care to inform us on that weapon?" Shearslice asked, eager to see and know what the weapon was and could do. Jackson nodded happily.

"Oh hell yeah. But wait a second.." Jackson paused. He then turned to Marcus and threw him both pistols he held in his left hand. Marcus let go of his Remington R5 and caught the two pistols. Smiling, he looked at them, immediately noticing what kind of pistols they were.

"Oh fuck yeah!" Marcus said happily as he was holding the two M1911's in his hands. The odd thing about them were that they had the same reddish markings as the Infra-Dead, and that the size of the pistols in general were a bit wider, making it look somewhat fat, but he was happy with them nonetheless.

"Alright. Now that I got him his pride and joy's, this here..." Jackson nodded towards the light machine gun he held in his right hand, that was rested comfortably on his right shoulder. "... is FN Herstal's very own HAMR."

"Um.. a 'hammer?' " Shearslice asked, confused by the name somewhat. Sure, the weapons that were shown had weird named themselves, especially the 'Hyena Infra-Dead', but why this was named after a construction tool was beyond him.

"No, a 'HAMR'. H-A-M-R." Jackson corrected, spelling it out. Shearslice let out an 'Oooh' before he continued. " 'HAMR' stands for 'Heat Adaptive Modular Rifle'. It was designed by the Belgian firearms manufacturing company, FN Herstal. In fact, several of our weapons were made by that company."

"Really?" Shearslice asked. "What other weapons?"

"This gun right here." Mike said, lifting up his P90 SMG.

"And our .50 Cal machine gun up there on our Stryker." Dempsey said, pointing at the M2 Browning turret that was on top of the Stryker.

"Plus, this pistol right here. My Five-Seven." Kevin informed, shaking his Five-Seven in his hand, twirling it.

"Yeah. Those are all weapons made by FN Herstal. The HAMR was designed and competed for a weapons contract for the U.S Marines with my M27 light machine gun that I had on with me the entire time here." Jackson said, pointing at his M27 IAR. "The only thing really special about this gun, is that the first seven rounds fire faster than the remaining magazine. At about 937 RPM for the first seven, before dropping off to a steady 625 RPM. The recoil on this thing is quite low, and it's pretty damn light for a machine gun. At about five pounds."

"Amazing..." Shearslice said, looking at the tan weapon in awe, before shaking himself out of his trance, and looking at Marcus. "And what about those?"

"These?" Marcus said, waving the two M1911's in his hand. "These aren't nothing special. Well, they are, but they're just side arms."

"Care to show us?"Shearslice asked. Marcus just shrugged.

"If you want. It's nothing spectacular." Marcus said as he walked past the Commander and aimed both M1911's at a rotting wooden wagon. They watched as Marcus pulled the trigger.

What they didn't expect was the same 'pew' sound they heard before, accompanied with two explosions connecting with the wagon, effectively blowing it to bits of rotting wood, and then some.

"Holy shit!" Marcus shouted, dropping one of the M1911's. He then quickly picked it up, and looked at the group. They were once again in a slight state of surprise. Marcus then quickly pressed the release button on the side of the M1911, pulling out the magazine. He then looked inside it, noticing that there were what seemed like small grenades inside. They looked like 40mm, but much smaller. Like small skinny grenades that seemed to explode on impact to anything. He looked down on the ground, noticing one of the shell castings for the grenades itself. He picked it up and showed it at the group.

"I take it back... these things had a helluva surprise inside them." Marcus chuckled, but the looks on their faces didn't change the slightest.

After a couple of moments, Celestia shook her head and spoke. "I-I think we should head back to the train. I have a feeling you are all quite tired of being here." She said with a slight smile. "And we can also discuss some things on the way. Plus, Nightmare Night is going to be in a couple of days. I wouldn't want you all to miss it just for this."

"Hmm.. good point, I guess. Alright. Just give us time to pack up." Marcus said. Celestia nodded. Jackson picked up his brand-new HAMR and the rest of his items before helping out Thompson with packing up and storing the Assault Drone.

"Ugh... we got a lot of new toys, eh?" Kayla said, nudging Twilight. She responded back with a smile as she helped Kayla with her stuff.

"Um.. I can help you out, if you don't mind." Fluttershy said, walking up to Thompson and Jackson, who were disassembling the drone.

"Yeah, ah think that ya'll are gonna break your back with all of that.." Applejack bumped in, looking on with concern as Jackson stored the ammo boxes on his back. The Marines just chuckled.

"This isn't heavy at all, actually. Well, for us at least. We're trained to carry heavy loads also." Jackson said, taking out the magazine on his HAMR and storing it in his pack. He looked back at Applejack, noticing her as her concern grew. With a sigh, Jackson spoke up. "... but I guess you both can help out, if you really want to."

Fluttershy and Applejack nodded as they walked over to help out. As they did, Marcus picked up the Ray Gun-like weapon and stored it in his pack. Rainbow noticed this and smirked.

"Who said you could have that thing?" She said, accusing Marcus of stealing. Marcus just chuckled back.

"Hey, I picked it up first, didn't I?" He said, not looking up from his pack. "First come first served, no?"

Rainbow's smirk grew as she responded. "I guess so. Heheh. I still want to see what other kind of toys you guys have."

"Oh trust me, we haven't even shown our main equipment. But we won't show any more until Twilight can either find a way to fix our ammo problem, or if we can get some factories to develop some ammunition for us." Marcus said as he stood up, slinging his pack and walked alongside a flying Rainbow.

"Don't worry about it. Twilight's the world's biggest egghead. She'll figure out something." Rainbow said, either not noticing the slight glare Twilight gave her, or just ignoring it. "But you gotta promise me to show me more of that stuff soon."

Marcus smiled. "Alright then. I'll show you everything we got left to show." As soon as he said this, he saw Rainbow's extended hoof pointed towards him, covered in spit. Marcus' smile turn into a grin as he spit in his hand and shook her hoof firmly. They then caught up with the group, who were already walking out of the courtyard.

"Wait! What about the vehicles?" Dempsey said, almost punching himself in the throat for forgetting about the Stryker and the Little Bird.

Celestia thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. "You all can take your vehicles and move it here. I can have the train to be equipped with two storage carts so it can carry both of them on the way back."

The soldiers nodded. "Alright. Sounds like a plan. We'll catch up with you leathernecks in a bit!" Kevin shouted as they jogged off to their respective vehicles. The Marines just smiled and shook their heads as they headed towards the train station. As they did, Swordstrike spoke up.

"So, you still haven't shown us all of your main equipment?" He asked to Marcus, who nodded in return.

"Yeah. We have a lot of stuff we can show that would benefit and interest you and the entire Royal Guard. The only main equipment we have is the Vulture here," He pointed to the right side of his pack, where his Vulture drone hung. "but it's low on battery power."

"Why? What made it lose its energy?" He asked.

"Let's just say it was for a... 'reasonable' cause, and leave it at that." Marcus said, holding back a shit-eating grin so it wouldn't appear on his face. Swordstrike just shrugged and continued.

"Okay... well, me and Commander Shearslice would like to come along with you on your journey back to Ponyville so we can see what you have in store."

Marcus nodded. "Sure, but we're gonna need to do it in a secluded area. I don't want the locals to see what we have. Especially if we're gonna be attending the so called 'Nightmare Night' event."

Swordstrike nodded. "I understand. We'll be gone before today. Nightmare Night is tomorrow, actually."

"Speaking of which, we'll answer more of whatever questions you have on the train ride back. And we can give you a look on one of our missions, so you can see how we operate as a group, and with other groups."

"What other groups have you done operations with specifically?" Swordstrike asked.

"Several other Tier-One groups. Some from the same nation as us, and some from foreign ones. Before and during the Cryptic War." Marcus replied.

"I still want to see how you compare with our special forces." Shearslice commented.

"Well, what are your special forces made out of?"

"Only the very best in the Guard. Both Lunar and Day. The only thing that everypony finds odd is that it's all mostly made up of mares."

"Mares? You accept wom- I mean, mares into the guard?" Marcus asked.

"Yes, we do. I will be honest with you, very few mares go into the Royal Guard, let alone pass basic. But these mares are pretty much top-tier, and have proven themselves."

"Have they even been into combat?"

Shearslice shook his head. "Nope, but they did pass the hardest training there is to do here."

"So they say? I'll be the judge of that.."

Shearslice looked at him with a suspicious look on his face. "What do you mean by that?"

"I want to see if the members of your 'special forces' will be able to go through our kind of training. We'll talk more about it once we yet on the train, but I think you'll like the idea I have." Marcus said with a slight smile plastered on his face. Shearslice was a bit nervous, but he was interested nonetheless.

The group started walking in silence to the train, each and every one of them thinking of what they could do on Nightmare Night. As they walks, each of their train of thoughts were put on hold when a sudden flash of lightning struck the cobblestone ground a couple feet away from them.

The girls yelped, while the humans just jumped slightly into the air, immediately raising their weapons to where the streak of lightning hit.

"What the?! Who the buck did that?!" Rainbow yelled, looking at round frantically for whatever made her and the others yelp.

"That's not what I think it means... right?..." Jackson asked, still aiming his HAMR.

"It better fucking not be..." Marcus replied with an angry and concerned mutter. He then turned to the ponies. "Get behind us!" He ordered loudly.

The ponies and the Princess' did what they were told, and quickly stood and watched in worry as another sudden flash of lightning, struck the ground, this one lasting much longer. The girls yelped again.

"Fuck..." Marcus muttered under his breath. "Looks like we got company! Get ready!" He shouted. Jackson and Thompson crouched in front of Marcus and Kayla, all of their weapons taken off of their safeties and ready to fire.

A third long a lasting yellow bolt of lightning struck as the four Marine braced for impact.

After a couple of seconds, nothing happened.

Marcus slowly looked away from his red dot sight. "What the fuck's taki-"

Marcus was cut off when Rainbow shouted. "Look! Up there!" She pointed high above with a hoof.

The group looked up, noticing a fiery streak rocketing towards the ground. The Marines quickly moved back a couple of feet as it got closer an closer.

"That doesn't look like a Seeker meteorite to me.." Thompson said, looking at the falling object with squinted eyes.

"We're about to find out..." Jackson replied. The Marines looked at each other briefly before nodding once wind looking back at the falling object. After a moment or so, the object finally came in contact with the ground with a loud crunch-like sound, followed by a small shockwave that made the Marines lose their balance for a split a second before looking back at the object.

Coughing, they waited until the cloud of dust settled before the could get a clear view of what had landed. The thing that landed in front of them was a whitish metallic container. It resembled an Obelisk, but it was white, metallic, and much bigger. Marcus slowly walked up to it, noticing the scorch marks on the sides before appearing right in front of it.

"What the hell? What is this?..." Marcus said quietly to nobody in particular as he walks around it, studying its features and looks.

Another think that made this thing different from a regular Obelisk was that it had writing on it. In English.

Marcus leaned in closer and read the words. " 'Atlas Corporation: AST Suit No: 935?... What the fuck?.." He said out loud. The others watched him as he looked closer.

Marcus then noticed a button pad on the side of the words, along with a simple note of instructionnext to it, which he read. " 'Press green and blue button each one time to release Goliath'?" He said. He then noticed a small image next to the button pad.

"Bullshit..." He muttered. Hesitantly, he used his left hand to do exactly what the instructions told him to do. He then quickly stepped back, aiming his Remington R5 as it made a heavy hissing sound. Steam came out from the sides and from the top for a couple of seconds before stopping suddenly. Marcus waited for a couple more seconds, until all of the sides simply fell down to the cobblestone with a metallic clang. Marcus' jaw dropped as he saw exactly what was in the image.

"Oh.. My... God..." He whispered in pure awe, lowering his Remington and walking up to the armored suit. The suit was pretty tall, at around eight to nine feet high, and looked like it was reinforced with heavy titanium plating all around, with several tubes, and a small helmet in the middle where a head should be. He then walked behind it, and noticed more words written on one of the plates.

" ' Manual Punch-Out' ?..." He read. It also had an image of how to do it. Cautiously, he reached behind one of the plates with his left hand, grabbing a lever. He then forcefully pulled it out, showing that it was a yellow lever. He then twisted it down, and let go.

The group and Marcus wat he'd in astonishment as the lever slowly went back behind the plate. Then, several armor plates moved slowly in several directions, starting from the top all the way to its feet, revealing a slight interior made to fit a human.

"Jesus Christo..." Marcus muttered as he et his Remington down on the ground. Carefully, he then slowly stepped into the suit, his person fitting perfectly as he moved his hands to grip what seemed to be manual control grips, and moved his feet into position. As he did, the armor plates close back into place, keeping Marcus stored inside of the suit. As then plates moved, a female voice spoke from the inside.

"AST suit, online." It said. Marcus moved his head under the inside of the helmet. As he did so, the glass interior glass screen emitted a slight light. Once the plates close, a huge armor piece arose and clamped itself around the helmet. It then slid away the armor plates, revealing even more glass screening.

Then, Marcus noticed a huge cylinder-shape tube extend itself from the left side of his shoulder, showing what looked to be like mini-missiles, before it pulled back to where it was. As it did, the screens showed a bright green for a split-second, before revealing a HUD, which showed several words and a huge bar.

Marcus then read the words. " 'AT6 MSL Swarm, Mk4 RKT, GAU 3/A Main Gun'?..."

Then, the woman voiceover spoke again.

"Recalibrating Weapons Systems..."

After a couple of moments, he accidentally pressed a button on the panel. His right robotic arm shook. Purposely, he used the panel to stretch out his right arm, which revealed a black tube over it. The tube then stretched itself over and under the arm and hand, revealing a huge minigun with a rocket tube underneath it. The barrels spinned for a moment before his hand gripped the minigun's trigger/grip. The woman voice over spoke again.

"All weapons systems online." She said, before naming each individual weapon and systems.

"Rocket ready.
Swarm missiles ready.
Main gun ready.
Trophy Systems ready.
Ping systems online."

Marcus then saw that on the HUD, the names of the weapons were highlighted in green, with the words 'ready' below each one. Clumsily, he then turned to face the group. He noticed that Fluttershy had, unsurprisingly, passed out again. Applejack looked like she had just seen a man kill a basket of kittens, Twilight was just astonished as always, and Rainbow looked like she was about to explode.

He then turned to Celestia. " I think we're gonna need another transport cart.."

Marcus then tried to move forward. Instead, he pressed the button that shoots out the rocket. The rocket soared over their head, missing the group by inches.

"Uh.. Oops?" He said with a sheepish smile, nobody noticing that he now had a robotic tone to his voice. Instead of bashing him, they just watched as the rocket streaked its way towards one of the towers high above the castle...

Author's Note

Weapons added:

Ray Gun Mark II
M2 Flamethrower (F1W Nitrogen Cooled)
StG-44 (Spatz 447+)
FN HAMR (SLDG HAMR)
HS-10 (Typhoid and Mary)
M1911 (Mustang and Sally)

Equipment:

XS-1 Goliath (Campaign Model)
Assault Drone (MW3 Killstreak)

Sorty for the waitr, but I got school finals. Therefore, limiting my time. Next chapter will take less time since I'll be in Winter Break by then. Next chapter will be a lot more informative on both weapons, and other things, along with them going more in-depth with their missions and relationships with the Ghosts, and other teams/corporations.

These aren't the only weapons. All in due time..

Chapter 45: A Thought For Thoughts

In The Tower...

Inside the old castle tower, was a small, half-abandoned personal medical room that used to be reserved for mainly visitors and the guards, but the room was now occupied by a Royal family member, better/bitterly known as Prince Blueblood, who has had several 'unique' encounters with the eight humans, most noticabley their one and first encounter with the leader of group, who set him straight not even three days ago.

"Does that help ease the pain, Prince Blueblood?" The nurse asked, using one of her medical spells to ease the pain he was currently feeling. Blueblood groaned slightly as he rubbed the side of his head.

"Ugh.. Somewhat. I still feel like I got with a huge slab of concrete.." He muttered. The nurse did all she could to not face-hoof.

"Well, that's because that is what exactly happened when we found you outside. It left quite a bruise, if I may add..." She said, slightly wincing at the not-so-small bruise that showed like a sore thumb on his forehead.

Blueblood raised a hoof and touched his bruise, making him hiss loudly in pain.

"Who... did this to me?" He asked in a silent tone, that had the slightest hint of anger in it.

The nurse was a bit hesitant to answer, but she did so regardless. "Umm... It was those ape-like creatures that have been walking and talking with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"

Blueblood grunted in anger, slowly raising from his bed, throwing the sheets off of him. "I have just about had it with those bucking shi-"

"Prince Blueblood, please..." The nurse started pleading him. "... Calm down. You can deal with your issues with them after we patch you up. Right now, you are in no position to do whatever you are planning to do."

The nurse slowly eased Blueblood back down on the bed to lay down. He grunted once more, but agreed to her pleadings. "Okay, fine. Can you please hurry with whatever you are going to do? I want to deal with them as soon as I can."

The nurse nodded. "I will, don't worry. I just need to find Doctor Steele to help you with your leg." She said, walking over to the sink to wash her hooves. Aside from the running faucet water, silence started to overcome the room, until they heard an immense crunching sound from outside, which made them both jump.

"What the- What in the hay was that?!" Blueblood asked the nurse, both angry and slightly shaken up by the noise. The nurse either didn't hear him, or just ignored him as she ran toward the window. She then let out an audiable gasp.

"Well?! What is it?!" Blueblood asked again loudly, more curious than before. After a couple of seconds, Blueblood was about to ask once more, until they both heard a slight poofy boom-like sound. The nurse's eyes widened to an almost unimaginable size.

Before Blueblood could ask, the nurse turned away from the window and galloped her flank to the door, swinging it open before teleporting away.

"WAIT!" Blueblood shouted, raising his foreleg in pleading, but his efforts were in vain as the nurse was long gone. With his curiosity taking over, he threw the covers of of him once more, and cautiously placed his hooves on the ground. He then quickly limped over to the window to look for himself.

As he did, his pupils dialated and his ears folded back onto his head as he muttered two words to explain what he was looking upon.

"Oh...buck..."

The world around him seemed to slow to a crawl as he looked upon the object in horror. The object was burning with flames covering it, making it almost impossible to describe any features, aside from its tube-like form. Grey smoke appeared from behind it, leaving a heavy trail that seemed to start from the ground.

The object streaked towards him at what seemed to be like at near terminal velocity. The object got closer and closer...

Back On The Ground...

The nine ponies and the eight humans watched in awe and horror as the rocket streaked towatds the tower. Marcus used the enhanced Heads-Up-Display to get a closer and clearer view of where the rocket was heading. As he did, he could've sworn he saw the silhouette of a pony on the window frame.

"Is that a pon-"

The rocket then exploded, zooming into the inside of the tower and sending debris into every known direction, while engulfing whatever was left in a heavy cloud of smoke.

"...nevermind."

Marcus then turned to the ponies, more specifically the two Princess'. Their pupils were dialated, and their jaws signified their shock to a degree, just like the others. He then turned to the others.

"Uhm.... heheh... soooo...." He said with a robotic tone to his voice. The group then slowly turned to Marcus, their facial expressions unchanged. "...No hard feelings?" He pleaded with a sheepish smile.

Before any of them could reply, they heard several swift footsteps behind them. When they turned, they noticed Mike, Randy, Dempsey, and Kevin, seeing the panic look on their faces.

Randy was the first to speak up. "Guys! Did you just fucking see tha-" He cut himself off as he stared at what looks to be Marcus in what seemed to be a midget Transformers suit. "Oh shit... what's up with the suit?"

"Before you ask how I got this, I'll explain in the train. And I'm the reason that explosion happened..." He admitted sheepishly. It was their turn to show their shocked expressions, only briefly.

"What the- Why?!" Kevin shouted.

"Well, I tried to learn how to move this thing, but I ended up shooting a rocket instead..." Marcus explained. "Now that I think about it, I at least know how to use one of the weapons..."

Kevin was about to say something else, but Celestia beat him to it. "Wait... now that I recall, I did order one of the Royal Guard construction teams to demolish that tower a week ago..." She said with a hoof on her chin before turning to Marcus, a slight smile on her face. "I guess they have their work cut out for them."

Everybody let out a sigh of relief, before slightly chuckling. It then escalated into full blown laughter and giggles, yet nobody knew exactly why.

After a minute or so of constant laughter, they all regained themselves and looked at Marcus. He noticed this and rose an eyebrow in question. "... What?"

"Well?" Asked Dempsey. "Aren't you gonna try to learn the controls on that thing?"

"And cause more property damage? Nah. I think I'll teach myself how to use this thing properly later. As in somewhere where I won't be able to harm anybody." Marcus replied. He then looked down at the controls. "Now how do I get out of this thing?..."

He then saw a green button with the words: Manual Disassemble written on the top. "Oh..."

He pressed it. The group watched once more as the suit disassembled itself before them, with the four soldiers looking on in awe. The screens then turned static as they slid back to their original places, and the back of the suit opened up, and allowed Marcus to step out, which he slowly did.

"Woah..." The soldiers said quietly in unison. Marcus just smirked as he picked up his Remington R5, then walked to the group.

"You humans have quite the technology as you say you did, but I never imagined you'd have this..." Celestia commented.

"Actually, I don't think any of us even knew this thing existed in the first place..." Marcus said, now wondering about the X-S1 Goliath armor suit.

"Really?..."

He nodded. "Yeah... I think this is either some sort of advanced, top secret weapon taken straight from a weapons testing facility, or this is from a whole 'nother universe or dimension or something..."

"I really need to double check the spell I just did..." Twilight muttered somewhat loudly enough for the others to hear. The Marines chuckled.

"Oh, and what about the vehicles?" Jackson asked, turning to the soldiers. "Are they already hauled and tied up to the train?"

The soldiers nodded. "Yeah. They're good to go. But uh... what about the suit?" Kevin asked, pointing at the X-S1 Goliath.

"We can carry the suit to the train, you can go on and tell them to arrange another transportation cart for the suit itself." Celestia suggested, getting nods from Luna and Twilight. "I don't think that it should be too hard to carry on the way.

"Alright then. We'll wait for you guys at the train." Mike said, they then jogged off down the cobblestone road back towards the train station, while Celestia walked towards the armored suit, and used her magic to levitate the suit with surprising ease.

"Either that suit isn't as heavy as I think it is, or you're stronger than I think you are." Jackson commented as the group started walking down the same cobblestone road. Celestia smiled slightly.

"It's just a simple levitation spell. Nothing special. Besides, I don't think you know too much about magic yet." Twilight said.

"The fact that magic even exists blows my mind away..." Jackson said, taking occasional glances at the magical aura that held the suit every now and then.

"I'm guessing your world has no magic in it whatsoever?..." Twilight theorized. The four Marines nodded.

"Yeah. Magic was just a fairy tale back on Earth, y'know? Like.. it was just a bunch of tricks, like smoke and mirrors, pulling a rabbit out of a top hat, stuff like that. Not this kind of magic." Jackson said. The ponies nodded in understanding. Then, Swordstrike spoke up.

"It seems that your kind is years ahead of us in technology... mind telling us a bit more about your military, and other stuff?" He asked, still greatly curious as to what their species has accomplished as a whole.

"Sure, and first of all, we're basically hundreds, hell, maybe even thousands of years ahead of this world in technology. It's indistinguishable from magic. For example, we can't teleport at will, but if we research enough, and take our time, we can develop the technological needs to do so, while discovering different things along the way. Such as new theories, events, and even new technologies along the way itself. And it could also spark a whole new baseline of technology, which could lead to even more discoveries along the way"

"Fascinating. And have your kind even invented teleportation in such a scale?"

Jackson shook his head. "Not in the way you might think. We had a breakthrough in teleportation technology back in the year 2010, where a couple of scientists were successfully able to teleport a single atom to a distance of three meters, or about ten feet. It wasn't able to teleport anything bigger than that, since it would be too complex and could even take hundreds of thousands of years to teleport a human itself, but at least we were making progress."

"Only a single atom? How were they able to know if it even worked?" Twilight asked, now at the process of asking questions once more.

"I have no idea really. I'm a Marine, not a scientist." Jackson said, shrugging his shoulders.

"What other technologies can you tell us about? Like, were there any other expiremental technologies?" Swordstrike asked. Marcus nodded.

"Oh hell yeah. Our government tests out several technologies all the time, according to some. For example, there's this one testing facility called 'Area 51'. It's known for it being a testing facility for expitemental stuff, such as the development of exotic energy weapons for both national defensive and offensive use, the development of means of weather control, time travel and teleportation technology, and the development of unusual and exotic propulsion systems for aircraft an other stuff."

"Wait, wait wait, hold on a second..." Rainbow bumped in, waving her hoof to signify Marcus to stop. "Did you just say: 'control the weather'?..."

Marcus smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah. Technology that can allow us to control the weather." He said. That's when Rainbow lost it, even the others were smiling slightly.

"A-are you serious?!" She said between hysterical bursts of laughter. "You say you have all of this technology, and you can't even control the clouds?!"

The Marines nodded.

"Oh... oh my... HA!" Rainbow wheezed before wiping the tears from her eyes. "That's rich..."

"Hey, like I said, our planets are different. You guys can control the weather, and I'm guessing it's because magic, to put it simply." Marcus retorted, the ponies nodded. "And back in our world, we don't control the weather. The weather and clouds and stuff controls itself, kinda like what you say about the Everfree Forest, which is actually pretty hilarious and somewhat pitiful when you say that animals take care of themselves and the weather controls itself. That's pretty much our planet's weather in general."

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow jumped in. "You try staying in the Ever... oh wait...." She then realized that they found the four Marines in the Everfree themselves, and had little to no effort taking care of themselves. "N-nevermind..."

It was now their turn to laugh, which they did both vengefully and joyfully. The ponies just walked beside them in silence while they howled with laughter and chuckles. After a couple more moments, they died down and the ponies continued their onslaught of questions.

"Anyways, what is the true reason for the base 'Area 51' as you so called it?" Swordstrike asked.

"In reality, it's official names are Homey Airport, or Groom Lake. They say that it was used for the development and testing of experimental aircraft and weapons systems. Not much else is really known."

"It's really that secretive, huh?"

"Yeah. Just cause we're part of the United States Armed Forces, doesn't mean we know every single thing that goes on in it. We just know the stuff we need to know."

The ponies nodded as they came into the view of the train. As they got closer, they noticed that both the Stryker and the Little Bird were both tied down to transportation carts, along with another cart reserved for the XS-1 Goliath. They all noticed the four soldiers talking to the mechanics and what seemed to be the conductor, so they walked towards them.

As they did, Marcus felt a tug on his pants. He turned, looking back at both Twilight and Rainbow, looking up at him with a smile and a look of curiosity, which didn't surprise him.

"You said that your kind has gone to space, right?" Twilight asked. Marcus nodded.

"Yep. Why?" Marcus asked, but he knew exactly why. "Let me guess..."

"You really should show us more and tell us more about space, and what you've all foun-" Twilight was about to go on and on, but Marcus rose a hand in front of her face, stopping her.

He then chuckled. "Don't worry, Twi. I will. Just wait until we get on board the train, okay?" He said, ruffling her mane a bit. Twilight giggled and nodded as she went with Luna and Celestia to help them out with the giant armor suit.

"Hey," Rainbow tugged at his leg again, catching his attention. " remember that flying thing you showed us in one of your flashbacks?" She asked. He nodded. "Can you pleeease show me more on those flying metal things? They look so awesome!" She said with pure excitement in her voice. Marcus grinned as he nodded.

"I was wondering when you were gonna ask about that. Hell yeah, I will."

Rainbow then jumped into the air and did a backflip in excitement, before hugging Marcus slightly. She then, blushing slightly, flew off towards the others, with Marcus catching up.

"Alright, we should be good to go now." Dempsey said, jumping down from the transportation cart after helping the workers to tie down the suit onto the cart. "The train should be set for Ponyville soon."

Marcus nodded as he walked alongside Dempsey towards the station. As they did, the others were already walking into the train cabins, with Swordstrike, Nimbius, Celestia, and Luna waiting for them.

As they walked up the steps, Marcus asked Celestia a question. "So, how long do you think it'll take for the construction crew to build our new home?" He asked.

"Hmm... I can't say for certain, but it could take a while. You have to give them a specific report with what you want inside the building to accomadate your needs, and storage. But if it all goes as planned, it should take no longer than two weeks."

"Two weeks?!" Marcus asked, in surprise.

Celestia nodded. "Yes. Two weeks. Why? Is it too long?"

Marcus shook his head rapidly. "Are you kidding?! Back on Earth, it would've taken a very, very long time! I was expecting at least six months!"

Celestia snickered. "Well I could explain to you in specific details on how it could and can be done, but for your sake and mine, I have one word for you."

"What?" He asked mindlessly.

"Magic." Celestia said with a smile.

"... Why did I not see that coming." Marcus said, facepalming. The others chuckled as they walked towards the door to enter the train, but he was stopped once more when Swordstrike spoke to him.

"And don't worry about waiting. The special forces of the Royal Guard are currently stationed at Manehattan training the local police department in training, more specifically the Pegasi, so we planned on sending you all there to see if you can help out in their training, and maybe teach them a thing or two."

"Oh man, they'll know more than a thing or two.." Marcus muttered with a smile as he nodded. As they proceeded to walk in, they all heard the rapid clopping of hooves approaching them. When Marcus and the others turned, they saw three Royal Guards rushing up towards Celestia and Luna, out of breath.

"Remind me to make them run six miles a day..." He whispered to Swordstrike, who nodded as the guards spoke up, rather panicked.

"Princess Celestia!... Princess Luna!..." One of the guards, an Earth pony, said through gasps. "Prince Blueblood... tower... explosion..."

"Guard, please slow down and catch your breath." Celestia ordered calmly. The guards obeyed as they recovered themselves. After a couple more minutes, they finally recovered and the Earth guard began to speak.

"We heard and saw one of the towers explode! When we went to check, we found Prince Blueblood on what remained of the upper staircase, and his injuries are extremely serious to the point where he might not make it..."

The Princess' jaws dropped, as they heard the news. Marcus' eyes widened, along with Swordstrike and Nimbius.

That's when the train's whistle blew.

Nimbius, who was flying, whispered into Marcus' ear. "Get in the train... like... now..."

Marcus nodded as he and the other two ponies quickly, but quietly got into the train. As they did, they were quickly blinded by a flash of light, in which Marcus was slightly effected by his shades, but was still blinded for a split second regardless. When they regained their respective visions, the two guards, Luna, and Celestia were nowhere to be seen.

Marcus breathed a sigh of relief, only to turn and face the four mares giving him a suspicious glare. He smiled sheepishly as he took a seat to where the rest of his squad was.

As he did, he heard Rainbow snicker, then she flew up to the Marines' table, laying on her back in mid air with her hooves behind her head. "You guys are crazy, y'know that?"

The Marines chuckled. "Look who's finally catching up." Marcus said with a shit-eating grin, earning him a punch to the shoulder, which felt like something short of a mosquito bite.

"Shut up." Rainbow said, flying back to the other three mares that were sitting on the opposite side, while Nimbius and Swordstrike sat on the opposite side of the Marines.

"I know ya guys don't like Blueblood..." Applejack spoke. "... But ah think ya might've gone too far, Marcus. With shooting that thing to the tower and all"

Marcus threw his hands up. "I didn't mean to shoot a rocket at the tower intentionally! Let alone shoot one in the first place. I didn't know he was there."

"It's a reasonable excuse. You didn't mean it.." Fluttershy said quietly with a small smile.

"Ah know that. Ah just hope the poor fella' doesn't die or something like that.." Applejack muttered.

"He'll probably be pretty ticked off, that I know for sure." Rainbow chimed in, making the other mares and the Marines chuckle. "I mean, he had what was coming to him, didn't he?"

"Oh yeah he did." Marcus said. He then turned to Nimbius and Swordstrike. "So, what else would you like to learn about us?" He asked.

"Can you inform us more about how you operate? Perhaps give us an example on a mission you might have done? You said that you, along with the other three Marines here, that you have all done series of missions with other teams from different special operations units. More specifically the ones from the same country as you all originate from."

Before Marcus could respond, the four soldiers walked into the scene, taking their seats where the four mares sat, listening with curiosity as always. "And frankly, I'm more than curious to see how you do what you do. Show us what you Leathernecks are capable of."

Marcus smirked. "With pleasure." He then turned to the two ponies sitting on the other side. "Alright. So when we were back on Earth, me and my squad conducted an operation in a country called Mexico, near the Yucatan Peninsula. When we were debriefed, we were informed that a Seeker asteroid had landed in the rain forests of Yucatan, and that David Archer had conducted a sort of a salvage operation on the crash site. Keep in mind that this was before we re-enlisted into being part of the Rapid Reaction Force, and before the events of what happened in Caldrea Peak."

He then turned to Twilight. "Can you do the thing again?" He asked. Twilight nodded as she did the standard thing, displaying Marcus' memory onto the train wall for everybody to see. Nimbius and Swordstrike looked upon in awe as Marcus started explaining, and a mental video started to fade into view.

August 12, 2017, After the Tel-Aviv War, and a month and a half before the Caldrea Peak incident.
Near the Yucatan Crater, 40 miles from the Yucatan Peninsula, 2 miles from the asteroid dig site, 15,423 Feet above ground
Yucatan, Mexico

The four Marines were seated, preparing their parachutes and equipment to perform a HAHO (High Altitude High Opening) jump off the back of a Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules. Inside the military cargo plane contained three members of Task Force: S.T.A.L.K.E.R, more specifically Keegan P. Russ (Simply Keegan, or Chemo), and Enrique T. Solis (Neptune).

"Fifteen minutes!" Shouted the co-pilot to the men sitting about and fixating their equipment and weapons. They all nodded once and resumed to their doings. Kayla was no longer to take a role in this mission, and neither was Keegan. Instead, they were to take the same roles as Marcus and Jackson. Being the extra guns, Kayla was equipped with a lightweight Daewoo K7 submachine gun, which had a thirty-five round magazine, and an intergrated surpressor, along with an MP-443 Grach, which was fully-automatic if she wished to switch it up.

Keegan was equipped with a heavily modified SC-2010, which had a jet black finish, an attached silencer, a EO Tech sight, and a foldable lightweight stock, along with a silenced M9 pistol.

The other Marines, except for Jackson, were equipped with a new prototype weapon, the EVO Pro III. Nicknamed the 'Ripper', it is the latest in modular weapon design with an integrated Hybrid Sight, that has a green tint to it, and a button on the side which can uniquely extend the size and barrel of the weapon, turning it into a small, compact assault rifle, or vice-versa. Its fire rate decreases when switched to A.R mode, while going back to SMG mode increases it. The weapon was made in a collaboration effort between Mexico's Armacor Advanced Industries (A2 Industries), and Czech Republic's Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod to compete with a replacement for Heckler and Koch's MP5.

"Ten minutes!"

Marcus looked over at the helmet that was laying next to him, and picked it up, strapping it onto his head. The others did the same. He then double checked his free-falling boots, and his gloves, making sure they were all strapped tightly on his figure before reaching into one of his vest pockets, and looking at his altimeter and GPS.

"Five minutes!"

After checking on their equipment and storing their small, compact weapons, they stood up simultaneously before grabbing onto the straps, all of them waiting for the ramp to drop open.

"Alright," Keegan spoke up. "You all know what to do. We go down there into the forest via HAHO and group up with the three agents down there who should be waiting for us. They'll take us to the site and support us if we run into any heat, make our way towards the site, find what we can, secure the area, and hold until the 75th Rangers arrive."

"So much for leading the way..." Jackson muttered, getting small smiles from the others. Even Keegan.

"Check your partner's equipment." Keegan ordered. They did as they were told, with Marcus checking Neptune's equipment, and Thompson checking his own. As they finished, the ramp slowly began to drop, making a deafening noise of both the engines and the wind.

"Just like in training!" Keegan yelled. That's when the red light shown green.

"GO, GO, GO!" Keegan said, ordering them all out. One by one, quickly they jumped, with Marcus being the second to jump. The air was pushing against the force of his body, as gravity did its work. He then quickly looked below him, noticing that Neptune had already deployed a parachute and was slowly gliding down. He and the others formed up in a stack, with Neptune setting the travel course and acting as a guide for the other team members. The others did the same after about twenty seconds, and followed Neptune's path.

After around fifteen minutes, they spotted a flat field surrounded by the vegatation of the forest, and in the field emitted a red smoke. Neptune slowly glided down, while the others followed suit. As Neptune got closer, he and the others noticed a Ford F-350 Super Duty pick up truck, with green, black, and brown camouflage, and a canopy on the back. Alongside it, were three agents wearing black gear, and holding what looked to be HK416's, and one was holding a HK G36C.

They then slowly, but somewhat roughly, touched down onto the field. They then cut their parachutes, took out their weapons and equipment, and made their way to the three agents.

"Feet dry." Jackson said with a sigh of relief. The others nodded as they jogged over to the vehicle.

Keegan was the first to arrive, and approached the three agents. "I.D?" He asked. The agents showed him their badges, confirming their identification of being members of the Enigma Corporation, a private security firm which had just investigated a case near the Mayan temples. He then nodded.

"It's about time you got here. Did you run into anything up there?" Asked the female agent, Elise Mooney.

"No. We came in without any trouble. And remember, you all follow my lead, and do what I say. That includes you, Conner." He said, pointing a finger at him as he slid on his Ghosts mask.

"Yes sir." The team leader of the agents, Noel Conner, said sternly, not wanting any trouble with the men, let alone SF troops.

They then all gathered around the front of the truck. One of the agents, Tanner Noble, pulled out a map, and unraveled it on the hood of the truck for everyone to see. He then stepped back as Keegan looked at the map for a couple of moments.

"Alright. The trail is this way. We take the pick up and travel three clicks to the East. We then ditch the truck, and make radio contact with a Ghostrider that should be arriving here the same time we make it. We'll also have a team of Ranger QRF's on standby that are stationed on the U.S.S Wasp. Another batch Rangers are also deployed on that carrier, and are waiting to secure the site. When we reach the site, Marcus will be under your command. We go in, gather what we can, take out any hostiles in the area, and call them in." Keegan explained in detail, making sure everybody knew what to do.

"Everyone got that?"

They all nodded.

"Alright. Agents, we'll store up onto the back of the pickup. Conner, you're driving us there. The first half of the trail, we will be encountering a couple of civilians from a nearby village, so we'll make sure to seal the canopy, and make sure they don't know we're in the truck. We'll then go off-road from there. If we get caught, you know what to do."

The agents and the Marines nodded. They then took their roles and climbed onto the back of the pickup truck, which contained a small, single wooden box filled with rotting and half-rotten bananas. As they climbed in, Conner turned on the ignition and waited for the other two agents to climb into the truck. Once they did, the truck started moving as Thompson closed the flap.

As the truck started moving, the group sat in silence, aside from the obvious rumming of the engine, and the crunching of branches against the tires every once in a while. After a couple more minutes, Kayla spoke up.

"Any of you guys know who this 'Archer' guy is?" She asked.

"I was informed that the man supposedly known as 'Archer' was a former Special Air Service operator before he flushed out on a Section eight or something like that. Then he went balls-to-the-wall crazy and created something called the 'Nightfall Program', where he's been investigating on some stuff. Like aliens or something like that." Keegan said.

"Damn. If we find him there, we'll get a ten million reward." Neptune said.

"I'm taking the shot. Beers on me for the rest of our lives!" Marcus said outloud, clearly boasting. The others laughed as they enjoyed their moments inside the truck. AS the laughter died down, they heard the back window opened. They looked, noticing Mooney sticking her head out and looking at the men.

"Might wanna keep it down. We're passing by a nearby village." She said quietly before closing the window and putting the flap back. The laughter quickly died down as they sat in silence. The truck then slowed as it passed through the front of a village. As they did, the noise of the truck toned down, allowing the men to hear the voices outside of curious, and somewhat scared civilians.

"Ey', piensas que esa vehiculo tiene los Americanos?" ("Hey, do you think that vehicle contains the Americans"?) Said a guy in Spanish.

"No se, pero diga a los civiles que se vayan patras a sus casas. Y para ese vehiculo para inspectar!" (Don't know, but tell the civilians to go back into their homes. And stop that vehicle for inspection!" Another man said.

"Si senor. Ey! ¡Ándate a la chucha! Vamos! Adentro!" (Yes sir. Hey! Fuck off! Let's go! Get inside!") Shouted the same man. Several muttering and silent voices were heard, along with the quick rushing of footsteps, and the crying of a baby here and there. As they did, the truck slowed even more, and that's when Marcus spoke up quietly.

"They're gonna stop us and inspect the truck." He then turned to Jackson. "Hurry up and mount your LSAT!"

Jackson nodded quickly as he unfolded the bipods on his LSAT machine gun, and aimed at the flaps, with the others scooting away so they won't be caught in the crossfire.

"It's like that one time we were in Rio de Janeiro. And we went into that one Favela..." Kayla muttered. The others just nodded as they awaited for the milita to open the back flaps. As they waited, they heard the voices of the men again. One of them banged not too softly onto the window of the driver side of the truck.

"Hey! Are you three allowed to be in this certain location!" Spoke the man in a heavy accent.

"We were told to transport this shipment of bananas to Valladolid." Conner 'admitted', making the men chuckle heavily.

"Yeah... bananas..." He said, sniffling. "Well, you wouldn't mind if I checked, would you?" He asked with a devilish smirk.

Conner shook his head and returned the smirk with a small smile. "Not at all, sir. Go right ahead."

The man along with three others walked to the back of the truck, while two other men held their position on the sides of the truck, aiming their AK-103's at Conner and Tanner.

"Aver que tienen estos pendejos.." ("Let's see what these fuckers really have..") The man said, before the Marines and Ghosts members saw the silhouette of four men, armed with what seemed to be AK-103's and an FN-FAL. Then, one of the men wearing a beret, walked up to the back and grabbed the flap.

"Get ready..." Neptune whispered at Jackson, who was eagerly awaiting them to open the flap. The silhouette of the other three men changed as they rose their weapons, and the other ripped the flap open, revealing the four Marines and the Ghosts members inside. To their horror, which was clearly displayed on their faces, one of them was already aiming at them with a light machine gun.

Before the man could even react, Jackson quickly squeezed the trigger, replacing the silence of the rain forest. The LSAT contained little to no recoil, easily capable of sustained fire. The armor-piercing rounds connected with the man, making him stumble back as his torso was riddled with bullets, before one of them hit his head, killing him instantly.

The other three men just looked upon in shock and horror, before being met with a similar fate as their former, getting easily mowed down by the steady stream of bullets, along with Kayla, who accompanied the LSAT's fire with her own, shooting her MP-443 Grach as the men stumbled to the ground.

"Step on it!" Marcus shouted to Conner. He quickly complied as he pressed his foot down onto the gas pedal before speeding away, breaking through the barrier in front of the truck, and quickly gaining speed. Jackson had long stopped firing, and was now re-folding the bipods on his LSAT and reloading it. Kayla just ejected the magazine and slapped in a new one, while the others just sat in silence, checking each other for any wounds whatsoever.

"We all good?" Keegan asked. The others nodded. Aside from getting a couple scratches here and there, nothing near life threatening. Blood was spilled on the flaps, the roof, and the floor, but it wasn't any of theirs. Keegan and the others looked at the flaps, riddled with fresh blood stains and riddled with bullet holes.

"The flaps are totaled, but we should be nearing the position now." Keegan said, as they felt the truck turn and take on a more bumpy road, signifying them that they were now off-road, just like Keegan said they would. The speed hadn't changed, and for good reason, since they were certain that whatever militia that was, they were certainly going to be searched for.

"Lightweight, keep your LSAT mounted and ready to fire. We don't want any milita sneaking up on us, and I don't plan on bailing on this mission due to a fucking cheap-ass technical." Marcus said. Jackson nodded, finishing reloading his LSAT and mounting it once more, while the others sat in silence, waiting.

After a couple of minutes, the truck slowly but steadily came to a stop. The Marines and the Ghosts then quickly gathered up and climbed out, forming a defensive perimeter around the back of the truck and scanning their surroundings. Conner then turned of the truck and stepped out, along with the three other agents, aiming their weapons into the treeline. After a couple of more minutes, Noel went to the back of the truck, climbing out with a camouflage tarp, big enough to cover the truck and let it blend in with the enviroment.

After Jackson, Thompson, and Noel covered the truck, Thompson unslung his pack, preparing to use his PRC 119 radio to contact the AC-130 Ghostrider that should now be flying overhead. He smiled a bit at how fitting the name was, and for who it was working for.

After changing frequencies, Thompson finally heard the voices of the Ghostrider pilots. He then spoke. "Be advised, this is MARSOC, contacting Ghostrider, callsign 'Spartan 1-3'. Do you read me, over?"

"Be advise, this is Spartan 1-3, flying at 29,000 feet, coming from Cannon AFB, New Mexico. we read you loud and clear, over." The pilots responded back. Thompson turned to the others, giving them a thumbs-up on the radio contact. "We're your eye in the sky for the next two hours. The crash site is half a click away. We got your back, how copy?"

Thompson replied. "Good copy, Spartan 1-3. Inform us as we get there. Make sure we don't get ambushed along the way, over?"

"Solid copy. Spartan 1-3 out." The pilot said. Thompson then stored the radio and stood up. Marcus then walked in front of the others and led the way, all of them walking at a fast pace into the forest, aiming their weapons as they did so.

Once they got into the rain forest, their visibility was hindered by the treetops, but they continued regardless, their ears making note of each and every little sound the forest emitted. From the slightest rustling, to the howls of Howler Monkeys. They also found a series of footprints, which lead to very small remote field, which the agents followed as the Marines waited. When they came back, they found nothing but a huge pool of dried blood, along with pieces of ripped clothing.

"Damn... what could've cause that huge of a kill?" Asked Thompson.

"Don't know, but there's nothing we can do. We're not here to investigate a murder or something like that." Marcus said, eager to proceed with the mission, since this was wasting valuable time.

"That doesn't explain the acidic substance mixed in with the blood..." Conner said, walking out of the brush and back to the group. "Let's just keep going."

They all nodded as they quickened their pace to make up the wasted time. As they did, they noticed that at the end of the so called 'trail', that there was more sunlight emitting from there, which they assumed that they were about to reach the cliffside area of the crash site.

The radio then crackled back to life. "This is Spartan 1-3, be advised, you are exiting the rainforest, and are about to discover the crash site, over." The pilot said, confirming it. The pilot spoke again. "Be advised, FLIR from our computers are identifying four- no, five heat signatures inside of the building sites. Proceed with caution, over."

Thompson replied back. "Copy that. Are they armed, or just a bunch of civvies?" He asked.

"They are armed. Heavily armed, the screen operator says. He's saying they look too well-armed to be milita." The pilot informed.

"Federation, maybe?" Thompson guessed.

"Uh... hold on a second..." The pilot said. After a moment of hearing chatter over the pilot and the operators in the back, he replied. "Yeah. They're confirmed to be Federation."

"Roger. Keep your eyes peeled up there while we go and take them out." Thompson replied.

"Copy. Watch your six down there, Devil Dogs. Spartan 1-3 out."

After walking a couple more hundred feet, they finally made it to the edge of the crash site, concealing themselves in the vegetation. As they settled in, Marcus looked over to Neptune. "Hand me your binoculars."

Neptune nodded as he reached to his side, grabbing his binoculars and handing it to him. Marcus then brought the binoculars to his eyes and looked down at the crash site. On one side, there were a series of construction pipes and equipment, along with a way to climb down. On the inner layer against the cliff walls, there was also a series of whitish tubes connecting from one area of the site to another. More specifically connecting from the abandoned white building, all the way to the asteroid itself. There were also several cranes, vehicles, ripped white tarps, gas trailers, white trailers which seemed to still have its computers and such in tact, along with a dirt pathway next to the building that lead to what seemed to be a tiny underground bunker.

Marcus then spotted the five Federation soldiers. He zoomed in closer on them, noticing they all had desert camouflage armor on them, except for one, which was wearing a red beret. Two of the soldiers were equipped with SA-805's, one with an Ameli light machine gun, and the other two had Vepr's. Two were on the pathway, one was on the balcony next to the asteroid, and the other two were inside the building itself.

"Alright. They look pretty lightly armed. We go two with SA-805's, one with an Ameli, and two with Vepr's. I don't think we'll be needing the AC-130 for this." Marcus muttered. He then turned to Thompson. "Radio-in Spartan 1-3. Tell them we're ready to kick things off."

Thompson nodded as he spoke into the radio again. "Spartan 1-3, be advise. We're about to kick this thing off. Keep us updated on anything, and look around for any reinforcements."

The pilot responded quickly. "Solid copy, Lucky. Radio in when you need C.A.S. We'll be with you all the way. Spartan 1-3 out."

Thompson then put the radio away and gave a nod to Marcus. "Alright. Follow me. Stay low."

The others complied as they moved slowly out of the brush and into view, only a couple feet away from the cliffs that surrounded the site. Marcus looked over to the construction pipes. He thought about it for a second. It would be a faster way to go, but if that guard on the balcony decided to just turn around at the right time, they would be spotted in no time. Also, the entrance at the bottom looked locked, so he ruled that out. He then saw a not-so-steep slope to his right, and decided they could easily access the main building from there.

"Alright. See that slope there?" Marcus pointed at the slope. The others nodded. "We'll go down to the site from there, slowly. Then, make our way into the tunnel of tubes, which should lead us into the main building. Then, we'll split up and take them out swiftly and quietly. Got it?"

The others nodded once more. Marcus then led them towards the slope, moving almost painfully slow as they approached the top of it One by one, they slowly slid down, with Marcus going first, and Noble going last. As they touched down, they approached the white tubes that acted as a small hallway. Kayla pulled out her combat knife, and quietly sliced the whitish tarp with ease. The group then silently entered the tunnel, which was almost anything but, since the tops were ripped and abused ever since the site's 'abandonment'.

"We're gonna split up. Me, and my squad will take on the three guards near the asteroid, while the rest of you take out the two in the building. We'll secure the entire area faster, and hold on until the Rangers arrive." Marcus said. The others nodded. "Alright. Let's make this quick."

The group then split off into seperate directions. As the Marines approached the glass doors, they were about to cut through, until the doors slid to the sides as soon as they got within three feet.

"Oh damn... the doors still work?" Kayla said quietly, yet still surprised.

"Guess so. I'm not complaining." Jackson said as they walked out of the are and onto the outside. They then took a quick glance up to look at the asteroid. It had a sharp, bulky look to it, and was covered in holes. The shadow of the asteroid covered them from the blinding sun. After a couple more seconds, they proceeded with the mission objective. Kayla moved down towards the trailer, along with Jackson, while Marcus and Thompson stayed behind, taking cover behind a trailer that contained gas tanks. They then heard the voices of one of the Federation soldiers.

"Si senor. Orita vana venir los Mi-24's. Espero para que ya nos vamos de aqui." ("Yes sir. Right now, the Mi-24's are on their way. I hope so, so we can leave this place.")

"Shit... hear that? We're gonna get some extra company soon. Let's take 'em out so we can inform Spartan 1-3." Marcus said. Thompson nodded as they both stood up and aimed over the trailer, aiming their silenced Rippers at the two Federation soldiers, who were unaware of their presence.

"Three... Two... One..." Marcus counted down, aiming down the green sight. "Fire."

Marcus and Thompson fired their Rippers simultaneously, squeezing the triggers and letting out short four-round-burst. The bullets hit their mark, connecting with their necks, slicing through their upper spinal cords, cutting off their brain signals and killing them instantly. The bodies immediately flopped onto the floor. Marcus and Thompson then quickly, but quietly, ran up to the two corpses and dragged them to the back of another gas trailer, mounting their bodies to lean next to each other, with both of them resting against the wall. They then went over to Kayla and Jackson.

As they did, Jackson kept his sights on the man on the balcony, until he heard a slight 'hiss'. He turned around, noticing Marcus and Thompson giving him a thumbs-up. Jackson nodded as he turned to Kayla, who was right below the metal balcony, and right below the Federation soldier's feet. He gave Kayla a thumbs-up.

Kayla nodded as she quickly aimed her K7 up at the man standing above her. She then squeezed the trigger, letting out a burst of five rounds into the soldier's body, more specifically his genitals. The .45 ACP rounds sliced through him with ease as he stood there in shock and in indescribable pain. He dropped his gun as he wanted to scream in pain, but he was quickly silenced by another burst to lower jaw, the bullets going through and connecting with his skull. As he crumpled to the ground, the Marines moved into the asteroid building, meeting up with the three Enigma Corporation agents and the two Ghosts members.

"That went pretty damn smoothly." Conner commented. The other two agents nodded, but Marcus cut the celebration short.

"We aren't done yet. Before we killed the two soldiers, we overheard them talking about a Federation Hind approaching this area." Marcus warned. He then turned to Thompson. "Inform Spartan 1-3."

"Way ahead of you, Sarge." Thompson said, already on the radio. "Be advised Spartan 1-3, we got info on a Federation Mi-24 Hind approaching our location. Can you tell your computer operators to scan the area for any unidentified aircraft?"

It took a while for the pilot to respond, but he did anyhow. "Understood. We're now scanning the surrounding area for Hinds. Stand-by."

"Copy that. Changing frequencies now to report to the Wasp to bring in the Rangers. All other hostiles are down and out." Thompson said.

"Solid copy. Good work down there." The pilot said before Thompson switched frequencies to contact the aircraft carrier. As he did, Marcus and the other agents walked over to the asteroid and just stared at in in slight awe. It had huge holes dented into its rock form, and it seemed as if it was embedded deep into the ground as they looked over the brick surrounding it as a railing.

"What do you think this thing is?..." Mooney asked, clearly curious.

"No idea.. but I have this strong urge to go down there and find out...." Conner muttered as they looked below the ground. It was anything but visible, but Marcus was able to notice something.

A red, pulsating plant-like thing emitted slightly on the side of the wall next to the asteroid. Marcus' eyes widened in surprise, before he squinted them and got a closer look at the strange object, which seemed to have red glowing roots on the sides, which disappeared since it was embedded into the cracks on the walls. As he got an even better view, Thompson spoke up.

"Alright. The Rangers are already on their way." He said.

"Great What's their E.T.A?" Keegan asked.

"About five and a half mikes." Thompson said. He then turned to Marcus. "Marcus, ya' got that?"

Marcus didn't hear what he said, since his mind was fixated on the strange organism. As he did, he heard strange sounds emitting from the bottom of the shaft. Odd groans, clicking noises, faint screeches, weak moaning, and yelling, mixed with other noises. He was about to get even closer, until he felt something touch his shoulder, which made him slightly jump at the touch, and quickly turn around.

"Sarge! Did you get that? The Rangers are on their way!" Thompson said more loudly this time, breaking whatever trance Marcus had and bringing him back to reality.

"Huh? Oh. Y-yeah, I got you. Understood." He shook his head slightly as he stood back up, trying to erase the thoughts of the organism he saw down there, but Thompson saw the look in his eyes, and decided to bite.

"You sure? Seems like you were in some sort of trance or something along those lines..." He said with a tone of worry.

Marcus nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just kinda went blank for a second."

"Okay, if you say so."

"I do say so." Marcus then turned to the others. "Let's look around and see if there's anything interesting we can find." He said. The others nodded as they walked out of the main area and walked out into the open. Raising their weapons, they looked around as they walked into the small underground 'bunker'. As they did, they turned on their flashlights and looked around for anything that would be a threat, or of great national value.

"I still wonder what these people were doing before they abandoned this site..." Jackson said, looking through a pile of orange plastic cargo plates. "Nothing much over here."

"Overlord did say that this would be a very important area to secure, didn't he?" Neptune commented, lifting up the lid on a wooden box, only to find several Heckler and Koch G3's, all of them without their magazines. "Then again, this is supposedly a dig site..."

"Yeah, but we're not here to do that." Keegan reminded him and the others as he moved a stack of pipes from the wall, only to find nothing. "Our orders were to secure the site, and the others would do the rest."

"Then why'd they send the Rangers here? Let alone the 75th?" Asked Kayla as she and the others grouped up in the middle.

"If I knew, I'd tell you." Keegan said, a bit irritated. Before anybody else could speak, The PRC 119 radio crackled to life as the pilot spoke.

"Be advised, we have positive contact of a Federation Mi-24 closing in fast..." The pilot said with a tone of warning in his voice. As he did, they all heard the rapid beating of rotors, indicating the Hind was already entering the crash site.

The group then heard the rotors louder and louder, until a heavy, swirling cloud of dust fumed as the Hind hovered over the small bunke, which contained a hole on the top. They looked in horror as they noticed that the Hind's gun barrel was pointed downwards to them.

"Shit! Move it, move it!" Marcus shouted as they quickly sprinted out to the side where they came from as the Hind's GSh-23 cannon opened fire, barley missing Neptune's ankle by mere inches. As they got into new cover, Thompson quickly responded to the Ghostrider pilot.

"Be advised, we've come under attack from that damn Hind! Requesting a SDB launch on that bird now!" Thompson shouted as the Hind kept shooting its GSH-23, trying to penetrate the reinforced concrete, succeeding slightly as dust and debris flew all around, making the group cough, hack, and blur their vision.

The pilot quickly responded. "Copy that. Danger close, I say again, danger close. Might wanna step back..." He said as chatter began in the background. The group then quickly moved to the very back of the small bunker as the Hind flew over and above one of the cranes. As they did, Thompson heard over the chatter the gunner yelling "Firing!"

As soon as he did, they faintly heard a screeching sound above, aside from the Hind's rapidly spinning rotors. This confirmed that the AC-130 Ghostrider had just released a GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB), which was a 250 lb (110 kg) precision-guided glide bomb. The Hind kept shooting it's GSh-23, along with shooting a couple of UB-32 S-5 rocket onto the bunker, rocking it, and sending debris flying in every single direction, but not causing more than a couple scratches as the group hid more behind.

The GBU-39 streaked towards the Hind, connecting with the very top of the rotors and exploding in a brilliant flash of molted, broken metal. As the bomb hit, the Hind spun out of control, due to it's top half being completely obliterated. The back of the Hind connected with the crane, exploding its gas tank, and demolishing the restraints on the crane. As the remains of the Hind came crashing down, the crate the crane was carrying before fell to the ground, landing conveniently on the back of a flat-bed truck.

The group then cautiously walked out of the bunker, as the winds around them picked up and released dust into the air, making the group cough and squint their eyes as they proceeded to the crash site.

This is Spartan 1-3, you guys good down there?" The pilot asked. Thompson lazily pulled out the radio and responded.

"*Cough* Roger that, Spartan 1-3. We're all fine. Just a couple of scratches and dust in our lungs. Good effects on that Hind, but as it went down, the remains of the Hind hit some crane and released whatever was swinging in the air. We're gonna go check it out, over?"

"Copy that. The Rangers are on their way now; E.T.A: Two mikes. We'll stay here until they arrive. Good hunting, Spartan 1-3 out." The pilot responded. The group then cautiously and slowly approached the area where Marcus and Thompson had killed the two Federation soldiers, walking past them and back to where Kayla killed her own. As they walked down the small dirt slope, avoiding huge and small slices of burnt and molten metal, they stood upon the metal 'crate'.

They stared at what the crate contained. Marcus then stepped up and threw open the gate which prevented access. He then stood on the platform, and came upon a black box that was leaning against the side.

"What do you think's in there?" Asked Mooney.

"Only one way to find out..." Marcus muttered his reply. He saw that it was locked with a combination lock, to which he just simply shot at it with his Ripper, careful any piece hitting him or the others. He then forcefully opened the case, revealing a very strange looking weapon.

"What the fuck?..." He muttered as the others looked along. The weapon was around the same size as a M16A4, with its obvious differences. For one, it had a desert-tan stock and grip, with what looked like a gas tank at the very back and the inside of the stock. It had what seemed like two elongated barrels, with one of them having a hole and a folded grip, and the other acting as what seemed to be a battery/storage device. It also had a battery magazine itself where a regular magazine should be. Inside its second tube had a dark, liquid substance inside. He aimed down the scope, which was attached with a small battery.

"That.. what the hell is that?" Asked Neptune as Marcus jumped down so the others could have a better look.

"Hell if I knew..." Marcus said as he handed the weapon to Keegan. "But it makes me wonder what this 'Nightfall' Program has in store for the world..."

The others nodded slowly in agreement. Before they could say anything else, they heard the slight beating sound of rapid rotors. Not wanting another Hind encounter, they quickly turned around and looked to the skies, not raising their weapons in case it was friendly aircraft. Their suspicions were put to rest as they saw the silhouettes of four MH-6 Little Birds arriving onto the dig site, along with two UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.

"Looks like they've arrived. We're pulling out. Take care. Spartan 1-3 out." The pilot contacted them for the last time. They didn't respond as the roaring of rotors and Rangers giving orders nearly deafened them, even while wearing their helmets. The Little Birds, piloted by the 160th SOAR, landed quickly and dropped of the Rangers, who were now swarming the area, while one of the UH-60's landed in the middle of the site, the other hovering around, waiting for it to move.

"It's been fun working with you guys, but it seems like we gotta split our paths." Noel said, saluting the men, who did so in return. "Take care."

The group just nodded as they jogged towards their UH-60. Still holding the odd weapon in his hands, he turned to Keegan. "We're gonna take this back with us and show it to the eggheads back at Guantanamo. Maybe they'll know a thing or two."

"I was thinking the same exact thing." Keegan said.

As the group walked over to the UH-60, they wondered more and more about what this 'Nightfall' thing was really hiding, and how it was going to affect the U.S Government, and the world in general. Marcus had a bad feeling that this would be a lot worse than fighting in the Tel-Aviv war. As he wondered this, two F-22 Raptor's soared over them to provide extra support as they secured and extracted the site.

End of Flashback.

Author's Note

Guess who's back...

Back again...

Hope the wait was worth it!

Special thanks to The Enigma Corporation from Animal Planet's 'Lost Tapes'!

Also, the mission takes place in the Call of Duty Ghosts multiplayer map, 'Unearthed'. This is probably the biggest flashback to date, and the biggest chapter by far. Once again, I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Next chapter, the ponies will find out how the humans succeeded in what they have accomplished without magic, such as flight, space, and other stuff.

And what the future could've held for their kind...

Along with showing all of their equipment (M5 Sentry Guns, MAAWS, Mortars w/cluster shells, ect.)

Chapter 46: Aviation, Weaponry, and Spontaneity: Part 1

Author's Note

A certain amount of Youtube videos are in this chapter, along with a couple images. Sorry if this chapter seems somewhat like your History class, but I promise you won't see a chapter kinda like this unless necessary. Not proud of this chapter, but hey. Better than nothing.

Also, the Little Bird callsign has been changed to 'Spartan 0-1'. If you have seen the movie, or read the book 'Lone Survivor', you'll know.

Chapter 46: Aviation, Weaponry, and Spontaneity: Part 1

As the flashback ended, the girls were still awed as always, but the the Wonderbolts adviser and the Commander were very awed and surprised at the tactics and the way the executed the mission. The fact that it lasted less than an hour also impressed them. The four Marines just sat back and waited for them to respond.

"Well?" Jackson asked, awaiting their response.

Swordstrike shook his head and looked at the Marines "The way you pulled it off and how you worked... I have never seen anything like it before. You four have clearly been well-trained to help and work with and along with foreign and other teams. Though I will admit the ways you 'put down' the enemies you encountered were quite. Uh..."

"Inhumane?" Kayla said.

"Yeah... close enough, but I understand the meanings of why you all must do so. Also, I think that we may have underestimated your emotional abilities and skills." Swordstrike admitted with a pang of guilt in his voice.

"Oh? How so?" Thompson asked.

"Well, when we first met at the war room back in Canterlot, we thought that you were all a bit immature for the way you acted. No offense. And now that we've seen how you really act in the front lines and beyond, my mindset about that thought and any other doubts have been wiped out." He said.

"Well, when you've been fighting non-stop for about 7 months, only to have your entire home obliterated by some unkmown war you never wanted, and then suddenly catch a break from out of nowhere, you tend to take advantage of it and not give a damn of what others think. Because it won't last forever."

An eerie silence took over the train cabin as they all took in what Marcus just said. The Commander and Nimbius just nodded in agreement. "Yes... You have a helluva point there, sir." Nimbius said.

"Although I have yet to see how you will train our men, I have high hopes for it." He said, trying to change the topic of the entire conversation as he turned to Nimbius, who was just waiting for his turn to speak.

"Well, Commander Swordstrike pretty much said everything I was planning to say, but like a certain mare here..." Nimbius then looked at Rainbow Dash, who gave him a confused look. "I am also interested in those flying things that soared above you at the very end, along with the thing you made radio contact with."

"Now I know why you're trying your very best to hold back the world's biggest grin..." Swordstrike muttered. Nimbius just nodded, smiling slightly, while Rainbow waited impatiently for the humans to start talking.

"I think Randy and Mike should do most of the talking. Since they're the only pilots here and all." Marcus said. They all then turned to the two Night Stalkers, waiting for them to speak.

"Heh, I knew you were going to include us sooner or later..." Randy said at Marcus, who just rolled his eyes and smiled. "Alright. Let's start off with a brief history on how we achieved flight, and how fast we did it. Marcus here can use his phone to show us a couple images and videos for examples."

Rainbow spoke up eagerly. "This is probably the only history lesson I will ever be eager to listen to!" She said. The other mares giggled in agreement, while Twilight just rolled her eyes.

"Alright then. Well, it all started when us Humans used hot air balloons, which I'm guessing you guys have?" He turned to Swordstrike, who nodded.

"Yes, we use them for reconnaissance, and air diving. Some are specifically made for transporting supplies."

"Yeah. Us humans used them in similar ways. Then we went on to building the very first actual 'airplane', if you could call it that. It was made by The Wright brothers, two brothers and American inventors who were credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane."

Marcus then brought up his phone and showed them the image of the famous plane.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "That looks nothing like the plane we saw in the flashback.... It looks like... well, not a plane!"

"Rainbow has a point. It looks like a bunch of odd objects built into each other for the sake of being... well, weird." Twilight commented.

"It's because it was back in 1906. Remember, it was 2018 on Earth before we came here." Marcus informed. They both nodded before they asked another question.

"How fast was that 'plane'?" Rainbow asked.

"Around... 35 miles per hour."

"Pffft! HAH! That's one heckuva slow piece of junk!" Rainbow insulted the machine.

"Oh you just wait, Rainbow..." Mike said. "You will be eating those words very soon..."

Rainbow scoffed. "Yeah, like hay I will!"

"Alright then. We'll see. After a couple more years, like a decade or less, we developed more 'sophisticated' aircraft. Ones which could fly a lot faster, and were more manuverable and easier to handle. They were known as 'Bi-Planes'. A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first plane was a bi-plane, but later on they took on a somewhat different look. The bi-plane really took off during World War 1, where they were mainly used for reconnaissance. They were also used as 'bombers', in which pilots would just drop grenades below to the ground, and hope that they would detonate on target, or two enemy planes would engage each other, shooting at each other's planes with pistols, or even rifles and rocks."

"But then, they were made to sustain machine guns, such as those, which would be fired either from the back seat, the front of the propellers, or the very top."

"Through the propellers? How? Wouldn't the bullets tear them apart?" Twilight asked.

"They would, but they did some sort of thing that was unique, but I forgot what it was. It was just made so the bullets would shoot through the propellers without it actually hitting it. Whoever made it was indeed one smart son of a bitch." Mike said. The girls flinched slightly at his language, as they always had since they weren't quite yet used to it.

"A-are these type of planes still used in your world?" Applejack asked.

"Kinda, but not in the way you might think. For combat, they're obsolete. But they can be used for light transport, reconnaissance to a degree, and stunts. Nothing much else really." Randy said.

"How fast were these type of planes?" Rainbow asked.

"They flew at a maximum of around 100 miles an hour."

Rainbow shrugged slightly. "Eh. It's an improvement, I'll give them that."

"Then let's fast forward a bit to World War Two, which lasted from 1939-1945. Most, if not all, bi-planes in this time period were mainly obsolete from combat. This time, a new generation of airplanes came in. Known as 'Monoplanes'. A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane. It still has a propeller, but they were now much more durable and powerful than the old ones."

"They were used mainly for fighting. They were basically the pre-ancestors to the first actual fighter jets. Some of the most famous planes used in the World War, an in history in general, was the American P-51 Mustang. The Mustang was used as a long-range close air support and fighter-bomber. It was armed with a variety of bombs, rockets, and was equipped with a set of three .50 caliber machine guns on each wing."

"The next one was another allied plane. Called the Supermarine Spitfire, or simply, 'Spitfire', this plane was made by a friendly country, the United Kingdom. It served similarly to the Mustang, except that the Mustang was a bit more well known, and heavily developed than the Spitfire."

Rainbow was gleaming with a smile as she looked closely at the picture of the British fighter plane. "A plane named after the Captain of the Wonderbolts?!" She said with pure excitement. "Now that's awesome!"

Mike didn't really know what the hell she was talking about, but he went with it anyways. "Um... yeah. I guess. Anyways, the next one was made by the enemy, the Imperial Japanese. This fighter was the one we hated the very most. The Mitsubishi AM6 Zero, or better known as simply, 'Zero'. A long-range fighter aircraft, it gained a legendary reputation as a dogfighter in World War Two, having achieving the outstanding kill ratio of 12 to 1. The reason why, I don't really know that well, but I guess it was because of the amazingly trained pilots, and the outstanding way the plane was made, and how it performed. This was the nightmare the sailors feared, but after a while, a combination of new tactics and the introduction of better equipment enabled the Allied pilots to engage the Zero on generally equal terms. Well, most of the time."

As they looked away from the images, Twilight spoke up. "Were these planes used after the war?" She asked.

"Not really." Randy said. "I mean, nowadays, they were used as only historical figures of the past, used to show off at air shows and stuff."

"How fast were all of these planes?" Rainbow asked.

"The P-51 Mustang went at a maximum of about... 437 miles per hour. The Spitfire went at about 370 miles, and the Zero at 410 miles an hour."

Rainbow's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "That's... that's actually one heck of an improvement."

"We're not done yet. Let's get into the topic of fighter jets now. The very first fighter jet was made near the end of World War Two, by Nazi Germany, who were basically the baddest of all the bad guys in the war, and responsible for starting it in the first place. In April of 1944, it was introduced into the Luftwaffe, the Nazi German Air Force. This thing was unlike anything we had ever seen. It was called the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, or simply the Me-262 'Swallow'.It was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, and was faster than any Allied fighter, and heavily armed. It was designed to take the roles of light bomber, reconnaissance, and even experimental night fighters."

"This jet's Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems and top-level interference due to the economy and the oncoming Red Army kept the aircraft from operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944. Me 262 pilots claimed a total of 542 Allied kills. The Allies countered its potential effectiveness in the air by attacking the aircraft on the ground and during takeoff and landing, usually us Americans using P-51 Mustangs as close air support to destroy or incacipate the planes. In the end, the Me 262 had a somewhat minor impact on the course of the war as a result of its late introduction and the consequently small numbers put in operational service."

"After the war, we captured the Me 262s, and they were then studied and flight tested by us and the United Kingdom, and ultimately influenced the designs of our own jets."

"How fast was the 262?" Twilight and Rainbow asked, surprising the pilot.

"Uh... 559 miles per hour." Randy said.

"Really? I was expecting a bit more than that..." Rainbow said, a bit disappointed. "And what other aircraft did that thing inspire you guys to make?"

"Let's see, I'll be quick with this one. It led to the development of the Russian MiG-15, which was introduced in 1949, and went as fast as 658 miles per hour. It also led to the development of the North American F-86 Sabre, which was also introduced in 1949. It was by far the most-produced Western jet fighter, with total production of all variants at 9,860 jets in total. It went at a maximum speed of 687 miles an hour. These two jets were the best and most important fighter aircraft in the history of aviation, and in human history in general.

"Is that the Sabre?" Applejack asked.

"No, that's the MiG, this is the Sabre." Marcus said.

"What's that plane in the background that's on fire?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

"It's a MiG-15. The Sabre was known to be more effective and overall better than the MiG, because of its speed, durability, handling, and it had better pilots."

"Can it do a Sonic Rainboom?" Rainbow asked.

"Uh... a what-boom?" Randy asked.

Rainbow was about to speak, but Twilight intervened. "She means if those planes can break the sound barrier."

"Yeah! Don't you know that I can do that?" Rainbow asked/boasted with her signature smirk.

Randy and Mike looked at her in disbelief. "Wait, you're saying you can break the sound barrier? As in, break the sound barrier and live?..."

"Uh... yeah. Why?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. Randy and Mike then turned to the other three mares.

They returned the looks with their own. "What're you looking at us for, sugarcube? She really can!" Applejack said.

"Yes... she can. She did her very first when she was just a filly..." Fluttershy said quietly.

Mike and Randy then sat down in the seats. "Okay.. I'm.. not even gonna ask how."

"Why are you guys so shocked? Is it because it's too awesome for you to handle?" Rainbow boasted once more.

"N-no.. it's just that.. no living thing can really break the sound barrier and live! It's physically impossible!!" Randy shouted, clutching his head, trying to wrap his thoughts into how she could do so. "And you did so as a freaking filly!"

Rainbow just shrugged as they tried to comprehend this. The Marines just chuckled at their reactions, along with the two other soldiers. "I think you're forgetting the fact that we're in another fucking planet, 'bird-brains'..." Marcus said.

"But... physics! Laws! Just... how?!" Mike shouted.

"Fuck physics, man!" Kevin replied. "We're in a damn planet filled with coloful, small, huggable fucking ponies who have no idea what the fuck a 'gun' is! Let alone them knowing the very fact that there's an impending doo-" Kevin was cut off by Dempsey, who punched him in the stomach.

"You're not making it any better, Kevin..." Dempsey muttered as Kevin doubled over in pain, gasping.

"Fuck.. you..." He muttered back.

"Look!" Rainbow shouted. "Can your little flying things break the sound barrier or not?!" She shouted.

Marcus sighed. "I think these guys are too mind-fucked to even speak right now. I'll just say the rest. For starters, you have to go at around 750 or more miles per hour to break the sound barrier, or Mach 1, to be exact. During the Vietnam War, we developed a plane called the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.It's a tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic, yes, supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It was first used in combat in 1960. Armed with a M61 Vulcan rotary cannon, and able to carry 18,000 pounds of weapons varying from air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs, it was a very effective fighter. So effective, that it lasted until 1996 in the United States Air Force."

"Although this plane isn't the fastest, nor the slowest, it's maximum speed was 1,472 miles per hour, or Mach 2.2."

As soon as he said this, Rainbow's jaw dropped to the floor literally as she stopped flapping her wings in mid-air, hitting the floor in a seated position with a thud. The other girls just stared in shock.

"O-one thousand...Mach two..p-poin-...not the fastest...one..." She stuttered, her pupils the size of grains of sand. Marcus then showed them an image of the infamous fighter.

"Woah..." The three other girls said breathlessly. Rainbow just stared in shock still.

"A-are there still faster aircraft t-than that one?..." Fluttershy asked, basically trying to take out fire by pouring gasoline.

Marcus nodded. "Yes. After a couple of years, another fighter jet was introduced by the same company. McDonnell Douglas' F-15 Eagle. An American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is among the most successful modern fighters, with over 100 aerial combat victories. Its maximum speed is faster than the F4 Phantom, at Mach 2.5, or 1,650+ miles per hour."

"During the Vietnam War ear, though. The Soviet Union made their own aircraft in response to the F-15. The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25, or 'Foxbat'. The MiG-25 was among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. It has powerful radar and four air-to-air missiles. Not much is actually know about this jet, but this jet is capable of a top speed of Mach 2.83. Mach 3.2 is possible but at risk of significant damage to the engines. It is the second fastest and second highest-flying military aircraft ever fielded. The top speed it can obtain is Mach 3.2, or 2,170 miles per hour."

"The next plane is the one you girls saw in the flash back. One of the best stealth planes. Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor. A single-seat, twin-engine, all weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft. The aircraft was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities including ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals intelligence roles. It was introduced in 2005, and production ended in 2012, due to lack of air-to-air operations, and other problems. This is one of the most technologically advanced aircraft in the world, several years ahead of several countries. It has a max speed of Mach 2.25, or 1,500 mph."

Rainbow was still looking upon in awe at the stats and pictures she was being shown, her right eye twitching now and then ever so slightly. She was now leaning left and right as Marcus brought up the image of the F-22.

"Y-you humans... the aircraft you... h-how... I can't even..." Nimbius stuttered on and on as he also looked at the images. He was now near the same state as Rainbow has been all this time. "A-and it's not even the f-fastest?..."

Marcus shook his head with a smile. "Oh hell no. That title belongs to Lockheed Martin's SR-71 'Blackbird', a long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft. While still not the fastest aircraft in the world, it is the world's fastest military aircraft to ever be put into development and out into the field. If a missile was launched at it, all it had to do was simply accelerate. It's maximum speed is Mach 3.3-3.5, or 2,200+ miles per hour."

"But, the very fastest aircraft in the world that have ever been built... there are three of them. The first one is the X-15. X standing for 'expirimental'. When it was launched, it reached a top speed of 4,520 miles an hour, or Mach 5.93. The second belongs to the X-43-A 'Screamjet'. It reached a max speed of 7,546 miles an hour, or Mach 9.19."

"The fastest aircraft ever built in the history of mankind, actually belongs to a Space Shuttle." Marcus then turned to Twilight, who immediately gleamed with excitement and curiousity, which they all found adorable. "The Space Shuttle Discovery, with its top speed. of 17,580 miles per hour, or Mach 22, and when it re-enters orbit, it reached Mach. 25."

Twilight's eyes were now as widened as they ever had seen them, while Rainbow was now laying on the floor, taking in all of the information as the other girls.

"C-can... can you show us the.. launch?" Twilight said with a squee of excitement. Marcus just smiled and nodded. But he then turned to Rainbow, who was still in the position she was before.

"Uh... Rainbow..." He leaned in, looking at her. "You okay?...."

Rainbow just breathed in and out slowly "H-how... I-I thought I was the f-fastest..." She said in a near whimpering tone.

Marcus just chuckled. "Ohhh... I see what the problem is. You're both shocked and saddened that you've seen something faster than you, huh?..." He said. Rainbow just nodded once. "You uh... do realize that you can do it whenever you want, right?" Another nod. "And that we humans can never reach those speeds by ourselves without machines, let alone Mach 25. Why? Well, we don't have wings naturally, and we would be killed by the immense amount of pressure."

Rainbow slowly then stood up, sniffling once. "R-really?"

"Well, yeah. We humans weren't made to fly in the first place ever since we were made. So, we made the technology to do so. You, on the other hand, can somehow live through going faster than the speed of a bullet, and do a rainbow shockwave in the process. Something we can never really do. Plus, we can't do it naturally. You can. Besides, you should know that you're still the fastest here on your planet. You don't need a machine to do it. You can just... Well, do it!"

Kayla chuckled. "When the hell did you become inspirational?" She asked teasingly.

"And when the hell did you become so judgemental?" Marcus shot back with a glare.

"Ever since you lost against Jackson in a rap battle in Syria." Kayla said with a shit-eating grin.

Rainbow smiled and stood up fully, while a brief shade of pink showing on her cheeks for a second. "Heh. I guess I am. Thanks." She then turned to his phone. "Well? You gonna show us that video or what?"

"Yeah, just let me search it up for a second." Marcus then pulled out his IPhone and looked up a video that showed the launch of a Space Shuttle.

"Ah! Here we go." He then brought his IPhone to the ponies, who all cramped their faces in with each other and looked in with curiosity and wonder as the video started.

They then heard the announcer speak: "T-Minus 90 seconds, and counting. All systems are done. We're about 90 seconds away from the launch of Space-Shuttle Discovery..."

A minute and twenty seconds in, the announcer started counting down.

"12...

11...

10...

9...

8...

7..." Sparks then emitted from the bottom of the shuttle"6.."

"5..." An heat of energy then emitted from the holes, as the ponies leaned in even closer. "4...3... 2... 1.., and booster ignition...

And liftoff of the Space Shuttle Discovery! Returning to the Space Station..."

As the rocket launched, the ponies watched in pure awe as the rocket soared to the skies, the loud roar emitting from the phone mixed in with the claps and cheers from the spectators and the announcer. As Marcus held the phone, he quickly looked over to Twilight, who's eyes were bigger than his hand, and a slight line of drool dripped from the corner of her mouth. The then watched as the shuttle was slightly engulfed with fire, which made them all gasp, before the two rockets boosters seperated themselves from the main shuttle.

"Oh my..." Fluttershy said.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, that's supposed to happen." Thompson said, reassuring her and the others. She then smiled and looked back at the phone, which showed the rocket flying higher and higher, before it finally ended.

Marcus then pulled back the video, and they all looked at the ponies. All of them were now on the verge of passing out, but Twilight was the most anxious of the group.

"Uh... Twilight?..." Marcus said, snapping his fingers in front of her. She didn't even budge.

"Um... is she gonna be okay?..." He asked the other three mares.

"I uh... I don't think she's functional right now... I think you broke her..." Rainbow said. "Maybe we should just take her to her room and wait for her to recover, before she its you with a ton of questions."

"Good plan." Marcus replied. Applejack and Fluttershy then carefully picked up Twilight from where she was sitting and carried her down the hall, noticing that she still hasn't moved from her previous position.

"Weird..." Jackson muttered. The others just nodded in agreement. After a couple of moments, only Applejack came back, much to their confusion and curiosity. "Hey, where's Fluttershy?"

"She's gonna stay with Twilight until she wakes up. Ah think ya' really did a number on her this time." Applejack said, sitting back where she previously was.

"Oh man, I had so much more in store for her." Marcus said. He then looked back to his phone.

"What're you gonna show us now?" Rainbow asked.

"Well, when we talked to Nimbius here," He looked over at the Wonderbolts adviser. "I noticed that his uniform looks similar to a group back in our world."

Nimbius and Rainbow's ears perked up at this. "Really?" They asked simultaneously.

"Yeah. You said you're part of the Wonderbolts, right?" He asked Nimbius, who nodded in return. "I think there's actually a group that's very similar to the Wonderbolts."

They then both cocked their heads to the side, like a curious, confused puppy. Then, Jackson spoke up with a slight chuckle. "Oh, you mean the Blue Angels? Those guys who gave a flight demonstration in Baghdad?" He said.

"Bingo." Marcus said.

"The 'Blue Angels'?..." Nimbius asked.

"Yeah. The Blue Angels are the U.S Navy's flight demonstration team. They do stuns and stuff at airshows and events like that. Kinda like you guys." Jackson said.

"Oh really? I doubt they're better than the actual Wonderbolts! C'mon then, show me!" Rainbow challenged.

"You're on."

Marcus then pressed play on the video as Nimbius and Rainbow leaned in to watch.

After the video, they were awestruck by the stunts and the performs they did. Along with Applejack, and even the soldiers.

"Y'know, ah think you just gave the Wonderbolts a run for there money..." Applejack commented, giving a smug look to Rainbow and Nimbius, who were, once again, awed.

"Yep." Mike said, leaning back after recovering from his slight state of shock and confusement. "We humans are awesome..."

"T-that..." Rainbow stuttered, trying her damndest to form a sentence. "Was... awesome!!" She squealed, making the group laugh. "No, seriously! Those guys were just as good as the Wonderbolts!"

"Not gonna lie, they preformed really.. well, amazing!" Nimbius commented. "Like, if we could, I would be more than honored to fly beside them in their stunts!"

"I can just imagine you guys doing a full-blown airshow, and doing a bunch of cooperative stunts with those guys." Kayla commented, getting eager nods from the two ponies. As they talked a bit more about the Blue Angels, and other flight groups, such as the Thunderbirds, the train's wheels started screeching as it slowed down to a stop. The group then looked outside the windows, noticing that they were now looking at the Ponyville Train Station.

"Damn. Already? That didn't even feel like an hour." Jackson said, standing up from his seat. He then stopped walking. "Wait... what about the civilians? You think they'd take us lightly when we walk out?..." He said.

"Why wouldn't they?" Asked Swordstrike.

"Remember the incident that happened back in the Everfree? Where Dempsey accidentally killed one of your guards?" Jackson said, while Dempsey shrunk his figure ever so slightly, with Kevin patting his shoulder, reassuring him.

"Oh..." Swordstrike said a bit quietly. "That... well, we should be fine. I mean, I'm here. They won't do anything." He said, trying to up their spirits. Dempsey just sighed slightly and nodded as he and the others picked up their gear and weapons, walking towards the doors. As they did, Swordstrike tugged on both Kevin and Dempsey's leg. They turned, and he whispered to them ."If I was you, I would visit somepony at Ponyville General and talk to him." He said.

"A-alright. We'll go. But what about the Stryker?" He said. They then heard somebody clear their throat. When they turned, they saw Randy.

"We'll take care of it, man." He said with a comforting smile. "You do what you gotta do. We'll deal with it." Then, Nimbius appeared behind his leg.

"And I can escort you gentlecol- er, men to the hospital. You'll be fine." Nimbius said. Dempsey and Kevin both smiled slightly as they walked out, meeting the four Marines and the mares at the doorway, along with Twilight.

"You sure you're gonna be fine, Twilight?" Kayla asked her. She nodded in return, rubbing her forehead slightly.

"Yeah.. I was just... y'know... The point is, I'll be fine. Honest." Twilight said calmly. Kayla just shrugged slightly and went along with it. The four Marines then turned around again, noticing the four soldiers and the two ponies.

"You all ready?" Marcus asked. They nodded once in response. "Alright then. We'll talk about a bit more stuff along the way."

Marcus then felt the hairs on his neck raise, as if something was about to happen. He then gripped his Remington R5 tighter as he somewhat slowly slid the door open to the side, revealing the scene of ponies chatting with eachother, along with the occasional cry of a foal, and luggage carrying pony. But as soon as Marcus set his boot-covered foot onto the wooden platform, all eyes immediately went on him and the others.

"For fuck's sake..." He mentally thought as he ignored the mixed looks of fear, shock, awe, confusion, and anger that was being shown on the pony's faces. As they walked out, even more gasps were heard, but after that, the entire area fell to a deadly silence, even the foals who were crying were not doing so anymore. What shocked the crowd of ponies of all, was that four of the Elements were with them, along with the Commander of the Royal Guard, and the main Wonderbolts adviser.

"Just keep moving. Ignore the looks, okay?" Swordstrike muttered. The others did what they were told as they all walked out of the train, and down the steps. Dempsey could literally feel the glares he was getting melt into him like acid. Hesitantly, he took a glance to the side, noticing that a Royal Guard was standing there, guarding the outside of the station with a spear in his hoof. The guard was also glaring at him with an anger in his eyes. Dempsey glared back, giving the guard a deathly look in return, which made the guard visually shiver and look away, a bead of sweat or two starting to form on his forehead.

When Dempsey looked away, he saw that Randy was looking at him. Walking up to him, Randy spoke. "Look, me and Mike here'll take care of unloading the Stryker and the Little Bird. You and Kevin go with Nimbius and make amends with that Royal Guard at the hospital, okay?"

Dempsey nodded with a slight sigh. "Yeah. Okay." He then walked past them towards Kevin and Nimbius, who were waiting up on him. As the humans and pony seperated, they heard Twilight shout at them.

"Meet us back here in two hours!" She said, earning two raised fingers from Dempsey, while Kevin lifted his middle finger. Not wondering what they meant, she just shrugged and walked down the road back towards her library.

As they walked down the road, Marcus was looking all around in front of him, and to the sides, ignoring the looks of the ponies as he did so. Comically, he even saw a pony who was hidden inside a trash can, lift the lid up with its head to take a peek. Once it noticed the humans, it squealed and lowered its head quickly.

Ignoring this, he took in full detail of his surroundings, making mental notes of each and every corner, alleyway, building, even a man-hole(Pony-hole?) that lead to the sewers below, and getting a look at its interior if he could, to the displease of ponies who just happen to randomly turn to his direction and look outside. As he did this, Swordstrike noticed this and decided to ask what exactly he was up to.

"Um, Marcus... what are you doing?" He asked. It took Marcus a couple seconds to respond before he looked back down at Swordstrike.

"Oh. I'm just taking note of my surroundings. Trust me, it'll help us out in the future.." He said, the last part more quietly that the rest of the sentence.

"Oh, um... okay." Swordstrike said. As they walked, Jackson suddenly remembered something.

"Oh wait! Remember when we were gonna discuss about what weapons we should recommend the Royal Guard with?" Jackson said. This caught the attention of the other Marines and the four mares.

"Eh, alright. Now's a good time to talk about it." Kayla said. She then turned to Twilight. "Hey, do you think you could do some sort of sound-proofing spell so nobo-er, nopony will be able to hear what we're talking about?"

Twilight raised in eyebrow in suspicion. "Uh... yeah, I could. But we'll look pretty odd when other ponies see us moving our lips, without emitting a single sound..."

Kayla and the others just shrugged. "Works for us."

Twilight closed her eyes and shrugged herself as she casted a purplish, sparkly bubble around the entire group, until it faded away with the wind.

"There. We can talk now." Twilight said.

"Alright. So, you will be able to equip us with your weaponry also?" Swordstrike asked hopefully.

"Yes." Marcus said. "BUT, with a couple restrictions. Remember this, and remember this well. First, you can not, I say again, can not sell or give the weapons to just some random pony or Royal Guard. If one is to be issued a firearm, we are the ones who will choose who. And secondly, this is to be kept a secret. Like, 'If I tell you, I will have to kill you' type of secret. Okay?"

Swordstrike's eyes widened for a split-second, before nodding in agreement. "You have my word."

Marcus sighed. "Okay." He then turned to his squad. "So... you guys have any idea on what weapon we should equip them with first?"

"I was thinking something light and compact, but with enough stopping power to easily kill a Cryptid." Kayla said. "I only have certain schematics that I stole."

"What schematics do you have?" Marcus asked. The group then stopped walking as Kayla crouched, unslung her pack and pulled out seven schematics.

"Let's see... I have nine." Kayla said, putting her pack on her back again as they walked. "I have... a schematic for the ARX-160... foldable stock version. One for an MR-28 sniper rifle. No wait, marksman version. One for a Vector CRB, .45 ACP, one for an FP6 tactical shotgun, another for an Tac-12, the one that holds up to seventeen shells, one for an M4A1 SOPMOD, and instructions for an M203 and the 40mm grenades, and the last one is for an explosive Crossbow, a Maverick assault rifle, along with the sniper rifle version, and a schematic for an MK32 grenade launcher."

"Holy shit..." The four Marines muttered. "That's... damn.."

Before anybody could say anything else, they were already standing outside Twilight's library for the past minute and a half. "Um... guys? We're already here." Twilight said. They all then noticed that they actually were, which surprised them slightly.

"I guess all that blabbering was worth. Huh, waddya know?" Rainbow said. The others just smiled as they walked into the library. They were then all standing in front of the basement door.

"It seems like just yesterday we were here..." Jackson said, sniffling.

"Oh shut the hell up, dude." Marcus said, slugging him in the shoulder slightly as they both chuckled.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, sir." Jackson tauntly said at Marcus, who just rolled his eyes.

"Alright, enough chatting. Let's go inside and show them what we got." Kayla said, opening the door as she and the others walked down the steps.

"Do you guys want any help?" Rainbow and Twilight asked spontaneously.

"Nah! We're good!" Marcus shouted back as the ponies waited for the to come back from the basement. As they did, they could hear the four Marines argue below.

"Fuck... watch it with that, will ya'?!" Jackson shouted.

"Oh shut up, you fucking pansy and help me lift this..." Marcus retorted back as they heard metallic clanging.

"I'll disassemble the drone and the missiles. This'll take a while..." Kayla said.

"Hey! Why the fuck is there a Playboy magazine down here?..." Thompson shouted. The ponies all then looked at Twilight, who was blushing a light pink.

After a couple more minutes of arguing and the occasional metal pang, they saw that the Marines were now coming back up the stairs. More specifically, Thompson, who was holding a huge tube in his hands that rested on his shoulder also.

"What... is that?" Swordstrike asked.

"It's called a MAAWS.Short for, 'Multi-role Anti-Armor Weapon System'. I'll show you how this works, but this shit is heavy as hell..." He then turned on the laser sight and aimed down, making the ponies look on nervously. "I could've sworn there was a rocket already inside the tube when we came here...."

He then pressed the trigger for the hell of it, which would turn out to give him the biggest surprise of his entire life.....

"Surpriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisee!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Chapter 47: Tying Up Loose Ends

"The opportunity for brotherhood presents itself every time you meet a human being."- Jane Wyman

Meanwhile, at the train station...

After climbing on top of the Stryker together, Mike and Randy then got cut the ropes holding the vehicle down as they started to wonder how they were going to bring the Stryker down to the ground.

"So... How are we gonna bring this thing down?" Mike said, throwing the strip of rope down to the ground below, turning to Randy, who was also doing the same with the other side.

"How do you think? We'll just go inside and turn it on, and drive it down the side." Randy said, standing up from his crouched position and jumping down the side.

"I don't think this works like a regular car, dude." Mike said, also jumping down the ground with a thump. "But hey, you're the Captain here.."

Randy ignored his last sentence as he pulled the outer lever, making the back door drop with a metallic pang. He then climbed in, with Mike waiting outside in case anypony in the surrounding area had any ideas. Mike looked around, noticing the looks of curiosity and fear they had on their faces as they looked upon the Stryker and Mike.

As he looked at the crowd, he noticed that they all had the same looks, except for one Pegasus, which he set his eyes on in his own curiosity. One thing that stood out from this Pegasus from the others, is that he noticed that its eyes were slightly crooked to the sides, as if she had two lazy eyes, which he found funny. As he looked, instead of the Pegasus' eyes widening in fear or hiding itself, it actually smiled and waved at him.

Mike slowly let one of his hands slip from the grasp of his Winchester rifle, and waved back with a small smile. When the Pegasus saw this, its smile grew even wider.

Meanwhile, Randy was already at the front of the Stryker, putting his AR-15 on the seats as he climbed through and finally sat on the driver's seat. He then sighed and took his time as he looked at the control panels and the steering wheel.

"Shit..." He muttered to himself before shrugging and flipping a switch, which contained a small button inside, which he pressed. The Stryker then immediately turned on, with its engine roaring for a second before calming down, in which he heard several muffled gasps outside, making him crack a small smile.

He then turned around. "Hey Mike! Move out of the way! I'm about to move this thing!" He warned. Mike turned back and gave him a thumbs-up, before jumping down to the side to the ground, facing the crowd, who all slowly stepped back in slight fear, along with the Pegasi that were flying above the overall crowd, except for the one that smiled and waved at him.

Meanwhile, near the crowd

About seventy five feet away or so from the train station, Derpy Hooves was calmly flying towards the train station to greet one of her friends, which had just returned from Dodge Junction, until she saw that a huge crowd of ponies were surrounding the outer area of one of transportation carts, in which she also noticed what looked like some sort of weird metal wagon on it, along with another huge metallic machine strapped to another cart, and a odd metal suit of sorts, all of which she has never seen the likes of in her entire life.

"Wonder what's going on over there... Maybe it's something the Royal Guards are bringing in for Nightmare Night?..." Derpy pondered as she casually flew over towards the crowd. As she did, she heard several voices below her.

"What the hay do you think those weird creatures are?..."

"I think they're some sort of mutant monkeys they found in the Badlands..."

"...Or perhaps another civilization beyond the Badlands?"

"That huge metal thing looks kinda like a wagon. It even has wheels of some sort!"

"Aliens. No doubt about it."

"I heard that there was something similar to these things that killed a Royal Guard deep inside the Everfree a couple days ago. Poor guy. His brother hasn't even come out of the room yet..."

Derpy then looked below her, noticing one of her friends, Bon Bon. She then found a perfect spot where she could land. Quickly and carefully, she landed, wobbling a bit before she tapped Bon Bon's shoulder to get her attention.

Bon Bon then quickly turned around. "Huh?- Oh, hey Derpy!" She greeted with a smile, which Derpy returned.

"Hi Bon Bon! Do you know what's going on here?" Derpy asked, looking around at the crowd. "I don't know why, but I keep hearing a bunch of rumors here and there about 'mutant apes' or something like that..."

Bon Bon then turned around and pointed up in front of her. "Fly up and see for yourself. But try not to approach them, ok?"

Derpy then nodded as she flapped her wings and put herself over the crowd once more, along with several other Pegasi. What she saw made her head tilt to the side, instead of her jaw dropping like most of the other ponies.

She saw two bipedal creatures near the metallic wagon, one of them which then walked behind the wagon and opened a huge metal door that fell to the floor of the cart with a metallic pang. It then went inside the thing, while the other stayed outside, holding some sort of metal and wooden stick in its claws. As she looked closer, she noticed that the creature really did look somewhat similar to a monkey, or some sort of ape.

Except it was wearing several articles of clothing all around its body, even its claws. The only actual visible part was its face, which seemed somewhat dirty, yet smooth. Its eyes were small and beedy. Its clothing was mostly pure black, with what seemed like several pouches and other items hanging from the lower sides, and its chest piece, which made the creature look rather strong and intimidating.

But she was anything but intimidated by the creature. She then noticed that the creature was now looking right at her. Instead of flinching in fear and hiding, she smiled slightly and raised a hoof, waving happily at the man

To her slight surprise, the creature actually showed a small smile and waved back at her, which made her own smile grow even more in size, knowing that she had possibly made friends with the new creature.

As she looked upon him, the one outside turned around and looked inside the wagon. He then raised what looked like one of its claws, which seemed similar to Spike's 'thumbs'. "Is that what he calls them?..."

Before anypony could do anything at the actions she and the other exchanged, she and the others then heard a strong rumbling noise emit from the wagon, which made everypony, including her, gasp in fear. Derpy however, looked upon in wonder after noticing a line of smoke emit from the wagon itself, as if it was steam-powered like the train.

The creature then jumped down from the cart, landing on the ground with a thump in front of the crowd. The crowd, noticing this, slowly walked back in fear of what the creature would do. The creature then slung his metal stick to the side as he looked at the crowd.

To Derpy's and everypony's else surprise, the creature spoke out.

"Okay! I need everybody here to move back, we need space so we can move this thing here to the ground please!" The creature ordered loudly, yet calmly.

They all stood there, shocked. Even Derpy was slightly surprised. It had not only spoke fluent Equestrian, but it also had a rather deep tone to its voice, like a stallion, indicating that 'it' was most certainly a 'he'.

"C'mon! Let's move peo-, ponies!" He shouted again. As the ponies obeyed his order slightly, one of the other ponies in the crowd spoke up.

"How can you speak?" Somepony asked, clearly curious on how such a thing could speak.

"I'll answer any questions some other time! Now move back!" The creature shouted again. They did what they were told, but Derpy was enticed to ask a question, but restrained herself as she and the others watched the metal wagon move slightly.

Humans' P.O.V

As Mike finally was able to push the crowd of ponies back to a good distance, he turned around and jogged towards the Stryker, climbing up the side of the cart and to the back of the Stryker.

"Alright! You can go ahead and bring the Stryker down to the ground!" Mike said.

"Ok, good! Close the back door and I'll get on it!" Randy shouted back. Mike did what he was told as he lifted the ramp/door back up and put it in place before jumping back down to the ground and moving away from the Stryker. He looked to his side to see what the crowd was doing, but they all remained silent and watched in wonder as the Stryker then moved slightly.

"Parallel parking is a bitch, ain't it, Randy?" Mike said over the radio.

"Bite me." Randy responded back. They all kept watching as the Stryker slowly moved its way from its parallel space, not wanting to hit the caboose in front of it, or the Little Bird behind it.

After about a minute or so, the Stryker was finally able to move out of its parallel hell. Randy then moved the Stryker as its front hit the ground, making the curved, edgy front wedge itself into the ground slightly. Mike then heard grunts and profanities over the radio as Randy struggled to move the Stryker.

"Guh... damn it!" Randy said. "I... Aha! There we go!"

Randy was then able to release the Stryker as its back wheels spinned against the outside of the transportation cart. The Stryker then revved itself once more as it halted in the middle. The crowd was awed, along with the Pegasus as the engine of the Stryker died down, and the back of the Stryker opened, emitting several gasps from the ponies once more.

Mike then walked towards Randy, who was now walking out of the Stryker, holding his AR-15.

"Next time, you're driving..." Randy said, making Mike chuckle.

"Nah, I think I'm better off with the Little Bird. Thank-" Mike stopped himself mid sentence as he and the others heard an air-like 'thump' a distance away. They then heard what sounded like a whistling sound, along with even more thumps. When the pilots and the crowd all turned around, they all noticed around eight flaming projectiles screaming through the skies of Ponyville, before disappearing behind several buildings.

Meanwhile, with Dempsey, Kevin, and Nimbius...

"Alright then. Try not to dent our Stryker, will ya'?" Dempsey pleaded as he and Kevin walked away from Mike and Randy.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just go make amends with the guard, okay?" Mike said, the last part of his sentence softer that then beginning. Dempsey just nodded as he and Kevin walked away from the train station towards Nimbius, who was patiently waiting for the two soldiers.

Nimbius looked up at Dempsey. "You ready to go?" He asked.

Dempsey nodded. "Yeah. Let's get this over with..."

Nimbius just nodded once as they started walking down the road in silence, while Dempsey was looking around at the surroundings and the buildings. As he did, he noticed that several of the buildings had roofs made of hay, while others had standard brick and wood. Hell, one certain building in particular looked a lot like a gingerbread house, which made him wonder if it was even edible, before looking back in front of him.

He quickly then noticed that the streets of the small town were mostly empty, which didn't really surprise him at all. Except for he could've sworn he saw two Unicorn ponies wearing biohazard suits out of the corner of his eye. When he turned around, they ducked down and hid behind a wooden cart that contained carrots.

Dempsey then turned to Nimbius. "I didn't know you guys had biohazard suits?..." He asked.

"Oh, we do. Except they're used in areas where there are high amounts of magical fallout, such as the areas beyond the Badlands, where the Diamond Dogs live, but the area I'm referring to is several miles away from where their main home is. It's way too contaminated for anypony, or anything in general to really live there." Nimbius informed the soldiers.

"Wait, so magic can cause some sort of radioactive fallout or something along those lines?" Kevin asked.

Nimbius halted for a second to ponder, before shrugging. "Well... yes and no. The magic we use here in Equestria is nowhere near dangerous, and isn't capable of magical fallout. The area in which I described before, however, has such a high amount, that even geologists from Trottingham with the most advanced biohazard suits couldn't stay there without getting contaminated. Poor guys. They didn't even last or live an entire hour, let alone a week. Hay, they didn't even know how it came to be there in the first place."

"Odd..." Kevin said. "Are there any other areas on this planet with the same effects, or similar?"

Nimbius shook his head. "No. Not that we really know of. As of now, it's the only place we've discovered with such high amounts. Although, I have heard a rumor that the Griffon Empire had made some sort of 'astonishing discovery', or something like that."

"What do you think they discovered?" Dempsey asked, ignoring the looks of disgust a Royal Guard gave him as the trio walked by what seemed to be a spa of sorts.

"I don't know, but from what I've heard, it's something of a weapons technological breakthrough. I mean, it would make sense. They actually are the most militaristic civilization in the entire planet. We're the second most." Nimbius said.

"Damn, really? How many troops do they even have?"

"Around 95,000. They also contain the biggest navy, with about thirty ships and more than half of them have a set of forty to fifty cannons in total. Compared to our navy's ten ships, and only three able to carry at most thirty or so cannons."

Kevin chuckled. "Wow, you guys are not prepared for any major battles. Let alone a war."

Nimbius scoffed at this slightly. "Hey! We do have one major advantage over all the others."

"And that would be?" Kevin taunted, half serious.

"Magic."

Kevin just rolled his eyes as Nimbius laughed slightly, while Dempsey just smiled. When Nimbius quit laughing, his eyes widened a bit in realization. "Oh! And we also have you guys. I mean, all of you combined makes you the most technologically advanced living beings in the entire planet."

"And the most combat-experienced." Dempsey added.

"That too." Nimbius said, repeating the same thing more quietly. "That too..."

As they walked in silence once more, they noticed that they were already at the outskirts of Ponyville, and were approaching the cobblestone trail that lead to Ponyville General Hospital. As they walked to the glass doors, they were immediately halted when two spears made an 'X' shape, blocking them from entering the hospital.

Two Royal Guards used their spears to block the two humans from entering the hospital with their spears. One of the guards was a Pegasus, who was trying his hardest to maintain his composure, but he was more than nervous of trying to get in the path of the humans. He'd heard what happened to Romulus back in the Everfree. And the fact that the smallest bead of sweat flowed ever so slowly down his face didn't really help him out.

The other guard was an Earth pony. Unlike the Pegasus, he was easily able to maintain his composure, but didn't even dare to look at the two humans regardless, but his face contained a look of both annoyance and a bit of determination.

"Halt! You do not have the permission to enter the hospital." The Earth guard said, before turning to Dempsey and finally glaring at him. "Especially you."

"So much for tying up loose ends..." Dempsey thought as he just looked at the guard with a deadpanned expression on his face. After a couple of moments, the guard looked away, in which he took this opportunity to speak to him. "Look, I'm just here to... make amends with the other guard. I really don't want this shi-"

The guard snorted, scowling at Dempsey. "Did I just hear you correctly? You want to apologize to Remus? Ha!"

Before Dempsey could retort, he was interrupted by Nimbius, who walked right in front of the Royal Guard. "Hold it. These guys here are with me. They have full access to the hospital. We're here to talk. Nothing else."

The Earth guard's eyes widened for a second, before leaning his head into the Pegasus guard's ear for about three seconds. The Pegasus nodded, albeit a bit nervously.

"Okay then. Private Longshot here will escort you three to the room." The Earth guard said hesitantly and with a hint of pure anger. The trio nodded once as the guard slowly moved his spear from the doorway. As they followed the Private, Dempsey caught the glare that the guard was giving him before they walked into the waiting area of the hospital.

When they walked in, Dempsey noticed that the waiting area was packed with Royal Guards. Some were just casually talking to one another, others were drinking from coffee mugs, others were asleep with their helmets still on, others were reading magazines that were retrieved from the small plant tables, and others just had that one-thousand-yard stare. Showing little to no emotion. All while nurses and doctors walked around, doing their regular day's work, and helping out the guards any way they could.

Once they all heard the doors open, they all looked to the trio's direction. Immediately, one of the nurses gasped, which made the sleeping guards wake up and peek out of their helmets. Once they did, they were not happy with what they saw. And neither were the others.

The four just stood there, taking in all of the glares, all the scowls, all the whimpers, everything. Nimbius was not comfortable here, nor Kevin, and definitely not Dempsey. As they started to slowly walk down to the desk, the guards and several of the nurses and doctors kept staring at them, not taking their eyes off of them for even a millisecond. And by 'them', I mean mostly Dempsey.

Dempsey had mixed feeling for all of this. One half of him told him to turn to each and every guard and nurse and doctor, and tell them to piss the fuck off. While another half of him just wanted to die right then and there. He never liked being treated as the bad guy. Not at all. But could he really blame them? He would be doing the same exact thing.

The part that Dempsey listened to was the part of him that just told him to stay calm and focus on the main objective, which was to go to the room upstairs and see if he could make amends with the poor stallion before the situation really got FUBAR BUNDY (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition But Unfortunately Not Dead Yet).

Kevin just kept his regular composure, except he was really not enjoying the looks that the guards gave him and Dempsey. He, Nimbius, and Dempsey himself knew for damn sure that they weren't going to do anything to hasten the chance of fixing this entire situation, but he and Dempsey knew that if one of these guards were to even make a move on any of the two, that there would most certainly be more than one dead guard to mourn for.

Nimbius wasn't really surprised by all of this. He saw this coming, but he didn't expect a full platoon of Royal Guards here. Regardless, he wasn't about to break his composure. He was only here to escort them. Nothing else. But he still cared for the two humans either way. He knew what really happened between the human and the guard at the Everfree. Hay, even Shining knows. He definitely knows.

Private Longshot just wanted to escort these three to the room and DT the fuck out of there. He had already built up quite a good reputation in the Royal Guard ever since he completed Basic. Sure they treated him like a boot, but he's earned a lot more respect from his comrades than two months ago. He didn't want it all to be taken away by them seeing him as supporting the two human's. He didn't have any trouble with them, not really. But like the other guards, he still didn't really like them. Except his amount of hatred towards the two were much less so than the ones of the others.

When they approached the desk, Dempsey could still feel the glares burning into his soul, but he did his best to ignore them as Private Longshot talked to the nurse. "Excuse me, ma'am. I need to escort these three to the... 'room'. Can you give them a heads up on our arrival?" He asked very nervously.

The nurse quickly glanced over at Dempsey before nodding and quickly turning to a microphone, talking into it quietly. As she did, the trio heard several whispers behind them. Too quiet to be audiable for them, but they knew that they sure as hell weren't whispering about inviting them to a tea party.

The nurse then turned around and nodded towards Longshot. He nodded back as he looked over his shoulder and motioned the three males to follow him upstairs. As they did, the whispers got louder, but they were still unable to hear as they walked up the steps, the walls muffling the noise below.

"Well, that was fun.." Kevin muttered quietly as they walked down the hallway, Longshot leading the way.

Dempsey didn't reply, he just kept pondering on how he was gonna handle the situation once he got inside.

"How in the hell am I going to do this shit?... Do I just go in and say 'sorry', then bust the fuck outta there? Do I let him beat the living shit outta me, hell, maybe even put me in a coma? Or do I-"

Dempsey's thoughts were cut short when he felt a slight push on his leg. When he looked down, he saw Nimbius give him a reassuring look. Dempsey just sighed lightly before looking back up and deciding that he would just let whatever would happen take its course.

As they turned the corner, they saw that Longshot had stopped walking. "Okay, here it is. Room 27-B. Do what you have to do." The Private said, before quickly turning around and trotting back down the hallway to the stairs. Or more like galloping like Death was chasing him in a Bugatti Veyron.

I tried...

Dempsey looked at the wooden door, which contained the simple flat metal plate that said '32-B'. With a sigh, he turned to Kevin and Nimbius.

"Look, guys. I.... I think I'm gonna deal with this one alone, okay? You guys just wait out here." Dempsey said very quietly.

Kevin raised an eyebrow at this. "You sure, bro? We can help out in any way we-"

Dempsey cut him off. "Yeah. I'm sure. I started this shit, and now I'm gonna fix it in any possible way I can." Dempsey then turned around and grabbed the doorknob. Despite the entire situation, he briefly questioned why ponies would need them. He then quickly looked over his shoulder to the two. "Also, no matter what you hear in there. Do not. I say again do not come inside. Understand?"

The two nodded.

"And if any Royal Guard wishes to come in, let him. Don't stop them." Dempsey said as he placed hi M16A4 on the side of the door. They responded with another nod.

Dempsey then turned the doorknob and slowly opened the wooden door. As he did, he noticed that the room was almost completely dark, aside from the sunlight that bored its way through the window drapes, though only slightly. Either way, he didn't see this as the first issue. The first thing he really took into account was the bed that laid on the middle of the room, with two other beds on each side, but they were both empty. The middle bed contained a lump emitting from the covers. The second thing he took into account, was that there was a figure of a pony sitting on a wooden chair, his eyes focused only on the body of his brother that laid dead on the bed. It seemed to only be wearing a golden chest plate, while its helmet laid on a table on the side of the bed.

The room was silent for what seemed like an eternity. The only sound being the breathing of the two males as they both looked at the figure laying peacefully on the bed. The pony laying on the bed had no articles of armor on. The only visible thing was its muzzle poking out of the bed, while its entire skull was wrapped in formally white bandages, which now took a dry crimson coloring, especially from the side of its head.

As the door slowly closed, the pony slowly turned his head towards the side, ever so slowly before his eyes settled on the bipedal figure standing in the doorway which was Dempsey. As he did this, Dempsey saw the Remus' eyes for the first time ever since he got inside the room. His eyes were slightly smaller than the others, but was deadshot to the point where there was little white coloring to be shown. His eye color had a greenish tint to them, with just the slightest bit of red. Tear stains ran over his fur coat, matting it from all the crying and sorrow he has done for the past couple of days or so.

When Remus looked at Dempsey for the first time, the memories of what happened back in the Everfree Forest hit him like the force of Celestia's sun itself. When he found the other half of his brother's skull on the floor and the side of the machine's interior, when he carried his lifeless corpse back into the hospital, the mourning he did, pleading to everypony or anything to bring his brother back. Once this all came back to him, he felt something inside him snap.

As Dempsey just stared at Remus, he was slightly taken aback when the pony growled, as his eyes grew to an even bigger size than before, the red coloring taking complete control over the green, as his face formed one of pure anger and sorrow. The growling then got louder and louder before it turned into a sort of loud battle cry of utter anger and rage as Dempsey braced himself for what was coming to him.

Remus roared as he leaped from the chair and galloped his way towards Dempsey, who didn't even flinch or move out of the way at all. Remus then proceeded to tackle Dempsey down onto the floor, emitting a grunt from him as he did so. Despite Dempsey still wearing his regularly-issued kevlar vest and his combat helmet, he still refused to physically retaliate against the pony, who was now pinning him on the floor. He also knew that he could easily launch the pony off of him with ease anytime he felt like it, but he promised himself that he would go through whatever would happen regardless.

Remus then shouted again with all his might as he raised his hoof and brought it down to Dempsey's forehead in the blink of an eye. To Dempsey, it felt like something short of being hit with a football while wearing full titanium armor, but for Remus, it felt like a huge relief to finally be able to let out all of his pent-up anger. As quickly as he did the first hit, it followed with another, and another. Along with another shout of utter rage.

The hits connected with Dempsey's helmet several times, which made a small part of the helmet break, giving way to the punches that were now being felt with almost complete full force, along with even more hitting his kevlar vest. He didn't bother to retaliate, but he knew that those hits to the helmet were going to leave a sort of bruise tomorrow morning. He then looked up at Remus, and saw that the tear streaks were beginning to come back, the tears refreshing the once dry streaks. As Remus kept hitting Dempsey with all of his might, he felt his emotions peak, as he let out a howl mixed in with chokes and sobs, pounding on Dempsey's chest like a gorilla with both of his hooves. He kept hitting so hard, that Dempsey could've sworn that one of his magazines for his M16A4 had broken in a way.

After a couple more moments, Remus stopped and opened his eyes, blurry from the tears of sorrow and anger. He then rose his hoof and cleaned his eyes, sniffling slightly as he regained his regular eyesight. Once he did, he saw that the human wasn't really bruised or injured, aside from his forehead. Or at least from the looks of it.

Although this isn't the thing that surprised him. Not at all. The thing that surprised him is that the human's face. Despite of all the hits he gave him, all of the anger and rage, and the blood slowly streaming down his nose and upper forehead, the human's face had a very visible look that mixed with concern, worry, and forgiveness.

Remus then slowly looked at his hooves, which were in the same state as they were before, except covered slightly in blood. He could then feel himself mentally melt as his eyesight became blurry once more from the tears before collapsing on the human's chest. With a couple ragged breaths, he then sobbed into the human's chest, the pouches providing a sort of comfort for his bed. His emotions taking ahold of him once more, except for the feeling of anger.

Dempsey just laid there, watching the pony cry into his chest. A feeling of slight nostalgia hit him in a sort of negative way. He then, ever so slowly, rose his hand and placed it on the pony's back, patting him and trying to comfort him any way he could, before he finally wrapped his arm around the pony, hugging him like he has done several times with his brothers in war.

Silence took over, aside from the quiet sobbing and sniffling from Remus, before another noise joined in.

To what only Dempsey could describe as a whistling sound...

Chapter 48: Oops...

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 49: MEDIC!

The group stopped for a moment as Jackson did a suplex-like move, making Thompson hit the ground on his back, hard, while also waking him up in the process with a startled gasp of air.

"Ouch..." Rainbow said with a slight flinch despite the situation at hand.

"Wha?! Huh?! Where the fuck?..." He said outloud, looking frantically around him.

Jackson then crouched and grabbed both of Thompson's shoulders, making him jump and look at Jackson with a look of fear. "Look, I'll tell you why you passed out later. Right now, you need to get your shit together and follow with us to the hospital. You're the main medic, we're gonna need your help."

Thompson's dilated eyes went back to normal size as he started to control his ragged breathing. "O-okay... Okay, I'm good."

Jackson then lifted Thompson up with his hand and nodded. "Good. Hope you'll be stable by the time we get there."

Thompson just nodded as he was handed his pack and rucksack. After putting them on, they then made their way down the road at a slightly slower pace, but only for Thompson's sake.

As they got to the outskirts of Ponyville, Swordstrike spoke up.

"There's the hospital!" Swordstrike shouted, pointing a hoof at the hospital that was now in the distance.

"About fucking time!" Jackson said. "The- Oh... Holy shit..." He said breathlessly as he slowed down to a walk. The others slowed down momenterally as they saw that the side of the hospital was burnt-out and black, along with a not-so-small hole with flames and smoke emitting from it. The flames were quickly increasing in size and was now burning the interior.

"Jesus Christ..." Thompson said quietly in shock before turning to the others. "Did the MAAWS seriously do this?..." He asked.

"It wasn't your fault." Marcus said. He then turned to Pinkie, who's mane was now straighter than anything he had ever seen, and it was now a dark, gloomy, almost unholy pink. Her eyes and overall appearence weren't doing any better. "It wasn't your fault either, Pinkie.."

Pinkie just sniffled in response. Marcus and the others wanted to consult Pinkie and Thompson, but now was not the time and they knew it. "Let's get moving!"

The others complied as they ran behind Marcus up the cobblestone trail, only to be confronted by two Royal Guards who were stationed outside. His eyes widened in surprise and fear once it notice the group.

"Halt!" The guard said, lifting a hoof and trying to keep his composure and dignity. "Y-you can not enter this a-are withou-"

Before Marcus or Jackson could physically throw the guard to the side, Swordstrike walked up to the front of the group, confronting the guard and immediately shutting him up. The guard immediately stood at attention and saluted.

"C-Commander Swordstrike!" The guard stuttered in shock. "S-sir!"

"At ease. Now's not the time for that bullshit." Swordstrike shot back.

The guard the got into parade rest and looked at Swordstrike with confusion. "Sir?..."

"These gentlemen behind me, along with these five mares have complete and full access to this entire hospital without any restrictions. And if any other humans are to present themselves here, you will allow them full access regardless, understood?" Swordstrike commanded with a stern tone that meant 'absolutely no bullshitting around', which made the three Marines respect the Commander even more.

The guard, however, was still a bit hesitant. "B-but sir, I have m-my-"

Swordstrike then got into the guard's face, their muzzles pressing against one another. Marcus even swore that he saw steam emit from the Commander's nostrils. "I. Am. Not. Suggesting." He said with a dark, silent, and deadly tone. "I Am. Ordering."

The guard was on the verge of pissing himself as he was now visibly shaking in pure fear. "Y-y-yes, s-sir!" He said before clumsily and quickly moving out of the way.

Swordstrike looked at the guard for a moment longer before he turned to the others. "Well? Let's hurry it up!"

The Marines nodded as the group entered the hospital, while the five mares were still in slight shock. As they pushed the doors out of their way, they saw that the waiting room was filled with almost a full company-size amount of Royal Guards. Most of them were trying to make their way upstairs along with nurses and doctors, while other guards just walked around in panic and confusement asking questions.

"What the hay was that?!" One guard shouted.

"You think one of those ape things did that?"

"Move it! We need to go see what happened to Remus!!"

"Gentlecolts, please! One at a time, dang it! There's only so much room!"

"Out of the way, damn it! We got medical supplies!"

"Well Firestone here is a medic! We have as much right to go up there as you do, doc!"

Then, one of the female guards in the mess of ponies gasped loudly. "There's more of them!"

The entire area fell into a near deadly silence as all eyes went onto the group, specifically the three Marines. They kept on looking while the Marines looked back.

"We don't got time for this shit." Marcus said out loud. He then turned to the five mares behind them. "Okay, Fluttershy and Twilight, I need you two to come with us. The rest of you, stay here." He ordered. They all nodded, except for Pinkie.

"C-can I see him? I w-want to apologize..." Pinkie said in a hoarse, yet quiet voice.

Marcus shook his head. "Not right now, Pinkie. We're gonna patch him up. But once we're done, you can come visit him, okay?" He said calmly. Pinkie just nodded once slowly.

"Alright, let's go!" Marcus then shoved more ponies out of the way as they equipped their weapons in hand to intimidate those who wouldn't comply, while Swordstrike yelled orders all around.

"Okay, I need all of you on the stairs to get the buck down here and move out of their way! Any nurses and doctors, follow us!" Swordstrike boomed the orders. The guards instantly followed his orders as they quickly galloped down the stairs and onto the floor, making a pathway for the three Marines and the Commander, while the nurses and doctors waited to follow behind the group.

They then quickly ran up the stairs to the third floor. As they did, Thompson turned to one of the doctors, a Unicorn to be exact.. "Can you tell me what the hell happened just a couple minutes ago?"

The doctor nodded. "U-uh, yes! There was a huge explosion on the third flo-"

"I know that." Thompson said bitterly, making the doctor flinch. "What I meant by that, is have any doctors or nurses come up to investigate?"

The doctor nodded again. "No. Only three Royal Guards came up here before the explosion happened. In fact, we were gathering all the medical supplies we could carry before you all came in." He said.

"I sure do hope that's what those saddlebags have in them..." Thompson muttered.

"W-we do, sir. Just tell us what you need to do!" The doctor said. Then, Twilight spoke up.

"What do you want me and Fluttershy to do?" She asked.

"I'm gonna need all the help I can get. I don't know what injuries they might've obtained from the blast, but I know for damn sure they're not good at all. I'm assuming you know some magical healing spells or something like that?" Thompson asked.

Twilight nodded. "I do, but I think the doctor here knows much more than I do about healing and restoration spells, but I'll do what I can." She said confidently.

"Alright, good." Thompson said before turning to Fluttershy. "Flutters, I'm gonna be asking a lot from you. You helped Marcus with his injury before,"

Fluttershy slightly shivered at the thought of helping restore and repair the headshot wound, but she nodded regardless.

"so I'm gonna need you to help out with the surgery, along with the doctors. If at the very least, make sure that anyone injured in there stays comfortable. You think you can do that for me, Fluttershy?"

She nodded once more. With what he thought was a bit of confidence in her eyes.

Thompson just nodded in return as they ran up the final steps.

Once they arrived the third floor, their eyes widened at the scene in front of them, while the two girls and the doctor gasped. The entire right side room, or what was left of it, was completely blown out, along with surrounding rooms and the room in front of it. It astonished them how the section of the hospital hadn't collapsed. The blown-out room was tainted in black, along with a mildly heavy cloud of smoke that emitted from the flames the MAAWS rockets started.

"Oh my Goodness..." Fluttershy muttered extremely quietly, not audible to the crackling sound of flames.

Jackson then quickly turned to the doctors and nurses that were right behind them . "Alright, new plan! I need you to bring as many stretchers as you can! And tell everypony else to evacuate the hospital until the fire's out! Now, go go!!" He ordered. Several of the nurses then quickly went back downstairs, while the others awaited their orders. "I need another half of you guys to grab some fire extinguishers and come back up here to control the fire!"

A couple of doctors nodded as they also went downstairs. There were now only two Unicorn doctors and one nurse. "I need the three of you to use your magic and whatever supplies you got and use them to patch up whoever the hell's injured as best you can, okay?!" Jackson said. They quickly nodded. Thompson then unslung his pack and pulled out a pair of small medical packs.

The group then ran down the hall, through the cloud of smoke. Once they could see slightly, they noticed that Nimbius was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room, his head limped to the side.

"Aw shit, I found Nimbius!" Jackson shouted, immediately grabbing the attention of one of the Unicorn doctors who instantly pulled out a medical pack from his saddlebag and approached next to Jackson.

Jackson quickly crouched next to Nimbius, who was coughing heavily. "Nimbius! Oh shit, man..." Jackson said.

Nimbius coughed for a bit longer before opening his eyes and looking at Jackson with a weak smile. "Heh... Nice to see you.." He said weakly before coughing once more. "I'm fine... Really. Just a couple scratches here and there. I just feel a bit fazed is all." He said as he was being helped up onto his hooves by Jackson. "I can't say the same for the guys inside the room though. Go deal with them first."

Jackson nodded as he turned to the Unicorn that was helping Nimbius. "I need you to get him outside and give him some air. *Cough* Make sure you patch up all of his *Cough* wounds!" He said. The Unicorn nodded as he guided Nimbius down towards the stairs before Jackson ran into the room.

When he did, he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Dempsey laying on the ground, unconscious with what looked like some metal rod in his chest as he was being treated by Marcus and Thompson. He looked next to him and saw Kevin being treated for his wounds by the nurse, more specifically, the huge gash on his leg that was letting out a huge amount of blood. His, along with Dempsey's face, was covered in a shady cover in smoke.

"Jackson!" Marcus shouted over to him, making Jackson snap back into reality. "Jackson! Get your ass over here now!!"

Jackson quickly went over to the two. Marcus had just finished taking off Dempsey's vest and armor, while Thompson was beginning to use his combat knife to cut Dempsey's shirt and readied his medical kit to put on the outside of the wound.

"Alright, Jackson. Stay here with Thompson! I'm gonna go and help out the others with the stretchers. You do whatever Thompson here tells you to do!" Marcus ordered. Jackson nodded as Marcus ran from the room towards the stairs, passing the nurses and doctors that held the stretchers and fire extinguishers.

They then stormed into the room quickly, already beginning to hack and cough heavily. The ponies with the fire extinguishers quickly galloped over to the scorching flames and put the extinguishers to good use, the foam slowly killing the dying flames and decreasing the amount of smoke.

Thompson then brought out his Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) and started to bring out several medical supplies. Jackson then placed a couple of gauze pads around the chest wound, careful to avoid the rod embedded into his chest. He then talked to Thompson.

"How's it look like to you, Tommy?" Jackson asked quickly.

"Not too good. From the looks of it, the rod punctured his lung, but it didn't go all the way through him. He can live, but he need some serious surgery as soon as he can." Thompson said. "He also has a couple of mild to severe bruises all over his face and body. Looks like his skull almost cracked. Either form the force of the explosive pressure, or something else."

"Could've been worse." Jackson said as he and Thompson prepared to lift Dempsey to the stretcher. Two nurses, one Pegasi and one Unicorn, then helped Dempsey up and settled him onto the stretcher gently, yet quickly.

"We'll take care of him from here." One of the nurses said to Thompson quickly as they prepared to take Dempsey out of the room.

"Alright. Take him outside and do what you can. I'll be out there in a couple of moments. If he wakes up, calm him down and make sure to give him anything to ease any pain he might feel." Thompson said. The nurse nodded sternly as they lifted the stretcher and started backtracking out of the room.

"Thompson!" Twilight yelled. Thompson then quickly ran over and crouched next to Twilight, who was tending to an injured Pegasus resting against the remains of what was once the wall next to the ruined door frame. The Pegasus coughed weakly as Twilight used a magic spell on him, to what Thompson guessed was a sort of painkiller spell.

"I need you to cover him up with some bandages around his waist and right foreleg!" She said. Thompson nodded as he crouched besides the Pegasus and started pulling out a roll of sterile gauze bandage rolls.

The Pegasus whimpered slightly as Thompson wrapped the gauze bandage around his waist. He then looked at Thompson and spoke. "I-I didn't know there was more than two of you..." He said hoarsely.

"Well, now you do." Thompson responded simply without looking back. "Don't try to- Wait, were you then one who was talking to Dempsey?"

The Pegasus just nodded.

"Then I hope you know that he really is sorry for what he did." Thompson said as he finished bandaging his waist, going for his right foreleg.

The Pegasus nodded again. "I-I know, but it... I just lost somepony..."

Thompson sighed. "Look, I'll keep this short and simple for right now. We've all been through more hell than you think. I don't know what he's lost, but I can see it in his eyes that he's lost more than you can ever hope to bear. In fact, if you look deep inside almost anyone who's been in war, you'll see the sorrow in their eyes."

The Pegasus looked at Thompson with a look of confusion and wonder. "W-wait... He's... W-war?.."

Thompson didn't respond as he picked up Remus with his hands, holding him near his chest. Remus just whimpered in pain as Thompson quickly settled him onto a stretcher. They then took him out of the room as Thompson went over to Twilight.

"Twi! Where's Fluttershy?" He asked.

"She left a moment ago with the three injured Royal Guards! We're gonna bring Kevin out until they put out the fires. Then we can use the other rooms for surgery!" Twilight said.

"Alright! Head out with the others and help them out as best you can! I'll help Kevin." Thompson said back. Twilight nodded as she ran out of the room, while he and a Unicorn doctor were helping patch the wound on Kevin's upper leg.

Thompson then noticed the massive pool of blood that was below Kevin, and that it was exact same one he was currently stepping on. Angrily, he yelled at the doctor. "What the fuck is the hold up!"

"I can't patch him up!" The doctor said. "I don't know how to stop the bleeding! I can't find the source!" He said.

Thompson moved the doctor out of the way to get a better view of Kevin's injury. His upper leg was torn, clearly making the inner muscle and a tint of white from the bone show. Blood was seeping out of the wound almost like a steady stream. His mind then quickly came up with what was causing the seemingly nonstop flow of blood.

"The femoral artery..." Thompson said. "It's the femoral artery! I need to cover his wound! He'll need critical medical attention!!" Thompson then used the sterile gauze roll on Kevin's leg. He then shouted at the ponies with fire extinguishers. "Hurry the fuck up with taking out the fire! This guy need immediate surgery!!" He roared.

"It's almost out! Just get him out of here and outside! We'll tell you when it's done!" One of them shouted back over the sound of streaming foam.

"Son of a bitch..." Thompson muttered as he finished covering the wound with sterile gauze, which was already soaked in crimson red. He then quickly motioned the doctor to help him lift Kevin onto a stretcher.

"C'mon! We need to clamp the artery and stop the fucking bleeding!!" Thompson shouted at the doctor. They then swiftly went out of the roof and towards the stairs, Kevin's blood seeping through the gauze and leaving a small, spread-out trail of blood on the ground.

Private Longshot's P.O.V

Private Longshot was in a mild state of shock of all that had happened throughout the last fifteen minutes or so. One second, he was escorting two of the odd ape-like creatures to a room where his grieving brother was, the next second, he was outside the hospital, helping out one of his buddies with his burn and concussion injuries.

He remembered that he was quick to leave the two humans after he finished escorting them. Once he got down there, he was met by Lance Corporal Steelhooves, a Pegasus, one of his buddies he usually went out and drank with after a long, hard day of P.T.

"So, what'd they do?" Steelhooves asked.

Longshot just shrugged. "Nothing, really. They didn't speak, or even look at me at all. It's like I wasn't really there."

"Really? They didn't threaten you or anything like that?..." Steelhooves asked again, a bit surprised.

Longshot nodded. "Yeah. I just galloped the living hay outta there..." He said.

Steelhooves chuckled. "Of course you would. What was I thinking?"

Longshot scoffed. "As if you wouldn't do the same..."

"I wouldn't!" He said confidently. "In fact, I would go up there right now and do whatever I wish!"

"Oh really? Then let's see you put your bits where your mouth is! You'll get half of my pay for two and a half months if you do!" Longshot dared, making the Lance Corporal chuckle.

"You're on!" Steelhooves said as he began to confidently trot towards the stairs, along with two other guards.

"Hey! I only said you! Not nopony else!" Longshot accused.

"Ease up, Private." One of the guards, an Earth pony, shot back. "We did the bet too."

Longshot just rolled his eyes and grunted as the other three laughed on their way up the stairs. With a sigh, Longshot sat on a chair, leaning his head on a forehoof.

He was about to go to sleep, until he felt something move him. When he turned, he saw the company leader, Sergeant First Class Javelin Stinger. He looked at Longshot with a small smile, but Longshot's deadpanned and tired-looking expression ceased to change.

"How you holding up, Private?" Javelin asked.

"Not too well, Sir." Longshot admitted with a small sigh. "For starters, if these rookie jokes and stuff keep going up on me, I think I might throttle somepony..."

Javelin just chuckled before he spoke. "You and I both know you'll be court-martial'd up your flank before you can even moan. Plus, you know we all had to go through the same B.S you had to. I was a Private too, y'know."

It was Longshot's turn to chuckle. "You're speaking like you're an old stallion, Javelin. You're only twenty-five." He said.

"I know. But really, just hang on there. When you pass your next physical exam, you'll have another chance to be promoted! Who knows, maybe you'll have access to some new, shiny gear.." Javelin said with a smirk. "Speaking of that, when're you gonna be deployed to Manehattan?"

"Next week; Monday. Why do you ask, Sir?" Longshot asked.

"You know, maybe you could pick up boxing there..." Javelin suggested as he picked up a magazine from the coffee table between the two chairs. "The Royal Equestrian Navy boxing smokers are gonna hold one of the biggest ones yet. I heard that some of the spec-ops guards are gonna be there."

"Aren't like, half of them mares?" Longshot asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. So if you are, I'd be hitting the gym up as soon as possible before you get deployed.." Javelin said with a smile.

"Heh. I'll.... I'll consider that, sir." Longshot replied with a smile of his own.

Javelin nodded as he went back to reading the magazine in his hooves. Just as Longshot was about to get up for a mug of coffee from the doctor's lounge, a huge explosion rocked the entire building, putting Longshot and the other guards onto full alertness, while making most, if not all of them, jump almost to the roof.

Longshot was then brought back to reality as he felt Steelhooves shove against his shoulders. When he turned, he saw that Steelhooves was leaning up from the grass, his back and two hind legs covered in bandages that one of the Element Bearers, Fluttershy, had put on him.

"Hey, Longshot. What're you thinking about now?" He asked.

"N-nothing much. Why?..."

Steelhooves wasn't buying it, and him stuttering didn't help him. "Why? Because you had that sad, long-lost look in your eyes, that's why."

Before Longshot could respond, he heard several slightly muffled shouts and yells from the inside of the hospital. When Longshot and Steelhooves turned to see what was going on, the doors swung open with a kick.

"Watch it with the rod! Lower him a bit so we can pass him through without any further injuries!" One of the humans shouted. The two guards looked on as two nurses carried a stretcher, lowering it as they went through the doorway, being led by one of the humans who was next to the stretcher, putting pressure on the other human who was laying on the stretcher itself.

"Holy buck... What in the hay happened up there, Steelhooves?" Longshot said as he turned to his buddy.

Steelhooves shook his head as he buried his muzzle in his hooves. "I... Well, me and the guys were going into the room to talk with Remus and make sure the humans weren't doing anything harmful. Well, the one outside the room was giving us a soul-tearing glare, but I think it w-was just looking out for his buddy inside the room."

"When we got inside though, we saw that the human inside was holding Remus in his hands. Then I..." He stopped himself.

"What? What did you do?" Longshot asked.

"I... Kinda lost it. I was gonna tackle and beat the human up, but the one outside came in at Rainbow-Dash speed and aimed the weird weapon they all have. I... I mean, we, we were scared senseless when he did this. Then the next thing I know, an explosion happened that knocked us all out." Steelhooves admitted guiltly.

Longshot looked at Steelhooves in pity for a moment before turning back to the humans, who were now treating the impaled one.

Marcus' P.O.V

"Lay him down right here!!" Marcus commanded. The stretcher was then gently, but quickly, placed onto the grass as doctors quickly came to work on him and remove the rod one way or another.

"S-Sir! We can't operate surgery on him out here! We don't have the tools to-" One of the doctors started.

"Then get the fuck back in there and get them!!! And tell them to hurry the fuck up with that fire!" Marcus yelled, making the doctor yelp before he quickly ran back into the hospital. Marcus took a quick glance at the outside, noticing that the fire was now spreading through all floors now, including a section of the roof from one of the three sides.

"Goddamn it..." Marcus muttered as he turned back to Dempsey, who was still unconscious as the doctors started to remove the gauze bandages.

"Marcus!" Jackson yelled from behind him. He turned once more to the hospital doors, noticing Jackson and Thompson quickly coming out into the open, carrying another stretcher, this time with Kevin on it. "Come help us out over here!!"

Marcus quickly got up and ran towards the three. "Place pressure on Kevin's wound!" Thompson said, motioning over to Kevin's upper leg, the bandages were now completely soaked with his own blood and was leaking from the side, leaving a heavier trail than before. Seeing this, Marcus quickly put both of his hands over the soaking wound.

"Did you check his heart rate?!" Marcus asked Thompson as they settled Kevin onto a table a doctor had set down. Marcus took a quick glance at Kevin's face, which now had a ghostly-white color. Thompson nodded quickly as he brought out a medical kit that one of the doctors handed to him on the way down. It contained scissors, clamps, and other surgical items that would be needed.

"Yeah. It's fucking low, that's for damn sure." Thompson said quickly as he handed Marcus clamps. He then looked at Thompson with a confused look.

"His leg's fucked up. He's lost a lot of blood because his femoral artery is almost completely cut clean.." Thompson said.

"I took a look and it's not visible from what we saw, so it must be near the pelvis, or a couple of inches above his main injury, deep beyond the main cut." Jackson added.

"Se, we're gonna have to operate on him now? Right here?" Marcus asked.

Thompson nodded again. "We don't have a choice. The hospital might burn down any minute, and he might die in the next seven minutes!" Thompson and the others then put on surgical gloves as a Pegasus nurse looked for any spare I.V's.

"There's no more I.V's!" The nurse shouted at the Marines.

"Fuck me..." Thompson muttered as he looked to the side, then looking down at Kevin. "Well... It's a good thing he's unconscious for now."

"Let's just get this shit over with." Jackson said.

Marcus then looked behind him and saw that the five mares were looking upon them in with a mixture of emotions on their faces, ranging from terror, to sadness.

"Hey! You girls go to Kayla! You aren't watching this for shit!" Marcus shouted at them. "Go!"

The girls looked at him for a moment longer before Twilight spoke. "You hear him, let's go!" She said. They all then quickly went towards the last location Kayla was in, Marcus sighing from them not having to watch what they were about to do.

"Alright... What do you need us to do, Tommy?" Marcus asked as Thompson unwrapped the gauze bandages and threw them to the side.

"Okay... I need you to hold his wound open and keep pressure on top of the leg to stop the bleeding as best you can." Thompson said to Jackson, who did exactly what he was told.

"Marcus, you're gonna hold his feet and wait 'till I feel the pulse so you can clamp it with the scissors, okay?" Thompson said. Marcus nodded as he put the scissors in his mouth, waiting for Thompson's go.

"Alright..." Thompson said, taking a deep breath. "One..."

"Two..."

"Three!"

Jackson then quickly pulled the sides of the wound while Thompson put his hand in and started to look around, feeling for a pulse as his hand went deeper into the wound. But as soon as he did this, Kevin was immediately awoken from his unconscious state, letting out a hoarse scream of utter pain as Jackson and Marcus pulled the wound even wider.

As soon as Kevin started screaming, everypony became deathly silent, looking towards the direction of the scream. Once they settled their eyes onto the humans operating on the injured one, they watched in silent sadness and shock, along with disgust, but they tried not to show it.

The three Marines didn't bother to care as they were focusing on the operation, but Kevin's horrid scream of pain made this a tough task to accomplish. Regardless, they did their best to ignore the scream, for as almost as soon as it started, Kevin was drifted back into unconsciousness from the sheer amount of pain.

It was then where they could feel the silence over them, aside from the sickening, flesh-sounding movements their hands created while they all looked for the pulse.

"Wait, wait, wait, I feel it!" Thompson said. "I feel the pulse!"

"Yeah?..." Jackson muttered somewhat breathlessly.

"Yeah, I got it, I got it!" Thompson said as he got a good grip with his fingers, the flesh-like sound increasing as a moderate amount of blood started to leak out once more, but quickly stop once Thompson added more pressure to the artery.

"You got it? You got it? Is it good?" Marcus asked quickly through his teeth.

"Yeah, yeah!" Thompson responded quickly. "Clamp?"

Marcus then took one of his hands off the wound and took the surgical clamps from his mouth. Jackson then opened the wound bit more so Marcus could clamp it.

"You got the clamp in?" Thompson asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it in!" Marcus replied as he sustained his shaky hands and moved the clamps.

"Hold it!" Marcus said to Jackson.

"I got it steady."

"Alright... Alright... Fuck, it's tearing!" Marcus said with slight panic.

"Guh... Shit.. I got it, don't worry!"

"It's tearing!!"

"Just hold it! Hold it!"

"I am, I am!"

"Alright! It's good!!"

"Thank God.." Jackson muttered.

"It's clamped!" Marcus shouted as he breathed heavily. He then looked up at Thompson. "It's clamped..."

Jackson and Marcus looked at Thompson, who was smiling and let out a laugh of pure relief. The other two just smiled widely as they slowly and carefully removed their hands from the wound, making one final flesh-moving sound.

"Alright..." Thompson said, breathing heavily. He then turned to the doctors, which looked back at them with a blank expression. "Listen to me. We need surgery for these two men. Now."

The doctors shook their heads as they regained themselves somewhat from what they just witnessed before nodding. "U-understood. We'll get right on it." He then turned to the other doctors and nurses who were watching. "Well?! You all heard him! Come on!!"

As soon as he said that, half of the entire group then quickly rushed over to the two injured soldiers, while the other half went into the hospital to find and prepare a room for surgery, while Longshot, Steelhooves and all of the other Royal Guards that were in the hospital were still in their same location, completely stunned at what they had just witnessed, and silently wishing they hadn't.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait. I had some important school work to deal with, along with another case of the flu. Not anymore, m8tes. This chapter might be somewhat short, but I can now write out chapters a bit faster now.

I have now come back with even more dank. Enjoy the chapter! The next one will be a lot shorter, but it will contain a bit of info on what's to come. Don't fret, the Cryptids aren't dead and gone. Anything but...

(Also, I will tell you right now that I am no medic or General Surgeon. If anybody can point out any errors I did on the injuries and such, if you have the knowledge, please point it out and I will fix it when I can.)

In memory to: Army Ranger, SPC James 'Jamie' E. Smith. You're still leading the way.

Chapter 50: All Inside...

Author's Note

As I said, this is a very short chapter, but somewhat informative and stuff. Tell me what you thought!

Chapter 50: All Inside...

Dempsey's P.O.V

"Ugh... Jesus Christ..." Dempsey groaned. "What the hell happened to me?..."

Dempsey's view had now faded into pure black, yet he could still feel himself and still had the ability to talk. He looked around with confusment.

He then blinked, fully confirming that his sight was still fine, and that he was just stuck in an unknown place. He then felt his hands touch a surface. Breathing in heavily, he looked down below him, only to still see his hand touch a black surface.

"What the fuck?..." He said breathlessly.

Dempsey then stood up slowly and cautiously. Looking around his surroundings. He then walked forward, taking caution on where he was stepping, even though the entire area was dark.

He then looked around once more until he bumped into something with a grunt. Dempsey lifted his hand and touched the surface of what seemed to be a wall. He then tried to push it in, only for it to seemingly stay still and unchanged.

"This isn't cool..." Dempsey said, slowly backing away, only to bump into another wall a couple of steps later. He quickly looked behind him, only to see nothing still.

Before he could speak up once more, he felt a medium-light cool breeze go over his back, making the small hairs on his neck stand up in alertness and sending unpleasent chills down his spine. Quickly, he looked behind him, seeing a light, hazy trail of blue travel swiftly before stopping and slowly fading into the air.

His breath then became slightly ragged as he felt another breeze behind him. When he turned, he saw the same thing as before, except it wasn't fading away. It just stayed there.

Looking at it confusingly, he moved his head closer to it, noticing that it was now emitting a very small amount of light in the middle.

"What the..." Dempsey said quietly before hesitantly raising a hand to grasp it upon his palm. Inching closer, the light seemingly started to fade as he put his palm underneath it.

His head tilted slightly as he was now able to caress the fog-like circle, the light fading and unfading at a faster rate until it started to somewhat pulsate rapidly in his hand at an extreme rate.

"Woah..." He whispered in astonishment. The light then began to increase in brightness to the point where Dempsey had to squint his eyes to even look at it. Before he could speak up, the light then grew bigger in size along with luminosity.

Dempsey yelled as he closed and averted his eyes to the side and away from the light, letting go of the ball of light to use both of his arms to shield his face as the ball of light created a wave-like noise, muting his yelling until the light then seemingly wrapped around Dempsey until it expanded, and imploded.

Dempsey could feel the immense amount of pressure on every square inch of his body, putting his yelling to a sudden halt as the pressure then suddenly vanished, along with the light, as if it was never even there to begin with.

Breathing heavily and rapidly to the brink of hyperventilating, he slowly opened his eyes and looked beside him. Without a thought, he looked back in front of him, which confused his mind more than it has before as he looked into what seemed to be a wavy-like portal of sorts, showing nothing but a blueish background with wavy, almost electric lines through it, along with blueish smoke lines emitting from the sides and the middle, and a black outline in the outer circle.

With a shaking, gloved hand, he reached out to the portal without even thinking about it, since he was so mesmerized and terrified at the same time. When his hand came in contact with the portal, it created a small shockwave, expanding as the white lines dissipated, showing a clear light blue background.

Dempsey then retracted his hand from the portal and watched it almost mindlessly, like a zombie dazing off into the distance. After a couple of moments, he sighed as he began to look around him, but as soon as he did, the light blue background changed.

Catching his attention, he looked back at the portal, which was now showing an image, or location of sorts. All he could make out through the darkness was a metal railing on the side of a concrete pathway connected to a slightly slanted wall on one side, while what looked to be a man-made river on the other side of the railing.

"Is... Is that a sewer?..." Dempsey whispered out loud to himself as he kept watching with increasing curiosity. He then felt another cold breeze behind him, making him shiver slightly, but he still kept his trance on the portal regardless.

As he watched, he heard a slight metal grinding sound, which emitted a light glow from above the pathway. He guessed that it was a manhole of sorts. Then as quickly as it appeared, the metallic grinding sound came back as the manhole was covered once more, bringing the entire scene back into almost complete darkness.

After a couple more moments, he heard the sound of clopping hooves in the distance. He squinted his eyes to get a better view. When he did, he saw a faint, darkish-blue glow in the distance, along with what sounded like clicking noises with a mixture of other odd sounds. The clopping of hooves stopped as a sickening sound of what he could guess was moving flesh or meat was heard in the distance, along with a couple of light, squeaky screeches.

Dempsey watched in confusion for a minute or so, before the sound of clopping hooves began and stopped once more. He could then make out what looked to be two extended wings, and one fourth of a size of a horn.

He then put two and two together. "L-Luna?..." He said out loud.

As soon as those words left his mouth, he saw that 'Luna' had now turned to him, making Dempsey freeze in pure fear. Luna's eyes were not the same color that they used to be. Instead of being the color that they normally were, the eyes were now pure white, yet it showed as if Luna had no soul inside her.

Dempsey only watched in horror as he saw Luna give him a huge, demonic grin, showing sharp, predator-like teeth as Luna slowly, oh so slowly, trotted over towards Dempsey. His pupils were the size of pinpricks, and were only decreasing in size as Luna got closer and closer.

As it seemed that Luna was now only a couple of feet away and was seemingly ready to jump and pounce onto him, Luna then quickly vanished into thin air, leaving nothing behind but a blueish, light cloud of smoke in her previous location.

Dempsey's breath was quick and ragged once more as he kept looking at where Luna was, trying to regain and recover himself as he watched the smoke disappear into nothing.

After a couple of minutes, he finally controlled his breathing and let out a long, deep sigh as he looked down at the black ground below him, trying to make sense of what he just witnessed.

Before his mind could come up with any reasonable explination, he heard a loud clicking noise behind him, mixed with what sounded like a cat hiss and something else. When he turned around swiftly, he came face to face with a Cricket Cryptid. Dempsey yelled in horror as he used his hands to block his face for whatever it would count for as the Cricket pounced onto Dempsey, launching him back into the portal and seemingly 'breaking' it as they both fell through.

Dempsey kept yelling as he frantically patted his side to pull out his SIG Sauer P226 and take out the Cricket. As he finally felt the grip on the P226, the Cricket then dissipated into thin air as soon as he unholstered his P226 and prepared to fire at it.

He then looked around him, noticing that he was now outdoors, except the sky had now taken a reddish-orange tinge to it, and there were no clouds in sight, aside from dark gray streaks in the sky that seemed like smoke or something along those lines. When he lifted himself up so that he was now leaning up with both his hands on the ground, he saw that he was now right smack in the middle of Ponyville, or what was left of it.

"Oh my God..." Dempsey whispered in shock and horror as he took full view of his surroundings. Ponyville, or what once was, was now a smoldering wreck. Most, if not all of the buildings were completely obliterated. Either they collapsed onto themselves, were scorched and broken from several sides, or there was nothing left but the foundation itself. Some buildings also contained the remains of Hives, while most of the half-destroyed buildings were ablaze in an almost hellish-like, never-ending flame.

Dempsey then turned to the town hall, which was the only building with two stories, aside from the top dome-like structure and balcony, which looked like it was almost bitten off and burnt. He then saw that inside the town hall were several silhouettes of ponies inside, who were seemingly cowering and panicking inside, while he saw the outlines of two humans inside holding what seemed to look like an M4A1 and an odd sniper rifle.

As he tried to stand up, he saw that there were several hundred bodies of Cryptids strewn around the entire town, including several corpses of ponies and disembowled corpses thrown in with the Cryptid corpses. He also saw several stems of Hives stemming out from below the ground.

When he turned to his right, he saw something that completely jarred him to the very core. The wreckage of a Stryker vehicle. Or what once was a Stryker, was now nothing but a chunk of scrap metal. A huge, bent, burning, scorched, scratched, torn scrap of useless metal. The slightly sloped front of the armored vehicle was embedded into the ground, and looked as if the front was nearly cut in half from the rest of the Stryker.

The main body of the Stryker itself looked like a burning metal box of inferno. Most of its wheels were either missing, or were deflated, along with the .50 Cal turret nowhere to be seen.

Dempsey then fell back onto the ground with a shocked expression on his face as he grasped his head with one hand, all of this being almost too much for the soldier to handle.

As he did so, he heard the sudden sound of rapidly beating helicopter rotors fly above him, shaking him out of his shocked trance and making him look towards the direction of the sound. When he did, he saw the AH-6J Little Bird zoom its way towards the town hall, almost instantly making a 180-degree turn as the Little Bird faced Dempsey, hovering in position only a couple of feet off the ground.

Hesitantly, Dempsey looked behind him, noticing a huge swarm of a mixture of Cryptids making their way towards them in a stampede-like manner as he saw that there was a single Ancestor commanding the entire swarm. Dempsey then slowly looked above him, also noticing the immense amount of Gargoyles in the sky.

Dempsey then turned back around to the Little Bird, which was now positioned over a huge slab of torn and scorched concrete, and on the other side of the concrete were four humans, all of them aiming their weapons at the oncoming swarm, waiting as the swarm of Cryptids got closer and closer.

Dempsey then heard an inaudible yell, followed by a spinning sound as the Little Bird opened fire with its miniguns, the 7.62mm rounds streaking and tearing their way into the swarm, easily taking out the weak Scouts and a good amount of Hunters.

As soon as the miniguns started firing, his vision became slightly blurred and the outside noise was then muted. Dempsey was about to question on what had happened out loud until he heard a light chuckle behind him.

Dempsey then swiftly turned around, noticing the woman standing right where he was looking at. He quickly recognized the woman as the one Marcus kept talking about. The one who had a major roll in the Nightfall Program, who was used as a beacon to find the ark, who summoned the Kraken, who was saved by the four CIF members who later then sacrificed their own lives for her and for the sake of humanity.

"S-Samantha Cross?..." Dempsey sputtered in shock as Samantha herself slowly walked towards the soldier with an evilish smirk plastered on her face.

"I guess you could refer to me as that... I thought you knew me better than that, Sergeant Grant..." She said in a quiet, yet malicious voice.

"G-get the fuck away from me!" Dempsey yelled as he scooted himself back, trying to keep as much distance away from the woman as possible, only for him to run into an invisible barrier, keeping him from escaping. He quickly turned around and tried to beat the barrier with his fist, only for his attempts to be in vain as Samantha chuckled at his futile actions.

"Sergeant..." Samantha said quietly as she got even closer with each step. "Why don't we have a... Little chat?" She asked, the smirk still on her face.

Dempsey then remembered suddenly that he was still holding his P226 in his right hand. Swiftly, he slung it out, aiming it with his right hand directly at Samantha's head, making her suddenly stop dead in her tracks.

"I said get the fuck away from m-me!" Dempsey ordered with a stutter due to fear. Samantha stayed where she was, but the smirk was still on her face as she crouched on both her legs and rested her arms on her knees, looking down at the ground below her as she internally chuckled.

"You must not know what I'm really capable of then..." Samanthat said quietly. Suddenly, Dempsey could feel an odd sensation around his hand, as if it were slowly being crushe. Right as he realized what was going on, the pressure then forced his hand to ungrip his P226, making it fly out of his hand and leaving it floating in mid air, all while Samanthat was still looking at the ground.

"Now..." She said, slowly looking back up at Dempsey with her magenta eyes. "Allow me... To give you a choice. A little 'mercy' if you will..."

Dempsey just looked at Samantha with a shocked expression, seemingly paralyzed.

She then decided to bring Dempsey back into the realm of reality by adding pressure to the P226, before snapping it in half by the barrel, sending bits of metal and plastic flying, while creating a metal ting-like sound.

Dempsey then quickly snapped back, jumping slightly as he looked at Samantha once more. "W-what?..."

Samantha kept her demonic grin on her face as she crouched right in front of the soldier. "Allow me to explain, Grant." She then changed her gaze to over Dempsey's shoulder, motioning her head. "Take a good look, Sergeant..."

Dempsey then hesitantly complied, slowly turning his head back towards the ruins of the main center of Ponyville, more specifically the battle that was going on with the humans and the Cryptids, disregarding the blurriness that shadowed the entire battle. He then looked up at the sky, where he saw a couple Pegasi fighting for air superiority against the Gargoyles, and it seemed liked the Pegasi were armed with M4 Carbines.

"Take a good long look. Because this is what you'll be seeing in the near future." Samantha said as she looked along with Dempsey.

"W-what do you mean?..." Dempsey asked quiet!y as he turned back to Samantha.

Samantha sighed. "Look, Sergeant. I'm not going to lie to you. This world... This world is damned. All you're seeing here, this is just a small look on things to come." She then stood up and walked to the side of Dempsey, placing a hand on the force field before continuing.

"I'm trying to do what I can to help you and the others to fight the Cryptids, or at the very least contain them until a sort of solution come along, but while you and the others were getting cozy with the equine locals here, I've been trying to find out where that Cricket came from." Samantha said. She then looked down at Dempsey.

"Well, I did. But that wasn't all I found. It turns out.... This place just might have more Arks and nests than you all realize. The amount... It's... Inconceivable, to say the least."

She then knelt down besides him. "I'm not going to sugar coat it, Grant. This world will fall into the same fate as Earth has. All of this fighting going on right now..." Samantha then leaned in closer until they were mere centimetres away from each other. "Is nothing compared to what is going on everywhere else."

Samantha then engulfed Dempsey in a bright, white and yellow-ish light, making him cover his eyes with his arms until he brought them back down once the light seceded. When he did, he saw a sight that reminded him of the Invasion of Detroit.

The entire area was basically a city, one that reminded him of Chicago, or Atlanta. Several skyscrapers were covered in flames, ruined by an unknown force, while some were even vined with the huge extended limbs of Hives that were on the streets below, not visible due to the fog and clouds of dust and debris.

The light then engulfed him once more as he was teleported to another location. When he looked, he saw that the location he was now in was in a similar style to Las Vegas or Los Angeles, which seemed to contain similar features as the previous location, but there were much fewer buildings standing, and a huge swarm of what looked to be Gargoyles were flying above the center of the city hundreds of feet above, spinning in a vortex-like fashion.

He was then blinded by the light once more as he missed in annoyance and pain before fluttering his eyes open. When he did, the location he was now in had a striking similarity to San Francisco, including what looked like a resemblance of the Golden Gate Bridge, except that it was sliced in half, as if it was torn with no caution or caring whatsoever, and city's mainland was looked like an unstoppable inferno.

Dempsey was then teleported back to the same location he was before, as if he never left. Samantha then looked at Dempsey sincerely.

"All that you saw... And that was just from one Ark." Samantha said quietly as she sighed and continued. "I want to offer you something, Sergeant. A gift I doubt you'll refuse."

"And that would be..." Dempsey muttered his question, averting his eyes from Samantha's, before she got right next to his ear.

"You died a couple minutes ago... And the others, are trying their hardest to bring you back to the land of the living. The land of the lost and damned." She whispered.

"They know... They know just as well as I do that they can't save this planet from the same creatures that took over ours. They will try. They will try with bravery, vigor, loyalty, and brutality of which the likes these equines have never seen before, and never will..."

"But they won't win. They didn't win before, so what makes you think they will win here and now? Face the truth, Dempsey... They only want to bring you back alive..."

"... So they won't have to suffer alone." Samantha whispered. She then pulled back from Dempsey, looking at his shocked face.

"I can make sure that doesn't happen. I can bring you back to your true loved ones who passed before you. I know you do not want to die in vain. You shouldn't suffer. You don't deserve it." Samantha said. She then stood up and walked backwards. "So tell me, Dempsey..."

"Do you want to be brought back to life? Or do you want me to relieve you of the pain and suffering your hopeless future will hold?..." She asked calmly.

"What?... But I thought... Marcus told ue that that you were supposed to help us!!!" Dempsey shouted.

Samantha shook her head in disappointment. "It doesn't matter if I help you all or not. Either way, you're all damned."

Dempsey shook his head as he clutched his head with both of his hands. "No.. No, this isn't... You're not... Nah, this is all just a game. It's all inside my head..." Dempsey whispered desperately. "All inside..."

Samantha chuckled darkly. "Are you sure about that, Sergeant? What if it's all in mine?..." She taunted.

"No..." Dempsey said before looking back up at Samantha with an angered expression. "No! Fuck you! I won't go! You're just a fucking taunting piece in my mind!! I won't fall for your shit, you whore!"

Samantha looked at Dempsey with a neutral expression as she stood up. "No? Is that your final decision? It's going to kill me to see me kill you all.."

"Fuck you!!!" Dempsey shouted at her, visibly shaking in both fear and rage as he pulled his knees up to his chest. "Fuck... You..."

Dempsey kept looking down at his knees, until he felt the presence of someone moving. He then felt Samantha's cold hand caress his cheek and making him look back up at her. When he did, he saw that her eyes were now black, as if he was looking into a void.

She then leaned in and whispered into his ear. "Wrong... Choice..."

Samantha then dissipated into a blueish-gray cloud of smoke, as them the muting effect disappeared, and the sounds of shrieking and gunshots came to live, making Dempsey jump at the sudden noises.

Dempsey then heard an explosion, followed by an engine whining and loud electric spark sounds. When he turned, he saw that the Little Bird was now losing control, its tail rotor completely shredded as it sparked and whined, spewing out smoke as it tilted towards his location.

He watched in horror as the Little Bird made its way towards him, but before it could crash into Dempsey and crush him into the ground, he was then brought back to sudden blackness.

Followed by a dark, feminine chuckle...

Chapter 51: Back From The Brink

Back in the hospital...

After several minutes of continuous medical procedures outside the hospital, the personnel that were still inside the hospital had finally put out the fires and were now able to haul back the injured and incapacitated back inside to be treated in separate rooms, more specifically the two soldiers that were in grave need for surgery and blood transplants.

"Hold the pads, Fluttershy." Marcus said as his hands ceased from putting pressure on Kevin's leg wound. Fluttershy did as she was told while Marcus ran to the front entrance of the hospital, where a couple of medical staff were coming out.

Their faces were darker than usual that showed clearly on their white coats due to the smoke, while also carrying empty fire extinguishers. One of the staff then looked towards Marcus. "D-don't worry, sir. The fire's been put out and we can move the injured back inside. Just avoid the third floor. It's not that stable." The staffmember warned.

Marcus nodded. "Alright, good." He then turned around to face the majority of the ponies, who were awaiting for an answer from him. "Okay! The hospital's clear for usage! Pack your stuff and move back inside! Let's go!"

"Mares and gentlecolts! Please move the slightly injured and the moderately injured to the first floor and keep them there. Move the critically injured and those that need surgical attention to the second floor! Get a move on, ponies!" One of the doctors shouted. The entirety then started to pack up.

"C'mon, let's move it, Jackson." Thompson said as they prepared to move the stretchers that carried Kevin and Dempsey, while Fluttershy was finally able to find an I.V and held it up after connecting it to Kevin. Marcus then went back towards them to help out, until he saw similar silhouettes in the distance.

"Marcus! Guys!" A female voice shouted at them. Marcus then turned to Thompson and Jackson, motioning them to go on ahead without them. They nodded as Marcus went towards the group.

"Kayla!" Marcus shouted as he caught up with her and the other four mares, while trying his very hardest not to go over to Pinkie, who's mane was straighter than anything he'd seen in his life, along with almost all of her body being deprived of her usual pinkiness.

"Marcus!" Kayla responded as she looked over his shoulder, noticing the injured Kevin and Dempsey being quickly rolled back into the hospital before becoming out of view. "What the fuck happened?..." She asked him with a tone of worry in his voice.

"The MAAWS happened, Kayla. Kevin and Dempsey were caught in the blast, but they'll be fine. With the help of the staff, we were able to treat their injuries for a good enough while until they could be brought in to surgery. They also put out the fire before it got too out of hand." Marcus said, making Kayla's worried facial expression fall gradually. "What about you girls?"

"I was able to help out most of the town along with a couple of Royal Guards. I was just finishing up helping put out one of the bigger fires in town until the four girls here came along to help. And help they did, we were all able to put the fires out in a short amount of time, along with Twilight here being able to repair a bit of the houses with whatever was left with debris spread all around and whatnot." Kayla said.

"We also found Mike and Randy back at the station right when they unloaded the Goliath suit. As of right now, they're using the Stryker as a bit of a medical center right now."

"Were there any casualties?" Marcus asked.

Kayla shook her head. "Aside from the injured, no. None at all, thank God. They're also using the town hall as a small medical center because they'd think the hospital wouldn't be enough to fit everypony, let alone the Stryker." She then took another quick glance at the hospital. "Seems like they were right."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah. Randy decided to help out the locals even more by using the Goliath suit to help with the fires and some of the destroyed buildings nearby." Kayla said.

Marcus nodded. "Alright, any-" He then paused and took a split-second to go over what Kayla said again. "Wait, what? How the hell did he even know how to use it?"

"Same way you did, Sir." Kayla responded with a slight smirk. "Through trial and error. Only without him shooting a missile."

Marcus was about to retort with a snarky comment, until he saw the silhouette of a man behind Kayla, along with a familiar voice.

"Guys!..." Mike shouted towards them, then stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the hospital. "Oh fuck..."

"Mike!" Marcus shouted, running towards him. "Don't ask. We don't have time for that right now. Show me your dog tags!" He ordered.

Mike kept looking at the battered and burn side of the hospital before shaking his head and turning towards Marcus with a confused look. "W-what?"

"Show me your fucking tags, Mike!" He shouted once more.

"Why?" Mike asked as he quickly pulled out and showed his dog tags, which Marcus quickly looked at.

"I need to know your blood type." He said as he looked at the carvings in his tags, his blood type reading 'O-Positive'. "And before you ask why, it's because Kevin and Dempsey'll need it for surgery."

"Surgery? What kind of damage did the fucking MAAWS cause?!" Mike asked loudly.

"More damage than we would've expected from the thing..." Marcus muttered as he turned to Kayla, checking her dog tags, her blood type reading AB.

"Do you know their blood types?" Mike asked. Marcus nodded.

"Yeah, I do. And thank God, Kayla. I thought we were screwed..." Marcus said, looking at Kayla, who looked back at him with a confused look.

"What? What're you talking about?"

"You and Dempsey have the one of the world's rarest blood type. AB." Marcus said with a relieved smile on his face.

"And Kevin? What does he have?" Mike asked.

"The same blood type as you and me. O-Positive." He responded, before feeling a tug on his leg. When he looked down, he saw Applejack with a worried look on her.

"Look ya'll, the blood type thing is good n' all, but dontcha think we should get going on the blood-donation thing?" She asked. Marcus nodded.

"Yeah. Right then, let's get inside the hospital and help out with the surgery. I have a feeling they'll need some blood transplants before they get started." Marcus said. Kayla quickly nodded as they all rushed towards the inside of the hospital, making their way through the crowd of injured Royal Guards.

"Mind telling me the details?" Kayla asked as they walked to the front desk.

"I will in a bit." Marcus then turned to Twilight. "Can you do us a massive favor and help Fluttershy and the others with the surgery? They'll need all the help they can get."

Twilight nodded swiftly. "Of course! But, uh, what room are they in?" She asked.

"Uh... They're on the second floor. Just look door to door, you'll find them."

Twilight nodded once more as she quickly made her way to and up the stairs, leaving the three mares and the two Marines to themselves. A nurse then came from the supply room, rolling out a tripod with several wires, along with a pair of empty fluid bags and needles.

"Well, there it is." Kayla said. "Let's get this over with."

Marcus and Mike agreed as they took of their ballistic vests and gear, stripping their upper bodies down until they were only wearing their desert-tan t-shirts. The three mares watched on as they took their seats and stretched out their arms, while the nurse prepared the equipment.

Then, Rainbow spoke up with a slight edge of nervousness. "Uh... Heh.. We won't have t-to donate blood, right?" She said, the nervousness was now clear as day due to her stuttering.

The others, however, decided to ignore it for her sake. "No. I don't think pony blood'll go well when used in the human body. Besides, Dempsey has a rare blood type." Marcus said.

Rainbow just sighed in relief, while the others decided not to taunt Rainbow for her 'secret' fear of needles.

As the nurse injected the needles into their veins, Kayla turned towards Marcus.

"So after we finish this whole chucklefuck, what's next for us?" She asked.

"Well, we still have to show Nimbius and Swordstrike a weapons demonstration before they have to go back to Canterlot." Marcus replied. "Then, we hunker down, stay at our temporary homes and see what we can do before we pack up, board the train, and go to Manehattan."

"What about Nightmare Night?"

He shrugged. "Don't know, but I think it's gonna be put on hold until this entire thing is cleared up."

"I think the Mayor is gonna want an explanation for all that we've done..." Mike commented.

"Probably, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there." Marcus replied back as he felt slightly light-headed from the amount of blood being dejected out of him, along with Mike, who was slightly more pale than before.

The three mares just watched as the blood was transfused from the humans' bodies into the bags, which were now quickly being filled up. They stayed silent the entire time, with Pinkie looking beyond the bags, as if she had a case of the infamous 'thousand-yard stare'.

After a while, the nurse finally filled the bags with the much needed blood before quickly calling out to a couple more staff members to take the blood to the surgery room, while Marcus and Mike adjusted and checked their bandaged arms. Another nurse came by and handed the each of the two a tall glass of orange juice.

Mike quickly took it and sipped it, before letting a small smile appear on his face. "Woah.. now this is orange juice." He said before drinking it once more.

Marcus nodded in agreement as he also took a sip, savoring the flavor as he did so, unlike Mike, who finished it not even five seconds ago.

As Mike put down the glass, he looked over at Marcus, more specifically his bloody, former desert tan t-shirt. With widened eyes, he whistled. "Fuck man, you're shirt's all bloody. Like you freaking ate someone or something."

Marcus raised his eyebrow slightly at this, before setting his glass down and looking at his shirt. With a look of surprise, he snorted. "Oh. I guess it is. Didn't even know it was there."

"Uh... how do ya not notice a big red blood stain on you're shirt, sugarcube?.." Applejack asked with a questioning tone.

Marcus just shrugged. "Don't know. They say it's always the little things we notice." He looked down at his shirt once more. "Guess this isn't one of those 'little things'." He then set his glass down. "But if it bothers you all so much, I guess it'll be no biggie if I just take it off."

Kayla chuckled. "Might as well have a bit of fun here." She said, winking at Marcus who rolled his eyes in return before removing his shirt.

As he did, he heard Kayla and Mike snicker quietly before speaking.

"I didn't know ponies could blush." She whispered.

"I didn't know you could either." Mike retorted, earning a scoff from the sniper.

When Marcus threw his shirt on the floor, he looked over at the four mares, who had a very faint tint of red on their cheeks and immediately looked off at separate directions. Except for Pinkie Pie, who still had not spoken a single word since they left the library.

"I still have my phone with me if you guys want to take a picture." Marcus asked the mares with a sly grin, only for it to grow in size as the blush got more noticable and making Kayla chuckle louder.

"Don't hide your jealousy, Kayla. You can get one too." He teased.

She squinted her eyes and glared at Marcus. "Oh, bite me."

"It's 'oh, bite me Sir' ." Marcus rephrased her sentence, mocking her voice as he laughed at her expense.

As they continued with their teasing, Mike looked over to Pinkie and gently patted her shoulder. "Hey Pinks. You sure you're okay?..."

Pinkie just nodded once slowly, not meeting Mike's eyes for even a split-second.

Before Mike could press onto the issue, he looked over Marcus' shoulder, noticing that a pair of Royal Guards were looking at them. One was wearing the original gold and white, while the other was wearing silver and white, along with silver-blue chestplate.

Royal Guard's P.O.V

Private Longshot and Corporal Steelhooves were in the corner of the waiting room, just outside the main lobby. They were listening and watching the three humans as they got up from their chairs and started talking with the three mares and among themselves.

When they did, Longshot decided to use this time to talk to Steelhooves. "You sure about this?..." He asked.

Steelhooves nodded solemnly as he took a deep breath and exhaled silently and heavily. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. I need to make amends with these guys. We would've done the same thing."

"I thought you hated their guts?"

Steelhooves shrugged. "I know, and I still do to an extent, but there's no point in having these guys as our adversaries if they're really gonna help us, let alone the entire guard."

"They're still technically our enemies. I don't know why you're doing this."

Steelhooves turned to Longshot. "We destroy our enemies when we make friends with them."

With that, Steelhooves took another deep breath and walked closer to the area the three humans were. Longshot just looked at the Corporal before following suit behind him.

As they walked, Steelhooves almost froze in fear when one of the humans caught sight of him and Longshot. Refusing to run away in fear, he cleared his throat audiably, catching the attention of all of the inhabitants in the room.

"Uh.. Good afternoon, glentlecol- I mean, gentlemen. Mind if we sit and talk with you all for a moment?" Steelhooves asked. One of the humans looked at the other two, who nodded and motioned over to the two seats besides the four mares.

"So, let's cut to the chase. What's the reason you two are here?" Mike asked, avoiding the oncoming awkward silence that nearly took hold of the room.

"Yeah. And aren't you the one who escorted us to the room earlier this evening?" Marcus asked Longshot, who nodded hesitantly. He then turned to Steelhooves. "And I know you were also up there. There wouldn't be another reason why your wing is all bandaged up."

"Yes. I was also up there with Remus and the others. I uh... I was the one who tackled one of your kind." Steelhooves said with guilt, looking down at the floor at the last part of his sentence. Marcus and the others decided to keep quiet and let the Pegasus continue.

Taking a deep breath, Steelhooves went on. "I know what I did was wrong, but you must understand why I did what I did. From my point of view, it looked like it- sorry, he was going to do something awful to Remus. I didn't know he was just comforting him. Got caught up in the heat of the moment is all."

He then looked up at Marcus and the others, who were seemingly listening closely to what he was saying and waited for him to get to the point.

"So... Since I figured that if we are going to work alongside one another against an enemy, from what I've heard, I don't want any animosity between us, let alone the entire Guard. So what I'm trying to get here... Is that I'm sorry for my actions. For whatever it's worth."

A couple of moments passed as the humans looked at one another, before the shirtless one spoke up. "We'd accept your apology, but we're not the ones you should really be saying this to."

With a slightly baffled look, Steelhooves looked at the human. "W-what?.."

"I'm not saying we don't accept your apology, but you should really be telling this to Dempsey and Kevin up there in the surgery room. Once they wake up, you can do so. But as of right now, you guys and us are fine. Your acts were justifiable and I won't really condemn them, but you should hope that the two guys see the same."

Steelhooves nodded solemnly. "Yeah. I understand. But you and I are on good terms, right?"

"As I said, we are good."

Steelhooves let out a small sigh of relief before nodding. "Okay, just making sure I heard you correctly is all. But I'm pretty curious on something you and the others did."

"Shoot."

"How were you guys even able to complete an almost impossible medical procedure out there? With limited tools and no magic? I don't know anything at all about your guys' anatomy, but even I can tell when the femoral artery's been cut and bucked up with."

Marcus snorted and smiled slightly. "Most, if not all of us have gotten very advanced medical training, especially when it comes to field wounds. And we don't use magic. We can't. Instead, we were equipped with advanced medical kits, made to handle wounds that a first-aid kit wouldn't be too effective on."

"But I'm not really the medic on the squad. That would be Thompson and Jackson. The tan and black-skinned ones. They have more medical training than all of us combined. We're lucky we got them around."

Longshot spoke up with a tone of impressivness in his voice. "Dang. Maybe you guys can teach us a thing or two.."

This time, Marcus smirked. "You have no idea. I just hope we'll have the time to teach you all the true ropes before it's too lat-"

"Guys!"

Marcus stopped himself as he and everybody else in the room turned towards the doorway, where Jackson was standing. "The surgeries were a success! Kevin's already woken up!"

The three humans looked at each other for a split second before they rapidly gathered their stuff and started to rushed out the door, along with all of the other ponies. Except for Pinkie, who was already halfway up the stairs as soon as she heard Kevin's name, leaving the others behind in a pink blur.

"Jesus Christ..." Mike muttered as they followed suit.

"That's Pinkie for ya, sugarcube.." Applejack said.

As they got up to the room, they saw that Pinkie was on Kevin's chest, blabbering at speeds they thought were never even possible, even for Pinkie, as tears flowed from her eyes like miniature waterfalls. Thompson was just standing there along with Fluttershy. When Marcus looked over at them, Thompson raised his hands.

"I couldn't stop her, I swear! It was like trying to catch a bullet with my teeth!" He exclaimed. Marcus just shrugged as he turned his attention to the hysterical pink pony and the bed-ridden soldier.

"Kevinohmygoshimsosorryishotherocketthingyijustwantedtosurpriseyouallwithasmalltasteofwhatiwasgonnadowhichwasawelcometoponyvillepartyandnowifeelallsadandhorribleforhurtingyouanddempseyohpleaseohpleasedonthateme!!" She cried, but Kevin just simply chuckled and weakly hugged her.

"Pinkie..."

"Y-yes? *Hic*" She whimpered.

"Who, in the nine circles of Hell, would ever hate somepony as unique and crazy as you?" He said with a smile. Pinkie looked up at Kevin, with a hopeful glint in her eyes.

"D-does that mean?..."

"Yes Pinkie, I forgive you."

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, Pinkie's hair came back to its poofy self and her coat came back much brighter than before as she let out a squee and hugged Kevin tighter.

"It... Hurts... Can't..." Kevin gasped out, trying in vain to release himself from Pinkie's deadly bear hug, which she did release almost immediately.

"Oh sorry!" She let go, "I forgot you're still a bit sore." She said with a sheepish smile as she got off the bed. Marcus then walked up to him.

"You're one tough gunner, y'know that? Getting impaled in the lung by an iron rod." Marcus said with a smile. "You holding up okay?"

"Yeah. Could be better though. Can you believe these ponies have morphine?" Kevin chuckled before looking down at his heavily bandaged chest. "Man, this sucks. The only thing that truly scares me is getting impaled. Makes me squeamish and shit..." He said with a visible shudder.

"Oh please..." A scratchy, weak voice spoke up from besides Marcus and Kevin. "You love being impaled by iron rods..."

"Dempsey!" The humans and mares shouted, going next to his bed as he wore a faint smile on his face.

"How're you holding up, man?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah, how are you holding up, asswipe?" Kevin taunted with a smile. Even in his tired state, Dempsey lifted his left hand and gave the gunner the bird, making him chuckle.

"I feel fine. Just sleepy is all. Guess the whole blood loss thing mixed with morphine took a helluva toll on my sorry ass.. Heh." Dempsey said weakly, yawning softly as he rubbed one eye.

"Don't worry, just rest easy." Marcus said as Dempsey nodded. Before he could turn around, Dempsey grabbed his wrist. He then motioned the Marine to come closer to his ear.

"When I wake up, we need to talk about something, okay?" He asked.

Marcus nodded. "You got it."

"So now what?" Thompson asked.

"I think it's about time we stop stalling and show Nimbius and the commander our weapons before they go. Looks like we don't have long, so let's get a move on." Marcus said before turning to Jackson and Twilight. "You two are coming with me so we can operate and fixate the weaponry and equipment. Thompson, I'm gonna need you for the electronic based stuff."

"The rest of you just stay here and make small talk. Alright?" The others nodded. "Then let's go give 'em a show!"

The four went out of the room and back downstairs to find Nimbius and Swordstrike to show them the weapons show of a lifetime.

Chapter 52: Weaponry and Spontanity: Part 2

While the others stayed inside the hospital room to catch up with Dempsey and Kevin, Marcus and the others went back downstairs to find Swordstrike and Nimbus, who were talking with each other.

"How long until we have to go back to Canterlot again?" Swordstrike asked, looking back at the clock on the wall behind them.

"Uh... About an hour and fifteen minutes. I'm sure that's enough time for them to do the demonstration they promised us." Nimbius reassured.

"But did you see the amount of materials and equipment they have down there? How does a Unicorn even teleport that much stuff?" He asked, "And why? I mean, if she'd did this shortly before the humans appeared, shouldn't she at least know how to turn on the things?"

Nimbius shook his head. "Nope. Rainbow Dash told me that Twilight just stored the stuff. Well, she wanted to 'quarantine' it until the scientists from the Canterlot laboratories came to check it out and see what they could do."

"I don't see that happening anytime soon.." Swordstrike muttered before looking in front of him, noticing the three Marines and Twilight herself.

"Sorry for the wait, gentlecolts," Marcus said "but the wait is now officially over. We can now finally show you guys the stuff we have in our arsenal."

"Don't worry about it. Besides, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait." Nimbius said with a small smile.

"Oh trust me, it will be." Jackson said as they proceeded to walk out of the hospital and back outside, where the small tents and cots were already being packed up by the outside hospital staff. Marcus was about to walk up to them and offer them their help, but decided against it as they continued on towards Ponyville.

As they did, they noticed that several of the houses and other areas that were formerly burnt and destroyed by the MAAWS rockets were now looking as if they were never harmed in the first place. With several Pegasi and Unicorn's flying and running around, they noticed Randy was walking around in the X-S1 Goliath, using both of the huge mechanical arms to lift up a small wall of bricks from a vending cart, while a mare with a carrot cutie mark stood by with a look of relief on her face.

"Okay, here you go ma'am. Want me to get one of the Unicorn guards to help you out with the repairs?" Randy asked with a robotic tone to his voice.

"Nah, I can get one of them myself. I just need to re-pick these carrots is all.." Carrot Top said with a sigh before looking back up at Randy with a small smile. "You can go and help the others now. Thanks, by the way!" She exclaimed as Randy walked away, who waved back in return.

"No proble- Oh, hey guys!" Randy called out towards the group. "What's the situation at the hospital?"
"It's all good. We were able to patch up everyone. Kevin and Dempsey are both fine and tensions between us and the guard are a bit less due to us helping out." Marcus said before taking a second look at the entire town. "Were you all really able to clean and repair the entire town that quick?.." He asked.

Randy nodded. "Yeah. Turns out that the construction crew in this town are used to this kind of stuff. They said stuff similar to this happens nearly every other day."

"Also, Kayla was able to patch up all of the injured before she left. Cost us a bit of medical materials, but it was definitely worth it. Where are you guys heading to?" Randy asked.

"We need to go and start up the weapons demonstration before these two have to head back to Canterlot. We only got so much time, so we're gonna be heading off now. Think you'll be fine here with these ponies?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. You guys should go right now before it gets dark." Randy said as he walked towards a pair of construction workers, while the group ran back towards Twilight's library.

As they stopped in front of Twilight's library, Twilight opened the door as they all rushed in. Marcus, Jackson, and Thompson all ran back downstairs to gather all of the materials that were going to be shown outside.

"So, what're we gonna show them?" Jackson asked as he stood in front of a SAT-COM box.

"Everything we can." Marcus said as he closed a box filled with several ballistic vests. "Or, what we can at least. Don't know how we're gonna transport this stuff, but I'm sure Twilight can take us to a remote location not too far away from here."

He then handed the box to Thompson, who started walking upstairs along with it. "You want me to ask her if she can teleport us somewhere with this stuff?"

Marcus shook his head. "Nah, we don't want to exhaust her of her magic any more than what we already had. Just ask her if she has a wagon or something to help us carry all this to where we need to go."

Thompson nodded as he proceeded upstairs once more. While Marcus and Jackson took off parts of their M-5 Sentry Guns, IMS, and the M224 Mortar, the heard Thompson talking to Twilight upstairs, before hearing the sound of hooves coming downstairs.

Jackson turned, noticing Commander Swordstrike on the steps, peeking his head out and staring at all of the weaponized hardware. "Woah... Is this... Is this all your stuff?"

Jackson nodded, carefully taking off the small Trinity Rockets off a small UAV drone. "Yeah. We won't show you everything, but we'll show you guys most of it."

Swordstrike was astonished. "How were... How were you guys able to carry all of this on your missions?" He asked.

Marcus chuckled. "We're strong, but we're not that strong. We didn't usually carry all of this stuff with us. We were able to find items like this around. Sure, we used most of these materials in the past, but most of it we just found and improvised with it."

"Yeah. Like the Sentry Guns?" Jackson exclaimed. "We usually found those in black boxes all folded up and ready to use. So, we did."

Swordstrike nodded in understanding and impressiveness. "That is.. Very impressive of you all."

Before the conversation could continue, Thompson rushed back downstairs behind Swordstrike. "Guys! Twilight said she has a big enough wagon to carry all of the stuff we need! Let's get a move on and pack what we're gonna get!" He said. The others nodded as they started to pack up their equipment and hardware, taking it upstairs and outside to the wagon.

After a couple of minutes, the wagon was filled with all of the carefully placed equipment that they were going to use. Before they got ready to go, Marcus asked Twilight where they were heading.

"So, do you know a good secluded place where we can test out these weapons for them?"

"Uh.. I think I might. Oh! On the outskirts of the Whitetail Woods. There's actually an area there used for the Royal Guards to test out new spells. It's just a bunch of trees with no teeming wildlife. Well, ever since Fluttershy herself cleared the area of animals." Twilight said.

"Yes. I remember when Shining nearly burnt down the entire woods from a new fire spell we developed." Swordstrike said with a mused expression on his face.

Twilight gasped. "What? Really?!"

Swordstrike chuckled and shook his head. "No, I'm kidding. Well, it did happen, but it wasn't Shining."

"Oh. Good." Twilight said with relief. "I.. guess."

"So how're we gonna get there before sundown?" Jackson asked.

"Teleportation, of course!"

Jackson gagged slightly, while Marcus raised an eyebrow in question. "Are you sure, Twilight? I mean, don't you think this'll tire you out even more than what happened back in the Canterlot Gardens?"

Twilight smiled and shook her head. "There's a difference. Certain types of spells, such as trans-dimensional, tend to really take the wind out of somepony, while something as simple as a teleportation spell, doesn't really do much. Sure, teleporting all of us and the equipment will be a bit tiring, it won't be as much as the trans-dimensional spell."

Marcus nodded. "Alright. I get it now." The group then got together near the wagon. "Whenever you're ready, Twi."

She nodded and took her place in front of the group and the wagon, before closing her eyes and focusing on the teleportation spell. They were all then engulfed in a purple blinding light that made them close their eyes, before suddenly feeling a bit lightheaded, along with a little 'pop' in their ears.

When they all opened their eyes, they noticed the change in location, being in a flat, grassland only a couple hundred feet away from a somewhat eerily quiet forest.

"Nice job, Twilight." Jackson said before he and Marcus turned to the wagon to pull out the first piece of weaponry to put on show.

"So, what will you be showing us first?" Nimbius asked.

"We'll start off with something simple." Jackson replied, holding an odd black ball with holes in his hands. He then placed it gently on the ground and pulled out a black rectangular PDA, before pressing the button on the screen and turning on the black ball, a small white-blue light blinking every so often inside.

"Woah... What is this thing?" Nimbius asked, flying right in front of it as a very faint orange pulse emitted from the black ball.

"This is a Nocturnal Infrared Tracking Electronics drone, or 'NITE Owl' for short. It's a passive tracking drone that detects anything that doesn't move and has four legs." Jackson then showed the three ponies the black PDA. "See the orange-red dots on the screen? They're signifying you all as a threat."

"But we moved though." Twilight said.

"Yeah, but you have four legs. This drone was specifically made to track down Cryptids. When it senses one, the pulses on both the PDA and the drone itself start to emit faster, warning us of a nearby threat."

"That is.. amazing." Swordstrike said in awe. "How much did it cost to build one of these?"

"In bits? I'm guessing over $200,000 each." Jackson said, continuing even though the eyes of the three ponies made it hard to do so. "Human military hardware isn't cheap, let alone state-of-the-art technology."

"What happens if it gets destroyed though?" Nimbius asked.

"If it does, then it'll emit an electromagnetic pulse that will not affect our equipment, but it will disorient whoever destroyed it, before exploding into useless pieces of scrap." Jackson said. "They were going to make the shrapnel explode so it could fly at all directions at supersonic speeds, but since the operators are going to be nearby.."

"Oh..." The three ponies said simultaneously.

"Yeah.. The developers and the testers didn't like it very much." Jackson said, looking up at the sky as if he was in deep though. "Anyways! Let's show you guys the next piece of equipment in our arsenal."

Shutting off the NITE Owl and gently putting it on the ground, he, Thompson, and Marcus then all pulled out four black boxes, which they then set on the ground.

"Alright, now time to switch to this.." Jackson muttered, scrolling through the PDA to activate the boxes, before pressing the screen, making the four black boxes self-open as it started to unfold itself in a circle, showing a satellite dish on each.

"Now, these are called SAT-COM's, short for 'satellite communication'. What it is basically is a portable, easy-to-carry communications box, which used the satellite dish here to make sure radio waves can reach a long distance." Thompson said.

"We also use them for offensive and defensive purposes." Marcus added.

"Really? How?" Twilight asked.

"See the dish here? Not only does it make it able to transmit radio waves, but with a push of a button, it can transform into a non-lethal heat array dish, a miniature version of the more larger Active Denial System. What it means is that it emits a kind of radiation that heats up the fat and water molecules in a organism's body, making it feel that they're being burned alive, causing whoever is on the receiving end to either retreat or be disoriented."

"It can burn targets up to 136 degrees. Though if whoever is on the receiving end moves out of the way, the burning sensation will immediately cease."

"Wait, how can it burn somepony if.. What?" Twilight asked, completely lost.

"Science." Thompson simply replied.

Before Twilight could retort, Marcus continued with the explanation. " So! Since we have four of them, we can chain them up together and create a huge invisible barrier that nothing can enter."

"Amazing.." Swordstrike said. "Can it do both comms and the area denial at the same time?"

Marcus nodded. "Yep. And unless you want to feel the effects of the heat wave first hoofed, we'll put them back and move on to the bigger stuff."

He nodded as they watched the Marines deactivate the SAT-COM's and place them back in the cart, before they then all got together to lift a square-like object with five circular containers and a radio pole in the middle.

As they placed it at a safe distance, Jackson used the PDA once more to activate the object, which turned on with a beeping noise and the radio pole blinking.

"Now this one is my personal favorite. That thing over there is called the Intelligence Munitions System, or I.M.S for short. The I.M.S is a defensive weapons tech. While most I.M.S' are armed with no more than four canisters, ours has been modified to hold five." Thompson said.

"What does it do exactly?" Swordstrike asked. "How does it live up to its defensive purposes?"

"Good question. The I.M.S has a built in motion sensor that can identify friendly and enemy targets. The ammunition it uses is inside the canisters the!selves, which is a metal rod filled with a specific type of flammable liquid material similar to napalm, but burns nearly as hot as lava. When it identifies an enemy or unknown hostile, one of the canisters will launch up into the air with beeping sounds, before launching the high-velocity rod at the target at hypersonic speeds, exploding and piercing through the target and the ground, causing a small, artificial 'lava pool'."

"Do you think you can show us?" Twilight asked.

"If you got a big enough target, then yeah." Jackson replied.

Twilight nodded as she looked around for formidable sized object to use. Looking at the treeline, she then spotted a good-sized rock, which she brought to her with her telekinesis.

"A rock? Really?" Jackson mused.

"What? You asked for a good size target. This is the only one around here, unless you want to use it against us?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Alright, alright! You made your point." Marcus said. " Just launch the rock beside the I.M.S and watch."

Twilight did as she was told and used her telekinesis to launch the rock towards the device.

"Here comes Tom!" She shouted with a giggle.

"Who?" Thompson asked.

Before Twilight could respond, the I.M.S emitted quick beeping noises as one of the canisters were automatically launched into the air, spinning for a split second before stopping and launching its high-velocity rod at the rock, seemingly vaporizing it as a huge smoke cloud formed, before quickly dissipating, leaving a deep puddle of burning, bubbly liquid. All in less than five seconds.

This left Twilight and the others stunned.

"And that was just one canister. On my PDA, I have the ability to launch all of them at once. Like a mini-volcano." Thompson said with a smile as he deactivated the I.M.S.

"You humans truly are the masters of war.." Swordstrike said, feeling intensly more intimidated by the humans.

"You don't even know a portion of it." Marcus said as he pulled out a riot shield from the cart and brought it in front of him.

"Okay, now this might not seem too special, but there's more to this than what meets the eye. This might seem like a basic riot shield, but this specific design has several features that makes it very special."

"Oh? Like?.." Nimbius asked.

"For one, it has a lightweight titanium frame, which makes it almost as light as a feather and extrodinarily maneuverable. The second feature is that it has a built in heartbeat sensor, capable of detecting the heartbeats of Cryptids specifically. But the third feature makes this a force to be reckoned with."

"Inside the triple plated ballistic shield are actually a swarm of tiny nanobots made from the latest and best nanotechnology can offer us. When an enemy or a Cryptic touches the shield, the trillions of nanobots will spit out a liquid chemical that will burn anything on contact. One nanobots with it is nothing, but when you got a trillion.."

"Basically, if you touch it, you'll burn to a crisp." Jackson said.

"Yep. So, don't touch it." Marcus added as he set the shield back.

"We'll keep that in mind.." Nimbius said, visibly shuddering a bit. The other two ponies nodded in agreement.

"So what's next?" Thompson asked Jackson.

"This bad boy right here." Jackson said with a huge grin, holding the Death Machine minigun and the ammo pack on his back.

Twilight's ears drooped as she now had a look of fear in her eyes. "Is.. Is that the thing where its barrels spin lik-"

Twilight was then cut off as Jackson pressed the button on the minigun, making the barrels spin at an unimaginable speed, causing a loud whirling sound as his face had a devilish smirk.

"That answer your question?" Jackson asked. Twilight responded by slowly stepping away from him cautiously and a bit frightened. "Alright. Now to tell you all about how this thing truly works. This here is a portable, lightweight XM214 hand-held, belt-fed minigun made by a company back on our world called 'General Dynamics'."

"And boy, do they live up to their name. This minigun was specially designed to be carried by one man. Even though it took decades to make the perfect design, they finally achieved it and made it easy to be held. Made with extremely lightweight and very durable metal, this thing can shoot up to 2,000 rounds per minute, but the ammo count on my huge backpack is very low, at only 450 rounds."

"Nicknamed the 'Death Incinerator, it holds 450 rounds of lightweight incendiary ammo, along with the minigun itself having been made specifically to reduce up to 80% of its recoil, making it almost as handible as an assault rifle."

"Usually, we'd worry about using this thing since we only got so much ammo for it when we got deployed.." Jackson said, before raising the Death Incinerator and aiming it to the treeline beyond them. "But since we're gonna get a huge surplus of ammo from you guys soon.."

Before any one of them could speak, Jackson pressed the trigger and with it, unleashed a volley of unrelenting force. The minigun created a monstrous sound, in which only a demonic roar could even come close in comparison. The volley of bullets hit home, the trees sparking alight while being cut down to size, all while hundreds of shell casing hit the ground, creating an ever-longing mountain of shells followed by clinks and shatters, before Jackson let go of the trigger, expending over half of its ammunition in less than four seconds.

"M-my Goddesses..." Nimbius said quietly. "That s-sounded like something straight out of Tartarus.."

"Maybe we-"

Swordstrike was cut off as her heard a pop-like sound, and an explosion so powerful one could literally feel the heat wave, making him yelp and run forward, turning around in a split-second with fear in his eyes.

"W-shat the buck was that?!" He shouted, looking frantically in all directions.

"Over here!" Marcus said, chuckling. When Swordstrike turned, hr saw that he was holding another equipment in his hands. "What you just heard was the awesome, raw power of an incendiary 40mm explosive round hitting the stump of trees."

Swordstrike turned to the tree line and sure enough, the stumps were either gone, or currently burning.

"Or what's left of them.." Marcus muttered before he continued. "This right here is the MK32 Milkor MGL. This bad boy has 12 40mm incendiary rounds in its cylindric chamber, along with a forward-tritrium blast shield, preventing shrapnel from hitting the user. This thing has been modified to cause more damage, carry more ammo, and is pretty lightweight, at only 9 1/4 pounds."

"You could've given me a warning..." Swordstrike muttered, while the others laughed at his expense.

"Alright, now to show you all a little demonstration on another aircraft we have here. I think you'll like this one especially, Nimbius.." Marcus said. He then turned to Thompson, who was now prepping the small drone along with Jackson, being extremely cautious about the Trinity rockets attached to it.

As they did, Marcus pulled out a set of goggle-like equipment and flipped it on with a switch. When they finished with the small drone, Thompson took the SOFLAM goggles and began explaining.

"Okay.. So! This here is the.. The XB-51 Volitare Ariel Assault Drone. This drone is one of a kind. Literally. Only one was ever made, and this is it. This special drone is made of heavily classified lightweight metal that cannot be found in nature, making it very, very lightweight and capable of being carried in a large pack, but the missiles must be transported, since there was not enough time to turn the heavy outer shell into a more safe and lightweight one."

"This drone can fly at an altitude of 3,000 feet and can old up to two Trinity rockets and two standard acidic rockets. The Trinity rocket is a missile that carries up to seven additional mini-missiles inside the canister. Once deployed, it will travel down towards the ground at a very slow rate. I can use the PDA here to launch the seven mini rockets first at different locations for maximum effectiveness."

"Or, I can use these," Thompson showed them the SOFLAM goggles. "and activate a button here to launch the laser-guided acidic rockets, which, upon impact, release a huge spurt of acid and gas, along with the flammable gasoline packet stored inside the explosive part of the missile. These are meant for long-range devastation and are the most effective weapons to use against huge hoards, Rhinos, and even Ancestors."

Thompson then used the PDA to activate the drone, as he used his fingers to turn it, making it face a flat patch of grassland for a very small take-off. The drone then slowly accelerated, before gaining speed and taking off, speeding towards the maximum altitude it could obtain.

Once it was in position, Thompson put the PDA aside and brought the SOFLAM to his eyes, looking over at a small patch of trees isolated from the main forest. The ponies watched as they heard a small beeping sound, along with a red digital circle above the treeline. They then looked up at the drone, who had now fired a missile.

The missile streaked towards its marked location, leaving a white dust trail behind it. It then impacted with such a force, that the ground shook somewhat intensely, like a miniature earthquake. Instead of there being a black cloud, it was a light-greenish color that erupted, mixed with grey and black as the acid now burned through and around the trees.

"Who needs chainsaws when you got acid rockets.." Jackson said with a chuckle as Thompson brought the drone back down to the ground.

"What's a chainsaw?" Twilight asked.

"I'll show you some other time, but it's something we use to cut down trees and such. More effective than an axe." Marcus said. Twilight just nodded as they kept staring at the still-charring remnants of what were trees, now being burned with gaping holes of acid quickly eating away at the contaminated bark.

"Now for my favorite.." Marcus said as he and Jackson both carried two pieces of a mortar, before placing them on the ground and fixating them for use. Meanwhile, Thompson was disassembling the drone and its rockets.

"S-so.. What's next?" Swordstrike stuttered.

"This." Jackson said, turning the tube part with a metallic clang and standing up with Marcus quickly following.

Marcus then walked over and got a single mortar shell, carefully holding it tightly in his hand. "This huge metal thing here is the M224 Mortar launcher. It weighs about 47 pounds and fires different types of mortar rounds. This one is modified so it can fire multiple mortars from this box." He then tapped the ammo box beside it, which was covered and connected to the mortar.

"It's also digitalized, so we can use out PDA's to launch mortars near our position. Since there's no GPA or satellites here, we can improvise and use our SAT-COM, since they can be used to transmit signals at huge distances."

"What does it fire?" Swordstrike asked.

"It can fire regular shells, or specific ones, such as incendiary or high-explosive. But the ones we were equipped with are very controversial and highly deadly, more so than the acid rocket." Marcus then held up the mortar shell. "These shells are called 'Willy Pete'. What they do is when launched, they explode, creating a white smokescreen and obscuring enemy view, which even the Cryptids can't counter."

"But that's not the worst part; far from it. This contains a highly deadly chemical called 'white phosporus'. When detonated from the sky, thousands of little smoke lines will then rain down. When they come in contact with skin, it will then literally burn through the skin all the way to the bone, or beyond it. The only way to stop it is to deprive the wound and the phosprous itself of oxygen, which would be painful in itself."

Ignoring the disgusted expressions on the pony's faces, Marcus handed Jackson the mortar round, in which he pu into the ammo box connected to it. He then used his PDA to adjust the aim and trajectory.

"You might wanna cover your ears.." Jackson said, looking over his shoulder at the three ponies. They did as they were told.

"Firing mortar!" Jackson shouted as he activated the digital aiming system, covering his ears.

The M224 fired off the mortar shell with an ear-deafening metallic pang, leaving a slight ringing in everyone's ears. As they opened their eyes, they saw the very faint trail the mortar left, before an explosion happened in the sky above, a huge white cloud forming as several streams rained down onto the ground below, the grass now being nothing but burning black shreds and small circular fires here and there.

While Thompson and Jackson set up the sentry guns, Twilight spoke."Who.. Why do people create these?" She muttered.

"Some people just want to watch the world burn.." Marcus replied. "And because sometimes, war is a necessary evil. To fight an even worse evil."

"I.. I just hope that these won't be used. N-near us, at least.."

"I hope for the same, Twi.." Marcus said, sighing. "I hope for the same..."

"Hey guys?" Thompson spoke up, walking away from the four sentry guns. "The sentry guns are onli-"

Thompson was cut off as a loud roar was heard in the treeline, making the ponies gasp and startling the humans into pulling out their weapons. They then quickly got into position. While not having their main weapons on them, they still had their backup weapons. Marcus aimed his M1911 .45 at the treeline, while Jackson crouched beside him and prepped to use his M1014, Thompson immediately going prone and aiming his M9.

"Get behind us." Marcus ordered quietly, yet sternly. The ponies happily obliged, but before they could move, they heard several beeping sounds and suddenly saw four separate, red lasers aimed at the main forest. Marcus quickly turned, his eyes now wide as dinner plates.

"Get down!!" He shouted. Not even a second as everyone hit the floor, the sentry guns unleashed a barrage of .50 cal bullets into the forest. As they stayed down, the ground shook beneath them as they then saw the gigantic figure of a Rhino Cryptid rushing at them, fully intent on murdering them all.

"Open fire! Open fire!" Marcus shouted as he fired off his M1911 at the Rhino's legs. Jackson followed with rapid shots from his M1014 and Thompson retreating to maintain the sentry guns and keep the ponies at a safe distance.

While most of the bullets bounced off of the Rhino's armor plating, several hit home, as one of Jackson's shells hit the middle of the skull, exposing the very soft flesh underneath, which gave way to the monstrous amount of .50 caliber rounds hitting home.

Unlike most Cryptids, especially Rhino's, this one didn't even let out a death shriek as it simply tripped on itself, fracturing bones as its lifeless body rolled on the ground to a stop, its belly exposed as the sentry guns kept firing, tearing its inner organs apart and piercing the shell until the sentry guns ceased fire.

As everyone breathed heavily, Jackson spoke up.

"What... The fuck was that shit?!" Jackson yelled, his arms wide and holding his M1014 in one hand. "Where did this-" He then kicked the corpse of the Rhino, making it bluge out even more internal fluids. "-Piece of shit come from?! The woods? Are you kiddi-"

They then heard more screeches in the distance.

Everybody then looked at Marcus, who had a look of immense worry on his face, which surprised both Jackson and Thompson. "Twilight... Get us the fuck out of here."

Jackson then got in front of his face. "What?! And let these fuckers roam? Are you-"

"We are not fully-equipped to fight a fucking horde, Corporal!" Marcus roared as he walked towards Jackson, making him back off. "Do you want to go in there and fight with just this shit! We are going to be heavily unarmed and outnumbered!"

"Well we've done it before! Why not do it again?!" Jackson retorted.

"And risk these ponies the only chance the have of surviving this?! Which would be us?!" Marcus shouted back.

He then turned to Twilight. "Get us back to Ponyville. We need to regroup and rearm before we come back."

Twilight nodded furiously as she helped the others pack up their things, while Swordstrike and Nimbius just stared at the mutilated Rhino corpse in awe and pure horror that would haunt them for the rest of their days.

Back in Ponyville...

As ponies kept cleaning and fixating the buildings, four ponies wearing shady head gear and bulky saddlebags walked into the local depository inside Town Hall. They walked by the rushing ponies, pushing some out of the way as the entire are was in a rush to get daily work and taxes done, along with balancing how much it would cost for repairs to Ponyville and the Town Hall itself.

One of the ponies then walked up to the clergy, who was quickly shuffling papers around, her mane frizzled and a bit out of color from all the stress going on lately.

Regardless, she still found inner energy to deal with the four waiting customers, and she would do her job nonetheless. With a slight sigh, she turned to the four stallions.

"Hello there, gentlecolts. Sorry for the wait." She apologized with a smile. "How may I help you?"

"I.. Uh, we are here to make a withdrawl.." One of the stallions with a brown coat said.

"Okay then, how much?" She asked, reaching for a pen and paper

"All that you've fuckers got.."

Before she could even look back at them, a knife got lunged into her windpipe and out the back of her throat, while another one of the stallions slammed his hooves onto her head fracturing her skull and sending a fragment into her soft brain tissue, killing her instantly.

Chapter 53: The Cryptids Are Coming...

Near The Middle Of Town..

"Now how the fuck do I get out of this thing.." Randy thought to himself as he looked at the control panels for the Goliath, trying to figure out how to get out without actually destroying the entire suit or shooting another rocket.

He then pressed a green button near the main panel.

"Trophy Systems, Online."

"Son of a bitch.." Randy said outloud in frustration, before deactivating it and sighing. "Should've just let the fire-ponies do all the work instead."

As he was about to press another button, he felt something clang onto the side of the Goliath suit. When he turned, he saw the grey, cross-eyes Pegasus from earlier, only this time she seemed to have a very panicked look on her face, and a hint of tears.

"Mister Human!!" She shouted desperately. "You need to come to Town Hall and help us! T-There's a.. I.. They killed.." She continued to babble on until she was sobbing hysterically.

Randy quickly spoke in an attempt to calm down the mare. "Okay, okay! Calm down!" Randy said, putting the robotic arms in front of him and easing them down as a sign to calm her. "Gather yourself and tell me what exactly happened.. I heard you say 'They killed'. Tell me what happened."

The cross-eyes Pegasus sniffled and quickly nodded. "O-okay. There's a problem a-at Town Hall. Four s-stallions wearing masks went in and they... They killed.. They killed somepony and are trying to rob the entire place b-blind!!" She screamed, openly weeping now.

"The Royal Guards have the area surrounded, but t-they have hostages inside and they threatened to kill them if t-they don't have their way!" She wailed.

"Thank God I deactivated the Trophy System..." Randy thought quickly.

Randy nodded quickly. "Alright then. Listen, I need you to lead me to the direction of the Town Hall. Maybe I can reason with them. In the meantime, I'll contact my friends and see if they can help along, okay?"

The Pegasus quickly nodded as she flew towards the direction, with Randy following behind, the Goliath suit making metallic spring sounds as the whole suit moves at a moderate pace, while Randy used the built-in comms on his helmet to contact Marcus and the others.

Near The Library

Marcus, Thompson, Jackson, Nimbius, Swordstrike, and Twilight then suddenly appeared, all of them breathing heavily and trying to get a hold of their minds from the sudden teleportation.

"You all.. ugh.." Marcus resisted the urge to vomit. "You all okay?.."

"Just peachy.." Muttered Jackson, spitting on the ground and wiping his face.

"I'm good." Thompson said, shaking his head slightly.

"Yeah. We're used to it." Nimbius and Swordstrike said simultaneously.

"I'm sorry about that guys.." Twilight apologized. "It was the only way to get out out of there quick."

Marcus shook his head. "No need to apologize, Twi." He then looked over him and saw that the cart filled with their gear was also teleported. He silently whispered a 'thank God' before moving towards it.

Then, Thompson spoke up. "Hey, I'm getting a garbled message from my comms!" He said.

"Who is it?" Jackson asked.

Thompson then put two fingers to the side of his helmet, before looking up at the two Marines. "It's Randy!"

"Patch him through." Marcus ordered. Thompson nodded as he then broadcasted the radio signal to the other two, making sure they could also hear what Randy had to say.

"Randy?.. Can you repeat what you said?" Thompson asked.

"There's a bad situation at Town Hall! We got three- no, four robbers inside there! Four stallions, one of them is a Unicorn. They tried rob the depository inside, but the Guards have the area on lockdown. They said if the Guards or me don't move out of the way, they'll start executing the hostages inside!" Randy informed.

"They also said that if any other humans get involved, they'll kill immediately, but Kayla is already positioned near one of the rooftops in a house. She's using the Barrett to keep an eye on them and Mike is spotting for her. You guys need to come over here quick and see if you can sort out this situation!"

Marcus quickly responded. "Don't worry, we'll be right there in a couple minutes!" He then turned to the others. "I got an idea. Grab the riot shields." He then handed out an M-48 Flashbang to each of them.

"What about us?" Swordstrike asked.

Jackson thought for a second before looking at Twilight. "I need you to give Nimbius and Swordstrike the schematics for the weapons and ammunition. They're at the bottom of the basement." He then looked at Swordstrike. "Make sure these things get produced and made as soon as you can. Before the end of this week."

"And Twilight. Tell Celestia about what happened at Whitetail Woods." Marcus said. "We want all of this information to be spread out among the guards as fast and as soon as possible, but make sure she keeps it a secret to the public until otherwise, okay?"

Twilight nodded as she and the other two ran to the library, using her magic to pull the cart as Marcus and the others went back into town with riot shields behind their backs.

Inside the bank...

"Shut the fuck up!" A brown Unicorn stallion shouted, throwing a mare onto the floor after tying her hooves together, holding a bronze broadsword as he glared at the other ponies on the floor, who gave him looks of fear and anger in return.

Scoffing in disgust, he turned and shouted. "Are you dim-witted fucks almost done there?!"

With a grunt of annoyance, a stallion with a short black mane shouted back. "Give us a second to load, will you?!" He shouted back.

"Move it then, you lazy pig!!"

The stallion sighed through his mask as he used the sharp end of a hammer to bust open a safe's lock pad, revealing the hefty amounts of bits inside. With a glimmer of joy, he then quickly got the money and started to push and put them inside a black duffel bag, going as fast as he could.

Then, the other two stallions quickly appeared into his view. When he took a glance, he saw that they were dragging the beaten body figure of a Pegasus Royal Guard, who had be severely beaten and had most of his armor either broken into pieces around his body, or was not there to begin with.

His curiosity taking over, he continued to watch as they dragged the moaning pony towards the stallion with the brown coat. They then threw the guard onto the floor with force, his body going limp, but still breathing slightly as he gave a weak, pitiful grunt.

The stallion looked down at the broken and beaten guard, turning the guard around as he whimpered in pain, until he was now lying on his back and looking up at the brown stallion.

"How the fuck did he get here." He asked simply, looking down at the guard with a malicious look and slowly dragging the broadsword over his severely bruised chest, making the guard shiver in pure fear.

"The stupid colt here decided to try and be a hero." One of the stallions simply replied. "We found him with a short spear near the back entrance. So we decided to teach this idiot a lesson."

The brown stallion rolled his eyes and sighed. "For you, it might have been a lesson." He then applied pressure onto his chest, the tip of the sword barely piercing the guard's skin, making the small mark ooze a bit of crimson red. "But we're here to send a message."

The other stallion looked at him with confusion. "A message? I thought we were here to just steal some bits!" He questioned.

The brown stallion gave a heavy glare, exhaling through his nose in annoyance. "Not just that.. Remember what she told me?.." He said with a harsh, quiet tone. "Remember what she told me to tell you? To tell you that we have to do this to send a message..."

"What?!" The stallion said in utter confusion. "What the fuck are you talking about?.."

The brown stallion simply ignored him as he used his magic to levitate the guard, making him yelp quietly at the several jolts of pain. He knew that the guard was weaker than he though, but he didn't care. He then turned the guard around and pulled out a short, steel blade, holding the knife along the guard's throat as he walked forward, the guard slowly moving with him as they both moved towards the entrance.

As they did, he felt something inside him change slightly before slowing down. He started to wonder how it would feel to kill a pony. How it would feel to kill a Royal Guard. The very ponies whose very purpose was to protect the ponies such as himself from anything and everything that harmed them. He wondered if the guard has a family back home.. Or even a marefriend.

He wondered how he would feel after he killed him..

But, he knew he had his orders, and those always came first. Thought he could not remember when they actually did before this incident, he knew it.. He just knew it..

Right?..

As they both were now in front of the doors, he spotted several guards and ponies in the distance, about twenty yards away. Standing behind a line of metal barriers were several other Royal Guards. And by 'several', he could have sworn it was the size of an entire company of them. And they all had the same looks.

The looks of pure rage.

And he loved it.

But what he didn't love, was that there was those dreaded.. aliens that were also in the crowd. Only one. But this one had a huge, bona-fide suit of metal armor of which the likes he had never seen before. And it was staring right at him. And he could have sworn he saw a look of zero emotions.

But he stared back regardless. And he loved it even more.

With a grim smile, he shouted with all of his might.

"So, you're little buddy here decided to be a hero and stop us!!" He explained tauntingly.

"Kinda brave of him.. Not gonna lie. Stupid! But brave nonetheless. But..." He lowered his tone slightly.

"We all know what happens to heroes.."

The stallion then sighed softly, while the guard let out a whimper of helplessness, before he put a hoof over his mouth, giving out a gentle 'Shhh~' as the broadsword slowly impaled the guard from the back, the tip slowly puncturing through until it exited through his left lung and out his chest.

Near the town hall...

As the three Marines worked their way to the city hall, their built-in radios on their helmets crackled to life, followed by a female voice speaking up while they slowed down their pace slightly.

"Shit! Guys, one of the stallions is waking towards the doors.." Kayla informed before continuing. "... And it looks like.. Yeah, he has a Royal Guard with him as a hostage!"

"... Should I take the shot?" She added.

They then came to a sudden halt as Marcus an the others thought about the possible scenarios that could happen. After a couple of moments, Marcus responded.

"How many hostages are inside?" He asked.

"Around seven or eight from what I can see here..." Kayla said. "There could be more in the back. There's also exactly three other stallions inside working for the brown one holding the guard."

"Then we can't risk it." Marcus said simply before adding onto it. "If we take out the main guy, then we save the guard, sure, but the others inside might just kill the other seven or eight hostages."

"You take the shot and we risk losing more lives than saving." Marcus said sternly. "The lesser of two evils, gentlemen."

The radios stayed quiet for a bit before Kayla spoke. "Solid copy, Marcus. Solid copy."

Marcus turned to face Jackson and Thompson, who both nodded in return before they continued their way to the town hall, running at an even faster pace as they started to take the riot shields from their backs and fixated them, until they heard a muffled scream in their radio.

"Damn it.." Kayla muttered as the scream went silent. "They just killed the guard."

"We're moving up behind the town hall." Marcus replied simply. "We're going to be sneaking from the back. Make sure you keep eyes on the front entrance. We're gonna need your sniper fire soon.."

"Roger."

They then came up behind the town hall building. Although smaller than it seemed, this one was barely remodified as a small medical shelter during the rocket incident, and as a temporary small bank in case. The three Marines then activated their riot shields, also activating the swarm of nanobots inside the triple plated ballistics shield.

"Jackson, take point." Marcus said.

"Hoorah." He replied, not pulling out his riot shield as he held up his M1014, slowly half walking, half crouching his way to the back entrance as he kept aiming down the ghost ring sights of the shotgun. The entrance, which was a metal door above some steps, had the handle being almost completely broken off.

Jackson then placed his body against the wall, before nodding at the other two to follow. The two Marines then followed suit, Thompson holding his riot shield while Marcus held his M1911.

"How're we doing this, boss?" Jackson asked quietly.

"Thompson'll lead the way with the shield. And since you have the shotgun, you'll follow his lead, while I'll watch our six and we'll go in and take them out." Marcus planned simply.

"So, lethal force is authorized?" Jackson asked.

"Yes." He said in return, shaking his head a bit before speaking into the built in radio in his helmet."Heard that, Kayla?"

"Loud and clear, sir." She responded back quietly and calmly.

Marcus then looked at Jackson and Thompson, who both nodded firmly. "So it's kinda like a very small version of a Roman turtle shield maneuver?" Thompson asked.

"Not quite, but close enough." Marcus responded back as he nodded to Thompson.

Thompson then brought the riot shield in front of him as Jackson held his M1014 in one hand, while slowly opening the door with another. They then both slowly walked in, Marcus guarding their behind. When they got a couple of feet inside, they saw a mare with a tan coat and a slightly darker tanned mane. Both her fore and hind legs were bound and she was gagged.

When they looked upon her, the mare's eyes widened, her pupils dilated as she let out a whimper of helplessness. Marcus simply let out a quiet 'shhh' to ease her. He succeeded in doing so, but only to a very certain degree, the mare now looking at the Marines with slight curiosity.

They ignored her and continued slowly moving forward, trying to ignore the quiet weeping and sobs of the other bound and gagged civilian ponies. They then heard the nearly deafening shout of a certain stallion that almost made the Marines jump.

Stallion('s) P.O.V's...

"Quit your fucking crying, you pathetic sacks of shit, or else you'll all be next!"

The stallion with the short black mane jumped at the sudden yell from their group leader. He simply sighed as he zipped the duffel bag and tried to haul it over his back.

"Are you almost done in there, damn it?" Another stallion, a Pegasus with a orange coat and slightly tan mane asked annoyingly.

"I am now." He replied with a heavy grunt as he put the bag over his back. "Would've been a helluva lot easier and faster if your lazy flank helped me a bit, you fucking dip..."

"Hey, I was ordered on crowd control, not to store bits. I'm not the leader here, otherwise I'd not only help, but I'd also give us all a fair cut." He said with a small grunt as he saw his partner in crime walk towards the lobby room, not responding back.

The Pegasus simply sighed and shook his head, about to head to the lobby room also, until he heard an unexpected 'shhh' from behind him.

Quickly turning around, he used his left wing to grip his iron shortsword, looking around at the small rooms for any sign of anypony. As stupid as it may have been for him to do, he spoke out. "Hey! Anypony there?..."

He then quickly remembered that they had tied up a couple of civilians back there, and with an annoyed grunt, quickly trotted his way towards the corner. "I swear if one of you fuckers escaped, I'm gonna personally gouge out one of your eye-"

As soon as he turned the corner, the Pegasus froze from a mixture of shock, confusion, and terror; His eyes now laid upon three bipedal figures, one of which was seemingly crouched, while the other two were standing.

Before he could even blink, one of the bipedal creatures lunged at him at speeds of which the likes he couldn't comprehend, at least at the time. He felt a sudden urge to scream in terror, scream for help, scream for anypony, but he couldn't as he felt a cold, sinking feeling in his throat.

When he tried to yell, all that came out was a pathetic gurgle. Confused and still in shock, he looked down at himself, only to see a sharp, black-tinted blade halfway into his throat, penetrating his windpipe and several vital blood vessels.

As the realization came in that he had been stabbed, he let out another gurgle, this time sounding like it was mixed with a choke as his mouth begin to fill up with an odd, copper-tasting liquid that also begin to go onto his lungs, before he started coughing, trying to get rid of his own life blood in vain to exchange it for some air.

A sudden, stubby appendage covered his mouth as he let the blood spurt and pour out of his mouth. He still had a look of horror and confusion, which would be forever stuck on his face as he stared at the odd, bipedal creature while his life slowly faded away, all while he gently crumpled to the floor, lifeless.

Marine's P.O.V...

Jackson slowly eased the deceased pony down onto the floor, putting his hand off of his mouth and wiped some of the blood off his combat gloves, before slowly easing the knife out of the throat and using his thumb and index finger to wipe the blood from the blade, putting it back into the knife holder on his side.

"That's one down.." Jackson said quietly, bringing his M1014 back into his hands, trying his best to ignore the horrified, shocked looks of the two ponies around them.

Marcus looked at him for a second before nodding and radioing Kayla. "One E-KIA..."

"Copy." Kayla responded simply.

They then continued to slowly advance, Jackson and the others more alert than ever before. Once they got to the corner, Jackson gently peeked to the side, seeing the brown-coat Unicorn and two other stallions, who were checking a duffel bag filled with bits, while the Unicorn taunted and threatened the civilians, before walking away and to the doorway with a very taunting grin.

"Alright.." Jackson whispered, pulling his head back and looking at Thompson and Marcus. "Tell Kayla we're ready. We got confirmed targets."

Marcus nodded as he used his radio once more. "Confirmed targets; Three. Do you got eyes on the Unicorn with a brown coat?..."

After a second, Kayla replied. "Solid copy. My crosshairs are right on his skull.. Just say when."

Marcus then looked over at Thompson and Jackson. "Alright.. On three."

They nodded.

"One..."

Thompson readied his riot shield, making sure to activate the flaming nano-bots inside.

"Two..."

Jackson held his M1014 with an iron grip, breathing in.

Marcus kept his hand steady on his M1911, breathing out through his nostrils, giving a silent prayer in Spanish in his mind before speaking.

"Three!"

Thompson was the first one out, immediately rushing out and going for the closest hostile. Before the pony could even react, he was instantly launched back to the wall. The specialized shield did what it was intended to do; as soon as the shield made contact, a sudden wave of orange pulsed all through the front of the shield, showing that the trillions of nanobots have released their flaming substance onto the intended target.

As soon as the pony hit the wall, it was engulfed in a self inferno of controlled flames, burning only him as he screamed in pain and sudden shock, trying in vain to stop the flames as he rolled around the floor.

While this happened, Marcus quickly rushed at the other pony, delivering a very heavy uppercut. Hearing a somewhat satisfying crack, the other pony was spunned around due to the sheer force of the punch, collapsing instantly onto the floor as Marcus put him in a choke-hold.

Jackson, however, went for the leader of the group, who was completely shocked at the swift series of events. With ease, Jackson quickly rose his M1014, aiming right at the Unicorn as he pulled the trigger once.

The heavy amount of pellets quickly connected to the Unicorn's hind leg, tearing at the bone and flesh like a hot knife through butter, simply tearing off the limb and forming a bloody, torn stump as the Unicorn stumbled down, his mouth agape while his mind was contorted on whether it should stay shocked, or react to the pain and yell in utter agony.

Before any of that could happen, a loud snap was head, along with a flesh-tearing sound and a pang. Jackson watched as a .50 BMG round sliced through the Unicorn's cranium, making the Unicorn launch forward and faceplant into the floor below, showing the terrible exit wound on what remained of the back of his skull, showing the terrifying, yet awesome power of a .50 BMG round.

"We have the inside on lockdown; all threats are down!" Marcus informed both Kayla and Randy through the radio.

Jackson the walked forward, looking at the corpse of the Unicorn, examining the exit wound, sighing outside a bit. "Nice shot, Kayla... Damn."

"Copy.. And it's been a while, hasn't it?" She bragged a bit.

Jackson didn't respond, instead, still looking into the skull before turning and running to the door, pushing the open quickly as he shouted. "Area's on lockdown, all civilians are safe! We need some Guards over here! Guards only!"

Quickly, five Royal Guards rushed to him, two of them immediately rushed and dragged their fallen comrade back to them, while other ponies quietly sobbed and looked away in disgust, while some just stared.

The other three guards quickly rushed inside, going to untie and help the civilians. When Jackson turned back around, he saw that Thompson was tying up the scorched pony with flexicuffs while it groaned in pain, while Marcus lifted the other pony, ignoring his possible broken jaw as he grunted in frustration.

"Get up, you stupid shit.." He muttered, before he ordered Thompson to help him out. Thompson then left the scorched pony to the Guards, rushing to Marcus as they both then dragged the pony to the side and leaned him against the wall, while Marcus went over to Jackson.

He looked over Jackson's shoulder, looking at the corpse while raising both of his eyebrows. "Nice shot, Jackson.. You too, Kayla." He said.

"He didn't stand a chance." Jackson said simply. They then both jogged over to the corpse, ignoring the shocked and scared looks from the ponies inside. Before they could lift the corpse and drag it away from prying eyes, Marcus saw something inside the skull wound.

"What the fuck..?" He muttered, crouching over the corpse and looking into the head wound. "Jackson, didn't you see this?.."

"See what?"

Marcus then, somewhat hesitantly, put his hand into the wound and pulled out a small, bloody, glowing blue, pill-shaped object. "This what I think it is?"

Jackson crouched beside him and looked at the small object, which was pulsating brighter every now and then. "It.. It looks like a miniature Cortex." He said curiously, holding it in his hand while Marcus handed it to him. "I never knew they could be this small...."

"Neither did I." Marcus said, looking at the entire body of the Unicorn in confusion. "But what would the brain of an Ancestor be doing inside a pony? Unless this isn't a real pony at all.."

"Maybe it got transplanted into him, driving him wild with visions.." Jackson theorized.

Marcus sighed and cursed under his breath. "This shit's getting out of hand.. I haven't even been contacted by Samantha at all yet."

"She'd know what's up.. But basically, the Ancestors are using.. Unconventional physical and mental methods to get one step closer to their goal.." Marcus muttered. "By implanting this shit into these poor fucks.."

Marcus growled and stood up swiftly, looking towards Thompson. "Contact Twilight; tell her we're on the way, and to get ready to send Celestia and the Guards a message!"

Before Thompson could respond, their built-in radios on their helmets beeped and over came Twilight's voice herself. "Uh.. I don't mean to interrupt here, but.. Dempsey here has something important to tell you all. And it's very urgent you all come here. Now, he's saying.."

"Good timing then.. We have something for you all too. Get ready to send Celestia a new scroll..." Marcus warned. He then looked over his shoulder, looking at Jackson and Thompson. Thompson gave the signal that he'll stay with the Guards and help along with Randy, while Jackson waited for Marcus.

"... Some shit's about to go down."

Recommendations and Your Thoughts!

Author's Note

Ignore this if you are new. A decision has been made already.

Recommendations and Your Thoughts!

Hey guys! Sorry, no new chapter today because I've been thinking about something..

..would you guys be okay with me adding more humans into this story?

I really need to know what your guys' thoughts are on that. Since I don't want to confuse or piss anyone off by just randomly adding humans out of the blue. I have plans for adding a couple more humans, and maybe some vehicles, but like I said, you guys choose!

Please comment if you would like this or not. Whichever gets the most votes (A couple more humans or no humans). The reason why is because I don't think it'll be logical that four humans can take on an entire Cryptid colony by themselves.

(I could have made a blog outta this, but I needed to get your guys' attention the best way I knew how. So sorry about the trickery or bringing your hopes up on a new chapter. I just don't think that a blog would get much attention. Also, the next chapter will be out tomorrow or later tonight. Depending on how many of you guys vote. Thank you for your support, and for reading this! It means so much to me. And I will end this now before I get to cheesy...)

Update: A Bit Of News... (And Vodka!)

Author's Note

Ignore this. Nothing of value her anymore!

Update: A Bit Of News... (And Vodka!)

Yeah.. this ain't a new chapter. But wait! I got some important shit to say... er- type.

Whatever.

So, I was working on the next chapter for this story when suddenly I realized something..

I have two other stories needing an update.

In other words, I will be putting this story on hiatus for 2-3 weeks at most. I need to work on the others, and I just have overall guilt for not doing so.

Also during the wait, I will still be working on the chapter. I will say it will be the longest chapter to date (To the joy of some, or to the hate of others) and I will be updating a bit more oftenly.

Sorry if I, once more, brought your hopes up into reading another chapter. I did a blog post, but they honestly don't get much attention. I will be back on this very soon...

Happy Fu**ing Holidays! (I now have 136 Likes and 140 Flavorites... I love you all.)

OH! I almost forgot! Nikolai is back and will bring Vodka to you!

Someday...

Prologue

Author's Note

Hey there! Yeah, I know, (Omg...an HiE?!) yeah, yeah. I was told what to expect. And the fact that it's a CoD crossover probably makes you wanna run for the hills.
However I really hope this is a good enough start. This IS my first story anyway. But regardless..

I would highly appreciate constructive criticism and reasons why you liked it or vise-versa. Thanks for taking your time to read this protologue! Abiet short, I'll give a bit of a backstory for our heroes in the next chapter.

(Edit, December 4, 2016: I will be going over every chapter and change them a bit, or completely change them in order for the story to be read better and be more realistic. Please note that this was my first ever story, but I have improved since then. I hope you all approve of the changes if you notice them, and I hope you stick around and enjoy what I have in store.)

Protologue

February 24th, 2026, 8:43 AM

3 months after the Ark Event

Exodus Launch Facility, Near San Diego, California

United States of America

Godfather's R.R.F (Rapid Reaction Force), CIF Team 1, has be sent to the launch facility to help the final group of hand-picked soldiers, scientists, and others to help escape Earth. Including Dr. Samantha Cross, and board a space shuttle to be taken to the remains of the International Space Station.

Heavy gunfire echoes all around the once-active launch facility. Formerly used to build segments of the I.S.S and the S.S "Odin", the military aggressively remade this facility to help build the new space station that would soon be home to several of the world's top soldiers, scientists, and paleobiologists.

And a new weapon that would give the cryptids a taste of their own medicine. The weapon, code-named "MEDUSA" uses the brain of an Ancestor, named the Cortex. It stores bio-electric energy "like a psychic battery", and detonates like a neutron bomb. Frying any cryptid...or human in a 3-mile radius.

The facility was over-run by cryptids not long after the Ark was found in a cavern inside a volcano near New Zealand. It wiped out most of the guards and scientists awaiting to board the shuttle, and out of the four shuttles that were preparing to take off, only one was spared from destruction. But CIF 1 was able to hold off long enough to charge the generators all over the area and turn on the MEDUSA device. After putting the Cortex into the MEDUSA, they were told they could not board the shuttle, since they were the only ones capable of holding off the cryptids long enough to activate the device and buy some precious time for the shuttle to take off. Although Samantha Cross thanked the team for their efforts that would inevitably save humanity.

Time was not on their side. They defended against a massive assault of Cryptids and Ancestor warlords alike, and were now finishing off the remaining few, while coming to terms that they would not survive either way.

But that from their sacrifice, humanity could live on.

Bullets ripped though a Scorpion Cryptid, tearing at its soft, glowing spots on its back leaving it a heaping pulp of flesh and a puddle of acid. More rounds were shot and mowed down a Scout Cryptid, stopping it in its tracks. Yells from the team leader could barley be heard over the loud sound of gun-fire.

"Keep laying down fire, Jackson!" Yelled Sergeant Marcus H. Ramirez as he shot off his Remington R-5 at the final Ancestor who breached the East Gate.

"I'm dry! Where's Kayla and Thompson?!" Screamed Corporal Jackson L. Torres while patting his person to find a spare magazine.

"They went to find more ammo! I coul-" Marcus was cut off as a Hunter Cryptid pounced on him, pinning him to the ground.

"Marcus!" Jackson shouted as he slung out his P226 to shoot the Hunter away, but a Gargoyle flying above him shot it out of his hands, with a couple more spikes hitting his right arm.

"Agh! I'm hit, I'm hit!"

Marcus was too busy to see Jackson fall to the ground, clutching his arm, since he was trying to push the Cryptid off of him. The nearly 300 pound Hunter easily pinned him to the ground, and was about to slit his throat open when he heard a loud *crack* and turned to see the Cryptid, lying on his body, with a gaping hole on the left side of its head.

"You missed me, Sarge?"

Marcus looked up and to his right to see Specialist Kayla P. West standing over him with a M9 pistol in her left hand, offering him her right hand.

He grabbed her hand and Kayla pulled him up. He looked at her with a sly grin.

"About fucking time, I though- wait, where's Thompson?" He looked over to see Private James L. Thompson kneeled next to Jackson, catering to his wound.

"Right ther- Thompson! Get down!" Kayla screamed as Thompson did what she said, covering Jackson with his own body.

Kayla quickly raised her MR-28 and aimed at the Gargoyle above him and shot several times, hitting the Gargoyle in its chest and wings, taking it out of the skies as it pummeled toward the ground.

"You're good, Thompson, get back to what you were doing! I got us a crate of spare incendiary rounds. Enjoy." She started toward the staircase next to the East gate, but Marcus called out to her.

"Yes, Sarge?" She asked.

"I need you to give Thompson and Jackson here some cover. I'll focus my fire on the Ancestor."

"Understood, Sarge." She ran up the stairs and took her position. Activating the Tesla Anti-Air as she did so, getting rid of incoming Bomber cryptids in the process.

"Alright, let's-"

Marcus turned only to see a black hole-like projectile barreling towards him. He rolled out of the way as it slammed into a wall behind him, disappearing and imploding, but destroying Jackson's I.M.S.

"You motherfucker..." He stated as he raised his Remington R-5 and fired in short, but effective bursts at the Ancestor's head and chest. Although Godfather stated that small arms fire did little to the Ancestor, it proved quite effective if the right ammunition was used.

In this case, he was using incendiary rounds

The round proved its worth, making the Ancestor roar in pure agony as more and more rounds hit its head, and flames engulfed its entire had. But the weapon's magazine could only hold so many rounds, as it wasn't long before he had to top off.

"I'm out!" He stated. He proceeded to look up and saw another black hole charge at him.

"Holy shi-"

Another loud explosion was heard. This time a huge blue ball of pure electric energy charged at the black hole. Colliding and effectively making it disappear as a large electric shockwave shook the ground.

Marcus turned to see Jackson lowering his NX-1 Disruptor, grinning at him.

Marcus mentally facepalmed. He had forgot all about the NX-1 Disruptor. Another one of Archer's prototype weapons he created before he died back in Ball's Pyramid.

Jackson then slid another NX-1 towards Marcus, hitting his knees.

"I'm guessing you forgot, huh?" He chimed in as Marcus picked the weapon up from the ground.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me. And in a hell of a way, too." He replied. He turned and looked at the Ancestor, kneeling on one knee and weakened.

"Just like old times." He said as he charged the NX-1 Disruptor.

The Ancestor looked up at him with a menacing scowl. Only to be met with a huge ball of electric energy.

The ball connected. sending another shockwave in the ground. The Ancestor roared another shriek of pain as it levitated into the air and exploded in a ball of energy and matter.

"YEAH! TAKE THAT YOU FUCKING FREAK!" Marcus said as he rose his NX-1 in victory. Everyone else cheered, having just killed the final Ancestor that had led the assault.

"Nice job, Sarge." Kayla said as she took another shot. Killing the final cryptid in the area in one shot. She looked down at Jackson and Thompson, smiling, before Godfather, their commander, spoke up over the radio.

"CIF 1, this is Godfather! Energy levels for the Cortex are maxed out. We are now lifting off!"

The four soldiers looked over at the massive space shuttle beyond a huge gate, as its engines started and the stabilizers unhooked from the shuttle, steam rising from below.

Jackson looked up at her, then at Thompson.

"...let's finish this."

Thompson looked at them both, visibly shaking, but still had a look of determination on his face.

"Let's do it..."

Marcus looked at his squad. Reminiscing his memories with them all before the outbreak. He mentally shook his head and spoke, with vigor and determination in his voice.

"It's been an honor serving with you all.

They looked back at him and nodded, then at each other. The four then hugged each other, trying their hardest to not shed a single tear.

After a minute, they let go of each other. The rocket was now blaring as it started to slowly rise upwards, smoke and water vapor covered the entire area surrounding the shuttle

"Detonate the Cortex! Now!"

Marcus and his squad walked towards the MEDUSA. It glowed a static blue all over the thing, signifying that it was fully charged. He gripped the handle of the Cortex. Then Jackson, followed by Kayla and Thompson. They all looked at each other.

"It's been a helluva ride...I'm honored to be working with you guys..and dying by your side." He smiled, knowing what he was extremely cheesy, but they didn't care.

They responded in unison "Likewise, Sarge...likewise." They smiled, then turned their attention to the Cortex handle, as the smoke and water vapor coated the area around them.

Marcus's life was flashing before him, all the memories playing in front of his eyes as if it was being displayed on an old projector, before he was brought back to reality as he saw the shuttle take off. Almost immediatley, hundreds of Gargoyles flew towards it. A voice of panic on his radio was barley heard.

"This is Exodus 0-1! We're not gonna make it!" Some one, probably the pilot, shouted in fear, as the swarm of Gargoyles flew closer and closer.

Marcus sighed softly and responded back into his radio.

"Yes you are..."

He turned the lever to the side, a blue pulse of pure electric energy surrounds him and the squad, before exploding. Blackness then surrounded him, until there was nothing left to be seen.

Chapter 1: This Looks Familiar...

"It's all part of the plan...their plan, Marcus...not yours..."

...

....

Marcus opens his eyes, gasping for air as if he'd been underwater for a significant amount of time. He then immediately closed his eyes due to the brightness of the Sun.

"Wait...Sun?..." Marcus thought in confusion "...but we just...died?" He relaxed his breathing after a couple of minutes, rubbing his eyes to get a better look at his surroundings, keeping his hand above his eyes as he adjusted to the sunlight.

Groaning, he put his hands down and felt grass, making him look around frantically. He quickly realized that he was in a sort of field, with a very wide, dense forest all around him.

"What the...? Where the hell am I?" He asked to himself out loud. He looked down to see his right hand embedded deep into the grass. He jerked his hand away, leaving a palm print where his hand was. He sniffed the air, reminding him of summertime and the grass smelled as if it was cut recently.

"God damn my back hurts..." Marcus looked around again, cupping his hands alongside his mouth as he shouted, "Jackson? Kayla? Thompson? Anyone!"

After a couple of minutes with no response, he stretched his back, popping it a few times as he groaned in slight relief.

"That's better at least...." He though before looking upwards The sky was as blue as could be and completely devoid of clouds. Except for one oddly-shaped cloud. He looked closer at it, noticing what looked liked technicolor hair.

"Could've sworn I saw a rainbow behind that..." Marcus asked himself as he looked in front of him, noticing he had all his gear and weapons, his Remington rifle beside him.

He reached out for it and quickly inspected it, checking for any outer faults or issues. He looked back up at the cloud and aimed at it, both to check if his red dot sight was working and if he was really just seeing things.

"At least it works..." Marcus then reached for the rest of his weapons, making sure his KSG-12 was in working order, as well as his M1911 and his NX-1 Disruptor.

When he finished, he finally stood up, almost falling back down due to how numb his legs were, "A-ah, fuck..." He quickly looked down at himself and his arms, checking for any injuries he might have sustained. As soon as he finished, he checked his radio and turned it on.

"To...to anyone on this net, this is Marcus Ramirez, leader of CIF Team 1. I am in an unknown location...in a large field, surrounded by dense forest. Does anyone copy?"

As he pressed the button to hopefully get some sort of response, he was met with only pure static.

"Son of a..." Before he could finish, he noticed three very faint trails of smoke in the sky, all of which are coming from deep within the forest.

As Marcus approached the border of the eerie, dark forest, he spoke to himself quietly, "Please let it be them..." He brought out his Remington R-5 and switched the safety to semi-auto, double checking the magazine and turning on the mounted flashlight, before slowly making his way into the forest.

"...this looks familiar...heh. Now I'm really losing it." He smirked as he made his way through some vines and dead bushes. Suddenly, several howls echoed through the forest, not too far away from him. Marcus held the his grip on his R-5 tighter as he continued deeper into the forest...

...oblivious to the cloud following him.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

...20 minutes earlier...

It was late morning when Rainbow Dash was out on a morning flight to stretch her wings and get ready for her Cloud Patrol duties. After clearing the skies near a field next to the Everfree Forest for practice, she heard four, very loud booms. She looked around frantically, thinking something blew up.

"What the?! W-wait...did somepony do a Sonic Rainboom?...nah...only I could do that. Unle-" Her thoughts were put on hold as a huge, light blue, dome-shaped wave of energy was speeding to her. She turned and started to fly away frantically, but opened her eyes to see that the wave had already passed her and had disappeared over the horizon.

"What the...woah...that was...actually pretty cool. But where did it come from?..." She turned around and saw 4 lines of smoke rising up towards the sky. She decided to fly to the one closest to her, which was right in the middle of the field she was just flying above.

Rainbow quickly flew back towards the area she was previously in and looked down with a look of utter confusion and awe.

"What the hay?...who...h-how did...what is that thing...?"

She looked down at what was causing the smoke. Right smack in the middle of the field was a weird creature that she's never seen in her life. The creature has two hindlegs and two forelegs, but he was sprawled out in an odd way. Plus, the area around it seemed normal, like nothing happened. No fire. No scorch marks. Nothing. Not even any injuries on the...creature, from what she could see anyway. Rainbow also noticed that it had some sort of clothing on it, black, gray and tan clothing to be exact, as well as having some sort of helmet with black tinted shades strapped around it, similar to hers. She looked to the left and saw a desert tan colored stick of some sort and a white, rectangular object, with a long, black bulky stick on its...backpack? Along with something she actually DID recognize..

..a huge, black-tinted knife. Which was about half the size of the spears the Royal Guard used.

Her curiosity was immediately taken over by an urge to confront and detain the creature, knowing that it was most likely dangerous. And she knew it wasn't an old regular kitchen knife, since it looked like it was made for close quarters combat.

Then she heard it gasp.

Rainbow yelped and looked around for a cloud. She spotted a single, slow moving cloud and flew towards it. She put her forelegs under the cloud and lifted it up to the sky, so nothing would look suspicious to the creature.

"Just give me one reason to buck you to Luna's Moon..." She mumbled as she saw the creature look around, confused. She noticed its face looked similar to a pony's. But was even more shocked at what happened next...

It spoke.

"What the...? Where the hell am I?"

Her jaw dropped, it spoke fluent Equestrian. She raised her jaw back up, and watched the creature, looking around at its surroundings, before it called out several somewhat strange names she certainly has never heard before.

"Jackson? Kayla? Thompson?"

"Are those its friends...?" Rainbow asked herself, having some second thoughts about this creature, "...maybe it's just lost and needs some help?"

, kinda like a monkey who stood up when it wanted something. She came to the conclusion that it was some sort of mutant monkey, or alien.

Her thoughts were quickly put on hold when she saw that the creature proceeded to look up to the sky, surprised that it was the way it was, but got suspicious as he looked at the cloud Rainbow was hiding on.

"Oh buck..."

The creature spoke, mentioning her mane, before it reached out for its tan colored bulky stick, then...aimed it at her? Luckily, as it reached for its item, she quickly pulled her tail back up, as to not be caught a second time.

She sighed in relief, happy she made such a choice, when she saw the creature shrug it off and inspect his items, "Thank Celestia..."

It then stood up on its hind legs with relative ease, aside from almost falling back down. It then just stood there, kinda like a monkey who stood up when it wanted something. She had come to the conclusion that it was some sort of mutant monkey, or alien a while ago, but it was still so...strange.

It then spoke something into some sort of device strapped onto its left shoulder. The creature then turned to the Everfree and proceeded to walk there, holding all of his stick like objects, the white box thing, and the knife.

Rainbow followed it closely, being careful not to lose the creature as he walked deeper and deeper into the dense forest. Despite this, she faintly heard the creature speak to itself.

"...this looks familiar..."

Rainbow then quickly had second thought "...so...maybe it does live in Equestria? Somewhere?...."

The creature then lifted the tan stick up to him after he heard some howls. He proceeded to walk into the forest, turning on a flashlight that was attached to the side of the front stick.

Rainbow then thought, "What are you doing, you crazy ape?! You'll get hurt or...or killed if you go in there! There TIMBERWOLVES for buck's sake!" She sighed as she slowly moved her cloud towards the ape, well above it. Despite being completely weirded out by the creature, she was still willing to help if it was ambushed or anything.

"Did NOT see my day heading this way..."

Author's Note

(As of July 5, 2017, this chapter has been updated and changed moderately.)

Well? What are the thought you all have?

Fun Fact: All you need to do is call in just 0.03% of all nuclear weapons to cause a 6 year nuclear winter. Quite a peaceful fact to know, huh? :raritywink:

Chapter 5: They Are Everywhere

...

....

Jackson arrived back at the camp, and saw Kayla fixing up some MRE's while Thompson was treating Fluttershys' wounds and trying to get her to relax.

Kayla looked up and walked to Jackson "Hey, is Marcus and...uh...what was her name again?" she whispered the last part.

"R-Rainbow Dash.. *sniff*" Fluttershy said as she hid behind her mane and quietly sobbed.

Kayla was suprised she hard her, but responded anyway "Oh, umm...thanks." She smiled sheepishly and turned back to Jackson "...yeah, Rainbow Dash. They okay?"

Jackson nodded "Yeh, they should be here in a sec, but Marcus had a deep ass cut in his right arm, and he told me that Dash got too close to the Manticore when he-" He whispered the last part so only Kayla would hear "-shot it."

Kayla raised an eyebrow "Why'd you whisper?"

Jackson pointed at Fluttershy who, fortunatley, wasn't paying attention "Cause I think she has a thing for animals. Like a vet or somethin' like that."

Kayla nodded "Ooh, I see, but what do you mean by 'too close'? Did she get hit by shrapnel or something?"

Jackson shrugged "Dunno, Marcus said he was gonna tell us all about it when they get back."

Kayla nodded again and walked to her rucksack " In the meantime, I need you to get some wood to start a fire. I got my lighter, so just get some sticks. We'll use the cave to sleep in, but someone's gonna guard the entrance."

Jackson was already picking up sticks and twings when he replied "Don't Marcus still got his Claymores with him? From the looks of it, he had all his gear like us. Even his rucksack! He could place the Claymores in the entrance if anything tried to have us for a midnight snack."

Kayla thought about it for a second "Yeah, but we should tell the ponies about the mines first. Smart thinking, Jack."

Jackson chuckled " 'Improvise, Adapt,and Overcome'. Ain't that one of our mottos?"

Kayla smiled "Yeah, I think think we got more mottos than the Army, Oorah?"

"Oorah." Jackson replied proudly, dropping the sticks and grabbing Kaylas' lighter.

7 minutes later...

The squad including Fluttershy were sitting around the campfire, eating their flavorless pieces of cardboard and mush until Fluttershy spoke up.

"Um..what's this called again? I-if you don't mind me asking..."She said quietly

Thompson couldn't help but mentally d'aww at one of her signature phrases "It's supposedly macaroni and cheese. With 'peas'.." He answered.

Before Fluttershy could respond, they heard rustling and footsteps behind them. Jackson put his food down and raised his M1014, loaded with "bean bag" rounds. He turned on the flashlight and aimed until he heard a familiar voice

"Jackson! Stand down dude, it's just us! Get that damn flashlight out of my face!"

Then he heard a raspy feminine voice, which sounded annoyed

"Yeah dude! I'm gonna go blind thanks to you and your fancy lamp thing...whatever, just turn it OFF!"

Jackson lowered his weapon and turned off the flashlight, seeing Marcus and Rainbow walk out of the treeline, wiping their eyes

"Marcus! Dash! Thank God, you scared the hell outta me.." He said.

Marcus then opened his eyes and chuckled "Really? I wasn't even trying that time. Should've used flares instead of fireworks on you."

Jackson looked confused and looked at Rainbow, who returned the look with her own, as if saying "Oh yeah, he told me".

He cocked his head to the side until he put two and two together, then his eyes widened "Oh no..you didn't tell her about-"

Jackson was cut off when Rainbow bursted out on the ground, laughing hysterically. Marcus just gave Jackson a shit-eating grin before saying "Oh yeah I did..and then some."

Kayla looked at Marcus "What did you tell her?"

Marcus' grin grew wider " Remember 4th of July? Camp Leatherneck?"

It was Kayla's turn to laugh " Oh my GOD!" She laughed "I remember now!"

Jackson was trying his best to not laugh, but it was too contagious. He started chuckling, then laughing. Soon everyone was in full blown laughter, even Thompson and Fluttershy were laughing.

After a couple of minutes, everyone/pony calmed down and got ready to sleep.

Jackson walked up to Marcus and told him his idea "Hey, place some of your Claymores infront of the cave in case something tries to eat us in our sleep."

Marcus gave him a look "But what if one of the girls trip them?.."

"Hey!" Kayla shouted from the cave "I heard that!"

Marcus shouted back "Not you, Kayla!"

Jackson then came up with an idea "Just give 'em a short 'n sweet explination."

Marcus nodded as he walked towards his backpack, bringing out 2 M18A1 Claymores. He walked to the cave entrance but stopped when Rainbow Dash asked him a question

"Uh, Hunter..what's THAT?.." She pointed her hoof to the remains of a half-eaten MRE.

Marcus chuckled and said "That, my friend, is the most tasteless food you can eat. An MRE, Meal Ready to Eat. Looks like mac 'n cheese.. with..wasabi? Or are those peas?..."

Rainbow spoke up "So I shouldn't eat it?.."

Marcus nodded "But it's filling. Wanna try one?"

Rainbow looked back at the 'food' "I think I'll pass. I can hold off 'till tomorrow morning and take us to Sweet Apples Acres."

Marcus thought for a second "Apples, huh? Alright I'm in."

He walked to the cave entrance and started placing the Claymores, until Rainbow asked another question.

"What are those, and what're you doing with 'em?" She asked

Marcus looked up and said "Can you bring Fluttershy over here?"

Rainbow nodded and went into the cave to bring her. After a couple seconds, she returned with Fluttershy alongside her.

"So, you gonna tell us?" Rainbow said impaciently.

Marcus nodded as he placed the device down. He then pushed a button ontop and 2 short red beams shot out to the sides from the top front.

"Ok.." He said "Listen up. What these thing are not to be played with. See the red beams?" They both nodded "Do not, I repeat, do NOT walk or move infront of those. I'm putting them here incase something tries to sneak up on us as we sleep. I'll turn them off in the morning. Let's get some sleep."

They nodded again and went to sleep.

...

...
It didn't take long for Marcus to fall asleep. It was dreamless bliss until he heard a familiar voice in the darkness.

"The cryptids...they're everywhere...

"Samantha Cross?..What the-"

A series of flashbacks played infront of Marcus' eyes. From his squad's first mission in Alaska, to their final moments at the Exodus Launch Facility. Then a 3-D holographic image of Earth showed up, with hundreds of red, pulsing dots scattered across the globe

He heard Samantha's voice again.

"...right beneath your feet!" She said, having it echo all around.

Another image played. Marcus expected an underground colony, but was shown a cave system with diamons and jewles sticking out of the floor, the walls, the ceiling, and in the middle of it was a minecart on some rails.

"They're gonna kill you all.." Samantha said

Another image flashed, with Marcus deep underground, shooting frantically at hundreds of cryptids.

"Unless you find and kill them, first.."She said.

Marcus was then in first person, trying to get ahold of the situation.

In reality, he felt something soft brush against him

But in his dream, he turned around and saw a Rhino cryptid charge him at full speed.

He closed his eyes and waited for his inevitable fate.

He felt a hard shove, then woke up.

Author's Note

...

Well?

Chapter 13: Same Shit Different Day

"Marines don't die, they regroup in Hell.. and make their way to heaven."

The girls and the squad watched as Rainbow Dash roared at Marcus angrily, then she bucked him right in the left side. He yelled in pain and grabbed his left side, but his right hand still had his M1911 and he proceeded to pull the trigger. The squad and the girls looked in horror as the pistol went off in his hand and the round went through his jaw and into his head. His head jolted back as the girls watched in utter shock. Rainbow flinched from the sound and turned back to face him, only to see him lie motionless on the ground.

"MARCUS!!" Jackson yelled. Thompson immediately ran up to Marcus and kneel'd next to him. He checked for a pulse on his neck and wrist. Kayla was still in shock by what happened and just stood there with her mouth open.

Thompson then saw the bullet hole the .45 caliber round made. It entered through his jaw and exited from the top right of his head. He didn't know if it was fatal, but he also didn't feel a pulse. He then shook his head without taking his eyes of the wound.

Jackson just stood there, not wanting to take in the fact that Marcus was gone. His sorrow was then quickly replaced with a feeling of rage and vengeance as he looked at Rainbow, who had her right hoof raised slightly and with a look of utter confusion and shock. Jackson then lifted his M1014 and aimed it directly at her.

"You son of a BITCH!" He yelled, pulling the trigger.

Kayla regained herself and looked at Jackson, who rose his M1014 at Rainbow, and then heard him yell out in anger. She ran up to Jackson and pushed the barrel of the M1014 up, as he quickly shot off five 'bean-bag' rounds into the sky, effectively making him miss all the shots. She then shouted at Jackson.

"JACKSON! THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! DON'T KILL HER!" She shouted, ripping away the M1014 from a clearly pissed off Jackson.

"WHY THE FUCK NOT?! SHE FUCKING KICKED MARCUS AND MADE HIM SHOOT HIMSELF!" Jackson shouted back. To say that he was glaring daggers at Rainbow would be an understatement. Kayla calmed Jackson down, but still wasn't finished yelling. She turned to Rainbow and yelled at her.

"WHY IN THE ABSOLUTE FUCK DID YOU KICK HIM FOR?! CAN'T TAKE A FUCKING JOKE, YOU LITTLE SHIT?!" She shouted, having second thoughts on blocking Jackson from shooting her.

Before anyone could respond, Thompson spoke up with a bit of relief and worry.

"Guys! I felt a pulse!! He's still alive!" He shouted at the squad and the girls.

Twilight was the first to get her bearings straight "Wha?.. How? You know what, nevermind. How bad is his condition?!"

"His pulse is slow as hell. You know where the nearest damn hospital is at?!" Thompson shouted.

Twilight nodded "Yeah, it's just outside of Ponyville!"

"Then let's fucking go! He won't make it if he doesn't get some medical attention!" He shouted.

Fluttershy then spoke, quietly "Twilight.. c-can't you heal M-Marcus?" She asked, with a tinge of hope in her voice.

But it quickly turned into worry as Twilight shook her head "I don't know their anatomy or their body structure. And since he was shot in the head, his brain would just be too complicated even for me to heal."

Jackson ran up to Marcus and Thompson "THEN LET'S FUCKING GO! WE'RE WASTING TIME!" He shouted as he and Thompson picked Marcus up and carried him to the direction of the hospital. The girls followed along with Rainbow. She looked at Marcus, but then felt something warm beneath her hoof. She looked at him again and saw that the hole in his jaw was oozing blood. She slowly looked down to the ground and saw a small trail of blood leading all the way to below her hoof. Her eyes widened as she pulled her hoof away, then she heard Kayla whisper in her ear.

"If you so much as touch Marcus or any of us again, I'll personally shoot you myself, understand me?" She said viciously.

Rainbow nodded frantically as they cached up to the squad.

Inside Marcus' mind...

Marcus then woke up with a jolt. He looked around frantically to get a look at his surroundings, seeing nothing but darkness.

"What the.. am I dead? Goddamn you, Rainbow.. the fu-" He was cut off when he heard a feminine voice behind him. One he would know from anywhere.

Samantha Cross..

"I see you've finally waken up, Sergeant Marcus.." She said, coldly.

Marcus jumped to his feet and looked behind him, only to see nothing.

"Where the hell are you, Samantha.. and where am I?" He shouted, only to hear laughter.

"You're in your mind... Marcus. And for good reason. There's something you need to know about the new planet you are in.." She stated.

Marcus was confused as hell "How the hell are you even talking to me right now? Didn't you make it to the Space Station?" He asked.

"Yes.. I did. But I have the same telepathic abilities as the Anscestors.. Remember what Dr. Kassar did to me? The Beacon Amplifier?.." She asked.

"The Stormbreaker.. so that's why you're so.. different.." Marcus whispered, he then saw Samantha appear from thin air, who was nodding.

"Yes. Now, is there anything else you would like to ask about me, Marcus?" She said, coldly.

"So.. you're half Samantha.. half Ancestor?" He asked, nervously. Samantha chuckled.

"Samantha Cross... died months ago, remember? On a cold night in Alaska. I'm more than human, to say the very least.." She said.

Marcus wondered "So why are you helping us? Are you still in the side of the humans?" He asked.

Samantha nodded "Yes, I am. Have you not figured that out yet?" She asked, then internally chuckled "But there is something I have to tell you about where you and your team are at.."

"What is it?" He asked.

"You see.. the planet you are on is very similar to Earth.. in its structure.. its inhabitants.." She said.

"..and the way it was formed."

Marcus was still confused "Wha.. what are you getting at, Cross?"

"The cryptids.." She continued "..were on Earth since the Paleozic Era.. 541 million years ago. You do know that, right?"

Marcus nodded "Now I do.." He mumbled, only to hear Samantha chuckle.

She continued "Well.. this planet is very similar to how Earth was made. The only difference is that instead of humans, there's.. well.. ponies and other creatures that we thought were only in mythology and fairy tales."

Marcus thought for a second and what Samantha was trying to tell him. After about a minute or two, he put two and two together "Wait.. no.. that means.."

Samantha nodded again "Maybe. You don't know if the cryptids are also here.. however the geological similarities and the way this planet was made so similar to Earth means that the chances are very high. Before the Nightfall facility was taken over.. Dr. Kassar told me he made an astonishing discovery.."

Marcus asked "Well? What was it?"

"He told me that N.A.S.A had found the origins of the cryptids.. their home.. where they came from." She stated.

Marcus then looked to his left, and saw what the planet was. She displayed the image of the planet in his head.

"Oh.. oh my God. They're not just from Earth?" Marcus said, staring at the planet in awe and shock.

"Yes... they're spread all around. Some people in Puerto Rico found this planet back in 2009, and one of the satellites got a good image of it. They found out that it was inhabited by odd creatures... in a hot, wasteland that was home to billions of them.." She stated.

"They cryptids.." Marcus said silentley "Wha.. how many Arks are there on the planet we're currentely in? Same amounts as Earth?..."

Samantha shook her head "I don't exactly know.. all I know.."

The blackness around Marcus dissapeared. He then opened his eyes, only to be looking at a sign that read "Welcome to Caldrea Peak!"

"Caldrea Peak... Jamie.." He whispered. Then he heard a scream.

"...is that you need to find them.." Samantha said as Marcus ran towards the source of the scream. When he arrived he saw three Scout cryptids surrounding someone on the floor..

Jamie..

"JAMIE!! NO!!" Marcus shouted, then he heard Samantha again..

"..and kill them.."

An MTAR-X formed in Marcus' hands. He switched the saftey to full-auto, aimed at the Scouts, and fired. He ran up to Jamie and saw she had several deep gashes on her face, and her hiking clothes were ripped and bloody. Then Samantha spoke again..

"..before they find you.."

Marcus then heard a screech. He turned and saw a Hunter cryptid run at him. He raised his MTAR and fired at its mouth, stopping it in its tracks. He then lowered his gun and turned back to Jamie, but his eyes didn't see Jamie...

He looked down and saw Rainbow Dash, who had the same injuries as Jamie.

"R-Rainbow?.. Marcus said quietly. He threw his gun down and put his hands under Rainbow's stomach and neck. He then lifted her and pulled her to his chest before he heard Samantha's voice one last time..

"...and kill you all."

Marcus then heard another screech as he turned to face a Scorpion cryptid. It snarled before aiming its tail at him.

Marcus shielded Rainbow as an acid projectile flew towards him. He felt a searing pain before everything around him faded back into darkness.

Author's Note

Link to the source of the image: https://www.sciencenews.org/

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