My Little Pony: Equestria Warriors

The morning sunrise was shattered by the wailing of an air raid siren. I groaned, and dangled my legs of the edge of my bunk.

"Morning, fuckheads!" I shouted. The rest of my squadron grumbled as they woke.

"Great. More fucking Russians." My wingman, Willis 'Blastburn' Tromer said.

"You were expecting Koreans?" I asked, taking a swish of my mouthwash ration and headed towards the hangar. Inside the makeshift hangars were the sleek and beautiful F-22 Raptors, all a gift of the dying USAF. Our squadron mechanic, Gary 'Grease' Coulome was already prepping our jets.

"Morning, sir!" Grease saluted, his fingers making

an oily smear on his forehead. Grease got his nickname for never being without a bottle of grease. Or as he said, all purpose lubricant.

"Morning, Grease! Are your babies in top condition?"

"Fresh as a $100 whore, sir!"

"Wouldn't have it any other way." I climbed inside the cockpit and jammed my helmet on. While I made sure my oxygen was functioning normally, the rest of my guys hopped into their jets. Grease tapped my helmet to get my attention.

"Sir, the AWACs reports seeing the Su-27/Xs." Fuck, I thought. The only match for the Raptor was the advanced 27/X.

"Don't worry!" I gave Grease a cocky smile I didn't feel. "We'll terminate the fuckers!"

"Go get 'em!' Grease dipped into his bottle and finger-painted a greasy 'G' on the nose of my Raptor. I waited until he was clear before beginning to taxi out.

Three minutes later, we joined up with another squadron coming out of Victoria. I hailed the AWACs.

"Alouette, this is Eagle One. appreciate the eyes up there."

"No problem Eagle One. Keep those commies away from our coast."

"10-4."

For a few minutes, we flew in silence, and I pondered the question our entire base had been wondering: Why hadn't we been nuked yet? The Soviet Alliance hadn't been bashful about throwing nukes around during the Blitz, but now they wanted to fight a true air and ground war?

The AWACs controller snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Approaching target. Three miles, on the nose." The AWACs controller stated.

"Eagle Leader copies." I said. "Eagles, drop to twenty-two hundred and stay on course." I silently prayed, not for the first time, that the new Russian Su-27/X fighters would just crash and burn.

"Weapons hot, boys." AWACs called. I thumbed the radar-seeking AMRAAM missiles. I heard multiple 'hot' calls over the squadron radio.

Despite the fact that we were flying for the Royal Canadian Air Force, only myself and Desmond 'Tes' Moncou were actually Canadian. My wingman, Willis is British, while Greg 'The Griz' Grizkowski, Mikey 'Gunner' Kitchner and Garret 'Fareye' Jones were from the US.

I banked my F-22 Raptor, a gift from the US, and faced the incoming bandits. My AMRAAM's targeting radar got a hit, and locked. I squeezed off a missile with a cry of "Fox Two!" Two more AMRAAMs followed my own. I held my breath as the three missile approached the enemy fighters.

"Shit!" I cried as the missiles detonated way early. The Su-27/X, or T-X, was able to disable, destroy, or otherwise fuck up any radar missile's guidance system using high-frequency pulses of energy. We were screwed unless we could attack with our Vulcan Cannons, and no pilot had even come close to downing a Su-27/X with one. The T-X had a shortened wingspan, slightly elongated fuselage, and the dual engines tweaked and prodded to be able to go an incredible Mach 4 at full afterburner. A speed at which they were approaching us. I got a warning tone that I was being locked up.

"Evasive maneuvers!" I cried.

"Chaff chaff chaff." Mikey chanted as he threw his Raptor sideways. It did him little good as a missile detonated slightly to the left of dead centre on the plane.

"Shit! Eagle Four is hit! Any chute, any ch-" Griz's plane exploded. The remaining four Eagles split.

"Where are they? My radar's dead!"

"Damn it! They have a jammer!"

"I'm locked! Fox Two! Fox-" Garret's plane flipped over, trailing a stream of burning fuel. Easy pickings for another missile.

"Damn it, where are they?" I screamed. Willis was still on my wing, and we quickly fled to ground. I couldn't tell where Tes had gone, and my radar was still dead. I saw a flash, and watched in horror as two T-Xs bore down on us.

"Shit, Will! Break!" My warning was too late. Willis was hit by a missile and exploded. I dove even closer to the ground, where the ground clutter might make the missiles lose me. A second later, I felt the thumps of cannon shells as they chewed up my plane. My radar screeched as the T-X fired a missile point-blank into me.

...

Applejack trotted happily through Sweet Apple Acres, a basket of apples on her back. It had been a good harvest this season, and she was looking forward to the profits she would be getting. She could finally fix the barn! Suddenly, she heard the sound of something flying towards her. She turned, expecting to see Rainbow Dash flying towards her. Instead, she saw a very dark shadow. The ground shook beneath her hooves and she collapsed. The shadow screamed overhead and a few seconds later AJ heard it hit the ground. She stood, shaking then whistled for Finona.

...

I groaned. The light shining onto my eyelids was too bright. I tried to move my right arm up, but all I felt was pain. Slowly, I opened my eyes to see an orchard outside of a cracked canopy. I moved my left arm down and carefully detached myself from the plane. I opened the canopy, and stumbled out.

I was in a clearing of some sort. I carefully pulled my service M-1911 out of my holster and hefted it with my left hand. My right arm had a metal sliver stuck in it, and at the moment I wasn't strong enough to try to pull it out. I took a few cautious steps, then started walking aimlessly, trying to collect my thoughts.

I was in a place that shouldn't exist. I should have been swimming a couple kilometres from Vancouver Island, not walking around in a god-damn apple farm!

I walked back to my Raptor and carefully pulled out my medkit. After a small shot of morphine, I gritted my teeth, grabbed the sliver, and ripped it out.

"Fuck!" I screamed. My vision swam, and I waited until the morphine kicked in. I felt dizzy, but i could function. I grabbed my survival pack, and started out.

...

"H-hello?" Applejack called. "Anypony there?" She carefully moved towards the gigantic groove in the orchard, carved by whatever had crashed. AJ prayed it wasn't a dragon. She saw a large figure stand, and begin walking towards her.

"Hay!" She yelled. The figure raised something and the dirt in front of Applejack exploded with a boom. Startled, she wheeled around and galloped as fast as she could.

...

I stumbled backwards from the recoil of the M1911. I hadn't meant to pull the trigger, but the painkiller had dulled almost everything, and I'd squeezed off a round towards the Texan girl. I hoped I hadn't hit her.

Yanking out my compass, I marked where north was, and started walking. After a couple minutes, I spotted a dirt road leading out of the orchard. I followed it to a fence and a big sign that read 'Sweet Apple Acres.' A feeling of deja-vu swept over me, and I paused to think of where I had seen the sign before. Shaking my head, I kept walking.

...

Applejack skidded to a halt in front of Twilight's treehouse, screaming bloody murder.

"AJ, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"There's a thing that landed in Sweet Apple Acres! It shot something at me!"

"What?" Twilight gasped. "What did it do?"

"It raised something towards me and the ground exploded in front of me!"

"Do you have any idea what it could be?" Applejack shook her head violently. Twilight's mind immediately began racing to try to figure out what the creature was. Everything she could think of was bad.

"Quick! Get the others!" Twilight raised the glass containing the Elements of Harmony. "We're going to need these."

...

I heard the sound of hooves clattering on the dirt road.

"Crap!" I ducked behind the barn that was a part of Sweet Apple Acres, and laid down, my pistol at the ready. The horses came into view and I stared.
There were six and none of them had riders. Each was only as tall as my waist, and each was a startlingly bright color. Voices flooded over to me, and I recognized the Texan accent coming from the orange one.
"It was near the middle!"
"Alright girls, lets go get it!" They charged into the orchard. I relaxed slightly. Then a voice popped into my head.
'Follow them.'
I was tired, bleeding, high on morphine, and see talking horses in a place that shouldn't exist. What else could go wrong?

...

By the time the girls found the metallic beast, they were all panting. The shade from the trees helped somewhat to stave off the intense heat.
"What is that thing?" Rainbow asked. She had flown over, and was the first to see it.
"I... don't know..." Twilight gasped. She wasn't used to running long distances so fast.
"It looks like a chariot of some kind." Applejack said. "Whatever than thing was, it came out of that." She peered at the ground, and found the divot that had appeared after the creature raised something at her. "This is what it shot at me."
Twilight lifted a small cylinder out of the ground. She hefted it in her hoof.
"It's heavy. I can't tell what it is, but I do remem-" Twilight's musings were cut off by a gasp in the bushes.

...

Sitting behind a bush, I gasped slightly as my arm began to throb. Immediately, the group turned towards the bush.
"Crap!" I stumbled out from behind the tree and ran to better cover.
"One...two...three!" I heard a shout behind me, and turned to see blinding light rushing towards me. I expected to feel searing heat, but whatever the blast was just punched into my back and shoved me into the trees. My pack snagged on a branch, and I had to use my bad arm to try to free it while my good arm clutched the tree trunk. Snap!
I flailed wildly as the branched snapped, and managed to grab a hold of the strap, but it's momentum yanked me from the tree. I hit the ground with a thud.
"There it is!" I forced myself up, the entire right side of my body now aching. Another blast drove me into the ground, and I felt something give in my knee. Sure enough, when I tried to get up, pain sliced into my leg. I rolled onto my back, and tried to bring up the pistol, but it felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. I gave up, and waited for death.
"Is it... bleeding?"
"Fluttershy, shush! It's still awake!"
I blinked, and I was surrounded by the six.
"It's hurt bad. Get him back to the barn, quick!"
I felt myself be lifted up, but like the ground had risen up with me, as I still felt pressure pressing against my back. A minute later, I was laying on a hay bale.
"Hey. Hey!" I croaked. "Could I have some water?"
The one I think was called Fluttershy motioned for one of the others to get some water. I drank it greedily, feeling it sooth my throat. Fluttershy peeled my blood-soaked flightsuit off of my shoulder and gasped.
"Oh, you poor thing, no wonder you were upset! Rainbow Dash, please go get a doctor." The flying blue one rocketed off.
"Uh, Pinkie? I think you should go too." I heard Texan horse say.
"Okie-dokie-loki!" A pink blur bounced out the door. I turned my head slightly to see my shoulder.
The hastily applied pressure bandage had been torn off and blood trickled from the gash. I sucked in a breath as the pain hit me like waves of fire.
"What is it?" Texan horse asked.
"I... don't know." I felt a pressure on my left side, and turned my head to see the purple one, who I took to be the leader. She poked me in the eye. I jerked back and felt my wound tear.
"Fuck!"
They all jumped back. I gritted my teeth.
"Sorry." The purple one looked at me apologetically. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. This is Applejack (Texan horse tipped her hat), Fluttershy (who at that moment was staring at the hole in my arm with a nauseated expression), and Rarity." Rarity appeared to be out cold on the ground. I heard Applejack mutter 'Drama queen' under her breath.
"What's your name?" Twilight asked.
"Chris Telford." I said. Somehow I didn't think these horses wanted to grill me for information, so I left out the fact that I was a pilot.
"Just what are you exactly?"
Adrenaline spiked. Landing in an apple orchard rather than the Pacific, fine. Talking horses, an after-effect of the morphine, but that had long since worn off. But the horses didn't go away. Where in fresh hell was I? I surged up and bolted towards the door. I had taken two steps before I hit the inert form of Rarity and went head-first into the ground. The world went dark.

...

When I awoke, I was sitting on a soft bed in a hospital of some sort. I looked around, and noticed that my legs were hanging off the end of the bed.

"Hello?" My tongue felt heavy, probably from the morphine. I tried to get up, but found that I was strapped to the bed. Fighting the panic that rose, I looked at my right shoulder. It was bound and wrapped with pure white bandages and no longer bleeding

"Ah, you're awake!" I turned my head to see a completely white unicorn with a clipboard floating in front of her. "You've been asleep for almost nine hours now."

I was still struggling against my bonds.

"Please calm down sir! You do not wish to injure yourself further!"

That's when the straps snapped. I lunged to my feet and staggered out the door. I was almost to the door when every muscle in my body seized up and I faceplanted onto the linoleum floor. I blacked out again.

...

My head was pounding when I opened my eyes a crack. I prayed that everything was back to normal, where there was no talking horses.

"Hello." I groaned as yet another unicorn came into my view.

"Hello." I answered.

"My name is Princess Celestia." As I watched her, I noticed that her... 'mane' I suppose was shimmering and moving.

"I'm... Christopher J. Telford, Squadron Leader, 558940."Even though I already knew that I wasn't in a place with any Russains, training kicked in. Name, rank, serial number. Celestia chuckled.

"That is not needed, Mr. Telford. You are in a different place now."

"I got that part."

"You are in a place called Equestria. Or rather, Ponyville, Equestria." To my surprise, she released me from the straps that held me to wall. I raced to what I thought was the door, but there was no knob. I turned back to Celestia, who had an amused expression on her face.

"The only way to open that door, I'm afraid, is with magic."

"You aren't worried that I'd force you to open it?"

"Not in the slightest. I can tell you are curious about how you got here. However, in order for us to continue talking, I must help you... fit in more here. This might hurt..." Her horn began to glow, and a sliver of golden light flowed towards me... then into me. I felt a tingle that turned into itching, then burning. My fingers and toes felt like they were curling up into my hands and feet, and my ears felt as though they were being ripped up towards the top of my head. I closed my eyes and screamed.

...

I was sitting in an all-white area. I could hear nothing, and could see only white.

"Hello?" I called. "Anyone there?" A figure approached, and I gaped. My mother stood in front of me. Tears rose in my eyes, despite the fact she had been dead for 3 years.

"Chris, you must remember." She cupped my chin with her hand and wiped away the tears that were streaming down my face. "Trust these ponies. Trust them with your life, for soon they'll do the same for you. All is well. You are going to be just fine." she kissed my forehead, and retreated into the white.

...

"Oh my." Fluttershy said quietly. "I hope he isn't getting hurt." She, along with Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were at Ponyville General waiting for Celestia to finish talking to the 'human'.

"Shhh!" Twilight admonished. "They're coming out!"

Celestia walked out if the door proudly, followed by a stallion none of then had ever seen. He had a light purple coat, and a dark brown mane with streaks of silver. His green eyes were flecked with brown.

"Hi!" Pinkie Pie immediately moved in front of the new guy and shook his hoof. "I'm Pinkie Pie!"

"I'm... umm..." He looked at Celestia for support. She shook her head slightly. "I'm... Valton. I was that thing you saw in the forest.."

"That's a funny name!" Pinkie was shoved out of the way by Twilight.

"You don't have a cutie mark!"

"A what?" A blank expression crossed Valton's face.

"You don't know what a cutie mark is?" Twilight was shocked. Celestia moved to Valton's side.

"Since he isn't from Equestria, he hasn't got his cutie mark yet."

"Oh."

"C'mon!" Pinkie shouldered Twilight out if the way. "You have to meet everypony!" She grabbed Valton's hoof and propelled him towards the door.

"Why do we have to show this guy around?" Rainbow grumped. "We aren't babysitters."

"You are the embodiments of the Elements of Harmony. You have the strongest bond of friendship in Equestria." Celestia explained. "If anyone can make Valton feel comfortable, you six can."

...

I was getting used to my new body. I was walking better by the time we had walked halfway through town.

"-And that's where I live! It has the best cupcakes in town!" Pinkie was still droning on, but I was tuning her out and looking around for myself. It was a small, quiet town, much like my hometown of Delta.

"Pinkie, darling, don't you think that's enough? He's overwhelmed as it is." Rarity called from behind us. Over the chorus of agreement from the others, I heard something. I felt my ears twitch. It sounded like the drone of a heavy bomber but... no. Not here. They didn't even have cars yet, let alone aircraft! I kept listening, and the noise grew louder, and louder. The girls stopped talking, and gazed in the direction of the sound. The ground began to shake, and I heard someone gasping in horror. A massive, eight engined bomber came over the horizon. Trailing it were small fighters. As I watched, the bomber opened it's bomb bay doors.

"Fuck!" I yelled, and I started herding the group away from the centre of town.

"What is that?" I heard Twilight shout.

"Whatever it is, I'm not going to let it do whatever it's wanting to do!" I saw a flash of blue, and tackled Rainbow Dash to the ground.

"Hay!" She cried.

"That'd be suicide!" I yelled. "That thing has fighter escort! Now keep moving!" I saw other ponies looking outside to check what was going on. Then the first bombs began to fall. I hugged Rainbow tightly as I shielded her the best I could, mostly because I was already holding onto her.

boom boom Boom BOOM BOOM!

The concussive blasts rocked the ground more than the plane. Slowly, painfully, the shockwaves faded as the bomber continued on. I stood, not noticing the bright blush on Rainbow's cheeks. As I watched the bomber finish it's run, I felt a slight tug on my flanks. I noticed a small black dot in the sky, and stared at it. The dot grew bigger, and bigger. There was a sudden flash of light, and I had to look away. When I looked back, an F-35 Lightning squatted on the dirt path that lead throughout the town. I rushed towards it, popped the canopy and climbed in.

"Start engines... there!" I punched the button that started the jet engine in the back. The familiar rumble comforted me slightly. I moved the throttle forwards, and kept the F-35 in hover mode. As it started to pick up speed, I saw the bomber starting to bank, intending to come around for another pass.

"C'mon, c'mon!" I yelled, yanking back on the stick. Slowly, painfully, the Lightning broke free of gravity's hold and began to climb. I let the airspeed pick up, and switched out of hover mode. The Lightning swept hungrily towards the bomber, now halfway through it's wide turn around the apple orchard that I had originally crashed in. I looked at my weapon's display. I had four AMRAAMs and two Sidewinder heatseeking missiles. As I grew closer to the bomber, two of the escort fighters turned to challenge me. My eyes widened at the sight.

The planes were small, basically just an extremely thin fuselage with two skinny wings and a single rudder slapped on the end. For reasons I couldn't fathom, spines protruded from the planes at seemingly random places.

A sudden beep broke me out of my contemplation. One of the spinies had a lock on me! I quickly dropped the nose of my F-35 and pulled into a hard turn. The spinie still shot, but the missile lost contact immediately. I rolled out of my turn, my eyes tracking a spinie in front of me. The familiar growl of an acquired Sidewinder lock sang in my ears, and I fired. What was strange was I never moved my hooves. It was as if the mere thought of moving my imaginary fingers to the button and pressing it was enough for the missile.

The spinie exploded. I felt rather than saw the others getting on my tail, and dove for the ground.

Treetops whizzed by my wingtips, inches from death, but I kept them level and flew faster. I was hoping that the spinies weren't very aerodynamic, and my gamble paid off with a concussive BOOM that shook my plane. I was safe, for now. The ground scrambled my radar and heat signatures, but that didn't stop the spinies from firing. A missile flashed by my left wing, and to my horror exploded in a small clearing, decimating a barn. I prayed that no one was in it, and pulled away from the ground. I didn't want more collateral damage. More warnings jangled, but I ignored them and kept going vertical. I quickly shoved into hover mode, my airspeed dropping dramatically as I stalled. The two spinies flashed by, and I got them right after the other. Coming out of the stall and hover mode, I turned my attention to the big guy. Not surprising, he was turning and fleeing, bombs scattering out of it's belly. It took me a second to realize he was dropping whatever he had left on the barn, and double that to put three in his engines. The bomber settled in the trees, mostly intact. Making a note of where it landed, I started searching for a spot to land. While flying, I felt a tingle on my flanks, and I spotted a slight glowing in the cockpit.

A minute later, my landing gear touched the earth on a small dirt road leading towards the forest. As I climbed out, several other ponies ran towards me.

"Is everyone OK?" I asked, hearing a slight rik-tik-tik from the cooling engine.

"I THINK SO." Applejack shouted. I noticed many small holes in the brim of her cowboy hat. A damn close call.

"Why is she shouting?" Twilight asked.

"The missiles and bombs. The blast from the explosives must have damaged their hearing. It's temporary. I think."

"You THINK?"

"I don't know how close they were to the explosions."

Twilight was about to respond when something slammed into me and sent me sprawling.

"Please, PLEASE tell me that that was you up there!" I heard a voice cry. I looked up to see see Rainbow Dash looking eagerly at me. Her auburn eyes were filled with excitement.

"Yeah. Ow." I sat up and brushed myself off.

"Heheheh. Sorry." She blew a puff of air at her rainbow mane. "Could you teach me how to do that?"

"That'd be hard without another plane, and as far as I know this is the only working plane here." I pointed at my Lighting. "Too bad I'm nearly out of missiles. Good thing I didn't miss, eh?"

"What do you mean?"

"The spinies didn't evade, but I guess it was because I was using heat-seekers. Doesn't give a tone like radars do. They had radar too. Good that they didn't know how to use them properly."I motioned to the deaf ponies. "Sorry I didn't see the bomber dropping earlier. Those spinies were out for my blood, so it was them or me, and it wasn't going to be me."

"That was so AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash cut in. "What do you call that move where you just stopped in mid-air and got the two behind you?"

"'Two on my six, cut engines and pray." I looked at Applejack, who was looking at me funnily. "What's the matter?"

"Your other 'plane' looks different that that one." I was about to answer when an explosion rocked the ground. The bomber!

"Damn!" I said. "Forgot about that guy!" I started towards the site of the explosion.

"Where are you going?" Twilight called.

"To get some answers." As I kept walking, Rainbow landed beside me.

"Let's go!"

...

As our hooves crunched on the dirt path, I noticed the first signs of wreckage. Scattered leaves and branches littered the ground, leading to a deep groove in the ground. As we kept going, I spotted a body on the ground. I quickly moved Dash's head away so she wouldn't see.

"Hay!"

I ignored her. The body was small, probably because it was cut in half. Whatever it was, it was black, and there were small holes and grooves all over it's body. It looked strangely similar to the fighters I had destroyed. We kept walking, and I released Dash's head.

"What was that for?" She glared at me.

"You didn't want to see that."

Finally, we came across the bomber. As I suspected, it was massive. The wings had created an entirely new clearing in the trees.

"Not much left of them, is there?" I muttered to myself. The cockpit took the brunt of the impact with the ground. There was nearly nothing left.

"Oh... my... gosh..." Dash gasped.

"Christ." I agreed with her. "Bastards deserved it."

I walked around the nose of the bomber, noting that there was no seeable way to enter the plane.

"See a way in?" I called.

"I see some buttons!"

"Hit 'em!"

I heard a soft click, and the entire top part of the bomber's cockpit lifted up.

"Good work! Now the only problem is getting up there."

Dash flapped her wings. "Duh." She carefully put her hooves around me and squeezed as she lifted up into the air. She dropped me into the cockpit, then landed herself.

"Holy..." I said. The cockpit was configured like a B-52, but slightly different. What I assumed to be the pilot, bombardier, and navigator seats all faced forwards, while two other seats faced each side. Three of the seats were occupied. I didn't need to check on them. They were clearly dead.

"That's three. With the guy outside, that makes four. Where in hell is the last guy?" I looked around, and saw an open door leading to the bomb bay. "I'll be right back."

"I'll come with you!" Dash seemed very eager to leave the tomb of the cockpit.

"You'd be better to stay here. You could wait outside." She immediately took to the sky and was gone.

I entered the dark corridor. My hoofsteps echoed down it. This plane felt dead, I thought to myself. My search was fruitless, but a couple times I thought I heard someone else breathing and walking behind me, but no one was there. I walked back to the cockpit... just in time to see Dash picking up... me! Only it wasn't me!

"Dash!" I yelled as I sprinted towards the other me. "That's not me! Drop it!"

Dash was confused entirely. She dropped the doppelgänger. As it stood, I hit it with a beautiful flying tackle. We hit the edge of the cockpit and tumbled down to the ground. We both stood, facing off.

"What the fuck are you?" I growled.

"I'm you." It answered back... in my voice!

I charged it. It may look like me, it may sound like me, but it sure as hell wasn't trained like me. I gave it a classic one-two to it's nose. It stumbled back and grinned.

"That the best you got?"

"Trust me, there's lots more where that came from, fucker."

...

Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she could towards where the others were.

"Guys!" She yelled. "Guys!"

"What is it?" Twilight asked as Rainbow came to a skidding halt.

"We found the bomber, but there's two Valtons! They're fighting!"

"Oh no." Twilight said. "This isn't good." She immediately bolted into the trees.

"C'mon!" Dash called to the others. "Let's go!"

...

Whatever was copying me was starting to get better at fighting. I had gotten a few good hits in early, but it was quickly getting the upper hand. It was just like I was fighting myself. The copy was reading my moves, and it was predicting my attacks. It had gotten in one good hit on me after blocking, but we both were breathing hard.

"Valton!" I heard someone call. I quickly put my head up and saw Twilight come sprinting in through the trees and skid to a halt as she realized the predicament she was in.

"Twilight, it's me!" I yelled. The doppelgänger yelled too.

"He's the imposter! I'm the real one!"

Twilight looked back and forth between us, then sent a blast of energy into the copy. It landed on it's back, it's disguise flickering as it revealed itself to be one of the things from the plane. It was out, for now.

"Thanks. How did you know that was the copy?"

"I didn't. That spell only effects Changelings. If I'd hit you with it, it wouldn't have done anything."

"Except expose the copy and give him a chance to get away." I walked over to her, limping slightly.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah. He got a cheap shot in." I grinned. "But I got a while lot more in on him." With that, we started to walk back to where the others were, Twilight helping me slightly.

"What did you call that thing again?" I asked. My adrenaline had faded slightly, and I was starting to think about the doppelgänger.

"It was a Changeling. It's able to mimic a pony's body and voice."

"Might want to add movements and reflexes to that list. Guy was fucking copying my every move."

"That's incredible! That means they can mimic thought processes too!" Twilight's eyes shone bright with wonder. A split second later, Rainbow Dash crashed through the trees and knocked both of us flying.

"Where is it?" She cried.

"Out. Thanks to Twilight's magic." I winced as I got up.

"Sorry. Did that hurt?"

"Not much more than when the bastard smacked me with his hoof. Some tape around it, I'll be good." The rest of the group arrived through the trees. They were all asking questions and shouting. I raised my voice.

"I guess an explanation is due for you all."

"Well, yeah." The orange cowpony called. "How was you just a giant then a regular ole pony?"

"Well, to answer that you'd have to talk to Princess Celestia." I winced again as I shifted my weight.

"Well, how 'bout we go back to Twilight's and you can give us your explanation over some fresh baked apple pie?"

"Sure."

...

After some delicious pie, I started explaining:

"As most of you have deduced by now, I'm really not from around here. I don't even really know where 'here' is. I'm from a place called Earth, in a town called Delta in the country of Canada. I lived a pretty normal life. That was, until the Soviet Alliance came into power in another country called Russia. They were evil bastards. In one swift blow, the SA took over all of the continent of Asia and Europe, before nuking the country directly below Canada: the United States of America. They killed millions of soldiers, civilians..." I choked up. "My sister, my parents." I took a breath to steady myself.

"If you lived in 'Canada', why were your parents down in the United States of America?"

"Me. Because I had joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, I had knowledge of Canada's counterattack against the SA. Britain was one of our allies, after all. America was too busy fighting the drug war to bother who was killing who on the other side of the world, so I asked then to go down, thinking they'd be safe. Instead, they were at ground zero for the Manhattan Bomb." I sniffed, my eyes hot and swimming in tears.

"That's horrible!" Rarity had her hoof over her mouth.

"You couldn't have known." Twilight said.

"What's done is done. I can't change the past. I wish I could, but I just can't." I wiped my eyes and continued.

"I wanted revenge on the assholes that killed them. Our Prime Minister declared war on the SA on January 28, 2015. One day later, him and the rest of our capital city were destroyed in nuclear fire. To the East and South, there was only radiation. The military decided to move all operations to the West Coast. Unfortunately, the West Coast was the SA's background. We went up into the air, they knocked us back down just as fast.

"I was promoted to lead a squadron. The only reason was that I had survived more than one sortie. I was given command of five guys. They... they all bought it when I did." I sighed, my tale done. "That's it, I suppose."

There was silence around the table. Then Applejack spoke.

"In the mornin' I can take you back to your plane, if that's OK."

"Yes! Thank you. If I can get the Raptor fixed... Well, let's just say the F-23 is the F-22's younger and weaker brother."

"You can sleep here tonight, Valton." Twilight said.

"Thanks."

...

Later that night, I lay awake, staring at the ceiling.

Not counting the three I got Back There, I'm an ace now! I thought to myself. Just before I drifted off to sleep, I felt the strange tingle on my flanks again.