Coffee vs. Equestriaby aegishailstormChaptersBeat it Until it Works"Diplomatic Relations"Don't Run From RednecksNew ArrivalsBlatant SuccessArmed Historian: Part 1Armed Historian: Part 2Moderately Hasty Tactical Withdrawal"Reasonably Concerned."A Talon Too FarOne World to AnotherAs the Founding Father's IntendedBeat it Until it Works"... And still, the only ones allowed to travel to this other dimension are these... Dangerous people-" Brandon Herrera groaned as he turned off his TV. As usual, the media had blown things way out of proportion, they were lying to the American people for the sole purpose of evoking feelings of resentment. Whatever, anyone with half a brain wouldn't have any of it. He had work to do. It had been roughly 3 whole weeks since Twilight and her friends had stumbled across a group of humans in the Everfree forest, these humans had helped her in defeating Nightmare Moon. This was due in part to the fact that these men possessed equipment and tactics far beyond what had previously been seen in Equestria, or anywhere else on Equis, for that matter. Since first contact, the 2 species had gotten along quite well. The Americans had been quiet sociable and open about most things. Though, no matter however many blogs and or videos they posted on social media, the American government seemed to take very little interest in the dimension which had just recently become accessible through a portal in the Texas wilderness. Though the civilian populace did, despite their inability to actually travel there. The original group of 7 human's which had traveled there eventually had to go back to earth, but they still occasionally traveled back to visit. To make things easier on the Equestrian side, they had expanded on the camp which they had established when they first arrived in Equestria. Dubbing it, " Point Liberty." Of course, the money for this stuff had to come from somewhere, the Equestrian government contributed some money. But the majority had come from Black Rifle Coffee. And now, with the camp nearing completion, some of their members had decided to make the journey over to Equestria to check it out. And, coincidentally, Brandon Herrera had been on site to welcome them. To an unusually sunny Everfee morning, of all things. Brandon checked his watched, then peered over to his right. "Good morning Twilight." He greeted her with a thumbs up. "Good morning Brandon. What are you doing out here so earlier?" Twilight asked as she trotted up to him and looked though the portal at the camp's center. " I'm uh, waiting for some friends of mine. They're not the one's from before." She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, who are they then?" She tapped the dirt with her hooves. Brandon glanced over at her, " Like I said, friends. You'll see." All of a sudden the portal lit up. And out from it stepped 12 men and a pair of trucks, one Humvee, and one lifted pickup. Among them was a few familiar faces, Donut, Garand Thumb, otherwise known as Mike, Scott from Kentucky ballistics, and Angry the Drill Sargent. Mike's camera man, Charlie was also present. But with them was 6 men which Twilight didn't recognize. The vehicles pulled into the dusty lot one after the other, all parked side by side. Their passengers dismounted, and immediately went to staring down at Twilight in awe. "Wow, you know, I didn't know what I was expecting. I mean, I was surprised when I saw the footage of them, you know, multicolored talking horses aren't something you see every day. Especially not when they can also levitate shit and fly. Pleased to meet you Twilight Sparkle, I go by Matt Best, this is Jared, that's Richard, that over there's Logan, that's Eli, and that... Is Evan." They all waved to the purple unicorn. "And of course, you're already familiar with them, right?" Twilight smiled, " Yes, of course. Angry, Donut, Mike, Scott, and Charlie." Angry breathed in a gulp of fresh air. " Ah, it's to be back in this shithole. Still better than Iraq ain't it guys!?" He turned to the newcomers, who were all quick to nod back. "So..." Twilight began, " You're all in the same line of work as Brandon and the other's?" Even Hafer shook his head, " No, we just share similar interests. Brandon builds guns, we just make coffee." She raised an eyebrow. " Well, what are you doing here?" Jared scratched the back of his neck. "Well, we wanted to see what all the hype was about, so we drove down here." Twilight looked over at their trucks, " I hope you don't mind if I take a look around those machines of yours later?" Matt shrugged, " Sure, just don't break anything, Scott and Donut could tell you all about it, right now, I'd actually like to get settled in. Same goes for my friends." He motioned to the camp around them. The humans and Twilight parted ways. Far from the resident's of Point Liberty, a rather interesting situation was unfolding in the Griffon Kingdom. A recent food shortage on account of general incompetence had caused a revolt. And the kingdom's top generals had been amount the first to take advantage of the chaos. Rallying the majority of the kingdoms citizens against the current regime. The already broken nation devolved into civil war, as soon as the fighting had reached the the front gates of the king's castle, the King and his staff had retreated to a bunker far below. Leaving what few forces which had remained loyal to him to die. "Sire." One of his personal guards called out, pressing his ear to the door, as soon as he did so, it burst open, pinning him against the wall. His screams of pain were drowned out by the sound of armored claws scraping the ground and swords clashing. As the fighting went on, a dark figure stepped through the door, dressed in shiny black armor with yellow stripes. On the far side of the room, a second figure rose up. The King of the Griffons. "Hello there, my king." "General Blackhawk, It appears as though you have won." "Yep." The armored griffon rushed forward and impaled the king with his talons, before letting the body fall to the cold stone ground. The remaining members of the kings guard, seeing that their leader was gone, all turned to bow to the General. "What now?" One of them asked with uncertainty. "This land has been ravaged, if we are to restore it to it's former glory we must seek resources from elsewhere." One of the griffons behind him raised a talon, " Are you proposing that we invade Equestria? They have been nothing but kind to us for centuries! Plus, there have been rumors that the so called, 'mare in the moon,' has returned and taken up a spot on the throne. " Blackhawk deadpanned. "Rally the troops, we march on Canterlot immediately!" Back at Point Liberty, the members of BRCC had just finished off loading their stuff, and had all gone off to doing their own things. Most of them, after the long ride down Matt's Texas ranch to get to the rift, had just decided to take a nap. The other's were busy explaining the concept of automobiles and why trucks are fundamentally better than cars to Twilight. "So, it works by burning ancient dinosaurs?" She asked out of the blue, Scott nodded. " Yep, pretty much. Hey, I'm hungry, are there any good places to eat in Ponyville?" Twilight looked over at the other men, and nodded. "Yes, there are, though it's quite a long walk from here-" " That trail's more than big enough to take our trucks on, hey, everyone! Wanna eat out in Ponyville?" A thumb shot out from a vent in one of the roofs. " What do they have there?" Charlie questioned, followed by, " I'm not eating hay!" From Brandon and Angry. Evan Hafer emerged from a nearby tent. "Hey, start the coffee machine!" Twilight cocked her head to the side. " What coffee machine?" Scott waved her over to the rear of the Humvee, and unlocked the trunk. Within was a fully functional coffee machine, and several bags of coffee beans. "Got thing while I was deployed, it's a real classic." He tried starting it up, but nothing happened, he tried again, and again, and again. Until finally, it rumbled to life. "There we go!" As soon as he turned to looked back at Twilight it sputtered again and began rumbling. "Let me give it a go!" Angry slid across the top of the Humvee and landed right in front of the defunct machine. "Hey Mike, get the camera rolling!" He smacked it on the top with his fist, and all at once the rumbling stopped. "See? What'd I tell you!? Violence always works!" He shut the machine off, " We'll wait 'till we're in town to start it back up." "And, no it doesn't! Sure, 10 percent of the time it does, but other 90 percent usually ends in a lawsuit!" Brandon responded. The other members of the team laughed. " I... Don't think I understand." Twilight muttered, " You will eventually." Garand Thumb reassured her as the rest of them piled into the vehicles. "Diplomatic Relations"The pair of trucks thundered down the foggy trail that ran from deep in the Everfree forest, all the way to the outskirts of Ponyville. Twilight galloped alongside them, doing her best to keep up. Luckily for her, the crowd of rednecks, gun nuts, and veterans were in no hurry. Despite the fact that by this point their hunger had made them all grumpy. "Hey, Twilight!" Jared shouted out the window. " How much longer!?" She shot a glare over at the truck. "Not much longer." he rolled his eyes, and kicked back. " Hey Mike!?" Jared called out. Garand Thumb looked out the window of the Humvee, " How about some music?" There just happened to be a set of enormous speakers attached to the top which were supposed to be used to broadcast surrender appeals. But he had them blast, " 'Murica." By Earl Dribble's Jr. to both boost their spirit's, and make a point. It was about this time that the distant rooftops of downtown Ponyville came into sight though the trees. "There it is!" Twilight shouted over the roar of the engines. The humans couldn't help but snicker at it. Twilight led them down a sideroad to a small 60's looking dinner just off the dirt road. " Well this place looks trustworthy." Brandon whispered to Angry, who nodded in agreement. "Whatever, I'm hungry, c'mon guys!" They dismounted and casually strolled inside before Twilight had a chance to stop them. They immediately regretted their decision. Being that no one had bothered to tell the occupants of said restaurant that they would be getting a visit from a dozen or so heavily armed and armored humans. And the pair of trucks outside were another matter entirely. And now, all eyes were on them. The mare behind the counter blinked in confusion as the team sat down at the bar alongside the counter. Twilight trotted in after them. " They're with me." She reassured the ponies in the dinner the waitress chuckled, and looked up at Matt. " Good morning ma'am. You got pancakes? You guy's are good with pancakes, right?" Jared and Logan raised their hands. "How 'bout some eggs and bacon?" "You... Eat bird eggs?" They all laughed. " Tell you what, we'll just have the pancakes, and some butter as well. We'll take care of the rest." Mike said with a smile. Evan jumped up and went for the cooler. Jared got up as well. " we had food in the cooler all along?" "We didn't want you eating it on the way here!" Evan shouted from outside as he unpacked a barbeque and a set of pans. And simultaneously started up the coffee machine. "Alright, who's paying?" Bandon asked the others. They all looked at each other with uncertainty. Then Logan turned to the mare behind the counter. " Do you take USD?" She raised an eyebrow, and looked over at the line of customers which had slowly began to form behind them. "Uh... What's USD?" Twilight went up to the counter. "Please excuse my friends, they're new around here. Here, I'll by for them." She reached into her book bag and pulled out 5 small gold coins. The pony behind the counter gleefully took them and trotted off, shouting orders to the kitchen. " Twilight?" Matt snapped his fingers. " Just out of curiosity, that wasn't real gold, was it?" She facehoofed. " Actually, it is. They're called bits. They're the standard currency for Equestria." They all turned to look at each other with the stark realization that the average Equestrian would most likely be a millionaire by earth standards. that's when Matt got a great idea. " Let's open a coffee shop in Ponyville! Evan?" A head shot up from behind the humvee. " Coffee shop, here!? I love it!" Jared pointed down at the grill. " Foods gonna be ready in a few minutes, grab your plates and line up now, or it's mine!" "But what about your pancakes?" Scott held up a finger. " We'll get it afterwards. You can never eat enough." "Say's the person with an empty stomach!" Brandon laughed. Twilight and a few of the other ponies in line looked looked at him with concern. The rest tried their best to avoid eye contact, but to give credit where credit's due. they didn't all panic and run when the humans first walked in. "Hey Twilight, you ever tried bacon before?" Matt questioned. "No, I haven't. But I suppose I can give it a try." "That's my unicorn! Next question, can ponies eat meat?" Angry asked, butting his hands on on his hips. Twilight rubbed her chin for a few moments, "...Yes?" Matt returned her statement with a thumbs up, and waved her outside just as Jared called out, " We've got brisket as well!" The team sat outside the dinner around a table with their food. Twilight may have been skeptical of eating meat for the first time, but now she quite literally couldn't have enough of it. It was about this time when Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash strolling by when they noticed the humans and armored vehicles parked outside the dinner. "Hey there Twi, what's going on here?" Rainbow bounded over to them and looked at the dozen or so humans devouring their food. "Mph, pardon me ma'am." Matt spun around on his chair and stared eye to eye with Rainbow. "Name's Matt. How' you doing? I've heard quite a few things about you." "Good things... I hope?" Matt laughed, " Sorta. Hey, do you 2 want something to eat?" They looked at one another, "What's that?" Fluttershy pointed to the bacon. "Oh... That's bacon!" Jared responded. " It's pig meat." He explained. Fluttershy let out a squeak, " P-pig meat?" Mike nodded, " Hey, if you don't wanna eat it, that's fine by us. No one's forcing you." She backed off. " Don't worry about her, she's scared of her own shadow." Twilight explained to them. Evan snapped his fingers as he finished his food. " Heh, my shadow's scared of me!" A roar of laughter arose from the table as they washed down their meal with coffee. " Hey Rainbow. I've got some stuff to do, would you mind showing them around Ponyville?" She gave Twilight a grin. But Eli stopped her before they could part ways. "Do we just leave our trucks here?" Rainbow scowled. " I'm sure they'll be fine." Angry shrugged. " She's right, this doesn't look like the crowd that'd be in the business of carjacking. Lock 'em just in case. " "Are you implying you don't usually lock your trucks?" Mike muttered under his breath as he slip out from his chair. Angry facepalmed, then pointed at the Humvee. "No-I, I do. I was just reminding you all." He walked away grumbling in irritation. "Diplomatic relations my ass. We can barely keep ourselves together!" The team watched as the angry drill sergeant stomped his way back into the forest and out of sight. "Should we... Go after him?" Brandon Herrera asked with uncertainty. Donut waved it off, " Eh, he didn't bother to bring a gun with him, but then again... It's him. He probably doesn't need one." The rest of them laughed at that, meanwhile the 3 ponies continued their stare of confusion. In an instant, they all stopped their argument and turned to face Rainbow. " Please, lead the way." Evan gestured down at the dirt road. Angry leisurely strolled through the forest, kicking up the grass as he went along with the soles of his steel toed boots. As chance would have it, he stumbled into a patch of bushes. "Oww-" The bush cried out, stopping as soon as Angry pulled himself out of it and looked down. Just in time to watch a tail disappear into it. He scowled, and slowly rubbed his chin. "Well... That's not supposed to be there, or is it?" Without a second thought he reached into the bush and rummaged around in it until he grabbed hold of what felt like a large bird. "You're not getting away this time!" He yanked it out, and swung his right fist all at the same time. Fortunately, he actually recognized the magical creature he had just pulled out of the bush. It was a griffon. And a very, very unhappy one at that. " What are you doing here?" Angry asked, shaking the griffon by his head. " What are you?" The creature sputtered out. Disregarding Angry's demand. "Well... I'm..." He nervously glance over his shoulder, but Angry snapped the giffons head back to himself. "Look at me little one, what are you fuck doing here!?" Just as the griffon opened his beak to give an answer, several dozen figures emerged from woods around Angry. They were armed with a mix of crudely made swords and spears. Angry calmly surveyed the scene while going though his potential courses or action. But settled with chucking the griffon currently in his hands into the nearest one and bolting away at full speed. It wasn't a retreat, it was a tactical withdrawal. Being that he was going for his guns which he had left in the bed of a truck on the outskirts of Ponyville. That, and he wanted to get his friends in on the action as well. Don't Run From Rednecks"You live in a library?" Brandon asked Twilight with a raise of his hand. She glanced over at the others. "Yes? I mean, I used to live in Canterlot. I just moved here a little while ago." He shrugged, " Fair enough. Everyone's there at some point of their life. Well, I don't know about living in a library but I'm sure you get the point. " She nodded back. "Guy's, guy's! I made a few new friends in the forest!" Angry waved down at the group from a nearby rooftop. Donut clutched his head. " What the hell are you doing?" Before the drill sergeant could provide a response he was tackled by a pair of griffons dressed in crude armor. Angry snatched one by the throat and threw him as hard as he could beak first into the ground below. "Man, forgive me if I'm mistaken. They aren't acting like very good friends." Donut remarked with a voice full of sarcasm. Brandon and Garand both waved at Angry. " Should we help him?" They both shouldered their rifles, but didn't raise them fully. They wanted to wait and see if Angry could handle them alone. And, sure enough. The end result of their patience was a half dozen unconscious griffons and a drill sergeant content with his work. With the immediate threat over, he proceeded to slap one of his victims awake and begin feverishly questioning them. "Is he... Ok?" Rainbow Dash asked the other humans, " Yeah, pretty much. You don't mess with Angry and get away with it unscathed. His personality is quite literally summed up in his name." Scott explained to Twilight, who was still in awe at the way Angry was berating the already traumatized griffons. "Why are you here? Why did you attack me? Who sent you!? Tell me god damnit!" He raised one by the collar of it's armor. Needless to say, all the conflict had attracted quite a crowd. Fluttershy was among them. And she was most certainty not a fan of his methods. Now as far as Angry was concerned, she was entitled to her own opinion, though the yelling was a tad bit annoying. "Ma'am, with all due respect. Could you please shut up? All you're gonna do is annoy him." She decided to leave them alone. Just as she began to leave, the griffon finally began answering Angry's questions. " Um... We were out on a hunting trip-" Angry laughed. " Hunting trip? Well, if you were on a hunting trip then there wouldn't have been any reason to attack me!" "You picked me up by the throat!" The griffon sputtered out. "Oh yeah, than what's that patch on your armor?" Twilight spoke up from the back. " Hold on, I think I recognize it from an old book about the Griffon empire." Brandon raised his right hand. "Does that mean there's more to this world then ponies?" Twilight nodded. " Yep, there's griffons, dragons, minitour's, diamond dog's, buffalo, yak's. The list goes on." He rubbed his eyes, "Good god, what have we gotten ourselves into. Donut?" "Hey, don't ask me. They didn't tell me jack shit." He responded. Matt tapped on Twilight's shoulder, " Your friend's with this nation's leaders, correct?" "Are you referring to Pincess Celestia and Princess Luna?" He nodded. It was then when Garand Thumb got an idea, " hey Angry, ask the griffon where the rest of his unit is stationed. Twilight raised an eyebrow. " What are you implying Mike?" She asked. "The insignia on his armor is that of the griffon empire. So what else would he be doing in Equestrian territory?" The griffon blinked. " I don't know what you're talking about." Angry rolled his eyes. " Say's the overgrown bird who can't keep a straight face, please answer Mike's question. And we'll let you go." "Wait... Really?" "Sure." Brandon responded. " There's no reason to keep you here, so it's either we let you go. Or," He moved his thumb across his throat in a slashing motion. The creature on the ground understood Brandon's gesture perfectly. "They're southwest of the Everfree forest." Angry crossed his arms, " Where southwest of the Everfree forest exactly?" The griffon looked at the rest of them. "You know what? I'm done with this!" The griffon rolled out of the way of Angry and took bounded over a building and down a side street. The humans' just stood there in utter silence, at last. Matt raised his hand. "Should we... Go after him?" Before anyone else could respond. Angry had already taken off. " Twilight, we'll be back in a moment. Would you mind looking after these fool's while we chase after our friend?" Twilight nodded. " Don't worry, we can handle ourselves." Rainbow Dash touted, Mike and Donut fought to keep themselves from bursting into laughter. Matt and the BRCC member's just let it rip. But swiftly waved it off and continued on their way. "Angry, man, wait up!!!" Brandon Herrera cried out, they were almost back to the trucks when they heard the distinct rumbling of a tank engine coming the the tree line. " Guy's!?" He called out to the rest of the group. " Yeah, we hear it too. We didn't bring any armored vehicles through the rift!" Donut responded. Mike stopped to catch his breath for a moment. " Sure that couldn't be something else?" Brandon scratched his head. "Nothing natural could make that noise. Damn, I the RPG at home. Hey, did anyone here bring any-" "No, no we didn't!" Evan called back. The team watched as Angry franticly chased the escaping griffon down the dirt road leading out of town. Out of the forest emerged an M18 Hellcat tank destroyer. Which came to a grinding halt right before the griffon and the Drill Sargent. While the griffon froze in his track's to admire the steel behemoth, Angry tackled him once more. The driver's hatch opened. Revealing none other than... The other Matt, from Demolition Ranch. From the turret hatches emerged John Lovell and Lucas Botkin. " Thought you needed help, we came as soon as we could!" John shouted. Lucas bounded down off the turret and clamped all 4 of the griffon's talon's, and both his wing's with zip ties. " Thanks, this griffon made off right in the middle of Angry's interrogation. Speaking of the Sargent, he wasn't too happy about the escape attempt. "Now... Little one. Here's what's gonna happen, we're gonna tie you to the front of this here armored vehicle, and you're gonna lead our convoy to your camp. Is that understood?" Before the griffon could respond, John had already dismounted from the vehicle alongside Lucas and pinned the creature to the hull. "Now, start squawking!" Angry yelled into his face. New ArrivalsThe griffon blinked. But before he could respond to Angry's demand the human's climbed on board. A few moment's later the vehicle lurched forward. It rumbled down the road for about 2 minutes before halting in front of the Dinner. Where the assortment of heavily armed Americans proceeded to dismount and head to their vehicles. From there they drove straight though Ponyville to the town Library. Where Twilight was still keeping watch of the griffon captives on their behalf. Her gaze nonchalantly shifted from the convoy, to the panicking townsfolk, to the griffons, and finally back to the convoy. Though, she didn't speak out about it. "We caught him!" Brandon shouted. The convoy pulled off to the side of the road and parked side by side. " He's chained to the front of the Hellcat. That's the big tracked thing over there. Twilight nodded. "Isn't that a little too extreme?" They all blinked in unison, and simultaneously burst out into roaring laugher. "Greeting's ma'am, my name's Lucas Botkin. This is John Lovell." Twilight exchanged handshakes, or rather... Hoofshakes? With the pair. Scott waved from the back of the group. " No, no it isn't. He tried to escape, this is his punishment. We could have been a lot harsher. After all, while the United Sates of America technically signed the Geneva convention, Congress never ratified it." The laughing continued. " What's the... Geneva convention?" A voice asked from the sky. It was Rainbow Dash, back from wherever she had flown off to before. Brandon spoke up, " It's a... Document that was created by the united Nation's to prevent war crime's... In theory." He trailed off. Rainbow gave him a simple shrug. "Ok." And landed at Twilight's side. "Twilight, do you mind we change into our battle kit in your library?" Brandon asked, Twilight responded with a smile, "sure, just don't break anything." She lit her horn and opened the front door for them. " Hey, quick question. "Lucas waved, " How does the horn work?" Twilight looked at the newcomers, as well as the BRCC team which had opted to wait their turn. She looked at them and rubbed her chin. " It's magic!" John responded with a sarcastic grin. " Yes, that was quite apparent, but how does it work?" Twilight scratched his chin. " No pony really knows, it's... How do you say? Innate to the various species of pony. There's unicorn's, like myself who can cast spell's with our horns. Pegasi, like Rainbow Dash who can control the weather, and fly. Earth ponies, like Applejack over there who can manipulate nature." "Flying, spell casting? Cool, if I could I would totally rock that." Twilight stared at him in confusion. John looked over his shoulder to see what Twilight was waving at, making her way down the road towards the library was an orange mare with a cowboy hat. " Hey Twi!" She waved back, " Who are these two?" "I'm John Lovell, this is Lucas Botkin, we're here for the same reason as our friends. Nice hat by the way." She tipped it. " Thanks." She looked around at the various cuffed griffons lying on the ground. " Prisoner's of war." Evan called out. Applejack scanned the roadway. " Do ya need any help with anything?" John shook his head. " Nope, not that I'm aware of." " Ok then, I'm up by Sweet Apple Acres if you ever need anything." She trotted off. Lucas nudged John's elbow. " These may be some of the most colorful and... Interesting townsfolk we're ever come across." John looked back at him, " You're implying we've been on an adventure like this before... Which we haven't. Well, at least not you, I've actually been overseas." "Fair point, but then again. Have you ever been to a place like this?" John rolled his eyes. The other's emerged from the library, geared from head to toe with a mix of ballistic plate carrier's, chest rig's, battle belts, helmet's, balaclavas, and night vision. The timing couldn't have been more convenient as the sun had begun to set over the horizon. " What do you think guy's, turn in for the night or go ahead with the ambush?" Mike lowered his GP-NVG 18's over his eyes and smiled. " What do you think Brandon?" "Let's go!" The dozen or so men piled into the 3 vehicle's and drove off. Leaving Twilight and her friend's in the dust. The human's had left them with order's to hand them off to the Equestrian government, who would have them moved to the Canterlot dungeon. A rather merciful end considering the fact that they had attempted to ambush and lynch Angry. While they dealt with them, the human's, alongside the griffon they had bound the the front of their Hellcat were on a warpath with the force's of the griffon empire. Except, the griffon's didn't know they were at war yet. The convoy drove down the dirt road out of Ponyville as discretely as possible, even their headlight's were off, they were going along by night vision only. The Hellcat was first in the convoy, followed up by the 4 by 4's. A Hummer and a Raptor. " Should we go in loud or quiet?" Scott radioed over to the team member's in the Hellcat. The response was the slow and steady rumbling of the engine. "I believe that answer's your question." Donut quipped. John, Meanwhile was busy making sure that the griffon was leading them in the right direction. Which led to them taking their vehicles through stretch of woodland that would have been better off crossed on foot. The dirt road they were on turned to low grass, which soon devolved into the Everfree forest. After just a few minute's of driving through the brush the unit began to make out the distant fires off the griffon camp. As the the Hellcat cleared the way, the human's in the other 2 vehicle's preformed final check's on their weapons and comms. "Guy's, get your PEQ's on!" Evan's voice called out over the radio. The lead tank destroyer broke out of the treeline and stopped in the middle of a dirt pathway leading right into the center of the griffon's camp. Without wasting a minute Matt turned the vehicle around and sped down the path while John took up a position on the M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun fixed atop it's open turret. "You sure it's ok to use this? .50 BMG cost's a fortune nowadays!" John called down. " Sure. Music?" The last voice had come from Donut. " Aren't we supposed to use those to broadcast surrender appeals?" The comms once filled with laughter. "Oh, right. I forgot who I was rolling with. Carry on." The griffon's in the camp had heard the convoy approaching long ago, but had never bothered to investigate the strange rumbling noise, passing it off as just another creature in the forest. Nor had they ever bothered to send out search parties for their missing comrades who, were currently enjoying a nice dark sell tucked away in the dungeons below Canterlot. "Alright! We'll let the Hellcat go on ahead and clear a path, then we follow and clean up any stragglers. " Angry blew a rather anti climactic war horn. As the air was filled with the sound of Jerry Reed singing, " Eastbound and Down." Blatant SuccessAngry poked his head out the side window of the Hummer. "Well? Start shooting!" He shouted. His reply was met the roar of the M2 browning, and an arrow wizzing through his hat. Which prompted him to get his head back inside the vehicle. he looked over at Mike, " I thought you said they couldn't see in the dark!?" "Lucky shot!" He responded, he could see dozen's of figures moving around within the confines of the camp though his NOD's. " You heard him." The other's joined in with John just as the lead vehicle in the convoy broke through the outer confines of the camp. The war cry's of the griffon's soon devolved into cries to terror and confusion. As the human's onboard the truck's effortlessly brought down one after the other with their rifles. The various bonfire's of the camp casted ominous shadow's across the carnage. "Sir!" An armor clad griffon franticly shook general Blackhawk awake. " Ugh, what is it soldier?" A gunshot echoed in the distance. " We're under attack!" He scrambled to all four's and grabbed his short sword. "By who? The Equestrian's?" The massive metal figure of a 4 by 4 drove past the opening of the tent. " No! We don't know who it is. We need to get you out of here!" The 2 rushed outside, but a soon as they had left the confine's of the tent a bullet flew through the guard's head. Splattering blood across the general's face. He scanned his immediate surrounding's, and laid eyes on the being who had fired the shot. Garand Thumb glanced over him for only a moment before turning away to reload. "Oh well then. I suppose that would be my signal to leave. " Blackhawk murmured, he turned and flew off into the dark sky of the Everfree forest. He was headed back to Griffonstone to acquire more troop's. He and his subsidiaries had not expected a sudden ambush in the dead of night. Especially not by heavily armed American's. But to be fair, it wasn't like they could have prepared for it. Even if their forward scout's had returned they still would have lost this battle. Back on the ground thing's were going quite poorly for the griffon force's. After downing the majority of the opposing forces within the first few minute's, those in the Hummer and Raptor had dismounted and fought onwards on foot. Their night vision, suppressed rifles, and infrared mounted laser's gave them an enormous advantage. Which in broad daylight wouldn't have given them much of an advantage against the giffonic forces, given that they could fly and possessed talons. But given the nature of the engagement they currently found themselves in , they were entirely outclassed. The battle was over before the hour was up. As the remainder of the griffon forces surrendered, the humans took a few moment's to take in the carnage. Which, being that most of them were either ex military or law enforcement, was nothing special. Though it's not everyday you fight a conflict based around mythical creatures. "Damn." Brandon Herrera sighed to himself as he looked over the battlefield. He glanced over at Scott, who was busy pulling a fistful of arrows out of his plate carrier. "They're tougher than they look, still no match for us though, eh?" Scott touted. John walked up from behind, " Take care, we might have won this battle, but what about the next?" The other human's approached him. "We need to get back to Twilight, I don't want to go in with zero intel next time." Lucas Botkin glanced over at Evan, who looked around at his compatriot's. " What Botkin said! We'll deal with the mess we made here later!" The human's once more boarded their vehicles and took off. "Hey, quick question, did anyone see their C.O?" Mike asked the team over the comm's. Matt pounded on the back windshield of the vehicle in front of them and shook his head. " No, at least... I think we did, it was dark out side, and we didn't even know what to look for. I propose we go back and question our POW's some more." Mike looked out the window. "Aye, I'm sure they're being treated just fine." Donut chuckled, " Yeah, I've seen a lot of weird shit in my day. Those ponies don't look like the good cop- bad cop type. " Another laugh rose up from the convoy. "You there! Where's Twilight?" The convoy had stopped on the side of the road leading into Ponyville to question one of it's inhabitants, a pegasus mare with crooked eyes, something Brandon and the other's found rather humorous. They wern't going to bother asking why she would out so late. John dismounted from the Hellcat and struck up a conversation. "Oh, hit there! My name's Derpy! How are you?" The mare waved even though he was standing above her. He couldn't help but smile at the gesture. " Hello there Derpy. Do you happen to know where Twilight Sparkle went? We're looking for her." She blinked at him for a moment. Then pointed off into the distance, towards the mountain top city which Twilight had identified as, " Canterlot." "Are you sure?" She nodded her head, but before she could leave Brandon pulled out his phone and snapped off a picture of her." For the internet." Lovell shook his head and climbed back into the turret of the Hellcat. But before they started back up Matt poked his head out the back window of the Raptor. " Are you sure we've got enough gas to drive all the way to the capital?" Scott poked at the fuel gauge and grunted." Yep, we do, I topped it off way back in San Antonio." "So... How do we get to Canterlot?" Scott realized that Derpy had flown off before he was able to get an answer. " Pick a road that run's parallel to the rail line, we shouldn't hit much traffic. " The convoy started up again, headed down the main road through and out of Ponyville. About 2(ish) hour's of driving later... " Lucas, it's Matt Best. Are you sure we're going the right way?" The Hellcat stopped at the top of a hill. Matt slammed the steering wheel of the hummer and picked " Take a look for yourself. You're the one in front. Could we switch places? We're out of the hot zone, we'd go a lot faster if we went first." Botkin pulled and Matt pulled themselves out of the driver's hatch. " Good idea, go on and pass us!" The two truck's in the convoy went on ahead of the Hellcat, while it continued behind them a a much more leisurely pace. The clock on the dash of a three vehicle's read 650 hour's, and the sun had begun to rise over the eastern horizon as the sparkling tower's of Canterlot came into view of the convoy. " Guy's, we're here!" The group gazed on in amazement as the 3 vehicles rumbled through the front gates. The guard's on either side just let them pass. And they soon found out why, Rainbow Dash appeared overhead with the news that the royal's were..." Expecting them." They were fine with, the team wanted 3 thing's, breakfast, sleep, and access to their POW's. Armed Historian: Part 1The flock of armed griffon soldier's flew over the Everfree forest heading Northwest. Ian had actually agreed to come with them. And, not knowing that he was actually armed to the figurative teeth, they brought the historian along with them. He was fine with it, Ian was actually fine with it. It wasn't every day you got to fly with mythical creatures. And it wasn't like he was about to pass the opportunity up. While Ian headed to the griffon kingdom to hopefully contact their leadership and learn about their species, the other American's were busy surveying Canterlot on a semi guided tour. While Angry and a few other's headed down to the dungeon to interrogate a POW. The majority of the outfit was taking a tour with Princess Celestia. Their first stop was the guest rooms. The team stepped though the front gates of the castle and began making their way down the castle's ornate hallway's. " While John and Scott did their best to stay humble at the sight of the magnificent architecture. Brandon and the rest of them couldn't help but gawk at it. While it was no Texas Salon. It was still pretty impressive. Whilst most of them had visited a castle at some point in their life, this was something else entirely. It was quite literally something right out of a fantasy story. "Hey, Celestia. How did you build this place?" She chuckled, " It took quite a bit of magic, for the most part the ponies of Equestria were more than happy to assist with it's construction. I would have had my sister help. But she was banished to the moon at the time." Brandon scratched his neck, "Oh, yeah. How did she manage to survive a thousand years up there anyway?" John Lovell glanced over at Celestia as though he had seen a ghost. " Well... Who banished her? And for what?" "I did. Brandon, Donut, Scott. You all remember what happened at my old castle a few weeks ago." They all nodded in agreement. " I wasn't there, would anyone here care to explain it to me?" A book appeared in the air, lit by Celestia's magic. On it's cover was the gilded drawing of a unicorn head. " This should answer all of your questions better than I could. He nodded, " Thank you very much ma'am." "You are a 'Warrior Poet' after all man." Donut chimed in. John grunted and stuffed the book into his backpack. As Celestia led them a bit further to the guest rooms. There was more than enough space available for the humans present. The rooms themselves each contained several beds, dressers, bathrooms, and assorted decorations. All of the rooms featured a wonderful window facing northeastward towards the river which flew from Canterhorn lake, the lake created by the waterfall which flowed from Canterlot. And speaking of Mount Canterhorn's water fall, it rivaled Angel Fall's on earth. Of course, one was situated in the middle of a remote jungle in the middle of a socialistic hellhole of a nation. The other was located in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. It would do for now. Whilst the BRCC team and Texan's were getting settled in, Luna was leading Angry and a few other's though the dungeons below Canterlot. Whilst most people would be disgusted by the sight of it. Angry cheerfully walked alongside the Princess. "Bagh!!! You call this a dungeon? I've seen worse daycare center's in Fayetteville!" Luna looked over at him. " What?" He shrugged, Mike laughed. " Damn right they are. I mean, hell... I could live in one of these cells." He unassumingly kicked the bar's of the one closest from him. He immediately regretted his decision when something came out of the darkness and clawed at the bars. Luna ignited her horn, and the being retreated back into the darkness. Angry folded his arms. " Eh, still seen worse. "Mike flipped the cell off, and they continued on. " Hi Princess, I have two questions for you." Luna looked over at Mike. " Go on then." He scratched the back of his head, " First of all, is this the only prison in your nation. My friend's and I find it really odd that you decided to keep stuff like whatever that thing was under your capital. I mean, there's a reason we don't have a prison in Washington D.C. They've got jail's, sure. But no major prisons." She raised an eyebrow. " Washington D.C... That's the name of your nation's capital, right?Well... We have another one named Tartarus, but we haven't had many reason's to use it, there isn't exactly much crime in Equestria." Mike shrugged, "I kind of figured that. Still, isn't it a security issue?" She pulled a key from her saddlebag's and opened a cell door. " No, not to my knowledge." Mike chuckled at her remark. "Forgive me if I don't trust your knowledge over my experience. " The three of them turned to look at the griffon that had tried to get away from them the day prior. His eye's widened as Angry stared him down. "Oh, it's you again. " He snarled. The creature sounded more depressed than anything else, that wouldn't dissuade Angry or Mike from getting answers. "The location you gave us turned out to be the camp we were looking for. Thank you for being truthful." The griffon crossed his talons and looked away. "Angry snapped his finger's, " Hey! You'll look our way while we're addressing you, is that understood you little shit!?" He sighed, and turned back around. " Look, I get why you put me here. But I can assure you, none of those other griffon's are friend's of mine. Heck, I only joined General Blackhawk's revolution because of the free food. " "Heh, well. I've heard worse excuses in my time. But that's understandable, now. When we attacked your camp. We didn't find any trace of this 'General Blackhawk. Cool name by the way, that his real one?" The griffon shrugged. " I don't know, they don't tell me anything. " "Anyway," Mike continued. " Where could he have gone?" The griffon swallowed. " Umm..." "Aw shut up!!! You must know something! I've dealt with my share of enemy combatants in my day. I can tell when they're lyin'." Angry snapped, the creature recoiled back. " Hey, what's your name? You do have one, right?" The griffon brightened up. "Red Wing. Yours?" "Mike. Call me Garand." He shifted his rifle on his back slightly. Angry leaned forward. "Well, you gonna tell us?" Luna watched the conversation from the doorway. Meanwhile in Griffonstone... Ian set his boot's down on the dusty road in front of a castle, a few moment's later, the portcullis rumbled open. The griffon's that had brought him in mumbled something about "Renovations." He shrugged it off and unassumingly walked through. He was immediately approached by a griffon wearing slightly more ornate armor than the other's. He assumed that he was of higher rank than the other's. " Heh, reminds me a bit of Scotland." The creature cocked his head to the sight and squinted at the human. "What's Scotland? And what are you?" Armed Historian: Part 2Ian Macullom scowled. The eclectic historian tapped his boot against the cold ground. Then shrugged " Well, I suppose it's more that fair that you wouldn't know what, or where Scotland is. " He smiled, and extended his open hand to the griffon. "Well? Be a good mannered griffon and shake my hand." He calmly insisted, the griffon leaned forward and shook his hand with a talon. "Very well then, I'd like to inspect your castle now. " He pulled a Sherlock Homes esque magnifying glass out of his coat pocket and began making his way into the castle. "That coward." Red Wing scowled, ruffling his wing's as Garand took a seat on a nearby bench. "What do you mean by that?" "He ran while the other's died on mass." Angry chuckled, "Eh, they put an arrow through my hat. You mess with one vet, you get us all!" Mike raised his water bottle in agreeance as he took a sip. " Damn right we are. Mister Wing, we aren't even the real military, we're just a couple of civilians and ex-spec ops guys LARPing our way through life. Trust me, you don't want all out war them." Luna nodded in the corner. She simply replied with "Aye." "He's most likely hiding out in his castle back in Griffonstone." Garand blinked and rubbed his eyes. " Where is that?" The creature raised his eyebrow. " It should be Northwest of here. It's about a 2 hour flight for me." Garand nodded in affirmation, and leaned over to Angry to inform him that Red was talking about his wing's, not aircraft. "Alright, thank you for your help." The 2 men looked at one another, then walked out of the cell without uttering another word. Leaving the Princess behind to lock it. " What would you have done to him?" Luna asked in a slightly annoyed tone. " Release him once we've found this 'General Blackhawk'. Not before, while he does seem too be telling the truth, you can never be to careful when it come's to POW's." Whilst Mike, A.C, and Luna were making their way back to the surface, Brandon and the BRCC team were touring the castle. Donut and both Matt's had taken a liking to the massive kitchen. Being the freedom loving Texan chad's that they were. The whole team greatly enjoyed barbeque. Not that vegan, soy nonsense. Meat, freshly cut from Texan owned ranches. Now, whilst there wasn't much anything resembling steak here, something did still smell damn good. Donut noticed it first. "Are those... Donut's?" "Oh you bet they are!" A high pitched voice called out from behind the center island. The half dozen or so BRCC veterans jumped in surprise. " What in god's name is that!?" Evan called out, pointing down at the ground. Scott raised his hand. " I believe it is what the bronies call a, 'Pinkie Pie'. Or so the internet tells me. " A murmur of agreement rose up from among the group. They watched as a rather cheerful all pink earth pony walked around the island and looked at the group, she was holding a tray of Donut's in her right hoof. ""Want one?" The team looked at one another. "Should we?" Donut reached forward and picked one up with chocolate frosting. "Is it poisoned?" He asked Pinkie, turning it over "No, I don't think it is, why would you ask?" "Where I'm from, stranger's don't just offer you free food. At least, not ordinary strangers." He took a bite of it. " Well, it certainly isn't the worst donut I've ever tasted, thanks!" She skipped away as Donut finished the rest. " Special creatures, aren't they?" Matt Best nodded, Jared groaned in annoyance. "Would it have been to much to ask her for a second one?" He hurried off after her in a fury. Just as he left the room, Luna entered with Mike and Angry in tow. "Where is my sister?" Luna asked the group, they all shrugged. "She left a few minute's ago. We haven't seen her since. That reminds me, where did John go?" Whilst the Texans where busy making a mess of Canterlot, Ian was casually strolling around Griffonstone castle. After a while, he stepped through the door's of the throne room. And took a good look at General Blackhawk. Who, needless to say, wasn't to happy to see a human after the ordeal just a few hours prior. But his did his best to retain his composure. "Um... Hi there?" Ian waved, doing a slight bow with his hand. " My name is Ian, I take it you are the owner of this establishment?" The general and his guards blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?" "I was referring to this castle of yours. You're it's lord, correct?" The griffon blinked again. "Well... Yes. Yes I am." Ian grinned. " Could you perhaps tell me more about your people's culture? I'm curious as to how beings such as you managed to settle down here." "Well, I do not know much of that, I just run this place. Brazen Updraft!" A lanky griffon with a pair of glasses and a stack of papers in talon hurried into the room. " This... What are you again?" "Human. I'm a human." Ian said. Crossing his arms and nudging the arsenal which he kept just under his coat. "Ah yes, this ho-man whishes to learn more of our culture. Please teach him. Blackhawk waved them away. The historian couldn't help but laugh at this remark. The sheer absurdity of his current situation made it all the more humorous. "What are you laughing at?" Blackhawk scowled. Ian cautiously waved it off. " Oh, nothing that would concern you." "So, how's your day been?" Ian asked with a cheerful demeanor. The creature next to him rolled his eyes. "Long. Long and boring, judging by your demeanor, I take it you've had it better than me?" Ian shrugged, " Well, I was looking for my friends. But I had to take up the opportunity to come here. " The pair walked into a library. " Let's begin." The griffon said to him. Motioning to a pair of old seat's to their left. As the day dragged on into the afternoon, Ian began to grow impatient in spite of the things that this ' Brazen updraft' character was telling him. Not because what he was doing was boring, no, it wasn't that at all, it was because he still had to find his friends. And the griffons he had met so far hadn't told him anything of them. More so to the point, they clearly recognized his species. Even if they hadn't previously known it's name. They were hiding something from him. Luckily, he wasn't just any historian. This was Ian Macullom. And he had a few tricks up his sleeve, literally. Without saying another word, he got up and began to walk out of the library. "Where are you going?" Brazen asked the human. " Thank you for a wonderful time, but I'm afraid I must depart now." A pair of guard moved to block his path out of the library. He sighed. " Please move." He counted exactly 3 seconds on his watch, and bounded out under the spears at breakneck speed and reached into his right coat pocket. Moderately Hasty Tactical WithdrawalIan looked back at the library entrance. Then at the guards which were steadily advancing on him. "I would be very much gratified if you let me leave peacefully." He repeated, he drew the Five Seven from a holster by his side and put it's red dot sight squarely on the lead one's skull. But after a few moment's went for his double barrel shotgun instead. He check the chambers for a moment before flipping it around and knocking the first griffon guard off his talons and paws. He bought his boot down on the other one and shoved the muzzle of the shotgun into their faces. "Drop 'em!!!" The pair hesitated for a moment, but did as he instructed. "Ian, what's going on?" Brazen had poked his head out of the library and was now staring at the human. Who now had the 2 guards at his mercy. He glanced over his shoulder for a brief moment, and realized that there were several more guards converging on his position. He now had 3 choices, surrender, fight, or tactically withdraw. He decided to go with a combination of the last 2. "Alright, let's see, they're probably faster then me, I'm gonna need a head start. He whipped the shotgun around with one hand and emptied both barrels of double odd buck over the heads of the guards. The noise of the gunshot, combined with the impact of the pellets against the wall cause them to all duck for cover. He broke into a blind sprint back down the hallway. Ian rounded a corner the climbed down an unfinished section of wall. Alarm bells sounded in the distance. He took one quick look off to either side of him and crossed the street. He was looking for a way back to Point Liberty. He knew the way back, it was just a matter of actually getting there. And after the stunt he had just pulled, it was highly doubtful that any griffon would be willing to fly him back there. He'd have to find another way. He ducked into an alleyway as a column of griffons marched past. Blackhawk was leading from the back. " I have to tell them about this." The armed historian jogged down the alleyway and ended up in a dilapidated garden. On the far side was a conveniently placed hot air balloon. He calmly strolled out into the open and took a look around. Seeing that not a single soul was around. He made for the balloon, Ian speedily untied it and made ready for flight. As he quietly hummed, "Into the wild blue yonder." He began to get the feeling that something was watching him. He turned around to find a single griffon, much smaller than the rest. a youngling, McCullom presumed. It was covered in bright array of red and yellow feathers. For a moment, the 2 of them stood there, unsure of what to say. The griffon snickered. " I won't tell if you won't." Ian blinked in confusion, but nodded nonetheless. "Ok." The youngling flew off, and Ian finished setting up the balloon. He set off southeast. Back towards the camp he had left behind, and, hopefully. His friends. "Well you know John, I happen to know a thing or two myself about dealing with tyranny." Celestia said to the ex Army Ranger. He smiled and nodded sarcastically. He had wandered off with Celestia and was now in the process of debating philosophy with her in the Canterlot Royal Library. Being a self proclaimed, "Warrior Poet." He felt that it would be prudent to ask her a few things about Equestria. Of which he had learned quite a bit about. Including the fact that it was established in the wake of her sister's banishment to the moon. The whole concept of magic still bewildered him a bit. As it did with the rest of the humans. " Our country just elect's some one new to run for president every 4 or so years. I don't really bother concerning myself with stuff like that. I've got a company to manage, a farm to run. And a family to take care of. I told them I'd check back in a week. If my work here wasn't done before then. I like what I've seen so far of Equestria. But I still wouldn't take it over the American backwoods. She smiled back, well... That's understandable." John glanced over his shoulder as Princess Luna entered the room, followed immediately afterwards by his teammates. "Damn." Brandon Herrera remarked. " Nicest library I've ever been in." Angry finished. Evan looked over at John, then at Celestia. " Let me guess, warrior poet stuff?" He laughed, "That's a wide generalization of it. But yes, warrior poet stuff. I was just about to tell her about Dante's Inferno. But I suppose that'll have to wait for another day." Scott scoffed, " Stop showing off, I'm relatively sure that Equestria had myth's just like that. And considering that Equestria is well... Equestria, they probably aren't myths." "Well, if you're interested, you may access the royal library whenever you want. Jared walked over to the nearest shelve and snatched the first book he touched off it. He read the title aloud. " Celestial magic and you: An Alicorn's Guide to Life." He blinked in confusion, " What the hell?" Evan waved it off as Donut ran into the room with a... Well, donut in his mouth. " Hey guys! You're never gonna believe who showed up!" Scott pulled back the library curtains and peered through the enormous window, on the other side was none other that Ian McCullom. Gun Jesus himself. In a hot air balloon. He cupped his hands around his mouth, signaling that he wanted to talk, and then pointed south, towards the gardens. "Mmfff!!!" Donut announced, finishing the remainder of his donut. "I thought you didn't like those things." Matt murmured. " Well I don't have anything better, do I now?" He licked his fingers and folded his arms. As he looked away and began to walk out with the rest of the team. All of a sudden they saw their shadow's flash against the wall, followed by a confused scream. " Scott looked back into the library, there was John and Celestia, standing above an alicorn with a green mane and grey fur. The new creature looked itself over with a mixture of wonder, confusion, and shock. Finally, it opened it's mouth. " Guys, what happened?" "Lucas!?" "Reasonably Concerned.""What happened?" Lucas repeated in confusion. He looked up at John, then at his companions. Then down at his hands. Which were now fur covered stumps." The group was completely silent. He looked down at his new hooves again. One moment, he had been opening a book which he had grabbed off a nearby shelve, and the next, he was half his original height. Botkin just sat there. He could feel his ears twitching slightly. " Opps." Princess Celestia chuckled nervously, she levitated the book which Lucas had just been holding to her side. Brandon raised his hand. " How did-" The princess opened the book for a moment, and closed it again. " It was an enchanted book, you'll be fine Mister Botkin." "What- Huh?" John looked at the others. " Yes, I'm pretty sure that Lucas Botkin just transformed into an alicorn. Lucas?" The creature on the ground looked up at him. " Yeah?" "How does it feel?" He tried flexing his new wings. " I can't feel my fingers." He replied, trying to sound a disconcerned as possible. He looked to his side. And was relived to find that his Glock was still there. "Um... Could I have a mirror?" Matt Best fished one out of his plate carrier and tossed it to Lucas. He prodded at it, "How am I supposed to open it with these?" John knelt down and propped it open for him. "Holy-" He rubbed his eyes. " Well... It's not normal, but I imagined worse. This isn't actually that bad." He tapped the horn on top of his head and furrowed his brows. " Wait, isn't Ian waiting outside?" The team exchanged looks. "Yes, yes he is." Brandon said. " Ok, Mike, Matt, Scott, Donut, John and me 'll stay with Lucas. BRCC, you go and greet Gun Jesus." They went their separate ways. "This isn't permanent. Right?" Botkin bounded to all fours. And stumbled leftward slightly. Celestia caught him with her magic. " Try walking, slowly." John Lovell insisted, pausing for a moment to stare down at his watch. Whilst Lucas attempted to relearn his basic skills of motion, Evan and the BRCC team greeted Ian. " Oh, you guys have no idea how glad I am to see humans!" He cried out. "Matt Best and Logan squinted at him in confusion." Long day?" He furiously shook his head up and down. " I've got a tale for you, actually. Or, is it a fable? Being that it was mostly animals, or does that not apply to griffons? Ah, whatever. Lead the way Evan!" He calmly fixed his coat. And proceeded into the castle after Evan. It looked even more marvelous then it did from a far, and was exponentially more preferable than the Griffonic one which he had spent the better part of his day in. As with the other humans, he marveled at the castle. He hadn't heard of, nor seen any ponies up until this point in his journey. He and the others stepped into the library just in time for Ian to meet Celestia, Luna, and a ponified Lucas Botkin. His eyes widened. " Fascinating." Was the first word out of Ian's mouth. " Glowing unicorns with wings, this is the darnest thing I've seen all day." He walked up to Luna and examined her mane. " How does it float in mid air?" He asked her, she took a step back. " I don't know. I would presume it's magic, the same goes for my sister, he turned around to stare at Celestia. "Is that real gold?" He examined her necklace. She smiled, " Why yes, it is. Hello Ian, my name is Princess Celestia, that is Princess Luna, and that... Is Lucas Botkin. He had a run in with an enchanted book. " Ian furrowed his eyebrows as he approached the grey alicorn. " Well, this is certainty unexpected. How's life Botkin?" The ponified marksman looked up at him. "Good, great actually. According to Celestia over there, I can manipulate things the same way I could with hands thanks to this horn on my head. " Ian nodded, "I take it those wings are functional as well?" "As far as we know. We've witnessed other's, so I'm assuming he can as well." Mike responded. " Ian took a seat. " So anyway, it all started when I met this griffon on the road leading out of Point Liberty..." He paused for a moment to stare out into space. Brandon walked up and shook him. " Hey! Man, c'mon, you can sleep latter. Tell us!" He sat back up. "Alright, where was I? Ah yes, I met this griffon on a dirt road. I don't recall their name, but they got a few of their friends to fly me all the way to their capital city. Griffonstone, I got to meet their leader, learned a bit about their culture, busted out, and flew back here on that balloon I commandeered. The moral of the story is a simple one, don't trust griffons that both look and act like they're the main antagonist in a Disney film. " He clasped his hands together in satisfaction. "That's all?" Scott asked him. "Yep." Ian replied with a chuckle, "So, what were you guys doing while I was off meeting magical bird/ lion hybrids?" John looked out the window and put his hands in his pockets. " Well, we've got quite the story to tell you." They all sat down alongside Ian." Brandon and a few other's readjusted their battle belts. Lucas awkward slumped back on his hindquarters. "Who'll start first?" Brandon Herrera asked, Matt Best raised a finger. " I'll go first. It was actually Brandon over here that called for us. For some reason, the portal to this world popped up on our ranch, and no where else. We came back here because we were curious. And because this place is much cooler than earth. Ok, that's not entirely the case, but it certainly isn't lacking adventure." " Well, it was all cherries and berries for us until some SOB's decided to ambush me out in the woods." Angry chimed in, frowning at the group. " "You know Ian, here a good life lesson for you. Don't ever try to lynch a Drill Sargent!" "I'll take that under consideration, but how does that apply to me?" Meanwhile in Griffonstone... A Talon Too Far"Sire!?" A griffon barged into the throne room, Blackhawk looked down at him with mild annoyance. "Yes? Let me guess, you're here to tell me of the escaped human?" The scribe nodded. Blackhawk shifted slightly, rising to all fours. " Not the first I've heard of this. By any chance can you tell me where and how he escaped?" "Well... No. To the best of my knowledge no griffon saw him depart from the city. " Blackhawk clutched his head and sighed. " Alright, you may go now. I'm going to fetch my armor. After that, we march on Equestria once more!" The guards at his sides shifted uncomfortably. They had heard rumors of what had happened the day before. How they had been attacked in the dead of night with no warning and, potentially, even how Blackhawk fled as soon as the fighting started. But then again, they were just again rumors. Nothing was ever really sure within the boundaries of the Griffon Empire. Mostly because of the sheer incompetence of both it's government and its people. The guards mindlessly followed Blackhawk to his quarters and stopped outside while he changed into his armor. By now the sun had begun to set on Equestria once more. But the forces of the griffon empire were just getting started. Rather chaotically at that. To add to that, Griffonstone didn't have the weather control that most of Equestria did. Wind and rain swept over the griffon legions as they hastily organized themselves and marched out of the city. Back in Canterlot, the humans were getting themselves ready for bed. They had been going nonstop for almost 2 full days by now. They both deserved and required a break if they were to continue fighting. And so they retired to their guest quarters. And by retired, they just collapsed as soon as they made contact with the beds. With the exception of a few of the veterans, who were used to staying up for long periods of time. Of that select few went out to brew some more coffee for the morning to come. The rest hung out in either the garden or the library. A few of the veterans had even managed to find some like minded guardsponies to play a few games of impromptu Buck Ball in the moonlight. Matt Best and Jared were among them. "You know, this is actually pretty enjoyable." Matt froze as the the ball levitated away from him, he calmly reminded himself where he was. He sighed, cracked his knuckles, and walked off the grass. "C'mon Jared, lets get some rest." The Air Force veteran looked over at him, " It's been 10 minutes. Are you sure you want to turn in?" "We've all been into combat lacking sleep before, it's never fun. "The both nodded in understanding and made for their rooms. The Guardsponies watched this unfold in confusion. They had never before seen humans, and so far they weren't quite sure what to think of them. The four of them, 2 unicorns, a bat pony, and a pegasus. Didn't think much of it. Though Matt still had a hard time wrapping his mind around it all. Jared decided that it wasn't really worth questioning, he would be sure leave that to people like Mike and John. The kind of people that could find time in their schedule for philosophical jargon. Not that he was that busy, it was that he didn't find that it kept him busy enough. "Are you sure we're going the right direction?" Nighthawk squawked at his officers as the column of griffons trudged drowsily through a snow bank. One looked over at him, " I am not sure sire." "Well it's not central Equestria, is it now?" He asked with a snarl. " No, no it is not." One of them replied. " But it is somewhere in Equestria, correct?" Blackhawk laughed. " Yes, but not the right part of it!" He he paused for a moment to flex his claw, the snow had begun to numb it. " Why are we even marching? You are aware that our entire army can fly?" "We started marching, and you never told them otherwise." He grumbled, " Well... Take flight, let's get us up above the cloud line. " Row by row, the griffon army took flight, gradually reforming back into the same formation that they had been in on the ground. As they ascended through, they began to hear noises coming from the clouds. Blackhawk drifted attempted to investigate. "It's probably just the wind-" His eyes widened as he stared into the cloud. Laying just below him was a herd of dormant windigos. He froze in mid air, surveying the cloudscape below him. Windigos had been the stuff of legend... Up until now, they were missive flying equines made out of magic which fed off emotions. According to those same legends, they were very unpredictable, extremely dangerous, and nigh impossible to kill. Which all fed into the viscera of terror flooding Nighthawks brain. He stared down at the, wondering what to do next. He speedily flew back to his escort and called up his only mage. A griffon with a mixture of purple and yellow feathers. Yellow Claw was her name. She was just as surprised as Blackhawk when she saw the Windigos. " What are we going to do about them?" He asked her. She turned to him with a concerned grin. "There is nothing that we can do about it, they're sleeping, right? Then don't wake them up. Mark them down on a map or something. Make a mental note about it sire. " He grumbled, and hung his head. " Well... In that case, let us continue!" He paused, the mage in front of him was flying in the opposite direction as fast as her wings could carry her. Blackhawk found out why when he heard an ethereal screech rise up from below him. The Windigos had begun to stir, a few looked up at him out of curiosity. He stared back, a half second later the entire herd had formed a ring around him. An where looking him over, deciding whether or not he was worth the effort. At the same time, a couple of griffons from the formation had grown curious, and decided to go see what their leader was up to, when they saw the Windigos, they left, and returned a few moments later with the remainder of the army, and began to charge, The Windigos bared the ethereal glowing fangs and flew towards the griffon formation. The battle was over in under 2 minutes, the griffonic forces didn't stand a chance. The twenty Windigos effortly swept over the griffon army groups, lashing out at them with their ethereal fangs and hooves, and magical blizzards. This sent the majority of griffons into a retreat. The remainder dropped from the sky, either injured or dead. Blackhawk took one look around, and flew off with his army. The Windigo's on the other hoof, headed for Canterlot. Blackhawk completely threw aside his plan. The Windigos could have Equestria for all he cared. One World to AnotherWhilst the forces of the griffon empire retreated back behind their borders, the Windigos were headed straight for Canterlot. They were drawn to the greatest collection of magic on the continent, which in this case was Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Alongside the population of Canterlot. They needed emotions and magic to feed on after their long slumber, and Equestria was just the place for it. It was at about this time that Celestia began to once more raise the sun. Though it made little difference to the storm created by the Windigos. Angry had decided to go on a morning run, around Canterlot. Being that he had not yet had the time to fully explore the city. He left through the main gates, and proceeded to the city walls, where he began making his loop. Angry kept to a light jog up until the point when he was right over the waterfall which fed into the Canterhorn river. He stopped at the halfway point to gaze out at Eqeustria, and quickly noticed an anomaly in the otherwise clear deep blue sky. A singular storm cloud which appeared to be slowly approaching the mountainside city. He looked at it with mild confusion. Storms- and clouds in general were an extremely common occurrence on earth, the same could be said about the Everfree forest. But not the Equestrian heartland. It seems as though ponies, pegasi in particular. What with their ability to control the weather, had decided against constant cloud cover. Or any, for that matter, though he and the others had heard that it was permitted to occasionally rain. Which was what made this singular storm on the horizon all the more interesting. He stood there for about a minute and watched as it got closer, and closer, and closer. He heard wings flapping, hooves, and the memorable noise of boot's on cobble behind him. He glanced over his shoulder. "What's so fascinating?" It was Lucas Botkin, with Princess Celestia and Matt Best in tow. Lucas, to his surprise, was hovering roughly 6 inches above the ground. " How's hooves working out for you?" He snarked. Celestia shifted her gaze from Lucas to him. "He's quite the natural." " Shooting isn't that much of a problem either. I can still draw pretty. Heck, I can hold a tighter MOA than I ever could with this new horn. It's effortless." He half drew his Glock from the holster on his right side to further his point, before dropping it back into place. Oddly enough, his human clothes all seemed to fit his new equine form perfectly. With the exception of his boots, which didn't fit his hind hooves for obvious reasons. He was fine letting John hold onto them for the time being. "See that storm off in the distance?" Lucas squinted, "Yeah, it's a storm, so?" Celestia was far more concerned. Angry and Matt looked up and over at her. "Well? What is it? The Luftwaffe? E.T? Ivan?" Matt chuckled. " Look's to me like we've got a case of Independence Day on our hands!" A roar of laughter rose up from behind them, Angry looked to find the other Americans, fresh out of breakfast. Matt looked over at Lucas and Celestia, " And hooves, of course. We can't forget our Equestrian friends. And Botkin." The alicorn chuckled. Celestia's face grew pale... Well, as pale as an already alabaster white alicorn could. Brandon cupped his hands around his eyes and looked at the distant storm. "What are you so concerned about?" She turned to him. " Tell me Mr. Herrera, are you familiar with what a Windigo is?" He raised an eyebrow. " No... But I know what a wendigo is. They're a huge problem down in Texas, almost as much as Chupacabra's, Florida men, fire ants, and feral pigs." Celestia stared at Brandon. A couple of the Veterans behind him snickered. Garand raised his left index finger, " Ma'am, Brandon is kidding. There are no evil bipedal canids with a thirst for blood within the borders of the Lone Star state... That we know of, that is." He shrugged. " Well, I would suppose that's good news for you... But I was referring to Windigos, massive flying equestrian creatures which feed off emotions and bring massive storms with them wherever they go. They terrorized pre Equestria, several thousand years ago. But disappeared shortly afterwards. Never to be seen again." The team looked at each other as though this was a story they had heard dozens of times before. Celestia continued, "My sister and I heard tales of them back when we were still foals. Luckily, we never had the chance to 'experience' them personally. " Jared tapped his foot. "So... On a scale of one to ten, how much of a threat-" "It isn't that simple, sometimes they will ravage an area until there isn't a soul left. Othertimes they will simply pass an area by. And nopony quite knows why." Mike and Lucas stopped her simultaneously, but Lucas decided to let Mike speak his mind first." Nopony... That implies just ponies. But what about other creatures?" Evan Hafer laughed. " And where are we going to find one willing to help us?" "How about Zecora?" Standing on the far northern side of the bridge was Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. The BRCC team stared at the half dozen colorful equines in confusion. It was Brandon Herrera that responded to them, simply because that he was the only member of the team that knew who Twilight was talking about. He had actually met Zecora before on a walk down the road leading to Point Liberty. They had gotten along well. Through he wasn't fond of the fact that she only seemed to speak in riddles. Princess Celestia greeted Twilight and her friends with a warm smile. " That is a good idea, but at the rate that those Windigos are approaching us, we won't have the time to speak with her. " Twilight groaned. " Then what do we do?" "Have you tried bullets!?" Angry cried out, suddenly turning to Celestia. She shook her head. Angry put his hand to his forehead. When he raised his head again, Mike was biting his lip and looking over at Twilight, " Weren't there 6 of you?" John pointed to a quickly fading rainbow light streaking towards the storm. " There goes Rainbow Dash." Rarity murmured. Logan from the BRCC team found her though his binoculars. "Heh, it's like the time that Taliban guy rushed our armored convoy with nothing but a rock." The other vet's laughed. "Which one?" Jared added. Celestia sighed, she can't possibly take those windigos on and win by herself. " This is Rainbow Dash you're referring to Princess, it doesn't matter if she can or not. You know she's still gonna try." Applejack responded. Logan responded with a "Mhm." As he watched as Rainbow Dash flew into the storm cloud, and flew out even faster a few moments later. " Oh well... C'mon guy's. Let's go get kitted up." Scott waved them back towards the castle. From the gates they headed to their respective guest rooms. Where they donned their equipment. And all met up at the grassy knoll where their vehicles were parked. "Alright, does now... Does anyone have a plan?" Evan tapped his foot on the pavement and stared off at the storm, which now appeared to be just a few miles from them. "Celestia, Luna. Do you know of any weaknesses that those creatures have that we can exploit?" "I believe we might be able to utilize the Elements of Harmony. Though to do that we would need Twilight and all her friends. And Rainbow Dash is out of commission. Her gaze shifted to Lucas." What, me? No. Absolutely not. I'm a shooter, an operator. Not a mage. I don't even know the first darned thing about spellcasting!" He threw his hooves up in protest. Brandon sighed. " Well, guess we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way." He walked to one of the trucks and came back half a minute later with an RPG 7 slung over his shoulder. "Where'd you get a new one?" Donut pondered. Brandon winched. "... Anyway. We are going to wait still that storm is right overhead, then we fire this into it and- See what happens?" Celestia was skeptical. " Brandon, I might do well to remind you that it is my kingdom's capital that is at stake. Scott laughed. " We dealt with that Nightmare Moon character relatively easily. And we've all been through our fair share of hurricanes. The team all nodded in agreement. "What are we going to to do while it's making it's way over here?" John Lovell asked Brandon. " Let's take some potshots at it with our rifles. " Matt Best was skeptical. " Won't that just make it mad?" "It a magical storm made by ethereal equines. How bad could it be?" Lucas and John shook their heads. "Man, haven't you learned yet? Never say 'how bad could it be?' Right before a mission." Matt paused, and then grinned as the dozen or so humans and one alicorn went to their vehicles and set up their long guns. The whole scene was so absurd that it could be considered comedic. Whilst this was unfolding. The Mane Six were in the process of getting down Rainbow Dash-who had gone down after a rather anticlimactic skirmish with the windigos. Back to Canterlot. "Alright, who'll go first-" Lucas gave up trying to direct things when they all simply began firing at once. The humans had brought with them an assortment of AR and AK style rifles to use. With the exception of Ian. Who instead preferred to use an old Mauser bolt action rifle. Together, they fired a few volleys at the storm. To no effect. At least Matt could take solace in the fact that he was right. It did indeed only serve to make the creatures madder. By this point, it was nearly above the castle. Alarms had begun to sound across the city. And they could hear a cadence of distant screams. "Alright, it's here!" The team grabbed their rifles and ran for the castle. Brandon meanwhile, took aim with the RPG and let loose a single rocket. Which detonated somewhere up in the clouds. But just as rest of the humans began to realize the gravity of what was going on. "Oh well." Was Brandon's anti climactic response. He drew an M1911 from his belt, raised it into the sky, and fired off a single .45 Auto slug. Just as the casing hit the ground, an rather horrifying cry of pain emanated from the storm cloud. All at once, one eightied and nose dived into the lake at the base of the Canterlot waterfall in a flash of ethereal light, momentarily turning the surface to ice. A few moment's later, the sky began to brighten again. " "Huh, guess that's why the call it the Lord's caliber." Scott laughed. The rest of the team was completely fine with what had just happened. With the exception of John Lovell and the still ponified Lucas Botkin. Celestia was in utter amazement as well. "That... Actually worked. It is a surprise, but a welcome one at that. Good work Americans. Equestria, and I thank you once more. On that note, do any of you happen to know where Twilight Sparkle and her friends went?" Meanwhile, somewhere in the Southwestern United States... As the Founding Father's IntendedRainbow led them down the cobble paved road towards the royal castle. They drove straight through the front gates, as before. The guard's simply stepped aside and let them pass. From there they took a left and parked in order along a path just south of the royal gardens. From there, they dismounted and headed into the palace. " Damn, I mean, I've been to Europe a few time's but this take's the cake." Evan remarked. Just as the word's left his mouth a cart with a cake atop it rolled past them, followed by a rather angry stallion wearing a chief's hat. "...Moving on. I would assume that your leader's are waiting for us up there?" Rainbow nodded. " Yes, they are. Now quick, walk faster!" Brandon rubbed his sore eyes. " Please shut up, we've going on full for a whole day. So for the love of Kalashnikov, let us go at our own god damn pace-" Before he could finish his sentence the walkway in front of them was filled with a burst of light. When it faded, Princess Celestia was standing before them. While Rainbow was quick to bow, the humans stood there in confusion especially the BRCC member's, who hadn't met her before now, John and Lucas were fascinated more than anything. After a few moment's of awkward silence, John stepped forward. " Good morning ma'am, I would presume that you know why we're here?" She smiled, " Why yes, I do. You may rise Rainbow Dash." She nodded, and jumped to all fours. Celestia turned to a nearby guard. " Please show our guest's to the dinning hall and guest rooms. They look like they could use it. " She glanced back at the weathered humans. Their rifle's dangled from their slings. And their boot's were covered in thick mud. Angry popped out from behind Mike. "Where are they!?"He rushed up to Celestia at a near inhuman speed and stared into her eyes. " The griffon's that you apprehended are in the dungeon below the castle. Sister!" A second, smaller alicorn appeared by Celestia's side. She crossed her hooves and smiled at the humans. Evan let out a chuckle. " Heh, she looks nice enough. Hey, didn't Donut and Brandon almost kill her?" Her gaze shifted to him, and she opened her mouth to speak. "GREETING'S, MY SISTER HAS REQUESTED THAT I ASIST YOU IN YOUR INTROGATION." Evan Hafer blinked and readjusted his cap. " Holy shit... Still not as intimidating as Angry." A murmur of agreement rose up amongst the humans. Celestia looked down at her sister. " Would you mind not using the 'royal Canterlot' voice in the presence-" "IMPRESSIVE VOICE PRINCESS! YOU ARE MOST AMUSING!" Angry roared back. he folded his arms. "Well? Let's go." The team split up into two groups, Brandon and the BRCC member's with Celestia. And Angry and the... Well, they didn't really have a name for themselves yet. Meanwhile, in Griffonstone... General Blackhawk set down on all fours just outside the palace. Which was still in the midst of being repaired and rebuilt on account of the overthrow of the previous regime. A process which was significantly hampered by the fact that Equestrian griffons are traditionally very neglectful beings. Though now they were nowhere to be seen. " Hey!" Blackhawk called out. " Your ruler has returned!" A pair of griffon's poked their heads above the palace walls. "Sire! You're back! Uh... I apologize, it's lunch time." "Don't worry yourself with it. Send word to the army. I require more troops. There was an... Incident." He cleared and trotted off. As the forces of the Griffon Empire ready their forces for another round at Equestria's defenses, and the American's made themselves at home in Canterlot. Yet another human had emerged from the rift between the 2 worlds. A man by the name of... "Ian McCollum." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out 2 thing's, a long range radio, and a compass. " Guy's, it's me, Ian. I know I'm a bit late to the party, but... I would gladly like assist you. Hello? Brandon, Scott, John, Lucas? Garand?" He groaned in annoyance and stuffed it back into his pocket. He slung a Mosin Nagant from a leather sling and took a look around at the deserted Point Liberty. " Well... I suppose I'm walking." He began his way down the road leading to Ponyville. Only to encounter a lone griffon. "Oh! Well hello there." He muttered as he shifted closer to get a better look at her. " It appears as though I have stumbled across a griffon. And no, I am quite certain my sanity is intact" He rubbed his eyes. The creature huffed." What are you talking about?" He blinked, " And a talking griffon at that. Astounding! Do you have a name?" "Gilda. And you." He smirked. " It's Ian. I'm here at the request of some of my fellow industry members." Gilda raised an eyebrow. " Oh? And what is this industry you're involved in?" McCollum laughed. " Firearms. Thing's that go boom." Her eyes widened, and she hoover up off the ground by about 6 inches. "Cool!" He nodded, " Well... I've got to get going, nice meeting you. It was certainty a... Unique experience. " He took off walking a slightly faster pace than normal. Ian had been given a basic rundown of the situation over the phone, but wasn't given any specifics. So he got his car, a few weapons, some snacks. And headed for the BRCC ranch in Texas. He had left his vehicle back at on the other side of the rift in a safe-ish spot. He had taken 3 very different weapons with himself. A kitted out Five- Seven pistol, and a Mosin Nagant, and a double barreled hunting shotgun. They weren't his favorite guns of all time, he just happened to have them on his person. Unfortunately, the intrepid antique weapon's collector wouldn't get the time to use them just yet. As a group of unsuspecting griffons had decided to bring him with them back to Griffonstone. Ian was fine with it, as long as he had his radio on him, he could talk with the others. Plus, he had a plan.
Beat it Until it Works"... And still, the only ones allowed to travel to this other dimension are these... Dangerous people-" Brandon Herrera groaned as he turned off his TV. As usual, the media had blown things way out of proportion, they were lying to the American people for the sole purpose of evoking feelings of resentment. Whatever, anyone with half a brain wouldn't have any of it. He had work to do. It had been roughly 3 whole weeks since Twilight and her friends had stumbled across a group of humans in the Everfree forest, these humans had helped her in defeating Nightmare Moon. This was due in part to the fact that these men possessed equipment and tactics far beyond what had previously been seen in Equestria, or anywhere else on Equis, for that matter. Since first contact, the 2 species had gotten along quite well. The Americans had been quiet sociable and open about most things. Though, no matter however many blogs and or videos they posted on social media, the American government seemed to take very little interest in the dimension which had just recently become accessible through a portal in the Texas wilderness. Though the civilian populace did, despite their inability to actually travel there. The original group of 7 human's which had traveled there eventually had to go back to earth, but they still occasionally traveled back to visit. To make things easier on the Equestrian side, they had expanded on the camp which they had established when they first arrived in Equestria. Dubbing it, " Point Liberty." Of course, the money for this stuff had to come from somewhere, the Equestrian government contributed some money. But the majority had come from Black Rifle Coffee. And now, with the camp nearing completion, some of their members had decided to make the journey over to Equestria to check it out. And, coincidentally, Brandon Herrera had been on site to welcome them. To an unusually sunny Everfee morning, of all things. Brandon checked his watched, then peered over to his right. "Good morning Twilight." He greeted her with a thumbs up. "Good morning Brandon. What are you doing out here so earlier?" Twilight asked as she trotted up to him and looked though the portal at the camp's center. " I'm uh, waiting for some friends of mine. They're not the one's from before." She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, who are they then?" She tapped the dirt with her hooves. Brandon glanced over at her, " Like I said, friends. You'll see." All of a sudden the portal lit up. And out from it stepped 12 men and a pair of trucks, one Humvee, and one lifted pickup. Among them was a few familiar faces, Donut, Garand Thumb, otherwise known as Mike, Scott from Kentucky ballistics, and Angry the Drill Sargent. Mike's camera man, Charlie was also present. But with them was 6 men which Twilight didn't recognize. The vehicles pulled into the dusty lot one after the other, all parked side by side. Their passengers dismounted, and immediately went to staring down at Twilight in awe. "Wow, you know, I didn't know what I was expecting. I mean, I was surprised when I saw the footage of them, you know, multicolored talking horses aren't something you see every day. Especially not when they can also levitate shit and fly. Pleased to meet you Twilight Sparkle, I go by Matt Best, this is Jared, that's Richard, that over there's Logan, that's Eli, and that... Is Evan." They all waved to the purple unicorn. "And of course, you're already familiar with them, right?" Twilight smiled, " Yes, of course. Angry, Donut, Mike, Scott, and Charlie." Angry breathed in a gulp of fresh air. " Ah, it's to be back in this shithole. Still better than Iraq ain't it guys!?" He turned to the newcomers, who were all quick to nod back. "So..." Twilight began, " You're all in the same line of work as Brandon and the other's?" Even Hafer shook his head, " No, we just share similar interests. Brandon builds guns, we just make coffee." She raised an eyebrow. " Well, what are you doing here?" Jared scratched the back of his neck. "Well, we wanted to see what all the hype was about, so we drove down here." Twilight looked over at their trucks, " I hope you don't mind if I take a look around those machines of yours later?" Matt shrugged, " Sure, just don't break anything, Scott and Donut could tell you all about it, right now, I'd actually like to get settled in. Same goes for my friends." He motioned to the camp around them. The humans and Twilight parted ways. Far from the resident's of Point Liberty, a rather interesting situation was unfolding in the Griffon Kingdom. A recent food shortage on account of general incompetence had caused a revolt. And the kingdom's top generals had been amount the first to take advantage of the chaos. Rallying the majority of the kingdoms citizens against the current regime. The already broken nation devolved into civil war, as soon as the fighting had reached the the front gates of the king's castle, the King and his staff had retreated to a bunker far below. Leaving what few forces which had remained loyal to him to die. "Sire." One of his personal guards called out, pressing his ear to the door, as soon as he did so, it burst open, pinning him against the wall. His screams of pain were drowned out by the sound of armored claws scraping the ground and swords clashing. As the fighting went on, a dark figure stepped through the door, dressed in shiny black armor with yellow stripes. On the far side of the room, a second figure rose up. The King of the Griffons. "Hello there, my king." "General Blackhawk, It appears as though you have won." "Yep." The armored griffon rushed forward and impaled the king with his talons, before letting the body fall to the cold stone ground. The remaining members of the kings guard, seeing that their leader was gone, all turned to bow to the General. "What now?" One of them asked with uncertainty. "This land has been ravaged, if we are to restore it to it's former glory we must seek resources from elsewhere." One of the griffons behind him raised a talon, " Are you proposing that we invade Equestria? They have been nothing but kind to us for centuries! Plus, there have been rumors that the so called, 'mare in the moon,' has returned and taken up a spot on the throne. " Blackhawk deadpanned. "Rally the troops, we march on Canterlot immediately!" Back at Point Liberty, the members of BRCC had just finished off loading their stuff, and had all gone off to doing their own things. Most of them, after the long ride down Matt's Texas ranch to get to the rift, had just decided to take a nap. The other's were busy explaining the concept of automobiles and why trucks are fundamentally better than cars to Twilight. "So, it works by burning ancient dinosaurs?" She asked out of the blue, Scott nodded. " Yep, pretty much. Hey, I'm hungry, are there any good places to eat in Ponyville?" Twilight looked over at the other men, and nodded. "Yes, there are, though it's quite a long walk from here-" " That trail's more than big enough to take our trucks on, hey, everyone! Wanna eat out in Ponyville?" A thumb shot out from a vent in one of the roofs. " What do they have there?" Charlie questioned, followed by, " I'm not eating hay!" From Brandon and Angry. Evan Hafer emerged from a nearby tent. "Hey, start the coffee machine!" Twilight cocked her head to the side. " What coffee machine?" Scott waved her over to the rear of the Humvee, and unlocked the trunk. Within was a fully functional coffee machine, and several bags of coffee beans. "Got thing while I was deployed, it's a real classic." He tried starting it up, but nothing happened, he tried again, and again, and again. Until finally, it rumbled to life. "There we go!" As soon as he turned to looked back at Twilight it sputtered again and began rumbling. "Let me give it a go!" Angry slid across the top of the Humvee and landed right in front of the defunct machine. "Hey Mike, get the camera rolling!" He smacked it on the top with his fist, and all at once the rumbling stopped. "See? What'd I tell you!? Violence always works!" He shut the machine off, " We'll wait 'till we're in town to start it back up." "And, no it doesn't! Sure, 10 percent of the time it does, but other 90 percent usually ends in a lawsuit!" Brandon responded. The other members of the team laughed. " I... Don't think I understand." Twilight muttered, " You will eventually." Garand Thumb reassured her as the rest of them piled into the vehicles.
"Diplomatic Relations"The pair of trucks thundered down the foggy trail that ran from deep in the Everfree forest, all the way to the outskirts of Ponyville. Twilight galloped alongside them, doing her best to keep up. Luckily for her, the crowd of rednecks, gun nuts, and veterans were in no hurry. Despite the fact that by this point their hunger had made them all grumpy. "Hey, Twilight!" Jared shouted out the window. " How much longer!?" She shot a glare over at the truck. "Not much longer." he rolled his eyes, and kicked back. " Hey Mike!?" Jared called out. Garand Thumb looked out the window of the Humvee, " How about some music?" There just happened to be a set of enormous speakers attached to the top which were supposed to be used to broadcast surrender appeals. But he had them blast, " 'Murica." By Earl Dribble's Jr. to both boost their spirit's, and make a point. It was about this time that the distant rooftops of downtown Ponyville came into sight though the trees. "There it is!" Twilight shouted over the roar of the engines. The humans couldn't help but snicker at it. Twilight led them down a sideroad to a small 60's looking dinner just off the dirt road. " Well this place looks trustworthy." Brandon whispered to Angry, who nodded in agreement. "Whatever, I'm hungry, c'mon guys!" They dismounted and casually strolled inside before Twilight had a chance to stop them. They immediately regretted their decision. Being that no one had bothered to tell the occupants of said restaurant that they would be getting a visit from a dozen or so heavily armed and armored humans. And the pair of trucks outside were another matter entirely. And now, all eyes were on them. The mare behind the counter blinked in confusion as the team sat down at the bar alongside the counter. Twilight trotted in after them. " They're with me." She reassured the ponies in the dinner the waitress chuckled, and looked up at Matt. " Good morning ma'am. You got pancakes? You guy's are good with pancakes, right?" Jared and Logan raised their hands. "How 'bout some eggs and bacon?" "You... Eat bird eggs?" They all laughed. " Tell you what, we'll just have the pancakes, and some butter as well. We'll take care of the rest." Mike said with a smile. Evan jumped up and went for the cooler. Jared got up as well. " we had food in the cooler all along?" "We didn't want you eating it on the way here!" Evan shouted from outside as he unpacked a barbeque and a set of pans. And simultaneously started up the coffee machine. "Alright, who's paying?" Bandon asked the others. They all looked at each other with uncertainty. Then Logan turned to the mare behind the counter. " Do you take USD?" She raised an eyebrow, and looked over at the line of customers which had slowly began to form behind them. "Uh... What's USD?" Twilight went up to the counter. "Please excuse my friends, they're new around here. Here, I'll by for them." She reached into her book bag and pulled out 5 small gold coins. The pony behind the counter gleefully took them and trotted off, shouting orders to the kitchen. " Twilight?" Matt snapped his fingers. " Just out of curiosity, that wasn't real gold, was it?" She facehoofed. " Actually, it is. They're called bits. They're the standard currency for Equestria." They all turned to look at each other with the stark realization that the average Equestrian would most likely be a millionaire by earth standards. that's when Matt got a great idea. " Let's open a coffee shop in Ponyville! Evan?" A head shot up from behind the humvee. " Coffee shop, here!? I love it!" Jared pointed down at the grill. " Foods gonna be ready in a few minutes, grab your plates and line up now, or it's mine!" "But what about your pancakes?" Scott held up a finger. " We'll get it afterwards. You can never eat enough." "Say's the person with an empty stomach!" Brandon laughed. Twilight and a few of the other ponies in line looked looked at him with concern. The rest tried their best to avoid eye contact, but to give credit where credit's due. they didn't all panic and run when the humans first walked in. "Hey Twilight, you ever tried bacon before?" Matt questioned. "No, I haven't. But I suppose I can give it a try." "That's my unicorn! Next question, can ponies eat meat?" Angry asked, butting his hands on on his hips. Twilight rubbed her chin for a few moments, "...Yes?" Matt returned her statement with a thumbs up, and waved her outside just as Jared called out, " We've got brisket as well!" The team sat outside the dinner around a table with their food. Twilight may have been skeptical of eating meat for the first time, but now she quite literally couldn't have enough of it. It was about this time when Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash strolling by when they noticed the humans and armored vehicles parked outside the dinner. "Hey there Twi, what's going on here?" Rainbow bounded over to them and looked at the dozen or so humans devouring their food. "Mph, pardon me ma'am." Matt spun around on his chair and stared eye to eye with Rainbow. "Name's Matt. How' you doing? I've heard quite a few things about you." "Good things... I hope?" Matt laughed, " Sorta. Hey, do you 2 want something to eat?" They looked at one another, "What's that?" Fluttershy pointed to the bacon. "Oh... That's bacon!" Jared responded. " It's pig meat." He explained. Fluttershy let out a squeak, " P-pig meat?" Mike nodded, " Hey, if you don't wanna eat it, that's fine by us. No one's forcing you." She backed off. " Don't worry about her, she's scared of her own shadow." Twilight explained to them. Evan snapped his fingers as he finished his food. " Heh, my shadow's scared of me!" A roar of laughter arose from the table as they washed down their meal with coffee. " Hey Rainbow. I've got some stuff to do, would you mind showing them around Ponyville?" She gave Twilight a grin. But Eli stopped her before they could part ways. "Do we just leave our trucks here?" Rainbow scowled. " I'm sure they'll be fine." Angry shrugged. " She's right, this doesn't look like the crowd that'd be in the business of carjacking. Lock 'em just in case. " "Are you implying you don't usually lock your trucks?" Mike muttered under his breath as he slip out from his chair. Angry facepalmed, then pointed at the Humvee. "No-I, I do. I was just reminding you all." He walked away grumbling in irritation. "Diplomatic relations my ass. We can barely keep ourselves together!" The team watched as the angry drill sergeant stomped his way back into the forest and out of sight. "Should we... Go after him?" Brandon Herrera asked with uncertainty. Donut waved it off, " Eh, he didn't bother to bring a gun with him, but then again... It's him. He probably doesn't need one." The rest of them laughed at that, meanwhile the 3 ponies continued their stare of confusion. In an instant, they all stopped their argument and turned to face Rainbow. " Please, lead the way." Evan gestured down at the dirt road. Angry leisurely strolled through the forest, kicking up the grass as he went along with the soles of his steel toed boots. As chance would have it, he stumbled into a patch of bushes. "Oww-" The bush cried out, stopping as soon as Angry pulled himself out of it and looked down. Just in time to watch a tail disappear into it. He scowled, and slowly rubbed his chin. "Well... That's not supposed to be there, or is it?" Without a second thought he reached into the bush and rummaged around in it until he grabbed hold of what felt like a large bird. "You're not getting away this time!" He yanked it out, and swung his right fist all at the same time. Fortunately, he actually recognized the magical creature he had just pulled out of the bush. It was a griffon. And a very, very unhappy one at that. " What are you doing here?" Angry asked, shaking the griffon by his head. " What are you?" The creature sputtered out. Disregarding Angry's demand. "Well... I'm..." He nervously glance over his shoulder, but Angry snapped the giffons head back to himself. "Look at me little one, what are you fuck doing here!?" Just as the griffon opened his beak to give an answer, several dozen figures emerged from woods around Angry. They were armed with a mix of crudely made swords and spears. Angry calmly surveyed the scene while going though his potential courses or action. But settled with chucking the griffon currently in his hands into the nearest one and bolting away at full speed. It wasn't a retreat, it was a tactical withdrawal. Being that he was going for his guns which he had left in the bed of a truck on the outskirts of Ponyville. That, and he wanted to get his friends in on the action as well.
Don't Run From Rednecks"You live in a library?" Brandon asked Twilight with a raise of his hand. She glanced over at the others. "Yes? I mean, I used to live in Canterlot. I just moved here a little while ago." He shrugged, " Fair enough. Everyone's there at some point of their life. Well, I don't know about living in a library but I'm sure you get the point. " She nodded back. "Guy's, guy's! I made a few new friends in the forest!" Angry waved down at the group from a nearby rooftop. Donut clutched his head. " What the hell are you doing?" Before the drill sergeant could provide a response he was tackled by a pair of griffons dressed in crude armor. Angry snatched one by the throat and threw him as hard as he could beak first into the ground below. "Man, forgive me if I'm mistaken. They aren't acting like very good friends." Donut remarked with a voice full of sarcasm. Brandon and Garand both waved at Angry. " Should we help him?" They both shouldered their rifles, but didn't raise them fully. They wanted to wait and see if Angry could handle them alone. And, sure enough. The end result of their patience was a half dozen unconscious griffons and a drill sergeant content with his work. With the immediate threat over, he proceeded to slap one of his victims awake and begin feverishly questioning them. "Is he... Ok?" Rainbow Dash asked the other humans, " Yeah, pretty much. You don't mess with Angry and get away with it unscathed. His personality is quite literally summed up in his name." Scott explained to Twilight, who was still in awe at the way Angry was berating the already traumatized griffons. "Why are you here? Why did you attack me? Who sent you!? Tell me god damnit!" He raised one by the collar of it's armor. Needless to say, all the conflict had attracted quite a crowd. Fluttershy was among them. And she was most certainty not a fan of his methods. Now as far as Angry was concerned, she was entitled to her own opinion, though the yelling was a tad bit annoying. "Ma'am, with all due respect. Could you please shut up? All you're gonna do is annoy him." She decided to leave them alone. Just as she began to leave, the griffon finally began answering Angry's questions. " Um... We were out on a hunting trip-" Angry laughed. " Hunting trip? Well, if you were on a hunting trip then there wouldn't have been any reason to attack me!" "You picked me up by the throat!" The griffon sputtered out. "Oh yeah, than what's that patch on your armor?" Twilight spoke up from the back. " Hold on, I think I recognize it from an old book about the Griffon empire." Brandon raised his right hand. "Does that mean there's more to this world then ponies?" Twilight nodded. " Yep, there's griffons, dragons, minitour's, diamond dog's, buffalo, yak's. The list goes on." He rubbed his eyes, "Good god, what have we gotten ourselves into. Donut?" "Hey, don't ask me. They didn't tell me jack shit." He responded. Matt tapped on Twilight's shoulder, " Your friend's with this nation's leaders, correct?" "Are you referring to Pincess Celestia and Princess Luna?" He nodded. It was then when Garand Thumb got an idea, " hey Angry, ask the griffon where the rest of his unit is stationed. Twilight raised an eyebrow. " What are you implying Mike?" She asked. "The insignia on his armor is that of the griffon empire. So what else would he be doing in Equestrian territory?" The griffon blinked. " I don't know what you're talking about." Angry rolled his eyes. " Say's the overgrown bird who can't keep a straight face, please answer Mike's question. And we'll let you go." "Wait... Really?" "Sure." Brandon responded. " There's no reason to keep you here, so it's either we let you go. Or," He moved his thumb across his throat in a slashing motion. The creature on the ground understood Brandon's gesture perfectly. "They're southwest of the Everfree forest." Angry crossed his arms, " Where southwest of the Everfree forest exactly?" The griffon looked at the rest of them. "You know what? I'm done with this!" The griffon rolled out of the way of Angry and took bounded over a building and down a side street. The humans' just stood there in utter silence, at last. Matt raised his hand. "Should we... Go after him?" Before anyone else could respond. Angry had already taken off. " Twilight, we'll be back in a moment. Would you mind looking after these fool's while we chase after our friend?" Twilight nodded. " Don't worry, we can handle ourselves." Rainbow Dash touted, Mike and Donut fought to keep themselves from bursting into laughter. Matt and the BRCC member's just let it rip. But swiftly waved it off and continued on their way. "Angry, man, wait up!!!" Brandon Herrera cried out, they were almost back to the trucks when they heard the distinct rumbling of a tank engine coming the the tree line. " Guy's!?" He called out to the rest of the group. " Yeah, we hear it too. We didn't bring any armored vehicles through the rift!" Donut responded. Mike stopped to catch his breath for a moment. " Sure that couldn't be something else?" Brandon scratched his head. "Nothing natural could make that noise. Damn, I the RPG at home. Hey, did anyone here bring any-" "No, no we didn't!" Evan called back. The team watched as Angry franticly chased the escaping griffon down the dirt road leading out of town. Out of the forest emerged an M18 Hellcat tank destroyer. Which came to a grinding halt right before the griffon and the Drill Sargent. While the griffon froze in his track's to admire the steel behemoth, Angry tackled him once more. The driver's hatch opened. Revealing none other than... The other Matt, from Demolition Ranch. From the turret hatches emerged John Lovell and Lucas Botkin. " Thought you needed help, we came as soon as we could!" John shouted. Lucas bounded down off the turret and clamped all 4 of the griffon's talon's, and both his wing's with zip ties. " Thanks, this griffon made off right in the middle of Angry's interrogation. Speaking of the Sargent, he wasn't too happy about the escape attempt. "Now... Little one. Here's what's gonna happen, we're gonna tie you to the front of this here armored vehicle, and you're gonna lead our convoy to your camp. Is that understood?" Before the griffon could respond, John had already dismounted from the vehicle alongside Lucas and pinned the creature to the hull. "Now, start squawking!" Angry yelled into his face.
New ArrivalsThe griffon blinked. But before he could respond to Angry's demand the human's climbed on board. A few moment's later the vehicle lurched forward. It rumbled down the road for about 2 minutes before halting in front of the Dinner. Where the assortment of heavily armed Americans proceeded to dismount and head to their vehicles. From there they drove straight though Ponyville to the town Library. Where Twilight was still keeping watch of the griffon captives on their behalf. Her gaze nonchalantly shifted from the convoy, to the panicking townsfolk, to the griffons, and finally back to the convoy. Though, she didn't speak out about it. "We caught him!" Brandon shouted. The convoy pulled off to the side of the road and parked side by side. " He's chained to the front of the Hellcat. That's the big tracked thing over there. Twilight nodded. "Isn't that a little too extreme?" They all blinked in unison, and simultaneously burst out into roaring laugher. "Greeting's ma'am, my name's Lucas Botkin. This is John Lovell." Twilight exchanged handshakes, or rather... Hoofshakes? With the pair. Scott waved from the back of the group. " No, no it isn't. He tried to escape, this is his punishment. We could have been a lot harsher. After all, while the United Sates of America technically signed the Geneva convention, Congress never ratified it." The laughing continued. " What's the... Geneva convention?" A voice asked from the sky. It was Rainbow Dash, back from wherever she had flown off to before. Brandon spoke up, " It's a... Document that was created by the united Nation's to prevent war crime's... In theory." He trailed off. Rainbow gave him a simple shrug. "Ok." And landed at Twilight's side. "Twilight, do you mind we change into our battle kit in your library?" Brandon asked, Twilight responded with a smile, "sure, just don't break anything." She lit her horn and opened the front door for them. " Hey, quick question. "Lucas waved, " How does the horn work?" Twilight looked at the newcomers, as well as the BRCC team which had opted to wait their turn. She looked at them and rubbed her chin. " It's magic!" John responded with a sarcastic grin. " Yes, that was quite apparent, but how does it work?" Twilight scratched his chin. " No pony really knows, it's... How do you say? Innate to the various species of pony. There's unicorn's, like myself who can cast spell's with our horns. Pegasi, like Rainbow Dash who can control the weather, and fly. Earth ponies, like Applejack over there who can manipulate nature." "Flying, spell casting? Cool, if I could I would totally rock that." Twilight stared at him in confusion. John looked over his shoulder to see what Twilight was waving at, making her way down the road towards the library was an orange mare with a cowboy hat. " Hey Twi!" She waved back, " Who are these two?" "I'm John Lovell, this is Lucas Botkin, we're here for the same reason as our friends. Nice hat by the way." She tipped it. " Thanks." She looked around at the various cuffed griffons lying on the ground. " Prisoner's of war." Evan called out. Applejack scanned the roadway. " Do ya need any help with anything?" John shook his head. " Nope, not that I'm aware of." " Ok then, I'm up by Sweet Apple Acres if you ever need anything." She trotted off. Lucas nudged John's elbow. " These may be some of the most colorful and... Interesting townsfolk we're ever come across." John looked back at him, " You're implying we've been on an adventure like this before... Which we haven't. Well, at least not you, I've actually been overseas." "Fair point, but then again. Have you ever been to a place like this?" John rolled his eyes. The other's emerged from the library, geared from head to toe with a mix of ballistic plate carrier's, chest rig's, battle belts, helmet's, balaclavas, and night vision. The timing couldn't have been more convenient as the sun had begun to set over the horizon. " What do you think guy's, turn in for the night or go ahead with the ambush?" Mike lowered his GP-NVG 18's over his eyes and smiled. " What do you think Brandon?" "Let's go!" The dozen or so men piled into the 3 vehicle's and drove off. Leaving Twilight and her friend's in the dust. The human's had left them with order's to hand them off to the Equestrian government, who would have them moved to the Canterlot dungeon. A rather merciful end considering the fact that they had attempted to ambush and lynch Angry. While they dealt with them, the human's, alongside the griffon they had bound the the front of their Hellcat were on a warpath with the force's of the griffon empire. Except, the griffon's didn't know they were at war yet. The convoy drove down the dirt road out of Ponyville as discretely as possible, even their headlight's were off, they were going along by night vision only. The Hellcat was first in the convoy, followed up by the 4 by 4's. A Hummer and a Raptor. " Should we go in loud or quiet?" Scott radioed over to the team member's in the Hellcat. The response was the slow and steady rumbling of the engine. "I believe that answer's your question." Donut quipped. John, Meanwhile was busy making sure that the griffon was leading them in the right direction. Which led to them taking their vehicles through stretch of woodland that would have been better off crossed on foot. The dirt road they were on turned to low grass, which soon devolved into the Everfree forest. After just a few minute's of driving through the brush the unit began to make out the distant fires off the griffon camp. As the the Hellcat cleared the way, the human's in the other 2 vehicle's preformed final check's on their weapons and comms. "Guy's, get your PEQ's on!" Evan's voice called out over the radio. The lead tank destroyer broke out of the treeline and stopped in the middle of a dirt pathway leading right into the center of the griffon's camp. Without wasting a minute Matt turned the vehicle around and sped down the path while John took up a position on the M2 .50 caliber heavy machine gun fixed atop it's open turret. "You sure it's ok to use this? .50 BMG cost's a fortune nowadays!" John called down. " Sure. Music?" The last voice had come from Donut. " Aren't we supposed to use those to broadcast surrender appeals?" The comms once filled with laughter. "Oh, right. I forgot who I was rolling with. Carry on." The griffon's in the camp had heard the convoy approaching long ago, but had never bothered to investigate the strange rumbling noise, passing it off as just another creature in the forest. Nor had they ever bothered to send out search parties for their missing comrades who, were currently enjoying a nice dark sell tucked away in the dungeons below Canterlot. "Alright! We'll let the Hellcat go on ahead and clear a path, then we follow and clean up any stragglers. " Angry blew a rather anti climactic war horn. As the air was filled with the sound of Jerry Reed singing, " Eastbound and Down."
Blatant SuccessAngry poked his head out the side window of the Hummer. "Well? Start shooting!" He shouted. His reply was met the roar of the M2 browning, and an arrow wizzing through his hat. Which prompted him to get his head back inside the vehicle. he looked over at Mike, " I thought you said they couldn't see in the dark!?" "Lucky shot!" He responded, he could see dozen's of figures moving around within the confines of the camp though his NOD's. " You heard him." The other's joined in with John just as the lead vehicle in the convoy broke through the outer confines of the camp. The war cry's of the griffon's soon devolved into cries to terror and confusion. As the human's onboard the truck's effortlessly brought down one after the other with their rifles. The various bonfire's of the camp casted ominous shadow's across the carnage. "Sir!" An armor clad griffon franticly shook general Blackhawk awake. " Ugh, what is it soldier?" A gunshot echoed in the distance. " We're under attack!" He scrambled to all four's and grabbed his short sword. "By who? The Equestrian's?" The massive metal figure of a 4 by 4 drove past the opening of the tent. " No! We don't know who it is. We need to get you out of here!" The 2 rushed outside, but a soon as they had left the confine's of the tent a bullet flew through the guard's head. Splattering blood across the general's face. He scanned his immediate surrounding's, and laid eyes on the being who had fired the shot. Garand Thumb glanced over him for only a moment before turning away to reload. "Oh well then. I suppose that would be my signal to leave. " Blackhawk murmured, he turned and flew off into the dark sky of the Everfree forest. He was headed back to Griffonstone to acquire more troop's. He and his subsidiaries had not expected a sudden ambush in the dead of night. Especially not by heavily armed American's. But to be fair, it wasn't like they could have prepared for it. Even if their forward scout's had returned they still would have lost this battle. Back on the ground thing's were going quite poorly for the griffon force's. After downing the majority of the opposing forces within the first few minute's, those in the Hummer and Raptor had dismounted and fought onwards on foot. Their night vision, suppressed rifles, and infrared mounted laser's gave them an enormous advantage. Which in broad daylight wouldn't have given them much of an advantage against the giffonic forces, given that they could fly and possessed talons. But given the nature of the engagement they currently found themselves in , they were entirely outclassed. The battle was over before the hour was up. As the remainder of the griffon forces surrendered, the humans took a few moment's to take in the carnage. Which, being that most of them were either ex military or law enforcement, was nothing special. Though it's not everyday you fight a conflict based around mythical creatures. "Damn." Brandon Herrera sighed to himself as he looked over the battlefield. He glanced over at Scott, who was busy pulling a fistful of arrows out of his plate carrier. "They're tougher than they look, still no match for us though, eh?" Scott touted. John walked up from behind, " Take care, we might have won this battle, but what about the next?" The other human's approached him. "We need to get back to Twilight, I don't want to go in with zero intel next time." Lucas Botkin glanced over at Evan, who looked around at his compatriot's. " What Botkin said! We'll deal with the mess we made here later!" The human's once more boarded their vehicles and took off. "Hey, quick question, did anyone see their C.O?" Mike asked the team over the comm's. Matt pounded on the back windshield of the vehicle in front of them and shook his head. " No, at least... I think we did, it was dark out side, and we didn't even know what to look for. I propose we go back and question our POW's some more." Mike looked out the window. "Aye, I'm sure they're being treated just fine." Donut chuckled, " Yeah, I've seen a lot of weird shit in my day. Those ponies don't look like the good cop- bad cop type. " Another laugh rose up from the convoy. "You there! Where's Twilight?" The convoy had stopped on the side of the road leading into Ponyville to question one of it's inhabitants, a pegasus mare with crooked eyes, something Brandon and the other's found rather humorous. They wern't going to bother asking why she would out so late. John dismounted from the Hellcat and struck up a conversation. "Oh, hit there! My name's Derpy! How are you?" The mare waved even though he was standing above her. He couldn't help but smile at the gesture. " Hello there Derpy. Do you happen to know where Twilight Sparkle went? We're looking for her." She blinked at him for a moment. Then pointed off into the distance, towards the mountain top city which Twilight had identified as, " Canterlot." "Are you sure?" She nodded her head, but before she could leave Brandon pulled out his phone and snapped off a picture of her." For the internet." Lovell shook his head and climbed back into the turret of the Hellcat. But before they started back up Matt poked his head out the back window of the Raptor. " Are you sure we've got enough gas to drive all the way to the capital?" Scott poked at the fuel gauge and grunted." Yep, we do, I topped it off way back in San Antonio." "So... How do we get to Canterlot?" Scott realized that Derpy had flown off before he was able to get an answer. " Pick a road that run's parallel to the rail line, we shouldn't hit much traffic. " The convoy started up again, headed down the main road through and out of Ponyville. About 2(ish) hour's of driving later... " Lucas, it's Matt Best. Are you sure we're going the right way?" The Hellcat stopped at the top of a hill. Matt slammed the steering wheel of the hummer and picked " Take a look for yourself. You're the one in front. Could we switch places? We're out of the hot zone, we'd go a lot faster if we went first." Botkin pulled and Matt pulled themselves out of the driver's hatch. " Good idea, go on and pass us!" The two truck's in the convoy went on ahead of the Hellcat, while it continued behind them a a much more leisurely pace. The clock on the dash of a three vehicle's read 650 hour's, and the sun had begun to rise over the eastern horizon as the sparkling tower's of Canterlot came into view of the convoy. " Guy's, we're here!" The group gazed on in amazement as the 3 vehicles rumbled through the front gates. The guard's on either side just let them pass. And they soon found out why, Rainbow Dash appeared overhead with the news that the royal's were..." Expecting them." They were fine with, the team wanted 3 thing's, breakfast, sleep, and access to their POW's.
Armed Historian: Part 1The flock of armed griffon soldier's flew over the Everfree forest heading Northwest. Ian had actually agreed to come with them. And, not knowing that he was actually armed to the figurative teeth, they brought the historian along with them. He was fine with it, Ian was actually fine with it. It wasn't every day you got to fly with mythical creatures. And it wasn't like he was about to pass the opportunity up. While Ian headed to the griffon kingdom to hopefully contact their leadership and learn about their species, the other American's were busy surveying Canterlot on a semi guided tour. While Angry and a few other's headed down to the dungeon to interrogate a POW. The majority of the outfit was taking a tour with Princess Celestia. Their first stop was the guest rooms. The team stepped though the front gates of the castle and began making their way down the castle's ornate hallway's. " While John and Scott did their best to stay humble at the sight of the magnificent architecture. Brandon and the rest of them couldn't help but gawk at it. While it was no Texas Salon. It was still pretty impressive. Whilst most of them had visited a castle at some point in their life, this was something else entirely. It was quite literally something right out of a fantasy story. "Hey, Celestia. How did you build this place?" She chuckled, " It took quite a bit of magic, for the most part the ponies of Equestria were more than happy to assist with it's construction. I would have had my sister help. But she was banished to the moon at the time." Brandon scratched his neck, "Oh, yeah. How did she manage to survive a thousand years up there anyway?" John Lovell glanced over at Celestia as though he had seen a ghost. " Well... Who banished her? And for what?" "I did. Brandon, Donut, Scott. You all remember what happened at my old castle a few weeks ago." They all nodded in agreement. " I wasn't there, would anyone here care to explain it to me?" A book appeared in the air, lit by Celestia's magic. On it's cover was the gilded drawing of a unicorn head. " This should answer all of your questions better than I could. He nodded, " Thank you very much ma'am." "You are a 'Warrior Poet' after all man." Donut chimed in. John grunted and stuffed the book into his backpack. As Celestia led them a bit further to the guest rooms. There was more than enough space available for the humans present. The rooms themselves each contained several beds, dressers, bathrooms, and assorted decorations. All of the rooms featured a wonderful window facing northeastward towards the river which flew from Canterhorn lake, the lake created by the waterfall which flowed from Canterlot. And speaking of Mount Canterhorn's water fall, it rivaled Angel Fall's on earth. Of course, one was situated in the middle of a remote jungle in the middle of a socialistic hellhole of a nation. The other was located in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. It would do for now. Whilst the BRCC team and Texan's were getting settled in, Luna was leading Angry and a few other's though the dungeons below Canterlot. Whilst most people would be disgusted by the sight of it. Angry cheerfully walked alongside the Princess. "Bagh!!! You call this a dungeon? I've seen worse daycare center's in Fayetteville!" Luna looked over at him. " What?" He shrugged, Mike laughed. " Damn right they are. I mean, hell... I could live in one of these cells." He unassumingly kicked the bar's of the one closest from him. He immediately regretted his decision when something came out of the darkness and clawed at the bars. Luna ignited her horn, and the being retreated back into the darkness. Angry folded his arms. " Eh, still seen worse. "Mike flipped the cell off, and they continued on. " Hi Princess, I have two questions for you." Luna looked over at Mike. " Go on then." He scratched the back of his head, " First of all, is this the only prison in your nation. My friend's and I find it really odd that you decided to keep stuff like whatever that thing was under your capital. I mean, there's a reason we don't have a prison in Washington D.C. They've got jail's, sure. But no major prisons." She raised an eyebrow. " Washington D.C... That's the name of your nation's capital, right?Well... We have another one named Tartarus, but we haven't had many reason's to use it, there isn't exactly much crime in Equestria." Mike shrugged, "I kind of figured that. Still, isn't it a security issue?" She pulled a key from her saddlebag's and opened a cell door. " No, not to my knowledge." Mike chuckled at her remark. "Forgive me if I don't trust your knowledge over my experience. " The three of them turned to look at the griffon that had tried to get away from them the day prior. His eye's widened as Angry stared him down. "Oh, it's you again. " He snarled. The creature sounded more depressed than anything else, that wouldn't dissuade Angry or Mike from getting answers. "The location you gave us turned out to be the camp we were looking for. Thank you for being truthful." The griffon crossed his talons and looked away. "Angry snapped his finger's, " Hey! You'll look our way while we're addressing you, is that understood you little shit!?" He sighed, and turned back around. " Look, I get why you put me here. But I can assure you, none of those other griffon's are friend's of mine. Heck, I only joined General Blackhawk's revolution because of the free food. " "Heh, well. I've heard worse excuses in my time. But that's understandable, now. When we attacked your camp. We didn't find any trace of this 'General Blackhawk. Cool name by the way, that his real one?" The griffon shrugged. " I don't know, they don't tell me anything. " "Anyway," Mike continued. " Where could he have gone?" The griffon swallowed. " Umm..." "Aw shut up!!! You must know something! I've dealt with my share of enemy combatants in my day. I can tell when they're lyin'." Angry snapped, the creature recoiled back. " Hey, what's your name? You do have one, right?" The griffon brightened up. "Red Wing. Yours?" "Mike. Call me Garand." He shifted his rifle on his back slightly. Angry leaned forward. "Well, you gonna tell us?" Luna watched the conversation from the doorway. Meanwhile in Griffonstone... Ian set his boot's down on the dusty road in front of a castle, a few moment's later, the portcullis rumbled open. The griffon's that had brought him in mumbled something about "Renovations." He shrugged it off and unassumingly walked through. He was immediately approached by a griffon wearing slightly more ornate armor than the other's. He assumed that he was of higher rank than the other's. " Heh, reminds me a bit of Scotland." The creature cocked his head to the sight and squinted at the human. "What's Scotland? And what are you?"
Armed Historian: Part 2Ian Macullom scowled. The eclectic historian tapped his boot against the cold ground. Then shrugged " Well, I suppose it's more that fair that you wouldn't know what, or where Scotland is. " He smiled, and extended his open hand to the griffon. "Well? Be a good mannered griffon and shake my hand." He calmly insisted, the griffon leaned forward and shook his hand with a talon. "Very well then, I'd like to inspect your castle now. " He pulled a Sherlock Homes esque magnifying glass out of his coat pocket and began making his way into the castle. "That coward." Red Wing scowled, ruffling his wing's as Garand took a seat on a nearby bench. "What do you mean by that?" "He ran while the other's died on mass." Angry chuckled, "Eh, they put an arrow through my hat. You mess with one vet, you get us all!" Mike raised his water bottle in agreeance as he took a sip. " Damn right we are. Mister Wing, we aren't even the real military, we're just a couple of civilians and ex-spec ops guys LARPing our way through life. Trust me, you don't want all out war them." Luna nodded in the corner. She simply replied with "Aye." "He's most likely hiding out in his castle back in Griffonstone." Garand blinked and rubbed his eyes. " Where is that?" The creature raised his eyebrow. " It should be Northwest of here. It's about a 2 hour flight for me." Garand nodded in affirmation, and leaned over to Angry to inform him that Red was talking about his wing's, not aircraft. "Alright, thank you for your help." The 2 men looked at one another, then walked out of the cell without uttering another word. Leaving the Princess behind to lock it. " What would you have done to him?" Luna asked in a slightly annoyed tone. " Release him once we've found this 'General Blackhawk'. Not before, while he does seem too be telling the truth, you can never be to careful when it come's to POW's." Whilst Mike, A.C, and Luna were making their way back to the surface, Brandon and the BRCC team were touring the castle. Donut and both Matt's had taken a liking to the massive kitchen. Being the freedom loving Texan chad's that they were. The whole team greatly enjoyed barbeque. Not that vegan, soy nonsense. Meat, freshly cut from Texan owned ranches. Now, whilst there wasn't much anything resembling steak here, something did still smell damn good. Donut noticed it first. "Are those... Donut's?" "Oh you bet they are!" A high pitched voice called out from behind the center island. The half dozen or so BRCC veterans jumped in surprise. " What in god's name is that!?" Evan called out, pointing down at the ground. Scott raised his hand. " I believe it is what the bronies call a, 'Pinkie Pie'. Or so the internet tells me. " A murmur of agreement rose up from among the group. They watched as a rather cheerful all pink earth pony walked around the island and looked at the group, she was holding a tray of Donut's in her right hoof. ""Want one?" The team looked at one another. "Should we?" Donut reached forward and picked one up with chocolate frosting. "Is it poisoned?" He asked Pinkie, turning it over "No, I don't think it is, why would you ask?" "Where I'm from, stranger's don't just offer you free food. At least, not ordinary strangers." He took a bite of it. " Well, it certainly isn't the worst donut I've ever tasted, thanks!" She skipped away as Donut finished the rest. " Special creatures, aren't they?" Matt Best nodded, Jared groaned in annoyance. "Would it have been to much to ask her for a second one?" He hurried off after her in a fury. Just as he left the room, Luna entered with Mike and Angry in tow. "Where is my sister?" Luna asked the group, they all shrugged. "She left a few minute's ago. We haven't seen her since. That reminds me, where did John go?" Whilst the Texans where busy making a mess of Canterlot, Ian was casually strolling around Griffonstone castle. After a while, he stepped through the door's of the throne room. And took a good look at General Blackhawk. Who, needless to say, wasn't to happy to see a human after the ordeal just a few hours prior. But his did his best to retain his composure. "Um... Hi there?" Ian waved, doing a slight bow with his hand. " My name is Ian, I take it you are the owner of this establishment?" The general and his guards blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?" "I was referring to this castle of yours. You're it's lord, correct?" The griffon blinked again. "Well... Yes. Yes I am." Ian grinned. " Could you perhaps tell me more about your people's culture? I'm curious as to how beings such as you managed to settle down here." "Well, I do not know much of that, I just run this place. Brazen Updraft!" A lanky griffon with a pair of glasses and a stack of papers in talon hurried into the room. " This... What are you again?" "Human. I'm a human." Ian said. Crossing his arms and nudging the arsenal which he kept just under his coat. "Ah yes, this ho-man whishes to learn more of our culture. Please teach him. Blackhawk waved them away. The historian couldn't help but laugh at this remark. The sheer absurdity of his current situation made it all the more humorous. "What are you laughing at?" Blackhawk scowled. Ian cautiously waved it off. " Oh, nothing that would concern you." "So, how's your day been?" Ian asked with a cheerful demeanor. The creature next to him rolled his eyes. "Long. Long and boring, judging by your demeanor, I take it you've had it better than me?" Ian shrugged, " Well, I was looking for my friends. But I had to take up the opportunity to come here. " The pair walked into a library. " Let's begin." The griffon said to him. Motioning to a pair of old seat's to their left. As the day dragged on into the afternoon, Ian began to grow impatient in spite of the things that this ' Brazen updraft' character was telling him. Not because what he was doing was boring, no, it wasn't that at all, it was because he still had to find his friends. And the griffons he had met so far hadn't told him anything of them. More so to the point, they clearly recognized his species. Even if they hadn't previously known it's name. They were hiding something from him. Luckily, he wasn't just any historian. This was Ian Macullom. And he had a few tricks up his sleeve, literally. Without saying another word, he got up and began to walk out of the library. "Where are you going?" Brazen asked the human. " Thank you for a wonderful time, but I'm afraid I must depart now." A pair of guard moved to block his path out of the library. He sighed. " Please move." He counted exactly 3 seconds on his watch, and bounded out under the spears at breakneck speed and reached into his right coat pocket.
Moderately Hasty Tactical WithdrawalIan looked back at the library entrance. Then at the guards which were steadily advancing on him. "I would be very much gratified if you let me leave peacefully." He repeated, he drew the Five Seven from a holster by his side and put it's red dot sight squarely on the lead one's skull. But after a few moment's went for his double barrel shotgun instead. He check the chambers for a moment before flipping it around and knocking the first griffon guard off his talons and paws. He bought his boot down on the other one and shoved the muzzle of the shotgun into their faces. "Drop 'em!!!" The pair hesitated for a moment, but did as he instructed. "Ian, what's going on?" Brazen had poked his head out of the library and was now staring at the human. Who now had the 2 guards at his mercy. He glanced over his shoulder for a brief moment, and realized that there were several more guards converging on his position. He now had 3 choices, surrender, fight, or tactically withdraw. He decided to go with a combination of the last 2. "Alright, let's see, they're probably faster then me, I'm gonna need a head start. He whipped the shotgun around with one hand and emptied both barrels of double odd buck over the heads of the guards. The noise of the gunshot, combined with the impact of the pellets against the wall cause them to all duck for cover. He broke into a blind sprint back down the hallway. Ian rounded a corner the climbed down an unfinished section of wall. Alarm bells sounded in the distance. He took one quick look off to either side of him and crossed the street. He was looking for a way back to Point Liberty. He knew the way back, it was just a matter of actually getting there. And after the stunt he had just pulled, it was highly doubtful that any griffon would be willing to fly him back there. He'd have to find another way. He ducked into an alleyway as a column of griffons marched past. Blackhawk was leading from the back. " I have to tell them about this." The armed historian jogged down the alleyway and ended up in a dilapidated garden. On the far side was a conveniently placed hot air balloon. He calmly strolled out into the open and took a look around. Seeing that not a single soul was around. He made for the balloon, Ian speedily untied it and made ready for flight. As he quietly hummed, "Into the wild blue yonder." He began to get the feeling that something was watching him. He turned around to find a single griffon, much smaller than the rest. a youngling, McCullom presumed. It was covered in bright array of red and yellow feathers. For a moment, the 2 of them stood there, unsure of what to say. The griffon snickered. " I won't tell if you won't." Ian blinked in confusion, but nodded nonetheless. "Ok." The youngling flew off, and Ian finished setting up the balloon. He set off southeast. Back towards the camp he had left behind, and, hopefully. His friends. "Well you know John, I happen to know a thing or two myself about dealing with tyranny." Celestia said to the ex Army Ranger. He smiled and nodded sarcastically. He had wandered off with Celestia and was now in the process of debating philosophy with her in the Canterlot Royal Library. Being a self proclaimed, "Warrior Poet." He felt that it would be prudent to ask her a few things about Equestria. Of which he had learned quite a bit about. Including the fact that it was established in the wake of her sister's banishment to the moon. The whole concept of magic still bewildered him a bit. As it did with the rest of the humans. " Our country just elect's some one new to run for president every 4 or so years. I don't really bother concerning myself with stuff like that. I've got a company to manage, a farm to run. And a family to take care of. I told them I'd check back in a week. If my work here wasn't done before then. I like what I've seen so far of Equestria. But I still wouldn't take it over the American backwoods. She smiled back, well... That's understandable." John glanced over his shoulder as Princess Luna entered the room, followed immediately afterwards by his teammates. "Damn." Brandon Herrera remarked. " Nicest library I've ever been in." Angry finished. Evan looked over at John, then at Celestia. " Let me guess, warrior poet stuff?" He laughed, "That's a wide generalization of it. But yes, warrior poet stuff. I was just about to tell her about Dante's Inferno. But I suppose that'll have to wait for another day." Scott scoffed, " Stop showing off, I'm relatively sure that Equestria had myth's just like that. And considering that Equestria is well... Equestria, they probably aren't myths." "Well, if you're interested, you may access the royal library whenever you want. Jared walked over to the nearest shelve and snatched the first book he touched off it. He read the title aloud. " Celestial magic and you: An Alicorn's Guide to Life." He blinked in confusion, " What the hell?" Evan waved it off as Donut ran into the room with a... Well, donut in his mouth. " Hey guys! You're never gonna believe who showed up!" Scott pulled back the library curtains and peered through the enormous window, on the other side was none other that Ian McCullom. Gun Jesus himself. In a hot air balloon. He cupped his hands around his mouth, signaling that he wanted to talk, and then pointed south, towards the gardens. "Mmfff!!!" Donut announced, finishing the remainder of his donut. "I thought you didn't like those things." Matt murmured. " Well I don't have anything better, do I now?" He licked his fingers and folded his arms. As he looked away and began to walk out with the rest of the team. All of a sudden they saw their shadow's flash against the wall, followed by a confused scream. " Scott looked back into the library, there was John and Celestia, standing above an alicorn with a green mane and grey fur. The new creature looked itself over with a mixture of wonder, confusion, and shock. Finally, it opened it's mouth. " Guys, what happened?" "Lucas!?"
"Reasonably Concerned.""What happened?" Lucas repeated in confusion. He looked up at John, then at his companions. Then down at his hands. Which were now fur covered stumps." The group was completely silent. He looked down at his new hooves again. One moment, he had been opening a book which he had grabbed off a nearby shelve, and the next, he was half his original height. Botkin just sat there. He could feel his ears twitching slightly. " Opps." Princess Celestia chuckled nervously, she levitated the book which Lucas had just been holding to her side. Brandon raised his hand. " How did-" The princess opened the book for a moment, and closed it again. " It was an enchanted book, you'll be fine Mister Botkin." "What- Huh?" John looked at the others. " Yes, I'm pretty sure that Lucas Botkin just transformed into an alicorn. Lucas?" The creature on the ground looked up at him. " Yeah?" "How does it feel?" He tried flexing his new wings. " I can't feel my fingers." He replied, trying to sound a disconcerned as possible. He looked to his side. And was relived to find that his Glock was still there. "Um... Could I have a mirror?" Matt Best fished one out of his plate carrier and tossed it to Lucas. He prodded at it, "How am I supposed to open it with these?" John knelt down and propped it open for him. "Holy-" He rubbed his eyes. " Well... It's not normal, but I imagined worse. This isn't actually that bad." He tapped the horn on top of his head and furrowed his brows. " Wait, isn't Ian waiting outside?" The team exchanged looks. "Yes, yes he is." Brandon said. " Ok, Mike, Matt, Scott, Donut, John and me 'll stay with Lucas. BRCC, you go and greet Gun Jesus." They went their separate ways. "This isn't permanent. Right?" Botkin bounded to all fours. And stumbled leftward slightly. Celestia caught him with her magic. " Try walking, slowly." John Lovell insisted, pausing for a moment to stare down at his watch. Whilst Lucas attempted to relearn his basic skills of motion, Evan and the BRCC team greeted Ian. " Oh, you guys have no idea how glad I am to see humans!" He cried out. "Matt Best and Logan squinted at him in confusion." Long day?" He furiously shook his head up and down. " I've got a tale for you, actually. Or, is it a fable? Being that it was mostly animals, or does that not apply to griffons? Ah, whatever. Lead the way Evan!" He calmly fixed his coat. And proceeded into the castle after Evan. It looked even more marvelous then it did from a far, and was exponentially more preferable than the Griffonic one which he had spent the better part of his day in. As with the other humans, he marveled at the castle. He hadn't heard of, nor seen any ponies up until this point in his journey. He and the others stepped into the library just in time for Ian to meet Celestia, Luna, and a ponified Lucas Botkin. His eyes widened. " Fascinating." Was the first word out of Ian's mouth. " Glowing unicorns with wings, this is the darnest thing I've seen all day." He walked up to Luna and examined her mane. " How does it float in mid air?" He asked her, she took a step back. " I don't know. I would presume it's magic, the same goes for my sister, he turned around to stare at Celestia. "Is that real gold?" He examined her necklace. She smiled, " Why yes, it is. Hello Ian, my name is Princess Celestia, that is Princess Luna, and that... Is Lucas Botkin. He had a run in with an enchanted book. " Ian furrowed his eyebrows as he approached the grey alicorn. " Well, this is certainty unexpected. How's life Botkin?" The ponified marksman looked up at him. "Good, great actually. According to Celestia over there, I can manipulate things the same way I could with hands thanks to this horn on my head. " Ian nodded, "I take it those wings are functional as well?" "As far as we know. We've witnessed other's, so I'm assuming he can as well." Mike responded. " Ian took a seat. " So anyway, it all started when I met this griffon on the road leading out of Point Liberty..." He paused for a moment to stare out into space. Brandon walked up and shook him. " Hey! Man, c'mon, you can sleep latter. Tell us!" He sat back up. "Alright, where was I? Ah yes, I met this griffon on a dirt road. I don't recall their name, but they got a few of their friends to fly me all the way to their capital city. Griffonstone, I got to meet their leader, learned a bit about their culture, busted out, and flew back here on that balloon I commandeered. The moral of the story is a simple one, don't trust griffons that both look and act like they're the main antagonist in a Disney film. " He clasped his hands together in satisfaction. "That's all?" Scott asked him. "Yep." Ian replied with a chuckle, "So, what were you guys doing while I was off meeting magical bird/ lion hybrids?" John looked out the window and put his hands in his pockets. " Well, we've got quite the story to tell you." They all sat down alongside Ian." Brandon and a few other's readjusted their battle belts. Lucas awkward slumped back on his hindquarters. "Who'll start first?" Brandon Herrera asked, Matt Best raised a finger. " I'll go first. It was actually Brandon over here that called for us. For some reason, the portal to this world popped up on our ranch, and no where else. We came back here because we were curious. And because this place is much cooler than earth. Ok, that's not entirely the case, but it certainly isn't lacking adventure." " Well, it was all cherries and berries for us until some SOB's decided to ambush me out in the woods." Angry chimed in, frowning at the group. " "You know Ian, here a good life lesson for you. Don't ever try to lynch a Drill Sargent!" "I'll take that under consideration, but how does that apply to me?" Meanwhile in Griffonstone...
A Talon Too Far"Sire!?" A griffon barged into the throne room, Blackhawk looked down at him with mild annoyance. "Yes? Let me guess, you're here to tell me of the escaped human?" The scribe nodded. Blackhawk shifted slightly, rising to all fours. " Not the first I've heard of this. By any chance can you tell me where and how he escaped?" "Well... No. To the best of my knowledge no griffon saw him depart from the city. " Blackhawk clutched his head and sighed. " Alright, you may go now. I'm going to fetch my armor. After that, we march on Equestria once more!" The guards at his sides shifted uncomfortably. They had heard rumors of what had happened the day before. How they had been attacked in the dead of night with no warning and, potentially, even how Blackhawk fled as soon as the fighting started. But then again, they were just again rumors. Nothing was ever really sure within the boundaries of the Griffon Empire. Mostly because of the sheer incompetence of both it's government and its people. The guards mindlessly followed Blackhawk to his quarters and stopped outside while he changed into his armor. By now the sun had begun to set on Equestria once more. But the forces of the griffon empire were just getting started. Rather chaotically at that. To add to that, Griffonstone didn't have the weather control that most of Equestria did. Wind and rain swept over the griffon legions as they hastily organized themselves and marched out of the city. Back in Canterlot, the humans were getting themselves ready for bed. They had been going nonstop for almost 2 full days by now. They both deserved and required a break if they were to continue fighting. And so they retired to their guest quarters. And by retired, they just collapsed as soon as they made contact with the beds. With the exception of a few of the veterans, who were used to staying up for long periods of time. Of that select few went out to brew some more coffee for the morning to come. The rest hung out in either the garden or the library. A few of the veterans had even managed to find some like minded guardsponies to play a few games of impromptu Buck Ball in the moonlight. Matt Best and Jared were among them. "You know, this is actually pretty enjoyable." Matt froze as the the ball levitated away from him, he calmly reminded himself where he was. He sighed, cracked his knuckles, and walked off the grass. "C'mon Jared, lets get some rest." The Air Force veteran looked over at him, " It's been 10 minutes. Are you sure you want to turn in?" "We've all been into combat lacking sleep before, it's never fun. "The both nodded in understanding and made for their rooms. The Guardsponies watched this unfold in confusion. They had never before seen humans, and so far they weren't quite sure what to think of them. The four of them, 2 unicorns, a bat pony, and a pegasus. Didn't think much of it. Though Matt still had a hard time wrapping his mind around it all. Jared decided that it wasn't really worth questioning, he would be sure leave that to people like Mike and John. The kind of people that could find time in their schedule for philosophical jargon. Not that he was that busy, it was that he didn't find that it kept him busy enough. "Are you sure we're going the right direction?" Nighthawk squawked at his officers as the column of griffons trudged drowsily through a snow bank. One looked over at him, " I am not sure sire." "Well it's not central Equestria, is it now?" He asked with a snarl. " No, no it is not." One of them replied. " But it is somewhere in Equestria, correct?" Blackhawk laughed. " Yes, but not the right part of it!" He he paused for a moment to flex his claw, the snow had begun to numb it. " Why are we even marching? You are aware that our entire army can fly?" "We started marching, and you never told them otherwise." He grumbled, " Well... Take flight, let's get us up above the cloud line. " Row by row, the griffon army took flight, gradually reforming back into the same formation that they had been in on the ground. As they ascended through, they began to hear noises coming from the clouds. Blackhawk drifted attempted to investigate. "It's probably just the wind-" His eyes widened as he stared into the cloud. Laying just below him was a herd of dormant windigos. He froze in mid air, surveying the cloudscape below him. Windigos had been the stuff of legend... Up until now, they were missive flying equines made out of magic which fed off emotions. According to those same legends, they were very unpredictable, extremely dangerous, and nigh impossible to kill. Which all fed into the viscera of terror flooding Nighthawks brain. He stared down at the, wondering what to do next. He speedily flew back to his escort and called up his only mage. A griffon with a mixture of purple and yellow feathers. Yellow Claw was her name. She was just as surprised as Blackhawk when she saw the Windigos. " What are we going to do about them?" He asked her. She turned to him with a concerned grin. "There is nothing that we can do about it, they're sleeping, right? Then don't wake them up. Mark them down on a map or something. Make a mental note about it sire. " He grumbled, and hung his head. " Well... In that case, let us continue!" He paused, the mage in front of him was flying in the opposite direction as fast as her wings could carry her. Blackhawk found out why when he heard an ethereal screech rise up from below him. The Windigos had begun to stir, a few looked up at him out of curiosity. He stared back, a half second later the entire herd had formed a ring around him. An where looking him over, deciding whether or not he was worth the effort. At the same time, a couple of griffons from the formation had grown curious, and decided to go see what their leader was up to, when they saw the Windigos, they left, and returned a few moments later with the remainder of the army, and began to charge, The Windigos bared the ethereal glowing fangs and flew towards the griffon formation. The battle was over in under 2 minutes, the griffonic forces didn't stand a chance. The twenty Windigos effortly swept over the griffon army groups, lashing out at them with their ethereal fangs and hooves, and magical blizzards. This sent the majority of griffons into a retreat. The remainder dropped from the sky, either injured or dead. Blackhawk took one look around, and flew off with his army. The Windigo's on the other hoof, headed for Canterlot. Blackhawk completely threw aside his plan. The Windigos could have Equestria for all he cared.
One World to AnotherWhilst the forces of the griffon empire retreated back behind their borders, the Windigos were headed straight for Canterlot. They were drawn to the greatest collection of magic on the continent, which in this case was Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Alongside the population of Canterlot. They needed emotions and magic to feed on after their long slumber, and Equestria was just the place for it. It was at about this time that Celestia began to once more raise the sun. Though it made little difference to the storm created by the Windigos. Angry had decided to go on a morning run, around Canterlot. Being that he had not yet had the time to fully explore the city. He left through the main gates, and proceeded to the city walls, where he began making his loop. Angry kept to a light jog up until the point when he was right over the waterfall which fed into the Canterhorn river. He stopped at the halfway point to gaze out at Eqeustria, and quickly noticed an anomaly in the otherwise clear deep blue sky. A singular storm cloud which appeared to be slowly approaching the mountainside city. He looked at it with mild confusion. Storms- and clouds in general were an extremely common occurrence on earth, the same could be said about the Everfree forest. But not the Equestrian heartland. It seems as though ponies, pegasi in particular. What with their ability to control the weather, had decided against constant cloud cover. Or any, for that matter, though he and the others had heard that it was permitted to occasionally rain. Which was what made this singular storm on the horizon all the more interesting. He stood there for about a minute and watched as it got closer, and closer, and closer. He heard wings flapping, hooves, and the memorable noise of boot's on cobble behind him. He glanced over his shoulder. "What's so fascinating?" It was Lucas Botkin, with Princess Celestia and Matt Best in tow. Lucas, to his surprise, was hovering roughly 6 inches above the ground. " How's hooves working out for you?" He snarked. Celestia shifted her gaze from Lucas to him. "He's quite the natural." " Shooting isn't that much of a problem either. I can still draw pretty. Heck, I can hold a tighter MOA than I ever could with this new horn. It's effortless." He half drew his Glock from the holster on his right side to further his point, before dropping it back into place. Oddly enough, his human clothes all seemed to fit his new equine form perfectly. With the exception of his boots, which didn't fit his hind hooves for obvious reasons. He was fine letting John hold onto them for the time being. "See that storm off in the distance?" Lucas squinted, "Yeah, it's a storm, so?" Celestia was far more concerned. Angry and Matt looked up and over at her. "Well? What is it? The Luftwaffe? E.T? Ivan?" Matt chuckled. " Look's to me like we've got a case of Independence Day on our hands!" A roar of laughter rose up from behind them, Angry looked to find the other Americans, fresh out of breakfast. Matt looked over at Lucas and Celestia, " And hooves, of course. We can't forget our Equestrian friends. And Botkin." The alicorn chuckled. Celestia's face grew pale... Well, as pale as an already alabaster white alicorn could. Brandon cupped his hands around his eyes and looked at the distant storm. "What are you so concerned about?" She turned to him. " Tell me Mr. Herrera, are you familiar with what a Windigo is?" He raised an eyebrow. " No... But I know what a wendigo is. They're a huge problem down in Texas, almost as much as Chupacabra's, Florida men, fire ants, and feral pigs." Celestia stared at Brandon. A couple of the Veterans behind him snickered. Garand raised his left index finger, " Ma'am, Brandon is kidding. There are no evil bipedal canids with a thirst for blood within the borders of the Lone Star state... That we know of, that is." He shrugged. " Well, I would suppose that's good news for you... But I was referring to Windigos, massive flying equestrian creatures which feed off emotions and bring massive storms with them wherever they go. They terrorized pre Equestria, several thousand years ago. But disappeared shortly afterwards. Never to be seen again." The team looked at each other as though this was a story they had heard dozens of times before. Celestia continued, "My sister and I heard tales of them back when we were still foals. Luckily, we never had the chance to 'experience' them personally. " Jared tapped his foot. "So... On a scale of one to ten, how much of a threat-" "It isn't that simple, sometimes they will ravage an area until there isn't a soul left. Othertimes they will simply pass an area by. And nopony quite knows why." Mike and Lucas stopped her simultaneously, but Lucas decided to let Mike speak his mind first." Nopony... That implies just ponies. But what about other creatures?" Evan Hafer laughed. " And where are we going to find one willing to help us?" "How about Zecora?" Standing on the far northern side of the bridge was Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. The BRCC team stared at the half dozen colorful equines in confusion. It was Brandon Herrera that responded to them, simply because that he was the only member of the team that knew who Twilight was talking about. He had actually met Zecora before on a walk down the road leading to Point Liberty. They had gotten along well. Through he wasn't fond of the fact that she only seemed to speak in riddles. Princess Celestia greeted Twilight and her friends with a warm smile. " That is a good idea, but at the rate that those Windigos are approaching us, we won't have the time to speak with her. " Twilight groaned. " Then what do we do?" "Have you tried bullets!?" Angry cried out, suddenly turning to Celestia. She shook her head. Angry put his hand to his forehead. When he raised his head again, Mike was biting his lip and looking over at Twilight, " Weren't there 6 of you?" John pointed to a quickly fading rainbow light streaking towards the storm. " There goes Rainbow Dash." Rarity murmured. Logan from the BRCC team found her though his binoculars. "Heh, it's like the time that Taliban guy rushed our armored convoy with nothing but a rock." The other vet's laughed. "Which one?" Jared added. Celestia sighed, she can't possibly take those windigos on and win by herself. " This is Rainbow Dash you're referring to Princess, it doesn't matter if she can or not. You know she's still gonna try." Applejack responded. Logan responded with a "Mhm." As he watched as Rainbow Dash flew into the storm cloud, and flew out even faster a few moments later. " Oh well... C'mon guy's. Let's go get kitted up." Scott waved them back towards the castle. From the gates they headed to their respective guest rooms. Where they donned their equipment. And all met up at the grassy knoll where their vehicles were parked. "Alright, does now... Does anyone have a plan?" Evan tapped his foot on the pavement and stared off at the storm, which now appeared to be just a few miles from them. "Celestia, Luna. Do you know of any weaknesses that those creatures have that we can exploit?" "I believe we might be able to utilize the Elements of Harmony. Though to do that we would need Twilight and all her friends. And Rainbow Dash is out of commission. Her gaze shifted to Lucas." What, me? No. Absolutely not. I'm a shooter, an operator. Not a mage. I don't even know the first darned thing about spellcasting!" He threw his hooves up in protest. Brandon sighed. " Well, guess we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way." He walked to one of the trucks and came back half a minute later with an RPG 7 slung over his shoulder. "Where'd you get a new one?" Donut pondered. Brandon winched. "... Anyway. We are going to wait still that storm is right overhead, then we fire this into it and- See what happens?" Celestia was skeptical. " Brandon, I might do well to remind you that it is my kingdom's capital that is at stake. Scott laughed. " We dealt with that Nightmare Moon character relatively easily. And we've all been through our fair share of hurricanes. The team all nodded in agreement. "What are we going to to do while it's making it's way over here?" John Lovell asked Brandon. " Let's take some potshots at it with our rifles. " Matt Best was skeptical. " Won't that just make it mad?" "It a magical storm made by ethereal equines. How bad could it be?" Lucas and John shook their heads. "Man, haven't you learned yet? Never say 'how bad could it be?' Right before a mission." Matt paused, and then grinned as the dozen or so humans and one alicorn went to their vehicles and set up their long guns. The whole scene was so absurd that it could be considered comedic. Whilst this was unfolding. The Mane Six were in the process of getting down Rainbow Dash-who had gone down after a rather anticlimactic skirmish with the windigos. Back to Canterlot. "Alright, who'll go first-" Lucas gave up trying to direct things when they all simply began firing at once. The humans had brought with them an assortment of AR and AK style rifles to use. With the exception of Ian. Who instead preferred to use an old Mauser bolt action rifle. Together, they fired a few volleys at the storm. To no effect. At least Matt could take solace in the fact that he was right. It did indeed only serve to make the creatures madder. By this point, it was nearly above the castle. Alarms had begun to sound across the city. And they could hear a cadence of distant screams. "Alright, it's here!" The team grabbed their rifles and ran for the castle. Brandon meanwhile, took aim with the RPG and let loose a single rocket. Which detonated somewhere up in the clouds. But just as rest of the humans began to realize the gravity of what was going on. "Oh well." Was Brandon's anti climactic response. He drew an M1911 from his belt, raised it into the sky, and fired off a single .45 Auto slug. Just as the casing hit the ground, an rather horrifying cry of pain emanated from the storm cloud. All at once, one eightied and nose dived into the lake at the base of the Canterlot waterfall in a flash of ethereal light, momentarily turning the surface to ice. A few moment's later, the sky began to brighten again. " "Huh, guess that's why the call it the Lord's caliber." Scott laughed. The rest of the team was completely fine with what had just happened. With the exception of John Lovell and the still ponified Lucas Botkin. Celestia was in utter amazement as well. "That... Actually worked. It is a surprise, but a welcome one at that. Good work Americans. Equestria, and I thank you once more. On that note, do any of you happen to know where Twilight Sparkle and her friends went?" Meanwhile, somewhere in the Southwestern United States...
As the Founding Father's IntendedRainbow led them down the cobble paved road towards the royal castle. They drove straight through the front gates, as before. The guard's simply stepped aside and let them pass. From there they took a left and parked in order along a path just south of the royal gardens. From there, they dismounted and headed into the palace. " Damn, I mean, I've been to Europe a few time's but this take's the cake." Evan remarked. Just as the word's left his mouth a cart with a cake atop it rolled past them, followed by a rather angry stallion wearing a chief's hat. "...Moving on. I would assume that your leader's are waiting for us up there?" Rainbow nodded. " Yes, they are. Now quick, walk faster!" Brandon rubbed his sore eyes. " Please shut up, we've going on full for a whole day. So for the love of Kalashnikov, let us go at our own god damn pace-" Before he could finish his sentence the walkway in front of them was filled with a burst of light. When it faded, Princess Celestia was standing before them. While Rainbow was quick to bow, the humans stood there in confusion especially the BRCC member's, who hadn't met her before now, John and Lucas were fascinated more than anything. After a few moment's of awkward silence, John stepped forward. " Good morning ma'am, I would presume that you know why we're here?" She smiled, " Why yes, I do. You may rise Rainbow Dash." She nodded, and jumped to all fours. Celestia turned to a nearby guard. " Please show our guest's to the dinning hall and guest rooms. They look like they could use it. " She glanced back at the weathered humans. Their rifle's dangled from their slings. And their boot's were covered in thick mud. Angry popped out from behind Mike. "Where are they!?"He rushed up to Celestia at a near inhuman speed and stared into her eyes. " The griffon's that you apprehended are in the dungeon below the castle. Sister!" A second, smaller alicorn appeared by Celestia's side. She crossed her hooves and smiled at the humans. Evan let out a chuckle. " Heh, she looks nice enough. Hey, didn't Donut and Brandon almost kill her?" Her gaze shifted to him, and she opened her mouth to speak. "GREETING'S, MY SISTER HAS REQUESTED THAT I ASIST YOU IN YOUR INTROGATION." Evan Hafer blinked and readjusted his cap. " Holy shit... Still not as intimidating as Angry." A murmur of agreement rose up amongst the humans. Celestia looked down at her sister. " Would you mind not using the 'royal Canterlot' voice in the presence-" "IMPRESSIVE VOICE PRINCESS! YOU ARE MOST AMUSING!" Angry roared back. he folded his arms. "Well? Let's go." The team split up into two groups, Brandon and the BRCC member's with Celestia. And Angry and the... Well, they didn't really have a name for themselves yet. Meanwhile, in Griffonstone... General Blackhawk set down on all fours just outside the palace. Which was still in the midst of being repaired and rebuilt on account of the overthrow of the previous regime. A process which was significantly hampered by the fact that Equestrian griffons are traditionally very neglectful beings. Though now they were nowhere to be seen. " Hey!" Blackhawk called out. " Your ruler has returned!" A pair of griffon's poked their heads above the palace walls. "Sire! You're back! Uh... I apologize, it's lunch time." "Don't worry yourself with it. Send word to the army. I require more troops. There was an... Incident." He cleared and trotted off. As the forces of the Griffon Empire ready their forces for another round at Equestria's defenses, and the American's made themselves at home in Canterlot. Yet another human had emerged from the rift between the 2 worlds. A man by the name of... "Ian McCollum." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out 2 thing's, a long range radio, and a compass. " Guy's, it's me, Ian. I know I'm a bit late to the party, but... I would gladly like assist you. Hello? Brandon, Scott, John, Lucas? Garand?" He groaned in annoyance and stuffed it back into his pocket. He slung a Mosin Nagant from a leather sling and took a look around at the deserted Point Liberty. " Well... I suppose I'm walking." He began his way down the road leading to Ponyville. Only to encounter a lone griffon. "Oh! Well hello there." He muttered as he shifted closer to get a better look at her. " It appears as though I have stumbled across a griffon. And no, I am quite certain my sanity is intact" He rubbed his eyes. The creature huffed." What are you talking about?" He blinked, " And a talking griffon at that. Astounding! Do you have a name?" "Gilda. And you." He smirked. " It's Ian. I'm here at the request of some of my fellow industry members." Gilda raised an eyebrow. " Oh? And what is this industry you're involved in?" McCollum laughed. " Firearms. Thing's that go boom." Her eyes widened, and she hoover up off the ground by about 6 inches. "Cool!" He nodded, " Well... I've got to get going, nice meeting you. It was certainty a... Unique experience. " He took off walking a slightly faster pace than normal. Ian had been given a basic rundown of the situation over the phone, but wasn't given any specifics. So he got his car, a few weapons, some snacks. And headed for the BRCC ranch in Texas. He had left his vehicle back at on the other side of the rift in a safe-ish spot. He had taken 3 very different weapons with himself. A kitted out Five- Seven pistol, and a Mosin Nagant, and a double barreled hunting shotgun. They weren't his favorite guns of all time, he just happened to have them on his person. Unfortunately, the intrepid antique weapon's collector wouldn't get the time to use them just yet. As a group of unsuspecting griffons had decided to bring him with them back to Griffonstone. Ian was fine with it, as long as he had his radio on him, he could talk with the others. Plus, he had a plan.
