Project Rift

Close Encounters of the Unknown Kind

"Go, Go, Go!"

The squad quietly made their way out of the Stryker, and into the cold outside; all of them scanning the area for any threats. The VC inside the Stryker messaged the other two Strykers about Bravo squad being deployed to investigate the property.

"Damn, it's cold out here," Alveraz grunted, at the cold environment around them.

  "Do you need a hug to keep you warm?" Velazquez joked

"No,no,no I don't need you grabbing me," Alveraz retorted, as Velazquez started approaching to actually give him a hug.

  "You can't hide your love for my hugs."

"Shut up! Get away from me! And let's get this over with."

  "Okay..."

The Stryker holding Echo squad also deployed its troop and began investigating the area. Ray and his team investigated the right side of the farmhouse while the other half of the squad took the left. Ray saw Echo squad exiting their Styker, and quickly went to regroup with them, "Stay here," he ordered. The Echo sqaud leader saw him approaching, and went to confront him as well. "Are you guys going to check the home first?" he asked

"Yeah, we'll check this area out first then we'll contact you guys if we spot anything," Ray said

"Got it, we'll see if that house in the back has anything," the Echo squad leader said, pointing at another structure on a small hill in back of the farmhouse "Alpha is on standby if you guys get into trouble".

"Alright, let's do this..."

The two seperated and returned to their teams. Ray's team were on hold by a few stacked barrrels by the farmhouse. Derrick and Velazquez were next to each other and Alveraz was by the edge of the wall checking around the corner for anything. "This is how it's going to go: We're going to check this house out, Echo is going to check the other structure up the hill in the back, and Alpha is on standby in their Stryker," Ray explained. The team acknolowged the plan, and moved out. They circled around to the frontdoor to meet up with the other half of the squad. The other team was by the door trying to gain access inside. "This is Bravo squad, we're trying to get in the farmhouse, but the door is locked. Over." Victor radioed to all. "So, how do we get in?"

"Shoot both door knobs or put a charge on the door?" a squad member suggested

"No, We're trying to keep this quiet, uh, just find a way to get inside without making noise."

The squad searched around the farmhouse again, trying to find a silent approach to get inside, shining a few bright flash lights through the windows for visiblity of the inside. Derrick stayed with Victor and another squad member by the door, "I know how to pick some locked doors," he said, mischievously smiling. Derrick postioned himself by the door, and got a few small items out from his backpack, then began to manipulate the locked door.

"Where did you learn to pick locks?" Victor asked, curious at Derrick's knowledge at picking locks.

"When boredom strikes, you do anything for entertainment..."

Apple Bloom was lightly snoring in her bed, it was quiet and tranquil during this time of the night in the home of the Apple Family, when a few small thumps and sounds suddenly emerged and interrupted the quiet night. Apple Bloom twisted and turned at the bothersome sounds, after a moment of more sounds she now fully woke up. "What's goin' on out there?" she asked, tiredly. She got herself out of the bedsheets, and approached her bedroom window. Apple Bloom looked to the outside from above, trying to find the cause of the noises, but nothing was in sight. The only things that were visible was the dirt floor, apple trees, and fields. She looked to the right, and there was nothing, then to the left and barely caught something before vanishing from sight, "Huh?" All she saw was a part of something that disappeared by the side of the farmhouse, "What was that thing?"

She constantly looked around to see if anything else was out there, but nothing else appeared. Suddenly, a small noise came from below; making Apple Bloom look downwards at the sound. Her eyes went wide when she noticed two tall shadowy things that were barely visible in the moonlight. Apple Bloom suspiciously observed these things, but all they did was stand there and look in different directions. One of them suddenly looked up at the window where Apple Bloom was, and she instantly withdrew from it, but a strange sensation came over her, then quickly faded away. She was confused why she suddenly felt this but ignored it right away. Apple Bloom was starting to become frightened by these tall things that were outside.

"I've got tell Applejack about this!" she said, exiting out of her room, and quietly going down the hallway to Applejack's room; silently opening the bedroom door, then entering. Apple Bloom saw Applejack peacefully sleeping on her bed, she was about to wake her up when another sound came from the outside, making her to slightly panic. "Applejack...Applejack..." she softly nudged her, "Applejack..."

"What?" Applejack slowly started to wake up from her sleep, lifting herself up, realizing that her little sister was at her bedside, "Apple Bloom, what are you doin' up this time? And why are ya even awake?" Applejack noticed that Applebloom was troubled for a odd reason, "Little sis, is there somethin' wrong?" she asked softly.

"Applejack, there are these things out there..." she said, in a frightened tone. "Ah think there's three of them."

"What do ya mean there's "things" out there?"

"They're really tall and Ah think they want something."

"Okay, Ah'll go see what's out there, and stay here, Apple Bloom," Applejack said, getting out of the bed and heading towards the doorway.

"Please be careful..."

"Ah will, Ah promise." Applejack came out of her room and into the hallway. A strange sound came from the outside, and Applejack's ears perked up at the sound, "What in the hay was that?" She stood still for the moment to see if the sound returned, but it didn't, "Must be some small critter or my imagination." Applejack looked down the hallway at Big Macintosh's room and Granny Smith's then facing the stairs in front of her. Another strange sound was heard, and Applejack was becoming increasingly suspicious at the noise, "Now, what is all the ruckus out there?" She slowly took steps down the stairs, reaching the dark living room. It was all clear, but yet, another strange sound came again, "What is goin' on out there?" She approached a window to see what was responsible for all the noise. Applejack looked to the outside trying to find the cause when suddenly, a tall silhouette appeared in front of the window; obscuring all view of the outside.

Applejack gasped, and fell backwards to the wooden floor, her heart began to race as the thing outside put its head by the window, trying to peek into the inside. Applejack stood frozen in the position where she was; not wanting to move a single limb to avoid detection by that thing or creature. The thing appeared to have some sort of headwear on it, but it had a part that pointed outwards from the front, then going upwards with two tubes above, and the body type it had was very...abnormal than anything else she had seen. It stood there looking into the inside, but wasn't able to notice Applejack by the darkness inside of the farmhouse. It observed there for the moment, then walking away out of sight. What in tarnation was that thing!?

Applejack got back up from the floor checking her surroundings, but a second of one of those things appeared by another window doing the same action as the previous one, and then a third and fourth figure appeared by another window. Applejack frantically looked at each of one of the windows; all of them occupied by those creatures. She slowly started to take a few steps backwards towards the stairs but a strange sensation weighed on her. Applejack started to feel weak, then everything started to get hazy around her, it felt like it was draining her life away, she gathered all her strength to break free from this unbearable feeling, and managed to retreat back up the stairs. She galloped quickly up to her bedroom where Applebloom stood there waiting for her, "Apple Bloom, wake up your brother and Granny! There's more than three of those things!" With that alarming notice, Applebloom scurried off to wake up her two other family members. Applejack went to the window in her bedroom to check if anymore of those things were out there, she looked out and was shocked to see that there was at least a whole group of those things walking through the fields, "How many are there!?"

Applejack saw these tall creatures approaching the farmhouse, and went back down towards the living to check on the creatures outside. She was about to take a step when suddenly, a bright ray of light landed right in front of her on the floor through the window on the left, one of those things had a flashlight in its grasp; searching the insides. Applejack took a few steps back, but the door knob suddenly started to shake, and she knew instantly knew what they were trying to do. But that strange sensation returned to her and she bolted back up the stairs before it overwhelmed her. Applejack entered her room again, and saw Big Macintosh and Granny Smith were in there, both having confused expressions. "What's goin' on here?" Granny Smith asked.

"Granny, Macintosh, there are these creatures just right outside the house! There's so many of them!" Applejack cried out.

"What do ya mean "creatures"? Granny asked again, puzzled by the meanings her granddaughter is saying. "Are they ponies or are they somethin' else?"

"Granny, these things are way different to be a ponies or anything we've seen!"Let me go check if they haven't done anything down there. Big Mac, come with me," Applejack said, both exiting out of her room and went down the stairs, "Oh, Ah hope they haven't done anything, yet." They reached the living room, and the windows we're still occupied by those creatures. Big Macintosh was shocked by so many of these things were outside, then he made a determined look to defend his family.

"Big Mac, no. There's to many of these things for you to handle, who knows what those things can do!" Applejack whispered.

The door knob suddenly started to shake but then stopped, and everything went quiet. All the creatures by the windows pulled away and headed towards the direction of the door. Seconds passed by, and a eerie silenced filled the living room, both Applejack and Big Macintosh stared at the door to see if the creatures would try to do anything else. Moments passed by and still nothing happened.

"Ah think they're gone. Now let's-" The door knob suddenly started to shake, but then stopped again. The lock on the door turned instantly from being locked to unlocked. The two sibling's felt their hearts race as the door was now fully unlocked. "Get back up stairs now!" Applejack whispered out loudly. The two rushed back up stairs back into Applejack's bedroom, and shut the door locking it. "What's goin' out there?" Apple Bloom asked, worried for what was going. "They unlocked the door downstairs!" Applejack cried out. "I think they're -" The sound of those things entering the home was heard, but were barely heard by the small sounds they made.  "Wait a minute!" Applejack said, a hint of concern in her tone. "Where's Winona?"

"Ah don't know. Have you seen her, brother?" Apple Bloom asked Big Macintosh.

"Eenope..."

A sound of a footstep on the stairs was suddenly heard, it then took another and another continuing upward. Then the sound of single step was put down on the hallway, and then there was the sound of multiple foot steps coming up the stairs rapidly. All four Apple family members huddled up as the sounds of those things increased, and as they approached closer and closer. Apple Bloom was hugging tightly on to Big Macintosh and Applejack and Granny were frozen in position staring at the door. The barking of Winona came out of nowhere, but then the sounds of footsteps rushing towards her was heard, and a yelp from Winona followed right away. Applejack winced at the sound her pet made and all the possibilities on what they could've done to Winona came rushing to her mind. Suddenly, the exact strange sensation filled the room and came over the four Apple family members, draining their strength away from them. "What's goin' on?" Apple Bloom whimpered, as it affected her.

"No, Not this again." Applejack groaned, as the powerful sensation came over her again.

"Oh my. What's goin' on?" Granny asked, weakly

Apple Bloom swaying her head as the overpowering force drained her strength away, she tried to stay strong but was defeated and fell unconscious on Big Macintosh. "Apple Bloom?...Apple Bloom?" he asked concerned. "Apple Bloom?" "Macintosh take care of her!" Applejack ordered, but this sensation started to consume Applejack strength away as well. Her body felt like it was going to collapse and her vision became hazy again, "Got....to stay strong," she whimpered. The sensation suddenly faded away, and the sounds outside also disappeared. They slowly rejuvanated their strength back to a healthier state, "Please be gone, please be gone," Applejack begged. The door knob to the room started to shake just like the one downstairs, "Oh no..." Big Macintosh said under his breathe. A groan was heard from one of the creatures, as it couldn't open the door and a few faint voices too. "Forget it..." one of them said, then the sounds of footsteps reappeared and travelled back downstairs. Applejack listened closely to the sounds, and heard the door downstairs shut close, "Ah think they're really gone now," she said. "But did it just say something?"

Applejack carefully took a few steps towards her bedroom door and opened it slowly. Big Macintosh moved the unconscious Apple Bloom gently towards Granny and accompanied Applejack by her side. They poked their heads out checking the hallway and down the stairway, but that sensation still lingered along the surfaces of their home, still slightly affecting them, "What in tarnation are these things creating? Some sort of spell to make ponies go to sleep in a very uncomfortable way?" Applejack asked, frustrated. Big Macintosh cautiously headed down the stairs and checked the living room; nothing was in sight, but a few misplaced objects. The door was shut closed with the lock turned back in place, "Big Mac, Ah am not going to take any more chances with these things. Help me cover up this door," she said. They started to place furniture and other objects infront of then door to prevent any of those things to enter again if they returned. "Ah think that's enough. Now, let's go back upstairs to check on Apple Bloom," Applejack said. Please be alright....

They returned back into her room and saw Apple Bloom asleep on Applejack's bed with Granny standing by her side, "Is she alright?" Applejack asked, worried.

"She'll be fine, but what did those things do to make her like this?" Granny asked, in return. Applejack suddenly remebered Winona, and galloped out of her room to find her. She went down the hallway, and found Winona also unconscious on the wooden floor, "Oh Ah hope they didn't damage you." Applejack grabbed Winona by the collar with her mouth and carried her back into the bedroom. Big Macintosh and Granny were shocked to see that Winona also was in the same state as Apple Bloom. Applejack placed Winona on the bed by Apple Bloom, "Ah think we're safe for now since me and Big Mac here barricaded the door downstairs," Applejack said.

"Well Ah hope that stops them if they return," Granny Smith said, in hopes that the makeshift barricade would stop the unknown visitors.

"Ah hope, but Ah think it's safe to go back into our rooms now. Ah'll take care of Apple Bloom here."

Granny and Big Macintosh headed back towards the room, leaving Applejack alone with Apple Bloom and Winona asleep on the bed. Applejack closed the door of her bedroom, and approached the window to check outside. There was not a single trace of those things or anything they could've left behind. Applejack sighed and went back to her bed, she scooted in right next Apple Bloom and wrapped the blankets over themselves. A light snore suddenly came from Apple Bloom and Applejack formed a small warm smile of relief that her sister was fine, "Good night, little sister...Good night."

****************

"Well that was something," Alveraz said

   "What do you mean? Finding a farmhouse in the middle of whoever knows where we are or about invading someone's private property?" Velazquez asked, sarcastically

"Finding a farmhouse but I don't know about invading private property."

The whole squad was back in the Stryker heading back the same way they came from. Some of the squad members were starting to fall asleep for a unknown reason. "Hey what did Echo squad find in that house in the back on top of the hill?" Alveraz asked "All they found were jut some barrels and crates," Ray said. "But its kind of weird that the property is actually a apple farm."

  "Yeah, but did any of you guys grab any of those apples?" Velazquez asked

"Hell no! Who knows what kind of things those apples might contain or if they even are apples," Victor said

  "Good point. But that house we entered-was it kind of weird for you guys the stuff it had inside?"

The awake squad members remebered the contents the farmhouse had while they were investigating the inside of it. Ray remembered the strange photos that hung on the wall that had horses on them and some apples painted on the walls. "Hey did guys notice the pictures on the wall?" he asked. Velazquez put a hand to his chin trying to remeber the insides of the house, "Yeah, I did notice those pictures. One of them had a family of horses on it, but there was one photo that had a horse with a cowboy hat and apples right above of the back legs," he said. "Wait-I think that area was called flank, yeah, it was called flank. Yup, there was apple markings on its flank." Ray kept on thinking about the farmhouse and why it was so strange, despite being on another part of the galaxy. "Velazquez, I can't believe you knocked out that dog so quickly!" a squad member added. "How did you do it?"

  "Oh that's easy. All I did was turn on the knock out device, then give a kick to the mutt. And the results are very surprising."

"You are full of surprises."

  "Exactly..."

Moments passed by as the long journey back to the portal drop some continued. Half the squad had fallen asleep on the trip, and its awake members slowly started to become asleep one by one. Alveraz's eyes slowly kept on closing on him, but he snapped himself out of it to stay awake. "You wonna fall asleep on my lap, buddy?" Velazquez asked, jokingly "Let's not go over this again, Andrew," Alveraz said, in a tired tone. "I'd rather sleep on Derrick's shoulder than on you."

"Alright, Alright..."

Ray and Derrick were still fully awake and ready for anything. Derrick sat there quietly in front of Ray on the Stryker. But Ray started to notice Derrick had a confused look or was troubled, "Hey what's wrong?" he asked. "Left something behind or about what we're doing on this planet?"

"No, no, Its just that if back on Earth it's about midday and here it's probably the middle of the night-how come some of us are falling asleep quuckly? Though we still haven't tired out of a whole day." Derrick said, confused by the strange anamoly.

"Good question, yeah, that's one thing I've been noticing. But I did feel strange while we were out there. It felt like I was getting tired or falling asleep, but it wasn't the devices we had, since it doesn't affect humans but-I think it's best that we do adapt to the time zones here," Ray said

A sudden bump came on the road shook the Stryker, and some of the squad members woke up to the noise, but went back to their sleep. Derrick squirmed in his seat a little to adjust to a comfortable position, he then looked at the squad members, and noticed they had all fallen asleep. Alveraz was leaning against Velazquez on his left shoulder slightly snoring. Velazquez had his tilted down with his night vision goggles still on, Everyone else was either leaning back in their seats or on someone else's shoulder. "Damn, is everyone sleeping on the job?" Ray asked.

"I guess so," the VC added. "I'm also starting to feel like if I'm going to fall asleep."

"Well that's no good," Ray regarded, at the VC's condition.

"Don't worry. I'll stay awake, but how did it go while you guys were checking the inside of that farmhouse?"

"Kind of weird, but we didn't get into any trouble. Though, there was a locked door on the second floor infront of the stairway. We were thinking about opening it, but we decided to call it off. The other rooms had the covers of the beds all messed up, meaning the occupants living there had probably heard us and locked themselves in that room."

  "Well that's surprising, but I just want to tell you guys that the helicopter won't be arriving untill the morning on this planet. The company commander messaged the generals, and they made the decision to put it on hold for now," the VC informed

"The helicopter won't be seeing anything that much even if it's equipped to see in the dark," Derrick added

Fourty-five minutes later...

The return trip had now been almost an hour. Ray, Derrick, and the VC were still awake, but growing tired by the moment. The motion of the vehicle slowing down was felt, and Ray was glad that the trip was already come to an end. The vehicle fully stopped, and the ramp lowered down. The sleeping squad member suddenly awakened, some of them mumbling out a few words as they exited out the vehicle. "Finally..." Derrick groaned, as he made his way out.

The other Strykers from the other three squads pulled up right next to theirs and lowered their ramps down. The different squads exiting their vehicles. The squad leaders and the Stryker commanders gathered again to discuss their findings while they were away. After moments of sharing info, they dispersed and went back to their positions. "Listen up! We're calling it a night," the Alpha squad leader said. "We'll be getting back up again in a few hours to start scouting the planet again. So, better get as much sleep as you can."

All the soldiers from the different squads began to lie down on the ground. Some of them took off their helmets, but some kept theirs on. They used their backpacks as makeshift pillows to sleep let their heads rest on. Velazquez and Alveraz were already asleep on the ground, but Ray and Derrick were barely starting to lie down on the soft grass. Ray removed his helmet and rested his head on his backpack. The moon casted its faint light above all the soldiers and vehicles, Ray stared up at the moon; wondering why it had a unicorn head marked on it. But he felt his eyes lowering down on him as he continued to stare at it. A few seconds passed by, and Ray was now fully asleep under the alien moon.

***************

"Spitfire...Spitfire....."

Spitfire was in her office at the at the Wonderbolt academy reading a magazine on her desk but a unknown voice called her, "Spitfire....Spitfire...."

"Huh? Who's there?" Spitfire frantically looked all over her office as the voice kept on calling her name,

"Spitfire....Spitfire...."

"Show yourself!" she demanded out loud. The voice went away after she yelled at it, and a knock on the door was suddenly heard, "You may enter." The door opened, and Fleetfloot stepped into her office, "Spitfire, is everything all right? I heard you yell. Is there something wrong?" she asked concerned.

"No,no. You must've of heard some thing. I didn't yell or do anything like that, hehehehe....." Spitfire said sheepishly, forming a small smile with a squee.

"Okay....I'll be on my way then."

Fleetfloot closed the door behind, leaving Spitfire alone in her office. Spitfire stood there behind her desk with a wide stare about how crazy she must've sounded to her friend Fleetfloot when she yelled at nothing, "Am I hearing things? Was there a voice calling my name?"

"Spitfire...Spitfire...." the voice returned. Spitfire started to panic as the voice continued to call her name. She covered her ears, but the voice still penetrated the barrier that stopped all sound. "What do you want from me?" she yelped. The voice stopped again and everything fell silent. She slowly removed her hoofs from her ears and looked to both sides of the room seeing it was clear, she sighed in relief that it was over, "Thank you. It finally sto-"

"Aaaahhhhh!!"

A scream from Fleetfloot was loudly heard, and Spitfire rushed around her desk to the door. She flung open the door and looked both ways down the hall. "HELP ME!" Spitfire flew quickly to the left of the hallway, and turned arouse the corner, "What's wrong Fleet-" Spitfire was shocked at the sight of a tall creature that had Fleetfloot in one arm. The creature was a complete silhouette and appeared to have the reflections of water on it, but the reflections were red. The creature was also just a floating torso that curved downwards with what it looked like it's spinal tail bone slightly poking out at the bottom. It turned its attention away from Fleetfloot and directed towards Spitfire, its eyes opened up and they were completely yellow. Then the jaws opened up and revealed a pair of carnivorous teeth in them. Spitfire suddenly realized that the head resembled the skull that was discovered at the academy.

The creature did a deafening scream into the air, Spitfire and Fleetfloot instantly covered their ears as the creature screamed. Other screams that were similar to the creature echoed from far away, "I don't care who you are or what you did, but let go of her!" Spitfire shouted out bravely. The creature gave a cold stare at Spitfire then faced Fleetfloot that was within its grasp, it did a double voiced laugh at her. Fleetfloot started to tremble as it stared at her then she instantly dissapeared in a purple light. "What did you do to her!" Spitfire said furiously. The creature started float towards Spitfire making its small demonic laughs, Spitfire started to back away slowly as the distance between her and the creature closed, "Stay back....I'm warning you!" she said, in a shaky voice.

The creature kept closing in on her and Spitfire lifted into the air. She made a quick look behind her, and noticed there was a wall behind her. The creature growled and leaped forward at her. Spitfire dodged to the side, letting it slam onto the wall behind her; making a large dent on it. "Well that takes care of it. But where's Fleetfloot!" she cried out, thinking where her friend might have gone. Multiple growling sounds came down the hallways. She checked around a corner and her heart skipped a beat when she saw there was at least seven or more of the same creatures just like the one that slammed into the wall. But there was one that was bulky and had a mask on it. "...Bye!!" Spitfire was instantly gone and flew away from the pack of savage creatures.

She flew down the corridors of the academy trying to escape the creatures. "Get off me!" a familiar voice cried out. Spitfire flew towards the source of the voice, and discovered it was Soarin' that was pinned down to the ground by one of those creatures. The creature was trying to bite him, but Soarin' barely managed to keep it away from him, "HELP!!" Spitfire charged in at full speed and powerfully kicked the creature violently on it's side. The creature flew and landed on the floor, making a few groans and gargling sounds as it slipped away from being awake, "You alright?" Spitfire asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks...but what are these things?" Soarin' asked

"I don't know but we have to get out of here!"

"Alright follow me!" he said

They were are about to turn tail and run, but we're stopped at the view of the whole pack of those monsters. "Okay...very bad idea to go that way," Soarin' whimpered. "Come on let's-" Spitfire noticed that Soarin' didn't finish what he was going to say, and looked at him to see what was wrong, "Soarin' are you-" Spitfire's eyes went the widest than ever before at the sight of the creature that was supposedly unconscious had fooled them and had sunken its jaws in Soarin's throat. The creature lowered Soarin' and they slowly started to go under the floor, his mouth quivered, but no words came from them. He looked at Spitfire who had tears in her eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "Get out of here..." Now both him and monster had sunken beneath the cloud floor. Spitfire couldn't move, her mind was empty and she couldn't think of anything. Everything started to collapse around her.

The creature that was bulky and had the mask started to float quickly towards Spitfire, she realized that her doom was coming, but didn't even bother to move. Spitfire frantically started to breathe in rapidly and her left eye started to twitch as it approached her. The large creature extended it arms to the side, opening it's claws up. It was now just about four meters away and leaped at Spitfire with the mask flying off and its eyes and jaws wide open. Spitfire screamed as it was about to come in contact with her....

"AAAAAHHH!!...HUH? What was that all aboutI!?"

Spitfire raised herself up from the grass floor and looked around her to see where she was. She discovered that she was in a small clearing in a forest that she didn't recognize at all, the sun was barely peeking right above the treelines. And the birds were chirping. Spitfire slowly started to calm herself down from that nightmare, "What a horrible dream-But where am I? How did I end up here?" She looked down at her officer uniform; noticing that it was completely wrinkled and covered with dirt and filth, "What happened to me?" Spitfire rubbed her head at a small headache she had and went through her memories trying to solve what happened to her, and how did she end up at the location where she was. All she remembered was being at the academy then Soarin' arriving and her assistant acting strange then pointing upwards at the sky. But when she looked up at the that strange object flying in the sky the memory went blank after that. "What did I see?"

Spitfire went back through her memories again, but there was only a hazy image of something she couldn't determine. All she remembered were tall figures that looked very strange. The figures were shadows with a bright light in the back of them, Spitfire could only recall one of them reaching down for her and that was it, "What were those things?" Spitfire tried to move but the pain of sore muscles prevented her from doing that, she yelped at the pain and tried again. The pain only escalated more, and she fell upon the ground, "What in Celestia's name did happen to me!?" she asked frustrated. The sun rose above the forest and struck her with its blinding rays of light, "Where are my shades?" she went through her uniform to grab her shades, but they were nowhere to be found, "Great....just what I need. I guess have to go on without them." Spitfire spreaded her wings to fly, and rose above the unknown forest and into the sky.

She looked down at the area around her, and didn't even know where she was or heading. But despite the pain to try to find the way back home, it was very nice to look at the beauty of natural landscapes. The forest was small with a few clearings and a river ran along through it then dissapearing more deeper into the forest. There was also a single mountain that accompanied it that was covered in snow and anything around its base, "...Well, this is really nice," Spitfire said. She looked to the right and saw a huge mountain range towering above all. The mountains in that direction contained a very large forest around it, and very ominous in its appearance, "Strange, I've never seen those mountains before."  Spitfire stopped and floated there to observe her surroundings. She looked up ahead, and it was just the edge of the forest and the wide plains of grass that stretched all the way beyond the horizon. She then looked to her left, and it was more of the same forest and some hills. "Both directions seem to go nowhere. I guess that means-" Spitfire rotated around to the right and faced the mountains that were unknown to her, "I'm heading that way." Spitfire flew towards those large mountains and its mysterious forest.

Twenty-Five minutes later...

Spitfire was now growing weary of the long flight she had been making since she woke up in that other forest. She had passed many hills, plains, and more to get to those strange mountains. Spitfire passed over a large hill, and saw that there was a large cleared out piece of land below her, "Why is this area suddenly cleared out?" she asked herself. "This part of Equestria must be very strange." Spitfire passed over the cleared area, and was now above the large forest at the base of the mountains. The mountain were now coming in closer as she made progress approaching it. There was a hill with a few trees on it, Spitfire looked at it and saw a figure leaning from the side of a tree then dissapearing behind it, she stopped there to see what was the peculiar thing. "Okay....this place is really creeping me out. I am just going to move along now." Spitfire ingnored the strange thing and flew straight towards the mountains.

The mountains were really close now and she wasn't that far from reaching the top, "Finally!" she said in glee. Spitfire increased her speed and got closer and closer to the top, she lowered down and landed firmly on the glass floor. A small gush wind blew on top of the mountain and passed through Spitfire's mane and tail; swaying them gently along with it. She took in a deep breathe of relaxation, the sun shining down below on the vast lands below and from afar, "When was the last time I felt this great before?" Spitfire admired the view but noticed some small stuctures far in the distance, "I think that's Ponyville down there...Well at least I found the right way."

Spitfire stood there for moments viewing the scenery then spreading her wings to fly. "Time to get moving." She flew into the air and soared across the strange land. The thick forest below obscured all view from above and it seemed lifeless down there. Spitfire made her way towards civilization, but a strange sound echoed from somewhere. She stopped and listened closely, it sounded like if it was loudly cutting or chopping through something rapidly. The sound didn't last long and dissapeared into the land. "What was that all about? I seriously need to get out of here." Spitfire continued her journey back home before anything else strange appeared.

Ten minutes later...

"Oh, thank you! I finally made it back!"

Spitfire gained altitude and headed towards the academy above, she passed by all the cloud homes and training areas for the cadets. Some of the cadets saw her and were surprised that she returned out of nowhere,"Ma'am where have you've been?" a cadet asked, on top of a cloud with another by her side. Spitfire ignored the cadets and headed straight towards the main academy structure, She landed on the runway, and was confronted by Fleetfloot and some other cadets, "Spitfire, where were you!" Fleetfloot cried out, pulling her into a hug, "We've been worried sick and now you appear to us out of nowhere!"

"Yeah-But at least I'm back right?"

"You've been missing for at least a day! We contacted the Royal Guard to find you!"

Spitfire was very confused and shocked that she had been gone for a day, "I was gone for the whole day? How did I end up being missing?"

"You don't remember going missing, Ma'am?" a cadet asked, confused why Spitfire doesn't recall anything that had happened her.

"No, All I remeber is Soarin' arriving here after a training session then seeing a strange object in the sky, but-where is Soarin'?"

"He came here just about half an hour ago, but he went home to rest. And he's just like you: can't remember or know how he even went missing. But what do you mean a "strange object" flying in the sky?" Fleetfloot asked, suspiciously.

"This doesn't make any sense-why can't I remember anything. And that strange object I saw before I went 'missing'...was that cause of my dissapearance?" Spitfire questioned. "But Fleetfloot...will you take over for today? I feel very tired and I've got to get myself back together."

"Sure!" Fleetfloot gladly said, "And you do really need to get back home and rest. You're not really looking that great, either."

"Well, I'm off then. Thanks for covering for me today." Spitfire flew into the air and headed back to her cloud home. "Don't go missing again!" Fleetfloot shouted from behind.

"...Hahaha! Don't worry I won't!"