Goliath One-Status: K.I.A.

Chapter Three

Equestria

June 19th 2023

Marcus winced as the blood-curdling shriek played his eardrums like a bongo. As he slowly made his way to the source of the noise, he realized that some sunlight was leaking into the small clearing and disabled his night-vision. As he got closer to the large rock, he noticed a couple of blue feather tips poking out from the side he was on. Maybe it was some kind of bird? But birds don’t scream, at least not like this one did... He looked at his surroundings and noticed one of his gun magazines laying on the forest floor. He walked over to it, picked it up, and put it in a utility pouch on his vest. He then turned around and was presented with the third most ‘WHAT THE FUCK’ moment since he crashed. Trapped under the rock,was the right wing of a small cyan blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail.

  “I’m not sure whether I should question this, or just help the poor thing. Considering it was probably what those wolves were about to make an appetizer out of...”

But Marcus’s care for other living things kicked in and he moved to the other side of the creature. When he was in the line of sight, the pony weakly looked up. As said pony did so, three things happened at once: it gasped, then started hyperventilating, and Marcus got a serious deer-in-the-headlights look at soon as it happened... Even though Marcus knew the poor being couldn’t understand him, he started to say to it in a calm voice,

  “Hey, hey! It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to help you. Okay?”

To Marcus’s great surprise, the pegasus actually started to breath more steadily, as if it could understand him.

  “Okay, so I’m gonna lift this rock off of your...wing... and then you’ll be free! Okay?”

Without waiting for a response (as if it could give one), Marcus moved over to the side of the huge rock, put himself in a almost hugging position, and started to lift with all his might. After a few seconds, Marcus could feel the rock getting lifted up. He moaned and groaned as he fought to lift the large stone. After a few agonizing seconds, he completely picked up the rock until he was on one knee and the rock was resting on his chest. He then turned about 45 degrees to the left and set the rock down with a loud “thump”.

Afterwards, he turned his attention to the blue pegasus who was looking somberly at its right wing, which was halfway extended but was bent at a bad angle. He slowly approached the creature which staggered away. Then something caught Marcus off-guard again. This pony, like the slightly larger red one he had seen earlier, was giving him a look of sheer horror. As if it was knowing it was going to die. Then, just as he was about to tell the being that he wanted to help it, a series of footsteps was heard from the left. On instinct, he whipped his B23R from its holster and trained it in the direction of the noise. He enabled his night-vision to see if there was anything in the dark forest, and he saw something that gave him another “WHAT THE FUCK” moment. Two more things of the same shape and size at the pony standing by him were sprinting towards the clearing they were in.

”Shit, they must’ve heard that scream before...”

Marcus disabled his night-vision, but moments after, he felt himself being risen up into the air. He squirmed to get out of the purple aura that was encasing him, but soon felt himself being shot back into a thick tree. He hit the tree so hard that the whole thing shook slightly as he fell to the ground. As he did, his six years of ground experience kicked into gear as he got up and sprinted at a breakneck speed at the two ponies standing at the edge of the clearing. He saw the unicorn and figured that the color must’ve been related to the aura that had shot him at the tree, so he want after that one.

~~~~~~~~~~

    “RAINBOW DASH!!!” The purple unicorn and orange earth-pony both ran as fast as they could in the direction of the scream, hoping that their friend was okay. After  a few horribly long minutes, they saw a small lighted clearing and stopped. They both watched in amazement as the biped they had in Twilight’s library was holding a huge rock over what looked like... Rainbow Dash!

  “Twi, look! It’s her! And that thang looks like it’s going to hurt her!” Whispered applejack.

  “But we can’t just charge in there and confront that thing! Who knows what it can do?! Plus it just put down the rock, see? Maybe it’s nice.” Said Twilight as the rock hit the ground away from their friend.

  “Uh. look again there...” Said Applejack nervously as the biped took a small step towards Rainbow Dash. “Ah think it’s gonna eat her!”

On that note, both of them charged towards the field. Twilight saw the creature pull something out of a pouch and aim it towards them, but Twilight's horn glowed and the thing was lifted into the air and smashed into a thick tree. Afterwards, the creature got up surprisingly quickly and charged at full speed towards Twilight.

Twilight stood dumbstruck as the creature tackled her with the force of a buffalo and before she knew it, she was pinned down by the creature's left arm across her chest and the device the creature was wielding in it's right arm before was pointed at her head. She struggled to get free to no avail, she was firmly pinned to the cold forest floor. As tears started to well up in her eyes from the force of the attack, the fierce look on the creatures face started to soften into a frown. But it was hard to tell because a dark black visor covered its eyes. As a tear flowed down her eye, she heard Applejack from behind her.

  "Twilight, look out!"

Marcus didn't even have time to register a horse had just talked before he was knocked off of the lavender unicorn by a powerful ram from the one with the stetson.

  "Arng!" Marcus grunted at he got to his feet.

He went to raise his gun to give the orange pony what was coming for it, only to realize it was on the ground four feet away from him.

When the orange pony started running at him again, Marcus was ready. Right before it could spin around for a hard kick, he delivered a hefty drop-shot punch to her abdomen. After the pony was down, clutching her abdomen in pain, Marcus wasted no time in his next offensive. He ripped out the seven-inch blade holstered on his left hip and pinned down the pony with his right arm. As he was about to bring down the blade, a voice came from the direction of the Rainbow one behind him.

“Wait please! Don’t hurt her! She's friend of mine!”

Suddenly Marcus's face softened he released her and backed away, he flipped the knife so he could throw it at a moments notice.

  “W-w-wait... You can, t-talk?” Asked Marcus, still keeping his attention on the orange pony, whose hat was gone.

  “Why sure we can!” Said Applejack assertively. “Now I think ya owe Twilight here an apology fer tacklin’ her like that! And me for almost killin' me!”

With his free hand Marcus rubbed his temples.

  “Look, I don’t know who you are or why you can talk, but I was just saving your friend here from being eaten by a pack of wolves!” It said as it jabbed a thumb at the three dead wolves.

Twilight’s and Applejack’s face both turned a pale green as they saw the wounds in the heads of each one, and Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement.

“And you know what? You neither of you deserve an apology! You threw me into a fucking tree, and you were the one who picked a fight with me!"

  “Oh it’s alright, I understand...” Said the unicorn bitterly while Applejack snorted.

When no one said anything afterwards, Rainbow Dash spoke up.

  “Maybe you three should start over, that was kinda’ a rough meeting there.” Said the pegasus with a little chuckle at the end.

Twilight then cleared her throat and said in a calm but slightly shaky tone,

  “Hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle. And this is Applejack, and that’s Rainbow Dash. She said as she pointed with her hoof to the two ponies. “It is an honor to meet you mister-”

  “Marcus Ivan.” Marcus finished with a smile. “But you can call me Marcus.” He then stretched his right hand out and gave her hoof a quick shake.  She looked at her hoof for a moment before realizing that it must’ve been a greeting of some sort from wherever Marcus comes from. Than Applejack, not wanting to leave a hoof unshook,--even in this case-- walked over to Marcus and gave his hand a shake.

  “Pleasure to meet ya partner.” She said half happily. "Ya can put up quite a fight."

Soon after, Rainbow Dash went up to Marcus and shook his hand.

  “It’s nice to meet you Marcus.” She said as she released. “And thank you for, you know, saving my life...” She said sheepishly.

  “It was my pleasure.” Replied Marcus.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure you know where we’re going?” Asked Rainbow Dash with a hint of concern in her voice.

Every once in a few minutes her hurt wing would throb due to it being broken, but Marcus had wrapped a first-aid cloth he kept in a small med-pouch around it. It hurt when he was putting it on, but he knew it would do the trick.

  “I’m pretty sure, I placed a magic trace from Ponyville to here. All I have to do to get back is follow the trail.” Responded Twilight proudly. Her horn glowed to make a faint light as they walked.

Marcus looked at Twilight with a very confused look.

  “Um, I’m sorry,” Marcus said as he waved his hand. “but did you just say magic? And what the hell is Ponyville?”

  “Why, Ponyville is where we live.” Said Applejack. “And yes, Twilight did just say magic.”

  “Why? Haven’t you heard of it?” Asked twilight as she looked up at Marcus.

Marcus looked back into the large eyes of the unicorn staring curiously at him.

  “Well yeah I’ve heard of it, but in my world it doesn’t exist beyond the pages of books. It’s just a legend...” He replied with a shrug.

At the mention of no magic, Twilight stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Marcus in awe.

  “Wait, you mean magic doesn’t exist in your world?! Bu-but how can you live without magic?!” Twilight almost shouted.

  “Hey there, calm down Twilight.” Said Rainbow Dash calmly. She leaned in close to Marcus who listened. “She’s really into magic, it’s like her life er something so...”

Marcus replied with a mouthed “oh”.

  “Well... We just do, I guess...” Said Marcus as they continued to walk on through the dense forest.

  “How could anypony live without magic?” Twilight wondered.

~~~~~~~~~~

    As the four of them were walking, they saw a faint light in the distance.

  “Is that this Ponyville you were talking about?” Asked a slightly tired Marcus.

  “Yup, that’s it alright. C’mon, you’ll love it there!” Said an excited Twilight.

  “Hey there partner, what are ya thinkin’? We can't just stomp on in there, the town will have a heart-attack!” Pointed out applejack.

Twilight pouted slightly and Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement.

  “How about you show me where my jet is first, and we’ll go from there?” Suggested Marcus.

  “Jet? You mean that thang you almost ran me over in?” Asked Applejack accusingly.

  “Yeah... and sorry about that...” Said Marcus as he slowly shrugged his shoulders.

  “Your, jet, is this way.” Said Twilight as she and the others walked around the outskirts of the village towards Applejacks barn.

As the four of them came over a small hill, Marcus stopped dead in his tracks with his mouth hanging open. In front of him was an apple orchard that seemed to stretch on forever, as far as the eye could see was apple trees. Just...apple trees

  “Holy shit!” Marcus said to himself. He had never seen an apple orchard this big in his life. As he gawked at the mass of apple trees, he noticed a large grey mound at the top of a hill in the orchard which he recognized as his jet.

Marcus walked up to his jet and climbed into the snug cabin to see if anything was working right while the other three and Big Mac watched in curiosity. Marcus touched the screen and the main dashboard flickered on while a few beeps sounded as well. He pressed a few things on the dashboard and the window with any damage reports was enlarged. Marcus looked at the following stats which were connected by a line to certain parts of a 3D display of his jet.

Right main thruster DMG level:: 71%

Left main thruster DMG level:: 93%

[Moderate-heavy damage to left turbine sustained]

Right jump-jet thruster DMG level:: 0%

Left jump-jet thruster DMG level:: 0%

Frontal hull/canopy DMG level:: 11%

[Substantal amount of water detected in lower canopy--Eject system in jepardy--May requier manual water extraction]

Primary/secondary intakes DMG level:: 0%

Armament DMG level:: 1.7%

[Internal payload is undamaged, repairs will be directed to frontal vulcan cannons]

Then the same computer voice spoke from the plane.

  “Sustained flight is not achievable in current aircraft condition, estimated auto repair time completion for all damaged areas--96 minutes.”

Marcus also noticed that the three Dragonfires were in their bays in the side of the jet from a different window on the screen. He sighed and climbed out of the aircraft to face the four ponies facing him.

  “Well, the auto repair isn’t gonna be done for about another two hours.” Said Marcus in a slightly annoyed tone.

  “Hmm, maybe we should introduce you to the other three?” Suggested Twilight.

  “I think so too, I’ll go get them and bring them here.” Said Rainbow Dash. But before she could get far Marcus stopped her.

  “Hey Rainbow, uh, are you sure they’ll be fine with, you know, meeting an alien?” He whispered to her.

Rainbow Dash shrugged.

  “I guess we'll find out.” And with that, she was off.

~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash ran along to the closest one of the three which was Pinkie Pie, at Sugarcube Corner. She stopped in front of the small bakery and walked inside. She wasn’t there. She checked the upstairs room. No Pinkie. Curious, Rainbow Dash walked back outside to see the mare she was looking for walking by.

  “Hey, Pinkie Pie! Wait up!” Yelled Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie turned to see who was looking for her and a huge smile spread across her face as Rainbow Dash approached.

  “Hi Rainbow Dash! How’s it going?” Asked Pinkie in her usual happy and high pitched voice.

  “Hey Pinks, I need a favor. Can you go and get Fluttershy and Rarity and get them to come to the barn as soon as possible? I’ll explain why later.”

  “Sure thing Rainbow!” Pinkie said as she bounced off in the direction of Rarity’s house, as she was closer.

~~~~~~~~~~

    After Rainbow Dash was out of sight, Applejack and Big Mac decided to continue with their apple bucking, and Twilight decided this would be an excellent time to find out at least a little about Marcus. So she turned to him, who was leaning up against the side of his jet, and started to ask away.

  “So, Marcus...” She said, Marcus looked down at her large eyes. “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you here?”

The question caught Marcus off guard (again!) and he looked back up into the darkening sky.

  “Well, I honestly wish I could say... I was preparing to disembark on a mission to escort a bomber that was going to destroy some ICBM silos being held in a Russian FOB, or foward-operating-base. Me and my wingman, Natov Vladimir, each flying one of these,” Marcus tapped the F/A-38’s hull. “were flying to the other base where the bomber and its pilot were waiting when I was targeted by my own base defenses..." Twilight gasped as Marcus slowly shook his head. "I tried to avoid it but those warheads were top-tech, they're called havoc-class missiles for a reason, I was hit..." Marcus sighed and looked down at Twilight, who was staring at him with her mouth agape. "I crash-landed in a big lake and sunk to the bottom where this big light pulled me in... then I crashed here.” He concluded as he looked back to the unfamiliar star pattern.

Twilight pondered the news she’d just gotten and looked back up to Marcus.

  “Wow, that's... unbelievable... But, another question, if you don’t mind.” Marcus nodded in approval. “What did you use to kill those timber wolves back in the forest? I’ve never seen a wound like that.”

Marcus pulled out his B23R and examined it before presenting it to Twilight, who took it with her magic and gave it a thorough examination.

  "Huh... so *that's how I was flung ten feet into a tree...*"

“Very interesting. How did it make those holes in the heads of the timber wolves?”

  “Yeah, is it like a laser or something?” Asked Rainbow Dash.

Marcus and Twilight both jumped at least six inches and glared at the pegasus who was standing by an apple tree.

  “Well you see,” Marcus took the gun and flicked off the safety “When I pull this trigger here,” Marcus pointed at the trigger. “three bullets, which are small but extreamly fast moving pieces of metal, fire at a time and the shells are ejected from the side here.”

He pulled back the uper-reciever and locked it to show the hole where the shells fly out of. Twilight got a glimps of a gold and bronse thing just below the opening.

  "Are those gold things the bullets?"

Marcus looked to confirm what she saw and nodded. "Yes, but they're not real gold though, and I'm afraid that me telling you the technology of bullets will have to wait for a while."

He then extracted the magazine, clicked the uper-reciever forward, and pulled the trigger to put the hammer forward, after which he slid in the magazine.

"You may want to cover your ears" Marcus siad as he cocked the pistol. "This is what firing a pistol is like."

Before the two girls could protest, they covered up there ears in instinct and Marcus pulled the trigger and fired one three-round burst at the ground. He was used to it but the two ponies covered their ears as the three loud cracks echoed through the landscape.

  “Sorry...”

Marcus reached down to the ground and picked up the smoking bullet casing.

The two uncovered their ears and glared at Marcus.

  "Was that really nessesary?!" Snaped twilight.

  "Probably not." Marcus replied flatly with a 'straight' face.

  "I acually thought it was kinda cool, aside from it being so loud." Said Rainbow Dash.

  "Ugh..." Twilight groaned. "Whatever."

She then turned to Rainbow Dash.

  “Are the others on their way?”

  “Yeah, they should be here in a moment.” Replied the pegasus.

A few moments after, three pairs of foot (or hoof) steps could be heard from the other side of the barn.

  “Come on, that should be them.” Said Rainbow Dash

The three of them turned and walked to the barn. But Marcus had a strangely bad feeling about this and for a good reason.

  “How are these other ponies going to react to meeting an alien? This is going to be interesting...”