Rise

A story by somedude726

RISE

Chapter 17: Escape

The group of us walked forward through the forest, me in lead. I had already taken note of the path coming, in case of emergency. The rain still hit us, flooding the area. I could see the ponies being a bit grossed out from walking in all the dirt, mud and rain, but they went along. My already-old clothes were soaked, goddammit all I want is to just change these damn things. The mud did get on my shoes, but it was hardly a problem. At least, that's what I was trying to tell myself after stepping in the fifth puddle. The walk was silent, there were no words to be spoken. Everyone needed time to think, the ponies especially. The wind was heavy, and the storm was at its peak. Unless, if this supposedly-magic-created storm is anything like back home, then it should get worse by tomorrow. Even with this hoodie, and baggy jeans, it was freezing. Again. I reached back, and put my hood on as we kept on walking. I could see the fallen tree near the exit off in the distance. Almost there. I started to think, perhaps we should stay the night here, but I'm sure everyone here wants to sleep somewhere tonight that ain't a muddy forest with god knows what around. They probably have some fucked up predators around. I realized I still held Sarge's handgun, I decided to tighten my grip on it-- just in case.

Eventually we came to the tree, as I turned around to see what the plan was for the night. It was dark out, still visible, but getting dark. It was definitely late. Either we sleep here, or we pull an all-nighter and get to town.

"Alright everyone. What's the plan?" I asked, to see what everyone thought.

"I thought we're leaving?" one masked soldier spoke.

"That depends. We can move to another area of the forest, and spend the night here. Don't know if we're getting anywhere anytime soon. There's a town about..." I took a moment to think about the distance. "...ten clicks east of our position, we can make it there in around an hour or so if we stay low."

"Then let's walk an hour. Trust me, we didn't see any of them for God knows why, but there's some shit in this forest. I still don't know what it was, but we ran into some... lion thing with wings. We got the jump on it, but I don't want to stay the night knowing those things are out there." Sarge stepped up, telling me about the forest. Yeah, I thought it'd be a bit dangerous.

"He's right, Jason. We should just go. And... actually, hold on." Twilight stepped beside Sarge, and seemed to concentrate on something. She struggled, trying to do something. Not entirely sure what. In fact, she looked sort of constipated.

"Drat. Well, there goes that plan. My magic is still gone." Twilight frowned.

"Sorry, wh--"

"Right. Luna was telling me about that. You six don't have your magic or something, right?" I responded, thinking back on earlier events.

"Nope. Discord somehow took me and Rarity's-- wait, did you say six?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, apparently not knowing this.

"Yeah. Luna couldn't find you guys, 'cuz you all were missing your magic or something. Now, I'm just gonna hope you don't need it, because we should probably start getting the hell out of here." I turned back to the tree, before hearing something that actually made me a bit sad.

"Right. I'll keep an eye from above!" I heard unmistakably Rainbow's voice speak up, confident and everything. "Wait, huh?" she spoke again.

"What's wrong, Rainbow?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"I can't fly. I..." I heard Rainbow also struggling for something, I had to turn around.

"T-Twilight, why can't I fly?" Rainbow looked Twilight in the eye, almost looking angry.

"Oh my goodness, Rainbow..." Twilight shook her head, before drooping it down.

"Twilight, why can't I fly? Jason?" she looked between the two of us, demanding an answer.

"Luna... Luna said pegasi magic is by letting them be light enough to be carried by their wings. Since your magic is gone, your wings can't carry you. Now, let's go, please." I answered.

"Hold on, big shot." Rainbow walked up to me. "I... okay, what is your problem? You just suddenly came into our world, and now all this is happening. I, I-I bet we could've beat Discord, just like every other time! We don't need you! Because of everything, because of you, I can't fly now!" Rainbow shouted, loud. Definitely loud. I could've sworn I heard some leaves moving around.

"Rainbow. Now is not the time. We're gonna--"

"No! Do you know what it's like for a pegasus to be grounded? Pegasi not being able to fly is, it's, it's like taking away the one thing that makes you... special. Who knows how long it'll be before I can fly again! Before anypony--" Rainbow moved closer, angrily, before I cut her off. Pegasi not being able to fly must be some shit.

"I don't want to repeat myself. Now, is not the time!" I retorted, and attempted to turn around, before Rainbow grabbed me by my sleeve and turned me back to her.

"ANSWER ME! Why are you here!?" Rainbow yelled, practically standing on me now. Okay, I definitely heard leaves moving.

"Rainbow, calm yer jets! Jason's right, we best be movin' on now Rainbow." Orangey-- sorry, Applejack, stepped up behind Rainbow.

"Look, can't you do your pony drama somewhere else!? We're gonna fucking get killed out here! Let's go!" an unmasked soldier spoke, before turning around to the tree and going underneath it.

"No. Stop." I put my hand out to signal for him to stop moving. He, thankfully, seen it and came back.

"We need to move, Jason. You said it yourself." he glared at me, knowing we need to go.

"They deserve to know, and we aren't going anywhere until I talk to them." I sighed, before going over to Sarge.

"Sarge. Get the team to secure the perimeter. I'm telling them who I really am." I handed Sarge back his gun.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Sarge took the pistol, and holstered it.

"Yeah." I only said one word, and went back to the ponies.

"Alright, you heard the man! Defensive positions, diamond formation! Let's go!" within just seconds of the command ordered from Sarge, all soldiers surrounded us, protecting us. I took a deep breath, and kneeled down, not caring about my knee getting dirtied from the mud. I took my hood back off, also not caring about my hair.

"Alright. So... where do we start..." I thought hard, thinking of how to tell them.

"From the beginning. I had faith in you, and I just want to make sure I can keep it." Rainbow stared. The other ponies came up to listen, too.

"Okay. Well, let's start with my name. As you know, it's Jas--"

"FUCK! Get over here!" A soldier to my right yelled suddenly. Shit! I turned over to him, only to see him being tackled by... what the fuck. I could only describe it as a type of wolf, but not one I ever seen. Its entire body consisted of wood, and it had this gross-ass breath. A wolf, made out of goddamn wood. What?

BATTATATATTATATANG!

As we all turned around to the thing, a deafening roar of the rounds ejecting from a rifle echoed throughout the forest as our visions were blinded of the muzzle flash conflicting with the darkness of the night. As soon as it started, it was over, and the wolf was dead on the floor. At least, that's what we thought. All that was left was a pile of sticks and twigs. The Echo-Squad soldier next to the shocked one on the ground stepped back, smoke rising from the barrel of the rifle.

"Goddamn. You okay there?" the soldier bent down and gave the other on the ground a hand, as the voice made it clear this was the woman member.

"I'm... I'm good. Thanks. I thought it was bad waking up on the ceiling fan, but this? Jesus." The one in the dirt took her hand, and came to his feet.

"Yeah. That ain't the las' of 'em. Timberwolves travel in packs, at least Ah'm pretty sure." Applejack straightened her hat, before trotting over to the tree.

"Also, the sound of that weapon there probably attracted every living thing in the area. Probably woke up Ponyville too. Let's go." Twilight walked over to the tree as well, going underneath it.

"Okay. Sarge, I'm gonna need that pistol back." I asked Sarge, as he gave it over with a bit of hesitation, before going through the tree.

Everyone else bent underneath the tree, with me covering their backs. My legs ached to the point where I was having a bit of trouble walking correctly, but I managed. I had to. The rain became more of a problem as we got to the tree line, and into the clearing between Canterlot and Ponyville. I quickly put my hood on, and looked around, seeing Ponyville to our right, and a crashed train on the left. Wait, is that the same train? How'd I miss the train falling when I got out?

"Fuck, what happened over there?" someone asked me.

"Uhh... I was being chased to my death by the entire town and this world's leader, decided to jump on a train to get out of there, got shot and fell off the whole mountain. I didn't see, but apparently the train followed. Don't ask why I'm alive." I answered, before taking another look around the area.

"I don't know why any of that happened, but I'm sure it can wait. We must go, I can hear those ruffians coming..." The white-coated unicorn, Rarity I think, trotted over.

"Right then. Follow me, stay close, call out any monster things." I took the lead and broke into a jog towards Ponyville. Who knows how long this'll take, but I don't see any vehicles around.

"Shit. They're already coming!" Sarge yelled, as we all faced the forest. Yeah, they're coming. The monsters started flooding out of the forest, running towards us. Tons of the things ran with the speed of a freighter, agility of a free runner. The timberwolves sped at us, with other creatures I never seen before following. Lion-things with wings ran over, tailed by bears... with fur that was pretty much the night sky, stars and all. They were transparent, just another thing to add to the 'what the fuck is wrong with this place' list. They were pretty damn big, too. Definitely a tad bigger than the bears I've seen before.

"Oh Celestia. The Ursa Minors. Please, don't--" I think Twilight tried to say, but that was quickly cut off by Sarge.

"FIRE!" Sarge shouted, before the cracking sound of his gun firing spread around the area. Soon enough, it was parroted by the other soldiers, shooting their own rifles. I could barely hear Twilight trying to say something, and the yellow one seemed extremely scared about something. Whatever, let's go.

I raised up the pistol in front of my eyes, and looked through the notches of the iron sights. Already I can see the lion things falling, and the bears being damaged, and sticks laying around on the ground. I never really shot a gun much, but I remembered something my father told me when I was young.

"Look through these little things up here. These are your iron sights. Grip the gun tight, both hands now. Take a deep breath, and hold it in. Move your index finger to the trigger, put pressure on it... and shoot."

I aimed the pistol towards an oncoming timberwolf, before taking a deep breath, inhale, exhale. I inhaled once again, this time keeping it in. I put my finger on the trigger, and pushed it... before nothing happened. Shit.

"SARGE, THE GUN AIN'T FIRING!" I yelled over the sounds of war between races, which consisted of mostly guns shooting and monsters falling. They put up barely any resistance.

"TURN OFF THE SAFETY!" he shouted back. Right, these things, they have safeties. I twisted the handgun so the right side was visible. Sure enough, there was the little knob for the safety. I flicked it, and brought the sights back up. And as soon as I did, the gunfire gradually came to a stop.

"Out!"

"I'm out!"

"Reloading!"

And of course, everyone was out of ammo. I brought the gun up, and looked back to the timberwolf, running faster. It soon came just a few feet in front of me, and I knew it was time. I breathed in, kept the gun aimed at the timberwolf's head, and pushed the trigger.

Twang!

The gun ejected a round, and within less than half a second, the timberwolf was impacted by the bullet, and toppled over. Dead. The thing was dead, now. The lions with wings were flying over, as a collective click was heard around. Magazines were replaced. I went through the same procedure, aiming the weapon at a lion this time, inhaling, and pulled back the trigger.

Twang!

Another one down. The bullet went clean through its upper chest, as he went down clutching it. I noticed the yellow pony absolutely terrified, as the Elements were slowly backing away from all this mayhem. I assume this isn't how they handle things. Nonetheless, no one stopped us.

Batatattatatatatang!

Soon enough, the rifles were back to firing upon the enemy that tried to overcome us. Back to work. Gun up, breath in, trigger pulled.

Twang!

Lion down.

Twang!

Another one bites the dust.

Twang!

Timberwolf dead.

Twang!

Add to the growing list, yet another lion.

"St-stop!!" I heard someone from behind scream, but no one listened. Me neither, I can tell when something's trying to kill, and we need to defend ourselves!

Twang!

I shot at a timberwolf that attempted to jump on me, but of course it didn't make it very far. Through all the deaths of the monsters, and all the bullets, the things finally got an idea of what they should be doing. Retreating. I could just see the fear on their faces, before they turned tail and ran back into the forest. Putting some extra heat on them, everyone fired the last of their magazines into the monsters, even if they didn't hit anything. As for me, I was out.

"YOU BETTER RUN, ASSHOLES!" Sarge yelled, as he pumped his rifle in the air. The others cheered and copied this move, yelling their own little insults usually relating to the mothers of each creature.

"Hoo-rah!" someone shouted.

"HOO-RAH!" we all exclaimed.

We turned around to see if the Elements were ready to get going, when an odd sight entered our vision. Or, rather, lack thereof.

"Wait, huh?"

"Where the hell did they go!?"

They disappeared. They left on us. They left us to fend for ourselves. Obviously, we could, but, they didn't even stay to see if we'd be fine or anything. I thought those were the good guys, what the hell happened?

"Those horse things ditched us... alright, Jason, speak up. What the fuck is going on?"

I sighed, again, and rubbed the bridge of my nose, before shaking my head. Of course, they have to know, but I'm really not interested in explaining every little thing right now. The soldiers had grouped together in front of me, waiting for me to start talking.

"I don't know, dammit. I woke up yesterday in a bed with all six of those ponies standing around me. Apparently, we managed to find ourselves in a world where the dominant race is ponies. And, as I just found out myself, there's mythical monsters. How we got here, I have no clue. As for me, my TV suddenly turned on and something, and I'm pretty sure that something is that Discord or whatever, started talking. Saying something about a place with... harmony, friendship, magic and crap... I assume that we are there right now," I started.

"Those ponies there were the Elements of Harmony. They saved this world, also named Earth for some reason, like three times. Superheroes. That's why they are important. I think Discord, and his monster things, tried to capture them to use them against Equestria-- this country. Considering how we escaped, don't think it worked. He most likely wants us to help him, I don't know how he thinks he's gonna convince us, but he might find a way." I continued, ignoring the fact that everyone was confused past anything I've ever seen according to their faces.

"We gotta make a plan. We need to fight back, and if Discord is right, we only have a day to do so." I raised a finger and started thinking.

"Oh, hold on. Why do we need to fight!? Why should we!? If all these things are in that forest, and no one's dead, then where's the problem!?" And suddenly one of the soldiers I recognized as Kendrick started screaming. "Come the fuck on, Jason! Don't you remember what you did to us? Why should we fight alongside you?" he finished coldly.

"What are you talking about?" I turned to him and crossed my arms.

"You abandoned us, in Iraq, 2041. You abandoned your father. After everything good you did for us." he started.

"You led The Phantoms." Kendrick raised one finger, letting the rifle fall to his side with his other hand.

"You were the reason Project Air is as far as it is. In 2040, you helped your father, who was a Major then, progress Air. Remember? You came up with the theory that made it translate data to images. Then you disappeared." Kendrick walked in front of me and glared at me.

"Your father was devastated. We all were. We marked you MIA... we didn't want to change that. But eventually, we gave up, we had to mark you KIA, Jason. Did you know we're close? We're so, so close to seeing what we found. The images are probably ready now. Hopefully they found this, and can come here, but I don't know about that yet," Kendrick continued.

"Holy fuck, you guys. You bring up all this shit at the worst time. As much as I do want to know where the hell you went, and all of your reasons, we really should not be standing out in the open, and the rain, like this. C'mon." Sarge facepalmed, before turning to walk to the town. Wordlessly agreeing, everyone followed. A masked soldier walked to my side, as we started walking.

"Hey. What was he talking about? I can't really remember what happened." The female one asked, looking towards me. I took a heavy sigh, and gulped. I might as well, I guess.

"I abandoned The Phantoms in an operation on checking out a place in Iraq we thought a secret enemy organization was hiding." I tried to say as little about it as I could. No one needs to know everything.

"What was he going on about, with your father?" she asked. You just had to ask.

"My father has a pretty long name, you uh, you want to know?" I tried stalling. Nodding her head, she made it clear it wasn't gonna work.

"...He's known as General Simon 'Overlord' Kolb."

The pegasus mare Violet Sprint woke up with a start, instantly taking glances from side to side of her room. Although the light was out, Violet soon realized she was alone in the room. She wiped off some sweat from her forehead, and got out of her bed, throwing off the blanket. Violet trotted over to the one window in the room, and looked out. From her room's position, she could see the plot of land between Canterlot, and the small town of Ponyville. The source of the earsplitting sounds was found in just a few seconds, as she seen something that was an extreme shock, enough she had to shield her eyes for a moment.

First, her eyes went over to the group of creatures in the middle of the clearing. They were all bipedal, and held a weapon of some sort. They look like Jason, she thought. Violet thought back to the whole event in Canterlot, and couldn't help but feel sorry for the thing. Violet soon realized, Jason's probably down there. But, that line of thought was eradicated as she noticed what was around them.

It looked like hundreds, hundreds of them.

Hundreds of dead monsters from the Everfree Forest.

They all appeared to have died from the group of bipedals. Holding back vomit, Violet looked away and took a deep breath. Yet she couldn't help but look back. Stacks of timber, manticores on the ground, even unmistakeable footsteps from an Ursa Minor were seen. What happened?

Violet walked away from the window to try and collect her thoughts. Sitting on the end of her bed, drooped her head down and just attempted to think about what she just saw. It's not like I didn't see that. They killed all those things. They might've had it coming, but... Violet bit her lip, and tried taking another deep breath. Right around then is when she realized something.

Oh Celestia, I have to check on Mom.

Violet quickly got off her bed and went over to her door. Her door was at the end of the left wall, and parallel with the bed. She opened it, and ran out and down the hallway. Violet and her mother's rooms were on the second floor of her mother's rather small house, and as such Violet passed the stairs and the balcony overlooking the living room. Violet had moved back into her mother's house after a few years of living alone, as she was getting old, and sick. Violet was pretty much her caretaker, but she knew her mother may not have a long time.

Violet's mother had gotten diagnosed with a form of cancer the doctors didn't say they've ever seen before. Every hospital in Canterlot, and even the one in Ponyville had rejected her due to not being able to do anything. It was a lost cause. What they did say, is that she had maybe two months to live. That was three months ago.

Violet ran into her mother's room and opened the door. In the bed, once used for two ponies, was a pale, seemingly sleeping Golden Wing-- Violet's mother. She wasn't looking too good.

"Mom? Are you up?" Violet walked over and whispered. Golden Wing's eyes fluttered for a moment, before eventually opening and looking over to Violet.

"Violet..." Golden Wing tried to put a hoof on her daughter's shoulder, but that soon dropped as she had a bad coughing fit. The coughs were heavier and worse than Violet had heard before, and lasted longer.

"Mom... are you okay?" Momentarily forgetting about the noises outside, Violet got closer to the bed and asked her mother.

"Violet... I love you..." Golden Wing stayed still, but put on a small smile through cracked lips and wrinkles.

"What? Mom? What's going on?" Violet reached out and put her hoof to her mother's, as her eyes started to water.

"Mom's not feeling good, Violet..." Golden Wing barely got that out as she started coughing once more, before putting her head back in the pillow.

"Mom, no, you can't do this! Let me help you, what do you need!?" Violet asked desperately, as she started to fear the worst.

"This is it, Violet baby..." Golden Wing coughed a bit more, sinking into her pillow. "It's time..."

"Mom, no no no! D-Don't talk like that!" Violet stood on her hind legs, and put both forelegs over her mother. "I'll take you to a hospital, please, come on!"

"No, that won't work..." Golden Wing's coughs became shorter, along with her breath. "You know... Dad always said..."

"Dad always said what? What did he say, Mom?" Tears came down from Violet's eyes as she listened intently.

"He... he always said... you should find a stallion, Violet," Golden Wing's voice became raspy and dry, as the time came closer. "Find somepony who'll... help you... and work for you..." Even through this, Golden Wing still kept that smile on. It was a genuine smile, of happiness.

"I know you'll get through this, baby..." Golden Wing barely spoke above a whisper, almost inaudible. "I love you, Violet."

With that, Golden Wing became limp as her head rolled over, eyes closed.

"Mom... Mom... I-I love you too... I..." Violet's voice trailed off, as she seen her mother's face. She looked peaceful, like she finally found where she was supposed to be. Ponies always did say Paradise existed, and it seemed like her mother just found it.

Violet walked over to the other side of the bed, and got on it, under the blankets. She scooted up to her mother, and wrapped her forelegs around her once again, as Violet attempted to stop the tears.

"Good night, mom." It was to no avail.