VII
"This potion should work" Princess Celestia said, taking a test tube filled with a bubbly purple liquid from Luna who stood beside her and handing it to me.. "This has several things in it that should allow you to walk on clouds just as well as any Pegasus."
"Okeydokey" I said. I grabbed the test tube, popped off the cork and chugged it all instantly, almost like it was the best thing I had ever tasted, where in reality it tasted like a garden weed. I cringed at the horrible taste, but I knew it would be worth it in the end. My vision was slightly distorted for a few minutes as my body registered the changes. My physical state was altered, making me feel very, very light. It also altered my mental state so that I thought more like a pony would. That was an obvious effect, because when my vision came back into focus, I looked at Luna… differently. It was strange, but it made sense at the same time, because I had just drank something that added Pegasus DNA to my body, meaning it WOULD alter my mental state in addition to my physical state, and that meant also altering my physical attractions… uh… well… shit happens. "I should probably get going" I suggested.
"Very well, tell me when you're ready to go."
I grabbed my rifle, pistol and a bunch of ammo then said "ready!" the Princess's horn began glowing a light blue once again and in a flash of blinding light (and some slight burning) I was standing on a sea of clouds in front of a bunch of Pegesai in flying gear as well as tight blue flying suits that had bright yellow lightning bolts on them. A very military-official-looking Pegasus pushed through to the front. She had yellow and red mane, making it look like fire. She was also wearing sunglasses.
Her eyes travelled up and down as she inspected me carefully, which made me quite nervous, honestly.. Finally, breaking a long silence, she spoke up with the question she should've asked before she started sizing me up, "who in the hay are you?"
"My name is John Jack. I'm here to help protect Cloudsdale from the U.S. army's incoming attack."
"How do you know they're coming here" shouted one of the ponies behind the fiery one.
"Shut your trap back there!" the fiery one (who I assumed was the head of operations here) yelled back.
"We don't know, but it's highly likely" I explained, answering the question anyway because I knew they would be curious about it.
"Whatever" she replied. "How can someone as… flightless as you protect Cloudsdale?"
"Give me a moving target" I demanded. "A cloud, a coin, a leaf, anything. Just give me a moving target."
"Alright… SOARIN!" she roared. Another one of the suited Pegesai popped up out of the front and flew to the nearest cloud that wasn't a part of Cloudsdale's architecture. He quickly tore it into a disk as I loaded my M1 Garand carbine. The cloud disc flew at a pretty steady speed allowing me to get a good idea of where it was gonna go and when. I got my sight positioned as I heard a few of the ponies in the background betting on if I hit it or not. I breathed out and gently squeezed the trigger at the exact right time and the rifle blew back and let a bullet casing fly out as the actual bullet flew from the barrel straight through the cloud disk. The cloud disk poofed into thin air (which it kind of was anyway) making the small gathering of ponies erupt in small cheers and clapping. I looked over and saw the fiery leader's mouth hanging open.
"Does that answer your question?" I said smiling as I tried to hold back laughter from her reaction.
She closed her mouth, and shook herself awake, then proceeded to introduce herself. "The name's Spitfire. These are my elite squad of flyers: The Wonderbolts."
"Nice to meet you miss Spitfire" I said awkwardly. "It looks like everypony here is good on the whole weapons thing?" I looked over to one of the Wonderbolts, who had one of the M4s I made on his back.
"As a matter of fact, we do" she answered. She looked back and saw the same Pegasus I had and barked "Fleetfoot, that rifle better have its safety on!"
The rest of the day was a tour of the Wonderbolts' training facility, then being dumped into one of the Wonderbolts' barracks (or as Soarin called them, the "Wonderbarracks"). For the next several days, I just practiced my sharpshooting and preformed some maintenance on some of the rifles that had any defects. After a few days, I heard a helicopter outside, so I got up and grabbed my loaded rifle. As I slowly opened the door to the barracks, I saw a bunch of U.S. soldiers getting out. It was almost morning time, so I didn't think Spitfire would've cared if I woke everyone up. I walked over and shook Soarin awake. "The U.S. army is here." He nodded and grabbed his M4 from under his bunk. I raised an eyebrow, because I was pretty sure that wasn't where that was supposed to be, but I ignored it and proceeded to gently open the door more so I could creep out while Soarin woke up the others.
My hands got sweaty as I grew nervous. I remembered the system of a down song
Welcome to the soldier's side
Where there's no-one here but me
"So this is what they meant" I thought. I saw them advance on the barracks, and I knew Soarin was still probably in the process of getting everyone up and alerted of the situation. I couldn't let them get inside. I lifted my M1 once again and I aimed for the guy who was going for the door. A bullet flew from the gun and went clear through the soldiers head and into the one next to him. The other soldiers started looking around as I heard scrambling inside the barracks. I managed to get another soldier, then the barracks' door burst open and three Pegesai burst out shooting down the rest of the soldiers. I hopped onto my feet and went over to talk to Spitfire who had come running out after hearing the gunshots. "Don't worry! We took care of it."
"Not quite, Mr. Jack!" she spouted frantically. Spitfire and I (followed by the Wonderbolts) ran to the other side of the Wonderbolts' facility to see dozens more soldiers approaching.
"Damn!" I mumbled. "Me and a few guys will hold 'em off from this side. You take the rest and go around to hit 'em from behind."
"Got it" Spitfire agreed. She took several of the Wonderbolts and flew of the edge to go under the clouds. Me and Soarin got our guns ready as they closed in, and as soon as they were at a good range, we opened fire. We managed to hit several of them very quickly, but the rest got behind cover. However, their cover quickly died along with them as soon as a bullet hit it, so we kept firing. After 2 or 3 minutes, fire came from behind the soldiers as well. A few more of them dropped through the clouds dead as a doornail. A bullet suddenly whizzed straight past me and another one tore some skin from my shoulder. Soarin got hit directly in the shoulder and he fell back onto the cloud quietly moaning in pain.
The last of the soldiers dropped, so I rushed over to aid Soarin. "Is the bullet still in there?" I asked frantically.
"I'm pretty sure" Soarin croaked quietly.
"Okay, I'm gonna see if I can get it out as soon as I find something to ease the pain." I got up and ran to Spitfire. "Spitfire! Tell me you have some kind of first aid nearby."
"Of course. Why?"
"Soarin got shot" I said. We got back to Soarin with some painkillers and he happily accepted them. "Now, those will take effect in a little while, but for now, brace yourself. This will hurt an ass-load." I looked into the bullet hole and saw the blood-covered bullet. It was almost out the back of his shoulder, so I knew the easiest way to get it out would be to push it out the back of his shoulder. "Strike that" I said. "this will hurt more than an ass-load" I gave him a countdown from 3 and then I jammed my finger into the bullet hole.
Soarin screamed in pain as the skin and fur at the back of his shoulder ripped open and let the bullet fall through the clouds to the ground below. I yanked my finger out of the hole and tried to calm Soarin down. Finally, his screaming came to an end. I instructed two of the Wonderbolts to pick Soarin up and get him to the Hospital ASAP. "You're good in these kinds of situations, huh?" Spitfire said, looking over at me
"Not really" I sighed. "I guess it's just instinct."
"Well, it seems your instinct is pretty good, then"
"I guess" I muttered. "Now… how in the Sam hell do I get back to Canterlot?"
"A message should get to the princess before morning" she answered. "She'll have you outta here then."
For the rest of the night, I sat on the edge of the clouds just thinking. Who had set up Equestria and why would they want to? It still didn't seem right to me. I guessed I'd figure it out later. For now, I'd just remain on the soldier's side.
People all grow up to die
There is no-one here but me
