“HOLY MOTHERFUCKING BALLS SHIT, WE’RE SCREWED!” A Marine screamed, grabbing hold of the harness keeping himself secured to his seat. Outside, a humungous storm roared, drowning out the familiar hum of the Chinook’s dual-rotors as the helicopter struggled to remain in the air.

“You will stow that goddamned potty mouth while we’re in Equestria, private!” Lieutenant Bannon barked, his hand wrapped around an overhead girder to keep himself on his feet. He looked over his men: twenty Marines, hardened by combat in the very worst of the Iraq War, covered with enough gear to topple Saddam all over again. Now, most of them looked ready to piss themselves as the chopper bucked beneath them, tossing them this way and that as the storm howled just outside the tiny, metal cocoon. Of course, now it was starting to feel more like a coffin.

“What the hell is this!?” Another Marine screamed. “I thought intel said we were gonna have clear blue skies once we made it through the portal!”

“Wouldn’t be the first time those desk jockeys have been wrong,” Bannon grumbled, slowly making his way towards the cockpit. He nearly lost his footing once or twice, but managed to grab hold of the pilot’s seat.

“Pilot, any idea what this is!?” He barked.

“None whatsoever, sir!” The man in the cockpit replied, his gloved hands clenching the cyclic with all his might while the green hue of the portal shone on the visor hiding his face. “We made it through the portal, though: we’re definitely in Equestria. This storm must’ve blown in after the portal manifested! Otherwise, we’d have seen it coming!”

“Just our luck. Well can you get us back through!? If we stay here much longer we’ll be torn to pieces!”

“I can try! This thing’s not exactly been responsive, but I think I can bring us around and…” suddenly, the familiar green hue just outside the windshield disappeared, plunging the entire chopper into an eerie darkness broken only by the near-constant flash of lightning outside.

“What was that!?” Bannon gasped.

“Aw no,” the pilot lifted a hand off the stick and started working furiously on the control panel, flicking switches and dialing in radio frequencies out of desperation. “Oh no, oh no, oh no…”

“Where’s the portal!? It’s supposed to be there!”

“I don’t know! It’s gone!”

“What!? That’s not standard procedure! The portal’s supposed to stay open for at least two hours once we’re through!”

“Well, someone back home must’ve gotten impatient!” The pilot screamed just as a loud crunch sounded above them, the entire aircraft shaking. Immediately, a half-dozen warning lights and buzzers sounded all over the console.

“Now what the hell was that!?”

“Oh my God,” the pilot tapped on a few screens hopelessly, as if he were unable to believe what he was seeing. “Oh my God, we just lost power to the rear rotor!”

“What!?”

“We’re going down!” He screamed, grabbing the cyclic and pulling back with all his might. “Get your Marines suited up and ready to drop, we’ve got maybe two minutes of air time left!”

The Lieutenant stood and turned around, looking at the shocked faces of the men behind him with a deadpanned gaze. After the quickest second, his numb expression hardened. “Well? You heard him! Get your gear together and get ready for a drop! As of right now, you’re all airborne infantry!”

“Yes, sir!” The men screamed back, immediately tearing off their safety harnesses and grabbing the emergency chutes set up along the walls.

“I’m gonna try and hold her steady for as long as I can,” the pilot screamed, “But you better be ready to drop the moment you see an opening!”

“Just open the bay doors, we’ll handle the rest!” Bannon yelled, pulling on his own chute. “You better make sure you’re right behind us, though!”

“Of course!” The pilot yelled, smiling as he extended a hand. “Airman Uris!”

“Lieutenant Bannon!” The Marine smiled and shook the hand. “If we survive this, I’ll owe you a steak dinner back home!”

“Drinks’ll be on me!” The pilot grasped the cyclic and pulled it around, praying for one little current of air, that one little quiet at the heart of every storm that would give these men the opening they needed to leap to safety…

All at once the chopper stabilized, leveling out in a gentle updraft right at the heart of the storm. Outside, rain still pounded the windshield and clouds still swirled and boiled, but somehow, the craft held steady, albeit just a minute and a half away from plunging to the ground like a large metal rock.

“That’s it!” Uris screamed, flicking the switches needed to open the doors. “That’s our opening! Go! Go! Go!”

The doors barely had time to open when each Marine leapt out, one after the other, for their crash course in parachuting. Bannon urged them all on, watching each and every one of them drop into the swirling cauldron of clouds below. Once every Marine was out of sight, Bannon stood at the edge and readied himself, looking over his shoulder one last time. Uris wasn’t behind him. Confused, the Marine pushed himself away from the opening and ran to the pilot’s seat, where he found him struggling with his belt. “What’s wrong now!?”

“I dunno! It’s like I’m magnetized, or somethin’!” The pilot screamed, pulling at his safety harness with all his might. “I can’t get free!”

“Hold on!” Bannon replied, pulling his knife out of its holster.

“What’re you doing!? This thing’s not gonna be stable much longer! You gotta get out!”

“Marines don’t leave men behind!” Bannon screamed, sawing desperately at the straps holding the pilot in place.

“You’re crazy, man!” Uris hollered over the maelstrom now roaring through the cockpit from the open doors. “But now I’m gonna owe you that dinner!”

“And hey,” Bannon smiled, nearly halfway through one strap. “Drinks’ll be on…”

Suddenly, the chopper bucked once again, throwing Bannon headfirst against the console. “Bannon!” Uris screamed, not even noticing the knife slipping from the Marine’s hand and clattering to the floor.

“Oh, what…” Bannon pressed a hand to his forehead, dazed from the blow, until he realized his hands were empty. “The knife!” He scrambled to his feet and lunged after the blade, only to watch it get sucked right out from between his fingers and thrown clear out the gaping doors.

“NO!” He screamed as the chopper twisted to the side, throwing him off his feet and against the wall. He grabbed hold of the netting that had been used to hold the other Marines’ weapons as the chopper whirled around and around in mid-air.

“Bannon! You got your chute on!?” Uris cried from his seat, trying desperately to be heard over the clamor.

“Yeah!” The Marine screamed, still holding on but now drenched from the cold rain being whipped around the inside of the chopper.

“Then just go! No sense in both of us dying!”

“Don’t make me say it again, Airman,” Bannon hissed lowly, talking to himself as he clawed his way forward along the netting. “Marines…don’t…leave…men…behind…”

“Bannon! You’re just gonna get yourself killed!”

Bannon ignored the pilot, grabbing onto another bit of netting and pulling himself forward with each word as he repeated the phrase: “…Marines…don’t…leave…men…be-“

Suddenly, a low tear sounded, followed by a little ‘ping.’ Bannon looked up just as a little bolt sailed past, recognizing it as one of the two bolts keeping the net secured to the wall. “No!” He threw himself forward with renewed zeal, watching the last bolt slowly wean itself from the wall. He was almost there. If he could just make it to his seat and grab hold of the safety strap…

With a last little ‘ping,’ the bolt tore away from the wall, the net slacking uselessly in the Marine’s hand. “NO!” He screamed again, lunging one last time, his hands just inches from the safety strap…and a gust of wind drifted up from behind him, causing the strap to dance right around his fingertips.

“NOOOOOOO!” He howled as the force of the out-of-control chopper threw him across the floor, his fingers grabbing uselessly for any sort of hold before he was dragged into the darkness outside, tumbling and spinning like a baseball in a tumble dryer.

As the cold settled into his body, the Marine quickly grabbed his ripcord and released his parachute, looking up just as a great white light engulfed the chopper high above his head. “URIS!” He screamed before a large chunk of rubber bounced off the top of his helmet, knocking him out almost immediately. In the split second before losing consciousness, Bannon could swear he felt a hand touch the side of his face, then all faded to black as he drifted out the base of the cloud and began the long, steady journey to the ground.

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Twelve hours after an American chopper was brought down in a place it never was meant to be, Fluttershy journeyed through the Everfree forest, a small kit clenched in her teeth. A couple of songbirds led her along, gesturing frantically with their wings. The little pegasus kept a wary eye on the forest around her. After a short time, a fox bounded up beside her and extended a paw to carry her bag.

“Oh, a true gentleman!” She cooed, allowing him to take the bag in his paws. The fox blushed as it hurried ahead, the songbirds still leading the way. “Now, is it very much further?” She asked the birds as they fluttered along.

Both birds looked back and shook their heads, beckoning her along with a few encouraging tweets. She sighed and kept up a decent trot, her eyes scanning the forest fearfully. Though it was daytime and she couldn’t hear anything, she was suddenly certain that something was watching her, scanning her hungrily with a set of massive, bloodshot, yellow eyes. “M-maybe we can come back later,” she said hurriedly, turning on the path. “I’m sure whatever is hurt, you all can take care of it until…”

One of the birds swooped down in front of her and glared up at the pegasus. She sighed again, not meeting the little bird’s gaze. “You’re right, I’m sorry, it’s just that the Everfree Forest is no place for a pony!”

The bird whistled defiantly.

“Well, okay, we have Zecora,” she turned around and continued along the path, rounding a large, black rock. “But technically, she’s a zebra.”

The bird gasped as it swooped down in front of her again, whistling accusingly.

“Racist!? What!? Dear me, no! Zecora is one of my best friends!”

The bird continued to glare.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” even Fluttershy had her limits, and this little bird was beginning to push them. “You know exactly what I meant! I’m just saying that, as a traveler from someplace else, she has more experience with…”

A whistle up ahead interrupted her tirade. “We’re here? Already?” She gasped, galloping past a large, twisted tree. “Okay, I’ll see what I can…”

She paused, her mouth dropping open. The songbird was perched upon some kind of headpiece, smooth and black like a changeling’s carapace. Two legs, dressed in some sort of pants colored to blend in with the rest of the forest, were tucked beneath the body. Two arms sprouted from an elongated torso, also clad in the strangely-colored cloth. It was all wrapped in some green cloth and rope all twisted around the body, and with the shape of its legs she could tell it was bipedal like a diamond dog, but where was its face? With that weird black casing, how did it talk? Or eat? Or even hear?

“What is that?” She mumbled. The songbird on the creature’s head shrugged. “It’s…what in heaven’s name is it!?”

It stirred with a mild grunt, and she jumped back with a slight “Eep!” But the creature settled again, one of its hands subconsciously gripping the grass by its side and pulling. It’s strong, she realized as she watched it pull, stronger than me, maybe even stronger than Applejack! This was too much. Something that ridiculously strong had to be dangerous. She had to leave, maybe find Rainbow Dash; surely she would know what to…

The creature stirred with a low moan, and she jumped back again. But this time, the moan was different. It seemed…pained. Yes, that was the word, pained. Something had happened to the creature: it wasn’t just sleeping, it was hurt! She bit her lip in fear. She should just turn around. She had no idea what this creature was capable of, no idea what it would do when it woke up.

But…

“But I am the element of kindness,” she said, quivering. It was her job to care for any creature, no matter the danger, no matter the risk, come rain or shine. Just because she didn’t know a certain creature didn’t make her duty any less important.

With a scared little whistle, she summoned the birds and furry things of the forest. Most took one look at the thing and ran off, but some stayed behind and picked up parts of the cloth it was tangled in, managing to create a sort of makeshift stretcher to carry it in. “C’mon little ones!” She said, trying to sound sure of herself and failing. “We have another…widdle…fuzzy…kins who needs our help!”

Shooting unsure glances over their shoulders, the animals of the forest obliged, beginning the long journey back to Fluttershy’s cottage with their strange cargo.