June 17, 2007

Korengal Valley, Afghanistan

Somewhere close to OP Restrepo

Gunnery Sergeant Caballo

Looks like I'm close to gettin' out of here. It's been tough here but doesn't seem that long ago when I first got here. I still think about life before when I first joined and I'm constantly reminded of my beautiful family through the beautiful mountains nearby. I miss the kids and Sandra. I would do anything to see them ag-

"Sergeant! Sergeant!"

Private Lockett appeared in the doorway of the living quarters, causing Gunnery Sergeant Caballo to be very confused at his sudden appearance.

"Yes?" Gunnery Sergeant Caballo asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"I spotted somethin' near Restrepo..looked like a missile or something."

"Missile?"

"Yes sir a missile. It looked like an RPG but there was something off about it. For starters it was blue. Also it seemingly came out of nowhere. I asked around to see if anyone spotted Taliban nearby but all of them reported negative."

"No prior enemy activity before this RPG shot?"

"Affirmative Gunny. It's been quiet all day except for this random RPG shot."

"And what were you doing when you sighted this soldier?"

"Out for observation and patrol sir. Save for the RPG, everything's been really quiet around Restrepo. I have a feeling this isn't the Taliban sir."

"Is that so? What do you think it is soldier?"

Private Lockett took a breath and spoke.

"Permission to speak freely?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I think it's not from this Earth" he finally said, gulping after doing so.

Gunnery Sergeant Caballo nodded his head, turned back to his letter and folded the paper up.

"Private, do you realize the assumption you are making?"

"Yes sir and I think we should take a look."

"Are you certain it is not Taliban? We can't afford any losses right now."

"Yes sir I'm certain it is not Taliban activity. I think we genuinely have an alien encounter."

Gunnery Sergeant Caballo grimmaced, looked down at his combat boots and back up to the Private.

"Okay Private, we can take a look in 5 minutes. Suit up and grab Corporal Michaels. I know he's gonna want to come for sure."
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"You said about 100 meters from here? Over that hill over there?" Gunnery Sergeant asked Private Lockett, pointing to a low hill.

Private Lockett nodded his head, continuing to point to the direction of where he saw the "missile".

"Hey Lockett, what did it look like?" Corporal Michaels asked him.

"It was blue. Whatever it was, it exploded like an RPG shot when it landed. Kinda looked like a firework."

"Heh cool. Wish I was there to see it when it did land. Dosen't matter now, we're about to see it!" Corporal Michaels excitedly said.

"Hey Michaels I need you to stay focused! I need you to be able to tell me whatever this missile could be. You're our specialist in this field and if anyone could tell us what the hell this thing is, it's you Corporal."

Corporal Michaels nodded his head at Gunnery Sergeant and raised his weapon.

"Sir yes sir!"

"Alright I need you to be focused too Private. Make sure you're ready for whatever happens."

"You got it Gunny!"

Private Lockett raised his assault rifle as well, protecting the Gunnery Sergeant's left flank while Corporal Michaels covered his right flank.

"50 meters out Gunny" Private Lockett reported.

Gunnery Sergeant Caballo brought up his own rifle, making sure the safety was off and that it was reloaded. As he slowly walked towards the site, he kept glancing at the mountains in case there were Taliban waiting to ambush them.

"35 meters!"

Sweat started forming on the Gunnery Sergeant's forehead as the suspension started eating away at the Gunnery Sergeant.

"I know you're hiding out there you bastards" the Gunnery Sergeant thought to himself.

"20 meters!"

Gunnery Sergeant Caballo looked over to the Corporal and signaled for him to look out to the mountains as well.

"15 meters!"

"Remember do not engage unless fired upon. Repeat, do not engage unless fired upon."

Both Private Lockett and Corporal Michaels both nodded their heads in aknowledgement.

"10 meters and closing!"

"This is it; get ready!"

The three of them approached the hill, surmounting it with ease. What they saw once they did made them stop and lower their weapons in surprise.

"Corporal? What is it?" Gunnery Sergeant Caballo asked, dropping to one knee.

"Holy crap Gunny you're not gonna believe this. That's a pony."

Both Private Lockett and Gunnery Sergeant Caballo looked over to the Corporal in surprise.

"A pony?" the both of them asked at the same time.

"Yes, a pony. Like from a cartoon or something. But why is it here?"

The three of them continued looking at the pony on the ground, amazed at how it came to Earth.

"Corporal, check to see if it's alive. Be careful."

Corporal Michaels nodded his head and headed down towards the pony, approaching it with extreme caution. He was amazed at how small the pony was; it was no bigger than a large dog. He also noticed that the pony's mane was colored; it had streaks of dark blue and cyan running throughout it's mane and tail. For some reason Michaels felt someone in their makeshift squad knew this pony because there would be no other reason why this pony would be here. Despite his thoughts, Michaels continued approaching the pony and pretty soon came into arms-length away from it. He carefully walked up to the unconscious pony and checked to see if it was still alive. He quickly drew his hand back away as he was startled at how soft the pony's white fur was.

"It's alive Gunny. It's alive! Woah amazing!"

The pony started moving as soon as Michaels said that, causing both a feeling of shock and excitement from him at the same time.

"Woah woah there. It's okay, it's okay. You're safe" Michaels attempted to reassure the pony while holstering his weapon.

The pony continued squirming around, continuing to keep its eyes closed. But pretty soon, the pony's eyes opened. Michaels was the first to see this and was captivated by the pony's luscious purple eyes.

"You're a she aren't you? Woah.." Michaels stammered.

But the pony did not reply. Instead, the pony looked around as she woke up, startled at her new surroundings.

"Woah woah there girl, it's okay, it's okay. You just had a crash but you're perfectly fine" Michaels told the pony.

But the pony continued trotting around, seemingly afraid of where it was. She looked around and saw both the Corporal and Gunnery Sergeant looking at her in amazement. But when she looked at the Gunnery Sergeant she stopped, as if she knew him. She continued staring at the Gunnery Sergeant and for a while it seemed there was recognition reflecting in those purple eyes. But she stopped staring at the Gunnery Sergeant and any signs of remembrance were gone. Michaels turned around and looked up to Gunnery Sergeant Caballo and raised his hands in question as he asked him what to do now.

"Hey where am I?" a female's voice asked.

The three of them raised their rifles as they were all startled by the presence of a new voice.

"Hey I'm talking to you guys! Down here!"

Michaels turned around as did the other two in the direction of the voice and saw the pony looking at them.

"You-you can talk?" Michaels asked.

"Yeah duh. Why, can ponies not talk here?"

Michaels nodded his head at the pony.

"Oh. Well where am I?" she asked him.

"Earth. Well specifically the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan."

"Earth? Oh you mean the place that Lyra always kept talking about. Haha yeah I know that place. Humans live there right?"

The three of them kept looking at the pony, surprised at all she was saying.

"Yeahhh...Rad place though I won't lie. Hey umm are you guys like human warriors or something? You look like soldiers, kinda like the Royal Guard back home."

Michaels turned around to Gunnery Sergeant Caballo for an answer. The Gunnery Sergeant beckoned at him to answer immediately.

"Yeah I guess you can say that. So umm, what is your name?"

"My name? You don't recognize me? Awh man you humans are sooo boring! I'm Vinyl Scratch A.K.A DJ PON-3! AWWWH YEAHH!"

Vinyl Scratch looked at the three of them again, only to stop once she looked at the Gunnery Sergeant again.

"Hey you!" Vinyl almost yelled, raising her hoof at the Gunnery Sergeant.

"Me?" The Gunnery Sergeant said while he pointed at himself.

"Yeah you! Come down here!"

The Gunnery Sergeant came down the hill and stopped right next to Corporal Michaels, holstering his weapon as well.

"Have we met before? You look REALLY familiar. Like a really important friend or something from my past long ago or something. I dunno." Vinyl asked him.

She kept looking at him in wonder and she pursed her lips as she tried searching through her memories. That's when Gunnery Sergeant noticed something about Vinyl Scratch that he did not notice at first.

"Her eyes...they have that same warmth my son has..huh." he thought to himself.

He continued observing her eyes, noticing how similar her eyes were to his son's. He also noticed that she almost exactly copied his son's behavior when thinking about something, as evidenced by her pursing her lips in thought. But he didn't get that much time to think about it as the radio's on all of them went off, warning of an ambush by the Taliban.

"Woah what's happening?" Vinyl asked.

Michaels looked over to the Gunnery Sergeant as they tried to find an answer. But they failed to come up with an answer as they came under gunfire.

"Michaels get Lockett back to Restrepo! I'll get Vinyl to safety!"

Michaels nodded his head and headed back towards Restrepo. Gunnery Sergeant Caballo told Vinyl that they had to go and they would die if they didn't.

"But why? From what?" She asked innocently.

Gunnery Sergeant grimaced as he grabbed her, picking her up and running back to Restrepo. He looked over his shoulder and wished that he hadn't.

"RPG!!!" Gunnery Sergeant Caballo yelled at the top of his lungs.

The RPG was flying straight towards Restrepo and Gunnery Sergeant knew there was no way the makeshift outpost could take a hit like that. He looked around for anything that could stop it and could only find an old car door lying on the ground. He put Vinyl down, whom was shaking slightly in fear. He didn't know why he did but he stroked her mane, just like he would do to his kids every night before bedtime. This calmed her down enough and caused her to say something.

"Dad?" she asked.

Gunnery Sergeant nodded his head, as he realized who she really was. But he turned around and picked up the car door, running towards the RPG.

"Dad! Don't! Nooo! NOOOO!" Vinyl yelled in agony, as she realized who she really was inside.

But it was too late. Her dad was already directly in front of the RPG just in time and it exploded, throwing him back to the ground like a rag doll. He layed lifeless on the ground, his face covered in debris from the explosion.

"Nooo! NOOOO! NOOOO!" Vinyl cried, her tears overflowing from her eyes.

Her memories started coming back, of who she really was inside. That's when she heard a loud explosion behind her and turned around, afraid of another RPG. But alas, it was a portal, and Twilight Sparkle was looking at her from the other side.

"Vinyl come, we don't have much time!"

Vinyl, with her tears still fresh and her face distraught, galloped towards the portal, in order to escape the harsh reality she just witnessed.