After bringing the ANM fighters down you receive the details of the next mission, it's only 8:00 am and you quickly get your gear, a pistol and your helmet, Colonel Talbot wanted to talk with you about the trucks you saw before. Apparently those trucks were heading to a former USA base now under control of the ANM.

"Sir. I'm ready, when should I start?"

"Right now son! Satellite intel's show an ANM convoy moving south through the hills, our captured base is near the town of Papa. This is a straight hit and run mission. Go in low and take them out before they can escape underground and resupply the base."

Road Rage

Hilo Airbase, Hawaii
28th April, 08.15

You get in your harrier, this mission is perfect to try the Maverick missiles, they are air-to-ground and they have quite a good range, they are guided by an infrared system so they can follow the objectives, even though ground forces don't have a chance with them, they are pretty slow and you need to calculate the necessary distance to make a good shot.

MUSIC

You lift off, and turn to the west, you measure the speed, 386 knots, and the height, 261 ft, the radar shows ground enemy units armed with rockets, they aren't important, but they can be annoying, you can't waste your missiles with them, so you decide to increase the velocity to avoid their lock on your harrier, you spot an ANM fighter coming directly at your harrier, you switch to the Vultures,short but lethal rockets, since the Colonel ordered not to arm your harrier with Sidewinders, they would be pretty useless for a mission which required to eliminate ground units. You aim and fire before he does, the AutoNav. confirms the kill with a "TARGET DESTROYED" sound.

"That serves you right!" You mutter.

You finally found the convoy, it's protected by jeeps with machine guns. You decide to blast them down before the trucks, so they can't do any damage to your harrier...

"HOVER MODE SELECTED"... You have a lot of Vultures avaible, and you have to be quick, you release the rockets with a lot of accuracy, every time you push the button of your joystick, you release three rockets. You just needed twelve to get rid of the jeeps.

The jeeps are shooting at you, you can only laugh at the fact that they can't hit you, even if you remain in the same spot, you just keep dodging their bullets and blasting them at the same time.

"Piece of cake."

The trucks were accelerating now, they were vulnerable to your Mavericks, you switch to the air-to-ground missiles and lock them, one by one.

"TARGET DESTROYED" The AutoNav. said five times, you did it. Now the USMC could recover the base that was under the control of the ANM, plus, their army would become weaker without their supplies. Man, what a day! You could do this over and over again. Not a big challenge at all...

...

...

Until...

...

...

You wake up... Damn, your mind can't get rid of the missions you made a while ago, you can't sleep well since the first attack, you check out your leg, it's bandaged and clean, but... it seems you still have the bullets inside, well, it's better than having an infection or something like that. Your helmet is still attached to your head, your MP5 is missing, but your pistol is still in your belt. You check out the place where you are staying, it's a cozy little bedroom, the bed is very comfortable and you can only thank the kind soul who attended your wound and offered a room for you. Your mind goes back at the moment of the explosion. You are still alive and in one piece, your weapons, clothing, helmet and the harrier came with you. You only think that if the "warhead" exploded in the city, it would bring any civilian, allies or even enemy units to this place, but... the questions are... where are you and what did the bomb do to your body or mind? You could swear an orange talking horse carried you before you blacked out. You get up and your gaze meets the window, it was a sunny day, you could see your harrier in the middle of a little corn field, and a lot apple trees.

You sit down again and try to remember what happened. The fact that a pony could talk, own an apple farm and wear a hat was just simply ridiculous, you chuckle at the brief image fabricated in your imagination, maybe it was a product of dehydration or a simple hallucination. That reminds you to drink some water, but you don't see a jar or a glass in the nightstands. You try to walk to the door, but the pain in your leg reminded you to stay where you are.

"Are you okay sugarcube?, Ah' took care of yer' wound, it was pretty nasty, but mah' granny has a lot of medicine and bandages."

You hear a voice that comes outside of the room, she must be a southern girl, she sounds nice... and pretty familiar, you just hope the "pony" thing was just your mind playing you tricks. (That's not funny brain... you think to yourself.)

"I'm fine... er... gal, thanks, my leg hurts a little, but I'm doing great, actually, I'm kinda thirsty, would you be so kind to bring me water please?"

"Sure thing sugarcube, you can call me AJ! Ah'll be right back!"

She sure is nice, you hope the war is over, you can't continue in the battlefield if you are not in Kauai or any other island of Hawaii; so you can take her out to dinner, as a form of showing your gratitude, if you had any money of course, she might be pretty.....AJ.....

You hear multiple footsteps coming to the room, you hear the voice of a little girl, and the voice of an old lady.

"Twilight isn't home right now sis, Spike told me that she went to get some of her favorite tea from Zecora. But Ah' told him to say to her that you found something strange and that she must come quickly to our farm, Ah' hope he heard everything ah said to him, because he can't get his mind offa miss Rarity."

"Dangit! Now he'll have to wait for a while, Ah' couldn't get those weird gray things with mah hooves. Ah' think that fancy magic is pretty useful, us earth ponies do all the heavy work after all!"

Twilight? Zecora? Rarity? Hooves? Magic?... OH GOD, IT WASN'T A DREAM AFTER ALL. You somehow ended in a place with talking magical ponies! Calm down... Keep calm... Keep calm... They are trying to help you, they are sentient, and they have good feelings, AJ cured your wound and she let you stay in a room. They are pretty nice to give a human a room even if you landed in their corn field, probably when you get on the plane you will burn her crops thanks to the hover mode.

"Ah don't want you to get near that thing silly filly!, what if he harms you? Or even worse, if he touches yer flank!, Ah' want his caboose out of our farm!"

She must be her grandmother, pretty overprotective and rude, well, you can't judge her, probably your granny and even your mom would act the same if your sister attended an ANM soldier. Hell, even YOU wouldn't allow it.

"He ain't dangerous Granny, and he ain't a pervert either, he was sleeping like a little foal when ah' took care of his wound, he must be pretty thirsty, stand back, I'll give him the water he asked!"

The door slowly opens... she enters the room with a tray... in her mouth... ugh, it has a big jar of delicious water and a glass on its surface.

"Howdy pardner! Here's your water... are you totally awake or in a good condition?"

"Both, thanks AJ, but I say, I'm a little impressed. I was in the middle of a battle a few hours ago... and I don't even know where I am right now."

"You are in Sweet Apple Acres sugarcube, owned by me, mah big brother, mah granny and mah lil' sis. We make the sweetest and tastiest apples in all Ponyville."

"Ponyville? (What an original name) I suppose it's full of ponies like you AJ."

"You are right pardner! But it has also Unicorns and Pegasi, we live in a nice little community where we take care of each other. You must be the first human thingy in Equestria, a green unicorn named Lyra talks a lot about humans, she made a lot of research on them, but she always said that you humans had two little eyes, a nose and hair... not a big and only black eye and a white hard head."

"What? Ohhh, no AJ, it's a special helmet so I can breathe while I fly in my plane, excuse me."

You remove your helmet, the cool breeze meets your face, it feels good...She keeps staring at your face, her cheeks become red for a moment and she manages to say.

"She was right after all, but Ah' didn't knew that humans had such pretty faces... he he... Ah'... erhh.. gotta buck some apple trees, see ya' later".

She leaves the room, leaving you with the little filly and the cranky old pony. You don't know what just happened, but it sure felt awkward, you pour some water in the glass and drink a little, you feel relieved, not only you were alive, someone was taking care of you, even if she didn't know who you were or what you used to do.

"Hey mister!" The little filly said. "Where are ya from?"

"I'm from the United States of America, from a world called Earth"

"Ooooo, so in that world there are...hoomans...like you?

"Humans, and yes, big and small, thin and fat, black, white, brown and many other live there, we have many animals too."

"Wooow, do the black ones have magic? Or the fat ones? Do the small humans have wings?

"No, we don't, none of us have those abilities"

"So you are like us the earth ponies" That's awesome! but you just said that helmet helped you breathe while you fly"

"Oh, I said that it helped me breathe while I fly inside that plane over there" You say while pointing at your harrier that is visible trough a window.

"The gray bird? How can you fly in that? It looks pretty heavy!"

"It's not a bird, it's a machine, and it doesn't matter if it's heavy, it was designed to fly even if it weighs a lot, it can carry a lot of heavy things, most of the machines in my world make our lives easier and they help us to do difficult tasks."

You already liked the little filly, her curious face reminded of your sister, Granny Smith interferes in your conversation, telling Applebloom to leave so she could do her homework.

"Awwww Granny, Ah still want to know about the mister's world!"

"No you don't silly! What you hear is just feeble sticks, go on and finish it before the sunset"

"Awwww okay, later mister!"

You look at the old green mare, and she only says: "You must be hungry, Ah'll bake you an apple pie, and ah guess that you are staying here for a little longer... Ah better make sure you don't do anything to my little Applejack. Ah'll better start sewing a bundling bag..." She leaves the room, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

(Okay, I am living now in Ponyville, with talking ponies, there's no war, I'm the only human being in this place, I don't know if I should thank the ANM for taking me out of combat or loathe them even more. I don't know if I'll be able to come back to Earth. Maybe one of her friends will be able to find a solution, that pony named "Twilight" that Applejack wanted so much to come. I hope that she doesn't sparkle like that crappy movie of vampires.) You chuckle and rest a little more.

...

Yeah, that's better...zzzzzz....

...

...

...

STOP THAT SUPER HARRIER AT ANY COSTS!!!

PULL UP... PULL UP... PULL UP... PULL UP... PULL UP ... PULL UP...

ENEMY MISSILE INCOMING...

DAMAGE TAKEN...

RETURN TO BASE...

FUEL LEAKING...

HUD DAMAG...

... GAH!!! You violently wake up, and then you receive a frying pan to your head... OUCH!!!

"You scared me ya ugly monkey!!! Here's your darn pie!" It was Granny Smith, she looks annoyed and she leaves mumbling... You've had the same nightmare for a week, and thanks to Granny Smith now you've a headache, you wish Applejack was here, at least she would have stopped her crazy grandmother from almost giving you a severe traumatic bran injury. Well, at least she gave you the apple pie, you have a taste of it, wow... it's pretty good, you love it!

"Thanks Granny, you old hag!"

To be continued...