Chaos now!

CHAPTER 10

DOE LONG BRIDGE

Night had fallen by the time they approached Doe Long Bridge. They heard the distant sound of explosions and saw the flashes of light when they were within a couple of klicks away from the bridge sight.

When they were within sight of it, Kark became lost in his thoughts again. Doe Long Bridge was the last Army outpost in Equestria. It sat on the border area between Equestria and the Diamond Dog Fiefdom. It was a highly fought over area! Many pony casualties came from here! It was here that we were supposed to meet the C.O., restock on ammo, and hopefully gain some new intel regarding our mission.

“Doe Long. This is the last place anypony wants to be.” Apple Bloom commented.

“Can’t argue with that.” Sweetie Belle said.

On this part of the journey, they donned their Kevlar uniforms, as they were now getting into the shit.

Kark and Rainbow Dash got off the boat as soon as it neared the shoreline. They made sure they armed themselves before they got off. Kark grabbed his large semi automatic rifle while Rainbow Dash grabbed a machine gun from the boat. “Pick us up on the other side of the bridge!” Rainbow Dash ordered.

“Okay!” Applejack said as she pulled out.

Amidst the noise of explosions, Kark and Rainbow Dash proceeded up the embankment towards the trenches that were dug up. The bridge was well lit in order for the ponies crossing it at night could see where they were going, but it also made it an easy target for the Diamond Dogs to bombard. Almost every night the enemy destroyed the bridge; and the very next day, it was rebuilt, just so the Pony Army generals could say that the bridge route was open, Kark thought to himself.

“Stay low!” Rainbow Dash told Kark as she crouched down and crept along towards the trenches.

“How low can you go?” Kark asked rhetorically as he did his best to stay as low to the ground as possible for him.

The sound of a shell exploding nearby made them flinch. When they got to the trench, they immediately jumped in. It was just big enough for Kark to remain unseen under cover of darkness.

“Now, to find this C.O., wherever he is.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Or she.” Kark said. “It could be someone like Spitfire.” He smiled.

Rainbow Dash smiled back.

She led the way forward. The sound of machine gun fire and shell explosions echoed all around them. At one point, Rainbow Dash cried out as she tripped over something. “Hey! Watch where ya goin’, lady!” the “thing” Dash tripped over said.

“Sorry! I thought you were dead.” She said.

“Well, ya thought wrong, bitch!” the male pony soldier said with some irritation.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t gonna let this bother her, however. “Where’s the C.O.?” she asked the soldier.

“Beverley Hill.” The soldier answered.

“What?”

“UP AHEAD! THERE’S A CONCRETE BUNKER CALLED ‘BEVERLEY HILL’! THAT’S WHERE YOU’LL FIND HIM! NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!” the soldier cried.

“ALL RIGHT!” Rainbow Dash shouted back. “Sorry to have disturbed you!”

“How ya doin’?” Kark asked casually as he squeezed past the soldier.

“Now what’s a dragon doin’ here?” the solider asked himself as he watched the pair crawl away.

Then they reached a machine gun nest where another male pony soldier was firing the weapon. “YOU THINK YOU BAD NOW, HUH, DOG!!?” he screamed as he continued firing.

“Excuse me, soldier. Who are you firing at?” Rainbow Dash asked as she got beside him.

“WHO THE BUCK DO YOU THINK I’M FIRIN’ AT!?” the soldier shouted as he fired his machine gun again.

Then he realized his rudeness and turned to salute Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry, ma’am; but there’s Kanes out by that wire. I think I got ‘em all, though.”

“No, dude! Ya ain’t got shit! Listen!” his fellow male soldier friend, who fed the ammo in the machine gun, exclaimed.

They heard the distant taunting cries of a Dog soldier.

“Oh, DAMN! He’s tryin’ to call his friends! Pop another flare!” the machine gunner ordered.

His friend fired another bright red flare in the air. The machine gunner fired again. “GOT YA NOW, YA DAMNED DOG!”

“Hey, guy! Before you keep firing your blanks, can you tell me where Beverley Hill is?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The machine gunner blinked. “Just over there.” He said as he pointed.

“Thank you!” Rainbow Dash said as she crawled along with Kark right behind her.

“Wiseass bitch!” the ammo feeder commented.

The machine gunner started firing again.

“That’s not how you’re supposed to fight this war.” Rainbow Dash commented as she shook her head.

“Is there any good way to fight it?” Kark asked sarcastically.

Rainbow Dash smiled and snorted.

They reached a concrete reinforced building that was dug into the ground. “This must be it.” Rainbow Dash said as she descended the flight of steps that led to the entrance. Kark did his best to follow. The steps were just big enough for a pony to climb and descend. It was not made for dragons! Kark was able to gingerly descend it, though.

Inside, they found the C.O. going over some paperwork, and Rainbow Dash was quite surprised to see who it was. “SOARIN!” she cried out.

“Dash!” Soarin exclaimed as he saw who was calling him.

She was crying by the time she jumped into an embrace with him. “OH, Soarin! Soarin!” she sobbed as she held him tight.

She kissed his left cheek several times. “I was so worried about you! When I haven’t heard from you, I feared the worst!”

“Hey! You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” He smiled at her as he faced her. Her eyes were wet with tears. They both shared a passionate kiss on each other’s lips.

Kark simply leaned against the front entrance way, crossed his arms and smiled at the scene.

Soarin was dressed in the same Kevlar uniform as Rainbow Dash wore, and he bore the field rank of Commander. He was definitely the C.O. assigned to the Doe Long Bridge detachment.

“Ambassador Kark.” Soarin nodded as he finally turned his attention to the big dragon.

“Commander Soarin.” Kark said as he returned the nod.

“When I heard that two Special Ops soldiers were probably gonna be coming here, I had no idea it would be the two of you.” Soarin admitted. “When they said that the mission was top secret, I wondered what the hay was goin’ on. Care to fill me in?” Soarin smiled seductively at Rainbow Dash, hoping to coax the truth out of his love.

Rainbow Dash hesitated. She remembered her duty, but it broke her heart not telling him. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you, Soarin. I’m under orders.” She said, her eyes betraying her sadness.

Soarin sighed inwardly, but still smiled at her. “All right. What’s your role in this, Ambassador?” Soarin asked.

“I’m afraid that’s also classified, Commander.” Kark was forced to say.

“But what I wanna know is what you’re doing here, Soarin.” Rainbow Dash asked. “Why aren’t you flying air raids with other pegasi?”

“I was when the war started. But a bullet straight to the wing put an end to that.” He lifted his left wing to show the scar right underneath the wing spine. It was almost the exact same scar that she bore. “So they reassigned me here with the ground troops. I guess that begs the question why you’re not flying bombing raids.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “Because I happened to have suffered the same injury as you.” She lifted her own wing to show him her own scar. “So they reassigned me to Special Ops. I can still fly pretty fast, but I’m afraid my Sonic Rainboom days are over.”

“A shame.” Soarin said. “Now, though, it seems we have one more thing we share in common.”

“Looks like it.” Rainbow Dash smiled.

They both shared another kiss.

“Anyway, we need some ammo for the patrol boat that’s carrying us, whatever you can spare.” Rainbow Dash said.

Soarin nodded. “The same patrol boat that’s carrying you past the bridge into Diamond Dog territory? I have to say, I don’t know what the Army’s planning this time; and I admit I don’t like this whole top secret/classified stuff; but orders are orders. We’ll see what we can do about your ammo. OH! And this was hoof delivered to us two days ago. We were expecting you here a bit sooner, but better late than never, as they say.” Soarin smiled as he handed Rainbow Dash the wax sealed letter stamped “Top Secret Eyes Only”.

She opened it and read it. Kark was standing over her shoulder to read what it said also.

“There is one thing we neglected to inform you about during your initial briefing: Months before the two of you, the Axis Armies dispatched their own operative to try to kill Discord. Her name was Gilda Griffon. I believe you knew her. Wasn’t she your best friend during your Flight Academy days?”

There was a picture of the griffon in question with the letter. Rainbow Dash recognized it instantly as her former crony from her younger days spent at the Pegasus City Flight Academy. They used to be really close, but drifted apart shortly after they graduated.  She decided to sever her friendship with her after she saw how she treated her pony friends a few years ago. Rainbow Dash always thought that Gilda was self centered and arrogant; but she stopped being friends with her after she saw that arrogance being dished out on her friends in Ponyville.

She continued reading. “In any case, they thought she was dead, until they intercepted a letter she tried to send to her mate. We believe she’s now working with Discord. Our double agent working with his Axis Army contacts provided us this intel that we are now passing onto you. Hope this finds you well and helps you in the success of your mission. We’re all counting on you and Ambassador Kark. Don’t let us down!

Yours truly,

General Big Macintosh

The letter bore Big Mac’s hoofprint signature, thus confirming that it was legitimate.

Rainbow Dash read the copy of Gilda’s letter that was provided. It was a hand scribbled piece of paper that said:

Dear husband,

Sell the house!

Sell the kids!

Find someone else!

I don’t care!

I’m never coming back!

Gilda

Rainbow Dash kept staring at Gilda’s picture. It was a portrait that was probably taken by a friend of hers while she proudly bore her Axis Army uniform and shotgun rifle that was issued to her, thus identifying her as a sniper in the ranks of the Griffon Army. Dash saw she bore the rank of Lieutenant. I guess she’s not a Lieutenant anymore, she thought to herself.

“The plot thickens.” Kark commented from over her shoulder.

Rainbow Dash looked up at him and nodded somberly.

“Commander! We’ve got trouble! And bring your mortar launcher!” a soldier Kark and Rainbow Dash recognized as the machine gum ammo feeder from awhile ago said as he burst into the bunker.

“On my way!” Soarin said as he grabbed said launcher from its place on the table, and followed the soldier outside. Kark and Rainbow Dash followed behind.

“What’s up?” Soarin asked the machine gunner as he arrived at his nest.

“There’s a Dog out by the wire. We can’t get to him. Do you hear him?”

They could hear the distant cries of the enemy soldier as he taunted them. “Fuck you, ponies! Fuck you! I’ll kill you, ponies! I’ll kill you!”

“Yeah.” Soarin said. “I hear him. He’s close. He’s real close.”

He loaded a mortar shell in his launcher and armed the mechanism.

“Do you need a flare, Commander?” the ammo feeder asked.

Soarin shook his head. “No.”

The taunting cries of the enemy soldier continued as Soarin took careful aim and fired the mortar rocket.

A few seconds later, an explosion and a flash of light were seen a few dozen lengths away, followed by silence. The taunting cries of the enemy soldier were silenced for good.

“Bucking bastard!” Soarin said.

Rainbow Dash was dumbstruck. She had never seen her beau like this before. Kark simply saw it as another necessary act of violence in an otherwise desperate war where the freedom of an entire race was at stake.

______________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, on the P.V.R. Sweet Apple, the boat crew were impatiently waiting for Rainbow Dash and Kark’s return.

A loud explosion to the left, followed by falling screams made Apple Bloom react. She turned just in time to see two male earth ponies fall to their death in the water of the river. “SHIT! Ah just saw two ponies get blown off that bridge!” She cried, looking genuinely scared.

“You’ll be all right, sugarcube! Just hang in there!” Applejack said in reassurance as she comforted her little sister.

Then Kark and Rainbow Dash appeared. Kark was carrying two metal containers full of machine gun ammo, and Rainbow Dash looked to have somepony with her.

Applejack was surprised to see who it was that was accompanying them. “Soarin!”

“HO, Applejack! So you’re the boat Captain, eh?”

“That’s right! And you’re the C.O. leadin’ this here shindig?”

“I sure am!” Soarin said proudly.

An explosion directly behind them made them all react.

“Better get goin’ before things get really hairy!” Applejack pressed.

“I’ll be back soon.” Rainbow Dash told Soarin as she faced him.

“I’ll be waiting for you, Dashie.” Soarin smiled.

They both shared another passionate kiss as another explosion echoed behind them.

“Go!” Soarin urged as he grabbed the machine gun he had over his shoulder and ran back over the embankment.

“Soarin!” Rainbow Dash called out, but Soarin didn’t hear her.

Another explosion appeared as Soarin disappeared over the other side of the embankment.

“Come on, Rainbow Dash! We gotta get going!” Kark urged.

Rainbow Dash climbed aboard, and Applejack pulled out almost instantly.

“I can’t help but think that that’s the last time I’ll ever seen him alive.” Rainbow Dash admitted.

“You can’t think that way, Dash!” Kark said as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

They looked back towards the bridge, which suddenly burst into flames as several explosions rained down all around it. “SOARIIIIIIIINNN!” Rainbow Dash yelled as parts of the bridge collapsed into the river. She started crying uncontrollably as Kark took her in a comforting hug. He looked back at the scene of destruction and carnage behind him while Rainbow Dash emptied all of her sadness and feelings of loss into his chest.

Kark became lost in thought again. As Rainbow Dash poured out her tears of sadness, loss and despair, I couldn’t help but think about Soarin. I’ve met him a few times when the Wonderbolts came to Canterlot to perform. I knew we was a tough motherbucker then. He was still a tough motherbucker throughout all of the insanity of Doe Long Bridge. I knew, in the back of my mind, that he would find a way to escape the destruction. He would find a way to survive.