Nine hundred and ninety-five years. Nearly a full millennium and I can only find one person with the potential. The Princess paced back and forth in her private chamber trying to think of a solution to a problem that was fast approaching. Nearly a thousand years ago, Princess Celestia had been forced to use the Elements of Harmony to banish her sister into the only cell that could contain her, the moon. Using them all at once had turned out to be a mistake. With her power, as well as that of the Elements, severely drained in the process, she feared using them again. While she reasoned that she was healthy and powerful enough again to wield their combined strength, she could not say the same for the Elements. After each use from both her sister and herself, they had grown weaker and weaker. When used against Sombra, we took away his material form. Against Discord, we managed to turn him into stone, an effort I hope was not for a temporary result. Lastly, when used against my own sister, instead of lifting the evil clouding her mind all the Elements could manage was simply relocate her ... for a period of time.
Over the years however, the Princess theorized that perhaps her sister and herself were never meant to wield these devices of great power. Perhaps, it was merely their combined strength in magic and god-like powers that protected them. What she needed to find now were six individuals who met the requirements to become the Bearers of the Elements. And after all this time I have only found one! What am I to do about the other five? She pondered this for years now after discovering the possible bearer to the element of Magic. Finding her was relatively easy of course, opening a University of Magic naturally attracted all those powerful and passionate in the subject. Unfortunately, the same strategy could not be used to discover any of the other Bearers. How would one round up all of the people who could represent Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, and Laughter? A seemingly impossible task, it was simply out of the question. What she needed to do now, was focus on the Bearer she did know of.
Yes, her ever faithful student Twilight Sparkle had proven herself by completing every task set before her to date. She had studied, understood, and practiced spells in many different fields of magic. Frequently she would pick up on a spell after just witnessing another perform it once, already understanding all of the intricacies of it without an explanation. And she is so passionate about it too, absolutely loving every aspect of the art. She even outshines her older brother, the youngest Captain of the Royal Guard in its history. Of course, she has the advantage of not having to leave her studies to attend to a battalion of troops . . . I just wish she would slow down on her studies and simply find the time to socialize and make some friends. Come to think of it, Shining Armour seems to be socializing more and more with Princess Cade- cutting her own train of thought off, the Princess came to a brilliant conclusion.
Of course! Celestia thought, a smile beaming across her face, if the Elements are to be used harmoniously, they must be used by six different people who themselves are compatible with each other. It would make sense then, that these people would have to know each other and in turn cooperate. The concept was so simple, Celestia wondered how she did not think of it sooner. Instead of scouring the countryside for the remainder of the Bearers, with no real means on finding them, she would use her faithful student to find them for her by tasking her with socializing with people. Celestia reasoned that Twilight should not be made aware of the task. As faithful a student that she is, Twilight will simply try and make friends with the first five people she runs across and consider it yet another task completed. This simply will not do with the country of Equestria riding in the balance. Instead, she should try and have Twilight socialize and make friends naturally.
Although, I can not just have her go and socialize with everyone in the country, surely there is a way to narrow down my search. Celestia believed that if the Bearers were to wield the incredible power of the Elements, they would have to be strong individuals, able of facing such dark forces with the presence of mind to stand their ground and fight off the evils of the world. It was then that she sat down at her desk and noticed all of the paperwork that she was neglecting. Oh the joys of royalty, The princess thought, If I never see another scroll from someone asking for coin, it will be too soon. One in particular caught her eye, an expense report from the Equestrian Armed Forces. A smile beamed across her face as she determined how she was to find her Bearers of Harmony in time. Using her aura to grab a nearby pen, she began articulating the plan that was to save her country.[/size]
Chapter 1 - Alpha Company (Part 1)
Putting her finger to her ear she nodded to herself and simply replied, "Copy that, we're already on our way. Keep me posted, over and out".
"How much longer until we get there Sergeant?"
"We should reach our destination in 90 seconds" the driver said calmly in her natural southern drawl, "just be ready with that grenade launcher o' yours, we're going to need to make an entrance". The woman in the passenger seat simply nodded and stared out the window of the truck with a silly grin on her face. Wondering if she was even listening, Applejack decided to explain the plan again. "When we're in range for your weapon Private, Ah'm gonna stop the truck, that's when the good Corporal here" She pointed to the mountain of a man standing behind the rear mounted turret, "will provide cover fire for you to blow open a hole in the wall large enough that we can drive through". A deep "Eeeyup" could be heard over the sound of the truck cruising over the hilly dirt road as Alpha company headed quickly towards their destination. "Are you clear on the plan private?"
"Yes ma'am, crystal clear, only you don't need to stop, I can just shoot while we're moving". At a loss for words with her engineer, Applejack tried to rationalize how she was going to manage this. Coming up blank, she turned to face her passenger and simply asked "How d'ya reckon that private Pie?"
"By rolling down the windows silly"
"Ya can't roll down these windows!"
"Ooh yeah, that's right" Private Pinkamena Dianne Pie realized, "silly me, how could I forget that? I work on these things all the time, really sturdy trucks, but they always get really, really hot in the summer but they're really, really, really, sturdy. Did I say that already?" A smiled beamed across her face as an idea formed itself in her often times random mind. "It doesn't matter any who, we still don't need to stop".
"Beg pardon, but what in tar nation are y-"
"Oooo, we're almost in range" She then grabbed her grenade launcher and checked to make sure everything was in order. Finally turning to watch the road again, Applejack suddenly realized that they were dangerously close to the enemy outpost. She swore under her breath for not paying attention to the mission and was about to stop the truck to begin phase one of the plan when Private Pie did something utterly random. "Just keep her steady now Sergeant ma'am" That is when she opened the passenger door to the truck and swung out with it. "Pretty please with a cherry chonga on top!"
Dumbfounded, Applejack continued to drive in a straight line towards the gate, unable to fully comprehend what was happening. Meanwhile, clutching on to the truck door for dear life with her left hand and both feet, Pinkamena aimed her MGL-140 grenade launcher at the center of the wall. With her tongue hanging out of the corner of her mouth out of concentration, she quickly fired four grenades at the wall. Each one of them punching large holes in the solid concrete that was before them. With a hole now big enough for a tank to drive through, Applejack helped the seemingly insane private back into the truck before giving Big Macintosh the order to open fire with the 50 cal machine gun he was standing behind. The roar of the mounted gun quickly erased all other noises as it kicked into life, while simultaneously ending others. Gore and dirt kicked up in clouds as Corporal Macintosh fired on those unlucky enough to be in front of him. Effectively clearing the space before they drove through the make-do opening in the exterior wall, he then opened fire on the largest building in the center of the complex.
The complex itself was mainly just three buildings surrounded by a solid wall. The large building in the middle was where most of the soldiers ate, slept, rested, and generally lived. The command building was off to the left and should already be cleared out, making it a non factor in Applejack's plan. The building to the right however was used for vehicle storage and maintenance and would have to be taken care of if Alpha company was going to make it out without a chase on their hands.
As Macintosh laid down cover fire, the two women exited the truck and split up. Pinkamena headed to the garage filled with military vehicles while Applejack ran towards the rear end of the building Mac was firing at. Firing two grenades at the office area, Pinkamena then began placing C4 explosives under each and every truck. Only after this was done did she reload her grenade launcher and begin laying down cover fire on another building. Applejack meanwhile had her trusty Ihaca shotgun in hand and made certain that nobody could flank them. She sprinted for the door away from Big Mac's fire and managed to take aim just in time as two enemy soldiers came bolting out trying to figure out what was happening. Applejack opened fire on the unlucky soldiers and they flew back into the building, forcing others inside to pause before stepping over their bodies to find out who was shooting at them. Applejack used this to her advantage and fell behind some cover. By the time the enemy could exit the building, they were met again with shotgun fire. Three more soldiers fell before they decided to hold position and wait for an opening.
Applejack put her hand up to her ear as a message came through from the other attachment of Alpha Company, "AJ come in, do you read me?"
"Ya Braeburn, loud n' clear, what's your status?"
"We grabbed the goods and made it out safely, thanks for the diversion, over"
"No problem cous' we will meet ya'll at the extraction point in five minutes, over and out" Pausing to grab a couple flash bang grenades, she continued speaking to the rest of Alpha Company "D'ya hear that Pink? Make your way back to the truck, we're getting the hay out of here"
"Okie dokie lokie"
Throwing the two flash bangs in hand, she then sprinted back to the truck. One of the soldiers managed to spot her running away from the door, but simply couldn't aim down his sights yet because of the non lethal grenades that were thrown his way. Instead, he casually aimed in the direction of his surprise combatant and fired, hoping that at least one bullet hit her before she was out of sight. Without his knowledge, one bullet did manage to connect with its target. Luckily for Applejack though, it hit her in her torso which was covered in bullet proof armour. Nearly collapsing out of sheer pain, she could have sworn that she had been stabbed between her ribs. Not being able to get a full breath in her, she managed to finish her sprint to the truck on little more than pure adrenaline.
With Private Pie already sitting in the passenger seat, Applejack jumped in and pulled a quick 180 to drive out the whole which they originally came in. "Private" pausing to catch her breath, Applejack finished the order, "take care of those trucks will ya?" With the click of a button, a deafening explosion could be heard behind them. The power of the explosion caused Applejack to turn and look through her mirror to survey the damage. This motion however caused her bullet wound to cry out in pain and she winced uncontrollably from the intensity of it. Noticing his sister's injury, Big Macintosh leaned down towards her from his spot behind the turret "Hey Applejack, y'alright? Saw ya got shot back there"
"I'm fine Mac, bruised rib is all probably"
"Ohmygodareyouokay?areyouhurt?doyouneedanything?" Pie asked in a single breath. The woman's normally unshakable smile faltered as she quickly quizzed the southern sergeant.
"Ah reckon ah'll be fine, probably end up getting the rest of the week off from it too" She chuckled to herself until her ribs began to scream in pain, wincing once again. "Private Pinkamena, any injuries to report?"
"Nopenopenopenope, not a scratch on me" Pinkamena beamed, "Oh and just call me Pinkie, all my friends do".
"Duly noted Private Pinkie, how 'bout you Big Mac, ya doing alright back there?"
"Eeeyup" All of a sudden, Applejack heard a loud thud as blood splattered the side of her face as well as the truck's dashboard. The echo of a gun shot could be heard as she twisted in horror to see what happened to her brother, ignoring the throbbing pain insisting that she sit still. The first thing she noticed was his hand on his left shoulder to keep the blood from pouring out even more than it already was, red streams flowing out between his fingers and travelling down his chest was enough for her to notice he was in trouble. It almost threw her into a state of shock when she looked up to see his face. What was normally almost a sun-burnt red was becoming as pale as a ghost. His eyes, those mainly of nonchalance and utter confidence, even in the midst of a fire fight were now reminiscent of a scared little boy, pleading for someone to help him. When he noticed his sister's horrified gaze however, Big Macintosh face changed to one of determination. He needed to be strong for her now, especially if they had any intentions of getting to the medic alive. A hysterical sister behind the wheel was likely to get the three of them killed. Swallowing hard, he truthfully re-answered his sister's question.
"Nnnope".
