Fire Base Zebra

It was night-time, and Luna's moon illuminated the battlefield. Royal guards were patrolling around the camp, looking for wounded or bodies the medics had missed.

There was dim orange light fluttering from near the main building. It came inside a bunker that had exploded in half, exposing the inside of it. There were seven ponies inside it, circled around a campfire.

There was a black billycan hanging over the fire. It was bound to improvised stand with a wire. The stand was made from three changeling assault rifles. They leaned against each other, forming a pyramid over the campfire.

There were steam rising from the billycan, and smooth aroma of coffee filled the air.

"I think it's ready," a blue unicorn said and rose to all fours. He took a grip from the billycan's handle, and started to pour black coffee into enamel cups that the tired ponies reached out towards him. After he was done serving the coffee, he poured some for himself and then put the billycan back to hanging over the fire.

Crack Shot, Riff and Healing Horn were siting right by the fire. Night was getting colder, so the warmth from the fire was welcomed. Healing Horn held his cup with his both front hooves. He took a sip from his coffee. He frowned and sneered when he gulped the strong tasting liquid. It was a lot stronger that he had used to drink. He looked at Riff, who seemed to drink his coffee without any problems. Healing then remembered that ponies in Crystal mountains consume most coffee in Equestria.

Crack was sitting on his haunches with a changeling assault rifle on his lap. He rolled it around in his hooves, examining it closely. He took a quick sip from the coffee, and then continued his work. He lifted the rifle and held it in firing position. He aimed trough the sights and then laid the rifle back to his lap.

"This thing is bucking heavy!" He said and lifted the rifle again.

"And the sights are really simple..." he continued. Then Crack took out the empty magazine and looked inside the feed. He then rolled the rifle in his hooves again, and pulled the bolt handle back, revealing the firing mechanism.

"It's so simply built!" He admired.

"Can you shut up already!" somepony said angrily from the back of the bunker. Crack lifted his head from the rifle and looked at the ponies around him. They had annoyed look on their faces.

"What?" he asked confusedly. Why did they look so annoyed?

Healing Horn leaned closer to Crack and whispered to his ear: "Uhm.. Crack, you've been talking about that rifle for last thirty minutes.."

Crack smiled sheepishly and laid the gun next to him.

"I didn't know that you were so interested in guns. I though that mares were only thing in you're head," Riff said teasingly, and earned couple of laughs from ponies around him. Crack Shot didn't seem to get upset from Riff's provocation. He just chuckled and took a sip from his mug.

Riff looked in his cup. There was only a little coffee left. He lifted the cup to his lips and drank it all in one gulp. Then he looked at the ponies around him, and started to stare at the flames like the rest of them.

After a minute of silence, they heard someone walking towards them. They all turned their heads towards the sound, and saw Rough Gunner climbing over the side of the collapsed bunker wall. He walked to the campfire, and stopped there.

"Captain," Crack said and nodded to Rough, who nodded back. He was looking at the billycan over the fire, that reflected from his aviator glasses.

The blue unicorn who had made the coffee, saw Rough looking at the billycan. He stood up and asked: "Would captain want some coffee? It's not the best possible, but it's still better than nothing."

Rough looked at him and said: "Yes, if you have any to spare."

The blue unicorn quickly grabbed the billycan into his teeth and poured some coffee into his own mug. He then gave it to Rough, who took a long sip from it. He smacked his mouth couple of times and said: "It  surely isn't the best,"

Ponies around him started to laugh. When they finished, Rough sat down around the fire.

"How are you all holding up?" Rough asked and looked at his soldiers. They were silent. Rough knew how they felt. He remembered his first battle, and the night after that.

"I know how you feel boys. It's going to get easier, trust me," he said.

Rough notices the light yellow pony, who had been with him in the trenches when Payload got killed. Rough looked at him and said: "You're pretty good with that machine gun son,"

The yellow pony looked at Rough surprised.

"Thank's captain," he muttered.

Rough took another sip from his coffee. He then turned around to see rest of his soldiers, but sudden jolt of pain running up his side made him grunt. He held his side and laid the mug on the ground.

"Captain, is everything alright?" Healing Horn asked.

"Yes, just got kicked when we were in the building," Rough said, gritting his teeth from pain. Healing Horn looked concerned. He then said: "I can take a look at it,"

Rough thought for a minute, but then he nodded.

Healing stood up. He walked to sitting Rough, and sat down next to him. He took a quick look at Rough Gunner's side, it didn't have any external signs of a injury.

"I'm going to press your side gently, okay?" he asked from Rough, who just nodded. Healing placed his hoof to Rough's side, over the first rib, and pushed it down a little. Rough didn't react. Healing then moved to the next rib, and pushed again.

This time Rough winced and Healing felt how the rib moved unnaturally.

"Your rib is cracked. It's nothing serious, they will heal on their own. I can give you pain killers, but all you really need to do is rest, a lot." Healing said and pulled his medic bag closer to him. He took a small glass jar, filled with pills from the bag. He gave it to Rough.

"Remember, rest." Healing said, with emphasis on the word rest. Rough looked at him and said: "Thank you, corporal Healing Horn."

They sat in silence again. Then Rough turned to Crack Shot. He looked at the light green pony, who looked back at him.

"I heard you took out the sniper that was pinning down the cleaning group today," Rough said and picked up his mug from the ground.

Crack wondered how did Rough know about that. He turned his head towards Riff and Healing Horn. They both quickly started to look up in the sky, trying looking as innocent as they could.

Crack turned back to Rough and said: "Yeah, I did."

"How far away was him?" Rough asked interested. Crack pondered for a second, then he said: "About seven hundred."

Rough was silent, he looked at Crack Shot with a proud, almost a smile resembling expression on his face.

"You saved many pony's lives today," Rough said to Crack.

They all fell silent, and Rough sensed how the mood changed quickly. He saw one of the ponies squirming in his place, before asking: "Speaking of lives.. how many did we actually lose?"

Rough took a slow sip from his mug, and then sighed.

"twenty-nine, and nine royal guards," he said with a calm, slow voice. The ponies looked at each other.

"That's almost half of us," somepony said sadly. Rough was silent, and so was his soldiers. They didn't feel like speaking now. Rough looked into his cup. It was empty.

"Well.. I need to go see captain Brawny," Rough said and stood up, holding his sore side.

"We will be transported back to fire base Zebra tomorrow, and you will get a day free from all your duties," Rough continued, trying to hear  as cheering as he could. He gave the cup back to the blue unicorn and thanked him for the coffee.

"Try to get some sleep boys!" he shouted when he left the bunker.

Then he started to walk towards the main building.

The rest of them stayed in the bunker. They all knew that none of them could sleep that night. They watched how the embers from the dying campfire slowly rose into the air, floating there like small red fireflies. The night was getting darker, and they could see the stars on the sky.

Dark grey earth pony, who was sitting in the corner, took out a small object from his pocket. He looked at it. Healing Horn saw how something silver sparkled in the moonlight. The pony lifted the object onto his lips, and started playing it. It was a harmonica.

He played a slow and sad melody, that seemed to reflect the feelings they had right now. Everypony listened the song in silence. Some of them even shed couple of tears. Riff, Crack Shot and Healing Horn stared into the small flames.

The grey pony played the song for a while, and ended the song with a long sad note, that seemed to stay hanging over their heads for a second, before it vanished into the cold night air.