Battle Scars

by bosoxboy521

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe, Adventure
Length: 20687

War is never a pretty thing, and the survivors show that. Both physical, and mental scars cut deep into their body, and leave a painful reminder of the horrors of war.

The year is 1944, the changeling empire losing it's once mighty grip. Pvt. Fluttershy, is the newest recruit, and thinks nothing of war but of pain and death. She sees her squad mates and can't relate to them, they enjoy the kill, and they so no mercy. She can't understand this, how could they enjoy such god awful activities? What she didn't expect was…making friends.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-11 15:48:09 UTC

Chapter I

The roar of the MG42 is terrifying. It fires an 8mm Mauser round, and is deadly accurate. But, it's the rate of fire that causes the scare, of 1,200 RPM. It is the fastest gun on the battlefield, and it happens to be in the hooves of the changelings. Equestria had nothing to even come close to that fire rate, and only the anti aircraft guns match that fire rate of the MG42. The sound roared through the echos and hills of the battlefield. Apple Company was on a routine patrol, when they were targeted by the best known as "Chrysalis' Buzzsaw". The company commander, Captain Twilight Sparkle, led a squad of six ponies on a flanking mission, attack the 42 from the side, through the house. Below the ground, inside the basement, they found a staircase to up above.

"MG42 above, use your frags first, then take 'em out. Pinkie Pie, your on point." she whispered.

"Okie dokie lokie!" said the pink pony, loading her M3 Grease Gun. She slowly trotted down the long hallway, where the sound of the 42 grew louder and louder. The terrifying echo of the gun, filled the sound of the hallway. Not even a train whistle could be heard over the sound of the buzzsaw. Pinkie Pie looked up and prepped a frag grenade. She pulled the pin and threw it up in the air. Within 5 seconds, the grenade would explode with tremendous force. It would blow open a hole in the wall, effectively crippling the house even more, as if the constant bombardment of bombs wasn't enough.

The grenade exploded and the squad ran up. Rifle and submachine gun fire was the only thing that was heard in the house now. The powerful MG42, was finally silenced.

"Fluttershy, go with Rarity and clear out these rooms." ordered Twilight. Fluttershy just nodded. She trotted down with her M1 Carbine at the ready. Terrified, she slowly trotted up with Rarity, the marksmare of the group. Rarity led the way as she busted down the door and scanned the area for hostiles. Fluttershy similarly scanned the area again, incase Rarity missed something.

"This rooms clear darling, let's check the next one." she said in her posh accent. Fluttershy just nodded as the two were about to repeat the process. When she charged in a changeling with an MP40 greeted her, and nearly shot her head clean off. Rarity ducked down and fired her M1 Garand rifle five times before it jammed. She charged in to find another changeling struggling to operate his Kar98k rifle. Rarity jumped the soldier to finish him off once and for all.

The two forces of both good and evil couldn't come closer as Rarity threw many punches towards the face, and so did the changeling. Fluttershy just watched as the two duked it out as they fought for control. The weakened Rarity fell on her back, and was greeted by a knife in the changeling's hoof. With all her strength left, she pushed the knife away from her chest.

"Shoot him!" shouted Rarity to Fluttershy. She continued the struggle as the knife drew closer and closer to her chest.

"Shoot him for Celestia's sake Shy!" she shouted again. Fluttershy prepped her M1 Carbine and aimed for the changelings body. She's only a new recruit, and hasn't killed anypony before. The small rifle was raised to her face, and the safety was off. The magazine loaded with it's .30 Carbine rounds were about to shoot out of the barrel. Fluttershy closed her eyes as she pulled the trigger. The Carbine reacted as if somepony pulled the wings off a pegasus, and spat out the small round. It entered the body of the changeling, and the knife fell out of his hoof. Fluttershy fired one more time, and hit the flank, the changeling finally fell down in pain as Rarity just looked at Fluttershy. She fired once more, this ending up in the changelings chest. It slowly drained out the blood as it took it's last breathe of air before dying. The blood began to overflow and drool out of his mouth, the wounds too excessive for any hopes of living. Rarity just sat on the ground and looked at Fluttershy. She put down the rifle and just collapsed from what she did. She whimpered and went into a fetal position as she slowly began to cry.

"What's all the commotion?" said Twilight walking in. She looked down to find two dead changelings, a still shell shocked Rarity, and a crying Fluttershy.

"Are you okay Rarity?" asked Twilight, grabbing her rifle from the ground.

"Yes sir, I am." she said, softly, regaining her thoughts. She looked down at Fluttershy, who was still crying softly.

"Thanks darling, for saving my life." she said simply. She grabbed her M1 Garand and tried to clear the jam. Twilight watched Rarity trot down the hallway to rejoin her squad. Twilight turned and looked down at the crying yellow pony. She knelled down and put her hoof around her.

"You did good private, you saved Rarity's life." she said. Fluttershy didn't respond, she just remained sad, and crying a little bit.

"It's hard getting over your first kill. I know, I've been there." Twilight reassured. This made Fluttershy's crying stop, but she still kept her head down from the captain.

"You'll get used to it, private. Trust me. Before you know it, all of us will be back home. Isn't that something to look forward too?"

"Yes....sir..." Fluttershy said quietly.

"That's good to hear. But the only way for that to happen is if we keep pushing, can you do that?"

"I'll....I...I'll try...sir."

"That's good. C'mon, get up, go join the rest of your squad private." Twilight ended. Fluttershy got up and grabbed her helmet, a picture of her pet bunny Angel laid in there. She just looked at the black and white photo, and put her helmet back on. She grabbed her M1 Carbine off the ground and trotted to her squad mates, resting, talking, and enjoying the surprising nice weather.

"There she is! The mare of the hour! How you doin' shy?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Fine, Rainbow, thanks." she replied, taking a seat.

"OOOOOooooo, tell me how he did Fluttershy! I wanna hear all about it!" said Pinkie.

"Well...um..."

"Oh wait I KNOW!" shouted the pink pony. "Rarity was fighting some pony, throwing punches left and right like washoo and washhaaa like that. There was blood everywhere. Finally when the changeling pulled a knife out she was all like 'no, no, mr. changeling, don't hurt me.' The changeling laughed as the knife drew closer and your all like: 'I'll save your Rarity!' And then you unleash an entire MAGAZINE into the body, saving Rarity's life, and, and then you..."

"Calm down Pinkie, let Fluttershy tell the story." said Applejack, stopping the pink pony from telling another one of those highly fictional stories of recent events. "Go ahead, sugacube." she said to Fluttershy after Pinkie quieted down.

"Well, um...., you see, I just...well....Rari...um....she was...in...trouble so, um, she told me to kill him...so....um...I did." she said stammering a lot. She didn't want to recall those awful events that just happened.

"That's it?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah. No heroic ending where you tell him 'NEVER TO MESS WITH MY FRIENDS AGAIN SCRUB!'?" asked Pinkie.

"No, it just happened..." she said quietly.

"Well, that's boring. I'll tell you about my most recent kill. So this changeling was..." Rainbow Dash began.

"Rainbow, it can wait," said Staff Sergeant Cheerilee "Captain wants Fluttershy and Applejack up top for overwatch, the rest guard the perimeter while we wait for supplies."

"Yes, Sarge." said Applejack as she got up, with Fluttershy following her to the upper layer of the house. It had one of those look out towers above, high up in the sky. Fluttershy trotted to the tower, and climbed up the ladder. She looked out into the sky, the sun was about to set. The orange color covered the sky, along with patches of bright red and yellow. It was truly beautiful, a sight Fluttershy enjoyed seeing in the changeling empire.

"Heads up 'shy!" shouted AJ as she threw up a belt fed machine gun. Fluttershy turned to find a Browning 30 Caliber machine gun fly in the air from the hole in the floor. She squeeked a little as the 31 ibs machine gun landed on the ground with a loud thud.

"Gosh darn it 'Shy, you were supposed to catch the darn thing." said AJ climbing up the ladder to the tower.

"Oh, I'm sorry." said Fluttershy, who was really thinking "how in the hell was I supposed to know?"

"It's fine sugar cube. Jus' set the thing to the twelve o'clock position, Captain's expecting a counter attack."

Fluttershy lifted up the heavy machine gun and placed it on some sand bags. Then, Applejack brought up the rest of the ammunition.

"Get her loaded 'Shy, we have to be prepared for tomorrow." Applejack stated. Fluttershy opened the feeding cover of the 30 caliber machine gun. She loaded in the belt of bullets and shut the cover down once more. She cocked the bolt back twice, once for locking it in place, and once for actually loading in the gun. She set the machine gun down and sat on the ledge of the window once more.

"Quite a view, ain't it private?" asked Applejack, holding her canteen as the two stared off into the sun.

"Yeah, it is." she simply said. The warm feelings of being back at home reappeared into her body once more, as if they were gone forever. For the first time in weeks, Fluttershy actually smiled. The sun, even though low, still shined on her yellow coat, her pink mane flowed with the slight, yet strong enough breeze that pushed her hair backwards. For the first time today, Fluttershy felt calm. Applejack took out a carton of Canterlot cigarettes, the ones with Princess Celestia on it raising the sun for the summer solstice.

"Y'all want one?" Applejack asked, with one already in her mouth. Fluttershy never smoked before, and she didn't want to anytime soon. However, as if it were instinct, she grabbed the cigarette, and put it up to her mouth. Applejack took out her lighter and lit the stick of nicotine. As she inhaled, the hot smoked went down her mouth, and into her lungs. She exhaled with a big puff of smoke and, she began to slouch down even more. Her brain began to tell her to relax, and that's what she did. She took another inhale, to relax even further. She exhaled through her nose as she now felt like she was in place with others. But, Fluttershy still felt a sense of awkwardness in the air, as she watched Applejack clean out her M1911 pistol. All that was heard was some small chatter of ponies below, or the birds high up in the sky, chirping away their beautiful songs.

"AJ?" asked Fluttershy, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes sugar cube?" she replied in her country accent.

"What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"Your first kill. How did you feel?"

Applejack stopped her cleaning as the rod stopped moving. She slowly pulled out the rod and cloth and set the pistol down on the ledge next to her.

"Well, Fluttershy, it ain't really sumthin' I like to talk about hun'." she stated, looking down at her hooves.

"Oh, um okay. I understand." Fluttershy replied.

"But, I'll make an exception for you. Jus' don't tell anypony." she stated.

"Got it."

"It was 1943, part of the Sicily campaign..."

Chapter II

August 3rd, 1943

Tronia

Pvt. Applejack

"Time to move, private, get your hooves up and runnin', we're gonna push for an attack." said a pony. Applejack woke up, rubbing her face with her hooves as the light shined through the tent. Applejack got up from her hammock and trotted outside to find ponies scattered all around the area, grabbing supplies, and gathering around.

"Let's get moving, everypony, we're gonna move up this hill!" shouted another pony. Applejack, confused, trotted around to find her company. Several ponies ran up the mountain whilst others ran down it. She looked around at all the devastation that laid on the base of the hill. Several ponies laid shot and mangled from bullets and explosives.

"Pvt. Applejack!" shouted a voice in the distance. AJ turned her head all around, but couldn't find anypony looking for her, or anypony sticking out of the norm.

"Pvt. Applejack!" shouted the voice again, this time a bit closer. Applejack turned around once more to find a lavender pony with her hoof up looking around. Applejack trotted to the pony, she had a war torn look, toughened by battle, and had some blood stains on her uniform.

"Pvt. Applejack!" she shouted once more. Applejack ran towards the pony calling her name. She was standing on a box, looking around at the sea of green.

"Pvt. Applejack here sir!" she said. AJ looked up at the lavender pony. It looked like she was a god, with the sun in the background, only being blocked by her head. The lavender pony looked down, showing no emotion whatsoever. She jumped down from the crate and started trotting away, Applejack followed.

"You're with me private. I'm Lt. Sparkle, your CO is Captain Braeburn. You'll be moving with us up the mountain on the left flank." said the Lieutenant.

"Yes sir." she replied.

"Riflepony?"

"Yes sir."

"Not anymore. Grab a BAR, from the armory, you're our new gunner." Applejack was shocked a little. She'd never handled a BAR before, she felt somewhat terrified. But, she remained her composure.

"Yes sir." she replied, hastily.

"Alright then. Get movin'. We're moving up the mountain in 0500 minutes, move your flank." said the Lt. with an annoyed tone in her voice. Her eyes looked like'd she had seen everything. Applejack took once glance and saw horror inside of it. She ran immediately to the armory after the Lt. gave her a deep, hard look. It wasn't like a facial look, it was literally like she was ripping her soul right out of Applejack's body. Applejack sprinted down the road and went into the armory.

"Whadda need private?" asked the armorer.

"Uhh.... a bar." she simply said.

"You mean a B.A.R., right?"

"Uh, yeah. One of those things."

"Alrighty here yah go." The armorer placed a machine gun on the table. The Browning Automatic Rifle, an awesome weapon that fired 550 RPM, with a .30-06 bullet. The firepower of a submachine gun, with the range of an M1 Garand. It had a 20 box magazine and weighed around 18 ibs loaded. She picked up the weapon and read the top of it.

COLT FIREARMS LLC. CANTERLOT, EQ. 1942. M1918A2 BROWNING AUTOMATIC RIFLE. .30-06 SPRINGFIELD.

Applejack never felt power in her hooves like she did before. The gun was heavy, but, nothing like she hadn't experienced on the farm. Applejack grabbed 6 magazines and trotted out with the weapon. She slung it on her back and ran to find the Lt. again. Before she knew it, all the ponies seemed to be more organized. At the corner of her eye, she saw a pony wave at her. It was Pfc. Colgate, a fellow member she met a basic, and a squad mate.

"Nice to see y'all Colgate." she said, shaking her hoof.

"Nice to see you too, AJ. C'mon, the Captain's looking for you." she replied, taking a drink from her canteen.

"What's in there? Water?"

"Nah, whiskey. Calms my nerves. Want some?"

"No, I'm good."

"Whatever you say."

"How the hell am I gonna navigate through this mess?"

"Beats me."

The two ponies trotted off to find the company. They found a bunch of ponies gathered around the line, prepared to attack the position. The hill looked more like a mountain with a fortress on it. Applejack gulped down her fear and said a quick prayer to Celestia.

"Let's go everypony! Let's get moving!" shouted Captain Braeburn as they charged up the hill. Applejack leaped up the ledge of the hill and began to run next to Colgate. Machine gun fire in the distance gunned down several ponies in the front. Applejack ran like she never had before, her eyes hyper focused on the mortar enclave that was created in the ground. She jumped inside and took cover. Bullets smacked the dirt near AJ and flew up and on to her helmet. She covered her head with one hoof and just kept her head down. She felt as if she was in a state of awe. Everything began to slow down. She watched as explosions from mortars hit several ponies, there bodies flying high up in the air. She turned around to find a hoof on her shoulder, it was Lt. Sparkle.

"Keep moving AJ! We gotta get up this hill, get to the line!" she shouted, as she pulled Applejack up. The two ran and took cover behind a series of rocks, she looked around to see several ponies in the same situation as her. Scared. Applejack just didn't know what to do. Should she fire at the enemy? Or should she stay and listen for orders? Applejack looked down at her BAR. A round was chambered and the gun was ready to fire.

"AJ! Cheerilee! Offer some suppressive fire on that crew! Colgate, Cloudchaser, Roseluck, and Bon Bon, get ready to move to the left with the Lt. Wait on my go!" shouted Braeburn. Applejack ran down and deployed her bipod on the gun. She ground felt slippery, but stable enough.

"Open fire!" shouted Braeburn. Applejack didn't even hesitate, her hoof let down on the trigger. The big BAR spat out a burst of 5-6 rounds on to the bunker. The impacts were clear, AJ was missing, but still keeping the changeling's heads down. She fired another burst, the BAR spat out more rounds on the German position. Applejack never felt power like this in her hooves, and she had a slight grin on her look, as if it was like shooting tin cans with her sister, Applebloom, on the orchard. Before she knew it, Applejack was out of ammo. The BAR didn't fire anymore, all it just made was a small click noise.

"Reload, cover!" shouted Applejack, her training kicking in. She pulled out a new mag and dropped the old one in the dirt. She pulled the bolt back and began to fire once more. The gun's ferocious sound was audible throughout the battlefield.  Her impacts were closer and closer to the changeling's machine gun position. Applejack let loose on her BAR, dumping out an entire magazine. When she was out, her smile turned into a frown as the machine gun began to target her. A burst of bullets wizzed over her head. She ducked down, back into her little ditch as she covered her head with her hoof once more. Before she could look over, a echoing boom sound filled the air. A high pitch whurring noise came crashing down on the machine gun position. Applejack looked up to find the machine gun position completely evaporated.

"Let's get moving everypony! Get up the hill!" shouted Braeburn. Applejack soon followed them up the hill as the attack was now at a full scale. Applejack ran up to the entrance of a bunker, the first of many that needed to be cleared out. Her squad stacked up by the door.

"Get Thunderlane up here. Have him burn 'em out." said Braeburn to the Lt.

"Cpl. Thunderlane, get that flamethrower ready!" shouted the Lt. Thunderlane came up with the new M2-2 Flamethrower in testing. He stacked up next to Applejack. She hadn't seen such an amazing weapon before. The two tanks of fuel and nitrogen, the nozzle, and the small flame coming out of the gun.

"Lt., grenade." said Braeburn. The Lt. nodded and threw in a frag. Within seconds it exploded and the door fell down from the force of it.

"Thunderlane! Burn 'em!" shouted Braeburn. The black colt pulled the trigger, and a burst of fire shot out of the gun. The orange flame lit up his black coat as the fire moved down the hallway and to the machine gun position. The screams of changelings inside haunted Applejack further as they slowly, and painfully, burned to death. Their last minutes on this earth, suffering a slow, awful death. Thunderlane let out another stream of fire to incinerate more changelings inside.

"AJ, Colgate!" said Braeburn, "Check the bunker, check for survivors and kill 'em."

Applejack just nodded. She looked at Colgate, who was feeling the rush of war. She stacked up and bashed in the doorway. Applejack noticed she now had a shotgun of some sorts. It was pump action, it reminded her of her times on the farm, the old double barrel Granny Smith kept in case of emergency. Colgate entered in first, with Applejack following. The bunker smelled of fire and burned wood. The once stone bunker was now covered with ashes from the fire of Thunderlane's flamethrower. Applejack slowly trotted as they entered the main complex, where the machine gun was. She looked inside to find it clear. Colgate, still staring at the surroundings looked around the structure.

"Welp, looks like we're clear, AJ," she said with pride, "let's regroup with the captain."

Applejack nodded as the two walked out. Applejack trotted out first, down the hallway. She felt relieved she didn't kill somepony up close and personal. She began to trot out the exit of the hallway. She looked down at her hooves as she trotted away, but she was stopped in her tracks by an echo throughout the hallway. It sounded like some sort of pistol, Applejack turned around and looked towards the doorway of the machine gun bunker. She saw a figure, it looked like a pony, it was clearly hurt.

"AJ?" said the voice weakly. Applejack immediately ran over, dropping her helmet to find the injured pony.

"No...no no no!" she said to herself as she got closer and closer, but, she knew who it was.

Colgate laid down on the ground, a pistol wound to the upper chest. The blood began to pour out of her mouth, as she gagged for breathe. Applejack frantically tried to hold the wound down. But, it was no use, Colgate spat up more blood as she coughed more, until her eyes closed. Applejack looked at the lifeless face of Colgate, it was like a knife to the heart. The warm tears began to run down her cheek, she closed her eyes and began to cry on the now dead Colgate. Her hooves still on the wound as her head dove down deeper into her body. Applejack's soft cry turned into a sob as the tears ran quicker down her cheek.

As the tears flew out of AJ's face, another pony began to cough a little. AJ, still a crying wreck, looked up to find a changeling, struggling for life. Applejack sniffled up her runny nose, and trotted up to the changeling. It looked like it was going for some sort of pistol, but, AJ kicked out of his hoof quickly, and pulled up the wounded changeling.

"You...buckin'...sonuvabitch." she said as she threw a punch to the face of the changeling. Some blood spat out the changeling's mouth, but, Applejack wasn't finished. She threw several more punches, eventually, the changeling was too weak to continue.

"Please..." the changeling coughed up, "spare me...please..."

Applejack laughed a little at the request of the changeling. She smiled a little and pulled up her BAR. The gun was eager to be fired as the muzzle was pointed directly at the head of the changeling. Applejack looked longer, until the barrel began to shake a little. Her hooves trembled, as she sweated, determined to pull the trigger. Her hoof wrapped around the long, metal trigger, as she slowly pulled back, then she hesitated. Applejack brought the gun down. She leaned closer to the changeling. He crawled himself against the wall as he looked in fear into AJ's eyes. Applejack saw nothing but pure terror and violence. She delivered a swift kick to the stomach of the changeling, as the changeling's ribs cracked as the kick was with tremendous force. The changeling fell down, clenching his ribs after being kicked. Applejack then leaned down to the face of the suffering changeling.

"You don't deserve a quick death." she simply said. She lifted her upper body up. She went to Colgate's body, to find her lighter and canteen. The canteen was empty, but, she noticed some wine bottles on a crate in the part of the bunker Thunderlane's flame missed. She grabbed the lighter and walked up to the changeling again. She picked him up and threw him against the wine bottles. Glass shards tore the flesh of the changeling, it pierced and cut him skin as he screamed in agony. Applejack took the lighter and put it to the puddle of wine. She was gonna burn the changeling to death, as punishment for killing Colgate.

"Please, no. Anything but that." he said in panic, realizing what was going to happen. She didn't listen as she had an evil smirk on her face. The changeling looked into her eyes, only to see blood red eyes. It was like staring into the eyes of a devil. She smiled as she lowered the lighter. Then, the lighter dropped out of her hands, she fell forwards and face planted into the wall. It was Lt. Sparkle, standing high and mighty at the dazed private. Applejack looked up and stared into the eyes of the Lt.

"What the buck is going on her with this changeling, private?" she asked.

"This motherbucker killed Colgate. So, I was gonna kill him." she replied.

"By lighting him on fire?"

"Why'ds it matter? It a changeling, he doesn't deserve a quick death."

"Private, doing this will get your flank court marshaled."

"But, sir..."

"Applejack, do not kill this changeling this way, either we take him prisoner, or you can get your revenge, your choice."

Applejack stared at the Lt, and back at the changeling. Her anger began to boil higher as she grabbed Colgate's shotgun. She pumped the shotgun as she walked up closer to the changeling. She pointed the barrel of the shotgun to his chest.

"No! Wait..." he shouted, but it was too late. Applejack pulled the trigger of the shotgun. The hail of buckshot lead balls flew into the changeling's body. It jolted backwards from the tremendous force, then fell down, lifeless. The chest cavity completely exposed as the blood poured out like a waterfall. Chunks of body parts slowly fell out as the changeling laid there, now gone. She trotted over to the Lt.'s way to grab her BAR, lying on the ground. As she was about to lean down, she felt a hoof on her shoulder.

"Just do your job, private. Kill 'em quickly, kill 'em fast. We have more important objectives than revenge. Now get movin'. We need you, sane and ready to fight." she said with no emotion. Finally, Applejack began to regain her thoughts. She collected her thoughts as she picked up her BAR once more. Applejack nodded at the Lt., and with that, she ran out of the bunker. Applejack quickly glanced at the mangled changeling, and then back at Colgate one more time. She took a deep breathe and ran out of the bunker.

Chapter III

"Ever since that day. I have just one objective, kill 'em all." said Applejack to Fluttershy, as she lit up a new cigarette. Fluttershy remained silent, after hearing the events of Applejack at Troina. The only thing that could be heard was the breathing of the two ponies, and the slight wind breezing along the watch tower. It wouldn't be a few minutes until Fluttershy broke the silence.

"Um...I'm gonna go to the bathroom." she said. Applejack said nothing, as her eyes stayed glued to the scenery. As Fluttershy climbed down, AJ moved her hoof and stopped Fluttershy.

"If theres anything I should tell you, it's this..." said Applejack. "Keep your morals 'Shy. But fear nothing in battle. Kill 'em with no feelings whatsoever. That way, you can keep your morals, and your sanity." Fluttershy stared into the war beaten Applejack. She nodded and continued to climb down the ladder. Her hooves hit the ground as she slowly trotted to the bathroom in the house. She dropped her rifle and dropped her pants.

"You're better off outside, private," said Cheerilee, "this place's plumbing is straight to hell."

Fluttershy got off the toilet and pulled up her pants. She trotted outside and found a nice bush. She closed her eyes and exhaled as the urine flowed out of her body. She's been holding this in since the battle. Fluttershy looked around to find the sky being consumed by darkness. She pulled up her pants and grabbed her rifle. As she was walking towards the house, she heard a crack of twigs within the trees. She ducked down and pointed her rifle towards the forest. It reminded her a lot of the Everfree forest. It was dense, dark, and scary. She flicked off the safety and kept her Carbine pointed in the woods. More branches and twigs snapped in the woods. Fluttershy's nerves began to rise as her emotions began to go wary.

"Hello?" she said loudly. She heard no reply. She pulled the trigger once, and the barrage began. Small arms fire erupted in the forest. Bullets richoceted off the house and broke the glass in windows. Fluttershy ducked down in the ground to avoid gunfire. She kept a firm clench on her Carbine and fired more volleys of shots.

"Fluttershy, get out of there!" shouted the Captain. Fluttershy ran into the building as she ducked down with her rifle.

"Get up there to help out AJ with the 30!" shouted Twilight. She ran up the stairs and climbed the ladder to the watch tower.

"Help me feed the gun shy!" AJ shouted. Fluttershy cradled the bullets of the gun. The machine gun fire it's powerful bullets down towards the forests. The bullets pierced the branches of the trees as the tremendous roar of the 30 Cal echoed through out the night. Along the line, the rest of Apple Company set up the defensive positions around the house and repelled the attack. Small arms fire ravaged the forest and the small house as bullets ricocheted off trees and bricks. What seemed like an eternity of fighting only lasted 10 minutes, until the changelings fell back.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" shouted Captain Twilight. The word was passed around as the fire fight slowed to a halt. Fluttershy and Applejack still stared at the woods, breathing heavily as the barrel of the 30 Cal smoked from large amounts of fire. The two didn't bother to talk, they just stared into the forest, looking startled, scared, and lifeless.

By day time, Fluttershy and Applejack were resting from the recent firefight. They sat down and smoked their cigarettes. They were tired, but didn't dare to sleep, with the looming threat of death over their heads.

"Shy, AJ." said a voice. The two looked up, half awake and feeling really lazy. It was Rarity.

"Ammo for the 30. Supply drop to come in at 0300 minutes." she said.

"Thanks Rarity." said Applejack, picking up the ammo box. Fluttershy was still seated as AJ finally got up to clean the 30. Rarity sat down next to her and pulled out her pipe.

"You did good, Fluttershy. I'm proud of you, darling." she replied, trying to comfort the war torn yellow pony.

"Tell you what. I'll take over watch for you, darling. You go down stairs and get a cup of joe." she said. Fluttershy looked up with admiration at Rarity's request. She smiled a little and trotted down the latter. She felt tired, but was thankful she was still alive. She trotted to the kitchen to find Pinkie Pie making some coffee.

"How yah doin' shy? Want sum joe?" she asked.

"Um...yes please." she said in her modest tone. She cupped the hot coffee in both of her hooves, the brown liquid flowed down her throat as she drank it, feeling once again, relaxed. "Thank you." she simply said and trotted away to the door step. She sat down, looking up at the beautiful blue sky. Not a single cloud was seen. It felt like she was back in Ponyville, having one of her critter picnics. The sun shot down a beautiful beam of light and warmth down on her as she took another sip of her coffee. She smiled as she turned her attention to the small garden near the house. Still in good condition even after the horrors of war, the garden had tiger lilies, marigolds, blossoms, and much more as they slowly moved with the breeze of the wind.

"Whatcha doin' private?" said a voice. Fluttershy turned around to find a purple pony. It was Staff Sergeant Cheerilee, standing above her.

"Nothing much Sarge, just, um... looking around." she replied.

"Oh yeah, what do you see?" Cheerilee sat down next to Fluttershy. Her M1 Garand laid right on top of Fluttershy's Carbine. The two different firearms laid down and rested as they enjoyed the slight breeze of wind. While both have different looks, both shoot different calibers, the two of them have one purpose, to defend their country.

"I see just some tiger lilies, some marigolds, and blossoms." said Fluttershy, calmly.

"Oh yeah? Very pretty."

"Yeah, reminds me of home."

"Well, I think differently."

"Oh? How so?" Fluttershy had a rather confused look on her face as she stared at the purple pony.

"Seeing these trees... these bushes, jungles... reminds me of Guadalcanal." she replied.

"Where's guad...guadal...gua...?" Fluttershy had a hard time pronouncing the hard name of this place. She's never heard of Guadalcanal.

"Guadalcanal, it's one of the islands by Australia. In the pacific..."

"You were in the pacific?" asked Fluttershy. Cheerilee slowly nodded.

"Lemme tell you private it was a completely different kind of war..." Cheerilee began.

Chapter IV

Janurary 16, 1943

Guadalcanal

Cpl. Cheerilee

"Some place..." said Pvt. Cloudchaser, to Cpl. Cheerilee. The Equestrian XIV Corps trotted down the narrow passage ways of the jungles and branches of the island. The misquotes buzzed all around the place, the sun beamed down from the sky. It was hot, blazingly hot. Cheerilee's work load was more than usual, carrying not only her rifle, but extra ammo for the machine guns up top.

"Yeah, some place..." she replied to Cloudchaser. She looked around at the tall trees of the island. The tropical feel of the entire place would make it seem like a nice place to vacation. She slowly trotted over branches and rocks dug down in holes and over muddy ditches. All that was heard, besides the occasional conversation was the river right next to them. The stream sounded roughly as it rapidly splashed against the rocks in the river bed. Cheerilee looked around to find nothing but dense jungles and wildlife. Birds crowed loudly as they flew off to find their mates, hidden in the trees. As they marched on, they found themselves at the base of some hill. It was big, it had little cover, and tall grasses all around it. It was a cut away from the norm, as the trees were surrounding the hill, not on the hill. It appeared to be a challenging climb, but, do able.

Cheerilee and her company crouched down, finally, some rest. Her officers gathered around to look at some map that she once hopes to understand. But, all she could do was just sit down and hope not to get shot at. She hasn't seen a whole lot of action on Guadalcanal, only the occasional mini firefight, nothing big. Her weapon has even yet to fire a single bullet. But, Cheerilee knows better than thinking it's a walk in the park. She has seen the footage of the canal, the 1st Marine division has pulled out to recuperate from heavy fighting. They looked like they've been through hell and back, so Cheerilee knew what she was getting into, the problem was, when was this gonna happen?

"Cheerilee, Flitter, Lyra, and Roseluck, move up with Lt. Silver Speed to see what's above that hill." said Captain Lightning Dust. Cheerilee got up and trotted over to the Lt's position. She was at the base of hill, anxious to move up the mountain.

"Hold your fire, until fire uponed. Cheerilee, your on point." said Silver Speed. Cheerilee nodded as she lead the way up the hill. The tall grass tickled her exposed legs and brushed up against her snout. She took no notice of this, as her nerves began to slowly creep up on her. For some reason, something was gonna happen. She could feel it. She reached the top of the hill, only to find more hills, these ones higher above the ground. Cheerilee stopped in her tracks, knowing this was a bad position. If they continued on, the changelings would catch them in a field of fire, and have an uphill advantage. Cheerilee knew this, and didn't dare to move forward. It would seem like minutes for Cheerilee to make a move, until the Lt came up next to her.

"What's the problem here Corporal?" asked Silver Speed.

"Sir, if we continue on, changeling are open to attack us, and have an uphill advantage." she replied. Silver Speed looked around the area, she saw nothing but hills and moving grass.

"Your being paranoid, corporal," she said to Cheerilee, "let's move." Cheerilee had a surprised look on her face at her Lt's decision. But, she began to trot forward once more. As she got up, the Lt, peeked her head up first, and motioned for the other members of the corp to move up. It wouldn't be long, however, for the party to begin.

"Sniper!" shouted a mare as a shot rang out over the valley. Cheerilee ducked down, to find the Lt's neck to be bleeding. As Cheerilee looked up, a barrage of machine gun fire began to pop out of the position.

"LT is down!" shouted Flitter as she opened fire down the valley. Cheerilee kept her head down as she slowly crawled on her belly to the Lt. Silver Speed struggled to breathe, but finally, she feel silent and died.

Rifle fire echoed across the hills as machine gun fire began to target the corp across the hill. They were heavily entrenched, machine guns covered the battlefield over the hills. These changelings, however, were different fighters. These were the western changeling empire, in a sense completely different in fighting when compared to the others. They didn't have advancements in weaponry, but, had brave soldiers, who were not afraid to die. They were cruel ponies, armed with the poorest quality weapons, but, the bravest of soldiers. Wave after wave, machine gun fire tore the corp on the hill.

"Everypony! Fall back!" shouted Lightning Dust, motioning for the corp to go back to the base of the hill. Everypony obliged and ran down to the base of the hill, and out of sight. Cheerilee carried the dead Lt's body. Over her shoulders, the blood dripped down her uniform as she ran out of the sight of the changelings. At the base of the hill, she put the body down by the river bed, the medics rushed in to check out her wounds. Cheerilee fell down with horror. She saw other ponies wounded by machine gun fire, body parts pouring out, and blood all over the place. Even the blood poured into the river bed, turning it from a peaceful blue, to a hellish red. Cheerilee closed her eyes and ducked her head down. She began to panic, the rushing thoughts of death began to over take her. No matter how hard she tried, the rushing thoughts couldn't stop. Her breathing became more sporadic. It was becoming louder and worse. She nearly collapsed and went almost went into a fetal position. Her head buried in her hooves and in her body. Then, she felt something touch her shoulder. Some sensation that caused her to look up. It was Cloudchaser.

"Calm down corporal, everything is gonna be fine." she said over and over again. She rocked with Cheerilee back and forth slowly. The rushing thoughts began to slow down, she looked up at Cloudchaser's eyes. They showed a sign of reassurance and passion. Cheerilee began to calm down. Her breathing returning to a normal pace. She wiped off the saliva that drooled down her mouth, and got back up on her hooves.

"You okay, corporal?" asked Lightning Dust.

"Yes sir. I'm fine." she said quietly, regaining her thoughts once more.

"Sir, may I make a suggestion?" asked Sgt. Blossomforth.

"Go ahead sergeant."

"I think we can take 'em at night time. I saw some flanking routes around the base of the hill. They won't be suspecting it by night time. We go in and take out that machine gun bunker. Once that's done, the rest of the company can advance up the hill."

"Are you sure this is possible?"

"It's the only way I can think of without losing more mares if we wait another day here." Lightning Dust pondered the thought. A night raid was hard, especially here on the canal. Night times were like being in a pitch black room with no lights, with only the moon to illuminate the way.

"Okay sarge, round up some ponies and get it done." she said.

"Yes sir, thank you sir." replied Blossomforth, as she began to trot off. Cheerilee overheard the conversation. A feeling of redemption filled her body. She wanted to go in. She grabbed her rifle, a M1903 Springfield, and trotted up to Lightning Dust.

"Sir, requesting permission to go with Sgt. Blossomforth." she said. She tried to sound as confident as she could be with it.

"Request denied corporal. You're in no condition to fight." said Lightning Dust.

"Sir, please, I need to redeem myself. I have to. If i don't, I can't call myself a soldier."

"There's no way around it corporal, you're in no good condition to fight."

"Please sir, I beg of you. Let me in." Cheerilee's face was from a confident look to a pleading look. She looked deep into the captain's eyes. She want to fight, and Lightning Dust could see it. She took a deep breathe and looked down once more.

"Fine corporal. You can go in." she said in a defeating tone.

"Thank you sir." she said and ran off to find sergeant Blossomforth. She jumped over rocks in excitement and pasted other ponies on the ground. Until she found Blossomforth, talking to her squad.

"Captain said I can join you guys on the raid." she said.

"You sure?" asked Blossomforth.

"Yes sir."

"Then, let's get moving corporal." Cheerilee nodded as she ran down the flanking path with five other ponies. She grabbed a couple of grenades and trotted down the dirt path. Dust piled up as the six pony team ran down the right side of the mountain, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

Chapter V

Night time on Guadalcanal was dark. Even a lighter light could be seen all across the island. Cheerilee and the rest of the ponies hugged the grass as they slowly crawled up the mountain once more. Inch by inch, they drew closer and closer to the exposed changeling machine gun position. The grass shook with fear as the six ponies crawled around the bunker and prepped their grenades. Cheerilee held one in her hoof. The bumps on the grenade felt right in her hooves, and acted like a solid stress ball, even if it was an explosive. Closer and closer they trotted up, until they heard some changelings talking. Sgt. Blossomforth jumped on top of the machine gun position and motioned for the others to gather around. Cheerilee sat on the left side, the grenade still in her hoof. Slowly and slowly, she was close to pulling the pin. Blossomforth made the fake motion of pulling the pin, and it was on. Cheerilee pulled the pin and threw the explosive in.

"Grenade!" shouted the changelings in the bunker. They tried to run away, but the explosion caught them before they could run away. Blossomforth kicked in the back doorway, a Reising M50 at the ready, she fired a burst into one changeling, and another running down the hallway.

"Lets go! Let's go!" shouted Blossomforth. The five ponies gathered around Blossomforth, while they continued to run towards the next position.

"Carrot top, Cloudkicker, go through the tunnels, the rest of you on me. Go!" she shouted. Cheerilee sprinted up the mountain, her Springfield held at the ready as she charged up the mountain. The tall grasses brushed against the rushing ponies as they reached the next bunker. Blossomforth kicked down the door and fired another burst of her Reising M50. She turned around to find a pony with a bayonet running towards her. She pulled the trigger, but, her Reising didn't respond. She pulled the trigger frantically again, but, once again, no response. Blossomforth looked up and took a rifle butt to the face. She fell down with tremendous force. The dust piled around her as she fell down. She looked up and saw a bayonet flying to her gut. It entered into her stomach and blood began to pour out.

"Ahhhhh!" she screamed as the long knife entered her body closer and closer. But, as it was about to pierce the body fully, Cheerilee fired a round from her Springfield. It penetrated the head of the changeling and exited out. The blood spat out of the head and splattered all over the wall. She cocked the bolt back and eject the empty shell.

"Cheerilee...continue the assault...your in charge." she simply said, holding the wound with all her strength. Cheerilee looked scared at first, down at the bleeding sergeant. She took deep breathes as she slowly took her orders in. She was now the leader of this assault.

"Carrot top, say with the sergeant. Everypony else, on me. We're continuing this assault." she said bravely. She picked up the Sergeants Reising M50 and unjammed the submachine gun. The assault was on. She continued to run up the hill. Dodging machine gun fire as they got closer and closer.

"Flank around the right! Get some grenades in there!" she shouted as they moved to the right. Cheerilee's assault team drew closer and closer to the machine gun bunker. She threw in a grenade and waited for the explosion. Instantaneously, the explosion blew open the door to the bunker. She entered in a sprayed the inside with her Reising, until once again, it jammed. She dropped the gun and pulled out her pistol. She fired off in the tunnel, as the changelings kept on charging, but kept getting gunned down by Cheerilee's fire. Every shot from that pistol found it's target as it entered each changeling's body in a blink of an eye. Cheerilee lowered the handgun as soon as it was out of ammo, no more changeling's remained, she reloaded her pistol, an M1911, and called for the radio.

"Diamond 2, this is Diamond Red 2, observable bunkers on the east side of the hill are secured. Ready to assault. Over." she said.

"Copy that Red 2, assaulting forces are coming in on your six." said a voice. The charge for the hill was on. The entire Equestrian XIV Corp charged in, guns a blazing. Cheerilee ran with only her pistol, nothing else. She lead the calvary up the hill as they came up to more changeling defenses. She jumped over rocks and logs as she moved closer and closer up the hill. The adrenaline pumping through her vanes as she ran full sprint and prepped a grenade. She pulled the pin and threw in the hand held explosive. The rest of the Corp watched with admiration as Cheerilee lead the assault, past the bunkers and up to the very top, where the last of the defenses were.

"Get moving! Get moving!" she shouted as she ran up the hill. It was like a full out invasion scale as the corp ran up farther, only to be met by changeling trenches. More machine gun fire, and mortars rained down on the field of the Corp. Explosions of dirt jumped high in the air and fell back down, taking with them anypony unfortunate enough to get caught up in the blast. Cheerilee ducked down, she knew she couldn't get this position cleared by herself. She grabbed another rifle from one of her fallen comrades, the new M1 Garand rifle from the army. She picked up some of the ammo and slapped on the bayonet.

"Firefly, Cloudchaser, Flitter with me. Berry Punch, i need some suppressive fire from that 30. Wait for my move." she shouted. She was eager to continue the assault. The thrill of war was rushing through her body, as she had a blood thirsty grin across her face. As she got up, she let out a ear wrenching scream as she ran in. The others followed her as they ran to the very edge of the trench and began firing. Cheerilee's Garand spat out it's powerful .30-06 bullet towards the bodies of changelings, still with bolt action rifles. She jumped down and continued the assault. The air breezing across her face as she continuously ran down the trench. She fired her Garand one last time, until the clip ejected and the fatal ping was heard. She didn't bother to reload, instead, she stabbed them with her bayonet. Smacking changeling's across the face and delivering the fatal stabbing wound. She felt powerful. She was on top of the world. Then, everything went black. Cheerilee felt a tremendous pain in her body as she was slowly regaining conscience. She no longer heard the sounds of guns, but, the sounds of bells in her ear. She opened her eyes, only to find herself looking up at the sky. She tried to get up, but she couldn't. What was keeping her from this? It was a wound.

"Cheerilee!!!" shouted a voice as she turned around and found Cloudchaser running towards her body. "Are you okay?" she shouted, but, Cheerilee couldn't make out what she was saying, but only saw darkness consume her vision.

"Cheerilee. Answer me!" said a voice. Cheerilee's hearing was getting back to normal. She slowly opened her eyes and found some figure by her side. She looked up around one more time to find herself no longer in the trenches, but, on a stretcher.

"Cheerilee, answer me!" said the voice, it was Cloudchaser.

"Cloud? What happened?" she said in a weak voice.

"Oh my Celestia, you're okay. You were caught in a grenade explosion. Nearly took your life." she said. Cheerilee wanted to react but she couldn't she felt tired. Way too tired to even speak.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"You're at the base. You're on the next cruise home Cheer." Cloudchaser had a smile across her face as her friend was alive. Cheerilee hasn't heard those words in over three months, home.

"Shit, I just got here." she said in a joking manner. The two shared a laugh as Lightning Dust trotted next to them.

"How you doin' Cheerilee?" she asked.

"I'm fine sir, how's Blossomforth?"

"She'll make it, she's already on the way home. And your next."

"Yes I am sir."

"Well, I got some papers to fill," Lightning Dust began to trot away, "you did good...sergeant Cheerilee."

Chapter VI

"That was the day I got promoted to sergeant. And the day I left Guadalcanal," Cheerilee said, "after recuperating in Canterlot, I requested to fight in the eastern changelings, hoping for a different kind of battle."

"And did you get it?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yes...yes it did." Cheerilee began to get up from her seat with Fluttershy, she noticed the captain staring at her to come over here.

"Welp, I gotta go 'shy. Keep your head down."

"Yes sergeant." Fluttershy replied.

"Oh, yeah. Forgot to tell you, we're moving out in 15, we're going to the main part of the town. Captain's rallying a squad together, and your in it."

"Yes sir." Fluttershy's feelings didn't get the best of her this time. She felt nothing of it, instead, she resumed to look at the flowers once more. She was confused this time. The flowers seemed to have turned dark, like something was coming. As Fluttershy looked up in the sky, the once cloudless sky was now covered in dark, thick storm clouds. A small piece of water fell down from the sky, hitting her on the snout. She brought her head down slowly and wiped it off. Another speck of water fell down on her hoof. She looked down on her uniform, small droplets were falling down on her. She looked up and the droplets came falling down, faster and faster. Fluttershy finally got up and went inside.

"Fluttershy, get inside for debriefing." said a voice. Fluttershy couldn't determine who it was coming from, but, she got up and trotted inside. Around the living room of the house, Fluttershy took a knee next to Applejack and Rarity.

"Listen up. We're going into this small town called 'Marquis,'" began the Captain, "At 1100, members of the 101st Airborne landed here and met up with heavy resistance. They suffered heavy casualties, with many wounded and KIA. They need an extra 30, some rifle grenades, and another bazooka team. That's where we come in. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, I want you two as the bazooka team. Rarity and AJ, I want you guys will man the 30, Fluttershy, you'll be our grenadier. Rarity and AJ, you two will meet up with the 101st and place the 30 wherever they want it. The rest of you will be with us. We're helping cover the right side where they were hit the hardest. Remember, we're only there help resupply them. The back up will be the 2nd armor division, along with Diamond company of the 82nd. We're going in first to help prep them for the fight. 2nd armor, along with the 82nd should be there once they're fully resupplied and ready to fight. They are about 7 klicks north of us, so it may take awhile for them to get there. Once they get there, the rest of the regiment is gonna link up with us with the resupply. Any questions?"

The room was silent as the seven ponies going on this mission just took in what they're job was.

"Alright, lets get loaded up and moving. We're leaving in 10 minutes. Dismissed." she ended. The seven ponies got up and went to the supply dropped area. Fluttershy trotted along with them.

"Private Fluttershy, I need to see you." said the captain. Fluttershy turned around trotted next to the lavender pony.

"You're gonna need a weapon that can fire those rifle grenades. Drop your Carbine and grab Lyra's old '03A3. It's all we have." she said.

"What happened to Lyra?" asked Fluttershy.

"Wounded, she's off to Canterlot to get better once more. She's not gonna need that springfield for a while. So, you're gonna take it."

"Yes sir, but..."

"But what private?"

"Well...umm.......I...it's...just...that...um...well...I've uhh...never...fired....a.....spring....um...field....uh a springfield ....um..be..before sir."

"That all private? It's jus' an old bolt action rifle. You can handle it." Twilight trotted off to meet up with a pony with Lyra's old springfield. The M1903A3 Springfield, a .30-06 bolt action rifle, although never manufactured by the Springfield Armory, but by Rock Island arms near Appaloosa. It's considered obsolete when compared to the M1 Garand, but, it can still get the job done. Some say it's more accurate than the Garand, but it goes down to personal preference. A modified version of the older World War I Springfield, with simpler sights, better wood grooves, and cleaned up look, the M1903A3 is a definite improvement over the older Springfields. Twilight passed the rifle to Fluttershy. She grabbed and felt the wooden groves against her hooves. Attached to it was a M1 Rifle Grenade launcher, a rare sight on the battle field when compared to the M7. Capable of firing these explosives up to 350 yards, the M1 Rifle Grenades can hit hard when regular frags weren't good enough.

"Grab some frag and anti armor rounds, we might run into some light armored vehicles." shouted Twilight. Fluttershy nodded and looked back down at her new rifle. She trotted over to the supply crate and grabbed some fragmentation and anti armor grenade rounds from the crate.

"Make sure y'all grab sum' blanks shy. Rifle 'll blow up in your face in yah don't." said Applejack, grabbing ammunition for the machine gun. Fluttershy nodded and grabbed several dummy rounds of .30-06 bullets and dropped them in her pocket. She looked around for the actual ammo and grabbed some stripper clips.

"Alright everypony, we're moving out! Gather your weapons and ammo and lets go!" shouted Twilight, waving for the squad of seven to move along. Fluttershy heard the cry to battle and ran off with her equipment. The springfield was heavier then her old M1 carbine, and she already missed it. The weapon looked up at her with a sign of reassurance that she will be fine. She smiled back down at the rifle as she trotted down into the forest with the rest of the squad.

Chapter VII

The rain began to pour even harder, turning from a drizzle to a down pour. Fluttershy shivered with coldness as the water seeped through her uniform and into her coat. The cold drops of rain felt like ice cubes being rubbed against her coat as she continued to trot on.

"Shy, take this." said Rainbow Dash, giving her a cigarette, these ones had Princess Luna's face on it, with a devilish grin across her face. Fluttershy lit the cigarette, and the warm smoke crawled down her lungs, once again, warming her body from the cold rain. She took a deep breathe as she trotted through the forest. Wet leaves covered the thick mud below, as several ponies boots seeped down into the wet earth and found a way into their boots.

"Buck!" said Applejack, as she was the latest victim to have her boots ruined by the mud.

"This rain isn't nothing compared to the canal." said Cheerilee.

"Oh here we go. The sarge's memories of guadalcanal." said Rainbow Dash sarcastically.

"Oh you got anything that's worse than the canal private. I'm all ears."

"Gloucester, 1943, Sarge."

"You weren't even in Cape Gloucester darling!" said Rarity.

"Yeah, well, I know a pony who was in Gloucester."

"Oooooo, tell us what is was like for her Dashie." said Pinkie.

"Okay, well, my best mare was a machine gunner with the Marines, and she..."

"Shhh.... we're here." said Twilight.

The rain drops pattered down harder as some thunder rolled in, cutting off the sound of the ponies breathing in the forest. The village's opening was pretty war torn, with demolished buildings and rubble all around the town.

"Flash?" shouted Cheerilee. For a moment, it was silent. Cheerilee aimed her M1 Garand towards the village. Then came a voice.

"Thunder." said a voice. Cheerilee motioned for the team to move up as they trotted slowly into the town. They climbed over the gigantic hole in the wall and towards a half standing building.

"You guys Rangers?" said a pony.

"That depends, y'all 101st?" said AJ. Twilight gave a glaring look at the orange pony, who just gave a jokingly smile back. Twilight looked back at the drenched pony.

"Yes, we are Rangers, who's your CO private?" asked Twilight.

"Sergeant Major Trixie." said the pony.

"No Lieutenants?" asked Cheerilee.

"Well, it would have been 1st Lt. Daisy, but she's KIA." said the pony. Twilight pondered the thought of no actual CO for this airborne unit.

"Alright, take me to your CO." she said.

"Yes, captain." The pony ran off towards the inner part of town and the rest of the group followed. Fluttershy looked around in the town. Marquis was a once peaceful town. It reminded her a lot of Ponyville. The tall buildings, the church, town center, even some of the stores reminded her. It gave her a somewhat calming feeling being in this town. But, she had to remember, she's in a war.

"Sgt. Mjr. Trixie?" said Twilight trotting towards the group of airborne troops. Just then, a bright blue pony trotted from the crowd and found herself in front of the captain.

"Trixie here sir." she said in a bold brash attitude.

"Another idiot..." whispered Rainbow Dash to Pinkie. Pinkie Pie giggled at Dash's joke.

"I'll be commanding your unit until your reinforced, understand?" said Twilight.

"Yes sir."

"Alright, what's the situation?"

"Changeling's have been hitting us hard across the middle, only because this is the only way they can get armor into the town. The left and right flank have taken hits, but not as severe.  We've taken several casualties from sniper fire as well along the grain silo to the west and the church tower north east. We've had bazookas and rifle grenades on those positions, so we shouldn't worry about them. We have one working 30 in the middle, the other one has a busted barrel."

"Rarity, AJ to the middle," said Twilight, "continue."

"The right flank has met up with parachute units, but did easy work of them. Same thing with the left."

"Alright, whadda you got for arms?"

"One working 30, 2 bazookas, and some rifle grenades, anti armor."

"Okay, move some of your men to the right flank, I want some grenadiers to move to the left, one in the center. Move a squad or two to the right to enforce those ponies."

"Yes sir."

"Let's get going then." Twilight ended there as Trixie trotted off and began shouting orders. Fluttershy remained next to the Captain as they prepared for a fight.

"Shy, I want you to do your best against this changeling force. They want this town as much as us, so stay on your hooves." said Twilight.

"Umm...yes sir." she said softly. Twilight gave her a slight smirk across the face and patted her back. Fluttershy's emotions were getting to her. She felt as she's been rewarded for a job well done. She smiled back and ran to the front line with AJ and Rarity. She jumped down into the trench hole in the ground, in the foxhole with AJ and Rarity.

"You look eager for battle, Shy." said AJ, loading up the 30 cal.

"I feel like I am." she said confidently.

"Well, that's great to hear darling, but, just remember to keep your head dow..." said Rarity, but she was cut off.

"MORTARS!!!!!" shouted a pony, as explosions were heard along the front lines of the town. Dirt shot up in the air and landed on top of Fluttershy, AJ and Rarity.

"Chanegling's coming up the middle, open fire!" said Trixie and started to fire on the group. AJ and Rarity got up into position after the small barrage of mortar fire.

"Rarity at your twelve." said AJ as she held the belt of ammunition as Rarity got behind the gun. She fired off a burst hitting her targets. The roar of the 30 cal filled along the middle, as the changeling's came running in. Fluttershy aimed her Springfield down the battlefield, but her targets were being gunned down by Rarity, with her precise accurate fire.

She fired off a round, it missed the intended target. Fluttershy tried to pull the trigger again, nothing happened. Fluttershy began to panic, as she thought her gun was jammed. She smacked her rifle on the side and tried to get the rifle to work. She then saw a hoof next to her, it was Captain Sparkle. The lavender pony looked down at the struggling yellow pony, and picked up her rifle. Twilight pulled the bolt back to eject the spent shell and loaded in the next one by pushing the bolt forward. Fluttershy felt humiliated, how could she forget the gun was bolt action? She just looked up at the captain's emotionless look as she ran off once more. Fluttershy was still dazed at what happened, until she heard a familiar voice.

"Shy, we can use a hoof here!" shouted Applejack, looking down at her. Fluttershy turned around and resumed to acquire targets. She fired once more, this one hit a changeling in the gut. He fell down from the impact of the strong rifle bullet. Fluttershy, remembering it was a bolt action, quickly rechambered a new round. She fired again, another hit. She rechambered once more. Again and again and again. Fluttershy repeated the process of firing and rechambering the gun.

"Reload." she said as she loaded in her rounds. She threw away the stripper clip and fired once more. Another hit and another rechamber.

"Tank!" shouted a pony as a small vehicle came rolling towards the front line. The vehicle wasn't well guarded, but had a massive gun in the front.

"Buck! 37mm take cover!" shouted a pony. The gun fired off and whizzed across, over Fluttershy's head and into the building behind her. The explosive force was massive as she felt a small jerk forward.

"Shy, get a rifle grenade on that SOB!" shouted Cheerilee, firing her M1 Garand. Fluttershy loaded in a blank round and picked up a fragmentation round. The 22 mm explosive was planted in front of the springfield rifle. She pulled the pin and aimed the rifle upwards. She didn't bother to do any type of elevation equation, but instead, just fired blindly. The rifle grenade shot upwards and towards the vehicle. Within seconds, the round exploded right on top of it, changelings falling off the vehicle from the explosive force of the propelled explosive. The massive vehicle fell silent as more machine gun fire rained down the roadway. Fluttershy loaded in a real round and fired again, another hit. As she was reloading, a mare crashed into her from the right side.

"Where's the captain? They broke through!" she shouted.

"What?" said Rarity, still firing the machine gun.

"The changeling's broke through!" shouted the mare again.

"How'd that happen?" asked Rarity.

"We're spread pretty buckin'..." began the mare, until a round penetrated her helmet and into her head. The blood spattered out all over Fluttershy's face as she closed her eyes. She felt the wet blood all over her face and she looked down to find the dead mare, who was alive seconds ago. Fluttershy sat there shocked as she witnessed a death of her comrade who was that close.

"Fluttershy! Get the captain! They need help on the right side!" said Applejack, now firing the dead mares M1A1 Carbine. Fluttershy ran out of the ditch and towards the captain's foxhole. She watched as Twilight was reloading her submachine gun.

"Sir, they need help on the right side! The mare said they broke through." she shouted to the captain.

"Buck, alright, Shy, Cheerilee, and you five," began Twilight, pointing to five airborne troops, "on me. We're gonna go help 'em out on the right side. Applejack, Rarity suppressive fire. Trixie shift your fire to twelve o clock, lets go!" Fluttershy ran down to the right, passing Rarity and AJ firing away the Browning machine gun, as she ran towards the right. The rubble from the houses provided some cover for them, but not enough.

When the makeshift squad made it to the right, they only saw a hoof full of mares guarding it with their lives.

"You two, man the 30, Shy get some rifle grenades down range, the rest of you on me. Go!" shouted Twilight as she sprinted towards the front lines. Fluttershy hanged back to prep her springfield once more. She loaded in the blank round and fired once more, the explosive shot up in the air and landed on the ground, exploding and killing several changeling's running through. Then she heard it. That terrifying sound she heard back at the house.

"MG42 on the right!" shouted a mare. Fluttershy knew that sound, that awful sound. It was like cloth being ripped thread by thread. It was loud, and was just a buzz of sound, no individual shots. Fluttershy fired another rifle grenade once more as she tried to hit the MG42, it missed and instead hit the machine gun crew to the right.

"Fluttershy! Take out that MG42!" shouted Twilight as she fired once more. Fluttershy's nerves began to rise, she began to pant heavy as she ran towards the inside of some old diner for cover. She loaded in one more blank, and one last rifle grenade. She pulled the pin on it and slowly counted.

"One one thousand...two one thousand...three one thousand..." she said slowly and she popped up. Everything then turned into slow motion as she felt time was on her side. She could hear the individual shots of the MG42, and she slowly aimed in. She fired the round and the springfield spat out the explosive. The old world war one rifle, would now beat the modern day terror known only as: "Chrysalis' Buzzsaw." The explosive frag round impacted with tremendous force, actually destroying the gun. The barrel shattered as hot chunks of metal shot back into the changeling's face as they slowly died from shrapnel wounds to their face. And if that didn't kill them, the explosion from the ammunition on them did. It was an entire belt of ammo, highly explosive. She ducked back down and rechambered another round. Time began to catch up again as Fluttershy looked at the events of what happened. She conquered it. She conquered the horrific MG42, Fluttershy felt an achieved sensation fill her body as she slowly smiled at herself. She took a deep breathe as she looked down once more at the wrecked machine gun.

"They're pulling back!" shouted Twilight, "give 'em hell!" Fluttershy felt invincible as she fired her Springfield down at the range. She felt like a machine, fire, rechamber, and fire. It worked like clock work, and the targets fell down better than her old carbine. As she kept firing, she saw more changeling's flee back into the forest.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" shouted the ponies as they held the town once more. Fluttershy slowly calmed down as she put down her rifle. The springfield's barrel was smoking hot from so much fire power Fluttershy put down range. She slowly panted with exhaustion as the adrenaline slowly went away. She breathed heavily as she just looked inside the old diner. Fluttershy got up slowly and trotted out of the house. She saw other ponies with a relieved reaction, some patting each other on the back and some began lighting cigarettes.

"Nice job out there Shy," said Cheerilee, "you did good."

"Umm...thank you sarge." she said breathing.

"You should really stop saying um all the time private."

"What do you mean Cheerilee?"

"I mean come on. We're all friends here, don't seem so unsure with everything." Fluttershy remained silent as she took in the information.

"Look, it's important that you always preform your actions, especially out here, no hesitation, no remorse. That's what I learned on Guadalcanal, and that's what you learned here today."

"I did?"

"Yeah, I saw you take down the MG42, that takes some real guts, Fluttershy. Now, if you can just apply that to your conversations, you'll be a successful mare, not only in the army, but in life. Do you see where I'm getting at?"

"Yeah...yeah I do. Thanks Cheerilee."

"No problem." and Cheerilee got up and trotted down the dirt road. Fluttershy smiled slightly and began to close her eyes. She noticed the rain had stopped and it was now just a cloudy day in Marquis. As she leaned her head back, she heard a shot ring out over the entire town. Fluttershy opened her eyes as she slowly turned her head and heard one fatal word: sniper.

Chapter VIII

"Sniper!" shouted several ponies as the shot rang out all around the village. Fluttershy fell down from her seat and tumbled over as she watched several ponies run frantically for cover.

"Sarge is hit!" said a voice. Fluttershy looked up to find Cheerilee on the ground, wounded but still alive. She looked bad, a wound through the left side of her, a bad spot to be shot by. The blood splash covered her cutie mark, which was a once bright set of flowers, now a blood stained daisy.

"Shy, get to cover!" shouted AJ as she grabbed the yellow pony and dragged her into the fox hole. For a moment, everything was silent. No pony dared breathe or even move at the sudden action. But, Fluttershy's mind wasn't on the long range specialist, her mind was on the wounded Cheerilee, Fluttershy frantically moved around as Cheerilee's life was slowly drifting away. She looked over to Twilight for an answer, but her focus was on the sniper.

"Sgt. Mjr, you have a sniper?" she asked.

"Yeah, we do. Octavia, get up here." shouted Trixie. A grey pony came running down the battlefield and up to the two commanders.

"Take up a position in that diner." said Trixie and Octavia nodded. She trotted past the entrenched ponies as Fluttershy continued to watch the bleeding staff sergeant. She then felt a hoof on her shoulder, it was Applejack.

"She's gone Shy, let's just watch to see what happens." she said softly. Fluttershy's feelings began to sink down further, as she now felt awful. She heard another shot ring out, but this time, two of them.

"Octavia is hit!" shouted a mare as Octavia collapsed, a round penetrated her right hoof and her shoulder. She bit down on her teeth as the pain raged through out her body.

"Buck, Rarity, can you take out that sniper?" asked Twilight.

"Yes sir." she said as she gave AJ the 30 cal to gun. Rarity trotted past Fluttershy as she looked up at the white pony. She said a quick message to Celestia, 'please don't let Rarity to die.' she thought over and over again. Rarity grabbed the rifle, an M1903A4 Springfield, a scoped version of the old world war 1 rifle. She zoomed in through the scope, it showed a clear indication of where the target was. She slowly breathed in and out as she waited for the perfect moment. Fluttershy's heart raced as her eyes kept on Rarity as she waited for her to fall. She closed her eyes and heard the snap of the rifle. But, no pony screamed for help or any pony was hit, she slowly opened her eyes and found Rarity still scoped in. She pulled the bolt back and trotted outside.

"Snipers down." she said as the ponies began to relieve the wounded. Fluttershy watched as Octavia was taken to have her wounds treated and she then looked down at Cheerilee. The blood loss was too massive to save her as her breathing stopped. Cheerilee was dead.

"Motherbuckers." said Rainbow Dash in such disgust. The rest of the makeshift squad gathered around Cheerilee's dead body, their sergeant, their tough, grizzled, veteran sergeant, was now gone. A series of hoof steps came closer to Fluttershy, it was the captain.

"Let's get her out of here, Pinkie, AJ, take her to the medical tent, every pony else, get loaded up once more. Fluttershy sat down on some crates as she began to process the previous events. Staff Sergeant Cheerilee is dead, Octavia injured. She was sad, she wanted to cry, but she couldn't. There was something preventing her from crying, was it herself, did she lose all of her emotions, or was it the spirit of Cheerilee comforting her? Either way, Fluttershy just kept her head down as she remembers just talking to Cheerilee no longer than 3 minutes ago.

"You okay darling?" asked Rarity, taking a seat next to Fluttershy.

"Yeah, Rarity, I'm okay." she said softly.

"Thats good. I saw you take out that MG42, that takes a lot of guts to do. I don't think even Rainbow Dash could do that." Fluttershy laughed a little, but then, she heard Cheerilee's voice in her head. She smiled a little and began to talk with a bit more confidence.

"I was just doing my job, it was nothing special."

"NOTHING SPECIAL?! Darling, what you did was amazing. I've never met a pony with such bravery and accuracy to take down something as dangerous as an MG42." Fluttershy began to smile even wider.

"Well, thank you, Rarity, I really appreciate it."

"Oh, no problem darling, I should be thanking YOU. You single hoofed destroyed not only an MG42, but even a 37mm gun!"

"Oh, well, yeah, I kinda forgot about that."

"Well, I am very appreciative of your heroic actions, unlike some ponies, but, I digress." Fluttershy now felt really happy at the compliments Rarity was giving to her, so she thought she would do the same thing.

"Well, you did a good job of taking out that sniper Rarity." she said with pride. Rarity's smile turned into an face of shock. Her smile slowly disappeared and sulked into a state of depression.

"Yes, well, we do what we have to do. Right darling?" she said uneasy. Fluttershy read the look on her face, she was confused.

"Rarity? Are you okay?" she asked politely.

"Yes, darling I'm fine. I just... well..." Rarity was getting too caught up in her words until she finally sat down next to Fluttershy once more, as if the tables all of a sudden took a turn for the worst.

"Rarity, you can tell me anything. We're friends." Fluttershy said in a soft, soothing voice, as she put her hoof around Rarity.

"Well darling, it was a while back, after the invasion of the empire. I was on a patrol..."

Chapter IX

June 7th, 1944

France

Pvt. Rarity

It was only a day after the biggest invasion of pony kind. The Rangers were resting up and gathering supplies off the beach. Rarity was examining her new M1 Garand rifle she acquired from a crate. She loaded up and began trotting down the roadway, looking around for any changeling remains. She slung the rifle across her back and kept on trotting to her squad. She sat down a took out a cigarette. She listen to the conversation of her squad mares as she crossed her hind hooves and placed them on a small ammo crate adjacent from her.

"Yeah, right!" shouted Rainbow Dash to Applejack, "I got the better hoof than you ever will. You might as well fold right now, AJ!"

"I ain't foldin' this hoof R-D, you may have a good hoof, mines jus' better." she replied.

"Alright, country girl. Reveal!!" The two ponies planted their cards on the ground, Rainbow had a full house, but AJ, a five of a kind.

"Yeeeehawww! Darn' tootin' I got the best hoof in that there round." she said. Rainbow Dash remained speechless as she looked at her hand. Three Aces and Two twos, she had five of a kind.

"Alright, another round, this time, I'm bettin my changeling knife I found." she said, slamming the blade on the crate, jamming it in between the crevices.

"Okay Dashie, I'll bet my revolver to your knife." she said as she pulled out a blued revolver. It read across it, ".45 ACP, Colt Model 1917." Rainbow stared in admiration at the revolver.

"Granny's during WW1, she got it from some colt in the hospital." AJ said, so the revolver had a definite value to it.

"Your on." said Rainbow Dash. Then she noticed Rarity at the glimpse of her eye.

"Oh hey, Rarity. You want in?" she asked.

"Ummm... sure darling, although I don't have a lot to give." she replied.

"Really? How 'bout that there carton of cigarettes. What are they, Equestrian Redwoods?" asked AJ.

"Yep, got these in Canterlot."

"Ohh, those are way better then the ones the buckin' army gives out. Bet those Rarity." said Rainbow Dash excitingly. Rarity placed the carton of cigarettes down, she was hoping to save them for the most dire of situations, so the carton was brand new. She picked up the cards, a King, Queen, Jack, Two, and Three, all she needed was a ten or an Ace. She placed the three down and gave it to Rainbow Dash. She picked up the card and gave it to Rarity, another two. Rarity smiled a little.

"Oh, Applejack, darling, I don't think you can beat this hoof." she said with some confidence.

"I think y'all bluffin'. I'm stayin' in." she said, placing down another card. Rarity smiled a little, she had a full house.

"Okay everypony, put down your cards." said Rainbow Dash, and the world was shocked. AJ looked in pure amazement at Rarity's cards and Rainbow Dash looked in wonder. A full house.

"Rarity...you...won." said Rainbow Dash. Rarity smiled as she picked up the changeling knife, the revolver, and her cigarettes.

"Granny Smith ain't gonna be proud to hear that I lost her revolver." AJ said in a slight disappointment. Rarity looked down at her, feeling a bit sad.

"Here you go darling, take this, I already have a sidearm." she said. AJ smiled a bit and took the revolver out of her hooves. She also gave Rainbow Dash her knife back as she smiled and slowly turned away. As she turned around, she was face to face with Captain Twilight Sparkle.

"Good morning Rarity." she said, as the white pony was stuffed in her face.

"My apologies sir, good morning." Rarity said nervously. She could hear the two ponies snicker behind her as she nearly face planted into the captain.

"Enough, AJ and Dash, you two are wanted as wall. We're going on a scouting mission across this village. We're here to spot for artillery, make sure theres no civvies in the area. Rarity, your on overwatch. Okay, lets move." Rarity grabbed her rifle and trotted down the road with the captain. She admired the purple pony from a far, but her true motivator was First Sergeant Caramel Seed. He was Rarity's mentor, per say, as he taught her a lot of things. She trotted up next to the pony to see him loading up his sniper.

"Hello Caramel." she said as she walked past him.

"Why, hello there Rarity, you goin' on that scouting mission?" he asked.

"Yes darling, I am. I'm providing overwatch."

"Huh, me too. This outta be fun."

"Yes, very much."

"Here, grab my Thompson, and we'll get moving." Caramel got up as Rarity grabbed the submachine gun. The Thompson was one of the most prized weapon in the regiment, it's high rate of fire, powerful bullet, and overall reliability made it a great weapon for close quarters. Rarity felt the weapon in her hooves as she trotted off. She met up with the small squad as they trotted up the road. The small village didn't seem to show any signs of life. They must've cleared out when the invasion began. She crouched down on the ground, slowly moving along the bushes and grass as they approached the houses.

"Caramel, Rarity, up on that balcony, make sure you two cover us. The rest of you, on me. Let's go." whispered Twilight as they slowly moved into the village. The houses were made with cobble stone and covered with moss from the humid air in the country. Rarity and Caramel climbed up as they took aim around the town. On their bellies, Rarity aimed her Thompson around the town. Looking, and seeking as her hoof wrapped around the trigger of the submachine gun.

"Rarity," said Caramel, scoped in on his sniper rifle, "tell the captain we got some resistance on the left flank, looks like a small army unit. No armor or AT. Just small arms, and an MG42." Rarity nodded as she gave off the signal to the captain looking up. Twilight nodded as they prepared to ambush the changeling squad. Caramel slowly scoped in as he hesitated.

"Something's not right, they stopped." he said.

"What do you mean darling?" asked Rarity, still aiming at the far left house.

"I think..." Caramel began until his words were cut off by a bang across the village.

"Sniper!" shouted Twilight as she began firing her submachine gun. Rarity looked over to find the dead Caramel. Her eyes widened as her emotions began to run through her body. A headshot, dead instantly. No pain, no final words, nothing. Caramel's death smacked Rarity square in the face as she just stared into the lifeless eyes of the dead sergeant. She began to feel sadness as she began to slowly cry, her head down as her purple mane draped over the balcony. Caramel's blood dripped down like water and mixed in with the crying mare. But, she felt something different, she felt a sense of anger. How could they? How could they take out Caramel? The marksmare not even aiming at the changelings? Rarity whipped the tears away and grabbed Caramel's rifle. She slung it over her back and jumped down from the balcony as she charged in to battle. She flipped the safety off the Thompson, and the gun was on fully automatic. She was gaining ground when she looked at the captain, who had a very puzzled look on her face.

"Rarity? What in Celestia are you doing?" she yelled, but Rarity didn't answer, instead she just flew by her with a bloodthirsty look on her face. Dodging bullets, she jumped over the stone wall and towards the wall of changelings. She had them in her sights, and raised the Thompson up to her face. As she continued to run, the changelings began to focus their aim on her, as she ran closer and closer. Finally, she pulled the trigger and the gun responded. The fast fire rate cut through the changelings like nothing their bodies pushed back with every bullet that entered their bodies. Rarity didn't bother to aim at the next group as her she fired the gun from the hip. A storm of bullets pierced through the changelings as they began to slowly fall back. Rarity didn't bother to reload, instead grabbed a changeling gun from the ground, an MP40 submachine gun. She fired off what ammo was left as the changelings frantically fired off their weapons, hoping to hit the crazed mare, but it was no good. The adrenaline pumped through Rarity's blood as she took out her pistol. She fired off one by one, each bullet finding their target. The changeling's showed fear in their eyes as they continued to run away from the crazed mare. She finally pulled out her knife as she began to stab the ones she missed. The blood splashed against Rarity's face, and she loved it. The eagerness for killing filled her body as she picked up the dead changeling's pistol, a Luger P08. She fired off the entire magazine, killing off the remaining changelings. She dropped the pistol and began to breathe heavily as she looked around for the sniper that killed Caramel. She looked left and right as she now reloaded her Thompson submachine gun. She looked up and found it, a small building, an open window with a perfect line of sight at Caramel. Rarity smiled as she charged in once more. She felt like a one mare army, taking down any changeling in her way. She thrust her body into the door, causing it to collapse and falling flat on the ground. She looked up to find the changeling leaving the area, as he slowly hesitated to look at the mare on that just busted through the door. He saw a blood covered mare with an evil smirk on her face as she charged him. The changeling used his rifle for cover as Rarity smashed him against the wall. She threw a punch into his stomach region and another one across the face. The blood from his mouth splattered across the wall, as Rarity continued to smile.

"This...is for Caramel, you piece of shit..." she said slowly and she delivered another kick to the gut. She finally reached for Caramel's rifle, an M1903A4 Springfield, and she pointed the muzzle to the changeling's face.

"Please...NO!" shouted the changeling sniper, but Rarity showed no sign of turning back. She pulled the trigger. The rifle screamed and cried as it's owner was dead, but it got it's revenge by killing its killer. Rarity dropped the rifle on the ground as she stared at the changeling's dead body. It felt like she was staring for an eternity, until she felt a hoof on the back of her shoulder.

"Rarity? Y'all okay?" asked Applejack.

"Oh...yes...darling, I'm fine." she replied hesitantly. She looked at the small squad, but down one member, Caramel. Twilight walked up to her and gave her a wash cloth.

"I don't know what to say Rarity, but, good job. This village is now clear. No need for the artillery." said Twilight.

"OH MAN! YOU DID AWESOME RARITY," said Rainbow Dash excitingly, "You were like some action hero busting through the walls and killing everyone on sight. You did more than awesome, you did tremendous work. There's not even words to describe how good that was!" Rarity looked at the dead changeling, then her thoughts began to come to her.

"What...what happened?" she asked softly.

"Well, to say the least, you wiped out an entire squad of changelings." said Twilight.

"Not jus' any changelings," said AJ, looking at the changeling's uniform, "SS changelings. Chrysalis' elite group of soldiers."

"Oh, my Celestia!" began Rainbow Dash once more, "Not only that we faced the SS, we beat them to the ground with our special weapon, Rarity." Rarity felt some happiness in her, but, the more overwhelming thing was that she turned barbaric and killed an entire squad of changelings. She dropped her head to her hoofs as she began to sit down to process what she did. It was all a blur for her. She only remembers staring at the dead changeling, nothing before that except Caramel's death.

"You did a good job today private. I outta put you in for a promotion." said Twilight with a slight smile on  her face.

"Ummm...no thank you darling. I just want to forget about this." she said to Twilight.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, "Why would you turn down a promotion after doing something like THAT?!"

"Dash, calm down. It's her decision." Twilight said. Suddenly, Dash fell silent as her rage began to tune down a bit. Rarity now resumed to look down at her hooves, thinking of what just happened. She looked at her hooves, covered in blood, her face, blood, and even her gorgeous purple mane, blood. She only saw blood.

"I need some time alone, is that okay?" she asked Twilight.

"Sure, Rarity. We'll be outside waiting for you." said Twilight as she nodded her head to the exit. The three ponies trotted outside, leaving Rarity and the dead changeling in the building. She finally looked up and trotted up the stair case. She looked around and found the snipers nest. One shell casing laid on the ground, the same round that killed Caramel, she assumed. Rarity trotted around and heard a little creaking noise. She felt around the wall and roof to find a small little compartment above. She smacked it open and took a look inside. She slowly climbed up the ladder, her Thompson at her side. She moved around slowly and slowly as she heard some soft breathing. She saw another crate blocking another entrance. She moved the crate and opened the door. Her eyes widened as she saw not a document, not a jewel, but a family. They coward in the corner, holding two little fillies and a toddler. Rarity looked in and pointed her Thompson at them. The family looked down at the deadly weapon that she held, and they turned their heads to the wall. Rarity took notice of their fear, they couldn't be spies. She put down her gun and looked at the colt's sleeve, she saw the star of David. They were Jewish, in hiding. Rarity looked around as she put down her gun on the ground and held out her hooves. She wanted them to come out, to signal it was okay. But they didn't move. They saw a monster killer, and Rarity knew that.

"I won't hurt you. I promise." she said calmly as one of the fillies held out her hoof. Rarity grasped it and slowly pulled her out of the small den. One by one, the family slowly came out their hiding spot and were now in the small, cluttered attic. Rarity waved her hoof around, signaling to follow her as the family followed her command. She trotted down the steps and trotted outside. She saw the three ponies sitting on the ground, and looked at the captain.

"Is the area clear? No more changelings?" asked Rarity.

"Yes it is, Rarity. Now let's get back to base, we'll be moving up tomorrow through this same way." Twilight said, noticing the family behind her. Rarity nodded as she trotted outside, the family looking at the small group of mares. She felt a small hoof tug at her uniform, she looked down to find one of the fillies, holding tight on her uniform. Rarity looked down, not knowing what to do. But then, an idea hit in the head. She took off the overcoat uniform and pulled out her knife. The filly ran to her family again, but Rarity had a different idea. She cut off the piece of clothing that said: EQ Rangers in black font circling around the EQ. She put her coat back on and put her knife away. She picked up the makeshift patch and gave it to the young filly. She grabbed it and put it to her face. The soft, green silk felt like a blanket to her. She smiled softly as her small hooves held the patch, never wanting to let go. Rarity smiled as she slowly trotted away.

Back at the base, everypony looked at Rarity's blood covered face, but, she was smiling. Not because she killed one of the most elite groups in the world, but, she made a filly happy.

"What happened to your uniform?" asked Rainbow Dash, smoking a cigarette.

"And, where's your weapon?" asked AJ. Rarity just realized she left the Thompson and Springfield in the house, along with her ammo belt on the ground. She stuttered for an answer, but couldn't come to find one.

"Nevermind that," said Twilight, catching up to Rarity, "find yourself a new uniform, and a weapon from the armory." Rarity smiled as she trotted away. She took off her army overcoat and threw it in the trash bin, and picked up a new M1 Garand, in order to get Caramel out of her mind. After that day, she knew she done proper justice, but, was she an emotionless killer?

Chapter X

Rarity began to slowly tear up after recalling those awful moments on that day. The salty tears began to run down her cheeks slowly.

"It's okay, Rarity." Fluttershy said calmly, holding the white mare in her hooves. Rarity wiped the tears away from her face.

"I'll be okay, darling. Thank you." she said as she slowly trotted away. Fluttershy sat back down on the crates as she leaned her head back and looked up to the sky.

"Hey, shy?" said Rarity, a few feet away from Fluttershy. She rocked her head back to look at Rarity again.

"Yes?"

"Don't let your heart to be consumed by darkness. Keep a special place for the ones you love and care about." With that, Rarity trotted down the road once more. Fluttershy took in the advice and began to ponder it all around her head. She looked down to find a small object. It looked liked a golden heart, with vines and leaves encrusted in it. Fluttershy picked it up and she opened the object. Inside was a picture of Sgt. Caramel on one side, and another picture of Rarity. The two were lovers before the war. Fluttershy's heart sank down, as she now put the pieces of the puzzle together. She didn't want anything to do with Caramel from the war. So much that she didn't even want the same rifle as her former lover. Fluttershy closed the locket and put it in her pocket as she took a deep breathe. She leaned her head back once more as she looked up at the stormy, grey clouds. The rain had finally stopped, but, it still looked pretty bad, like it was up for a rebuttal.

"Hey, Fluttershy." said a peppy voice. Fluttershy didn't even need a second guess on who was coming, it was Pinkie Pie.

"Hey, Pinkie." she said calmly, continuing to look up at the sky. The pink pony dropped down next to Fluttershy as she looked up to the sky too.

"Whatcha doin'? asked Pinkie, always hyper active.

"Nothing, just...watching the clouds."

"OOoooooo, sounds fun, hey look, I see a cute little bat in the sky." Pinkie pointed her hoof to a cloud in the sky. Fluttershy looked over to find the cloud Pinkie was pointing at, and she smiled.

"Your right Pinkie, oh, I see one that looks like a spade." Fluttershy pointed to a cloud with the spade sign on a card.

"Oh, your right shy. Look, I see one of a duck and a choo choo train." Fluttershy turned her head and saw just figures in the sky.

"That's awesome Pinkie, I see another thing, one...of...a grenade?" Pinkie turned her head in such amusement to find Fluttershy see an cloud in the shape of a grenade.

"Ooooooo, that is SO COOL, Fluttershy. Oh, look, I see one of a Thompson!" Fluttershy turned her head and no doubt, she saw the shadow of the Thompson submachine gun. Fluttershy's eyes began to widen as she was seeing things that were once peaceful, were now turning into war like figures. She turned her head and saw a pistol in the sky, to the right, a knife, and once more to the left, a rocket launcher. No matter where she looked, she saw the evil sights of war, weapons, equipment, and everything in between, she even began to see parts in the sky, each becoming more and more vivid. The clouds suddenly turned into actual images. Limbs being blown off, blood spilling, even bullet filled bodies. They sky turned from a dark grey, to a bloody red. Each of the skies objects became more and more violent and gory. She closed her eyes, but now she could hear voices in her head.

"Keep your head down Shy!" said a voice in her head.

"MG42! Cover!" said another, along with the loud buzz of the MG42 machine gun. The sound was piercing through her body as she felt her organs shift and knocked around they were a ball in a pinball machine. The buzz of the famed buzz saw   grew louder and louder, the screams of the dead began to fill her head with bad thoughts. The screams of agony as ponies slowly died from blood loss as they lost their leg, arm, or have a hole in their stomach. There entrails pouring out of their body as medics frantically hurried to piece them back together, even if it seemed like a fruitless action. The ponies crying for Celestia or even worse, there moms. Fluttershy couldn't handle it anymore, even if her eyes were closed, she still saw images of death and destruction. She tried to shut her eyes tighter, but it was no good. Finally, she had enough.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" she screamed on the top of her lungs. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" as she trotted off to find a nice quiet place. She opened her eyes to find an awful scenery, it was Tartarus. She ran away as she saw the victims of war with their wounds, done crying, but in pain as they looked at her running away. Left and right, victims of war, painfully thin, and parts missing just stared at the frantic soldier. She kept running forward, then she tripped on something and she fell down, face first, into the puddle blood. She screamed as she struggled to get up and run. As she turned around, she felt a hoof hit the back of her shoulder, she fell down as she looked up. It was the captain, looking like she always does, fearless. Finally, the visions of Tartarus began to fade and the sky went back to a murky grey. Fluttershy was breathing heavily as her thoughts began to come to. The clouds no longer showed the violence of war, and returned to being normal puffs of water in the sky. As she looked around, she began to calm down, and just looked up at the captain once more. Her nightmare was over, she had enough. She wrapped her hoofs around the captain and began to cry.

"I'm sorry sir. I'm so sorry." she whimpered as her face was cemented into Twilight's body. Twilight was astonished as she then wrapped her hooves around Fluttershy too.

"There, there private, I gotcha. Come on, get up." she said as she slowly pulled Fluttershy up from the ground. She looked as she saw everypony from the Rangers and Airborne all watching the scene of what happened. Fluttershy turned around and wiped the tears from her face, as she trotted on back to the crate she sat on earlier. The rest of the ponies slowly trotted away as they went back to resume their jobs, all except Pinkie Pie, who rejoined her.

"Maybe we shouldn't stare at clouds anymore." she said trying to joke around. Fluttershy snickered a little.

"Yeah, sure Pinkie." The two were silent as Fluttershy played with her hooves and Pinkie was looking off into space.

"Wha...What happened to me Pinkie?" she asked. Pinkie Pie stared down at her, the pink pony looking down as if she knew the answer, and she did.

"You just had a bad nightmare, shy. Nothing more." For some reason, Fluttershy felt that that wasn't the correct answer.

"But, I wasn't sleeping..." she began.

"It was...it was..." began the pink pony. Fluttershy stared into her eyes, looking for an answer, it was the first time she saw Pinkie Pie showing some cracks in her.

"Alright, you had a rush of adrenaline, but, it was a bad one. If the captain didn't save you, you would have killed everypony on the base." she said. Fluttershy's eyes widen as she slouched back down on her seat.

"How did you know that?" she asked. Pinkie's cracks began to widen even more, until, she finally broke through her shell. She felt calm, but, she knew her tough exterior was broken.

"Okay, shy. It was back awhile ago. Like Cheerilee, I was in the Pacific, but, it was a different place than Guadalcanal..."

Chapter XI

November 21, 1943

Tarawa

Pvt. Pinkie Pie

Rocks upon rocks laid all around the small island of Tarawa. It was another island for the 2nd Marines to take the small island. Besides from the rocks and sand, Pvt. Pinkie Pie has seen quite some action on Tarawa. Her squad was now given the job to take the positions around red beach. It was early in the morning as she slowly trotted around the rocky terrain of the island as she followed behind her CO, First Lieutenant Vinyl Scratch. She was known for her brave personality and brash attitude, but, she cared for her soldiers. Pinkie Pie at the duty of being the squads BAR mare. She liked her weapon, even heavy, she felt it offered a lot of fire power. As they slowly moved around, they finally got the cue to stop.

"I want four ponies to move up with me to check out this bunker, Fritter, Raindrop, Wildfire, and Lily, with me, the rest of you, take cover over on that position." she said, as she ran up towards the left side of the bunker. Pinkie Pie sprinted and aimed the BAR towards the machine gun bunker. Slowly, she breathed in and out as her hoof wrapped the trigger. Vinyl slowly trotted up with a grenade in one hoof, and her M1 carbine in her other. She leaned up hard against the rocky surface, and quickly, she threw the grenade.

"Grenade!" shouted the changeling's inside, as they quickly fired the machine gun, but quickly, the bunker exploded. Vinyl trotted up and began to fire about half of her magazine into the bunker hole. Quickly, the five pony squad ran down and back into the foxholes by Pinkie Pie.

"Should be clear now. Get ready to move up." she said, but as that she was getting up, the machine gun opened fire once more. The machine gun was still in tact, but, the changeling's changed who was manning it. Pinkie Pie began to fire her BAR in short burst to the bunker. Before she knew it, her magazine was dry, she reloaded as the machine gun began to target her. She felt no intimidation as she got up and fired her machine gun once again. Quickly, Vinyl realized that this bunker had plenty of reinforcements, grenades wouldn't do, she needed something else. She made up her mind.

"Flitter, get that flamethrower up here now!" she shouted. The blue pegasus quickly ran up with the M2-2 Flamethrower. She had a determined look on her face.

"Light that mother bucker up!" she said. Flitter nodded as she jumped over, and charged towards the bunker. She quickly ran up and pulled the trigger. The bunker ignited with a ball of orange fire as it exploded with amazing force. Changeling's screamed in pain as their life slowly burned away as the fire consumed their body. Pinkie Pie stopped firing as she let the fire do the work of killing the changelings. She watched with no emotion whatsoever, she'd already seen awful things and wasn't afraid of death. Instead, she smiled in relief as the bunker was cleared.

"Phew, I thought we were done for." Pinkie said to Flitter.

"Yeah, thanks for covering me." she said.

"Well, if it wasn't for your flamethrower, we'd still be pinned down." Pinkie was laughing a little as she began to relax, only using two mags of her BAR. But, the break was short lived as an injured pony was crawling around the corner, it did have a Marine uniform on as he crawled in pain. Flitter and Pinkie Pie jumped up to help out the injured mare. Vinyl looked over and got up also. The injured mare had her head down as a trail of blood followed after him.

Vinyl and Flitter kneed down to help out the mare, it was mare from Kindness squad. She looked like she was in tremendous pain.

"Pinkie, get the doc up here at once. Flitter, help me out." said Vinyl.

"Yes sir," the two said, Pinkie Pie sprinted away and shouted for the doctor.

"Corpsman! Doc Hooves!" she shouted as she ran down the rocky terrain. Soon, Doctor Hooves popped up, the red medicinal cross on his helmet.

"What is it, Pinkie?" he asked in his calmed voice.

"We got a wounded mare by the machine gun bunker, around the hill." she said, as the two sprinted to the two ponies helping out the injured mare. Her leg was covered with shrapnel, and a round in her flank, her mouth started to bleed, as the two grew closer.

"LT! Doc is here." Pinkie shouted, running towards the gathering.

"Doc! Get up here, we got a wounded mare!" she shouted. Pinkie hesitated as she wondered if she could run towards them, but then quickly resumed, but she was behind the doctor. In an instant, Pinkie flew back from some force that had just pushed her. It was tremendous as it knocked her into a different ditch. She quickly got up and saw the horrific scene. All four of them were on fire, the injured mare, the Lt, Doc Hooves, and Flitter.

"Sniper!" shouted a voice, but Pinkie ignored the long ranged threat as she watched the suffer, the cure, the leader, and the helper burn alive as they tried to put out the fire. But, it wasn't so, as Vinyl had enough thought to shoot herself in the head with her pistol. The rest tried to pat out the fire, but it was no use as their bodies cooked from the exploded flamethrower tank. Pinkie began to feel the severe losses in war as tears began to run down her pink coat.

"Why?" she whispered to herself, then she began to cry as the screams slowly died down.

"Why?!" she said growing louder.

"WHY?!?!?" she finally shouted, and breaking down into a full sob as she tried to stop it, but she couldn't. The small droplets turned into Niagara Falls as Pinkie broke out into a full out sob. Her thoughts raced in her head. How could they kill them in such a cruel way? We never targeted changeling medics, but, they fire upon us? How dare they? How dare they kill them in such a gory, inhuman way? How dare they? How dare they? How dare they?

"How dare they? How dare they?" Pinkie said as she slowly questioned herself, then, she felt a rush on anger fill her body.

"HOW DARE THEEEEYYYYYY?!?!?!" she shouted, pushing away some Marines trying to help her out. She picked up her BAR, as well another mare's Thompson and ammo. She slung both of them on her back as she charged in. She felt the rush of adrenaline go through her body as she screamed on the top of her lungs. Changeling forces looked up and saw the crazed mare, and began firing. But, Pinkie knew better, she ran in zigzags as she drew closer and closer to the changeling bunker. She grabbed a grenade and pulled the pin with her mouth. She threw it into the bunker hole, exploding it moments later. She kicked in the bunker door and fired her Thompson. The submachine gun spitting out bullets like nothing. She ran down the tunnels as she fired non stop from her Thompson. Changeling's were gunned down and even afraid of her as they fell back.

"Charge!" shouted a changeling leader, as several changeling's came running towards the pink pony with their bayonets. Pinkie smiled a bit as she pulled out her BAR and let loose on the charging changelings. The machine gun cut through the bodies like nothing as she continued her one mare assault for revenge. She continued to run up through the bunker, spraying anything down. Until she realized, she was out of ammo. She didn't feel anything as she dropped both of her guns and charged in with her knife. Like some Hollywood warrior on the big screen, she took on charging changelings with bayonets, and she killed each one with a stab to the back, head, heart, or throat. She discarded the knife and unhooked the bayonet from the rifle. She now had a longer sharp object as she ran head on into the bunker. Blood splattered all across her face as she now loved the sensation of the kill. She ran up and grabbed a changeling machine gun. A Type 96 LMG, one of the best weapons the western changeling's had. She fired the weapon from the hip as she turned their weapons against them. She laughed and smiled as the muzzle flash illuminated her crazed face. Finally, she now realized the tunnel was over, and she was outside once more. She looked over to find several changeling's running away. Quickly, she scavenged an M1 Garand on the ground and she fired towards the retreating changelings. Then, her eyes were set on a solitary palm tree. She smiled grimly.

"There you are, you son of a bitch." she said as she sprinted closer towards the palm tree, not even knowing she has been shot in the left hoof. She came closer and closer until she was at the base of the tree. She shook the tree, but that did nothing, so she fired the M1 Garand as she fired into the tree's floorboard. The sniper fell down, shocked and frazzled, avoiding the bullets being fired by Pinkie.

"You are nothing but a scumbag." she said as she cut the rope of the sniper, the changeling fell down with head first.

"Please, don't hurt me." she said in her modest voice. But, Pinkie saw nothing in her but death and destruction.

"You just killed a wounded mare, my CO, a medic, and my friend by lighting them on fire. The changeling's eyes widen as she was now realizing that she was staring into the eyes of a crazy, blood thirsty, Marine who was out for revenge.

"How could you?" Pinkie asked intimidatingly.

"I...I was just doing my job...p..pp-lleas..ppp" stuttered the changeling, but Pinkie showed no care for her whatsoever.

"We don't kill your docs, so why do you kill ours?" she asked.

"They just t-tell me t-t-to." said the changeling.

"Well, I'll make them reconsider." said Pinkie, smacking the sniper across the face with her Garand. The blood spat out of her mouth. Pinkie pulled out another knife in her hoof, she stabbed the mare in the hoof. The changeling screamed in pain as the sharp, cold metal pierced the soft, warm skin of the changeling. Pinkie pulled out the blade and then stabbed her other hoof. She smiled deviously.

"You're the devil." said the wounded sniper.

"Hm. I guess I will see you in Tartarus." she said slowly, as she sliced the changeling's neck. She pierced the neck until she decapitated the changeling. She held the changeling's head in her hooves, until, she finally began to calm down and breathe once more. She looked down, she began to slow down and calmed down. No longer did see feel this rush of anger course through her veins, she looked up and saw the sky turn a luscious blue, instead of a bloody red. Pinkie looked down and dropped the head on the ground, it rolled down to the edge of a bunker entrance. Pinkie then grabbed her stuff and began to trot back down to the rest of the Marines. She trotted through the tunnels, seeing bloody changelings all over the floor. Pinkie was shocked at the destruction she caused, she saw millions of shell casings, and smoking bodies from all the bullet impacts, several holes inside. Knife wounds also pierced several of them as Pinkie just examined all the death she caused. She found her BAR and Thompson about a few yards away down the tunnel, she picked the two of them up. As she trotted out of the bunker complex, the rest of the Marines looked at her in awe and amazement. The pink pony was covered in blood. Her once cotton candy smelling pink puffy mane was now gooey red, with the cruel stench of gore and blood. Pinkie Pie collapsed on the ground, but she didn't cry, she had no tears left. Another medic came in and began wrapping a bandage around Pinkie's right hoof, she smiled as she looked up at the other mares.

"Pinkie..." said a voice. It was Colonel Spitfire, she was standing tall with a cigar in her mouth. Pinkie just looked up at the bright yellow pony, her body covering the sun like a god.

"You're being sent to New Guinea, to recuperate. You're on the next ship outta here." Pinkie looked up, speechless as her eyes widened. She said nothing as she got up start packing her things. She took one last look at the burnt bodies of Vinyl, Flitter, the injured pony, and Doc Hooves. Finally, Pinkie Pie smiled slightly, exhausted, but had enough strength to smile.

"You guys are the lucky ones," began Pinkie, "you've seen the end of war. Rest in peace, friends." she said. As she trotted away, she noticed that Flitter was still somewhat breathing. She was the farthest away from the blast, because she took the flamethrower off her back and placed it in a ditch.

"Pinkie..." she said quietly. Pinkie ran over to see the severely burned mare, Pinkie knew she was almost gone. She gently raised a looked into her blue eyes.

"Just keep smiling..." she said, as she look her last breathe. She exhaled calmly, and then she was gone. Pinkie Pie had a slight tear run down her cheeks, as she slowly closed Flitter's eyes.

"I will." Pinkie said, as she trotted onto the docks and waited for the ship to come by.

Chapter XII

"So that's what would have happened to me?" asked Fluttershy, shocked and amazed at Pinkie's story.

"Yep." she said quietly, still leaning on the ammo crate.

"Wow, how can you keep smiling after that?"

"It's all in the past, Shy. Just forget about the past and move on." Pinkie began to get up from her crate.

"Shy, I don't want that to ever see that happen to you. It almost did, but, I hope it doesn't again."

"Why Pinkie?" asked Fluttershy, "You did it because of your friends death. I cant blame you for that."

"I know Shy, but, I don't want to see that happen to you because you still have a soul." Fluttershy had a questioned look on her face. She still had a soul? "What do you mean, Pinkie?" she asked.

"You're the only one who still has some life in her, you're not consumed by complete darkness. Unlike you, I can't return to normal everyday life without seeing blood across my hooves. You can though, save yourself, and make it through this war with what's left of your soul, Fluttershy. I believe in you." said Pinkie as she then trotted away. Fluttershy leaned back to contemplate what just happened. She took a deep breathe and got off the crate, she trotted down the roadway, seeing some soldiers in the distance. She took aim, but noticed those weren't changeling tanks, they were Equestrian tanks, M1 Shermans. Around them was the 82nd Airborne and the rest of the Rangers. Fluttershy smiled as she ran to find the captain.

"Sir, reinforcements have arrived." she said, bursting in through the tent, "um...if that's okay with you." she said quietly, noticing all the eyes in the room staring at her. Twilight got up and began to trot with Fluttershy down the road. The Shermans drew closer and closer as the infantry entered into the town of Marquis and began to unload the trucks.

"There you are Captain! I've been looking for you." said a voice. It was General Luna. Her black mane flowed in the air tall and proud as she trotted slowly over to the captain.

"General." she said surprising, saluting the high ranked officer.

"Nice job holding Marquis. I outta put you in for the Silver Star."

"Thank you sir. But, it wasn't just me. This private right here, Fluttershy, took out both a 37 mm gun, and an MG42 with a rifle grenade, head on." Twilight pointed at Fluttershy. She stared at the captain's eyes, and back at her hoof. She was shocked at what the captain said about her actions in Marquis.

"Well," said Luna, " I guess that you should be given a bronze star? Am i right private." Fluttershy was very nervous. Never has she talked to someone as high and mighty as General Luna. She took a deep breathe and saluted.

"Yes sir, thank you sir." she said boldly. General Luna had a smirk on her face as she trotted off.

"Carry on you two. I'll give the news to my sister." Luna trotted off and got back into the jeep. The calvary drove off back to headquarters. The two mares, looked at each other, wondering what to do now.

"Well, private, I'm putting Applejack in for a promotion. We need a new NCO for this squad." said Twilight.

"Oh, good for her. You want me to tell her the news?" she asked.

"No, not yet, I have some news for you too."

"Yes sir?"

"I'm putting you in for a promotion as well, I think you're an outstanding soldier. Corporal." she said. Fluttershy stood there dumbfounded. She was just promoted! But how? She was just this quiet, jumpy little pony.

"Is that a problem, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight. Fluttershy shook her head real quick to regain her thoughts.

"Not at all sir." she said quickly. Still surprised she was promoted.

"Well, good. I'll go tell AJ myself. I want you to get your equipment and help load it on the truck, we're going home." said Twilight. Fluttershy had a beam of happiness struck her like a lightning bolt. Home? She's going away from this? All of this?

"Yes sir." said Fluttershy as she trotted quickly out to find the transport truck up ahead. She grabbed her stuff, and trotted over to find the truck loading in some equipment. Weapons, equipment, and even...bodies. Fluttershy slowly trotted over, and found Cheerilee's sack. She smiled softly as she put her hoof on her heart. It was no longer beating. Fluttershy then zipped up the body bag and she helped the doctors load in the bodies into the truck.

It seemed like an eternity, but, Fluttershy was done with her work, and just in time too. The truck was getting ready to leave. She grabbed her springfield and ran towards the slowly moving vehicle.

"C'mon Shy, or we'll leave you behind!" said Rainbow Dash laughing. Fluttershy ran as fast as she could, with a big smile on her face as she jumped up and grabbed Dash's hoof. With all of her strength, Rainbow Dash helped Fluttershy into the truck. She took heavy breathes as she nearly missed the truck and wouldn't have the chance of going home. She sat down next to Applejack, now with the Sergeant insignia on her patch. AJ smiled at her, and Fluttershy smiled back.

"Let's here it for the our new corporal. Fluttershy!" shouted Applejack. The squad smiled all around and cheered for Fluttershy as the truck drove off down the bumpy road and into the camp. Fluttershy looked around, new recruits trotted back and forth in formation, airplanes taking off, and equipment being taken off the trucks.

"Let's get off this buckin' thing!" shouted Rainbow Dash, as she lead the way back into the tents, where it was their home away from home. Fluttershy slowly trotted towards the tents, it was her first time back at base, ever since she was a new recruit. She looked around at the sights once more, and also remembering her thoughts the first day she landed. "Why was I here? Will anyone watch over me? I don't think I can do this." were some of her thoughts, now, she had the answers to most of them. She had her friends to watch over her, and she CAN do this. But, why were they still here? She thought only time will tell. She trotted into her tent, and sat down on her bed. She crossed her hooves and began to close her eyes. Slowly, she began to fall asleep, happy to be relieved, the war was coming to a close.