Soldiers Remnants of Us

Chapters

I Must Be Dreaming!
Acquaintance
Private Ann Bishop's Grandad
Snake in The Grass
Blood, Guts and Wolves
Just Like Old Times
Just Like Old Times - Continued
Lost and Reunited
The Past Hurts (Sequel/Additional Chapter)
Winter In Equestria (Sequel/Additional Chapter)
Parker And His Secret Crush (Sequel (Short)/Additional Chapter)
The Nightmare (Sequel/Additional Chapter)
I Lived to Tell the Tale
Funeral and Final Goodbyes (Extended and Redone)

I Must Be Dreaming!

Ryan proceeded towards the settlement in front of him, knowing that there may be danger ahead of him, but by his guess, the Russians must of captured his squad mates, and he would risk life for their lives, no matter the costs.

As he approached the settlement, he noticed it was a town, but what was odd about it was that the small houses looked different somehow.

The roof was layers of straw and mixtures of hay, while the walls were that of a brown and white wood, similar to a Tudor style pattern.

Even tho it looked odd, it sure was a pretty sight, even for Ryan's eyes that have seen nothing but bloodshed and slaughter.

He realized that there might be civilians, so he put his revolver back into its holster, still at a reachable height as he entered the town.

When he entered, everyone was looking at him... No.. Wait... Not everyone - but everypony!

'HOLY SHIT! Ponies?!'

Ryan was cut off from his thoughts as a pink, coloured pony with a puffed up and pink curly mane hopped up towards him.

That answered his thought.

'HI! I'm Pinkie Pie, who are you? You don't look like anypony I've seen before.. Are you new? Some kind of alien or a-'

Pinkie Pie was cut off by the shocked soldier.

'Wha-WHAT?! Oh my God...I must be going insane or something...'

Pinkie giggled and noticed a shine coming from Ryan's holstered revolver and immediately began jabbing at it and pulled it out the holster, snapping Ryan from his thoughts.

'HEY! Wait! Don't--'

Ryan was cut short by a bullet roaring its way out of the barrel of his revolver as Pinkie played with it.

The bullet bounced off a metal bucket on a windowsill and flew into Ryan's chest with deadly precision, knocking him to the ground with a loud thud as he yelled in pain.

'AHH! WHAT THE FUCK!? Even with my bullet proof vest that still hurts!'

Pinkie dropped the pistol immediately and watched as Ryan pulled open his Velcro jacket, revealing his bullet proof vest that now had a crushed and crunched up .357 round on its surface.

'You shouldn't play with things that you know nothing about! Remember that!'

Ryan groaned through gritted teeth as he picked the crushed bullet off of his vest.

Pinkie stared up into Ryan's deep blue eyes with an apologetic grin.

'Sorry...I didn't think you would get hurt...'

Ryan looked right into the pink earth pony's eyes.

'Just don't do it again. If my Sergeant saw you shoot me, he would of possibly killed you...I'll let it slide for now.'

Pinkie Pie's ears perked up.

'What was that anyway?'

Ryan ran a hand down his face.

'Seriously? you DON'T know what a gun is?!' 'You don't have weapons here?'

Ryan gave out a loud sigh.

'It was a .357 revolver, given to me by my father for my 21st birthday. It is probably the most strongest gun I've ever served the army with and I'm proud to have it at my side.'

Pinkie cocked her head.

'Huh? Whats the army?'

Once again Ryan gave Pinkie his annoyed look.

'Look, would you just stop with the questions? I've already got a headache. Do you know where we are?'

Pinkie giggled. 'Oh, silly, you're in Ponyville in Equestria.'

Ryan's eyes widened.

'WHAT?!' 'You mean that cartoon place from TV that I used to watch with my daughter?!'

Before Pinkie could respond Ryan collapsed and fainted and dropped to the floor like a rock with a loud thud.

'Whoa..was it something I said?'

'Curtis, do you have a signal on that radio?'

'No, nothing, Lieutenant, just more static.'

'Well, keep scanning through channels, we surely can't be that far from command.'

'SARGE! I found Ryan's assault rifle!'

Bishop shouted from a few hills nearby.

'What? Are you sure it's Ryan's?'

'Positive, Sir, I recognize his night vision scope and scratches.'

'Good work Bishop, we mustn't be that far from where he is.'

'Lieutenant, I see a town, settlement by the looks of it, maybe Ryan is in there.'

Bishop noticed the town moments later and pointed in the direction of the town.

'I think we should go check it out, Sir.'

'Alright, Bishop, check everyone's ammo and supplies, we need to make sure we have enough ammunition if we run into a fight.

'Yes, Sir!'

It took about 10 minutes for Bishop to check all the other soldiers ammo and supplies but there was enough to go for a raid if necessary.

'How much we got there Bishop?' The Sarge inquired.

'About 6 mags for the assault rifles, including 2 spare and for the pistols, 12 clips to share between us, but no grenades. We must of lost them in the trenches.'

'All of you soldiers ready? There is no turning back once we move out. Last chance to ready yourselves.'

Lieutenant Parker asked the soldiers before they moved out.

'Fuck yeah,Sir!'

All the soldiers chanted back in unison as they each cocked and loaded their weapons.

'THEN LETS MOVE! GO,GO,GO!'

And on command, they all raced down the hill towards the town.

As they got closer they saw the town come into clearer focus.

They all were thinking the same thing.

The houses were decorated with the same kind of pattern you would of seen on a Tudor house and the wood was of multiple shades, from dark to light.

It was so colourful it looked like a house made from chocolate and wafers.

The roofs of the houses were mixes of straw and brightly coloured hay, adding a beautiful contrast to the rest of the houses that all had the same patterns and plans.

'What the fuck? All this seems a bit familiar to me...I feel as though I've seen it somewhere before. But where?'

Curtis spoke quietly as he contemplated his surroundings.

As they got deeper into town they all couldn't believe what they were seeing.

The civilians were not people, they were ponies!

'Jesus Christ...this has to be fake....'

The Sergeant spoke out loud.

The Sergeant scratched his bald head as he looked around.

'Where are we? Is this...'

The Sergeant was knocked to the floor by a cyan blur before he could finish his sentence.

As he fell, he dropped his rifle that began to fire as it dropped with a metal clang, sending an spray of bullets everywhere.

'Hey! Get off of me!'

The Sergeant pushed at whatever was on his chest off and got back on his feet and pointed his pistol towards a cyan mare with a rainbow mane, the other soldiers doing the same.

'WHOA! Why don't you point that thing or whatever it is someplace else?'

The rose eyed, cyan Pegasus stared back it him, showing very little fear towards the strange thing being held up by the Sergeant.

'Don't you fucking move!'

The Sergeant yelled at her, only to be laughed at.

Rainbow Dash laughed.

'Easy there, Gramps. Someone wake you from your sleep?'

Rainbow said with a giggle as she pushed past the Sergeant and trotted behind him.

'What are you? Are you an alien or something? I've never seen one of you before.'

'I'm a Sergeant, and what I'm doing is none of your business.'

The Sergeant snorted as he eyed the cyan Pegasus.

'Hehe. What is that? A nickname? Come on, you must have a proper name. Mine is Rainbow Dash. Now come on, what's yours?'

'Sergeant Edwin.' 'Sergeant Paul Edwin.'

Paul chortled at the Pegasus.

'Paul? What kind of name is 'Paul'?'

'Well, what kind of name is 'Rainbow Dash''?

Paul spat back.

Rainbow was beginning to laugh more the more she annoyed him.

'Duh. A normal name.'

Paul had just about had enough of Rainbow's smug attitude and went to grab her.

'Why, you little...!'

The Sergeant went to grab Rainbow's neck but his squad pulled him back with all their strength.

'LET GO OF ME!! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF HER!'

Rainbow Dash broke down into laughter as she watched the Sergeant get held back by his colleagues.

'Sarge, leave her alone, she's just playing with you.'

A voice called from behind Paul and his squadron.

It was Ryan.

Upon seeing him, the Sarge stopped.

Ryan spoke up first.

'I see you've met Rainbow Dash. Don't take it personally but she likes to wind people up.'

'Perhaps we should go and see Pinkie Pie so she can fill you in about what's what around here.'

Acquaintance

It didn't take long for the group of soldiers, along with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash to find their way to Twilight's library, but as soon as they got there the group of reunited soldiers sat down together at Twilight's table.

The inside of the library was clean, and shiny, almost like all the wood has been finely varnished and polished.

It almost reminded them of what it felt like to be back in their country with their families in their homes, not having a care in the world about danger.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash sat at the opposite side of the table, Pinkie having her usual childish grin as she looked up at Ryan and the others, and Rainbow Dash doing the same but concentrating more on Sergeant Edwin who was giving her a smug look.

'So...what are we doing here, exactly?' Curtis said with a hint of confusion in his voice.

'Well, er...' Rainbow spoke up before Pinkie interrupted.

'Oh, silly, you're going to meet our friends and maybe play a game! What do you like? Bingo? Pin the tail on the donkey? or maybe...'

Rainbow Dash shoved a hoof into Pinkie's mouth to stop her from rambling.

'Pinkie!'

Dash continued

'Be patient, there is plenty of time while we are waiting, I just don't understand why they aren't all here yet.'

'But since we are here already, you might as well introduce yourselves.'

Rainbow Dash said with a puff as she caressed her rainbow mane.

Upon response to the question, all the soldiers looked awkwardly at each other and stood up one by one and saluted the two mares.

Well, all apart from Sergeant Paul who was sat slumped and spinning his knife on the tables surface as he had a glum expression hung over his face.

'Private First Class Liam Ryan, Ma'm!'

'Major Louis, Ma'm!'

'Lieutenant Connor Parker, Ma'm!'

'Private Second Class Ronald Curtis Ma'm!'

'Private Second Class Ann Bishop, Ma'm!'

After they introduced themselves, they all sat back down in their seats and looked over at the Sergeant, Pinkie and Rainbow doing the same.

He grumbled.

'Grmh...Sergeant Paul Edwin...Ma'm...*cough* Pussies...'

'What now?' Rainbow Dash overheard the Sergeant.

'Looks like Gramps' is in a mood.'

The Sergeant looked up towards Rainbow, meeting her narrowed, magenta eyes.

'Why don't you keep your mouth shut?'

Sergeant Paul snapped back at her, making Rainbow jump back a little.

'Whoa! Take a chill pill, Grandpa!' Rainbow laughed.

She was cut short from her laughter by the thud of the Sergeants knife digging into the table just in front of her hooves, barely missing them.

Rainbow jumped back and looked into the Sergeants daring gaze.

'When a Sarge says 'Shut up', he means shut up. Is that clear?'

Rainbow stuttered.

'I..I..I'

'IS THAT CLEAR?!'

'Sarge! Simmer down, will you? She's just playing with ya.' Ryan placed a hand on the Sergeants shoulder.

The group of new acquaintances were interrupted by the library door opening and four mares trotting in.

there was Twilight who was followed by Applejack, Rarity and finally, Fluttershy.

'Oh, hey there Pinkie, hey, Rainbow. What's going on her-'

Twilight stopped in mid-sentence as she panned her head to the left and saw the six soldiers sitting opposite her friends.

At first she started to stutter and was at a loss for words but eventually found her voice.

'Oh my Celestia! What are you? How did you get here?!'

Rarity and Applejack shared the same expression Twilight had plastered to her face, well, apart from Fluttershy who was cowering behind them, eyes fixed on all the six.

'Nice to meet you, too.' Curtis said, breaking the awkward silence between them.

'OH,OH! Twilight!' Pinkie Pie yelled across from the table towards the purple unicorn. 'I was waiting for you to get your flank over here! I wanna introduce you to our new friends!'

Pinkie said out loud as she pointed at the six soldiers who now had their eyes fixed on the four new arrivals.

'This is Ryan,Curtis,Louis,Parker,Bishop and finally, Sergeant Paul Edwin!'

Pinkie said out loud in a hyperactive sentence.

Upon hearing their names, they each nodded their hats down slightly at the 4 ponies.

Bishop looked over to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.

'So...now you know our names, what are your names exactly?'

Pinkies face immediately lit up with joy. Now was her chance to shine....

'GLAD YOU ASKED! I'm Pinkie Pie I run parties and party all day long with my awesome friends!'

'And I'm Rainbow Dash, the awesomest of all Pegasus around! Heh, no pony beats me!'

Rainbow bloated as she stood up tall and proud of herself on the table.

'And I'm Applejack, call me AJ if ya wanna. All ma friends do.'

Applejack said as she bowed her hat at the soldiers.

'And I'm Rarity.'

'My name's Twilight Sparkle, pleased to meet you all.'

'I'm...um...Fluttershy...'

Fluttershy spoke sheepishly and quiet.

'What?' The Sergeant said.

'Its Fluttershy!'

'Ok, I can't hear you, I give up.' The Sergeant continued to stare at the table, this time spinning his pistol around with his finger.

The Sarge was in to bad of a mood to communicate or even bother with any pesky ponies. Especially ponies that can talk and annoy you. Which is what Rainbow was doing to him.

Ryan rolled his eyes at the Sergeant as he watched him spin the pistol around like a child.

'What?' He grumbled at Ryan.

'You asshole.'

'What did you just call me? Come on, speak up.'

'I said 'You asshole' ,Sir!' Ryan yelled back, clear enough for the old Sergeant to hear.

The Sergeant got up and walked past his five colleagues, slapping Ryan on the cheek as he did so.

He walked past the four ponies and glared at them for a mere second and walked out of the door and slammed it shut behind him.

'Wow. He's grouchy.' Twilight finally said.

'He's always been like that, just try to deal with it.' Curtis told Twilight.

'Wait...did you say your name was Applejack?' Ryan pointed a finger at Applejack.

'Yes, sir. Happy to meet ya.' Applejack said with a smile.

'That name rings some bells. I've seen you before. I've seen all of you before back where I'm from.'

'Have ya now? How have you seen me before? I don't reckon we met before?' Applejack cocked her head.

'I used to watch you when I was at home with my little daughter on the TV, years before I left to go to war.'

'Huh? War? Where are ya'll from anyway?'

Applejack's curiosity was getting the better of her.

'I'm from United States and so is Bishop. I don't know about the rest. Some of my other friends joined up too, but they were most likely killed in battle.'

Ryan lowered his head, a hint of sadness coming over him as he put his hand to his face crying quietly into it.

Applejack trotted up to Ryan and placed a hoof on his shoulder in attempt to comfort him.

'It's alright,now, sugarcube. What happened exactly? How did you get here?'

The Major looked over to his sobbing companion and answered Applejack's question.

'Look,I don't wanna go through all of that. Its nothing more than a story of bloodshed and inhumane thoughts. No soldier else would tell you different, and I sure as hell know that Ryan doesn't want a reminder. He already lost his best friends, including his brother.'

There was once again a silence filling the room, only with the sound of Ryan's silent crying making small echoes through the library.

'Ryan, you alright?' Lieutenant Parker inquired.

'Yeah..*sniffle* I'm alright..I just need to stop thinking about the war.'

'Hold on...how did we get here in the first place anyway? and how can I walk when one of those bastard Russians shot me in the leg?'

The Lieutenant paused.

'I can't remember a thing before we arrived here other than we were surrounded and were torched by the fire units. Any of you remember what happened?'

The five soldiers shook their heads at the Lieutenant.

'How odd..You know, I better go and check on the Sergeant, make sure he's alright.'

'Hey, Rainbow?'

'Yeah?' Rainbow lifted a brow.

'If he comes back in, try not to annoy him any further. You don't want to know what he's like when he is angry.'

The Lieutenant left the room without another word leaving the remaining four soldiers on their own with the ponies.

Bishop was the next to speak up.

'Rainbow Dash? Hmm. Why does that name sound familiar?'

'W-What?' Rainbow was now looking at the Private, awaiting a response.

'Rainbow, by chance, do you know or remember anyone else called 'Bishop''? 'Private, David Ann Bishop?'

Rainbow began scratching her mane as she tried to think.

Eventually she spoke up.

'D-David...?'

The soldiers, including the other five ponies saw a faint tear form in Dash's eye.

'Bishop...' A single track of tears slid down Rainbow's face.

'Rainbow?' Bishop asked calmly with a hint of concern in his voice. 'You okay?'

'I...I do remember him. He was a courageous soldier, just like you. He also looked a bit like you. I wish he was still around...'

Rainbow covered her eyes with her hooves and began to sob.

'I never should of let what happened be done to someone like Bishop.' 'How did you even know his name?'

She wiped her eye with a hoof.

'I found one of his diary entries from the Second World War.' Bishop explained. 'It said that he met a pony called Rainbow Dash and kept her with him no matter what happened, even if the risk was his own life, he would keep you beside him.'

'The only reason I got his diary is because he left it behind in his old apartment and it was brought to my parents and left to me in their will.'

'He...He was your granddad?'

Rainbow asked through her tears, to which Bishop responded with a nod.

'Rainbow, apparently he was with you last. You said something happened to him?'

'Y-Y-Yes..'

'What?'

'He...He..fell to his death...it was all my fault...if I never asked him to come with me, he would still be alive! I haven't been able to accept his death yet...and I just can't..I...I...loved him so much...'

Rainbow began crying again, more than she ever has.

This was the first time that Rainbow's friends have seen her cry like this. Rainbow couldn't bare to let her friends see her like this and went into the basement of the library in tears.

Even while she was down there, they could hear her faint tears from the living room.

Private Ann Bishop's Grandad

'Rainbow Dash? Are you down here?'

Bishop slowly looked around the basement of the library for Rainbow Dash, wanting to see if she was alright about earlier.

After all, he didn't know how she would react to that name.

According to David Bishop's diary, he found her chained to a wall in an interrogation room just after his squad had raided it for allies that had been taken captive.

The last time he saw her was when she was brought back to Equestria by her 'Element of Harmony'.

'Rainbow?' Bishop called out once more, but got no response.

He ventured down the wooden staircase and looked around.

There was Rainbow Dash, sat with her back against the wall with something in her hooves. The book looked all too familiar to Bishop...far too familiar.

He could see faint tears were rolling down Rainbow's wet cheeks.

He slowly walked up towards her, the squeaks of his leather boots making a small echo through out the walls of the basement.

'Rainbow, are you okay?' Bishop asked quietly as he sat net to Rainbow Dash's side, looking at her with concern.

Rainbow said nothing but just sat there and cried.

Her eyes looked a bit bloodshot from her crying.

Bishop placed a hand on her shoulder, as he leaned closer to Rainbow and looked at the book she was holding in her hooves.

The cover was made of a torn,black leather with very few scratches across it, and on the top of the leather was a single word scrolled onto it in italic gold font. 'Diary'.

Now Bishop knew what it was. It was the diary that Bishop had never found. Now he realized that his granddad had given it to her before she left, like it mentioned in the other diary at his apartment.

'Did he give you that?' Bishop asked softly as he looked up at her.

Rainbow didn't look back to Bishop, instead she kept her eyes on the book that was still being held in her hooves.

'Yes..It's the only thing I have left from him since I brought him back with me.'

Rainbow's voice was quiet.

Bishop could clearly tell she missed having him as a part of her life. He couldn't help but feel sorry for her, not to mention he liked Rainbow Dash.

Bishop reached his arm around Rainbow and pulled her into a friendly and lovingly hug.

Rainbow began to cry on Bishops shoulder as she nuzzled him gently with her nose and caressed his back with her hoof.

'I...I should of been able to save him...It's my fault...' Rainbow sniffled and rubbed her eye, wiping off her tears.

Bishop began to rub Rainbow's back gently as he took off his helmet and took out a picture of his granddad and put it into her hoof.

'Rainbow, don't be too hard on yourself...it wasn't your fault. What happened exactly? To David, I mean?'

Rainbow shed a tear as she stared at the picture of David Ann Bishop. The picture was him in uniform with David holding Ann Bishop as a baby.

The smile on his and Ann's face made Rainbow smile herself.

'I...I...Oh, Celestia...I don't want to talk about the part where...'

Rainbow put her hooves into her eyes, openly sobbing as she dropped the picture.

Bishop pulled her in close to his chest and rested his chin on her head, as he let her snuggle into her, like a baby trying to get warm.

'Bish..did I ever tell you how much you remind me of him?' Dash said slowly as she closed her eyes and laid her head on Bishops leg.

Bishop leaned back onto the wall, sighing as he did so. He reached into his pocket and took out a medal.

The medal was a World War 2 Victory medal. He placed it on the ground in front of Rainbow.

It made a small metallic clang as he placed it gently on the ground, catching Rainbow's attention.

'Whats that?' Rainbow wondered with curiosity.

'Bishop's World War 2 Victory medal.'

Rainbow leaned over to it, sliding it onto her hoof, being careful not to drop it.

After a while she placed it in Bishops hand and closed it.

'Bishop...I...' Rainbow's words trailed off as more tears began to form in her eyes.

'What is it, Dash?' Bishop asked quietly.

'About David...um..' Rainbow didn't look Bishop in the eye. She kept her eyes down to the floor, trying to hold back her remaining tears.

'We were hiking and climbing mountains just outside of Ponyville, in between Fluttershy's house and the Everfree Forest, and when we were right near the top of the mountain....Bishop...um..'

'Bishop tripped and fell off the side of the cliff and slid down and down until....he...he fell off at the end and died...'

'I tried to fly for him, but by the time I was near him, he was already dead.'

A long pause between the two filled the room, tears began to form in Bishop and Rainbow's eyes.

Bishop clamped a hand over his face as he cried after knowing the fate of his one and only granddad.

Rainbow fell to the floor crying and held Bishop tight.

Somehow, something about Bishop must of sparked a memory in Rainbow's mind, as she hugged him, he could sense what Rainbow was thinking of. She thought of Bishop the same way she thought about David Ann Bishop.

'Rainbow..? Where is he buried? I have to see it...for myself.' Bishop took his hand from his face and looked at Rainbow, who also was also looking at him.

'He...he was buried at Ponyville's Last Rest graveyard, just on the side of town.'

Bishop got up and shook his legs a little, all that sitting down made him feel like an overused pin cushion.

'I need to go see it, pay my respects.'

Without another word he picked his helmet up and placed it back on his head, making a small metal clang as he strapped it on.

'Can you show me where to find the graveyard, Rainbow?'

Rainbow returned with a nod and with that, they both walked up the steps and back into the living room with the others.

'Hey, Bishop! What are you doing?' Major Louis gave a wave over to Ryan and Rainbow Dash.

'Hey there, Major. Me and Dash are just going out for a while, so we might be back late.'

'Sure just don't bother the Sarge. He's still pissed at Dash, so be careful.'

Bishop and Dash nodded their heads and headed for the door.

'Oh and Ryan? I found your assault rifle in a field. Here.'

Bishop threw Ryan his assault rifle from the side next to the door.

'Cheers, Bish.'

Rainbow and Bishop left without a word more.

Upon moving out, they saw the Lieutenant and the Sergeant.

The Sergeant was sat against a nearby tree with a half empty bottle of Echo Falls wine, and the Lieutenant was smoking a cigar.

As they wondered away from the library, the two didn't take their eyes off them until they were out of sight.

Upon the way, ponies were whispering to one another, no doubt it was about Bishop. Every time he would turn to a pony, they would immediately stop whispering until he looked away.

The way to the graveyard didn't take too long, especially for a soldier, but eventually they got there.

The gravestones were in pretty good condition, with very little traces of decay or moss covering the names and sides of them, unlike the ones back home.

The two wondered about for a while, reading some of the names as they go along.

'Apple Glaze' and 'Apple Cube' caught Bishops attention. Just something about them sounded familiar.

'Applejack's parents?' Bishop thought to himself, but quickly returned with Rainbow Dash to follow the path to his granddads grave.

'Well, there he is. The best man I've ever known.' Rainbow spoke softly, a hint of sadness in her voice.

Bishop stood frozen as he looked at the pearl white cross gravestone. Bishop slowly walked up towards it and knelt down so he could read the neatly chissled writing on the stone.

The words read:

'Here lies David Ann Bishop 1949-1989,

War hero and friend to those of Ponyville and Equestria, a dear friend of Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty.

May he be missed for eternity.

'The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do, the hard part is doing it.- David Ann Bishop'

Bishop and Rainbow were both shedding tears.

Bishop took off his helmet and placed it on the top of the grave that had a bright red poppy placed in a plant pot sitting on the grass and began whistling Vera Lynn's 'We'll meet again'.

He whistled loud and proud, sad at the same time. Rainbow on the other hand was sat down, staring at the gravestone in front of her.

She read the last line over and over again until she memorized it.

'The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do, the hard part is doing it.' Rainbow whispered.

'Yes, Bishop, it sure is. The hard part is accepting a soldier and loyal friend such as you died in the most painful way I could imagine.'

A tear swept down Rainbow's cheek.

The two of them sat together, mourning David Bishop, and they stayed there for hours, not moving and holding each other close to stay warm and comfort each other.

'Dash, is all that true about what happened at the war? He found you locked up in an interrogation? What were you doing there?'

Rainbow looked up at Bishop, her eyes reduced in size as she thinks of how horrible the experience of being locked up in a dirty and blood smeared room felt like. The things she saw in that room would never leave her mind...

'I...I remember I was flying in the morning and...I think I crashed or something...at least I think that happened, my head was ringing afterwards.'

'I woke up to the sound of soldiers chattering and well...they were torturing a soldier against the wall then....'

'Then what, Dash?'

'There...was an explosion. The wall was blown to pieces and a group of soldiers came in..shooting everywhere and killing the other soldiers..one of those soldiers was David Bishop.'

Rainbow looked back down to the floor, trying not to recollect those painful memories...Bishop could tell it hurt her head just thinking of it.

'Rainbow? Are you alright? Do you want to go back?'

Rainbow scratched her head. 'N-No. I kinda just want to stay here a little while longer.'

Bishop laughed a little. 'He, you like it here then?'

'Honestly, I've not been here in a while, I would only come here to see him whenever I feel alone or sad. Knowing that Bishop is near me, it makes me feel safer.'

Rainbow said as she stroked the grass gingerly with her hoof.

The two of them stayed with each other late into the night, side by side as they gazed up at the night sky and stars above.

From the moment Bishop met Rainbow he knew he already liked her. She was smart, pretty and talented, and admittingly, he was starting to develop feelings for her, but one question stuck to his mind: Did she feel the same way?

Snake in The Grass

'I just don't get it, why does everyone I meet treat me like I'm an old grandpa?'

The Sergeant was still outside, slumped beside the tree with the Lieutenant, but he had drunk too much wine and was now intoxicated.

The Lieutenant stared at the Sergeant, trying to gt him to calm down.

'Sarge, you need to calm down. She didn't mean anything by it, she was just winding you up. You really need to stop taking things too seriously.'

Lieutenant Parker knew more of the Sergeant than meets the eye, he out of his whole squadron probably knew more of him than anyone else.

They had been battle to battle and ambush to ambush side by side, not abandoning each other to become a confirmed kill to another soldier, maybe he could also talk some sense into him, but possibly not if he is drunk...

'What did you say to me..?! 'Don't take things seriously?!' I have no problem taking things personally and seriously...ugh...Parker? I think I'm gonna pass out...' The Sergeant passed out soon before Parker had chance to respond.

He fell to the floor with a loud thud, making Parker, jump back a little.

'Oh, Christ...' Parker rolled his eyes in annoyance. 'Great...I guess I have to drag you back to the library...'

Parker grabbed the Sergeant's arm as he knelt down and pulled him onto his back, around his neck, being careful not to hit his head on the tree as he got up.

'Jesus Christ, Sarge, you REALLY got to cut down on the booze...' He muttered under his breath as he began to walk for the library.

On the way back to the library, Twilight was outside with Rarity, talking to each other but soon stopped upon seeing Parker carrying the Sergeant on behind his neck.

'Oh my Celestia! Is he alright? Does he need help?' Twilight called as she rushed up towards Parker with worry in her eyes.

'Twilight, don't worry, he's had too much to drink and passed out. He'll be fine. He's going to be out cold for a while. Do you have someplace I can set him down?'

Twilight raised a hoof and tapped her hoof a few times as she tried to think.

'Hmmm...Yes, follow me, we'll take him to my bedroom.'

Twilight walked towards the wooden door to her house and before she could open it, Rarity stopped the Lieutenant in his tracks behind Twilight.

'Darling,what are those from?' Rarity looked horrified at the state of Parker's combat trousers and pointed a hoof to three small bullet entry holes.

'Um...I was shot three times in the leg before I arrived here. Don't worry about it, it's not such a big deal.'

'Yes it is! Come by Carousel Boutique in town and I'll fix them up for you. I'd even do it free of charge for a friend.'

'No, Rarity, It's fine. I couldn't possibly let you sew it up free of charge. Especially since I'm a soldier.'

'I insist, darling, it's the least I can do. If you ever get scraped up and your clothing gets ruined, come to my house, I'll fix them up for you.'

Rarity said, tilting her head a little and giving the Lieutenant a beaming smile and a flicker of her eyelashes.

'Thanks, Rarity, I owe you one.'

Lieutenant Parker continued to follow Twilight to her room, not saying another word about anything.

For once in his life, he seemed....peaceful, like he had nothing to worry about, no dangers, no worries and no more warfare.

'Okay, place him down on the bed. He can stay there until he wakes up.' Twilight motioned for Parker to lay Edwin down.

Parker gently placed Edwin down on the bed after grasping him off his own back, creating a small squeak in the bed springs as he set him down.

'You know, I actually prefer him like this. At least he isn't moaning like a granddad who missed his medication time.' Parker chuckled to himself as he looked over at the unconscious Sarge.

Twilight herself was laughing. 'Yeah, he seems better this way.'

'Wait...Twilight, have you seen Ann or Rainbow lately?'

'I don't think...I mean, I haven't seen them since last night. I think they are still at the graveyard.' Twilight said, tapping her chin a few times.

'Is it alright if I leave him here for a while? I'm gonna go and see if they are still there. They have been out all night.'

Parker looked at Twilight as he scratched his head at the thought and got a slight nod from Twilight, and with that, he left the room and the library.

He continued down the path that lead through town wearing his beret, patched with the First Lieutenant symbol, that reflected like a gem with its silver plated finish.

Ponies watched as he walked down the streets, whispering and chatting so he could not hear what they were saying.

Eventually he reached the graveyard, and noticed it was rather quiet, yet colourful, The graves were marble and clean, with no traces of decay or cracks, almost as if they have been polished everyday.

As he entered, he saw that the graves were those similar to memorial graves, with the exact type of poppies on the burial top that gently swayed in the wind.

Among the sights in front of him, he noticed something rainbow coloured at the corner of his eye and began to walk towards it.

As he got around the corner, he saw that it was non other than Rainbow Dash who was sat next to Ann.

'Ann? Rainbow?' Parker called over but got no response.

'Ann! Hey, Ann you two okay?'

Ann and Rainbow jumped. Startled by the Lieutenant they both turned around to face him, both of them had tired eyes that had big black bags hanging beneath them, not to mention their hair was frazzled and all over the place.

'Oh..Hi, Lieutenant..' Ann replied with a yawn, Rainbow doing the same with a stretch.

'Ann...you don't need to call me 'Lieutenant' anymore, my name is Parker. Also how long have you two been out here? Ugh, you know what, it doesn't matter, lets just get you two back.'

'Not me...I gotta get back to Cloudsdale.' Rainbow yawned as she gave her wings a test flap.

'Rainbow, I'm not sure thats a good-' Before Parker could finish his sentence, Rainbow had already taken off.

She wasn't flying for long, she had already started to fall asleep in mid flight and eventually rammed herself into a wall and falling to the ground.

'Ann. You look like shit. Have you two been out here all night?' Parker asked in a concerned tone as he placed a hand on Ann's shoulder.

Ann's eyes slowly began to slide shut.

'Private? PRIVATE! Wake up!' Parker slapped Ann in an attempt to wake him up, making Ann be startled a little bit.

'Huh? What?! What time is it? Wheres Rainbow?'

'Bish...you um....you need to come with me. I'll take you back to the library.'

LATER ON AT THE LIBRARY

'Paul? Are you awake yet?' Twilight softly said as she nudged the Sergeant on her bed.

There was no response, so she tried again, but still no response.

She didn't bother trying again. Only Celestia knows what his reaction would be, so she left him in her room and went downstairs to join her friends.

Ryan, and Curtis and Louis were sat together trying to get a signal from their radio to see if they could contact their base, but had no luck in doing so.

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity observed as they tried to get a signal.

They spent ages tinkering with its components and communication knobs, but it made no difference.

'Base, this is Omega 3, Spec Ops team, do you read me? I repeat, Base, this is Omega 3, Spec Ops team, do you read me?'

Major Louis spoke trying to get a response, but the only thing he could hear was the static growing slightly louder.

'DAMN IT!' 'Why can't we get a signal?!' Curtis burst out loud as he slammed his fist down on the table, making it shudder and make the ponies jump a little bit.

'This CAN'T be happening! Why is there no signal!?'

'Calm your ass down, Curtis. There must be something wrong with the components or transceiver.' Ryan told Curtis, shushing him.

'Don't tell me to calm down! We are in the arse end of nowhere with no clue where we are, how we got here or where the rest of our team is!'

Curtis protested at Ryan.

'I said shut up.'

'Don't. Tell. Me. To. Shut. Up.'

Curtis ranted as he lifted his rifle at Ryan.

'Curtis. Put the gun down.'

'NO! I can't take it anymore! I just wanna go home! We have no signal or communication equipment to get in touch with our team, over than that little shit box, and you want me to calm down?! FUCK YOU RYAN!'

Curtis got closer to Ryan, aiming the rifle at his face.

'Private! You know better than to aim a weapon on a teammate! Lower your weapon, that is an order!'

Major shouted in his face at Ryan's defense.

Curtis looked them both dead in the eye, but mostly at Ryan. Just then in a split second, he aimed his gun at Ryan's collar bone and fired, causing Ryan to drop like a stone as blood splattered the smooth wood behind him.

Now was Curtis's chance to run, so he ran for the door and ran out the library as fast as his legs would allow him.

The three ponies watched in horror as Ryan held a hand up to his bloody wound, instantly coating it in a red, oozy liquid.

Louis and the ponies ran to his aid.

'RYAN!' Louis yelled

Ryan coughed small pockets of blood out of his mouth, making a small line trickle down his lip.

'I...I never thought it would end like this...' Ryan said through gritted teeth as he looked Louis up into his eyes.

'Your not dying! Not on my watch!'

'Fluttershy, look around see if you can find some medical supplies!'

Fluttershy nodded and flew around the house in search of anything she could take to Louis, meanwhile, Pinkie pushed her hooves onto his wound, creating pressure on the sides in an attempt to reduce blood loss.

Twilight hurried over to help Ryan who was growing closer to death. Louis began to tear up and helped Pinkie Pie pressurize his wound.

'Ryan! Keep your eyes open! Don't take them off me, try to concentrate on me, ignore the pain!' Twilight instructed Ryan.

'Fluttershy! You have to hurry! He's losing too much blood!' Ryan yelled for Fluttershy to hear, but was nowhere in sight.

'Major...*cough*...kill him...for me...' Ryan's eyes closed and his breathing ceased.

Everyone in the room froze. Louis began crying openly and the ponies couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.

There was only five of them left...Ryan had died, and now Louis wanted one thing: Payback for his friend.

Blood, Guts and Wolves

Louis couldn't believe what had just happened. He wouldn't take his eyes off Ryan's now cold corpse.

Fluttershy came back into the room, only to see the most horrible thing she had ever seen. The medical box she had in her hooves dropped as she saw Ryan covered in his own blood on the floor.

'Oh, my...' Her eyes widened as she ran up to Louis with worry plastered on her face.

'L-L-Louis, wha-wh-what happened?'

'It was Curtis...he shot him...' Louis didn't look up, he kept his eyes on Ryan's corpse as he talked slowly with sadness in his voice.

Without another word, he got up and took Ryan's rifle then headed for the door, his look now turned to a dark, mad expression.

'Louis! Where are you going with that rifle?' Twilight called out to him, but didn't get a response.

Louis placed on his combat helmet and went to turn the knob on the door, then turned to face Twilight,

'I'm going to go after Curtis.'

MEANWHILE

'Stupid, Sarge, stupid Ryan, Stupid team!' 'Fuck them all, I don't need them!'

Curtis was mumbling angrily to himself as he strolled through the Everfree Forest, gun in hand.

As he walked he took hold of his silver plated dog tag and broke it free of the metal beads supporting it and threw it onto the damp ground, leaving the beads rolling around the floor.

As they clanged onto the ground below, he stopped and took one last look at it before he carried on.

He looked at it for a long time, so long that he lost track of time. He saluted it and said one thing: 'It was an honour serving for you.'

He turned around to continue walking when a putrid smell entered his nose. It smelt like 5 month old garlic with a rotten fishes ass.

He pinned the bridge of his nose shut with his fingers to try and block out the smell, but it wasn't doing much good.

'Jesus! What the fuck is that smell?!'

A faint growl coming from behind the thick, pale green bushes caught Curtis's attention, making he immediately spin around to face it.

He held his gun up, removing the fingers from his nose and placing them on the bottom the guns barrel,

'Who's there?! Show yourself! I have a weapon!' Curtis shouted through the emptiness of the night, awaiting a response.

He was starting to get frustrated as his eyes dilated wildly, it didn't take long before he started firing his assault rifle as he screamed an ear shattering war cry.

Bang, Bang,Bang! Snap,Snap!

The shells jumped through the smoke as the branches and clanging of bullets hit the floor in an abyss of yellow light from the muzzle.

The firing ceased as the gun emptied, leaving echoes that grew quieter with each meter it traveled. Surely, the ponies could of heard that, but he didn't seem to care much.

He stood there, looking around to see if he had got whatever was making the noise, but as he turned to face the bushes behind him, he saw it.

It was made of branches with sap sticking them together like a glue. It's size was that similar to a dogs height, and it's eyes were glowing an unhealthy green with leafs for eyebrows. It's wooden teeth hung like vampire fangs out the roof of its mouth, making Curtis back off a little.

It was a timber wolf.

'Ho-ly shit...' He spoke quietly, hoping that the wolf wasn't going to ram him to the floor and devour his flesh like the midnight feast.

Without thinking he slowly inserted a new magazine of bullets after ejecting the last clip.

The gun gave a quiet click as it was inserted, making the wolf roar, sending a shiver down Curtis's spine as its nerve ringing roar billowed down the forest trees surrounding him.

'Your mine!' Curtis yelled as he aimed the gun at the wooden creature, firing instantly.

The bullets flew through the smoke and into the wolf's limbs with a crack and a creak as shards and splints of wood scattered around it.

The wolf cried in pain as its limbs were torn off its body one by one as Curtis kept firing away at it, making it collapse to the floor after he shot its final back leg off with a snap.

'Bad dog!' He laughed to himself as he saw the wolf fall to the floor with a thud.

He laughed a while to himself for a while until he saw a faint green glow appear around the broken and torn off parts of the wolf's limbs.

'Wha-What the fuck?!'

The wood began to levitate and build itself back into the joints from which they were torn, recreating the wolf that Curtis had shot to shreds.

'No,no,no,no,no,no!' 'That's IMPOSSIBLE!'

Curtis didn't have time to react, he was about to turn around and run, but as he turned, the regenerated wolf pounced on top of him, and he had lost his rifle.

The wolf held Curtis down to the floor, digging its wooden claws into his back as it bit down on his neck, making them dig in further and further the more he struggled.

'Agh! Get off me, you wooden-dicked prick!'

It was getting harder for Curtis to breathe as the the force of the wolf pushed his chest deeper and harder on the ground as he struggled to free himself.

He reached for his knife in his shoe holster and took it out and quickly began to stab at the neck of the raging beast.

Bits of bark and wood shards flew from the neck with each stab, but it didn't seem to faze the wolf one bit, and eventually after moments of stabbing, it clawed at his back and bit down on his neck, digging in its teeth down to the bone.

Curtis began to squirm and bleed from the severe wound and dropped his knife, rendering him defenseless.

'Grrhh!' Curtis's screams echoed loudly through the trees and air as the beast devoured his neck, making blood pour uncontrollably from the bite marks that it had created.

BACK IN PONYVILLE

The gun shots were heard from the forest to the town of Ponyville, followed by the blood curdling screams that followed soon after.

'What the fuck was that?!' Louis's eyes widened as he heard the screams from when he wasn't for away from the forest.

All anger he had within him soon began to dissipate to worry as he heard the all to familiar screams of Curtis.

'CURTIS!' Louis began to run towards the source of the noise but as he was running, he heard the sounds of wings flapping and hooves clopping behind him.

He didn't have time to look, but as he was nearing the forest, he saw that the noises were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, followed by Ann, Twilight and Rarity and Applejack.

'Louis! Stop! Where are you going? You can't kill him, he's your friend!' Twilight yelled as she ran close to him.

Louis simply ignored it and continued running, not responding to her.

'I'm not going to kill him! I heard gun shots and screaming!'

Before any of them could respond to him, they had reached the forest, all of them paused, looking awkwardly at each other.

'Your um...um..not going in there are you?' Fluttershy said sheepishly

'I have to, he's my friend, I gotta save him.' Louis said, pulling back the cocking mechanism on his assault rifle with a loud click.

'You can follow me or not, but I need to find him!'

Without another word, he ran into the dark and creepy forest, Rainbow Dash and Ann following behind, with the others.

They ran together long and far, and eventually while they were running, something clanged against Ann's boot, making him stop in his tracks.

When he knelt down, he felt around the grass and felt the cold touch of Curtis's dog tags. When he lifted it up, he saw blood covering the plating, covering his own hand as he rubbed his thumb against it slowly.

'Hey, Louis! I found his dog tag!'

They all stopped and looked at Ann holding the blood covered dog tag.

Louis walked slowly up to Ann and took the dog tags from his hand, looking at them hardly.

'He's here. He;s here somewhere!' 'Look around, all of you, we need to find him.'

All of the ponies nodded at the command and searched around the area for any signs of Curtis.

The search went on for several minutes, but eventually, Rainbow Dash found him.

He was behind a bush, scratched up, and mangled all over his back and neck and covered down to his upper legs in blood.

Rainbow puked in disgust at the sight of Curtis's corpse and shouted for Louis and Ann.

'Ann! Louis! I found him!'

In an instant she heard Ann and Louis running towards her with her friends.

Upon seeing his remains, they all puked apart from Ann and Louis who hung their heads in sorrow for their friend.

'Jesus....What the hell happened to him?' Ann said as he inspected the wounds and openings in Curtis's flesh.

'I have no idea but..GAH!' Louis screamed as he felt a sharp pain in his back.

All the ponies, including Ann looked in horror as they saw a timber wolf digging its claw into his back, and gripping his shoulder with its large, wooden teeth.

The wolf growled at them and then dragged Louis away through the bushes and deeper into the forest.

Just Like Old Times

'MAJOR!' Ann screamed at the top of his lungs as he saw Louis get dragged off and deeper into the woods where darkness peeks around every corner.

He had to act fast, and really fast. He grabbed Louis's assault rifle and ran after him, into the daring maws of the Everfree Forest.

'Ann!' Rainbow called, but got no response, by time she had shouted, he had disappeared into the darkness.

'I..I won't leave him, I just can't!' Rainbow flapped her wings and soared into the sky, watching overhead for Ann.

She knew he would possibly tell her to go back, but nothing he could say to her would change her mind.

She stayed beside his granddad and will stay beside him.

Applejack, Fluttershy, Twilight and Rarity called after her but she, as well, didn't stop to waste time.

Ann was running as fast as his legs would allow him, he couldn't see much, not aware of the far sticking out branches that may trip him.

He ran a short ways before he could hear the Major's groans through the silence of the night and lifeless forest.

'Major? Where are you!? I'm coming to get you, just hold on!' Ann's voice trailed off into the darkness, not receiving a response from Louis.

When he heard no response, he thought of the worst, but knew that it was his duty to find him and make sure he wasn't harmed, or worse.....

'WHERE ARE YOU?!'

Ann could hear the sound of wings fluttering through the air and when he looked up toward the night sky, he saw it was none other than Rainbow Dash.

'Ann! Stop, please!' Rainbow landed in front of him, making pockets of dust puff into the air.

'If you do this alone, you'll die! I don't wanna lose you, too.' A tear stroked Rainbow's cheek, catching Ann a little off guard.

'Huh? Rainbow, I won't be killed by some wooden wolf, I'm going to go after Louis, I have to, he's one of my only friends who survived by my side in war. Don't worry, I won't be going for good.'

Ann said as he held onto Rainbow's shoulder with one hand for reassurance.

'Don't worry about me, I can handle this.'

Before he continued to run, he leaned closer to Rainbow and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

Dash blushed a little bit, Ann doing the same, but he turned away and ran after giving her a final wave goodbye.

Twilight and the rest of her friends caught up with her, but soon stopped beside her as she stood still, looking to where Ann had been standing.

'Rainbow what happened? Where's Ann?' Twilight spoke in worry, but soon realized that Rainbow was crying.

'Rainbow...whats wrong? Did something happen to him?' She placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder, only to be taken back by Rainbow pulling her into a hug.

'Twilight...he's gone after the timber wolf and Louis...I...I...don't know if he will come back....'

Rainbow began crying on Twilight's shoulder uncontrollably as thoughts swam through her head. Horrible thoughts...Losing Bishop was enough, she didn't know if she could handle losing another friend...especially one related to Bishop.

Ann continued to run through out the forest in search of Major Louis, but had no luck so far. He called out and heard nothing. Nothing except the sound of the wind brushing through the leaves that hung of the end of the towering trees.

Being in the Everfree sure didn't make you feel free...in fact, it made Ann feel a bit claustrophobic and felt almost like being in a maze in a prison that was inescapable.

'Major! Can you hear me! Answer me!'

Silence.

The silence surrounding Ann's ears was only interrupted by the rustling of wind through branches, causing them to sway and creek and the sound of leafs fluttering lightly around him.

A few moments passed and to his surprise, he heard screaming and gunshots in the distance.

He ran toward the light that he assumed was the gunshots, and once he got there, he was shocked to see who it was.

The area was filled with smoke and broken bits of wood, that were presumably once timber wolves.

Once the smoke had cleared, he saw who it was. It was not Louis, but the Sergeant.

He was holding Ryan's revolver in his hands that were both bloody and sweaty. He had cuts torn through his army fatigues

and blood dripping down his forehead to his ear.

Ann was shocked at what he'd seen, not to mention he was shocked at the Sergeant being here. How did he know that they were here? Did he know, or was he here to get some quiet?

He slowly walked up towards the blood covered Sergeant, but as he did, he stepped on a small branch, making it snap, catching his attention.

He fired once, making the gun roar in a flash of light and shooting a projectile at the floor near Ann's feet, making the dirt fly up from the ground, making a bullet hole in the earth.

He gave Ann a devilish glare as he looked him dead in the eye, as he slowly pulled back the hammer on the revolver, preparing for the next shot, sending Ann's nerves shaking in fright.

'Sarge, don't point that at me...' Ann said out loud with his hands in the air.

'Stay where you are! I don't know what they are, but I'm not taking any chances!' He barked at Ann, making him back away.

'Look, Sarge...Louis got dragged off somewhere by one of those....wolf things, we need to find him, before something happens to him.'

Ann motioned for him to lower the gun, noticing that it was Ryan's gun.

'Is..is that..? Ryan's gun...?' He pointed a finger at the gun in Paul's hand.

Paul said nothing but gave a nod in response.

'You...H-How did you get it...?' Ann said lowly as he kept his eyes fixed on the Sergeant.

'He was dead in the library, and I had no weapon, so I took his revolver. He had a bullet through his shoulder blade.'

Ann's eyes widened in horror.

'D-D-D-Dead? DEAD?! Ryan?!' He balled at the Sarge in a sad outrage.

'Yes, he's dead. I overheard Curtis and him arguing at each other as I was waking up, then a gunshot.' 'I heard Louis say he was going after Curtis, so when I came out, I grabbed his revolver and followed him and you to this forest.'

Ann raised a brow at the Sergeant, who still had his eagle-like stare fixed to his eyes, gun still pointed in his direction.

They both stared blankly at each other but were soon interrupted by a faint humming sound and glowing green light coming from all around them.

The limbs of all the timber wolves were being levitated above them as they started to fix together, piece by piece, eventually reforming the timber wolves that the Sergeant had recently blown to shreds.

'Wha-What is happening?!' Paul shouted out loud.

'I don't know...but it doesn't look good..we should probably run...'

'Lets get out of here!'

They both ran through the thick, green and tall bushes and hurriedly tried to find a way out...any way out, just as long as it was away from those wooden wolves!

They could already hear the roars and howls coming from behind them, but didn't stop to waste any time.

They ran far and fast, eventually running out of breath from their long strides across the forest floor.

'Do...D-Do you think we lost em'?' Ann said through short breaths as he looked behind the tree for incoming timber wolves, the Sergeant doing the same.

'No, not yet, we would be able to smell their acidic breath if they were near us.'

They both listened in silence for any sudden movements around them, but so far nothing apart from the rustling of leaves in the wind above them.

Crunch, crunch

Something was coming from behind the bushes, they could both hear it growing faster every second, Autumn leaves being crunched on the floor by feet, making the sound of scrunched up paper.

The noise got louder and louder as the two teammates breaths quickened.

They both heard a small whimper coming from behind the tree on the other side, so they slowly lowered their lines of sight and looked from the sides of the tree to find it was none other than Rainbow Dash and her friends.

She and her friends were all looking around like they saw something disturbing....even more disturbing than Curtis's mauled and mangled body.

Ann came from behind the tree to become visible to the ponies walking his way.

'Psst! Rainbow...' He spoke in a low whisper. 'Over here.'

Rainbow screamed shortly out loud with a yelp and jumped back, startled.

'AHHH! Jesus, Ann, don't do that, don't you know better than to spook a pony?' Rainbow gave a face of both fright and annoyance.

'Shh! sorry about that, Rainbow, just hurry up and get yourselves behind here with us, they're coming!'

With no response, the ponies all nodded and the six of them hurried to the tree where Paul and Ann were hiding.

As they all got around the back of the tree with Ann and Paul, the first pony Paul looked at was Rainbow, with a smirk of annoyance on his face.

'Fuck sake...is there ANYWHERE I can get away from you?!' A slight hint of anger in his voice was enough to know he wasn't in the right mood.

'Nice to see you, too, Sarge.' Rainbow gave him a weak grin.

'Just don't say anything to piss me off, or we are going to fallout together.'

'Seriously?! Why don't you two both shut and leave each other alone? There is enough heartache to know we are back in some kind of fight with some kind of wooden wolf....the last thing we want now is to have a war between you and Rainbow.'

'End it now, or I will just leave and let myself get killed, I can't stand all this war bullshit! It was bad enough at home!'

Ann sounded serious and was clearly frustrated by the bad blood going on between Rainbow and Paul. All he wanted to do is save the Major and find a way back home.

'All right then. Rainbow, I don't talk to you, you don't talk to me, got it?' Paul raised a brow and stuck his hand out towards Rainbow.

'Right. No more of this chit chat between us then.' Rainbow put out her hoof into Paul's hand and gave a shake after he closed his fingers gently around it.

'Ann, is it? They are called timber wolves. They are the thing we ponies fear the most, its mostly the reason we stay out of the forest.'

Twilight informed Ann.

'A what? Timber wolf? Is there any way to kill them?'

'Erm....we aren't exactly the violent type...but..every time you 'kill' one, it would just built itself back together with magic, the only thing to burn wood is fire, but thats all there is to-'

An idea burst out of Ann's mouth as he interrupted Twilight.

'Fire! Of course! Sarge, you got your lighter or some of your beer with you?'

Paul tapped around his fatigues for his lighter, making small ruffles on his uniform as he did so.

'Hmmm...yeah. Here.'

He showed him his chrome plated lighter with the word 'Suck on This' engraved onto it's surface and lightly threw it into Ann's hands.

'Cheers. Beer?'

'Nah, sorry, Bish, I drank the last bottle of Echo Falls.'

Ann groaned at the Sergeant. 'You pig.'

TO BE CONTINUED.....

Just Like Old Times - Continued

'Heeey, watch it, Private Smart ass.' Paul raised his brow at Ann.

'Just because we are at war...again, doesn't mean I can't enjoy a bit of drinking.'

Ann just scoffed in annoyance and anger at the Sergeant, barely containing his expression.

'Can we just find Louis then? We can't just leave him behind with those...timber wolves..' Ann spoke shortly and quietly.

'Oh, and I think it is best if the six of you go back home.'

Applejack looked Ann and Paul in the face with a look of sadness displayed on her face.

'Hold your horses, sugarcube, we didn't jus come all the ways out here to leave you to ya fate.'

They were all now looking up at both the armed soldiers, Rainbow deeply scanning Ann.

'Sorry, but I don't want any of you getting hurt, you could even get killed staying with us! We were trained to do this, you told me not long ago that you feared this creature that has our friend, and can't kill it, so to me, you seem to be of no use.'

'Ann. David wouldn't of backed us down, he would of stood up, with his weapon, and charged in at his target. He wouldn't let me back down, knowing there would be danger back where we started from that could be waiting for us.'

Rainbow gave Ann a mad look.

'Rainbow....I...won't let you nor your friends get put in the face of danger because we were being selfless to you all. Like our badges say on our badges 'To serve and protect'.'

'i just won't let you nor your friends come with us knowing you would be getting yourselves hurt or even killed before our hands.'

Ann stood perfectly still, looking Rainbow dead in the eyes, with Rainbow staring back with those beautiful magenta eyes of her own.

'I'm still not changing my mind, no matter what you say.' Rainbow raised her voice a little, letting out traces of anger.

'I'm not going to leave your side, Ann. I love...' Rainbow stopped talking immediately and blushed a bright red and looked away in embarrassment at what she was going to say.

This caught Ann a little off guard.

'Wha-what?' He forced an awkward smile at the cyan mare.

'N-Nothing....forget I said anything!' Rainbow replied sheepishly.

'Ok, if we are done doing small talk, lets get back to the part were we look for Louis.'

Paul inquired out loud of annoyance.

The Sarge may of been a dick, but he also didn't like to stand around too long either. it was just 'a way for your enemy to find you' disadvantage, but what did Ann care?

'Right, right.' Ann rolled his eyes.

'Your not serious are you...?' Twilight looked up at Paul.

'Yes I am.' He replied to the purple unicorn, trying not to sound seriously angry at her.

'But...you don't know what's out there. You might get yourself killed...' Twilight said with a frown.

'Look, I don't care, either come with us or don't, I don't like standing around waiting to be taken to the floor, and I'm not letting you all drag me down with you all when death comes for you.'

Paul spoke with growing anger.

'We are not leaving you. Friends stay beside their friends no matter what.' Twilight said as she gave him and Ann a reassuring grin.

'Ugh fine.'

And with that, Paul marched off, down the old and dusty trails that weaved through the forest, the others following behind closely.

Even though they were together, they still felt unsafe and aware of the dangers lurking in the shadows around them, not to mention the timber wolves.

They didn't get too fr from where they once were, stopping in front of a cave that let out cold gusts of air along with the sound of droplets of water that sounded like it was coming from a nearby water leak in the roof of the cave.

'You think he's in there?' Applejack asked from behind Ann.

'Don't know, but there is only one way to find out...' Ann pulled out his pistol, pulling back the hammer until it clicked and placed Curtis's assault rifle on his back with its strap.

Paul did the same, pulling out his combat knife to go with it, just for close quarters.

He motioned for them to head inside as he went in first, letting them all stay behind him as they quietly crawled around the stone floor, knocking stones and pebbles now and again that sent silent echoes through the cave walls and deeper into the darkness.

The silence was interrupted as they heard a faint scream in the distance, and they knew all too well who it was.

It was Louis's scream. The small group had to act fast if they were going to save him, but there was a chance they may not come back out of the cave.

'You all hear that? We need to hurry!' Paul commanded, but in response got a slight nod from his associates.

'Sarge, why don't you go on ahead? I...I....I'm going to stay here..' Fluttershy spoke shakily and quiet.

'Scared? Scared, Fluttershy? At this moment I think your name would be Fluttercry.' Paul smirked as he raised a brow at the yellow Pegasus.

Tears started to form in the corners of Fluttershy's eyes at Paul's mocking sentence.

'Hey! Leave her alone, Granddad!' Rainbow yelled at Paul, getting right in his face.

'Call me that one more time, I swear I'm gonna knock you to the floor!' He growled at Rainbow, but she didn't flinch or back down to the Sergeant.

'Just what is your problem anyway, you old bag? There is no wonder your friends ended up how they are now, it was all of your doing. Just goes to show how much of a stupid old man you are.'

Rainbow snorted as she kept her eyes fixed onto Paul's emerald eyes, not breaking contact.

Paul just gave an angry growl at the cyan Pegasus and uppercut her in the bottom of her chin, sending her into the wall behind her with a loud thud as she hit it and fell to the floor.

'RAINBOW!' Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie ,Applejack and Twilight ran over to Rainbow, who was knocked out cold from the heavy blow to her chin and head.

Twilight lifted Rainbow's head off of the ground and held it in her hooves, taking it off the moist dirt floor, letting a small track of trickles of blood drip from a cut on the back of her head.

Ann turned to face Paul, with anger staining his brown eyes.

'You bastard! Why did you do that?!'

His voice echoed loudly through the trail, but before he could rant anymore at the Sergeant, he had ran away from the group, leaving them alone in the dark.

He began firing shots blindly into the dark, trying to hit the Sergeant as he made his getaway, but to his disbelief, did not.

'Fuck..I'll get you you bastard!' He called out at Paul before turning to go help his hurt friend.

'Rainbow can you hear me?! Wake up!'

Ann knelt beside Twilight and her friends and placed two fingers onto Rainbow's neck for her pulse.

He felt thumps run down his fingers, to his relief he let out a sigh, knowing Paul didn't snap her neck by knocking her into a wall.

As he was going to get back up he noticed small drops of fresh blood tap onto the ground. At that point he checked Rainbow's head for any cuts or sources of her bleeding, a few moments later he was shocked at what he saw.

There was a large gash in Rainbow's head. It looked as though it was near her skull, and possibly be fatal if she didn't get it treated.

Ann patted around his pockets on his uniform, looking for something to bandage Rainbow's head up, but found nothing to patch her up, but then he had an idea.

His jacket was easy to tear up, and was strong enough to pressurize the wound, so he undid his jacket and cut out a fraction big enough to the size of a bandage for Rainbow's head wound and wrapped it gently around her head, tying a knot to add pressure to her head, trying to keep it stable enough so she won't loose too much blood.

'Twilight, get her out of here. You need to find her a doctor, now!' As Ann spoke, he locked eyes with the purple unicorn, not taking them off her.

Twilight stuttered as she tried to find her words. 'B-But what about you? We can't just abandon you here!'

'You can, I'll be fine, don't worry about me, besides I'm the only one left of my squad who can talk some sense into Paul.'

'Ann...don't go...I don't want you to go! You might get yourself killed.' Fluttershy looked directly into Ann's eyes with tears flowing down her face as Ann looked back.

'I won't Fluttershy. I won't, don't worry about me.'

Ann knelt beside Fluttershy and hugged her as he said his goodbye's as he cried lightly on her shoulder.

'Here, I want you to have this.' Ann reached for his left boot and took out the knife from his strap and held the blade as the handle pointed towards Fluttershy.

Fluttershy stared at the knife with a look of fright and uncertainty.

'A-A knife? I can't use that.. I'm not a violent type of pony....I just can't take it...'

'Fluttershy, I consider you and the rest of you as friends, and if you are ever going to make it back to town, you need to protect yourself from the dangers out there. I'll be damned if I let a wolf get you all because of me being selfless!'

Fluttershy wiped her tears away with her hoof and slowly placed the knife in her mouth, being careful not to cut Ann's hand as she slipped the blade from his grasp.

The knife had small teeth all lined tightly together and to Fluttershy didn't feel right to be holding it.

Ann took one final look at his friends and bid them farewell.

'If I don't come back, don't come looking for me. No matter what.'

Without giving them a chance to respond, Ann ran deeper into the darkness of the cave and disappeared out of sight.

Lost and Reunited

Ann ran fast as he ventured into the never ending darkness of the cold cave, assault rifle in his now sweating hands as he darted corner to corner, looking for traces of the Sergeant with very little luck.

As he was running he heard screams in the distance. It wasn't that loud, but it was enough to catch his attention, so without further delay, he began to run towards the noise.

The corners of the cave were getting sharper and sharper beyond each turn, water covering the floor from a nearby water source that sent droplets through the ceiling, dripping down drop by drop, covering the floor with them, creating a glossy-like gleam.

'Louis! Paul! Where are you!? Answer me!!' Ann's voice echoed loudly throughout the cave walls, sending them further down the twisting and cracked paths.

He waited for a response, but received none. Not even a shout back, when all of a sudden he heard a low and angry growl.

As he tried to focus on the whereabouts of the noise, he readied his gun and pulled back the safety switch to 'Fire mode', awaiting a target.

A pair of big glowing green eyes illuminated in the darkness like a dim flame, and Ann instantly opened fire, knowing what it was.

The timber wolf roared as bullets swept through it's thick and thin wooden joints, throwing wooden splints in their wake as the shells jumped through the smoke.

The loud roar of the gun shuddered deeper into the cave, where surely more timber wolves could hear it.

The gun stopped firing and as the smoke now surrounding the air grew thinner, Ann could easily make out that he had shredded up the timber wolf in a massacre of bullets, and wasted about half of his magazine, leaving 15 spare unfired bullets left to use, along with one spare magazine for his assault rifle and 4 for his 9mm pistol.

'Jesus Christ...give me a fucking break....'

In the long, towering thrashes of the Everfree Forest, the six ponies were trotting along with Rainbow resting on Applejack's back as they continued the journey towards Ponyville.

'We shouldn't be far now girls, c'mon, we need to get moving if we wanna get outa this without being spotted by a timber wolf.'

Applejack spoke softly to her friends, in case any pony-eating predators were about lurking in the shadows.

'I...I'm worried about Rainbow...what that Sergeant did was just so cruel!' Fluttershy spoke with anger in her voice as she tried to contain it, with few tears forming in her eyes as she glared at Rainbow's unconscious body.

'I hear ya. He's just a jerk, and what he did to Rainbow was just so unforgivably cruel.'

SNAP!

The group froze still, slight shivers ran down their spines as their eyes dilated around them for the source of the noise.

'Ya'll hear that?' 'Somethings near us...'

'H-Hello?' Twilight called out, but heard nothing.

Silence can't be good at a moment like this. The only audible sound in all the forest in this very moment was the small sound of leaves rustling as the cold night winds swung amongst them.

At that moment, a faint growl caught their attention, startling the ponies as they became slightly paralyzed with fear.

Fluttershy, being the most frightened out of the others remembered that Ann gave her his combat knife. She opened her wing, where she had the knife and picked it up in her mouth by the handle.

Knowing she had something to protect her and her friends made her feel a whole lot safer,but in a mere second, the most horrific thing that could possibly scare her jumped out of the bushes and stared right at her with it's glowing, light green eyes.

The wooden wolf's stare pierced her large cyan eyes and even her very soul, driving her fear to the max.

with no hesitation, her friends ran, but Fluttershy couldn't move, she was too paralyzed with fear to even move a single muscle.

'FLUTTERSHY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! RUN! RUN!' Twilight called out to the yellow Pegasus but she didn't react to her calls.

She stood there, helpless and full of fear and unable to move her body in the slightest.

Twilight knew her friend was in danger, and before anything was going to happen to her, she used her magic to levitate the timber wolf off of it's feet and smash it into a tree.

The timber wolf screeched in panic as she lifted it from the floor, and in seconds, it became nothing but a pile of sticks and sap and leaves.

Twilight hurriedly ran towards Fluttershy and grabbed her hoof to get her to move, but couldn't move.

'Fluttershy! Move! We need to go!'

'Mmmk--khgh...' Mumbles of fear left Fluttershy's mouth as her lips quivered in fear.

'Oh, come on!'

Twilight lifted Fluttershy up with her magic and carried her in a purple aura as she ran along to catch up with her friends.

'Oh, Celestia.....I hope that Ann is alright...'

Ann had been walking for ages, for what seemed to be hours but finally came across what he was looking for.

He came across a long, big room that had all different coloured gems covering the wall from ruby's to sapphires to emeralds to diamonds.

Amongs all the glistening gems were several corpses of ponies that must at least be 50 to 100 years of age. Some of them were wearing cowpony hats with light brims and dark colours while the other ones appeared to be feminine and had old drapes and gowns that were torn and scratched in various places, most likely from the day they were attacked.

Ann looked over to the corner of the room, trying carefully to spot Louis and Paul, and after a while of looking around he found them.

Paul was lying on his back in a pool of his own blood with several scratch and bite marks covering his face and chest while Louis was slouched against a wall with his left eye missing with blood oozing out of the wound, along with his own blood covering his fatigues from collar to bottom.

Ann's jaw dropped in shock as he saw his former teammates dead before his eyes. He felt lost inside as his only friends lay dead before him as he felt his blood begin to boil with rage.

He walked into the stone room where the temperature was even colder in here than near the entrance as he found as he ventured closer in the room.

As he walked to the other end, the disembodied limbs and guts of the once living ponies squelched beneath Ann's feet, making sickening sounds as he treaded on top of them.

Once he reached Paul's and Louis's bodies, he knelt down and carefully removed their dog tags and gave them a salute each.

'It's been an honour serving with you. Just like old times, I'm forever alone...'

A growl caught Ann's attention, and he turned around, eyeing the wooden wolf with nothing but hatred for what it did to his team.

'You wooden piece of shit! You killed my team! When I'm through with you, you will be nothing but pile of wooden shards!'

Without saying another word, Ann charged at the menacing beast and jumped on top of it, throwing punches rapidly at it's hard, wooden face.

'You like that, you prick!?' Ann taunted the beast as he continued throwing punches at the restrained wolf.

The wolf didn't even get fazed one bit by Ann's attacks, but instead bit down hard on his arm with great force, shaking it's head wildly, making the pain grow stronger as the wooden teeth sank deeper into his flesh.

Blood instantly began to squirt out of the wound in Ann's arm as he let out a blood curdling scream of agony.

He desperately tried to pry the wolves mouth from his arm, in hope to free it but it was of no use. Ann wasn't strong enough to force the maws of the beast from his arm, rendering him helpless.

He had no way of fighting back, since he gave his knife to Fluttershy, making him even more useless in the means of defense when he realized something....he had Paul's lighter.

He immediately used his free hand to search his pockets and eventually pulled out the chrome plated lighter.

Upon taking it out, he flipped the lid off and used his thumb to ignite the flame in a spark.

He stared one last time at the glowing eyes of the mystical creature and without thinking, he stuck the lighter into the beasts neck, instantly engulfing it in a hot blaze of red fire.

It began to howl in agony as it panicked, releasing Ann's arm as it did so and began running around like a helpless child, not knowing what to do in the current situation, but what else could a stupid wooden mutt do?

Seeking his chance, he picked up his assault rifle shot the rest of the rounds into the wolf, smashing loosened pieces of half burned wood to shreds upon impact like a firework.

Withing minutes of the wolves agonizing howls, it had burned to ashes. Knowing that it was over, Ann gave a heavy sigh as he covered his now blood smeared hand, in relief that he could finally rest.

He left without saying anything else other than one thing: 'Fucking mutt...never liked dogs in the first place...'

Back in Ponyville, the girls finally made it back safely with Rainbow and got her to the hospital.

They all sat around Rainbow's bed, watching her as she slept, in hope that she was okay, while they also thought about Ann and Louis.

Bad thoughts ran through their heads since they last saw him. Was he dead or alive? Was he okay?

It was now morning, the day after they last saw Ann.

They waited a good few hours before they heard a moan coming from Rainbow's mouth. All of them paused, feeling relieved that she wasn't dead or very badly hurt.

'Ugh...W-What happened..?'

'Rainbow! You're okay! I thought we'd lost you!' Twilight said with a smile of relief as she hugged Rainbow, her friends doing the same.

'Oh, we were so worried!' A teary Applejack spoke up.

Rainbow looked around, expecting to see Ann and Louis, but saw no trace.

'Hey, where are Ann and Louis?'

At that moment her mind thought of the worst.

'Rainbow....I don't know how to tell you this but...' Twilight began as they all looked down at the floor with tears forming in their eyes.

Before Twilight could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by the door opening and a certain person coming inside.

It was Ann. Blood was dripping down his arm, covering the side of his white undershirt in a shade of dark red. His hair was frazzled and his eyes had black bags hanging underneath them.

'ANN!' They all shouted in unison as they all ran up to hug him.

'Thank Christ you're all alright...especially you Rainbow. Good to see you look better than before.'

Rainbow blushed lightly as she stared Ann in the eyes.

'I missed you, too. Nice to see that you're still moving and alive.' Squeed Dash in return as she gave him a smile.

'Where are Paul and Louis?'

Ann looked down at the floor as he was asked the question, tears forming in his eyes as he reached into his pocket and pulled out their dog tags.

The ponies gasped in horror as Ann displayed the bloody chains and tags in his hand as they dangled off his thumb.

'They're dead. Now I'm on my own.'

'Oh, Ann, I'm so sorry...' Fluttershy patted Ann on the shoulder as she looked at his face, and without looking up, he hugged the yellow Pegasus in a friendly embrace.

'Things are never going to be the same again...I'm going to miss them...even if Paul was a bitch to you all, including me.'

His words fell silent as he sat down in the corner, crossing one arm over his wounded arm, yelping in pain as he breathed through gritted teeth.

'Oh my gosh! Are you alright? Your bleeding!' Fluttershy looked at him with concern.

'Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just...need to rest for a while...'

Ann grew silent for a moment, leaning his head against the wall as he recollected memories of his team while they were at war for the first time, remembering all the good times they had.

He thought of one thing: Things are never going to be the same again. They died with honour...I'll never forget them. Ever.

All of the ponies shared glances of sorrow for Ann until he spoke up after moments of being silent.

'Rainbow...I'm sorry he did that to you..I know he was a bitch, but not a cruel bastard with a cold enough heart to do that..apart from when we were at war back home.'

Ann didn't make eye contact as he spoke, but instead looked at the floor as he stood with his good arm covering the open wound on his bloody arm from the timber wolf bite.

'T-That's okay, Ann...I-I'm sorry that that had to happen to him and Louis..they were good men.'

Ann sighed softly

'What are we going to do about them since they are gone? I can't leave them buried out there in the darkness....Ryan, Curtis, Paul and Louis all need to be buried...It's the least that I could do for them, especially after all the time I spent with them in war.'

Upon thinking those names, he recalled not seeing one of them for a long time: Parker.

'Oh. Shit....' He spoke slowly.

Twilight looked up to him with concern and wonder in her eyes.

'What? What's the matter?'

''Where's Parker? Have any of you seen him?''

The ponies all looked at each other, exchanging confused glances.

''We don't know, sugarcube...can anyone remember when and where we saw him last?''

''C'mon, he must be somewhere! He can't of just disappeared in an instant.'' Ann said aloud, confusion building up in him and the ponies.

''Wait...I'm going to look for him at the library. He's gotta be there...he just gotta be! Wait here, I'll be back soon.'' Ann said as he climbed to his feet and walked to the door.

''Ann, wait.'' Twilight called.

Ann stopped in his tracks.

''Hmm?''

''I'll come with you.''

''Parker, you in here?'' Ann called as he came in through the libraries front door, but got no response.

''Parker?''

''Maybe he's not here?'' Twilight spoke up from behind Ann.

''No, he's gotta be here. There ain't no place else I think he'd go.''

Ann went upstairs, checking the bathroom, bedroom and guest room and study area, but found no trace of Parker, other than his pistol he left on the table, still loaded with bullets. He finally went downstairs and checked the basement, calling out his name but got no response. He walked down the the stairs, feeling the smooth, varnished wooden wall for the light switch, upon eventually feeling it, flicking it on. The room immediately lit up with a bright, white light and right at the back of the room, he saw who he was looking for.

Parker was sat with his back against the wall, letting out an almost silent snore as he slept peacefully. Ann isn't a lone wolf after all, suddenly warming his heart a little bit.

''Hey, Twilight, I found him!'' Ann called up the stairs, Twilight soon coming down the staircase at her name.

''Really?! Oh...has he been down here the whole time? What could he possibly of been doing down here alone?''

''Parker?'' Twilight called in an attempt to awake Parker from his slumber. ''Parker!''

No response. Her answer was only met with more nearly inaudible snores.

''Twilight, cover your ears.''

''What? Why?''

''This'll wake him up...''

Ann reached into the back of his trousers where he had placed Parker's pistol and lifted it into the air with his hand, pulling back the hammer before pulling the trigger, sounding a loud bang that made Twilight flinch and instantly awakening the Lieutenant with a jolt.

''AHH! What?! Where?! Who's there?!'' Parker jerked around quickly, his assault rifle in his arms, swinging back and forth as he hurriedly aimed around the area out of shock.

''Hey! Relax, Parker, it's me, Ann. Calm down will you?'' Ann motioned for him to calm down with his hand.

''Oh, jesus, Ann! Don't do that! Huh? Oh, hi, Twilight..'' He waved at her, Twilight waving back with a small crimson blush appearing on her pretty purple cheeks.

''Hi, Parker.''

''Parker...what where you doing down her- Hold on... is that my granddad's diary?'' He pointed to the worn black book next to Parker's boot.

''Uh...yeah...I guess it is...''

''Where you down here the whole time reading that thing?''

''Umm..yeah, I was. Some pretty interesting stuff in there, too. But, Ann? How come you never mentioned anything about this before? You know, about how Rainbow met your granddad and how they saved each other's lives and stuff?''

''Parker, I didn't even know that diary existed until a few months ago. I only ever heard Rainbow's name a few times as a reference in the first book back at his old apartment.''

''Well, Parker, you'd better come with us.''

''Why? Everyone alright?''

''No. Rainbow's in hospital with a broken skull and minor blood loss because the sergeant knocked her into a wall, and as for the rest of our team...'' Ann reached into his trouser pocket, taking out Louis's and Paul's bloody dog tags, displaying them to Parker, who's mouth was now agape as he took hold of them, a stray tear sliding down his cold cheek.

''You can't be serious...''

''I am, Parker. Everyone else is dead. Including Ryan.''

''Ryan?! He was like a brother to me!'' Parker cried.

''I know, out of all of us, he was the nicest friend we ever had. But hey, our other friends are waiting for us, we should probably get to the hospital with them.''

''You're back!'' Chimed a happy and excited Pinkie Pie as she bounced towards Twilight and Ann, pulling them both into a big hug, nearly taking the wind out of them both.

''Pinkie...e-easy...I can't breathe..'' Twilight coughed through her friend's unbelievable strength, Ann doing the same.''

She stopped, frozen like the rest of her friends when Parker came in, still carrying David Bishop's diary from the Second World War.

''Parker?! Oh, my Celestia! Where have you been?!'' Pinkie grinned as she and the rest of the friends tackled him to the ground in a friendly embrace.

''Whoa, whoa! Easy, girls!'' He gagged. ''Missed you all, too.'' He smiled as he returned the hug individually.

''Where ya'll been, sugarcube?''

''I've been at the library, reading this diary. And Christ, is this thing long! I'm not even a third of the way through it yet!''

Rainbow looked at the worn, black leather diary from her hospital bed, recognizing it instantly.

''Is that David's diary?'' She pointed her cyan hoof to it.

''Huh? Oh, yeah, it is. Why? You ever read it before?''

''Yeah, not read all of it though, and I've had the thing for like a couple years or so.''

''Rainbow?''

''Yeah, Parker?''

''What happened to you?'' He pointed to the bandage wrapped firmly around her head.

''Paul uppercut me into a wall when we was in a cave because I called him a granddad.'' She frowned, yet giggled a little at the memory.

''Ha. Well, fair enough. He kind of was a granddad sometimes.''

The Past Hurts (Sequel/Additional Chapter)

A Week After The Funeral....

Ann walked through the town of Ponyville, on his way to the graveyard, the last resting place of many loved ponies, but for him, it was the ones he spent most of his army-life with and whom he loved like brothers dearly. Snow had started to fall, and the temperature outside was just off bearable. His skin was red with the cold, but he didn't care. He was in no state of mind to bother in the slightest how warm or cold he was. As he walked, he kept his head hung low, staring at the frosted ground below as he went along his way. To say the least, he already felt like he'd lost everything he cared about, but the one thing he didn't know is the fact that he did have something he cared about.

The snow got slightly heavier and faster, the cold now becoming uncomfortably low, and Ann barely wore much clothing, but he didn't care at the moment. All he wanted to do was walk and try to free his mind. On his way to the graveyard, he noticed some ponies watching him from the corners of his eyes, seeing them whispering things, probably about him being different from them and looking more of an alien. He pushed the feeling off, not bothering to look up or even pay no mind to it.

When he got to the graveyard, he passed several graves that he had seen before, but right now, his mind was set onto the four in front of him, all made from a white marble and shining like they were polished not long ago. On their fronts, small, rectangle signs were attached with the names of the graves occupant enscribed on them in a bold black font.

Seeing them before him, he took his time paying his respects to them separately. At each grave, he found himself shedding cold tears as he lay down poppies on the burials. Moving on to Ryan's grave, Ann felt himself shiver and feel like he was going to break. Out of all the friends he had in the army, the one he was most close to was Ryan. Everything about him just made him feel like family when he was near him. He didn't make him feel like an outcast nor a burden nor a failure, he made him feel warmer inside.

Kneeling down in front of Ryan's grave, Ann placed a poppy down and got himself back to his feet, saluting.

''Ryan...first, let me just say I'm sorry. I should of been there for you, like you've always been there for me when I needed you. If I were with you, then maybe Curtis maybe wouldn't of killed you. I know I'll never get another chance to set things right, so for now, all I can say to you is goodbye. You were always like a brother to me. I love you, bro.''

Wiping his arm across his face, Ann realized he was crying openly and heavily, and he didn't even know. Turning around, he was about to leave when he stopped just near the graveyard entrance. Standing there, looking right at him was Fluttershy, a sad and concerned expression on her face as she met eyes with him.

''Hey.'' She said softly, still looking at him as she came a little closer to him. ''Are you alright?''

''Oh, hi, Fluttershy.'' Ann greeted her in a dull, sad tone, his voice sounding a little cracked. ''Howcome you're outside? You're bound to get a cold if you stay out her for a while.''

''Don't worry about me, Ann. But, is something wrong? Have you been crying?''

''Hmm. Yeah. I just came here to say my final goodbyes to my friends, is all.''

''Oh. Its just that you don't look too good.'' Fluttershy said as she put her hoof to his shoulder, looking at his pale and cold figure.

''I don't feel too good, either, but I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about me.''

''But I do, Ann. Look at you. You're cold and pale, you've been acting different ever since the funeral!''

''Fluttershy...'' Ann said slowly and quietly, looking into her sweet eyes.

''No, don't ''Fluttershy'' me. Just come with me back to my cottage. You need help. Now.''

Sighing in defeat of reasoning with the butter Pegasus, Ann eventually gave in.

''Alright.''

At Fluttershy's cottage, Ann found himself feeling somehow cozy at the warmth of her home. He was sat on the couch, waiting for Fluttershy to come back from the kitchen. He didn't really know what there was to talk about, but it was evadable enough that she was worried about him and just wanted to help him. True, he did feel terrible, but the only thing at this point that could make him feel better was having his team back. He couldn't help but feel responsible for their deaths. Soldiers were meant to work in teams and together, but in Ann's case, he wasn't there when they needed him by their side. Silently, he slouched in his seat, planting a palm across his face as he felt tears tears well up in his eyes.

Moments later, Fluttershy came into the room, balancing two mugs of steaming, frothy cider on her back. Carefully, she let one slip off her back and down her wing to land on the table, the other being slid into her hoof as she took a seat across from Ann. She took a sip of her own cider, enjoying the taste as it caressed her taste buds. Then she looked at Ann, noticing that he was silently crying. To say the least, it kinda of hurt her to know that one of her friends was hurting even more because they lost their friends. Quietly, Fluttershy got up from her seat and walked over to the couch, sitting next to Ann and carefully wrapped a hoof around his neck and hugged him.

As she hugged him tightly, she could hear and feel his heartbeat, that soothing, soft feeling that was rather comforting. Ann gently returned the hug, and Fluttershy saw his tears, flowing down his face like a fountain. Right now, all he wanted was to be with someone. Anyone. Anypony.

''Shh. Shh. Its alright, Ann. Everything going to be alright.'' Fluttershy told him in a motherly tone, and surprisingly, Ann did indeed calm down a little and later settle down into her hooves, cuddling with her mane, enjoying its soft, silky feeling.

''Fluttershy...I'm sorry...'' Ann whimpered, trying to hold back sobs but to no avail.

''Ann, you don't have anything to be sorry for. I know you're hurting, but we'll always be there for you.''

''Thank you, Fluttershy. I'm just sorry you have to see me like this...''

''Well, you don't need to be, Ann. It hurts to lose something or somebody you love, and I know that for a fact.''

''*sniffle* You do? How so?''

''I...um...lost my parents to an incurable illness when I was younger. It was cancer...'' Fluttershy told him, tears starting to invade her own eyes.

Saying nothing, Ann hugged Fluttershy closely, not wanting to let go of her. Fluttershy didn't resist it either, she just clung onto Ann's shoulders like she was glued there. After a while of the warm embrace him and Fluttershy shared, Ann let her go, and looked into her eyes. But that wasn't all, she was smiling, and it also made Ann smile, too.

The rest of the night, they both stayed together, telling some stories of the past and they even learned a bit more about each other. Such as how Fluttershy got her cutie mark as a filly and finding what her special talent was, and how Ann lived back where he came from, mostly about his life in the army and as a child. To say the least about that night, Ann already felt warmer inside as he spent time with Fluttershy.

Maybe things weren't so bad, after all.

Winter In Equestria (Sequel/Additional Chapter)

Around 2 years had passes since the soldiers had come to Equestria. Now there were two left: Parker and Ann. Winter had come around and to the remaining ex-soldiers, it was kind of nice in their opinion. It wasn't as cold as it was back home, there wasn't anything to worry about, and they had their friends to hang around with, but for Ann, he had a special some pony to spend his Christmas with. Rainbow Dash. Ever since they had come, he had gotten to know her more and the more he knew of her, the more he loved being with her. It had now gotten to the point were he had the courage to ask her out. Of course Rainbow was surprised and said yes, but what she didn't know is that this winter would be the best she had ever had in her entire life.

It was the middle of the afternoon in Ponyville, and Ann and Parker were walking together to their destination. And of course, that certain destination had to be none other than where Pinkie Pie was holding a party for the town: Sugarcube Corner.

None of the two knew what to expect out of one of her parties, but Ann didn't care much about that, he was more interested in seeing Rainbow again. He couldn't explain it, but the love and warmth he feels when he's around her makes him feel like a completely different man than the one he was before.

Outside was cold and crisp, the snow crunching underneath their leather boots as their breath frosted in the cold air. Eventually reaching their destination after a short walk, they entered Sugarcube Corner. As soon as they got indoors, they could already feel their cold figures heat up from the inviting warmth. Almost immediately, they were greeted by some of the townsfolk, but more specifically, the six friends they met on the first day in Equestria. Twilight and the rest of her friends were all sat at a table, motioning for them to come over with her hoof. The two friends walked over, taking a seat at the table they were all sat at, but what surprised Ann is that when he had sat down, he found that he was sat next to Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack, and not surprising enough, Ann found himself blushing. If it weren't for his cheeks being a cold, rosy red, it would of been visible. Across from him sat Parker, and he sat next to Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie.

''My,my. You two look freezing!'' Rarity said to Ann and Parker, noticing their reddened bodies from the biting cold outside.

''Yeah, at least its not as cold as the winter at home.'' Parker said with a weak smile.

''Ah, its nothin' a mug of hard cider can't fix.'' Applejack said as she opened a cider barrel from behind her with a small crowbar.

She filled the mugs of the frothy, yellow liquid to the brim and passed them all to her friends, Ann and Parker taking one with a thankful smile. They both took small sips each, enjoying the taste that it left on their tongues. Quite fairly, it was the best cider any of them had tasted in forever.

''Cheers, AJ. One mug'll do me for the time being.'' Ann said as he took another sip. ''I'm trying to quit drinking all together.''

''And why's that?'' Rainbow asked from next to him, a coy smile spread on her lips, and Ann knew that look all too well.

''Um...well, I don't really like drinking as much as I used to. I mean, when you get older, it doesn't have the same buzz as before.''

''Oh, come on! Who knew you were such a weakling at drinking?'' Rainbow nudged him playfully in the shoulder. ''I can drink all night long without getting drunk off my hooves!''

''No you can't.'' Applejack said with a wide, daring grin on her face as she eyes her Rainbow maned friend. ''Last Cider Season, you drank like two barrels and a half of cider and even that was enough to knock you down!''

Blushing a shade of pink, Rainbow looked away, her friends, including Ann and Parker laughing at her reaction.

''Yeah,yeah...I can still drink more than you, AJ.''

''Is that so? Well, maybe some other time, Rainbow. Tonight I'm gonna try an stay sober.''

Dash snorted softly, blowing her mane a with a puff. ''Quitter.''.

Ann snickered quietly, covering his mouth with his hand. Rainbow looked at him, wondering what he thought was funny.

''What are you laughing at, tough guy? Something funny to you?'' She asked, never taking her sweet, magenta eyes off his brown eyes.

''N-N-No. Its just you, Rainbow...you crack me up...''

''Oh,really?'' She smirked at Ann, just before she grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him closer to her, generating her warm body heat to his own cold body.

Playfully she ruffled his hair, partly tickling him, trying to make him laugh, but to her surprise, he didn't laugh as much as she wanted him to. Letting him back up, she noticed Ann blush slightly. At the opposite side of the table, Rainbow and Ann noticed the others laughing at them quietly, suppressing their laughter with their hooves.

''What's so funny?'' Rainbow asked, confused at their laughter.

''L-Look up, Rainbow.'' Twilight snickered, pointing above Rainbow and Ann's heads with a hoof.

They both looked up, and hanging above their heads was a piece of mistletoe. They both blushed brightly, looking nervously at each other.

''W-Who put that there?'' Rainbow nearly exclaimed, damn near shocked.

''N-Nopony...'' Pinkie said quietly, trying to resist bursting into laughter, and obviously, Rainbow knew it was her. That look and the way she said it made it clear she put it there.

''Pinkie...'' Rainbow nearly growled.

''Oh, come on, Dash! Its Hearths Warming Eve! You have to! That's the rules!''

Turning back to face Ann, she nervously etched closer towards him, getting next to his side to the point where they were touching each other. Ann looked back, not knowing how to handle the situation he was now in. He didn't have anything against her, in fact, he loved her like family. So what harm could this one thing do? Carefully, he lowered his level, gently placing his hands on Rainbow's sides, deepening her blush at his cold but comfortable touch. Ever so slowly, they moved closer to each other, eventually touching lips. To say the least about the awkward moment, it was rather relaxing, and Ann enjoyed every second of the short moment.

Rainbow's lips tasted sweet and smooth. But on top of that, the taste of the hard cider was still there, and in Ann's opinion, it tasted awesome... After a short moment, they broke from the kiss, both looking into each others eyes as they both blushed a burning crimson.

''Wow...'' Ann whispered quietly to himself.

He enjoyed it that much, that neither of them even noticed Pinkie rolling around on the floor laughing endlessly.

''Hahaha! That was soooooo good! I knew you both liked each other!''

''Wait, what?!'' Rainbow blurted out, staring Pinkie dead in her baby blue eyes. ''Me and Ann?''

Rainbow turned for a moment, not bothering about the skeptical looks Fluttershy and Applejack were giving her.

It was true, she really did like Ann. He did remind her a lot about David, and it was evident enough he liked her back in the same way, but them two together? Would that even work? He was a human and she was a pony, what would the others think of that?

''Well, of course I like Ann.'' She said quietly, turning back around to face Ann in the eyes, moving closer to him. ''I-I-I love him like family.''

''Awww....'' Fluttershy said softly in her usual sweet voice. ''For one, I think you two are perfect for each other.''

Ann blushed deeply, staring right back at Rainbow. Slowly, he drank more of his cider, feeling it warm up his insides a little bit.

''I love you too, Rainbow.'' Is all he said, audible enough that everyone at the table - and a few others - heard it.

Without saying much more, he pulled her into a hug, enjoying the feeling of her beautiful, silky, cyan coat against his skin. As he moved away from the hug, he kissed Rainbow passionately on the lips. Taken back a little by this, Rainbow blushed a deeper red than she had ever before. Her friends watched the whole thing, happy for the both of them, but a little shocked at how it was going out.

''That. Was. Awesome...'', Rainbow said slowly, in her own heaven for a moment.

After the party at Sugarcube Corner, Ann and Rainbow stayed behind, and somehow, Rainbow managed to talk Pinkie into let them both stay for a while longer. They both sat with each other at a table, drinking some of the leftover cider from Applejack's barrel from earlier. The only difference was that it was warm, due to it being placed in a microwave moments before the party ended.

They both sat there together closely, holding each other in their arms. They both cuddled closely together for a short while, but then they both found it to be the most closest, most beautiful moment of their lives. They were both making out, making quiet moaning noises as they enjoyed each others embrace. Soon after, they broke from the passionate moment and stared each other in the eyes that were now full of lust.

''Rainbow, I want you to know that I love you.'' Ann said, trying to catch his breath. Rainbow doing the same.

''I love you, too.'' Rainbow said as she snuggled into Ann's chest, soon finding comfort from his beating heart.

''Rainbow, from the moment I met you, I knew, deep down, that I loved you. I hope we can stay together for a long time. Right now, you're the best thing that ever happened to me. You're just so beautiful, Rainbow...''

He was cut short by Rainbow planting her lips onto his, bringing that warm feeling back to them both. When she broke from the kiss, Ann stepped back, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a small, wrapped up package. He gently passed it to Rainbow Dash's hooves, Rainbow looking a bit confused but curious as to what its contents were.

''Happy Hearths Warming, Dashie.''

''What is it?''

''Something I want you to keep forever.''

Curiosity taking her mind over, Rainbow pulled at the packaging, underneath displaying a small, black box with a small symbolic but detailed pink rose on the lid. Opening the lid of the box, she found an actual pink rose inside of it, pulling it out, realizing it was the same as on the box's lid.Underneath the rose lay a framed picture. Taking it out and looking at it, Rainbow's eyes were instantly welling with tears of joy. It was of Ann and her together on their first date. They were both hugging and kissing each other passionately and right on top of the frame read:

''Rainbow and Ann - Never Ending Love''

Parker And His Secret Crush (Sequel (Short)/Additional Chapter)

''Come on, Parker, why don't you just tell her how you feel?''

It was the middle of the afternoon, and at Sugarcube Corner, Ann and Parker were at an empty table, discussing a few things. What the two of them found weird was the fact that for a usually busy bakery, only them and a couple other ponies were filling the shop, with the acception of Pinkie Pie who was serving customers at the counter.

''I dunno, Ann.'' Parker slowly said back, sipping some of his black coffee he bought earlier. ''I like her, I really do, but what if she doesn't feel the same way about me?''

''Aw, come on. Cheer up! You and Applejack have so many things in common. For example, when your mind is set on something, you don't give in easily. On top of that, you've known her for at least a few years, so you obviously know a few things about her, personality wise.'' Ann said reassuringly.

''I guess that's true, but seriously, what if she doesn't like me as much as Rainbow likes you? For some reason, I get the feeling things will end up being bad. I mean, won't her saying ''no'' spoil our relationship?''

''Parker...just stop worrying about it. Just tell her. You never know how things'll be if you leave and ignore them.''

''He's right you know.'' A familiar feminine voice said from above them.

Looking above them, they saw none other than Pinkie upside-down from absolutely nothing and then fall down, landing on all hooves and joining Parker next to his seat.

''How much did you hear?!'' He exclaimed, shocked at her sudden appearance. ''Second, how did you-''

''Oh, silly-filly, the shop is closed! I just served the last customer, my shift is over!'' She nudged Parker in the arm playfully. ''Oh, and to answer your question, I heard pretty much everything. I'm kind of surprised you didn't even notice me, hanging upside-down for a while sure makes you feel a little dizzy.''

Ann and Parked exchanged confused glaces, looking at Pinkie. She looked back, but at Parker, she just laughed at his expression.

''Haha! Parker, you should see your face!'' She poked him in the arm, with a face that looked almost like a light-bulb.

''Pinkie...did...did you actually hear our conversation? You know...me and Applejack?'' Parker inquired, the feeling of dread filling his heart of wondering if she had actually heard him.

Pinkie didn't even answer, but as a response just smiled and nodded. But then, she noticed the worried look on his face, and her happy expression soon turned into a small frown.

''What? Is it bad that I heard it? Was it secret?!''

''Pinkie, just don't tell everyone, okay? Please? I don't want her to know yet. Just promise me you'll keep quiet about this.''

''Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!'' Pinkie chimed, miming all her words, but sticking a real cupcake in her eye, splatting purple-blue frosting over her face before licking it off.

''Mmmm! Blue Raspberry!''

The Nightmare (Sequel/Additional Chapter)

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Timberwolves. They never seemed to stop coming. The Everfree was filled with the damned things! On his own, Ann killed them off, one by one, his trusty assault rifle slaughtering them before they could get him, their wooden limbs clanking on the floor with dull thuds, followed by howls of pain.

''Who's next?!'' Ann balled, gun at the ready for the next kill. There was only a few of the wolves left, but it wasn't enough to satisfy Ann. They killed his friends and he wanted payback for what they did to them. The remaining timberwolves around him just stared at him, growling and ready to pounce him, each one intending to rip him to pieces.

From behind him, he heard one snarl, and as he heard it pounce, he swiftly swiveled around and emptied two rounds into it's neck, sending it plummeting into the cold, hard ground. But what seemed odd to Ann was that after he fired, he noticed blood on the ground. Turning to face the spot where the creature landed, Ann froze, shocked by what it was that he had shot.

There, lying in a pool of blood was Rainbow Dash, gagging and trying to stop the bleeding with her hooves clamped around her throat.

Ann panicked, dropping his rifle and kneeling beside Rainbow, gripping her tightly as he placed his hands around her neck, applying pressure to try stop the bleeding, but it was of no use. Her eyes were tearing up and blood started to dribble out of the corner of her mouth, running down her chin and onto the floor beneath her, making a small pool of blood.

''Rainbow! You're gonna be okay, you'll be okay, don't pass out on me! Please! I'm sorry!'' Ann cried as he locked his eyes with hers, reading the level of pain she was in. She tried to speak but all that could come out her mouth was sputters of blood, her mouth visibly filled with it.

''No! Don't die! Don't die on me! I love you, Rainbow!''

Rainbow felt cold. Ann cradled her body tightly, holding her close, not wanting to let her go. As he held her, he heard her say one last thing before her head fell in his arms, hanging lifelessly.

''Why...?''

*** *** ***

''AHHHH!'' Ann shot up in bed, sweating profusely with cold sweat and his heart thumping rapidly in his chest. He wiped a hand across his eyes, noticing that he was crying. Even though what he witnessed was a dream, it felt so real.

Next to him, he saw her, curled up in a small ball under the covers, sleeping soundly. He smiled weakly as he saw one of her ears twitch as she mumbled something. He laid back down,turned on his side, watching her sleep, just watching her chest rise gently up and down as she breathed. Not wanting to disturb her slumber, he carefully shifted up closer to her, placing a hand over her side, stroking her lovingly.

''I love you, Rainbow.''

As he stroked her beautifully smooth coat, he heard her say something back:

''I love you, too, Ann.''

She turned around, looking at him sweetly with those cute and adorable magenta eyes of hers. She didn't say anything for a short while, but instead moved close to him so her chest was touching his, and she wrapped her hooves around him, hugging him.

''Ann? Are you alright? You...feel kinda cold.'' Rainbow asked innocently as she broke from the embrace, looking back into his eyes.

Ann didn't say anything. He just pulled her into a tight embrace, snuggling with her, planting a soft peck on her cheek.

''Ann?''

''Shh, I just wanna hold you...'' He said, rubbing he mane gently with a hand, loving the feel of its silkiness. ''...I...I just don't wanna lose you. You're the best thing that ever happened to me.''

Rainbow didn't know why he was acting this way towards her, but she could tell something was wrong, but that was a question for another day. After all, she was tired, and the position in which Ann was holding her was pretty comfortable. She let her head snuggle with his, finding an inviting warmth, letting herself drift off into a deep sleep.

I Lived to Tell the Tale

'SARGE! FIRE UNITS INCOMING!' A soldier called from the battlefront to the Sergeant who was on the radio.

'Alright, team, we got one shot at this and ONLY ONE shot at this if we are going to survive this war.'

The Sergeant began instructing his team. 'I want all of you to move your asses to the main bunker and have your weapons at the ready. Is that clear?'

'YES SIR!' All the soldiers shouted in unison.

'THEN RACK EM' UP LADIES!'

Upon word, the group of soldiers ran to the bunker defense point and pointed the tips of their assault rifles through the gun holes, waiting for their targets to show.

The squad consisted of 6 soldiers.

They all wore thick, metal helmets covered in green camouflage that were tightly strapped around their neck.

All of their uniforms were the same shade of forest green and had their own personal armor strapped onto it, along with their name tags on the left side of the torso, and around the neck they wore a necklace of small metal beads with dog tags dangling off of the end in the cold, acrid air.

The first soldier's tag read 'Private R. Curtis.' The name was printed all in the font of thick, black stencil.

The next soldier in line next to Curtis was Private L. Ryan, followed by Lieutenant C. Parker, then Major Louis and next to Louis was Private A. Bishop.

They all were waiting for the orders from the Sergeant who was already pissed from waiting.

He was squatting behind a pile of sandbags with his binoculars out, awaiting the enemy coming over the horizon of the battlefield.

The soldiers were starting to get bored of waiting around when suddenly the silence around them started to get louder and louder....

They all began looking all around them for the source of the noise when all of a sudden, a noisy whistle was heard from above.

'ARTILLERY, INCOMING! MOVE IT!'

The group moved from their positions and began running down the long, damp and muddy trench for cover underground, only to be stopped by a giant explosion in front of them.

An artillery shell had struck the deep muddy walls of the trench and the mud had blocked their way to the bunker, and to their surprise, a group of Russian soldiers came up towards them with about 2 fire units and another 2 machine gun units.

With no hesitation the Lieutenant pointed his assault rifle towards the Russian soldiers torso and shot him in the gut, making him fall to the ground in agony as blood poured out of his open wounds.

Straight after the Lieutenant downed a soldier, the second machine gunner fired at the Lieutenants leg, emptying 3 bullets into it, each one pushing the last further inwards.

The Lieutenant groaned and screamed as blood flushed its way out of his body and stained the cold, mud below him.

'Fuck you...Fuck you all to hell!'

Just then all the soldiers, including the Sergeant felt a blaze of hot, bright light ignite their bodies.

Was it the flamethrowers? Is that what it felt like to be scorched by the glaze of a flame?

None of the soldiers knew what happened, but in a matter of seconds it was all over.

The strange part was that when the bright light ceased they were no longer inside a trench with soldiers with guns in their faces.

The place where they were now was full of colourful grass and trees, much like a wonderland you would end up in as you dream.

Were they dead or was this all a dream?

No... It felt all too real to be a dream.

They could smell and taste the breezy, warm air as it floated around them making sounds like a kite rippling in the wind.

When they were awake, they were sitting on the ground, still in their uniforms with all their equipment and guns.

'Jesus...My head...what the fuck happened?'

The Sergeant was first to speak out of the five.

Major Louis just simply shrugged his shoulders as he scratched at his aching head with his wrinkled hand.

'Major? Where's Ryan? He's not with us!' 'I swear if those bastard Russians torched him...'

'Calm the fuck down, Sergeant, I'm sure he's fine wherever he is.' 'He can't of just disappeared into thin air.'

The Sergeant grunted as he looked toward the smooth, swaying grass below him.

'We need to look for him! I'm not leaving a soldier behind. He is MY responsibility!'

MEANWHILE SOMEPLACE ELSE IN PONYVILLE

Ryan was upside down hanging from a tree branch by his feet.

'Ugh..My head...wait... WHAT THE FUCK!?'

Ryan panicked before realizing he was on a tree branch and face planted on the floor below, hitting his nose first into the dirt.

'AGH! Fuck!' Ryan rubbed his nose as he climbed to his feet and shook his head.

'Holy shit, where am I?'

'Sarge? Major?, Private?'

No answer.

Ryan knew right away he wasn't even close to his team mates, but he noticed he was in a lovely field filled with poppies and daisies.

This was the first thing he had seen in 4 years that didn't smell like the inside of a donkeys ass or have corpses of his friends and their blood covering it.

'How did I get here....?' The thought quickly swam out of Ryan's mind, he was just glad to be out of the trenches for a change.

In the distance, he spotted a small settlement.

It was the only thing in his sight apart from the fields and flowers around him, and began to walk slowly towards it, checking that he had his guns and equipment with him first.

He checked his holster and saw he still had his revolver strapped to his side.

He smiled to himself, but felt a bit naked without his machine gun and knife.

'There better not be any of them Russian bastards up ahead, or there will be hell to pay...'

Funeral and Final Goodbyes (Extended and Redone)

''You fucking prick!! I'll show you who's a granddad!'' Paul screamed as he furiously punched and kicked the defenseless cyan pegasus who's eyes were sparkling and flooding with tears.

''Stop, stop! Please STOP!!'' She begged, trying to defend herself with her hooves covering her face.

''Why?! Had enough?! When I'm done, you'll wish you never crossed me!'' He balled at her, not once stopping his rage quit upon her now bruised and bloody body.

Soon, the beating stopped, for Rainbow Dash had stopped moving and died from the pain and blood loss.

''AHHHH!!!'' Ann shot up in bed, sweat running down his forehead and onto his sheets, his breathing heavy with panic.

''Oh, thank god...'' He sighed in relief. ''It was just a dream...''

He swiveled out of the sheets and climbed to his feet, placing a hand over his forehead as a stray tear slid down his cheek and hit the floor, sounding a quiet splash. He looked out the window, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand.

''Why did you all have to die?'' He thought aloud. ''Why couldn't you just get along with her?''

Just then, a gentle series of taps were heard on the door, and then the door opened. Fluttershy stood in the doorway, looking at Ann with concerned eyes.

''Ann? Are you a-alright?'' She asked softly, the moonlight making her eyes glitter beautifully.

He sighed quietly. ''I..I..just...Ugh. I dunno...''

''What's wrong? I heard you scream...'' She asked with a cute, yet sad look.

''Sorry about that, Fluttershy...Its...just that I had a nightmare...about...Paul and Rainbow...''

''Oh...What happened? You look terrified...''

''Paul...he...was hurting Rainbow..kicking her, punching her, making her bleed and bruise and...eventually...kill her..'' He wiped a hand over his face, more tears dripping out his tear ducts.

''Oh, my...'' She trotted up to him and cuddled him warmly, Ann returning the hug.

''I dunno if I can go through with this...the funeral is tomorrow, and we got four of mine and Parker's friends to put six feet under. I've never even had to do this kind of thing before..'' He moped, rubbing his cheek into Fluttershy's soft, cozy pink mane.

''Don't worry, Ann. It'll be okay, I assure you.''

''Fluttershy?''

''Y-Yeah?''

''Do you...um...why do you and your friends trust us so easily? We are soldiers - people who kill for their country, but all for a good cause that protects civilization.''

''Well...I...I guess because you are all so nice and help each other, as you do with us when we need you.'' She smiled at Ann, himself smiling back, despite the awful memories and the nightmare he just had.

''Thanks, Fluttershy. Me nor Parker will ever leave you or your friends, I promise.''

The day of the funeral had to be the most glummest and memorable days in pony history, but for Ann and Parker, it was the day they say their final words to their four dead friends before they are buried to rest for good.

The coffins were all designed in the way they were all made back home, thanks to the pictures in David's old diary, it did help the work ponies to make them, and of course, Ann and Parker told Rarity about their countries flag, and thanks to her remarkable textile skills, she managed to fashion four of them for each individual coffin.

All the ponies were gathered at the Ponyville graveyard, along with the full town, all wearing a sad expression and dressed in formal black attire appropriate for a funeral. Four graves were dug around the crowd, with the coffins containing the remnants of the soldiers. The American flag was covering the top of the coffin, rippling in the gentle breeze, and on top of them were pretty red poppies.

At the very front of the crowd of ponies, Ann, Parker and the six friends were waiting for the funeral to begin. Ann and Parker both had their berets on, and were crying hysterically as the rest of them did the same, but more conveniently, Pinkie Pie was crying the most out of all of them.

''They were good men, Ann.'' Rainbow said sadly as she rubbed his back with her hoof.

''Yeah...yeah, they were. Even if Paul was a prick sometimes. I'm sorry he did that to you.'' He placed a hand to her shoulder, earning a blush from Rainbow.

''Thank you all for coming to this funeral today, here at Ponyville graveyard. Today, we will be saying goodbye to four of the six soldiers that risked their lives to protect ours. I also believe that Ann and Parker here have something to say.'' Twilight announced.

Ann stepped forward, pulling his beret back, revealing his flooded eyes.

''I...don't know what to say about this funeral, but...these men - my friends, my brothers - we all thought beside each other night and day. We would watch over each other all the time in combat.'' He wiped an arm across his eyes and wiped away his tears.

''Ryan, Paul, Curtis and Louis were all good men, even if Paul was a prick sometimes, I still loved him like a brother. Even though they are gone from the world now, they can finally rest in peace for eternity. The most horrible part of this is...just the fact that I know that we'll never see them again...''

Ann's voice started to break at his own words, everypony else crying openly and heavily. Parker walked up to Ann's side and placed a hand to his shoulder, then cuddled him tight and close.

''We should probably lower them down now...''

''Right...'' Ann nodded slowly.

Ann and Parker walked towards the coffin side and pulled back the lever together, lowering the four coffins ever so slowly.

As they went down, Ann walked towards Ryan's coffin and picked up his revolver from his holster. He looked at it silently, caressing it gingerly with his thumb and dropped it on top of the coffin.

''I'm so, so sorry, buddy. I should of been able to save you..I love you all.'' He said aloud, earning a few awes from the crowd.

After the funeral had finished and the soldiers were buried, the two remaining soldiers and the mane six went back to Twilight's library. There, Ann sat alone at the table, staring down and resting his elbow on the table as he had his hand planted across his face, tears still leaking from his eyes. Across from him, Parker was sat on the floor with Twilight and Rarity at his side, talking with them. After a few moments, Rainbow came beside Ann with Fluttershy and sat with him at the table.

Rainbow sat close to Ann, able to see his pain that was loss. She didn't say anything but instead gently placed a hoof to his shoulder, causing him to flinch a bit at her soft touch.

''Hey.'' She said quietly. ''Do you feel alright? You barely said a thing since the funeral.''

Ann didn't respond or look up at her. Rainbow and Fluttershy both exchanged worried looks.

Without saying anything or thinking, Fluttershy and Rainbow wrapped their hooves around Ann and hugged him as they held him close to their chests.

''Rainbow...''

''Ann, its alright...''

In moments, Ann eventually felt a little warmer inside and cuddled Rainbow, rubbing his cheek into her multicolour mane.

''Its my fault...I should of been there for them all...but I failed them.''

Rainbow rubbed his back, him rubbing her back as he broke from the hug, looking into her beautiful, magenta eyes.

He looked at them hard, and made it seem like he was staring directly into her soul.

''Ann?''

''Hmm? What?'' Ann said in a still sad tone, snapping back into reality.

''Something wrong?''

''No, its just...'' He stopped, wiping away tears from his eyes with the palm of his hand. ''I was lost in your eyes.''

At his statement, Rainbow blushed a bright, furious red and turned her head away as a smile crept to her lips. Fluttershy looked up at Ann, seeing his hurt expression.

''Hey, Ann?''

''Hmm?''

''Do you think you'll be okay? I mean, you don't look too good..''

''Hey, I'll be fine, Fluttershy. Especially if we all remain friends, that is.''

''Sure we will, Ann. Why wouldn't we?''

''Well, its just that we put you girls through so much within such a short time. I mean, look at what Paul did to Rainbow! He caused her to get a fracture in the back of her head! Hell, it was my fault so many bad things happened in the Everfree. You nearly got killed by one of those wooden wolves!''

Fluttershy didn't respond. She opened her mouth a few times, but clamped it shut. Ann looked at his knife that was held secure in his leather holster and slowly took it out, placing it gently on his lap. Fluttershy's eyes widened slightly at it. She knew perfectly well what it was. It was the knife Ann gave to her when he told them to get Rainbow to the hospital.

''What are you gonna do with that?'' She asked quietly.

''I'm gonna get rid of it.''

''But why?''

''Its just gonna remind me of the past as long as I keep seeing it. Hell, what am I gonna do with a knife when there are barley any threats around here? Its just going to keep haunting me as long as I have it.''

''Hey, Ann?''

''Yeah, Rainbow?''

As a response, Rainbow came closer to Ann and wrapped her hooves tightly around him. She rubbed her soft cheek into his and gently placed a small kiss to it, making Ann's cheeks burn a hot crimson shade. The next thing she did was whisper something that melted Ann's heart.

''I love you.''