The Great War

                          ~~~~~~~~~~0230 Hours, Snow Fall 13, 3783 (Vernyl Nuveya) Formerly Ponyville~~~~~~~~~~

    “Sensors indicate only five hostiles in the area” said Big Macintosh confusion clearly shown both in his tone and the look on his face “well I guess at least our job will be easy”

    Mac had been confused at the purpose of their mission since it was given to them two days ago but had never gone out and openly questioned it’s necessity, primarily because as only the third highest ranking member of his squad he didn’t have the clearance for such a inquiry. The other reason being that he had longed to see what had become of his former home, he hadn’t seen it since his enlistment, everything he did know came from Fluttershy’s account of the Pegasalian attack and even that didn’t sum up the utter devastation he saw in front of his eyes. Only a hand full of buildings were even recognizable Sugar cube corner being the only building to suffer minimal damage and the Carousel boutique still discernible despite the entire backside of the building lying as a pile of ruble. When his group consisting of himself, Vinyl Scratch, and his sister Applejack had first arrived he had spent about ten minutes attempting to find the Library only to discover it as just another pile of ruble to add to the ruin around them.

     “So we just kill those five and do a little recon” stated Vinyl “that is the mission, right Mac”

     “That’s the mission they gave me” said Mac even though he himself had trouble finding a justifiable reason behind it “even if it is a completely illogical mission”

     “I’m sure there’s something more to it” stated Applejack shifting her ZB-45 in her hooves “have they ever sent us on a pointless mission before?”

      Big Macintosh pondered the question remembering their mission to Vvarlyn Base in which two squad members Spitfire, and Fleetfoot had been captured by the Unicorians, they had been sent in despite the overwhelming hostile force simply to retrieve a base data mainframe that only held the record of the events which took place in that base, it seemed like a waste of energy even if they hadn’t lost anypony, but the fact that they had just made it not only pointless but far more costly than anything in the mainframe could hold inside of it.

     “Well I’ll tell you the answer” stated Applejack not waiting for Big Mac’s response “no they haven’t”

      Vinyl sighed “can we just get this over with, I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to”

      “All right” said Mac “you guys have authority to engage any targets you find, just get this done quickly and quietly”

      The three ponies headed off in toward different hostile signals with Big Mac choosing to head toward Sugar Cube Corner. He picked his way carefully over the debris pile that used to be the house he believed to have once belonged to Berry Punch, although it could have belonged to anypony for all he knew. As soon as he was over he ducked himself behind an overturned carriage checking his surroundings carefully to avoid detection. He peered around the side of his cover to see two Pegaslian soldiers each carrying R1-37 (Braziers) rather nasty SMG’S that came with built suppressers. Big Mac knew his Auzerbiunch assault rifle stood no chance of hitting the pair of hostiles at this distance, to his luck there was a low brick wall just close enough for him to kill both pegasi from just to his right.

      He slung his weapon and got down so low that his belly brushed the ground and slowly army crawled his way out of cover. Keeping his eyes on the Pegasalian soldiers he made his way slow and steady toward the wall he was trying to get to. He got to the half way mark with no complications when a bit of movement from the left enemy soldier caused him to freeze in his tracks. The Pegasalian turned around scanning the area for any sign of trouble all the while Big Mac lay there perfectly still praying the enemy soldier would turn his gaze away soon. A few more seconds passed before Mac’s prayers were answered and the Pegasalian turned back to his partner. Sighing with relief Big Macintosh resumed crawling toward the wall he had been heading toward. Once he was there Mac poked his head and weapon above the wall. He knew he would have to react fast once he had killed the first hostile to prevent the other from escaping, they could fly after all. He set his sights centered on the back of the Pegasus standing on the right’s head and quickly tapped the trigger changing his aim before he was sure the first target was hit sending another controlled burst into the other Pegasalian’s skull. He was rewarded by both enemy soldiers dropping almost simultaneously.

      Big Mac stood where he was for another minute until he was certain no other hostiles were coming. Once completely satisfied he was safe to move he made his way over to the two bodies and relieved them of their grenades and ammo while also taking one of the hostile soldiers SMGs. Once he had all the supplies he could take without being slowed down he continued on his way toward Sugar Cube Corner.

        The rest of the walk toward his destination was relatively uneventful until he reached the building that used to belong to the Cakes who currently resided in New Kingston with most of the Onocarcan’s their son was a private in Echo 7 who were currently fighting in Northern Unicoria, Their daughter had sadly been killed in a battle just outside Dodge Junction.

        Once Mac had reached the rear wall of Sugar Cube Corner his motion sensor alerted him to a large hostile force inside the building, this puzzled him because his initial sweep of the area showed a total of only five hostile in the entire town. Adding even more to his confusion his sensor showed two blue dots inside the building signaling friendlies, for a moment he grew concerned that Applejack and Vinyl had been captured until he noticed their dots moving up behind him followed by the duo appearing on top of a ruble pile and quickly making their way over to Mac.

       “Yo Macintosh” stated Vinyl “what’re we still doing here, we’ve already seen that you’ve killed the last two enemies, you know you should really work on hiding bodies”

       Big Macintosh gave the Unicorn an unamused look “check your radar” he stated bluntly

       “Woah” said Applejack that’s a lot of enemies “what ya’ll reckon they’re all do’in In there”

       Big Mac took a communication decoder AKA eavesdropper out of his backpack and placed the cylindrical device on the ground near the wall. He started hitting buttons and twisting knobs on the eavesdropper until a voice came through its speaker.

      “Bring out the prisoners” barked somepony inside the building “it’s time for them to die”

      “My pleasure Sergeant” responded another pony

       A few moments passed before the sounds of hooves being dragged across tile came in through the device.

       “You two should have given us the information we asked for” said the sergeant in a menacing tone

       “If we had you still would have done this” responded somepony

       Big Mac froze he knew that voice but there was no way it could be who he thought.

      “Well you’ve made your choice” stated the Sergeant “any last words”

      “Just get it over with” responded the same voice as before

      Mac knew for certain the voice belonged to one of the ponies snatched from his team at Vvarlyn.

      “That’s Spitfire” said Applejack putting Big Macintosh’s thoughts into words “we have to get in there”

       Springing quickly into action the team of 3 ran to the front door of the building and got set up to breach. Applejack tossed a flash bang in through a window just before Mac put his hoof into the door moving into the building. All three Delta members quickly took cover behind a sideways table and opened fire on the Pegasalians inside the building with them. Big Mac shouldered his Assault Rifle and sent out three controlled bursts taking down two Pegasalians along the way. As soon as the battle had begun it was over and the room was covered in the bodies of just over twelve Pegasalians.

      “You two go check on Spitfire” ordered Big Macintosh making his way toward the limp form of Fleetfoot. Once Mac was over to Fleetfoot he noticed a bullet hole in the side of her head. Still he placed his hoof on her neck checking for vital signs but not receiving any. His heart sank knowing they may have been to late.

    “She’s dead” stated Mac somberly “How’s Spitfire”

     “Damn it” stated Applejack “we weren’t fast enough”

     Big Macintosh was stood there unmoving. He had been filled with hope that they might be able to save their friends just to have it all torn away. It seemed as if a dark cloud hung over the three Delta members as they bowed their heads in silence to honor their fallen comrades.

    “Alright” said Mac picking up Fleetfoot’s body on his back “let’s get out of here”

     Applejack gathered up Spitfire’s body and followed her brother outside to a clear area just big enough for extraction.

     “Chopper 6-12 this is Delta 6-3 my team and I are ready for extraction”

     “I read you loud and clear” responded the chopper pilot “I’m on my way ETA 3 minutes”

     The chopper arrived right on time and circled the area a few times kicking up debris with the rotor. As soon as it was on the ground Mac and his team stepped inside setting the bodies of their friends down.

     “Take us back to HQ” said Mac to the pilot

     The chopper’s engine whirred as the large metal vehicle lifted its way into the air. The chopper suddenly shifted into a forward motion causing it’s content to shift slightly. And Big Macintosh entered into his thoughts letting the outside world melt away.

    “I should have been faster” he sighed “maybe I could have saved at least one of them”

     “Oh Mac” whispered Applejack pressing her head against her brother’s “there’s nothing you could’ve done”

     Big Macintosh just sat there with his sister unable to think of an appropriate response from his place deep within his own mind. And the only noise to be heard was the beating sound of the choppers rotors as they flew off leaving an ever shrinking Ponyville behind them.