"One minute!" The pilot shouted, causing me to make sure that my M14 was fully prepared. My energy sword was fully functional, too. Ahead loomed Las Pegasus, and I could already see that Schmidt's team made good time in getting there. There were several flashes of light and a faint boom with only moments in between them.

"Blaster Alpha, this is Blitz Alpha, come in." Schmidt said over the radio.

"This is Blaster Alpha, what do you need?" I replied.

"Simply a warning; there happens to be a large concentration of unicorn guards and gryphon mercenaries." He explained as the MG42s of the Tiger II roared in the background.

"Copy that. Over and out." I said, before nodding at the pilot.

"Rope out! Drop now!" He shouted, and we were spurred into action. My group consisted of Delta changelings and two SEALs changelings, but they dropped like bricks and hit the ground running. I had to go down via rope, and I was forced to grit my teeth at what I saw.

About thirty yards ahead, Duran's Little Bird touched down, and a magical missile promptly smashed into the cockpit, blowing the entire thing up in a magical explosion. I hoped to God he didn't even have time to feel himself die before he was burned to a crisp.

"Goddammit!" Dusk shouted as the Humvee he was in swerved to avoid another missile. The Black Hawk above me flew off to provide sniper cover from Duffy.

"Who else was in that fucking helicopter?!" I shouted into the radio at Dusk.

"Duran and a squad of changeling Rangers." He yelled as the gunner fired the fiddy. I swore as I dove behind a rock to avoid losing my face.

'KIA Rick Duran. I have a letter written by him that goes to the school teacher in town.' I mentally told Doppel, popping my head and arms out of cover to halfassedly snipe.

'Right away, Mark.' She replied. When I stopped to reload, I already had a kill count of seven guards and three gryphons. I couldn't help myself as my thoughts switched to what would happen if Doppel should be captured by Celestia.

All I have to say, is that we'll find out what cyanide will do to a changeling. Thank Colgate for taking out one of everyone's molars and putting in a fake one; if any of us should get captured, we all have strict orders to rip the fucker out at the first opportunity and commit suicide. Better than hemorrhaging information to the enemy.

I snapped back to reality in time to shove my M14 in the way of a flaming sword. I came out unscathed, but the gun was cleaved in half, therefore rendering it useless.

"Sumbitch... Come at me." I growled, drawing my energy sword and falling back into a defensive stance. The gryphon grinned at me and twirled his flaming sword.

"With pleasure." He said before leaping forward, using his wings in an unfair advantage. I blocked the sword with mine, half surprised that it didn't just fall apart by the blade. Not letting him take advantage of my surprise, I sucker punch him where the spleen would be on a human.

I kept pushing against him, scoring light cuts at the expense of having to put out three fires on my cammies.

"Sumbitch fuck up already!" I growled, kicking upwards and hitting him square in the jaw. While he was stunned, I switched my sword out for a shield, laughed when it actually worked, and bashed his face in.

Panting heavily, I looked over his unconscious form as several changelings dragged some bound and gagged guards over to me.

"We captured them after managing to shoot off their horns, sir." The squad leader said as they unceremoniously dumped them next to my catch of the day. After a moment, I recognized them as one of the groups that went in with Schmidt.

"How's it going, Mark?" Dusk asked.

"Got several prisoners. Need a Black Hawk for extraction." I answered. "How're you doing?"

"Just fucking peachy! Engine fucking died on us and we're in the middle of a bloodbath." He growled.

"I'll call for it myself." I told him, before switching to another secure channel and clicking twice.

"What do you need?" Duffy asked over the sound of a few gunshots.

"Prisoner extraction." I replied, looking around as I changed my shield back into an energy sword.

"Copy that. We're en route. Pop a flare." He said. I grabbed the flare on my belt, popped the cap off, and tossed it near us.

"One of you stay with me, the rest rejoin the battle." I told the changelings who were patiently waiting for orders. One stepped forward while the rest flew off.

"Any of you even much as twitch, he's blowing a hole in your face." I said to the unicorns, before going to Duran's wreckage.

Half an hour later saw Duffy, a changeling, several captured and hornless unicorns, an unconscious gryphon, a crispy Duran, and I heading back towards Ponyville.

"Jesus..." I muttered, slowly stroking the charred remains of Duran's hair as if it'd bring him back to life.

"There was nothing you could do, Mark." Brandon quietly said.

"I could've told Dawn to not bring in anybody else." I whispered, before putting Duran's helmet to mine. "But I did, and he paid the price."

"You couldn't have known he'd die like that and you know it." He firmly said.

"It still doesn't make this any better. Anyone could've died, and he was one of the unlucky ones." I grunted.

"At least you care about your men, Mark." Brandon said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "In my opinion, any leader worth his salt cares about his men. You didn't just decide to throw us at a wall and hope for the best, not caring who died or why." He added.

"Sounds kinda like my CO back in Afghanistan." I muttered, keeping a lookout for day guards with Duffy's M24.

'I delivered the letter, Mark.' Doppel said. 'Cheerilee was in school when I slipped it under the door, so she won't read it until after you get back.'

'Do you think you can fix him up a little? Make him look less like a charred primate and more like a sleeping human?' I asked.

'I can do my best. Restoration magic isn't my strong suit, but I'll do my best.' She answered.

'Good. I don't want Cheerilee puking when she sees him again.' I said before sighing, thumping my head against the side.

God, I hate war.

Author's Note

KIA, Rick Duran. Won't be the last.