All Quiet on all Fronts

John "8-Ball" Hutch was pretty much your standard field medic. He carried his ACE 23, threw out med crates to the wounded, and when possible, used his defibrillator unit to bring the recently deceased back to life.

Operation Locker, 1800 Hours

He was currently fighting for his own life, on Operation Locker. He was holed up with Bravo Squad's Support unit, Chain, until a barrage of bullets buried themselves into the soldier's comrade, causing the Support to crumple and collapse into a blood-splattered corner. The HUD on 8-Ball's end displayed the bright lime green defib symbol over the recently deceased Marine, and seeing as how he had no other alternative, he brought out his chest paddles. After a quick rub to charge the hand-held device, 8-Ball pressed the paddles towards the dead Support, releasing the spark of life. Chain pulled up his MG4, yelling "Enemy soldier in my line of sight!", or as 8-Ball heard "Enemy sol-" as the rest was cut off by the double tap of an Saiga 12K, and the once-dead-but-now-alive Chain became the dead-then-shortly-alive-but-dead-again Chain. The words "LAST SOLDIER IN SQUAD" flashed on 8-Ball's HUD. "Figures..." muttered a still-alive 8-Ball, but as he was reloading his ACE 23. Mid reload, the same Ruskie that had killed his comrade poked his Russian, shotgun-wielding face around the corner, his shotgun pointed at a defenseless 8-Ball. "Well, Fu-" The Marine's sentence was cut short as the Russian pulled the trigger, dropping another American soldier. Mr. Ruskie, thoroughly pleased at killing two foes in one clip, happily skipped  off to find some other idiotic American, only to trip a claymore. Of course, the now dead 8-Ball was unaware of that. He expected to wake back up at his team's spawn, or perhaps on a fellow squad member.

???????? ??????, ???? Hours

When the Marine opened his eyes, he found not the bland grey of concrete, but a slight breeze blowing against his uniform, and the soft rustle of trees. He glanced around, making sure to check for a possibly lurking Russian or Chinese soldier, hoping for 2 kills, but found only thick jungle. Chain was up, checking on another sprawled out body, which according to 8-Ball's HUD, had all his health. Chain, upon noticing 8-Ball's awakening, saluted. "Haven't spotted any enemy activity, Sir." 8-Ball nodded, looking around.

"Where's Wack?"

Chain paused, looking around. "Wack should be somewhere around here, he was the first one up." Rustling from behind drew both Marine's attention. Another Assault pushed his way out of the thick undergrowth, looking at them.

"Glad to see you're up, Sir." Wack remarked, walking more out into the clearing. 8-Ball nodded.

"You too. I see that Scorch and Buzz are still out cold?" The squad leader asked, motioning to the last two unconscious marines.

"Yup. I tried everything, shaking 'em, hitting 'em, yelling at 'em. Nothin." 8-Ball rolled his eyes behind the uniform's goggles, think that is was rather in character for Wack.

"Did it occur to you that you might have given away our position by yelling at unconscious men?" 8-Ball chastened Wack. The other Assault nodded.

"I checked our AO first thing, Squad Leader." 8-Ball took solace in that, while Wack might be crazy, and he could easily get himself killed, Wack was tactically smart. 8-Ball had never seen a man more wise on where to put a 40mm grenade. After waiting for a few more minutes, Buzz and Scorch were back in action, and the squad leader gathered his troops before him.

"Alright, Men, I want a list of our equipment. I need to know what situation we can and cannot end up fighting in." The men checked their gear, nodding. Chain stepped forward, holstering his MG4.

"Primary: MG4, HOLO Sight, Flash Hider, Bipod, and Green Laser Sight. Secondary: Shorty 12G, Delta RDS, Green Laser Sight, Full Choke. XM25, Ammo Crate, M67 Grenades, Two, and my Machete. All ammunition accounted for." Chain stepped back, after 8-Ball nodded. Wack stepped forward.

"Primary: M4, ACOG, Suppressor, Vertical Grip, Green Laser Sight. Secondary: G18, Suppressor, Delta RDS, and a Green Laser Sight. Med Pack, M320 High Explosive, Boot Knife, V40 Mini's." The marine received a nod, and he stepped back. The 3rd marine, Buzz, stepped forward.

"Primary: SCAR-H SV, ACOG, Flash Hider, Angled Grip, Canted Iron Sights. Secondary: P226, Laser Sight, Ghost Ring, T-UGS, and C4. SEAL Knife, and Flares." The final marine stepped forward.

"Primary: M1014, Laser Sight, Full Choke. Secondary: MP-412 REX: Ghost Ring, Laser Sight, Heavy Barrel. FGM-172 SRAW, and M2 SLAM." 8-Ball nodded, facing his squad.

"I've got an ACE 23, and my .44 Magnum. I want a situation report, Wack." He looked over at the marine.

"We appear to be in a forest, but not one I've, or us for that matter, have seen before. This isn't Caspian, the trees are too thick." The marines nodded. Rustling behind the squad caused the men to turn around, raising their firearms.

"Prepare to fire..." 8-Ball whispered to his squad as he switched off the safety. The rustling grew until a small horse pushed through the undergrowth.

"Zecora? Are ya-" The small horse was cut off when she spotted the 5 marines, weapons drawn. The miniature horse let out a small 'Eeep' of fear. "M-Monsters!" The small horse turned around, going to run off into the brush, until 8-Ball rushed forward, grabbing the miniature horse, not hard enough to hurt it. The horse began kicking, and whimpering "P-Please don't hurt me, mister monster!"

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you. None of us are." The miniature horse stopped kicking, and 8-Ball put it down.

"W-Who are ya?" Asked the inquisitive horse. The Marine smiled, but the tiny horse didn't see it beneath his mask.

"I'm 8-Ball, and over there is Chain, Wack, Buzz, and Scorch." Each marine raised their hand as they were named off. "We're Marines. We fight bad guys." The little horse's disposition towards the group improved considerably.

"Ah'm Applebloom. Ah live in Ponahville with the rest of mah famahlly." 8-Ball removed his helmet and mask, showing his smile, along with his sandy blonde hair.

"Listen, Applebloom, tell me, can you help us? We aren't from here. We need help getting home...from...wherever this is..." 8-Ball trailed off. Applebloom looked up at him.

"Yer lost?" 8-Ball nodded in response.

"Simply put, yes." Applebloom nodded. She looked back at the undergrowth.

"Ahlraht. Ah can help ya'll." She started to move off into the bush.

"C'mon Marines. Fall in." 8-Ball put his helmet and mask back on, the marines following behind him. 8-Ball took the lead, Scorch taking rear. When the group had exited the forest, they saw a small cabin, as well as a larger yellow miniature horse talking to Applebloom. The tiny yellow horse looked over at the men, and reacted almost instantly.

"Go, Applebloom! I'll hold off the monsters!" The marines sighed inwardly, as they figured this was how all of these ponies were going to react.

"No, Fluttersha, they're good folks! They faht evil!" The yellow horse, whom the marines assumed was 'Fluttershy', stopped, staring at them.

"A-are you s-sure, Applebloom?"

"Yup. Ah got a feelin from 'em, lahke they were good folks. Ah'm sure." Fluttershy slowly approached the marines.

"I'm s-sorry...w-we've just had so m-many m-monsters..."

"No need to be sorry. I know we can be a bit intimidating." 8-Ball interrupted the horse. Scorch smiled at her, as if to show his genuineness. "We're Marines. We fight evil, like Applebloom said, but we're not from here. We need help getting home." After a moment's pause, Fluttershy responded.

"I think I know who we can go to."