Winding up in Equestria

RATATATATATATAT! The M230 Chaingun roars down onto the Taliban. Shot after shot the ground is churned up, along with the people.

SHHHHWOOOOOOOOOSHHHH! The hellfire is launched. 100lb's of pure devastation heading towards the Talbian scum.

BOOOM! Nothing left of those ass-holes.

"Wooohooo!!" I shout down the microphone as the hellfire missile lands directly on the Taliban compound, destroying everything and everyone in a fiery inferno and sending debris everywhere.

"Nice shootin'," I tell the gunner. "You sure know how and where to aim with that thing!"

"I do it all the time. What'd they say when your younger? 'Practice makes perfect'." The gunner replied, and the way he said it I was sure that he was smiling.

I pull back on the Cyclic and make a tight left-hand turn back towards base.

"This is Hellcat, the compound has be destroyed and we're heading back now. I repeat, the compound has been destroyed." I say down the radio to our base.

"Roger that Hellcat, the runway will be cleared for your arrival." The ATC says down the radio.

Edging the nose forward, the Apache speeds down the sandy desert of Afghanistan. Behind us, the blazing fire of the Taliban base, still burning, slowly goes out of sight.

"Urhm, Sergeant?" The gunner says down the coms.

"What is it lass?" I reply.

"I.. I think that there is a sand storm to our left..." He ask hesitantly.

Looking to my left, sure enough, a massive dust cloud is hurtling itself towards us.

"What? That's not due till tomorrow!" I spit, "Just brace yourself kid, the impact is gonna be quite strong. By the look of it, its going about 20-25mph.

"Sir, yes sir!" He replies and then shuts up.

"This is Hellcat, we're going to experience a slight delay. A sandstorms is heading in our direction." I tell the ATC.

"Okay Hellcat." The ATC replies.

Looking to my left, the sandstorm is mere meters away. And closing in, fast.

"Three.. Two.. One... Brace yourse-" I'm cut of by the sheer force of it. The entire helicopter is hauled to the side, throwing us around.  My leg is thrown into the Cyclic and the helicopter lurches steeply to the right. Regaining control, I hear a sound that I never want to hear:

Beep..Beep..Beep..Beep

"Ah shit!" I shout as I look at the red symbol lit up on the controls. It reads:

Tail rotor

"Shit we've lost power to the tail rotor! We're gonna start spinnin-" Once again I've been cut of by a sudden movement. The helicopter starts spinning the the left as the power dies from the tail rotor.

"You OK down there?" I ask my gunner.

"Yeah sir I'm good.." He says shakily. I can tell in his voice that he's scared.

"Don't worry, we're gonna be good!" I reassure him.. and myself.

A couple minutes later and I start getting dizzy.

"Argh I'm gonna be si-" Too late as I puke all over the controls.

"Argh Serg, that's gross! You could've warned me." The gunner jokes.

"I was never a fan of spinning things..." I reply, queasy.

Moments pass and we're still falling out of the sky, but a sudden updraft causes the helicopter to flip.

"Woah shit!" I scream as we're flipped around, along with the vomit.

Pushing forward on the Cyclic to counter-act the flipping,  another symbol lights up on the control panel, this time it reads,

M rotor: Fire

"AH FUCK!" I shout.

"What is it?" The gunner, sounding sick.

"Nothing.." I mutter.

"This is Hellcat, the fuckin' sandstorm has messed up our helicopter and we are going down, I repeat we are going down! We're spinning and flipping around, I can't control it as the main rotor is gone, along with the tail! We're a falling fireball right now!" I shout to the ATC. "Our altitude is 10,000 and descending fast, too fuckin' fast!"

My eyes were now glued to the altitude gauge. 9500ft.. 9000ft... 8500ft..

I zone out of the horror and think of my family. My Mum, my Dad, my wife... my..son. I hold back tears. The crackling sound of the fire echoes around my day dream. I see pictures of my son, smiling. The times we've had abroad in Australia. My wife, my wedding. My son's first words. All happy times. Now gone in just a couple of minutes.

"Heh.." I mutter to myself, "I guess your life does flash before you're eyes when you're about to die.

Then I zone back into reality. The noise is unbearable: the loud sirens blaring out warnings; the rumbling sound of an engine trying to move when it's jammed; the now screaming and weeping Co-pilot. The fire intensifies and I can now feel it on the back of my neck.  A loud BANG shakes the helicopter and an intense wave of heat flows over me. The helicopter is engulfed in flames as the fuel tank catches fire.

Low altitude, Pull up. Pull up. The system tells me as we go below 1500ft altitude mark.

"No shit Sherlock..." I reply to the system.

Looking out the window, I can see flames licking the side of the glass, and the rapidly approaching desert.

"Goodbye.." I say to the ATC "Tell our families that we love them.."

Then, the raging ball of fire that was once a helicopter, slams into the ground.