There was a village, dusty and destroyed; near Berlin, Germany; the 62nd tank platoon fights a hard battle across the forest into the village. There were three out of four M1 Abrams tanks that got detached from the rest of their brigade and were trying to regroup when we were ambushed by Russian tank forces. One of the tanks had been disabled and the crew was fighting onward on foot. There was fighting all around us, tank guns were blasting the leaves off of trees, the tanks themselves were knocking over houses and trees, and bullets from machine guns were ripping holes through everything they hit. Suddenly from out of a window in a nearby village an RPG-7 strikes the tank of staff sergeant Sebastian Loewe, the rocket tears through into the tread from the front and explodes inside the side, rendering the vehicle unmovable. The crew immediately evacuates the tank and gets their MP5 submachine guns ready for action. The two remaining tanks turn into a wall to protect the now eight unsheltered tank crew. A Russian sniper gets a bead on us from a somewhere I didn’t see, I heard the crack of his rifle and down went the man standing next to me, he shot again and another man far to my left fell like a stone. I poked my head over the tank in front of me to see if I could spot him and order the tanks fire, but I heard a shot that ricocheted off the armor of the tank in front of me and sent shrapnel all over, scraping my face. I take the radio from one of the fallen radio operators and radio in for close air support. I get a positive response on the request by James Reech and his wing, which were just five klicks out and would be there soon; ETA two and half minutes. About three minutes later ten JDAM guided bombs come out of nowhere and slam into the enemy armor and the village, destroying three Russian T-90s and a handful of infantry. High above the F-22s climb and bank, I hear over the radio “Coming around for a strafing run, keep your heads down!” Just as I hear this and get up next to a tank I hear the 20 mm Vulcan cannons go off and tear into the enemy armor, taking down another two T-90s. I get on the radio and yell over the explosions “Good hits! Multiple armored units down and a handful of foot mobiles down! Out.” Then James radios back “Good luck down there, bingo on fuel and ammo. RTB. Out!” As I hear these words, five more T-90s roll out of the village and decimate the last two Abrams, killing the crew instantly, and sending me violently flailing into the dirt.
I was knocked out in the explosion of the two tanks and when I woke up there were Russian soldiers all over the place, executing surviving tank crews. The gunner of my crew was lying next to me signaling for me to stay low. Using my survivalist training, I controlled my breathing and lied there; the Russian soldiers were making their way over to me. I could see through my squinting eyes a large dust storm that seemed to have blue lightning in it. I squinted harder to see what exactly it was. As it passed over the group of Russians and picked them up and zapped them with lightning, killing them. It also picked up the dead bodies and shocked most of the flesh off them, leaving singed meat, flesh, and bones twirling in the storm. As it crept over me and my gunner we were both lifted up, the lightning shocked mine and my partners helmets and MP5s, the lightning formed into a circle resembling a cave. A sudden gust of wind began pulling us into formation and a large bright flash appeared, suddenly I was falling next to my partner. We weren’t very high up, but enough to break a bone. From his brief look around while I fell the new place looked much more… Bright, the grass was greener, the sky was bluer, and the trees were fuller. I land in the grass, which is much more plush and soft, next to my gunner, Corporal Martin. Corporal Martin landed in a bush and snapped a few of his ribs on the limbs of the bush, I stood up and put some bandages around Martins chest and torso and then I put a splint, then I laid him out flat on the ground. I was so worried about Martins well-being I’d barely noticed the almost destroyed but still visibly functioning M1 Abrams battle tank. “What in the Hell!?” I exclaimed as I wondered how we got here, and how the tank is repaired. I was glad that the tank landed in the woods and took the woodland camouflage netting off the back, throwing it over the tank. “Someone must’ve seen this hunk of steel come crashing down, best to keep it here and move on until I can repair it.” I searched the tank and removed some extra mags for my MP5 and M9 pistol. I also grabbed two sleeping rolls and a tent off the back of the tank. It took about forty-five minutes for me to set up the tent and lay out the sleeping rolls. I laid Corporal Martin down on one and myself on the other. The next morning when I wake up I checked out my MP5, it was still there, I checked Corporal Martin, he was still there. I checked his pulse because he hadn’t woken up yet. He was gone. “Fuck” I sighed under my breath. I took his spare MP5 mags and lifted the flap of the tent. After I walked out and took in a deep breathe, surveying my surroundings, I was tackled to the ground by a small, pink… Pony? What in the Hell is going on here? The pony just stares at me bright-eyed, but with a threatened expression. I opened my mouth to say something, and then this... Pony, began to spew out all sorts of questions, and statements, that I just couldn’t understand, mostly because I was still dumbstruck it could speak at all! “Slow down!” I said to her, “I can’t understand you!” The pony stopped talking and I took a deep breathe,
“You can talk?” I said.
“Well of course I can, silly!” Said the pony back to me.
“Okay, it’s clear you have some questions for me, but first, I have some questions for you.”
“Okey-dokey! Shoot!”
“First of all, what’s your name?”
“I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s yours?”
“I’m Sebastian, staff sergeant and tank commander in the U.S. Army. Where am I?”
“You’re in Equestria! Where else would you be? And what’s the U.S. Army?”
“Well, just the other day I was out- Y’know what, it doesn’t matter where I would be, is there anyone else around here?”
“Yep! There sure is! Some of my friends were looking around in the woods for that large thing that fell from the sky and I found you, and it!”
“Well, could you go get your friends for me please? I’d like to talk to some more people.”
“Well…” The pony leaned in closely and narrowed its eyes “Why should I?”
“I’m lost and need to know where I am, I need a few more people to talk to. Please, just do it?”
“Fiiiiiiine! ~.” Then the pony hopped away, without even bending its knees.
I was waiting for thirty minutes when I decided to grab the shovel off the tank and bury Corporal Martin, it took around twenty minutes to dig the hole. I laid his body carefully in the hole and took one last solemn look at him before yanking off his dog tag and burying him. I didn’t want to bury him on foreign soil but saw no sign on returning home soon.
