A Danger in the Stars

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue

Chapter 1

A Danger in the Stars
By
Teal

Chapter 1

I couldn’t believe this was happening to me; this was just like a nightmare that I desperately wanted to wake up from. I could feel the rumbling of the capsule vibrate through my seat, as I shook in fear and the knowledge of the unknown. As I kept my eyes close tightly, I tried to imagine that I was anywhere else but here. I would have preferred the hard stone cold bed of my barracks, back at Equestria, rather than being sealed inside this claustrophobic metal capsule that was about to be shot into a planet, in a far off galaxy.

“This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. Come on, Silver Shine, this isn’t real.” I told myself, as I tried to curl up on my seat and cry out like a helpless foal. Of course, I wasn’t a helpless foal, believing that I am very self-sufficient and reliable, but right now, being put in a situation that I never hoped to be in, I felt more helpless than any foal that ever existed.

Sure, I’ve been through the basic training, but since this was this was an emergency deployment and the military didn’t have time to go through the simulation part of the training, the only thing I learned was the fact that we were going the hurtle through the atmosphere and had a ninety-nine percent chance of survival.

Sure, ninety-nine percent sounds good, but with my current luck, I could be part of that one percent that didn’t make it.

I started to sweat inside my suit, even when its cooling system was working fine and keeping my body cool and comfortable. I could feel the sweat pour down to my fur, making it stick to the insulation of the suit. This made me irritated, as I flung my hooves around. Combined with the panic, building inside of me, it made me look like any idiot, who was flinging her hooves around.

Good thing I didn’t accidentally hit anypony, knowing that the suit amplifies the strength of the user, turning one simple swing of a hoof, into something that is equivalent to the kick of at least ten earth ponies.

As I continued the fling my hooves around, I started to breath heavily, sucking the recycled air inside the tanks. My breathing started to become strained as I felt myself become choked up, even though my oxygen systems were reading fine.

Now at this point, you are probably wondering on is this suit that I keep talking about. Well, the suit I keep on talking about is the Equestrian Space Force Mk. 10 suit, the latest of its kind. It has the strongest armor, capable of resisting almost all light weapons and gives the user great strength, like previously mentioned. It’s basically powered armor, which has a deadly array of weapons. A normal soldier would have one laser and plasma gun, which deploys on the side of the suit. It has its own targeting system and a neural sensor connected to the users’ brain. The neural sensors enable the user to fire the weapon and use the many capabilities of the suit.

I never usually felt claustrophobic about wearing this suit, having been using them for at least a year now, but right now l felt like I was choking. It was probably because of the fact that I was in a small metal capsule, along with a dozen more ponies, compressed together to try and make use of every inch of space or the fact that I might die in a flash of a second, giving me no time to utter a prayer. Whatever it was, it made me squirm around, trying my best to slip away from the metal straps that held me to my chair. The only way to remove them was when the capsule’s computer decided that it was time to deploy us or when there was an emergency.

“Hey, you better stop doing that crazy dance of yours or you would end up hurting yourself.” The mare in front of me said. The seats in the capsule were placed face to face, making us face each other. Although I couldn’t see the face, I recognize her from the voice. It was Ruby Cloud, a pegasus who likes to pick on me for fun.

“When the ship above us detaches the drop pod…” She continued. “…all of us will get flung around, making it a bumpy ride. So I suggest you stop that dancing unless you want your hooves to hit something and break a bone. Besides, you’ll end up injuring a member of the team while you’re at it.”

I immediately stopped and drew back my hooves in fear and cowardice.

“Ah, rookies, they never cease to entertain.” Somepony laughed from the other side of the capsule. I recognized that it was the Sergeant who was talking “I’ll give her a minute before she ends up killing herself.”

I immediately gulped at the thought as I manage to shake my suit in nervousness. I just hope that my platoon mates would think that I was shaking because of the vibrations, rather than shaking in fear.

One thing in the military was always clear, no matter what branch you join, the new pony was always picked upon. Taunts and insult were always thrown at us new ponies and we were always left helpless to fight. The only thing we could do was to show that we were just as though as them, but in my view point, this was easier said than done. Since I was currently attached to one of the most veteran unit in the entire Equestrian Space Force.

“Hey, maybe we can use her as bait. We can have her ran around and be chased by the enemy, while we shoot at them.” One pony said, piping up.

“Hey maybe we can ask our little PR pony to talk them out of fighting, maybe even get her to let them join our side!” Another laughed, as he mocked my previous job.

Before being sent into the deadly job of dropping into far off planets and fighting off different creatures, I used to work for the PR department of the military. My former job was to go around cities, mostly in Equestria Prime but sometimes in the colonies, and encourage ponies to join the Equestrian Defense Force. I would usually walk around the cities, wearing my suit and showing off its features and its impressive firepower, while shouting slogans like:

‘Join the force and serve Equestria!’ or ‘Want to explore distant planets, then join the force!’

It was mostly composed of cheesy lines written by the clerks back at headquarters. But what really sold the deal was my talent at convincing them. You see, after doing the same old routine over and over again, I manage to learn what ponies want to hear. With that knowledge, I manage to crack open their minds and convince them that joining the force was a good thing.

It might seem as a demeaning job, trying to convince ponies to join the force, but it was a better option rather than trekking through the mud of some far off planet. It looked like that I was asking other ponies to fight, so that I don’t have to fight.

I wish I never joined the force in the first place. Huh, the funny thing about this was, I joined the force because a PR promotion convinced me that I would be able to see the universe if I did and not just one part of the universe. ‘See the stars and see it all!’ They said.

Ever since I was a filly, the stars have been my interest, so much that my cutie mark has become an image of the stars, after I spent an entire night with a telescope and looking up to the darkness above. So my interest to go to space grew until I finally had one option left, to join the military and see the stars. I know, it sounds like one of the corny slogans I say, but it’s true.

Although settlers also get to see the universe, they were usually confined to one planet and nothing more. Since it was too expensive to have ships travelling to different planets, only Military and Trading ships were allowed to travel through the stars, back and forth. Colony ships were just a won way ticket, so that was out of the options. The materials used to power these vessels were expensive so the Federation needed more colonies to supply them and continue expansion.

Being a trader was out of the option also, seeing that you would have to be good a mathematics to be able to join their crew. Because trader crews were expected to be able to handle the space vessels, in case of emergencies, and I was far from a mathematical genius. I can prove this by showing you my test result, in which they didn’t even bother to show the score. Instead, they said, ‘Sorry, but your mathematical knowledge does not pass the standards of the Equestrian Trading Fleet.

So that left the military as the only option, seeing that they would accept anypony, as long as they were willing to join. So I signed up, expecting it to be the best years of my life, too bad it wasn’t.

The first month of basic training proved to be as terrible as death itself, as we went through intense physical programs. This is a funny thing since the suits do most of the work for us. The physical regime was more of a test, in which you prove yourself worthy of the suit.

But of course, I didn’t pass. Instead, I got terrible scores on my physical training and was in the border line of getting kicked out. I actually pleaded and begged with them, so that I would stay, knowing that no matter how much I hate their training, it was the only kept I had to go to the stars. I remember seeing myself in tears as I faced the officer in front of me.

But that was when a small opening of opportunity that came to me. It came in the form of the PR Department. They gave me the chance of joining the department, in which all I had to do was tell them about the benefits of joining the force and on how great it is.

So they gave me a Mk. 10 suit, told me the basics on operating it, and through me in a crowd which I was supposed to convince into joining the military.

I was a little shaky at first, feeling nervous in front of crowds of ponies, but I soon got used to it. I manage to convince whole crowds in joining and became so good that they kept me. Sure I might be stretching the truth, but it was for a worthy cause, in fulfilling my dream!

Which I manage to do, when they sent me on my first PR mission to the outer colonies. I had to visit the towns and do my job, but when that was done I had all the time to enjoy the scenery. It was amazing! To be able to see the strange new worlds, the beautiful mountains and cool flowing rivers.

It was a wonderful time and I thought that things might have been looking up for me. But that was before the war came. A war in which ponies found themselves in the presence of an enemy as ambitious as us. A race that was also planning to expand and settle in their own interstellar colonies.

At first, we thought that it would be an easy fight, surely nothing could be able to defeat Equestria and its colonies. But those creatures proved to be as arrogant as us and we soon found ourselves in a desperate battle. They had space vessels that could match ours while on the ground they used suits that were similar to the capabilities of our own. It was like we had the same technological development.

The Equestrian Space Force was soon having difficulties in battle and although they were holding their ground, they were taking heavy casualties. They needed replacements and they needed it fast.

Soon the conscription began, proclaiming that every able bodied pony must join the force and fight. Ponies from Equestria Prime and all the colonies were now called upon duty, so that the force could fill up its dwindling power.

This meant two things. One, there would be no need for the PR department, since all able bodied citizens were now required to join. Two, I was now required to serve as a member of the fighting force, no matter what my records say.

So now here I am. Inside a metal capsule, serving as our drop pod, and waiting for it to hurtle into the atmosphere.

Although drop shuttles could be used to enter the atmosphere, giving the teams inside a smooth ride, and land on the planet, they were often used as recovery vessels. The drop shuttles were too vulnerable and too slow to be used for planetary assaults. So the drop pods were used, to lessening the risk of losing your assault force.

Drops pods were usually long metal capsules, big enough to fit at least a dozen ponies inside, built to resist the heat of reentry. They were attached to the transport vessel, stored inside till the time of the assault begins. These things were used to conduct ‘drops’, which was the process of deploying ground troops in the ground as quickly as possible. They were usually cheap and easy to replace, being a one use piece of equipment. It was this fact that made me nervous, seeing that it was basically a metal capsule with a heat shield and parachutes.

When a drop begins, the drop vessels are deployed via launch bay. The large bay doors, located at the belly of the transport vessel, would open and the pylon attached to the pods would push it outside, leaving the pods hanging outside the vessel, with only a metal pylon keeping it attached.

When the order to start the drop begins, the transport vessel would detach the drop pod, leaving its onboard computer to do the job.

At exactly five seconds after detachment, the drop pod’s onboard computer would activate its thruster, to begin deorbiting the pod. It was said to be a bumpy ride, as the thruster try to correct the course to achieve the proper position to enter the atmosphere.

My ship, the Lunar Express, was only a small transport, meaning it only carries a small contingent of soldiers. It carried a total of three companies (One Battalion) that were deployed in nine different pods, a platoon of a dozen ponies in each.

Now you’re probably thinking, a platoon of only twelve pones? Isn’t that a little small? Well in a way, it’s a little bit of both.

On paper, a platoon was supposed to be composed of twelve highly trained ponies, which had complete knowledge on how to use the powered suits. Each would have a specific job and would all work together to become a deadly fighting machine. This system has been working since the early days of the Equestrian Space Force and would most likely work today and any other day.

But there is just one problem. With the war taking its toll on highly trained ponies, the Equestrian Space Force is starting to have trouble to replace them. So they rushed soldier to the front, even if they do not have sufficient training or knowledge on how to use the powered suits. This meant that the platoon aren’t as highly trained as they are supposed to be, which in turn would cause more mistake, which would cause more casualties and would mean that more replacements would be needed.

In the end, the system is not the most effective one that could be implied. But for some reason, the Space Force has failed to notice it.

But were getting side tracked, we were talking about the drop pods and planetary invasion weren’t we?

The drop pod’s heat shield would protect it from any friction caused because of the pod’s entry through the atmosphere.

Once inside the atmosphere, the drag chutes would begin to deploy, trying to slow the pod to a gentle speed. A total of three drag chutes would deploy before the main chute would launch itself and bring the pods into a gentle speed.

But this meant the pod would be a slow moving object, as it descended from the sky, vulnerable to enemy fire. So it means we shouldn’t stay in the pod anymore, we have to get out.

A few seconds after the main chute deploys, the belts strapping us to our chairs would be removed and a large escape hole would open. We would then jump out of the capsule and use our jets to land safely on the ground. The suit had two small jets built in it, capable of giving the user thirty minutes of continuous thrust. We would have to use five minutes worth of our thruster, so that we would be able to reach the ground safely.

It sounds all complex and stuff and I probably didn’t do any of you favors with my lack of knowledge on the technical stuff. If you want a better overview, I suggest reading it in the nearest library; I heard there are some books there that would have more technical explanations.

For me, I didn’t care how complicated it sounded. All I wanted is for this system to work. From the moment of detachment to the deployment of the main parachute, my life lay on the hooves of the pod and its small computer. From then on, it would lie on my skills and what little I learned, to be able to work the jets and land.

The sound of the clamps detaching echoed through the pod and caught my attention. I looked up and felt as sudden drop in my stomach. Everything started to feel weird, in a way that was hard to explain unless you were there to experience it. I concluded that we were now beginning to enter the atmosphere.

“Well rookie, you’re in for a ride now.” Ruby Cloud said.

I gulped, knowing that I would not like this experience one bit.

Author's Note

Well this is my attempt in writing Sci-fi, so I hope you like it.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I remember the day when my world turned upside down. Well my world turned upside down, so let me just say that it is one of the many days that my world turned upside down. But wouldn’t that bring it back right side up? You know what, never mind. Let’s just say that these were one of the days that my luck ran out and I had a bad and stressful time. Now, I’m not saying that my life was full of luxury back then, since sleeping on the stiff barracks bed and eating the slob they pass off as food would hardly be called a luxury. But compared to the life in combat, it was a hundred percent better.

I remember standing in front of a line of ponies, as they waited for their turn to sign their names into the system and provide a retinal scan for identification.

The Portable Identification System (P.I.S.) was basically a small compute used by the Equestrian Space Force so that it can keep track of new recruits. It is basically a computer that is connected to the main data base, in which personal records of everypony is stored.

It is used so that the recruiter can scan the history of the new recruit, learning if he or she had criminal offences or if they were of legal age to join. It also helps learn about their medical records and past achievements, so that it could sort out the potentially successful ones from the average pony.

When the system sees that the pony had achievements before, it marks them as potential leaders. The system them keeps a track of them during training and once they finish basic training and still show potential, they are then given a chance to go to officer school.

The Officer Academy only accepts soldiers who had already passed basic training, so that they can avoid the weak minded ponies that join the officer corps, just because they have a rich parent and could but their rank. This ensures that all officers start as a recruit and would have to work their way to the top.

Once they graduate the Academy, they would then be returned to their unit and would find themselves as the leader of the same ponies who he or she served with during basic training. Since the officer served with them during basic, they would have no trouble accepting them in their ranks and trusting their officers. Or that’s what it says on paper.

I watched the line move, as I stood nearby, wearing my suit, and being the perfect model. Celestia’s hot sun blazed upon us, as some of the ponies in the line wiped their sweat with their hooves. But from inside my suit, I felt as cool as I can be. Thanks to the suit’s cooling system, the air inside the metal armor was cool and refreshing. The suit would also be effective in hot weather, with its heating system providing warmth.

It reminded me of a prank a fellow PR pony conducted on another. He had great expertise in mechanics and on how the Mk. 10 system works, so he managed to rewire the thing and switch the system into thinking that the heating system was the cooling system.

It was funny when the pranked work, but it brought him in more trouble than he would want. Tampering with equipment, especially one such as the Mk. 10, was a grave offence that had considerably high punishment. Sad to say, I never heard from that pony again.

The suit that I was currently wearing was the unarmed version, seeing that it wasn’t a good idea to let an armed pony to walk through a crowd of civilians. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust us, but instead was more of a way to prevent an accident or a miss fire. To me, I didn’t care, as long as I get paid and go on to see the outer colonies once in a while, I was happy.

“Hey there, Silver…” I heard somepony call from behind me, but I didn’t turn my head. “…looks like you got a big haul over here.”

I then saw somepony stand beside me and I finally took note of him, it was Lt. Coin Toss. Coin Toss had lime green colored fur and was wearing a grey coat and a grey cap on top of his head. His horn protruded from the cap as his green mane kept it nice and fit. He was well known to be a gambler and risk taker and can be often found gambling his money every night. If you ask me, what he is doing is a bad investment of his paycheck, but you wouldn’t see me telling that to his face. For he was also known as my commanding officer and I should treat him as such.

“Sir!” I said, bringing my hoof on my fore head in salute.

“At ease.” He said, as I relaxed my body. But from inside the suit, it was hard to tell that I was, since it always gave the user a stiff look.

“Nice job you did back there…” He said, pointing his hoof towards the line. “…did you give them the usual?”

“Yes, sir.” I said, with a monotone voice. Coin Toss always did this conversation with me, in which he would complement me on my job and tell me how much my work contributed to the force. “Told them that if they join, they would be able to go to places beyond the star and if they manage to prove themselves special, then they might be able to be part of Alpha 1”

Alpha 1 was the most well trained unit in the entire E.S.F. Composed of three companies; they were the best of the best. The ponies in the unit were trained to kill, even in their sleep. Armed with special combat suits, the Mk. 12, they could land in any planet, devastate the enemy, and leave without a scratch. The ponies were usually hoof picked, taken from a thousand other ponies because of their talents and abilities.

But the main punching force of the unit was the ‘Elements of Harmony’. Composed of the ‘Element Bearer’, they were Equestria’s most powerful living weapon. The power that emits from the Elements of Harmony is enough to destroy space vessels and route armies, making them a force to be dealt with. The job of the other members of the unit was to support and protect the bearers, but the Elements of Harmony was Equestria’s weapon to turn the tide of battle

That is why they were used wisely and not willy-nilly. When an officer sees Alpha 1 listed as the engaging unit during the preliminary planning, it usually meant that a major battle was about to happen.

“Well we can’t blame them for being optimistic.” Coin Toss, said chuckling and shaking his head. “Who now, one of them is bound to be picked and become a member of Alpha
1”

“Well, sir, if you ask me, it doesn’t matter if they become a member of Alpha 1 or not. With the war going on, everypony who can fight is needed to protect Equestria and her colonies.”

Coin Toss’s face suddenly changes into a serious yet sad look. A frown formed on his face, but he tried to hide it, as his eyes looked droopy and sad. This told me that he was about to give me some bad news.

“Silver, speaking of the war, I need to talk to you about that.”

“Is it a new mission?” I asked, trying to ignore the look on his face. “Which sorry town would I have to deprive from its population so that we could feel our vacant ranks?

“It’s a mission alright…” He said. “…but not a PR mission.”

“Not a PR mission, but that’s the only thing the PR department does.” I said, emphasizing in the ‘PR’.

“I know, that’s why the E.S.F. is disbanding the PR department.” He said flatly. This caught me n utter surprise.

“Disbanding the PR department!” I exclaimed, failing to maintain my statue like position as shock went through my body. “But why?”

“There’s no need for it.” He explained. “Princess Celestia and Luna just passed the Conscription Act, requiring every able bodied pony, from Equestria Prime to the outer colonies, to join the E.S.F and fight. The war, like you said, needs everypony who can fight. So there you go. With everypony being required to conduct military service, there would be no need for us to convince them to join.”

This left me with my jaw open as I heard what he said. Was the war really that bad, that we would need to conduct conscription? Was the enemy breaking through our front and conquering out planets? Would Alpha 1 be able to stop this or have they finally met their match? These questions revolved in my head, but the most important question came out of my mouth.

“What would happen to us then?” I asked, not knowing what lay ahead for me.

“We’re being sent into the front.” He stated. “So that we can help fight off the enemy. In fact, I’ll be leaving two days from now, to take command of a platoon, who lost their leader, somewhere at Sector 42. You do, have order to go to Canterlot and await further order.”

The thought of me going to war was unimaginable. I already loved my job here in the PR department; being safe and protected, while also having the chance to see the colonies during our PR missions there. But now, now I would be brought to the front were the killing was done. Not only that, but I was most likely going to be sent as a replacement, meaning I was going to join a bunch of veterans who would give me weary looks. Sure, I would be able to explore different galaxies and see the stars, but it also meant an early death.

“T…they can’t.” I said. “They can’t send me there. I didn’t even pass basic training, how do they expect me to fight?”

Coin Toss just shrugged. “I don’t know…” He said. “…but knowing the E.S.F. they would find a way, they always do. Now I suggest you go change and remove that suit, you’ll be wearing a real one soon, which won’t be any different, except for the guns on it.” With that, he trotted away, leaving me to ponder my current situation.

I was going to war and most likely going to die! The thought of it scared me and sent shivers through my bones.

I can imagine it now, explosions everywhere as plasma shots flew through the sky. Streaks of laser fire would go over my head as I desperately tried to find cover. Next to me, a pony in a Mk. 10 armored suit would explode, sending metal and flesh everywhere and coating my suit with his or her blood.

If I was lucky, I would be eradicated instantly, without pain. But if I wasn’t, I would but hit by a beam of laser fire, slowly bleeding to death as my suit’s healing system failed to repair the damage. I would try to scream for help, in the intercom and with my voice, but nopony would come. I would be left there in a painful agony as I slowly await my death.

I couldn’t go to war, I’ll never survive! Maybe I can run away, go AWOL, and try to hide. But that wouldn’t work, I would get caught easily. Thanks to the iris scans, which were required for almost everything, from grocery shopping to watching a movie, I would be caught and punished in less than a week. The death penalty being the punishment, which would also lead to my untimely death. Besides, the last pony that went AWOL from the E.S.F. and lived was never. So there goes the chance of that plan.

I was cornered to a wall with no escape route. Like it or not, I was going to war.

Author's Note

I have to admit that the story is somewhat inspired from Edge of Tomorrow. But its only the part in which the protagonist is a member of the PR department and is suddenly thrown into combat. Other stories and books that inspire the story are Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein and Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The drop pod shook as I felt my seat vibrate, making it seem like a massage chair. If it weren’t for the metal straps that were keeping us attached, we would most likely have been thrown around. The entire thing shuddered and jolted, causing me to shriek in fear as I went through the bumpiest ride I could ever imagine. The inside of the capsule was now dark, its lights turned off as part of procedure since they believe the light could escape when the hatch is opened during night operation, leaving me in utter darkness.

Sure, my suit’s helmet had thermal and night vision, which would have enabled me to see through the dark, but I was too busy panicking at every sound of metal bumping to figure that out. Although now that I think of it, it would have been really cool to see the flames, using thermal vision, as we streaked through the atmosphere.

I could feel my stomach lurching at every movement as I fought the urge to let my lunch from seeing daylight. Luckily for me, I won the battle, but that didn’t mean the weird feeling left me. There was something about having your body be messed around by gravity that made one feel like they were in a blender.

It felt like that somepony was shaking the pod, trying to mash up the contents inside. The echoing of metal sounded inside, giving away an eerie feeling, as if the pod was about to burst apart and burn us in the flames. Good thing it didn’t, since it managed to stay in one piece. Although if it did break apart, nopony inside would have felt it, since it would do so in such great speed that everypony would have died instantly.

A loud bump echoed from the top, and I again shrieked in panic. It was the sound of the drag shoots deploying, as it tried to slow the drop pod’s speed to a lower value. This action would bring a sudden shudder and decrease of speed to the pod and its occupants.

I then felt a sudden jolt as I felt my stomach and body weight shift to my head, creating an irritating feeling that can be comparable to a massive cramp. If that said cramp engulfed the entire body.

This sudden shift of weight was one of the many effects of sudden entry to a planet, as your body is played with by the gravity and sudden change of speed below. A normal soldier would have experienced this thing at least five times, during training drops, before actually doing it in combat.

But for me, this was the first time I experienced a drop. Having no time to train new recruits, the E.S.F. decided to do something called ‘on the job training’. In short, it meant that I and a bunch of unproven and ill trained ponies had to experience things like this without proper guidance.

I suddenly felt light headed as another bump echoed from above. I felt that I was having difficulty on focusing on things as I saw a flashing light alarm on my heads up display. I tried to read what it said, but my light headedness made that too difficult, as I had trouble interpreting the words.

“Hey, Silver Shine, did you switch your suit to drop mode?” I heard the Sergeant’s voice say in the intercom. “Because my P.S.I.S. is telling me that you are in the threat of passing out.”

The Platoon Status Interlinking System or P.S.I.S., was an wireless interlinking system that connects all the suits in a platoon. Each Mk. 10 suit was designed to have equipment that would keep an individual pony’s vital sign in check. It would tell them their heart rate, perspiration status, and would direct the suit’s healing system to any injury the pony takes. This system is connected to a larger system, which is the P.S.I.S.

The P.S.I.S displays the basic vital signs of each individual pony to the platoon leader, so that he or she would be able to know the status of all members of the platoon. It would inform the platoon leader of the location and health status of everpony in the platoon. It makes for an easy way to know if that pony is alive or dead, with only a glance at the helmet’s display system, rather than trotting up to him or her and checking.

The P.S.I.S in turn is part of an even bigger system which is the C.C.L.D. or the Command Control Lead Display. The C.C.L.D is a system available to company commander, who would have an entire overview of their company. Thanks to the C.C.L.D, they are able to know the status and location of each platoon, thanks to the information given by the platoon leader’s P.S.I.S.

A single company is composed of three platoon, each led by a platoon leader (Usually a sergeant) and composed of a dozen ponies. This gives the Company Commander a total of thirty-six ponies to command, which would be difficult to track in a fast pace environment where cohesion and organization would be difficult to keep.

So with the P.S.I.S and C.C.L.D in place, leader would be able to keep track on their unit’s progress, without having the trouble of losing a single pony.

But right now, as the drop pod descended towards the planet below, my suit was sending a cry for help towards the Sergeant, requesting for some assistance.

Realizing my mistake, I mentally switched my suit to drop mode. It took all my best effort, as I was at risk of fainting, but I managed to do it. I sent a message to my suit, via neural sensors, telling it to go to drop mode.

I immediately felt the effects of the switch, as pads on the legs began squeezing, tightening on my legs and pushing the blood up. The squeezes given defer for the need, as it identified the amount o pressure needed. Turning the suit to drop mode helped the user in this high gravity situations, since it tried to keep blood going to the brain. Normally, a suit must be turned to drop mode before the drop pods were detached from the ship. But in my great fear and panic, I must have forgotten to do so.

But despite that fact, the system helped me a lot, since I didn’t know the muscle contraction maneuver to keep blood heading towards my head; the suit did the job for me, by squeezing blood to my head preventing me from losing consciousness.

“Umm…it is now, Sergeant.” I said sheepishly.

I could hear him sigh through the intercom. “Sometimes I think that these new recruits are made to kill themselves.” He muttered.

“Alright troopers…” He called out to everypony in the platoon. “…get ready. We only have five hundred feet to go before the main chute deploys and when that happens I want everypony to get out as fast as possible.”

Only platoon leaders and officers had their suits connected to the suit, enabling them to know the altitude in which the pod was currently was. I wished I was able to see it too, but unless I make platoon leader, which was highly unlikely, it was not going to happen.

“No hesitating, and when I say that I mean you, Silver Shine.” He called out.

“Y...yes, Sergeant.” I replied, already feeling nervous. To be jumping from five hundred feet and with nothing but your two jets to stop you from going plat was something I didn’t look forward to.

A sudden jolt took hold on the pod, as the pod went to a sudden decrease of speed. If I wasn’t strapped down to my seat, I would most likely have been flung around.

That was when my metal straps, the ones that kept me attached to my chair, cut off, as it removed its hold on me and freeing my from its restraints.

“Alright, let go, go, go!” The Sergeant shouted, as a sudden bursting sound echoed inside. The sudden burst brought another jolt, shaking the pod.

I turned my head towards the source and could see light entering the pod, as the large hatch on the end was blown away.

The sound of metal hooves tapping on metal could be head, as one by one, the members of the platoon jumped out into the unknown. I nervously followed, using my hooves as a guide as I followed the patch of light. If only I remembered to turn of the night vision, then I wouldn’t be going through the trouble of bumping into the bits and pieces that protruded inside the capsule.

After tripping once in a while, as I made my way to the hatch, I finally got to my destination. Without a second glance or hesitation, like the Sergeant ordered me, I jumped out into the open air, falling towards the ground at high speeds.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” I screamed as I fell, spinning around like a helpless piñata. Flinging my hooves around, I felt helpless to the effects of gravity and the forces of nature.

“Hey!” I heard Ruby Cloud call through the intercom. “I know you’re new to the job, but could you at least remember what they thought you. You know? Deploying your jets.”

“Yes…” I said as I nodded, although I doubted she could see that. “Jets, yes that would be a good thing right now.”

The air streaked by me as I, a pony wearing a heavy metal suit, fell from the sky at great speeds. Remembering the crash course session I had about this, I deployed my jets, by using my neural sensors so that I could activate them. Immediately, two one foot sized cylinders deployed on the side of my suits and fired up.

I gave it a ten second burst, enough to slow down my speed substantially. This reduced the speed of my fall and gave me control on the direction I was going. The gravity of the planet we were landing on was equivalent to the gravity of Equestria Prime, so it would need a lot of thrust to push me through the air and bring me to a gentle landing.

A red cross appeared on my heads up display, indicating that this was the spot marked, by the Platoon Sergeant, as out landing zone.

As I sent a fifteen second burst on my jets, letting it push me closer towards the landing zone as I started to get closer to the ground, I noticed a powerful and magnificent sight above me.

Falling from the sky were hundreds upon hundreds of drop pods, parachutes deployed as they slowly descended towards the ground. The grey parachutes spread open, as they remained attached through a strong cables that manage to carry the weight of the metal pods. There were so many of them that it looked like it was raining pods.

Deploying from the pods were thousands of armored ponies, dozens coming out of each pods. They only came as green dots on my helmet’s display, marking them as friendly, but that didn’t remove the effect of the sight.

I don’t mean to sound like I’m doing a PR mission, but there are no the words to describe the sight.

What I saw was the might of Equestria, the Equestrian Space Force and its planet side branch, the Troopers. The ones in charge of taking a planet and holding it till the last pony. This was the strength of our space faring nation, as every member of its colonies join up as one. Join up to be the powerful Equestria we are. Just goes to show how powerful Equestria and its colonies are. Too bad we aren’t strong enough to defeat the enemy below us.

As I continued to stare at the large force with great amazement, looking left to right to see armored ponies zipping to their drop zones, I didn’t notice how close I was getting to the ground. I was too busy looking up, that I didn’t even bother to look down till my helmet’s display flashed red and alerted me of my possible impact to the ground.

Panicking and sweating, I brought my jets to full thrust, hoping that it would be enough to slow down my fall. The jets worked at maximum power, trying to slow down my speed as flames spurted out of them.

Luckily for me, the sudden thrust and push brought me to a less deadly speed when I finally hit the ground. I manage to activate the jets just in time, so that I would be able to slow down my descent.

With a loud thud I landed on the ground, tumbling down to my hooves and plotting myself, muzzle first, on the dirt. I manage to bury the tip of my helmet on the ground as I landed with my fore hooves down and rump in the air. I didn’t feel any pain from the impact, as the shock observers took the brunt of it. Although I have to admit that my landing was not a text book maneuver and was practically embarrassing.

I felt dazzled and confused, and remained so until Ruby Cloud came by to help me up.

“Not as graceful as us pegasi...” She said, offering her hoof, which I accepted. “…but for a rookie, like you, I would say that it went well, one hundred percent.”

“Thanks, I think?” I said, as I got up.

Well, her I was, on a far off planet, ready to claim it for Equestria. Although I wanted to explore the stars and land on far off planets when I was a filly. I would have preferred a way to achieve it without getting myself killed or scared half to death!

Chapter 4

Chapter 4
When I was a filly, I remember spending hours upon hours trying to assemble a simple telescope my parents gave me. It was a beautiful piece, which was very effective in doing its job. (Actually I find it hard to see how a telescope would fail to do its simple job) The reason it took me a while to assemble the telescope was because of the fact that it had many bits and pieces that needed to be placed slowly and precisely. I got to say, whoever designed that telescope made it so that only unicorns would be able to do it with ease. Since we earth ponies had nothing but the hooves in front of us, it was a difficult task trying to insert the lenses to the specification that the instructions stated.

But when it was done, I felt proud of myself. It was something that I devoted a lot of time to and it was finally done. It shone under the sunlight, as the brightly polished material and lend were kept clean, so that it won’t interfere when used. Seeing that a small smudge can bring so many misconceptions, remembering stories of ponies thinking a small smudge on the lens was a black hole.

I felt joy in my heart; so I decided to put the telescope to the test. I planned to bring it to the park, where a small hill provided excellent elevation for viewing the night sky. So with my telescope and a book of the constellation, not that I needed it since I knew which group of stars was which, I decided to go to the park, planning to set up my telescope before the night falls upon the land.

The park was a beautiful place, with its open fields and nice hills. Unlike most towns, which preferred the new cybernetic parks, which had holographic screens and cyber animals, the park in our small town decided to stick to nature. Which I found great, since I gave me breathing space from the constraints of technology. Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate every bit of technology as much as the next pony, but it can sometimes be too much to bear, if you know what I’m saying. Probably not, but that’s not important.

Anyways, the park in our town was the perfect place to set up my telescope so I decided to arrange myself and make plans to go there.

After getting permission from my parents, promising them that I won’t stay late, I left the house, books in my saddle bag and telescope in its casing, which was strapped to my bag. The load I was carrying was heavy, but it wasn’t enough to make my day sour. But the ponies I met on the way were sure enough to accomplish that goal.

“Well if it isn’t our favorite blank flank, Silver Shine.” An annoying and smug voice called, as I was about to make a turn towards the park.

“What do you want, Jewel?” I said, facing the light blue pegasus and her friend, a dark blue pegasus named Sapphire, the two most arrogant fillies in town.

“What do you mean?” She asked, as the two came closer and circled me. “Can’t we talk to our favourite blank flank anymore or has Celestia turned it to a crime?”

“No…” I said, shaking my head as I started to back away, but Sapphire was there to block me. “…but last time I checked, every encounter I had with you two was never pleasant.”

“Oh come on, Silver Shine.” Jewel said. “Can’t we just have a friendly talk?”

“About what?” I asked, knowing that every conversation with her always had a catch.

“Maybe about…this!” Sapphire said, snatching my telescope from its casing and flying up, preventing me from reaching it. Why do we earth ponies have to be cursed with the lack of magic and flight? It just seems unfair.

“Well what do we have here?” Jewel said, flying up to Sapphire to examine my telescope. “Oh a telescope. Now where would an earth pony like you get something like this? You didn’t steal it, did you?” It always annoyed me how some ponies, mostly pegasi, viewed us earth ponies. They always tend to think that we were poor farmers, even though farmers were one of the richest members of society. It was probably our relationship with the soil and land that gave that image.

“No!” I shouted. “That is mine; it was given to me by my parents, so give it back!” I tried, in vain, to get it by jumping up and swatting my hooves. But the two were flying high enough to avoid my desperate attempts to retrieve what is mine.

“Make us!” Jewel said in a mocking town. “You can’t reach it and we have no plans on giving it back. Something like this would make a nice decoration to my room.”

“I said give it back!” I choked, angry and sad as I felt tears forming in my eyes. During that time, the telescope was my pride and joy and I didn’t like the idea off anypony taking it away from me. Especially a pony that was as arrogant as Jewel. She was my sworn enemy and I believed that she wouldn’t be satisfied in life until I was left miserable.

Suddenly, a green aura surrounded the telescope, as it was pulled away from Jewel’s grasp. A confused and annoyed expression appeared on her face as she flung her hooves in anger. She obvious didn’t like anypony spoiling her plans.

“Hey!” She complained. “What’s the meaning of this?”

A brown unicorn trotted towards us, horn glowing as he had the telescope floating right in front of him. “Jewel, I think you know that stealing is an offence that nopony tolerates, right?” He said, as he floated the telescope back to me. I immediately grabbed it and held in within my hooves, not wanting it to leave me again.

“Oh, what do you want, Vector.” Jewel said, facing him. “Can’t you see we’re having fun with our dear friend, Silver Shine?

“Yeah, right…” He said, obviously unconvinced. “Last time I checked, having fun meant both ponies were enjoying it.”

“Oh, quit being a spoil sport, you know that you would not get anything while you defend that nerd.” She said.

“Hey!” I complained. Although I had to admit that I read a lot of books, most of them about the stars and space above, I was no nerd. You can’t blame me for enjoying a good book and reading a lot. Sure, I talked about those books a lot and probably bored everypony to death about the many fact about space exploration, but I was no nerd. Or was I?

“Well, nerd or not, it still not right to pick on somepony.” He stated. I didn’t if I should feel happy that he was defending me, or be mad at him since he called him a nerd.

“Well isn’t that cute, the blank flank is defending the nerd, who is also a blank flank.” Jewel said before shaking her head. “Fine, if we can’t entertain ourselves with Silver Shine, then we might as well head somewhere else.” She said before turning around and flying off, with Sapphire trailing close behind.

“Why can’t this town just have one of those cyber parks, honestly, is it that hard?” I heard her mutter as they flew off.

“Thanks, Vector, for defending me earlier.” I said later, as I was setting up my telescope. After the encounter with Jewel and Sapphire, Vector decided the join me in my star gazing expedition, stating that it sounded like a cool idea.

“It was nothing…” He said, shrugging it off. “…those two always got in my nerves. I didn’t know it was possible for ponies to be that cruel.”

“Well, thanks again anyways.” I said, finally finishing the set up. By now, the sun was starting to fade so that it could be replaced by the darkness of the night. It was a graceful exchange, from day to night, something that would never cease to amaze me. The sudden change of colors and the appearance of stars up in the sky were breathtaking.

“Princess Luna sure did a great job tonight.” I heard Vector say, as I brought my eyes towards the telescope, looking through it.

The view I got was amazing, as I was able to see the far off stars. I could see the many stars that littered the sky and created the different patterns that I have memorized, thanks to the countless of hours of reading.

I knew that out there, each star had one out of thousands of Equetrian Colonies, in which ponies cultivated the land so that they could be used for the benefit of everypony.
I dreamed that one day, I would be able to go there and let me hooves touch the soil of a foreign planet. The thought of travelling through space trilled me, as the possibilities filled my head. Being able to float in zero gravity as I flew through space, discovering new life forms, seeing the beautiful wonders of a unknown planet. These were all the thought that flowed in my head. I know it sound like an exploration novel or a diary of a settler or scientist, sent to colonize or study Equestria’s new planets, but this was my dream.

“Hey look up there.” I said, bringing my head away from the telescope and offering him a look through it. He gladly accepts and I soon found myself lecturing him on the constellations as I pointed the telescope to each group of stars. I explained to him the location of each constealtion and on who discovered them and when.

The park was a perfect place, like I said earlier, and the hill I positioned the telescope was well elevated. Unlike the cities, where the artificial light prevented the proper viewing of the night sky, the area in which our town was located gave as a full view. With only little artificial light, there was nothing to interfere the view.

Normally, a pony would be bored of me explaining it and would make up a lame excuse to leave, but Vector was different. He stayed and listened enthusiastically, nodding his head and asking me questions which I was glad to answer.

“Vector was a good friend and I liked him a lot because of that. He was a pony who didn’t treat me differently and actually found interest on my hobbies. He was the perfect friend and I was glad to be with him during that wonderful night. The stars looked down upon us as we looked up to them.

“Hey…ummm, Silver Shine.” He said, catching my attention and making me look away from the telescope.

“Huh, yes?” I asked, still half focused on the billions of stars above.

“You didn’t tell me you already got you cutie mark.” He simply stated, a small grin forming on his face.

“My cutie mark!” I exclaimed, eyes wide open. I never expected my cutie mark to appear, despite my desperate attempts, and was caught by surprise when he stated it. At first I thought he was joking, although I felt my heart beat fast in excitement. But knew there was only one way to make sure.

Turning my head towards my flank, I was surprised and happy to see that it was true. Right there, taking the image of a group of stars, a constellation, was my cutie mark. A cutie mark, something little fillies and colts try their best to achieve, was now present on my flank and I felt happiness feel me.

It was a great achievement to gain your cutie mark, knowing that you are actually good at something, and mine seems to tell me that I was good at telling the stars above, which overjoyed me.

I large smile formed in my face as I swapped glances from my cutie mark and Vector.

Laughing with joy and gave him a hug as I giggled. He seemed to be happy for my achievement as he returned the hug and smiled. “Congratulations.” He said to me, complementing the appearance of my cutie mark. Although he himself hasn’t gained his own mark, he didn’t seem to be jealous and was instead very happy for me.

This made me smile once more, since I thought he would be angry at me. It was common for others to get jealous over cutie marks, but he didn’t seem to mind. To him, cutie marks didn’t matter much, yet he still felt happy when I received mine.

So I reminded myself to be just as happy when he received his, because I would be a terrible friend if I didn’t. Besides, a pony gaining their mark was like celebrating ones birthday.

“I got my cutie mark! I got my cutie mark!”

I was happy and life felt great. Being able to see the beautiful stars above, gaining my cutie mark, and being here with a good friend. These were the things that made me happy. As time went by, troubles brewed and tragedies came, I always looked back to this moment when I felt down.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5
We dropped on a planet commonly known as Argon II, located at Sector 55 near the outer colonies. Argon II was formerly a colony of Equestria until it was taken by the enemy during the early stages of the war. Since then it was used as an outpost by the enemy and nothing more. But recent intelligence has showed an increasing amount of enemy soldiers massing on the planet, suggesting that they might use it as a staging point for a possible offensive. So the E.S.F. decided to strike first, before the enemy can hit us.

Hitting the enemy before they knew it and foiling their plans before an offensive. So me, and my fellow Troopers were now assigned to take the planet and fight off an enemy that was as equal in technology as us. Great, makes me wish I had joined the Fleet instead, knowing that they barely see action. Sure there were a couple of skirmishes between our vessels and theirs, but nothing major. Although, that still brought a small chance of me being in one of does skirmishes and loosing.

In fact, I wished I never left my PR job at all; too bad they had to disband my department.

The planet was covered by a thick jungle, with green trees and thick groups of plants surrounding every area. Vines littered the place, connecting it with other trees and acting as a net, making it impossible to see what was in front. It also blocked the path, as we learned that the vines were quite strong and was like flexible steel cables. The trees, which were everywhere, were twenty feel high and covered with leaves that sized up as five feet in length and two feet in width. The soil we stood on was soft and soggy, like mud, making it difficult to move our hooves. If it wasn’t for the strong pressure exerted by the suit’s exoskeleton, it would have been impossible to move.

So as our platoon stood in the middle of the clearing, which acted us our drop zone, we felt trapped and surrounded by the planets natural barriers.

The veteran members of the platoon, which was basically everypony, moved immediately, without orders, as they secured the perimeter of the landing zone. They scanned the area with their sensors as they deployed their weapons, laser guns sticking out of the side of their suits as it looked for something to lock on and shoot. But there was nothing to shoot at and they just remained there waiting for orders.

“Alright everypony, form up. Standard battle formations now move it!” The Sergeant called on the intercom, making everypony move up to their portion of the formation.

The standard battle formation was a formation used by every platoon during an assault. It was basically a row that formed a straight line, wherein everypony had a pre-assigned position. Each pony is spread out with a twenty foot gap from one another in both sides. This is to ensure that no two ponies gets killed by one artillery shell exploding and so that the efficiency of the suits are maximized. With all the sensors and weapons, an individual pony with a suit could cover a lot of ground. Twenty feet on both ends was easily within arch of protection of one suit.

On the far left of the line was the position of the corporal, marking the end of the line with his beacon. While on the far right was the platoon commander, marking his end with his beacon. The beacons gave us a basis on where the battle line was, enabling us to maintain a straight formation.

Although, another way to keep the formation straight was to refer to the suit’s radar by making sure you were aligned to the two ponies on your sides.

The radar was a great way to inform you of the location of your platoon mates, as well us picking up things like the enemy and objects that are surrounding you. It gave you an advance warning on anypony or anything the starts moving up towards you. It was a great piece of technology that, too bad the enemy had the same thing on their soldiers.

My position was near the center of the line, sandwiching me between two experienced ponies, which made me feel safe, knowing that I would have both my flanks covered and secured.

“Ruby…” The Sergeant called in the intercom. “…I want you to keep an eye on Silver over there. She should be on your right, if I’m correct.”

“Copy that.” Ruby Cloud said, before linking her radio to main, ensuring what she was going to say would only be heard by the two of us.

“Alright, rookie, listen up. I want you to keep up with the line and never stop unless you’re told so. I don’t know what they thought you before they brought you to our outfit, but we Trooper like to keep things fast. So I don’t want to see you left behind and hearing the Sergeant yell at me to go fetch you up. Got, it? Good. Now I you have any troubles, just switch your radio to this link and talk to me.”

“O…okay.” I said, as I got to my position on the line.

“Alright, platoon, gallop!” The Sergeant ordered, as soon as the platoon got in the line of battle.

The line immediately moved forward, racing towards the direction the Sergeant marked, in her heads up display, as a red dot. Using their suits power, they were able to move at speeds faster than an ordinary pony could go. Within seconds, the line was now far away, moving at fast speeds, without a single pony breaking a sweat. Thanks to the suits capabilities, every step a pony takes is amplified, giving more distance with each step taken.

As the platoon moved forward, I was momentarily left behind. Being new to this all, I haven’t gotten used to the unit cohesion that most of the ponies have imbedded in their skulls. So I didn’t move when the order was given, and was left to stand awkwardly behind.

But remembering Ruby’s words, I soon raced forward. Clumsily at first, but moving forwards none the less. I had never used the suit for galloping before and I had to admit that it was the first time I did so. It felt weird when I moved, but I was surprised at how fast I was going.

For a physically weak pony like me, to be able to go this fast, under my own power which was helped by the suit’s amplification, was an amazing feat. I was soon back on my position, advancing with the other ponies in my platoon.

As we moved forward, I noticed a large dot appear on my radar and wondered what it was. I didn’t have visual of it yet, as the jungle concealed my field of view, but my radar manages to pick it up from a distance.

“Hey, uh, Ruby, what’s that dot on the radar?” I asked, connecting to the link she made earlier.

“It seems to be a Methane Vent.” She informed me. “This place is littered with it. They are usually harmless until somepony lights it up. Best that we avoid it, just in case.”

This was the exactly what we did. The Sergeant ordered the platoon to split into two, one taking the left while the other took the right, before reconvening once we passed the vent. Ruby and I took the right half of the platoon as we passed by the vent. Our section skimmed near the vent, giving me a quick glimpse of it, as the density of shrubbery was lesser there. The vent was basically a bump on the ground, in which I estimated to be five feet high and eight feet in diameter. The top of the vent had a small hole on top, as gasses leaked out of it. The entire thing was basically a mini volcano that was steaming methane out of its top.

After passing the vent, the platoon then returned to its formation before continuing its movement forward, till the Sergeant ordered as to halt and keep our guards up.
I could hear the distant sounds of battle coming from the left side. The sound of laser and plasma guns were distinct, even though the only time I heard them was during a controlled situation. I also heard the sound of explosions as explosives were flung around and exploded in the distance. But despite the noise, the battle couldn’t be seen. The thick jungle proved impossible to see anything that wasn’t directly in front of you.

“Alright, everypony, listen up. The Lieutenant and the center platoon have made contact with the enemy and want us and 3rd Platoon to start a pincer movement and blast the enemy’s flanks. So here’s the plan. We’re going to swing the platoon so that we would soon face the enemy’s right flank.”

I was confused during this moment, since I never got the chance to conduct platoon movement. Almost all the battle formations and movement were jargon to me. So I was having a difficult time understand what the Sergeant was saying. All this tactical nonsense was just nonsense to me. I just hoped Ruby would have a simple explanation for me, or else I would be in trouble. I doubted it if the Sergeant would be happy to see a pony lost as we conducted this maneuver he was ordering.

“We’re going to swing the platoon towards the enemy, so I want you all to fix on the corporal’s beacon…” I briefly looked at my display and note the beacon on the far left of the line “…He will be the anchorage of the line. He will stay on his position, while I move left. I will act as the end of the line as we swing. We’re basically going to act like a door, swinging left, everypony got that? Good.”

I was surprised on how easily I understood the orders. The Sergeant had the talent of making things clear and trying to keep things as briefly as possible. Well it was a good thing that I manage to execute the movement without any problems, as I was able to keep up with the swinging line.

After swinging the line, we moved forward to close the distance between us and the enemy.

We moved forward, keeping low and moving fast. Although there was a thick jungle the blocked the view, the enemy we were about to face had technology that enables to see through it. Like us, they had radar and sensors that could sense our approach. So we kept low to lower the chances of a stray shot hitting us.

As we approached, a blast of plasma fire landed near us, causing us to hit the dirt. I immediately felt the shakes as nervousness and panic took over me. I started to breathe heavily as I looked around to see streaks of laser fire above me.

Soon more fire came upon us as the enemy noticed out advance and tried to pin us down. Their weapons were similar to ours, if not more powerful, making them a difficult match for us. But from what I was told, there was no such thing as a match for the Equestrian Troopers.

“Take cover and open fire!” The Sergeant ordered as we broke formation and found the nearest cover we could find.

So I took cover in a large bush and watched the battle in front of me. Sure this wasn’t the safest place to take cover, seeing that lasers could easily incinerate the bush, but it was the only one that I could find. I just hoped the any shot directed to me would be deflected by my suit’s armor.

Streaks of laser fire flew all over the place, setting fire to some of the leaves, as plasma guns fired their chunks of hot plasma, exploding as they make contact on their targets.

The sounds of battle were now louder, as more fire and explosions erupted all over.

A plasma round exploded near me, causing me to shriek in alarm and panic. More rounds fell near me, as I tried to dig myself a hole using my hooves. Although I have to admit that this was not the most effective plan on keeping yourself safe in a battle. I’m actually surprise that I wasn’t killed then and there. Maybe someone up there is watching over me, thinking that I could be useful someday and that it wasn’t my time yet. Probably not since I was nopony special, but I’m glad none of the shots hit me.

So there I was, fighting in a battle and screaming my head off. Very typical of me.

I tried to see what was happening, but it was too hard to interpret the battle, due to the explosions and the lack of visual capability. The only way I could tell the positions was through the radar and still that wasn’t enough. The green dots marked the friendly forces, while the red dots marked the enemy. From what I could see, it looked like there were more red dots.

A streak of laser fire landed right in front of me, causing me to back away in panic. I was really tempted to run away and never come back, right then and there. But I fought the urge, knowing that the death penalty would wait for me if I did.

So instead I took a deep breath and did the only thing I did best, scream.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” I shouted, letting my voice flow through the intercom link Ruby had provided me.

“Would you stop that screaming?” Ruby shouted, obviously irritated at me. “It’s very distracting.”

“B…but I can’t.” I said, shaking within my suit as sweat soaked my fur. Despite the cooling system, my suit felt like a mine sauna. “They’re shooting at me.”

I could just imagine Ruby bring her hoof upon her face, as she heard what I said. I know, I know, what I said was stupid, but I was panicking at that time. Try bringing yourself into battle for the first time, with little training, and see if you won’t panic.

Because during that time, I was panicking as if there was no tomorrow. It made it impossible for me to think clearly, which made me make stupid remarks.

“Then shoot back!” She yelled. “Seriously, rookie, I know your stupid, but I didn’t expect you to be that stupid! Listen, just try to breathe in and breathe out. Relax yourself. Having a clear mind might save you from dying.”

Having nothing better to do to quell my panic attack, I decided to take her advice. Taking a deep breath, I slowly took in the air, before slowly breathing it out. I continued to do this procedure till I felt my body stop shaking. Wow, that actually works, good to know.

With a clear mind, I fixed my position and looked towards the battle in front of me. More shots were fired towards us as my fellow Troopers fired back. I tried to lock on the nearest target as I used my suit’s auto-aiming system, as it automatically kept the gun locked at the enemy.

For a brief moment, I saw one of the enemy soldiers move from one position to another. From that brief moment, I manage to see enemy that we were fighting. The one I saw stood on two legs, they were bi-pedal, and was at least five and a half feet, if not more, high. It wore armor like as and carried its weapons on two appendage attached to its upper body. They were weird looking creatures, said to resemble gorillas. (If gorillas could travel thorough space and where armored suits) From what we have learned, these creatures were very much alike to us, as they breath oxygen and other scientific stuff I don’t have time for, and plan on colonizing planet that are suited foe pony life. From what our Intelligence Corps have gathered, these creatures were called, ‘Humans’.

Other than those basic facts, I didn’t know anything more about them. But right at the moment, the only thing I cared about was getting out of there alive.

Having finally deployed my laser gun, as it stuck out of my suit, I fired it, not caring if it locked on a target or not. I fired a couple of shots, as the streaks of laser fire exited the barrel and landed harmlessly on the ground, hitting nothing. I never had time to learn how the locking systems work, before, let alone fire the weapons, so it was obvious that I wasn’t doing things properly. The targeting system was locking on different targets, but I fired the weapon too early, making each shot miss.

Proper procedure would have been to lock on one target, as the auto-locking system pointed at the enemy, waiting for the command to fire. My mistake was that I didn’t allow the system to lock properly and instead made it choose another target and another, while firing it at the same time. That would explain why it kept on locking to different targets.

My attempts to fire at the enemy led to nothing but harm to myself, as the hot beams of laser burnt the leaves of the bush I was hiding in. The bush quickly erupted on fire, as I quickly got out of it and headed towards and better position.

“I’m surprised.” Ruby commented. “I didn’t know it was possible to miss with the auto-locking system, this must be a new record.”

I didn’t say anything but let out a grunt of annoyance.

“Well if I may suggest, would you please hit the enemy?” Ruby said. “Because the enemy is starting to advance and your help would be kindly accepted.”

Looking towards the radar, I learned what she said was true. I could see the red dots slowly approach, one heading towards us, while the other towards out flank. The amount of enemy fire was also increasing, as plasma and laser shots landed everywhere, causing the jungle to burn, while some lucky shots bounced on pony’s armor.

Frantically, in hopes that I might provide help to the battle, I deployed my plasma gun and begun firing erratically. Like before, I didn’t wait for the locking system to find a target as I begun shooting everywhere, send hot plasma flying all over the battlefield and over the heads of the enemy. I was shooting too high, making most of my shots miss.

What I didn’t notice was one of my plasma shots flew towards a Methane Vent, which was hidden within the jungle foliage. The shot landed within the hole, igniting the methane gas contained within, causing a chain reaction inside the methane filled chambers below.

A large explosion shook the ground, as a large ball of fire engulfed the jungle. The flames flew high as it burned the plants and threw dirt and rocks up high. I was confused at first, on what had caused the explosion (Not knowing it was me that caused it), and looked upon in with fear and shock. A large ball of fire, rising up, sending debris everywhere.

My fear soon subsided as I was mesmerized by it. Its glowing flame and size was something that would attract the attention of evepony. Like a mosquito to bright light, it stared at it with awe.

I stared at it with amazement as the lames slowly went up, its thick black smoke going up with it. It was like a scene out of the movies, yet it was happening right in front of me.
Immediately, the amount of enemy fire decreased as our own fire increased. For me, I didn’t shoot as I continued to watch at the ball of flame with amazement.

I didn’t remove my gaze from it till I noticed that the red dots on the radar were falling back, as the green dots started to advance.

The large explosion seem to have scare them off, as they decided to pull away from the battle, letting us fire and advance, taking their positions. The Sergeant took advantage of the enemy’s confusion, ordering as to open up with all we got.

I watched as beams of light and shots of plasma flew in the air, as if it were one gigantic light show. The hot laser beams and plasma shots burned more of the jungle as the rest of it burned from the flames of the fireball.

We slowly moved forward, firing as we went, as the enemy retreated and moved away. The battle was soon over, but I would later be told that what we encountered was just as skirmish. I gulped at the thought, if that was just as skirmish, then how confusing and chaotic could a real battle turn out?

As the skirmish subsided, and some ponies from my platoon secured the area, I walked on top of the scorched part of the jungle, where the explosion occurred. It had burned all the nearby plants, creating a large radius were no foliage remains. Only a large crater on the ground was left, where the Methane Vent used to be, as well as the ashes of the plants that were burned by the fire. In fact, the fire was still spreading in some parts and it seemed that nopony bothered to extinguish it.

“What in Celestia’s sweet name did you think you were doing?” The Sergeant shouted at me as I stood on the middle of the ashes. Although I couldn’t see his face, I could feel the anger radiating out of him.

“Wha…what? Umm…what do you mean, sir?” I asked shakily, not sure why I was in trouble.

“Don’t act stupid, I saw what you did.” He said, pushing his hoof upon my armored chest. “I saw you fire those plasma rounds all over the place and I saw one of those shots land on the Methane Vent, causing that explosion. You’re lucky that the chamber below that vent was small or you would have blown us along with the enemy. You’re carelessness almost caused this platoon the lives of its members!”

I felt small as he yelled at me, and I felt like I was going to break down at the moment. I was in a place I didn’t want to be in, getting shot at and risking my life, while going through the worst nightmare of my life. Add the fact that I almost killed everypony and that the intimidating Sergeant was yelling at me and chewing me out, then I believe that I could have cried a river of tears any moment from now.

What saved me during that moment was Ruby, who trotted towards us.

“Oh, cut her some slack, Sergeant, she did save us from an enemy onslaught.” She said, as she moved up next to me.

“While risking our lives at the same time! That explosion could have had killed us all.”

“But it didn’t” She stated.

I could tell that the Sergeant wanted to say something else about that, but was stopped when the Lieutenant trotted by and requested his presence. The Sergeant shot a stiff glance towards me before nodding to the Lieutenant and trotted away with him. I gave a sigh of relief, knowing that I wasn’t going to get chewed out anymore. But I also knew that he wouldn’t forget this event and would probably keep an extra eye open for me.

“Hey, rookie, that thing you did earlier was impressive.” Ruby said. “But if you don’t stop showing off, you’ll end up toasting our flanks to a crisp. So I suggest straightening yourself up. Now come on, I want to hear what the Lieutenant and the Sergeant are talking about.”

Smiling, I followed Ruby as she went towards the platoon and company commander, so that we could ‘listen’ to their conversation. I was glad that Ruby helped me earlier and I was at her gratitude. Despite her teasing, she seemed to be covering my back all the time, helping me despite my helplessness.

We stood nearby the two, far enough for them not to mind us, but close enough to hear what they were talking about. We pretended to check our ammunition and suit’s system as we listened to their conversation.

“The enemy is falling back!” I heard the Sergeant say. “We should follow up on our push before they can reform.”

“No…” The Lieutenant said as he shook his head. “…I have orders for us to fall back. I have marked a retrial zone for the company and we would move there as soon as possible.”

“Fall back?” The Sergeant sounded shocked. “But why?”

The Lieutenant sighed and explained. “I just received word from the Colonel. She says that Alpha 1 landed a couple of miles from our position and has encountered a serious problem…” He posed momentarily before continuing. “Apparently the Element Bearers have been captured and that Alpha 1 is experiencing heavy opposition in their attempts to rescue them. She also informed me that an enemy fleet is fast approaching and that our fleet wants to avoid a major battle. Most of our vessels up there are transports and have little defense against a battle fleet.”

The Sergeant continued to argue on the thought of retreating, suggesting that we should try our best to rescue the Element Bearer, but I didn’t listen to any of that. I was too shocked at the thought of having one of Equestria’s greatest weapons under enemy control.

Now, I didn’t know how the Element Bearers were captured, with it being classified and all, but I did know that it wasn’t a good thing. With the Element Bearers and corresponding Elements of Harmony within enemy control, then a major problem would soon arise. With the Elements gone, who knows what could be the faith that awaits us.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

We sat on top of a hill, Vector by my side, as we watched Princess Luna’s beautiful night. Although I knew that the space above wasn’t Luna’s doing, I still appreciated her nights because she was the one who brought darkness which enabled us to see the far off stars, and rose the beautiful moon the shone in the night skies. Unlike most systems, Equestria Prime was the only one that had its sun and moon revolving around the planet. The two revolved around our planet, yet they didn’t have their own orbit. Instead, they revolved around through the use of the Princess’s magic, which was powerful enough to do thing gigantic feat. Now, I wasn’t a unicorn, so I don’t understand most magical spells and all that stuff, but I knew that it must take a lot of energy to do things like that. Moving the sun or moon was no simple task.

Looking towards the moon, I smiled at the sight of the large white orb. Its beautiful circular shape and bright light, that illuminated the dark sky, was a perfect addition to the night.

It was also a key location for interstellar travel, as it also acted as the key space port to any ship that wants to go to Equestria Prime.

Ever since the first base was set up on the moon, it has been the hub for exploration and space travel. Early space probes were usually launched from the moon, since it was easier to launch satellites, thanks to the moon’s low gravity, and send them off to explore the vastness of space. When ponies developed ‘Faster than Light engines’ and created larger vessels the moon has been used as a major base for the launching of colony ships and a port for military and trading vessels.

The moon currently holds a dozen different bases, used for both military and civilian purposes. It has docks, to service vessels, and shipyards where new vessels are built for the military, trading, and colony departments. It was also place were tourist from Equestria Prime could go and visit, seeing that it was the closest celestial body to our planet.

Unlike interstellar travel to the colonies, travel to the moon was open to the civilian population, in the form of tourism, as it was cheaper to do and would provide extra income. Ponies and other races from Equestria flock to the moon, to experience the wonders of space travel, despite the short distance it took to get there.

The moon was the place were space travel started and continues to be a place where space travel continues, with its ever expanding goals and exploration.

Now, as I look towards the moon, I felt like I was looking at a piece of history. The moon was no longer a source of light during night, but also the cornerstone of space travel.

“Have you ever thought of going to the moon?” Vector asked, breaking the silence that surrounded us.

The question caught me by surprise, as he never asked things liked that before, as I was silent for a moment. But I managed to catch what he said, as I started to think it through.

“Hmm…” I said before nodding. “…well, yeah. With my love of the stars above and dream of going to distant planets, I think heading to the moon would be a part of that. Sure, travel to the colonies is almost impossible right now, for us I mean, but someday it will happen. But till then, a ticket to the moon sounds nice.”

“Yeah…” He said before sighing. “…that does sound like a great plan. You’re dream of going to space and seeing it all. But you know what, I think you’re dreams are starting to rub on me, since I think I want to go to space too.”

I smiled at him, a genuine bright smile that I usually gave when I was happy.

“But unlike you, I don’t want to go to space as a passenger. I want to go to space as a pilot, to steer my own helm and fly through the cosmos. I want to fly my own ship, taking it through the speed of light and seeing the distant planets and celestial bodies.” He said.

A frown formed on my face as I stared at him with slight worry. “But Vector…” I began. “…the only way for you to do that is either become a trader, pass their exam which I’m sure you would (He was a math genius and would most likely ace it) and wait, since they only make pilots out of senior members. That would mean that you would have to wait another five years before you fulfill that dream!”

“No, Silver, I can’t wait five years before I quench this dream. I have been holding this back for a long time and now that I am of proper age, I could finally fulfill it. That is why I’m taking the other option.”

I gasped as I stared at him in disbelief. I look into his eyes, hoping that he was joking, but saw nothing but a serious look, the same look plastered all over his face. The look of a pony who wanted to fulfill a long awaited quest.

“You can’t mean…” I began, but was stopped when Vector nodded and spoke.

“Yes, Silver, I’m signing up for the E.S.F. I think the fleet needs young ponies like me and I bet I would be able to pass their exam. In a matter of one year, maybe even less than that, I would be flying a space vessel, towards the distance of space, in speeds faster the light. I would be able to fulfill my dream and maybe even learn a thing or two on the way.”

“But, you can’t…” I whimpered as I looked up at him. I didn’t want my best friend to leave and go to space. One, that would mean he would be able to fly vessels to the far of fringes of the galaxy, exploring different systems, which was I wanted to do, minus the flying vessels part. Second, it would mean that he would leave me, all alone with nopony to be with.

We had grown a close relationship over the years. We had known each other for a long time and knew one another personally. He knew my secrets and I knew his. We were one piece of each other, a true friendship.

So if he left, then a piece of my heart would be missing, longing for it to return. I don’t think I could take it, seeing him go with the probability of not returning.

Trying to push the sorrow away, I gave him a firm look and tried to sit up straight, puffing out my chest and giving him a determined look.

“Well, if you’re going, then I’m joining too.” I told him with a serious note.

But he only chuckled and shook his head. “Silver, you know that you’re one year younger than me, meaning that you’re not of legal age to join up. They’ll never let you in, especially with that data base of theirs, they’ll no your under age the moment you conduct that iris scan. You’ll just be wasting your time. Besides, with your math scores, the fleet will pat you to stay away from them.” He added the last part with a playful tone.

“Hey!” I complained, slightly annoyed. “It’s not my fault that numbers hate me!”

“Sure they do…” He said, rolling his eyes. This caused me to get even more annoyed as a playful idea popped in my head.

So without a second thought, I jumped up and tackled him, toppling us over and forcing us to roll down the hill. Giggles and chuckles escaped us as we rolled down, without a care in the world. It was a gently ride down, and aside from a couple of bumps, so we managed to reach to bottom in one piece.

As we stop with a thud, I ended up on top of him, my fore hooves pinning him down as our faces met. Our eyes locked on to each other, as we stayed in that position, for Luna knows how long.

We remained in that position in utter silence, not a single one uttering a word. I looked towards him with a sad look on my eyes, knowing no matter how hard I try to convince him, he would try to fulfill his dream. But who was I to stop him? Dreams were stronger than any force in this universe, for it is the one the drives us. If I stopped him from fulfilling his, then it would be equivalent to killing him. So I knew that I had to let him go, no matter how painful it would be for me.

The only thing that worried me was, if he went out to space, he might forget me. Forget the time we had spent with each other. Forget the beautiful moments that we had. It might come to a point that he wouldn’t remember me and would lead to him leaving forever, never to return. The thought of it scared me and I didn’t want it to become a reality.

“Promise you’ll never forget me…” I said, burying my muzzle on his chest and hugging him. “…promise me you’ll return.”

“Of course I will…” I said, as I felt his hoof caress me mane. “…how could I forget a silly pony like you? Besides, I’ll be sure to visit when I get a leave, I don’t think the military would keep as locked away from civilization forever.”

I smiled as I rested myself on top of him. This was enough to resolve my doubts. I knew he would fulfill what he said, for he never broke a promise. From all the years I knew him; he never lied to me and was always true to his word. So I didn’t doubt him a single bit.

But sadly for me, the promise was never kept. On his eight month of training, during a training mission, my best friend, Vector, was killed. As he flew over the surface of the moon, with an instructor onboard with him, his training shuttle’s flight system malfunctioned, causing it to go out of course and impact the cold surface of the moon. The shuttle killed everpony in impact, there were no bodies recovered as the speed of the crash disintegrated everything.

I received the news of his death on my birthday, I had just turned eighteen.

The news of his death devastated me, knowing that he was gone forever. I would never see him again and the promise he made would never happened. At first I didn’t want to believe it, telling everypony that it was fake. He made a promise and he would never break it!

But the realization soon started to sink into me and I stopped denying it. It was reality hitting me and the impact hurt so bad, that I couldn’t believe it. It was as if everything stopped and fell from the sky.

The moments we spent together flashed before my eyes, as if I was the one who was about to die. I might as well have, since the other half of my heart was now gone, engulfed by the moon’s rocky surface.

I remembered locking myself in my room, refusing to leave, despite my parent’s begging. I stayed there for days, eating nothing and wishing that the world to end. Sadly for me, it didn’t. I cried and cried, till I thought an ocean had formed inside my room. The pain in my heart was just too much and for days, I didn’t know what to do.

But after some thinking, I finally decided upon something. If Vector died trying to fulfill his dream, then I should do the same. Knowing that I wouldn’t qualify for the fleet, there was only one place for me to go.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Sitting on the cold metal floor, I looked out of the small port window of the vessel to see the deep void of space. Stars flashed by in high speed, becoming steaks of bright light, as we travelled at a speed faster than light. It was kind of funny on how I wanted to go to space to see the beauty of space, the stars, planets and all, but the only time I was able to look out the window and enjoy the view was during interstellar travel. Meaning all I could see was a mash of light, as the vessel’s engines brought it to high speeds. This gave me nothing to view but streaks of light that created an abstract image that I didn’t enjoy.

The dream I had inside me was to see the far reaches of spaces, to see the mysteries and majestic sights it has. But right now, I was seeing none of that. Military vessels didn’t have the luxury of giving a pony the scenic route. Travelling at high speed and trying to view the stars was equivalent to staring at a bowl of noodles.

If I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to fulfill my dream here, then I would never had signed up. Well, it’s too late for that now. Besides, I would have ended up here anyways, seeing that the conscription decree exempts nopony.

I just wished the vessel could stop for once, while I’m sitting in front of window, so that I could see the beauty outside. Too bad the only time the Lunar Express stop was when we were going on a drop or a recovery mission. Most of the time, the vessel was moving, heading to its next destination.

This left me nothing to view but streaking stars, as the Lunar Express headed towards a new planet, for us to conduct a new mission. A new mission where we through ourselves against the line as we fight off the enemy. This meant more lasers and plasma, with the addition of me screaming my lungs out.

This reminded me of an observation I noticed in which ponies act during before and during combat.

Before combat, the ponies in my company, if not the entire force, seem to hate the idea of fighting. They complain, they whine, and try to forget everything about fighting.

Although they try to look tuff all the time, they seem to resent the idea of dropping to a planet and risk the chance of getting killed. They seemed to be scarred and try to forget about the war, by busying themselves with a limitless amount of other duties, like writing letters home, doing chores, entertaining themselves, or just resting on their bunks.

But once they got in the drop pod, their attitude immediately changes. They suddenly act as if they were warmongers, with the love for the taste of blood. They talk about fighting and crushing the enemy, as if they were invincible to enemy fire. They fight, as if they forgot their resentment of war.

Once the mission was over, and the drop shuttle attached to the main vessel, they go back to normal, forgetting about the battle below. It was rare to hear somepony talking about the latest mission when they were on board.

The sudden change always puzzled me as I pondered for the cause. I concluded that it was their way to hide their fear, by acting that they want it. They act as if they want the war and were willing to fight, but deep inside they were just as scared as me and want to escape it.

But then again, I could be wrong. I’m no psychologist or anything, so I can’t form any proper hypothesis in the way they act or think.

Sitting in this empty room, I often think about things like that. Wondering about the ponies in my company, recalling memories of home, and thinking. Thinking seemed to be the only thing I could do to pass the time and this empty room was the perfect place to do it.

Our quarters, were all of our bunks were located, was always a noisy place, making it impossible to think, as ponies waged on bets and joked around. Each company had their own quarters, which was basically a large room filled with bunks and filled to the brim with ponies who wanted their own share space within the large room. This created a noisy environment, where the sounds penetrate your ears and enter your head. With that, I decided to find a place to do my thinking, exploring the vessel to find a nice peaceful spot.

We were usually allowed to roam around the vessel, as long as we didn’t enter restricted areas and interfere with the crew. So I decided to try and find a place in which I could claim as my own. I went through halls, checked rooms, and even got lost at one point. But I wasn’t going to give up till I find the perfect place.

That was when I stumbled upon this room. Now, I didn’t know what this room was supposed to be, my guess was it was an unfilled storage room, but what I do know is that it wasn’t off-limits.

Its white walls provided seclusion, while its small window provided me a view of the space outside. Although I would hardly call it a view, since all I see were the streaks of the star’s light. Also the floors were cold and I could end up freezing my rump as I sat there, but I tried to ignore it.

Despite its flaws, it was the only place I could think. The only place where I can be alone.

So I chose it as my fortress of solitude, in which I can concentrate and relax, away from the noise and pressure of the other ponies in the ship.

I always felt unwanted under their presence, so I don’t think they would mind if I suddenly disappeared. Although they were the ponies I was supposed to work with, till my honorable (Or I wish it was honorable) discharge or death, I always felt different. I never thought I was a part of their group and always think that they would never accept me.

But that was fine, for I didn’t want their acceptance. All I wanted right now was survival.

“Hey, rookie, do you mind if I join you or do you want to keep that loner act of yours?” A voice asked behind me.

Turning my head around I saw a red pegasus, Ruby, standing by the open doors. It was a good thing that our suit’s hid our fur or she would have stood out in battle.

“Well…uh, no, sure.” I said, jumbling my words. “You can come in.”

She gave me a small smile and trotted forward, taking a seat next to me. I felt slightly awkward as she sat so close to me, as I didn’t know what she was trying to do. Sure, it’s not like we were complete strangers to each other, in fact she seemed to be the only one who acted friendly to me, but it felt like she was interfering with my personal space. Even if there was enough space all around me.

“Well, I see you’re enjoying the view here.” She said, as she looked through the window to see the streak of light.

“Yeah, well there isn’t anything better to do in here…” I said, sighing.

“Well why don’t you join us, back at the company’s quarters I’m sure there’s a lot of entertainment there for a mare like you. If you want, I can teach you how to play poker.” She offered.

“I already know how to play poker.” I said.

“Well, yeah, but you don’t know how to play it with the company’s special rules.” She said with a sly grin.

“Special rules?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah….I think I’ll pass.”

“Are you sure, because that’s what I said when I first came here and I don’t regret my decision on learning the game.” She said, still smiling.

“Yup, positive.” I said with a nod. Whatever those special rules were, I didn’t want to find out.

“Well we could always try…” She began again, but I cut her off before she could finish.

“No, Ruby, I don’t want to try anything that involves gambling and ‘special rules’. All I want to do right now is be alone, till the next mission comes.”

“Aww…but, why?” She whined. “If you don’t try interacting with us, then how do you expect to be part of the group?”

“Be part of the group?” I asked, staring at her, our eyes meeting. “Last time I checked, everypony in the platoon was eager to see how I die.” I told her, remembering the conversations before the drop. Sure they said it in a joking tone, but the stinging felt all too real.

“Oh, do you honestly think they were serious?” She said, brushing it off. “That’s what we do to you rookies, we joke around and try to scare them, it’s just how it works. Besides, I think you’ve proven your self today, being able to come back alive and in one piece.”

“Yeah…” I said, blowing away a portion of my mane, as it covered my face. “…well tell that to the Sergeant. He seemed well too eager to tell me my flaws and how bad I did.”

Right after the mission, after everypony in the platoon removed their suits and put them in their respective storage areas, the Sergeant called me out and begun yelling at me again. Being a small pony, despite my earth pony heritage, and him being a tall and buffed unicorn, all I could say that it was frightening at the time.

To make things worse, he didn’t limit the pain to words, as he went physical on me. Let’s just say that it wasn’t a fun experience, seeing that my neck still hurts while some parts of my body still feel sore. It’s funny how I manage to go through the mission unscratched, only to be beat up once I got back. Maybe that’s what Sergeants were supposed to do, to insure nopony in the platoon remain uninjured.

“Oh, he does that to all new members.” Ruby told me, putting a hoof on my shoulder. I shuddered a bit, not expecting the move and feeling a slight pain, as that area was still sore, from her touch. “It’s his way of making sure that everypony knows his or her place. He thinks being a hero causes death to you and your comrades. So he doesn’t like show offs.”

“But it was an accident!” I yelled.

“Works the same way, since now you will think twice before panicking during a battle, unless you enjoy the feeling of pain.” She said. “Besides, when he beat me up, he used a chair on me. A chair! The pain of getting hit by one is unimaginable. But it ensured that I wouldn’t repeat my mistakes.”

“It doesn’t seem to be an ideal way of teaching somepony.” I said frowning. I felt that the military was just here to kill me, whether it would di it slowly or quickly, only Celestia knows.

“Ideal or not, it works and in the end, that is all that counts.” She said.

But when she saw the frown on my face, she sighed and closed her eyes, thinking.

“Listen, I know things here look harsh, but it’s just how thing go. This how we do thing and I doubt it if it would change. Now there are two things you can do, which is either join us and adapt to our way or stay as a loner and forever feel tormented and miserable. Trust me when I say that the second option would bring you to the loneliest and saddest time of your life, I know from past experience. So what do you say?”

I looked towards her, staring at her eyes. The expression on her face was neutral, as she waited for an answer from me.

“Well I guess you’re right…” I said looking down. “…it’s not like I can avoid you all forever.”

“That’s the spirit!” She said, patting me on the back with her hoof. The pat was a little forceful and I winced at the pain, from the contact of her hoof.

“Now come on, like it or not, I’m going to teach you how to play poker with our ‘special rules’.”

I gulped. Maybe I should have chosen the other option.

“We would be dropping in with Alpha 1 and would be assigned to secure their left flank.” The Lieutenant said, as he stood in front of us, a map was lit up on a screen behind him, showing the drop zones, objectives, and positioning of each unit.

We all sat in the Company Briefing room as we listened to the Lieutenant as he explained the E.S.F’s grand plan to rescue the Elements Bearers. From what we were currently told, it was a rushed plan that would use all the available resources in the area. But as I looked at the map, looking at the unit marks, I noticed that despite it being rushed, it involved at least eight battalions, making it a large scale operation. Pretty impressive for a plan that was thought up and approved in twelve days.

The plan called for Alpha 1 to land near the enemy facility, which was a tall mountain located in the middle of a flat landscape, in which they believed the Element Bearers were being held. The other battalions were supposed to form a perimeter and secure the surrounding area. They would hold off any attacks, till the mission was accomplished.

My battalion was assigned to a special job. For we were to land next Alpha 1 and support their assault on the facility. We would help them breach the mountain facility and help secure the area as well as help locate the Element Bearers.

We needed to conduct this under a time pressure, for we knew that an enemy counter-attack would be imminent. When their counter-attack comes, it would be swift and powerful. We were risking a lot for this, but all for a good price.

For since the Element Bearers must be rescued at all cost. Who knows what the enemy could do when they absorb the power of the elements. The balance of power in the war was at stake and whoever controls such a power could turn the tide for their side.

“Consider this as an honor…” The Lieutenant continued. “…for we would be working closely with Alpha 1. But I want you all to concentrate on the mission. Alright, platoon commanders; I want you to memorize the location of the objectives while the rest of you unload the map to your suit’s system. This is a vital operation in which we must not fail.
Company dismissed.” With that, the Lieutenant walked off and out of the room.

“Well, rookie…” Ruby said, as we moved out of the room. “…it looks like you’re about to experience your first battle and a real battle too, not just a skirmish.”

I felt nervous as she spoke. Skirmish or not, the battle before felt all too real and scary already. Now that this would be a large scale battle, I don’t know how I’ll perform, but I doubt it that it would be good.

Well, good luck to me.

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The plan was supposed to be initiated in one well-coordinated and swift move. We were told that all of the units would be dropped simultaneously; creating one giant formation that would cover the skies. Well, I am happy to say that that part of the plan went well. All of the drop pods went down at the same time and I am proud that I didn’t end up screaming the entire way down. Because by now, I knew what was going to happen and it wasn’t as scary as the first time. Sure I still felt scared, shaking a bit inside my suit, but I kept it to myself. I learned from Ruby Cloud that a way to avoid getting picked on, during the wait before the pod detaches, was to hide your fears. So I decided to follow her advice and I was happy to learn that it worked.

But returning back to the topic, the initial face of the drop went perfectly, with all the pods entering the atmosphere while the Troopers inside waited for the parachutes to activate.

But that’s the only good news you would here for a while, since everything went wrong after that initial drop.

As the drop pods skimmed through the atmosphere, about to eject its first drag chute, missiles came careening towards our formation. Defense systems on the ground started firing, locking on the pods and destroying them. I wasn’t able to see the missiles fire and fly through the air, being trapped inside a metal pod at the time, but I guessed it looked very scary. From the files I saw, after the battle, the radar manage to pick up the large number of pods and missiles, as they went head on to each other.

Now, resistance during the drop was expected, since this was a major research facility for the enemy. But we were informed that counter measures will be deployed to avoid mass casualties. Tiny bits of metal would be dropped, as to confuse the enemy radar that would track the pods as they descended.

But from all the explosions I was hearing, it sounded that they weren’t working and mass casualties were being taken. I would never learn why our counter-measures never worked during that day. Whether the enemy missiles had bypassed them or they just weren’t effective, I would never now. All I knew at the time was the plan wasn’t going according to our superiors expectations.

The explosions were continuous, as if the enemy was celebrating with fireworks. Except the fireworks were deadly pieces of machinery out to kill us.

The sound of banging echoes in the pod, as fragments from the exploding missiles hit the pod, sending the distinct sound of metal banging against metal.

From inside the dark pod, I could hear explosion surround our pod, as the missiles flew everywhere. The sound of missiles streaking in the air could also be heard and it reminded me of the skirmish we had, days before. But unlike the skirmish, I was left completely blind, unaware to my surrounding. Only the noise around me reminded the scared soul in me that I was still alive.

The explosion varied from loud to soft. Loud explosion being close, or near misses, while the soft ones were distant. When I hear an explosion that is followed by the sound of metal bending, my heart sunk down, knowing it was the sound of a missile impacting a pod.

It must be a scary feeling to be in a pod that was suddenly hit, as the missiles tear metal and instruments that would penetrate your armor and tear you apart. If you’re lucky, you would die instantly. If not, then you would have a piece of metal in you before you die.

The thought of death revolved in my head and I wondered when it would be our turn.

But luckily, or unluckily, for us, no missiles hit our pod. We were part of the 85%, who had their pod safely enter and deploy, so that we would land on the nightmare of a battlefield below. Although we had 15% casualties, in E.S.F. terms, that meant we were still a highly effective fighting force.

The battlefield we landed on was a disorganized killing field, as ponies landed on the wrong landing zone, while the others got shot or blown to pieces on the way down.

The reason for ponies landing on the wrong drop zone was because of their desperation to seek cover. When a Trooper descends towards a drop zone, they become a vulnerable target. Easy prey for any weapon that was aimed at them. So some ponies were so desperate to get down and hunker for cover, that they ignored their markers and landed on any place they could. This meant that each group was spread out, unable to coordinate with one another.

As I descended to the ground, using my jets to slow my speed down, I could see the battle unfold. The Troopers who landed before me have already started the fight, trying their best to create a beach head, by forming small groups and holding the line.

The ground below me was vast and dry. Dirt could be seen everywhere, with small dots of green that dotted the field. The flat field gave a clear view of the ground, while the large and tall mountain facility gave an overview of the field. It towered above the field, giving a dominating look upon all.

In the distance, hills surrounded the field, encircling it like walls. Our drop zones were located in the middle of the filed, in an attempt to surround the gigantic mountain in the middle. But to me, it looked like we were the ones about to be surrounded, by the hills that encircled us.

Streaks a of laser fire sprung up everywhere as balls of plasma flew in the sky. Ponies fought everywhere, trying to locate the enemy, who was hidden in their fortification that surrounds the mountain facility. Unit cohesion was almost nonexistent and I was luck to still be able to have contact with Ruby, who was descending only a few feet near me. There was enough chaos below to make Discord proud.

Some stray shots went by me, making me feel nervous again. So I decided to get my hooves on the ground as soon as possible.

Bits of burning metal fell from the sky, as the remains of blown up drop pods came hurtling down. They fell like comets and landed on the poor ponies below.

As I got closer to the ground, I started to see the gruesome sight of ponies dying. Littering the ground were injured ponies, with legs cut off as blood poured out and pooled around them. Although the suit’s had healing systems, injuries as severe as that could not be treated by the system. So that left the badly ponies helpless, bleeding on the ground, with no hope of survival, unless a medical team arrived. Which was almost impossible, since I doubted they escaped the missile attack.

I even saw a body, torn into half as missile ripped through the armor and annihilated half of the body. It was a terrible sight, as I could see the organs spill out, as well as the intestines that were tangled together and rolling on the dry ground, which was now soaked in blood.

The battle was getting more intense with each passing second, as more and more ponies started to fall on the ground.

I also noticed that some ponies were just left still, unmoving and stuck in one post. I wondered why they weren’t moving, or being shot at, till I learned that they were already dead. A large hole was usually found on the side of the unmoving pony’s armor, thick red blood oozing out, as their forms stood as still like statues.

There were many of these figures on the ground, standing still like sentinels. As I observed the battle, seeing armored ponies get hit by shots before going stiff, I learned the cause.

This was the cause of the enemy’s new weapon, which came in the form of armor piercing bullets. Their armor piercing bullets travelled at high velocities so that it could easily penetrate our suit’s armor and lodge itself in the pony user. Hitting the pony inside wasn’t enough to disable him, since he or she would only be injured, so once the bullet penetrated the armor, a sensor on the bullet would make it explode, as it lodged itself in the pony. This would blow up the pony inside, while the suit goes stiff, since the suit’s system locked it in that position. (The suits were made to lock in position, called ‘inactive mode’, when not being used. Since the pony inside exploded and was no more, the suit thinks that it has been switched to the inactive mode.)

The explosion was big enough to tear the pony inside to pieces, but not large enough to blow the suit apart, leaving the battlefield with this eerie looking statues.

I could only imagine what the inside of a suit looks like, after having hit by an armor piercing round. The inside would most likely be covered by the user’s blood and guts, as they stuck on the suit’s interior like bubble gum. Meaty, blood red bubble gum.

Some of the shots, from the enemy, were directed to me, as laser streaks went by a few inches from me. I didn’t know whether they’re locking systems were terrible shots or if I was just lucky, but I wasn’t going to risk myself any further.

Hoping to make myself a harder target, I curled up into a ball, bringing my hooves closer to me. This would reduce my silhouette and make me a less vulnerable target.
An explosion erupted below me, from a stray missile, as more laser fire got close to me. Seeing that I was about to hit the ground, I brought my hooves down and activated my jets. I couldn’t see the ground below; since the smoke from the recent explosion obstructed my view, but I knew that I was only a couple feet from the ground. Or at least I thought I was.

For I felt something hit me on the muzzle of my helmet. I then felt something hit me on my flank, and felt that I was surrounded on all sides. A low humming sound came below me, as I noticed that things were getting dark.

My hooves couldn’t feel the ground, so I left my jets on and continued to descend. But I started to wonder why? Last time I checked, I was only ten feet from the ground, so I should have landed by now.

The sound of metal slamming and the feeling of something hitting my hooves startled me, as I was flung around for a while, going in circles. I felt dizzy as I spun, with my jets not helping the situation, as they added more momentum to the spinning movement.

But the movement soon stopped, as an ear piercing screeching sound filled my ears. The spinning slowed down and I looked around dazzled, trying to figure out what was happening. I was confused as to where I ended up and where this place was.

Looking towards my hooves, I saw that I was currently stuck in a large metal fan, the same one seen in ventilation systems. I looked up to see light coming in, from an end of a tunnel. That’s when I learned that I somehow ended up in one of the many ventilation shafts that littered near the facility.

You see, although the enemy facility was situated in the mountain, our Intelligence has told as that it actually extends to a large tunnel system that roots out to the field around
it. These systems burrowed through the ground underneath the field and were probably used as auxiliary bases, providing storage space and room for the garrison of the facility.

To provide air to this tunnel system, ventilation shafts were made everywhere. They were usually camouflaged, probably by the dots of grass on the field above, and were vital to providing fresh air to the tunnels below.

The explosion that happened below me, before I landed, must have blown away the protective covering of the ventilation shaft, allowing me to fall it and get stuck in the fan.

“Hey, rookie, it looks like you found us a way out of this mess.” I heard Ruby say in the intercom as I see her head pop in the top of the tunnel.

“Yeah, yeah…” I groaned. “…just help me out here, I got myself stuck on this fan.”

“Rookies…” She remarked, as I rolled my eyes. I heard her giggle as she agreed to help me out, after informing the location of the vent to the Sergeant and to whatever was left of the chain of command.

Although the vents were big enough for ponies to wiggle through, they were still a tight place to be in. It was quite hard to go through it and it gave a claustrophobic feeling to me, as I tried to move around with all the effort I could give. It gave a suffocating feeling, despite the large amounts of oxygen that my suit supplied, and I was grateful to see light at the end of the vent, as we jumped down into a large hall deep within the underground section of the facility.

The hall was wide enough for six ponies to walk side by side and was illuminated by the large lights on the ceiling. Its metal walls were white and made out of some kind of metal, the name of which has slipped my mind. Hey, don’t blame me, I’m not metal and alloy expert!

As the platoon, and the rest of the task force chosen to infiltrate the vent, filled the hall and secured the area, I finally got full grasp of the situation we were in and it was not pretty.

The battle above was getting more and more intense, as casualties started to pour in. Through the radio, I could hear the cries of injured ponies, who have been cut off from their units. They asked for helped and wept from pain before their radios cut to static, as they are finally killed by either an ordinary blast of fire or the gruesome armor piercing rounds.

I could only imagine the battlefield above turn red in blood.

Battalion commanders can be heard on the radios, desperately trying to reform their units. But from the transmissions I was hearing, they weren’t having any success. In an attempt to rescue a trapped group of troopers and form a beachhead, Colonel Blue Blood led two battalions in a charge, with enemy fire coming from both sides. This just goes to show you how our commanders lead. They lead from the front, along with the rest of his or her Troopers.

He managed to succeed in his objective, but at a high cost. Colonel Blueblood was heavily wounded and said to be unconscious, as well as forty-five dead ponies who took part in the charge. But he managed to form the beachhead and secure the area, for the time being. I would later be thankful for this action, as this beachhead would later be used to hold the line, as the drop shuttles came to pick us up.

My company, along with many others in our battalion, took heavy casualties. I learned that the Lieutenant, along with the rest of the company command staff, was killed when a missile hit their drop pod, killing them instantaneously.

The rest of the Troopers in the company were either killed or were cut off from us. So this left only six members from my platoon, plus five other from the other three platoons who managed to group with us, with the Sergeant to command us. That meant we were only twelve ponies strong! The Sergeant must be having a really bad day if he was confronting a situation like that.

Alpha 1 and my battalion have failed to enter the facility through the perceived entry point and were no using a different tactic. Since my discovery of the vent, other units, including Alpha 1, have decided to find vents, which were most likely littering the field, and use them as the new entry point. So now, my battalion and Alpha 1 were entering through different vents and would soon make our way up towards the location of the Elements of Harmony.

Although the plan has been delayed and the means changed, the objective was still the same. Rescue the Elements of Harmony at all cost.

“Alright everypony!” The Sergeant said, bellowing in the intercom as he assumed command of what was left of the company. “We’re moving out. I want you all to move quickly and annihilate anything that goes in your way. Remembering, don’t slack around, I don’t want anypony getting lost in this vast complex.”

“We’ve been tasked to destroy the security network, which has a monitoring room deep within the facility.” He explained as he continued. “Our job is to find that place and blow it to bits. None of us here are computer experts, so I doubt we could hack it for our favor. So blowing it up seems to be the quickest plan. If we succeed, then we would be able to render the security drones and turrets, which lurk around here, useless. So let’s move! Platoon, gallop!”

So we dashed through the halls, each unit splitting up. Alpha 1 went out to take a different path, trying to look for the Elements of Harmony, while we took another path towards the monitoring room.

Before they left, I managed to see a platoon of Troopers from Alpha 1, sitting around and planning. Hey wore suits that looked similar to ours, with the same size and shape, but looks were the only similarities the two suits have.

Unlike ours, the suits they were currently wearing were white, unlike the camouflage green that we were using. This is because of the sensor in their suit that scanned the surrounding and determined the appropriate camouflage. It then changes the suits camouflage to the appropriate color, for example white, to fit the white halls in the tunnels.

This is a useful feature, ensuring a camouflage that can adapt to one’s surroundings. Too bad it’s too expensive to be put on every suit.
Another feature of their suit is the fact that is has stronger legs, making the user jump higher and run faster. As shown later, as they broke of in quick speed, over taking anypony in front of them.

The alarms of the facility broke out, as the security systems alerted the defenders of our presence. Once in a while, as we moved through the halls, a flashing red light would be sighted, accompanied by a loud shrieking siren.

But those things were quickly destroyed by Ruby Cloud, as she fired a streak of laser fire at every one she saw.

“Those things are annoying!” She told me, as she once more made a private radio link between us. “They were getting on my nerves, so it was either I blow my head off or I blow them apart.”

“Well yeah, they are annoying…” I said agreeing, as I followed the platoon through the halls. “…but shouldn’t you save your shots for the security drones and turrets?”

Just as I said that the platoon ran into a turret that was mounted on the ceiling. It was a large caliber weapon that fired the deadly armor piercing rounds and it did so to grave effect. Its auto-locking system pin pointed the best possible target and fired, sending deadly rounds through the hall and creating a loud banging noise that made me jump in fright.

It was actually surprising, when it burst at us. It was like a surprise party, saying ‘Happy Birthday’, except for the fact that the confetti was a deadly metal bullet that would pierce through your armor and blow the pony inside. Yeah, not something I would ever want to experience. Too bad the pony in the front, galloping next to the Sergeant, got a chest full of it.

There was a loud thud as the bullet pierced the armor and I then heard a short popping sound, as the bullet exploded inside. The suit then stood still, in a gallop position, as the user was turned into a mash of blood and skin.

The turret was about to lock on it next target, but the Sergeant wasn’t going to give it another chance. He fired a shot from his plasma gun, sending a ball of fire towards the turret. It soon exploded in one hit, sending bits of debris everywhere while letting the wiring hand, sending sparky of electricity.

Throughout thus entire event, we kept on moving, not stopping for a second. We knew that we had better chances of not getting hit if we remained mobile. A moving target is harder to shoot at, they say.

Besides, our mission was to destroy the monitoring room, which is also the command center of these defenses. So if we finish our objective, then we won’t have to deal with the pesky turrets and annoying sirens.

“Come on, keep a move on!” The Sergeant grumbled, as if nothing had happened.

So like ordered, we kept on moving, firing as we shot at anything that got in our way. Well, the other ponies in my platoon did most of the shooting, while I did a lot more galloping as I tried to contain my screams. Sure, I’ve experienced all of this before, but getting shot at is not fun.

Laser streaks flew in front of me as plasma balls landed near us, leaving burnt marks on the halls. From every intersection in the hall way, we ran to the threat of cross-fire from the enemy, as turrets, security drones, and armored humans fired shots at us. Now I am sad to say that we lost three mosre ponies as we did this, but we did manage to inflict damage on them also. How many, I don’t know?

But I at least know that I manage to get one of them, if you consider ramming one in the rules. What can I say, the human was in the way.

It was just after the third pony got shot, bringing me near the front og the platoon, with nopony else in front of me. There were two enemy soldiers in our way, the first one being shot by the Sergeant. I manage to score a hit on the second one, with my laser gun that was hanging on thr side of my armor, but it didn’t seem enough to bring him down.

Now I didn’t have enough time to let the locking system aim again and fire and the platoon was still moving fast and closing the distance between us. So as the enemy recovered from the shock of my laser fire and as we galloped towards him, I rammed him head first. Just in time too, because he was aiming his weapon and was about to fire. I managed to knock him down, thanks to my speed and momentum, sending him over me where the pony behind me would have to worry about him.

The initial impact dazzled me at first, as the force was great and heavy. But thanks to the armor of my suit, the force was absorbed and its load spread out. That prevented any major damage to my head or at least I think it did. Last time I checked, my brain was working at one hundred percent.

So we continued on, with the enemy shooting us and us shooting back at them. I didn’t know how long it took as to get to our objective as one loses the sense of time when filled with fear in a dangerous and deadly situation.

But we soon got there and we went inside, covering each other and neutralizing the room to make sure it is clear.

The monitoring room was a large oval room, filled with the latest sensor processing computers. The ceiling was high and the material used on the walls was off different material that I do not recognize. Dimly lit, the room was only filled with the red alarm light as the sirens rung inside. Looks like Ruby’s got a lot of shooting to do. There were two entrances in the room, each one on the opposite ends of the oval, one on the left and one of the right. We entered from the right.

Doing a quick count, I saw ten rows of long tables, with twenty computers placed on top, all facing a large monitor that covered an entire wall. The large screen provided a map of different sectors of the facility, while the computers were showing the different feed from sensors, turrets, and security drones.

In the center was a circular stage where a comfortable looking seat was located. Surrounding the seat were holograms, which supplies the one who was seated with feed from the various sensors in the facility.

This looked like the classic command center and with all the computers and surveillance machines; it looked like the perfect place to monitor the entire area. Now the only question was, where were the ones assigned to control this place?

With night vision on, to see the area clearly, I scanned the room to try and find them. As I looked towards the opposite side, towards the other entrance, I caught a glimpse of movement. If I looked at it correctly, what I saw was a foot of a human, as it left the room. That was when I realized that they evacuated the monitoring room.

Seeing that we were heading straight for them, their commander must have ordered them to abandon the area. This was a good thing, since it meant we didn’t have to fight them for it and add to the casualty list. But we now have to fight them off, till we get the explosives deployed. With only eight of us left and hundreds of them, this might be a task that would be the end of us. Well it’s the effort that counts, right?

“Alright, don’t just stand around like a bunch of confused fillies and colts, get to work!” The Sergeant shouted, as he moved forward and deployed everypony, assigning them to different jobs, from guarding to placing the explosives. I was assigned to guard the left entrance and to make sure that nothing enters the room from there.

“Keep an eye open, Silver.” The Sergeant said. “No matter what happens, you will hold that spot and hold, unless I tell you so.”

So with laser and plasma weapons deployed and ready, I waited as a Trooper deployed some explosives next to me. Another Trooper guarded the other entrance, while the other six, including the Sergeant and Rose, attached explosives to the computers and various other parts of the room, to ensure that the enemy won’t use it again. It was necessary to have this place blown to pieces, so that the wiring, computers, and other systems would be torn to bits.

Looking through the open entrance, I saw that it lead to a long hallway that took a sharp left turn on the end. This meant that I wouldn’t be able to see how many are going to attack till they pop their head up. Well, good luck to me.

“Here they come!” I said, as an enemy armored soldier popped out, followed by two more. This was obviously a small attack, in attempt to prod our strength, but it was big enough to panic me.

I waited for my locking systems to take aim before firing, sending a streak of laser fire to one of them, injuring him in the leg, while knocking the other with two shots of plasma fire. The plasma burned through his armor’s chest plate, hitting the user within and killing him.

But the third one manages to slip through, as he aimed his weapon and fired. His shot of plasma flew to the hall heading towards my direction. Luckily for me, it missed, but unluckily for the pony beside me, it hit him. The force of the hit knocked him off of his hooves as a large open mark was left as evidence of the shot.

I fired another shot towards the third enemy, trying to avenge my fallen comrade. My locking system set its sights on the target as I gave the command to fire, letting the plasma weapon release its ammo. True to its mark, the plasma shot his, killing the enemy and leaving three dead bodies on the hall.

Taking a glance at the downed pony, I noticed that the shot penetrated his armor and incinerated his insides, rendering him dead. I also noticed that the explosive charges he was working on weren’t done yet.

Having slight knowledge on explosives, as I was given a crash course on them before being transferred to the front, I knew some of the basics. So I quickly moved to the side, retrieving the explosives on floor, where it was left, and began fumbling with it. This was when I learned that the slight knowledge I had wasn’t enough to fulfill the task, as I was left baffled at the wires and chunk of plastic explosives in front of me.

“Silver!” I heard the Sergeant yell, as he moved towards my position. “Didn’t I tell you to cover the-“

He wasn’t able to finish his sentence as an armor piercing round hit him in the head and blew it up into large chunks. Since the helmet had thinner armor, the explosive force of the bullet was enough to blow it apart and send bits of metal and flesh all over the place.

I soon got a fresh coat of blood and brains on my suit, as the flash dribbled down as it slid through my armor. I looked at the headless body with horror as blood spurted out of it, spilling on the floor. The brain particles and blood, which used to be the Sergeant’s heard, was now all over the place.

I stared at it, stuck in one position and unable to move, as horror filled me. I screamed mentally as I found myself unable to move or do anything.

I was frozen in shock from what I had just seen. One second the Sergeant was there, the next, he was gone and had his head turned into tiny bits and pieces.

To make thing worst, I felt that I was to blame. Since I was the one in charge of guarding the entrance and making sure the no enemy gets true. If I did my job, then the Sergeant could still be alive. Angry at me, as usual, but alive. I felt the guilt build up me, knowing the blame was now stuck to my soul.

“…I said snap out of it!” Somepony shouted, as an armored hoof slapped my helmet, shocking me at the sudden force, as my head snapped to the side. Shaking my head and returning to reality, I gave a quick analysis of the situation in front of me.

“Ruby?” I said, looking at the armored pony in front of me, who was firing shots at the hallway connected to the entrance. Other ponies stood by her, as they tried to fight off a wave of enemy soldiers, who were trying to rush through the halls and get to us.

“Come on, Rookie, stop fooling around.” Ruby ordered me. I assumed that she had taken command, seeing that she was motioning other to move to certain position and keep up their fire. Well, Ruby was a born leader, from what I have seen, and would handle well in fast paced situations. “Take up a position and fire back!” She said, before moving
around the remains of the platoon.

Looking at the floor, I saw the bodies of two more ponies, armor torn open and guts spilled out. Blood spilled as if the battle was thirsty for it and wanted more. A gruesome sight provided by war, without charge.

There were only four of us left inside the room, while an unknown, yet presumably large, quantity of enemy soldiers charged towards us, only to pile up on the hallways as they were gunned down. But I knew that we would soon be overrun, unless we got out of the place.

Looking around the room, it seemed like that all the explosives had been place, as their triggers flashed red, waiting for the order to detonate. It was only a matter of leaving the room and blowing the place up.

“Alright, let’s move back and take up a better position away from this place.” Ruby said. “Those explosives can blow up a large chunk of this area, so I suggest we move far before blowing it up.”

“But what if the enemy tries removing them?” I asked. The plastic explosives attached were very powerful and the amount put was enough to blow up a five story building. So a large distance was needed before detonating them. But the time it would take to move to a safe distance was also equivalent to the time it would take for the enemy to remove and disarm the explosives.

Ruby turned her head towards me, trying to think of a solution, but as she did a large explosion erupted inside the room, sending me flying off and slamming towards the wall.

Good thing my armor was there to absorb most of the impact, as well as the shrapnel that came with the explosion. But that didn’t mean there was no pain, as I was slammed against the wall.

I groaned in pain, as the force of the impact still hurt, despite the fact that I was alright. Trying to get back on my hooves, I surveyed the damage it created.

The explosion was most likely caused by a missile that was shot at us, creating mass casualties to what was left of our small group. The other two ponies with us were now dead, lying on the floor with large pieces of shrapnel in them. I was lucky to not be hit by the large pieces of shrapnel, as something blocked me from them.

The sounds of laser and plasma fire still echoes in the room, as I grew curious to who was firing. Has the enemy gotten in already? Was I about to meet my doom?

Then I noticed a figure lying on the ground, flashes of red and blue light coming from it.

“Ruby!” I called out in shock, as I raced towards my wounded friend. As I approached her, I noticed all of the shrapnel imbedded in her armor, most likely penetrating through it and stabbing her. Her chest was littered with them, as they were jabbed deep into her. She must have taken the full force of the explosion.

That when I realized that she was the one that blocked me from most of the explosion. Although the force kicked me aside, all of the shrapnel went to her and the two other ponies. It must have landed closer to them, sending deadly debris everywhere. She was lucky enough to still be alive and breathing.

If I was a Sergeant or an officer, I would have a complete view of her health status. But I wasn’t, so I couldn’t scan her condition. But from what I can see, it looked like she had a large amount of shrapnel in her, some in her chest while some of it impaled her right and left fore hooves, preventing her from standing.

It also looked like her healing systems were damaged, as the distinct sound of it working could not be heard.

“Oh…Ruby…” I whimpered, feeling tears in my eyes. She had already done enough to ensure I was alive and at home, now she was lying there in pain. Throughout my short time in the front, she has been the only that I’ve been close to and I have become attached to her. She was my friend and I was hers. So it broke my heart to see her this way.

“Rookie…” She said in a haggard voice as she coughed. The shrapnel must have hit her lungs, making it difficult to speak. Each word seemed to be a challenge for her. “…you…need to get…out.”

As she spoke, she continued the stream of fire against the enemy, trying to hold them off.

“I know, Ruby. But how would I carry you out?” I asked. The task to evacuate both of us was quite difficult.

“No, l…leave….me; I’ll just drag…you down.” She said, as a bubble popped up on my helmet’s screen. as information was transferred. “I’m t..t…transferring the detonation….codes to you, so you c…can denote the explosives once….you’re in a safe position. N…Now go!”

“Ruby…” I said, shaking my head, helmet filling with tears as my heart started to beat fast, yet in a sad tone. “I..cant… I won’t leave you like this; I’m taking you with me!”

She didn’t turn her head towards me as she continued to pin the enemy down. The enemy’s fire flew near us, but I ignored them. My friend was where all my focus was right now.

“L…Listen, ro…rookie. I….It would…..be i…impossible for you…t…to…carry me. B…Besides, you said….that the enemy w….would just p…pull the….explosives out of the wa…walls, right?”

I nodded my head, lips quivering and tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Well I…I’m going to….hold the…them off, t…till you detonate the g…goods.” She said. Despite her pain, I could just imagine a small grin in her face. Something like this demanded great bravery in heroic proportions.

“But…Ruby…” I whined, looking down.

“You better do what I say or I would point this plasma gun and shoot you myself!” She manages to yell, but it resulted to great pain, as she let out a loud grunt after. “J…

just….please…r…rookie…do w….what I te….tell you… This is…not worth wasting a….another life. B…Besides, some….somepony has to tell…this tale and t…that pony is you.”
I just stared at her for another few seconds, unsure if I should leave or not. It will be selfish of me if I did, but it would bring anger to Ruby if I didn’t. Having as both die, with her
angry with me, was not something I would like. So I ultimately decided to leave.

Standing up, I wished her luck and turned around. Most of the enemy was attacking on the left entrance, so I would have little opposition from the other side. I tried to hold back my tears, knowing that it would only be a distraction. I’ll save them for later.

“H…hey…” Ruby said, as I started walking towards the other entrance. Her rate of fire didn’t change, as I could hear her weapons firing in the room. “Good luck, Silver.”

I was shocked at that remark, as it was the first time she called me by my name. All this time, she called me rookie, but now, for the first and last time, she called me by my true name. I felt a tear roll down my cheek again, but I didn’t stop to reply. I just went on before galloping away, moving as fast as possible; retracing the path we used to get there.

I galloped away, firing at anything that got in my way and avoiding long fire fights. I needed to get as far away as possible, to be able to detonate the explosives, so I didn’t stop and pushed onwards.

As I found an area far away from the monitoring room and safe from the enemy, I stopped and went through the detonation code. Doing it in a swift and quick order, to make the pain less, I activated the explosives. It sent a message to the dozens of detonators, ordering the plastic explosives to blow up and do their job.

A slight tremor on my surrounding, as if there was a mini-earthquake, was felt, as the explosives blew up and annihilated the monitoring room. It was clear the Ruby did their job and held off the enemy, as the explosives remained attached.

The thought of Ruby brought the sad feeling back into me as my heart sunk. I collapsed on the ground and cried for my friend. I screamed I slammed my hooves on the floor; I did everything to show my grief. But, deep down, I knew that it wasn’t enough.

She was gone and I knew that there was nothing I can do to bring her back. Only thing I can do was honor her memory.

Epilogue

Epilogue

I later got out of the facility, when I ran into a group of Alpha 1 troopers who were about to evacuate the place. They told me that another contingent from there group have manage to locate the Elements of Harmony and rescue them, meaning mission accomplished. Thanks to the fact the defense systems were knocked out, the Elements of Harmony were easily recovered and saved. So we were now all ordered back, as the drop shuttles started landing down, covered by the remaining battalions above. We rushed to the halls and tried to exit, via vents. Using our jets, we boosted ourselves up and used them to get out. It was a long journey, but we soon got out.

When we got back up to the field above, I saw that the battle was a bloody event. As bodies littered the dirt, while sporadic fire flew all around. Troopers were holding a perimeter, which was slowly shrinking as they fell back to the drop pods. It’s amazing hold they still manage to hold the line, despite the fact that the odds were against them.

I followed the beacon on my helmet’s display, indicating the drop shuttle the Lunar Express has assigned for my company. It was landed a little bit to the side, giving me a long distance before reaching it. But thanks to my suit, I manage to get there right in time, just before it lifted off.

As I passed through the field, I hopped over the dead bodies of fellow troopers. It was quite sad to know that we didn’t have time to recover them, due to fears of enemy counter-attack. It made me wonder on what the enemy would do with them. Would they have the honor of being buried or would they be left there to rot, inside their metal coffins. It made me shed a tear, knowing that Ruby’s body wouldn’t be retrieved, if there was still anything left of it, and be sent home to her family.

Getting in the drop shuttle, I noticed that there were only five other ponies in there, all of them painted in blood and had their suits damage. My suit itself too damage from some shrapnel, but theirs looked pretty beat up. None of those ponies wore the mark of my platoon, but they did have the mark of my company.

Looking behind me, I could see that most of the ponies were inside their respective drop shuttles as some of the shuttles started taking off. Some ponies who had their drop shuttles destroyed decided to enter the nearest shuttle and stay there.

“Is this all?” A pony, who didn’t wear any armor, but instead the white uniform of the Fleet, asked.

I noticed that there were no more ponies heading towards our shuttle and I concluded the worst. The five ponies and I were the only ones left of our company.

So I looked back at the pony and gravely nodded my head. A sad expression fell on his face, but he nodded back before telling us to strap in.

Despite the sound of the enemy firing at the shuttles, it was a lonely and quiet flight back up.

When I got back up, I was surprised to learn that I had a commendation for the ‘Medal of Bravery’. I was shocked because I don’t remember being brave throughout my time in the front. Most of the times I spent there was filled with me screaming and crying, not brave at all. But high command thought otherwise. Since they though my accidental discovery of the vent and the fact that I was the only survivor of the platoon as a brave thing. Yet I don’t see it the same way they do, but the orders of high command cannot be changed.

They labeled me as a hero, alongside other ponies who won the award during the battle, like Col. Blueblood, Pvt. Long Shot, the ponies of Alpha 1, whose names are classified, that rescued the Elements of Harmony and countless of others.

They praised us and many looked up to us. So High Command decided to award us.

We were pulled out of the front and shift back to Equestria Prime, were we had our medals pinned on by Princess Celestia herself, while in front of press and thousands of other ponies. Well, all of us except the ponies of Alpha 1, since they work covert operations and can’t have their faces exposed.

They then gave us a new mission, in which we would tour the vast outpost and fronts and inspire the troops of the E.S.F. We would act as a morale boost, which was badly needed for our soldiers. Having heroes visit them would make them want to fight more and create role model for each individual.

It quite funny, since this was somewhat similar to my original job, the one I was forced to leave behind.. Since I found myself standing in front of crowds, encouraging them to fight on and continue the war, as they nodded and cheered. It was what I was good at and I was doing a good job.

We toured all of Equestrian controlled space, going in planets, which I enjoyed, and talking to front line ponies, the injured, and all of the members of the E.S.F.
It was like the old PR department, except it was now called the Moral Department. The only difference now was the fact that I was a veteran and now have a shiny new medal to brag about.

But I didn’t brag. I couldn’t, because I knew I didn’t deserve it.

Because to me, I’m no hero. I’m just somepony made to act as a hero. I was a piece of propaganda that helped inspire troops and increase moral.

I was a survivor of a battle, but not a hero. I know it might sound cheesy, but the true heroes were the ones left behind. The ones who didn’t hesitate and sacrificed themselves, so that other may live and go on.

If this medal belongs to anypony, it should be on Ruby, for she held her ground and died doing so. But High Command doesn’t like brave soldiers who are dead. They want live soldiers who can talk and praise the war, so they gave the job to me.

So now, after visiting a planet and inspiring troops, I sit down and enjoy the view. The different planets I went to had different views, but all of them were beautiful and majestic, just like I dreamed off.

As I sit down and look upon the wonders before my eyes, I think back to the ponies I knew. The ponies I spent time with and loved and even the ones I didn’t love, the Sergeant, the Lieutenant, Bolt, and Ruby. They were gone now, but they would forever be in my heart, as their souls waited for me to join them.

Author's Note

It finally done :pinkiehappy:
Well, I hoped you enjoyed this, because I know I did. Sure it's a little short, but it my first full story here and I hope to improve in the future.
So anyways, thanks for reading and please give some feedback.
Bye and see you in my next story. :twilightsmile: