A Thousand Yard Shot

Prologue

The fires are still burning across Canterlot, spewing black smoke into the otherwise pristine blue sky. My steps are unsteady as I approach the destroyed CP, the bodies of the men and women who’d stayed behind laid where they’d fallen. Without warning Celestia alights at my side, gracefully matching my uneven gait as we passed the Command Post heading through the ruined streets. It broke my heart seeing the places I used to frequent reduced to nothing more than piles of rubble. Something caught my eye and I crossed the street as Celestia followed. There, embedded in a fallen wall was a sign covered in soot and brick dust, I ran my glove across its surface to reveal the lettering, Pony Joe’s Donuts: Best in Equestria.

“How many got out?” My question seems to take Celestia aback for the briefest of moments before she replies.

“Half were evacuated between your Air Force and the Royal Guard, the others? They are out there somewhere” she said waving a hoof at the city around us.

At her response I shut my eyes tightly as my hands begin to shake, we just weren’t fucking ready. I tried to take a deep breath, but my temper flared and I hurled the sign into the street, Celestia’s voice cut through all of my what-ifs and maybes.

“Don’t. There isn’t one ounce of merit in it, trust me”

I lapsed back into silence as we continued towards our destination; we stopped at the edge of what used to be the palace gardens, now a smoking hole in the ground. I held my composure for a few moments, it was only when I felt the soft brush of Celestia’s wing across my shoulders that the tears began to fall. I wrapped my arms around the Princess and she responded by tightening her hold on me.

I don’t know how long we stood there like that, two beings comforting each other in the face of the horror of the last day before our embrace was broken by voices crackling over my radio.

“Any stations this net, this in Hitman 2-3 transmitting in the blind, we have cleared Canterlot airspace with 100 plus Equestrian refugees”

I sighed in relief; at least the Elements had made it out. That would have been a blow Equestria would never have recovered from. I lifted my eyes to the Canterlot skyline and the valley beyond; shattered bodies littered the land almost as far as the eye could see, deep furrows had been torn into the once beautiful landscape, in the distance I could see the rising smoke where Ponyville had stood.

“It is over” Celestia whispered, a single tear making its way down her otherwise pristine cheek.

I shook my head, “No Princess, we haven’t seen the worst of it yet. Not by a damn sight”

The ground began to shake under our feet and I whipped around just in time to see a column of armored vehicles making their way down the road behind us, I recognized US military vehicles when I saw them and approached with my hands out to my sides, the lead Stryker halted and the commander waved me up onto the side skirts.

“Lieutenant Moresby, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, I’m looking for a guy named Forbes” he said holding out his hand.

I took it and scrambled up the side of the massive ICV, “You found him LT, what’s the word?”

“We’ve been ordered to hold here in case the motherfuckers come back, and to assist in relief operations, someone in D.C. finally pulled their head out of their ass it sounds like”

I smiled grimly at the thought when the LT’s voice snapped me out of it.

“Want one? You can keep ‘em, looks like you guys have been through hell” he said, holding out a battered pack of Camels. I snatched the pack from him with an appreciative nod, tapped one out and lit it as I sank into a sitting position next to the Stryker’s RWS, blowing the blue tinged smoke into the afternoon air. I watched Celestia land on the rear of the ICV and immediately lay down on the sandbags strapped there. I think she may have been out before she hit the deck; I thumped twice on the side of the hatch, letting Moresby know we were good to go. I sat there as the engine fired up and the column lurched forward, flicking the spent Camel over the side and lighting another one as we rumbled down the streets of Canterlot. One thought burning in my brain as a murderous smile found its way to my lips.

Payback is going to be a motherfucker.