The cloudy sky hid the rising sun from sight. It looked as if a rainstorm was underway. However, this wouldn't prevent the invasion from getting under way. As Owen and Twilight made their way through the forest, they could hear a low rumbling sound in the distance. At the edge of the forest, Owen looked up in the sky to see a massive wave of B-17 "Flying Fortress" heavy bombers dropping their payloads, the rumbling being the explosions of 1,000 pound bombs hitting the ground and hopefully on German positions.

"Looks like the Air Force is busy at work," he said. "Let's stick to the edge of the forest, moving through the open is gonna make us stick out more." Twilight looked up at the massive wave of bombers 20,000 feet up in the sky. Never in her life has she seen so much military gear flying up in the sky. Sure, Equestria had balloons and zeppelins, but something like a B-17 hadn't existed before, and the invention peaked Twilight's curiosity.

"What...what are those things?" she asked in awe.

"Flying Fortresses. B-17 heavy bombers. Don't know too much about them, since I'm not an aircraft technician; but, I do know the thing is packing upwards to thirteen .50 caliber machine guns pointed in every direction. Thing certainly isn't lacking firepower that's for sure." Twilight kept on walking along with Owen, but the sight of the bombers kept her eyes glued to the sky, until the formation was no longer in sight. The two kept walking along the edge of the forest, until they reached a roadway that split the rest of forest in half.

"Okay, hold here. Wait until I give you the signal to cross the street," he told her. Twilight nodded and stayed put. Owen took one more look up ahead, no movement whatsoever and there didn't appear to be any good places for any German snipers to be hiding, so, after taking a deep breathe, he crossed the street. Jumping into the other embankment, he then turned around to see if anyone had noticed him. After a couple seconds of waiting, it looked as if nobody was there. He waved his hand over to Twilight, who promptly ran across the street and slid down the small embankment like he did. Owen still held in place, waiting for the Germans to respond, but the response never came. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. With that in mind, Owen waved his hand back and forth, got up, and began moving down the road. Twilight, confused about what was happening, just followed the paratrooper and didn't ask questions.

As the two made their way further down the forest, they ran across an unpleasant site. Dangling from the trees was the body of a paratrooper who still had yet to free himself from his harness. The two walked up to the body. The paratrooper's helmet was missing and there were massive holes in his parachute. The body was covered with several scratches and cuts as if he fell down from the trees as he was landing, his uniform torn to shreds. The patch read "82nd Airborne"*, so it wasn't somebody from Owen's unit that had fallen, but it still was an unfortunate sight. A massive wound in the back of his head gave away a clear indication that the paratrooper was dead. However, the good news was that this particular paratrooper still had a lot of his gear on him. Not only did the paratrooper still had his canteen and rations on him, but he also had ammunition and his M1 Garand* rifle still on him. Owen, not wasting the opportunity to upgrade his firepower, walked over to the body to loot it of the gear. Twilight, on the other hand, simply looked in horror at what she was witnessing. In her mind, this paratrooper was looting the corpse of another fallen soldier, and that didn't sit well with her.

"Is that necessary?" she asked as Owen detached the canteen from the paratrooper's web belt.

"I know this isn't pretty, but I got nothing on me and he's certainly ain't going to be using any of this stuff," he said, now pulling the Garand out of it's harness. He then detached the web belt of ammunition and loaded in an 8 round en bloc clip of ammunition into the rifle. Slinging it on his shoulder, Owen then searched through the pack of dead paratrooper, looking for rations, a map, and anything else that could help him out. Rummaging through pack, he was able to find a couple chocolate bars this paratrooper stored on him and even a map of the area. Owen was content with what he had was ready to leave. He turned around to see Twilight, still examining the body in a frozen state. A faint stream of tears was flowing down her face as she softly cried at the sight in front of her eyes. Owen walked over to her and patted her on the head.

"Yeah, it ain't a pretty sight, but there's nothing we can do him now," he simply said. Twilight looked up to see the emotionless look on the paratrooper's face. As the tears slowly came down her face, she softly wept for the dead paratrooper. Whoever this man was, he'll no longer be able to do the things he once loved to do and his family and friends are left with a hole in all of their lives. She turned her head and cried into the paratrooper's chest, silently weeping at the thought of how this man's family would react to the news of his passing, far away from home and from any of his loved ones.

"Can...can we at least take the time to bury him?" she softly asked Owen.

Owen, looking down at her, simply shook his head. "Don't worry about him. If the invasion goes well, somebody'll scoop him up and give him a proper burial. Besides, we gotta get moving right now." Owen began to walk away from the body, wanting to get the image of the dead man out of his mind as quick as possible. Twilight, understanding that they had no time to bury the dead paratrooper, took one more look at the body before trotting away and catching up with Owen.

As the two made their way down the roadway, Owen saw something moving in the distance. It looked like another group of two soldiers walking in the opposite direction.

"Shit, get down," he said, quickly running off the road and into the edge of the forest. Twilight followed Owen and the two laid down behind a set of trees, waiting for the soldiers to pass. Owen silently listened for the voices of the men, were they speaking in German or English? It wasn't long before Owen could hear the men conversing in some language he couldn't understand. Taking a peak out of cover, he noticed the grey uniforms and distinctive helmets of the German Wehrmacht. He looked over to Twilight, simply put a finger to his lips and made a shushing sound. Even though it was a small group, getting into a potential firefight with them wasn't the smart option, so Owen decided to let them pass. It looked like they were off doing some sort of errand run, as the two of them don't look particularly concerned about the presence of paratroopers in the area. The voices grew louder and louder every passing second. Twilight also peaked around the corner to get a look at the German soldiers, hoping to get a close look at these creatures. However, much to her surprise, the German soldiers looked almost identical to the American ones, except the uniforms and different gear. This confused Twilight a little bit, and she was now wondering why these two sides were fighting each other when they are basically the same species. She started to poke her head out more to get a better look at the soldiers, until she accidentally stepped on a loose branch with one of her hooves, which made a loud snapping sound. Aside from the chatter of the German soldiers, nothing else was making a sound. Owen looked over at her and gave her a dirty look. Twilight, remaining frozen in place, didn't even dare move a muscle out of fear, her hoof still on the snapped stick. She blushed embarrassingly, took her hoof off of the twig and slouched back down into cover.

However, this was enough for the Germans to stop what they were doing and they began to investigate the area. The two of them stopped what they were doing, drew up their guns, and started walking towards the sound of the snapping stick. Owen, holding the M1 rifle in his hands, now knew they were going to have to take them out. He pulled the bolt back slightly to check to see if the round was chambered and then hit it back forward to make sure the rifle was in battery, ready to fire. Waiting a few more seconds, Owen then took a deep breathe and then rolled out from the protection of the tree he was behind and put the sights of the rifle on his first target. He squeezed the trigger, the Garand rifle firing a single projectile out of the barrel and it landing into the upper torso of the first German soldier. The force from the powerful .30-06* round knocked him down on his back. Due to the semi automatic nature of rifle, Owen was ready to fire within milliseconds of the first shot. He placed his sights on the second German, who had only just realized the person next to him had been shot, and fired again. The second round hit the German soldier in the neck and he collapsed to the ground as well. As the ringing from the two gunshots lowered, all that was replaced by the moans and screams of pain from the two soldiers. Twilight was shocked at what she saw, she had no idea that the weapons in these soldiers hands had such a devastating affect on the body, but she had little time to process what happened. Owen had ran over to her and picked her up on her hooves.

"C'mon, we gotta go," he said very rapidly. He pulled Twilight off the ground and he began to run into the woods.

"Where are we heading?" asked the confused Twilight, running alongside the paratrooper.

"Anywhere, but here. Just follow me." The two started sprinting deeper and deeper into the woods, but it wasn't long before the shouting of other German soldiers could be heard from behind them. All of a sudden, a hail of incoming fire came pouring in from the same direction. Owen could tell immediately what it was, one of the German soldiers had a machine pistol* and was emptying the magazine into the woods. The chatter of the weapon could be heard easily from where Twilight and Owen were. The two didn't bother to look back and kept on sprinting forwards. The rounds from the 9mm submachine gun were zipping past the two of them and impacting the trees and ground all around them.

"C'mon, Twilight, we gotta keep movin," he said, jumping over a fallen tree. The sharp rifle cracks from Mauser 98k rifles also joined in and were firing in the same direction. Twilight could hear the loud snaps and cracks of the rifles firing and she started to panic. In all of the life threatening moments she had gotten herself into, this one was just about the worst one. Going with what she knew best, Twilight tried to teleport away from the danger, but her magic still wasn't working. She let out a frustrated grunt, still sprinting alongside Owen, who was now looking for a place the two can hide and evade the incoming squad of Germans. Then, all of a sudden, Owen found it. Up ahead in the distance what looked like a barn. It wasn't much, and there was no guarantee that they could hide in there, but it was worth the risk.

"Head for that barn," he told Twilight and two sprinted in that direction. The sudden incoming fire had subsided for now, but that didn't mean the Germans weren't looking for them anymore. Owen ran up to the barn door and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He tried to get a running start and break his way inside, but even that didn't work.

"Here, let me try," said Twilight. She trotted up to the door and in one attempt, bucked the locked door open off of its' hinges and the two immediately ran inside. The barn was a fairly spacious place, filled with assorted tools and a large stack of hay on the floor. Towards the back of the barn was a set of empty stables that hid themselves really well in the dark due to the shadows. If they were to hide from the Germans, this was going to be the best possible position. Owen grabbed Twilight and the two hid behind one of the empty stables. Owen crouched down behind the stable wall, looking at the entrance of the barn, while Twilight collapsed to the ground and was panting very heavily. It wasn't the running that got her exhausted and hyper-ventilating, it was the fear of being shot by one of those weapons that really got her heart beating and she started to panic once again.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh...what was all of that? I...I could've-" she started to say before Owen put his hand over her mouth to quiet her down.

"Ssshhh, shut up. We're not out of the woods yet," he said. "They're still looking for us and they'll probably check this barn. So you need to stay quiet and don't move a muscle." Just as he said that, the chatter of German soldiers could be heard in the background. Owen ducked down behind the stable wall and waited for inevitable. The German soldiers then made their way to the barn entrance and two of them entered inside. They started to walk slowly to the darken portion of the barn, weapon drawn at the ready. Owen could see the two of them through a crack in the wood, the men slowly were observing the barn and everything around them. One of the German soldiers had a bayonet on the end of his rifle and stuck it inside the pile of hay, only to hear no screams of pain and no signs of blood on his bayonet. The other German soldier started walking closer and closer to the stables, to the point where Owen could clearly make out the facial features of the German soldier looking for him. But, as he was about to open the stable door to look inside, there came a loud whirring noise, followed by a loud explosion out in the distance. The ground violently shook as all the German soldiers inside started to clamor about what was happening. Owen looked down at his watch, time was 0630 (6:30 AM), the beach landings were under way and the Navy had start to bombard the coastline. Owen could see the German squad leader waving his arm for his men to follow him to the beach head to meet the upcoming attack. Soon, the two men inside the barn went to follow their squad leader and the barn was empty. Owen and Twilight waited a few more minutes before emerging out of the stable.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," he said. He picked up the M1 rifle and went outside to check the surroundings. He slowly walked around the perimeter of the barn. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until he heard a random voice say something familiar to him.

"Flash," whispered the voice. At this point, Owen's training kicked in and as if on command turned to the voice and said the proper response call.

"Thunder," he said, loud enough for the voice to hear him. He faced the direction the voice was coming from, his M1 held at the hip, ready to fire. But, it wouldn't be necessary as the men coming out of the bushes were two other paratroopers. The patches on their shoulders indicated they were from the 101st Airborne as well.

"Marsh, is that you?" said the voice. Owen immediately recognized the voice from the paratrooper coming out of the bushes. Much to his surprise, both of the paratroopers were from Owen's platoon: Cpl. Joe Schwartz and Pvt. Dave Alley.

"Fuckin' aye, Alley, you're a sight for sore eyes," said Owen, lowering his M1 rifle to greet his buddies. The three paratroopers greeted each other warmly, before they went inside the barn to talk strategy.

"So, anybody have an idea on where we are?" asked Owen.

"Yeah," said Alley, "Normandy."

"Not what I meant."

"I saw a sign back there that said Sainte Marie du Mont was 3 klicks* East. The collection point is by the Western portion of that, so we need to keep heading East for about 2 klicks before we hit that area," said Schwartz.

"You guys run into any Krauts yet?"

"Couple patrols here and there, nothing too serious. What about you?"

Owen then looked over to the back corner where Twilight was, he knew he was going to have to tell them about her sooner or later, and it might as well be now. "Eh, yeah. Had a little run-in with some Germans earlier, but just as they were about to find me out, the Navy started the bombardment," he explained.

"Damn, you got lucky," said Alley.

"Yeah, but uh-there's something else I ran into that may catch you guys off guard."

"What-what'd you find?" asked Schwartz.

"Okay, before I get her, promise me you guys aren't going to freak out," he said.

"What-why would we freak out?"

"Just, promise me you guys aren't gonna do anything irrational or stupid."

"What the fuck is going on Marsh? asked Alley, "You pick up a broad on the way or something?"

"Eh, not exactly. Just, wait here." Owen ran to the back portion of the stable to find Twilight still there. Owen motioned his head out to the right, indicating it was okay to come out. "Come on, it's okay. They ain't gonna hurt you," he said to her. Twilight slowly trotted out from the darkness to reveal herself to Schwartz and Alley, the two of them simply dumbfounded at the sight they were seeing. For several seconds, no one spoke a word, until Alley broke the silence.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this..." he simply said.

Author's Note

*The 82nd Airborne was the sister division to the 101st that also took part in the D-day landings.

*M1 Garand was the standard US infantry rifle of WWII and Korea, often pronounced (guh-rand)

*pronounced thirty-aught-six

*MP-40 submachine gun. MP stands for Maschinenpistole, or Machine Pistol.

*Klick=kilometer