Call of Twilight: Friendship is Warfare

She breathes heavily. Boots shuffle. A man screams.

The ambience of the battlefield is an unpleasant but familiar one for Private Twilight Sparkle. She takes another gasp of air, trying to keep herself steady, her head in the game.

She turns around her cover and fires off a few rounds, two of them finding their targets. Two Afghani militia members collapse on the ground. Twilight surveys the situation, and then charges forward to the side of another building.

“Moving!” She shouts, letting her comrades know she has advanced.

More shots echo throughout the Afghani village, their respective projectiles whizzing mercilessly by Twilight’s body, missing it by millimeters. Shots echo out in return from behind Twilight. Several of her squadmates lay down fire to cover her advance.

She feels the familiar THUD against the next wall that offers cover. She’s in the clear. She looks over to her squadmates. They are moving towards her and to other areas providing cover, covering their moves as they go.They are advancing.

A large, burly soldier hits the cover right next to her. He carries an M249 light machine gun; a nearly unstoppable machine of death, if placed in the right hands. The capable and calloused hands holding the gun belong to Sergeant Big Macintosh, the most feared soldier in the entire platoon. Enemies were rumoured to surrender before he even fired a shot. He’s a quiet soldier, but he is respected. After all, he is Twilight’s unit’s commanding officer, before Captain Shining Armor.

Twilight checks her ammunition. “We’ve arrived at the target building, sir.” She peeks around cover.

Her squadmates have all positioned themselves in front of a large building. It is grand in design, vaguely resembling the Taj Mahal. The building clearly serves a political or diplomatic purpose. It was perhaps once a monumentally beautiful structure, but at this point in time, it is far from splendorous. Bullet impacts line the windows and walls. The roof has caved in in what seems like the remnants of a missile impact. The entire thing now looks depressed and beaten.

“All forces are in position.”

Sergeant Macintosh peeks around cover, surveying the situation. “Mhm.” Satisfied, he pulls out his radio. “Sergeant Macintosh to all Bravo 6 squad, you are clear to engage the embassy and secure the hostages. Any mistakes equal an automatic demotion. Now move it!”

There is a yell. “Move it! Go, go, go! You heard the Sarge!” Bravo 6 squad charges the embassy. Private Sparkle and Sergeant Macintosh follow close behind, their weapons raised. They enter the embassy through the front door, Private Sparkle watching left and Sergeant Macintosh watching right. Sporadic gunfire is heard throughout the building as Bravo 6 forces neutralize the Afghani militia holding the embassy.

“Clear left!” Sparkle calls. “Clear right!” Macintosh responds.

The interior of the embassy is a clear reflection of the outside. Harsh sunlight beats down on the two soldiers through the hole in the ceiling. The lobby of the embassy is all but destroyed, the bodies of the embassy staff and security littering the ground like discarded candy wrappers.

Macintosh and Sparkle push forward through the wreckage towards a door on the other side of the lobby.

“Get a charge on that door, Sparkle!”

“Yes, sir!”

Private Sparkle whips out a square-shaped breaching charge from her backpack and places it on the door. She quickly leans against the wall next the door, preparing for the charge to go off. Sergeant Macintosh does the same on the opposite side.

The charge ticks: 3...2...1… BOOM.

The door is blown to pieces. Macintosh takes out a flashbang, pulls the pin, and flings it into the room. “Flashbang out!”

A tremendous burst of light blows out from inside the room. Private Sparkle winces in reaction. Once her wits come back to her, she looks over to Sergeant Macintosh, who nods to her. They turn their weapons toward the interior of the breached room.