Saving Private Bloom: The Captain's Logs

Chapters

Journal Entry: Omaha Beach
Journal Entry: The Eight Soldiers
Journal Entry: Braeburn and the Seven Soldiers
Journal Entry: Private Bloom
Journal Entry: The Airfield
Journal Entry: The Six Soldiers
Pinkie Pie and Mayhem
Bonus Chapter: Luna's letter

Journal Entry: Omaha Beach

Journal Entry

Capt. Twilight Sparkle

June 6th, 1944

Omaha Beach

The smell of fear and salt water was in the air. Dozens of boats were headed to the shore of Omaha Beach to send dozens of soldiers to either victory, or death. I was in one of those boats, with my friend Whooves, who was a Sergeant, and was going to be leading a few squads onto the beach. Most of us, not including me, weren't used to the being on boats for long periods of time. Here and there a pony would gag and lean over the boats to vomit. The boat trip was nearing the end as the beach came closer and closer. My right hoof started to twitch again as I brought my water can to my mouth and drank two mouth fulls of water.
"Clear the ramp!" The boat driver shouted, "Thirty seconds! May God be with you!"
"Port side and Starboard side stick!" I instructed the ponies, "Move fast and clear those Mortar holes!"
"I want plenty of beach between ponies!" Whooves instructed his squad, "Five ponies is a juicy opportunity! One pony is a waste of ammo! All Pegasi, do not fly! You'll become easy targets!"
"Keep the sand out of your weapons!" I shouted, "Keep those actions clear! I'll see you on the beach!"
Omaha Beach was divided into 10 sectors: Able Sector, Baker Sector, Charlie Sector, Dog Green Sector, Dog White Sector, Dog Red Sector, Easy Green Sector, Easy Red Sector, Fox Green Sector, and Fox Red Sector. We were going after Dog Green. Omaha Beach was just a couple of seconds away. I knew that they would be prepared for this visit, and that this was not going to be an easy mission. Some of the boats ahead of us had reached the shore, but no pony came out. They had already been shot by one of the many mounted machine guns set up around the hill top, covered by a wide bunker. The water around the boats were turning red. And so the battle began for Dog Green began.
The driver was then shot in the head, and the boat stopped moving. With the gun fire shooting at us, we couldn't risk going through the hatch, but we were close enough to shore to swim there. Then an idea struck me like one of the many bullets being shot by the machine guns.
"Over the side!" I commanded, and every pony grabbed their equipment and crawled quickly over the side of the ship. Some were shot off, and became bloody , floating on the surface of the water. I jumped off the side of the ship with my rifle, wrapped up in plastic to keep water and sand out, and my water can and braced myself for the coldness of water that surrounded me.
Some ponies, I noticed as I swam, brought too much gear with them. Some drowned while trying to get their heavy gear off, and others were shot by bullets that were shot into the water. Noticed one nearby me was drowning, so I swam to her quickly and helped her onto the beach, where ponies were dying left and right from gun shots and grenade explosions. I took the pony onto the shore. The Private ran to the beech obstacles, which i followed in suit, dropping down next to her. I rubbed my eyes, trying to get the stinging salt out.
"Sweet Luna!" she exclaimed breathlessly, "Thanks, ma'am!"
I peered behind the beech obstacle and saw many things happening almost simultaneously: A pony with missing back legs (the bone was sticking out, it might've been from a grenade) was crying and crawling toward one of the beech obstacles, and was shot multiple times in the head; Three ponies, one a pyro, the other two gunponies, were engulfed in flames when a bullet hit the gas tank on the pyro's back; A pony was running to cover, one are blown off, the other carrying her disconnected hoof; A boat had caught fire, and ponies were running out of it, their uniforms burning their skin off as they ran back to the water.
Across from us, one of the ponies shouted something to me, but it was inaudible due to the gunfire.
"What!?" I shouted back.
"I said, what the hay do we do now, ma'am!?" she responded.
I couldn't think straight with all the gun fire. But then, I heard a familiar voice shouting my name. I looked around, and a few beach obstacles ahead, I saw Whooves waving to me, shouting to me.
"Twilight Sparkle! Twilight bucking Sparkle!"
"Sergeant Whooves!" I yelled, waving back. He and his platoon were hiding under cover. "Get your ponies off the beach! Go!"
"Alrite, you ponies!" He shouted to his platoon, "Get on my rump and follow me!"
"What's the rallying point!?" one of his ponies shouted to me.
"Any where but here!"
We started moving up the beach, but we couldn't go that fast because we were still in waist-high water. We moved up until we were at knee-high, ponies dropping dead every where and coloring the ocean water red, and then we dropped to cover again.
"To the sea wall!" I commanded the others, "Move up to the sea wall!"
"Ma'am, I'm staying!" cried one of the ponies.
"Clear this beach and make way for the others!"
"Ma'am this is all we've got between us and the Almighty!" yelled a blue Pegasus pony.
"Every inch of this beach has been pre-sighted!" I shouted to them, "If you stay here, you're dead ponies!"
I got up and moved on, with the other ponies behind me. The beach now had several small rivers of blood flowing down into the sea. Radio ponies were shouting into their micro phones for things I couldn't hear. Several ponies were on the ground, bleeding rapidly and dying slowly. Medics were doing their best to save them as they used tweezers to get the bullets outs of their skin. One of the wounded was beyond repair, though. Her stomach was been shot open, and she was screaming for her mother as her intestines leaked out of her open stomach.
We finally reached the sand, and I trotted towards the closest cover that was available. There were four other ponies in there, all with red pluses on their helmets.
"Who are you guys!?" I asked.
"104th Medical Battalion, ma'am!" shouted a white unicorn with a pistol in response. "Here to set up field operations!"
"Get rid of that crap!" I shouted to her, looking at her pistol, "Grab yourselves some real weapons! Follow me!"
We ran out into the field, and we passed by more bodies. The guns hadn't let up at all since we arrived. I heard someone screaming, and I looked to my left to see my friend Lyra, writhing in pain and bleeding from the gut.
"Lyra!" I shouted, shocked, and I rushed to her aid, running over the painted sand.
"I'm hit low!" she screamed, "Get me out of here! God, it hurts!"
"Medic!" I shouted, "Medic!"
"Navy Beach Battalion, ma'am!" shouted a pony from my right, over Lyra's screams, "We gotta clear these obstacles! Make holes for the tanks!"
"All armor's founding in the channel!" I yelled back.
"Orders, ma'am!" she shouted, "You go somewhere else! I'm clearing this one!"
"Come on, Lyra!" I yelled to Lyra, who was still bleeding and crying. I took her by the strap of her backpack and dragged her a few feet, close to cover, when a grenade exploded near us. I was knocked down, but I didn't take any other damage. I took Lyra's strap again, and dragged her a few more inches, when I noticed she suddenly felt lighter. I looked back at her to see that the grenade that went off wiped everything she had from the waist down clean off. Her clothes were ripped and stained with blood. I looked at her face, which had permanent terror marked on it. A tear left my eye as I galloped the rest of the way to the sea wall, dodging bullets this way and that, with dozens, and only dozens, of ponies behind me.
A Radio Pony from Shore Party dived next to me, and immediately began yelling into the phone of her radio.
"Shore Party!" I shouted to her, grabbing her by the shoulder and turning her around to face me, "Shore Party! No armor has made it ashore! We got no D.D. tanks on the beach! Dog One is not open!"
She went back to the radio, yelling over the machine guns firing.
"Who's in command here?" I asked a pony on the other side of me.
"You are, ma'am!" she shouted back.
"Sergeant Whooves!" I shouted, spotting him a few feet away from me on the sea wall.
"Yes, ma'am!?"
"You recognize where we are!?"
"Right where we're supposed to be, but no pony else is!"
"No pony's where they're supposed to be!" shouted the pony next to him.
"Shore Party!" I yelled, grabbing the Radio Pony again, "First wave, ineffective! We do not hold the beach! Say again, we do not hold the beach!"
"We're all mixed up, ma'am!" yelled Whooves, "We got the leftovers from Fox Company, Able Company, and George Company!"
As he yelled this, he rolled over to my position, keeping low as he rolled from under the sea wall.
"Shore Party!" I yelled, grabbing that pony for the third time, "Shore Party!"
But she was dead. She had taken something big to the head, something big enough to blow a hole where her face used to be. I tried to ignore the gaping hole in her head as best as I could, and grabbed the radio box. "Cat-F!" I yelled into the phone, "Ca-" I stopped in mid-sentence, hearing no connection. I looked at the box, and discovered that it had three bullet holes in it. I threw it away over the sea wall, it wouldn't operate ever again.
A baby dragon came running up and dived next to us.
"Private Spike, sir!" The baby dragon yelled at Whooves.
"Anyone else!?"
"Dash, but that's about it!"
"Apple Jack, here!" shouted an orange pony next to Spike. She had a western accent and a pony tail.
"Scootaloo!" yelled a small Pegasus next to her, "We've got Octivia back there with Rarity! She's hurt so bad she said she's sprung 100 leaks! Rarity says she's all used up!"
I looked behind us and saw about three medics on a grey pony, who was bleeding from five different areas.
"Get her attention!" I yelled to Scootaloo.
"Rarity!"
"Yo, doc!"
"Rarity!"
They were still operating on Octivia, who was twitching violently. Gun shots were still being fired by the Germanes. A few almost hit Rarity, but one of the medical doctors used a dead soldiers to shield them.
"All right, get them off the beach," I said, giving up on shouting. Apple Jack ran out to get Rarity, who was shouting, "We got it! We stopped the bleeding!" but a bullet hit Octivia straight through the helmet, and she stopped twitching. Rarity sat there for a second, and then ripped the blood-stained bandages violently from Octivia's corpse. "Buck! Just give us a bucking chance, you son of a mare! You bucking chicken eater!"
"Rarity!" Apple Jack yelled, pulling at Rarity's right hoof, "Rarity, come on, it's Apple Jack! We gotta go!" They raced back to the sea wall and dived back into cover.
I looked at all the ponies along the sea wall, and was pretty disappointed on the numbers.
"This is all?" I asked Whooves, "This is all that made it?"
"We got pretty scattered, ma'am!" Whooves said back, "There's bound to be more of us!"
"Not enough! This is not enough!"
"Dog One exit," Whooves said, looking around, "it's gotta be that cut on the right, or is it the one on the left? Crap!"
"No, no. Vierville is to the west of us! This is Dog One!" I said, indicating the exit and hill entrance in front of him.
"They're killing us!" shouted a pony next to me, who shook my shoulder as she yelled, "We don't have a bucking chance, and that ain't fair!"
I began to peel off the plastic wrapping on my gun. "Gather weapons and ammo!" I ordered, "Gather weapons and ammo!"
"Gather weapons and ammo!" Whooves repeated to the ponies next to him, who all rushed back into the battle field and stripped all weapons and ammunition off the wounded and corpses. I watched sadly as I saw soldiers, wounded and still alive, get their gear stripped and left to die. A grenade went off, blowing off the legs of a couple of ponies and sending them soaring through the air.
"Hey, Spike!" Whooves shouted, "Where's your B.A.R.?"
"Bottom of the channel, sir," Spike said, pointing to the ocean, "The mare tried to drown me!"
"Find a replacement," Whooves said, and Spike crawled away down the line of ponies.
"Bangalores!" I shouted, "Bring up some Bangalores!"
Two ponies came down the line, carrying long tubes that were just about as tall as they were.
"Bangalores, go up the line!" I shouted, "Bangalores, go up the line!"
"Heads up! Bangers coming your way!" said Whooves, passing one of the tubes down the line towards me.
Spike came running back with the Pegasus from earlier. They both dived back down next to us.
"Rainbow Dash here, ma'am!" shouted the Pegasus, who was carrying a sniper rifle.
"Spike back, ma'am!" shouted Spike, and he took out an ammo magazine, tapped it on his helmet, and reloaded his weapon.
Whooves and I were loading the Banger while Rarity was operating on another pony, who was shot in the shoulder, blood spraying from the wound while she was screaming, "Oh, my God, it hurts! I'm gonna die! Oh, my God! Oh, Celestia! Oh, my God!"
The Banger was loaded, and Whooves and I pushed half of it over the wall. One of the ponies next to us got shot in the head, but the bullet didn't penetrate the helmet she was wearing.
"Celestia!" Scootaloo exclaimed, "You're one lucky mare!"
The pony was so surprised by the ping that just sounded on her head that she took her helmet off and felt her head, feeling for a bullet wound, when another shot hit her square in the forehead. Her eyes rolled back, and she fell to the ground, dead as a door nail.
"You're not gonna die!" Rarity was shouting to the pony she was fixing, "You're not gonna die! You're fine, just don't look at it! Don't look at it!" she covered the ponies face with her free hoof.
The Bangers were set, and we started the fuse.
"Bangalores!" I shouted, "Clear the shingle!"
"Fire in the hole!" Whooves shouted, "Fire in the hole!"
"Fire in the hole!" Rarity shouted, and shielded her patient with her own body.
The Bangalore detonated, destroying every thing within a 10 meter radius in front of us, including the barbwire that was preventing us from proceeding with the objective. A path way cleared, we began to climb up the hill.
"We're in business!" shouted Whooves, "Move to the other side of the tower! Move!"
We rushed up the hill as quickly as we could to deal with the hill tower. But we got pinned down by another mounted machine gun on the other side of the tower, shielded by sandbags. That sandbag barrier was blocking the Dog One exit. I couldn't see how many Germanes were behind it, so I took Apple Jack's bayonet and Whooves's chewing gum. I stuck the gum on the blade of the knife, stuck a mirror to the gum, and made my own little mirror. I held it out the side of the tower, and I could see the sandbag cover. They came into view after a few seconds of adjusting.
"Two G-42s and two mortors," I said to Whooves, not dropping my gaze on the mirror, "Add 20, left 30."
Whooves took the mirror and checked the surroundings, "There's a little over there, but it's perfect firing position if we get some dang armor on the beach."
"We gotta open up this draw. We gotta get this draw open!" I said, "Spike, Jack, let's get into the war! Grab some cover and put some fire on that crew." As they took position under some rocks by the wall, I called up four ponies and told them to get ready to move out toward the Dog One exit.
"Covering fire!" I shouted, and Whooves, Apple Jack, Spike and I started shooting at the Germanes in the sandbag bunker. The four ponies galloped off past the barrier. Spike kept shooting, hitting nothing but the bags.
"Darned firing squad," Whooves said.
"It's the only way we can get every pony the hay out of here," I said, reloading. I called four more into position.
"Why not just hand out blindfolds, Cap?" Whooves said sarcastically, getting back into firing position.
"All we can do here is die!" I said, "Covering fire!"
We shot at the Germanes again, finally hitting one, who fell over the bags and down the slope.
"Go, go, go!" I shouted, and the four ponies dashed off after the four before them.
"Dash," I said, looking at Rainbow.
"Ma'am!" she replied, facing me.
"Do you see that impact crater?" I asked her, showing her on the mirror.
"Kinda," she said, squinting, "It looks pretty big."
"That should give you complete from that machine gun position. Get in there and give me some fire discipline. Wait for my command!"
We switch spots, Rainbow by the corner of the wall, and me next to her.
"Wait..." I said, and then I jumped out from behind the wall, right in the line of the machine gun. "Go!"
The gun started shooting at me right when I ducked under the cover of a few rocks, and Rainbow galloped faster than I've ever seen a pony gallop. She was from the wall to the crater in nearly ten seconds, give or take a few.
"Captain, if your mother ever saw you do that, she'd be very upset!" said Whooves to me, chuckling.
"I thought you were my mother," I said, and Whooves laughed.
Rainbow angled her rifle from the hole, aiming at the Germane operating the machine gun. She fired, and hit the Germane right in the neck, which sent a small chunk of flesh flying off the Germane, who grabbed her neck and fell, dead, to the ground. Rainbow fired another shot, which I enchanted with my magic to be a much stronger bullet, even though using magic is illegal in warfare. It hit one of the sandbags so hard it was shot right out, and all the sandbags on top of it tumbled down the slope, bringing a Germane with them. He was shot while rolling down, and stopped at the base of the slope with three bullet holes in the chest, coming out the back. He was bleeding from the mouth.
"Dog One exit!" I shouted, "Right here!"
"Let's go!" Whooves shouted, "Allons-y!"
We ran up the hill and went under a barb wired fence. The Germanes still weren't giving up, but they fell back to the trenches. One of our ponies got shot below the throat and fell to the ground, but the others of us shot at the Germanes on the other side of the trenches, killing two. A platoon of Germanes were running towards their trenches to reinforce, but we shot them down easily.
Spike, Apple Jack, Scootaloo, Whooves, a pyro, and I ran to the hill tower. We stopped just above the entrance. Spike pulled the pin out of a grenade, counted to three, and heaved it inside. An explosion went off that sent a hoof or two rocketing into the air, and we heard screams of pain. We trotted to the entrance to see how many we killed or wounded. Two Germanes were on the ground, dead, and missing limbs. A Germane ran out of the bunker, but I shot him down before he could do us any damage.
"Come on, Spitfire!" I called to the pyro, and she rushed to the entrance of the tower. "Flame, do it!" I ordered, and she pulled the trigger of her flame thrower.
A huge heat wave caught us, and we heard Germanes screaming at the top of their voices as Spitfire's flamethrower shot out a burst of flames for a good five seconds. When Spitfire let go of the trigger, the Germanes inside were burning to death. Some jumped out of the window to earn a quicker death, while the others were too weak to jump, and writhed on the floor until the loss of skin and muscle killed them, reducing them to flaming pony skeletons.
"Don't shoot!" I heard someone yelling outside, "Let 'em burn!"
We rushed back to the trenches to see that we had almost won. There was only a few of them left, while our reinforcements kept arriving. At last, they surrendered. The first Germane popped up so quickly out of the trench that of our ponies shot him, expecting him to shoot back. But the Germanes had their hoofs in the air, and we rushed forward and took them as prisoners.
"I'll give you 'comrade,' you son of a mare!" one of the ponies shouted as they rushed forward.
Some of the Germanes didn't surrender, though, and were running back to the base. We surrounded them, and shot them before they could return fire.
Whooves saw that we were going overboard with the ammo and wasting it as we shot the Germanes, and he shouted, "Cease fire! Cease fire! Cut it out!" If he hadn't done that, we would have wasted all our good ammo.
I grabbed a radio and spoke, "Sugar Cane. Sugar Charlie Horse 3. Dog one is open. Say again, Dog One is open. Send in the 'dozers. I'm waiting here to tie in my flanks. Over."
"Hey, Apple Jack," said Scootaloo, who was in the trenches, "Take a look at this one! A Haytler Youth knife!"
"And now it's a shabbat challah cutter, right?" Apple Jack laughed, but her mood changed from laughing to crying. That's when I found out that Apple Jack was Jewish, and as I watched the tears rolling down her freckled cheeks as she sat on an ammo crate, I pitied her.
Whooves took some dirt out of the ground and put it into a can marked "Prance". He put the can inside a small bag, filled with other cans, one marked "Fitaly" and another one marked "Africolt".
And so ended the Landing on Omaha Beach. My hoof started shaking again as I took another drink from my bottle.
"Quite a view, isn't it?" Whooves aid, looking at the shore, which was now littered with guns, body parts, corpses, blood, and explosion holes.
"Yes," I said, capping my bottle, my hoof still shaking, "Quite a view."

Journal Entry: The Eight Soldiers

Journal Entry

Capt. Twilight Sparkle

June 8th, 1944

The Eight Soldiers

Military carriages were being pulled by big Pegasus ponies down the road as I walked to Lieutenant Scratch's headquarters. It was just a small tent pitched up near the road, about the size of a small drug store. I approached the guard pony, who was sleeping on a tool in the front of the tent. I tapped her on the shoulder, and she woke up.
"Zome pony kalfur entry?" She said sleepily, blinking up at me with dark rings below her eyes.
"Captain Twilight Sparkle, Charlie Horse Company" I said, "I need to speak with the Lieutenant."
"Yea, yea, go on in..." the pony said, and she dropped her head and almost immediately fell back to sleep.
I pushed myself through the entrance to reveal the headquarters, lit by lanterns hanging from the ceiling. About six ponies were inside, some making sandwiches, some pouring coffee, and the rest playing poker and smoking cigars. I spotted Scratch at the end of the tent, chatting with someone on the radio.
"We expected 32 tanks on the beach. 27 didn't make it... I understand your position, but if we don't off-load those Shymans by 0600, we're gonna have an entire division stuck at Cantertan with its pants around its ankles... I know we don't wear pants! Any way, just let me know. Have Charlie Horse Company hold at Vierville until we can get some armor up there." she added to a Pegasus playing poker.
"Yes, ma'am," said the Pegasus, and dashed off through the tent, nodding her head at me as she passed.
Spotting me while watching the Pegasus leave, Scratch made her way towards my position, and said, "Airborne was supposed to win an open door for the rest of us. Instead they misdropped, scattered all their sticks into the wind. What's your situation?"
"Uh, yes, ma'am," I said, making my way to a map on a nearby table, "Sector 4 is secure. We took out towed Haytie 8s here, here, and here. They'd already gotten four of our Shymans and a number of our donk-and-a-halves. These two minefields are actually one big one. We tried to make our way up through the middle of it, but it turned into a mixed, high-density field-- little bit of everything, Sprengmine 44s, Schumine 42s, pop mines, A-200s-- the little wooden buckers that the mine detecors don't pick up. This road here, they placed big mushrooms-- Teller mine 43s, I guess for our tanks-- from here, right up to the edge of the village, right here. So we marked 'em and called the engineers."
"Resistance?"
"We had higher support expectations, ma'am. There was an understrength company without artillery. Wehrmacht 346 Infantry, Von Luck Kampfgruppe. We ended up with 23 prisoners. We turned them over to M.P.s from the 29th."
"What about our casualties?"
"Well... the figures, were 35 dead, times two wounded," I said, hating myself for letting more lives die under my command, "They just didn't wanna give up those Hatie 8s."
Scratch saw the sadness in my eyes, so she put her hoof on my shoulder and said, "It was a tough assignment, Sparkle. That's why they chose you."
I nodded, and turned to leave, but Scratch called me, and I stopped and turned around, facing her.
"I've got another one for you," she said, a serious look in her face, even with those glasses on, "And it's straight from the top."

"You and I are taking a squad over to Neuville on a public relations mission," I said to Whooves, a half hour later as we walked to our tent.
"You leading the squad?" asked Whooves.
"Some Private in the 101st lost a brother, and she's got a ticket home. She's also the sister of Apple Jack, meaning she's going home as well."
"Are we gonna send her home now?"
"No, I want to get the two together, so they can ship out with each other."
"How come Nueville?"
"They think she's up there somewhere, part of all those airborne misdrops."
"It's not gonna be easy, finding one particular soldier in the middle of this whole stupid war. It'll be like finding a needle in a stack of needles! And what about the company?"
"We take the pick of the litter, and the rest get folded into Baker."
"Dear Celestia! They took away your company?"
"It wasn't my company, it's the army's, so they told me, anyway. Give me Spike on B.A.R., Apple Jack, Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, and Trixie."
"Trixie's dead."
"Well, Rarity then. Do we have any pony who speaks Foalch?"
"Not that I know of."
"Alrite, I'm gonna go look for a new interpreter, you stay with the squad. Assemble at the Battalion Mortor Pool on the beach," I said as we reached the tent, and as I turned to leave, I heard Whooves say, "Listen up-- What? What are we gonna do? I'll tell you what you're gonna do, Scootaloo, you're gonna go home wrapped in an Equestrian flag with a hunk of cheese in your rump, ya smartass."
I laughed to myself as I walked to the communication center, just less than a mile away from the tent.

"Attention!" some pony yelled when I walked into the center ten minutes later. Every pony there stood up quickly with their backs straight and noses up.
"As you were," I said, smirking, and every pony sat down again,"I'm looking for a Corporal Fluttershy?"
"Oh!" cried the closest pony to me, who was a yellow Pegasus with long pink hair. She stood up so quickly she knocked over her chair, which fell to the ground with a loud thunk. She blushed, and turned to me and said, "I'm Fluttershy."
I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or not, with that introduction, so I compromised by clearing my throat.
"I understand you speak Foalch and Germane." I said.
"Um, yes, ma'am," She said sheepishly.
"How's your accent?"
"Um, just a slight one on Foalch, but, not to brag, my Germane's clean. A touch of Bavarian, ma'am."
"Very good. You've been reassigned to me. Grab your gear. We're going to a place called Nueville."
The Pegasus pony, who went for her equipment when I told her too, stopped dead in her tracks at the mention of Neuville. She turned around to face me with fear etched across her face.
"Um, ma'am, there are Germanes in Neuville," she said shakily.
"That's what I understand, Corporal," I said, raising my eyebrows to her.
"Um, ma'am, there are a lot of Germanes in Neuville," Fluttershy said, making it clearer that she didn't want to go.
"Do you have a problem with that, Corporal?"
"Uh, n-no, ma'am. Just if you consider I've never been in combat. I make maps and I translate."
"I need a pony who speaks Foalch and Germane," I repeated, starting to reconsider, "My two ponies were killed."
"Yes, ma'am, it's just I've never held a weapon since basic training."
"Did you fire the weapon in basic training?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then go get your gear."
"Yes, ma'am."
Fluttershy ran back to her table, where, behind it, there was a shelf with a few items on it. Fluttershy picked up her typewriter that was sitting on the shelf, and pulled the heavy object off. Doing so, she dragged off a Germane helmet and a small box as well. As the typewriter came off the shelf, it was proven to me visually that Fluttershy wasn't the strongest pony as she fell with it.
"Oops," Fluttershy said, and let go of the typewriter and getting up. She bent down to pick up the things she just knocked over, hitting her head on the shelf and causing the support to fail, sending it crashing to the ground.
Fluttershy stared at the mess she just made, and then looked at me, trying to pick up the typewriter on the floor, and said, "Is it ok if I bring my typewriter, ma'am?"
I stared at her, trying not to laugh or smile, and held up a small pencil. Fluttershy blushed again, and let go of the typewriter. She then grabbed two bags-- one big and black, the other a standard issue backpack-- and the Germane helmet.
"What's that, a souvenir?" I said, pointing to the helmet.
"Oh, um, no, ma'am," she said, dropping the helmet and grabbing another one.
"Take your time, Corporal," I said.
She then walked over to me and took the pencil, after she finished cleaning up the mess she made after about three minutes.
"You should look on the bright side of things, Corporal," I said, "And for one thing..." I pulled the black bag off her shoulder and put it back on her desk, "...you're not gonna need that."
"Oh, ok, ma'am," Fluttershy said, looking at me through the corner of her eye.
"Alrite, then," I said, clapping my hoofs together, "Let's go!"
And so we finally got out of the communications center, met the rest of the squad, and set out for Nueville.

About four hours later, the squad and I were walking along a grassy slope in a farmland. Sheep were bleating and running past us as we walked. Trees were coming up in front of us, and Fluttershy kept talking to different squad mates, apparently trying to make friends. At one point, she tapped Apple Jack on the shoulder, startling her.
"Hey!" AJ said, whipping around and causing Fluttershy to jump back, blushing as she usually did, "You want your head blown off, you little chicken buck? Don't you ever buckin' touch me with those little rat claws again! Get the buck back in formation."
Fluttershy's lip started trembling, and she said, "I was just wondering where you're from, that's--" she shut her mouth when AJ gave her a glare that could've frozen molten lava. Fluttershy walked up to Scootaloo instead. "Hey, Scootaloo, right?"
"Drop dead, Corporal," said Scootaloo, "And another thing, every time you salute the captain, you make her a target for the Germanes. So do us a favor, and don't do it, especially when I'm standing next to her, capisci?"
"Uh, capisci," said Flutteshy, and walked quietly for a while after that, until Rarity asked her a question.
"Corporal, what's your book about?"
"Well," said Fluttershy, her mood lifting now that someone was talking to her, "It's supposed to be about the bonds of love and trust that develop between soldiers during war."
"Love and trust?" asked Scootaloo, AJ laughing, "What do you know about love and trust? Get a load of this pony, Aje!" she added to Apple Jack, "Why don't you ask the captain where she's from?"
"Yeah, ask the captain," AJ agreed, "She'll tell you everything you wanna know about her."
"You wanna explain the math of this to me?" Spike asked me, "I mean, what's the sense of risking the lives of the eight of us to save one pony?"
"Any pony wanna answer that?" I asked the company.
"Spike, think of the poor bloke's mother," Rarity said.
"Hey, beautiful, I've got a mother, too, all right?" Spike said back, "I mean, you've got a mother, Sarge has a mother, I mean, heck, I bet even the captain's got a mother... Well, maybe not the captain, but the rest of us all have mothers."
"'Thiers not to reason why, theirs but to do and die'," Fluttershy quoted.
"La la la la la," AJ mocked, "What the buck is that supposed to mean, huh? We're all supposed to die, is that it?"
"Fluttershy's talking about our duty as soldiers," I said, "We all have orders, and we have to follow 'em. That supersedes everything, including your mothers."
"Even if you think the mission's FUBAR, ma'am?" asked Spike.
"Especially if you think the mission's FUBAR," I replied.
"What's FUBAR?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh, it's Germane," AJ lied, and Scootaloo chuckled silently.
"I've never heard of that..." said Fluttershy, thinking.
"Ma'am," Rainbow said to me, "I have an opinion on this matter."
"Well, by all means, share it with the squad," I said.
"Well, from my way of thinking, ma'am, this entire mission is a serious miscallocotion-"
"Misallocation," I corrected her.
"Whatever. A serious misallocation of valuable military resources."
"Go on," I said, listening hard.
"Well, it seems to me, ma'am, that Celestia gave me a special gift, made me a fine instrument of warfare."
"Spike, pay attention," I said, "Now, this is how you gripe! Continue, Dash."
"Well, what I mean by that, ma'am, is if you were to put me and this sniper rifle anywhere up to and including 1 mile of Adhoof Haytler with a clear line of sight, ma'am-- Pack your bags, fellas. War's over."
"Oh, that's brilliant, Dashie," Spike said sarcastically, "And you do know we're talking about AJ's mom also, right?"
"Actually, that's where you're both wrong," Apple Jack threw in, "It's my granny we're doing this for, not my ma."
"Anyway," Spike said, ignoring Apple Jack, "What about you, Captain? I mean, you don't gripe at all?"
"I don't gripe to you, Spike. I'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that as a wrangler."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but let's say you weren't a captain, or maybe I was a major. What would you say then?"
"Well, in that case, I'd say this is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir, worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover, I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Privates Apple Bloom and Apple Jack, and am willing to lay down my life and the lives of my ponies, and dragon, to ease her suffering."
"She's good." AJ said simply, and Scootaloo agreed by saying, "I love her!" and she made kissing noises. Fluttershy giggled.
And so we ventured out of the farmland and came within view of Neuville, knowing that Private Bloom was somewhere inside.

Journal Entry: Braeburn and the Seven Soldiers

Journal Entry

Capt. Twilight Sparkle

June 8th, 1944

Braeburn and the Seven Soldiers

The weather started to take a little turn once we got out of the farmlands. Things were bright and sunny before, but now, the sound of thunder and the patter of rain drops could be heard. As we entered the forest headed into Neuville, the sound of distant gunfire hit our ears. As the rain poured down upon us, we galloped through the muddy ground as quickly as we could, slipping and sliding on the slippery slope. As the gunfire became louder, it was easier to tell which direction we needed to head towards to get to Neuville. The gunfire grew even louder, and we came across a big stone wall with a hole blown right in the center. The gun shots could be heard loud and clear now, and that meant we had reached Neuville.
Fluttershy stayed at the back of the company as we lined up against the wall, me right next to the hole. The hole had been described to me by Lieutenant Scratch, and by her description, a guard pony was supposed to be waiting on the other side of the wall. For entry, she also gave me the code word.
"Thunder!" I shouted through the hole.
"Flash!" came the response.
"Fluttershy, Dash, Scootaloo, and Spike, you go first, we'll follow you."
They all went up the line and through the hole, Fluttershy being a bit resistant. We followed in suit, jumping through the hole and lopping to the closest building, where a pony with a cowboy hat, just like Apple Jack's was sitting with three other ponies.
"Ah, aren't you ponies a sight for sore eyes!" one of them said as we came up.
"Sergeant Braeburn, our relief showed up!"
"Braeburn?" said Apple Jack, looking around and spotting the pony with the cowboy hat, "Braeburn!"
"Howdy, little cos!" Braeburn said, and Apple Jack rushed towards him and wrapped him in a hug.
"Oh, Braeburn!" AJ said, no longer aware of the rest of us, "It's been so long! If I had known... How you been?"
"Just fine 'til a few hours ago," said Braeburn, releasing Apple Jack, "That's when them Germane buckers showed up. We've been tryin' to resist, but they just punched a hole straight through us 'n' cut us in two! But, dang! If I had known you folks would be our relief-"
"Sorry to disappoint, but-" I tried to say, but Braeburn kept going.
"Well, I would've worn my good hat!"
"Sergeant-"
"-'n' maybe brought a few apples!"
"Ser-"
"I know ya like apples, Jackie!"
"SERGEANT BRAEBURN!!!"
"Woah, there, missy!" Braeburn said, looking at me with a big smile on his face, "Ya gonna yell like that, you'll give away our position!"
"We are not your relief, Sergeant," I said before he could cut me off again.
Braeburn's smile vanished from his face, "But, that mean y'all won't be stayin'!"
"I'm afraid not," I said, nodding.
"Aw, apple fritters!" Braeburn said, disappointed, " 'n' I was gonna introduce ya to the unit!"
"Braeburn, we're stayin' for a little while," Apple Jack said, putting a hoof on his shoulder, "We're lookin' for some pony we think might be here."
"Well, who y'all lookin' fer?" Braeburn said, looking at the rest of the squad.
"We're looking for a Private Bloom," I said.
"Bloom?" Braeburn said, "As in my other little cos? What d'ya want her fer?"
"She and I are goin' home, Braeburn," Apple Jack said, "Big Macintosh died, so Granny Smith is callin' us home."
"Aw, Apple Jack," said Braeburn, looking pitifully at AJ, "That's mighty sad. And I wish I could go with ya, but I have orders."
"Do you know where Bloom might be?" I asked.
"Well, I reckon I heard about a Bloom here, but she sure ain't over here with us. She's probably part of the mixed squads on the other side of town."
A Germane voice was playing on a loudspeaker throughout the city.
"Who is that on the loudspeaker?" I asked Braeburn.
"That's Photo Finish, our friendly NIEGHborhood morale officer," Braeburn said, smiling. Apple Jack chuckled, and so did Fluttershy.
"Da Statue of Liberty iz kaputt!" Photo Finish shouted, which echoed across the city.
"The Statue of Liberty is kaputt?" I repeated, "That's disconcerting!"
Everyone laughed, including me.
"Now, ya see?" Braeburn said, still chuckling ,"They don't know English too well, and it gets pretty dern funny after a while!"
"Well, let's shut her up, shall we?" I suggested, "Do you know where she is?"
"Yea, she's on the other side of this here plaza," Braeburn said, pointing to the end of the open area around the city to a tall building. Behind a window, we could see the silhouette of a Germane pony shouting into a microphone. We advanced a few yards to a broken brick wall with a hole blown in it about four feet tall. Next to it, there was a broken cart that had dumped apples all across the road. Apple Jack and Scootaloo took cover behind the cart, while Dash, Rarity, Spike and I took cover behind the wall. Apple Jack took one of the apples and offered it to Scootaloo, who took it, and bit into it. Apple Jack was grabbing for another one when I gave the order to fire, and instead her arm darted for the rifle strapped on her back. We began shooting at the window, and one of us hit Photo Finish right in temple. A bullet hole was now in the window, and Photo Finish's voice no longer echoed across the city.
Germanes, who had heard the gunfire, turned up and returned fire. Scootaloo ran from her cover to join us behind the wall. One of the runner ponies had ran out into the plaza before the Germanes showed up, and was shot several times in the back. They continued shooting the body, even though she was already dead.
"Those sadistic animals!" I heard Apple Jack yell, shooting the Germanes and hitting on, who fell to the floor and made a small pool of blood on the ground.
"They know were not in contact with the other squads," I said, "They're gonna keep shooting the runners until we're all out of ponies."
"Then why do they keep shooting the corpses?" Rarity asked.
"As long as their lungs have breath in them, they still carry the message," I answered.
"Radio!" called Braeburn to a pony at the building behind us, "Try to call 'em again and see if we can get in touch with Cap'n Toity so we can let him know we're coming!"
"Yes, sir!" answered the pony, and he started yelling into the mic of the radio for Toity.
"What's the rest of Neuville look like?" I asked Braeburn.
"Well, the next block's got a two buildin's on both sides of the street," he answered, "And then there's a square with good cover on the left."
"Show me," I ordered, "Sarge, hold right here," I added to Whooves, and Braeburn and I galloped towards one of the two story buildings by going around the plaza and avoiding the enemy fire. We took cover behind one of the buildings we passed and checked for a clear coast.
"Right," I said, "let's stay out of this enfilade and use the buildings. Try a left hook. Shoot and scoot. Two of mine, two of yours."
Braeburn called two of his ponies up, and I called Spike and Scootaloo.
"They're still jamming us," one of Braeburn's ponies told him.
"Fundamentals," I told Spike and Scootaloo, "Short runs. High and low at the corners. It's gonna be tight. Be prepared for close combat. Go."
Spike and Scootaloo dashed off in front of us, followed by Braeburn's ponies.
"Fluttershy, stay with Whooves," I added.
"Right here!" Whooves called, and Fluttershy ran over to him, "We'll be like bread and butter, Captain!"
Braeburn and I dashed off to follow Spike, Scootaloo, and Braeburn's ponies, with the rest of the squad behind us. We found them hiding under a broken piano, and we took cover with them, the rain slashing at our helmets.
"Past the end of the left," Braeburn said, pointing ahead of us toward a great steel gate, "those are the gates to the square."
"Let's get going," I said, and we walked on, not needing to hide. The absence of gunfire told us that the Germanes had left, and we were safe at the moment.
"Hey, Spike," I heard Fluttershy say behind us, "Where's the captain from?"
"If you figure that one out," Spike said, "You've got yourself a nice prize."
"Three hundred bits, last time I heard," Rainbow said, approaching from the back of the company.
"The company's got a pool," Spike explained, "Five bits gets you in."
I smiled to myself, glad that Spike never told anyone where I came from.
For caution, we took cover at the opening of the plaza, the gates on the other side.
"It's right in front of us," I said, "right up to those gates."
"Some pony must know where she's from," Fluttershy said to Spike, "Or what she did for a living."
"I've been with her since Kasserine Pass," Whooves said, "and I don't have a clue."
"My hoofs are killin' me!" Braeburn complained, "I'm gonna need a wheelchair before this war is over! Ow! That's it. Oh, my God. I got ankles like an ol' woman. Like an ol'... Ow! God!"
"Spike," Fluttershy went on, "so you don't even know where she went to school?"
"The Captain didn't go to school," Spike said sarcastically, "They assembled her at O.C.S. out of spare body parts of dead G.I.s."
"You've gotta pay attention to detail," Scootaloo said, "I know exactly where she's from and exactly what she did 'cause I paid attention to detail. But I could care less about the money."
"Hey, Fluttershy," Rainbow said, "Take care you don't step in the horse crap."
I then heard a voice coming from one of the buildings, and I stopped the company. I yelled, "Thunder! Thunder or we will fire on you!"
"Ne tirez pas!" cried the voice, "On est Foalcais!"
They were speaking Foalch. I looked around the corner of the building and saw four ponies trapped in a destroyed two story building next to ours, one mare, one colt, and a white filly. They were hiding in the shadows of a corner in the room.
"Fluttershy, tell them to show themselves." I said.
"Montrez-vous!" Fluttershy called out, "Montrez-vous!"
The Foalch ponies came out, and tried to climb down the building, but they couldn't get a good grip on the building ledge.
"On n'est pas armés!" shouted the colt.
We galloped over to the building. A big hole had been blown into it, and rubble was at the base.
"Pourquoi tirez?" the colt said, "Mais baissez vos fusils! On est Foalcais!"
"Ask them if they know where the Germanes are," I told Fluttershy.
"Oú sount les allemanes?" She said to the ponies.
"Ca va pas! lis sont partout! Il faut vous emmener les enfants!"
"What's he saying?" I asked.
"Something about the fillies," Fluttershy answered as the colt picked up the little filly and offered her to us, "They want us to take the fillies!"
"No, no, no!" I answered, not wanting the burden, "We can't take the kids!"
"Non ne pouvons pas les prendre avec nous!" Fluttershy said to the colt, but Scootaloo had started climbing the rubble and had taken the filly.
"Are you insane!?" Whooves shouted to her, "Listen to the captain!"
"They think they'll be safe with us," Fluttershy said to me.
"They're not gonna be safe with us!" I said, "They're not gonna be safe anywhere! Scootaloo, put her back!"
"I can't help it, ma'am," Scootaloo said, walking down the rubble with the filly, who was crying and reaching out for her parents, "She reminds me of a good friend of mine whom I miss."
"Scootaloo, get that filly back up there!" I shouted.
"Captain, the decent thing to do is to at least take her down the road to the next town," said Scootaloo, walking towards the gate on the other side of the square.
"We're not here to do the decent thing!" I yelled, grabbing the filly and handing her to Whooves, "We're here to follow bucking orders!"
Scootaloo stood there, staring at me as I walked back to the building. Just then, however, a gunshot was fired, and it hit Scootaloo right in the shoulder. She screamed and fell over, catching herself on a piano that was sticking out of rubble, emitting a horrible sound out of eight keys.
I turned around to see Scootaloo hoisting herself up with her rifle, but she immediately fell over on her back again, landing in a puddle and causing a splash.
"Cover!" I shouted, "Get to cover!"
Every pony ducked behind something; Rainbow, AJ, and Spike took cover behind a broken cart; Whooves took the filly behind the building; Braeburn, Rarity, Fluttershy and I dived under another pile of rubble.
"No..." said Fluttershy softly, staring at Scootaloo writhing on the ground.
"Crap!" shouted Braeburn, "Where'd that come from!?"
"He was on the ground before we heard the shot!" shouted Rainbow. She looked around the square, still under cover. She then spotted a tall, three story tower, which had several windows in it.
"That's where I would be," she said, pointing to the tower.
"I didn't see it!" I shouted to Rainbow.
"450 yards, Captain," Rainbow explained, "Maybe a shade under. I wouldn't venture out there, fellas! This sniper's got talent!"
The Foalch couple were shouting to their daughter, who was crying and trying to climb up the rubble. Whooves was having a tough time keeping a hold on her.
"It's ok," I heard him say, "Please don't cry. I'll get you back to your mama and papa. Please don't cry."
Rainbow worked her way around her cover, trying the best she could to stay out of sight of the tower. She stayed close to the walls of the buildings, then dropped and crawled over to a small heap of rubble, making tiny splashes in the water from the rain. She looked at Scootaloo, who was looking back, still twitching. Rainbow put her hoof to her mouth, telling Scootaloo to stay quiet. She then put her rifle up on top the rubble, and aimed down-sight and searched for the sniper.
"Captain!" Scootaloo shouted to me.
"Hold on, Scootaloo," I said.
"Help me up! I can walk! I can walk!"
"Scootaloo, stay still!" shouted Rarity next to me.
Rainbow searched dozens of windows on the tower for about three seconds and then ducked back into cover for about ten. She checked her ammo, scoffed, and reloaded her rounds.
"Two clicks, left wind," she mouthed to me.
"Aje!" Scootaloo shouted to Apple Jack.
"Captain, can you see her from there?" Rarity asked me, "How is she?"
"Rarity, you stay put," I said.
"Where's she shot?" she asked.
I looked at Scootaloo, seeing a bullet hole in her right shoulder, which was bleeding rapidly and making a stream of red in the rain.
Rarity got up and looked over the cart, but I yanked her down as soon as she stood.
"Stay down!" I said.
"I ain't carryin' her if she gets hit, Captain," Braeburn said seriously.
"Aje, come over here!' Scootaloo said, her voice getting raspy now.
"Scoot, put your head down!" Apple Jack said to her, her voice shaking.
Scootaloo reached inside her jacket with her left hoof, and pulled out a white piece of paper. She held it up to us.
"Copy it!" she said, her voice getting fainter, "Copy it and send it for me!"
"Scoot, you're gonna send it yourself!" Apple Jack said, trying to ease her.
"It's got blood," Scootaloo said, "It's-- it's to my dad. It's got blood on it."
Rainbow finally shot her rifle, and, other than the sound of the rain falling, there was absolute silence. Scootaloo had stopped twitching, and was lying on the ground with the letter in her hoof.
"I got him!" Rainbow shouted, "All clear!"
Rarity got up and galloped as quickly as she could to get to Scootaloo, her first aid kit ready. When she reached her, however, she stopped in her tracks, looking down upon Scootaloo's face, her eyes closed in forever sleep.
Whooves had let go of the filly when he ran to Scootaloo, and the young filly climbed up the rubble back to her parents. They helped her back up, and she slapped her father repeatedly, shouting at him in Foalch while crying.
Every pony crowed around Scootaloo's body, which was leaving a trail of blood flowing down the street. Rarity got out a tarp and covered Scootaloo's body with it.
"That's why we can't take fillies," I said, "Sergeant Whooves, do an ammo check. Fluttershy, fill up the canteens. And somepony get her dog tag before she's disposed."
But no pony moved a muscle. Rarity bent down to Scootaloo and unfolded the area of the tarp that covered her arm. She took the letter out of Scootaloo's hoof, which was stained with blood, and put it in her jacket.
"Goodbye, Scootaloo," she said, covering the body again.
We all stared at the tarped body for the longest time. Then Spike said, "Buck Bloom," and walked away. AJ went to go after him, but I held her back.
Rainbow made a cross on her chest with her right hoof, and Fluttershy was crying softly into Whoove's shoulder. Braeburn was patting Apple Jack on the back as she took her hat off and placed it across her breast. I just stared at the tarp, adding another soldier to my death list.

Journal Entry: Private Bloom

Journal Entry

Capt. Twilight Sparkle

June 9th, 1944

Private Bloom

Scootaloo died yesterday. She was shot in the shoulder by a sniper and bled to death, we couldn't make it to her in time. It took us a couple of hours to dig a grave for Scoot, and since her death was my fault, I was the one who placed her body in the six foot deep hole in the ground. We had a small funeral for her, with just us, the squad and I, there. Rainbow Dash said a few prayers for Scoot, and when we were done, we placed a grave stone above where her head would be, saying:

Private, First Class Scootaloo

A brave and loving hero

After that, there were no more sighs of the Germane Pozis. Braeburn led us under an arched alley, and stopped us.
"Thunder!" he shouted down the alley.
"Flash! Come on in!" came the reply.
Braeburn signaled an all-clear, and we moved up to a window just on the other side of the wall, where three look-outs were watching for intruders.
"Howdy, fellers," Braeburn said to them, "We're looking for Captain Toity."
"Somewhere down there, across the square," answered the first ponies, pointing to the other side of the alley.
"Go easy, and watch for snipers," said the second pony.
We walked down the hall cautiously, until Braeburn called us to a rest. We were in a boxed alleyway, that had stairs leading up to a balcony above us, facing a wall with vines climbing over it. A pile of rubble was packed up on one corner of the wall, and there were boards leaning against the side of the building.
"Hey," Braeburn said to a unicorn next to him, "Check up there and see if Toity's there, would ya?"
He pointed to the stairs leading to the balcony, and the unicorn looked uncertainly at him.
"Well, go on!" Braeburn encouraged, "Get!"
The unicorn dashed up the stairs and disappeared from view.
"Right," said Braeburn, sitting on the rubble, "Every pony take a rest here. I know we'll need it." he laid against the boards, which slid off the rubble and hit the wall.
I guess the wall was pretty weak, because when the board came into contact with it, it crumbled as if the board was passing through water. A series of shouts were emitted, and every pony stood up, surprised at the sudden yells. Behind the wall were about seven Germane Pozis, and they looked just about as shocked as we did. Every pony groped for their weapons, and it turned into a shouting match as we had our weapons aimed at them, and theirs at us.
"Drop 'em!" I shouted, "Drop 'em now!"
"Put your weapons down!" Spike was shouting next to me, "Put 'em down this second!"
The Germanes were shouting at us in their own language, but no pony, save Fluttershy, could understand them.
"I'll shoot ya!" Rainbow was shouting, her rifle fixed at one of their heads, "I'll blow a hole right through your head!"
Fluttershy wasn't aiming her weapon, and was simply shouting something to them in Germane, when gun fire sounded, blood shot from every direction, and the next thing I knew, we were all on the ground, the Germanes dead.
I looked up at the balcony, and I saw the unicorn from earlier, and a very handsome, grey skinned pony with a dark grey mane and purple reflector glasses. They both had guns out that were smoking from the barrel.
"Clear up!" he shouted, and Spike and Braeburn rushed into the room and checked the bodies, and Braeburn responded, "Clear Down!"
"I swear," Whooves said as we got up, "It's enough to make you old."
"Yeah, let's hope so," I said back, still looking at the captain. He walked down the stairs, to me, and put his hoof out.
"Hoity Toity, Pawfinders, 101st."
"Twilight Sparkle, 2nd Wranglers," I said, shaking his hoof. "Thank you." I added, looking at the dead Germanes, "We're looking for a Private Bloom. She's part of your outfit."
"My outfits are made from leather and fabric," he replied, looking insulted, "Not from other ponies."
"I meant... what?" I said, confused.
"Twilight, don't you know who this is?" said, walking up to us and looking like she was about to scream out of joy, "This is Hoity Toity, the famous fashion designer from Canterlot! He visited my shop once, remember Apple Jack?"
"Sure shooin' do!" said Apple Jack from inside the room with the Germane corpses, "This here captain is a legend, accordin' to you, ."
"Well, at least some ponies know about my fabulousity," Toity said, shifting his glasses a little with his hoof.
"I don't care about that," I said, knowing this was a complete waste of time, "Any chance you can bring Bloom up?"

"So, how was the road in?" Toity asked as we walked into the square. It was no longer raining, and the sunshine was quite enjoyable.
"Scenic," I said, "We lost most of our ammo."
"Not to mention one of our ponies," Whooves said, staring at the ground as he walked.
"Lieutenant, redeploy that bazooka to the right side of the road, and get Bloom up here!" Toity said to a passing Pegasus. As she flew away, he looked at me and said, "It's good to be the boss, isn't it?"
I nodded, not looking back at him.
"Bloom!" I heard some pony should, "Bloom! Front and center on the double!"
We saw a yellow pony running towards us, carrying a backpack full of apples.
"Here comes our filly," Toity said. The pony stopped in front of us in attention stance.
"Sir, Private Bloom reporting as ordered," she said to Toity. I heard Spike mutter to Whooves behind me, "Told you she'd be a jackass."
"At ease," Toity said to Bloom, and she relaxed her body a bit, "Captain Sparkle, 2nd Wranglers. She'd like a word with you."
"Um, cap?" Apple Jack tapped my shoulder, "That's-"
"I know she's your sister, Jack," I said, "But I'll tell her the news."
"That ain't what I was-"
"I'll let you talk to her in a minute! Just let me tell her first!"
I led Bloom over to the corner of a nearby building, Toity following us. I told her to take a knee, so she sat on the ground and looked at me questionably.
"Private, I'm afraid I have some bad news," I said. She continued to gaze at me, and I found it hard to think straight, "Well, there's no easy way to say this, so... I'll just say it. Your brother is dead."
She had a different look on her face now, a look of shock. She shook her head, her eyes closed.
"We have orders to come and get you... cause you're going home."
Toity put a hoof on Bloom's back, and she stared at me with red eyes. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she put her head in Toity's shoulder and said, "Oh my God, my brother's dead!" she sobbed loudly, and every pony was looking our way. I felt slightly awkward, as Bloom continued to cry, "I was gonna go fishing with him when I got back home."
It took a while for her to calm down and begin to talk again.
"How-- How did he die?"
"He was killed in action," I said.
"No..." she said, "No, that can't be!"
"I'm so sorry, Bloom," Toity said, looking at the back of her mane and curling it as if trying to change it's style.
"But that can't be!" she continued, "My brother's still in grammar school!"
Now it was my turn to stare at her questionably.
"You're Private Bloom?" I asked, uncertain now.
"Yes," she choked.
"Private Apple Bloom, from Sweet Apple Acres?"
"Private Sunflower Bloom, from Fillysoda."
I heard several groans from my squad, and Apple Jack gave me a I-tried-to-tell-you sort of look.
"Well, does that-- does that mean my brother is ok?" Bloom asked shakily.
"Yeah, I'm sure he's fine." I said, frustrated, "We're looking for a different Private Bloom. This is just a big fowl up."
"How do you know?" asked Bloom, but I was walking away, and I heard her crying, "How can she be sure, Captain? What if the fowl up was that her brother was OK, and mine was the one who died? I just wrote him a letter! I've gotta get home! I've gotta get home!"
"That was embarrassing," Whooves said when I reached him.
"Tell me about it," I agreed.
Toity came back after easing Bloom, and he stuck with us for a little walk.
"Are you in touch with your C.O.?" I asked him. When he didn't respond, I scoffed loudly, "That figures."
"What unit is your Bloom in?" he asked, ignoring my rudeness.
"Baker Company, 5-0-6."
"The pony with the broken back hoof, she's from 5-0-6, right?" Toity asked Braeburn.
"Yup. Charlie, I think."
Next thing I knew, I was in a small medicine tent, talking to a pony who was getting her back hoof wrapped up.
"Bloom?" she asked, "Don't know-- Ow! Take it easy, would ya!?"
"Where was your drop zone?" I asked her.
"Just inside of Vierville."
"Vierville? How the hay did you end up way up here?"
"You got me, ma'am. C-47 took heavy fire. The pilot went crazy trying to get out of there, turning every which way ,took more fire on the drop, and I ended up here. I haven't seen a single pony from my stick, ma'am, Celestia knows where they all are."
"Any pony from Baker Company have a big mouth? Say where the drop zone might've been?"
"No, ma'am, but I know Baker Company had the same rally point as us."
"Show me," I said, taking out a map and handing it to her.
The sun was sinking over the hills by the time we got out of that tent, and I was asking Toity if there was anywhere we could rest.
"My ponies are beat. We're gonna hold up here for maybe three hours. We'll pull out after dark. Got anything left in this town like a 3-star hotel, something with clean sheets and soft pillows and room service?"
Toity chuckled, gazing dreamily at him from beside him, "How about a nice comfy church?"
"We'll take that, I guess," I said.
"I think I'll stay with you guys for the night," Braeburn said, slugging Apple Jack in the shoulder gently.
" 'Corse you will!" Apple Jack said enthusiastically, "We have a lot to catch up on!"
"What have you heard? How's it all falling together?" Toity asked me.
"Well, we got the beachhead secure. Problem is Monty's taking his time moving on Caen. We can't pull out until he's ready. So--"
"That pony is so overrated."
"No argument here."
"You've got to take Caen, so you can take Saint-Lo. Then Valognes, then Cherbourg, then Paris, and then finally, you get Berlin."
"And then that big boat home."
"What a fascinating plan," said , still gazing at Toity.
"Why, thank you, young lady," he said to her, and continued talking to me, squealing behind us, "We sure could use you around here, but I understand completely what you're doing."
"You do?" I asked.
"Yes. I have a couple of brothers myself."
"Oh."
"Good luck."
"Thanks."
"No, I mean it. Find her. Get her home."

"What's wrong with your hoof, Twilight?" Whooves asked. It was dark out, and we're inside the curch, which was lit up by candles.
"I don't know," I said, staring at it as it twitched, "It started when they brought us down for embarkation. It comes and goes."
"Well, you may have to get yourself a new line of work," Whooves said, still looking at it, "This one doesn't seem to agree with you any more."
I watched my hoof twitched until it stopped, which wasn't a long time. Suddenly, remembering a memory, I began to giggle.
"What?" Whooves asked curiously.
I continued to giggle, and then I asked him, "What was the name of that filly at Anzio? The one that was always walking around with her back hoofs dragging behind her, and she was singing that song about the pony on the flying trapeze?"
Whooves looked at me as if I had gone insane, but then started cracking up himself.
"Ditzy Doo," he said, smiling.
"Ditzy Doo!" I said, "That was it! Yeah, she was a goofy filly."
"I remember she used to eat D's on every pony's jacket, for Ditzy!" laughed Whooves, "For Domination!"
We continued laughing, and I almost started choking.
"She was so short!"
"She was a midget, wasn't she?"
" 'How did you get to be a wrangler?' "
Whooves chuckled, "She got shot in the hoof once, didn't she? And she was walking with them dragging behind her?"
"Yeah, she could walk faster on her hoofs."
Whooves nearly cried he was laughing so hard.
"Yeah, Ditzy Doo," I said when we calmed down, "Scootaloo."
Whooves looked at me, half the smile faded from his face.
"You see, when... when you end up killing one of your ponies, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three, or ten others, maybe even a hundred others. Do you know how many ponies have died under my command?"
"How many?"
"Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even twenty, right? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize making the choice between the mission and the ponies."
"Except this time the mission is a pony."
I took this in, and thought about it for a moment.
"This Bloom better be worth it," I said, "She'd better go home and cure some disease or invent some kind of loopty-hoop or something. Because the truth is I wouldn't trade ten Blooms for one Ditzy Doo or one Scootaloo."
"Amen," Whooves said, nodding.
I felt something on my right hoof, and turned to look at it.
"Look," I said, holding it up, "There it goes again."
Whooves looked at my twitching hoof, and then to me.
"Ma'am," he said, "Are you all right?"
I ignored him, and put my hoof down. I checked my watch.
"Now, look," I said, "we're gonna move out in about two hours. Why don't you get some sleep?"
Rainbow was sleeping softly as the others talked.
"I don't know how she does it," Spike said, looking at her.
"What's that?" Braeburn asked him.
"Falls asleep like that. I mean, look at her. The pony's lights out the minute her head hits the pack.
"A clear conscience," Apple Jack answered.
"Yeah, what's that saying? 'If Celestia's on our side, then who's on the others?' "
" 'If Celestia be for us, then who could be against us?' " Fluttershy said.
"Yeah, what did I say?" Spike said.
Then Rarity, who was copying Scootaloo's letter, said, "Well, actually, the trick to falling asleep is trying to stay awake."
"How's that, Rarity?" Apple jack asked.
"Well, when I worked in my dress shop at Ponyville, a baby dragon would come in every now and then to help me with the customers and give me ideas for clothing. He was a stunning dragon, he was, and I always had trouble talking to him when he came. I was always extremely busy, though, so the only time that we ever got to talk about anything was after the shop closed. He always came in during work hours and sometimes after closing time, so if he didn't come during the day, I'd lay down on my bed and think of dress ideas or fill in orders sent to me by mail. So what I would do is I would try to stay awake as long as I could so I could see him."
"Yeah, well that wouldn't have mattered at all in my house," said Spike, looking as though he hadn't heard a thing, "My mom, she would've come home, shook me awake, and chatted with me to until dawn. I swear that mare was never too tired to talk." he added, looking up at where I was.
"Yeah," Apple Jack said, "that's probably the only time she could get a word in."
Fluttershy giggled, and Spike nudged Apple Jack with his elbow.
"Funny thing is," Rarity continued, "sometimes he'd come earlier than I had intended, but I'd pretend to be asleep."
"Who?" Braeburn asked, "The baby dragon?"
"Yes. He'd stand in the doorway looking at me, and I'd just keep my eyes shut. And I knew he just wanted to find out about my day, that he'd shown up early... just to talk to me. And I still wouldn't move. I'd still pretend to be asleep... I don't know why I did that."
Every pony was looking at Rarity now, who was gazing at the ground as if there was something particularly interesting there.
"Wait," Spike said suddenly, "This sounds familiar. Was the baby dragon-"
"We've only got a couple hours," I said, walking to them from my bed and interrupting Spike. Whooves was fast asleep. "You should all get some sleep."
Soon it was only me and Fluttershy awake. Fluttershy was doodling animals in the corner, and I was watching my hoof twitch.
"Um, captain?" Fluttershy said softly, and I looked up to her.
"How you doing there, Fluttershy?" I asked, "You all right?"
"Yeah, I think this is all good for me, ma'am."
"Really? How is that?"
" 'War educates the senses, calls into action the will, perfects the physical constitution, brings ponies into such swift and close collision in critical moments that pony measures pony.' "
"Yeah, I guess that's Emerson's way of finding the bright side."
"You know Emerson, ma'am?"
"I know some."
"So... where are you from, Captain? What did you do before the war?"
I smiled, "What's the pool up too?"
Fluttershy chuckled softly, "I think about three hundred, ma'am."
"Well, when it gets up to, let's say, five hundred, I'll give you the answers and we'll split the money. How about that?"
"Well, if that's the way you feel, ma'am, I feel it's my duty under your command to suggest that we wait until it gets up to a thousand, ma'am."
"What if we don't live that long?"
Fluttershy thought about this, and then said, "Five hundred?"
"That would be good, yeah," I said, and I got up and patted Fluttershy on the back, "Get some sleep, Corporal."
"Yes, ma'am," she said, and got up and walked to her bed. I looked at the pictures she had drawn and smiled. One of them was of her flying with a flock of geese with a rabbit chasing her from underneath.

Journal Entry: The Airfield

Journal Entry

Capt. Twilight Sparkle

June 10th, 1944

The Airfield

It was still dark when I aroused the squad, and the sound of distant gunfire echoed throughout the night when we left Neuville. Captain Toity gave us a refreshment of ammo and food before we parted, and as we left the Neuville boundaries, we heard Braeburn speak.
"Well, folks, I guess this is it," he said sadly, "This is as far as I can go without desertin' Toity."
"Braeburn," Apple Jack said, walking up to him, "Isn't there some way you can come with us?"
"I'm 'fraid not, cos," Braeburn sighed, "I have my orders, and I intend to follow 'em. I'll see ya 'round, fellas."
Apple Jack put her hoofs around Braeburn and wrapped him in a big hug, which he returned.
"Don't you go dyin' on me," he said to her, "Ya hear?"
Apple Jack nodded and walked miserably back into formation, trying her best not to show any tears.
"It's been nice working with you, Sarge," I said, "I hope we meet again before this horrible war meets its end."
"Likewise," Braeburn said, "Adios,"
And with that, he turned around and trotted the other way, back inside Neuville. I could hear Apple Jack sniffling.
We walked on into the night, the sound of distant gunfire growing smaller in our ears.

Several hours of walking later, the sun was rising above the trees in the east. We were walking through a forest leading to Vierville, when we saw a huge helicopter had crashed in a clearing. It must've been the helicopter described by the wounded pony at Neuville. On the other side of the helicopter, we saw that a tent had been pitched up, and a few dozen moaning ponies were lying under it with all kinds of injuries.
"Medic!" I heard some pony call, "My buddy's bleeding! She needs a tourniquet!"
"Rarity, see what you can do," I said, and she rushed to the pony with her first aid out.
"Hold on, girls," I said to the wounded ponies as we walked through the crowd, "It won't be much longer."
"How are we doing here?" I heard Rarity ask, and the pony coughed and pointed to her hip, which was bleeding slowly, "Yeah, you're all right, don't worry about it. Doc's here to fix you up."
"Captain!" I heard a pony call, and I turned to see a Pegasus pony lying on his back next to a pony with a head injury, "Hey, captain!"
"Soldier, you wanna fill me in?" I asked, walking over to him as he stood up.
"Yeah," he grunted, "Lieutenant Soarin, ma'am. 99th Troop Carrier Squadron carrying in 327th Glider Infantry. This one was mine, ma'am," he added, indicating to the helicopter, "I was the pilot. Twenty-two ponies dead. I ended up over here without a scratch, but it took my copilot's head right off."
"Well, where's the unit?" I asked, "Who are these ponies?"
"Well, the ponies we came in with, ma'am, they headed off first night. I haven't seen them since. In the meantime, other ponies keep showing up. One, two, half-dozen at a time. Then some officer'll come along and patch together a mixed unit, and head off to make trouble, ma'am."
"We're looking for a Private Apple Bloom. She was in Baker Company 5-0-6 of the 101st."
"You got me, ma'am. A lot of ponies come in and out of here."
Right then, as if on cue, a large squad of Equestrian ponies came marching into the airfield.
"Fluttershy, check out that squad. See if Bloom's in it," I ordered, and Fluttershy reluctantly dashed off to talk to the closest pony in the squad.
"Spike," Rarity said, and Spike, who was lighting a cigarette for a pony, turned around to face her, "Smell that leg right there, find out if it's south of cheese," she indicated to the wrapped leg of an injured pony, whose blood was staining the tourniquet. Spike looked at her oddly, and bent down to the leg. He took a whiff, and immediately pulled his head away, his nose wrinkling. He faced Rarity, his eyes watering, and nodded.
Apple Jack was standing by the main road. Another squad had shown up, bringing in Germane prisoners.
"Juden," she said to the Germanes, pulling out her Star of David, "I am Juden, ya know? Ju-den."
"Yeah, I couldn't pry him out of there," Soarin was saying as we walked to the helicopter, "hard as I tried. I'd need a winch."
I looked into the cockpit of the helicopter and saw the flesh rotting off an Equestrian Pegasus pilot's carrion.
"Stars," Whooves said, pointing to the Pegasus's uniform.
"Yep," replied Soarin, "Brigadier General Crust, deputy commander, 101st. Some bucking genius had the great idea of welding a couple of steel plates onto our deck to keep the general safe from ground fire. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell me about it until we were just getting airborne. Well, that's like trying to fly a freight train. OK? Gross overload. Trim characteristics all shot to hay. I nearly broke both my hoofs trying to keep her level. And when we released, you know, I cut as hard as I could, tried to gain some altitude and still keep her from stalling. We came down like a bucking meteor. And this is how we ended up. And the others, they stopped easy enough OK, though, you know? We were just-- we were just to darn heavy. The grass was wet, downward slope and all. Twenty-two ponies dead."
"All that for a general?" I asked, first making sure he was done talking.
"One pony," Soarin said seriously.
"There's a lot of that going around," Spike said.
"FUBAR," Soarin said to him.
"FUBAR," we chorused.
"I looked up 'FUBAR' in the Germane dictionary," Fluttershy said, flipping through the pages of a dictionary, "There's no 'FUBAR' in there."
"Fluttershy?" I said, "There's more paratroops out there. Find out if one of them's Bloom."
"Yes, ma'am," she replied, and dashed away back to the airfield.
"You might want to check these out, ma'am," Soarin said, pulling a bag out from his suit, "Dog tags. More than I really wanna count. I've covered a lot of bodies."
I took the bag from him and jingled it around a little, than threw it to Rainbow, who caught it unexpectedly.
"Dash," I said, "start going through those."
"Yes, ma'am," she said, and followed Fluttershy. Spike sat there, thinking for a moment, and then said, "I'll help." and he followed Rainbow.
Back at the airfield, I heard Spike say, "What do you think, Rainbow? Do you think that little insect is in there?"
"Well, if she is," Rainbow answered, "I'm gonna find her."
"I bet she is," Spike said, setting the bag down on a table and sitting down.
"I've got big money saying that she's alive," Rainbow said, picking up the bag and emptying the contents out onto the table,
"Ten bits says I nail 'er first," Apple Jack said, plopping down on a seat next to Spike.
"Let's see who we got in here."
"You fellas don't stand a chance!"
"All right," Spike said, "Do you think this little jacka-" he stopped at the look Apple Jack gave him, "-this little rascal is in here or what?"
"Just keep looking," Apple Jack spat at him, and they started mowing through the dog tags as if they were overgrown weeds.
"Fancy Pants."
"Pipsqueak."
"Fleur de Lis."
"I swear, all the guineas are buying it, eh?"
"Not the right name, not the right name..."
"Wee Willie Winky, that's a buddy of yours."
I reached out and grabbed a few myself and started checking names... "Sapphire Shores"... "Gilda"...
"Don't mix them up, Rainbow, all right? Keep them in your own pile. How am I supposed to know who we got?"
"Why don't you shut up, Spike, and get back to looking?"
"Every pony be friends."
"I think I got a winner."
Everyone stopped and looked at Rainbow. Her eyes were screwed on the dog tag she was holding, and then she said, "Bloom."
"Let me see that," Apple Jack said, looking worried and snatching the dog tag out of Rainbow's hoofs so fast Rainbow blinked twice before realizing it was gone. Apple Jack looked really closely at it, and said, with a sigh of relief, "Wow, you're a real genius, ya know that? B-L-U-M-M. that's Blumm, and that's Foalch, all right? You know what that means?"
"It means nothing," Rainbow said, disappointed and rummaging through the dog tags again.
"What beats three of a kind?"
"Do you need a hand with that?"
"Ah, I got a full house."
"Got you beat. Straight Flush."
"You were looking at my tags! You're cheating, ya know?"
"Bloom..."
"Unreal, this pony."
"Ouch, this pony's dog tag is shot!"
"Need help reading that?"
"Sweet Celestia, look at this poor mare."
"Guess they're not bullet proof, eh?"
"I guess not."
"You mares, the whole blasted airborne's watching!"
It was Rarity who said this. She had come over from the medic's tent with bloody hoofs and scooped up a pile of tags and shoved them back into the bag. We looked up, and indeed, the new troops arriving were staring at us as they passed, looking like they had just seen a drunken pony dancing.
"They- are- not- poker chips!" Rarity was saying between stuffings.
"All right, all right," Apple Jack said, and she got up from her seat and started pacing back and forth.
I looked up at the troops and felt foolish, and I felt my cheeks burning as I shuffled through the last dog tags I had. Admitting defeat, I tossed them back onto the table, and they were immediately thrown back into the bag by Rarity.
"She's not here," I said.
I walked toward the troops, thinking aloud, "Maybe we should split up into different groups and wander the woods like Hansel and Gretel, calling her name. She's bound to hear us sometime. Bloom!" I shouted into the passing company. No response.
"That might be a little hard to do, Captain," Whooves said, walking up next to me as the airborne stared at us.
"Maybe the locals have seen her," I said, and I spotted a group of Foalch ponies walking with the troops. I trotted up to them and said, "Hey, do you-- uh, excusez-moi, parlez-vous Bloom? Apple Bloom? Merci, merci beaucoup. Bloom!" I screamed back to the airborne as the Foalchs walked away, "Any pony know Bloom, 101st airborne? Bloom? Any pony know Bloom? Private Apple Bloom, from Sweet Apple Acres? Any pony? Apple Bloom?"
A pony walking in my direction turned around and shouted, "Hey, Cherilee, doesn't Snails pal around with a Bloom from "C" Company? Well bring him up here, would you?"
My spirits rose as Whooves and I glanced at each other with hopeful looks. Rainbow was standing up from the table, trying to get a better view. Two fillies returned to us, one with a bleeding ear.
"You know Apple Bloom?" I asked him.
"You're gonna-" his friend (Snips, by his dog tag) started, but Snails cut him off, shouting, "YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO SPEAK UP, MA'AM! MY HEARING ISN'T SO GOOD! IT COMES AND GOES. A GERMANE GRENADE WENT OFF RIGHT BY MY HEAD!"
"Got it!" I said louder, "Do you know Private Bloom?"
"WHO!?"
"Private Bloom!? Apple Bloom?"
"AVOCADO BLOOM!?"
"No! Apple Bloom!"
"NO, NO, NO, IT'S 'APPLE' BLOOM, EH!"
"All right, get me a pencil," I said to Whooves, but Fluttershy came up to me, holding the tiny pencil I gave her when we first met.
"Thanks, Fluttershy," I said, taking the pencil. I ripped out a piece of my journal and wrote 'Do you know Apple Bloom?' I held up the message to Snails, who stared at it for a second, and then yelled, "YEAH, OF COURSE I KNOW HER, MA'AM!"
I wrote down 'Do you know where she is?' and help it up to him. Again, he looked at it, and shouted, "YEAH, YEAH! WE MISSED OUR DROP ZONE BY ABOUT TWENTY MILES, ENDED UP WAY OVER BY BUMVILLE OR SOME DANGED PLACE. HER, ME, AND A COUPLE OF OTHER PONIES WERE COMING HERE TO THE RALLY POINT, RAN INTO A COLONEL WHO WAS GATHERING UP PONIES TO GO TO, UH... RAMELLE!"
"Ramelle," I repeated.
"TO BABY-SIT A BRIDGE! THAT'S THE LAST I'VE SEEN OF HER, MA'AM!"
"Great! Thank you!" I said loudly, and turned to leave.
"YOU'RE WELCOME!" Snails called back, and I stopped in my tracks. I turned to see him waving and smiling at me. I shrugged and walked back to the squad with Fluttershy and Whooves.
We sat down on the table we were at earlier. I unfolded a map and spread it across the table.
"Ramelle," I said, scanning the map, "...is here. And we're here. Ramelle is on the Merderet River right here, just to the southwest of us."
"Do you know anything about this bridge he was talking about?" Spike asked.
"Yes," I said, pulling out a compass, "The target has always been Cherbourg. We can't push onto Paris until we take a deep water port, and Rommel knows that. So he's gonna try to get his armor across the Merderet River anywhere he can that way he can hit our invasion forces in the flank when we make the big right turn to Cherbourg. That makes any village on that river with an intact bridge solid gold real estate."
But every pony was staring at the hoof that was holding the compass. My hoof. It had started twitching again, and it was causing the compass to shake. I looked around at every pony, and Whooves gave me an awkward smile. I shut the compass hastily and stood up.
"Let's go."

Journal Entry: The Six Soldiers

Journal Entry

Capt. Twilight Sparkle

June 11th, 1944

The Six Soldiers

It took us about an hour to get all our gear together before we left the airfield, and by that time it was after dark. I was prepared long before any pony else, so I relaxed a bit and read a field manual while every pony else was packing. I read a very interesting section of the manual, something about sticky bombs and how to make them. It included socks, and my mind immediately thought of . I decided I wanted to see the effects of a sticky bomb, so I asked , while she packed her medical equipment, if she could find some time to make a few socks. She said she'd do what she could, and that was satisfying enough for me, so I went back to the manual, a little more giddy from excitement.
When everyone was packed (Spike was last, as usual), we thanked Soarin for his hospitality and went on our way. We passed Snails on the way, and he waved at us as we passed, grinning stupidly. In almost no time at all, the sound of ponies talking faded, and we were marching alone once more. Grey clouds loomed overhead, looking unsure whether they wanted to rain or not. The grass we trotted on didn't need it, and we had enough water. The only sound that could be heard was from , who trying to make socks with magic.
The next morning, we came across a fence of trees guarding a small building. We were about to walk through when I noticed several bodies beyond laying on the grass. I halted the company and took a closer look. My hesitation to go in was a smart thing to do, for the bodies were Equestrian soldiers, dead and rotting. We got down on the ground quickly, and Whooves and I crawled toward the tree with the most leafs. I took a pair of binoculars out of my pack and looked at the building through them.
"What the hay is that?" I heard Whooves whisper.
I took a closer look, and said, "A radar site."
"It's got to be out of action."
"Well, it looks like we have something in that... sandbag bunker, right under the station, see it?"
"Yeah," Whooves said, crunching leafs as he leaned closer to the base, "That's my guess, too."
"What is it?" Rainbow asked when we returned to the company. We had retreated a few yards away from any enemy eyes.
"Machine gun," Whooves said, "Probably MG-42."
"Dear Luna," exclaimed Spike, looking at the dead ponies, "Is that what got those guys?"
"Maybe one of them's our pony?" suggested , and Apple Jack gasped suddenly and started at the ponies, but we held her back.
"None of them is Bloom," I said reassuringly, once Apple Jack stopped trying to fight us off, "Their patches are from the 82nd, so your lucks pretty good."
"I don't know how fast the rest of you Betties are," Spike said, "but I'm thinking we detour this way quick and quietly. The will never even know we were here. So, Captain, what I'm trying to say is, why don't we just go around the thing?"
"I hear what you're saying," I said as I took my jacket off, "but we can't go around it."
"I'm with Spike on this one, ma'am," Rainbow said, "I mean, we left them 88s."
"For the air force," I argued, "The air force isn't going to spend ordinance on one machine gun."
"Uh, Capatain," Apple Jack said slowly, "We can still skip it and accomplish our mission. I mean, this ain't our mission, right, ma'am?"
"Oh, that's what you want to do, Jack?" I said, loading my weapon, "You just want to leave it here so they can amush the next company that comes along?"
"No, ma'am, that ain't what I'm sayin'," Apple jack said, a bit louder this time, "I'm just sayin' that it seems like an unnecessary risk, given our objective, ma'am."
"Our objective is to win the war," I said stubbornly, slinging my ammo bag around my arm.
Apple Jack starred at me for a minute, and then stared playing with the grass.
"Ma'am," Spike said, watching Apple Jack, "I just, uh, I don't have a good feeling about this one."
"Well," I said, standing up, "when was the last time war gave you a good feeling?"
I turned around and headed for the trees. I stopped when I knew I was completely concealed in the green, then I signaled the rest of my squad over. They crouched around me, trying not to make too much noise from the leaves on the ground.
"All right," I said quietly, "Three runners with suppressing fire. Jack, you hook to the right. I'll go up the middle. Who's going left?"
No one in the squad answered.
"Who's going left?" I repeated. Still no response. Spike shifted uncomfortably, and Whooves scratched his nose. Finally, Rainbow, seeing no other way, said, "I'll go. I'll go left."
"All right," I said impatiently, "Fluttershy, switch gear with Dash, and you linger in the rear."
"Oh, um," Fluttershy said quietly, "Yes, ma'am."
"We advance and keep pressure on her until she has to change out her barrels," I said, talking about the Germanes, "I think we should be able to get her from grenade range."
"Perhaps I should go up the middle, ma'am," Whooves said, loading his weapon as Rainbow gave Fluttershy her rifle.
"The way you run?" I said, looking at him, "I don't think so."
"Perhaps I should go left, ma'am?" Whooves said again as Fluttershy gave Rainbow her gun.
"Perhaps you should shut up!" I said, annoyed. Whooves stared at me as if I had slapped him across the face. "Spike, base of fire," I continued as everyone took off their bags and filled their pockets with grenades, "Mags and clips where you can reach them, and extra grenades for the base runners."
Whooves cocked his weapon, looking offended. We got up and faced the base. I took a deep breath, and sprinted out into the open, firing my gun at the MG.
I hadn't looked at the scenery before we started, and now that I saw it, I began to get higher hopes. There were several holes in the ground from explosions that suited for cover. As we ran at the MG, and as they fired back at us, I saw Fluttershy dive into one of the holes, remove Rainbow's scope from her rifle, and watch the battle. Apple Jack appeared to the far right of me, Rainbow to the left. Bullets from the MG were fired and missed me by mere inches, hitting the ground and causing dust to rise. I leaped into one of the holes and took cover to reload my weapon as Apple Jack and Rainbow zoomed past me. Rarity was following Apple Jack, and Whooves was running behind Rainbow. Spike raced past me, straight up the middle and headed right for the gun. He was almost killed right when he dived a few yards beside the gun. He pulled the pin on a grenade and heaved it at the pink pony operating the gun. Another pony caught it and heaved it right back at him, forcing him to retreat to another explosion hole as the grenade went off, making the hole he was just in three seconds ago about six feet deeper. I got up from my cover and galloped to a hole a couple of yards in front of me, putting a bullet in the head of the pony who almost killed Spike. She fell backwards, hit the MG, and spun it the other way, shooting down two more Pozis next to it and, to my horror, hitting Rarity in the chest.
I heard Spike scream, and I ducked back into my cover, horrorstruck at what I had just done. The gun fire stopped as the pink pony vanished, and I checked to make sure the coast was clear. Then I got up from my cover and sprinted toward Rarity, who was shaking violently on the ground. Everyone else, except Fluttershy, came galloping up with me, and I kneeled next to Rarity.
"Fluttershy!" I screamed down the field, "Grab the gear and get up here! We need water and extra dressing now! Get the morphine out of the extra medical kit!"
The squad ran up to me and sat around Rarity, who was bleeding quickly from three different areas on the chest.
"No..." Spike said quietly, kneeling down in front of Rarity's head.
"W-what's wrong w-with m-me?" Rarity asked, stuttering and trying to look at her wounds, but she winced and relaxed her head, her hoofs twitching violently. Fluttershy came trotting toward us with the gear, but when she saw what was happening, broke out into a full gallop and dashed as quickly as she could to us.
"Son of a mare," Whooves said, shocked at seeing the bullet wounds in Rarity's skin.
"Get some sulfa on there!" I said urgently.
"Move my legs up," Rarity said, spitting blood on her chin, "Move my legs up!"
"More sulfa, Jack," I said.
"Rarity, listen to me," Apple Jack said, pouring sulfa powder on Rarity's wounds, "Listen, you're gonna be all right, ya hear? Ya gonna be fine!"
"How- how's it look?" Rarity asked, her voice shaking.
"Rarity, you're fine!" Apple Jack said quickly, but the blood leaking out of Rarity's injuries proved her wrong, "I promise you'll be headin' to a hospital ship!"
"More sulfa!" I said, and Apple Jack poured more on.
"Put my legs up," Rarity repeated, "Put my legs up!"
"I got them, I got them," Whooves said, lifting Rarity's legs up. Spike rushed over to him and helped him lift the other leg.
"You'll be fine, Rarity," I said, holding back tears as best as I could.
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow yelled, "Give me a canteen!"
Fluttershy clumsily screwed off the lid of a canteen of water and handed it to Rainbow, who poured the water over Rarity's bleeding and sulfa-covered chest. It washed away the blood for a second, but new blood immediately rushed out of her wounds again.
"Come on, come on, come on," Apple Jack said quickly, getting a canteen and pouring it's contents over Rarity, getting the same results as Rainbow's.
"Put some pressure on it!" Whooves shouted.
"You're going to be ok, Rarity," I whispered over the frantic movement, "You'll be ok."
"H-how's it look?" Rarity asked again, spitting more blood out as she tried to look at her chest again.
"Give me some morphine," I said. Apple Jack and Rainbow kept pouring water on Rarity's chest wound, even though it was a waste of our water from the fact that blood kept rushing right out of Rarity even more.
"Tell me how it looks!" Rarity screamed, shutting her eyes tight from the pain, "Am I shot in the spine?"
"You're gonna be ok, Rarity," Rainbow said, pouring more sulfa on her and washing it off.
"Am I shot in the spine?" Rarity repeated, and I had them left her up from her right gently, but she still whimpered as we lifted her to see her back. I saw a bullet hole coming out of her back.
"You're fine, Rarity," I lied, "You've got an exit wound. It's in the small of your back."
"How big- how big is the hole in the-" Rarity stammered.
"It's about the size of an acorn," Apple Jack said, looking at the bullet hole. We put her back down, and she began coughing up blood. We poured, washed, and wiped more sulfa on and off of her, but she didn't stop bleeding.
"Put some pressure on it!" Whooves said again, "Put some pressure on it!"
We each put a hoof on Rarity's chest and pushed simultaneously. Rarity gagged as we pushed. Fluttershy was standing as still as a stone, horrified at what she was seeing, tears forming in her eyes.
"Put some more pressure on it!" Whooves repeated, and we pushed again, causing Rarity to spit more blood with each push.
"Is there anything bleeding worse then the others?" Rarity moaned.
"Yeah, right here," Apple Jack said, pointing to a bullet wound near Rarity's right shoulder, "Do you know what it is?"
"No," Rarity choked.
"Right here, I'll put your hoof on it." Apple Jack picked up Rarity's right hoof and put it on the wound, making Rarity wince and covering her hoof in blood.
"We've got some pressure on her," Rainbow said, putting her hoofs on Rarity's, "Right there, ok? That's the one."
Rarity suddenly screamed in pain, "It's my liver! Oh, my God, It's my liver!"
"Come on, Rarity," Fluttershy said through tears, leaning over us, "Tell us what to do! Tell us how to fix you!"
"What can we do?" I asked Rarity, "Tell us what to do."
Rarity looked at me, blood trickling down her chin from her mouth. Apple Jack wiped it off, and Rarity finally said, "I could use- I could use a little more morphine."
Rainbow stared at me, "More morphine, ma'am?"
I looked back at Rarity, knowing fully what she wanted me to do. She was dying, and morphine would ease the pain.
"Ok," I said quietly, still holding back tears, though it was getting uncomfortable, "Ok." I looked at Whooves, and he looked at Fluttershy, who looked in her bag and pulled out an injection needle. She handed it to Whooves, who took the cover off, and reluctantly stuck it into Rarity's leg and inserted the morphine into her blood stream. Rarity's twitching began to slow down. He injected her a second time, and she was merely jumping slightly now.
"Fluttershy..." she said softly, "T-take care of my- my cat. Her name's Op- Opalescence." Fluttershy buried her face in her hoofs and cried.
"Twilight," Rarity said, turning to me, "In my backpack... the socks..." she began closing her eyes, "Spike..." Spike took hold of her right hoof and drew it close to him, tears forming in his eyes as well, "Spike... I... I love..." Rarity's head fell back, and her twitching stopped completely.

Pinkie Pie and Mayhem

Everything went still. Nothing could be heard. It was as if time itself stood still. Everyone was gazing at Rarity, her lifeless body coated with blood. Finally, Spike put his head down, and Fluttershy sank to her knees, sobbing quietly into her hoofs. Rarity was gone, and nothing could change that. I stood up, wiping my eyes with my twitching hoof in order too wipe away any tears that could've sneaked past me. Spike laid his head on Rarity's chest, which was still covered in blood, and he fell into a crying wreck. Rainbow put her hoof over Rarity's eyes and closed them, so she could sleep peacefully. I reached into Rarity's jacket pocket and pulled out Scootaloo's letter, which had been re-written. I put it into my own jacket and turned to walk to the building.
That's when I realized Apple Jack was no longer at Rarity's body. She had ran up the field to the base, and was now hitting something hard with her hoofs, her gun, and even her extra grenades. Rainbow heard the grunts of pain and dashed up the field past me and stopped where Apple Jack was. She immediately began hitting the thing as well. They lifted it up and threw it over the sandbag bunker shielding it, and I saw what it was. It was a pink Pozi, banged up and groaning on the ground. Rainbow and Apple Jack rushed over to her and picked her up again, but this time shoved her into the sandbags. She threw her arms up as they aimed their guns at her.
"Don't shoot!" I shouted, coming to my senses and dashing up the field to them. The pink pony was talking rapidly in Germane, and I couldn't understand a word she was saying.
"Bitte! Totet mich nicht! Ich will mich ergeben!"
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow called, "Get up here!"
Fluttershy, red faced and tear stained on her jacket, came galloping up to us, followed by Spike. Spike took one look at the Pozi and immediately began punching her again. I grabbed him and pulled him back with difficulty, and the pony lay sobbing on the ground now. Spike rounded on Fluttershy.
"Ask this piece of crap if she's the one who shot Rarity!" he said roughly to her, angry tears running down his cheek.
"Spike," Fluttershy squeaked, "Would it matter?"
"Of course it would matter!" Spike shouted in her face, reducing her to tears again, "The pony I loved is dead now! Why would that not matter!?"
Fluttershy to the pony on the ground, who was still holding her arms up and facing us, terror written on her scared face.
"Warst du am mashinengewehr?" Fluttershy said to her, once she had stopped crying again.
"Nein," the pink Pozi replied, "Ich hab nachgeladen, ich hab nicht geschossen."
"Shut up with that filthy pig latin!" Spike said, grabbing the Pozi again, but holding a pistol to her breast this time.
"Not yet!" I said quickly, pulling him off again, and then I turned to the rest of the squad, "First make her mark and cover Rarity's body for grave detail. Same thing for those paratroopers down there." I looked at all the gear she had on her, "Strip that stuff off her. Check her for intelligence."
Rainbow took off all the gear the Pozi had, and threw into one small pile. I noticed blood on her shoulder.
"Rainbow, you're hit," I said, and Rainbow stopped and looked at me. I indicated to her shoulder, and she looked at it and jumped from shock.
"I guess it just skinned the shoulder, ma'am," She said, touching the wound carefully.
"Get it cleaned and dressed," I said, and just by saying "dress", it made me think of Rarity, and I felt tears coming on again. I turned and walked quickly to one of the grenade holes a few yards away. Once I was in it, I looked behind me too make sure no pony was watching me; They were making the Pozi dig a grave, and that accelerated the effect. I slumped down into the hole so no one could see me, and wept. I cried for Scootaloo, I cried for Rarity, and I cried for Spike, who now had to live the rest of his life without his love.
"Bitte, totet mich nicht!" The Pozi said later. She was digging a grave in the ground and had dug about two feet all ready. Spike was pointing his gun at her.
"She's saying 'please don't shoot me', ma'am," Fluttershy said, gazing at the Pozi as she dug.
"I don't care what she's saying, Fluttershy," I said, and I turned to walk toward the base.
"Ma'am?" Fluttershy said as she followed me, "Ma'am, you're going to let them kill her? This isn't right, ma'am!"
I turned around to face Fluttershy, my face flushed. "You can help her with the bodies." I stormed off back to the empty base, and Fluttershy muttered, "What is happening?"
As I sorted through the bodies of the dead Germanes, I looked up to see Rainbow watching over the Pozi as she dug, a soaked bandage wrapped around her arm. She took out a canteen and drank it, and offered some to Fluttershy, who accepted and drank a little, too. Fluttershy then offered it to the Pozi, who was about to take it when Rainbow snatched it out of Fluttershy's hoof, causing her to jump. She put it back in her bag and continued to watch the Pozi dig.
I checked the corpses of the dead Pozis to see if they had anything valuable on them: Any notes, letters, or packages to anyone. When I was done, I found only a letter to what I guessed was addressed to the Germane's parents, and I couldn't take that. I walked down to the grave to see how it was coming, when I noticed that two hours had passed since Rarity died. The hole was finished, and the pink Pozi and Fluttershy were sitting by it, playing Poker.
"Equestrian?" The Germane said to Fluttershy, who nodded and placed an ace of spades from the deck into the river, "I like you, Equestrian."
"Fluttershy," Fluttershy said, putting out a hoof.
"Pinkie Pie," said the Germane Pozi, and she took the hoof and shook it. She then did a hoof motion that looked like she was eating a pie.
I walked over to them and prodded Pinkie hard in the back, who almost immediately stood up and rushed back to the hole. She began digging again, even though the hole was all ready deep enough.
"Ich bin noch nicht fertig!" she said loudly as the rest of the squad hustled to us, "Ich muss hier noch viel tiefer graben! Ist noch lange nicht tief genug!"
"She says she's not finished," Fluttershy said, but Spike rushed forward, grabbed Pinkie, and roughly took her out of the hole. "Yeah, that's what she thinks." he said.
"Nein!" Pinkie screamed, and she scrambled back to the hole and began digging again, "Nein! Ich bin noch nicht fertig!"
Spike cocked his weapon and aimed it at Pinkie, who stopped digging and stared up at him.
"Please," she begged, looking around at us, "I like Equestria! ! What a cinch! Go fly a kite! Cat got your tongue! Cool beans!"
Whooves and I stared at each other, wondering what in Equestria was wrong with this pony.
"Wonderbolts!" Pinkie continued, now on famous ponies, "What great suits! Zecora! Nice rings!"
We continued to stare at her, and she began breathing harder.
"I say can you see," Pinkie sang, and Apple Jack face hoofed; Pinkie was trying to sing the Equestrian National Anthem. "I say can you see, I... I say..."
She trailed away, noticing no change of mood in the crowd. She stared at us for a few seconds, but then began talking again.
"Buck Haytler," She said, and she dropped her shovel, which fell to the bottom of the grave, "Buck Haytler!" She looked at Fluttershy and grabbed her collar, speaking rapid Germane. I got tired and picked her up out of the grave. She didn't struggle.
"Ma'am, she says she's sorry about Rarity," Fluttershy said, but I continued dragging Pinkie back to the base. The others were trying to keep up with me as Fluttershy talked, "Captain, please! She said sorry! Captain, this isn't right! You know this. She's a prisoner. She surrendered. She surrendered, ma'am!"
I stopped in front of the base and ripped off a piece of cloth from Pinkie's jacket. I used it to cover her eyes. She stood still, but she was shaking very hard. Spike, Rainbow, and Whooves cocked their weapons, but I gave Pinkie to Fluttershy and said, "Tell her to march a thousand paces in that direction." I pointed toward the fence of trees. "Then she can take off the blind fold. We'll be gone, and she turns herself into the first Allied patrol she comes across."
"You've gotta be kidding me," Spike said, lowering his weapon and looking angrily at me, "We're letting her go?"
"She's a P.O.W., Spike," I said as Fluttershy walked Pinkie toward the trees, "She can't come with us. Our ponies will pick her up sooner or later."
Fluttershy walked back as Pinkie stumbled over tree roots and branches, and she disappeared among the trees.
"Only if she doesn't get picked up by her own wehrmacht first," Spike said as he threw his B.A.R. to the ground. He walked over to a nearby rock and sat down, his fists on his forehead.
"Captain, you just let the enemy go," Spike said, not looking up and his fists trembling.
"This is such bull," Apple Jack said, still looking at the trees where Pinkie disappeared.
"You got that right," Rainbow agreed.
"Bull?" Fluttershy asked, turning to Apple Jack, "This is bull? Shooting a prisoner, that'd be OK? It's against the rules!"
"Well the goddamn rules just walked off with your new friend!" Spike said loudly as he got up from his seat, his face flushed. He then turned to me, "But I guess that was the decent thing to do, wasn't it, Captain?"
I ignored him and walked to my belongings. I slung my bag around my shoulder and turned to face the squad. "Get your gear. Let's go."
No pony moved except for Whooves. When he noticed the lack of movement, he stopped packing and looked at them.
"You heard her," he said, "Gear up."
Still no movement.
"The captain just gave you an order," Whooves said, his eyes starting to narrow out.
"Yeah," Spike said, "Like the one she gave to take out this machine gun. That was a real doozy, wasn't, Sarge?"
Every pony looked at him, shocked at how rude he was being to me and Whooves.
"Soldier, you are way out of line," Whooves said as Spike stomped toward me, his voice growing louder with each word.
"Yes, ma'am, that was one hell of a call, coming to take this nest, but what the hell? We only lost my crush going for it! I hope Bloom's granny is real bucking happy knowing that little Appie's life is a little more important than two of our ponies! THEN AGAIN WE HAVEN'T FOUND HER YET, HAVE WE!?"
He only stopped yelling at me when Whooves grabbed him from behind and threw him to the ground. Spike rolled onto his back, bearing his teeth as Whooves leaped on him. The two fought roughly, Whooves taking bites to the arms and Spike sporting a bloody nose from a hoof to the face. It took all of us to pry them apart, Whooves panting furiously and Spike missing a fang.
"Gear up," Whooves said, still breathing hard and Rainbow and Apple Jack still holding him, "Fall in."
Spike shook Fluttershy off and picked up his B.A.R., which was lying under him while he fought. He took one look at me and said, "I'm done with this mission."
He starting walking off to the place Pinkie vanished. He hadn't walked more than five steps when a metallic clip from behind made him freeze; Whooves had taken out his pistol and was aiming it at Spike.
"Fall in," Whooves repeated, "For the last time, fall in."
"No!" Fluttershy gasped as Apple and Rainbow covered this mouths. Spike turned around to face Whooves, not a look of worry in his eyes.
"You're gonna shoot me over Bloom?" He said with a raised eyebrow.
"No," Whooves said as he walked closer, "I'm gonna shoot you because I don't like you!"
"If he wants to go, let him go!" Rainbow shouted, and Fluttershy ran over to me, shrieking, "Are you seeing this, Captain?"
I was seeing it. I was seeing my squad crumble into dust because of Bloom. This filly no pony here knew, except for Apple Jack, was destroying the friendship that we had built up along the way. Scootaloo, dead. Rarity, dead. I wasn't going too let Spike die as well, but I didn't know what to do.
"You don't kill that kraut, but you'll kill me?" Spike asked as Whooves stepped closer to him, his gun pointed directly at Spike's heart.
"She's better than you," Whooves said, stopping a few feet away from Spike.
"Then why don't you just do it, Sarge?" Spike said, his voice rising again as he stuck out his right leg, "Put one in my leg, why don't you?"
"I'M GONNA SHOOT YOU IN YOUR BIG GODDAMN MOUTH!"
"WELL PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS AND DO IT! KNOCK MY OTHER TEETH OUT AND MAKE A HOLE IN THE BACK OF MY HEAD!"
"You do not know when to shut up. You don't know how to shut up!"
"PULL THE TRIGGER ALREADY!"
"Captain, please!" Fluttershy begged as tears started streaming down her eyes again.
And then I got an idea.
"What's the pool on me up to?"
Fluttershy stared at me in confusion. "What?"
"YOU ARE A COWARD SON OF A MARE!"
"I'M WAITING, SARGE! I'M WAITING!"
"Whooves, what's the pool on me up to?" I asked as I walked over to them. Whooves looked up at me, surprise etched across his face.
"What's the..."
"What's it up to?" I repeated when I stopped in between Apple and Rainbow, "Three hundred, right? I'm a student at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."
Whooves dropped his pistol out of shock at what I was saying, and Spike looked at me as if I gave away his biggest secret.
"Woah," Apple Jack said to herself, and Rainbow swung her hoof in the air, saying, "Dang it! I was betting she was a janitor!"
I ignored this shocking statement and continued, "I've been learning magic for almost eleven years now. I lived in Ponyville with Spike during that time."
Every pony stared at Spike, and he sheepishly glanced at the ground.
"Spike was my number one assistant, and we lived and worked in a library around the center of Ponyville. It was basicly a big tree. I miss that place... I was also in charge of looking after the preparations of the Summer Sun celebration one year. I met many new ponies that day. Then, during the eve of the Summer Sun celebration, an evil mare named Nightmare Moon escaped from her imprisonment in the moon. She threatened every pony with the promise of making the night eternal. I couldn't have that. My friends and I banded together and we defeated Nightmare Moon using the Elements of Harmony."
I paused to catch my breath, and I started to slowly walk to Spike.
"So that's my past. Ah, Bloom. I don't know anything about Bloom, it's just a name to me. But if getting her out of here earns me the right to go home and to save the life of Apple Jack, well then... then that's my mission."
I stopped in front of Spike, who was still looking at the ground. I waited for a few seconds, and he looked up at me with puffy red eyes.
"You want to leave?" I asked him, "You want to go off and fight the war? All right, Spike, I won't stop you. I've known you long enough to know there's no reason in trying to talk you out of it. I'll even put in the paperwork. I just hope that if we ever live to see each other again, neither of us will have changed much."
I put out my hoof for him to shake, but he instead wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. I hugged back, a single tear flowing down my right cheek. He let go first, and began walking down the field, away from us and back into the wood.
I wiped the tear away from my cheek and trudged up the field to where Rarity's body was, which was now draped in a tarp. I picked up the body and dragged it slowly into the grave Pinkie Pie dug. I lowered her body into the grave and filled it back up with dirt, using only my bare hoofs instead of the shovel.
When I was done, I stood back to view the grave I just refilled, when a cough was uttered behind me. I turned around to see Spike looking at the grave with great sorrow on his face.
"No pony should ever have to bury her own friend," he said, and his head started shaking as tears poured down his cheeks into the soil. He sank to his knees and bowed his head, sobbing miserably.

Bonus Chapter: Luna's letter

Dear Ms. Moon dancer,

No doubt by now you've received full information about the untimely death of your son. No words of mine can ever relieve the grief you must be feeling. Our outfit has felt his loss tremendously. He was a fine soldier, and believed very strongly that he would make it back home to you.
It's no secret any more that we were involved in one of the most important operations in this war. AI was the one who held us all together. He was always the first to volunteer and the last to put his hoof down. We were coming near a road where over 4,000 troops had passed.
Your son had served in a combat unit whose dangerous duty is to place itself beyond the element of surprise. We all have relatives whom we all cherish and hold so dear. The loss of Ponderson and others like him is a distinct blow to the regiment. I fully understand your desire to learn as much as possible regarding the circumstances leading to his death. I'm afraid his entire squad died with him at the time, so even we can't guess as to how he perished.
Again, we are very sorry for your loss. The Army has lost a very fine soldier.

Sincerely yours,

Princess Luna, Chief of Staff for the Equestrian Army

Princess Luna read and re-read the letter she had written herself, checking places for errors. The Equestrian Army was losing too much, and the proof of that she had just written. Sons, fathers, husbands, cousins, uncles, nephews. They were all dying. If this war ever ended, than who would be left?
Luna's thoughts were interrupted by the door to her office closing. She folded the letter in fourths and tucked it into her pocket as she stood, and three ponies walked into the room, who Luna recognized at once: Prince Blueblood, her brother; Little Strongheart, the young bull calf; Caramel, a member of the Apple family.
"We're so sorry to disturb you, your highness," Strongheart said as she closed the door, "But we're having a bit of a problem."
"What is it this time?" Luna asked in a bored voice, and she sat back down in her chair. They were always having problems.
"Caramel here just lost his cousin," Strongheart explained, and Luna stood up from her chair again in surprise.
"Which one?" she asked urgently. If it was the friend of Sparkle...
"His name was Big Macintosh," Blueblood said, and I heard Caramel sniffling, "The brother of Apple Jack and Apple Bloom."
"They are alive too, am I correct?" Luna asked.
"Apple Jack is definitely alive, your highness," Strongheart said, "But we don't know about Apple Bloom."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, all three of them were in the same company in the 29th Division," Caramel said shakily, "but we split them up after Tiara and Spoon died on the Juneau."
"Well, any contact with Apple Bloom?"
"No, ma'am, she was dropped about fifteen miles inland near Neuville. But that's still deep behind Germane lines."
"Now, Caramel," Blueblood said, "there is no way you can know where the hay he was dropped. Luna, first reports out of Ike's people at Shaef said that the 101st is scattered and gone. there's misdrops all over Ponandy. Assuming Private Bloom even survived the jump, she could be anywhere. In fact, she's probably K.I.A. And frankly, Princess, we go sending some sort of rescue mission, flat-hatting through swarms of Germane reinforcements all along our axis of advance, they are gonna be K.I.A. too."
Luna turned around to a drawer behind her and pulled out a book. In that book, being used as a bookmark, was a letter written by Luna's sister. I took it out and unfolded it.
"I have a letter here," she said, turning around to face the others again, "written a long time ago to a Mrs. Junebug in Ponyville. So bear with me."
Luna cleared her throat and began to read:

Dear Mrs. Junebug,

I have been shown in the files of the war department a statement of adjutant general of Bassachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine, that would attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the republic they died to save.
I pray that Our Heavenly Mother may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and I leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost. The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the alter of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully,

Princess Celestia

Luna sat back down in her chair and looked up at the three ponies in front of her. They all had shamed looks on their faces. Luna folded the letter and put t back in the book.
"That filly's alive," she said stubbornly, "We are going to send some pony to find her. And we are going to get her the hay out of there."