Thunder lifted the small shot glass to his lips and gulped down the putrid whiskey. He cringed. It tasted like it had been aged for a bazillion years. After he finally got the disgusting taste off his tongue, he glanced to his right. Over the country music playing throughout the bar, he heard the bell above the door jingle as Speedy and Nightshade entered the bar. He was practically the only one sitting on the high stools… save for two ponies on the other things doing…, things they probably shouldn’t have been doing in public. As Speedy and Shade walked up to Thunder, they glanced at the two ponies and blinked.

“Ah… heh… yeah. It’s best to just ignore it.” Thunder glanced at the two ponies as well, and shuddered. “Just… have a seat.”

“Ah… okay.” Speedy carefully sat down on the high stool to the right of Thunder, Shade sitting to Speedy’s right in turn. The two were still awkwardly glancing at the two ponies practically having sex right there in the bar.

“Uh, so!” Thunder changed the subject, drawing attention to himself. “How has your day been.” He asked, talking to both of the ponies he sat with.

“The usual. Bringing down some more biker scumbags, hitting them where it hurts.” Speedy smirked.

“Good to hear.” Thunder replied with a smile.

“Learning about how your close friend got a certain zebra’s juicy taco.” Shade laughed. Speedy deadpanned at him.

“Would you like me to make that busted nose of yours even more busted?” Speedy flipped off the chuckling thestral.

Thunder sighed in amusement at the two. He didn’t bother asking about it, he knew who they were talking about.

Speedy rolled his eyes, as he looked back to his former military friend. “So how’s the investigation coming?”

“Alright. Soarin and Fleetfoot got some prints off the body that was found in Ponytropolis. They’re faint, but they’re enough for the forensic lab to trace. Once we figure out the killer, we can find him and bring him down.” Thunder smirked.

“Awesome.” Speedy smiled back.

“You know… I’m a bit curious as to how exactly that rebel group got taken down.” Shade started, earning glances from Thunder and Speedy. “I mean, they DID sort of rape and kill a bunch of people so…”

A distant smile from Thunder and nose-sigh from Speedy was the response. The two ponies looked at each other. “Should we tell him?” Thunder asked. Speedy smiled.

“Well, it WAS one of the best days of my life.” He replied. They both looked back at Shade, who was waiting with anticipation. Speedy set down the beer he was drinking and looked Shade in the eye. “You sure you want to know?”

“Yeah dude.” Shade said back. “I can already tell this is going to be good.”

“Oh it is.” Thunder said, pulling up his stool so that the trio were sitting in a triangle. “It most definitely is…”

You already heard the story of how me and Zecora got together. She nursed me back to health, and we fell for each other. But later, about a month afterwards, she revealed something truly terrible to me… the zebra who tried to rape her… was her brother. She explained that in those gangs and rebel groups, they are taught that ALL mares are meat bags. Even their own family. Even more of their treacherous ways were revealed to me… it enraged me to no end. To know that these ‘stallions’ were committing such heinous crimes unchecked. And after seeing them rape those mares in front of me, and slaughtering my men like they were animals… it made me angry. Extremely angry. When I told Thunder about this… it was like a vengeful fire had been lit within him. It burned through the both of us. We shared it’s flame as we flew to the village where the rebels had their main camp.

“We’re getting close to the LZ I plotted out.” Air Force Captain Thunder Bolt said through the headset, as he pilot the UH-1 Huey gunship across the jungle towards the rebels main village. Army Captain Speedy Silverstreak nodded.

“Good, let’s give these bastards what-for.” He grinned to himself. He looked around at all the firepower he brought with him. One M16 rifle with a bayonet. One M24 sniper rifle with a suppressor screwed onto the end. One M202 FLASH rocket launcher with four rockets already in the barrels. Two M1911 pistols on his hips. Four grenades. And finally, his bowie knife.

He felt even more satisfaction when he glanced to his left and right. One minigun, and one rocket pod containing 19 rockets were fitted on each side of the craft. And on the nose, an autocannon. He was so ready to kick some ass. He was sure Thunder was as well, the way he was smirking under his pilot’s helmet.

The plan was simple, at least at first. Speedy would hide up in a tree with a good vantage point of the village. He would snipe any targets he knew he could nail, and bring Thunder’s airborne firepower to bear on heavier targets. Afterwards, Speedy would move in to clean up any survivors. That was the complicated part, so Speedy hoped Thunder would land all of his shots.

As the Huey started to descend, Speedy grabbed all of his gear. He slung the rocket launcher and sniper rifle across both shoulders. He held his M16 in his right hand as he stood at the open door of the Huey. His left hand held him steady on the hand hold. The helicopter lowered itself into an opening in the jungle canopy. Slowly it came to a halt as it landed. Speedy wasted no time in jumping off the helicopter. He reached for his radio and looked back at the cockpit. He held to his mouth, and shouted over the spinning blades. “Hey! Can you hear me!?”

He saw Thunder visibly cringe from behind the glass. “Yes. And please don’t yell at me.” Speedy barely heard Thunder’s voice over the steady THUMP-THUMP-THUMP of the Huey.

“Right.” Speedy acknowledged, quieter this time. Wasting no time, he took off into the jungle. When he had penetrated the foliage and was out of sight, Thunder lifted the bird back up into the air in the direction of the village.

Speedy ran as fast and hard as he could, swatting a few bugs on the way. He wanted nothing more than to blow every single one of those bastards who called themselves stallions into kingdom come. But, of course, he had to remain disciplined. When he had procured his gear from the armory, he wanted oh-so-badly to take the M60 and go full Rambo on the rebels. But this wasn’t a movie, and such tactics would get him killed. He opted for the sniper rifle, knowing how satisfying a clean headshot was. Plus it would allow him to spot targets for Thunder’s aerial artillery.

After a good ten minutes of solid running, he began to tire. He was drenched in sweat when he stopped running, but he walked. A faint crackle came over the radio. “Silver zero one, do you copy?” Speedy picked up the radio and spoke into it as he fast-walked.

“Thunder, I told you that you don’t need to use call signs here.” He said.

“Wha- oh, right.” Speedy could hear a light chuckle over the radio. “Yeah, I guess old habits die hard, right?”

“I know the feeling.” Speedy replied without smiling. “I’m about five minutes away from the target.”

“Roger, I’ve been keeping my distance.” Thunder replied.

“Good.” Speedy put the radio away. He suddenly realized just how terribly hot it was. It was like the heat was suffocating the life out of him. On top of the sweat soaking his BDU’s, he could feel the humidity drape itself like a wet, burning blanket on him. But he held strong.

Another five minutes, and he could see the tops of the huts of the target village. A slight smile crept onto his face. It disappeared just as quickly. Looking around, he found a tree that looked stable enough to climb.

Jumping up and grabbing one branch, he flexed his back muscles and lifted himself up onto the branch. He repeated this process for the next several limbs until he was at the top of the tree. His hands were dirty and stung of grabbing the sharp bark. He could see tiny specks of blood on them as well. He shook the sight off, for it was nothing. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he hung his M16 and rocket launcher by their slings and a few nearby, strong branches. He decided to perform some reconnaissance before beginning his siege. He brought his sniper rifle to bear and looked though the times twelve magnification scope. From here he could get a closer look at what was occuring in the village… and what he saw made his blood boil.

It was mostly all in the center of the village, but it was no less horrific. Mares were being raped by… practically an orgy of stallions. All in one area, just… fucking them. No rhyme or reason as far as Speedy could see. Just to have ‘fun’ probably. Through the scope he could the pained expressions on their faces, he could faintly hear their screams from all the way up in the tree.

That wasn’t the end of it. As Speedy looked through his scope he noticed a few of the mares were not zebras, but in fact Equestrian. In fact when he looked closer… he realized these mares bore the uniform of the Equestrian Army, being torn or thrown to the side in favor of getting ahold of their personal parts. He quickly realized these mares were combat troops. Special mare platoons that were normally sent on supply runs or simple patrols.

It dawned on Speedy that these zebras were raping Equestrian POW’s.

Again, he felt the fire in his chest. The vengeful spirit dwelling within him. This… this was for his men. This was for the mares still being treated in this manner. This was for Zecora. And now, with the knowledge his own comrades in uniform were being given the same treatment, it fueled him into a blazing inferno of fury.

Pulling himself away from the sight, he continued his scan of the corrupt community. A building towards the left of the horrible scene grabbed his attention. He adjusted his sights, zooming in. What he saw made a pit in his stomach.

It was a cage-like structure. It held in several more mares, both zebras and POW’s. There were easily room for more, so he assumed that the ones outside had been taken out of this cage. From what he could see, it was muddy and unclean. He had no doubt they were treated like pigs when put back in the cage. This had quickly gone from a search and destroy mission to a search and destroy and rescue mission.

Growling like an animal, he reached for the radio. “Thunder, you read me?”

“Loud and clear, what’s up?”

“We’ve got a bit of a complication to this mission.” Speedy sighed through his nose.

“What’s that?” Thunder asked.

“There are a bunch of mares being raped out in the middle of the village. And there’s a cage with more of them towards the center too. You’re gonna have to watch out for them when I mark your targets.” Speedy explained.

“Ah… alright. Roger.” Thunder replied, a bit of hesitation audible in his voice.

“You good?”

“Oh yeah, just didn’t expect that I’d have to watch out for any civilians. But I’ll be just fine, don’t worry.” Thunder explained.

“And another thing.”

“Yeah?”

“They’ve got POW’s, mares, down there. Their… raping them.” Speedy didn’t have to say anything more. He knew Thunder would understand the importance this mission had taken on. A few seconds of silence ticked by, before he heard Thunder speak through the static.

“Show me where to shoot. I’ll take care of the rest.” Thunder replied, a thick air of vengeance in his voice.

“Alright then.” Speedy replied. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

Speedy put the radio down and brought his rifle back up to his eye. A few minutes later, he knew his targets. There a large ammo dump on his far left which would be an excellent start to the fireworks. Next was a communications center he planned to have Thunder take out in order to prevent reinforcements from being called in. After that, he planned to direct Thunder’s airstrikes on the various huts and weapons caches in order to prevent anyone from procuring any arms to shoot at the Huey.

“Thunder, I’m ready.” Speedy said into the radio. “Just wait for my signal.”

“What’ll be the signal?” Thunder asked.

“Oh don’t worry, you’ll know it when you see it.” Speedy smirked. Before Thunder could ask further, he set the radio down. He grabbed the M202 FLASH rocket launcher off of the branch it was hanging off of. Pulling out the rear tubes, and pulling down the metal covering the firing tubes on the firing end of the weapon, he placed the launcher on his shoulder. Crouching in the nest of branches splitting off from each other, he took careful aim at the ammo dump. Accounting for drop, he slowly pulled the trigger.

The recoil nearly sent him flying off the tree, but he found his footing. He looked back up to see the rocket scream over the village and slam into the ammo dump. The resulting explosion shook Speedy to his core. It caused several trees nearby to blow back. It caused the neighboring huts to have their roofs stripped off. The fiery pyre billowed up into the air, transforming from flame to smoke. But the hut was no doubt blown apart. There was nothing of it left but a crater of burning bamboo, leaves and metal.

A clear shock was present in the inhabitants of the village. Several stallions stopped their treacherous rutting and looked up in confusion and awe. It took them all a second to come to their senses, but they did. Quickly shoving their mares off their rods and zipping themselves back up, they quickly ran for the burning remains of the ammo dump to put out the fire. Anyone else not involved in the rutting joined the effort as well.

Speedy smirked. If only they knew the world of pain coming. He thought to himself.

He looked down to hear a crackle over the radio. “That was one hell of a signal man, I got some turbulence from that shit.” Thunder laughed over the radio.

“Sorry man,” Speedy chuckled back. “Alright, I’m gonna mark your targets for you. You ready?”

“Fuck yeah man. Let’s bring the pain.”

Speedy grinned evilly. “Awesome, I’m marking your first target now.” He said as he pulled out a flare gun he had brought with him. He took aim at the communications center. He felt the wind and judged the distance. He adjusted his aim accordingly. After careful calculations, he fired the first flare. A bright red glow shone from it as it soared over the village. Speedy bit his lip as he hoped he had aimed correctly…

Fortunately it did. Speedy let out a breath of relief as the flare settled itself on the roof of the communications hut. “Alright, you see it?” Speedy asks urgently into the radio. He could see the Huey come over the top of the trees.

“Yup.” Thunder replied simply. Speedy sat back as he watched Thunder guide his Huey to the target. Thunder fired off two rockets. They streaked into the hut, and caused a fantastic explosion to erupt as Thunder flew over. The building was completely demolished in the ensuing eruption of bamboo, leaves, hot metal and body parts. The steady THUMP-THUMP-THUMP of the helicopter sent chills down Speedy’s spine in the midst of the reverberation of the explosion.

The zebras were sent into absolute turmoil as they realized they were under attack. Some ducked for cover. Others ran for any weapons caches that could be reached.

“Oh hell no…” Speedy grumbled, picking up his M24 sniper rifle. He set the butt in his shoulder, and aimed down the scope. He found a zebra stallion running to grab an AK-47 propped up on a fence. He sucked in his breath just as the stallion paused to pick up the rifle. Speedy fired. He jerked back from the recoil as the bullet seared through the stallion’s neck. The stallion grabbed his throat and choked, falling forwards and trying to get oxygen into his lungs. But only blood filled them, and soon the rebel was dead.

Speedy snorted through his nose as he reloaded another round. As he looked through his scope for more targets. However, he noticed something odd. There was a group of about five stallions running in one direction. As if they were running for one single objective. Speedy quickly calculated that whatever they were doing couldn’t be good. So, once again, he took careful aim at the rebels. Leading his shots, he managed to pick off two stallions before the other three ran behind a hut where he couldn’t see them. Frustrated, Speedy looked through the scope at the hut. Just as he was about to growl aloud, the three stallions suddenly ran out the other side of the hut. Speedy had to quickly find his sighting again, but by that time, they had reached their destination. A large… structure of some sort covered with a dirty, green, thick sheet.

Speedy tried once again to take a shot at the zebras, but he miscalculated the wind. The shot breezed by the head of one of the stallions.

“Oh for fu-” Speedy swore as he loaded another round, just as the stallions finished removing the sheet. Aiming through the scope again, a cold chill went down his spine as he saw what the stallions had revealed.

A mounted anti-air machine gun.

The gun was encased in armor, so he had no way of shooting the gunner. He had to warn Thunder before he made pass-

“Speedy, I’m gonna make another pass on the village. Gonna go for the huts on the south side.” Thunder informed through the radio static. Speedy could see the Huey start to come up over the tops of the trees. Quickly dropping his rifle, he grabbed the radio and practically shouted into the receiver.

“Thunder abort! ABORT! They have an AA gun down on the ground. Get away! Abort!” Speedy rushed past his tongue. No sooner did those words leave his mouth, he heard the gun open fire into the sky. Looking back to the battlefield below him in horror, he could see that Thunder had started to turn the helicopter away. Unfortunately the gunner was able to ripple the left side of the helicopter with several nasty-looking holes. Tracer rounds flew through the air. The sounds of machine gun fire, the helicopter, the screams of the wounded… the sounds of war overtook Speedy’s ears as he saw Thunder escape the pressure of the AA gun duel machine guns.

Focusing again, Speedy grabbed his rocket launcher off the branch. He crouched on one knee and aimed down the sight. Through the sight he could see the AA gun try to get beat on the Huey again. He never got the chance. Speedy fired, the rocket soaring through the air and impacting the armored guns. It exploded, with not quite the same ferocity as before, but enough to send the other two stallions flying. With a satisfied grin, he picked up the radio again. “You’re clear Thunder.” He spoke as he hung up the M202 on the branch again.

CRA-CRACK! CRACK!

Speedy ducked his head as a burst of bullets nearly hit him in the head. He ducked down in the small ledge in the tree, avoiding a buzz of projectiles. He swore, trying to figure out where the fire was coming from.

The firing of the rockets had certainly garnered some attention. Two stallions had caught on, and were firing where they thought the attacker was. And they were right on the money. Speedy managed to get a peek of them, but with their constant suppression, he couldn’t get the radio to Thunder for air support.

But as it turned out, he didn’t have to.

Two nude army mares that had been used for the rape orgy in the center of the village snuck up on them from behind. Using improvised knives, they grabbed them by their faces, muffled their mouths, and roughly sawed into their necks as they struggled for life… a futile struggle in the end, as their bodies slumped to the ground. The two mares immediately grabbed their rifles, and one of them asked the other if they should take their clothes as well… seeing as how the two mares were naked. The other pondered it for a split second before shaking her head. They had better things to do then cover up their embarrassment. Plus, she explained, their clothes had probably not been washed in days. The other mare giggled at that last comment, before the two ran off to help their fellow soldiers and the other mares being held captive.

Of course, Speedy didn’t hear any of that. He had already grabbed all of his equipment and was about to descend the tree. The task of causing as much chaos was finished. Most of the rebels had been killed in a lot of the explosions and shooting that had occured. He was sure more would die at the hands of the escaping POW’s. He just had to take care of one thing.

As he sat crouched in the ledge of the three branches, he radioed Thunder. “Hey, Thunder, you copy?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” Thunder replied.

“I’m about to head into the village. The POW’s from the… rape… from before we attacked have started to clean up the village of any more rebels. I’m going to get to the cage I spotted and free those prisoners. How copy?”

“Roger that, I gonna assume you DO NOT want me to take anymore shots at the village?”

“That will be a negative. I don’t want any friendly-fire statistics on this mission.” Speedy verified.

“Roger, I’ll be on stand-by.” Thunder added.

“Good.” Speedy finished before putting away the radio. With all of his equipment secured to his body. He carefully climbed down the tree. From the sound of it, those two mares seemed to be starting a coup all by themselves!

Speedy hoped they would save some for him

Speedy quickly fast walked in a ready stance along the edge of one hut, scanning to his right for any hostiles on the other side of the dirt path. A lot of the fighting had shifted to the other side of the village, as the two mares sounded like they were having a blast shooting up rebel scum who had pillaged and used their bodies. Revenge was a dish best served with hot lead, as it seemed.

All that chaos was good for Speedy as he was able to make progress to the POW cage without little hindrance. He only had to shoot one stallion on his way. He just hoped that the two mares could handle themselves-

All worry contained in that thought disappeared quickly as yet another explosion erupted on the other side of the village… followed by the screams of horribly injured zebra rebels.

Eh, they’ll be fine. Speedy smirked to himself.

He continued creeping through the village, stepping through muddy ground. The smell of fumes and rotting flesh filled his lungs. He hated it. Speedy hoped he could find the POW cage quickly to get out the wretched smell.

He rounded a corner and suddenly came upon. He thought it had looked bad through the scope, but up close was a totally different story. The mares, both zebras and ponies alike, were caked in dirt and sweat. Most were barely naked, a few had a couple of tinges of cloth that were just enough to cover a few things up. They were packed densely together. It looked like they just barely had enough room to move, lie down, and sleep. The smell grew worse as he neared the cage.

One of the ponies looked up at him, and her eyes glowed with hope. “He-hello?” She asked. “Are you Equestrian?”

Speedy nodded, approaching the gate. “I’m here to get you all out of here. How many of you are there?”

The mare looked back momentarily, counting their numbers momentarily. “We… have ten.” She replied as she looked back at Speedy. Her voice was shuddering. She was fully nude, grime coating her body. Speedy averted his gaze, both out of respect and… shear horror. He grimaced, as he shouldered his rifle. Still looking away, he fiddled with the lock. He finally resorted to shooting it. He moved to the side of the cage, getting a parallel angle on the lock. He fired a round through it. The lock fell. Speedy cleared away the bolt from the hole and the door creaked open.

Author's Note

Special thanks to Thunder Bolt for writing this chapter.