Let Loose the Dogs of War

The morning came again. Deviree was asleep in Trebass' arms. The sun was no where to be found. The sky was empty of clouds.

Trebass opened his eyes. The pile of ash from last night was still there, the dusty wind blew swirls of sand around, and Deviree was still in his arms asleep. He glanced towards her flank, it was only then that he noticed the Dove that was imprinted across it.

"What an interesting Cutie Mark..." Trebass thought to himself.

He quietly removed himself from Deviree, trying his best not to wake her up. He stood up and stretched again. He decided not to wander off this time, the last time he did had almost killed him.

He was cheerful for a moment, then he had remembered the events of the day before. Even though Braeburn was gone, he couldn't help feeling guilty for falling in love with his soul mate.

He took out another ration tin. There was an extra two (2) tins that Deviree and Trebass could share.

"He'll have plenty to eat where he is now." Trebass opened the tin. He sat beside Deviree, who was sleeping under Trebass' vest again. The white unicorn was careful not to wake her with his eating. He scarfed down the beans and rice, then took a large gulp of the water flask. He wiped his mouth, then tossed the tin to the side.

The sound of the tin hitting the ground woke Deviree up.

"Oops, crap." Trebass was hoping not to awaken her.

"Mm... What was that?" Deviree asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"Um... Nothing. We should probably get going soon." Trebass tried to cover up his mistake, but he knew that Deviree could see through it.

"Don't lie to me, I can read you like a book." She said, wrapping her arms around him.

Trebass kissed her lightly on the cheek, "We really should get going..."

"C'mon sweetie... Just a few more minutes?" Deviree pleaded, running her hoof down his chest.

Trebass carefully removed her hoof.

Deviree sighed, "What's the matter now?"

Trebass glanced at the black building in the distance, "I've... Got to be somewhere in less than twenty-four (24) hours."

Deviree paused for a moment, then stepped back a bit. "There's somepony else... Isn't there?"

"No, of course not... It's just... My family is far away from here." Trebass tried to make up an excuse, not wanting to tell her about the mares he had fallen in love with. He felt terrible for his act of lust, but he attempted to block it out.

"I see... I'm sure we could find a way to get there. Maybe the military base over there has a transport carrier heading to your home?" Deviree stood up, so did Trebass.

Trebass began to collect his possessions, as did Deviree. Their guns, rations, and clothes were laying around where the fire was the night before. They began to walk towards the military base in the distance. It took them nearly an hour to make it half way when suddenly, something caused them to stop.

A loud throttling noise came from behind them. Trebass turned around, numerous Diamond Dogs on motorbikes were riding towards them. The Dogs were twirling around chains and shooting guns off their bikes.

"Run!" Trebass grabbed Deviree and began to gallop towards the military base.

The Dog's motorbikes caught up to the two ponies. They began to ride circles around them. Trebass felt a cold metal chain wrapping around his back legs. One of the chains tripped him as he fell on his face. They began to drag him around in a circle. The wheel of another motorbike was just inches away from Trebass' face and kicked up sand and dust in his face.

Deviree reached for her revolvers, but the sound of a something else in the distance stopped her. A black helicopter emitted a loud whirring noise as it flew towards her. She smiled, as she saw a familiar face in the cockpit.

"Sergeant Iron Will. It's been a while." She smiled, then began shooting at the circling Dogs.

Trebass mouth filled up with dirt as he was dragged around circles by the chain wrapped around his leg. He managed to pull his revolver out of it's holster. He began shooting at the bike that the chain was attached to. The chain snapped, and Trebass rolled out of the path of the other bikes. He limped over to Deviree as she was still shooting at the motorbikes. The Dogs were too quick, and they easily dodged each of her shots. It wasn't too long until she had run out of rounds.

"I'm out, but it's not over yet." She said, looking up.

Trebass looked up with her, but then covered his eyes with his hoof.

The spinning propeller of a helicopter swirled dust up in his face. He could see a recognizable face in the windshield. A minotaur smiled at him, then took a step back. The door on the side opened, and a large mini-gun emerged. Iron Will took hold of it, and began firing at the Dogs. One by one, the Diamond Dogs flipped off their bikes. Soon, only Deviree and Trebass were left standing.

The helicopter lowered and landed then Sergeant Iron Will hopped down from it.

"Hello Sergeant!" Deviree saluted.

Trebass saluted as well, but didn't say anything. He hoped the Sergeant wouldn't recognize him from the Equestrian Cloud.

"Equestrian Cloud.... Equestrian Cloud.... Wait a minute!" Trebass remembered that the Eyeglass was still at the Equestrian Cloud wreckage.

"Iron Will! I need a ride back to the crash site of the Equestrian Cloud!" Trebass blurted out.

Iron will snapped his head towards Trebass. He gave him a glare that sent a shiver up Trebass' spine.

"Trebass! You can't address the Sergeant like that!" Deviree whispered loudly.

"I would be furious if I was still a Sergeant." Iron Will looked at the ground with a saddened look on his face.

"What do you mean if you were still a Sergeant?" Deviree asked.

"I have resigned as of today. I just handed in my papers an hour ago. Then I saw something in the distance, two ponies who were very familiar." The retired sergeant replied.

"But... Why?!" Deviree asked again.

"I have let my princess down. I failed to save my own soldiers. There was one parachute, and I took it for myself. I fought through squadrons of Diamond Dogs to get here. But it wasn't enough to atone for me abandoning my soldiers." Iron Will clenched his fist tightly.

All three of them had a moment of silence for their dead comrades. Braeburn, the civilians, even Thunderlane. The more Trebass thought about them, the more rage filled his body.

"None of us are soldiers. Not anymore. We have the freedom to do what we please, so let's avenge our fallen brethren! Nothing can stop us anymore! No more superiors, no more emotions, no more fallen ponies, not even Celestia herself can  slow us down!" Trebass raised his hoof in the air inspirationally.

Iron Will and Deviree nodded, then they all climbed into the helicopter. It flew off the ground and into the direction of the Equestrian Cloud.