Rain. The sounds of hundreds of water droplets plopping onto the ground. Sometimes it's the type that chills the bones when it hits your back. Or the rain that lands elegantly with a halfway rate. Between a light rain and a downpour.

It starts to rain again, I haul myself up and I gallop down the muddy dirt road down to the red building. I tug my pistol out and I rack the bolt to chamber the round. I push ponies aside to investigate what might possibly have been a listening post. Why did they start shooting? Who was their target? Was our forward ops compromised? I’m about to find out.

I halt at the splintered red wall. The embers still smoking. It did happen four minutes ago. I trot in slowly, smelling the air full of burnt blood. It feels wrong for a pony to see or deal with this repulsive sight. The ripped up remains of what used to be a pony being displayed all over the walls. I look to my right to see a messed up Spotter based on those binoculars she was wearing. She was breathing! I rush to her and I start applying healing spells to my avail is actually working. Slowly stitching up those many holes that were oozing blood. Gaging at the stench of copper that hugged the air.

After a few moments of silence I spoke. “What was your mission Miss…?”

“E-Eagle...Eyes.... Up yours...traitor...blugh…” She answered. She weakly tries to bring up her Luger in her soft base magic. I push the pistol down with my hoof seeing she had something in her hoof, clutching something...a recorder? “S-She wasn’t s-supossed to m-miss…”

Huh? “Miss who?” I lift her up in my magic whilst pouring my healing into her.

“You..you stupid d-dipshit! Put me down!”

“No, you’re coming with me, Miss Eyes. I’ll be taking that also.” I take her tape recorder and we begin our slow trot back to base. She looks fully healed. “Can you walk?” She nods and I watch her stumble. “Hey hey...lean against me. Easy now.”

“Let go of me you friendship junkie!” She hollered at me. Does she think I’m just going to let her go and report what goes on here? Heck no. The rain comes down hard. My uniform starts to feel itchy against my fur. I take my coat off and drape it over the mare. “Oh...uh...you bitch! How dare you share your coat and your friendship!” I turn to look at her face and oh my, she was fuming!

“S-Sorry. Just trying to be kind. I just wanted to leave an example to my soldiers to treat you ponies as equals too. We’re all ponies here…” I hurry my pace. I try to not think about the incident with the bat cu- I mean bat ponies. Mares and stallions gallop down to meet us. Saying ‘lock up the Jerry’. “Keep off her...she’s my prisoner. General Stardust, meet me and my new companion at interrogation room 13 B.” She nods.

*** *** ***

I look at the naked mare before me. In hoofcuffs and a magic inhibitor ring. I feel bad for the mare, I was in the same predicament as she is in now. I pop the top to a Sprite Cola and I slide it towards her. “Drink this, it’s pretty good. I can have me about fifteen o’ these!” I say with a big grin on my face. Haven’t had a real smile since I last saw my mare back home.

“Fuck off asshat tratior.” She barked. “I like Fanta better you dope. The superior drink for our superior status. I used to look up to you, now...you’ve fallen. You serve under an earth pony...how low.” She spoke in her germpone accent.

“Whoa there bucko.” Stardust drawled. “You might be yeeing your last haw there spouting superiority crap. We’re all equals here… Right Rev?” She gives me a hard stare.

“B-Bat Cu-- I mean! Thestrals are equal too!” I answer quickly, leaving my germpone drawl into the wind.

“Huh, you’re under her hoof! On a leash. Is that what fillyfooler Sunbutt taught yeh? Nothing is all cupcakes and rainbows. Somepony needs to be on top to show the rest who’s boss. That’s what Anon will bring us, bring us peace and world domination under one united flag. We’ll kill who we need to keep the rest in line. It hurted all our hearts when Anon announced you defected to the enemies. The heir to the throne.”

“No...stop...I’m not under anypony's h-hoof…”

“You’re a sorry excuse for a prince...your father must be disappointed if he was still alive...if those bat cunts did their jobs.” She pauses and smirks. “Your dirt pony cunt marefriend is probably whoring as we spea--”

I hit her. Finding myself jumping over the table and clobberin her with my hoofs. “Nobody talks about my family or my marefriend like that! You horn headed bitch!” I screamed.

Stardust pushes me off of the cackling mare beneath me. “Get a hold of yourself Rev! She’s taunting you!" I sit back down. “Tell us what you were doing here?”

“None of your business, dirt pony. I won’t talk. I’ll never talk.” She runs a hoof across her muzzle to wipe the blood.

An idea forms in my head, I turn to look over my blue maned general. “What are you thinking Rev?”

“She won’t talk, let’s leave. Don’t want to waste our time...but I think I’ll stay and you go.” Before she could retort, I pushed her out of the room with my magic and locked it. I lean in towards the captive mare. “She’s not my boss. I’m my own boss. Here, I have more where this came from. ”

“Oh! Shit! Really?” She takes the offered Fanta and guzzles it down. “I never thought I’d taste these again.”

“You can if you tell me what your mission was. If you do, I’ll reward you handsomely with more Fanta. I’ll make sure you’re well taken care of at a POW camp. If you don’t...well...you won’t get any and be beaten by burly stallions to get the info outta yeh. What’s it going to be, Miss Eagle.” I lean back in my chair, having been fully satisfied hoofing out an ultimatum like that.

Eagle Eyes mulls it over for several long minutes. Holding the ice cold beverage in her hooves. She pulls in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “We...were supposed to find you and kill you.” I raise an eyebrow at that but I let her continue. “Turns out Trigger Happy wasn’t a good sniper. I told him to make sure his zero on his 98 was right on the mark...he’s dead because he didn’t… It’s all on that tape you took off of me. Why...why did you heal me?”

“I uh...thought it was right...a fine Fraulein like you shouldn’t die bleeding from a dozen holes. You have more in your future than getting dead. Would you like to not be in a POW camp?”

“Of course I don’t...they don’t have Fanta…” The portly mare said.

“I’ll pull a few strings. How good of a shot were you in your sniper school?” I asked.

“Danzig Sniper School. I was fourth out of a class of three hundred.” She answered.

I think I found my gunner. “Good. You can have your uniform back and your weapon.”

“What about the Fanta?”

“Fanta too.” I pull a case of the orange beverage and slide it towards her, along with her uniform and weapon. “No ammo though.” I get up to salute the mare and I leave the room. I look at Stardust and say “It went good. Her mission was to assassinate me. When is the Liberty Bond Ball again?”

“Oh uh...In two days. I don’t think you’ll attend...I have you assigned to take the village. The op is estimated to take two days.” She replied.

I take a moment to think. If they do it right...then I can come back and do the Ball thing. She was pretty eager for me to be her date… “I’ll get it done in one day.”

“One day you say? Hmmm. I dunno. Areal reports showed there’s a company of heavy infantry but we didn’t see tanks. What are your thoughts, Rev?”

I mull it over for a moment. “Attack at first light of course. Hit ‘em and hit ‘em real’ hard. That’s what I did when I defeated your 58th Army and penetrated a whole 70 kilometers on a 24 kilometer front. I went super deep in your army annnnd I’m done talking.” She was blushing like crazy. Mother, what have I done?! Don’t tell my mare.

“Aren’t you such a silver tongued equine.” SHe cooed but her face turned stern. “Not the right type of talk to be saying to your superior officer.”

“Oh! Uh...yes S-Star.”

I trot away from the awkward conversation and I wander to the barracks part of the old Prench school. It was a teacher's private office. I nod to my ever trusty guard pony and enter in. I shut the door quietly behind me. The bed awaits me.

I mull over what I said. Take a village in one day? What was I thinking? Oh but I could. All we would need to do is just do a flanking maneuver, insert ourselves from behind and this line of internal monologing is starting to sound lascivious. Not really into that. I look away from the clock and my eyes glaze over the tiled Grey floor. Take the village in one day. I'll do it. Do it in one day and do that Liberty Bond Ball. Oh boy, I do love parties.

Sleep sweeps over me and my head swirls into darkness.

Author's Note

I had this one in the books for a while. Started on Seven already.