You both sprint deeper into the forest as the voices of your pursuers start to dissipate slowing down you spot a lake. Walking towards it you sit down sitting against a ledge of rocks at the base of the lake. Taking a sip from your canteen and checking your rifle, an m4 standard issue for all Royal Guard members unlike your M320 only grenadiers like you got those. It makes you wonder how you both got here.
43 minutes earlier
Your convoy of 4 slowly trudges through the muddy path of the forest you are sure you were sent here to die but you Sargent says otherwise. Brushing his response off you focus on the radio within your Humvee as it suddenly cuts out.
“Dammit, batteries dead.” the driver growls slapping the radio a few times
“Hey Strike hop out and go to the MRAP behind us and look for some batteries or another radio.” you nod at his request and hop out the top hatch jumping off stumbling as you regain your balance as you jog to the Cougar next to you to being your steps and some help from inside you manage to climb aboard the moving vehicle “Anypony got some batteries?” you yell for a few seconds you think nopony heard you but one unicorn next to you hands you four AA batteries turning around you start to hop off the moving MRAP but you trip and fall out as the rumble and the telltale sound of an RPG firing hitting the Humvee you were in before as you shouted
“Contact 10’ o’clock 50 meters foot mobiles” shooting in their direction as the convoy halts and the troops dismount. And start to return fire along with you launching some frags at them hitting a few in the treeline with support from our M2 Bradley killing most of the griffons before it was also knocked out of the fight you get up and move behind the MRAP where 8th squad is holding their ground. “Where’s 7th squad,” you shout.
“Behind us.” the stallion in the front yells pointing at the last Humvee in the convoy “There pin-” a bullet blows up half of his head before he could finish. The medic pulling his lifeless body out of the way as you collapse and stare in shock at what just happened his head looking like a popped grape the whole top left side of his head torn off. Quickly looking away you puke a little standing up into a semi crouched position you start to make your way to the place he just said. You lean against the disabled IFV as you reload your rifle and continue firing at the enemies sometimes launching your dwindling supply of grenades.
Looking at the distance between the destroyed tank and the pinned Humvee you can see it a decent distance away from you if you run you would surely end up like the stallion that died earlier. Which one? you don’t know so you start to get up your head barely being covered by the Bradley itself and you start to sprint halfway across you slip on some mud and fall so you start crawling finally you reach the Humvee as a solider grabs your sleeves and pull you towards the side shouting, ‘Medic, Medic we got wounded here.” surprised you look down you see your leg gushing blood a spike of pain hits you as the pegasus medic puts pressure on you and gives you a few blood bags and painkillers, your mind slows down as you think. Roses are red, the forest is dark, welcome to Tartarus strike we’ve been waiting for you. You slowly see more color as you notice that the gunfire is editing down on both sides looking around you see that only 4 ponys are here and 3 are at the cougar you pick up your rifle and start to look at the MRAP as you see it blow up from another RPG or many the someone you don’t know all you know is that you and four others are all that’s left. Aginst however much they have. you see the mounted M2 heavy machine gun on the Humvee fire into the thin forest mowing down anything in its way.
You haven't been paying attention as you now hear the screams of the burning from the explosions on both sides the screams of pain from the wounded men the barking of gunfire the orders being shouted amidst the chaos the medic pushing you down and giving you another blood bag speaking but her words don't register. you continue to look around the bullet casings littering the dirt. you look at your rifle thinking of what you've done you look at the crudely scratched 48 on your rifle it was supposed to be honorable but, among the chaos as you whisper to yourself, "Do you feel like a hero, yet?" you look up and only see one pony alive that isn't you the medic you crawl over to her and shake her shoulder getting her attention. "We gotta run," you whisper
The medic trembling slowly nods and helps you to your feet as you pick your rifle up and follow her into the forest as you see the griffons overrun what's left of the convoy searching for unknown objects. some splitting up to chase after you. bullets pounding at your feet and hitting the trees in front of you. you spot a ravine and a conveniently placed rope bridge. you sprint in front of her and usher her towards it you both were almost there until you heard a sickening crack and a scream from the medic stopping and looking back at her you see her lying on the ground clutching her left leg you rush over to her and pick her up as the ponys are sprinting towards you. you rush across the bridge as the shooting brings out a pack of timber wolves. you lay her near the bridge and pull out your M320 grenade launcher aim it at the other end of the bridge and fire it the round tumbling through the air before hitting its target as the bridge falls. you look at the medic and she already is working on herself smiling you walk over to her and help her put gauze over her left outer thigh. as you help her stand up she speaks. "So now you're saving me now?"
Chuckling you can't help but notice the sheepish grin she has. You start talking, "So what's your name?" she looks over to you as you both walk deeper into the forest the voices of your pursuers growing faint, and responds, "Lance corporal Dimond Jade." looking over at her you get to see her features a light blue coat with a dark blue mane with orange highlights, slightly shorter than you are with beautiful turquoise colored eyes.
"Well, my name is Private first class Hard Strike," you respond as the forest starts to give way to a small lake not noticing where you all are walking Jade trips taking you town with you landing with a soft thud you find yourself atop her. she giggles seeing the situation you were in and you say, "Are you alright."
"Yeah I'm fine," she says smiling dusting herself off "Let's go to the lake, command could fly us some evac."
"Yeah" you respond still supporting her and walking over to a ledge just a foot above the lake. pulling out your canteen and offering it to her she accepts it and drinks some leaving half for you. You drink the rest and unsling your rifle as you check it you smile as you hear Jade call for evac on her radio as you pull out your own radio slip in those batteries and turn it on listening to a song play to pass the time as Jade leans into you as you both sing the song together.
you both sing totally in tune.
"...into the setting sun,
My love will laugh with me,
before the morning comes...
Author's Note
convoy order
Humvee
MRAP
M2 Bradley
Humvee
BONUS: Do You Feel Like A Hero, Yet?
BONUS: Do You Feel Like A Hero, Yet?
The Equestrian Royal Guard does not condone the killing of unarmed combatants. But this isn't real, so why do you care?
- Princess Celestia
As you finish the song she pulls out a polaroid and takes a picture of both of you and the radio buzzes as Jade puts her attention on the radio while a conversation that you cant hear so you start to clean your rifle. As you clean your rifle you look over at hers a SCAR light. She notices you looking at the rifle saying. "Like it? Got it when I deployed with wonderbolts at the start of the war."
"You were in spec ops?" you say hiding your disbelief as you assemble your rifle and look over hers.
"Yeah it's cool but I was demoted and transfers so " she responds rubbing her rolled-up sleeve looking like she would not want to continue the conversation. You hand her rifle back to her as you speak. "How long until evac," you say. She looks at her radio and back to you before responding "three minutes,". You start to ask a question you've been thinking about the whole time. "Hey, Jade?" you say nervously, "Yeah" she responds. "Why were you all here," you ask her she has to know, she's spec ops right? " What do you mean?" she says chuckling. "Well I was just transferred here and I wasn't even briefed correctly. " You chuckle, "I mean why are we even fighting," you say as you hear the blades of a Blackhawk in the distance.
"You want to know why I was demoted don't you?" she says reading your mind. "Yeah," you say. she responds "I'm not telling you, now come on our evacs here" as she got up and walked to the helicopter the two pararescue jumping out and scanning the surroundings as you both hop onboard they follow along as their medic looked at Jade's leg and you slowly fall asleep in the seat.
Two months later
You both got some flashy awards and are being transfers to some Delta squad in Saddle Arabia. you look out of the open door of the Blackhawk. as you look at your rifle you start to miss your grenade launcher. Sergeant Walker said it was unnecessary for the mission you sigh as you look out at the scorching desert and hope for the best. the sergeant walks up behind you and says "Welcome to Dubai." as the helicopter is touching down at the edge of the city as you all get off the helicopter and look at the ruined city and its highway you think you see a glimpse of the Equestrian flag hanging upside down tattered within a skyscraper and the glare of a scope. you look again and see nothing you look back at your squad. This is going to be a long day. you think to yourself. as you move forward.
