Red Alert: 16 Years Agoby Elite MinorChaptersReminiscenceBastok PeninsulaLost and FoundReminiscenceCertain names, locations, and other elements of this work of fiction are owned by EA, Namco, and Hasbro respectively. On another continent, thousands of miles away from Equestria’s shores, lies the epicenter and reason why I am standing in front of this door. The architecture was astounding, as were most homes in the capital city of Canterlot. The walls looked like they had recently been painted, and its white glow was warm enough to bring peace to your soul. And here I was, a scrawny gray unicorn wearing the nerdiest glasses money can buy, about to conduct his first real interview as a rookie journalist. Of course I was nervous. The topic I had picked for this interview was not very common, especially for a fledgling reporter like myself. I had a profound interest in the subject however, and after discovering some inconsistencies in the Canterlot archives’ history books, curiosity peaked my interest. I kept searching. I was certain that I would find something there. All I had to go on were some unclassified documents and very vague depictions that I had managed to scrape together. It obviously was not going to be enough to satisfy my curiosity. After scrounging through some records I found a list of names that might be useful to me. One name stood out in particular. I needed an eyewitness account to get the answers I wanted. My story wasn’t very popular back at the office. When I had presented my story to the editor-in-chief, it was denied immediately. After he told me that such an event never existed, he became suspicious of me for selecting a topic that may have included a massive government cover-up. Even though my request was rejected and I was working on more approvable articles, my curiosity was biting at the back of my mind the entire time. I couldn’t resist the urge to delve deeper into uncharted territory. I had to find an answer. I didn’t care what the outcome or conclusion was, but I had to have closure regardless. Little did I know, I had stumbled upon something much larger than I had anticipated. Still to this day, I can tell you that I was not prepared for this. A few seconds after I had knocked on the smooth wooden door, it opened slowly to reveal a blue unicorn with a dark blue mane. He had a moon inside a larger moon facing each other for his cutie mark. “Come in,” he said in a in a suprising gentle yet masculine voice. Maybe this was the story I had been searching for, all this time… Red Alert: 16 Years Ago Reminiscence **** Belka. It was the gem of the Verusan island continent. A powerful industry, backed with economic growth that would have soon rivaled the great superpowers of the east, Equestria and Karalia of the Osean continent. This proud and strong nation was well on its way to becoming a superpower. Then, twenty-five years ago, the worst recorded drought in world history struck the nation’s mainland. Forcing the country to purchase imported food, foreign businesses took advantage of the situation by pushing prices and tariffs to ridiculous levels. Soon Belka was unable to pay to keep its citizens fed, so foreign powers like Equestria and Karalia began to gut her resources and advanced technology programs as compensation. Losing valuable resources that made up a large amount of its profits and with the national debt increasing, Belka’s economy collapsed. The country's frustration was directed at the foreign powers for "stealing what was theirs" as the superpowers continued to ransack Belka's resources and technologies unabated. Bitterness toward foreign nations and extreme nationalism began to take hold in Belka, a volatile combiniation. Amidst the economic panic, a radical party took power in Belka, promising to restore the nation to its former glory. Utilizing propaganda, they had gathered an immense amount of support and crushed all political opposition. And sixteen years ago on this date, with the discovery of natural resources in surrounding nations, Belka began to invade its neighbors. Entire foreign field armies were obliterated by the might and technology of the legendary Belkan military. Said to have some of the most elite units in the world at the time, even the superpowers feared them. The Belkans continued their hate fueled assaults. It wasn’t long before they had seized a vast majority of the continent. Crying out for help, the superpowers acted swiftly to aid the defeated nations on the continent.Covert task forces were deployed by both Equestria and Karalia while masking the action back home. Using newly acquired Belkan technology to reweaponize their troops, the allies began their counterstrike operations. This is all the information I have now and I realize that it lacks detail greatly. Mainly because of the cover-up affecting the amount of documents I have access to or the fact that this might not be true at all. Maybe it was just another wild rumor, a conspiracy theory if you will. Perhaps I am chasing nothing. But there is only one way to find out for sure… According to one record I have located containing a list of names; this blue stallion standing in front of me was attached to the Equestrian task force. Midnight Sparkle. **** “Please have a seat. Can I get you anything? Starlight has tea on the stove,” the unicorn across from me offered. “No thank you, I’m fine,” I said as politely as I could manage. I took a seat in comfortable purple couch while Midnight pulled up a wooden chair and sat across from me. Despite the friendly welcoming, I couldn’t help but to feel a bit anxious. As my haunches sunk into the plushy couch below, I pulled my notepad and pen out of my saddlebags. “So, what brings you here?” he asked nonchalantly as he eyed my writing utensils. “I’m uh…actually a reporter,” I said, trying my best not to stumble on my words. “Well then, what is a reporter doing in my home? Is this about Shining Armor or Twilight?” he asked, his face betraying a look of concern. I gulped. Here we go. I had no idea how this was going to work out or the possible implications of my prying. This wasn’t just a normal family no doubt. The Captain of the Royal Guard and an Element of Harmony user slash Celestia’s protégé in the same family, and that’s not including the fact that their father may have been a part of the covert operation of the century. I had to tread carefully here. This family has strong ties to the crown and if I make a wrong move or utter a poorly chosen comment, then I could possibly end up in a Canterlot dungeon for my actions. “Actually sir, I kind of wanted to talk about you,” my voice quivered slightly as I was trying my best to tread lightly. “Really? Why in Equestria would you want to talk about me?” Midnight shook his head at me as he spoke. He leaned in my direction and looked mystified. He obviously hadn’t seen this coming. “Sir…I uh…have done some research…about the Belkan War,” I squeezed out, my heart beating faster by the second as I could hear and feel it thump in my chest. I was getting light-headed as beads of sweat dripped down the sides of my face. “Oh?” he inquired, raising an eyebrow at me. “You know about it, don’t you?” I said quickly as I struggled to recollect my wits. “Of course, those crazy Belkans were trying to take over that entire continent and even attacked a second one. Then, the allied nations down there pushed them back. That’s about it,” he calmly stated. “They attacked a second continent?” I hadn’t known about that. “But, I’m pretty sure you’re not here to reverberate a history lesson to me. Now tell me, why is it you’re really here?” he asked, leaning even closer to me. “Just get on with it. The worst he can do is refuse, but you’ll never find out anything if you don’t ask!” I urged myself into action. “Sir…I just wanted to ask you about the fighting,” I said nervously, trying desperately to ignore the emotional tsunami taking place within me. He scoffed. “Why would you ask me about the fighting? Like I would know anything!” he chuckled at the presumed ridiculousness of my question. I felt like an idiot. What was I doing here? Should I just turn back and forget about all this? No. I had already come this far and by Celestia’s sun; I was going to get what I wanted. “Sir, you can drop the act,” I said boldly. “Excuse me?” he replied. “I-I know you were involved with the fighting…in fact, I know that the Equestrian military itself was involved,” My voice just echoed the gravity of what I had just done. I had just accused Princess Celestia as a greedy liar, the same princess who gave peace to Equestria and that everypony adored. If I’m going to be arrested, I might as well go through with it knowing I had tried… Midnight was silent for a couple seconds. “Where did you hear such a thing?” he spoke softly, gazing at the blue carpeted floor with the thousand yard stare. “Research. I have drawn my own conclusions and I want answers. Please,” I implored. “How much do you know?” he demanded. “I know that the Equestrian and Karalian militaries bravely fought back the Belkan aggressors and all I want is to find out is what those ponies went through,” I pleaded. “Go to the Canterlot National Cemetery, you’ll get a better story there if you want to talk to a hero,” he said as he bit his lip. Nausea overtook my stomach as I had talked myself into dangerous territory. “I thought that was supposed to be classified but apparently not. Dammit, I thought I was done with this,” he moaned as he buried his head in his hooves. “Are you alright sir?” I asked in fear that I might have brought up some unpleasant memories. He huffed out a quick sigh and gazed into my eyes with a stoic expression. “Well, I see the damage has already been done. If that much information has already been declassified then I’m afraid that there isn’t much else to do…” “Sir?” “What do you want to know?” he said bluntly. I was stunned. Was he really going to tell me? Was I going to be in trouble? I hadn’t told him that this information wasn’t declassified, I just took a shot in the dark and it hit. “Everything… if you don’t mind,” “Well in that case, where should I start?” Afterthought You like? Bastok PeninsulaBastok Peninsula **** A young colt sets out to find the truth, To discover the secrets of a veteran’s youth. Unveiling forgotten mysteries of the past, Just how long will those memories last? **** “I guess it would make sense for me to begin at the beach landing, even though a lot of it is a blur for me. I’ll do what I can,” he reassured me. Midnight Sparkle was sipping on a piping cup of tea and sighed with satisfaction after a taking a moderate-sized drink. He shifted into a more comfortable position in his chair and eyed me while taking another sip. He used his magic to float a second cup of hot tea over to me and even though I had refused a drink earlier, I gladly took it in my hooves. I was refreshed when I took a sip, the tea was very good and it soothed my throat. I could feel my nerves beginning to calm. “The Belkans were…crazy…to say the least. Blinded by their own hate and grief. As they captured more and more territories, they decided to reorganize their government into a totalitarian state,” he lectured. “But what purpose would that serve?” I asked, bewildered that the Belkans would make a move that seemed completely pointless. “They needed a way to rule over the vast amount of territory they had captured. They had split up their new provinces into regional governments…,” he paused for a second to sigh. “Then they formed an alliance with the captured states. They called it a Soviet Union, I believe,” Mr. Sparkle put emphasis on the word ‘formed’ as he spoke. “A Soviet Union huh?” This story was getting more and more interesting by the minute. After I taken another swig of that delightfully warm tea, I had started jotting down some notes. “Belka, by this time, had either occupied or annexed most of the entire Verusan continent,” he started. My interest and my excitement grew when I realized that I was finally getting what I wanted. My story. It was actually happening! It was real. “And it was our job to take it back…” **** The amphibious transport was rocking back and forth as it approached the coastline. Waves were beating against the sides of the small craft as Corporal Sparkle struggled to get a grip on the side rails to keep his balance. His Sergeant was standing tall near the entrance, giving a pre-deployment brief. Behind the sergeant, visible tracer rounds danced along the former Yuktobanian coastline, the sounds of battle accompanying them. To Midnight, it was like an orchestra of war taking place in front of him, as if the bullets and the explosions were telling a story of some kind. The riflepony tried desperately to listen to his Sergeant over the sounds of crashing waves, and artillery booms. He could hear the whistling of Equestrian destroyers firing missile after missile at the beach defenses and pounding of allied cruisers discharging their big guns. The humming of Longbow helicopter engines could be heard as he saw a flight of three flying in a v-formation towards the shore. “WE WILL BE DEPLOYING ALONG THE BASTOK PENINSULA! FIRST BATTALION WILL BE DIVIDED INTO FOUR COMPANIES: A, B, C, AND D! WE ARE PART OF A COMPANY!” The roaring of fighter jets and booming of explosions made up the background noise. Midnight then saw what looked like a lightning bolt coming from the coast; zap an amphibious transport, vaporizing it. Then, the blue stallion heard a crackle over the radio that had been installed in the transport. “This is the destroyer Cloudsdale to the cruiser Manehattan. We’d appreciate it if you could take out that Tesla Coil with your big guns,” After hearing a thundering boom from the cruiser and witnessed a gigantic fireballs erupt from the coastline, two more Longbows flew past the transport, firing missiles at the shoreline. The transport was made of steel rather than wood, a benefit of acquiring Belkan technologies. Every side except the front entrance was walled off and it had a roof for overhead protection. The front entrance had a slit in the front that ponies could see out of it. Midnight couldn't see any part of the battlefield except what was right in front of the transport. It was him, two other rifleponies, a pony with a rocket launcher and a light tank sitting behind them. All of them were wearing tan desert cameo and Kevlar helmets. “OUR MISSION IS TO BREACH THE DEFENSES AND LINK UP WITH THE REST OF OUR BATTALION! DESTROY ANYTHING BELKAN ALONG THE WAY! ALL UNITS WILL THEN REFORM INTO BATTALION STRENGTH AND PUSH INLAND!” They were getting closer to the shore. Midnight looked out at the beach but before he could see anything, a burst of water shot up and hit him in the face. His eyes began to sting as salt water got into them. “ALRIGHT COLTS! LET’S ROLL! SEE YOU ON THE BEACH!” Pinging and dinging of bullets bouncing off the front entrance became more frequent as the transport groaned. From the inside, Midnight and his squad could hear the screams of dying ponies and gunfire on the beach. They had landed. **** It was at this time that I realized how well the story was gripping me. I looked down and noticed my pencil was shaking violently in my grasp. “You alright? You look a little shell-shocked,” he chuckled. I shivered and took a deep breath to calm myself down. Taking another sip of that heaven-sent tea helped. “What was the Bastok Peninsula?” “It was a former Yuktobanian territory; it was the southeast tip of the country. The Karalians were supposed to land at the northern end of the continent, us at the southern tip, and the other allies in the center. All of us were to land in the western part of the continent, combine into one large force, and then systematically retake the continent. As we did so, we had to rescue stranded allied units that got left behind during the Belkans’ first offensive, along the way,” He had explained the simple yet effective strategy in detail. I was really getting some good information here. “What kind of allies?” He coughed and shook his head as he took another swig of his tea. “Early in the campaign, mostly Yukes but as we drove deeper into the continent, we found the Veronans, and helped out the Prussians as well,” he responded, smacking his lips as he dove into his teacup for the last time, emptying it. “What happened next?” I asked, getting the story back on track. The blue unicorn looked down at the ground and without looking up again, he spoke. “All hell broke loose,” he said solemnly. **** The transport’s front entrance was creaking loudly as it opened, only to reveal to the occupants an incoming hail of machinegun fire and the sight of fellow Equestrians getting slaughtered on the beach. He watched helplessly as the crossfire of multiple machinegun nests ripped apart an entire group of thirteen Equestrian earth ponies in what seemed like a split second. Immediately after, he heard cries for help coming from the wounded and screams of agony. Midnight watched his sergeant charge out the transport and immediately followed him, sloshing through the salt water in an effort to get to the beach. He tried his best to step over and ignore a young colt lying on the ground, his body cut to ribbons by machinegun fire. “Momma?! Momma! Momma!” the colt cried out in despair. A riflepony directly behind Midnight took a bullet to the throat and made a disgusting gurgling sound as he dropped onto the floor of the transport. As the rest of the squad sprinted towards the cover of a few rocks on the beach the light tank followed them out. As the Equestrian light tank departed the transport, it spun its turret in the direction of the cliffs above the beach and fired at two Belkan soldiers manning a heavy machinegun nest. The tank shell hit its mark dead-on as one of the enemies’ bodies was catapulted off the side of the cliff from the force of the blast. The chaos of combat surrounded the squad as they poked their heads out from cover to get a bearing on their positions. The light tank noticed another machinegun nest directly in front of the squad pinning them down behind the rocks with machinegun fire. It adjusted its turret and fired, destroying that emplacement as well. The tank then drove off to find other defenses to attack. Thanks to the light tank, the Equestrian squad a lot less machinegun fire to worry about. “ALRIGHT! THIS IS HOW ITS GONNA GO! WE ARE GONNA CLIMB UP THAT MOUND TO THE RIGHT OF US! THAT WOULD FORCE US TO CROSS ABOUT THIRTY FEET OF OPEN TERRITORY SO WE MOVE ONE AT A TIME WHILE THE REST OF US PROVIDE COVER FIRE! THEN, AFTER WE CLIMB THAT MOUND, THERE IS A DIRT ROAD LEADING TO THE TOP OF THE CLIFF! WE TAKE THE ROAD AND THEN STICKY HERE WITH THE ROCKET LAUNCHER WILL TAKE OUT THE BUNKER AT THE TOP! GOT IT? GOOD!” His sergeant screamed at the top of his lungs. Midnight then felt a hoof tap him on the shoulder. “SPARKLE, YOU FIRST!” his sergeant yelled. Midnight galloped towards the mound at full tilt, desperately trying to make himself as hard a target as possible. His soaked uniform hindered his speed and was making him uncomfortably itchy. With his squad giving him cover fire, he reached the mound without a hitch, sliding on his knees to cover the last few feet. Once he made it, he leaned against the corner of it and brought his Mare-16 assault rifle to bear and rammed the stock into his shoulder. He then took aim at a machinegun nest on the cliff that had a perfect view of the crossing point between the rocks and the mound. He gently hovered his hoof over the big red button in the grip and prepared himself as one of his ears twitched. “Move! I’ve got you covered!” the corporal called out to his two remaining teammates. As soon as the sergeant galloped from his position, Midnight squeezed the hoof-sized button in the grip and as a result, the weapon discharged a three-round burst. As he fired burst after burst and watching his shots kicking up dust on the cliff, he could of swore he saw one of the two Soviet machine gunners fall off the side of the giant dirt wall. He saw his sergeant moving to take his place so he took cover behind the mound and watch as his sergeant provided cover for the rocketpony. Once they all had united, they scaled the mound and reached the dirt road. “I’ll go first this time,” the sergeant said in a lower volume than he had during the rest of the day. Midnight followed close behind him and the rocket pony behind him. They were moving at a trotting pace up the dirt road. Suddenly, two Belkan soldiers in solid green uniforms crossed into the path, and spotted the Equestrians. Midnight aimed for the one on the right and dropped him with two quick three-round bursts and the sergeant downed the second one with his own Mare-16. However, right after the engagement, the sergeant’s body hit the dirt-covered ground with a thud. Midnight ran over to him and flipped his body over. What he saw was a perfect line of bullet holes lined across the squad leader’s gut. Midnight snatched up some of the former squad leader’s magazines from his uniform and placed them in his own. “Sorry,” the blue unicorn whispered to his late leader. He turned to the rocket trooper, his only remaining squad member. “You! Follow me. We still have a bunker to destroy,” “Roger,” the rocketpony responded. “After that, we’ll link up with anypony we can find alright?” Midnight added. “Yeah, I’ll follow you,” the rocketpony replied. It wasn’t long before both of them reached the bunker. Once they got within visual sight of it, they both hit the deck and remained prone. The structure itself was very odd. It had ports sticking out in all four directions and did not attack how one would expect. “Is that thing…shooting fireballs?” Midnight asked bewildered. The other pony glanced at him with an equally mystified expression. Sure enough, that bunker was actually a strange contraption that fired balls of flame from four open ports at intruders with devastating effect. Right now, it was pummeling the beaches down below with searing balls of death. Midnight and his last teammate had to destroy it to protect any Equestrians still landing on the beach. “Alright, blast it! Do your stuff!” Midnight encouraged the rocketpony. The earthpony remained prone and adjusted the tube that was slung over his shoulder. Click! SWOOSH! The first rocket went on its way and slammed into the side of the flame tower. The resounding force of the explosion blew off one of the firing components of the flame tower. “Hit it again!” At that a second rocket ejected from the tube and left a white vapor trail in its wake. This one pierced the side of the column that was holding the tower up. Midnight noticed that a significant hole had been blown into the tower’s support structure. “Right there! Aim there!” Midnight yelled frantically, jabbing a hoof at the breach. The earth pony reached into his saddlepack and fished out two more rockets and one by one, shoved them both down the tube. Once he finished, he took aim once more. Click! SWOOSH! It flew through the gap created from the last hit and exploded inside the tower itself. The tower gave a painful groan as its foundation was severely weakened. “That’s the spot! One more should do it!” Midnight half-cheered as he glared and gritted his teeth at the tower, attempting to will it to the ground. The earth pony took careful aim and fired. Click! SWOOSH! An ear-shattering explosion threatened to deafen anypony within a hundred yard radius as the top of the tower popped right off and crashed on the ground below. The rest of the structure, without its stand, toppled over and slammed into the dirt-covered ground, spewing debris everywhere. The fireballs coming from the now non-existent tower had ceased. “Great shot! Now let’s move up and try to find our unit!” the blue unicorn half-cheered. The rocketpony shuffled onto his hooves and as he tried to swing his rocket launcher tube over his back, three bullets whistled through the air and made three distinct thuds as they slammed into his chest. He body twisted sideways and hit the ground. Midnight stayed down as machinegun fire emanated from behind the wreckage of the flame tower. He took a risk by peeking his head up, only to drop back down due to enemy fire. But before he took cover, he noticed that there was a cement trench behind the tower wreckage and that a machinegun emplacement was there firing in his direction. He stopped and thought for a second before remembering that he had four fragmentation grenades in his pack. He fished one out with a hoof and tossed the portable bomb with his teeth. The pin, which his teeth were holding the grenade by, remained in his mouth as the rest of the device was lobbed through the air and into the trench with one quick jerk of his head. After few seconds, Midnight heard the resounding boom coming from the trench, followed by cries of pain and screaming in a foreign language. Midnight gripped his Mare-16 with a hoof, got on all fours, and charged towards the trench. He dived into the trench and was immediately jumped by a survivor. The pink unicorn swung at Midnight with her rifle, but Midnight blocked it with his own and used his superior strength to push her back. The mare lifted her rifle to take a shot at him, but the corporal dived out of the way at the last second. As he hit the deck he brought up his own rifle while lying on his back and squeezed off two three round bursts. The first volley missed right, ricocheting off the wall of the trench. The second burst hit the foreign mare dead-on, killing her instantly. As Midnight watched her drop, he didn’t notice the second enemy charging at him from behind. The unicorn, still lying on the ground, looked over his back and saw a pegasus stallion flying towards him with a sword drawn. “Dok-ta-ria!” was the Belkan pony’s battle cry. Midnight spun his rifle around to get a clear shot at the charging pegasus. He took careful aim and squeezed the red fire button with his hoof. Click! “…Uh-oh,” he said sheepishly. Empty magazine. “Yeah…so I’m gonna die…” He thought as he frantically dug into his saddlebag to retrieve a fresh magazine. He eventually grabbed one but as he tried to pull it out, it fell off of his hoof and skidded out of his reach. He summoned his magic to bring it back for him but it was too late. The pegasus was already standing over him, his sword above his head, ready to slice Midnight in half with a downward stroke of his blade. Midnight looked up at his executioner with helplessness. He closed his eyes shut as he awaited the blow that would end his life. It never came. Instead of the sound of the sword cutting through his flesh, all he heard was a lone gunshot. The unicorn opened his eyes and watched the hovering pegasus in front of him stop his motion and just floated there with a glazed look in his eyes. The pegasus grunted as his wings drooped and fell to the floor of the trench, his sword clattering to the ground. Midnight looked at the body with amazement. “What luck!” he thought with his mouth agape and his eyes shot wide open. “I’d take that sword if I were you. Could be useful,” a new voice uttered. Midnight looked up at the spot where the enemy pegasus once hovered and saw another pegasus floating there. This pegasus was dark blue stallion with a green mane. He looked about the same age as Midnight. The corporal watched as his savior put away the pistol that he used to put down the enemy soldier from behind. The blue unicorn looked into the purple eyes of the pegasus through the visor of a pilot’s helmet. “Well…you’re alone…and my Longbow got shot down…wanna roll with me?” the helicopter pilot asked him. Midnight scrambled to his hooves. “Uh…yeah, sure,” he answered, almost dropping his rifle as he picked himself off the ground. The winged pony pointed at his weapon. “You better reload that thing,” the pegasus commented with a smirk. “Right,” Midnight whispered as he magicked over his dropped magazine. He slapped the mag release button on the side of the rifle and rammed the fresh banana-shaped mag into the chamber while the spent one clattered to the ground. He slapped the opposite side of the rifle and heard a distinct click, letting him know that it was locked and loaded. After he had finished, he gazed down at the sword and grasped it with his magic. Midnight held in front of him so his new friend could see. “So…where am I supposed to put this thing anyway?” he asked inquisitively, swinging the metal blade back and forth with his blue aura surrounding it. “Check the dead Soviet. I’m sure he has a sheath for it,” the pilot said. Midnight searched the dead pegasus’s body and recovered a black scabbard with yellow triangles on the design. He noticed a clip that came with it and snapped it to his belt. The unicorn would admit that it did feel awkward to wear the sheath but it didn’t hinder any normal bodily movements, and for that he was grateful. “Good! C’mon friend! Let’s get the hay outta here,” the blue pegasus said as Midnight put the sword into the sheath. **** “That’s amazing! He saved your life huh?! Who was he?!” I asked with anticipation, nearly jumping out of my seat in excitement. Midnight laughed at my antics and urged me to settle down by throwing up a hoof in my direction as he set his empty teacup down. “Heh! Calm down kid. I’m getting to that,” he reassured me as he dropped his head to hiccup. “That guy ended up being one of my best friends,” he said as he picked his head back up and looked at me with a smile. “Skyflare Dash…” “Where have I heard…wait…you don’t mean…” “Yeah,” he finished. **** Afterthought I wanted to make sure you guys got a good fill of some Red Alert elements in this chapter, you know, to remind you that this is a crossover. This story is merely in bloom and much has yet to be put in. Lost and FoundLost and Found **** Two new comrades claim they are lost And they have yet to feel war’s cost. Though the dirty and wild path may be askew They find new comrades and restore friendship anew. **** “Would you like some more tea?” Midnight asked with me politely. His question snapped me out of my excitement for the moment as I nodded my head. Even though I wasn’t much of a tea drinker, that last cup really hit the spot. He magically grasped both cups as he got up and trotted towards what I had assumed was the kitchen. As Midnight and the teacups disappeared from my sight, I decided to take in the scene around me for a moment. My mother always thought that I was a strange pony for doing this. It was a ritual I did whenever I needed to calm down. Mainly because it always worked. I never figured out exactly why though. Maybe, it’s just because I appreciate good scenery and respect natural beauty when I see it. As I took in my surroundings, I recognized that the clock that was hung high on the wall behind Mr. Sparkle’s seat had been ticking the whole time. That was strange; usually my observant self is able to pick up on things like that right away. I swung my head across the bright yellow paint on the walls and noticed about a dozen family pictures nailed to it, all of them together. The first one showed Mr. Sparkle as a younger stallion, nuzzling an attractive white unicorn mare with purple stars for her cutie mark. It was night and they were outside and were dressed like they were going the Gala or something. Behind them was a taxi carriage. A first date maybe? The second one showed them smiling and the mare from the last picture holding a baby purple unicorn foal in her hooves with Mr. Sparkle giving a young, white unicorn colt a noogie. I managed to stifle a chuckle when I saw that image. After my eyes were done scanning through the various family photos, I turned to my right. There was the wall that held the brown wooden door that I had come through earlier. There was also one window on each side of the door. Through them, I could see the multi-colored rays of the evening sun entering through the glass in beams of light. They were giving off various hues of purple, yellow, orange and even green. Beyond the glass, I could see Canterlot preparing for the night. Shops were closing and the giggles of foals were interrupted by their parents beckoning them to dinner. The mood was surrounding me in an ethereal environment. Peace. That’s what I was feeling. All of this inherent peace washed over my being as I soaked in the bliss that followed. I have to admit, the princesses did a magnificent job keeping Equestria as beautiful as possible. And that included waging a secret war to protect it… Midnight had reentered the room, his hooves clopping onto the floor below. He had two teacups balancing on his horn, one ontop of the other, as he trotted towards me. At first I was astounded at this strange talent of his…only to realize that he was using his magic to hold them in place. “One day, I’ll figure out how to do it without my magic,” he chuckled as he continued to focus on the cups. He levitated one over to me with his blue magic and I caught it in my hooves and quickly took a sip, reveling in the deliciousness that was just as good as the first cup. “You know, Twilight used to love that little trick as a foal. Then she got smart,” he deadpanned as he continued to chuckle. “Damn books,” he joked as he sat down in his chair levitating the teacup into his hooves and took a sip. “This is a nice home you’ve got here,” I pointed out, failing to think of anything else to say. “Yeah, it is. Quiet and peaceful. Nothing coming to hurt us or strike us down. Nopony crossing our borders with a high-tech army coming to obliterate our way of life. Pure bliss. A simple yet satisfying life without the burdens of pain, war, and death on our hooves,” he rambled almost jokingly as he paused to take a drink. The clock behind him rang out seven times. Evening already huh? “This was the life that we fought for,” he finished, throwing his hooves up in an almost shrugging gesture and then looked from left to right with a wide grin on his face. I had to stop myself right there… To contemplate exactly what he was talking about. You know, there’s a common misconception of soldiers and the military in general, especially among the younger crowd. Many think that soldiers are emotion-less robots that have no fear of dying, or that they don’t care about anything else besides war, killing and winning battles. They are often portrayed as over-patriotic powerhouses plowing through enemies without remorse. Without compassion, even for the enemy soldier they had just killed… This was wrong. There is something more to these ponies that I as a journalist, may never discover. But I can sure as hell try. “I suppose I should continue eh?” he said softly. I simply nodded as I took another sip of my tea. **** “Are sure this is the right road?” the blue unicorn asked. “Yeah, yeah. I got it,” replied the pilot while holding a compass in his hooves. Midnight was trotting down a dirt road that led further inland as Skyflare hovered over him, flapping his wings slowly. The booming of naval artillery pounding away, gunfire, and helicopter engines were audible behind them. All of those sounds were becoming more distant as they continued on. After a few more miles, all they could hear was the birds chirping in the trees above and the whistling of the cool breeze being blown in from the ocean. “I’m just not sure if this is the way to my battalion. When I think about it, I’m not sure if this is the way to any of our battalions,” Midnight stated with doubt. “Look, I know what I’m doing. And besides, we landed two entire divisions today. We’re bound to run into somepony,” Skyflare answered as he shrugged. “Wait! Did you just admit that you don’t know where we’re going!?” Sparkle’s eyes went wide and transformed into a glare aimed at his companion. “Ehehehe…the compass might have gotten busted when I ejected out of my chopper,” Dash chuckled sheepishly. He showed Midnight the compass he was holding and sure enough, there was a large crack right down the middle with the needle twirling around aimlessly. “WHAT!?” “I know this sounds bad but-” Bullets whizzed by their heads as gunfire erupted from down the road. Skyflare swooped in and tackled Midnight to the ground before a torrent of incoming fire ripped both of them to pieces. Bullets kicked up dust on the road as shouts came from foreign mouths. Skyflare grabbed Midnight’s saddlebag in his teeth and started to pull Midnight with him as he tried to crawl off the road. “Ka mun! Wah gawt ta git owf tha rude!” Skyflare growled with brown saddlebag in his teeth. Midnight was being dragged on his back as he tried to return fire with his Mare-16. He squeezed off a couple of poorly aimed potshots before he slid into the bushes behind Skyflare. “Well, it sounds like another machine gun nest. Now what?” Midnight asked. Dash peeked over the hedge and tried to spot the nest but had to retract his head on account of incoming fire. He sighed as he plopped down on his haunches next to Midnight. The nest continued to spray bullets across the road, keeping the two pinned down. Skyflare looked over the left side of the bush and saw a grassy clearing. Flanking the road on both sides were trees and bushes, so if they were to move through the clearing, they may have some cover. Lastly, he saw a large rock at the end of the left side that some of the foreign shouting was originating from. “We could try flanking them. Let’s move along this clearing and stay low under the bushes. You with me?” Skyflare asked as he turned to Midnight. Midnight nodded as he rolled over to Dash’s side. The pegasus led the way and began moving swiftly through the clearing alongside the road. If weren’t for the trees and vegetation, they would have been seen immediately. As they reached the end of the clearing, another wall of trees confronted them. Behind this wall of trees were the rock and the possible position of the enemy. Midnight looked at Dash and the pegasus just nodded with whipping out his pistol from his holster. He slid his hoof into the pistol grip and rested it over the red fire button. “Here we go…” Midnight said with a lack of confidence. They both brought their weapons to bear as they charged through the trees. The two companions may be outnumbered but they had the element of surprise on their side. Or so they thought… When they broke out into the clearing where the rock rested, they were met by twelve Belkan ponies. The entire group of enemy soldiers already had their weapons drawn and trained right on the two Equestrians, as if they had been expected them. Eight of them had Alicorn Killer-47 rifles with the other four were manning the machinegun nest that was indeed sitting ontop of the rock. The Belkans started yelling at Midnight and Skyflare in a language that they didn’t understand. “You thought we no see you! You very stupid,” the pony that appeared to be the squad leader said. The white pegasus cocked his pistol and pointed at Skyflare’s head. “Drop your weapons now soldier,” he said as he turned to look at Midnight in a cold and unforgiving tone. The squad leader turned his attention back to Dash. “…And you too pilot.” At this command, Skyflare literally dropped his pistol and rested his forehooves ontop of his head as the sidearm hit the ground with a thud. Midnight gently leaned over and placed his rifle in the grass. As he unclipped the sword, the Belkan squad leader gawked at it with profound interest. “You…you stole Belkan katana! You kill officer! Bastard!” The Belkan pegasus swiped the sword out of Midnight’s hooves and glared at the blade with malice. He turned to eye Midnight coldly. He walked over to Midnight and jammed the barrel of his pistol under Midnight’s chin while moving his face closer to his. “You pay for this now pig,” the white pegasus whispered cruelly in Sparkle’s face. The Belkan continued to apply pressure by forcefully pushing the barrel onto Midnight’s chin. His hoof began to squeeze the trigger button. Midnight tilted his head back and closed his eyes. He began tear up as his stomach tied itself into a knot. The unicorn was on the verge of sobbing as he thought about his wife. He thought about his son and his newborn filly. “Oh Celestia! This is it! I-” Click! Then he heard laughter. **** “So this really was sixteen years ago huh? I can’t believe I was right,” I gasped with wonder as I took a rather large swig of my tea. “So how did you two get out of there? Did they take you prisoner after all?” I finished, setting the teacup down in my lap. The warmth from the teacup on my body was soothing to say the least. I adjusted myself in the couch and laid back a bit on my haunches, letting my back rest on the sofa’s erected pillows. “No. What happened next was the last thing I ever would have expected,” Midnight stated adamantly as he shook his head at me. **** Instead of a quick and untimely death, all he heard was the mocking laughter of the Belkan soldiers. He opened his eyes and saw the squad leader back off of him, displaying the pistol clearly in front of him with pointing the barrel vertically in the air. The squad leader grinned condescendingly with pointing his hoof at a lever on the side of the pistol. …The safety was still on. As Midnight realized this he turned to Skyflare and noticed that he was also still alive. Skyflare, like him, had tears running down his cheeks with a frantic and shocked gaze in his eyes. He turned to face the squad leader once more. They were all laughing at them. Some of them pointed their hooves at the two unfortunate Equestrians as they mocked them and began shouting insults and slurs in the Belkan language. They poked fun at their enemy, the two young stallions both were nearly reduced to a slobbering mess of tears and saliva that dripped out of their mouths. “They…they’re toying with us. It’s a mind game. I-I heard about this in training...” Midnight continued to think as the squad leader reholstered his pistol and contemptuously swiped his own Alicorn Killer off the ground and yanked the bolt back and let it go, causing a loud snapping noise as it chambered a round. “An enemy will do this to prisoners for just about any reason. Whether it’s for pure amusement, boredom, or just a sadistic drive to see their captives suffer mentally and psychologically, this usually means that-” The squad leader was aiming from the hip as pointed the barrel of his assault rifle at Midnight’s center of mass. “Kill them both,” he ordered. “-A captor may not be very merciful…” Midnight deadpanned. Small arms fire filled his ears, coupled with the pounding of a heavy machinegun. Midnight couldn’t believe what he just saw. The Belkans didn’t stand a chance. Bullets ripped into the bodies of the enemy squad with such speed that the unicorn’s eyes almost missed it. Some of the Belkans yelped and dropped to the ground as their bodies were riddled with bullets. The survivors tried to turn around and engage whatever was shooting at them from the rear. The machinegun crew tried to pivot their weapon completely around but they weren’t quick enough for the second volley. Midnight and Dash both hit the deck and a second barrage of bullets soared over their heads. The rounds that didn’t punched into the flesh of the Belkan survivors, including the squad leader. After a few seconds, the gunfire subsided with the sound of a few shell casing clinking onto the ground. Midnight picked his head up and straightened his helmet with a hoof. Their former captors were now nothing more than a bloodied heap of bodies, with more holes in them than a changeling. A couple of severely wounded survivors groaned lethargically as life slipped away from them. Instantly, three more ponies entered the clearing from the rear of the Belkans’ position. Instead of the solid green of Belka, the cyan of Karalia, or the desert tan of Equestria, these three troopers were sporting a light gray and white cameo pattern. When they entered, they swiftly pumped a few rounds into each of the Belkan survivors. They began talking to each other but Midnight noticed that it sounded different this time. The accent was very different and…it was also a different language. “Yukes,” Skyflare whispered in Midnight’s ear as he crawled closer to his unicorn friend. “What’s that?” Corporal Sparkle responded. “These ponies are Yukes. One of our missions was to rescue these guys,” Skyflare spoke out loud, no longer fearing the foreigners. “Heh. Ironic that they ended up saving our flanks then huh?” Midnight chuckled grimly as the Yuktobanian soldiers took notice of them. “Speaking of which, didn’t you get your can saved twice today?” Skyflare asked him smugly with a smirk on his face. “Oh, shut up. You were in just as bad a position as me,” Midnight shot back with a grin. The mood between the two had certainly elevated, thanks to the arrival of the foreign allied troops now standing over them. One of the Yuktobanians was offering a hoof to Midnight who was still prone. The Yuke had a friendly smile on his face as the blue unicorn took his hoof. Another Yuktobanian pony grabbed Skyflare and lifted him up into a standing position. The Yuke that helped Midnight up smiled a sad smile at the Equestrian across from him. The three ponies conversed with each other in their native language for the next few seconds, before stopping and gazing at the two Equestrians. One of them was shouldering a light machinegun while one of the other two had a stolen Belkan Alicorn Killer, and the last had a submachine gun. The one with the submachine gun appeared to be their leader and spoke first. “I am the only one of us that speaks Osean,” the Yuke said with a heavy accent, referring to the language of the continent where the Equestrians and their Karalian allies hailed from. The speaker looked at the two young stallions with a beaming smile. “You are from there yes? You have come to help us reclaim our country? Is this true?” the slightly older Yuke earthpony asked them with anticipation and hope in his eyes. “Yes. We will do everything we can to get you your nation back,” Midnight reassured with a tone of sincerity. Even though he never thought on the subject before, he felt as if he meant it when he said those words. He actually believed it. This leader Yuke pony had a yellow coat, a red mane and was fairly skinny. The Yuke on the left of Skyflare was a burly and large earthpony stallion with a gray coat with a blue and black mane and was carrying his light machinegun from the hip. The large pony nodded at Midnight in affirmation. The last one on the right of Midnight was the only mare in the group. She had a dark green coat with a light gray mane that streaked straight down over her neck and eyes. The unicorn was brandishing the stolen AK in her hooves as she seductively winked at Skyflare. The pegasus groaned in disappointment as he eyed what he couldn’t have. “Please comrades, gather your weapons and we will take you to our campsite. It is the least we can do for our foreign brothers in arms,” the yellow pony offered. “Thank you. I appreciate this,” Midnight responded with a smile as he and Skyflare began retrieving their weapons. “I hate being married,” Skyflare mumbled under his breath as he returned the Yuktobanian mare’s wink with his own. “You wanted your wife to hear that right?” Midnight joked, not even knowing that his companion even had a wife. Actually, he really didn’t know much about his partner at all. “So he does have sarcasm,” Skyflare shot back playfully as he rolled his eyes at Midnight. “Not bad eh?” the unicorn asked as he sheathed his katana. “Don’t get cocky now. I’m the master of comic dialogue…” Dash confirmed as he playfully tapped Midnight on the snout with a hoof. The unicorn raised an eyebrow as he half-glared at the pilot. “Not you,” he finished with a smug smile as they began to follow the Yuke soldiers to their camp. Celestia’s sun was already beginning to set in Yuktobania’s sky. **** It was dark by the time they had reached the camp. Luna’s moon was nonexistent among the white twinkling of the stars above, embedded into the black sky. A gentle breeze blew through the small camp that bordered the forest to the north. All five allies sat in the plains hovering their hooves over a fire. The stocky Yuke earthpony had already started the fire and began preparing dinner, which looked like scallop potatoes and green beans which were being boiled in a pot filled with bubbling water. A type of soup was boiling in a smaller, second pot. Midnight’s snout couldn’t decipher the smell. The machine gunner dipped in a wooden spoon and took a sip, grunting in approval as he walked off to get more firewood. Skyflare was sitting on a log further away from the fire, flirting with the unicorn mare. He was making motions with his hooves and she was sitting on her flanks facing him, AK still in her hooves. Midnight heard her and Sky’s laughter in the background. He passively wondered how they understood each other through the language barrier. But he had more important things on his mind. The yellow pony eyed Midnight as he took a sip of water from a metal cup. “I know that look…you’ve killed. Seen death for the first time. I see it in your eyes,” he told Midnight. The unicorn was just giving the fire a thousand-yard stare. With a shaky voice Midnight replied. “I thought nothing of it then. Of all of the death and destruction on the beach. Mangled bodies of ponies.Their screams and cries. The look of that mare’s eyes when I shot her in the trench. The awful smell of gunpowder and flesh. Everything.” The Yuke lowered his view to the fire as he nodded in understanding. “I overlooked all of it. I don’t know if it was my adrenaline…my desire to live or what.” Midnight chuckled as he thought about this, his eyes still glued to the fire. “It’s funny that now that I’m calm, I can reflect on these now,” he pointed out as he rubbed his hooves together over the fire, attempting to bring them warmth. “Don’t keep everything bottled up. Let it all out now or push it away long enough to let it out later. In the meantime, you can’t let it get to you. Once you are able to push out all of your experiences and refuse to dwell on them, then you can function like a true soldier,” the Yuke told him. “A wise pony once told me: the best way to stay alive in battle… is to fight like you’re already dead. That is a tool that helps me, maybe it can help you huh?” the Yuke smirked as he patted Midnight on the shoulder. “Thank you.” “No, thank you.” “Why?” Midnight asked, his vision breaking from the fire and straight in the yellow earthpony’s eyes. “Because you didn’t abandon us…” the Yuke pony smiled with tears of joy threatening to fall from his eyes. A look of confusion appeared on Midnight’s face. “What do you mean?” “Why else? You actually came to help us! Many of us thought that Equestria and Karalia would just sit back and watch Yuktobania burn at the hooves of those Belkans dogs. But now we will bleed and die together, this makes us brothers,” he said, bringing his face closer over the fire while shaking a hoof to the sky. “When you put it that way, I’m not so sure I like this,” he joked, the Yuke joining him in laughter. After a moment of awkward silence, Midnight spoke again. “Well…at least you’re not alone anymore.” “Aye,” the yellow pony said as he leaned back to down the rest of his cup. “Dicer Stagger,” the Yuke said holding a hoof out to Midnight. “Come again?” “Dicer is my rank, Stagger is my name.” the Yuke explained. “Dicer? I’ve never heard of that.” “It’s equal to an Equui sergeant I think,” Stagger shrugged. “Equui?” Midnight asked with a raised eyebrow. “Equestrian.” Stagger explained once more. “Cute.” The Yuktobanian laughed at the short response. After he finished, he brought up the final subject for the night. “We are actually part of a larger platoon you see. We were just scouting out here before we found you. Our platoon is a few miles north of here, planning an assault to retake a small town along the northeast end of the Bastok. We are going to link up with them tomorrow morning, when the attack is taking place you see-” “You want us to join you…is that right?” Midnight replied as he folded his forelegs, catching on to what Stagger was saying. “We are going to need every gun we can get and soon. We are outnumbered three to one and we have gotten word that the Belkan company garrisoned there is going to execute the civilians at noon tomorrow,” Stagger appealed, becoming visibly uneasy all of a sudden. “WHAT?! But why!?” Midnight cried out in shock. “We don’t know. The town is called Versay. Please, my little sister is there,” Stagger pleaded, holding his hooves together and shaking them in front of Midnight. Midnight rubbed his nose and looked over at Skyflare, who was reciting cheesy one-liners that the mare probably couldn’t understand while pantomiming them. The unicorn mare was giggling at Dash’s ridiculousness with a hoof over her mouth. “I’ll talk to Sky tomorrow. But as it stands, we’ll help.” “Thank you.” **** Midnight smiled at the memory as the clock struck nine. “So…it was the Yuktobanians that saved you,” I pointed out matter-of-factly. “Yeah they did. It’s safe to say that I have a huge respect for the Yuktobanian ponies now. You’d be lucky to meet them. Very friendly and loyal,” the veteran stated. Midnight turned around and gazed up at the clock behind him. “It’s getting pretty late, and you can go home and get some rest if you’d like. We can start again tomorrow.” I smiled as I shook my head. “That’s sounds fine. Tomorrow it is then.” As he got up and showed me to the door, he stopped me by pacing a hoof on my shoulder. “Hey kid…” “Yes sir?” “Thanks…opening me up like this…it feels good,” he told me as I smiled again and nodded. I opened the door and stepped out into the stars, returning to my apartment with thoughts of that story floating around my head. **** Afterthought Filler chapter, sorry it took so long.
ReminiscenceCertain names, locations, and other elements of this work of fiction are owned by EA, Namco, and Hasbro respectively. On another continent, thousands of miles away from Equestria’s shores, lies the epicenter and reason why I am standing in front of this door. The architecture was astounding, as were most homes in the capital city of Canterlot. The walls looked like they had recently been painted, and its white glow was warm enough to bring peace to your soul. And here I was, a scrawny gray unicorn wearing the nerdiest glasses money can buy, about to conduct his first real interview as a rookie journalist. Of course I was nervous. The topic I had picked for this interview was not very common, especially for a fledgling reporter like myself. I had a profound interest in the subject however, and after discovering some inconsistencies in the Canterlot archives’ history books, curiosity peaked my interest. I kept searching. I was certain that I would find something there. All I had to go on were some unclassified documents and very vague depictions that I had managed to scrape together. It obviously was not going to be enough to satisfy my curiosity. After scrounging through some records I found a list of names that might be useful to me. One name stood out in particular. I needed an eyewitness account to get the answers I wanted. My story wasn’t very popular back at the office. When I had presented my story to the editor-in-chief, it was denied immediately. After he told me that such an event never existed, he became suspicious of me for selecting a topic that may have included a massive government cover-up. Even though my request was rejected and I was working on more approvable articles, my curiosity was biting at the back of my mind the entire time. I couldn’t resist the urge to delve deeper into uncharted territory. I had to find an answer. I didn’t care what the outcome or conclusion was, but I had to have closure regardless. Little did I know, I had stumbled upon something much larger than I had anticipated. Still to this day, I can tell you that I was not prepared for this. A few seconds after I had knocked on the smooth wooden door, it opened slowly to reveal a blue unicorn with a dark blue mane. He had a moon inside a larger moon facing each other for his cutie mark. “Come in,” he said in a in a suprising gentle yet masculine voice. Maybe this was the story I had been searching for, all this time… Red Alert: 16 Years Ago Reminiscence **** Belka. It was the gem of the Verusan island continent. A powerful industry, backed with economic growth that would have soon rivaled the great superpowers of the east, Equestria and Karalia of the Osean continent. This proud and strong nation was well on its way to becoming a superpower. Then, twenty-five years ago, the worst recorded drought in world history struck the nation’s mainland. Forcing the country to purchase imported food, foreign businesses took advantage of the situation by pushing prices and tariffs to ridiculous levels. Soon Belka was unable to pay to keep its citizens fed, so foreign powers like Equestria and Karalia began to gut her resources and advanced technology programs as compensation. Losing valuable resources that made up a large amount of its profits and with the national debt increasing, Belka’s economy collapsed. The country's frustration was directed at the foreign powers for "stealing what was theirs" as the superpowers continued to ransack Belka's resources and technologies unabated. Bitterness toward foreign nations and extreme nationalism began to take hold in Belka, a volatile combiniation. Amidst the economic panic, a radical party took power in Belka, promising to restore the nation to its former glory. Utilizing propaganda, they had gathered an immense amount of support and crushed all political opposition. And sixteen years ago on this date, with the discovery of natural resources in surrounding nations, Belka began to invade its neighbors. Entire foreign field armies were obliterated by the might and technology of the legendary Belkan military. Said to have some of the most elite units in the world at the time, even the superpowers feared them. The Belkans continued their hate fueled assaults. It wasn’t long before they had seized a vast majority of the continent. Crying out for help, the superpowers acted swiftly to aid the defeated nations on the continent.Covert task forces were deployed by both Equestria and Karalia while masking the action back home. Using newly acquired Belkan technology to reweaponize their troops, the allies began their counterstrike operations. This is all the information I have now and I realize that it lacks detail greatly. Mainly because of the cover-up affecting the amount of documents I have access to or the fact that this might not be true at all. Maybe it was just another wild rumor, a conspiracy theory if you will. Perhaps I am chasing nothing. But there is only one way to find out for sure… According to one record I have located containing a list of names; this blue stallion standing in front of me was attached to the Equestrian task force. Midnight Sparkle. **** “Please have a seat. Can I get you anything? Starlight has tea on the stove,” the unicorn across from me offered. “No thank you, I’m fine,” I said as politely as I could manage. I took a seat in comfortable purple couch while Midnight pulled up a wooden chair and sat across from me. Despite the friendly welcoming, I couldn’t help but to feel a bit anxious. As my haunches sunk into the plushy couch below, I pulled my notepad and pen out of my saddlebags. “So, what brings you here?” he asked nonchalantly as he eyed my writing utensils. “I’m uh…actually a reporter,” I said, trying my best not to stumble on my words. “Well then, what is a reporter doing in my home? Is this about Shining Armor or Twilight?” he asked, his face betraying a look of concern. I gulped. Here we go. I had no idea how this was going to work out or the possible implications of my prying. This wasn’t just a normal family no doubt. The Captain of the Royal Guard and an Element of Harmony user slash Celestia’s protégé in the same family, and that’s not including the fact that their father may have been a part of the covert operation of the century. I had to tread carefully here. This family has strong ties to the crown and if I make a wrong move or utter a poorly chosen comment, then I could possibly end up in a Canterlot dungeon for my actions. “Actually sir, I kind of wanted to talk about you,” my voice quivered slightly as I was trying my best to tread lightly. “Really? Why in Equestria would you want to talk about me?” Midnight shook his head at me as he spoke. He leaned in my direction and looked mystified. He obviously hadn’t seen this coming. “Sir…I uh…have done some research…about the Belkan War,” I squeezed out, my heart beating faster by the second as I could hear and feel it thump in my chest. I was getting light-headed as beads of sweat dripped down the sides of my face. “Oh?” he inquired, raising an eyebrow at me. “You know about it, don’t you?” I said quickly as I struggled to recollect my wits. “Of course, those crazy Belkans were trying to take over that entire continent and even attacked a second one. Then, the allied nations down there pushed them back. That’s about it,” he calmly stated. “They attacked a second continent?” I hadn’t known about that. “But, I’m pretty sure you’re not here to reverberate a history lesson to me. Now tell me, why is it you’re really here?” he asked, leaning even closer to me. “Just get on with it. The worst he can do is refuse, but you’ll never find out anything if you don’t ask!” I urged myself into action. “Sir…I just wanted to ask you about the fighting,” I said nervously, trying desperately to ignore the emotional tsunami taking place within me. He scoffed. “Why would you ask me about the fighting? Like I would know anything!” he chuckled at the presumed ridiculousness of my question. I felt like an idiot. What was I doing here? Should I just turn back and forget about all this? No. I had already come this far and by Celestia’s sun; I was going to get what I wanted. “Sir, you can drop the act,” I said boldly. “Excuse me?” he replied. “I-I know you were involved with the fighting…in fact, I know that the Equestrian military itself was involved,” My voice just echoed the gravity of what I had just done. I had just accused Princess Celestia as a greedy liar, the same princess who gave peace to Equestria and that everypony adored. If I’m going to be arrested, I might as well go through with it knowing I had tried… Midnight was silent for a couple seconds. “Where did you hear such a thing?” he spoke softly, gazing at the blue carpeted floor with the thousand yard stare. “Research. I have drawn my own conclusions and I want answers. Please,” I implored. “How much do you know?” he demanded. “I know that the Equestrian and Karalian militaries bravely fought back the Belkan aggressors and all I want is to find out is what those ponies went through,” I pleaded. “Go to the Canterlot National Cemetery, you’ll get a better story there if you want to talk to a hero,” he said as he bit his lip. Nausea overtook my stomach as I had talked myself into dangerous territory. “I thought that was supposed to be classified but apparently not. Dammit, I thought I was done with this,” he moaned as he buried his head in his hooves. “Are you alright sir?” I asked in fear that I might have brought up some unpleasant memories. He huffed out a quick sigh and gazed into my eyes with a stoic expression. “Well, I see the damage has already been done. If that much information has already been declassified then I’m afraid that there isn’t much else to do…” “Sir?” “What do you want to know?” he said bluntly. I was stunned. Was he really going to tell me? Was I going to be in trouble? I hadn’t told him that this information wasn’t declassified, I just took a shot in the dark and it hit. “Everything… if you don’t mind,” “Well in that case, where should I start?” Afterthought You like?
Bastok PeninsulaBastok Peninsula **** A young colt sets out to find the truth, To discover the secrets of a veteran’s youth. Unveiling forgotten mysteries of the past, Just how long will those memories last? **** “I guess it would make sense for me to begin at the beach landing, even though a lot of it is a blur for me. I’ll do what I can,” he reassured me. Midnight Sparkle was sipping on a piping cup of tea and sighed with satisfaction after a taking a moderate-sized drink. He shifted into a more comfortable position in his chair and eyed me while taking another sip. He used his magic to float a second cup of hot tea over to me and even though I had refused a drink earlier, I gladly took it in my hooves. I was refreshed when I took a sip, the tea was very good and it soothed my throat. I could feel my nerves beginning to calm. “The Belkans were…crazy…to say the least. Blinded by their own hate and grief. As they captured more and more territories, they decided to reorganize their government into a totalitarian state,” he lectured. “But what purpose would that serve?” I asked, bewildered that the Belkans would make a move that seemed completely pointless. “They needed a way to rule over the vast amount of territory they had captured. They had split up their new provinces into regional governments…,” he paused for a second to sigh. “Then they formed an alliance with the captured states. They called it a Soviet Union, I believe,” Mr. Sparkle put emphasis on the word ‘formed’ as he spoke. “A Soviet Union huh?” This story was getting more and more interesting by the minute. After I taken another swig of that delightfully warm tea, I had started jotting down some notes. “Belka, by this time, had either occupied or annexed most of the entire Verusan continent,” he started. My interest and my excitement grew when I realized that I was finally getting what I wanted. My story. It was actually happening! It was real. “And it was our job to take it back…” **** The amphibious transport was rocking back and forth as it approached the coastline. Waves were beating against the sides of the small craft as Corporal Sparkle struggled to get a grip on the side rails to keep his balance. His Sergeant was standing tall near the entrance, giving a pre-deployment brief. Behind the sergeant, visible tracer rounds danced along the former Yuktobanian coastline, the sounds of battle accompanying them. To Midnight, it was like an orchestra of war taking place in front of him, as if the bullets and the explosions were telling a story of some kind. The riflepony tried desperately to listen to his Sergeant over the sounds of crashing waves, and artillery booms. He could hear the whistling of Equestrian destroyers firing missile after missile at the beach defenses and pounding of allied cruisers discharging their big guns. The humming of Longbow helicopter engines could be heard as he saw a flight of three flying in a v-formation towards the shore. “WE WILL BE DEPLOYING ALONG THE BASTOK PENINSULA! FIRST BATTALION WILL BE DIVIDED INTO FOUR COMPANIES: A, B, C, AND D! WE ARE PART OF A COMPANY!” The roaring of fighter jets and booming of explosions made up the background noise. Midnight then saw what looked like a lightning bolt coming from the coast; zap an amphibious transport, vaporizing it. Then, the blue stallion heard a crackle over the radio that had been installed in the transport. “This is the destroyer Cloudsdale to the cruiser Manehattan. We’d appreciate it if you could take out that Tesla Coil with your big guns,” After hearing a thundering boom from the cruiser and witnessed a gigantic fireballs erupt from the coastline, two more Longbows flew past the transport, firing missiles at the shoreline. The transport was made of steel rather than wood, a benefit of acquiring Belkan technologies. Every side except the front entrance was walled off and it had a roof for overhead protection. The front entrance had a slit in the front that ponies could see out of it. Midnight couldn't see any part of the battlefield except what was right in front of the transport. It was him, two other rifleponies, a pony with a rocket launcher and a light tank sitting behind them. All of them were wearing tan desert cameo and Kevlar helmets. “OUR MISSION IS TO BREACH THE DEFENSES AND LINK UP WITH THE REST OF OUR BATTALION! DESTROY ANYTHING BELKAN ALONG THE WAY! ALL UNITS WILL THEN REFORM INTO BATTALION STRENGTH AND PUSH INLAND!” They were getting closer to the shore. Midnight looked out at the beach but before he could see anything, a burst of water shot up and hit him in the face. His eyes began to sting as salt water got into them. “ALRIGHT COLTS! LET’S ROLL! SEE YOU ON THE BEACH!” Pinging and dinging of bullets bouncing off the front entrance became more frequent as the transport groaned. From the inside, Midnight and his squad could hear the screams of dying ponies and gunfire on the beach. They had landed. **** It was at this time that I realized how well the story was gripping me. I looked down and noticed my pencil was shaking violently in my grasp. “You alright? You look a little shell-shocked,” he chuckled. I shivered and took a deep breath to calm myself down. Taking another sip of that heaven-sent tea helped. “What was the Bastok Peninsula?” “It was a former Yuktobanian territory; it was the southeast tip of the country. The Karalians were supposed to land at the northern end of the continent, us at the southern tip, and the other allies in the center. All of us were to land in the western part of the continent, combine into one large force, and then systematically retake the continent. As we did so, we had to rescue stranded allied units that got left behind during the Belkans’ first offensive, along the way,” He had explained the simple yet effective strategy in detail. I was really getting some good information here. “What kind of allies?” He coughed and shook his head as he took another swig of his tea. “Early in the campaign, mostly Yukes but as we drove deeper into the continent, we found the Veronans, and helped out the Prussians as well,” he responded, smacking his lips as he dove into his teacup for the last time, emptying it. “What happened next?” I asked, getting the story back on track. The blue unicorn looked down at the ground and without looking up again, he spoke. “All hell broke loose,” he said solemnly. **** The transport’s front entrance was creaking loudly as it opened, only to reveal to the occupants an incoming hail of machinegun fire and the sight of fellow Equestrians getting slaughtered on the beach. He watched helplessly as the crossfire of multiple machinegun nests ripped apart an entire group of thirteen Equestrian earth ponies in what seemed like a split second. Immediately after, he heard cries for help coming from the wounded and screams of agony. Midnight watched his sergeant charge out the transport and immediately followed him, sloshing through the salt water in an effort to get to the beach. He tried his best to step over and ignore a young colt lying on the ground, his body cut to ribbons by machinegun fire. “Momma?! Momma! Momma!” the colt cried out in despair. A riflepony directly behind Midnight took a bullet to the throat and made a disgusting gurgling sound as he dropped onto the floor of the transport. As the rest of the squad sprinted towards the cover of a few rocks on the beach the light tank followed them out. As the Equestrian light tank departed the transport, it spun its turret in the direction of the cliffs above the beach and fired at two Belkan soldiers manning a heavy machinegun nest. The tank shell hit its mark dead-on as one of the enemies’ bodies was catapulted off the side of the cliff from the force of the blast. The chaos of combat surrounded the squad as they poked their heads out from cover to get a bearing on their positions. The light tank noticed another machinegun nest directly in front of the squad pinning them down behind the rocks with machinegun fire. It adjusted its turret and fired, destroying that emplacement as well. The tank then drove off to find other defenses to attack. Thanks to the light tank, the Equestrian squad a lot less machinegun fire to worry about. “ALRIGHT! THIS IS HOW ITS GONNA GO! WE ARE GONNA CLIMB UP THAT MOUND TO THE RIGHT OF US! THAT WOULD FORCE US TO CROSS ABOUT THIRTY FEET OF OPEN TERRITORY SO WE MOVE ONE AT A TIME WHILE THE REST OF US PROVIDE COVER FIRE! THEN, AFTER WE CLIMB THAT MOUND, THERE IS A DIRT ROAD LEADING TO THE TOP OF THE CLIFF! WE TAKE THE ROAD AND THEN STICKY HERE WITH THE ROCKET LAUNCHER WILL TAKE OUT THE BUNKER AT THE TOP! GOT IT? GOOD!” His sergeant screamed at the top of his lungs. Midnight then felt a hoof tap him on the shoulder. “SPARKLE, YOU FIRST!” his sergeant yelled. Midnight galloped towards the mound at full tilt, desperately trying to make himself as hard a target as possible. His soaked uniform hindered his speed and was making him uncomfortably itchy. With his squad giving him cover fire, he reached the mound without a hitch, sliding on his knees to cover the last few feet. Once he made it, he leaned against the corner of it and brought his Mare-16 assault rifle to bear and rammed the stock into his shoulder. He then took aim at a machinegun nest on the cliff that had a perfect view of the crossing point between the rocks and the mound. He gently hovered his hoof over the big red button in the grip and prepared himself as one of his ears twitched. “Move! I’ve got you covered!” the corporal called out to his two remaining teammates. As soon as the sergeant galloped from his position, Midnight squeezed the hoof-sized button in the grip and as a result, the weapon discharged a three-round burst. As he fired burst after burst and watching his shots kicking up dust on the cliff, he could of swore he saw one of the two Soviet machine gunners fall off the side of the giant dirt wall. He saw his sergeant moving to take his place so he took cover behind the mound and watch as his sergeant provided cover for the rocketpony. Once they all had united, they scaled the mound and reached the dirt road. “I’ll go first this time,” the sergeant said in a lower volume than he had during the rest of the day. Midnight followed close behind him and the rocket pony behind him. They were moving at a trotting pace up the dirt road. Suddenly, two Belkan soldiers in solid green uniforms crossed into the path, and spotted the Equestrians. Midnight aimed for the one on the right and dropped him with two quick three-round bursts and the sergeant downed the second one with his own Mare-16. However, right after the engagement, the sergeant’s body hit the dirt-covered ground with a thud. Midnight ran over to him and flipped his body over. What he saw was a perfect line of bullet holes lined across the squad leader’s gut. Midnight snatched up some of the former squad leader’s magazines from his uniform and placed them in his own. “Sorry,” the blue unicorn whispered to his late leader. He turned to the rocket trooper, his only remaining squad member. “You! Follow me. We still have a bunker to destroy,” “Roger,” the rocketpony responded. “After that, we’ll link up with anypony we can find alright?” Midnight added. “Yeah, I’ll follow you,” the rocketpony replied. It wasn’t long before both of them reached the bunker. Once they got within visual sight of it, they both hit the deck and remained prone. The structure itself was very odd. It had ports sticking out in all four directions and did not attack how one would expect. “Is that thing…shooting fireballs?” Midnight asked bewildered. The other pony glanced at him with an equally mystified expression. Sure enough, that bunker was actually a strange contraption that fired balls of flame from four open ports at intruders with devastating effect. Right now, it was pummeling the beaches down below with searing balls of death. Midnight and his last teammate had to destroy it to protect any Equestrians still landing on the beach. “Alright, blast it! Do your stuff!” Midnight encouraged the rocketpony. The earthpony remained prone and adjusted the tube that was slung over his shoulder. Click! SWOOSH! The first rocket went on its way and slammed into the side of the flame tower. The resounding force of the explosion blew off one of the firing components of the flame tower. “Hit it again!” At that a second rocket ejected from the tube and left a white vapor trail in its wake. This one pierced the side of the column that was holding the tower up. Midnight noticed that a significant hole had been blown into the tower’s support structure. “Right there! Aim there!” Midnight yelled frantically, jabbing a hoof at the breach. The earth pony reached into his saddlepack and fished out two more rockets and one by one, shoved them both down the tube. Once he finished, he took aim once more. Click! SWOOSH! It flew through the gap created from the last hit and exploded inside the tower itself. The tower gave a painful groan as its foundation was severely weakened. “That’s the spot! One more should do it!” Midnight half-cheered as he glared and gritted his teeth at the tower, attempting to will it to the ground. The earth pony took careful aim and fired. Click! SWOOSH! An ear-shattering explosion threatened to deafen anypony within a hundred yard radius as the top of the tower popped right off and crashed on the ground below. The rest of the structure, without its stand, toppled over and slammed into the dirt-covered ground, spewing debris everywhere. The fireballs coming from the now non-existent tower had ceased. “Great shot! Now let’s move up and try to find our unit!” the blue unicorn half-cheered. The rocketpony shuffled onto his hooves and as he tried to swing his rocket launcher tube over his back, three bullets whistled through the air and made three distinct thuds as they slammed into his chest. He body twisted sideways and hit the ground. Midnight stayed down as machinegun fire emanated from behind the wreckage of the flame tower. He took a risk by peeking his head up, only to drop back down due to enemy fire. But before he took cover, he noticed that there was a cement trench behind the tower wreckage and that a machinegun emplacement was there firing in his direction. He stopped and thought for a second before remembering that he had four fragmentation grenades in his pack. He fished one out with a hoof and tossed the portable bomb with his teeth. The pin, which his teeth were holding the grenade by, remained in his mouth as the rest of the device was lobbed through the air and into the trench with one quick jerk of his head. After few seconds, Midnight heard the resounding boom coming from the trench, followed by cries of pain and screaming in a foreign language. Midnight gripped his Mare-16 with a hoof, got on all fours, and charged towards the trench. He dived into the trench and was immediately jumped by a survivor. The pink unicorn swung at Midnight with her rifle, but Midnight blocked it with his own and used his superior strength to push her back. The mare lifted her rifle to take a shot at him, but the corporal dived out of the way at the last second. As he hit the deck he brought up his own rifle while lying on his back and squeezed off two three round bursts. The first volley missed right, ricocheting off the wall of the trench. The second burst hit the foreign mare dead-on, killing her instantly. As Midnight watched her drop, he didn’t notice the second enemy charging at him from behind. The unicorn, still lying on the ground, looked over his back and saw a pegasus stallion flying towards him with a sword drawn. “Dok-ta-ria!” was the Belkan pony’s battle cry. Midnight spun his rifle around to get a clear shot at the charging pegasus. He took careful aim and squeezed the red fire button with his hoof. Click! “…Uh-oh,” he said sheepishly. Empty magazine. “Yeah…so I’m gonna die…” He thought as he frantically dug into his saddlebag to retrieve a fresh magazine. He eventually grabbed one but as he tried to pull it out, it fell off of his hoof and skidded out of his reach. He summoned his magic to bring it back for him but it was too late. The pegasus was already standing over him, his sword above his head, ready to slice Midnight in half with a downward stroke of his blade. Midnight looked up at his executioner with helplessness. He closed his eyes shut as he awaited the blow that would end his life. It never came. Instead of the sound of the sword cutting through his flesh, all he heard was a lone gunshot. The unicorn opened his eyes and watched the hovering pegasus in front of him stop his motion and just floated there with a glazed look in his eyes. The pegasus grunted as his wings drooped and fell to the floor of the trench, his sword clattering to the ground. Midnight looked at the body with amazement. “What luck!” he thought with his mouth agape and his eyes shot wide open. “I’d take that sword if I were you. Could be useful,” a new voice uttered. Midnight looked up at the spot where the enemy pegasus once hovered and saw another pegasus floating there. This pegasus was dark blue stallion with a green mane. He looked about the same age as Midnight. The corporal watched as his savior put away the pistol that he used to put down the enemy soldier from behind. The blue unicorn looked into the purple eyes of the pegasus through the visor of a pilot’s helmet. “Well…you’re alone…and my Longbow got shot down…wanna roll with me?” the helicopter pilot asked him. Midnight scrambled to his hooves. “Uh…yeah, sure,” he answered, almost dropping his rifle as he picked himself off the ground. The winged pony pointed at his weapon. “You better reload that thing,” the pegasus commented with a smirk. “Right,” Midnight whispered as he magicked over his dropped magazine. He slapped the mag release button on the side of the rifle and rammed the fresh banana-shaped mag into the chamber while the spent one clattered to the ground. He slapped the opposite side of the rifle and heard a distinct click, letting him know that it was locked and loaded. After he had finished, he gazed down at the sword and grasped it with his magic. Midnight held in front of him so his new friend could see. “So…where am I supposed to put this thing anyway?” he asked inquisitively, swinging the metal blade back and forth with his blue aura surrounding it. “Check the dead Soviet. I’m sure he has a sheath for it,” the pilot said. Midnight searched the dead pegasus’s body and recovered a black scabbard with yellow triangles on the design. He noticed a clip that came with it and snapped it to his belt. The unicorn would admit that it did feel awkward to wear the sheath but it didn’t hinder any normal bodily movements, and for that he was grateful. “Good! C’mon friend! Let’s get the hay outta here,” the blue pegasus said as Midnight put the sword into the sheath. **** “That’s amazing! He saved your life huh?! Who was he?!” I asked with anticipation, nearly jumping out of my seat in excitement. Midnight laughed at my antics and urged me to settle down by throwing up a hoof in my direction as he set his empty teacup down. “Heh! Calm down kid. I’m getting to that,” he reassured me as he dropped his head to hiccup. “That guy ended up being one of my best friends,” he said as he picked his head back up and looked at me with a smile. “Skyflare Dash…” “Where have I heard…wait…you don’t mean…” “Yeah,” he finished. **** Afterthought I wanted to make sure you guys got a good fill of some Red Alert elements in this chapter, you know, to remind you that this is a crossover. This story is merely in bloom and much has yet to be put in.
Lost and FoundLost and Found **** Two new comrades claim they are lost And they have yet to feel war’s cost. Though the dirty and wild path may be askew They find new comrades and restore friendship anew. **** “Would you like some more tea?” Midnight asked with me politely. His question snapped me out of my excitement for the moment as I nodded my head. Even though I wasn’t much of a tea drinker, that last cup really hit the spot. He magically grasped both cups as he got up and trotted towards what I had assumed was the kitchen. As Midnight and the teacups disappeared from my sight, I decided to take in the scene around me for a moment. My mother always thought that I was a strange pony for doing this. It was a ritual I did whenever I needed to calm down. Mainly because it always worked. I never figured out exactly why though. Maybe, it’s just because I appreciate good scenery and respect natural beauty when I see it. As I took in my surroundings, I recognized that the clock that was hung high on the wall behind Mr. Sparkle’s seat had been ticking the whole time. That was strange; usually my observant self is able to pick up on things like that right away. I swung my head across the bright yellow paint on the walls and noticed about a dozen family pictures nailed to it, all of them together. The first one showed Mr. Sparkle as a younger stallion, nuzzling an attractive white unicorn mare with purple stars for her cutie mark. It was night and they were outside and were dressed like they were going the Gala or something. Behind them was a taxi carriage. A first date maybe? The second one showed them smiling and the mare from the last picture holding a baby purple unicorn foal in her hooves with Mr. Sparkle giving a young, white unicorn colt a noogie. I managed to stifle a chuckle when I saw that image. After my eyes were done scanning through the various family photos, I turned to my right. There was the wall that held the brown wooden door that I had come through earlier. There was also one window on each side of the door. Through them, I could see the multi-colored rays of the evening sun entering through the glass in beams of light. They were giving off various hues of purple, yellow, orange and even green. Beyond the glass, I could see Canterlot preparing for the night. Shops were closing and the giggles of foals were interrupted by their parents beckoning them to dinner. The mood was surrounding me in an ethereal environment. Peace. That’s what I was feeling. All of this inherent peace washed over my being as I soaked in the bliss that followed. I have to admit, the princesses did a magnificent job keeping Equestria as beautiful as possible. And that included waging a secret war to protect it… Midnight had reentered the room, his hooves clopping onto the floor below. He had two teacups balancing on his horn, one ontop of the other, as he trotted towards me. At first I was astounded at this strange talent of his…only to realize that he was using his magic to hold them in place. “One day, I’ll figure out how to do it without my magic,” he chuckled as he continued to focus on the cups. He levitated one over to me with his blue magic and I caught it in my hooves and quickly took a sip, reveling in the deliciousness that was just as good as the first cup. “You know, Twilight used to love that little trick as a foal. Then she got smart,” he deadpanned as he continued to chuckle. “Damn books,” he joked as he sat down in his chair levitating the teacup into his hooves and took a sip. “This is a nice home you’ve got here,” I pointed out, failing to think of anything else to say. “Yeah, it is. Quiet and peaceful. Nothing coming to hurt us or strike us down. Nopony crossing our borders with a high-tech army coming to obliterate our way of life. Pure bliss. A simple yet satisfying life without the burdens of pain, war, and death on our hooves,” he rambled almost jokingly as he paused to take a drink. The clock behind him rang out seven times. Evening already huh? “This was the life that we fought for,” he finished, throwing his hooves up in an almost shrugging gesture and then looked from left to right with a wide grin on his face. I had to stop myself right there… To contemplate exactly what he was talking about. You know, there’s a common misconception of soldiers and the military in general, especially among the younger crowd. Many think that soldiers are emotion-less robots that have no fear of dying, or that they don’t care about anything else besides war, killing and winning battles. They are often portrayed as over-patriotic powerhouses plowing through enemies without remorse. Without compassion, even for the enemy soldier they had just killed… This was wrong. There is something more to these ponies that I as a journalist, may never discover. But I can sure as hell try. “I suppose I should continue eh?” he said softly. I simply nodded as I took another sip of my tea. **** “Are sure this is the right road?” the blue unicorn asked. “Yeah, yeah. I got it,” replied the pilot while holding a compass in his hooves. Midnight was trotting down a dirt road that led further inland as Skyflare hovered over him, flapping his wings slowly. The booming of naval artillery pounding away, gunfire, and helicopter engines were audible behind them. All of those sounds were becoming more distant as they continued on. After a few more miles, all they could hear was the birds chirping in the trees above and the whistling of the cool breeze being blown in from the ocean. “I’m just not sure if this is the way to my battalion. When I think about it, I’m not sure if this is the way to any of our battalions,” Midnight stated with doubt. “Look, I know what I’m doing. And besides, we landed two entire divisions today. We’re bound to run into somepony,” Skyflare answered as he shrugged. “Wait! Did you just admit that you don’t know where we’re going!?” Sparkle’s eyes went wide and transformed into a glare aimed at his companion. “Ehehehe…the compass might have gotten busted when I ejected out of my chopper,” Dash chuckled sheepishly. He showed Midnight the compass he was holding and sure enough, there was a large crack right down the middle with the needle twirling around aimlessly. “WHAT!?” “I know this sounds bad but-” Bullets whizzed by their heads as gunfire erupted from down the road. Skyflare swooped in and tackled Midnight to the ground before a torrent of incoming fire ripped both of them to pieces. Bullets kicked up dust on the road as shouts came from foreign mouths. Skyflare grabbed Midnight’s saddlebag in his teeth and started to pull Midnight with him as he tried to crawl off the road. “Ka mun! Wah gawt ta git owf tha rude!” Skyflare growled with brown saddlebag in his teeth. Midnight was being dragged on his back as he tried to return fire with his Mare-16. He squeezed off a couple of poorly aimed potshots before he slid into the bushes behind Skyflare. “Well, it sounds like another machine gun nest. Now what?” Midnight asked. Dash peeked over the hedge and tried to spot the nest but had to retract his head on account of incoming fire. He sighed as he plopped down on his haunches next to Midnight. The nest continued to spray bullets across the road, keeping the two pinned down. Skyflare looked over the left side of the bush and saw a grassy clearing. Flanking the road on both sides were trees and bushes, so if they were to move through the clearing, they may have some cover. Lastly, he saw a large rock at the end of the left side that some of the foreign shouting was originating from. “We could try flanking them. Let’s move along this clearing and stay low under the bushes. You with me?” Skyflare asked as he turned to Midnight. Midnight nodded as he rolled over to Dash’s side. The pegasus led the way and began moving swiftly through the clearing alongside the road. If weren’t for the trees and vegetation, they would have been seen immediately. As they reached the end of the clearing, another wall of trees confronted them. Behind this wall of trees were the rock and the possible position of the enemy. Midnight looked at Dash and the pegasus just nodded with whipping out his pistol from his holster. He slid his hoof into the pistol grip and rested it over the red fire button. “Here we go…” Midnight said with a lack of confidence. They both brought their weapons to bear as they charged through the trees. The two companions may be outnumbered but they had the element of surprise on their side. Or so they thought… When they broke out into the clearing where the rock rested, they were met by twelve Belkan ponies. The entire group of enemy soldiers already had their weapons drawn and trained right on the two Equestrians, as if they had been expected them. Eight of them had Alicorn Killer-47 rifles with the other four were manning the machinegun nest that was indeed sitting ontop of the rock. The Belkans started yelling at Midnight and Skyflare in a language that they didn’t understand. “You thought we no see you! You very stupid,” the pony that appeared to be the squad leader said. The white pegasus cocked his pistol and pointed at Skyflare’s head. “Drop your weapons now soldier,” he said as he turned to look at Midnight in a cold and unforgiving tone. The squad leader turned his attention back to Dash. “…And you too pilot.” At this command, Skyflare literally dropped his pistol and rested his forehooves ontop of his head as the sidearm hit the ground with a thud. Midnight gently leaned over and placed his rifle in the grass. As he unclipped the sword, the Belkan squad leader gawked at it with profound interest. “You…you stole Belkan katana! You kill officer! Bastard!” The Belkan pegasus swiped the sword out of Midnight’s hooves and glared at the blade with malice. He turned to eye Midnight coldly. He walked over to Midnight and jammed the barrel of his pistol under Midnight’s chin while moving his face closer to his. “You pay for this now pig,” the white pegasus whispered cruelly in Sparkle’s face. The Belkan continued to apply pressure by forcefully pushing the barrel onto Midnight’s chin. His hoof began to squeeze the trigger button. Midnight tilted his head back and closed his eyes. He began tear up as his stomach tied itself into a knot. The unicorn was on the verge of sobbing as he thought about his wife. He thought about his son and his newborn filly. “Oh Celestia! This is it! I-” Click! Then he heard laughter. **** “So this really was sixteen years ago huh? I can’t believe I was right,” I gasped with wonder as I took a rather large swig of my tea. “So how did you two get out of there? Did they take you prisoner after all?” I finished, setting the teacup down in my lap. The warmth from the teacup on my body was soothing to say the least. I adjusted myself in the couch and laid back a bit on my haunches, letting my back rest on the sofa’s erected pillows. “No. What happened next was the last thing I ever would have expected,” Midnight stated adamantly as he shook his head at me. **** Instead of a quick and untimely death, all he heard was the mocking laughter of the Belkan soldiers. He opened his eyes and saw the squad leader back off of him, displaying the pistol clearly in front of him with pointing the barrel vertically in the air. The squad leader grinned condescendingly with pointing his hoof at a lever on the side of the pistol. …The safety was still on. As Midnight realized this he turned to Skyflare and noticed that he was also still alive. Skyflare, like him, had tears running down his cheeks with a frantic and shocked gaze in his eyes. He turned to face the squad leader once more. They were all laughing at them. Some of them pointed their hooves at the two unfortunate Equestrians as they mocked them and began shouting insults and slurs in the Belkan language. They poked fun at their enemy, the two young stallions both were nearly reduced to a slobbering mess of tears and saliva that dripped out of their mouths. “They…they’re toying with us. It’s a mind game. I-I heard about this in training...” Midnight continued to think as the squad leader reholstered his pistol and contemptuously swiped his own Alicorn Killer off the ground and yanked the bolt back and let it go, causing a loud snapping noise as it chambered a round. “An enemy will do this to prisoners for just about any reason. Whether it’s for pure amusement, boredom, or just a sadistic drive to see their captives suffer mentally and psychologically, this usually means that-” The squad leader was aiming from the hip as pointed the barrel of his assault rifle at Midnight’s center of mass. “Kill them both,” he ordered. “-A captor may not be very merciful…” Midnight deadpanned. Small arms fire filled his ears, coupled with the pounding of a heavy machinegun. Midnight couldn’t believe what he just saw. The Belkans didn’t stand a chance. Bullets ripped into the bodies of the enemy squad with such speed that the unicorn’s eyes almost missed it. Some of the Belkans yelped and dropped to the ground as their bodies were riddled with bullets. The survivors tried to turn around and engage whatever was shooting at them from the rear. The machinegun crew tried to pivot their weapon completely around but they weren’t quick enough for the second volley. Midnight and Dash both hit the deck and a second barrage of bullets soared over their heads. The rounds that didn’t punched into the flesh of the Belkan survivors, including the squad leader. After a few seconds, the gunfire subsided with the sound of a few shell casing clinking onto the ground. Midnight picked his head up and straightened his helmet with a hoof. Their former captors were now nothing more than a bloodied heap of bodies, with more holes in them than a changeling. A couple of severely wounded survivors groaned lethargically as life slipped away from them. Instantly, three more ponies entered the clearing from the rear of the Belkans’ position. Instead of the solid green of Belka, the cyan of Karalia, or the desert tan of Equestria, these three troopers were sporting a light gray and white cameo pattern. When they entered, they swiftly pumped a few rounds into each of the Belkan survivors. They began talking to each other but Midnight noticed that it sounded different this time. The accent was very different and…it was also a different language. “Yukes,” Skyflare whispered in Midnight’s ear as he crawled closer to his unicorn friend. “What’s that?” Corporal Sparkle responded. “These ponies are Yukes. One of our missions was to rescue these guys,” Skyflare spoke out loud, no longer fearing the foreigners. “Heh. Ironic that they ended up saving our flanks then huh?” Midnight chuckled grimly as the Yuktobanian soldiers took notice of them. “Speaking of which, didn’t you get your can saved twice today?” Skyflare asked him smugly with a smirk on his face. “Oh, shut up. You were in just as bad a position as me,” Midnight shot back with a grin. The mood between the two had certainly elevated, thanks to the arrival of the foreign allied troops now standing over them. One of the Yuktobanians was offering a hoof to Midnight who was still prone. The Yuke had a friendly smile on his face as the blue unicorn took his hoof. Another Yuktobanian pony grabbed Skyflare and lifted him up into a standing position. The Yuke that helped Midnight up smiled a sad smile at the Equestrian across from him. The three ponies conversed with each other in their native language for the next few seconds, before stopping and gazing at the two Equestrians. One of them was shouldering a light machinegun while one of the other two had a stolen Belkan Alicorn Killer, and the last had a submachine gun. The one with the submachine gun appeared to be their leader and spoke first. “I am the only one of us that speaks Osean,” the Yuke said with a heavy accent, referring to the language of the continent where the Equestrians and their Karalian allies hailed from. The speaker looked at the two young stallions with a beaming smile. “You are from there yes? You have come to help us reclaim our country? Is this true?” the slightly older Yuke earthpony asked them with anticipation and hope in his eyes. “Yes. We will do everything we can to get you your nation back,” Midnight reassured with a tone of sincerity. Even though he never thought on the subject before, he felt as if he meant it when he said those words. He actually believed it. This leader Yuke pony had a yellow coat, a red mane and was fairly skinny. The Yuke on the left of Skyflare was a burly and large earthpony stallion with a gray coat with a blue and black mane and was carrying his light machinegun from the hip. The large pony nodded at Midnight in affirmation. The last one on the right of Midnight was the only mare in the group. She had a dark green coat with a light gray mane that streaked straight down over her neck and eyes. The unicorn was brandishing the stolen AK in her hooves as she seductively winked at Skyflare. The pegasus groaned in disappointment as he eyed what he couldn’t have. “Please comrades, gather your weapons and we will take you to our campsite. It is the least we can do for our foreign brothers in arms,” the yellow pony offered. “Thank you. I appreciate this,” Midnight responded with a smile as he and Skyflare began retrieving their weapons. “I hate being married,” Skyflare mumbled under his breath as he returned the Yuktobanian mare’s wink with his own. “You wanted your wife to hear that right?” Midnight joked, not even knowing that his companion even had a wife. Actually, he really didn’t know much about his partner at all. “So he does have sarcasm,” Skyflare shot back playfully as he rolled his eyes at Midnight. “Not bad eh?” the unicorn asked as he sheathed his katana. “Don’t get cocky now. I’m the master of comic dialogue…” Dash confirmed as he playfully tapped Midnight on the snout with a hoof. The unicorn raised an eyebrow as he half-glared at the pilot. “Not you,” he finished with a smug smile as they began to follow the Yuke soldiers to their camp. Celestia’s sun was already beginning to set in Yuktobania’s sky. **** It was dark by the time they had reached the camp. Luna’s moon was nonexistent among the white twinkling of the stars above, embedded into the black sky. A gentle breeze blew through the small camp that bordered the forest to the north. All five allies sat in the plains hovering their hooves over a fire. The stocky Yuke earthpony had already started the fire and began preparing dinner, which looked like scallop potatoes and green beans which were being boiled in a pot filled with bubbling water. A type of soup was boiling in a smaller, second pot. Midnight’s snout couldn’t decipher the smell. The machine gunner dipped in a wooden spoon and took a sip, grunting in approval as he walked off to get more firewood. Skyflare was sitting on a log further away from the fire, flirting with the unicorn mare. He was making motions with his hooves and she was sitting on her flanks facing him, AK still in her hooves. Midnight heard her and Sky’s laughter in the background. He passively wondered how they understood each other through the language barrier. But he had more important things on his mind. The yellow pony eyed Midnight as he took a sip of water from a metal cup. “I know that look…you’ve killed. Seen death for the first time. I see it in your eyes,” he told Midnight. The unicorn was just giving the fire a thousand-yard stare. With a shaky voice Midnight replied. “I thought nothing of it then. Of all of the death and destruction on the beach. Mangled bodies of ponies.Their screams and cries. The look of that mare’s eyes when I shot her in the trench. The awful smell of gunpowder and flesh. Everything.” The Yuke lowered his view to the fire as he nodded in understanding. “I overlooked all of it. I don’t know if it was my adrenaline…my desire to live or what.” Midnight chuckled as he thought about this, his eyes still glued to the fire. “It’s funny that now that I’m calm, I can reflect on these now,” he pointed out as he rubbed his hooves together over the fire, attempting to bring them warmth. “Don’t keep everything bottled up. Let it all out now or push it away long enough to let it out later. In the meantime, you can’t let it get to you. Once you are able to push out all of your experiences and refuse to dwell on them, then you can function like a true soldier,” the Yuke told him. “A wise pony once told me: the best way to stay alive in battle… is to fight like you’re already dead. That is a tool that helps me, maybe it can help you huh?” the Yuke smirked as he patted Midnight on the shoulder. “Thank you.” “No, thank you.” “Why?” Midnight asked, his vision breaking from the fire and straight in the yellow earthpony’s eyes. “Because you didn’t abandon us…” the Yuke pony smiled with tears of joy threatening to fall from his eyes. A look of confusion appeared on Midnight’s face. “What do you mean?” “Why else? You actually came to help us! Many of us thought that Equestria and Karalia would just sit back and watch Yuktobania burn at the hooves of those Belkans dogs. But now we will bleed and die together, this makes us brothers,” he said, bringing his face closer over the fire while shaking a hoof to the sky. “When you put it that way, I’m not so sure I like this,” he joked, the Yuke joining him in laughter. After a moment of awkward silence, Midnight spoke again. “Well…at least you’re not alone anymore.” “Aye,” the yellow pony said as he leaned back to down the rest of his cup. “Dicer Stagger,” the Yuke said holding a hoof out to Midnight. “Come again?” “Dicer is my rank, Stagger is my name.” the Yuke explained. “Dicer? I’ve never heard of that.” “It’s equal to an Equui sergeant I think,” Stagger shrugged. “Equui?” Midnight asked with a raised eyebrow. “Equestrian.” Stagger explained once more. “Cute.” The Yuktobanian laughed at the short response. After he finished, he brought up the final subject for the night. “We are actually part of a larger platoon you see. We were just scouting out here before we found you. Our platoon is a few miles north of here, planning an assault to retake a small town along the northeast end of the Bastok. We are going to link up with them tomorrow morning, when the attack is taking place you see-” “You want us to join you…is that right?” Midnight replied as he folded his forelegs, catching on to what Stagger was saying. “We are going to need every gun we can get and soon. We are outnumbered three to one and we have gotten word that the Belkan company garrisoned there is going to execute the civilians at noon tomorrow,” Stagger appealed, becoming visibly uneasy all of a sudden. “WHAT?! But why!?” Midnight cried out in shock. “We don’t know. The town is called Versay. Please, my little sister is there,” Stagger pleaded, holding his hooves together and shaking them in front of Midnight. Midnight rubbed his nose and looked over at Skyflare, who was reciting cheesy one-liners that the mare probably couldn’t understand while pantomiming them. The unicorn mare was giggling at Dash’s ridiculousness with a hoof over her mouth. “I’ll talk to Sky tomorrow. But as it stands, we’ll help.” “Thank you.” **** Midnight smiled at the memory as the clock struck nine. “So…it was the Yuktobanians that saved you,” I pointed out matter-of-factly. “Yeah they did. It’s safe to say that I have a huge respect for the Yuktobanian ponies now. You’d be lucky to meet them. Very friendly and loyal,” the veteran stated. Midnight turned around and gazed up at the clock behind him. “It’s getting pretty late, and you can go home and get some rest if you’d like. We can start again tomorrow.” I smiled as I shook my head. “That’s sounds fine. Tomorrow it is then.” As he got up and showed me to the door, he stopped me by pacing a hoof on my shoulder. “Hey kid…” “Yes sir?” “Thanks…opening me up like this…it feels good,” he told me as I smiled again and nodded. I opened the door and stepped out into the stars, returning to my apartment with thoughts of that story floating around my head. **** Afterthought Filler chapter, sorry it took so long.
