E.S.O.D.

Chapters

Part 1: Operation: Desert Blitz
Part 2: N.E.O Strikes Back
Part 3: Out of the Fire, Into the Frozen Wasteland
Part 4: The Great Battle for the Crystal Empire
Prologue: A Brief History of E.S.O.D and Equestria's Recent Actions Regarding Warfare

Part 1: Operation: Desert Blitz

"Let's go! Let's go! This is the first operation we've had in months! It would piss them off if we were late!" said Tailwind. He was a light blue pegasi dressed in digital camo running to the briefing room. "We're coming! It's not like they are gunna court martial us for being late." Said Azure Blaze getting off the helicopter. He was a pegasi of a darker shade of blue also dressed in the same uniform that Tailwind had on. They had just arrived at a military base in the San Palomino Desert along with the rest of their squad. "Come on get the lead out Nightwing!" said Eagle Eye who was running right behind Azure Blaze and Tailwind. He was a Yellow earth pony also in the same uniform as Azure Blaze and Tailwind. "I'm coming. I'm coming. No need to get your tail in a twist." said Nightwing, a black pegasi in uniform as well and following the rest of his squad. The base was located on the east side of the desert alongside the sea. It was filled with the noises of military ponies at work on their war machines. Some were just sitting around socializing and some were repairing hum-v's and black hawk's that had recently been damaged from previous operations. There was a pleasant wind coming from the sea and the sun was setting on the horizon.

Tailwind was the first to reach the briefing room followed by Azure Blaze, Eagle Eye, and then Night wing. When they got there the general leading the briefing was leaning up against the wall looking at his watch. "You're half an hour late! Where have you been? We almost began to think that you chopper was hit or something." he said.

"Sorry sir." said Azure Blaze "but we were a tad bit late to the chopper at our previous base."

"Yeah you better be." said the general "Now go sit down we a gotta hell of a mission for you." The squad went and sat down in the metal chairs that had been set up in front of a big TV while the general set up the briefing. When he turned on the TV there was a picture of a red pony with a messy mane and a scar across his right eye with the name "Shazid Capon."

"This is Shazid Capon." said the general “he is one of the leaders of a terrorist organization called 'The New Equestrian Order' also known as N.E.O. We have been hunting this guy for years, and guess what, we found him." The TV’s screen changed and was now showing video footage of Shazid on the balcony of a house in the middle of a small city. "Our UAV captured this footage while flying over some unnamed city south-east of here." The TV screen changed again to a map of the entire desert area with a dot on it about twenty-five to thirty miles from the military base. "This is where this city is located. It is highly populated and has a decently sized militia of terrorist working for N.E.O that means don't shoot unless shot at. So here's the battle plan." The TV changed yet again to another screen showing a map of the entire city. "Ok this is the important part so listen up." the general said. "Before you guys come in your own black hawk, five black hawks, each with their own squad of marines, will be tasked with securing a safe perimeter at the north end of the city. The marines will repel out of their choppers onto the ground. After they secure a safe perimeter you will be given the green light to go ahead and repel from your own helicopter onto the ground where you will meet up with the marines already on the ground. Once on the ground you will follow the instructions of the black hawk pilots in the A.O to the target building which we believe is housing the target H.V.T. Once you have secured the building and the H.V.T you will defend the building from any remaining militia until one of our black hawks in the sky comes down to get you guys out of there. Once you are in the chopper it will continue circling the building. Now since our marines so willingly volunteered to sacrifice their safety for yours you will cover them and the other black hawks until they all get back into their choppers. Then the choppers will bring you back here and it will be called mission accomplished." The general shut the TV off. "Now are there any questions?" Azure Blaze raised his hoof. "Sargent Blaze." said the general.

"How many men total are involved with this mission?" asked Azure Blaze.

"There will be a total head count of twenty marines, six pilots, and four E.S.O.D forces a.k.a you guys. Each black hawk will have one pilot and two gunners covering you for a grand total of forty men. Make sure you get them all back safe."

"We'll try sir." said Azure Blaze.

"Don't try, you WILL get them back safe." said the general "Any other questions?" The squad sat in their chairs silently. "Good. Mission is called Operation: Desert Blitz and will begin at 2200 hours tonight. That gives you about three hours to get settled in here. Good luck and this time don't be late to the chopper."

"We won't sir." said Azure Blaze.

"Dismissed!" Yelled the general. The Squad got up and started leaving to head back to the chopper to unload their gear.

"This is going to be our lamest mission yet." said Nightwing. "That militia is no chance for the massive force they put together. There isn't any risk."

"Shut up Night." said Azure Blaze "The less risk the better. Besides this isn't our last mission or something there's going to be more."

"Still I say E.S.O.D shouldn't have to do this boring capture job, they have too many men on the ground for it to have a higher risk and E.S.O.D was made to take risks." said Nightwing.

"They have been looking for Shazid for a really long time I don't think they want the risk of letting him slip through their hooves again." said Azure Blaze. "I also have a feeling that the militia is much larger than you think."

"No militia is too large for us." said Nightwing.

"Don't get too overconfident now night." said Tailwind. "We may be the best but that doesn’t mean we can't mess up here and there." The squad finally got back to the helicopter they arrived in and they started to unload all of their gear. Each bag of luggage was marked with their name and each of them picked up their own bag.

"It's been so long I almost forgot how heavy this gear is." said Eagle Eye. "Let's hurry up and get this stuff over to where we are staying so we can get some food I'm starved after that chopper ride." The squad hurried off to find a nice area in one of the buildings at the base to lay their stuff down and hurried off to the mess hall to get something to eat.

The mess hall was crowded with marines eating their rations all of the tables were being used, forcing some to just sit on the floor or eat standing up just outside. The line to get the food was also overpopulated.

"What do you say we cut a bit?" asked Nightwing "I bet when these marines see who we are they will treat us like kings."

"Best not start anything now Night. We may be good but the marines also deserve a little respect as well." said Azure Blaze. "Remember they've been through hell at their boot camp too."

"Fine have it your way." said Nightwing. So they stood there in line talking and keeping each other company while they waited to receive their rations. It took an hour and a half just to get up to receive their food. After they had finished getting their food they decided to go back to their gear and get set up for the mission that was now only an hour and a half away. They each started to put on their helmets, plate carriers, and knee pads.

"So these N.E.O guys." said Tailwind putting his helmet on. "They've been getting more and more popular lately."

"Yeah they've been all over the media lately." said Azure Blaze attaching his knee pads. "They are really trying to take over Equestria. Something tells me this isn't going to be the last time we see them."

"They are a pretty organized group." said Eagle Eye. "We know they are planning something, something big, but we don't have any idea of what they are planning. One thing is certain. If we get this guy we will learn a bit more about their plans for Equestria."

"I'm going to head on over to the armory and pick up my weapon." said Azure Blaze. "Come on over when you guys are done worrying about N.E.O being an actual threat and finished getting your gear on."

"Hey we aren’t worrying." said Nightwing. "E.S.O.D forces never worry we are simply just recognizing them as a force to be careful about."

"Whatever you say Night." said Azure Blaze and off he went heading toward the armory.

When Azure Blaze reached the armory area he saw 20 other marines making adjustments to their guns and assumed that they were going to be the marines accompanying him on his mission. He also saw tables loaded with weapons and began going down the line looking for a weapon. There was a very wide verity of guns and he soon came up to his weapon of choice, a M4. He picked up the M4 and then proceeded to move down the line to receive his ammo. When he came up on the ammo table he saw that it was organized left to right into sections of bullets corresponding to certain guns. He picked up two grenades, two flash bangs, and thirty-one clips of M4 ammo putting them all into different pouches in his plate carrier. He then came down to the table that had the attachments. He attached an ACOG sight, a flashlight, and a fore grip to the barrel shroud of his M4. He reached out to grab a pair of night vision goggles but was stopped by a marine saying "You won't need that. The city is well lit by street lights. That and they make you look like a dumb-ass." Azure Blaze put the goggles back on the table.

"How do you know the city has street lights?" asked Azure Blaze.

"Well," said the marine. “Unlike you I have been in this city before, everybody has. We have been fighting N.E.O forces here for quite some time now and I bet Shazid Capon is only here to drop off more reinforcements for his already massive militia. That is why it is so important to capture him today, so that the N.E.O forces in this area will be crippled." The marine reached out his hoof. "By the way, name's corporal Blackword." He was an earth pony of a deep shade of purple.

Azure Blaze reached out and shook the marine’s hoof. "Sargent Azure Blaze of the E.S.O.D." Immediately Blackword got up on all fours and saluted Azure Blaze.

"Sorry for disrespecting your judgment sir!" he said. "It won't happen again."

"No, no it's fine at ease." said Azure Blaze "You obviously have more experience in this area than I do so what you say is probably true. Is there anything else I should need to know about this area?"

"Well," said Blackword. "Since the city is located in the middle of the desert sand tends to fly everywhere so it's probably best if you wrap a shemagh around your neck so when the sand starts flying you won't get all that sand in your nose or mouth. That's not a nice feeling. Also the N.E.O forces in this area are pretty good shot so you might want to watch your back out there."

"Thanks for the information." said Azure Blaze "In turn for your help I will ensure you get back here safely."

"Thank you sir." said Blackword and he went back to work on whatever he was doing before he spoke out to Azure Blaze.

After a while the rest of Azure Blaze's squad arrived and began equipping themselves for the mission. Nightwing's weapon of choice was a M249 with a fore grip, ACOG sight, and a bipod. Tailwind chose to take a SCAR-H with a flashlight, ACOG sight, and a laser sight. Eagle Eye chose to take along a M40 with a thermal scope. They all were about to take night vision goggles but Azure Blaze told them what information he had gathered and they decided not to bring them along.

By the time they were all geared up it was dark at the base and there was only 15 minutes left until the mission started. The squad was sitting at a table in one of the buildings playing a card game when another marine came over to visit them. "Hello sirs." he said. "My name is privet Jetstream I will be your black hawk pilot this evening. It will be warming up in about ten minutes if you want to get in early. It will be the one on the far side of the airfield if you’re coming from this building."

"Thank you for your services privet." said Azure Blaze and they went back to playing their game.

"It will be a great honor to be carrying Equestria's best in my chopper." said Jetstream as he turned to go back to work on his chopper.

The squad continued playing until they only had five minutes left until the mission started. Azure Blaze checked his watch. "It's almost time." He said "Lets head on out to the chopper, it should be warming up now."

"Good idea." said Tailwind "We don't want to be late to it this time. It would really piss them off."

As they were walking to the chopper they each put on their headset and turned them on to hear the sound of men preparing for war. They were performing ready checks and the sound of six black hawks starting up filled the air. The waves on the sea had died down and it was now high tide and the stars all shone bright along with a full moon. When they reached their chopper they found Jetstream in the pilot seat.

"Nice and early." He said. "I like that in a soldier."

"Yeah well we didn't want to be late this time." said Tailwind.

"This is chopper 1-1." said Jetstream over the radio. "I have a full headcount of four E.S.O.D forces on my vehicle and I am on standby for liftoff."

"Chopper 1-1 this is control tower we read you loud and clear." said a voice on the radio. "Standby for green light to signal your takeoff."

"Roger that." Jetstream said over the radio.

"So," said Nightwing. "Who gets the honor of being chopper gunners of the day?"

"Tailwind." said Azure Blaze. "You and Night will be the chopper gunners. When we get there though you two are coming on the ground with me. Eagle Eye your job is to snipe from the chopper. Call out where the enemy is over the radio."

"Will do sir." said Eagle Eye.

"Alright let's get in and out of this city clean no mistakes." said Azure Blaze.

"All units we are go for operation: Desert Blitz." said a voice over the radio. "I repeat Desert Blitz is a go, the green light has been given."

"Alright here we go!" Shouted Jetstream over the sound of the propellers. The chopper lifted off the ground and started to gain altitude. Soon the chopper was flying off across the dark dessert in the direction of the target city.

"What is our ETA?" asked Azure Blaze.

Jetstream pointed to a dim shimmer of light on the horizon. "You see that light?" he said. "That's the city. I'd say at the rate of travel we are at now it won't take us no more than ten minutes."

"Well boys,” said Nightwing. "First mission in three months. I don't know about you guys but I’m pretty hyped up. What do ya say we make this one count eh?"

"Yeah I'm pretty excited too." said Tailwind. "Let’s do such a good job they let us interrogate the bastard when we get back."

"Hey watch you language boys." said Azure Blaze who decided to sit on the edge of the chopper so that his hind legs dangled in the breeze. "It's bad luck."

The chopper continued in a straight line toward the dim light on the horizon and not before long the dim light became a giant city. Blackword was right it was very well light and some civilians roamed the streets carrying on their own businesses’. There were also many militia running to their posts in the city.

"This is it boys were here." said Jetstream. "You might want to man those mini guns now."

"Roger that." said Azure Blaze. "Nightwing, Tailwind get on the guns."

"This is chopper 1-1 we have arrived at target city and are awaiting orders." said Jetstream over the radio.

"Roger that chopper 1-1 you are cleared to engage any hostile force. Remember do not fire unless you've confirmed that your target is hostile."

"Alright boys! Hear that?" said Jetstream. "Spin those weapons up and shoot anything that has a gun. Remember to keep the rooftops clear of RPGs. If I go down I won't be giving you a ride home."

"Don't worry!" said Nightwing starting to spin up his gun. "I have never let a black hawk get hit before and you’re not going to be my first."

"RPG! Incoming!" yelled Azure Blaze as a rocket was launched by a nearby building roof.

Jetstream shifted the chopper vigorously around to dodge the missile. The missile barely missed the chopper going right in between Azure Blaze's legs which were still dangling out of the chopper. Azure Blaze came right back up into the chopper saying "Shit that was close!"

"What did I just say!?" yelled Jetstream. "Shoot the damn RPGs!"

"On it!" yelled Nightwing mowing down the man who shot the RPG at the chopper. The man almost instantly laid down dead as soon as he fired the weapon and there was a lake of blood trailing from his head.

"This is chopper 1-2." a voice said over the radio. "My marines are on the ground go ahead and drop the next batch."

"Roger that 1-2 this is chopper 1-3 coming around for insertion." said another voice. Suddenly the sound of bullets that were being fired on the ground increased. Choppers were dominating the city with their massive fire power; nothing could be heard but the buzz of their mini guns. Nightwing and Tailwind were unloading on the forces below and Azure Blaze and Eagle Eye were also firing out of the chopper at the hostiles on the ground. Not much later they could hear the last chopper over the radio saying. "This is chopper 1-6 my marines have boots on ground and there is a full headcount." The chopper pulled away from the circle of marines securing a safe perimeter on the ground for the E.S.O.D forces that were to come later.

About two minutes past until corporal Blackword came on the radio saying "Sargent Blaze this is Blackword. Remember me? I was right huh? This city is very well lit tonight. Anyways we have this area pretty locked down so why don't you guys come on down here and enjoy the scenery."

"This is Sargent Blaze." said Azure Blaze over the radio. "We read you loud and clear and will be coming down momentarily." Azure Blaze turned to talk to Jetstream. "Take us down it's time for us to get our game on."

"Roger that." said Jetstream. The chopper then maneuvered its way over the marines on the ground and let out the ropes. "This is your stop. Now go!" said Jetstream. Nightwing and Tailwind got out of the gunners seat and slid down the ropes onto the ground. Before Azure Blaze went down he turned and said to Jetstream and Eagle Eye, "Make sure you keep us safe."

"Will do." said Eagle Eye. "Now go!"

Azure Blaze slid down the ropes onto the ground. There he met up with the rest of his squad and Blackword. All of the marines were keeping a careful watch on the road and shooting at armed militia here and there.

"Welcome to the city Blaze." said Blackword.

"Let's go boys." said Nightwing. "The sooner we get this guy the sooner we can go back."

"Jetstream this is Blaze." said Azure Blaze over the radio. "We are all ready and waiting go ahead and send instructions on getting to the target building."

"Arighty let's see." said Jetstream. "Ok you see that ally way to the east? You’re gunna want to take that over to the next street, once you are over there you want to travel south down the road. The building will be the one at the end of that street surrounded by a cement wall."

"Alright let's go!" said Nightwing as he started to run down the alley way.

"Nightwing hold up!" said Eagle Eye over the radio. When Nightwing got to the end of the ally way a terrorist came out from around the corner with his gun pointed at Nightwing. Nightwing had no chance to get his own gun up. The terrorist was shouting words really loud in another language. Suddenly the side of the terrorist's head burst out in blood and the terrorist fell to the ground dead. Nightwing was stunned; he had never been that close to death before.

Eagle Eye came on over the radio. "You can thank me later man but from now on stick with the fucking squad and don't run off so often."

Azure Blaze ran up to Nightwing and saw that he was just standing there. "What happened?" asked Azure Blaze. "Never mind let's go hurry up." The marines and the E.S.O.D forces continued down the street. The only force against them was the building at the end of the street shooting back at them. They got stuck about halfway behind some abandoned cars and debris with bullets flying past their heads. "Jetstream this is Azure Blaze come in." said Azure Blaze over the radio.

"This is Jetstream. What's the problem?" Jetstream responded.

"We are taking some heavy small arms fire from the target building." said Azure Blaze. "Do you think some of your friends can help take out some of those guys on the roof so we can move up?"

"Will do." said Jetstream. "Keep an eye on the sky and wait for the fireworks."

Azure Blaze looked up and saw two black hawks flying above them toward the building with mini guns buzzing as they unloaded on the building. The militia on the roof was distracted from the ground forces and began firing on the black hawks, but they were no match for their heavy guns. Before long the bullets coming from the building stopped and they were able to move up again.

"Now’s our chance!" yelled Blackword. "Everybody push up and breach the target building!" The ground forces ran up to the building and waited outside the front door. Azure Blaze took out a flash bang, armed it, and threw it through the window while saying, "Fire in the hole!" After the flash bang went off he bucked the door in. There were six militia standing rubbing their eyes from the blast and they military rushed in and killed them with their knives plunging into their opponent’s throats. The blood from the massacre went everywhere.

"Alright everypony." said Azure Blaze. "I want a clean sweep of the building. I want two men on the door; nobody gets in nobody gets out. Tailwind you take half the rest and check upstairs. Me and Nightwing will take the remainder and search the ground floor.

"Roger that." said Tailwind and off he went with four marines upstairs.

Azure Blaze and Nightwing continued to break down the doors of the lower floor searching each room for signs of Shazid Capon, but there was no sign of him. Once they were done with the ground floor they all met up together again.

"Did you guys find anything?" asked Nightwing.

"No, nothing." said Azure Blaze. Just then Blackword came on the radio saying. "Blaze, get up here we have a bit of a situation. Quickly they all ran up the stairs and came to the room where Blackword was. They found Shazid Capon but he had taken Tailwind as a hostage with a pistol against his head and the marines that went with him had their weapons on the floor.

"Drop your weapons or I kill the colt." said Shazid. The rest of the ground forces had to heed his warning and they all set their weapons on the floor. "Now," said Shazid. "I am going to walk out of here alive! Not followed! I will be taking him with me and nopony gets hurt." Shazid started to walk out of the room. All of the marines kept staring at him. Shazid began walking down the stairs. The marines had come out of the room to watch him go down the stairs. Shazid pressed his gun even more against the head of Tailwind. "I said not followed!" he yelled and he continued out the front door. The marines that were guarding the front door backed down. Once he was out the door a gun shot went off and both Tailwind and Shazid fell on the ground. Shazid was screaming his lungs out. The marines went back into the room, grabbed their weapons, and ran out to see what had happened. Shazid's hoof that was holding the pistol had been blown off and Tailwind was perfectly fine. Jetstream flew by in his chopper and over the radio Eagle Eye said, "What would you guys do without me?"

Everypony started to cheer at the chopper and Azure Blaze said "Alright let’s get this bastard back to base and see what he was hiding out here." They all made their way to the roof and Jetstream came down with his chopper. They loaded Shazid, who had been bound and gagged, into the chopper. One by one each of the other choppers came down and picked up each of the marines and headed back home.

"Eagle Eye." said Nightwing "Thanks for the help out there; I would be dead if it wasn't for you."

"Don't mention it." said Eagle Eye. "I'm here for you man."

"Really Eagle Eye." said Tailwind. "You saved our asses I owe you one."

"Command this is Azure Blaze, we have successfully captured target H.V.T and are RTB." Azure Blaze said over the radio. "We took no casualties."

"This is command, well done troops mission accomplished. Now get back here, we have a long night of interrogating ahead of us."

"Roger that." said Azure Blaze leaning back in his seat, taking off his helmet and taking a deep breath in and out. "Let's go home boys."

Part 2: N.E.O Strikes Back

"He just won't talk." said Blackword. "We've tried everything. He just won't spill a thing." It was the next day and Azure Blaze, the rest of his squad, and Blackword were there watching the interrogation through a one way window which allowed them to watch without being seen. They all had their weapons and gear equipped. Shazid Capon was on the other side of the window sitting in a chair bound in rope and hoof cuffed with a table in front of him. His face was bloody from the hooves that were punching him trying to get information out of him but something seemed odd. During the interrogation Shazid never took his eyes off Azure Blaze even when he moved from one side of the observation room to the other. It was almost like he could see through the one way window in between them and was watching his every move.

"He's watching me." said Azure Blaze covering his face with his hoof. "I see him doing it! How is he doing it!? Are you sure he can't see through this window!?"

"I'm absolutely positive." said Blackword. "I couldn't see through it when I was in there." Suddenly Shazid burst out laughing in the room alone as if he could see the trouble that they were going through on the other side of the window.

"Whoa." said Tailwind. "What is he laughing at? This is getting really weird." Just then the general came in.

"Did you get anything out of him yet?" he asked.

"No sir. We tried everything." said Blackword. "But he seems to be watching Azure Blaze through the one way window. We don't know how or why Azure Blaze but one thing's for sure he's got something against Azure Blaze."

"Have you tried putting Azure Blaze in there with him yet?" said the general.

"No sir." said Blackword.

"Well since he has obviously taken such a liking to sargent Blaze I think it would be worth a try." said the general. "Blaze, Get in there and see what you can do."

"Yes sir." said Azure Blaze as he walked over to the door to the inner interrogation room. He kept on wondering to himself why Shazid was watching him so much. As he started to walk from one side of the room to the side the door was on Shazid was watching him. When Azure Blaze got to the door there was a very malicious grin on Shazid's face. Azure Blaze entered the room, closed the door behind him and sat down in a chair across the table from him.

"You win Shazid." Azure Blaze said. "You got them to throw me in here with you. Now what is it going to take to get information from you."

"I have been waiting a long time for them to send you in." said Shazid.

"Yeah no shit." said Azure Blaze. "You've been staring at me for the past hour. Now what do you want with me!? What is N.E.O?! What are they planning?! Answer me!"

"All will be revealed in due time." answered Shazid. "I'm glad you finally noticed I could see you behind that window. You seemed a bit frustrated at the fact that I wasn't talking and just watching you. I am sorry for making you mad but there was no other way of telling them I wanted to talk to you." Azure Blaze looked at the wall with the reflective window in it. All he could see was himself and Shazid in it.

"How can you see through that window?" asked Azure Blaze.

"If I was unbound I could show you." said Shazid. "But unfortunately that is not going to happen."

"Yeah you got that right." said Azure Blaze. "Anyways how you can do it isn't important right now. Now I want to know about N.E.O. What is it?"

"I thought you military people already knew." said Shazid. "N.E.O stands for The New Equestrian Order."

"Now you’re playing dumb with me." said Azure Blaze. "What are they planning!? Tell me now!"

"The name explains that as well." said Shazid. "We are planning to create a new order in Equestria. How we are planning to do that, I can't tell you. But..." Azure Blaze interrupted him by getting up and grabbing his throat and lifting him out of his chair.

"Tell me you sad excuse for a pony. What are you planning!?" yelled Azure Blaze.

Shazid struggled to get his words out so Azure Blaze put him back in his chair so he could talk again. When Shazid cleared his throat he said "But I can tell you this." Azure Blaze leaned over the table to make sure he heard what Shazid had to say. "Today the San Palomino Desert. Tomorrow the Frozen North." At that moment the room shook and the lights flickered. Shazid let out a long evil laugh. "The time of judgment on all Equestria has begun." he said. Azure Blaze rushed out of the room. The rest of his squad was gone and the only people left in the room were the two marines that were set to guard the room.

"What's going on?" asked Azure Blaze.

"N.E.O is attacking us as we speak!" said one of the marines. "The rest of your squad stormed out of the building to go defend the base and the general told us to tell you to do the same. Now go! We need you out there. Hurry they have jets and attack helicopters raining thunder on us."

"How did N.E.O get their hands on those?" asked Azure Blaze.

"How the hell should we know." said one of the marines. "Just get out there and shoot them down."

"Keep a close eye on Shazid." said Azure Blaze. "Don't let him out of your sights." Then Azure picked up his weapon and rushed out of the building to fight back the N.E.O forces. When he got outside the sound of war was overwhelming. There were attack helicopters shooting missiles everywhere and jet storming through the sky. There were also transport jets with paratroopers parachuting out of them. There had to be more than 3,000 troops coming down on the base at the same time. Azure Blaze turned on his headset to hear the screams of other Equestrian military forces. "Where did they come from!?" said one voice. "They're all over the place!" yelled another one. Azure Blaze stood in awe at the descending enemy forces. He had never seen so many at one time and they were much better armed than the ones they encountered in the city last night. "This is Azure Blaze," he said over the radio. "What happened? Where did this force come from?"

"Azure Blaze!? This is Blackword. Thank Celestia your still alive." said Blackword over the radio. "The N.E.O forces came from the north. We weren’t expecting such a large force. The general was shot in the head. He's dead Blaze. He's dead! His last orders were to abandon San Palomino military base. You’re in charge now Blaze. What are we going to do!?"

"Calm down Blackword you’re going to be fine." said Azure Blaze. Where's the rest of my squad?"

"Last I saw them they were over on the airfield." said Blackword. "They are securing the area so we can get the fuck out of this hell hole. Me and Jetstream are pinned down over on block 'c' with the HUM-Vs."

"Ok hold up over there I'll be right over then we’re getting out of here." said Azure Blaze running off in the direction of block "c" to join up with Blackword and Jetstream.

"Roger that." said Blackword over the radio. "We'll hold out for as long as we can over here."

As Azure Blaze was running bullets began flying by his head and missiles continued to rain down in random places on the blacktop. Often he would get pinned down behind some form of cover and fight to get an opening to move up. One time his cover was a HUM-V that was blown up by a missile another time it was an enemy attack helicopter that was blown out of the sky but he used his cover wisely and quickly mowed down each wave of attackers that he came to.

"I'm almost there Blackword." he said over the radio. "I just need to make it around the building on the back side of the hanger the HUM-Vs are in." Just at that second a hell strike missile came down and blew the whole building to pieces. "Shit! Are you guys okay over there?" said Azure Blaze. Nothing but static came on the radio. "Blackword! Jetstream! Come in! Respond! Say something!" Azure Blaze could hear the sound of a HUM-V with two ponies in it yelling out "WOOOO HOOOOO!" A HUM-V sped up to Azure Blaze with Jetstream in the driver seat and Blackword in the passenger seat.

"Did you think we were going to die here in our own base?" asked Blackword.

"Well what are you standing around for?" said Jetstream. "Get on the fifty cal.!" Azure Blaze hopped in the HUM-V and climbed up through the hatch in the top to get on the fifty cal. Once he was up there he started to unload on the enemy forces that were closing in on them and Jetstream sped off.

"Yeah! I've been flying that chopper for so long I almost forgot how much fun it was to put the pedal to the metal on the ground!" yelled Jetstream. "So. Where to?"

"We need to get back to the interrogation room to secure Capon!" yelled Azure Blaze over the sound of the fifty cal. he was firing. "We can't risk losing him again!"

"Right! I'm on it." said Jetstream as he jerked the steering wheel to adjust the HUM-V to a course that would take them straight to the interrogation building.

"I have never seen N.E.O with a force this big!" said Blackword. "So did you get any information out of Shazid?"

"I might not have gotten anything too important, but he did say that their planning to attack somewhere in the Frozen North." said Azure Blaze mowing down all of the enemies that they were driving by. "We need to get out of here and get back to Canterlot to inform our superiors."

"Almost there!" said Jetstream. "The interrogation room is just around the corner of this building." When they turned the corner they saw the door to the building had been bucked down and one of the two marines, an orange pegasus, was in the door way shooting the enemy forces.

"What happened soldier?" asked Azure Blaze.

"You just missed them." said the marine. "They stormed the building we tried to hold them off but there were too many. They shot my buddy in the right hind leg, took Shazid Capon and left on a chopper. I couldn't have done anything to stop them.

"Damnit!" yelled Azure Blaze. "Get the wounded onto the HUM-V, we are heading over to the airfield and getting out of here!"

"Sir Yes sir!" said the marine. So he went back inside the building, brought out a wounded red earth pony, and they both got in the back of the HUM-V and they sped off toward the airfield.

"Argh! It hurts!" yelled the wounded marine.

"Hang in there we are on the way to the airfield!" said Azure Blaze. "When we get there Nightwing, my squads field medic, will fix you right up! In the meantime open the back and cover our six with your guns. Make sure you hang on! If you fall out we aren’t coming back for you!" The marines opened the trunk of the HUM-V and started to fire at the enemies that slipped by Azure Blaze's fifty cal.

"Jetstream!" yelled Azure Blaze. "Get Tailwind on the radio and tell him to power up the chopper for hot extract!"

"Roger that!" yelled Jetstream. "Jetstream to Tailwind. Come in Tailwind."

"This is Tailwind!" he responded on the radio. "Where are you guys?! We've been holding them off at the airfield for a really long time! We don't know how much longer we can hold them off."

"We are in a HUM-V on our way there right now!" said Jetstream over the radio. "We need you and the remaining forces to prep all choppers for hot extract now!"

"Roger that!" said Tailwind. "All choppers are prepping for launch! Standing by for hot extract."

"Sir!" yelled one of the marines in the back, "We have a problem!"

Azure Blaze heard the deafening tone of an attack chopper and turned around to see his fears confirmed. There was an enemy attack helicopter hot on their tail spraying missiles everywhere. Jetstream maneuvered the HUM-V to doge the missiles one after another but Azure Blaze knew he couldn't keep it up much longer. He turned the fifty cal. toward the attack helicopter, said "You two in the back need to keep you heads down. This is going to get rough." and started to unload on the chopper. The two marines shut the trunk to the HUM-V. The chopper continued to pursue them but with Azure Blaze firing his weapon at it seemed to have some trouble following them.

"Keep it up Blaze!" yelled Jetstream. "We are almost there!" Just then the sound of a second chopper filled the air. A black hawk came by and out of the side of it shot a rocket. The rocket struck the cockpit of the attack helicopter and it began to crash. When it hit the ground it bounced up and went right over Azure Blaze's head before rolling to a complete fiery stop in front of them. Jetstream slammed on the brakes and stopped just before they hit the fiery wreckage. They all stood there in awe until Azure Blaze said "Holy shit." slowly.

The chopper that shot down the attack helicopter came around and hovered by the ground. Tailwind was in the pilot seat and Nightwing had an empty rocket launcher in his hands while Eagle Eye was on the other side of the black hawk in a gunner seat mowing down enemies with his mini gun. "Dose someone need a ride?" said Tailwind. "Jetstream get in the co-pilot seat." said Azure Blaze "Blackword help me and the other marine get the wounded onto the chopper. After you do that get on the other mini gun." They all got out of the HUM-V and piled into the black hawk. After they were all in they shut the doors and took off setting a course for Canterlot along with ten other black hawks. As Azure Blaze looked back down on the base he could see the remaining enemy forces on the ground cheering and mocking the fact that Equestria's military lost this day.

"Nightwing this marine was shot in the leg." said Azure Blaze. "Do you think you can fix him up for us?"

"Think? I know I can." said Nightwing. "Stretch it out for me." The marine stretched out his leg and Nightwing began to administer first aid to his leg.

"Thanks a lot sirs." said the un-wounded one. "We couldn't have made it without you. My name is privet Thunder Cloud and his name is privet Moonbeam. How could we ever repay you guys?"

"We'll see how life goes." said Azure Blaze. "With N.E.O growing ever stronger we may need all the help we can get."

The chopper continued to fly for a while and every so often Azure Blaze would look out the side windows. Every time he did he saw something worth looking at. One time he saw a flock of phoenix soaring through the sky, another time he saw a pack of timber wolves on the ground. He wondered that if the country went into all-out war what they would do. The last time he looked out of the chopper window they, and ten other choppers, were landing in the royal Canterlot military airbase. They all got out of the chopper and met with officials to give their own stories about what happened to the military base in the San Palomino Desert. Azure Blaze told them all about what Shazid had told him. About the fact that they were planning to make a stronghold in the Frozen North. They later all attended a briefing that day that was conducted by princess Celestia herself.

When princess Celestia entered the room all of the ponies rose out of their seats until she motioned for them to have a seat. When she did they all sat down in their chairs and listened to what she was about to say.

Princess Celestia began by saying, "Upon thorough investigation on the situation we have reason to believe that the known terrorist organization called N.E.O are going to attack somewhere up in the Frozen North. For this reason we are going to send you all to the Crystal Empire to help with defense in that area. Now, Blackword, Jetstream, Thunder Cloud, and Moonbeam." the marines all looked up at Celestia. "Because of your battle records, and a recommendation from a certain 'important' pony, I have personally decided to promote you strait into the E.S.O.D branch of our military. Congratulations." The new E.S.O.D recruits all looked at each other in amazement and then at Azure Blaze who was sitting in his chair with a grin. "Now pack your things, you leave for the Crystal Empire tomorrow morning." As Celestia was leaving the room she went aside and said to Azure Blaze. "Remember they are your responsibility. If they die in this branch it's your fault." "Ma’am," said Azure Blaze. "If they keep fighting like they have been. They will fit in just fine." Celestia smiled and said "Dismissed." as she walked out of the room.

Part 3: Out of the Fire, Into the Frozen Wasteland

When the next morning had arrived Azure Blaze woke up in the guest room he had been assigned to the previous night along with the rest of his squad. Azure Blaze himself got the bed along with Moonbeam because he was wounded and needed a good night's rest to recover for what they were scheduled to do that morning. Tailwind was sleeping on a couch in front of the window and Nightwing and Eagle Eye were on the floor right in front of him each with their own blanket and pillow. Jetstream was on the floor by the side of the bed that Azure Blaze was on and Blackword was on the floor on the side of the bed that Moonbeam was on while Thunder Cloud was at the foot of the bed. The entire room was sleeping except Azure Blaze who had purposely woken himself up early in the morning to go for a stroll around Canterlot before he left for the Crystal Empire later on in the day. He slowly sat up on the bed and moved himself to the side and dismounted so as to not disturb his teammates in their precious sleep. His blue and cyan mane was all rustled from the bed so he decided to, for once, make himself look presentable because he was in Equestria's capital, Canterlot. After he was done brushing out his hair so that it was presentable he put his uniform on and headed out the door of the room. He ended up on a balcony of a high tower overlooking the city with a stairway leading down on his left. It was still dark out and the sun hadn't been raised by Celestia yet. He trotted over to the rail and leaned on it to see what was below him. He looked out on a very bright city with its streetlight on and a light in every window of every tower. When he opened his mind to the sight he immediately thought of the city in San Palomino that he attacked a couple of day ago and thought to himself what would happen if N.E.O did the same thing to this city, his city. His watch started to beep and he looked down at it. It was 5:59 AM and there was only ten seconds left until it was six o'clock. "Here it comes." He said to himself. Right when his watch struck six o'clock there was a bright red light on the horizon that transformed into a yellow one before he could see the sun peeping over the horizon and Celestia in the middle of it raising it to its proper place in the sky. He then turned his attention to the moon and saw Luna in the middle of it bringing it down below the horizon. "Right on time." He said. Then he climbed up on the rail and jumped off in a free fall towards the ground. It had been a really long time since he was without his gear so that he could fly freely without its restrictions or its weight which was so great that whenever he tried to fly with it on he was easily fatigued. When he was about 1,000 feet from the ground he spread his wings and began to glide through the air above the busy streets of Canterlot. As he flew over the busy streets the ponies walking on the ground spotted him in his uniform and cheered at him. He saluted to them and continued forward. He didn't want to land on the streets because he wanted a nice peaceful place to rest before he had to leave to go back to warfare of the modern day. He decided to land in the palace gardens and get rid of his stress there.

Azure Blaze came in for a landing in the garden and began to trot through looking at the flowers and hearing the bees busy at work in the hot summer day. There were guards around the perimeter of the garden for security purposes. The garden was open to the public most of the time and the guards were just there to keep the peace. He continued going deeper into the garden until he found a small pond with a waterfall streaming down into it and fish swimming in it. He decided to sit by the water's edge and relax. He looked over into the water and saw his own reflection. He could see the light blue hue in his eyes and the scabs that had formed on his face from minor scratches he picked up while fighting on the field. While he was still looking at his own face the face of another appeared next to him and asked "Who are you?" It was Princess Luna. Startled by the fact the Luna had sneaked up behind him like that Azure Blaze jumped up and landed in the pond with water up to his uniform sleeves, splashing Luna.

"I am dreadfully sorry princess." said Azure Blaze bowing down so low his face went into the pond as well. When his head went under Azure Blaze came up shocked and embarrassed at his clumsiness in front of the princess. His hair that he had taken so long to brush out in the morning had been messed up by the water and the princess was giggling to herself. "My name is Sargent Azure Blaze your highness." He replied trying to save his reputation from going too far down the drain.

"It is nice to meet you Sargent Blaze." said Luna, "Why are you here? Aren't you on duty right now?"

"Yes I am your highness," said Azure Blaze, "I was just trying to alleviate some stress I have been carrying around lately."

"I am sorry to hear about this." said Luna, "Please explain some of it to me. By the way you can just call me Luna."

Azure Blaze came out of the pond and sat down next to Luna at the edge again and began to explain the recent events that he had endured. "It all started when me and my squad got dispatched to the San Palomino Desert military base." he said. Immediately Luna interrupted him saying, "Whoa, wait a minute. Your one of the survivors from that base?"

"Yes ma'm." said Azure Blaze.

"Wow," said Luna, "We lost 85% of our forces including the general when that attack hit that base. It must be hard thinking about all the death that happened at that base. The attack is all over the media. Families everywhere are mourning for their lost ones."

"I know," said Azure Blaze hanging his head low, "War is nothing to be glorified. You never know when you’re going to get shot which makes it torture when you do get shot. When you look back into the deepest pages of the world's history and its wars there are numbers, those numbers represent how many lives were taken. They represent how many families were touched by the cold finger of war. It may be easy to read over the one number while it's written in the book, but the reality of it is that the one number actually represents millions of souls that were ripped from the world. As the war goes on that on number keeps climbing higher and higher and when you die that's all you become is a part of that single number among the rest. The readers just read over that number like it's just another word in the book they don't experience the pain that the people in that number or their loved ones went through. They don't realize that every single one of them in that number would put themselves between anyone and a bullet. After a while of being in the military you realize that there is no life more valuable than the men standing next to you. I would risk my life for them and I know they would do the same and that there is honor. For this reason we must remember the dead behind us just as much as the living in front of us." Both Luna and Azure Blaze sat there in silence a while longer until Luna spoke up.

"Come with me Sargent Blaze. I have something to show you." she said as she spread her wings and took flight. Azure Blaze followed along faithfully through the sky to the other side of the castle where the statue garden was.

"Why did you bring me here your highness?" questioned Azure Blaze.

"First of all I told you to just call me Luna." replied the princess, "And I brought you here so that you could see this." She motioned to a giant wall filled with names. "This is the sunrise memorial. It is dedicated to the brave colts and mares who gave there lives to fight off the changelings in the great battle for Equestria about forty-five years ago. The enemy had a very great advantage because my sister would not accept the new form of violence recently created in that time period and because of that, many soldiers fell to the wrath of the changelings. They went to war knowing they would die. In their honor we constructed this great wall and engraved every single one of their names into it. Not only that but also the names of all the other soldiers that fall giving their lives for this country. When the wall gets full we add another section. But the overall purpose of this wall is to remember every soldier. So that they aren't just another number in a book."

Azure Blaze walked up to the wall and started scanning through the names. His eyes stopped on a familiar name to him. The name was "Violet Blaze" and written next to it was "MIA." He put his hoof on the wall next to the name and rested his head on the wall. "Father." he whispered.

"You are very brave pony." said Luna putting a hoof on Azure Blaze's back, "I must go now but I am sure we will meet again sometime. You are a very interesting soldier. You should go as well, you don't want to miss your transport jet and have to fly all the way to the Crystal Empire yourself now do you?"

Azure Blaze looked at his watch. It was now 6:45 AM and his transport was scheduled to take off at seven o'clock. "You're right Luna," said Azure Blaze, "I guess I'll see you later," he paused for a second before he said to himself, "If I survive."

"Now don't be that way Sargent Blaze!" said Luna as she started to leave the clearing they were sitting in, "Thinking like that won't bring you back anytime soon. Do me a favor please. Come back safe will you?"

"Anything for you your highness." said Azure Blaze.

"It's Luna!" said Princess Luna before she left Azure Blaze's line of sight. Azure Blaze then extended his wings and took to the sky, fling in the direction of Canterlot's military airfield. It wasn't long until Azure Blaze was on his transport jet along with the rest of his squad flying to the Crystal Empire. Everypony was quiet during the trip there was not a word spoken until they landed in the Crystal Empire's airbase. When they got off the transport jet they were greeted by the general of the base.

"Come on! Come on! Move it!" he yelled, "Get the gear off the plane and meet me in the briefing room in half an hour!"

"Sir yes sir!" the entire squad responded and they began to unload the transport jet's gear that it had carried all the way to the Crystal Empire. There were giant ammo crates each with packed with ammunition of varying sizes and weapons. They were so heavy it took two ponies at one time to carry them. Some of the members of the army who shared the trip with them drove HUM-Vs off the jet. The entire Crystal Empire had recently taken precautions for the war between N.E.O and Equestria. The entire city had changed its appearance to be somewhat transparent and therefore harder to spot from a distance. After they finished unloading the jet they headed over to the briefing room to learn about what the Crystal Empire's plan of defense. When they all entered the room they sat down in some metal chair they had set up. The briefing room was filled with state of the art equipment. There was a crystal on a table at the front of the room with two unicorns in uniform on the sides of the table standing completely still and looking straight forward. When the general and princess Cadence herself walked by everypony in the room got out of their chairs and bowed for her.

"At ease soldiers." she said with a very serious face. All the ponies sat back down in their seats. "Let's get this briefing done fast," she continued, "I have been doing this all day and I want some time to get this whole situation out of my head. On that note, general Solstice, please go on with your presentation."

"Thank you your highness." said general Solstice. He was a cyan earth pony with a red mane dressed up in the proper general's attire. "Present source!" he shouted in a firm voice. The two unicorns that were at the end of the table turned to face the crystal at the center of the table. Their horns began to glow and their eyes turned white before they lowered their heads so that their horns were pointed at the crystal at the center of the table. A beam of white light shot out of each of their horns into the crystal in the center of the table, making it produce a hologram of the Crystal Empire with all of its defensive forces marked in the air right above it. "As you all know we have some major intel from the enemy N.E.O forces threatening to take the Frozen North." said General Solstice, "This is why we are increasing our defenses in the Crystal Empire. We also have a second military base strengthening their defenses about 500 miles west of here but that isn't your priority today. Today our priority is to keep the Crystal Empire and everypony in it safe. This means we need to be ready for any sign of an attack. So here is our plan, first of all we will have a scouting team of three patrolling the mountains between here and the military base 500 miles from here. Don't worry you don't have to walk, we will have snowmobiles waiting for you on the other side of the city's shield and you don't have to go scout more than fifty miles from here. If something happens we want you guys to be able to get back here and help out as much as possible. We will also have three snipers on the very top of the main castle facility overlooking the city, looking for any sign of hostile military action below and if something does happen they will cover our forces on the ground. We will have three M1 A1 ABRAMS tanks guarding the crystal heart underneath the castle, which brings us to the problem of power. In these times of war the lack of the love in the city and the fact that about fifty percent of the city has been evacuated has drained the crystal heart of most of its power. Right now we have it putting a camouflage over the city which redirects most of the shields power but if they seem to still find us we will redirect its focus to the shield again. Are there any questions?" The room was silent and nopony moved. The two unicorns generating the light beams stopped and went back to their original position that they were in when they had entered the room. "Good. Sergeant Azure Blaze, divide your team into two teams of four. The one will stay here in the city and the other will be our scouting squad."

Princess Cadence stepped forward and said, "The Crystal Empire has the greatest military in all of Equestria. If it falls nothing will be protecting the rest of the world from N.E.O taking over. We have to keep this city. Am I clear everypony?" The entire room responded with a "Yes your highness." simultaneously.

"Good. Dismissed." Cadence said as she left the room.

Azure Blaze got up and carefully chose the teams of ponies who were supposed to stay or go. "Nightwing." he said, "You and Tailwind will be coming with me and Sergeant Blackword in the scouting squad. Jetstream, Eagle Eye, Thunder Cloud, and Moonbeam will be staying here. Listen to general Solstice and keep a look out for any signs of N.E.O. Got it?"

"Yes sir." they all said.

Azure Blaze and his squad went, got their weapons from the armory, and headed toward the front gate of the city to mount their snowmobiles. Azure Blaze had his M4 and Nightwing had his M249 but this time Tailwind took a silenced M82 Barrett and Blackword had also taken a M4. They all had put on snow camouflage and had helmets with goggles.

"So Azure Blaze." said Blackword as they approached the two crystal spires at the entrance of the Crystal Empire, "Why did you tell Celestia to let us into E.S.O.D?"

"Because I saw your effort on the field." said Azure Blaze, "You weren't scared to speak up to your superior about his fault in preparing for the mission ahead. I can tell that you guys have the potential to survive and that's what E.S.O.D is all about. Not only getting the job done, but making sure that your teammates get back safe as well. Just remember that and you'll do just fine." When Azure Blaze had finished talking he crossed through the city's shield and mounted a snowmobile

"Yeah," said Blackword crossing through the shield as well, "I got this." It was snowing hard on the other side and the clouds the snow was coming from were so dark barely any sunlight got through.

"Come on Blackword!" yelled Azure Blaze, "Your riding with me!" Blackword jumped on the back of Azure Blaze's snowmobile and pulled down his goggles from his helmet. "You ready?" asked Azure Blaze.

"Let's move." yelled Blackword.

Azure Blaze looked over and saw Nightwing and Tailwind had both mounted their snowmobile. Nightwing was in the driving position and Tailwind was holding on tight to his back. Nightwing turned to look at Azure Blaze and gave a signal to show that he was ready. Azure Blaze gave him a signal back, started his snowmobile, pulled down his goggles, and took off into the freezing cold blizzard setting a course for the Crystal Mountains.

"Make sure we stay close." said Tailwind over the radio, "In this kind of weather it will be easy to lose each other." They continued through the snowy wasteland. The only sound they heard to keep them company was the sound of their snowmobiles' engines roaring throughout the desolate icy landscape. When they finally got to the mountain range they parked their snowmobiles and met up in a circle.

"So," said Nightwing as he was staring up the towering mountain above him, "We have to climb this mountain? It's got to be at least 1,500 feet."

"Somebody has to get the job done Night." said Tailwind, "It's our job this time. Beside how hard could it possibly be?"

The squad began climbing up the mountain by foot. About a quarter of the way up they ran into a wall of sheer ice. "I guess it's time to get the old ice picks out then." said Azure Blaze. The squad went into their gear bags and each took out a pair of contraptions that resembled that of an animal trap. They laid the devices on the ground and slipped their front hooves into the tops of them. Immediately the devices clamped tight to their hooves. Azure Blaze approached the wall of ice and hit it with his front right hoof with the device on. Out of the device came long hooks that dug deep into the ice. He then proceeded to hit the ice with his front left hoof and it did the same. He began to repeat this process in turn climbing the giant wall of ice like a ladder. Nightwing followed him, Tailwind followed Nightwing, and coming up last was Blackword. When they had reached the top of the wall there was a small flat shelf where they rested for a while after they put their ice picks back into their gear bags. After a short while they continued up the mountain on a gentle incline until they finally reached the top where they could look out on all the area around them. Behind them they could barely make out the giant Crystal Empire castles sticking up through the clouds and in front of them there was a vast fog covering the rest of the unexplored land to the north.

"Man," said Blackword, "Ever wonder if someone is out there? Where we can't reach them."

Azure Blaze looked out into the fog below and saw that it was all flowing the same way like a river. "Wait a second." he said, "We might not be alone out here. Hand me your sniper rifle." Blackword gave Azure Blaze his sniper rifle and Azure Blaze looked down the scope into the river of fog. "Mother of Celestia." he said, "You guys better take a look at this." He passed the rifle and each of his squad-mates looked down the scope. At some points in the fog they could see through the veil and had a clear sight of an entire army of hostile forces moving in a direction toward the Crystal Empire. There were T-90 tanks and a massive military all moving the same direction creating the air flow that moved the layer of fog.

"Holy shit." said Nightwing when the rifle came around to him, "There are thousands of them."

"General Solstice come in," said Azure Blaze over his radio.

"This is general Solstice." a voice replied over the radio, "I read you loud and clear. Send traffic."

"We have bad news." said Azure Blaze, "We have discovered a hostile army en-route to the Crystal Empire. There has to be more than 5,000 of them and they are packing heavily armored tanks."

"What?" replied the general, "Report back to base immediately. We will call for aid from our military base to the west of here. It seems we have a war on our hands."

"Roger that." said Azure Blaze, "Alright boys, you know the drill. What goes up, must come down."

"Damnit." said Tailwind, "I climbed up this mountain just to see a bunch of hostile tanks and militia and come back down?"

"Shut it Tailwind." said Azure Blaze, "We gotta get back to the Crystal Empire and help set up defenses."

The squad began to descend the mountain in the same way that they came up. When they got to the ice wall they decided to rappel down it. When they got to the bottom of the ice formation the ground started to shake and the sky turned red. Suddenly there was extremely loud bang rang through the air. When the sound and the shaking had stopped Blackword said, "What the fuck was that?" Then suddenly there came a noise from above them that sounded like a rushing waterfall.

"It's an avalanche!" yelled Azure Blaze, "The sound must have triggered it! Get the fuck off the mountain!"

The squad took off running down the base of the mountain following their previous tracks toward their parked snowmobiles. Soon after a giant waterfall of snow came over the giant wall of ice and began chasing them. It wasn't long before the river of snow was about 200 yards behind them. Blackword tripped and yelled out in pain, "Leave me!"

Azure Blaze turned around and started to run back to get him. "Get to the snowmobiles and get them running," he yelled to the other two ponies in his group. He went down and pulled Blackword onto his back and began trotting down the steep hill again. Nightwing and Tailwind had already gotten to the bottom and started up both vehicles for their arrival. The avalanche was only fifty yards behind them before Azure Blaze reached his snowmobile. As soon as he got there he set Blackword on the back seat and got on. He then took off speeding away from the snow barely avoiding getting buried in snow and headed toward the Crystal Empire.

"Why did you risk your life for me like that?" asked Blackword.

"Why not?" said Azure Blaze, "Your one of us now. You better get used to getting ass saved." Azure Blaze began to talk on the radio, "General Solstice come in." he said but there was only static coming over the radio. "It's no use something is blocking the signal." he said, "We have to get back to the Crystal Empire to see what happened."

Part 4: The Great Battle for the Crystal Empire

The snowmobile's engine roared beneath Azure Blaze as he sped off in the direction of the Crystal Empire. Nightwing and Tailwind were following him on their snowmobile and Blackword was hanging onto Azure Blaze's back. The blizzard around them had stopped and all he could see was an open field of snow with a blood red sky above it. His headset kept giving off static but he kept it on in hopes of a friendly signal coming through to inform them of what just happened. When they had reached the halfway point on their return trip a faint voice came up on the radio saying, "All units this net. Code red, I repeat, code red. The..." static interrupted the broadcast, "... has been wiped out. N.E.O forces are... on the city. Primary objective is to... I repeat, escort the princess to... and get her out of the city."

Azure Blaze tried to get his voice through the radio saying, "This is Sargent Azure Blaze. Me and my squad are almost at the city. We will be entering on the west side. Can anyone tell me what just happened!?"

"Blaze! Thank Celestia it's you!" returned a voice, "This is Jetstream. I don't even know what happened. All I know is..." static cut him out for a while before he came back on and said, "I see a giant pillar of smoke off to the west and we think it was the military base. You better get your ass back here as soon as possible. All of our tech was crippled from the blast and N.E.O forces are advancing from the north toward the city."

"We are on our way." Azure Blaze responded, "ETA is in five minutes. Hang in there." Azure Blaze tried pushing his vehicle to the max but it couldn't go faster than how fast he was already going.

When they were about two minutes away they saw that the city was surrounded by the enemy forces. A voice came back on the radio. This time it was much clearer than the first time because they were closer to the city. "This is general Solstice." the voice said, "We have confirmed that the explosion to the west was our military base. It is so far unclear what hit them and there are no survivors. The enemy is completely surrounding the city's force field."

"General Solstice this is Azure Blaze." Azure Blaze responded, "My squad is two minutes away from the west side of the city. We are going to need some help getting back inside. Think you can send some reinforcements to help us?"

"Negative Sargent Blaze." general Solstice responded, "We are redirecting all of our forces to take defensive positions around the city. You're on your own from here."

"What!?" said Azure Blaze, "How could you leave your soldiers out here like this?"

"Blaze!" General Solstice yelled back over the radio, "I know you are very capable of handling the current situation you are in. We cannot spare any reinforcements in this situation. Solstice out."

"Well boys," said Azure Blaze, "It looks like we are on our own getting back into the city."

"What?" said Blackword, "They aren't going to help us?"

Just then a voice came on the radio saying, "You aren't alone." and a series of explosions erupted on the west side of the city clearing a way for the snowmobiles to get in while the enemy was still recovering from the attack.

"What was that?" asked Tailwind over the radio.

"I don't know," said Azure Blaze, "But it gives us a chance at getting back into the city unharmed, let's take it."

Immediately the snowmobiles speed up and drove through the hole in the enemy forces around the city and through the city's shield. When they got on the other side of the city's shield they parked their vehicles and saw Jetstream, Eagle Eye, Moonbeam, and Thundercloud all standing there with AT-4 rocket launchers smoking as if they had just been fired and each carrying their own M16A4.

"Welcome back sir." Eagle Eye said, "We sure did miss you."

"Thanks for the help there guys," said Azure Blaze, "we never would've made it back without you."

"Don't mention it." said Jetstream throwing his empty rocket launcher onto the ground, "We all save each other's asses out here one time or another. It's just war."

"What now?" asked Jetstream, "The city is starting to evacuate and the princess is being secured inside the castle."

"General Solstice," said Azure Blaze over the radio, "My squad has made it back into the city and are awaiting further orders."

"Roger that," said General Solstice, "Fall back to the castle and await further orders."

"Got it." said Azure Blaze, "On our way. Alright boys lets hoof it!" The team started to trot back to the castle in the center of the city. The aurora lights over the city were fading slightly but they still seemed glow somewhat strong with power. As the team was running through the city they saw thousands of other military ponies setting up defenses and other military ponies escorting civilians to evacuation transports. Some of the ponies setting up defenses took refuge in random houses, other were set up on the streets and in alleyways. They could hear the sounds of the war machines powering up and moving around over all of the loud orders the soldiers were screaming out to others. When they got back to the castle in the middle of the city they saw General Solstice yelling orders to other soldiers with the three tanks surrounding the crystal heart in defensive positions. The heart's blue light was starting to fade to grey.

Azure Blaze walked up to General Solstice and said "Sargent Azure Blaze reporting for duty sir!"

"Good," said General Solstice, "It's about time you guys got back. We are currently working on evacuating any and all citizens in the city. The east side of the city needs a bit of help with this so guess where you have to go. If you encounter hostiles that somehow got around the shield you are weapons free to engage. Everypony is weapons free."

"We'll get right on it sir." said Azure Blaze. The squad began running toward the eastern side of the city to begin evacuating it's residence. Most of the ponies who lived closer to the center of the city had already been evacuated so the squad had to run to the houses that were on the outskirts of the city. They decided to split up into two groups, one with Moonbeam, Thunder Cloud, and Azure Blaze in it and the other with Jetstream, Tailwind, Blackword, Nightwing and Eagle Eye in it, to cover a greater area and began leading civilians back to the transport vehicles that took them back to the evacuation site. Many of the ponies they evacuated were panicking and wondering what was going on but the squad reassured them by saying everything was going to be just fine as long as they listened closely to their directions. After a while of evacuating the transport vehicle pulled away because they were too full to carry any more civilians. "We're full up." they said to Azure Blaze, "You go look for anyone else we might've missed while we go drop these folks off at the evacuation cite. We'll come back for you afterwords." After the transport had left the squad started to inspect more houses but every house they entered was unoccupied. They came to the last house at the end of the street "Alright this looks like the last house in this sector, lets check it quick and get back to base." said Azure Blaze. "Roger that." responded Moonbeam and Thunder Cloud. The squad breached the door and started scanning for civilians. Moonbeam went upstairs, Azure Blaze stayed on the ground floor, and Thunder Cloud went downstairs into the cellar.

After a while of searching Thunder Cloud shouted out "I have a civilian down here!" Immediately Azure Blaze and Moonbeam ran downstairs into the cellar to see what Thunder Cloud had found. "Where is the civilian?" asked Moonbeam. Thundercloud pointed to a box in the corner of the cellar. Two shiny eyes could be seen from under it and then it moved so that they could no longer be seen.

"It's okay you can come out." said Azure Blaze, "We won't hurt you we want to help you." Slowly the box lifted off the floor and fell sideways onto the ground revealing a light pink filly that was shaking in fear. "Hi there." said Azure Blaze, "My name is Sargent Azure Blaze and this is Thunder Cloud and Moon beam. What's your name?"

The little pink pony stuttered but managed to say "M-m-my name is Sweet Peach. But my friends just call me Peachy so I-I guess you can call me that too."

"Where are your parents Peachy?" asked Moonbeam.

"M-m-my daddy is away in the military." responded Sweet Peach, "I don't know where my mommy is. I was outside playing in the streets with my friends when people started to run around and there were people with guns on the other side of the shield staring at us so we all decided to go home. But when I got home my mommy was gone. Then I heard a big explosion and they sky turned red so I came down here and hid underneath this box until now."

"Why don't you come with us." said Azure Blaze, "We'll help you find your mom I promise."

"Do you know where she is?" asked Sweet Peach.

"No." answered Azure Blaze, "But I promise you we will find her."

"I guess I'll go as long as it's safe." said Sweet Peach.

"I promise we will keep you safe." said Azure Blaze. The little pink filly walked over and stood beside Azure Blaze. Azure Blaze took off his helmet, put it on Sweet Peach's head and said "There, that helmet will protect you if anything were to happen. Sorry if it's too sweaty" The helmet was loose and did not fit the pink filly's head that much but it seemed to cheer the scared filly up. She began running around saying "Look at me! I'm a soldier!"

"What are your orders Commander Peach?" asked Azure Blaze saluting the pink pony that was half his size. "Let's go find mommy!" shouted Sweet Peach as she ran upstairs to the main floor.

"Do you think we will be able to find her mom in all of this chaos?" asked Moonbeam.

"Let's hope so." replied Azure Blaze. The squad then followed the pink filly up the stairs to the main level. When they go to the main floor they saw Sweet Peach waiting for them at the door. "Come on let's go already." she said.

"Hold on Peachy we'll be right there." said Azure Blaze as he began to talk over the radio, "Command this is Azure Blaze. We have found one last civilian pony. What is the status on that transport?"

"Azure Blaze this is command," another voice responded over the radio, "The transport has just finished unloading and is coming around for another trip. Be advised this is the last trip it will take until the evacuation take-off." "Roger that." responded Azure Blaze, "We will start walking your direction."

Another voice came on over the radio saying, "Command to all units this net, hostile projectile approaching the Crystal Empire at high speeds. Brace for impact." Azure Blaze looked out the window of the house they were in. He saw a giant black mass coming toward the city trailed by stream of deep dark purple light. He watched as it came closer and closer to the city. "Everypony get your heads down now!" he yelled and everyone dropped onto the floor covering their heads with their hooves. Moonbeam covered Sweet Peach with his body. The giant dark mass had collided with the city's shield causing the ground to shake violently and a loud explosion to echo through the city. The house was shaking so much the pots and pans in the kitchen had flown all over the place and pieces of the ceiling had fallen off and landed on top of the squad.

After the shaking had stopped Azure Blaze moved the giant piece of ceiling that was lying on top of him to the side, got up and said, "Everypony alright?"

Thunder Cloud surfaced from the sea of wreckage on top of him and said, "I'm good. What the hell was that?"

"I don't know." said Azure Blaze, "Nor do I want to find out. Moonbeam, Sweet Peach are you guys alright?" Thunder Cloud and Azure Blaze went over to the place where they had taken cover and removed the rubble from on top of them. Moonbeam and Sweet Peach both got up. "We're OK." said Moonbeam brushing some of the dust that had settled on Sweet Peach off of her.

"Uhh guys," said Thunder Cloud looking out the window, "I think we better get going." The squad went over to the window and saw the shield fade away to nothing. The enemy forces on the other side of the shield started to charge at the city with the engines of their tanks roaring and shouts coming from the infantry. "We gotta move now!" said Azure Blaze, "Let's go Thunder Cloud, you're at point, Moonbeam, get Peachy on your back you're in the middle, I have the back! Come on let's move we don't have much time!"

Thunder Cloud bucked the door to the house open and ran out onto the street. Sweet Peach climbed onto Moonbeam's back and followed Thunder Cloud. Azure Blaze came right behind them. Once they were on the streets they started running toward the castle. A voice came on the radio saying, "Command to Azure Blaze, we can't hold the transport planes from evacuating the city. They have to take off now without your civilian."

"Damnit." said Azure Blaze back over the radio, "Can't you hold the planes a little while longer? We're on our way back."

"Negative Blaze the planes can't hold they need to leave now." the voice on the radio said, "Your transport is coming. Get your civilian on it and it will take them to the castle, we'll make sure they stay safe after that."

"Roger that." said Azure Blaze back over the radio. "All units this net," the voice on the radio said, "The Crystal Empire has just been hit by an unidentifiable WMD causing catastrophic damage. The blast was shielded by the city's shield however the crystal heart has no more power left in it and can no longer repel the invaders. All units are cleared to engage enemy forces on sight."

They were about a quarter of the way back to the castle when bullets from the enemy started to rain in on them and they were forced to take shelter in an alleyway. Moonbeam set Sweet Peach on the ground. Sweet Peach was shaking in fear but Moonbeam comforted her by saying, "It's okay I'll watch over you. Nothing is going to get to you without going through me first." Moonbeam then turned to Azure Blaze and said, "What's the plan Blaze?"

"Thunder Cloud, you cover the entrance to the other side of the alley. Moonbeam stay there with Peachy and make sure she's safe. Try to keep her from panicking this will be all over soon. I will keep a watch on this side of the alleyway." Azure Blaze leaned his head slightly out of the alleyway to be greeted by a member of N.E.O yelling and about to strike him with the buttstock of his AK-74M. Azure Blaze ducked underneath the swing, came back up, and grabbed a hold of the AK. He rammed the barrel of the gun up the other soldier's eye, shoved him to the ground, and pulled the trigger to the weapon causing blood to spray everywhere. Azure Blaze lifted his head, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and said "That was a close one." He grabbed a hold of his M4 he was carrying with him since the scouting mission and looked back out into the street to see it flooded with hostile forces. As soon as they caught sight of him they started unloading their weapons on the opening to the alleyway and Azure Blaze had to lean back in. He thought that that was it, that there was no way of getting out of the alleyway alive. He looked over across the street and saw a sight for sore eyes. There in an alleyway of their own across the street was Tailwind waving his hoof at him. Tailwind was later joined by Nightwing, Jetstream, Eagle Eye, and Blackword. He watched as they all counted to three and then lean out and start lighting up the enemy forces. The hostiles were caught by surprise and began dropping like flies to the attack. Once the squad on the other side of the road had drawn the enemy fire, Azure Blaze leaned out and started to fire as well. For every one soldier they took out three more seemed to replace them. Azure Blaze came back into the alleyway to reload his weapon when Thundercloud shouted out from the other side, "We have friendlies coming in!" Azure Blazed looked down the road and saw the Equestrian army coming up to help fight off the hostiles. A light blue earth pony ran up to the alleyway and said, "Sergeant Blaze, your transport vehicle was just hit by a rocket. We have been sent by General Solstice to escort you back to the castle. Where is your civilian?" Sweet Peach came out from behind Moonbeam and saw the pony in the opening to the alleyway and said, "Daddy?" Immediately the light blue earth pony's face was filled with surprise as he said, "Sweet Peach?" The light blue pony suddenly got hit by three consecutive bullets. One hit his shoulder causing him to turn outward and then two in his chest knocking him back onto the ground.

"DADDY!!!" screamed Sweet Peach. Moonbeam tried to restrain her so that she wouldn't run out into the open fire and get shot herself. Azure Blaze pulled the pony in so that he was no longer out in the open. Sweet Peach broke free of Moonbeams restraint and went to her father's side. "Daddy are you OK?" There was no response. Sweet Peach's eyes began to tear up. "Daddy say something." she said.

The light blue pony blinked and looked back up at his daughter and said, "Sweet Peach..." he lifted his hoof up and moved the light pink pony's mane out of her face. Azure Blaze got on his headset and called in a CASEVAC. "Sweet Peach," the light blue pony continued, "I've always loved you, but I think this is it for me." The light blue pony coughed and blood started coming out of his nose and mouth.

"No daddy don't say that." Sweet Peach replied, she was starting to cry. "Make sure your mommy is OK." The light blue pony took off his helmet. There was a sound of helicopters in the air coming toward their position. There were two Little Birds with their miniguns whaling on the enemy and one black hawk looking for a place to get close to the busy street. The light blue pony pulled a picture out of his helmet that had been drawn with crayon. It was a picture of three ponies in the summer sun having a picnic. The one on the right was light blue, the one on the left was bright red, and the one in the middle had a light pink color that resembled Sweet Peach's color. There was a giant red heart drawn around them all and the words "I Love You Daddy" along the bottom. The light blue pony coughed again and sprayed blood on it before he gave the paper to Sweet Peach. The Black Hawk had landed and brought out two ponies with a stretcher. They put the light blue pony on it and brought him back to the helicopter. Azure Blaze and Sweet Peach joined them on the helicopter.

The helicopter started flying toward the castle and as Azure Blaze looked out of the window he saw the fighting on the ground. There were bullets and rockets flying all over the city. He could see buildings crumbling and he thought to himself about how N.E.O could have gathered a force this strong and if this was it for the majestic Crystal Empire. The helicopter landed in the opening underneath the castle and unloaded. Four ponies came up and brought the light blue pony to a covered tent. Azure Blaze got out and looked at the crystal heart. It had fallen to the ground and was completely grey, drained of all of its powers. "Do you think my dad will be OK?" asked Sweet Peach. "I hope so." said Azure Blaze, "I sure do hope so." They watched trough the opening of the tent as the medical ponies tried to defibrillate him time after time

After about a hour the sounds of war began to increase. Azure Blaze overheard one pony reporting to General solstice that the enemy had broken through their last line of defense. All that Azure Blaze could worry about was the rest of his squad and hoped they were still OK. The medical ponies brought the body of the light blue pony out and said to Sweet Peach and Azure Blaze, "It was hopeless. He was dead before we even started. We did what we could but nopony can stop death." Sweet Peach began to cry over the body harder that ever before. Azure Blaze thought to himself that surely this was the greatest love in the world. Just then he saw the tears of Sweet Peach begin to glow a strange color that resembled that of the crystal heart's and Azure Blaze's eyes opened up. He had an idea. Quickly he got up and ran to the grey crystal heart on the ground and brought it back over to Sweet Peach. He held it underneath the crying filly and three teardrops fell on it. The crystal heart pulsed glowing on and off a dim greenish bluish color and after a while began glowing stronger than ever before. General Solstice looked over and saw that the heart was full of power again. He yelled at Azure Blaze to put it back in it's place. Azure Blaze ran back over and put it back where it was originally. A bright white light came out of the heart and continued to travel outward until the entire city was nothing but white light. Azure Blaze looked over at Sweet Peach and saw two shadows one was her and the other one was laying on the ground dead. The one laying on the ground lifted his head slightly and Sweet Peach's shadow hugged the other shadow. After that Azure Blaze could see nothing but white light and the sound of bullets stopped. After a while the light faded and there was a shield around the city once more. In place of the sounds of war he could hear cheering as he asked General Solstice what had just happened. "The enemy has turned to crystal!" he responded in a joyful tone, "The great battle for the Crystal Empire has been won!"

Prologue: A Brief History of E.S.O.D and Equestria's Recent Actions Regarding Warfare

After the events of the Crystal Empire resurfacing, Princess Celestia decreed that a special task force be made out of the most elite soldiers of the royal army. This special task force was given the name E.S.O.D which is the acrostic for the Equestrian Special Operations Division. Soldiers going into this branch of the military must show excellent battle records and have to go through a series of tests that test their mentality, stamina, and overall strength. Only about one out of every fifty soldiers who apply make it through these tough series of tests that are performed. If a pony passes all qualifications they have to go to basic training for a month before finally graduating and joining the ranks. There are loops around these qualifications however. If a pony already in E.S.O.D with a rank of sargent or higher requests that a certain pony in a different division of the military the sargent's decision will be honored at a cost. First the pony being drafted in by the sargent must become an apprentice of the sargent. Next the sargent must sign a contract stating that he is liable for everything the pony being drafted dose. Last the pony that gets drafted must, after one to two years of service under the apprenticeship of the drafting pony, take all of the tests required by regular inductees must go through.

This special division of the military proved themselves as "indispensable" in the Great War of Ponies and Griffons about thirty years later following the resurfacing of the Crystal Empire. Although the Equestrian front lines were showing signs of weariness and defeat, the equestrian offensives, composed purely of E.S.O.D forces behind enemy lines, were undefeated leaving a path of destruction wherever they trotted. The offensive was not stopped by the griffons and the force reached the enemy leader within two months. When the offensive got to the griffon monarch they took him captive crippling griffon forces that had just reached the outer most perimeter of Canterlot. At that point the Equestrian princess, Celestia, was able to make a peace treaty between the Equestrians and the Griffons that still stands to this day. E.S.O.D performed so well in the war that they had earned the nickname of "The End Time Stallions."

As time went on in Equestria so did it's technology. Equestrian weaponry, back in the days leading up to the Griffin war, was composed of merely knives and battle armor. This quickly changed. About 25 years of peace over the land later Equestrian scientists had started creating their first line of gun weaponry. Princess Celestia immediately stopped the production of this new form of weaponry for peaceful reasons. However, about a year later Equestria’s mortal enemy the changelings, got their hands on the design for the new weaponry and began making their own forms of the new weapon. They later declared war on Equestria. Within the first month of fighting members of all branches of Equestria's military, including E.S.O.D, had a combined loss of around 250,000 ponies. This forced Celestia's hand to lift the banishment on the guns and make them the standard weapon for the Equestrian military. At this point the war quickly turned around and started to favor the Equestrians. Their guns were far superior to that of the Changeling's copied weapons. About eight months later after the guns were permitted the war was over and the Changelings had been crippled so much that there was no doubt that they would not be attacking Equestria for years to come. To honor the lives of the ponies that fell in the first month of the war Princess Celestia issued that a giant wall with the names of every soldier that died in the war engraved on it be built in the statue garden with the name "The Sunrise Memorial" that still stands today.

Time went on and Equestria's weapon technology changed as well and there was peace throughout the land, that is at least until now. Recently a new rebel pony terrorist organization that calls themselves the New Equestrian Order (N.E.O) has surfaced. This organization is headed by a pony named Shazid Capon who would make constant threats to Equestria. Later on, this organization organized a terrorist attack on Phillydelphia killing 2,000 civilians and wounding 7,000 more. Equestria immediately declared war on the organization after the attack and the two have been fighting and are still fighting to this day. Although N.E.O forces are scattered around the world Equestria has tracked their origins to the San Palomino Desert and has established a military base in the western coast of the area. Even though N.E.O has been very inactive as of lately they still pose a major threat toward Equestria. E.S.O.D forces have already been deployed and are awaiting orders from their superiors. One thing is certain about this war: Equestria has yet to see the full power of N.E.O and when they do, they might not be able to recover.