> Galloping To Hell > by Ace26 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prolouge > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This place was truly Hell on earth. The screaming of ponies with bullets in them, mixed with the screams of those still fighting. The bullets could be heard slaming into biuldings, crashing through glass, and even cutting through chests and uniforms. Blood soaked towels hung from ever corner of the room, New ones would be brought in by cart every few minutes. There were flys everywhere. amongst this chaos was Corporal Redheart. She was no stranger to death, or to open wounds. Nor was she a stranger to combat either. If it was here choice, she would be a Corpman. Somepony who faught and treated, but that position was only for stallions. The thought of it simply pissed Redheart off, that was the only way to put it. " Nurse, we got another one coming in!" A soldier said from the door. She looked up to see three stallions in desert combat unifroms walking in. Two of them were supporting one in the middle. Redheart looked down and saw that his back legs were soaked in blood. " What happened?" She yelled as she cleared a table. She literaly threw guns and ammo onto the floor. GI's always leaving their stuff everywhere. " Grenade Ma'am." A soldeir said laying the stallion onto the table. " I was with him, just didn't see it coming." The second soldier said. Redheart was now leaning over the soldier. She was ripping apart the seems of his pants legs. She had to throw a few metal armor plates out of the way, but she eventually found the wound. " This doesn't look pretty, but I can manage." She said as she examed the shreaded tissue. She looked up to hear some kind of response from the soldiers, but they had already left. " You were lucky they were with you." Nurse Redheart said to the stallion on the table. He gave her a weak smile. She took out a few different needles and began looking through a cabinet of vials. " Pain killers... Pain killers" She said to herself. She was looking for them, but she couldn't find them at all. They were essential to stablizing a patient. Without them this poor pony was in for one hell of a procedure. The nurse was still looking diligently when she heard a mass amount of screams from outside! She heard more gun fire than usual and she also heard the sounds of...barking! Redheart galloped over to the window and flung it open. What she saw would be engrained in her memory for life. There were hundreds of them. They ran on all four legs. They fired wildly into the air and into mass amounts of ponies trying to flee. The soldiers providing security tried their best to repell the savage dogs, but they were shot down or tackled and devoured!. There was screaming, cursing, loud bangs... and with every second the Diamond Dogs drew closer to the hospital. Nurse Redheart truned around and looked at the pony in the bed. He looked back at her with fear in his eyes. He could tell by the noise, by the look on Redheart's face what was happening. The rest of the staff tried to block the doors. They pushed everything they could find up against the windows and entrances. Those who weren't in were shot, stabbed, and bitten till death. There was banging on the doors. AK fire could be heard from a few rooms over. There was a mass surge of ponies out in the hallway. The Nurse could do nothing but sit and wait. She and the pony on the table starred at each other until the time came. They both waited for their deaths. Nurse Redheart heard the claws of dogs on the wooden floors. She saw three ponies being shot in the hallway. She could feel they were close. She saw a figure appear in the doorway. A gun was raised and soldier on the table closed his eyes tight. The nurse saw as a single tear was shed before a hole was blown clear through his body. His lifeless figure fell to the floor with a thud. More tall, thin, menacing figures entered the room. They fired a few more rounds into the soldier. They made their way to Nurse Redheart. She felt the cold clamp of their paws on her. She would not fight, she was no fool. She had nothing to fight with. She could do nothing as they threw her down. She tried her best to roll away, but she was to late. She was able to look up just in time to see the butt of a rifle come down onto her head. Galloping To Hell The Story Of Squad North Star > Act 1: Therapy > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The room was quite. The applauding crowd had left. The officers in uniform had moved to the next wounded soldier. The Purple Heart sat idle on the table next to the lime green bed. The white walls and TV were idle aswell, a matter of fact, nothing was happening in the room at all. The only sound that could be heard was the gentle breathing of the rooms single occupent. There was also the steady clicking off a clock near the window. It was a really peacful place, however the pony in bed was experiencing something entirely different. He remembered death. He remembered a steady stream of bullets being fired down range. He remembered the explosions and the smoke and dust. Most improtantly though, he remembered her. His face contorted from calm to tense as his restless dream carried on. " Machine guns, roof top!" said a grey coated stallion. He was ducked behind a small wall that was being ripped apart by flying lead. He could hardly be seen through the the amount of dust being kicked up, hell, he could hardly be heard with all the gun fire. " I see him!" Another orange stallion said. he shouldered his assault rifle and blasted the poor gunner away. The squad moved up inch by inch. Their faces were pushed into the ground as they tried to get as low as possible. More bullets flew by. More shots rang out. There was no hope, no rescuers, no peace or salvation. There seamed to be nothing to keep fighting for, except for their brothers in arms, and for her. The pony shot out of his bed. He banged his head against the wall as he sat up with a petrified look on his face. He grabbed for a gun on the table, but he found there was none there. He looked around trying to spot a shooter, but there was none to be found either. He slowly came back to reality as he began to relax again. He found he was in a hospital and not a combat zone. " Just a dream Draw, just a dream." he reasured himself. The stallion began to sink back into his bed. He took in many deep breaths and began to feel embarised over his sudden outbreak. He was glad nopony was there to see it. He brushed back his black hair and he wiped the sweat off of his white coat. His green eyes shrank back down to normal size from his great releaf. He even tried to stretch but he felt a sudden pain in his wrist and shoulder. He looked at his rist first and found there was a large IV stuck into him. He poked it a few times and then turned his attenton to his shoulder. There was a bloody bandage covering what felt like a very deep cut. " Still soor." he said as he moved it around. He had finally caught onto the fact that he had witnessed another one of his "Fantasies" as the doctors called it. Quick Draw knew they were nightmares, but he aslo felt they were more real. He aslo realy couldn't tell when he was having one and when he wasn't, it would just happen. Quick Draw rolled over in his bed. He looked out the window at the beautiful town of Ponyville. It was nice to see some normal Ponies walk buy. It was also nice to be pampered in a hospital, but at the same time Draw would do aything to get out of there. He wanted to be outside believe it or not. He wanted to interact with the civilians. He wanted to remember what it was like to have fun and to not drill in a base all day. he mainly wanted to feal the grass. he hadn't felt grass in forever. he had felt plenty of sand, but he had forgotten what the soft touch of grass felt like. He wouldn't mind going for a swim in an actual lake either. he very much liked water after his time in the desert. Quick Draw was admiring the outside world when he suddenly saw the sunlight reflect off of something. It was a shiny object on the table in front of him. He looked down and saw a Large gold metal. It was shaped like heart and it had a large sun in the middle of it. The cloth that it was attached to was a bright purple. Draw knew exactly what he was looking at, and it pissed him off. He knew three other good stallions who deserved one. He suddenlt had another memory. He remembered wanting to see proof. He wanted to know that his team had gotten their awards too. He wanted to know that they had been recognized! He also knew he had not seen a picture of them with their medals yet. He had not seen the proof that he asked for. He reached down and tried to throw the medal. He stretched his leg as far as he could, but the IV held his hoof back. " Damnit!" Draw yelled as he sat back on his bed. He hated seeing that medal their, and he couldn't do anything to move it. He felt helpless, it was a feeling a Marine wasn't used to feeling. As Quick Draw steamed over the medal he heard a knock at the door. He immedietly perked up, he needed to look happy and healthy to get out of the hospital. " Hello nurse..." draw said. He stopped mid speach when he saw another figure at the door. He was not a nurse, and he wasn't dressed like a doctor pony either. The pony that stood in the door was a dark brown unicorn. he had an even darker mane, it was lamost black like Draw's. His mane was sleek and obviously pampered. He also had bright purple eyes, like the medal. Draw didn't really like that. He also didn't like the look in the ponies eyes. They seemed to be examining him. Draw liked to know why he was being examined before they actually started. " Um, can I help you?" draw asked. The brown unicron walked in to the room. He took his time pulling up a chair. He also slowly levitated his pen and note pad. Draw couldn't stand ponies who took their time. He was used to things be done in minutes, even seconds. " Can I help you?" Draw asked again. The unicorn straightened the large glasses on his face, " My name is Olive Ranchchester." The Unicorn said in a very snobby voice. He sniffed, " I am what you may call a "doctor of sorts." he said. Draw didn't understand what was going on. He was already being taken care of. The hospital provided medical staff. " Um, I don't need another doctor, they're patching me up pretty well already." Draw said. The unicorn quickly retorted, " Oh, I believe you do my freind." The unicron said. " You would never be a freind to me." Draw thought to himself. The unicron flipped a page over in his note pad and straightended his glasses once again. " Are you Corporal Quick Draw?" Olive said elongating "Draw". " I am." Quick Draw said. He was begining to become annoyed with this "Doctor of sorts". " Well Mr. Quick Draw it's nice to meet you. I will be your Theripist for today." Draw jumped in bed when he heard the word therapist. He wasn't crazy. He didn't need to be put in a nuthouse! " I'm not crazy! They're just nightmares!" Draw belowed. Olive leaned back away from Draw's hulking voice. He starred and after a minute he regained his focus. "I'd say you very much are, now hush and let's get on with this." Olive sat up in his chair. " Who the hell sent you?" Draw said agitated. Olive starred sturnly at Draw. " Don't use such horride language around me, and if you must know it was that nurse a floor up. The one with light pink hair, it's in a bun." Draw knew exactly who that nurse was. He aslo was foolish to not think she was the one to call him in. She knew he was having nightmares and he did need help. Mabey this therapist could get them to go away. Mabey this therapist could stop the pain.