Táotuō: part 1 · 11:00pm Aug 3rd, 2021

DATE: June 23rd, 2044.
LOCATION: V-280 crash site near Beking, Dragon Kingdom.
TIME: Unknown

“Gah...fuck...” I groaned, I can feel the rain hitting against me and soaking my gear and clothes. I stare at the dark rain clouds above me for a while before moving my head and looking around me, there is a firefight going on around me as I saw the muzzle flash of guns going off which were either near me or in the surrounding forest that we were in.

“Red!”

I couldn’t see who was firing them since it was too dark and the fire around me could only do so much, thinking to myself I guess it is nighttime.

“Red!”

I heard a voice call out to me tho I couldn’t figure out who’s calling me and where, the voice sounded familiar but I can't quite put my hoof on it.

“RED!” the voice called out loudly before I was picked up off the muddy ground and with the help of the light provided by the fire I could see the pony who was calling out for me: Griff.

He glared at me before dragging my sorry ass behind a boulder while another pony who turned out to be Hero followed us while covering fire with his M110, once we all took cover Griff sat me down against it before giving me an angry glare.

“What the fuck were you doing taking a nap on the fucking ground during a firefight!” he said angrily while Hero fired his rifle at the enemy.

“W-What do you mean?” I asked tiredly as he crouched down and started checking me for any wounds.

“Ugh, nevermind” he replied in annoyance “it doesn’t matter now, what does matter is getting the rest off that wreak and calling for any support”

After Hero fired the last round in his mag he took it out and searched his vest for a fresh one, finding none he looked over to Griff “Yo Griff! I’m running short on ammo!” he then took out his magnum revolver from his chest holster before popping off a few shots.

“Oh this is just great...” Griff said as he facehoofed “damn it why can't things just go smooth for once...this was supposed to be an easy mission...”

“SHIT!” Hero yelled “FUCKING RPG!”

“INCOMING FIRE!” Griff shouted as he and Hero ran to take cover, I tried to get up but it was already too late.

BOOM!

The rocket made impact on the ground near me, tossing me into the air and onto the crashed V-280 Osprey. slamming me against it with so much force I blacked out instantly.

5 minutes earlier...

“🎵gonna tell aunt mary! ‘bout uncle john! he says he has the misery but he had a lot of fun oh baby! yeah, baby! ooh, baby! having me some fun tonight! yeah!🎵”

I hummed along with the song as I was refilling the empty mag of my Hera CQR, it had been hours since we had left the captured city of Fānghǎi and it would be more hours before we make it to our objective in the capital of Beking (our mission is to deliver some supplies to the troops and carry out some wounded).

There are six of us onboard the Osprey: me, Griff, Hero, Amber, and 2 other ponies who joined with us on our journey. while Hero is reading a book called “all quiet on the western front” Griff sat beside him sharpening his karambit “looks like a fucking raptors claw” I muttered to myself.

Even tho it had been 5 months I still couldn’t believe my eyes that my granddaughter is here with me, on the same aircraft as I am chewing on some gum while listening to her own music with her headphones “looks like all that training her father taught her paid off, she passed boot camp with flying colors. she is so good she managed to get into the same elite squad that me and my buds are in, I’m impressed”

I dont know how I’m still in the military since I’m...well...old but what's more confusing is how Griff managed to look fucking young! I mean look at him! no wrinkles and shit! he looks like he’s the same age as Amber!

But enough about him, I looked at the other two ponies who joined us. one pony mare and one changeling stallion, I hadn’t got to know their name since they are both quiet. all I know is that the mare is part of Princess Twilight’s special forces and the changeling is a defector tho I dont know which country he defected from, they both carried a QTS-11 and have different gear and BDU’s than us.

“Hey guys, may I have your attention please?” I heard the pilot say causing all of us to perk up (and for Amber to take them damn headphones off) “we got reports that the dragons are pushing us back hard and that they have some AA in the surrounding forest, so when we enter the warzone it's going to be a bumpy ride for us. ETA is 3 hours”

“Shit” I said out loud “it's going to be fucking hell, god this reminds me of my time in Vietmane...”

after a while of being in the air, I decided to take a look out the window. all I can see is are the trees above and around us and the city of Beking in the distance. I notice smoke rising from the city and into the night sky ‘huh...’ I thought to myself ‘must be some intense fighting going-’

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

my train of thoughts was immediately broken as I heard three loud explosions followed by us falling towards the ground at a fast rate ‘aw shit’

“FUCK!”

“DID WE JUST GET HIT!?”

“Everypony hang on!” I heard Amber yell.

“WE GOT HIT! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! WE ARE GOING DOWN!” The pilot shouted as he tried to gain control of the falling Osprey.

since we weren’t that far up in the sky it only took 3 minutes for us to finally come crashing down on the ground, the loading ramp immediately ripped off and throwing out most of the supplies along with anything that wasn’t tied down including me. I had forgotten to fasten my seatbelt and because of this, because of my stupidity, I was thrown out like a rag doll onto the muddy soil.

I blacked out immediately because of the force I was going, so when I made contact with the ground I went out cold.