Chapter 19
We were heading for the Crystal Mountains were the signal was before we lost it. How did they even end up there anyway? This is way too far from Ponyville.
“Grenadiers! Listen up! The convoy got ambushed and is pinned down! We’re here to get them out, not to fight the citizens of this country. You got that?” My men nodded.
I saw Manehattan in the distance. Twilight and the others must be asleep right now as it was night.
“Get on the rope! Go, go!” We rappelled down from the Gadfly.
“Locksmith, Broadsword was scouting ahead but we lost contact. Can you check it?”
“Yes, HQ. Are Badgers available?”
“No, we have no Badgers available at the moment. But Panther tanks are close by.”
“Copy that, HQ.”
As we moved out, HQ radioed me again. “Locksmith, Tom just activated his emergency transponder. He's half a klick to your southwest, over.”
“Roger that. Let’s do this!”
An enemy IFV came along the road. “Stop! Stay in the forest. Ambush them.” In cover, we took the IFV, an RG-31 Nyala out with its passengers. The Forgotten Army again. They must have a base around here.
At the end of the woods was a house. “He must be in this house. There's an entry point through that basement door. We'll go room to room from there. Keep it quiet. Move out.”
We had no silencers but the Taser was quiet enough. “Room clear. This floor's clear. Move up to the second.” I moved up and heard voices.
“Where are the others?”
“You get nothing from me!”
“You know, European, the Geneva Convention is a nice idea in theory, you know? Why don't you save yourself the trouble and simply answer my question. How many others are there?”
“I won’t tell you!”
“I kill your men one by one if you don’t tell me!”
“Looks like they’re in that room. Get ready to breach.” One of my men kicked the door and we killed the interrogators with shots to the chests and heads. They wear wearing the uniform of those Terrorist Heavy infantry guys and were so surprised that they had no time to draw their weapons. Tom and his remaining men were tied up, covered in dusk but otherwise fine.
I untied my friend. “You’re okay?”
“Yeah I'm good to go. Seven men standing. We got shot down. The others died in the crash.”
“Sorry for your loss but we still have a mission to do.” I gave him his rifle.
“Oui. The kid’s in hell right now. An Eaglefly found them in a building northeast from here.”
“Then let’s go.”
Perspective: Dinky
Everything went so fast. The last thing I remembered was that the Badger was hit by an RPG. We got out in time but then, everything went black. I came to in a house.
I wanted to move but was tied up. “Ah, you’re awake. Did you really think you would get away that easily? WRONG!”
Looking up I saw a member of the Forgotten Army. My heart started to race and I crawled backwards against the wall. “P-please d-don’t hurt m-me. Oh please, don't hurt me.” I begged.
He putted tape on my mouth. “Be quiet!” I started to cry. “If you can’t shut up, I have to make you! And I will punish you for your treachery! Yura! Where is the hacksaw?”
“I thought, it was with you!”
“If I had the hacksaw, I would not ask you-“ The power cut out.
“Check it out! I watch her!” The man who wanted to hurt me ordered. I couldn’t see anything which scared me more. I huddled in a corner.
“Hm? What happened with electricity? Viktor! The electricity went out!” One of them called out downstairs.
“Sasha...? Are you here? Sasha...?” Another of them was downstairs.
I breathed scared. Then Gunshots. The man used a flashlight but was killed and it shined into my face, blinding me. Then someone removed the tape.
“W-whose t-there? P-please don’t hurt me.”
“Shh Dinky, it’s me and Tom.” Peter untied me.
“Where are the others?”
“We don’t know. But we will find them, I promise.” I cried into Peter’s chest. He patted me. “Shh, you’re safe now shh…”
Then he carried me out. “Wait, how could you see in there?”
Tom chuckled. “Night vision. Makes it too easy.” I didn’t know what that was, but I didn’t care at the moment.
A Gadfly waited outside. Onboard, I rested my head on Peters shoulder. Tom was talking with his commander.
“We have one. Any intel about the others?”
“The soldiers that escorted them are pinned down in a city nearby. The foals are with them.”
“Don’t worry Dinky, we will save them. Try to sleep for a while.” Peter patted me and I fell asleep.
I woke up after an hour or so. The Gadfly was traveling across the countryside. Suddenly I heard a beeping noise. “What the?! Incoming missile! Hang on!” Tom shouted. Peter clenched me protectively as the Gadfly was hit and spun towards the ground.
I came to in Peter’s arms. We were thrown away from the chopper in the crash. Tom saw us and helped us up. “You're still in one piece. Get up.” The wrecked helicopter exploded.
“Come on, we need to get moving before the search parties get here.”
“Casualty report.”
“Both pilots, 3 Kommandos and half of the Grenadiers are dead, sir.”
“Darn. Let’s move.” Peter carried me. “Keep a low profile. Let's stay out of trouble. Don’t worry Dinky; we will bring you home I promise.” He smiled at me.
A Kommando was scouting ahead behind a fence by the street. “Sir, vehicles coming from the north.”
“Under the bridge, move it.” We took cover under the bridge as a convoy drove past. Also, I saw a helicopter with a search beam scouting the crash site.
“Let’s move.” Peter carried me to a back door of an old wooden garage.
I heard laughter. “This place is a dump.”
"Hold up. We've got company.” He sat me down. “Stay here, until we’re clear.” I nodded not wanting to blow our cover. In a farmyard, a farmer was questioned by a group of bad guys. The leader of them was aggressive.
“What's going on here? What do you want?” The farmer was scared.
“Do not pretend to be a fool. We know that you have them hiding somewhere.”
“Hiding? Who?”
“You have a foal and European soldiers in there?”
“European?”
“You're wasting my time.”
“Take them out before they kill the pony.” As they opened fire, I looked away. I didn’t like what I saw, but Peter, Tom and their men killed to protect me and other ponies like this farmer. He ran back into his house after the enemies were dead.
In a long field of grass, the helicopter came back. “Spotlight, hit the deck.”
My heart raced as the spotlight went past me. This was close, as it was almost on me.
“The heli's moving away. Let's go.” I let out a sigh of relief. At a wooden house at the far end of the field, a fast hiss flew past my ears.
“There is that little brat!”
Tom got me to cover behind a hay bale. “Peter, get that basement door open now!” “I'm on it!”
Enemy reinforcements rappelled down from the helicopter. The hay bale made surprisingly excellent cover. Still I was covering my ears from the loud gunfire.
“The door's open, get in!” I got in first. After everyone was in, Peter and Tom barricaded the door. Then they scouted ahead. “Flashbang!”
A small cylinder landed in front of me. It exploded. “My eyes!” My ears were ringing and everything was white. I stumbled, hitting my head on something and fell on my back.
My vision returned. “That’s better.” Peter helped me up. Leaving the house, we came to a deserted farmyard. “It's too quiet...where did they go?” It was frightening.
“They're probably regrouping. Trying to cut us off somewhere up ahead.” Tom scanned for bad guys.
“Stay sharp.” Peter took the lead.
The silence was short, as we heard shouting and dogs barking after we reached a courtyard.
3 dogs came around the corner. The first knocked Peter down. Peter broke the neck of the dog. The second dog knocked Tom down. Instead of breaking the dog’s neck, Tom shot in the side of the dog’s head with his sidearm. The third knocked me down.
He was about to go for my throat but Peter reacted quickly, putting a bullet into the dog's head. “Nobody hurts or kills a child on my watch!”
He helped me up. “Thanks for saving my life. Again.”
“No reason to be embarrassed. Damn, the helicopter’s back.”
“It doesn't look like they know where we are. Let's keep it that way.” Tom opened the courtyard gate as the helicopter moved away.
We moved down a shallow riverbed. “Hold up, sentries on the bridge up ahead. Stay out of the spotlight.” Tom said as the search light moved towards us.
Peter putted a hand on my shoulder to calm me down as I trembled in fear. Relaxing, I gave him a smile.
At a field, bad guys searched for us with flashlights. I tripped, blowing our cover. “There they are!”
Peter grabbed me and got me to cover behind a haystack. “I’m sorry for blowing our cover!”
“Don’t blame yourself, it was inevitable.” Bullets flew past us. “Gunner in the helicopter! Tom, can you take him out?”
“No problem!”
Tom got his sniper rifle out, and the blue laser beam aimed at the gunner. “Say goodnight, McMurphy!” With a very loud shot, the gunner fell out of the helicopter. Then a Grenadier fired his missile launcher at the helicopter, but he popped flares.
“This won't be easy! Let's put him to the test!” This time, Peter fired and scored a direct hit. The helicopter spun out of control and crashed into the ground.
“Nice shooting Peter.” Tom spotted 3 IFVs on the road. “Looks like we took the crews out as well. Let’s take them so we can get to the others.”
He and his men took the first while I took the second with Peter.
“I am glad when this is over.”
“Me too Dinky, me too.”
After a while we reached the city. I didn’t know the name but it was abandoned.
In the distance, Anti-aircraft fire and burning buildings lighted the night. We got out and Peter and Tom got their instructions. “Untersberg’s last remaining tank is stuck half a click north of here. We gotta hustle! Let's go!”
Suddenly, gunfire came down on us from a darkened building.
“Ambush! Contact right! Contact right!” a Kommando shouted.
“Get suppressing fire on that building! We have to move forward!” The Grenadiers got to cover behind a barrier, while the Kommandos stormed the building. Trembling, I closed my eyes and was holding my ears.
Distracted by the Grenadiers, the bad guys were surprised by the Kommandos. “Building is cleared.”
I was scared but the only way to go home was to go through this. I have to be strong for my family.
“We will protect you from all harm.” A Grenadier patted me.
“Be advised, more enemy troops are converging on the tank. Get there A.S.A.P!”
“Roger that!”
However, at the rear of the building was heavy resistance. “Sir there's a ton of 'em out there!”
“Keep them suppressed, Kommando!”
“Roger that!”
Together, the soldiers defeated the enemy’s. “U.A.V. recon has spotted enemy tanks headed this way!”
“There they are!” I pointed at 4 T-80s rolling in from the other end of the street.
“Don’t worry Dinky, we got this.” Peter and his men took them out.
“Target destroyed!”
We made our way through the flare-lit marketplace as Tom and Peter got a message. “Broadsword, Locksmith, we're taking heavy fire on our position north of the market place! Where are you?!”
“We're almost there! Hang on!” Peter replied.
At the end of the market, we saw the stranded tank. He was under heavy fire. The other girls were cowering behind sandbags. At least they were safe from there.
“Pablo, what's your status, over?”
“We're still surrounded Sir! There's just the four of us left but the tank's still ok over! And the kids are safe behind sandbags!”
He replied to Tom. Peter gave me a sign to go to my friends. The soldiers took defensive positions around the tank. “Girls, are you alright?”
“D-dinky? I thought we had lost you!”
“Peter and Tom saved me from the bad guys. Scootaloo. I know this is hard but together we can make it through this!” This sounded pretty grown up, although I was as much scared as them. They all nodded.
“Contacts to the east and more flanking to the south! Hold the perimeter!”
“Broadsword, this is Untersberg! The main gun's offline but we still have our machine gun!”
“They're movin' in with det-packs! Don't let 'em get close to the tank!” Peter shouted.
Peeking around the sandbags, I saw that they held off waves and waves of enemy advances.
“We need air support, there too many of them!”
“Copy that, Locksmith, Emerald is on his way.”
Tom marked a building where the bad guys were in.
“Emerald here, we’re engaging.” 4 Cheetah Gunships arrived and fired their rockets and guns on the fortified building.
“Uh, Two, you see anyone left down there?” One of pilots asked after the building collapsed.
“Negative, we got 'em.”
“Roger that. All targets destroyed and we're outta here. Good luck boys. Out.”
The Gunships leaved. “Alright, let's get this tank moving.” Peter waved at us, then, he sketched a crude plan of the surrounding area on the side of the tank.
“Listen up. We don't have much time to get this tank and the kids out of here. We'll take up defensive positions around the bog here, here, and here. You have done well, Pablo.”
“Thank you, sir.” Pablo was out of breath.
“Lieutenant, take a rest with them, we can handle this.” One of the Grenadiers said to him.
“Are you hurt?” Peter asked my friends.
“We’re fine. But all those screams and…” Peter gave Sweetie Belle a tight hug.
“Shh, it’s over now. Let’s sleep now and tomorrow, you will be home again, I promise.”
He got a blanket and we all snuggled in. My friends were fast asleep. I and Peter couldn’t sleep. Turning my head, he stroked my mane and smiled. He listened to music. Thirty Seconds to Mars - This Is War. Never heard of it but it fitted our situation. We were victims of war and we all wanted that it would end.
After a few minutes, we were asleep. Tomorrow, I would be home again. He promised.