//------------------------------//
// Journal Entry: The Six Soldiers 
// Story: Saving Private Bloom: The Captain's Logs 
// by Tiedye3000 
//------------------------------//

Journal Entry

Capt. Twilight Sparkle

June 11th, 1944

The Six Soldiers


It took us about an hour to get all our gear together before we left the airfield, and by that time it was after dark. I was prepared long before any pony else, so I relaxed a bit and read a field manual while every pony else was packing. I read a very interesting section of the manual, something about sticky bombs and how to make them. It included socks, and my mind immediately thought of . I decided I wanted to see the effects of a sticky bomb, so I asked , while she packed her medical equipment, if she could find some time to make a few socks. She said she'd do what she could, and that was satisfying enough for me, so I went back to the manual, a little more giddy from excitement.
When everyone was packed (Spike was last, as usual), we thanked Soarin for his hospitality and went on our way. We passed Snails on the way, and he waved at us as we passed, grinning stupidly. In almost no time at all, the sound of ponies talking faded, and we were marching alone once more. Grey clouds loomed overhead, looking unsure whether they wanted to rain or not. The grass we trotted on didn't need it, and we had enough water. The only sound that could be heard was from , who trying to make socks with magic.
The next morning, we came across a fence of trees guarding a small building. We were about to walk through when I noticed several bodies beyond laying on the grass. I halted the company and took a closer look. My hesitation to go in was a smart thing to do, for the bodies were Equestrian soldiers, dead and rotting. We got down on the ground quickly, and Whooves and I crawled toward the tree with the most leafs. I took a pair of binoculars out of my pack and looked at the building through them.
"What the hay is that?" I heard Whooves whisper.
I took a closer look, and said, "A radar site."
"It's got to be out of action."
"Well, it looks like we have something in that... sandbag bunker, right under the station, see it?"
"Yeah," Whooves said, crunching leafs as he leaned closer to the base, "That's my guess, too."
"What is it?" Rainbow asked when we returned to the company. We had retreated a few yards away from any enemy eyes.
"Machine gun," Whooves said, "Probably MG-42."
"Dear Luna," exclaimed Spike, looking at the dead ponies, "Is that what got those guys?"
"Maybe one of them's our pony?" suggested , and Apple Jack gasped suddenly and started at the ponies, but we held her back.
"None of them is Bloom," I said reassuringly, once Apple Jack stopped trying to fight us off, "Their patches are from the 82nd, so your lucks pretty good."
"I don't know how fast the rest of you Betties are," Spike said, "but I'm thinking we detour this way quick and quietly. The  will never even know we were here. So, Captain, what I'm trying to say is, why don't we just go around the thing?"
"I hear what you're saying," I said as I took my jacket off, "but we can't go around it."
"I'm with Spike on this one, ma'am," Rainbow said, "I mean, we left them 88s."
"For the air force," I argued, "The air force isn't going to spend ordinance on one machine gun."
"Uh, Capatain," Apple Jack said slowly, "We can still skip it and accomplish our mission. I mean, this ain't our mission, right, ma'am?"
"Oh, that's what you want to do, Jack?" I said, loading my weapon, "You just want to leave it here so they can amush the next company that comes along?"
"No, ma'am, that ain't what I'm sayin'," Apple jack said, a bit louder this time, "I'm just sayin' that it seems like an unnecessary risk, given our objective, ma'am."
"Our objective is to win the war," I said stubbornly, slinging my ammo bag around my arm.
Apple Jack starred at me for a minute, and then stared playing with the grass.
"Ma'am," Spike said, watching Apple Jack, "I just, uh, I don't have a good feeling about this one."
"Well," I said, standing up, "when was the last time war gave you a good feeling?"
I turned around and headed for the trees. I stopped when I knew I was completely concealed in the green, then I signaled the rest of my squad over. They crouched around me, trying not to make too much noise from the leaves on the ground.
"All right," I said quietly, "Three runners with suppressing fire. Jack, you hook to the right. I'll go up the middle. Who's going left?"
No one in the squad answered.
"Who's going left?" I repeated. Still no response. Spike shifted uncomfortably, and Whooves scratched his nose. Finally, Rainbow, seeing no other way, said, "I'll go. I'll go left."
"All right," I said impatiently, "Fluttershy, switch gear with Dash, and you linger in the rear."
"Oh, um," Fluttershy said quietly, "Yes, ma'am."
"We advance and keep pressure on her until she has to change out her barrels," I said, talking about the Germanes, "I think we should be able to get her from grenade range."
"Perhaps I should go up the middle, ma'am," Whooves said, loading his weapon as Rainbow gave Fluttershy her rifle.
"The way you run?" I said, looking at him, "I don't think so."
"Perhaps I should go left, ma'am?" Whooves said again as Fluttershy gave Rainbow her gun.
"Perhaps you should shut up!" I said, annoyed. Whooves stared at me as if I had slapped him across the face. "Spike, base of fire," I continued as everyone took off their bags and filled their pockets with grenades, "Mags and clips where you can reach them, and extra grenades for the base runners."
Whooves cocked his weapon, looking offended. We got up and faced the base. I took a deep breath, and sprinted out into the open, firing my gun at the MG.
I hadn't looked at the scenery before we started, and now that I saw it, I began to get higher hopes. There were several holes in the ground from explosions that suited for cover. As we ran at the MG, and as they fired back at us, I saw Fluttershy dive into one of the holes, remove Rainbow's scope from her rifle, and watch the battle. Apple Jack appeared to the far right of me, Rainbow to the left. Bullets from the MG were fired and missed me by mere inches, hitting the ground and causing dust to rise. I leaped into one of the holes and took cover to reload my weapon as Apple Jack and Rainbow zoomed past me. Rarity was following Apple Jack, and Whooves was running behind Rainbow. Spike raced past me, straight up the middle and headed right for the gun. He was almost killed right when he dived a few yards beside the gun. He pulled the pin on a grenade and heaved it at the pink pony operating the gun. Another pony caught it and heaved it right back at him, forcing him to retreat to another explosion hole as the grenade went off, making the hole he was just in three seconds ago about six feet deeper. I got up from my cover and galloped to a hole a couple of yards in front of me, putting a bullet in the head of the pony who almost killed Spike. She fell backwards, hit the MG, and spun it the other way, shooting down two more Pozis next to it and, to my horror, hitting Rarity in the chest.
I heard Spike scream, and I ducked back into my cover, horrorstruck at what I had just done. The gun fire stopped as the pink pony vanished, and I checked to make sure the coast was clear. Then I got up from my cover and sprinted toward Rarity, who was shaking violently on the ground. Everyone else, except Fluttershy, came galloping up with me, and I kneeled next to Rarity.
"Fluttershy!" I screamed down the field, "Grab the gear and get up here! We need water and extra dressing now! Get the morphine out of the extra medical kit!"
The squad ran up to me and sat around Rarity, who was bleeding quickly from three different areas on the chest.
"No..." Spike said quietly, kneeling down in front of Rarity's head.
"W-what's wrong w-with m-me?" Rarity asked, stuttering and trying to look at her wounds, but she winced and relaxed her head, her hoofs twitching violently. Fluttershy came trotting toward us with the gear, but when she saw what was happening, broke out into a full gallop and dashed as quickly as she could to us.
"Son of a mare," Whooves said, shocked at seeing the bullet wounds in Rarity's skin.
"Get some sulfa on there!" I said urgently.
"Move my legs up," Rarity said, spitting blood on her chin, "Move my legs up!"
"More sulfa, Jack," I said.
"Rarity, listen to me," Apple Jack said, pouring sulfa powder on Rarity's wounds, "Listen, you're gonna be all right, ya hear? Ya gonna be fine!"
"How- how's it look?" Rarity asked, her voice shaking.
"Rarity, you're fine!" Apple Jack said quickly, but the blood leaking out of Rarity's injuries proved her wrong, "I promise you'll be headin' to a hospital ship!"
"More sulfa!" I said, and Apple Jack poured more on.
"Put my legs up," Rarity repeated, "Put my legs up!"
"I got them, I got them," Whooves said, lifting Rarity's legs up. Spike rushed over to him and helped him lift the other leg.
"You'll be fine, Rarity," I said, holding back tears as best as I could.
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow yelled, "Give me a canteen!"
Fluttershy clumsily screwed off the lid of a canteen of water and handed it to Rainbow, who poured the water over Rarity's bleeding and sulfa-covered chest. It washed away the blood for a second, but new blood immediately rushed out of her wounds again.
"Come on, come on, come on," Apple Jack said quickly, getting a canteen and pouring it's contents over Rarity, getting the same results as Rainbow's.
"Put some pressure on it!" Whooves shouted.
"You're going to be ok, Rarity," I whispered over the frantic movement, "You'll be ok."
"H-how's it look?" Rarity asked again, spitting more blood out as she tried to look at her chest again.
"Give me some morphine," I said. Apple Jack and Rainbow kept pouring water on Rarity's chest wound, even though it was a waste of our water from the fact that blood kept rushing right out of Rarity even more.
"Tell me how it looks!" Rarity screamed, shutting her eyes tight from the pain, "Am I shot in the spine?"
"You're gonna be ok, Rarity," Rainbow said, pouring more sulfa on her and washing it off.
"Am I shot in the spine?" Rarity repeated, and I had them left her up from her right gently, but she still whimpered as we lifted her to see her back. I saw a bullet hole coming out of her back.
"You're fine, Rarity," I lied, "You've got an exit wound. It's in the small of your back."
"How big- how big is the hole in the-" Rarity stammered.
"It's about the size of an acorn," Apple Jack said, looking at the bullet hole. We put her back down, and she began coughing up blood. We poured, washed, and wiped more sulfa on and off of her, but she didn't stop bleeding.
"Put some pressure on it!" Whooves said again, "Put some pressure on it!"
We each put a hoof on Rarity's chest and pushed simultaneously. Rarity gagged as we pushed. Fluttershy was standing as still as a stone, horrified at what she was seeing, tears forming in her eyes.
"Put some more pressure on it!" Whooves repeated, and we pushed again, causing Rarity to spit more blood with each push.
"Is there anything bleeding worse then the others?" Rarity moaned.
"Yeah, right here," Apple Jack said, pointing to a bullet wound near Rarity's right shoulder, "Do you know what it is?"
"No," Rarity choked.
"Right here, I'll put your hoof on it." Apple Jack picked up Rarity's right hoof and put it on the wound, making Rarity wince and covering her hoof in blood.
"We've got some pressure on her," Rainbow said, putting her hoofs on Rarity's, "Right there, ok? That's the one."
Rarity suddenly screamed in pain, "It's my liver! Oh, my God, It's my liver!"
"Come on, Rarity," Fluttershy said through tears, leaning over us, "Tell us what to do! Tell us how to fix you!"
"What can we do?" I asked Rarity, "Tell us what to do."
Rarity looked at me, blood trickling down her chin from her mouth. Apple Jack wiped it off, and Rarity finally said, "I could use- I could use a little more morphine."
Rainbow stared at me, "More morphine, ma'am?"
I looked back at Rarity, knowing fully what she wanted me to do. She was dying, and morphine would ease the pain.
"Ok," I said quietly, still holding back tears, though it was getting uncomfortable, "Ok." I looked at Whooves, and he looked at Fluttershy, who looked in her bag and pulled out an injection needle. She handed it to Whooves, who took the cover off, and reluctantly stuck it into Rarity's leg and inserted the morphine into her blood stream. Rarity's twitching began to slow down. He injected her a second time, and she was merely jumping slightly now.
"Fluttershy..." she said softly, "T-take care of my- my cat. Her name's Op- Opalescence." Fluttershy buried her face in her hoofs and cried.
"Twilight," Rarity said, turning to me, "In my backpack... the socks..." she began closing her eyes, "Spike..." Spike took hold of her right hoof and drew it close to him, tears forming in his eyes as well, "Spike... I... I love..." Rarity's head fell back, and her twitching stopped completely.