//------------------------------// // Alone We Can Do so Little, Together We Can Do so Much // Story: If You Want Peace, Prepare For War // by tranhdxrbntd //------------------------------// Opinions of the humans differed greatly between the scattered ponies. A great majority of the opinions, mostly aimed at Tran, were negative in nature. Whatever they were capable of was pure speculation. However, there was also the fact that one of them had captured a war chief (one of the more infamous ones too) and how the same human had supposedly killed a Jaeger. The tension was so thick, it was capable of stopping a bullet.  "So!" Pinkie Pie said. "What's with the silence? Why's nopony saying anything? We can't just stand here all day!" She attempted to skip on over to Tran but Twilight pulled her back with her magic. Twilight shot a glance at their various firearms; Some of them were too strange for her to even guess what they were capable of. When one of them shifted slightly, Twilight nearly drew her sidearm out of fear. "So what exactly is your group's mission in Equestria?" Twilight asked. To her surprise, all four of them shrugged. "Honestly, I have no idea," replied Tran. "I just woke up in a random section of the city. The only thing that gave clues as to why I am here was a letter telling me that I was recruited." "Same shit with me," said Eric. "Ditto with the fuckery," said Wilson. "Same except I don't know why the fuck I was chosen," said Logan. "I'm not even military." Twilight eyed Logan's gear and weapons. "If you're not military, why are you dressed and armed like you are?" Logan scoffed. "What kind of military force would ever dress their soldiers in a hoodie, jeans, and a black shirt?" "And the weapons?" Twilight asked. "Mine" replied Logan. Twilight's eyes widened slightly. "You privately possess military grade firearms?" Applejack shot a look at Twilight. "Uh, Twi? You've seen Granny Smith's gun collection," said Applejack. -X-X-X- Somewhere in the skies above Baltimare, five pegasi dogfighters flew in a V formation as they kept guard over their assigned section of Baltimare. All they had to do was to make sure that the ground troops were notified of any incoming griffons. Essentially, fly in a circle and shoot at anything that comes close. "What do you think got the griffons so worked up, sergeant?" asked one of the pegasi, a lower enlisted. "How should I know?" replied the lead pegasus. "All I know is that we're providing cover." The three of them made a hard turn as they realized they were close to leaving their designated area. "Yeah, but aren't you curious?" said the enlisted dogfighter. "It has to be something big if they've sent in this many soldiers to assault it!" The sergeant huffed. "And it still doesn't matter! Just focus on your task and keep your eyes peeled!" Right at that moment, he noticed some movement on the ground. Using a pair of binoculars, he spotted a small platoon of minotaurs. Without looking away from the minotaurs, he said, "Attack formation, we might have trouble!" He turned his head to look at his soldiers but found himself flying by his lonesome. "What?" A white-hot stabbing pain erupted in his back; The same pain shot through his body as he watched a bayonet erupt from his belly. He wanted to scream but a set of talons ripped apart his throat. The owner of said talons withdrew his bayonet from the pegasus's body and watched the body drop to the ground. "Pathetically easy," said the griffon as he wiped the blood off of his talons onto his red scarf. Looking around, the griffon spotted a strange gathering of enemy soldiers far in the distance. -X-X-X- Applejack glanced at Tran's S&W 500. "So yah willingly bought that?" she asked. Tran shrugged. "Why not?" Scootaloo giggled subtly upon hearing Tran's answer; It was something she'll probably never get tired of hearing. Pinkie Pie noticed the filly's little outburst of happiness and smiled. "What now?" Pinkie asked. Twilight looked at her beloved best friend, confused at her question. "What do you mean?" Pinkie Pie gestured to the humans with her tail, which somehow formed into a glowing broad arrow (I don't even, what?). "We found Scootaloo, found what was attracting the griffons, and even captured a war chief. What do we do now?" Pinkie asked. Scootaloo looked at Tran. "Are you gonna leave now?" she asked. Tran shrugged. "Maybe," he answered. "There's not much else to do." Scootaloo pressed her ears against her head. Of course, Tran had no idea of what that meant but Applejack sure did. "Tell yah what. You should stay with us fer a while til yah figure things out," said Applejack. She looked at her alicorn friend, the one who had more leeway than any other pony in the military. "What do yah think, Twi?" Twilight looked at Applejack as if she had grown a second stetson. 'Are you crazy?!' was Twilight's expression. 'Come on, Twi!' was Applejack's return expression. 'Do you realize what you're asking?' was Twilight's next expression. 'Yes!' Applejack expressed. 'What the hell is going on?' was what every human was expressing. Twilight looked at Rarity (who, this whole time, was still recovering from her short bout of exercise) and asked, "Is it feasible?" Rarity, still heaving, replied with a curt nod. Wilson removed a canteen from a pouch on his body armor, unscrewed the cap, and held it out for her. Rarity graciously grabbed the canteen and drained half of it. After a deep breath, she handed the canteen back to Wilson. "We can bring them back to Fort Platinum," said Rarity, "but they'll need a constant escort and possible guard." Twilight looked at the human's weapons. "I don't suppose you're willing to surrender your weapons?" she asked hopefully. All four humans said nothing but their faces gave her an answer. She didn't know why she bothered asking. "If you come to Fort Platinum, I expect no trouble." Eric tightened his grip on his AK. "As long as no one starts it," said Eric. 'Definitely a 24/7 escort,' thought Twilight. Wait, they were recruited with a letter? "Was there a name on the letter?" asked Twilight Tran answered, "Just Discord." Twilight and Rarity exchanged looks; The four humans noticed this. "I know he's dead but not who he was." Twilight raised an eyebrow. Who didn't know who Discord was? Discord wasn't exactly a simple creature. "He was the god of chaos in the form of a draconequus" Twilight answered. "A dracon-a-what?" asked Logan. "Does it matter?" Tran asked. Logan shrugged. "So now what?" Rarity glanced at Twilight and nodded. Twilight smiled and replied with, "Now we head on to Fort Platinum, but you'll need to surrender your weapons once we get there." All four humans tensed whilst tightening their grips on their various weapons. "And if we're fond of our toys?" asked Logan. Twilight frowned. "I'm not sure all of yo-" she began to say before being interrupted. "Oh, I'm sure we can figure something out," Rarity said. Spitfire eyed the various weapons that the humans possessed. "Are you sure that's a good idea, ma'am?" she asked. Before she got an answer, Tran and Eric raised their weapons. They weren't aiming their weapons at them; Their weapons were raised a foot above their heads. Before Spitfire could turn around to look at what they were aiming at, the sound of gunfire erupted from her 6 O'clock position. Two of the ponies beside her, members from her assault team, had blood erupt from their bodies; They were shot, no doubt about it. Tran, Wilson, and Eric all screamed, "Get to cover!" Everypony and human scrambled to find cover: The humans were the first ones to find cover. Logan and Wilson had their weapons up and were trying to find the enemy. "Where are they?!" Logan yelled. Eric, while still firing, immediately replied, "50 yards, twelve, fallen brick building!" The instant he found their aggressors, WIlson immediately started spraying 10mm fire without a trace of accuracy. Logan tried to copy Wilson's action but was limited by the bolt of his Mosin Nagant. Spitfire, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the remaining ponies of the building assault team had also taken cover. However, only three of the ponies were returning fire. Applejack looked at everypony else and frowned. "Come on y'all, shoot back!" she yelled. For Celestia's sake, she was wounded and she was shooting back! Rarity, who was using a bolt action rifle that she had literally just picked up, calmly fired shot after shot. "They're scared, dear," said Rarity. She looked at Twilight, who was hiding behind cover, trying not to get shot. Her lavender friend was shaking like a leaf. Rarity didn't blame her friend for being afraid; This was war. Spitfire, where she was hiding, was sitting on the ground. Her heart raced and her lungs worked hard. She had come close to death, once again. She really needed to stop getting into situations like this. Pinkie Pie, usually the happy pink party pony of Ponyville, was silently setting up her mortar. Her hair had gone flat and her coat had gained a slightly grey tinge. This got old a long time ago. Scootaloo, scared out of her wits, had simply followed Tran. Beside him, she stood on her hind legs with her rifle up against her shoulder. She was actually one of the three ponies who were returning fire despite being the most inexperienced of the group. Wilson looked around at his fellow humans. "Who's wounded?" he called out. "Good!" Tran answered. "All clear!" Eric answered. "Still shooting!" Logan answered. Wilson dropped down into cover and started reloading his KRISS Vector. As he seated a fresh magazine into his KRISS, he turned his head to look at the ponies. When he saw the two ponies that had been wounded early on in the ambush, his mind stopped caring about anything unimportant. Right now, the only thing that mattered were those two. "We got wounded!" Wilson yelled out. "Tran, follow me!" Tran dropped to cover. "Where?!" Tran demanded. WIlson pointed to the two wounded. "Cover, smoking!" he called out. All three humans popped up from cover and lit up the battleground. As this happened, Wilson pulled out a smoke grenade. "Smoke out!" With that, the grenade flew out and spewed out a temporary field of concealment. Afterwards, the two of them sprinted over to the two wounded. Both ponies were sporting various gunshot injuries throughout their bodies. For now, Tran and Wilson applied tourniquets to whatever limbs were spouting blood. After that, the two of them grabbed a single pony each and ran back to cover. Overall, this took them three-quarters of a minute. The smokescreen was still present and random gunfire could still be heard. Now that the four of them were back behind cover, Wilson handed Tran his KRISS and got out his battle pack. Opening up his battle pack, he entered his field. He was now god. The first pony, the one he carried, was bleeding from the torso from multiple sources. Using a pair of trauma shears, he removed the pony's uniform and found the source of the bleeding. From his battle pack, he removed a couple chest seals and applied them as needed. It wasn't the perfect solution but for now, it would work. The next pony was a similar patient. He was also bleeding from multiple unknown sources from his chest but one of his legs (one that didn't have a tourniquet on), was also bleeding. The leg wasn't bleeding heavily but it was bleeding nonetheless. Digging through his battlepack, he pulled out chest seals and an Israeli bandage. First, he applied the chest seals. Next, was the leg. "We're good!" Wilson called out. *Clunk* A stick grenade landed in front of Wilson. "Grenade!" Wilson called out. Tran picked it up and tossed it over their cover before immediately jumping on top of one of the wounded ponies. Wilson copied what Tran did and covered the other wounded pony with his body. *BOOM* Dirt and dust covered the four of them but none of them gained any new wounds. Getting back up, Tran handed Wilson his KRISS and pulled out his S&W 500. "Where did that come from?!" Tran asked. Wilson gave Tran a hard glare. "The fuck you mean?!" he demanded. "They're 50 yards away! No one can throw a grenade that far!" Tran said. Both of them immediately looked to the skies. It took them a few seconds but they found their answer. Ten meters above them, a griffon wearing a red scarf was soaring through the air. "You fucker!" Wilson taunted. He raised his KRISS and sprayed away. Surprisingly, he landed a few hits but were only effective enough to irritate the griffon. The griffon descended in altitude, giving the two of them a better view of his body. Like every Jaeger, he wore a red scarf around his neck and was equipped with a set of webbed gear outfitted for aerial use. Covering his face was a metal faceplate with a set of slits for the eyes. His beak, something that should have been yellow and made of keratin, had been replaced with a steel analog. "Your weapons are useless!" yelled the griffon. "Surrender and you'll receive a merciful death!" Wilson and Tran exchanged a look. Tran holstered his .500 S&W and unslung his sniper rifle. In half a second, he took aim and snapped out a shot. The bullet punched right through the Jaeger's armored coat, through his body, and out the other side of his armored coat. He hovered for a few more seconds before immediately dropping straight down. Much to his embarrassment, the Jaeger landed right in front of Wilson. Wilson smirked before immediately kicking the Jaeger in the side of the head. Tran looked at the Jaeger's equipment and dug through a few of the pouches. After a short search, he removed a pair of stick grenades and the red scarf. Wilson raised an eyebrow at the sight of the red scarf in Tran's hands. "What's with that?" he asked. Tran smiled before answering, "They explode and spray shrapnel everywhere." Wilson frowned. "I meant the fucking scarf, you smartass!" Tran suppressed a chuckle. "Just thought I'd take it," he said before tying the scarf alongside the other red scarf that he had. He then handed one of the grenades to Wilson before directing his attention back to the battle. "Ready to join in again?" he asked while slinging his rifle and pulling out his S&W 500. Wilson nodded. The two of them moved to the edge of their cover, ready to move. "Cover us while we move!" Tran called out. "Covering!" Eric and Logan called out. The air immediately was filled with the sound of rapid 5.45x39mm and 7.62x54mmR fire. Both Wilson and Tran sprinted back to where they previously were before they went to help the wounded. Tran looked at Scootaloo, who had been attempting to shoot the minotaurs this whole time. Tran grabbed the collar of her coat and pulled her back behind cover. "Pay attention to what I'm saying to you!" he said. He then held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?!" Scootaloo looked at him for a few seconds before realizing what he had asked. "T-three?" she answered. "Now that you're paying attention, I want you to copy my every action!" Tran said. "Got it!" Scootaloo nodded. "Copy everything you do, got it!" Tran handed her a stick grenade. "You're gonna need this. Everything I do, you do but on the right side." Scootaloo pocketed the grenade and nodded. Tran moved over to the left side of this cover while Scootaloo moved over to the right side of the cover. *THUNK* A shell from Pinkie's party cannon soared through the air with a sharp whistle before exploding a dozen yards away from its intended target. Frowning, Pinkie Pie adjusted the distance knob on her mortar. "Pinkie, do that again!" Twilight called out. *THUNK* *THUNK* A couple seconds before the shells landed, Twilight hopped up over her cover while bringing up a shield. When the shells landed seconds later (missing the minotaurs by only a few yards), Twilight started advancing towards them. Bullets pinged off of her shield giving her a sense of invincibility. Smiling, the glow from her horn brightened. The dozen or so minotaurs that were firing on the group were nestled behind cover, taking pot shots at the ponies whenever they could. From there, they were impossible to get a hit on. Naturally, Twilight had the solution; She set their cover on fire. Some of the minotaurs were set on fire but most of them simply stepped backwards away from their cover, still perfectly safe from fire. Clouds suddenly appeared in the air above the minotaurs, taking some of their attention away from the battle. Seconds later, bolts of lightning rained down onto their position. Fortunately for them, none of them landed. Twilight's attention had been so focused on casting magic that she hadn't noticed the sack of grenades that landed in front of her shield. *BOOM* Twilight's shield was instantly shattered and her head was filled with the most intense pain that she had ever felt. Most of the pain was centered around the base of her horn and it was now the only thing she could think of. Clutching her head, Twilight could no longer sustain any magic and the clouds above the minotaurs disappeared. The minotaurs stepped out from behind cover and fired upon her. Most missed but the ones that struck were absorbed by the enchanted armored coat that Twilight wore. However, it definitely wasn't a pleasant feeling. Bruises formed on her body and she felt some bones crack, some even breaking. She quickly collapsed to the ground. "Twilight!" Rarity cried out. She wanted to run up to her friend and rescue her but she knew that she wouldn't have been able to carry Twilight back. She wasn't a soldier; She was just an advisor. "Covering fire!" Rarity looked at the source of whoever issued such a command. The one human, Tran, immediately peaked out of cover and aimed the hand cannon that he was so fond of. When it went off, everyone on this field heard the loudest gunshot that anyone of them had ever heard. Two of the other humans and Scootaloo took aim with their weapons and fired indiscriminately with their weapons. The fourth human (Wilson), sprinted out from the safety from cover and over to the fallen alicorn. He then picked up her friend and sprinted back behind cover. Rarity was surprised. He had been behaving like Twilight had been one of his comrade in arms! WIlson carried the fallen pony back behind safety and over to Rarity. Using a pair of trauma shears, he removed Twilight's coat. After a short examination, he looked at Rarity. "Bruising and possible internal bleeding. Can't do anything effective here. We just gotta get her out as soon as possible!" he said. "Watch her." Wilson readied his KRISS and sprinted back behind cover. "Good!" The other three humans and Scootaloo dropped back into cover and reloaded their weapons. "Get ready to bound twice!" Tran called out. Eric swapped the magazines in his AK74 and then looked for the source of the mortar fire that he had heard earlier. He quickly found the pink pony and the mortar that she had been using. He pointed at her and yelled, "Hey! Pink horse shit thing!" Pinkie looked up and directed her attention to Eric. "Pink horse shit thing speaking!" she responded. Eric paused for a second, dwelling on the pink horse shit thing's response. "Did you adjust since the last salvo and do you have more shells!?" Pinkie nodded and held up a crate of extra mortar shells. "Fire for effect, 10!" Pinkie Pie tilted her head and looked at Eric with a puzzled look. Eric groaned. "Drop 10 shells, then stop. Don't care about where they're landing, just go crazy! Only start when I start firing!" Pinkie Pie shrugged before answering with, "Okie Dokie!" She set the crate of shells on the ground and picked up four, one in each hoof, one with her tail, and one with her mane. "Ready!" Eric paused at the sight of her prehensile hair before redirecting his attention back to the battle. He could go ask questions later. "Ready!" Eric called out. Tran looked at Logan who had switched out his Mosin Nagant with his FNX 45. "We're first!" Tran yelled. Logan nodded. He looked down at Scootaloo. "Ready?" Scootaloo nodded. Tran readied his S&W 500. "Cover!" Wilson and Eric popped up and immediately start firing their guns with wild abandon. Pinkie Pie, upon seeing that Eric had started firing his rifle, dropped a shell down into her mortar. *THUNK* *THUNK* Downrange, every minotaur ducked down as bullet started whizzing over their heads. When they heard the whistle of an incoming mortar shell, they dove down to avoid being sprayed by shrapnel. Tran and Logan jumped out from behind cover and sprinted forward. Scootaloo, trying her best, followed Tran. Logan and Tran sprinted forward for all of three seconds before diving for cover. Scootaloo would have kept on going if Tran had not grabbed her and pulled her behind the safety cover. Once safely behind cover, Tran and Logan popped up (while making sure their bodies were still somewhat protected by their cover) and started firing their handguns with wild abandon. Scootaloo copied Tran and did the same thing but with her sidearm. *THUNK* *THUNK* "Good!" "Set!" "Moving!" Wilson and Eric called out. The two of them jumped out from behind cover and sprinted for dear life. A few seconds passed and they ducked behind whatever cover was nearby. They popped up a few seconds later and started firing their rifles. "Set!" "Set!" *THUNK* *THUNK* Every time the minotaurs were ready to start firing again, more mortars or enemy gunfire came down on their position. It was either let them advance or die. A few of them tried to fire in between the breaks in mortar fire but were struck down by stray bullets. Never had any of them experienced anything like this before from such a small group. "Moving!" Tran and Logan called out. Tran, Logan, and Scootaloo jumped out of cover and sprinted forward, doing exactly what they had done earlier in the first bounding iteration. They only sprinted for a few seconds, like last time, before all three of them dove behind cover. This time, Scootaloo ducked behind cover without needing to be pulled down. Somehow, she was the first one to pop back up and start firing. "Set!" Scootaloo called out while firing off a shot with her Model 92. Tran looked at her for a split second before popping up and firing a shot. "Set!" Tran called out. Logan popped up a second later and fire a shot, calling out immediately afterward. *THUNK* *THUNK* "Moving!" Eric and Wilson called out. The two of them immediately jumped out from behind cover and then sprinted forward. While the two of them were the only ones between the five of them (Tran, Wilson, Logan, Eric, and Scootaloo) to have a primary arm with a large magazine (30 or more), the three others could definitely provide enough covering fire with their sidearms. It wasn't ideal but it was clearly working, especially since Pinkie was covering their gaps with her mortar. When the two of them dropped back behind cover, they quickly popped back up and started firing. "Set!" "Set!" *THUNK* *THUNK* Eric realized that those last two shells were the last two shells that the pink horse shit thing was supposed to drop. "That was the last shell!" he called out. "We're close enough!" Tran said. True to his words, they had closed a great amount of the distance between them and their attackers. What was once a 50 yard distance was now only a 10 yard distance. To those that couldn't tell, this was dangerously close. When the minotaurs realized that the mortar fire had stopped, they focused on firing back but their accuracy had degraded heavily. Tran looked back at the others, finding that the others had closed the distance enough for any further action. Holstering his revolver, he pulled out one of the two M67 frag grenades that he was left with by Discord. Scootaloo did the same and pulled out the stick grenade that she was given earlier. "Wilson!" Tran called out. Wilson, instead of answering, looked over at Tran. He noticed the grenade that Tran was holding and pulled out his own stick grenade after sling his KRISS Vector over his back. "Eric, Logan!" Tran called out. "Yeah!?" Logan called out. "What?!" Eric called out. "Throwing grenade, cover!" Tran called out. Upon hearing that, Eric's fire with his AK74 intensified. Logan, despite firing with a pistol, quickly reloaded his pistol before starting a mag dump. Wilson, Tran, and Scootaloo pulled the pins to their respective grenades and threw them as hard as they could. Much to her dismay, the grenade that Scootaloo threw landed a couple yards short. On the other hand, Wilson and Tran's grenades landed behind the minotaurs. "Get down!" All four humans immediately dropped down into the safety of their cover while Scootaloo stared at her grenade. Tran immediately grabbed her by the coat and pulled her down to safety, right as the first of the grenades exploded. *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* Silence. Tran drew his .500 S&W and popped out from cover. Stepping out from behind cover, he slowly walked towards the minotaurs. The four others did the same and advanced on the minotaurs. Upon moving past the rubble of the fallen brick building that their attackers were hiding behind, they found most of them dead. One of the minotaurs saw the humans and drew a sidearm. In an instant, all four humans and the pony open fired. Scootaloo's heart was trying to break its way out of her chest. Why would the minotaur even make such an attempt. He should have known that it wouldn't have worked. Logan kept his pistol trained at the minotaur. "Suicide or dumbass?" he asked. Wilson snorted. "My bet's on dumbass." Elsewhere A griffon nearly dropped his binoculars in disbelief. His uniform, gilded with gold and covered in an astounding number of medals, fluttered in the wind. Looking to his advisor, he barked a few commands before looking back to the battlefield. -X-X-X- Twilight, despite having the god of all headaches, looked at the two remaining minotaurs. These two sported a matching set of plate armor as did their dead brethren. This was a war party. "Where is your chief?" she asked. Beside her, the four humans stood beside her for security. When neither answered, Twilight drew her Model 73 and aimed it at one. The minotaur that she was aiming at shied away. "He's dead!" he answered. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I thought war parties surrendered once their leaders was killed." "We just wanted revenge in his honor!" the minotaur answered. Twilight pointed at the second red scarf that was hanging off of Tran's belt. "And why was a Jaeger assisting your endeavor? They're always lone fighters!" "He was ordered to!" the minotaur cried out. Twilight froze. Jaeger's were nearly the highest ranking members of the griffon military. They were the best aerial combatants in the entire world and had answered only to a handful of others. Some of a Jaeger's superiors would be the Griffon Empire's king, any general of the Griffon Empire's Air Force, and elder Jaegers. Twilight doubted that the griffon king was here and that there were other Jaegers so where was the general? Since the Jaeger was here, they were probably being watched. -X-X-X- He pulled out one of his many white feathers and dipped it into an inkwell. Withdrawing the quill, he started writing a letter. "Ready for your message, sir," said the griffon messenger. In front of the messenger stood the extravagantly uniformed griffon. "Send for two more Jaegers and three squads of dogfighters" said the griffon general. He looked to a nearby advisor. "Any additional thoughts?" "It might be a good idea to have a couple machine guns accompany the dogfighters, sir," said the advisor. The general looked back to the messenger. "And four machine guns squads." -X-X-X- Twilight found him. The white uniform gilded with gold made it easy to find him with a pair of binoculars. He was so close, but so far away. She looked at her available assets. "Pinkie, do think you can hit him with your Party Cannon?" she asked while pointing at the griffon general. Pinkie Pie looked at the griffon general and shook her head. Rarity trotted over to her friend. "Forget it, darling. He's too far for anything that we have," said Rarity. Tran looked at the griffon general. "No he's not," he said. He unslung his rifle and got down into a prone position. Twilight looked at Tran with an incredulous look. "You're going to try to hit him? With a rifle?!" Tran took off his helmet and nodded. "That's impossible!" Rarity covered her friend's mouth. "Just let him try, dear." Tran pulled out a small booklet from his vest and flipped through the pages. "Tell me how far he is and it needs to be as close as you can get it." Rarity pulled out a map and found the building that the general was on. She looked around for the street they were on and found it. "1040 meters." Tran looked through his dope cards until he found the right range data. "I don't suppose you know the humidity and temperature?" Rarity's horn lit up as she casted a spell. "52% and 24 degrees" Rarity answered. Tran had a mental pause. "I'm not gonna ask why you know that." Rarity suppressed a giggle. With hair like her's, she needed to know when it was too humid or hot to go outside. "A lady has her secrets, darling." Tran mentally shrugged. "What about wind speed?" he asked. Rarity shook her head. "That, I do not know," she answered. Tran looked around with scope and found a flag, one that most likely belonged to the country that he was in. It was barely flowing and it blew to the east. He would just have to make an estimated guess for the windage. He dialed in the calculations for his scope and closed his eyes. After a short cycle of breathing hard, he opened his eyes. -X-X-X- Through his binoculars, the griffon general watched. "What is that thing doing?" he asked. The advisor, with his own set of binoculars, was also watching them. "It appears to be pointing a rifle in our direction, sir." "I can see that." "I think he may be firing at us, sir." The general paused. "There's no chance of hitting anything at this range." The two of them saw a flash originating from the muzzle of the creature's rifle. "It appears he fired, sir." A second later, the general felt pain as his left leg was torn off of his body. He grabbed the bleeding stump as he screamed. "Get me a medic and order a retreat!" -X-X-X- Tran ejected the spent casing from his rifle before looking at Twilight, whose jaw had dropped to the ground. "Got him."