//------------------------------//
// Part 2: N.E.O Strikes Back 
// Story: E.S.O.D. 
// by LCpl Azure Blaze 
//------------------------------//

	"He just won't talk." said Blackword. "We've tried everything. He just won't spill a thing." It was the next day and Azure Blaze, the rest of his squad, and Blackword were there watching the interrogation through a one way window which allowed them to watch without being seen. They all had their weapons and gear equipped. Shazid Capon was on the other side of the window sitting in a chair bound in rope and hoof cuffed with a table in front of him. His face was bloody from the hooves that were punching him trying to get information out of him but something seemed odd. During the interrogation Shazid never took his eyes off Azure Blaze even when he moved from one side of the observation room to the other. It was almost like he could see through the one way window in between them and was watching his every move.
"He's watching me." said Azure Blaze covering his face with his hoof. "I see him doing it! How is he doing it!? Are you sure he can't see through this window!?"
"I'm absolutely positive." said Blackword. "I couldn't see through it when I was in there." Suddenly Shazid burst out laughing in the room alone as if he could see the trouble that they were going through on the other side of the window.
"Whoa." said Tailwind. "What is he laughing at? This is getting really weird." Just then the general came in.
"Did you get anything out of him yet?" he asked.
"No sir. We tried everything." said Blackword. "But he seems to be watching Azure Blaze through the one way window. We don't know how or why Azure Blaze but one thing's for sure he's got something against Azure Blaze."
"Have you tried putting Azure Blaze in there with him yet?" said the general.
"No sir." said Blackword.
"Well since he has obviously taken such a liking to sargent Blaze I think it would be worth a try." said the general. "Blaze, Get in there and see what you can do."
"Yes sir." said Azure Blaze as he walked over to the door to the inner interrogation room. He kept on wondering to himself why Shazid was watching him so much. As he started to walk from one side of the room to the side the door was on Shazid was watching him. When Azure Blaze got to the door there was a very malicious grin on Shazid's face. Azure Blaze entered the room, closed the door behind him and sat down in a chair across the table from him.
"You win Shazid." Azure Blaze said. "You got them to throw me in here with you. Now what is it going to take to get information from you."
"I have been waiting a long time for them to send you in." said Shazid.
"Yeah no shit." said Azure Blaze. "You've been staring at me for the past hour. Now what do you want with me!? What is N.E.O?! What are they planning?! Answer me!"
"All will be revealed in due time." answered Shazid. "I'm glad you finally noticed I could see you behind that window. You seemed a bit frustrated at the fact that I wasn't talking and just watching you. I am sorry for making you mad but there was no other way of telling them I wanted to talk to you." Azure Blaze looked at the wall with the reflective window in it. All he could see was himself and Shazid in it.
"How can you see through that window?" asked Azure Blaze.
"If I was unbound I could show you." said Shazid. "But unfortunately that is not going to happen."
"Yeah you got that right." said Azure Blaze. "Anyways how you can do it isn't important right now. Now I want to know about N.E.O. What is it?"
"I thought you military people already knew." said Shazid. "N.E.O stands for The New Equestrian Order."
"Now you’re playing dumb with me." said Azure Blaze. "What are they planning!? Tell me now!"
"The name explains that as well." said Shazid. "We are planning to create a new order in Equestria. How we are planning to do that, I can't tell you. But..." Azure Blaze interrupted him by getting up and grabbing his throat and lifting him out of his chair.
"Tell me you sad excuse for a pony. What are you planning!?" yelled Azure Blaze.
Shazid struggled to get his words out so Azure Blaze put him back in his chair so he could talk again. When Shazid cleared his throat he said "But I can tell you this." Azure Blaze leaned over the table to make sure he heard what Shazid had to say. "Today the San Palomino Desert. Tomorrow the Frozen North." At that moment the room shook and the lights flickered. Shazid let out a long evil laugh. "The time of judgment on all Equestria has begun." he said. Azure Blaze rushed out of the room. The rest of his squad was gone and the only people left in the room were the two marines that were set to guard the room.
"What's going on?" asked Azure Blaze.
"N.E.O is attacking us as we speak!" said one of the marines. "The rest of your squad stormed out of the building to go defend the base and the general told us to tell you to do the same. Now go! We need you out there. Hurry they have jets and attack helicopters raining thunder on us."
"How did N.E.O get their hands on those?" asked Azure Blaze.
"How the hell should we know." said one of the marines. "Just get out there and shoot them down."
"Keep a close eye on Shazid." said Azure Blaze. "Don't let him out of your sights." Then Azure picked up his weapon and rushed out of the building to fight back the N.E.O forces. When he got outside the sound of war was overwhelming. There were attack helicopters shooting missiles everywhere and jet storming through the sky. There were also transport jets with paratroopers parachuting out of them. There had to be more than 3,000 troops coming down on the base at the same time. Azure Blaze turned on his headset to hear the screams of other Equestrian military forces. "Where did they come from!?" said one voice. "They're all over the place!" yelled another one. Azure Blaze stood in awe at the descending enemy forces. He had never seen so many at one time and they were much better armed than the ones they encountered in the city last night. "This is Azure Blaze," he said over the radio. "What happened? Where did this force come from?"
"Azure Blaze!? This is Blackword. Thank Celestia your still alive." said Blackword over the radio. "The N.E.O forces came from the north. We weren’t expecting such a large force. The general was shot in the head. He's dead Blaze. He's dead! His last orders were to abandon San Palomino military base. You’re in charge now Blaze. What are we going to do!?"
"Calm down Blackword you’re going to be fine." said Azure Blaze. Where's the rest of my squad?"
"Last I saw them they were over on the airfield." said Blackword. "They are securing the area so we can get the fuck out of this hell hole. Me and Jetstream are pinned down over on block 'c' with the HUM-Vs."
"Ok hold up over there I'll be right over then we’re getting out of here." said Azure Blaze running off in the direction of block "c" to join up with Blackword and Jetstream.
"Roger that." said Blackword over the radio. "We'll hold out for as long as we can over here."
As Azure Blaze was running bullets began flying by his head and missiles continued to rain down in random places on the blacktop. Often he would get pinned down behind some form of cover and fight to get an opening to move up. One time his cover was a HUM-V that was blown up by a missile another time it was an enemy attack helicopter that was blown out of the sky but he used his cover wisely and quickly mowed down each wave of attackers that he came to.
"I'm almost there Blackword." he said over the radio. "I just need to make it around the building on the back side of the hanger the HUM-Vs are in." Just at that second a hell strike missile came down and blew the whole building to pieces. "Shit! Are you guys okay over there?" said Azure Blaze. Nothing but static came on the radio. "Blackword! Jetstream! Come in! Respond! Say something!" Azure Blaze could hear the sound of a HUM-V with two ponies in it yelling out "WOOOO HOOOOO!" A HUM-V sped up to Azure Blaze with Jetstream in the driver seat and Blackword in the passenger seat.
"Did you think we were going to die here in our own base?" asked Blackword.
"Well what are you standing around for?" said Jetstream. "Get on the fifty cal.!" Azure Blaze hopped in the HUM-V and climbed up through the hatch in the top to get on the fifty cal. Once he was up there he started to unload on the enemy forces that were closing in on them and Jetstream sped off.
"Yeah! I've been flying that chopper for so long I almost forgot how much fun it was to put the pedal to the metal on the ground!" yelled Jetstream. "So. Where to?"
"We need to get back to the interrogation room to secure Capon!" yelled Azure Blaze over the sound of the fifty cal. he was firing. "We can't risk losing him again!"
"Right! I'm on it." said Jetstream as he jerked the steering wheel to adjust the HUM-V to a course that would take them straight to the interrogation building.
"I have never seen N.E.O with a force this big!" said Blackword. "So did you get any information out of Shazid?"
"I might not have gotten anything too important, but he did say that their planning to attack somewhere in the Frozen North." said Azure Blaze mowing down all of the enemies that they were driving by. "We need to get out of here and get back to Canterlot to inform our superiors."
"Almost there!" said Jetstream. "The interrogation room is just around the corner of this building." When they turned the corner they saw the door to the building had been bucked down and one of the two marines, an orange pegasus, was in the door way shooting the enemy forces.
"What happened soldier?" asked Azure Blaze.
"You just missed them." said the marine. "They stormed the building we tried to hold them off but there were too many. They shot my buddy in the right hind leg, took Shazid Capon and left on a chopper. I couldn't have done anything to stop them.
"Damnit!" yelled Azure Blaze. "Get the wounded onto the HUM-V, we are heading over to the airfield and getting out of here!"
"Sir Yes sir!" said the marine. So he went back inside the building, brought out a wounded red earth pony, and they both got in the back of the HUM-V and they sped off toward the airfield.
"Argh! It hurts!" yelled the wounded marine.
"Hang in there we are on the way to the airfield!" said Azure Blaze. "When we get there Nightwing, my squads field medic, will fix you right up! In the meantime open the back and cover our six with your guns. Make sure you hang on! If you fall out we aren’t coming back for you!" The marines opened the trunk of the HUM-V and started to fire at the enemies that slipped by Azure Blaze's fifty cal.
"Jetstream!" yelled Azure Blaze. "Get Tailwind on the radio and tell him to power up the chopper for hot extract!"
"Roger that!" yelled Jetstream. "Jetstream to Tailwind. Come in Tailwind."
"This is Tailwind!" he responded on the radio. "Where are you guys?! We've been holding them off at the airfield for a really long time! We don't know how much longer we can hold them off."
"We are in a HUM-V on our way there right now!" said Jetstream over the radio. "We need you and the remaining forces to prep all choppers for hot extract now!"
"Roger that!" said Tailwind. "All choppers are prepping for launch! Standing by for hot extract."
"Sir!" yelled one of the marines in the back, "We have a problem!"
Azure Blaze heard the deafening tone of an attack chopper and turned around to see his fears confirmed. There was an enemy attack helicopter hot on their tail spraying missiles everywhere. Jetstream maneuvered the HUM-V to doge the missiles one after another but Azure Blaze knew he couldn't keep it up much longer. He turned the fifty cal. toward the attack helicopter, said "You two in the back need to keep you heads down. This is going to get rough." and started to unload on the chopper. The two marines shut the trunk to the HUM-V. The chopper continued to pursue them but with Azure Blaze firing his weapon at it seemed to have some trouble following them.
"Keep it up Blaze!" yelled Jetstream. "We are almost there!" Just then the sound of a second chopper filled the air. A black hawk came by and out of the side of it shot a rocket. The rocket struck the cockpit of the attack helicopter and it began to crash. When it hit the ground it bounced up and went right over Azure Blaze's head before rolling to a complete fiery stop in front of them. Jetstream slammed on the brakes and stopped just before they hit the fiery wreckage. They all stood there in awe until Azure Blaze said "Holy shit." slowly.
The chopper that shot down the attack helicopter came around and hovered by the ground. Tailwind was in the pilot seat and Nightwing had an empty rocket launcher in his hands while Eagle Eye was on the other side of the black hawk in a gunner seat mowing down enemies with his mini gun. "Dose someone need a ride?" said Tailwind. "Jetstream get in the co-pilot seat." said Azure Blaze "Blackword help me and the other marine get the wounded onto the chopper. After you do that get on the other mini gun." They all got out of the HUM-V and piled into the black hawk. After they were all in they shut the doors and took off setting a course for Canterlot along with ten other black hawks. As Azure Blaze looked back down on the base he could see the remaining enemy forces on the ground cheering and mocking the fact that Equestria's military lost this day.
"Nightwing this marine was shot in the leg." said Azure Blaze. "Do you think you can fix him up for us?"
"Think? I know I can." said Nightwing. "Stretch it out for me." The marine stretched out his leg and Nightwing began to administer first aid to his leg.
"Thanks a lot sirs." said the un-wounded one. "We couldn't have made it without you. My name is privet Thunder Cloud and his name is privet Moonbeam. How could we ever repay you guys?"
"We'll see how life goes." said Azure Blaze. "With N.E.O growing ever stronger we may need all the help we can get."
The chopper continued to fly for a while and every so often Azure Blaze would look out the side windows. Every time he did he saw something worth looking at. One time he saw a flock of phoenix soaring through the sky, another time he saw a pack of timber wolves on the ground. He wondered that if the country went into all-out war what they would do. The last time he looked out of the chopper window they, and ten other choppers, were landing in the royal Canterlot military airbase. They all got out of the chopper and met with officials to give their own stories about what happened to the military base in the San Palomino Desert. Azure Blaze told them all about what Shazid had told him. About the fact that they were planning to make a stronghold in the Frozen North. They later all attended a briefing that day that was conducted by princess Celestia herself.
When princess Celestia entered the room all of the ponies rose out of their seats until she motioned for them to have a seat. When she did they all sat down in their chairs and listened to what she was about to say.
Princess Celestia began by saying, "Upon thorough investigation on the situation we have reason to believe that the known terrorist organization called N.E.O are going to attack somewhere up in the Frozen North. For this reason we are going to send you all to the Crystal Empire to help with defense in that area. Now, Blackword, Jetstream, Thunder Cloud, and Moonbeam." the marines all looked up at Celestia. "Because of your battle records, and a recommendation from a certain 'important' pony, I have personally decided to promote you strait into the E.S.O.D branch of our military. Congratulations." The new E.S.O.D recruits all looked at each other in amazement and then at Azure Blaze who was sitting in his chair with a grin. "Now pack your things, you leave for the Crystal Empire tomorrow morning." As Celestia was leaving the room she went aside and said to Azure Blaze. "Remember they are your responsibility. If they die in this branch it's your fault." "Ma’am," said Azure Blaze. "If they keep fighting like they have been. They will fit in just fine." Celestia smiled and said "Dismissed." as she walked out of the room.