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// Part 3: Out of the Fire, Into the Frozen Wasteland 
// Story: E.S.O.D. 
// by LCpl Azure Blaze 
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	When the next morning had arrived Azure Blaze woke up in the guest room he had been assigned to the previous night along with the rest of his squad. Azure Blaze himself got the bed along with Moonbeam because he was wounded and needed a good night's rest to recover for what they were scheduled to do that morning. Tailwind was sleeping on a couch in front of the window and Nightwing and Eagle Eye were on the floor right in front of him each with their own blanket and pillow. Jetstream was on the floor by the side of the bed that Azure Blaze was on and Blackword was on the floor on the side of the bed that Moonbeam was on while Thunder Cloud was at the foot of the bed. The entire room was sleeping except Azure Blaze who had purposely woken himself up early in the morning to go for a stroll around Canterlot before he left for the Crystal Empire later on in the day. He slowly sat up on the bed and moved himself to the side and dismounted so as to not disturb his teammates in their precious sleep. His blue and cyan mane was all rustled from the bed so he decided to, for once, make himself look presentable because he was in Equestria's capital, Canterlot. After he was done brushing out his hair so that it was presentable he put his uniform on and headed out the door of the room. He ended up on a balcony of a high tower overlooking the city with a stairway leading down on his left. It was still dark out and the sun hadn't been raised by Celestia yet. He trotted over to the rail and leaned on it to see what was below him. He looked out on a very bright city with its streetlight on and a light in every window of every tower. When he opened his mind to the sight he immediately thought of the city in San Palomino that he attacked a couple of day ago and thought to himself what would happen if N.E.O did the same thing to this city, his city. His watch started to beep and he looked down at it. It was 5:59 AM and there was only ten seconds left until it was six o'clock. "Here it comes." He said to himself. Right when his watch struck six o'clock there was a bright red light on the horizon that transformed into a yellow one before he could see the sun peeping over the horizon and Celestia in the middle of it raising it to its proper place in the sky. He then turned his attention to the moon and saw Luna in the middle of it bringing it down below the horizon. "Right on time." He said. Then he climbed up on the rail and jumped off in a free fall towards the ground. It had been a really long time since he was without his gear so that he could fly freely without its restrictions or its weight which was so great that whenever he tried to fly with it on he was easily fatigued. When he was about 1,000 feet from the ground he spread his wings and began to glide through the air above the busy streets of Canterlot. As he flew over the busy streets the ponies walking on the ground spotted him in his uniform and cheered at him. He saluted to them and continued forward. He didn't want to land on the streets because he wanted a nice peaceful place to rest before he had to leave to go back to warfare of the modern day. He decided to land in the palace gardens and get rid of his stress there.
Azure Blaze came in for a landing in the garden and began to trot through looking at the flowers and hearing the bees busy at work in the hot summer day. There were guards around the perimeter of the garden for security purposes. The garden was open to the public most of the time and the guards were just there to keep the peace. He continued going deeper into the garden until he found a small pond with a waterfall streaming down into it and fish swimming in it. He decided to sit by the water's edge and relax. He looked over into the water and saw his own reflection. He could see the light blue hue in his eyes and the scabs that had formed on his face from minor scratches he picked up while fighting on the field. While he was still looking at his own face the face of another appeared next to him and asked "Who are you?" It was Princess Luna. Startled by the fact the Luna had sneaked up behind him like that Azure Blaze jumped up and landed in the pond with water up to his uniform sleeves, splashing Luna.
"I am dreadfully sorry princess." said Azure Blaze bowing down so low his face went into the pond as well. When his head went under Azure Blaze came up shocked and embarrassed at his clumsiness in front of the princess. His hair that he had taken so long to brush out in the morning had been messed up by the water and the princess was giggling to herself. "My name is Sargent Azure Blaze your highness." He replied trying to save his reputation from going too far down the drain.
"It is nice to meet you Sargent Blaze." said Luna, "Why are you here? Aren't you on duty right now?"
"Yes I am your highness," said Azure Blaze, "I was just trying to alleviate some stress I have been carrying around lately."
"I am sorry to hear about this." said Luna, "Please explain some of it to me. By the way you can just call me Luna."
Azure Blaze came out of the pond and sat down next to Luna at the edge again and began to explain the recent events that he had endured. "It all started when me and my squad got dispatched to the San Palomino Desert military base." he said. Immediately Luna interrupted him saying, "Whoa, wait a minute. Your one of the survivors from that base?"
"Yes ma'm." said Azure Blaze.
"Wow," said Luna, "We lost 85% of our forces including the general when that attack hit that base. It must be hard thinking about all the death that happened at that base. The attack is all over the media. Families everywhere are mourning for their lost ones."
"I know," said Azure Blaze hanging his head low, "War is nothing to be glorified. You never know when you’re going to get shot which makes it torture when you do get shot. When you look back into the deepest pages of the world's history and its wars there are numbers, those numbers represent how many lives were taken. They represent how many families were touched by the cold finger of war. It may be easy to read over the one number while it's written in the book, but the reality of it is that the one number actually represents millions of souls that were ripped from the world. As the war goes on that on number keeps climbing higher and higher and when you die that's all you become is a part of that single number among the rest. The readers just read over that number like it's just another word in the book they don't experience the pain that the people in that number or their loved ones went through. They don't realize that every single one of them in that number would put themselves between anyone and a bullet. After a while of being in the military you realize that there is no life more valuable than the men standing next to you. I would risk my life for them and I know they would do the same and that there is honor. For this reason we must remember the dead behind us just as much as the living in front of us." Both Luna and Azure Blaze sat there in silence a while longer until Luna spoke up.
"Come with me Sargent Blaze. I have something to show you." she said as she spread her wings and took flight. Azure Blaze followed along faithfully through the sky to the other side of the castle where the statue garden was.
"Why did you bring me here your highness?" questioned Azure Blaze.
"First of all I told you to just call me Luna." replied the princess, "And I brought you here so that you could see this." She motioned to a giant wall filled with names. "This is the sunrise memorial. It is dedicated to the brave colts and mares who gave there lives to fight off the changelings in the great battle for Equestria about forty-five years ago. The enemy had a very great advantage because my sister would not accept the new form of violence recently created in that time period and because of that, many soldiers fell to the wrath of the changelings. They went to war knowing they would die. In their honor we constructed this great wall and engraved every single one of their names into it. Not only that but also the names of all the other soldiers that fall giving their lives for this country. When the wall gets full we add another section. But the overall purpose of this wall is to remember every soldier. So that they aren't just another number in a book."
Azure Blaze walked up to the wall and started scanning through the names. His eyes stopped on a familiar name to him. The name was "Violet Blaze" and written next to it was "MIA." He put his hoof on the wall next to the name and rested his head on the wall. "Father." he whispered.
"You are very brave pony." said Luna putting a hoof on Azure Blaze's back, "I must go now but I am sure we will meet again sometime. You are a very interesting soldier. You should go as well, you don't want to miss your transport jet and have to fly all the way to the Crystal Empire yourself now do you?"
Azure Blaze looked at his watch. It was now 6:45 AM and his transport was scheduled to take off at seven o'clock. "You're right Luna," said Azure Blaze, "I guess I'll see you later," he paused for a second before he said to himself, "If I survive."
"Now don't be that way Sargent Blaze!" said Luna as she started to leave the clearing they were sitting in, "Thinking like that won't bring you back anytime soon. Do me a favor please. Come back safe will you?"
"Anything for you your highness." said Azure Blaze.
"It's Luna!" said Princess Luna before she left Azure Blaze's line of sight. Azure Blaze then extended his wings and took to the sky, fling in the direction of Canterlot's military airfield. It wasn't long until Azure Blaze was on his transport jet along with the rest of his squad flying to the Crystal Empire. Everypony was quiet during the trip there was not a word spoken until they landed in the Crystal Empire's airbase. When they got off the transport jet they were greeted by the general of the base.
"Come on! Come on! Move it!" he yelled, "Get the gear off the plane and meet me in the briefing room in half an hour!"
"Sir yes sir!" the entire squad responded and they began to unload the transport jet's gear that it had carried all the way to the Crystal Empire. There were giant ammo crates each with packed with ammunition of varying sizes and weapons. They were so heavy it took two ponies at one time to carry them. Some of the members of the army who shared the trip with them drove HUM-Vs off the jet. The entire Crystal Empire had recently taken precautions for the war between N.E.O and Equestria. The entire city had changed its appearance to be somewhat transparent and therefore harder to spot from a distance. After they finished unloading the jet they headed over to the briefing room to learn about what the Crystal Empire's plan of defense. When they all entered the room they sat down in some metal chair they had set up. The briefing room was filled with state of the art equipment. There was a crystal on a table at the front of the room with two unicorns in uniform on the sides of the table standing completely still and looking straight forward. When the general and princess Cadence herself walked by everypony in the room got out of their chairs and bowed for her.
"At ease soldiers." she said with a very serious face. All the ponies sat back down in their seats. "Let's get this briefing done fast," she continued, "I have been doing this all day and I want some time to get this whole situation out of my head. On that note, general Solstice, please go on with your presentation."
"Thank you your highness." said general Solstice. He was a cyan earth pony with a red mane dressed up in the proper general's attire. "Present source!" he shouted in a firm voice. The two unicorns that were at the end of the table turned to face the crystal at the center of the table. Their horns began to glow and their eyes turned white before they lowered their heads so that their horns were pointed at the crystal at the center of the table. A beam of white light shot out of each of their horns into the crystal in the center of the table, making it produce a hologram of the Crystal Empire with all of its defensive forces marked in the air right above it. "As you all know we have some major intel from the enemy N.E.O forces threatening to take the Frozen North." said General Solstice, "This is why we are increasing our defenses in the Crystal Empire. We also have a second military base strengthening their defenses about 500 miles west of here but that isn't your priority today. Today our priority is to keep the Crystal Empire and everypony in it safe. This means we need to be ready for any sign of an attack. So here is our plan, first of all we will have a scouting team of three patrolling the mountains between here and the military base 500 miles from here. Don't worry you don't have to walk, we will have snowmobiles waiting for you on the other side of the city's shield and you don't have to go scout more than fifty miles from here. If something happens we want you guys to be able to get back here and help out as much as possible. We will also have three snipers on the very top of the main castle facility overlooking the city, looking for any sign of hostile military action below and if something does happen they will cover our forces on the ground. We will have three M1 A1 ABRAMS tanks guarding the crystal heart underneath the castle, which brings us to the problem of power. In these times of war the lack of the love in the city and the fact that about fifty percent of the city has been evacuated has drained the crystal heart of most of its power. Right now we have it putting a camouflage over the city which redirects most of the shields power but if they seem to still find us we will redirect its focus to the shield again. Are there any questions?" The room was silent and nopony moved. The two unicorns generating the light beams stopped and went back to their original position that they were in when they had entered the room. "Good. Sergeant Azure Blaze, divide your team into two teams of four. The one will stay here in the city and the other will be our scouting squad."
Princess Cadence stepped forward and said, "The Crystal Empire has the greatest military in all of Equestria. If it falls nothing will be protecting the rest of the world from N.E.O taking over. We have to keep this city. Am I clear everypony?" The entire room responded with a "Yes your highness." simultaneously.
"Good. Dismissed." Cadence said as she left the room.
Azure Blaze got up and carefully chose the teams of ponies who were supposed to stay or go. "Nightwing." he said, "You and Tailwind will be coming with me and Sergeant Blackword in the scouting squad. Jetstream, Eagle Eye, Thunder Cloud, and Moonbeam will be staying here. Listen to general Solstice and keep a look out for any signs of N.E.O. Got it?"
"Yes sir." they all said.
Azure Blaze and his squad went, got their weapons from the armory, and headed toward the front gate of the city to mount their snowmobiles. Azure Blaze had his M4 and Nightwing had his M249 but this time Tailwind took a silenced M82 Barrett and Blackword had also taken a M4. They all had put on snow camouflage and had helmets with goggles.
"So Azure Blaze." said Blackword as they approached the two crystal spires at the entrance of the Crystal Empire, "Why did you tell Celestia to let us into E.S.O.D?"
"Because I saw your effort on the field." said Azure Blaze, "You weren't scared to speak up to your superior about his fault in preparing for the mission ahead. I can tell that you guys have the potential to survive and that's what E.S.O.D is all about. Not only getting the job done, but making sure that your teammates get back safe as well. Just remember that and you'll do just fine." When Azure Blaze had finished talking he crossed through the city's shield and mounted a snowmobile
"Yeah," said Blackword crossing through the shield as well, "I got this." It was snowing hard on the other side and the clouds the snow was coming from were so dark barely any sunlight got through.
"Come on Blackword!" yelled Azure Blaze, "Your riding with me!" Blackword jumped on the back of Azure Blaze's snowmobile and pulled down his goggles from his helmet. "You ready?" asked Azure Blaze.
"Let's move." yelled Blackword.
Azure Blaze looked over and saw Nightwing and Tailwind had both mounted their snowmobile. Nightwing was in the driving position and Tailwind was holding on tight to his back. Nightwing turned to look at Azure Blaze and gave a signal to show that he was ready. Azure Blaze gave him a signal back, started his snowmobile, pulled down his goggles, and took off into the freezing cold blizzard setting a course for the Crystal Mountains.
"Make sure we stay close." said Tailwind over the radio, "In this kind of weather it will be easy to lose each other." They continued through the snowy wasteland. The only sound they heard to keep them company was the sound of their snowmobiles' engines roaring throughout the desolate icy landscape. When they finally got to the mountain range they parked their snowmobiles and met up in a circle.
"So," said Nightwing as he was staring up the towering mountain above him, "We have to climb this mountain? It's got to be at least 1,500 feet."
"Somebody has to get the job done Night." said Tailwind, "It's our job this time. Beside how hard could it possibly be?"
The squad began climbing up the mountain by foot. About a quarter of the way up they ran into a wall of sheer ice. "I guess it's time to get the old ice picks out then." said Azure Blaze. The squad went into their gear bags and each took out a pair of contraptions that resembled that of an animal trap. They laid the devices on the ground and slipped their front hooves into the tops of them. Immediately the devices clamped tight to their hooves. Azure Blaze approached the wall of ice and hit it with his front right hoof with the device on. Out of the device came long hooks that dug deep into the ice. He then proceeded to hit the ice with his front left hoof and it did the same. He began to repeat this process in turn climbing the giant wall of ice like a ladder. Nightwing followed him, Tailwind followed Nightwing, and coming up last was Blackword. When they had reached the top of the wall there was a small flat shelf where they rested for a while after they put their ice picks back into their gear bags. After a short while they continued up the mountain on a gentle incline until they finally reached the top where they could look out on all the area around them. Behind them they could barely make out the giant Crystal Empire castles sticking up through the clouds and in front of them there was a vast fog covering the rest of the unexplored land to the north.
"Man," said Blackword, "Ever wonder if someone is out there? Where we can't reach them."
Azure Blaze looked out into the fog below and saw that it was all flowing the same way like a river. "Wait a second." he said, "We might not be alone out here. Hand me your sniper rifle." Blackword gave Azure Blaze his sniper rifle and Azure Blaze looked down the scope into the river of fog. "Mother of Celestia." he said, "You guys better take a look at this." He passed the rifle and each of his squad-mates looked down the scope. At some points in the fog they could see through the veil and had a clear sight of an entire army of hostile forces moving in a direction toward the Crystal Empire. There were T-90 tanks and a massive military all moving the same direction creating the air flow that moved the layer of fog.
"Holy shit." said Nightwing when the rifle came around to him, "There are thousands of them."
"General Solstice come in," said Azure Blaze over his radio.
"This is general Solstice." a voice replied over the radio, "I read you loud and clear. Send traffic."
"We have bad news." said Azure Blaze, "We have discovered a hostile army en-route to the Crystal Empire. There has to be more than 5,000 of them and they are packing heavily armored tanks."
"What?" replied the general, "Report back to base immediately. We will call for aid from our military base to the west of here. It seems we have a war on our hands."
"Roger that." said Azure Blaze, "Alright boys, you know the drill. What goes up, must come down."
"Damnit." said Tailwind, "I climbed up this mountain just to see a bunch of hostile tanks and militia and come back down?"
"Shut it Tailwind." said Azure Blaze, "We gotta get back to the Crystal Empire and help set up defenses."
The squad began to descend the mountain in the same way that they came up. When they got to the ice wall they decided to rappel down it. When they got to the bottom of the ice formation the ground started to shake and the sky turned red. Suddenly there was extremely loud bang rang through the air. When the sound and the shaking had stopped Blackword said, "What the fuck was that?" Then suddenly there came a noise from above them that sounded like a rushing waterfall.
"It's an avalanche!" yelled Azure Blaze, "The sound must have triggered it! Get the fuck off the mountain!"
The squad took off running down the base of the mountain following their previous tracks toward their parked snowmobiles. Soon after a giant waterfall of snow came over the giant wall of ice and began chasing them. It wasn't long before the river of snow was about 200 yards behind them. Blackword tripped and yelled out in pain, "Leave me!"
Azure Blaze turned around and started to run back to get him. "Get to the snowmobiles and get them running," he yelled to the other two ponies in his group. He went down and pulled Blackword onto his back and began trotting down the steep hill again. Nightwing and Tailwind had already gotten to the bottom and started up both vehicles for their arrival. The avalanche was only fifty yards behind them before Azure Blaze reached his snowmobile. As soon as he got there he set Blackword on the back seat and got on. He then took off speeding away from the snow barely avoiding getting buried in snow and headed toward the Crystal Empire.
"Why did you risk your life for me like that?" asked Blackword.
"Why not?" said Azure Blaze, "Your one of us now. You better get used to getting ass saved." Azure Blaze began to talk on the radio, "General Solstice come in." he said but there was only static coming over the radio. "It's no use something is blocking the signal." he said, "We have to get back to the Crystal Empire to see what happened."