"Come on you lazy excuses for soldiers! Move out!"
I continued to keep pace with the others pretty well, being careful not to trip on any loose dirt. I kept my gun loaded and had it set on single fire. When we slowed down a little bit, I checked yet again to be sure. The glowing number on the side still said one. I might be crazy for setting an assault rifle on single fire, but they don't call me One Shot for nothing. Years of practice has honed my skills to the exact degree. If I have a gun in my hand, be it a sniper, a carbine, or even a high octane-fueled slingshot, if you're my target, you're dead. And even if I somehow miss, I'll always hit you on the second shot. Period.
Maybe I've grown cold in my age. Maybe I've forgotten about compassion. I might have even forgotten my friends. Then again, this is a war. And my friends are long gone.
"March you sissies! March!"
I checked my gun again and saw the same glowing number staring back at me. The number one. Like me. Like the name that I worked so hard to forge. No, not just me. Me and my friends. Since the day we had met, we all worked together to be the best soldiers that we could be. No matter what, we would strive to be the best.
The three of us were inseparable.
I'm not sure how to explain it, but being with those two, Reddy and Ringer, made the world somehow feel...brighter. They made me feel less hopeless. Seeing Ringer's green eyes and Reddy's brown, I could look into them and read them like a book. We were that close.
"We got to keep moving! Let's go!"
Hell, I don't even know why I'm thinking about them. I guess it doesn't matter, but since that day, we trained together, ate together, made jokes and laughed together. Fought together. Even killed together. They were my best friends, and worst competitors. We may have been friends outside of battle, but on the field, we were simple soldiers that fought to live another day. Even so, I could trust them with my life.
But then we grew up.
As the years went by, we began to get noticed by the higher ups. They saw our potential and tried to recruit us to different squadrons, but we refused. We worked better together, even though our fighting styles were so different. Over the years, and with my friends help, I had become the best sharpshooter the trainers had to offer. I could hit the head of a nail from fifty yards away. With a pistol no less. Sure, I could be pretty fierce with a shock blade, but I wasn't near as good as Reddy. His true codename, Red Dragon, was given to him for a reason. Give him a sword or dagger of any size and he'd be so ferocious that he could send the enemy running. If they got that far. It was because of him that I'm so good with a blade. And then there was Ringer.
"You call that marching? March faster!"
I picked up the pace along with all the other soldiers. The other drones, as Ringer used to call them. I smiled as I remembered her happy face. Always happy. I could always count on her to make me smile. She was the best technologically advanced medic around. And by medic, I mean for computers, not people. She could hack into any system and knock it down within moments. As I recall, her record was at least four minutes. Not only that, she could also rewrite the targeting frequencies of turrets, to make them shoot their own soldiers. She could even make enemy bots stop in their tracks and explode on site. Took out any entire red squadron with that trick.
It was for these reasons that me and my friends were constantly being offered positions in other squadrons, but we always refused. Normally, we would have been ordered to another squad, but we were fortunate enough to be in General Fudge's squadron. Blue Squad 852, The Imperials. I'm still not sure why we were called that, but it seemed to fit. General Fudge was a genius on the field, and his soldiers weren't that bad either. My friends and I were picked up by him when he heard of our fighting skills. I will never forget his confident demeanor. I never considered him my friend, but he may as well have been. He stuck to us like glue and deliberately put us together in our missions. His stupid laugh would always make us cringe, hell, I can hear it now. His stupid face with his stupid grin and his breath always had an alcoholic smell to it. I hated his guts, but I couldn't help but like him. Reddy, Ringer and I couldn't have been happier.
But then I fell in love.
I had always liked Ringer, but something about her just made me...happy. It wasn't her attitude towards the drones of the battlefield. It wasn't her overconfidence in literally everything. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe there was something in her eyes...yeah…her eyes… her wonderful green eyes. Whenever I looked into them, I felt happy. Brave. I felt I could take on anything. Whatever she told me with those eyes of hers, I knew it would be the truth. I loved her, and she knew it.
But so did Reddy.
He was furious when he found out. Apparently, he had been harboring the same feelings for years, and despite his ferocity on the field, he didn't have the guts to tell her. In his anger, he quit the squad and went out on his own, or he almost did. Fudge stopped him before he could. He hid Reddy's resignation and confined him to his room. I wanted to go to him to make up, but he shot daggers at me every time he saw me. Literally.
Ringer, eventually, got him to calm down, but Reddy wasn't quick to forgive. He hated being stuck in the barracks. Hated not being out in the field. Hated Fudge especially for leaving him alone. Ringer soon explained that Fudge had saved his career, and his life. If his desertion had gone out as planned, he would have been branded as a traitor and hunted down. Reddy, realizing what he had nearly done, eventually made up with me, and life returned to normal. Ringer and I were still going out, but Reddy was cool with it. If not a little jealous. We were still best friends.
But then she died.
"Look out!"
I snapped out of my melancholy and dove for cover. Most of the other Soldiers did the same, but four were shot down before they could react. I sat back up and stared at their bodies. Immediately, my visor's HUD displayed their names. I recognized the name of the man who had got me up that morning, Captain Braves. I turned away and heard the sound of gunfire being passed between us and our enemies. I grabbed my gun, made sure it still said one on the side, and took aim.
One on a roof. Gone.
Two delivering suppression fire. They joined their friend.
Every time I spotted the red suit of an enemy, I fired and took another life. I hate this sound. The sound of battle. Of war. Of death. I hated it. Before I knew it though, it was over. I looked over at the bodies and saw the names of some of my fellow soldiers plastered across my visor. The different boxes also stated how each had died. The list was unbearable. I closed my eyes and looked away. I could hear the whining of some soldier screaming in pain. Just one long note of his dying...wait. Long note? great.
"Pitch grenade!" I yelled into the com-link. I quickly turned it off and saw the others do the same. But a few weren't quick enough. I saw one soldier grab his chest in pain, then fall over, dead. Another grabbed his head. I scanned the ground for the source of the grenade and spotted it in the middle of the clearing. I bolted towards it, scooped it up, and readjusted its settings as I spotted the grenadier on a roof behind me. The grenade began to squeal in different pitches as I overloaded its circuits, so I took aim and chucked it with all of my might. It landed just behind the enemy, right before it exploded. The grenadier fell off the roof and hit the ground. He didn't get up.
I looked over at the soldier who had grabbed his head, only to find him slumped against a wall. I looked away before I could see his name or the cause of his death. I already knew. Pitch grenades send out a high pitched frequency that, if you’re exposed to it for too long, can rupture certain organs in your body, namely the heart or the brain. Instant death, but more painful than a bullet.
The general electronically turned on our com-links again.
"Come on," He said, "We don't have all day,"
________________________________________
"OK. I'm stuffed."
Applejack leaned back contently in her chair at the dinner table.
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh agreed, who was sitting across from her. Granny Smith sat next to him and was still chewing her meal while Applebloom, who was next to Applejack, was licking the crumbs off of her own plate.
"Applebloom," Applejack noted, "Stop licking your plate. It's rude."
Applebloom stopped and asked, "Since when do you care about being rude?"
"Since you started licking your plate like Winona." The dog in question barked at that, causing the family of farmers to laugh. Shortly afterward the table was cleared and the two sisters were once again washing the dishes in the kitchen. They were almost done when the yellow filly spoke up.
"I wish you were coming..." she said with a distinct sadness. Applejack looked down at her and smiled.
"Now Applebloom," she began, "you know why I can't. I have to look after the farm. Besides, you'll be back tomorrow,"
"But they would have wanted you to come!" the little filly proclaimed. Applejack sighed and stopped cleaning. She leaned down and looked at her younger sister in her eyes.
"I know they would, but we normally go a week or so before the Summer Sun Celebration, and since the celebration is coming to Ponyville, I need to stay here to watch the orchards."
"But we only get to go there once a year!" her sister wailed. Applejack ruffled her hair and tightened the red bow in it with her teeth.
"Mom and Dad know how important the orchards are. They'd be pretty upset if we all just left, though, right?" Applebloom slowly nodded her head, but she was still upset. "Besides," Applejack continued, "You have my old hair bow. Mom and Dad will understand, I'm sure." The young filly tugged on the pink bow in her red mane and smiled again.
"OK," she said, "I'll tell them you say hi!" The older sister laughed and continued cleaning the dishes. When that was done, Applebloom ran off to her room to collect her things for the trip. Applejack sighed and went over to the couch in the living room. She flopped down on it after such a long day. After all, She, Big Mac, and Applebloom had been gathering rotten apples, plowing fields and checking and watering various other crops in preparation for the coming celebration. For the next two months, different members of the Apple clan would be coming in from all over Equestria to help out in taking care of the crops and preparing all of the food. This was the only time that they could visit the family ranch to pay their respects. And she was going to miss it.
"You did a good thing there with Applebloom." observed a deep voice behind her. She turned her head and spotted Big Mac with a kind smile on his face.
"But was it enough?" She asked. At that moment they heard Applebloom asking Granny where her tooth brush was.
Big Mac chuckled and said, "Eeyup."
Moments later, the small family was standing outside the front gates to the farm. Winona was standing next to Applebloom and was whining at her, telling her not to go.
"You'll be ok while we're gone?" asked Granny Smith.
"I'll be just fine with Winona here. Just be sure to tell Aunt Tarty that I say hello."
"We will!" hollered Applebloom, and with that they set off for the train station. "See you tomorrow afternoon!" Applebloom called back as an afterthought. The older sister waved back, leaving only when she couldn't see them anymore.
"Come on Winona, we got to get to bed," Applejack told the still sad dog. The two of them went back to the house. Just as they went in, a clap of lightning shot across the sky, startling Winona and Applejack. She turned and looked up into the sky, expecting to see Rainbow Dash with a thundercloud, but instead saw a clear afternoon sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight. "Dry lightning," muttered Applejack, closing the door, "Just what I need," She calmed down Winona and went to get a drink of water. She would have to stay up for a bit to make sure that no lightning would hit the orchards. She was running water into a cup when a white flash shot out in the darkness, the thunder rolling across the sky moments later.
________________________________________
Fourteen. That's how many soldiers had died in the ambush. The general had stopped talking to us long ago, leaving us to our thoughts at last. I wish he hadn't, but he must be feeling pretty bad at losing almost a fourth of his squad. I don't think he cared that much about them, only that he had lost some good men, including a captain and his Lieutenant. A great blow to our plans, but we worked forward anyway. She would have cared though. I know she would have. Ringer would of gone straight to the general and forced him to at least gather their bodies for a group cremation. But no. We just left them there. I might have gone back with her to give them a proper funeral.
But she's dead.
It came as a shock to the whole blue squadron of 852. Not only that, but the Imperials had lost their general in the same blast. I know. I was there. I couldn't help but bring up that memory. One that I had kept away for nearly three weeks now, but it came back in full force. I remembered the day she died.
***
We were almost seventeen-years-old. Ringer and I had been dating for the last two years, and despite the war, they were the best years of my life. Reddy would still gag every time he caught us together, which was a lot. I think he still likes her, but I wasn't really sure. Right now though, that didn't matter. We were on a mission with Fudge himself to infiltrate an enemy base. If we were successful, we could turn the tide of the war in our favor. It was a pretty important mission.
The base itself was large and circular in shape. Old buildings was surrounding it on three sides, leaving only one entrance. We had gotten word that the base had recently been producing a secret weapon, a weapon that could destroy a whole city. We were currently sitting on the second story of a burned out complex with a clear view of the base's entrance.
"Right," said Fudge in a deep, gravelly voice, "The plan is simple. Ringer and I will try to get in the base, while you two cause a distraction by wrecking as much havoc as possible. Got it?" We all nodded, so he lifted his fist in the air. We did the same. "We will keep in contact via com-link. Channel forty-two." I lifted my arm controller and set my com-link to 42. The others did the same thing. Fudge nodded and told Reddy and I to wait for his signal, and he left with Ringer. My gut hurt as I saw her leave. Reddy noticed my reaction and smirked.
"Oh shut up Mr. I-can't-get-a-date." I told him.
"Watch it," he shot back, "Or I'll make you eat those words."
"You two are so mature." we heard Ringer say over the com-link. We all chuckled and got back to waiting, ragging at each other every so often. It wasn't until Fudge gave the signal that we stopped, which was getting Ringer to overload one of the sentry bots with random orders. It went nuts within seconds, shooting everything in its sight. Other soldiers came out to stop it, and that's when Reddy and I struck. I was already taking shot after shot on the enemy with a sniper rifle, while Reddy used a recently acquired minigun to defend us.
"Is this enough havoc, or should we continue?" I asked with a smirk that I knew they couldn’t see.
"Just keep firing and let us do our jobs," Ringer told us. I smiled again and continued to fire. Reddy and I continued to attack the red soldiers, so it wasn't long until they got their big mechs out. They charged straight at us, but Reddy was, well, ready. He threw down his empty minigun and took up an energy launcher. He aimed, and fired a ball of electric blue energy at the nearest mech. It stopped in its tracks as its circuits were fried to a crisp.
"You always did like the big guns." I told him.
"Yeah, but he might have got us if he had fired his missiles..." I looked at the mech and recognized the long range missiles on its shoulders. I then noticed that the other soldiers were still firing at us, but from a distance. Something was wrong. Reddy thought the same thing as he fired another shot at a group of soldiers. Our suspicions were confirmed when the soldiers in question exploded. Soldiers don't do that, unless they were...
"Mechs!" I yelled, "All of them!"
"It's a TRAP!" Reddy yelled, "Fudge! Ringer! Get out of there! It's a-"
"We know," Fudge told us, "they were ready for us. Ringer's hacking as many of the bots and mechs as she can, but we can't hold out much longer!"
"We're on our way!" I yelled, getting up to leave.
"NO! Stay where you are and cover us! We're coming out now!"
I got back down and started to shoot as many mechs as possible. Reddy stopped using the launcher and picked up his shock sword. Before I could stop him, he leaped into the fray. I had to keep firing, so I couldn't help him. I spotted a truck bust out of the gates. I saw that it had been splattered with blue paint. Ringer and Fudge were in it, but all of the mechs converged on it immediately. I fired shot after shot, took out tens of hundreds of them, but they just kept coming. I yelled my head off at the unfairness of it all… then again, since when is war fair? I don't know what happened next, but something...happened. One of the big mechs blew up, which caused another to blow up, then another, and soon every single mech was exploding from a chain reaction… a chain reaction that engulfed the truck.
***
I heard them scream. Their yells of agony and pain shall haunt me for the rest of my life. I will never forget that day, because upon that day, my life changed.
And she was dead.
Reddy thought I was somehow responsible. He never forgave me, and he never would. He told me to just kill myself, so he wouldn't have to. And he left. Fudge was gone, and so were two of the best soldiers in his squad. It was thought that I would lead them now. I was offered the position the day after Reddy left. I refused right there and locked myself in my room. There was no way that I would lead the squad. I knew they would just order me to hunt down Reddy. Not because he was my friend, but because I was the only one who could do it. I didn't want that.
But she was dead, and he had left.
I was reassigned later. The Imperial squadron had been disbanded. It was inevitable, but it still came as a shock to me. I found myself under a new squad leader. General Hag, as I recall. She was pretty good in strategies. But she wasn't Fudge. I found myself openly disobeying orders. I'd go forward when she said to go back, I'd stay and fight if she said to retreat. I was constantly put in court for my actions. I was always threatened with being discharged through death, but I was instead reassigned to a new squad on a daily basis. I didn't care. I wanted to die.
Because she was dead, and he was a traitor.
Reddy was eventually reported as siding with the enemy. I found this ironic. The Red Dragon now wearing a red suit. I now knew why I was never 'Discharged'. It was because if I was, no one would be able to stop him. No matter what, I would. He may blame me for Ringer's death, but I didn't do it. If he wanted my head, I'd take his.
Because she was dead, and he was a traitor, and I had lost the two people that I cared about most in the world.
I didn't even know their real names.
I checked my gun and saw that it had somehow reverted back to semi-automatic fire. A glowing three was shone on the side. Three. We used to be three friends. I turned it back to one. Because that's just who I am. One Shot. One kill. One man. No friends.
"Wait," I heard the general say. We stopped at once and looked around. Nothing. At least, so we thought. I saw movement to my left, so took aim and fired. A body in a red suit fell over. "TAKE COVER!" screamed the general, right before he was shot down himself. Half the squad was gone within seconds before the rest of us took shelter in the nearby shells of former buildings. They were ready for us. Just like before. I could only hope that I would live long enough to warn headquarters.
Red enemy soldiers were now charging at the few of us left and right with both snipers and shock sword wielders. I took down a few from my spot in an old structure before I finally ran out of ammo. They were on me before I knew it. Two soldiers with the lethal shock blades came at me. I took the barrel of my gun and smashed its butt into the nearest soldier’s head. His visor shattered and he dropped his blade, so I chucked my gun at the other soldier and grabbed the sword. The soldier that I threw my gun at recovered and charged. Our blades met and the sound of thunder rolled around us. I shoved him back and leaped over his fallen comrade, who appeared to be unconscious. He quickly followed and struck again. I used the side of the blade to parry, which caused a blinding light to appear for a second before the thunder rumbled around us once more. I took the opportunity to slide my blade towards him. He jumped away and struck out at my head, so I parried and lashed out myself.
We struck out and parried each other with such ferocity that it sounded like there was a thunderstorm coming. Parry, dodge, jab. Jump, spin, slash. Block, kick, miss. We flew around each other. I couldn't land a strike on him. He couldn't hit me. It wasn't until I realized this that I started to notice something...familiar about this guy. His movements were loud and obvious, but there was a certain finesse about it. He knew how to handle the shock blade, like it was an extension of his actual self.
This realization caused me to pause. It was enough. He lashed out and caught me in my right side. I heard the flexible armor there shatter from the blade, but I had went with the strike and fell to the ground to deaden the blow, yet I was still bleeding. My sword was then yanked out of my hand, so I rolled onto my stomach and tried to get up, but he struck my back then. The concealed bag that was strapped there broke apart, scattering my belongings.
I saw my sleeping mat hit the ground, an extra scope roll away, and the picture... Oh god, the picture! It slid to the ground and started to fly off, not before it was caught by my foe. Before I could react I saw the necklace bounce away. The small, green heart on a simple chain lay within my arm’s reach. I knew I was about to die, so I grabbed it and looked up into the visor of my oppressor's face.
Except he had taken it off. He was staring at the picture. I knew it showed the three of us together. We had gotten the picture when we were eight-years-old. He stumbled backwards and dropped his sword. I got up on my arms and un-shaded my visor so he could see my face. We looked into each other's face and wondered what would happen next. I raised my hand with the necklace in it, to show who I was.
And fire filled my ears.
***
It happened so quickly that he didn't know what happened at first. He was still reeling from seeing the picture still clutched in his hand. Like a fool, he ripped off his visor and looked at the picture again. Doing this made the man he had fought recognize him, for he had revealed his own face. Seeing the necklace in his hand confirmed it. The two of them stared at each other for what seemed like hours to him, but it was still cut short by that grenade. It had shot the man straight into the wall beside him. The explosion had also knocked himself off his feet. He quickly regained his balance and stared at the gaping hole in the wall as well as the collapsed roof. The soldier that had thrown the grenade was the one he had charged in with. He had been crushed by the collapsing roof as well.
"Soldier Red Dragon!" yelled his commander, "What happened?" Reddy cringed at the sound of his full codename, but he went back outside to explain the situation. Before he did though, he shut off his com-link and stared at the broken wall.
"One Shot?"