//------------------------------// // The All-Americans // Story: Brothers in Arms // by Eagle //------------------------------// P.O.V-Baker I can’t begin to describe the amount of relief I felt after that. Leading men through war is hard; but here, we were, for the most part, all alone. We were in uncharted waters, all on our own, and the whole world either with or against us. From the moment I saw that pink one laughing, I knew it was with us. September 18th Following the close encounter and early introductions at the bakery, the troops and ponies had relocated to the town library, so as not to draw attention. They had all remained quiet until they got there; sure these ponies knew they meant no harm, but the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the sleepy village. Opening the door to the library, everyone and pony piled in, quickly cramming the building. Once inside, the men began to look around. They would switch alternatively between talking with the ponies and inspecting the collection books in the library. Despite the request from Twilight, they kept their weapons close at hand; knowing it would be foolish to surrender their arms in unknown territory. “Spike, we have visitors!” Twilight called to her sleeping assistant. “Can you make some coffee while I talk to them?” The men heard a yawn and groan, followed by slow footsteps coming down the stairs. “Uh, who would want to visit us this late at ni-” he stopped as he saw the humans standing about the room. “Whoa, what are you?” “I’m a human; what are you, a giant lizard or something?” McCreary replied. “Hey, I’m a dragon, y’know!” he said, now fully awake. “It’s just…I’m still little!” “Ah, I’m just messin with ya, kid,” McCreary replied in a light hearted tone before ruffling his head. Baker was sitting on the couch, with most of the group joining around. Twilight ran about excitedly, putting some things into place before sitting down next to Baker with a quill and paper. “I can’t believe this!” she said excitedly. “I actually discovered a new species, far more technologically advanced than us or anypony, and I get to interview it! Oh, you don’t mind, do you?” “No, I don’t mind if you ask me some questions,” Baker said, eliciting a squee form Twilight that caused the men to look around in confusion and try to find where the strange noise had come from. “Ok, first off, what are your full names and where are you from?” she asked. “I’m Staff Sergeant Matthew Baker of the United States Army,” Baker replied, soon followed by the rest of the squad. “The United States? I've never heard ah that place before,” Applejack stated. “You got a map?” Baker replied and, upon first glance of it, confirmed the men’s suspicions. “Oh great, we really aren’t on Earth anymore,” Corrion stated. “So you’re not even from this world!?” Twilight asked. “I guess we aren’t,” Baker replied. “Well, that explains why we’ve never seen anything like you here,” Twilight said. “What do you call yourselves, anyway?” “I guess you could call us humans, men, people,” Baker said. Twilight scribbled this down in on the paper as Spike brought back the coffee. “Hey, uh, you wouldn’t happen to have any whiskey, would you?” Zanovich asked. “I really need something strong to drink for all this.” “I’m sorry, but we don’t have anything like that. Equestria is mostly a dry country. The only alcohol we have is wine,” Twilight responded, getting a groan from Zanovich. “It’s alright,” he replied, taking out a small carton. “Hey boys, who’s up for a Lucky Strike?” “I’ll take one,” Franky said. “Your only seventeen, Beans,” Corrion replied. “Yea, so what’s wrong with that?” he asked. “Never mind,” Corrion sighed. “I’ll take one too, Zano.” As Zanovich lite his and passed his lighter to them, he noticed the ponies were giving him a strange look. “I’m guessing you don’t have tobacco here, either?” he asked. “Uh, n-no,” Twilight answered, coughing a bit from the new smell “Ok, back on track. Let’s see; names, home, species. Ok, why do you have all this equipment? Does it have something to do with your job?” “Yes, we’re soldiers.” Baker said. “What’s that?” Pinkie asked. “It means we fight in wars,” he answered her, earning a collective round of gasps from the ponies. “Why would anypony want a war?” Twilight asked. “So you don’t have war, either?” Baker asked. “No, we do; but, it’s been several thousands of years since the last one. At least in our country, Equestria; I’m not sure about everywhere else.” “So you don’t have a standing military like us?” Courtland asked. “Well we have the royal guards, but other than that no,” she replied. “Usually, the six of us can handle whatever problems come around.” “Geez, I’m sure glad I don’t live here,” Connor whispered to Holden, who nodded in agreement. “They’re nice, but they wouldn’t last a minute against the Nazis.” “Well, it’s a long story, but I’ll give you the basics,” Baker said, pulling out a small paper map of the earth. “It started when a man named Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party came to power in the country of Germany. He militarized it and within about a year he conquered Poland, France, and most of the rest of the continent of Europe before the English were able to stop him from crossing their channel and invading their island.” Dawson couldn’t help but smile slightly in pride as Baker continued on. “After that, he tried to invade a country called Russia; but, that didn’t turn out to well for him. Our country entered the war when Germany’s ally, Japan, attacked our naval base at Pearl Harbor. After about three and a half years of fighting, us and thousands of troops from other allied nations landed and liberated France. We were on our way to liberate another country called Holland before we wound up here.” “Yea, and the sooner we get back, the sooner we can kick their asses back across the Rhine,” McCreary said. “You said a swear!” Pinkie gasped. “What, you don’t have freedom of speech here, either!?” McCreary yelled. “N-no we do, It’s just that most ponies try not to swear of their own will, so it’s a little frowned upon,” Twilight replied. “Oh, well I guess you all should get used to it, because I’m pretty sure me and everyone else is gonna continue for a long damn while,” he replied, chuckling to himself at the ponies’ wincing expressions. “So that’s it, basically. We’ve been fighting to liberate territory that’s been taken by a madman. We’ve also heard rumors about some kind of extermination camp, but we’re not sure if that’s just propaganda or not,” Baker finished. “Well, that certainly seems noble of you,” Rarity said. “But, don’t you miss your home?” “Every day, we all wish we were home,” he replied, some of the troops’ heads dropping in depression. “Well, have you tried being friends with this Hitler?” Twilight asked. “My teacher, Princess Celestia, taught us that the magic of friendship can do anything!” “In your world, maybe,” Dawson said. “England and France tried to appease Hitler before the war got started, and he just ended up stabbing us in our bloody back. All he recognizes is power, so it’s up to us to stop him.” “So you don’t have friends?” Twilight asked. “I mean, surely you all are friends, right?” Baker thought deeply for a moment on how to answer, going back on all the experiences he had with these men. “Yea, but after what we went through, these guys are more than friends. I consider them my family. We’re like brothers.” The troops smiled and nodded in approval, both at their leader and at each other. Jasper and Connor silently slapped hands, McCreary threw his arm around Franky’s shoulder and leaned on him, causing both to chuckle, and Courtland and Corrion quickly reminisced by themselves about their time during training. “Ok, so moving on to the equipment, could you explain your clothing?” Twilight asked. “I must say it looks dashing on you, darling,” Rarity said. “But why do you where that awful helmet? It messes up the entire outfit.” “I don’t know, I think it’s kinda cool!” Pinkie said, appearing on top of Baker’s head from underneath the helmet before jumping down to his other side, now wearing it. “Why do you have these weird goggles on it?” Baker, deciding to leave the question of ‘how the hell did she do that?’ for later, quickly snatched the helmet off and held it in his hands. “The helmet itself is for protection during battle, …the goggles used to belong to another friend of mine, George Risner, before he was killed in France,” Baker explained. “Oh, sorry,” Pinkie apologized. “Well, what do those markings mean?” “The ‘R’ stands for recon, which means we go out and find the enemy and gather intelligence; but, we often end up getting into fights, as well. The heart is the symbol of our regiment, the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, which is in turn part of a division, which is composed of a few regiments. The number 13 is a reference to the original thirteen men of the squad I led in Normandy, France. They called it ‘Baker’s Dozen’.” “Hey, you mind if I get a refill?” Jasper asked. “Not at all!” Twilight replied, levitating the cup from his hand. “How, how did you do that?” Jasper asked, bewildered again. “With magic,” she replied. “Great, magic,” Japer sighed. “Next you’re going to tell me you’ve got cats that can shoot lasers.” “So you don’t have magic in your world?” Twilight asked. “No, we don’t; nor can we fly or do anything as extraordinary naturally,” Baker said. “But, I guess not having such special natural gifts is what makes us so advanced. We don’t have that luxury, so we strive to do better and adapt, to become great at something or everything, and build and create things that allow us to do the seemingly impossible.” “Like those flying machines!” Dash said. “Yea, like airplanes.” “Why do you jump out of those things, anyways?” she asked. “Well, we’re not regular army infantry. We’re an elite type of soldier called a paratrooper. We fly behind the enemy lines and jump into their territory. Once there, we attack them, destroy supplies, capture vital areas, and other things like that.” “Yea, you guys sound a lot tougher than I thought at first,” Rainbow said. “But the uh, … planes? Yea, the planes you jumped out of seemed pretty big and slow." “Those were just transport planes; our C-47 Skytrains,” Baker said. “We’ve got other’s that can shoot down other planes called fighters, like the P-51 Mustang, and ones that attack ground targets, like the P-47 Thunderbolt. You’d like them much more.” “Sorry, but I think we’re getting off track again,” Twilight interrupted. “Not that I don’t find this fascinating, but I do need to finish notes so I can write a letter to the Princess.” “So this princess is also your teacher?” Holden asked. “Yes, and the ruler of Equestria,” she answered. “You mean you don’t have a king or queen?” Dawson asked. “I mean, England has Princes and Princesses, but we’re always ruled over by a king or queen.” “No, we don’t have either. Princess Celestia has been co-ruler along with her sister, Princess Luna, for over a thousand years; except for that period when Luna became Nightmare Moon and was banished, but I’ll tell you about that later.” “So they’re both over a thousand years old!?” Holden asked. “Let me guess, Magic?” “Yep!” Twilight answered. “And they raise the sun and moon. Celestia moves the sun and rules day, while Luna raises the moon and rules the night. They also have several other powers, but I really do want to finish these notes; so can we continue, please?” The men just marked it down as another crazy thing in a crazy land where the laws of science didn’t apply and agreed to move on. “Can you tell me about the symbols on your uniform?” she asked. “Yea, the stripes on the side of every soldier’s arm show his rank, from private on up. The little flag on this side is the flag of our country. And this,” Bakers said, pointing to the eagle’s head, “is the patch for our division, the 101st Airborne.” “Our motto is ‘Rendezvous with Destiny’,” Courtland added on proudly. “Nickname: ‘Screamin’ Eagles’.” “It means a lot because it's our country’s national bird and an important symbol in our history,” Baker finished. “Ok, last thing for now,” Twilight said. “How do you’re weapons work?” Baker dropped the magazine from his SMG and took out a single bullet. “This is a bullet, the bullet goes into a clip along with other bullets; the exact number in a clip depends on the type of gun and the clip itself. The clip fits into the gun and feeds the bullets into the gun,” he said, putting the clip back in. “When I pull the trigger, the bullet gets propelled fast enough to penetrate the target and kill it,” he said, but restrained from giving an example. “That’s what killed the poor manticore!” Fluttershy exclaimed from the back of the group. “What?” Corrion asked. “The animal you killed!” she said, clearly unhappy, but not psycho level. “It was charging right at us! What were we supposed to do?” Corrion asked. “I’m sure there was another way! You didn’t have to kill it!” she said. “I didn’t get through everything France just to end up a meal for some oversized cat!” Corrion yelled, causing Fluttershy to shrink back and whimper. “Ah, I’m sorry. I’ve just…been through some bad stuff; it’s nothing personal, I promise.” “Oh, it’s ok, I understand,” she said, now coming closer to the kneeling soldier. “I know you had to protect yourselves; it’s just, it makes me really sad to see animals get hurt.” “What was your name, again?” he asked, smiling warmly. “F…Fluttershy,” she replied, much calmer now. “I really am sorry, Fluttershy. I don’t want to kill if I don’t have too; it’s not something I take a lot of joy in,” he said. “It’s ok, I’ll forgive you!” she told him before pulling him into a light hug, and catching the soldier off guard. While Fluttershy and Corrion worked things out, Baker began explaining the weapon types to the others. “This is a rifle, specifically an M1 Garand. It holds eight bullets, or rounds, and is semi-automatic, meaning that a bullet will fire each time I pull the trigger; it’s better for long distances. This, the Thompson, is a fully automatic sub-machine gun; which means I can hold the trigger, it will fire all thirty rounds in a continuous stream; this is better for close quarters.” He took out a grenade and held it in his hand. “Lastly, the MK 2 fragmentation grenade will, once you pull the pin, explode and shower metal fragments, called shrapnel, after a few seconds. We usually use these against clusters of nearby enemies.” “What about that small one?” Twilight asked, looking closely at the pistol. “‘For Matthew’; did somepony give you this?” Baker thought back to when he first got the gun as a child. “Mom said I couldn’t keep it,” the young Baker said to his father; handing him a case. “Sorry dad.” His father took the case and examined its contents; a nickel-plated Colt M1911 with the words ‘For Matthew: Brothers in Arms’ engraved on the side. “Yea, someone did. My father gave me this pistol when I was young.” “Can I see it?” Twilight asked, levitating it out of the holster before Baker snatched it out of the air. “No!” he nearly yelled. “I mean, I’d prefer to keep it to myself, thanks.” The rest of the group stared awkwardly at him, with Applejack giving him a suspicious look. “You sure you’re alright?” she asked. “You’re actin’ kinda funny.” “I’m fine!” Baker said sternly, only getting an angrier look from the farm pony. “It’s getting late,” Twilight said, trying to defuse the situation. “Let’s get some rest and we’ll feel better in the morning. You all are welcome to stay in Ponyville, if you like.” “That sounds good; I don’t think I want to go back into that forest during nighttime,” Courtland said. “Well, assuming you guys can’t walk on clouds, let’s break up and have two of each of you stay with one of the five of us.” “Uh, ok,” Courtland responded, trying to connect everything. “You sure about this, Twi?” Applejack whispered to her friend. “I can tell that one’s hidin’ something.” “I’m sure it’s nothing, Applejack.” She responded before turning back to the group. “Ok, let me just write a quick letter to the princess and we’ll organize everything.” She turned and left while Holden, who had been talking on the radio quietly, motioned for Baker to step outside with him. “Sir, Cole wants a report,” he said. “Let me talk to him,” Baker said. “Sir, what’s the situation in the field?” “Bad!” came Cole’s voice from the other end. “Not only has the whole damn division come down in this area, but those idiots form the 82nd wound up here, too. You got any clue as to what the hell is going on, Sergeant?” “Sir, if you can give me till morning, I’ll have all the answers for you.” “What? Baker, where are you anyways?” “It’s…hard to explain, but if you give me until tomorrow, I can sort this mess out. Just try and keep everyone in that area.” “Alright, Baker; I’ll take your word for it. But you’d better hurry the hell up.” “Yes sir, out.” The two men walked back inside in time to see Spike light a letter on fire and send its strange looking ashes out the window. “How did, never mind,” Baker said. While Rainbow went back to her home in the clouds, the other five took two soldiers with them. Baker and Holden stayed with Twilight, Corrion and McCreary went with Applejack, Jasper and Connor went with Fluttershy, Zanovich and Franky went with Pinkie, and Dawson and Courtland went with Rarity. During the night, Twilight awoke to hear some strange grunting and moaning coming from downstairs. Quietly going down, she saw it was coming from Baker; whose twisting and upset facial expressions told her he was having a nightmare. Walking closely to his head, she wondered what he was dreaming about. From the looks of it, it was something bad, but she was still curious. She had learned a spell from Luna that allowed her to enter and witness the dream; albeit they had to stay hidden or else they could be recognized by the dreamer. She decided to try it gently tapped her horn on his forehead. At first all she saw was white, but everything came into being soon. She was sitting in some bushes concealed from view. The area was only one dirt road that was blocked by fallen limbs from trees; the sides were blocked by strange, long, tall hedge. In front of the limbs was some kind of vehicle; it was different that the one’s she’d seen before as this one seemed more built for combat. She saw one soldier sticking out from the top, while another four were standing on the road. The only one she recognized was Baker. “I’m gonna have to shove through it,” the one on the vehicle said, climbing back inside. She watched as the machine pushed through the limbs and onto the other side, followed by the infantry. She climbed out of the bushes and onto the road to get a better look. Suddenly, there was a strange ‘whoosh’ sound and something hit the vehicle, badly damaging it. The soldier popped out of the top again, holding what she recognized as a Thompson that Baker showed her. “You have to go! Matt, get the hell outta here!” he yelled, firing at several other soldiers who were wearing grey and shooting at them. “Damn it! I’m out of ammo!” He threw the gun aside and pulled out a pistol; continuing to fire. She recognized it was the same gun that Baker had; it had ‘To Matthew' on the side. She continued to watch in horror as the man was hit repeatedly by bullets and killed. “Twilight?” she heard Baker say, who had turned around and spotted her. In an instant they both woke up. Baker sat up and rubbed his head, while Twilight was shaking and barely standing. She quickly pulled him into a hug and buried her head into his shoulder, crying softly. “I’m so, so sorry!” she said. “I was curious about why your dream was so bad, so I-.” “It’s alright,” Matt said, returning the hug. “Just…don’t do it again.” Baker, Twilight, and the others got up early in the morning, so as not to draw attention, and met near the forest. Unlike the day before, the trek through the forest was relatively uneventful and quick; nothing eventful really happened. Coming out on the other side, Baker spotted Red and second squad, and asked the ponies to stay behind his squad while he explained the situation. “Red, it’s good to see you!” Baker said. “You too,” Hartsock said. “We managed to get all of our stuff together after we linked up with Sink.” “Tell him about the jeep!” one of his men, private Derrick McConnell yelled from the rest of the squad’s position. “When we crashed my jeep took a beating,” Hartsock admitted. “He hit a tree!” McConnell continued. “Well, it wasn’t steering right at the time,” Hartsock said. “Oh, no! A conspicuously placed tree that could be a German in disguise!” McConnell said in a mock heroic tone. “Take cover, men! I’ll save us!” Before Hartsock could reply, he heard giggling coming from behind Baker’s men and, leaning over a bit, spotted the ponies. “Matt, are those…h-horses?” he asked, a slight amount of fear present in his voice. “Hey we’re not horses! We’re ponies!” Rainbow corrected him, only adding to Hartsock’s shock. “Uh, Red, why don’t you just take us to Sink?” Baker said, pulling him aside. “We’ve got a lot of explaining to do.” “Well, this is easily the craziest, most damnable thing I’ve ever experienced,” said Sink after Baker and the ponies explained everything to him and the other senior officers. “So, what should we do, sir?” Baker asked. After the senior officers talked to each other for a few minutes, Sink returned to Baker. “Well, Sergeant, we can’t keep two divisions of men in the field all day. How far away is this town?” “A few miles through the forest, sir,” he replied. “Ok, it may be small, but we have to concentrate somewhere. That’ll be our base of operations and we’ll set up camp in or around town. We’re going to move the troops there now. Since you know the way, your squad’s jeeps can lead the column. Mount up and lead off when you’re ready.” “Yes sir,” Baker replied before leading his men and the ponies to the four jeeps. The ponies seemed a bit cautious about the vehicles at first, but they soon warmed up to them. “Does it have some kind of engine that propels it forward? Like a train?” Twilight asked. “Sort of, yea; the engine powers everything and makes the wheels turn,” Baker said, trying to save the details for latter and get on with the mission. “It can go up to forty miles per hour.” “This little thing can go that fast?” Twilight asked. “Yea, it’s really useful for getting around,” Baker said. Twilight looked at the writing on the hoods of two of the jeeps. One, called ‘Zebra’, had ‘Bullet Magnet’ written on the side; obviously some kind of dark humor. The other was named ‘Those we Lost’ and had several names written below it. “Are those the men that got killed in the first battle?” she asked. “Yea, we wrote their names down so we’d never forget them,” Baker replied. She went over the names: Muzza, Risner, Allen, Garnett, Rivas, Desola, Paige, Doyle, Obreiski, and Leggett. “Wow, a lot of people died, huh?” she asked. “Yea, we lost a lot of friends in Normandy,” Zanovich said, running his hand over the names. “Damn, I miss you, Obi.” Over to the side, the rest of the group was talking to the soldiers some more. “Excuse me, sir,” Rarity said to Hartsock, “I couldn’t help but notice that some of the people are wearing different patches. That means they’re from another…division, correct?” “That’s right,” Hartsock said. “They from one called the 82nd Airborne. Their patch is AA because their nickname is All-Americans.” “Why do they call themselves that?” Rainbow asked. “It’s because they’re made up of men from all areas in the United States,” he answered. “They actually have more combat experience than us. The 101st and the 82nd were both in France, but the 82nd dropped in Sicily and fought on in Italy a year before. They’re pretty proud, too. ‘All-Americans, all the way!’ as they say.” “They must’ve been through some bad stuff, too, huh?” Rainbow replied. “Yea,” Hartsock said. “Hey sorry about calling you horses earlier; I just got a little jumpy is all. I’ve…had some bad experiences with horses.” “It’s cool, bro,” Rainbow replied, sticking out her hoof to him. Hartsock at first shook it, but got a confused look from the Pegasus. He then balled his hand into a light fist and tapped it against the hoof. “That’s more like it!” Rainbow replied. The troops mounted up on the jeeps, with the first three carrying two ponies each. Twilight and Pinkie sat with Baker in the lead. The sun was shining rather brightly today, and the forest was near as dark as it had been in the morning or the previous day. Getting settled in and into formation, they heard a little tune being whistled somewhere in the column. “Hey Matt, you hear that?” Zanovich called. “Yea, I hear it Zano,” he replied, a grin coming onto his face. “Mind if we sing along, sarge?” McCreary asked. “Sure,” Baker replied. “Ooh, I love singing!” Pinkie said excitedly. “I don’t think you’ll know this one,” Baker said. “We just came up with it.” Well he was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright! He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tied! He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar! You ain’t gonna jump no more! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! He ain’t gonna jump no more! The ponies seemed to take a bit of shock at the lyrics soon on. 'Is everybody happy?' cried the sergeant looking up! Our hero feebly answered 'yes' and then they stood him up! He jumped into the icy blast, his static line unhooked! You ain’t gonna jump no more! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! He ain’t gonna jump no more! He counted long, he counted long, he waited for the shock! He felt the wind, he felt the cold, he felt the awful drop! The silk from his reserve spilled out and wrapped around his legs! You ain’t gonna jump no more! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! He ain’t gonna jump no more! The risers swung around his neck, connectors cracked his dome! Suspension chords were tied in knots around his skinny bones! The canopy became his shroud; he hurtled to the ground! You ain’t gonna jump no more! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! He ain’t gonna jump no more! By now the entire column was singing as they drove through the forest, and the ponies steadily realized what was happening in the song’s story. The days he lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind! He thought about the girl back home; the one he’d left behind! He thought about the medical, and wondered what they’d find! You ain’t gonna jump no more! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! He ain’t gonna jump no more! The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild! The medics jumped and screamed with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled! For it had been a week or more since last a chute had failed! You ain’t gonna jump no more! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! He ain’t gonna jump no more! What was confusing for the ponies at this point were the soldiers. Despite singing a sad song, the tune was upbeat, and most of them had smiles plastered on their faces as they sang. He hit the ground the, sound was *SPLAT*, his blood went squirting high! His comrades then were heard to say ‘A helluva way to die’! He lay there rolling round in the welter of his gore! You ain’t gonna jump no more! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die! He ain’t gonna jump no more! As the column rolled out of the forest, the troops sang the final two verses more solemnly, and at about half-speed. There was blood upon the risers; there were brains upon the chute. Intestines were a dangling from his paratrooper suite. He lay there rolling round in the welter of his gore. You ain’t gonna jump no more. Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die. Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die. Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die. He ain’t gonna jump no more. And when he gets to hevan, to Saint Peter he will tell. ‘One more man reporting, sir; I’ve served my time in hell. Saint Peter smiled and said to him ‘you’ve served your country well, and you ain’t gonna jump no more’. Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die. Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die. Gory, glory, what a helluva way to die. He ain’t gonna jump no more. By the time the song had ended, the column had stopped near the town and the troops had dismounted. Baker lead Sink and the others to the town square where a large white alicorn, the princess he guessed, was addressing the townsfolk; telling them about the creatures so there would be no panic. The officers went to meet her along with Baker and the six ponies. “I can’t wait to throw a party for all my new friends!” Pinkie said. “Uh, how many of you guys are there?” “From both the 101st and the 82nd,” Baker thought. “I think around thirty thousand men, but I’m not quite sure.” “Whoa,” Pinkie deadpanned. “I’ve got a lot of planning to do!”