//------------------------------//
// Crucible 
// Story: Welcome to the Frontier 
// by Sleep Sonata 
//------------------------------//

	After a brief look at our training schedule, and my experiences from the previous day, I got a feel for what life would be like. Missions would be followed by a day of rest and preparation for the next day’s exercise. The missions would rotate between capture and defend, intel retrieval, and attrition, each randomly chosen. This would goon for 6 weeks, at which point we would be commissioned as regular pilots. 
The day of rest had started,and we were on our own schedules that day. After taking a bullet to the head, I decided I deserved a little extra time in bed. Angel certainly didn’t argue with me. When she asked me if I wanted to get breakfast with her and Snow Drift, the clearest answer I could give was a shake of the head. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere that day.
Unfortunately for my pounding head, the commissar had other plans.
“Pilots, report to the briefing room immediately.” That was all that came over the loudspeakers, much to my confusion. This was supposed to be our day off. What the hell was this all about? I debated whether I should blow her off and stay in bed, but I didn’t feel like dealing with that headache on top of the one I already had. I forced myself out of bed, and stumbled down to the briefing room.
When I got there, it was just the commissar, Snow, Angel, and myself. Meteor and Jet were conspicuously absent. “Where is the other two?”
The commissar shot me a look of half scorn, half confusion. “Are you hungover, Miss Solstice?”
Correcting my posture and speech, I collected myself enough to appear somewhat professional. “No ma’am, I just got shot.”
Rolling her eyes, the commissar turned her attention to the table. “They’re on their way to the mission area. They’ll be briefed on the way. I’m going to do your briefing before your departure.”
“Hold on, I thought there was no mission today. What gives?” I was confused and understandably upset. I had seen what our day was supposed to be like. Splitting up the team and having a mission on the off day was not on the schedule.
“Consider this preparing to be unprepared.In the real world, the militia won’t wait for you to roll out of bed before attacking.” I wanted to shoot back some smart-ass remark, but nothing came to mind, and I wouldn’t have said it even if I had thought of something. I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but that made sense. It still sucked.
“You’ll be on a intel retrieval mission. You’ll be sent out to Outpost 615, and be tasked with finding a Multi Layer Light drive containing the intel. When you have it, hurry to the evac point and get out. Grab your gear and meet at the dropship. You are dismissed.” I wanted to know what exactly was on that drive, anymore importantly, why we were being sent outside the city. The schedule said that training would be conducted in different sections of the city. 
Whatever. Different locale, same job. I wasn’t too worried about accomplishing the mission. As long as I kept moving this time, we would all breeze through this.
Before I could get out the door, Angel Dust pulled me aside. She was fidgeting constantly, and kept glancing around. “I do not think this is a normal. Did you get the inkling that the commissar was withholding something?”
I did, but with a poker face like that, I wasn’t entirely sure what it could be. “Yeah, but there’s nothing we can really do about it. Whatever it is she’s not telling us, we can avoid it. All we have to do is get the drive as fast as possible, and get out. The less time we’re in the field today, the better.”
“Okay. I’ll tell the others when we get there.”
“No!” I grabbed her, only afterwards realizing how loud I had just been. “No. If we tell Drift or Jet, they’ll just get anxious and not do well. We need to keep this from worrying them too much, or they’ll just be a detriment.”
“We were always taught that if we thought something was amiss to speak up. I feel like this secrecy will be a detriment.”
“Look, we’ll get there, and see if this is actually out of the ordinary. For now though, we ned to treat this at face value. Think, this is exactly what the commissar said; it’s part of the training.” She looked away, thinking on what to do. When she looked back at me, she gave me a nod, and we both left to retrieve our gear. Looking back, I think I actually believed what I had told Angel.

The ride to the outpost was a different experience from our first drop the day before. Instead of flying over the grey cityscape of Angel City, we could look outside and see the native flora and fauna below. For a while, it was like being back in my bunkroom, looking at the projections on the window. This was better though. The grass below my was real.
The enjoyment was fleeting. As soon as we arrived at the outpost, we were ushered out the back of the dropship, and rushed up to the structures immediately in front of us. As we mantled up onto the first roof, we found Meteor and Jump Jet sitting down, waiting for us. 
“About time you showed up. Let’s get this over with.” Meteor seemed indignant at our later arrival. I was in no mood to put up with him. I wanted to finish this mission more than he could imagine. I needed to nurse this headache.
“Hold it. We need to coordinate first. Do either of you have any idea where the intel actually is?” The two stallions looked at each other, then back to me. “Thought so. We’ll split into here groups to find it, Meteor and Jet, you two head over to the apartments to my right. Snow and Angel…”
“Hold on, who put you in charge?” I was tempted to shoot Meteor right there. Only my common sense held me back. 
“I put me in charge! Now shut the hell up and listen!”
“I don’t think we can have a hot head like you leading this. I’m pretty sure the drive is the main offices. We only need to look there.” This time I actually raised my weapon. 
“Cut me off one more time! I dare you!”
“Summer, calm down!” Angel had come next to me. She hadn’t raised her weapon. Instead, she genuinely looked worried. I looked to her, then to Meteor. I didn’t think to let him out of my sight for a second, but the longer I stood aiming, the less I thought I would actually shoot him. I needed a better way to convince him to follow me. 
Just as I began to lower my weapon, I noticed a strange shimmer around Meteor. It looked like heat, but the atmosphere wasn’t hot. I stared at the apparition for a few seconds, until I noticed it slither around his neck. It wasn’t heat.
I raised my weapon, and aimed just a few inches right of his head. “Meteor!”
Before I could shoot, Angel swatted my weapon away. “Summer, this is not how you handle this!”
I tried to shove her out of the way, but I wasn’t fast enough. Meteor’s hear spun around, facing directly backward, and he fell over dead. Only then was I able to aim again and fire. My bullets, seemed to stop mid air, before the shimmer in front of me solidified into a pony, who also fell over a corpse.
The others simply stood aghast, none of them seemed to know how to take in what had just happened. To be honest, neither did I. Why would the IMC pit us against other pilots in training? That seemed idiotic. On closer inspection of the dead pilot, I realized the IMC wasn’t using pilots to train pilots. In fact, they weren’t training us at all. The green camo, rusty ballistic armor.
This was a Militia pilot.
“Everyone get back to the…” Before I could finish my sentence, I felt my right rear leg give out from under me. I didn’t feel anything, but I couldn’t move it either. I didn’t know what had happened, until I looked back and saw the blood. I’d been shot again.
Only then did I feel the pain. If I tried to move myself at all, I felt lightning bolts of pain radiate up my leg and throughout the rest of my body. I wasn’t thinking about Meteor anymore. I was focused on getting back to the dropship in the distance. With my two front hooves, I started to drag myself to the edge of the roof, hoping the fall to the ground wouldn’t kill me. 
It was only a few feet to the edge, but in my condition it felt like a mile. Every crevice and crack I dragged my wounded leg over felt like a knife stabbing me in my gunshot wound. But I was going to make it out. I was the leader. I needed to survive.
Just as I made it to the edge, about to hurl myself over, I was suddenly dragged backwards and rolled onto my back. The last thing I remember, is seeing an orange visor, and a hoof flying towards my face. After that, black.