No mare left behind

by Aqua_Breeze


Road to hell part 1

"Hey, wake up," Corporal said as he gently shook Twilight.

Twilight groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. She looked around and took notice of the darkness, meaning it was still night.

"It's still dark outside," Twilight said groggily.

"I know you're probably not used to beings awake this early, but we're moving out," Corporal said.

"Where are we going?" Twilight asked, still groggy.

"We are going to secure the road to a town known as Carentan," Corporal said, "That's all I know".

"And it can't wait till the sun is shining, can it?" Twilight asked as she sat up.

"Under the cover of darkness, we strike," Corporal said as he laid a comforting hand on Twilight's right shoulder, "And don't worry, you've got an entire platoon to back you up. They may not take you as one of us just yet, but they'll stand by your side as long as you stand by theirs".

"Do I get my own gun this time?" Twilight asked.

"Not sure we've got anything to spare," Corporal said as he stood up, "You'll have to ask the captain".

With that, Twilight finally stood up all the way and began to exit the tent she was sleeping in just moments ago. Once outside, she lit up her horn and the tent started taking itself apart and packing itself up nice and neatly. Corporal could only stand there in amazement. Deciding it for the best, Twilight followed up with the same trick on other tents, easing the workload and decreasing the time taken to do the task by hand. Once everything was packed up, and everybody was loaded up and ready to move out, Twilight found her way over to Dreadson.

"So, you got any free guns I can use?" Twilight asked.

"Sir," Said a voice from behind Twilight.

"Oh, right," Twilight said sheepishly, "Sorry".

"When this is all over, I'll give you some proper training so you'll know how Marines do things," Dreadson said, "For now, don't sweat it".

"Alright, I guess," Twilight said, "But, I still need a weapon... um, sir".

"Right, and you shall get one, but not from me," Dreadson said, "The only weapons I have are what my men have".

"Then, where will I get one for myself?" Twilight asked.

"Off the body of a dead German," Corporal said, causing Twilight to gasp, "He'll not be needing it anymore anyway".

"It's still not right to just take something like that!" Twilight said.

"Remember what I said about it being your or them?" Corporal asked.

"Yea, why?" Twilight asked.

"The Germans would not hesitate to take a gun off your body should they have need of it," Dreadson said, "You need to have that same attitude".

"War isn't nice, and you sometimes have to do things you can't morally agree with in order to help complete the mission," Corporal said, "Plus, if you don't have a gun, how can you expect to protect not just yourself, but your brothers in the heat of combat?".

"Well, I-" Twilight said, trailing off into thought.

"Point is, if you don't take a German weapon, you'll have to try and make do without a weapon at all," Dreadson said, "Now, I'm not going to force you to do it, but I'd hate to see you die without giving yourself a fighting chance".

"Fine, I guess," Twilight said, a little saddened.

"We're not asking you to like it," Corporal said, "But it's really for the best".

Twilight hated the idea of robbing a dead body, but she would just have to set aside her morals for a while to survive. The whole trek to the road that lead to Carentan, Twilight tried to get it out of her head that what she had to do was wrong. She wanted to make herself believe it was the right thing to do, but she couldn't get her mind to agree with her for once.

Under the cover of darkness, the platoon made their way to where the first known German location was. Corporal told Twilight to hold back until the first bit was over, which she was more than willing to do. As the platoon reached their destination, a roar of gunfire sounded. The sudden burst of noise caused Twilight to cower more as she was still not used to the sound of gunfire. The night was lit up as guns were fired on both sides. The platoon was able to get a surprise attack in, which aided in their swift victory. When the gunfire finally died down, Corporal walked over to give Twilight some comfort. When his hand made contact with Twilight's shoulder, Twilight's head lurched up and the tip of her horn grazed Corporals chin.

"Sorry," Twilight said, panicking slightly,

"It's just a scratch, don't worry," Corporal said, "We won, by the way".

"That... that's good," Twilight said, unable to hide her fear.

"And I saved you the trouble of getting this," Corporal said as he held out a German MP40.

"This... this belonged to one of them, didn't it?" Twilight asked, knowing all too well the answer.

"Yes, it did," Corporal said, "But, it's yours now".

"I still don't like this," Twilight said as she wrapped the MP40 and brought it close to herself.

"That's a good thing," Corporal said, "For now, though, try and ignore that feeling".

"I can only get more ammo from their bodies as well, right?" Twilight asked.

"Or, you could check their supply boxes," Corporal said.

"There's that, at least," Twilight said as she stood up, "So, let's go check them".

As she walked, Twilight examined the MP40 so that she could figure out how it works before possibly misusing it in combat and getting herself killed as a result. It seemed to function in a similar fashion to the 1911 she fired before, with a few obvious differences. One thing that bothered her the most was how the magazine well was in front of the trigger. Even after Corporal explained how it could be used to help steady the aim while firing, Twilight still had a hard time understanding how the feed worked. She only knew how the 1911 worked with it's clips being held inside the grip, so the idea of a magazine feeding properly outside the grip baffled the alicorn greatly.

As soon as the duo reached the former enemy emplacement, Twilight started to look through the crates to see if she could find any spare magazines. It doesn't take her long to find the right magazines, but now she is faced with another obstacle. Having not been fitted for a uniform yet, Twilight has nowhere to hold the spare magazines. All it took was one look at one of her brothers in arms to realize what she needed: a uniform. But where would she get a uniform while on a mission? "You sometimes have to do things you can't morally agree with" played over and over in her head until she finally understood what she would have to do. If she was going to be of any use, she'd need more than one magazine. Struggling against her morals, Twilight wrapped one of the bodies in her magic and tried to remove its uniform.

"Good idea," Corporal said, quickly taking notice of Twilights intentions.

"How do you do this, anyway?" Twilight asked.

"I'll handle that for you, don't worry," Corporal said as he approached the body Twilight was holding.

"Thanks," Twilight said as she let go of the body.

"Lets just hope the others don't confuse you with a German while you're wearing this," Corporal said as he began removing the German uniform.

"I uh... I didn't think about that, actually," Twilight said, fear of being shot by her new friends forcing its way into her voice.

"When we get out of this, I'm sure the captain will try to get you fitted for your own Marine uniform," Corporal said, "But, this will have to do till then".

After the German uniform was finally removed, Twilight picked it up in her magic and started trying to climb into it. Being disproportionate to a human in multiple ways made the task embarrassingly difficult, however. Twilight thought over what she could do, then it hit her like a bag of bricks. Back when she was a unicorn, Twilight was smaller than she was now. The sudden change in size made it impossible for Twilight to fit into any of her nicer outfits. However, it just so happened that Twilight has a friend that could aid in her fashion dilemma.


"And that's where I have to thank you, Rarity," Twilight said.

"I'm afraid I fail to understand," Rarity said.

"Being an expert fashion designer, you know spells that can manipulate fabric and allow it to be sized up or down with ease," Twilight said, "You taught me how to perform one of them so I wouldn't have to worry about it again, and that helped with sizing me for the German uniform, and the one I am currently wearing".

"Well, It's good to know you finally had a use for that spell," Rarity said, "I honestly never expected you to have much use for it".

"Though, I do wish there was a spell to patch up bullet holes with ease," Twilight said, "The German uniform only had a couple, but they were irritating nonetheless".

"Well, I don't even know what a bullet is," Rarity said.

"I promised Shining I'd wait till he got released to explain all that stuff, so just wait for it," Twilight said.

"And while we're on the topic, I just have to know why your uniform is all such a horrid shade of green," Rarity said, "It doesn't really suit you at all".

"It's that way to help us tell friend from foe," Twilight said, "The Marine uniform is green, while the German uniform is gray".

"I suppose that does have a good purpose then," Rarity said, "Though, it still doesn't suit you".

"So, Twi, what do human wings look like?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'm sorry?" Twilight asked, baffled.

"What do human wings look like?" Rainbow asked again, "Are they more like mine or yours?".

"Humans don't have wings, Rainbow," Twilight said.

"You must have been miserable, then," Rainbow Dash said.

"Nick actually cut some holes for my wings to fit through," Twilight said.

"Who?" Applejack asked.

"That's right, I've been referring him by his rank this whole time," Twilight said, "Corporals name is actually Nicholas Ross".

"That's certain an interestin' name," Applejack said.

"No kidding," Rainbow Dash said, "No offence, but what kind of a name is that anyway?".

"A very human name, Rainbow," Twilight said, slightly irritated.

"I didn't mean anything by it," Rainbow Dash said.

"So, what happened next, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie asked.