//------------------------------//
//  1942: Devil Dogs 
// Story: Danger Zone 
// by Lt Rainbow Slash 
//------------------------------//



2058 HOURS
13 SEPTEMBER, 1942
JUST SOUTH OF HELLDIVER FIELD, GUADALCANAL

Fluttershy sat in her foxhole. The sounds of the jungle surrounded her. It was dark, too dark to see more than a hundred meters. She was in position in her foxhole on the slopes of Lunga Ridge, a grassy ridge that ran North-South from Helldiver Field into the jungle. Around her were other Marines, both from the future like her, and the ones already here. Beside her a few meters away was her friend Flitter resting her F89 Minimi on the lip of her own foxhole.

The two pegasi exchanged a glance. They both knew what was going to happen. Everypony in the 1st Marine Division, past and present, knew what had happened on this fateful night. They didn't call it Bloody Ridge for nothing. Everypony in the entire company had been dreading this night. Through all the fighting following their appearance and the landings, it had loomed over their heads.

But they had kept going. They knew what the future held. And in Fluttershy's opinion, if fighting for the Allies even had the slightest chance of bringing the most destructive conflict in history to a close even a day early…well that would be lives saved, and that was good enough for her. Even if she had to take lives to do it.

The previous night had been mostly probing attacks by the Neighpanese. Testing the defences for weak points. Tonight…that was when everything would go to hell.

As the minutes ticked by Fluttershy felt fear creeping in. She stood a much better chance of surviving than most of the marines thanks to her standard issue magical shield projector. But that really didn't help much with her anxiety.

And that's when she heard it. The distinct shriek of an artillery shell every soldier dreaded. She had a second to dive down into her hole before the loud blasts rocked the area. It was followed by more, throwing up dust and smoke into the air as the rounds exploded all over. Fluttershy faintly remembered one of the veterans of the battle mentioning a destroyer bombardment prior to the attack. Now she was in it. The explosions lasted another five or so minutes. Then everything was silent.

And then there was the crack of a rifle. The Battle of Bloody Ridge had begun.




0327 HOURS

Fluttershy felt adrenaline coursing through her as she sighted down her Austeyr and fired three rapid semi-auto shots into a charging Neighpanese unicorn. She swivelled and fired more dropping another as several bullets smacked into her shield. "RELOADED!" Yelled Flitter over the loud din of battle as she popped back up and began firing her machine gun full-auto into the large group of charging ponies.

Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief that they weren't going to be overrun and ducked back down before her shield could be drained further. The Marine beside her in the trench nodded his thanks before going back to firing his rifle. Putting her rifle aside Fluttershy quickly went back to tending the wounds of one of the Marines. The unfortunate Earth Pony had taken a bullet through her right lung. Fluttershy had made her way to the Pony's foxhole as quickly as possible and had been helping her before a large attack had forced her to help prevent them getting overrun.

The pegasus grabbed a syringe of Morphine from her pack and quickly administered it to the Private. She then finished bandaging the wound. She pulled out a piece of paper, quickly scribbled a description of the pony's wounds, and attached it to the pony. Then Fluttershy pulled out a small beacon from her combat webbing and placed it off to the side. A few seconds later and a unicorn appeared in a flash of teleportation. He turned and nodded to her before he teleported again with the wounded Earth Pony in tow, taking them to the nearby field hospital.

Fluttershy quickly picked up and switched off her beacon. The last three hours had been hell. Constant Neighpanese attacks had slowly pushed the Marines back North up the ridge. Constantly showered by grenades and rifle fire, they had slowly retreated. Fluttershy herself had been going from foxhole to foxhole. Those who could still fight she would bandage and give some morphine, while others she would do her best for before using her beacon to get them evacuated.

All around her she could hear the sounds of rifle and machine gun fire, with occasional grenade and artillery detonations mixed in. It was so loud she could barely hear herself think. It was absolute chaos. 

She quickly poked her head up and looked around to make sure nopony nearby needed her assistance. Satisfied there weren't, took a deep breath and flipped off her rifle's safety. She steeled herself and stood up. Her eyes immediately picked out movement and she locked her gaze on a Neighpanese soldier. She was hiding behind a tree missing its top half, taking potshots with her rifle. Fluttershy brought up her rifle and looked through the ACOG. She waited a second, then fired as the pony leaned out to shoot. The bullet slammed into her neck gruesomely ripping out her throat. Fluttershy grimaced at her handiwork. 

That's when the chaotic firefight got even more chaotic. Every Marine knew how their predecessors had fought the Neighpanese In brutal combat, with the 'Nips' often fighting to the death. That's why a feeling of terror filled every Royal Marine as the loud sound of hundreds of voices yelling, "BANZAI!!" could be heard over the din. 

A few seconds later, hundreds of Neighpanese came charging out of the jungle, hellbent on killing every Equestrian that stood in their way. Fluttershy felt her pulse pounding in her ears, and would later swear she didn't lose control of her bowels in sheer terror. She didn't even bother aiming, simply flicking to full auto and spraying into the charging mass. Beside her in the trench the Marine fired his Garand as fast as he could. The two ducked down to reload at the same time, Fluttershy pulling out a fresh mag for her rifle while he inserted a new clip into his. They glanced at each other. Both seeing their reflection of terror mirrored by the other. The two nodded to each other and stood up simultaneously. 

The 'Hoard,' as it were, had come even closer in the meantime. Bullets criss-crossed the air. Dozens fell but they kept coming. Their return fire had also began to take it toll as Fluttershy soon found out. Just as her Aug clicked empty she felt something wet land on the left side of her face. She swivelled to look only to see the other Marine had taken a bullet to the skull. Her first instinct was to help, before she realized it had caught him right between the eyes. He was dead. 

Fluttershy shuddered. She felt herself begin to panic. Her timid roots taking hold. She took a deep calming breath. No. She wouldn't panic. Panicking was the fastest way to get herself killed.

"MEDIC!""CORPSPONY!"

Her well trained ears picked up the simultaneous yells over the sounds of battle. A second yell from one of them allowed her to narrow in on their location. Grateful for the distraction she slung her rifle and leapt from the trench. Sprinting and staying as low to the ground as possible, she ran for the trench. Before she could get there she felt twin impacts on her right as a pair of bullets found their mark. Her shields absorbed both rounds but a flash told her it was down and another would actually hurt. Luckily she made it to the trench and jumped in. "I'm here! Who's been hit!" She shouted to be heard.

"Him!" Replied a unicorn waving her over. She was standing over a second unicorn. "He took some shrapnel to the chest!"

Fluttershy immediately went over. She pulled her combat knife and cut away the blood-soaked battledress and assessed the unconscious Lieutenant's wounds. She injected him with some morphine and began bandaging the wounds. He would have to be evacuated. Repeating a process she had done many times already, she wrote down her diagnosis and activated her beacon. A few seconds later and he was safe behind the lines.

Getting her gear packed up again Fluttershy glanced around, trying to get her bearings. She quickly realized she was much further back. In fact, she was in one of the command trenches. It was much bigger than the fighting positions and foxholes further forward. She could actually see Captain Shining Armour, as well as the Company Joint Terminal Attack Controller, or JTAC, nearby.

She was about to make a dash forward to look for more wounded when there was a loud 'bang' and bits of shrapnel bounced off her now replenished shield.

Fluttershy snapped to look to where the explosion was. She didn't know whether it was a grenade or artillery, but something had just exploded in the opposite end of the trench. Almost every occupant was wounded or dead except for her, thanks to her distance from the blast and her shields. Not even Captain Armour had been spared. The explosion had broken his shields and peppered him with shrapnel.

Thinking quickly Fluttershy pulled her beacon out. The unicorn appeared a second later. "Get help!" Fluttershy yelled over the sounds of battle, "This trench just got hit hard!" A quick glance around was all he needed before he nodded to her and was gone again. She left her beacon where it was and ran over to the Captain. He was badly wounded and thankfully unconscious, with his left side absolutely shredded by shrapnel. She quickly began tending to him as several unicorns teleported in from her beacon, with other non-unicorn medics in tow. The group rapidly began helping the wounded occupants of the trench.

But just as she handed off the Captain to a unicorn to take to the field hospital something bought her attention. She barely heard over the din of battle. The Captain's radio was miraculously undamaged, likely shielded by his body. She heard a voice from the headset. Assuming it to be one of the Platoon commanders she made her way to the radio to tell them what happened. But as she took the headset what she heard was unexpected.

"Devil Dog Actual, this is Dynamo one. We are a flight of four F-18 Super Hornets with laser-guided bombs. How copy?" Came a male voice. Fluttershy felt relief rush through her body. Looking down at the battle the Nips had pushed right up to the forward trenches, officers swinging katanas and rifles firing. Several hand-to-hand fights had broken out. Her heart began to speed up again when she realized she didn't do something soon, they would be overrun.

Trying to remember the proper radio discipline, she responded. "Dynamo, Devil Dog!" she all but shouted beginning to panic, "Devil Dog Actual and JayTack are down! We are being overrun! Danger really fucking close!"

"Copy." The fighter pilot responded. "Where do you want our bombs?"

Fluttershy began formulating her response as she took another glance down the ridge. The forward trenches were almost completely overrun with fierce hand to hand fighting taking place. She gulped before speaking. What she was about to say terrified her. "Target slopes and the forward trenches!" She paused and steeled herself. "Danger Close! Repeat, Danger Close! Drop those bombs as close as you can!"

"Copy. Thirty seconds." Was the reply. Fluttershy rapidly began working the radio again while mentally counting down. A mortar's parachute flare appeared high in the sky illuminating the battlefield in white light. At fifteen seconds she got the frequency she was looking for.

"All stations this net! Airstrike hitting the forward trenches in ten seconds danger close!" She yelled. Looking over the lip of the trench revealed a good amount of marines immediately begin retreating from the forward trenches. Some fell to enemy gunfire and some got back to the next layer. That's when there was the roar of Jets overhead in the drakness. And then the world exploded.

Fluttershy ducked down and rolled into a ball as the bombs fell, one after another. But one thing was burned into her retinas. The sight of Flitter staying behind in the trenches firing her MG. Sacrificing herself so the others could retreat. A Neighpanese officer jumping into the trench with her. Flitter tackling him and disappearing below the lip of the trench. And then she was gone, a blast from one of the bombs cratering where she had been.

Fluttershy whimpered as blast after blast shook the ground and a rain of dirt began cascading down. And then it was quiet. Fluttershy stood up and looked around. Other Marines were doing the same poking their heads above their cover as the flare above continued to light the area, slowly drifting down. 

Fluttershy head a loud clunk behind her and instantly spun ready for trouble. What greeted her was a broken and worn Minimi LMG. The stock was missing along with the scope, and the barrel was bent out of shape. She trotted over and sat, picking it up in her hooves. A tear came to her eye as she wiped off the dirt. On the side was the word Cloudy. It was Flitter's, named after her dear sister. Fluttershy couldn't help herself as she began sobbing. She cried for Flitter. She cried for the Captain. She cried letting out all her pent up emotions. 

And when she finally stopped she heard something else. The moans of pain and suffering that only the wounded could make. The small pegasus sniffled and wiped her eyes. She had a job to do and lives to save. She stood up and began trotting off to do her job.

She would fight. She would save lives. 

For Flitter.