//------------------------------// // Devil Dogs meet Pastel Ponies. // Story: Equestrian Marine Corps // by KillerShadow 15 //------------------------------// It was supposed to be a routine mission. 'Take a squad and check the surrounding area' they told me. Now where are we? Stuck in a valley surrounded, out maned and out gunned. My name is Master Sergeant James Woods. Seven brave buddies of mine volunteered to go with me on this 'easy' mission. We were sent out ten clicks from base camp before we were ambushed. I lost three men already. All that were left was me, Pvt. John Rodriguez, LCpL. Ryan Luis, Pvt. William Martinez, and Sgt. Connie Morris. We couldn't radio for help due to the terrain and our radio was damaged. We were pinned down with little hope for survival. I looked around and saw my friends looking to me in desperation. Then something snapped. John picked up his LMG and started humming the National Anthem as he set up and started to fire. "Hey, James, are we going to sit here or are we going to give them hell? We are Devil Dogs." I smiled at Connie and drew my M16. "Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light" I looked over to see Connie starting us off on our final song. "What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming" This time it was Ryan. "Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight" "O're the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?" Now we were all singing as one solid voice. As I realized what we were doing I let a smile brush my face before a tear streaked my face. "And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air" "Gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there" We all took one last deep breath before charging at the enemy singing the last verse of our song. With a shout we yelled "Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave! O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" We all ran up hill with bullets firing and all hope of survival lost but replaced by pride for what we have done for our home. 'Lord,' I started praying. 'If we make it out of this, I owe you big time.' With that, there was a bright flash and then stillness. "Anybody know where we are?" I looked around to find that we were in a large field with apple trees on all sides. "Well, we're sure as hell not in Kansas any more, eh Toto?" We all looked at Connie, who had a large smile and a few cuts and scrapes. After a few moments, we all started to laugh. We were so thankful to somehow still be alive, that all the stress and fear washed away in our fit of laughter. It felt so good to relax for a few seconds and appreciate all that we have. "Ok, now, we need to do a weapons check." I looked at my friends, my comrades, my family. We were all battered and tired. "You know what, we need to find shelter. That is our main priority. Connie, you take Martinez and Luis and scout ahead. Stay quiet and remember your training." With that they took off. "So, James, where on earth are we?" I looked at John and shook my head. "I have no idea. For all I know, we could be dead and this is heaven. But let's try to-" I was cut off as I heard the sound of grunting and some trees quaking a dozen yards to my left. "Whoa boy. This is a lot more work than it looks, eh Big Mac?" I shot a worried glance at the Private, before motioning for him to get into the trees as quiet as possible. With a nod he was into the tree faster than a Camel spider chasing a man. I quickly followed his lead and disappeared a moment before an orange horse walked into the small clearing under us. "You sure you heard voices here Apple Jack? There's nothing here." "Ah'm sure big brother. Look, the grass is all smashed like somethin' big was walking around." At that moment, John had lost his grip on his gun, and it clattered to the ground. "Shit! we can't go loud, not yet." As I was thinking to my self, John dropped out of his tree and pulled his side arm. An 8in Glock 9mm, 1911 style pistol. "On the ground, now!" I looked at John and dropped out of the tree and put a hand on his weapon. "John, knock it off! We are not to kill civilians, am I clear?" He looked at me sweating and had a crazy look in his eye. "Damn it, John, I said lower your weapon." "Sorry." "No need to be sorry. Don't let it happen again. Connie, you three can come out now. No one is going to be firing any shots off until we find hostiles. Am I clear?" There were four clear, sarcastic 'Yes Sir's coming from the immediate area. "Now, lets find some people." As we were walking away, I heard a strange voice from behind. "What in Tarnation just happened?" I turned around to see only the two creatures John had almost killed. "You can talk?" I looked in such bewilderment it showed on my face. "Of course ah can talk. All ponies in Equestria can talk. Now who and What are you?" The orange pony had a confused look on her face. much like mine and those of my fellow Marines. "I'm talking to a pony. A Pastel Pony. Looks like this might be heaven after all. What do you guys think?" I looked back and all of my team had the same look. "Glad I'm not crazy." "What do ya mean by that?!" "Well, where we come from, ponies don't talk. In fact, no animals talk." The pony had a very angry look on her face as if I had insulted her. "No if you'll excuse us, we'll be on our way Miss...?" "Apple Jack. Name's Apple Jack. This here's my brother Big Macintosh. What are your names?" "I'm James, this is Connie, that's John, next to him is Ryan and William. Now we must be going. Are there any people around?" The pony looked confused at my question. "What are 'people'?" I face palmed at this. "Let me rephrase that, is there civilization?" The mare nodded in a confused fashion and pointed North-West. At that exact moment, there was a loud 'Bang' and a large mushroom cloud formed in the direction Apple Jack was pointing. "Shit! Get to cover! Nuke!" We all dove for cover awaiting the shock wave and radiation. "What are ya clowns doing?! There was an explosion in Ponyville! Lets go check it out!" I wanted to yell that it was a nuke, but the mare was too far away. "She's right James. What do we do?" I thought for a moment. "We do what we were born to do. Once we get to town, we need to split up and find out what's going on. Stay in radio contact." My team all nodded at their orders and stood up with their weapons. "Marines, move out! Oorah!" The others followed my lead and raced down towards town. Once we got to town, we split up into three groups. Connie went with John. Ryan went with William, leaving me alone to walk into the deserted town. As I walked in further, there was a loud growling sound behind me. All of my instincts said to move to the side. As I did, there was a large blast of fire that almost singed off y eyebrows I looked towards the fire and saw a crimson dragon with beady yellow eyes with smoking nostrils glaring at me. "What the hell?! Squad, open fire on the Dragon! Take it's ass down to hell!" With that I drew my rifle and started to pelt the beast with holes. Then there was more fire to my left and right. After about 15 minutes of exchanging fire, we managed to drive the beast away into a dark forest. "Squad, sound off!" "We're good!" I heard Connie yell off to my right. "So are we!" "Good. Search and rescue time. Put out any and all small fires you find." As we were going around clearing out the buildings, a particularly loud scream ambushed our ears. "Somepony, anypony! Help!" The team and I rushed toward the sound. We stopped when a white unicorn with purple hair stopped us. "Please, Ma'am, what's the matter?!" "My sister and her friends ran into the forest! You have to help them! Who knows what kind of trouble their in!" The mare pointed at the forest where the dragon ran into. "No worries, we'll get them back. Connie, John, with me. You two keep looking for wounded and trapped ponies." The two saluted before running off. "James, what are we going to do?" I look at Connie, who wore a worried look. "We're going to find those children and bring them back."