//------------------------------//
// Debriefing  
// Story: The Fog of War 
// by REDMAMBA 
//------------------------------//

	As the three men, along with Maud and Pinkie Pie rode in the jeep toward the castle, both men hoped they could get some explanations for what had happened. Kris drove the short distance to the castle, while Steven rode shotgun, Dusty, Maud and Pinkie sat in the back. Rainbow, Fleetfoot, Rapidfire, and Celestia flew next to the jeep. 

The closer the soldiers got to the castle the more they noticed troops wandering the grounds. Many carried supplies, others were unloading carts full of large wood crates, some just walked around talking. But all of the troops in the area immediately stopped what they were doing when they heard the approaching jeep. The men began to feel uneasy as an entire army focused on them. 

Kris began to slow the jeep as him and the men entered the large crowd. It was eerily quiet, something that was very rare in a time of war. Kris and Dusty studied their surroundings as they locked eyes with a multitude of different troops. 

“Who the hell are they?” whispered one soldier. 

“I’ve never seen a carriage like that before,” said another.

Dusty rolled his eyes, “Kill me,” he mumbled under his breath. 

Slowly but surely Kris pulled the jeep to the front of the castle. He threw the rig in park and killed the ignition. He, Dusty, Maud and Pinkie jumped out, while Steven stayed in his seat and waited for further orders. Celestia, Dash and her troops landed next to the small war rig. Kris walked to the passenger side of the jeep and looked at his friend. “Alright Corporal, were gonna get yah all fixed up, alright?” he said. 

Steven turned his head to face the voice, “Thank you sir.” Kris let out a smile and patted his friend on the shoulder. He returned to the driver’s side and grabbed his Thompson, placing it on his shoulder. The front door of the castle opened as a tall man in purple and gold armor walked out. He gave a salute to Princess Celestia before he said, “Welcome back your majesty.”

“At ease,” she said. 

The young soldier relaxed his stance; he stood there and waited for another order. 

“Captain, I need you to get a medic immediately,” she ordered him. 

“Yes your majesty,” he replied before running off, “I need a medic!” he screamed as he began to disappear into the castle. 

Dusty gave a look at all the troops, who had gone back to their jobs, “Jeez, everyone looks like hell,” he said as he grabbed his M1 rifle from the back. 

“Moral has been pretty low since we lost the battle of Vanhoover,” replied Dash as she removed her helmet. 

“We know what that’s like. The D-Day landing didn’t go as well as we hoped,” replied Kris. 

“The D-Day landing?” asked Dash.

“We can discuss it during their debriefing,” said Celestia, interrupting the conversation.

“Yes your majesty,” replied Dash. 

The young Captain from earlier came running up with a male and female doctor in tow, he ran up to Celestia and gave her another salute. “Your majesty here are those medics you requested.” He dropped his arm and stood at attention. 

“I need you two to tend to Corporal Steven over there,” she pointed to Steven who was still sitting in the passenger seat. 

“Yes your majesty,” replied the doctors in unison. Both ran up to Steven, the young woman gave him a look and covered her mouth. His bandages were soaked with his crimson blood.  

“Oh my,” she mumbled under breath. 

“Come on, we have to get him to the infirmary,” said the male doctor. 

She snapped out of her thoughts and began to shuffle around. The male doctor put one hand on Steven’s chest and the other on his shoulder, “Don’t worry son you’re in safe hands,” he said, comforting the injured man.

“Thank you,” replied Steven with a smile. 

The two doctors helped him out of the jeep and crawled under his arms. As the three walked to the aid station, Kris and Dusty joined Celestia as they entered the Castle. Kris let out an impressive whistle as he looked around the tall structure. “You wanna make a man feel poor, this is how you do it,” he said sarcastically.

“No kidding,” replied Dusty, awe struck at the massive marble hallway. 

The two men, along with Celestia and her six troops walked in silence as they headed for the war room. As the troops approached the room Celestia’s horn glowed bright gold again, the same color aura enveloped the handle, causing it to turn, thus opening the door. Kris stepping inside first, followed by Dusty, Rainbow Dash, Fleetfoot, Rapidfire, the unknown Captain, Maud and Pinkie, and finally Celestia. The room consisted of nothing but a large chalk board and table. Both Kris and Dusty removed their shouldered weapons and placed them on the table. 

Kris then removed his helmet and placed it on the table; he ran his hands through his hair while he took a long heavy breath. Dash walked up to Kris and placed her helmet next to his. She looked at the olive drab piece of metal and said, “That think doesn’t look like it could protect and egg.” 

Kris gave her a confusing glance before looking at his beaten helmet. “The stupid things equivalent a tin can, but it did save my life once.”

“Oh… really?” asked Dash.

He pointed to the helmet, “You see that scratch on the right hand side?”

Dash adjusted herself to look at the beaten up piece of metal. “Yeah,” she said. 

“That bullet glanced off a nearby tank and hit me in the head,” he let out a light chuckle at the memory, “Woulda killed me if wasn’t wearing that piece of garbage.” 

“Wow,” replied Dash.

“Anyway,” said Celestia getting every ones attention. 

They all looked at her and waited for her to continue. 

“First of all I want to apologize for what happened earlier Sergeant.” 

“Shit happens in war your majesty,” he paused for a second, “It’s no big deal.”  

“I still wanted to apologize,” she said feeling bad for the misunderstanding. 

“I want to apologize too,” said Pinkie while looking at Dusty. 

“Me too,” said Maud. 

“Meh… I still kicked both your asses,” said Dusty with a huge smile and a light chuckle.

Kris rolled his eyes, beating up two women left a bad taste in his mouth… even if they’re apart of the local military. The talking died down and the soldiers looked at Celestia. 

“Sergeant perhaps you can tell me what happened to you and your men?” she said.

Kris looked around the room and began to shake his head. “Alright.” 

He paused before speaking. 

“We were on a routine recon mission, the brass got word that a nearby German column was in the area and we were chosen to go and find them,” he started. 

“What idiot in their right mind would send three stallions to find an entire division?” asked Dash.

“We had a halftrack full of ten men,” said Dusty with crossed arms, “Emphasis on the word had.”

“What happened?” asked the Captain.

“The Nazis had the road zeroed for artillery,” Kris paused for a moment, “And they brought the hammer down… hard.”

“Those men were dead before they even knew what hit them,” said Dusty. 

“We ran into an entire German division, we didn't even know that they were dug in... and that close to our lines, they must have been preparing a massive counter assault,” said Kris. 

“How we survived in that light jeep… well only god knows that,” said Dusty. 

“I’m sorry for your loss Sergeant,” said Celestia feeling bad for what the men had endured. 

“The men that died were not a part of my squad. Dusty, Steven and I only agreed to go on it because we didn’t have any orders at the time,” said Kris. 

“Yeah, we just wanted to kick some Nazi ass,” said Dusty with a confident smile, “And boy we did.” 

“Well… I’d say you have my respect,” said Fleetfoot. 

“Yeah well… we have a job to do… and to be honest I hope we can have this war over by Christmas… I want to go home and see my family,” said Kris as his sadness began to show. 

Every man in the U.S. Army was done with the war on Germany. It had taken its toll on Kris, and now that he had time to think and remember his past battles; he hated the bloodshed and the violence that came with war. He did his best to repress his memories and look at what’s ahead of him.

“So how did you end up in my city?” asked Celestia.

“We were just driving to get away from that division, the last thing we ever expected to run into was you and your men,” replied Kris.

“Honestly... we don’t know how we ended up here,” said Dusty 

A heavy silence filled the room. 

“So princess?” asked Kris, “Lieutenant Dash here said that your troop’s moral was pretty low because of the loss you suffered at…” he looked at Dash. 

“Vanhoover,” she said.

“Vanhoover…” Kris continued, “I’m guessing that was a pretty recent battle.” 

“Yes,” she replied heavily, “We lost 7000 troops… another 2000 were injured and were… still figuring out the numbers of those who are MIA… that was… all in one day.” 

"Well we lost more on Operation Overlord," replied Kris

“It was the worst battle we’ve had yet,” replied a sorrow filled Dash, “We lost a lot of good ponies.” 

"I'm sorry for your loss your majesty," replied Kris as he looked at Celestia

“Thank you sergeant,” said Celestia.  

"War was never meant to be pretty," said Dusty.

A heavy silence filled the air yet again. 	

Celestia looked away from Kris to Dash before speaking, "I think were done here, Lieutenant, you’re dismissed.” 

Dash gave a salute, “Yes your majesty.”

Dash, the Pie’s, and Dash’s sergeants began to leave the room with Celestia and her captain in tow. 

“Your majesty?” asked Kris, causing everyone to stop.

Celestia turned back to the young sergeant as he shouldered his Thompson and walked forward, stopping right in front of her. “I was wondering, who’s this guy?” he said pointing his finger at the captain.

She looked at him then back to Kris. “This is Captain Shining Armor, leader of the Royal Guard.” 

“It’s nice to officially meet your sergeant,” said the captain as he extended his hand.

Kris grabbed his hand and gave it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you too captain.” He released Shining’s hand and stepped to the side, “That’s private Dusty.”

Dusty stepped forward and took the young captains hand, “Captain.” 

“Private,” responded Shining. 

Both men stood there clenching each other’s hands harder. A mischievous smile crawled across Dusty’s face. Both men tried to see who had the harder grip. After a couple of seconds Shining and Dusty released their hold. Shining turned away and walked out the door. Dusty noticed him hold his hand to his chest as he began to rub it. Which caused Dusty laugh. 

“Sergeant if you want, I can have Lieutenant Dash escort you to the mess hall?” said Celestia as everyone walked down the massive hallway. 

“Why not,” replied the sergeant. 

“Lieutenant, take these men and get them a hot meal, they’ve had a long day.”

“Yes your majesty,” Dash looked at the two men, “Come on follow me.”

Celestia began to talk with Fleetfoot, Rapidfire, Pinkie, Maud, and Shining. The six continued their walk forward while Dash, Kris and Dusty took a turn down a nearby hall. The three walked in silence until Dash spoke up. 

“So what was the battle of… oh what did you call it?”

“Normandy,” replied Dusty. 

“Yeah that!” responded Dash with a snap of her fingers. 

“It was a massive joint operation between U.S. troops and British special forces. It was called Operation Overlord; the air force bombed the shit out of the Nazis that were dug into the beach head, while the British Commandos and U.S. Paratroopers parachuted in behind enemy lines early that morning. Once day light hit the navy began their shelling, and finally the infantry were sent in,” explained Kris.

“Sounds like it was a massive assault,” said Dash. 

“It was a slaughter fest when our men hit the beaches,” said Kris.

“They opened up on us with MG-42’s,” replied Dusty. 

“MG-42’s?” asked Dash, not knowing what the powerful weapon was. 

“Light machine guns, their also known as Hitler’s buzz saw, because of the familiar buzzing sound they produce when fired,” Kris paused for a second, “We had to fight off multiple machine gun nests along with two massive concrete bunkers.” 

“How did you survive?” asked Dash as she got more engrossed in the story. 

“Keep low and keep moving,” replied Kris. 

“Wow… and you both survived?” asked Dash wide eyed.

“Actually, Dusty missed the landing by a day, but Steven and I were there when everything happened,” he said looking at the Lieutenant.

“Wow,” she said dumb founded by the story. 

The three soldiers began to approach a set of double wood doors. Dash opened the doors and stepped inside, followed closely by Kris and Dusty. The room was filled with various different soldiers, consisting of a range of shapes, sizes and colors. All actions stopped when the men stepped inside. Hushed whispers filled the room, but nothing was audible to the two American troopers. 

“Alright, alright everypony get back to doing what you were doing,” hollered Dash. 

Everyone immediately went back to what they were doing, whether it was playing cards, telling stoires or eating a meal. “Here follow me,” said Dash as she gave a following gesture with her hand. Dash walked over to a large opening in the wall, a cook stood on the other side of the opening. She grabbed a tray and stepped out of the way. Kris and Dusty did the same and worked their way down the opening. 

“Hey Lieutenant, how yah doin!?” asked the cook with glee.

“Pretty good, pretty good, hey! I gotta couple of friends here that need a nice warm meal,” she said with a smile. 

“Sure thing,” he looked at the two men confused by their looks but didn’t ponder it long, “Hope you boys like mashed potatoes and gravy?”

“Fine with me,” shrugged Dusty. 

“Hope it tastes better than those fucking C-rations were given,” commented Kris with a happy smile. 

The cook laughed as he took a large ladle full of potatoes and dumped it on the three trays, then he grabbed a ladle full of gravy and covered all three of the white mounds with the warm brown liquid. He steped to the side and grabed a pair of tongs. “Anypony want salad?” he asked, “Or are you two boys to stallion for this?” 

Both Kris and Dusty glanced at each other in confusion at the comment but quickly looked back at the cook.

“At this point I’d eat bark,” said Dusty.

“Hey you’re the cook, and if the military taught me anything, it’s take what you can get,” said Kris. 

The cook let out a light chuckle, “Alright, here you go.” 

He reached out and placed a small amount of the leafy meal onto each of the soldier’s plates. He then grabbed three pieces of bread and placed an individual piece on each of the trays.

“Enjoy boys,” said the happy cook. 

“Will do our best,” joked Kris. 

The three soldiers left the cook and headed for an open table. Both Dusty and Kris noticed that different men kept giving them questionable looks, but they just ignored it. Once they found a large enough opening on a table Dash took a seat, followed by Kris, but Dusty ended up brushing up against a nearby soldier, causing him to drop his fork. 

“HEY!” screamed the huge soldier. 

Dusty turned back to see the large white man rising from the table. He stepped away from the table and stood right in front of Dusty. “You just made me spill my meal!” 

“Hey it was accident man,” replied a calm Dusty. 

By this point everyone in the room was looking at the pair. Kris watched his man while Dash began to worry about what Bulk Biceps would do to the young soldier. 

“Privat-” she began. 

Kris grabbed her hand, cutting her off. She looked down at her hand than up to Kris, who nodded his head left and right. He looked back at the two as an argument began to break out. 

“I should kick your flank right here right now!” spat the large trooper. 

Dusty let out a noticeable chuckle, then it turned into uncontrollable laughter, after a few seconds of his laughing fit, Dusty finally regained his composure. He put his tray down and looked at his massive opponent, “I’d like to see you try,” said a very cocky Dusty while he pointed at the soldier standing in front of him.

“A cocky boy huh?” said the trooper.

They both stood there in silence. 

“Fiiiight!” screamed a male voice from the audience. 

“FIGHTFIGHTFIGHT!” screamed the crowd in unison. 

Everyone in the room stood up and chanted the same word over and over as they pounded the air with their fists. 

“I got fifty bits on Bulk Biceps!” screamed a male voice in the crowd. 

“I’ll put a hundred down and the skinny white boy!” screamed a female voice. 

“I’ll take those bets!” hollered another male voice. 

The crowd began to shuffle as the sounds of placed bets and money filled the room. Dusty took a look around before looking back at his opponent. “Bet you a hundred bucks you won’t last longer than 30 seconds,” said Dusty as he began to crack his knuckles.

“You’re on little boy,” said Bulk Biceps.

Dusty remove his helmet and placed it next to his food. He looked back at his opponent who began to crack his neck and fingers. He gave off a menacing grin that would put Hitler in his place. Dusty just stood there expressionless. 

“You know what little filly, I’ll give one on the house,” said a cocky Bulk Biceps.

“Fine by me,” replied Dusty with a shrug of his shoulders. 

Bulk leaned his head in and gave Dusty a smug smile. “Go for it!” 

Dusty raised his right hand and made a fist right next to Bulk’s head. He brought it back slowly and did a practice punch. Bulk looked at Dusty with a mischievous grin.

‘I’m gonna rip him in half,’ thought Bulk.    

Dusty went for another practice hit, but little did Bulk know that this would be the real attack. Once Dusty’s fist was all the way back, he gave it all he had and aimed right for the soft spot on Bulk’s head. Dusty’s fist hit Bulk like a charging elephant. Bulk’s eyes immediately closed as his body went stiff. His arms convulsed as he fell to the floor, landing hard enough to shake the kitchen wear on the nearby tables. 

Everyone’s jaw, including Dash’s, immediately dropped at the site. Dusty stared at his unconscious opponent. “The Pie sisters had more fight in them,” he said. 

He turned away and walked to his table, where he took a seat and began eating. 

“HOLY CELESTIA! HE KNOCKED OUT BULK BICEPS!” screamed a female voice in utter shock. 

Kris turned back and looked at Dash, “Never piss off a U.S. soldier,” he said.

Kris and Dusty continued to eat; Dash just stared at Dusty with huge, surprised eyes.

“I can’t believe you knocked out my toughest soldier,” she said. 

“Like I said, the Pie sisters put up a better fight,” replied Dusty, as he gave a quick glance to Dash. 

“Second rule of hand to hand combat,” said Kris as he swallowed his potatoes, “Never let your opponent have the first attack.” 

“What’s the first one?” asked Dash out of curiosity.

“Never get into a fist fight with a U.S. soldier,” replied Kris as he glanced up from his meal.

“And never bet against a U.S. soldiers the third,” said Dusty sarcastically. 

Dash sat there silent for a moment, “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.