Broken Arrow

by Army Brony

Prologue: Broken Arrow

I am an American Soldier.
I am a Warrior and a member of a team. I serve the people of the United States and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills. I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier.

My eyes opened to reveal a sight that few men have seen, and even fewer have survived.

“E.T.A. Five mikes” a voice keyed in over the net.

Maj. Clint looked over to me with stone cold eyes and nodded. I acknowledged the silent order, but hesitated to follow it through. Its not every day something like this happens. The hardest of delta force and seals would break down mentally and emotionally after following an order like this. And here I was, just a lowly tank mechanic, forced into this situation.

No, you've been training and fighting along side delta for 7 years now. Man the fuck up.

I keyed in the mic.

“Roger, this is a danger close run. Main forces north of green smoke.” I almost choked at 'main forces'. “Friendlies are mixed in with tangos.” I gulped.

I couldn't believe I was going to say it. The lump in my throat grew until it felt ready to burst out.

“Broken Arrow. Repeat... Broken Arrow.” the last part felt as if it was barely above a whisper.

“Roger. Copy broken arrow. Disregarding friendlies.” the voice replied nonchalantly.

I wanted to scream into the mic to call off the run.

“E.T.A. Two mikes.”

I wanted so desperately to tell every one of them what was coming, so that they may have a chance to escape.

“Thirty seconds.”

I looked beside me. I could make out two objects. As they neared their target, their silhouettes became clear. A-10 Warthog gunships. On any given day, the mere sight of these beauties would draw cheers from troops on the ground. But not today. Even though the majority of the soldiers a few hundred meters in front of us were too preoccupied with combating the enemy, the few who saw they're fates speeding towards them in the form of 12000 30mm rounds per minute and two 2000 lb JDAMs could only stand there and watch in fear as they lived their last.

“Ten seconds.”

I felt the ground shake, saw the red-brown clouds popping up from the ground like geysers. And heard the explosions. And then came the screams. All over the net, screams of horror, pain and suffering from those who's microphones had been locked to broadcast from the onslaught of depleted uranium. Screams of those who would soon take their last breath. Screams of those who would never see their newborn child. Screams of those who would never see their loved ones again.
And I had given the order which caused all this suffering.

The lump in my throat had grown to such a size that I was amazed I hadn't broken down yet. That all changed as the second warthog came in.

It proceeded to drop two 2000 lb JDAMs right on target.

“Run complete.”

I keyed my mic in acknowledgment.

A single tear began to build up in my left eye, then my right. Before long, I had streams of tears running down my cheeks.

“I'm sorry.” was all I could manage before I completely broke down into an emotional wreck.

I couldn't take it anymore, this war, the friends I've been forced to witness die in the worst ways imaginable. That order I had to give.

That fucking order, I thought

I stood up.

My CO looked at me.

“ACKERMAN! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING??!”

I turned to my CO.

“Putting an end to this.”

I ran towards the constant hail of fire that had not let up for the 6 hours we had been there.

“ACKERMAN! GET BACK HERE!”

I ignored him, and pressed on. Raising my weapon I started to find targets. I fired, and fired, and fired again. Each bullet found its target, disabling them before they hit the ground. I felt pain in my leg, then my chest, my shoulder, my arm, and so on. I looked down.

I had been shot.

I am getting shot, I corrected myself.

As if to humor my thought, I saw a spurt of blood and felt a shock of pain in my right thigh.

I have to keep going, can't stop...

I kept running, with one objective in mind: hit that button.

“FUCK YOU TINNIES!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I increased my fire by whipping out my sidearm.

There it is. Just a few more meters...

The button, big and red to an almost comical degree, started to overtake my vision. Nothing else mattered. Not my life, not my family, not even the fact that there were well over 9000 droids hot on my trail.

Almost...

I reached out my hand.

Almost...

I could feel the edge of the button now.

“GOT IT!” I exclaimed to nobody in particular as I hit the emergency shut down button with an unnecessary amount of force.

I fell on my back, just now starting to realize how much blood-loss I had endured. I was soaked from neck to toe in the semi-warm red substance.

I looked up to see thousands of droids falling in place. I then turned my attention to my left chest pocket.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small plastic zip-lock bag. I opened it up and emptied it of its contents. A picture of my family, a pack of smokes, a zippo, and my phone. I chuckled at the last item. To anyone who wasn't well educated on a specific fan base, it would look like nothing more than a unit patch with a cartoon cloud and a rainbow lightning strike on it. I had gotten so much shit for wearing it once as a kind of joke.

I wonder if the show is still on? I asked myself as I lit up a smoke, savoring every last hit.
My breaths started to get shorter. The air had started to become almost painful to breath. After about ten more seconds, I decided to let go.

Then, something happened.

My wounds stopped bleeding. I felt this warm aura about me, and could see this violet colored light surrounding me.

I must be going to heaven.

I then felt indescribable pain as the now purple light grew brighter and started to spark.

Never mind, I'm definitely going to hell. I concluded as I painfully remembered the events that took place not even half an hour ago.

The light became blinding just before I blacked out.

Where am I?

I opened my eyes. I gathered my surroundings.

Why am I in a library? And in a bed?

I sat up and looked down. My gear was sitting on a bedside table and, even though I felt no pain, something felt... off. I decided to brush it off as nothing and stood up. Rather, the lack there of. I promptly fell flat on my face.

“Fuck!” I cursed the offending floor as I got to my hoofs.

Wait, hoofs? What the fuck?

Almost instantly I went into panic mode. I ran around desperately trying to find a mirror. I ran into what appeared to be a bathroom for a midget.

“What the fuck...” I said to no one in particular as I took in the scene before me. Standing there in the mirror was an ACU pattern pony with blue eyes, a half black, half red mane and what looked like a torn ear and a... horn?

You've GOT to be kidding me...

Comments

[FenrisianBrony]

First post.
Keep it up, I like what youve done.

[myhe01]

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