The Black Squirrel Brigade

by Lamasioux

Act 5 - Jungle Delight

Do you believe whatever you see,

Might not be what you think?

---

A few months into 1014

The worst thing about South East Equestria was the rain and humidity. It didn’t matter what time of year it was or the time of day, the jungles of Equestria were miserable and luck wasn’t on Watermark’s side as he sat in a bush with another SMILE agent as a light show of rain was bothering them.

Collar Shield, or String, their agent name, was an earth pony that worked as a SMILE agent. He primarily worked in the south east as it stood, so it was easy recruiting him to help with the investigation into the Black Stripes. Because he was unlucky and got picked for the job from a selection of SMILE agents, he found himself soaking wet as he stared through at a naval port through a pair of binoculars.

While String was looking through the binoculars, Watermark laid next to him with a notepad at the ready so he could write down the callouts that String was making. While both agents had notepads and binoculars with them, they were currently splitting the roles at the moment so Watermark could focus solely on writing and keeping the paper dry from the rain and String being the one to make callouts.

“Three story building on the west side with a flat roof. Broken glass on the first floor, south side. The other windows are blocked from this view,” String whispered. While String didn’t look at Watermark as he spoke, the two wouldn’t be able to see each other anyways. Watermark was currently huddled beneath a rain jacket and poncho, using the two pieces of clothing to block the rain from getting his notepad wet, but at the same time, his entire vision was blocked.

At the moment they were getting a detailed description of the naval port they were looking at, which from their current understanding, wasn’t in use anymore given the ruined state of it. The location of the port was a few miles north of Saltmane, a coastal city in the county of Itzomitl. The city had a small and dispersed population that didn’t extend to the north, so there was nocreature in the area besides the two agents and the Black Stripes who were currently occupying the port.

Over the past two weeks, Watermark and String had slowly been tracking the moments of the Black Stripes. They had been mobilizing and moving supplies around the jungles in those two weeks, which the two agents discovered. Since then, Watermark and String had followed the Black Stripes from Baltimare, to Ayacachtli, to Tenochtitlan and finally to this abandoned port. The accumulation of the Black Stripes work seemed to be a small cargo ship that was moored at the dockyard with a Puerto Caballo destroyer off the coast.

Everything major had been written down at the point, from the identifications of the destroyer and the cargo ship, to how many known Black Stripes there were in the port, so at this point, Watermark and String were just writing down everything small and seemingly unimportant they could in the event it might hold some value.

As it stood at the moment, there were about thirty ponies down at the port that they had been able to count. While the number of Black Stripes they knew about was higher, they currently believed a convoy of them would be arriving at the port soon. The two agents had arrived at this bush last night after tracking and following this first group of Black Stripes.

While it would have been nice to know the specifics about what they were doing and why, from all the work it took to get to this point, from all the observation and intelligence they had received by watching the Black Stripes, it wouldn’t be the best idea to throw it all away at the risk of being more aggressive with their approach. It wasn’t just them, but also everypony that was a part of Operation Black Squirrel. None of them could afford risking progress with how hard it was to firstly come across the Black Stripes, but also the skittish nature of them, especially since the amount of creatures working on the operation was small. No mistakes could be afforded to be made. Watermark and String had taken great care to keep themselves hidden from view for the past three weeks, so to their knowledge, nopony, not even Major Sparkle, knew their location or what information they currently had.

“Two peg patrol on the north side, flying right to left, rifles slung,” String announced as some pegasus began flying towards the north.

Watermark of course wrote this down at a quick pace before readying for String to call out more information.

“Two peg patrol south side, left to right, rifle and small gun,” String added.

Again, Watermark wrote this down, but once he finished, he whispered out to String, “Are they patrolling outside now?”

String began scanning the entire port, going left and right across it multiple times over the span of a few seconds until he announced something again, “Two peg coming directly over.”

And as if on command, the two went dead silent, stopping everything they were doing. Watermark stopped writing in the notepad and String stopped scanning across the port. They both were wearing camouflaged outfits that blended into the jungle exceptionally well, even better than what the Army issued soldiers.

Since the two had been at this for two weeks already, they had grown used to what they had to do to stay invisible, though it also helped that they took extreme precaution with everything they did and had basic level jungle training from SMILE, but when any mistake could cost them their two weeks of work, or even the entire operation, they had to be careful.

Because of their carefulness, the two laid still in the bush for about ten minutes, doing nothing for the duration of that time. No peep or sound came from them, even their breathing was slowed down and done in small, shallow breaths. After ten minutes or so, it was String who spoke up first, “Checking front and right.”

With that, String looked away from the binoculars and began slowly scanning to the front for any signs of movement. Outside of the destroyer that chugged along in the water at a distance and the rain, there wasn’t anything String could see that moved. He then began doing two slow movements at once. First, he moved his head slowly to the right to check for any movement in that direction, but also going for his revolver that he had beneath his clothing. This took nearly a full minute of the utmost slowness for String to do. Looking to the right was more hard than forward since he had to look through the bush they sat in, but also through the dense jungle that surrounded them. By the time his hoof touched the revolver, he finished checking to the right, so he whispered, “Up.”

Through the silence, String began tilting his head upwards to check above them through the bush they were in, trying to see if he could see any creature above them, like the pegasus patrol that had flown over ten minutes ago. He didn’t see anything, so he slowly returned to facing the front, all while keeping his hoof on his revolver.

“Checking left and back,” String said.

And with the same speed as before, String began checking to the left and behind them for any movement or anything out of place. The only thing String was able to see when he checked was Watermark, who was next to him, entirely covered by the camouflage clothing. Interestingly, even though String was right next to Watermark, the camouflage of his clothing blended exceptionally well into the branches and leaves of the bush.

“Clear,” String said quietly.

Immediately upon saying that, Watermark shoved his mouth into a foreleg and tried his best to quietly cough. It was muffled, but it still caused String to cringe in worry, but once the coughing passed, String let out a relaxed sigh as he stared back through the binoculars. It had taken them nearly fifteen minutes from stopping at the patrol to getting back to what they were doing. They were really not taking any chances and that fact was really enforced by Watermark somehow holding a cough in since after they went silent.

“Stop. Five trucks at the front gate from the main road. They’re the ones from Teno. They all have trailers,” there was a pause from String as he watched for a moment, “All drivers are likely Black Stripes. Checkpoint cleared them. Entering now.” Quickly, String checked the time on a pocket watch that he had, “Convoy enters at eleven o-two am.”

After checking the time, String looked back through the binoculars and began scanning across the port, “No port changes. Trucks going down the main road. Going towards cargo,” there was a pause for about a minute before String spoke up again, “Truck dismounts at docks.”

At this point, five trucks had come into the port and were stopped at the entrance where they were checked by the gate guards before being let in. They drove into the port itself and stopped on the dock, next to the cargo ship that was docked at it. All of the ponies that were in the trucks had dismounted from their vehicles and joined with the other ponies that were already at the dockyard. Some of the ponies that were already there were aboard the cargo ship, running a few cranes that were aboard it.

While things were slow, all of the ponies finally began getting to work at removing the trailers that the trucks towed. While the trucks were driven as close to the cargo ship as possible, the ponies had to push the trailers into the perfect position so the cranes that were on the ship could reach them. Thankfully for the ponies, the trailers still had their wheels on them, so pushing them was fairly easy.

Over the course of an hour, the only thing that happened was the moving of the trailers from the dockyard onto the cargo ship and then securing them into position. Every detail that was deemed important, which was basically everything, was written down by Watermark as String explained it.

At some point during the loading, the rain letup and clearings in the clouds opened up, letting sunlight shine through. While this would normally be welcomed, the benefits the rain provided to helping hide the two agents couldn’t be overlooked, but they had no control over this. One of the benefits to the rain stopping was Watermark could finally remove the clothing he was using to shield himself and the writing from the rain.

At this point, after the rain had let up for the moment, the ponies at the port began meandering about on the dock as the ones on the cargo ship still worked away. For the next hour things seemed to be flowing at a smooth pace, but near the end of the hour, things slowed down. That was until String saw one of the five trucks that drove in begin to leave.

“Single pony in the last convoy truck is reversing and heading out onto the main road. No other passengers. I don’t remember how many got out, but none else have gotten in. Single pony,” String paused as the pony continued to drive until they got to the main gate and was stopped by the gate guards who had been there the entire time, “Short stop at gate and leaving, no pickups.”

Just as the truck began making its way into the jungle alone, String had gotten out his pocket watch and announced the time before Watermark spoke up himself, for the first time in a few hours, “Wait, a single pony is driving alone?”

String was surprised at the sudden question that Watermark asked but he answered without hesitation, “A single pony just took a truck and left the port on the main road back towards Teno.” There was a moment of confusion from String after he replied to Watermark, but the sudden realization of what was happening began to hit him. “That hasn’t happened before…”

The two agents looked at each other in confusion as none of the Black Stripes had ever gone on their own before, but before any second could be waisted, Watermark nearly exlaimed, “I’m going to cut him off! Meet me on the road!”

And in an instant, with regard to their presence in relation to the port and any patrols that might be around, Watermark took off. Once he was deep enough into the jungle behind them, he took off with his wings and flew as fast as possible towards the only road in an attempt to cut off the truck.

With String suddenly being left behind without warning, he quickly got to work with the sudden change of plans that Watermark threw themselves into. While String began gathering up Watermark’s stuff and stuffing it into his bag, which he left behind, String quickly took one last look through his binoculars to check the port to see if any other trucks were leaving. None were, so while that was to their luck if they were about to try and capture this lone pony, that didn’t mean there weren’t other Black Stripes that were further down the road. While it wasn’t likely, given that this new plan was about to risk everything they had worked on for the past two weeks, it was a concern that would have to be dealt with if it arose.

---

Flying through the jungle at a high speed wasn’t an easy task, especially when you didn’t want to crash into anything and were trying to get ahead of a truck and cut it off. Then there was worrying about potential patrols that might be flying above the treetops, who might do who knows what to you if they see you, which was at the back of Watermark’s mind.

It was tempting to fly above the trees and avoid all the branches, vines and foliage that was getting in the way of getting to the nearby road, but it wasn’t worth the risk, but then again, going for the truck was a risk in itself. One that posed many unknown variables, none that Watermark was worrying about at the moment.

The only thing on Watermark’s mind was making it to the road as fast as possible. His body was taking a toll with how much he was pushing himself. While SMILE agents had to have a high level of fitness and had to go through a bunch of training to be in shape for the job, it didn’t prepare you for the jungle. The jungles of Equestria were a place mostly inhabited by thestrals, who were born into it, along with their families, but even they weren’t able to fly fast through it, they tracked and stalked through it.

It even proved troublesome for businesses looking to profit from it. The bountiful resources within the jungles were so hard to get to that most entrepreneurs turned away from the idea of coming here, though the thestral protests didn’t help either. But right now Watermark was facing the jungle head on, at least until he saw a small opening ahead.

Watermark burst through some massive leaves and found himself in the middle of an overgrown road that had some disturbed foliage in the path that looked like it had been run over. That’s because it was. There were wheel tracks that ran through the mud of the path, and it looked like there was a bunch of tracks that overlapped each other, causing massive canyons of mud.

Watermark had to quickly catch his breath as he stretched his wings out and folded them against his body before looking up and down the road.

Everything was wet and there were pools of water everywhere, but there was sunlight shining through the trees above, which covered nearly the entire road. It was a wonder that a path somehow survived the growth of the jungle for who knows how long, but it was here with only some growths here and there. Well maybe it didn’t survive, but Watermark and String didn’t follow the path or the first Black Stripes directly, plus they came at night, so maybe the Black Stripes had to clear a bunch of trees out of the way.

Right now though, Watermark was on the path the trucks had taken and it was also likely the path the lone truck was going on to go back to Tenochtitlan, so he had to act quickly.

Quickly getting his bearings, Watermark determined which direction led towards the port, it was easy to get turned around, and got into a position on the side of the path and hid in a bush. In the bush, Watermark upholstered the revolver he had and held it with a hoof while also preparing a few spare rounds for quick access.

While it would have been more convenient to use the SMG they had in their truck, they had to leave that behind in Tenochtitlan after the Black Stripes took this random path to the coast. There were no other known paths they could find or any path that could get them closer so they had packed their necessities into some bags and hiked out into the jungle with mostly survival and intelligence gathering items, so a revolver was going to have to do.

Rmrmrmrmrmrmrmrm.

The sound of the truck was already here, which appeared out of nowhere given the sound absorption of the jungle. This was a lot sooner than Watermark thought, which meant he had to be ready now. He quickly took some deep breaths to try and catch up on his breath, which he was still out of from flying here, plus he wasn’t mentally ready for this face off. There were way too many things that might happen if he committed to this aggressive idea.

Like, what if there were some trucks that stopped in the forest and didn’t show up in the port? Not likely, every truck they had been tracking was accounted for at the port- IT’S RIGHT THERE!

The movement of the truck appeared through the thick brush of the jungle, along with the sound of its engine growing louder.

What if String missed an extra pony, or if they dropped some off before getting to the port? What if- Why was Watermark even going to do with the gun? What if- OH FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK! IT’S ACTUALLY RIGHT HERE!

Watermark took the chance and committed to the decision and jumped out of the bush and into the path, right as the truck turned around a tree that the path went around. Watermark held his revolver up and aimed it at the single pony that sat in the driver's seat, all while flaring his wings out to make himself visible, “STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP! STOP! STOP!” Watermark screeched at the top of his lungs, a lot louder than he thought he could given how winded he was just a moment ago.

The driver of the truck was wearing the obvious uniform worn by Black Stripes, who also happened to be freaked out at the sudden appearance of a gun wielding, camouflaged pegasus. Suddenly, the truck came to a halt, sliding through the mud until it finally stopped.

Surprised that this worked in all honesty, Watermark continued to screech at the pony, “GET THE FUCK OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU IF YOU DO SOMETHING!”

And the pony did something.

Upon opening the door of the truck, the pony slid out with a rifle and tried popping off a shot at Watermark, which missed, which prompted Watermark to unload three of his five rounds at the pony before they could fully cycle a new round. Two of them hit and the pony collapsed to the ground.

Watermark rushed up to the pony that was on the ground and screamed at them as he aimed between the pony’s head and chest, “DON’T MOVE! DON’T MOVE! DON’T MOVE!”

Since being hit, the pony, a mare, was screaming in pain and fear the entire time as they squirmed their way towards one of the wheels of the truck. Upon backing up against one of the wheels, they let out a brutal coughing fit that interrupted their screams.

“DON’T YOU DARE TRY ANYTHING! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” Watermark screamed at the mare as he picked up the rifle by the sling and dragged it away from the truck before tossing it into the jungle, all while keeping the mare in view. The mare looked to be unarmed at this point.

That didn’t make the situation safe though, so Watermark walked back towards the mare with threatening intent, “PUT YOUR FACE IN THE MUD! IN THE GROUND!” and when there was a small delay from the mare, he screamed more, “IN THE FUCKING GROUND! YOUR FACE!”

At this point Watermark was close to pulling the trigger of his revolver but the mare listened and placed her face down into the ground. It wasn’t ideal for the mare, but the mud was still disturbed from the trucks coming in before so it was easy for them to shove their face into it.

Now that the mare listened, Watermark stopped pressing the trigger and took his sights off the mare, moving it to the truck’s cabin. While keeping an eye on the mare, Watermark went to the open door and peeked into the cabin to see if there was anypony else inside, or weapon. Neither were found.

Next, Watermark moved around the mare at a safe distance as he aimed his revolver at the back of the truck, which was covered with a canvas, as he moved towards the back.

Before rounding the back of the truck, he had to take a deep breath and wipe his mouth of saliva that had spat out during his screaming. Once he did that, he finally began taking one hoof step at a time as he moved into view of the back. He held his revolver tightly, already pulling on the trigger to send the hammer back because a solo Black Stripe didn’t make any sense and there being more did. Nothing happened.

There was nopony in the back waiting to shoot him or greet him, it was just empty, but the entire time he moved around the back was one of the most terrifying moments he experienced.

Watermark flapped his wings and took a better peek into the back to make sure he wasn’t missing anything, but that also proved nothing of value. All he found were a few crates of food jars, some water canteens and some jerry cans. Having the confirmation was a massive relief so it made Watermark sigh out heavily as a bunch of stress escaped from him knowing he was relatively safe.

Relatively safe.

Watermark turned his head and looked down the path the truck had come from and became watchful of anything that might be out there. He looked for another truck that might be moving through the foliage or some ponies sitting there watching him, or String running out of the jungle to meet him. Nothing moved.

He looked around to the sides of the road and into the jungles that he had ran out of and began scanning them for anything that might be out in those directions. Again, nothing, just the sounds of a muffled pony and the truck engine.

Watermark regained his senses before the deep, endless jungle of terror got to him and turned his attention back to the mare. Watermark walked back to the driver side of the truck where the mare was and aimed at her again for a few seconds as he properly let his breath regain.

Taking the moment slow, Watermark took a foreleg up to his nose and pressed it against one side before shooting out a blob of snot, and then doing it with the other side. This really cleared up his nose and let him breathe a bit better.

“Get up,” Watermark said in a very harsh and demanding tone.

“Get up. Get the fuck up,” Watermark repeated.

Slowly, the mare lifted their face out of the mud and let out a painful coughing fit. It lasted a few seconds, but once it ended, Watermark again spoke harshly, “Crawl to the passenger side and get in the truck and bandage yourself.”

The mare was still recovering from their cough after Watermark said all of that, plus her face was all covered in mud so she tried wiping some of it off with her foreleg so she diddn’t accidentally inhale any of the mud.

“PASSENGER SIDE! BANDAGE YOURSELF! FUCKING! NOW!” Watermark demanded.

Just as the mare finished wiping her face off, another coughing fit came over them, but this time Watermark didn’t wait for it to finish. He walked up to the mare and grabbed her by the uniform and began dragging her around the truck to the passenger side, really getting her caked in mud as she was pulled across the ground.

While Watermark dragged the mare, she again began screaming in fear and pain, but it died down once she was let go at the passenger side of the truck. Watermark opened the passenger side door for her before screaming at her, “GET THE FUCK IN!”

The mare was terrified and the entire time they struggled to get into the seat, they shook with fear and pain. Her entire body was covered in mud at this point, so it was hard to know what she looked like, Watermark hadn’t bothered with processing what she looked like before the two shot at each other.

While still being very careful and weary of the mare, Watermark began scanning around the area yet again, looking through the jungle for any sign of movement, but he failed to see anything. Watching the mare now, Watermark took the opportunity to open the cylinder of his revolver and remove the three empty shells, which he placed into his pockets before taking his spare rounds and putting them in.

With his revolver full again, Watermark moved his way around to the driver’s side of the truck where he hopped up, and while aiming at the mare, turned off the truck before hopping back out. The truck didn’t have a key, so he just stood at the door, watching the mare.

Finally, Watermark was able to take notice of some of the mare’s features. She wore a standard Royal Army uniform, but without any of the normal patches or ranks. They were all replaced with black bars. This was the first time he had seen them himself increature, at least the parts of her uniform that weren’t covered in mud.

From the efforts the mare took to clean the mud off herself, her facial features had become visible. She had a brown mane and green fur with blue eyes. It looked like there was a hint of red, but that might be blood from the looks of it, which brought up something Watermark wasn’t sure of; Where had the mare been hit?

While Watermark watched the mare work on herself, he saw where some blood had been soaking into her uniform. There was a big patch near her hip and another in her foreleg. The wound from her foreleg must have been where the blood on her face had come from when she cleaned the mud off. The other spot, at her hip, was covered in mud and blood, which was still seeping out of her as she sat in the seat tending to herself.

While the wounds were caked in mud, the mare didn’t tend to them right away and instead opted for the canteen she had attached to her uniform and used it to clean away the dirt and blood from the wounds. After cleaning the spots with some water, she went for the first aid kit that was in the front cabin and opened it to grab a pair of scissors that were inside.

There was an intense look from Watermark as the mare grabbed them, but no words were said as she got to work cutting through her uniform in the two spots she was shot, removing portions of the clothing so there was clear access to the wounds. With the wounds clear of any clothing, the mare tossed the scissors to the floorboard and took the remainder of the water in her canteen and cleaned her wounds again.

With the canteen now empty, she tossed it to the floorboard as well before digging through the first aid kit. She took out a few bandages from it and began packaging the two wounds with them. With another two full bandages she pulled out, she wrapped them around her foreleg and body and tied them off around her wounds so the packaged bandages were held against the wounds.

Around now was when Watermark realized that there were no exit wounds on the mare, which meant the two shots that hit her were still inside of her. While she was still coherent, he wasn’t sure if she would even survive, mostly from the hip shot.

The mare didn’t seem to be thinking about that possibility as she went back into the first aid kit and took out a small syringe and without thinking, uncapped the needle and stuck it into her waist. Just as the needle went in, she let out another coughing fit that masked the winch she experienced from the pain of the needle. Once the needle was used up, she tossed it out of the truck and into the jungle before taking out a small vial from the first aid kit and popping it open and drinking it.

For a second, it was a bit alarming to watch the mare drink the liquid, but after some connections, Watermark realized it was a healing potion. They were very rare to encounter with the war happening, since most were being sent to the front lines, but also because medics or doctors were supposed to be the ones issuing them. You weren’t supposed to take them without supervision from one of them, but Watermark didn’t question why there was one in the kit since everything about the Black Stripes was unknown.

At this point, after all the work the mare had done to herself, she laid her head back against the truck’s seat and took deep breaths without making eye contact with Watermark. It didn’t look like she was having a fun time.

“Why are you by yourself?” Watermark asked once the mare looked like she had collected herself enough.

There was a hint of fear on the mare's face as she continued to avoid looking at Watermark.

“What are you doing?” Watermark asked after a few moments of silence from the mare.

Again, the mare said nothing but continued to have fear grow across her face.

Watermark raised his gun a little and aimed it more directly at the mare, “What was the cargo?”

Suddenly the mare went into a coughing fit that lasted a moment. Each cough seemed to cause a bunch of pain that couldn’t be hidden as she crouched over to try and brace against it.

Out of the corner of Watermark’s eye, he spotted movement in the jungle down the road the truck was facing, which caused Watermark to move his revolver from the mare to the movement.

After a few seconds, what was causing the movement came out into the path and waved a hoof. It was String. He also had his own revolver unholstered and at the ready.

“Mat man!” String shouted out.

“Bracelet!” Watermark shouted back.

After the two exchanged codewords with one another, String quickly moved up to the truck, where he joined Watermark at the driver side of the truck and dumped their two packs that he had carried with him through the jungle.

“What’s the situation?” String asked.

“It’s one of them. They’re by themselves,” Watermark replied.

As String peered into the truck, Watermark moved his revolver back to the mare that was sitting in the truck and motioned at her, “I shot them twice after they stopped. They just finished bandaging their wounds. They fired back but missed.”

String peered at the mare, who was sitting curled up in the seat while avoiding eye contact with the two agents. While the two agents didn’t know what the mare knew, it was pretty clear that being confronted by two ponies wearing camouflage clothing with guns and covered in mud who appeared out of the jungle wasn’t one of the best situations to be in.

String leaned in to Watermark and whispered to him quietly so the mare couldn’t hear, “What are we going to do? We weren’t exactly planning on capturing one.”

Watermark thought for a moment without taking his eyes off of the mare, “We can drive down the road until we find a spot to ditch the truck off the path where the others won’t find it and then go on hoof with her.”

String went wide eyed at the suggestion before he looked around the jungle, “What about the noise? Y’all shot each other you said?”

“Did you hear it?” Watermark asked.

“No,” String replied.

“Unless there were others nearby, they likely didn’t either. We’ve been here for a good few minutes. I doubt they would’ve let this slipup go on for this long if they did. I think the best thing we can do is ditch the truck and delay how long it takes until they know she’s missing. Who knows what will happen once they learn that,” Watermark said.

“Did you even learn anything?” String asked.

Watermark shook his head, “No, but we can’t sit and talk. I was waiting for you. Get the shit in and let's get going.”

“What about her gun?” String said as he lifted up the bags and put them inside the cabin.

At this point, Watermark spoke in a normal voice, “There’s enough room in the front cabin for us three, but have her get on the floorboard so she can’t move that fast. Also, watch her for a quick second. It’s in the jungle.”

Without question, String finished placing the bags inside the cabin before he raised his revolver and aimed it at the mare, at which Watermark lowered his and stepped away from the truck, “I’m going to smudge the blood.”

Watermark then looked at the mud below them and saw the blood that was in the mud. He took his hoof and began smudging the blood and mud around so it mixed together and erased the visual evidence of something happening. After that, Watermark looked around the spot for the shell casing the mare had ejected from the rifle, which he didn’t see right away. Given the shell ejected towards the truck, he assumed it had been smothered under the mud so he didn’t bother with it.

“Ok, hop in, get her on the floor,” Watermark said, “I’ll drive.”

From here, String made his way around the truck to the passenger side and motioned at the floorboard with a hoof, “Down there missy.”

The mare didn’t listen right away, so as Watermark hopped up into the driver's seat, he spoke up, “Just force her.”

Again, without question, String reached up to the mare and shoved her to the floorboard of the truck, all while she let out pained noises of complaint. Once she was on the floorboard, String hopped up into the passenger side and closed the door before getting himself into a comfortable position where he could watch the mare.

Watermark turned the truck on and within seconds, he had it in gear and going down the road.

It only took a few minutes of driving down the jungle path before Watermark found an opening in the jungle that went deep into the trees and away from the main path. After some careful navigating through the trees, Watermark was able to get the truck in a spot hidden from view where he stopped it and turned the truck off.

“Alright, get her out, we gotta get moving if we want to get her any relative form of treatment,” Watermark said as he was already in the process of hopping out of the truck. Once he was out, he grabbed his bag from the cabin and walked to the back of the truck.

String opened the passenger door and tossed out his bag before he hopped out himself before motioning to the mare to also hop out, “Come on,” he said in a very stern voice.

While String got the mare out, Watermark set his bag down before he hopped into the back of the truck and started rummaging through the few supplies that were in it. He took a few of the canteens and cans of food and tossed them to the ground outside. After clearing out most of the canteens, he spoke up, “Are you out of the truck yet?”

String replied back, “We’re out.”

After finishing with his rummage of the supplies, Watermark hopped out of the truck and back onto the ground. “Hey, come over here in a minute to load up some of these supplies into your bag. I’m going to load up mine with half. I don’t want Ms. Stripes carrying anything,” Watermark said.

With that, Watermark began finding places for the extra supplies in his bag before he loaded it up with half of it. After doing that, Watermark went over to String and joined with aiming his revolver at the mare, “Get you stuff loaded, I’ll watch her.” String then did the same thing, taking his pack over to the remaining supplies finding room for it inside.

As String loaded up the pack, Watermark took notice of more details about the mare. At this point, it looked like she had been crying. Her eyes were all red and her eyelids were wet. She was still avoiding eye contact and the look of fear was still prominent on her face, but at least she looked a little better than before, at least in terms of the pain she must be going through. The syringe and healing potion she took must be taking effect now.

Straining to hold back her emotions, the mare actually spoke up with a roughed up voice, “Can I have some water please…”

“Hey, String, bring one of those canteens over,” Watermark spoke up.

After a few seconds, String came over with a canteen and stood next to Watermark, “I got it here.”

For the first time since trying to shoot Watermark, the mare looked up at Watermark before looking at the canteen that they supposedly had for her.

“Give it to her,” Watermark motioned with his revolver.

Without further prompt, String tossed the canteen over to the mare, nearly hitting her but missing as it landed short of her on the ground. The mare reached over for the canteen and fell over as she tried avoiding weird movements that interfered with her wounds, but she was able to land softly against the ground. With the canteen in reach, she picked it up and opened it before she began gulping down the water.

At this point, String turned around and went back to the supplies and finished loading it into his bag. It didn’t take long for him to then sling the bag around himself before he brought Watermark’s over and sat it down next to him, “Are you ready?” String asked.

Watermark gave String a quick glance before he looked down at his bag and then back towards the mare. “Are you done?”

The mare lowered the canteen down and slowly closed it up before going into a coughing fit. Once the coughs passed, she gently sat herself back up and placed the canteen in her lap.

“Toss it back,” Watermark said.

The mare didn’t hesitate, but she was slow with tossing it over to the two agents, as if she was hesitant to lose it. Watermark then picked it up and handed it to String before he also handed his revolver over as well, “Hold these.”

String took the canteen and revolver and stood there with both in hoof as Watermark walked over to the mare, “What now?”

“I’m going to check her for anything before we get going. I don’t want to get stabbed or shot,” Watermark said. Once he was standing over the mare, he nudged her, “Get up. Empty your pockets. I’m patting you down.”

Through sheer willpower, the mare was somehow able to push past the pain and fear she was experiencing and let out a witty joke, “I thought only mares could pat mares down.”

Watermark gave a stern look of despair to the mare before he raised a hoof over her, “I’ll stomp your wound in if you don’t stand up.”

With the looming hoof raised over her, the mare lost her composure and again went timid as fear began taking over her.

“Get up,” Watermark said in a threatening manner. His hoof looked like it was about to come down against her.

Quickly, the mare began to move as she pushed herself, again being mindful of her own wounds, but she was otherwise silent as she avoided eye contact with either of the two agents.

Even though it had only been a couple of minutes, the bandages that the mare had wrapped around herself seemed to have a little bit of blood seeping through, but it looked dried. Watermark assumed that the potion she took had taken effect by now and was already helping close up her wounds, that or her bandaging skills were good enough and had stopped the bullet wounds from bleeding, but it was likely a combination of the two things.

With the mare now standing, Watermark walked up to her and began to pat her down, checking all the visible pockets she had, along with any bumps and odd looking lumps that stuck out from her uniform.

While nothing inherently dangerous was found, Watermark did find a few pencils, a candy bar, some bits and a few clips of bullets for the rifle she had earlier. Watermark decided to ditch the clips of ammo and the pencils, tossing them into the jungle. The bits and candy bar were taken out and stuffed into his own pockets before he stepped away from the mare and towards String where he retook his revolver.

After taking a moment to put his pack on, Watermark looked at the mare and then at String, checking to see if they were ready. The mare was still standing and looked to be in decent shape at this point compared to when she was laying face down in the mud while String was still occupied with holding the mare at gunpoint.

“So we’re heading back to Teno?” String asked.

Watermark though for a second, “We might actually head for Saltmane. It’s a lot closer than Teno. We’ll have to figure out our plan with navigating around with her,” Watermark motioned at the mare, “but we can always get a check in for anything or anypony. I doubt the higher ups wouldn’t care if it means we bring her back.”

String also thought for a moment, “With her wounded, that’s definitely the call. It’s going to take two days just to trek through the jungle with her if we head for Saltmane. Plus, Saltmane has a working port and a rail line to Teno. They get plenty shipments on the daily, so getting a ride out to Baltimare will be easy.”

“So do we want her in front? I doubt she can easily get away in the jungle. I doubt none of them can. Plus, I doubt that healing potion she took was enough to fix everything, it was comically small,” Watermark said.

“Yes, have her in front. We can just tell her which direction to her,” String glanced at the mare to see if she understood that, given that she was right there listening to them.

“Then I say we get a move on? We should get a fast pace for the next hour, that way we get some distance from here?” Watermark asked.

“That we should,” String looked back at the mare, “Hey, miss,” String pointed in a direction, which was seemingly at random but String had the most experience with jungle navigation, plus he could see the sun’s location in the sky, “Start walking that way.”

While the mare listened and began to step carefully around the forest floor in the direction, Watermark spoke up and paused the two for a moment, “Miss! Hold up, before we start, what’s your name?”

The mare didn’t respond right away, which caused Watermark to upholster his revolver again and aim it at the mare. He put some pressure on the trigger, “What’s your name?”

The mare avoided eye contact as she prepared to be shot, but after debating it with herself she ended up complying, “Bookmark.”

There was a second of silence from all three but Watermark was the first to break it by re-holstering his revolver and turning to String, “Green fur, brown mane, blue eyes, mare with the name of Bookmark. Remember it.” After that, Watermark stepped in the direction that String had pointed, “You heard him,” Watermark waved a wing at Bookmark to get her attention, “Start walking.”

And just like that, the two SMILE agents had found themselves with a captured Black Stripes soldier in the middle of the Equestrian jungles. It was about to be a long two days.