Chapter 29: Forest Misadventures (Part 2)

August 12, 2558
0720 hours
Somewhere 179 miles southeast of Ottapaw

Rainbow Dash leaned on PFC Ogden Jenkins as the two of them arrived back to the group.

“Jesus Jenkins, you left her to die?” asked Shifty.

“I agree, that was not smart,” said Jenkins. “I didn’t anticipate the mud loosening our grip.”

“Time was short on our cloak and the changelings were already in range of her,” Gunny reassured, firmly placing a hand on the PFC’s shoulder. “She was going to run faster on her own anyway. Just say, ‘follow the sound of my voice’ next time!”

“Aye sir.”

“Right now, we should get moving while we’re all together. This valley runs north-south with minor curvature, so we’re gunna follow it north until we’re out of the forest.”

“How big is the forest?” asked Shifty. “Do we even know?”

“Infinity tells me it’s a 20 mile hike if we follow the valley, and I don’t need astute observation to know that none of us want to travel up-and-down these hills.”

“Fuck,” said Sergeant Alex.

“Just follow the path, move as fast as we need to for Rainbow, and stay low. I want everyone’s head on a swivel! We stop and duck every time we hear changelings fly overhead, you hear?”

“Aye gunny,” said Marcus.

“Let’s get moving.”

As a flight of four changelings disappeared behind the trees above them, Icebreaker un-crouched and continued their silent walk. Rainbow Dash mirrored their movements as best as she could.

Shifty coolly swung his silenced SMG around to look behind the group.

“Geeze, eighteen miles and we must’ve stopped like, three-dozen times for that?” he said.

Seeing nothing, he turned back around.

“At least some of those were water breaks,” said Sgt. Alex, checking to the group’s right.

“Hey, we’re nearly there at least,” said Alvarez as he briefly checked left.

“Thank Celestia!” breathed Rainbow Dash.

“We’ll be outta the woods but not outta the woods I guess,” said Jenkins, checking behind the group. “Hope no one’s confu-SHIT! Contacts behind!”

Everyone stopped dead and crouched once again.

“They close?” whispered Gunny.

“Five, Medium range,” Jenkins responded. “And headed this way. They don’t see us just yet.”

“Well, take the shot then!”

The PFC began tapping away at the distant equinoids, nailing one in the head and another in the chest before the last three ducked out of sight.

“Got two! The rest went to cover!” he called-out.

“I’ll flank!” said Alex as he charged into the bushes.

“Go! We’ll cover you!” said Gunny, sliding on his knee up to Jenkins before raising his gun. “Shifty, go with’em! We’ll protect Rainbow!”

“Aye sir!” said the Private, following the Sargent’s path into the brush as his two teammates fired rapidly at the hostile squad.

“These footprints are fresh,” said one changeling to another.

The two of them were the lead soldiers of five in their patrol.

“We must be getting close! Keep your eyes ope-”

Before he could finish, a bullet tore through his head! And before the one next to him could react, two more struck him in the chest.

“What the-?!” said their squad leader from behind, ducking behind a bush as the second victim fell to the ground.

A hail of bullets followed as they heard the humans begin shouting orders at each other in the distance.

“What now, sir?!” called one of his subordinates. “We’ve got another squad pincering from behind them! Do we just wait for’em?!”

“Those human scum have killed too many of us!” he shouted back. “Cover me! I don’t care what Chrysalis says anymore, I’m killing that bucking pegasus!”

With that, he charged into the brush.

Rainbow Dash was on the ground, cowering in the same spot.

“Moving!” said Jenkins before patting Gunny’s shoulder.

He then shifted position towards a tree to Rainbow’s left. By now, she had begun to stand.

As the PFC continued firing silenced rounds at the changelings, a squad of four more appeared behind him, directly into the view of Marcus, who hadn’t stopped looking forward.

“Contacts front!” shouted Marcus, diving into a nearby ditch to his right.

RD froze.

She looked to her left to see Ogden start sprinting at her.

“Rainbow! Look out!” Jenkins yelled as he lunged at her.

He tackled her out of the way just in time as a bolt of green whizzed past where she had just been standing!

Jenkins landed hard on Rainbow Dash’s lungs inside of Marcus’ ditch as the Corporal was firing away at the newly manifested targets.

Her vision was dizzying from the impact as the PFC got off of her, as it was suddenly impossible to inhale; it felt as though the space inside of her lungs were permanently squished like a flattened balloon!

“Stay right here,” Jenkins told her. “I’ll be right back. Marcus! Keep her safe will ya?!”

“You got it!” said Corporal Williams.

Rainbow simply held out a feeble hoof towards Ogden as he moved away from her blurry view, panickedly whimpering as if to say, “Don’t go!…”

As he disappeared from view, she continued struggling to find the breath that was knocked out of her, still holding out her hoof, until finally her lungs opened.

She took the most desperate gasp for air she’d ever taken, cut short by some dirt particles flying into her throat. Her hoof fell flat as she started coughing hard.

The British ODST, still in her view, was continuing to shoot at unseen changelings outside of the ditch when two of them hopped inside between him and her.

The moment the changelings landed inside the ditch, Rainbow inhaled a panicked breath, getting her coughing under control as she hurriedly sat up and put her back against the dirt wall.

The changelings were facing the unaware human while keeping their backs to her.

Unaware of their Equestrian target behind them, the bug-like creatures quietly began to creep up behind the Corporal. Finally, Rainbow found her words.

“Marcus! Behind you!” she shrieked.

One of them continued to move in for the kill as the other spun around, now aware of Dash’s presence. She realized her mistake as the second one raised its spear at her.

Without looking, the Brit pulled out his sidearm and shot the advancing changeling point-blank between the eyes.

Realizing their were two hostiles behind him on his radar, Marcus dropped both of his guns and turned to face the changeling aiming at Rainbow Dash.

He then swiftly grabbed it from behind in a choke-hold and pulled backwards, causing the creature to drop its magic-induced weapon.

The entire exchange happened in an instant from Rainbow’s perspective, causing her to cover her mouth with both hooves in fright!

She continued to watch as the ODST slammed himself onto his side of the ditch as the changeling tried grabbing at the arms around its throat and elbowing the human in the stomach behind him.

Corporal Williams pulled out the combat knife on his shoulder and stuck the blade into the hostile’s neck.

As the changeling in his arms died, Marcus looked up, pulled out the knife, and threw it over Rainbow, striking yet another changeling before it could jump in and join the frey!

As its body tumbled down and landed limp in front of the pegasus, another hostile jumped in and attempted to stab the human, to which he deflected the spear and punched the creature across the face.

It landed on its chest in front of Rainbow as the ODST dived for his silenced pistol. To give the Brit more time, Rainbow turned and kicked the changeling in the face with her hind legs.

By the time it landed face-up on the other side of the ditch, Marcus had picked up his sidearm and promptly executed the bug-like equanoid.

The Corporal, still on his back, then looked over at Rainbow and gave her a quick nod before three more changelings charged at him.

He swiftly shot and killed two before the third knocked the weapon out of his hand and shattered his visor with the butt-end of its spear. Rainbow froze when she heard his crippling screams, as the glass from his visor was now undoubtedly penetrating his entire face!

She could only watch in horror as the changeling finished Marcus off by firing a small, green fireball into his exposed face, vaporizing the human within, and leaving an empty husk of ODST armor lying motionless in the mud.

One of the remaining changelings turned around just in time to watch Sgt. Alex put a salvo of bullets into its own chest.

As it shrieked and died, two more popped out from behind a mossy rock, aiming at the ODST, before being cut down by an advancing PFC and Gunnery Sergeant.

“Guys! I had them!” said Alex.

“You’re welcome,” said Alvarez.

Shifty then appeared out of the bushes behind the Sergeant.

“Goddammit, I’m late!” was all he said.

“Did you guys leave Rainbow alone again?” asked the second-in-command.

“No, I left her with Marcus,” said Jenkins, pointing. “Just back where we were.”

“Marcus, come in,” said Alex into his helmet mic. “Is Rainbow safe?...Corporal?”

The four humans just looked at each other.

“Shit!” said Ogden as he sprinted towards the ditch, the rest of his squad immediately following suit.

Still frozen in fear after witnessing the death of another one of her protectors, Rainbow Dash merely watched as the killer turned towards her.

“Buck the Queen’s orders!” the changeling spat in anger. “I’m killing you right here and now! And ENDING THIS!”

The bug-like creature indignantly began to stomp towards her, she could only whimper and back herself into the nearest corner of the ditch.

Time seemed to slow down as the changeling continued to move her way, until finally he was close enough to thrust his spear directly at her chest!

“AAH!” she screamed as she sidestepped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the tip. “Ack!”

The changeling had released his weapon and had snatched her throat, before yanking her around and down onto her back.

She struggled and fought against his grip on her neck as he straddled her and attempted to choke her to death!

In desperation, the pegasus tried holding her hooves on his face, but it was to no avail. Instead he smacked her forehooves away before placing one of his own onto her blackened eye and applying pressure.

Rainbow could only hold her mouth agape, trying to scream in agony but unable to with her airway cut-off!

Desperately, she looked to the side with her good eye for something, anything, to grab and hit him with.

A rock! A small one, but just within reach!

She held out her hoof towards it and just barely managed to grip it, before mustering up all the strength she had left to bring it up and smack it onto his temple.

Again, she inhaled a massive gasp of air as the changeling came off of her.

The two of them laid there in agony for a few more moments, before Rainbow slowly got back to her hooves.

She stood up, dazed and exhausted, staring at the changeling still on the ground, clutching the side of his head and groaning in pain.

Fearing he would get back up, she grabbed the rock again and straddled the changeling before repeatedly pummeling his face with the stone.

Again and again she raised it above her head before sending it crashing down onto her victim’s face, every impact making her angrier and angrier. Soon, she found herself literally screaming in rage at the creature.

She no longer cared who heard her. She was tired of having to be quiet and tired of having to contain her internal turmoil.

Soon, green blood was splattered everywhere. Rainbow no was no longer screaming, but still audibly grunting with every hit, the emerald fluid dripping from the rock as she continued to bring her weapon down on his face over and over again.

Until finally, a familiar voice snapped her out of it.

“Rainbow?” said Jenkins behind her.

The rate at which she kept hitting the changeling slowly came to a halt, stopping while holding the stone above her head as if to strike with it once again.

She looked behind her to see the shocked faces of four humans staring down at her. She looked back to see that she had been smashing the stone into a bowl of green blood, that being the changeling’s caved-in skull!

Rainbow suddenly became acutely aware of how much she was shaking, and she dropped the stone as she began to realize what she had just done.

She had just taken a life.

She backed away from the dead body with her arms, wide-eyed and disgusted as the tears began to flow once again.

“Oh no,” she wheezed while on her haunches, bringing her forehooves up to her face. “Oh no, oh no, ohnoohnoohnoohno-!”

“Nice work Rainbow!” said Shifty as he jumped in and examined the body.

The private received a prompt slap on the back of his helmet from Jenkins.

“Ah! What the heck man?!”

“What do you mean, ‘what the heck?!'" asked Jenkins, pointing at Rainbow. “Have a little social awareness you fuck!”

“Okay, sorry! Geez…”

Jenkins shook his head in disgust before walking over to the quivering pegasus. He knelt down and held out his arms to give her a hug.

“Don’t, don’t worry. Just come here,” he said softly.

“Don’t touch me!” spat Rainbow, attempting to smack his arms away.

One of her hooves got caught on his forearm however, as she continued whimpering and staring wide-eyed at nothing in particular, clearly disgusted with herself.

Finally, she gave in and embraced the ODST fully.

“I-I didn’t mean to kill him!” Rainbow stuttered through sobs. “I thought that would just knock him out!”

“You smashed a rock into his face thirty times,” said Sgt. Alex. “I think that does more than just knock ‘em out!”

This only made her cry harder.

“Hey! Let’s give her some room,” ordered Gunny. “Jenkins, you stay with her. Shifty, keep a lookout for more hostiles, and Sergeant...help me out with this?”

Alex looked over to see his squad-leader standing by the empty husk of Corporal William’s armor.

“Shit,” he said under his breath before speaking at normal volume. “Aye, sir.”

Meanwhile, Jenkins was tightly hugging his bawling pegasus friend.

“Hey! Hey! You weren’t thinking,” Jenkins consoled. “You weren’t you.”

Slowly, her crying turned into more manageable sobs, and they let go of each other. With one hoof, Rainbow wiped away her tears and boogers with a sniff.

They both sat in silence for a few moments before she spoke up.

“It felt good.”

“What?”

“Killing him. It felt...good...and that makes me sick.”

“It was either you or him. You did what you had to.”

“...That doesn’t make it right...”

“Which part? You knew you had to attack him or you were dead, but you don’t think it had to feel good.”

Rainbow’s look of terror contorted back into one of pure sorrow and anguish, as though she were going to cry yet again.

“Sound about right?” the Canadian continued.

She just nodded solemnly.

“That’s completely normal,” said Ogden. “Listen, we all feel the same way every time we kill a changeling, but afterwards it never feels right to have ended so many lives.”

“That’s what Sidney said to Fluttershy,” said Rainbow. “Back in Canterlot.”

“Is that what you overheard?”

She nodded again.

“War brings out the worst in us, Rainbow,” Ogden finished.

The pegasus just curled into a trembling, cerulean ball, painfully crying through a runny nose and a Phlegm-filled throat.

The PFC just stroked her mane consolingly as she coughed through her sobs.

“It’s alright,” he said again. “Soon this nightmare will be over...for both of us…”

He looked behind him to see Gunny beckoning.

“Come on,” said Jenkins. “We’ve gotta keep moving.”

Author's Notes:

As always, please leave your thoughts down below! ;)