Gale and Flash went through town together, making their way to the outskirts of town.

The day's work was over, and the night prior, the two had agreed to meet the mares they owed explanations for their behavior and history to.

Gale led his sibling through the door to the library, the prearranged site of the meeting, and found the six mares they had come to know in the past few days.

"Hey," Gale said dryly, his face expressionless with only sorrowful emotion existing in his eyes.

The mares all smiled warmly as the two of them came through the door, and stood in a semicircle around them.

"Let's just skip the formalities and get to the point," petitioned Gale flatly, denying any of them a chance for any form of a greeting.

Twilight met his eyes with understanding, finding he was anxious as well as nervous; were it she in his place, she probably would be the same way, especially given the circumstances of the spell she was about to perform.

The unicorn produced a thick book, and flipped to a page near its midpoint.

"So, how's this going to work?" asked Gale as dryly as before.

Twilight explained.

"The spell allows memories to be revisited by a pony as they happened, and it lets others see the memory as well, if the host wills it."

Twilight looked to him, seeking informed consent.

"How will you all see the memory?"

"As you did. We'll see what you saw, think what you thought, feel what you felt, hear what you heard. Basically, we'll be in your head until we come out of the memory, if you let us in."

"You keep saying that you can only see the memory if I let you."

"Yes. Once the spell is underway, you only need to will for us to be able to enter."

Gale came over to the book, and tilted his head to better be able to see the picture. It depicted a unicorn casting a ray of light onto a pony amidst several others. The light branched to each and every pony in the circle, and all their eyes were aglow.

Gale imitated the picture, standing a few body lengths before Twilight. The others did so as well, and encircled him.

"You sure you want to do this?" started Flash, but he was interrupted by a definite, "Yes."

"You'll relive everything again."

"This time, we'll have friends to help us through it."

Flash stepped away from the circle, and stood off to the side, watching nervously.

Twilight's horn began to glow purple, but she seemed hesitant.

"I'm ready," insisted Gale, standing proudly tall as he prepared to relive his darkest day.

"You know, you don't have to do this."

"Yes I do. He would have wanted me to."

"Who are ya talkin' about?" asked Applejack, becoming more nervous as the stallion's stern gaze landed on her.

"You'll know him soon enough."

Gale closed his eyes, and breathed deeply for a few moments, concentrating on the memory.

He looked back up.

"Do it."

Twilight sent forth a beam of magenta light, and Gale felt his mane blow back in the force of the magic, and the material world gave way to a milky abyss of inky memories, swirling in the void.

The images of days past swept by, and as one came closer and closer, the others were replaced by its entirety.

Gale saw the world through his own eyes again, only he wasn't in the present.

He was in the memory.

It was dark. Very dark.

Gale looked up, the characteristic twinkling of constellations identifying the northern skies of Germaneigh. His eyes adjusted to the darkness, eventually beginning to make out what was all around them; trees. He was in a forest, and a thick one at that.

The scent of birch and pine filled his nose, and the calm breeze stirred the dry, late autumn leaves.

He looked back; a line of shadows was watching him. They were still, but the characteristic silhouettes of stallions was there. They wore equipment strapped on their backs and shoulders, as well as helmets on their heads. On their wrists were gauntlets, G.R.I.W.P.s, technology designed for war fighting. Gale's thoughts strayed from the memory for a second, recalling the equipment's purpose.

They were tools of interweaving metal and leather, designed to secure the to the handles of their weapons, be it a rifle, pistol, or knife. Hooves tended to be unable to use the weapons reverse-engineered from the griffons' firearms, which they wielded without hindrance with the advantage of talons, but the G.R.I.W.P.s (Gauntlet Reinforced Interlocking Weapon Platform) made it possible for the equines to use the weapons through the employment of hooks and wires attached to different muscles in the forelimb, each one causing a certain part in the contraption to move.

Gale's thoughts returned to the soldiers in front of him as he consciously re-entered the dreamscape; he knew each of them. He looked each of them in the eye; some were big, others were small. Some were tattooed, scarred, and haggard, while others looked fresh and young. Some carried rifles, others carried machine guns, no two being quite the same, but they were similar in one thing; they were Marines. Brothers in arms, comrades, and Gale relived the bond he had shared with them as the memory played itself out.

"What's the sit-rep on the Archer teams Sergeant?" Gale heard himself say, and from that point on, tried to observe the dreamlike world he occupied without trying to think much, only reliving the memory, not trying to remember that he was physically still in the library.

"They're at the rendezvous point Cap. They said they're conducting reconnaissance observations on the fortifications now."

"Alright," whispered Gale, turning to the ponies in the unit, "From here on out, noise restrictions are in place. Radio silence is mandatory. To get this job done right, we need to go in swift, silent and deadly."

The congregation of stallions around him all nodded as they clicked their headsets off, killing any chance of radio traffic in the unit.

"Remember, when we make contact with the Archer teams, split into your respective squads and report to your assault positions. Once we reach the assault positions and set up the jammers, radio traffic will be allowed again but only if necessary. Alpha through Charlie, you guys are Celtic unit 2; split each squad into a subsection over the radio alphabetically. Delta through Foxtrot, Celtic 3. Golf through India, Celtic 1. The command unit, in this case, me, will be Celtic actual. Keep each other informed and communicate above all else. No plans last past first contact, so when shit hits the fan, shoot, move and communicate, and adapt to win. Let's clear the way for the rest of the First."

More determined nods came from the Marines, and the shuffling procession of soldiers laden with weapons and gear continued through the forest.

Gale rose from his squat near the grassy ground, the full weight of his gear pressing down on his legs; all four of them.

He adjusted his olive green Kevlar tactical vest, pressed his helmet down on his head, and threw his weapon, a jet black suppressed assault rifle, farther up on his shoulder, and trotted to the front of the line, where his brothers, both of them, were waiting.

He didn't say anything when he reached their side; after all, they were on noise restrictions. Rather, he only nodded to them.

Even though they were barely visible in the low light, and though Flash and Miles were roughly the same height, he knew the thicker of the two to be Flash, never mind the fact that the black Pegasus's bulky light machine gun gave him away. Flash stood out among the entire platoon in that way; he tended to carry the most gear in the unit, from grenades to his machine gun to the rocket launcher he had come to adore.

He seemed especially bulky next to Miles.

Even in the shadows, Gale could see his pure, white coat, gently reflecting the moonlight as a lake might. His shimmering smile lit up as Gale trotted up next to him, and the dazzling quality in his bright eyes was prominent, even though the air around them was opaque in the night.

His rifle, a standard weapon with a small scope as its only attachment, was around his shoulder, and though his slender frame was laden with equipment, he made no noise as they trudged along through the silent forest, as did the rest of the unit.

Along they went, silently approaching their goal, the rendezvous point.

It took the better half of an hour, but eventually, they reached a small clearing. Gale checked his map and compass, confirming their position; they were where they needed to be.

However, there was no sign of the Archer teams.

Gale motioned for the unit to take cover, and alone, he proceeded from within the tree line towards the clearing. He crept forward, when suddenly, a quiet entity made itself heard from his side.

"Buck," the voice hissed.

"Wild," answered Gale, and another pony stepped out from a nearby thicket.

The equine, a beige earth pony with a face mask pulled over its snout, silently approached Gale, a large sniper rifle slung across its back.

"You with First Recon?" the pony hissed, its high voice revealing that it was indeed female.

"Yes," Gale answered in a hush, waving the rest of the unit forward.

The Recon platoon entered the clearing, and waited for further instruction.

"So, you're the Archer unit?"

"Yes, I'm the unit's leader, call sign Archer actual. I've got other Archer teams call signs Alpha, Beta and Iota at the ready as well."

"Where are the rest of your guys?"

The mare waved once in the air, and like ghosts, seven silhouettes emerged from the surrounding forest, seemingly materializing from the air and the undergrowth. They stood all around Gale, each possessing different variants of rifles, all of them adorned with advanced optics.

"All right, well we're First Recon. I've got squads Alpha through India waiting. I would have informed you about the plan earlier but we had to maintain radio silence until we could set up the jammers," Gale motioned back to his unit, singling out a few unicorn stallions carrying what appeared to be briefcases, "They'll work their magic in blocking their radios, meaning once they do, we can talk to each other unnoticed. When the time comes, our radio call sign is Celtic."

The mare nodded, paying careful attention to his every word.

"I assume the Colonel told you I'd be taking tactical command of the attack, so I'll need two of your teams to go with each support group, Celtic 2 and Celtic 3. I'll be in the assault team, Celtic 1, so if I get hit, Lieutenant Avon is in charge; he's with Celtic 2-1, Alpha squad. but until that happens, keep your radios on and listen for fire and info requests; you'll be my eyes once I'm in the thick of it."

"Got it," nodded Archer actual.

"My radio operator said you had conducted some reconnaissance?"

"Yes," responded the mare, recalling her brief conversation with the operator earlier, made possible by the presence of a briefly secured radio channel, "Our intel was spot on; about three cliques west of here is the objective. A pair of two story concrete bunkers in a shallow valley guarding the eastern flank of their regional command post. Gun ports overlooking an obstacle field and a trench network. The majority of their defenses are oriented to cover a field that bisects their razor wire and obstacles; bottom line, no way in is easy, but you've got a better chance going right up the middle. There's a berm about a hundred meters outside the first trench, and another about twenty meters in front of the bunkers; along with the obstacles, they could provide good cover.

"Estimated enemy force is about the size of a whole company, maybe more in reserve. From what we could see most of the foot mobiles are in the trenches and bunkers, but then again, that's all we could see. Airborne reports from a few days ago said they had artillery dug in on the mountain a few cliques north of here, but, like I said, we didn't see anything."

"Alright," said Gale, looking over his shoulder, "Radio frequency from now on is 11.6 MHz. Jammers go up at 0530, attack starts at 0600. Keep me posted with situation updates."

"Roger that," said the mare confidently before turning away, saying, "I'll be in touch."

With silent signals, she directed half of her soldiers to go with each of the two support teams from Recon, and Gale trotted back to his own unit as well.

He too directed each of the squads to go to their pre-assigned assault positions, and the single unit soon became three. Gale found his brothers, and after they watched the two over watch teams disappear into the trees, Gale led Celtic 1 down the slope, and into the valley, stealthily drawing nearer to the fight beneath the cover of darkness.