"So, when our boy Bobby here disappeared after he breached that room, you could just imagine the how screwed we thought we were!"

The jeep was then filled with laughter.

"Then, when he came back and he was telling us about talking ponies, we were sure as hell that he'd gone off the meds."

Another round of laughter.

"That was until we heard the news from Intelligence. We got roped into this squad, along with dear Bobby over here. And guess what? They returned him his rank, and gave him a promotion to Captain! Ain't it great?"

And with that, the soldier, Randy, gave a slight hit to the back of the helmet on the still silent Bobby.

"Haha, Randy," Bobby chided. "Keep this up and maybe you'll get a future in the entertainment business."

"No thanks, Bobby boy," he replied joyfully. "I've always said I was gonna be a Marine, and I meant it."

A few Yeps came from the other soldiers who were listening into the conversation. Randy laughed, and placed his free hand on Bobby's shoulder, when the jeep stopped. The driver turned to the Marines in the passenger compartment. "All right gentlemen, this is your stop. Operation Herd Runner is a go."

"So tell me again why we're going through a damn cornfield?" came Randy's voice over the radio.

"We need to get the HVI out alive, Randy, so shut up and stay frosty," admonished Rick.

The squad, Shepherd-01, were heading to their target, a farm, through its cornfield which were in bloom. The height of the corn stalk could hide a creeping soldier easily, but of course as they moved any observant man could have spotted them. Bobby was at the lead, as he had been chosen as the leader of the Shepherd unit when they received their orders.

"Everybody down!" he ordered, his voice not carrying far in the cornfield.

On his orders, everybody got down into a prone position, and Bobby carried out his own instructions. A flash of light went by overhead, moving in one direction and rotating from here to there. When it passed by, Bobby got up to a kneeling position, and motioned for his squad to do the same.

He saw that the lights were coming from a patrol group, which looked comprised of mercenaries. When he decided that it was safe to engage the enemies, he gave a single order. "Weapons free."

With their silenced weapons, the squad downed the patrolling guards without them even realizing what was happening. Rushing over to the fence, Bobby reached over it and dragged the nearest corpse into the cornfield, making sure that it would hidden from plain sight should anyone come along. His squad mates followed suit.

Bobby vaulted over the fence, making sure to check each corner for more human activity. Shepherd 01 did not run into any more mercenaries, and they reached their destination without incident.

"This is Klein to all Shepherd squads," he said softly over his radio. "Report in."

"This is Shepherd zero three, in position close to the barn."

"This is Shepherd zero two, in position by the garage outpost. Generator is in sight, waiting on you."

"Shepherd zero one, this is Phantom zero one."

Bobby felt relieved. Phantom was the designation of the sniper squads that had been assigned to the operation with the Shepherd squads. "Phantom oh one, this is Shepherd one. What's your status?"

"We have eyes on the playground. See some targets on the roof of the house, and some on the barn. Got some traffic from Phantom two, said they saw some targets at the water tower by the barn. Should we drop 'em?"

Negative, Phantom one," Bobby instructed. "Wait until the lights go out, then you can nail 'em."

"Affirmative. Thermal scope is a go. Waiting on you, Shepherd one. Phantom one out."

One thing settled, he thought. "Shepherd squads, get your night-vision on," he ordered. "Weapons prep. Shepherd two, two minutes, then hit the lights."

"Roger that Shepherd one."

Bobby removed his hand from his helmet, silently counting down the time as he checked his weapons. His comrades did the same, and then everyone pulled down their night-vision goggles down over their eyes. Everything went green, and they avoided looking directly at light sources.

Then, the house went dark. "Move."

The soldiers moved up to the house and stacked up y the door. Bobby tried the doorknob, and found that it was unlocked. Quietly, he opened the door and headed through, moving silently as his training had taught him. There was chatter in the house, meaning that it was occupied. The mission parameters had been to assume all hostiles except for the HVI, meaning that everyone was tense and ready to shoot at the slightest sound.

The door opened into a corridor which adjoined to the living room and the kitchen. There was a head on the sofa in the living room, and a snoring sound could be heard from there. Bobby moved up to the section where the corridor met the kitchen, and swept his gaze around. There were two men in there, trying to find a light source in the darkness.

They never got the chance. Bobby placed a few shots into the chest of one of the men, who crumpled over the table and then to the floor in a pool of blood. Randy downed the other with a well timed head-shot, proving his prowess with a rifle yet again.

As the two friends were busy taking care of the goons in the kitchen, one of the squad members moved towards the living room, past the squad leader. With his heart confident that the two in the kitchen were no longer a problem, he turned to the living room, and saw Rick directly behind the man sleeping on the chair. He cupped the man's mouth with one hand to prevent his voice from alerting any others in the house, and thrust his knife into the man's chest with his other hand. The man resisted just for a second, then went still as his heart bleed out to death.

Bobby didn't stop while he was observing the spectacle. He reached the living room, and saw another corridor that eventually led to a dead end. He motioned down the corridor. "Sweep this corridor," he whispered into his radio, and two squad members carried out the order.

"The rest of you, on me," he whispered, making Rick and Randy fall in behind him. Bobby turned left, and found himself facing a flight of steps. He hated steps, because you had to cover so many angles of attack. Not to mention that houses like this tended to have creaky staircases.

He tested the weight on the first step, and when it didn't issue a creaking sound, pressed forward. Then above him, there was suddenly the voice of a man, speaking in some foreign language. He could not see the soldiers below him, but they could see him quite clearly indeed. There was a slight sound of a weapon shot, and the man's throat suddenly burst open with blood. He slumped forward, over the railing and landed right behind the squad leader and in front of Randy. "Damn, can't these people fall backwards instead?" came a complaint from the soldier.

"House is still not secure. Stay frosty," was the reply. There was a groan from Randy, but he fell silent in the end.

The top part of the house was clear, and so was the area. There was absolutely no sign of the HVI, who was designated Bo Peep. Bobby hoped that the other Shepherd squads had fared better. "Shepherd squads, status report."

"This is Shepherd three. Barn is secure. Bo Peep is not in sight."

"Shepherd two here. Garage is clear, no sign of the HVI."

"All right, keep us posted," Bobby replied with a sigh. "Shepherd one out."

Randy walked up in front of the captain, and the lights came on. Thankfully they had removed their night-vision goggles already. The squad captain looked at his friend, whose usually smiling face wore a grim expression. "Damn, you think the folk who lived here moved Bo Peep?"

Bobby shook his head. "Intel said that Bo Peep was still here," he replied dejectedly. "There's no way they could have smuggled the HVI away without those geeks knowing."

"Hey guys, look at this."

The two men turned to face Rick, who was standing by the couch where he had assassinated the thug earlier. The couch had been moved, and it revealed a trapdoor that was previously hidden. Bobby hurried over to the trapdoor, hoping that the operation had not, and would not be a failure. He looked at his team mates, and they each gave their silent consent with a nod.

With his M4A1 SOPMOD at the ready, he motioned for Rick to open up the trapdoor. Randy followed by tossing a flash-bang down the hole, and they waited for the Bang! When it came, the three soldiers wasted no time in storming the basement. The three lowered their weapons, when they say that they had found their target, Bo Peep.

There were footsteps that emerged from the darkness, and Princess Luna stepped towards the operation's captain. "Hello, Bobby Klein," she said with a smile. "I hope I didn't get into too much trouble."

The helicopter landed in the airbase, and the troops alighted, escorting Luna towards the room where their commanding officer, Colonel Marshall was awaiting their arrival. Bobby and his squad had to go through two different checkpoints, and came to a standstill when one of the soldiers insisted on a rather invasive technique to screen the princess.

It was then that Col. Marshall came into the argument. "Soldier, as you were," he ordered in a gruff voice. 'The rest of you, that means you too unicorn, right this way."

The princess let out a Hmph! of arrogance, directed towards the Colonel. She had every right to do so, because she was more than just a "talking unicorn" as the Colonel had put it. Bobby chuckled, and imagined just what mischief the princess could get up to in the airbase to express her displeasure. He got rid of the notion immediately, and resumed a poker face.

They were led into a conference room by Col. Marshall, who wanted to debrief the crew. Before he could launch into his droning speech though, the metal locker in the room burst open, and out sprung Applejack. The other soldiers had their weapons trained on the orange earth pony, but lowered them when Bobby revealed to them Applejack's identity.

Then, he walked up to the cowpony, who seemed visibly distressed, and asked, "Applejack, what's wrong?"

Applejack took in a deep breath before replying. "Bobby, you gotta come back!" she said urgently. "Ponyville's in a whole lotta trouble! Discord broke loose, then some undead monsters have been causing a ruckus all over the place! Discord said that when he was done, he'd bring his friends over here!"

Randy whistled. "Undead monsters, huh?" he asked Bobby. "You got caught up in some weird s*** there, man."

"You don't say," came a British accented voice from the door. All heads turned to the newcomer, and saw a man carrying a sniper, and another that had a standard issue rifle. "John Smith, on loan from the SAS," he introduced. He motioned at his friend. "Alec Knightly, my spotter."

John walked up, and stood next to the Colonel. "We lost Phantom two back in that farm," he said calmly to the Colonel. "They were two of me best mates, and they died to save this talking pony over here. If this Discord SOB thinks he can come over to our world and turn their sacrifices worthless, then he's got another thing coming. We're going to stop him, and nobody's going to stop us. Captain Klein, we're with you."

A vein in the Colonel's temple started to throb. "Any of you leave this place, and you're going to be charged with treason!" he yelled. "Even you lot from the SAS!"

The elderly man who had talked down the Colonel smiled. In a swift motion, he used the butt of his rifle and slammed it into the Colonel's temple, and he slumped unconscious. "I have a rifle in my hands. Your argument is therefore invalid."

He turned to the Marines that stood confounded. "Let's go, we're Oscar Mike."

The soldier's went through the wardrobe in a single file, with the two ponies leading the line. Then, as the last soldier, who was Alec, walked through the doorway, the door closed behind them. The soldier's pressed forward, even though the dark was all-consuming.

They emerged in a clearing, and Bobby could recognize the place. They were not far from Fluttershy's home, but they had more pressing matters to attend to. In their immediate vicinity, there were countless beings, the closest that they came to were zombies. They were humanoid in physique, but their skin were rotting and they were only capable of moaning.

The Marines gagged when they saw the monstrosities, hardened by combat as they were. The only person who did not retch at the sight were Applejack, and John Smith. The elderly man slung his sniper, and drew his pistol. "What are you muppets waiting for?" he asked in an incredulous tone. "Let these fools have it!" With that, he began firing his weapon.

Every zombie in the area was attracted to the sound of the gunfire. The soldiers gave each other a glance, then opened fire with their respective weapons. They were up against supernatural enemies, and they knew it. Where a normal person could only take so much bullets, the zombies could take much, much more. As the bullets were wasted from each clip, the soldiers lost their resolve. The zombies kept coming closer and closer, and soon they would have been overwhelmed.

Until Alec took point. He stepped in front of the group, making sure that there was enough distance between him and the oncoming pack. He changed his grip on his weapon, and pressed a secondary trigger. Something flew out from beneath his weapon's barrel, and it landed with an explosion. It took several moments before Bobby realized that Alec had cleared a small path with his grenade launcher.

The path was closing quick, though, and their chance of escape was closing. Without even waiting for orders, Rick charged the path, mowing down any zombies unlucky enough to get in firing range of his weapon. The others followed his lead, keeping the ponies in the middle of the group, with Randy bringing up the rear.

They managed to get clear of the group, but one of the zombies managed to grab a hold of Randy's sleeve. Though the zombies didn't seem all that buff, Randy couldn't shake the zombie off, even after pouring shot after shot into the creature. Then the zombie's head jerked backwards and a hole appeared in its forehead, and it went limp. Randy shook the arm off, and hurried over to the rest of his squad. He saw that John's sniper rifle was smoking, and ti was nowhere near the man's eyes. As they fell in, Randy managed to give the man the finger, displeased at how closed that he had come with death.

They ran, with Bobby leading the way. Without realizing it, he had led them to the nearest safest place he could think of; Fluttershy's home. He opened the door, not surprised that there was nobody home, and motioned for everyone to get in. When they were in, his eyes took a final look, and not seeing any zombies in the area, slammed the door shut.

"What in the world were those things?" asked Cortez, one of the other members of Shepherd 01. He was trying to catch his breath, and he looked pain with each exhale.

"Yeah, man, I didn't sign up for this s***!" went Taylor, the last member of Shepherd 01. "Those things couldn't die, man!"

"They did die," Randy replied for him. "We just had to waste a whole lotta bullets on just one of those freaks." His face was set with the look of death, meaning that he did not have a positive outlook on the current situation.

"Look, it doesn't matter right now," Bobby cut in. "What matters is that we make sure those SOBs can't hit us again when we're not aware of it."

"He's right," Rick continued. "We need to set up a perimeter watch, secure this Luna and Applejack ponies. I'll take first watch with Bobby." And with that, the discussion, or what had seemed like one, was over.

"You know, I've seen a whole lot of weird shit in my life, but this takes the cake."

I know exactly what you mean, Rick, the captain thought to himself. Ponies, the man could handle. The creatures back in the clearing, or zombies as the men had come to call them, were in an entirely different league. They could absorbed so much damage to their torsos and limbs, but the SAS sniper had proven that a good head-shot would have downed them quite easily. And so would a grenade or similar explosive, as the other SAS trooper had demonstrated.

"Hey, Bobby, I'm sorry I volunteered us for first sentry duty. Wasn't really thinking about you back there."

Bobby snorted. "Its nothing," he assured. "We're all Marines, aren't we? We do what we have to."

The two were seated around a few lanterns that they had scavenged from the house. They had wanted to make a campfire, but were worried that the flames might be bright enough to be seen by the zombies at a far distance. At least the lanterns wouldn't leave to much of an obvious trail.

With some help from the others, they had also managed to rig up an improvised warning system. Surrounding the house from the three avenues of approach were tripwires, each linked up to a grenade pin. Should any of the zombies, who tended to limp every few steps try to breach the compound, it would detonate the grenades and the soldiers would know from where they were trying to come in from.

Of course, they had wasted the last of their grenades, and were also down to their last flash-bang. None of them had more than one extra clip other than the one in their weapons, and they were running out of medical supplies to treat their injuries. Not one of them were medics, but they had undergone some military first aid, so none of them would be dying from a simple open wound. At least, that was what they hoped.

They wouldn't be staying there long, though. They had agreed, along with the ponies, that they would try to head for Ponyville during the day when their vision would not be restricted by the darkness. Their night-vision goggles had been abandoned, for the devices would not give them much added advantage over their unnatural foe.

A twig snapped behind the two sentries, and they whipped around with their weapons trained. They were greeted with the sight of Princess Luna, who gave them a sheepish smile. Bobby cursed, nearly having a heart attack because of the princess. After all, he had not expected the perimeter to be breached without a grenade going off in the distance.

He tried to lower his weapon, but to his amazement he could not do so. In fact, he could not move any part of his body at all. He could move his eyes, and saw that his partner was not moving either.

His eyes returned to the princess, and he saw the cause of their paralysis. The princess horn was glowing, a sure sign that she was using magic. To his surprise, the captain realized that he had full use of his mouth and could still speak, albeit his voice never reached higher than that of a normal conversation volume. "Luna, what's going on here?"

The princess shook her head, in the same way how someone would do so in a defeated manner. She began to circle around the two soldiers, speaking as she did so. "I hope all of you will forgive me for this. See, human Bobby, on the days before you came to Equestria, not everything had been peaceful and joyful. My sister and I realized that Discord had somehow managed to break free of his stone prison, and on the quiet we tried to track him down. It was on the day before you arrived, that he came to me with a very tempting proposition. All he wanted was for me to deliver to him my sister, Celestia, and the six ponies that embodied the elements of Harmony. In return, he would allow me to continue with ruling the ponies after wiping out their memories, and he would leave us alone in eternal peace."

She chuckled, then stopped in front of the silently raging captain. "It wasn't that bad of an idea. We would never again have to worry about Discord breaking free from his prison, and having to use the elements to stop him again. When dear Fluttershy seemed so upset about you back on the farm, it was almost too easy to plant the idea in that mind of hers that there might be something of value in Everfree forest. Then, with all six ponies in the hospital, drained as they were, it was easy to deliver them to Discord."

Luna took a moment to let it all sink. Then she turned around, and started to claw at the ground with her hoof. 'My sister was more difficult to deliver. We had a short duel, and if not for the intervention of Discord himself, I would not have been able to subdue her."

Bobby was horrified by the news. "And Twilight and her friends," he asked mournfully. "What have you done with them?"

"I didn't anything at all, human," she chided. "Discord, however, had some plans for them. He turned each of them into the antithesis of what they embodied, except for Twilight Sparkle, who remained immune to his touch. Now, they listen to his every whim."

In a fit of anger, Rick burst out, "So you sold out your sister and probably six innocent people?! That's dishonorable and despicable. I would be glad to spit on your grave!" And spit he did, although it did not land far from his mouth.

Luna laughed, not even bothering to keep her voice down. "Its too bad, because we aren't going to see each other again."

With a leer, she closed in on the two men, and their worlds soon turned into complete darkness.

"So let me get this straight: the same horse that we were asked to save back on Earth is the same *@!%$ who just kicked our asses?"

"For the last time, Randy, yes!"

"When we get out of this place, I'm gonna rip that *@!%$ to shreds."

"If we even get out of here, mate."

The Marines and the SAS soldiers had been captured by Luna, and they were made unconscious through her magic. The first thing that they woke up to was the prison bars, and were greeted by Discord himself, who revealed that they were now in Tartarus. He also taunted them by stating that "They would never see the sun again."

They were not fed, neither were they given anything to drink. Despite all this, no matter how hungry or thirsty they got, they still had bounds of energy to spend in the cell. After what was about three days in their mind, Randy let his agitation get the better of him. "We're all soldiers, sitting here rotting in this stupid cell and not doing a damn thing about it!" he shouted at his mates. "So, sir," he said as he was looking at Bobby, his tone sarcastic. "Have we given up the fight already?"

Bobby closed his eyes, his will already crushed by the helplessness of the situation. Memories floated back and forth in his mind, and his eyes snapped open as he remembered something that had helped him keep sane, even with all the death that he had seen through the sight of his weapons. He stood up, and felt a sudden rush of determination pouring into his person. "No, we aren't giving up," he said decisively. "We're just advancing, in a very different way from our enemies. Randy's right, though, its time we got off our rear and did something."

He cast his eyes around the cell, making eye contact with each man that was in it. "I can't sit here knowing that out there, innocent ponies could be dying because of what Luna did. This wasn't our fight, but I told myself that I couldn't live with the guilt if I could prevent a disaster happening in the world my daughter cared for so much."

He could then see the spark of light in the eyes of his friends, and knew that he had started their engines again. It was then that he received support from a most unexpected source; Alec, the spotter from the SAS. "He's right, that one," he said. "I walked into the room one day, to find my own son watching that show. I was shocked for sure, and I was disappointed in him. Then I realized that, at the end of the day, he was still my son. I made pace with him, and this is my fight as much as it is yours, Captain."

He offered his hand to Marine captain, who took it warmly. The others began to stand, except for Randy who was already standing. When everyone had agreed to continue the fight, Randy stretched his neck, and when he was done, he gave the soldier a smile. "*&@! just got real, guys," he told them, and met with a resounding Hoo-ah!

Randy went up to the bars, and called the zombie guard. "Hey ugly, over here," he called out, beckoning the zombie closer to him. When the guard was in front of him, Randy pointed at the empty cell opposite theirs. "There's something you should see there, cause I think I saw something."

The zombies weren't so bright after all, and he adhered to the Marine's suggestion. It turned its head around, and before it could do anything else, Randy grabbed the collar of its equivalent of a shirt, and slammed it against the bars of the cell. While it was still stunned, Randy reached out from the sides and twisted the zombies neck. Because the flesh was softer than a regular human's though, the head twisted an almost 180 degrees, before the corpse crumpled to the floor. "That was some scary *&@!, that there" he admitted, his face sick.

Not hesitating, he reached down, and from the corpse retrieved a key, and tried it on the cell lock. It opened with a resounding creak, and the soldiers poured out, determined to escape from the prison. Bobby took the lead from his mate, and looking back at the men, said, "Time to raise hell, men!"