Date: May 28th, 2018

Location: Iraq, “Suicide Run”

Time: 01300, Ten minutes from contact

Mission objective: Contact and negotiate

“Alright, Alright, this is a radio check before we hit the hot zone, all units check in.”

The reply’s filtered through over the radio.

“Apache’s 1 and 2 checkin’ in. This is Black Hawk two checking in.”

Warrant Officer Daniel Higgs flipped a switch on the control panel.

“This is BH one checking in, Our package is designate Bravo, our job is to keep his ass alive, so keep sharp and constantly check your six. They don’t call this Suicide Run for nothing.”

He got a chorus of “yes sirs” as the other pilots tightened their seatbelts and checked their controls. Giving his copilot a thumbs up, he unbuckled his seatbelt and turned to address the soldiers waiting behind the cockpit of the Black Hawk. Higgs turned off his radio mic and shouted instructions to the soldiers.

“Listen up! I’m only gonna say this once! We are on a diplomatic mission, meaning you do not fire unless fired upon! We have already sent a message ahead, so they know we are coming! If one of you trigger happy grunts shoots before you’re told, you will be landing the hard way! Do I make myself clear?”

“SIR YES SIR!”

With a nod from their squad leader, Higgs returned to the cockpit and buckled himself in. He grinned at his copilot, a young private with a last name of Stevens.

“Ready for this Stevens?” he asked

The private snorted.

“Is anybody?”

Higgs nodded and laughed, slapping Stevens on the shoulder.

“I hear that! But don’t worry, we’ll probably take a little flak on the approach, but once we wave the white flag, it’ll be peaches and candy.”

“Peaches and candy sir?”

Higgs laughed again.

“You’ve never heard that saying before? I use it around my boy all the time. He always says it makes me sound old.”

The Black Hawk rocked, slamming Higgs face into the control panel. Clutching his head he asked,

“What was that? Damage report Private!”

Stevens flicked a switch before responding.

“I think our tail fin was clipped. The damage isn’t serious, nothing more than a scratch really.”

Higgs shook the stars away from his eyes before he switched back on his radio.

“Everyone check in.”

“Apache two, nothing on our end.”

Higgs listened as the other black hawk and her Apache partner called in. He turned, yelling to the squad leader behind him.

“We lose anybody?”

“No sir! Just a little shaken up back here!”

Higgs turned back to the controls and gave orders into the radio.

“Alright, Apache’s I want you watching the ground. As far as we know they don’t have air, so we own the sky. Keep any anti air off of Bravo. BH one, pull in closer to Bravo, if we lose the Apaches you will pull out, understood?”

“Yes sir, movin’ in.”

A scream pierced through the radio.

“RPG!”

Higgs watched the rocket as it slammed into BH one’s rotor blades. The helicopter became engulfed in a fireball and it began to fall. The Apache pilots answered with several Hellfire missiles, detonating the rooftop the RPG had come from. Higgs turned on the secondary radio that linked him with Bravo.

“Come in Bravo.” He said into the radio, keeping his eyes on the ground, scanning for any more hostiles.

“This is Bravo, what are your orders sir?”

“Alright, I’m pulling close to your 3 o’clock. If things get heavy, we’re pulling out.”

As he clicked off his radio, Stevens tapped his arm.

“Sir, we’ve got bogeys in the air. Their moving fast too.”

Higgs divided his attention between the sky and the radar screen. Stevens pulled the image out until they could see the air convoy and the bogeys flying in. Higgs marked their location before turning to his radio.

“Apache one watch your eleven, we’ve got bogeys coming in hot.”

The radio fell silent as they waited until the bogeys came within range. The radio crackled to life as Apache one called back in.

“Um, sir? We have a visual of the bogeys and… you’re not gonna believe this but I think their Equestrian’s sir. The actual ponies sir, their all in some bright armor and look like their just gonna ram us sir.”

Stevens’s eyes widened.

“Sir! Bogeys are coming from the ground!”

“Apache one, pull clear! Pull clear!”

What? I do-…”

A fireball lit the sky as the Apache was destroyed. Higgs watched a shaded form peal away from the fireball and hover in mid air. The pilot had been right, the Equestrians themselves were attacking. Higgs spun around in his seat and shouted to the soldiers behind him.

“Look lively ladies! Fingers on those triggers! If it isn’t ours, kill it!”

Higgs then worked both radios, issuing orders to the remaining Apache and Bravo.

“Apache two, break off! This is going to be a rough ride, we don’t need more loses! Bravo, get your door gunners going, everything is your new target! Pull around and we’ll cover you!”

Higgs watched as the Equestrians pulled around and set their sights on the remaining two helicopters. The remaining Apache had outmaneuvered its opponents by ducking beneath them and abruptly pulling up, pushing free of the growing mass of bodies.

Higgs pulled close to the 9 o’clock of Bravo and winced as the soldiers at his back opened up. Several of the Equestrians dropped from the sky, causing a few to break away. The two helicopters completed their turn around, flying as fast as they could away from the Equestrians.

Higgs pulled back the Black Hawk and put it right behind Bravo. Shouts began issuing from the back. Higgs began to turn around when something slammed into the rotor blades of the Black Hawk. Higgs flipped switches and wrestled with the yoke as he struggled to stay in control.

“This is Black Hawk two, we are going down. Bravo, keep your present course. Do not stop.”

To the soldiers onboard he shouted,

“Hold! Hold!”

Higgs blacked out momentarily as the helicopter slammed into the ground.

In a daze, he tasted blood in his mouth. Higgs unclipped his seatbelt and groaned as he pushed himself out of his seat. The right side of the cockpit was buried in dirt, the windshield smashed and bloody.

He stumbled into the stomach of the helicopter; noticing vaguely that all of the soldiers were gone, save for one. Higgs grabbed the man and dragged him out of the Black Hawk and into the street where they had crashed. Looking back, he saw that the helicopter was totaled.

The rotors were gone, blood smeared where they used to be. The tail rotor was on fire and the fuel tank was leaking into the sand. Higgs looked up in time to see the Chinook designated Bravo split in two, raining fire and bodies to the ground below.

Higgs picked up the rifle of the man at his feet. He checked the soldiers pulse to find that he was indeed, dead. Higgs shook his head and got to his feet. Too many had died, too many for nothing. He looked into the sky for a moment, lost on what to do.

His pulse raced when one of the Equestrians walked out from an alley a dozen yards to his left. He brought his rifle up and pointed it at the creature. It looked at him with an eerie calm and walked forward. Higgs aimed the rifle at the creature’s feet and pulled the trigger. The bullet stopped in the dust, also bringing a stop to the creature’s calm advance. Backing away slowly, Higgs shouted at the Equestrian.

“Stay back! You only get one warning!”

Higgs felt the bullet before he heard it. He dropped to one knee as fiery pain filled his right leg. The Equestrian began its advance again. Higgs put another bullet at its feet.

“I s-said not a step further.” He stuttered. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Higgs pushed himself back to his feet.

Higgs withheld the urge to fire from surprise when the Equestrian began speaking in perfect English.

“Please, lay down your weapon. You’re injured and need medical attention, let us help.”

“HELP?!? YOU WANT TO FUCKING HELP?!?” Higgs screamed. The Equestrian flinched back as Higgs shouted. “Why in the hell would I accept help from the things that just killed dozens of good, honest men and women? You should have thought about helping before you shot down three choppers full of people who wanted to be anywhere but here! There are going to be wives and husbands that NEVER see their spouses again. Children going to bed without a good night from their father or their mother. Don’t tell me you want to fucking help when you can watch that happen without blinking!”

All the time he was shouting, Higgs had steadily limped forwards, pushing the Equestrian back against the wall. Higgs put the barrel of the gun against the Equestrians forehead, causing the creature to close its eyes.

“Give me a reason I shouldn’t kill you. Just one. I already know I won’t walk away from this alive. My boy is going to go to bed tonight knowing his father is dead. So give me a reason why I shouldn’t pull the trigger.”

The creature whimpered.

“Please, I have a family too. I promised my son that I would play hoofball with him when I got back from my tour. Please don’t kill me.”

Higgs shook his head and his grip on the gun tightened before he shook his head again and he dropped it. He turned around and began to limp back across the street. Over his shoulder he said,

“The gun was empty; I couldn’t have killed you if I wanted to. Go home, see your son, and just leave the dead with the dead.”

Halfway across the street, Higgs noticed numbly that his stomach was bleeding. It was then his hearing caught up and the gun shot rang clear through the buildings. He stumbled forward two more steps before he fell face first to the ground.

Higgs coughed up a small stream of blood that created a crimson paste with the dust around him. He heard footsteps run rapidly to his side and felt himself being rolled over. He once again faced the Equestrian he had threatened. The golden clad soldier applied pressure to his stomach, yelling to the air, “Medic! We need a medic over here!”

The Equestrian then looked at Higgs and smiled sadly.

“Were going to get you back to your son, okay? Just hold in there for me big guy.”

Higgs responded by coughing, splattering blood all over the Equestrian’s face. The soldier merely wiped it away from his eyes and kept smiling. Higgs closed his eyes, only to have his head roughly smacked around. His eyes flew back open.

“Keep ‘em open for me. We’ll talk now, and then you can sleep later. Tell me your name.”

Higgs recognized what the Equestrian was trying to do and tried his best to keep his eyelids from shutting.

“Warrant Officer Daniel Higgs,” he garbled out, “and you?”

“Private Swiftfoot. What’s your son’s name?”

Higgs grunted.

“Samuel Higgs. We named him after his grandfather. He’s graduating tomorrow. Graduating high school, my wife is so proud.”

Higgs snorted before he continued. “He wants to be an Army grunt of all things. He never took to the sky as much as I did. Always liked his feet on the ground.”

Higgs couldn’t feel any pain now, couldn’t feel much at all.

“I took this shit mission to try and earn a little bonus to send him to college. I didn’t want him coming out here.”

A thought occurred to Higgs as he spoke. He weakly pulled his final letter home from his pocket and wrote a few extra things down on it. He then shakily gave it to Swiftfoot.

“C-can you get t-that to the nearest American outpost? I-it needs to g..et home.”

Swiftfoot took the paper and nodded before putting his hooves back on Higgs stomach.

A minute later a team of medics touched down a few feet away from Swiftfoot.

A minute after that, Warrant Officers Daniel Higgs, Age 28 died from his wounds.

Next Chapter: War Part 1: Brothers in Blood: Chapter 1 Estimated time remaining: 25 Minutes