After leaving Zecora's, Pinkie and I made our way back into town. The whole walk back she kept asking more and more questions about my 'nap', some of which made no sense whatsoever. For the entire walk back I found myself feeling worse than I had ever before. My head was burning, my skin was looking pale and my head was pounding. I asked Zecora about it before we left her home, but she said the ingredients in the elixir were fairly common and that there aren't normally any side effects. Maybe it's just to do with my magical immunity, perhaps there are some things which are normal for a pony to have, yet are potentially bad for a human to consume.

As soon as we returned to Ponyville, I just wanted to head straight home and get some shut-eye. I was only stopped briefly before returning to my room. Lieutenant Venture was surrendering his room to the Brigadier, seeing as Swift would be acting as our new commanding officer. Once they realised how rough I looked they let me go on my way. I instantly dropped all of my clothing over the dresser in my room before climbing into bed. It didn't take me long before I drifted off, my body felt as though it was burning under the duvet but I had a feeling that it could have just been the signs of a fever beginning to emerge.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm awoken in the late hours of the night when I hear Arcturus flying in through the open window from his nightly hunt. Despite having a few hours sleep, I still feel like absolute shit. Opening my heavy eyes, I roll onto my back as I tilt my head to look at Arcturus he beginss to preen his feathers. I instantly regret opening my eyes as the room seems to twirl in my vision. On instinct, I close my eyes and place my hand over my mouth as a nauseous sensation takes over.

Fuck, I haven't felt this sick in years. When the sensation finally subsides, I roll onto my side in an attempt to get some more sleep for the night. I'm about to finally get some sleep until Arcturus gets the bright idea to use me as a resting post. As he stands on my hip, I release an irritated groan. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Arcturus tilts his head down at me as he releases a soft coo. Clearly ignoring my irritation, he lowers his body as he seems to curl up on my body. Using me as his bed for the night, I lower my head once again onto the pillow. As Arcturus adjusts his position on my body, we both drift to sleep.

I'm awoken by the sound of numerous engines operating, sounding as though they're passing overhead. The sounds of a building trembling causes my eyes to shoot open revealing a heavily damaged ceiling overhead, the light fixture overhead shaking as dust and light debris rains down on me. Sitting up, I roll onto my side to find the rest of my team waking up in a similar state of confusion. Now? Luna wants to do some more training now?

Despite having felt like shit when I felt to bed, I surprisingly feel like my normal self. Scanning the room I can see that the entire building seems to be in a state of disrepair. Numerous bullet holes fill the walls, dried blood painting the dusted walls and sections of brickwork missing entirely. Looking out the window I can see that the entire area outside seems to be in the same state, skeletons of buildings remain standing with most of their surrounding walls completely gone.

As I look outside I finally realise how cold it is, a light snowfall seems to be falling from the clouds outside, my breath lingering in the air before me with each breath I take. Bringing my hands up I find that my hangs are mostly covered by a set of dark green fingerless gloves.

Examining my uniform I find a long set of black leather boots covering my feet, reaching most of the way up my shin. A heavy set of khaki winter trouser shroud my legs, likely in an attempt to try and keep me warm in this temperature. My main body has been covered by a long light brown trench coat resting over a pale brown tunic. Looking at the collars of my tunic, the main body is black with two golden stripes traversing the length, two golden stars are sat in between the stripes.

When I finally roll over to find my weapon, my body comes to a stop as I reach out for it. Sat along my makeshift bed is a PPSH-41 along with a set of drum magazines. Resting over the barrel of the weapon is an officers hat, a red stripe travelling around the circumference with a red star positioned at the centre.

Grabbing the hat, I quickly place it on my head in an attempt to keep warm before quickly scooping up my weapon and moving to the window. Leaning against the broken remains of the frame I look overhead to find a wing of Heinkel bombers flying overhead and past our position.

Looking back to the others I find them all getting up and grabbing their own weapons as they attempt to figure out what the noise is. Each of them has got different variants of the standard Russian uniform, complete with some winter coats to keep them warm. Looking at their weapons, Sunny and Chaser have both been given PPSH-41s, Georg a DP-28 and Janine and Colbalt SVT-40s. The rest have been given the standard issue Mosin–Nagant except for Crimson who has a scoped version of the rifle.

As everyone tries to get their bearings, Luna walks in through the doorway. She also has a set of standard issued Russian uniform along with a thin trench coat similar to mine. Like me, she has a PPSH-41 but instead, has a number of box magazines. "You haven't had some training in some time," Luna states to everyone as she enters the room. "I figured that my newest Regiment would benefit from some additional training."

"Where are we?" Matrix asks as he shivers. "It's bloody freezing out here."

"It ain't so bad," Sure Strike responds as he throws off the winter coat, much to our disbelief.

"I don't know," I state as I look out the window. "All I know is that we have Russian equipment, so we're likely somewhere in Russia during the second world war."

Matrix groans, "One night. All I want is one night where I can sleep."

Turning my head back to Luna, I step up to her. "Where are we?"

"I'm not entirely too certain," Luna responds as she smiles sheepishly. "You have at least some knowledge on so many battles in human history so I picked one that sounded a bit... different. Stalingrad."

My eyes widen as I take a step back. "Stalingrad!? You brought us here!?"

My response doesn't seem to go down well with the others as they all look at me with worry. "Why?" Starry asks as she adjusts her helmet. "What's so bad about Stalingrad? Apart from the cold."

"This battle was the bloodiest of the entire war. Over one-million soldiers would lose their lives in ferocious close quarters fighting." Rubbing my face, I look to the others. "This battle went on for nearly half a year. We could be at any stage of the battle, the early assault on the city, the siege itself or the Russian counter-attack."

"So... it's going to be a bad battle?" Chaser asks as he rests his weapon on the floor.

I nod my head, "Yeah. Urban warfare, so lots of close quarters fighting. You guys may be better suited for it than me, considering your initial training for the guards was for close quarters. I only had a little training for it, so I'll be acting on instincts."

Moving back to my makeshift bed, I lower myself down and pick up a basic field pack. Sifting through its contents, I find a selection of maps and documentation. As I begin to look through them, Luna steps alongside me. "I hope you have an idea as to what we are expected to be doing."

"I haven't got the foggiest clue." Opening a map, I find a pair of buildings to be circled. One building is located in some sort of square, a fountain situated in front. The other building seems to be positioned a few blocks away from a factory. "Luna, look out the window for me. Do you see a fountain or factory nearby?"

After a few moments, Luna calls to me from across the room. "There is a factory... I think."

"You think?"

"It's been badly damaged, John. There's not much left standing." Grabbing hold of the map, I join alongside Luna and look in the direction she is facing. True to her word, there is a severely damaged building which stands out amongst the rest. The mass majority of the walls have collapsed leaving smoking piles of bricks. Only one small section of the room remains standing alongside a large silo, allowing the building to be identified as a former factory.

Folding up the map, I place it into my coat pocket, "I have an idea what we have to do. This building and another is circled. I believe we have to secure a building which is located near some sort of courtyard. We will have to be cautious as we move. There is no telling which buildings will have Germans hidden inside." Stepping back, I look to everyone. "Kit up and prepare to move."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The snow crunches underneath every step we take, the sound of distant gunfire creating the ambience of the city. Moving around every corner, I keep my weapon at the ready in case there are any enemies lying in wait to ambush us or any other Russian patrols. Everyone's heads regularly lift as the sound of bombers overhead pass us in order to bomb targets further within the city.

Climbing over a pile of bricks, I take a knee as I peek around the corner. Resting alongside me, Sunny looks to the husks of the buildings that litter the streets. "This city must have housed thousands of humans. How could this have happened?"

Without looking back at her, I raise my weapon as I prepare to aim around the corner. "The world is full of evil bastards, this is what happens when one gains a position of power. He starts off by influencing his own country, then he moves to the global theatre. Invades a few countries, causes others to retaliate which results in a global conflict."

"But... destroying the homes of civilians?" I can easily pick up on the disgust in her voice as she examines the building around me.

"It's called 'total war'. There are no restrictions, you attack who you want. The Germans bombed our cities and the cities of the Russians, hoping to break our spirits and force a surrender. We retaliated, bombing Germany itself in the later years of the war." Sighing, I look back at Sunny. "I hope that the world never sees a conflict like this ever again, and that goes for Equestria. It was a dark chapter in human history, one which must never be repeated."

"You were familiar with war before you came to Equestria." I turn my head to look at Sunny as she continues, "Was the war you were in like this?"

I shake my head, "Thankfully not. Civilians were killed from IED the Taliban set for us. That's why I was sent there. My job was to disarm the explosives set by them in order to protect British soldiers and Afghan civilians." As the others move to our position, I raise my arm and point down the street. "Keep your eyes open for any Germans. We have three more blocks to go before we reach the opening of the courtyard. I'll move first. Keep a lookout for any movement." Climbing down from the rubble, I quickly advance across the street towards a large crater within the road.

As I move into the opening, the ground around me quickly erupts as gunshots break out through the destroyed buildings. Jumping the last of my journey, I dive into the artillery crater in an attempt to find cover. Rolling through the snow and dirt, my leg is cut by a piece of debris. Lowering my head, a number of rounds impact the edge if the crater throwing dirt over me.

Lowering my hand, I apply pressure to the cut as the sound of gunfire continues. Quickly inspecting the cut, it doesn't appear to be too deep so I shouldn't have to worry about losing too much blood. It doesn't take long until the gunfire directed towards me stops, they likely think that they've either got me or they're lying in wait for me to poke my head out.

Rolling onto my chest, I keep the PPSH pressed against the edge of the crater. "Sunny!"

After a brief pause, she calls back to me. "John, are you alright!?"

"Yeah! Sunny, I don't think your shield will stop this many rounds coming directly at me! Check your packs! Please tell me that someone up there has a smoke grenade!" I don't get a response as I hear light muttering coming from overhead. "Sunny!?"

"We've got one!" There's another pause until a heavy thud lands ahead of my crater, followed by the sound of pressurised gas escaping. Within a few seconds a thin plume of smoke begins to appear in front of my position, this causes the Germans to once again open fire on my position in an attempt to shoot me if I leave my cover.

As the smoke reaches its full height, my entire team begin to open fire in an attempt to suppress the enemy position. Once I feel as though I have my window, quickly climbing to my feet and rush across the street towards my team. The occasional bullet flies in my direction, thanks to the smoke grenade the Germans are shooting blind as they're unable to locate me.

Rather unceremoniously, I reach my team by stumbling over a piece of debris and sliding on my knees before falling onto my chest. Regaining my composure, I quickly shuffle towards the others as Georg fires off the last of his magazine. "Did any of you see their position?"

Replacing his magazine, Georg reloads his weapon and fires another burst at a damaged doorway approximately twenty-five metres away. "Where I'm shooting. At least six of them decided to take a pop at you." Grinning, he tilts his head back at me. "You are one lucky son of a bitch, you know that?"

"It certainly looks that way." Standing up, I move to a section of damaged wall and peer through a large crack in the brickwork. Behind the wall is the ruins of a burnt out building, smouldering furniture and destroyed sections of roof and wall provide various pieces of cover. "Chaser, keep your section here and keep your eyes on the street. Alpha section, come with me. Move low and slow, we're going through these buildings."

Shuffling along the wall, my Section joins me as we move to an opening. With my weapon raised, I slowly move in as Sunny sticks close to me. The two of us cautiously continue to move further into the first building with our weapons at the ready, the sound of the fighting outside restricting our perception in order to hear any movement inside.

As we move through the first building, we find that the last of our route is blocked by the last wall that remains intact. The only opening for us is a small opening at the bottom of the brick wall, there's only enough room for us to crawl through but we'd be easy targets and vulnerable. "Colbalt, is there anyone on the other side of this wall?" I ask him in a hushed tone.

Charging up his magic, he focuses his energy in an attempt to pick up the signs of anyone on the other side. "No. Nopony is on the other side. It's a narrow alley, but they're in the next building."

Getting onto my knees, I prepare to crawl through until Luna taps me with her forehoof, "I've got a better idea." Turning my head to look at her, I only get a brief glimpse before being blinded by a bright flash. Within a second, we're all in an entirely new area, likely the alley that Colbalt mentioned. Grinning, Luna taps her horn as we all focus on the area around us.

Looking down the narrow passage, there is a small doorway with bullet holes surrounding the opening as Bravo Section continues to fire pop shots at it in an attempt to keep the Germans suppressed. Looking to Sunny, I lean towards her and pluck a grenade from her webbing. I gesture to the pin and then the doorway, to which she nods. Pulling the pin, I release the safety lever and hold it out to her. Sunny quickly envelopes the grenade and carries it to the door. Once it's out of sight, the voices of Germans shouting can be briefly heard.

BOOM

As the dust settles, Bravo Section also ceases firing as they prepare for us to enter the building. Rapidly sidestepping, I move from the right side of the door to the left with my weapon resting on my hip.

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT

A loud thud indicates that I likely hit someone as they seem to fall to the floor. As the bullet casings fall into the snow around my feet, I remain in position as I gesture for the team to prepare to move into the building. Instead of preparing to breach, I watch as Silver's horn glows bright orange as he steps back from the door. Hurling a magical ball of energy through the door, a sudden backlash of flames force their way through the opening as the sound of screams escape the building.

After a few seconds, a German soldier emerges from the door engulfed entirely in flames. Silver quickly side steps in order to avoid the burning soldier as he desperately tries to jump into the snow in an attempt to snuff out the flames. It seems that Silver can act as room clearance by burning the enemy out. Lifting my PPSH, I take aim at the soldier as he writhes in agony.

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT

His movement ceases as bullets riddle his body, ending his suffering. The others give Silver a concerned look as he continues as though he'd done nothing wrong. Moving through the doorway, I avoid the flames and burning corpses as I move further into the building. The group that was shooting at me had all been killed, either from the bullets and grenade or Silver's incendiary attack.

My Section joins me as we move down a badly damaged hallway, our weapons at the ready as we hear chatter and movement from further within the building. Coming to an opening, we find ourselves at the bottom of an open staircase which follows the walls and ascends the building. Keeping our weapons raised, we keep our sights up the stairs as the movement seems to be coming from upstairs.

Gesturing to Colbalt and Sunny, I point up the stairs as I instruct them to climb the stairs. Taking a knee on the bottom step, I keep my eyes on the upper levels as they slowly begin to climb. As they reach the higher levels, the shadow of a group approaching the staircase comes into view. As they come into view, they rapidly ready their weapons as they try to aim at Colbalt and Sunny.

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT

A small number of the group quickly falls to the floor as my rounds pierce the wooden bannister, the one body slumping over the bannister and falling down the centre of the stairwell to impact the floor with a heavy thud. The rest of the group quickly begin to return fire down the stairs causing numerous bullets to rip the floor around us. The one bullets tears into Crimsons back, her position collapsing to the floor as she screams out in agony.

A firefight quickly breaks out as Sunny and Colbalt push up the staircase, their advance being covered by the rest of us suppressing the enemy overhead. I quickly fire off my entire magazine as Slicer grabs hold of Crimson and rapidly drags her to cover before joining the rest of us. Reloading my weapon, I rush up the staircase to join Sunny and Colbalt.

As I climb the stairs, my eyes widen as I find a grenade being dropped over the bannister to the others below. The grenade is quickly enveloped in Luna's magical aura before being thrown into one of the side rooms as it detonates, keeping everyone safe from the shrapnel. Knowing that they're safe, I join Sunny as she reloads her weapon. Keeping her covered as she replaces her magazine, I fire off a burst of rounds to keep the enemies heads down.

Once Sunny reloads her weapon, the sound of more people shouting down below draws my attention. Looking to the ground floor, a group of Russian soldiers enter the building and rapidly advance up the staircase to reinforce us. Once they meet up with us, we all push the last distance to reach the same level as the Germans. Our group immediately open fire on the last few Germans as they try to turn in order to engage us. They're quickly cut down by our rapid-fire, clearing the way to the entire floor.

Taking the lead, I quickly move to the corridor which leads deeper into the floor. As soon as I emerge in the opening, a German solder chargers at me with his rifle. Hooking the butt of the rifle towards me, I lift my arms in order to block the strike. His rifle impact with my left forearm sending agony running through the limb. Attempting to strike me again in his backswing, he moves closer as I'm able to grab the rifle. With my grasp on the rifle, the two of us turn on our position as we impact with the bannister.

As our combined weight pushes against the damaged wood, it easily breaks away causing the both of us to fall over the edge. We both start to tumble towards the floor below us, our positions shifting in the air as he releases his rifle to grab onto my coat. My eyes shift to the floor as I prepare to impact with the floor. Closing my eyes, I wait for the sudden jolt to wake me up. The jolt never comes as the sensation of someone's magic enveloping my body begins to run through all my joints.

Opening my eyes, I notice that myself and the soldier are suspended in mid-air by Luna's magic just a few feet above the floor. Before the soldier can regain his senses, I force my fist against his nose resulting in a loud crunch to emanate from the bone. As his head rocks back I repeat the strike multiple times causing blood to coat his face and my knuckle. The strikes quickly render him unconscious as his grip on me falters. Using her magic, Luna plucks him away from me before setting me down on the floor as she drops the unconscious soldier.

Scanning the floor, I'm unable to find my weapon. Looking to Luna, I give her a quick nod before moving over to Slicer as she treats Crimson. Kneeling alongside them, I examine the wound as Slicer continues to work. The bullet seems to have pierced the flesh but failed to travel through her body. "Slicer, will she be alright?"

Slicer doesn't look back at me as she selects a set of tweezers, "I need to remove the bullet and stop the bleeding. It's nothing I can't handle."

With Crimson out of the fight, I take her scoped Mosin–Nagant and reach into her webbing to retrieve her ammunition. "Take care of her as best as you can, then join up with us. We need to keep pushing." Running back to the stairs, I lightly brush against Luna before we make our way up to join the rest of the Russians who have proceeded to quickly clear out the last of the resistance.

Advancing down the corridor, we cautiously step over the bodies from both sides of the fighting before moving further into the building. The corridor abruptly comes to an end, the earlier bombing runs have completely destroyed the passage to the rest of the building, our path being cut by a five-metre jump. Looking around, I notice the mass majority of the soldiers moving through a doorway on the left side of the corridor behind us.

Gesturing for everyone else to follow them, we all quickly move through the doorway. We're instantly met by the sounds of a heavy firefight as we come into a heavily damaged side room which spreads along the length of the building. Numerous inner walls have been demolished resulting in numerous rooms becoming one, the main outside wall has a large section removed with its own makeshift ramp from the rubble of the damaged building, leading to the outside of the building.

Taking cover at a low section of wall, I quickly lift my rifle and scan the exterior. Before us is a large courtyard with natural and man-made barricades littering the path between us and the target building, a small trench system moving around a central fountain which is currently occupied by Germans. The main building that we're expected to attack has been heavily reinforced by the Germans, multiple MG42s have been set up in the windows along with German armour scattered through the large courtyard.

Sat outside the occupied structure is a Panzer 3 tank alongside a firing line of German foot soldiers. Each flank leading to the building is also guarded by German half-tracks with MG42s fitted to the vehicles, acting as mobile pill boxes. Thankfully for us, the tank seems to be focusing all its efforts on the Russian waves being thrown towards it.

As my Section form a line and begin to open fire on the Germans at the centre of the courtyard, I shift my focus to take out the MG42s. Resting the rifle on the frame of the window, I slowly adjust its position and line up the scope's reticle on the left half-track. Slowly exhaling, I compress the trigger.

PHAT

The bullet throws the Germans head back as the round drills into his eye, the force of the bullet exiting his skull sends his helmet flying back as his body slumps into the vehicle. Loading another cartridge into the chamber, I shift my focus to the other half-track gunner. Steadying my sights, I adjust the scope and take aim at the new target.

PHAT

The round tears through the left side of his neck sending blood spurting violently from his flesh. The soldier clasps his hands onto his throat in an attempt to stem the flow of blood as he collapses out of view. With the pressure on the flanks now reduced, I reload my rifle as Bravo Section join us in the building.

"What the buck is that thing!?" Chaser shouts as he points towards the tank.

"German Panzer tank. An upgrade from the tank I showed you in the first world war, only this one is against us. Don't piss it off. I don't think we've got any anti-tank weaponry to engage it at range, we'd have to get close."

"So, how do we kill it?" Chaser asks as he fires a short burst towards the German line.

Turning to Chaser, I pull him closer as I search through his field pack. Rummaging through the contents, I'm unable to find any anti-tank grenades. "Fuck. We can't without any anti-tank grenades. The only option would be to climb on it and open the hatch to kill the crew." Chaser seems to think I'm giving him an order as he prepares to jump in the air, the only thing stopping him is my grip on his field pack. "That doesn't mean actually doing it, you ass! There are too many Germans between us and that tank! You'd be killed before you even get there."

"John!" Luna shouts at me, causing my eyes to shift to her expression of horror as she looks at the battlefield. Following her gaze, my heart stops as the cannon of the Panzer slowly shifts its attention to our firing line.

"Get down!" Grasping hold of Luna's webbing, I pull her to the ground as I throw myself over her.

BOOM

A shroud of dust and debris canvases the both of us as John attempts to use his body as a makeshift shield. Couching heavily from the dust, I slowly open my eyes as John rolls off me. Looking to him, the back of his head is bleeding heavily as he tries to use his hands to slow the flow of blood.

Groaning, he moves his position to sit against the destroyed wall as he maintains pressure on his head. When his eyes meet mine, I can see that he's noticed my concern. "Don't worry about me, Luna. Check on the others."

Tearing my eyes away from John, I find that most of his team are in a similar condition. Georg and Silver both seem to have taken a heavy hit from shrapnel as they hold onto numerous bleeding wounds as Slicer attempts to treat them. Chaser, Colbalt and Starry remain motionless in their own blood, Chaser seems to have taken the worst hit as a section of his hindleg has been severed. The rest of the team seem to be uninjured as they were far enough away from the blast, allowing them to move in to retrieve their team mate and get them to safety.

Retrieving mine and John's weapons, I move to him and keep my body low. "John, please tell me you've got a plan."

John stares blankly at me for a moment as his head sways slightly, likely a result of the impact he sustained. After a brief pause, he grasps his rifle with his bloodied hand, "W-we've got to take out that tank and move up. There's one problem... we've got nothing to take it out with."

"W-what about magic? Would that work?"

John shrugs as he moves onto his knees, "Maybe. But it's armoured and designed to take a beating, so who knows how good magic will be against it." Tilting his head to me, he slowly blinks. "Luna, think you can do it?"

I initially look at John is confusion, "I thought you didn't want me to use spells which regular soliders likely wouldn't have?"

"Well, desperate time calls for desperate measures. At least we'd know that it is possible to destroy a tank with magic." Grasping onto the edge of the window, he lifts his head to look at the battlefield before us. "If you can't hit it from here, we can move forwards and take the tr-"

PHAT

My eyes widen as John is thrown backwards, blood spraying from the side of his neck and splashing against my face and neck. My eyes widen as I watch John fall to the floor, his hands quickly pressing against his neck as blood seeps between his fingers. "John!"

Moving low alongside him, I try to help him by placing my hooves on the injury. As his hands are moved away, a heavy spray of blood spurts from the wound and paints my hooves. Applying pressure to his neck, I try my best to help him as I try to heal the injury, however, I've never had to treat an injury like this in my entire life.

"John, just hold on!" His eyes remain wide in fear as his arms push frantically against me, his hands grasping on my uniform as the colour of his skin slowly fades. The only way I'll be able to even attempt to heal his wound is to physically see the injury, but if I move my hooves he'll bleed to death. What do I do? I can't lose him... not like this.

Trying to move my hoof back as little as possible in order to see the injury, I'm unable to maintain the pressure sending another stream of blood to escape as it sprays onto the floor. I watch in horror as John seems to be choking on his own blood, each splutter throwing blood out of his mouth and onto me. His eyes seem to be becoming heavier as they slowly begin to drift closed.

No! I can't let this happen to him! Using my magic, I create a field around his neck to apply pressure on the wound and allow me to inspect it. Retracting my hooves, I stare in disgust as the left side of his neck appears to have been completely removed by the bullet. His windpipe is exposed, allowing blood to quickly fill the gap between the opening and the magical field.

What do I do? What do I do? I can't treat something like this! Nopony can! I'm awoken from my trance as the weight against my chest falters. My eyes snap to his arms as they release my uniform and drop alongside his body. My eyes fill with tears as they slowly trail up the length of his arms and look at his face.

John remains motionless with his head cocked to the side, the colour of his tanned skin has faded entirely leaving it a milky white. His blue eyes remain locked open, staring off to the side. "John? John!?" My magic drops as I lean over him, the lack of pressure allowing the pooled blood to spill out and drop onto the floor below him. My lips begin to tremble as I shake him from side to side, yet he doesn't respond. "John! Say something!"

I remain locked in position as I look down at him, his eyes continuing to stare off into the distance. I don't know how long I remain locked in position, tears running down my face as I find myself unable to look away from him. This can't be happening. I'm awoken from my trance as another explosion hits the building, small sections of brickwork and dust landing around me.

Slowly peeling my eyes away from John, I raise my forehooves and stare at them in shock. His blood covers them, coating my fur and turning it a crimson red. H-he's dead... he's dead and I'm covered in his blood! Tearing my eyes away from my forehooves, I clamp my eyes shut as I climb to my hooves. Reopening my eyes, I can't tear them away from John as he remains motionless on the floor.

A succession of bullets tears into the wall behind me, returning my attention to those who killed John. Something inside me snaps as my head instantly shifts to the soldiers outside. My body begins to shake as rage starts to run through my body. Stepping to an opening in the wall, I materialise a set of four magical swords as I glare at the German soldiers occupying the trench line.

With a flash of my horn, I materialise directly in the centre of the trench behind the German soldiers. My sudden appearance throws them all off guard as they all try to turn and point their weapons directly at me. Looking at the closest one, I bring one of the magical swords and strike against his neck with all the force I can muster. The magical blade cuts straight through his neck with total ease, instantly decapitating his head and causing his body to slump back as blood spurts from the opening.

As the other soldiers stare at their fallen comrade in shock, I lunge the next available sword directly into the eye of the group's Sergeant. The blade makes quick work of him, destroying the eye and brain as it punches through the skull and exits via the rear of his head. Pulling the blade back, his body slumps forward into the snow as I prepare to take out the rest.

Bringing the four swords along the rest of the soldiers, I begin to repeatedly slash and stab at each soldier as they attempt to attack in retaliation. Each strike is deadly as I aim for arteries and internal organs, regularly slicing throats and aim for their hearts. One by one they drop to the floor, their blood painting the snow below them.

Panting, I pivot on the spot to find one last soldier who throws his rifle to the floor before raising his hands in an attempt at surrendering. My eyes slowly drift towards the rifle he throws it at at the floor, causing me to lose myself further in rage. The rifle itself is a sniper with no ammunition on show as the bolt is locked fully at the rear, numerous carvings on the stock showing a kill tally for enemy officers. He seems to notice the fury building up in me as he frantically grabs for another weapon on his hip before firing at me.

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT *Click

Each bullet fails to make contact with me as I catch them all within a magical shield. The soldier drops his pistol in horror as he slowly back peddles, his eyes locked on the bullets that are currently suspended in the air in front of me. I advance closer to him as I drop all but two bullets. Rotating the bullets in the air, I throw them at full strength towards the soldier's kneecaps. He screams out in pain as the bullets send him to the floor, blood draining from his knees.

Attempting to crawl further away from me, he attempts to plea for his life as I twirl the swords in my magical grip. Grabbing onto his windpipe with my magic, I lift him from the floor and keep him held in mid-air. He frantically grabs onto his throat in an attempt to relieve the pressure I have on his windpipe. I pull him in close as his eyes stare at me in terror.

Twisting the sword in my grip, I pierce the soldiers gut as he screams out in torture. Dragging the large blade across his stomach I tear through the flesh and his clothing with ease, blood and entrails emerging from the large opening I'm creating. I don't hold back as I feel the blade meet some resistance, pushing on further until the blade becomes lodged. Withdrawing the blade, I drag out a section of entrails as the sliced organs drop to the floor below his feet.

Having made him suffer enough, I apply as much pressure as I physically can onto his throat until the sound of a loud crunch can be heard as his windpipe is crushed. Plunging the blade back into his stomach, I slice directly upwards in order to slice through his sternum and heart. With his life snuffed out, I throw his lifeless corpse to the floor before dragging the bloodied blades over his trousers in order to clean the weapons.

Climbing out of the trench, I continue to advance across open ground towards the target building as the rest of the Russian soldiers begin to rush alongside me. Tilting my head, my eyes lock onto the tank that previously fired on us, the cannon slowly rotating to aim towards me. Reaching out with my magic, I grasp onto the cannon in order to stop it from aiming at me. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to stop the vehicle from operating fully to take aim.

With the cannon failing to shift position to aim at me, the vehicle itself begins to move as it drives in order to change position. Stretching out my wings, I take to the air and quickly glide towards the rear of the tank so that it can't aim at me. Once the crew realises that I'm behind them, they begin to reverse in an attempt to crush me. With the tank attempting to reverse, I leap above into the air and land directly on top of the tank as it attempts to move over my previous position.

Tilting my head from side to side, I notice the other abandoned vehicle that John had fired at earlier. Reaching out with my magic, I tear the machine gun from its frame and levitate it towards my position. Climbing over the turret of the tank, my magic quickly pulls the cover off the armoured machine, only to be replaced by the barrel of the machine gun as I fire off every single round into the tank.

The movement of the tank cuts out as the interior is torn apart by the bullets, ripping all the crew members to shreds. As the last casings clatter against the metal interior of the tank, I throw the weapon away and take hold of the main cannon of the tank in my magic. Twisting and jerking at the large weapon, I'm able to tear it clean from the main body of the tank as I propel it to the floor below.

I leap from the tank and envelope my magic around the ground that the tank is sat on. Focusing all my efforts into the spell, I elevate the ground on the right side of the tank as I simultaneously remove a section of dirt that sits underneath the left. This sends the stationary tank off balance as it is no longer connected fully to a flat surface. With one last heave, the tank is unable to remain in its position as it rolls on its left side and continues to end up buried upside down within a mound of snow.

With the main armour protecting the building now taken out, the Russian soldiers are able to easily swarm the building. With nopony around me to engage, I'm finally able to calm myself down as I exhale heavily. Turning my head to the side, I freeze when my eyes lock on my reflection shown in the nearby window of a damaged building.

The mass majority of my body has been caked in blood, hiding my natural coat underneath the crimson red blood. Tears still fill my eyes, washing away a few droplets of blood as the tears run down my face. My own expression appears to one of pure hatred, an expression I haven't seen since Nightmare Moon.

Shaking my head in an attempt to clear my mind, I look out towards the battlefield in an attempt to try and find the rest of John's team. All of them still seem to be within the destroyed building across the courtyard, all attempting to treat their wounded team members.

Slowly, I begin to pace towards the building in order to join the rest of his team, the magical swords dissipating into thin air as I trot. My head remains low as I think back to the look John gave me when he realised that he was dying, that there was nothing that could have been done to save him. I had to watch him die in my hooves as there was nothing in my power to save him... and that scares me.

T-this is all a dream. I know it's a dream but it seemed so real at the moment. I lost him in a dream and it tore me apart... how would I cope if this happened in the real world?