Following the opening ceremony, I remained to watch the two events which were planned for the first day, the first being two heats of the one-hundred meter relay with four runners followed by two heats of the four-hundred meter relay. I was told that Rainbow and Fluttershy would be competing in the aerial relay which is to be held next week at the half way point of the games.

With the events over I decided to leave the stand along with all the others, we were all taken to a room within the stadium where the delegates would be able to get some refreshments before leaving for the day. Once again though the majority of the food was vegetarian much to my annoyance, though they did have some basic hors d'oeuvre's such as dumplings which were pretty good.

Standing on the balcony I look out to the streets on the outer walls of the stadium as many of the spectators leave to return to the city for the rest of the day, the evening sun begins to set as it gets ready for the moon to take its place. Passing directly below me I notice the Rangers as they slowly make their way back towards the hotel, that is until they're stopped by a group of Thestrals and change course towards the palace. Where are they taking them?

As I turn to head back into the room I'm stopped as Bernhard steps onto the balcony, "Good to see you again, Captain. I was glad to see that the operations were handed over with ease."

"Prime Minister, did you enjoy the ceremony?"

"It was enjoyable, yes." Stepping fully onto the balcony Bernhard looks down to the crowds below, "I thought that you'd be interested in learning of Silverwings fate."

Cocking a brow I move alongside him, "Has he had his trail yet?"

"Not yet. Though let us be honest, no matter what happens at the trial he'll be found guilty." Pausing Bernhard turns to face me, "It has been agreed with the Equestrians that he will be transported under heavy guard to Tartarus. He'll spend the last of his miserable life there under the guard of Cerberus."

"As long as it's an uncomfortable life I'll be happy with that. If you need additional help for the transportation then the Rangers will be available."

"Should we need it I'll be sure to contact you personally." Chuckling Bernard runs his talon over his beak, "At this rate, we should just make you an officer in our army."

Smirking I look back over the city, "I think being in the British army and Equestrian Lunar Guard is enough."

"It's funny how things turn out, isn't it?" I tilt my head back as I look to him in confusion. "If you arrived within the borders of the Griffin Empire then who knows how differently things would have turned out. You could have joined with the Militarists and secured victory for them and earned a place in their society as a respected warrior, from there who knows what the fate of the Griffin Empire would have ended up."

"The smallest change can have the biggest consequence. I highly doubt I would have joined them anyway, I didn't exactly agree with their methods during the war."

"Well then, it's a good thing you came from a nation with a disciplined military and strong ideals. How does it feel being the representative of the United Kingdom?"

Scoffing I step away from the balcony, "I'm not a representative. I would never engage in politics, I'm just a soldier. Give me a bomb to disarm, something to fix or a target to shoot and I can do it, ask me about foreign relations or trade deals and I'll just stare into space."

With a soft chuckle, Bernhard rests his talon on my shoulder, "Don't you see yourself as more than just a grunt?"

Cocking a brow I look to him, "Sapper."

"Grunt, sapper, medic, they're all soldiers. In your time here you have already had an influence on two nations and have even helped to form relations between the two, like it or not you are a politician. You clearly have a knack for aiding your nation in more ways than just fighting, don't underestimate the effect a politician can have on helping the country." As I continue to look at Bernhard he removes his talon from my shoulder as he steps towards the doorway to head back inside, "It's just a thought, John."

Once he's back inside I remain stationary. Me, a politician? That is never going to happen, most of them are lying bastards. Shaking my head I step back inside and head for the exit to try and find why my team were taken to the palace. Approaching the exit one of the Crystal guards steps up to me, "Sir, Princess Luna has requested that you accompany me to the palace."

Looking back over the room I finally realise that Luna has left. Turning back to the guard I nod to him, "Lead the way."

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

As the sun begins to fully disappear below the horizon we arrive at the palace where the guard leads me straight inside. Moving through the corridors I pass a number of crystal ponies as they go about their work within the palace, the natural shine of their coats within this palace almost makes it appear as though they are literally made of crystals.

Stopping outside a large set of double doors the guard stands at attention, "The Princess is inside, sir."

Opening the doors I move straight into the room to find a number of camping beds all spread out in a circle with Luna standing directly in the centre, the rest of my team are all stood alongside a bed each leaving one for me between Georg and Sunny. "What's going on?"

Turning her head to me Luna gives a soft smile, "I thought that we should get started on this dream training you were considering on asking me to assist you with."

How the fuck did she know? I never asked her. Before I can respond Chaser raises his hoof, "I may have told the Princess when I found the notes on battles from your world."

Well that answers that question. Scowling I look to Chaser, "And what were you doing looking through my stuff?"

"I was trying to get back at you for showing everyone what you found in my locker."

Luna turns her head to Chaser, "Do I want to know?"

As Chaser opens his mouth Georg gives a small chuckle, "John found his porn."

Chaser immediately turns red as his posture lowers slightly. Luna just looks to him for a moment before turning back to me, "So... shall we get started?"

With my hands in my pockets, I slowly approach Luna, "Well we are supposed to be on rest days for two weeks. Then there is also the fact you haven't exactly been told much about the battles."

"You'll be dreaming so you'll still have your time off. From what I've heard you all went out drinking last night I can imagine you all need an early night."

To reinforce her point, Chaser lets out a yawn as he climbs onto his bed, "I'm okay with that."

Luna gives a small grin before focusing on me again, "As for the battles I can simply access your memory and knowledge to construct the world and fill it with your subconscious. Let's just hope that your knowledge on the matter is correct. So, which battle would you like to do first?"

Moving to the free bed I start to unbutton my shirt, "I'll let you pick since you're creating the world, pick whichever one you think will be easiest. We can try different ones in the future."

"Very well." Stepping up to me Luna's horn illuminates wrapping her magical aura around my head, the sensation causes me some discomfort as it feels as though she's prodding at my brain.

"W-what are you doing?"

"I'm accessing your memories to learn about a few of the battles which were on the list Chaser gave me. It should only take a minute." As her eyes remain closed I decide to continue stripping down to get into bed, I don't exactly feel like creasing my clothes by climbing into bed with them still on. With all my clothes folded at the foot of the bed, I climb in wearing only my boxers as I wait for Luna's spell to end.

As the others climb into bed Sunny glances to me from hers, "What exactly can we expect in this dream?"

Shrugging I rest my hands behind my head, "Fuck knows, it depends on which battle Luna picks. I want you all to treat it as though it was real life, follow my orders and don't get killed. This is for training, not for taking the piss. Any injuries you sustain will feel real, so if you get a bullet in your chest it's going to be excruciating."

Luna's spell cuts off as she opens her eyes, "If you die in the dream then you will wake up. Any pain you experience will be purely subconscious, the feeling will pass once you're awake."

Scoffing Silver rests his head on his pillow, "So try not to get shot. Sounds fun."

As Luna moves back into the centre of the room she looks directly to me, "I've had to change a could of things from your memories. For example, I had to change the weapons you all will receive, they should operate how John remembers them but the body will be different so you can wield them like the rifles John has produced for you."

As her horn begins to glow she gives me a quick smirk, "Good luck." A clear shockwave passes over all of us causing my head to rock back against the pillow. In a matter of seconds my eyes become really heavy as they close against my will, my body feels drained as I'm sent into a deep sleep.

The sound of an engine running and the floor rocking from side to side below my feet causes me to snap back to reality. Opening my eyes I can see the weapon that rests in my hand, an M1A1 Thompson submachine gun. My uniform is an olive drab with a tan set of webbing resting over my shoulders and attached around my waist, a number of magazine pouches rest on the webbing along with a small backpack and shovel attached to my rear.

Lifting my head I look to the rear of the heads in front of my to see a number of American soldiers within the landing craft, peaking over the edge I can see the grey gloomy sky overhead as we begin to approach a beach with a number of concrete fortifications built into it and large numbers of tank traps and barbed wire spaced out on the main surface. Fucking hell Luna, you stuck us in D-day. Does she believe in baptism by fire?

Looking to my side and rear I can see my team as they all examine their own equipment, their helmets have also been modified giving the Unicorns a small opening for their horns however their ears seem to be resting flat underneath their steel helmets. Georg has been given a BAR which hasn't been modified. Sunny and Chaser have been given Thompsons whereas the others all have the M1 Garand. The bodies of the weapons have been changed similar to that of the rifles back In Equestria, this mostly includes changing the trigger guard so they can operate them effectively.

Turning to them all I start to address them, "We haven't got much time so I'm going to give you a quick run down of your weapons. Georg, you have a BAR, magazine slots into the bottom and you pull the cocking lever on the left of the body to the rear to make the weapon ready, it's fully automatic so as long as you keep the trigger compressed it will continue to fire."

Turning to Chaser and Sunny I hold out my Thompson, "We've got Thompsons, once again they're fully automatic. The magazine is inserted in front of the trigger guard and the cocking lever operates the same as the BAR except it's on the right. You've also got a firing selector, switch it to either position for single fire or fully automatic." Leaning close to them I make sure their weapons are on fully automatic.

With that done I turn to the rest, "You all have the M1 Garand. Semi-automatic clip fed rifles, with each pull of the trigger it will fire one round. You'll have a clip which goes into the top of the bolt, it will lock open and eject the previous clip once you run out of ammo. With the new clip loaded you simply push the bolt forward."

As I finish giving them a run down of their weapons the driver of the boat shouts to everyone, "We're approaching the beach! Thirty seconds! May God be with you!"

Everyone clutches onto their weapons as artillery shells begin to pound the ocean around us causing sea water to rain down on us. Removing his helmet Chaser rears onto his hindlegs to look over the edge of the boat, "John! Where are we!"

Pausing I close my eyes as I start to feel nauseous from the constant rocking of the boat. Leaning over the edge I throw up as the motion of the boat becomes too much for me. Once my stomach has been emptied I look to the others as they look back in slight disgust, "I get sea-sick! Why do you think I joined the army and not the navy!? To answer your question it's June sixth, nineteen-forty-four! We're in the English Channel about to launch the worlds largest amphibious assault on Nazi-occupied France!"

Stepping forward I point towards the beach, "We have to assault that beach, destroy the gun emplacements and fortifications! From there we need to secure a foothold for the main landing force to reach the shore! Once this door opens we need to move as fast as we can to the nearest cover as German MG-42's will immediately fire on us! Sunny, when I say I need you to erect the strongest shield you can until we get off the craft and into cover! Can you do that!? And Chaser stick your fucking helmet on!"

As Chaser replaces his helmet Sunny looks to the others, "If everyone sticks close and we move fast! But what is an MG-42!?"

"Hitler's buzzsaw! It fires twelve-hundred rounds a minute!"

Sunny's eyes widen as she looks to me in horror, "Twelve-hundred!? I can stop basic bullets from the Griffin rifles, I never tried against our .303's!"

"Well, something is better than nothing!" Another artillery shell lands directly in front of our craft throwing water all over our weapons and kit. "Everyone stick close!" We all remain tight together as the sound of machine guns signify that the other crafts have hit the coast. The driver of the boat blows his whistle as the ramp of the craft begins to lower, "Now Sunny!"

Her shield fills the width of the craft separating our group from the rest of the soldiers within. As soon as the ramp lowers the soldiers in front of us are immediately ripped to shreds, the rapid rate of fire of the machine gun emplacements pierce their bodies with ease. Blood sprays over the shield as a number of projectiles collide with the magical field, the bodies act as an additional buffer between us and the machine guns.

Sprinting forward, we climb over the falling bodies as the machine gun focuses its attention on us. Within seconds Sunny lets out an exhausted scream as her shield collapses, the MG-42's proving to be too much for her. Sprinting at top speed we move through the shallow waters as we all duck down behind a number of tank traps. When I look back to the others I notice that a couple haven't made it behind cover. Glancing back to the landing craft I find Janine lying face first in the water as blood drains from her body into the sea.

When I look back towards the front, Sure Strike has tried to fly off up ahead. "Sure Strike! You dumb fucker! Get back here!" Rushing off ahead he manages to fly over the line of barbed wire crossing the half way point, he seems to be heading towards an MG-42 sitting on the top of the cliff behind a wall of sandbags.

As he gets closer the loader spots Sure Strike and points him out to the gunner as he charges straight for them. The gunner quickly adjusts the weapon and fires directly a Sure Strike tearing him apart. His body quickly falls from the sky and impacts with the cliff wall below the gun emplacement before bouncing off the sharp rocks and finally coming to a rest. Fucking hell, that's two of us gone in under a minute!

Ducking low against the metal hedgehog I bring my legs close to my body as bullets pierce the sand around me. Looking for the others they're spaced out around me hugging their own cover as mortar and artillery shells land on the beach around us. I watch as numbers of soldiers are mowed down by the machine gun fire, their bodies quickly drop to the floor as many more soldiers disembark the crafts to meet a similar fate.

Come on John! Think of something! Observing the beach I look at the natural sand wall which acts as the halfway point, it will provide some cover but we'll have to destroy the barbed wire to get past it. We need to get there quickly. I have an idea. "Shadow! Spectre! Chaser! Georg! On me!"

The four quickly move from their cover and get as close to me as they can. "Do you think you can fly low and fast to that sand bank up ahead!?" The four all look to the position in question and give a quick nod. "I want you all to move there and give covering fire as the rest of us move up on foot! If you get targeted just stay low and keep yourselves safe!"

Chaser is the first to jump up and begins to glide towards the target, soon the two Thestrals and Georg follow him and skim across the beach. As they move they're quickly targeted by the gunners, however thanks to their quick speed and low altitude they're able to avoid getting hit as the bullets hit the sand behind them. Once the four are in position they begin to fire on the fortifications up ahead. It may not be able to take them out but hopefully, it will give us a little breathing room as the rest of us move up.

As Sunny tries to move towards me an artillery shell impacts the ground between us throwing the two of us backwards, I'm thrown from my cover and backwards into the shallow water. As the salted water enters my mouth I rapidly sit up and spit the disgusting substance from my mouth, looking over to Sunny I find her struggling to regain her balance as she attempts to stand.

Pushing through the water, I move to Sunny and take hold of her, dragging her from the shallow water we move to the closest piece of cover as we attempt to regain our bearings. When I look for my weapon I find it nowhere near me as it has likely ended up submerged in the ocean. Looking around I find an American soldier slumped over the metal tank trap with a rifle resting by his feet, pulling his body down I search through his webbing and grab all his clips before retrieving the Garand. "We need to get off this beach!"

"Are you crazy!?" Silver shouts. "If we move we'll get killed in seconds!"

"They've got this whole location pre-sighted for artillery, if we don't move we'll definitely die! We've got to clear out the bunkers so reinforcements can push up!" Looking back towards the Channel I can see another wave of approaching landing craft bringing additional soldiers to the battle. It should only take a minute until the reinforcements arrive. "Once the crafts reach the shore we make a push! Keep running and don't stop! Keep your spacing, they won't waste ammo on a single soldier when there are groups to engage!"

A succession of rounds hit my cover causing my ears to ring from the contact. Raising from the cover I quickly aim towards the concrete bunker.

PHAT PHAT PHAT

As I drop down in cover the rest of my team move to the available cover on either side of me as we wait for the landing crafts to hit the shore. With large groups being easy targets for the machine guns hopefully they'll be targeted instead of us. We remain in our positions as a number of the Americans make a push, a number of them make it towards the front with Chaser and the others but the rest aren't so lucky. One particular cluster is hit by a direct artillery shell sending the group meters into the air, a number of limbs and chunks of flesh are thrown from their bodies to the golden sand below.

Once the landing crafts begin to open, I push myself to my feet and start to sprint towards the sand line, sure enough, a rapid succession of bullets fly over my head targeted for the crowds behind me. Deciding to slalom as I run I plot my route through craters which have already formed to try and avoid any possible mines and to give me potential cover if I need to drop to the floor.

Reaching my target I dive straight to the floor as the rest of the team join alongside us. Loading another magazine into his BAR Georg begins to fire controlled bursts towards a number of Germans moving along the top of the cliff to sandbag positions. Once his magazine is empty he turns to me as he reloads, "Can you make me one of these?"

Lying on my back I watch as a large scattered group of Americans run up the beach and rapidly approach our position. "I doubt I can make you a BAR, besides they're outdated." Rolling onto my stomach I take aim at a group of Germans trying to man an MG-42.

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PING*

As the clip is thrown from my rifle I load in another and release the bolt. "Man I love that sound. It's so satisfying."

Firing off another short burst Georg looks to the others around him, "Where's Janine?"

I shake my head, "She's gone. She didn't make it off the boat." I watch as Georg's face drops as he turns to stare back towards the beach. "It's just a dream, mate. She'll be awake waiting for us to finish up."

Slowly Georg nods as he turns back to me, "Yeah, you're right." Reaching over to a dead body alongside him, Georg begins to take a number of BAR magazines from the corpse to restock his ammo. "Next question is, how are we going to get passed this barbed wire? The four of us can easily fly over but that'll leave you guys pinned down."

"We got to wait for the engineers to come, they'll have Bangalores. In the meantime we've just got to wait." Lifting my head slightly I look to the others, "Save your ammo! Gather weapons and ammo if you need it!"

Chaser fires off the last few rounds of his magazine before crawling around the others to reach me. Adjusting his helmet he gives a frustrated growl as his helmet blocks his view, "Who made this crap?" He flicks it off once again in annoyance as he lifts his head to look over the sand wall.

"Stick your fucking helmet back o-"

A heavy spray of blood jets from the top of his head as Chaser falls back and rolls in the sand. I stare at him before quickly grabbing his forelegs to drag him alongside me. Resting him against the sand bank I'm able to see the fatal wound which has killed him, a large hole has formed on the back of his skull where the round has pierced his eye socket and propelled his brains out the exit wound. You dumb fucker! Never take off your fucking helmet in a fight!

Another succession of rounds impacts the ground around us as an artillery shell detonates further down the line killing those close to it, one body is thrown over the sand barrier and becomes entangled in the barbed wire. Lifting my head slightly I look to the main bunker ahead of us as the machine guns contain to rain fire towards us.

Still staring wide-eyed towards Chaser, Georg lifts his head as he switches his attention back to me, "W-what is the plan?"

"We need to push past this barbed wire once it's clear and move up the passage. Once we're up there our priority is to take out this fortification to allow additional support to reach us, we'll then have to take out any resistance and gun emplacements to secure the landing zone."

"Did you guys win this battle?" Georg asks as Silver rolls over his back then mine to end up on my left.

"Yeah, it wasn't easy but we captured all five landing zones." Turning back to Silver I watch as his horn begins to illuminates a cherry red as a ball of fire materialises in front of him generating a tremendous amount of heat. After a few short moments, he propels it towards the enemy bunker.

I watch as the fireball is able to make its way through the opening of the bunker, within seconds there is a large explosion engulfing the entire bunker in flames. A secondary explosion soon follows which is likely the ammunition igniting. We all watch as multiple Germans try to escape the flames by jumping out of the opening to the rocks below them, the sounds of their screams replacing the sound of gunfire from their MG-42's.

Tilting my head towards Silver I pat him on the back as he moves back to his original position, "Great work, mate." He only gives a sly grin as he continues to crawl over our backs once again, although we've been able to take out one key position there are still others along the line which are now prioritising us after seeing what Silver was able to do. I'd definitely be targeting him if I saw somebody do that on the battlefield. I now know who to rely on if I ever need a fortification cleared.

Being tapped on the shoulder I look to my side as an engineer is preparing the Bangalore, looking further down the line I can see others doing the same as they prepare the line. Grabbing hold of it I keep the explosive tubing ready as the engineer prepares the detonation cord and fuse. Once it's ready I look over to everyone, "Fire in the hole!" As everyone ducks, the engineer lights the fuse before I throw it forward causing it to embed within the sand underneath the barbed wire.

BOOM

Crawling forward I examine the line to find that it has been opened at numerous points along the sand wall. "Everyone stick close to me! Move low and fast to the base of the bunker!" Lifting myself I start to sprint through the opening as a number of Americans and the rest of my team all follow, once again the flying units glide over the surface to reach our rally point. Thankfully since the one bunker has been taken out of commission it has given us some breathing room allowing a large concentration of troops to join alongside us.

Hunkering against the bunker wall I rest against the corner and raise my rifle towards the sandbags up ahead, a number of German infantry have moved up to try and reinforce the line following the destruction of the bunker. As one of the soldiers mounts the MG-42 I line up my sights.

PHAT PHAT

The round pierces his eye sending him backwards as he pulls the weapon from its position, hopefully that will buy us some more time before we have to worry about the machine gun firing on us. As a number of rounds come in my direction I take cover and rest my back against the solid structure, tilting my head back I let out a sigh of relief as the rounds came dangerously close to my head.

Looking back over to the beach there are now large numbers of Americans making their push as they move to reinforce us, many are intentionally coming to the opening we made on account of the MG-42s being taken out of commission. When I look up to the clouds I notice a figure sitting as it watches up, looking closer I'm able to make out Luna as she looks straight towards me. No doubt she would have been interested in watching since she's only seen me engage in combat the once during the attack by the Diamond Dogs.

Running a hand over my chin a number of American soldiers join us on our position. Grabbing hold of the Sergeant I bring him closer to me, "We'll provide covering fire for you to move to the rock line, once you're there I need you to provide suppressive fire!"

"Yes, sir!"

Waving over Georg, Sunny and Colbalt they all remain low as we press against the wall. "On my order, we need to unload everything into that line. The Sergeant will take his men to provide cover as we deal with that firing line." Once everyone is ready I bring up my rifle as I jump to the side, "Covering fire!"

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PING*#

As the clip is ejected I jump back into cover as the rest of my team fire off the last of their magazines. With the enemy suppressed the Sergeant takes his men as they move out to the nearby cover, once in position they begin to bombard the enemies position with constant fire throwing dirt and debris from the German cover.

As I load in another clip Colbalt moves up to me, "I've got a plan."

Releasing the bolt I glance to him, "I'm all ears."

"If myself and Silver move close enough we can levitate some grenades to that position clear them out like we did at Griffonstone."

Nodding I wait for Sunny and Georg to finish reloading. "Sounds good to me, wait for my command." As everyone gets into position myself and Georg simultaneously move out of cover, "Covering fire!"

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT

As we move back into cover Colbalt and Silver make a rapid dash along the small rocks to move directly below the firing line, the covering fire from ourselves and the Americans works as they're able to move there with only a couple of shots being fired in their direction. Once they're in position they take hold of the grenades in their magic and levitate three over and hold them just below the sandbag line. Pulling the pins they wait a couple of seconds before raising them over and behind the cover.

BOOM

Debris rains down from the cover as a number of Germans fall along with the sandbag line and impact against a number of rocks, as they fall the Americans fire rounds into their bodies to make sure they stay down. Patting the back of Georg's helmet I start to move over the rocks towards the passage, mixing in the Americans we all rush up the pass and continue our advance.

As we reach the top a succession of rounds flies in our direction, the soldier directly in front of me gets a round in the head causing me to trip over his body as he collapses in front of me. On the floor, I quickly crawl forward towards the opening of the trench and remain in position to provide covering fire for the others as they move Into the trench.

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PING*

Four rounds, two kills. The first couple of shots tore through the chest of an infantryman as he attempted to fire off towards my team, the second target met two rounds to the head which easily pierced the steel protection. As the rest of my team move to cover Sunny erects a shield between the trench opening and the path to allow a number of our units to make it across safely, compared to the fire from an MG-42 Sunny is able to maintain the shield from the German rifles.

As we move along the trench the Americans continue to engage the Germans in the adjacent trench as we advance to clear ours of any hostiles. Since Georg has the BAR he decides to take point with myself following close behind him. With our weapons drawn we slowly push forward, the occasional piece of debris clatters against our helmets as artillery and mortar fire continue to rain down on our position.

Once we reach a corner Georg waits for me to get into position before taking aim, as he aims around the corner I stand behind him to shoot over his shoulder. Georg is immediately hit by a round to the chest causing him to fall to the side, as he collapses I take aim and fire on the group of Germans as the one reloads his rifle.

PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PHAT PING*

The group of Germans all drop from various openings on their bodies, as soon as I load another clip into my rifle I kneel down next to Georg and begin to examine his wounds. Opening his shirt I can see a bullet wound on his abdomen, as Slicer joins alongside me I reach into her medical pack and take out a white syrette. "Don't worry, mate, this will help to ease the pain." Biting on the cap I remove it before piercing his flesh with the syrette injecting morphine into his system.

As he seems to relax a bit Slicer begins to work on slowing his bleeding, "You go ahead, John. I'll stabilise him before catching up."

Nodding to her I whistle to the others getting them to follow as we advance further along the trench, as we reach the cluster of German bodies I find a small opening to a bunker to the side as I can hear German chatter coming from within. Taking out a grenade I bite on the pin and spit it out before letting the grenade cook off for a couple of seconds, as soon as it's ready I throw it around the corner and quickly receive gunfire and German shouts in response.

BOOM

As soon as the grenade detonates I move to the other side of the entrance and fire off three shots as Silver moves to my previous position. "Do it!" giving a quick nod his horn glows as a fireball materialises, once he's ready he propels the spell into the opening creating a large backlash of heat. Agonising screams call out from within the bunker as the smell of burning flesh becomes overwhelming, as a German runs out engulfed in flames I bring the butt of my rifle over his head knocking him into the mud within the trench.

"Sunny! Silver! Clear out the rest of this bunker! The rest of you, on me!" As the pair moves into the bunker with their weapons at the ready I continue to move further down the trench, the sound of distant gunfire down the trench line signifies that the Germans are being engaged.

As we advance I take a knee as we approach another turning, keeping my rifle at the ready I notice a number of Americans running along the top of the trench towards us as they fire fully automatic. After a few moments a group of panicked Germans come around the corner and quickly we begin to exchange fire.

PHAT PHAT PHAT

My three rounds pierce the first Germans chest as he quickly lands face first into the mud. As I move to take aim at the next German he already has his rifle aimed directly at me. My heart races as time seems to slow to a crawl. Pulling the trigger a round leaves the end of my barrel but not before he's able to fire his own round. A heavy blow impacts my chest throwing my off my feet and backwards into the mud, as I fall I can see my target and the rest around him drop from a volley of bullets.

Excruciating pain races through my chest as I stare towards the sky, my body seems to be in shock as I can hardly move to try and treat myself. Stepping over me Colbalt presses his hooves on my chest as he shouts back for Slicer. My breathing becomes more laboured as my heart rate deteriorates rapidly, my eyes soon become too heavy as I try to stay awake.

As Slicer finally arrives my vision becomes a heavy blur as I try to call out to them. My head tilts to the side to look back into the clouds to find Luna staring down at me, despite it being just a dream I'm sure seeing me practically dying in front of her can't be easy. With one final breath, my eyes finally close and refuse to open...

...With a heavy gasp, I rapidly sit up in the bed as my eyes adjust to the light around me, lifting my hand I try to shield my eyes as I look around the room. Janine and Sure Strike are sat in the corner along with Chaser as they suddenly all look to me.

Looking down to my chest I frantically run a hand over my flesh expecting to find an injury, to my relief there are no new marks on my body. Turning my head I look to the others as they remain fast asleep, Luna is still stood in the centre of the room with her eyes closed and her horn glowing.

Groaning I swing my legs over and look out the window to see the moon hanging low in the sky, following a quick search of my trousers I take out my phone and check the time. 05:36. During the dream we have nearly slept through the entire night, another few hours and everyone else will be up and about for the rest of the day. Following the previous night I still surprisingly feel refreshed from the long sleep, especially since we only had a few hours after our drinking session.

Of all the people in that dream, I can't believe that I was one of the few to bite the bullet.