‘Hitman-Two this hitman-Three. We are in sector, gunner up scanning with thermals. We have multiple personnel with small arms and armor heading our way. Over.’

‘Hitman-Two copies mark with IR. Fall back to base.’

‘Hitman-Three solid copie returning to base. out’

‘Steel Rain this is Raptor. Adjust fire system aided over.’

‘Raptor this is Steal Rain adjust fire system aided out.’

‘Ten digit grid: November Uniform six-seven-three-one-two-zero-nine-five-seven-one over’

‘Ten digit grid: November Uniform six-seven-three-one-two-zero-nine-five-seven-one out’

‘Five tanks in the open request: splash. Over’

‘Five tanks in the open request: splash. Out’

‘Message to observer, charlie two rounds five guns in effect. Target number alpha bravo one-zero-zero-four out.’

‘Shot: out’

==========================================

(Fallon)

"CORPSMAN!"

"Contact, right!" The sky flashes with lightning the U.E.C planned this shit out so their leadership isn't as fucked as ours. It is 9:00 at night and the enemy came from out of the woods. I stand beside the Humvee firing bursts from my rifle to the north. The Dropships, Shrikes, and Avengers were deployed to aid another company that were in trouble and now we really wish we had air cover. Miiora lies next to me prone on her stomach firing her PDW like I taught her, slow and steady like a metronome. The UEC surrounded us while we sat here on our asses thanks to the incompetence of everyone over the rank of lieutenant in this platoon.

"Fuck! MK 39's jammed!" Garza shouts from the Humvee pulling the action back repeatedly. Bullets ping and buzz all around us as the firefight picks up as more UEC troopers arrive in twos and threes. Trombely lies beside Miiora pumping rounds out with his SAW, SD and the other ATLAS are in the hanger thirty feet away from where our company is pinned down.

"Aaagghh" I look to my left to see a marine from third platoon get picked up by a Griffin and carried away. Another group of UEC soldiers round the corner of the Humvee we are using as cover only to be set ablaze by a burst from Forbes's flame thrower. The UEC has cut our company in half, spitting us right down the middle. Now one-half is hunkered down beside and around the abandoned Tanks and the part my team and i are at is a rough circle of Humvees.

I track the marine with my rifle sight before the two of them explode no doubt as a result of a grenade. The ground next to my feet explodes with small arms fire as is crouch back behind the armored bulk of the humvee. My taclink is a sea of red threat icons, three or five for every one blue friendly icon. There is the sound of running and I see Fick sprinting in my direction before skidding on his knees the last five feet.

"What do you need sir?" I ask

"Get to your ATLAS, we have armor rolling our way." he says and to almost emphasize his point a UEC tank rolls into the field. There is a pop-whoosh as a Surisa fires the missile lazily raises into the air before smashing back down on top of the tank destroying it. The UEC troops begin popping smoke to cover their advance not knowing that it is useless. The squad that tries to cross the field is cut down by third squads SAW gunner.

"How? If I go out there I won't make it six feet before I get smoked, sir." I yell

"Trombely, go with him We need those things out here now. If it was up to me we would have never shut them down." Fick yells, I nodded and he crouches down beside Miiora deploying a Bipod attachment he has on his M-66 and starts firing.

"Fuck this!" Garza shouts hopping down from the machine gun, lies down beside Fick with his SAW and begins firing.

"On three. . . .one. . . two. . . three go!" Fick shouts over the squad comm before switching to the company comm channel.

"COVER THEM SUPPRESSING FIRE!" he shouts, the platoon begins laying down suppressing fire as Trombely and I dash from cover and towards the Hanger. We pass a marine who is firing from behind the hood of a humvee when a round goes straight through his visor and out of the back of his helmet and he falls over.

"Oh fuck!" Both Trombely and I say, normal UEC assault rifles can't go through our visors or our armor, proof being that both of us have been hit in the head multiple times in our mad dash. As we sprint we begin seeing more marines being cut down by strikes to armor plates, and other places that normally UEC weapons wouldn't be able to get through. Then we hear something we never wanted to hear.

"Their shooting Flechettes!" someone yells into the net.

"Where the fuck did they get those!?" Trombely yells as we both skid into the hangers open door. I sprint up to SD's still form and bound up the four rung ladder on his left leg and into the cockpit. I begin flipping switches and pressing buttons in the fastest start-up I have ever done. I look out of the hatch and see Trombely firing his SAW from one knee before taking a round in the head. His helmet flys off of his head. He looks ok if his gross use of the word Fuck is any indication. He rolls inside as the cockpit hatch closes but I can still hear his SAW firing from outside. This is the kind of situation Mules are made for, but all of our armor beside the ATLAS's were lost.

"Welcome back, Transferring control to pilot." SD says

I spring forward taking the weapon from my back and begin firing on the UEC troops. When SD highlight and scans a strange looking UEC trooper He appears to be wearing a mixture of purple Royal guard armor, and old Battle armor! In his hands is an old Lanky war era M-66, which he uses with expert precision hosing down a marine in the open. It is then that I notice other humans with the same armor all carrying M-66s or UEC weapons.

"Fuck. they have Sympathisers."

"Attention all units this is Saber one-one I have eyes on hostile humans. The fuckers are packing flechette rifles." I report over the radio.

"Let's move Trombely!" I dash out into the open raising the magnetic shield shielding Trombely as we move.

"Warning, Hostile Armor." I drop into a crouch making my ATLAS slide on a knee as I load a 120 into the launcher. Instantly I have become the focus of attention Rounds bounce off of SD's armored bulk. Then hear a sound like hitting an empty cookpot with a spoon and I am blasted to one side as I take a round in the shoulder. I look and see the Tank shell flying off into the distance. I turn my Atlas back and let the Tank have it, the thing goes up with a massive explosion that lights up the night. But in the light, I see Trombely isn’t where he was before instead is being carried off by a griffin, and am about to shoot the griffin before another tank round slams into SD's chassis.

"Fuck!" I yell slamming my fist into the console.

=====================================================

(Trombely)

"Get the fuck off of me! Asshole!" I yell finally managing to get my arm free after what feels like hours of flight. I don't know what this thing wants but it can fuck right off. I try to bring up my SAW but I can't get a hold of it.

"Shut up human." the griffin says before we come under fire from something below. I try my best be as small as possible and am rewarded with the griffin having a wing clipped and we promptly fall out of the sky. Lucky we aren't that far off the ground and I am able to roll with the fall. I look around and see the griffin charging at me only now I am able to bring up my SAW only for it to jam when I pull the trigger. so instead I swing the weapon's bulk into the things face and it goes down. It looks up at me from the dirt screaming as I bring the weapon down on its unarmored head.

"Fuck you." I say suddenly I hear the what sounds like talking all around me.

'Hey did you hear that?' a female voice

'Ya I bet it's one of those NAC guys, just wait until I get my hands on him or her. I'll kill him, but not before I have my fun with him first.' another female voice says

Then I hear a twig snap behind me, I dig in and heft my SAW the only weapon I have beside a knife. My whole body shakes I don't know if it's from adrenaline or fear but I am scared shitless.

'How long do I have?' I think to myself and begin counting down the seconds until my inevitable capture. I finally am able to clear the chamber when I see the most welcome and weirdest sight imaginable. Out of the woods comes a big Marine without a helmet, he smiles and his eyes light up upon seeing me.

"Wait." he says and waves me over and I run over and crouch down in the brush.

"If ponies want to tango, now they'll have two to dodge." He says scanning the forest with a smirk.

"Hey thanks a lot man. I'm Trombely what's yours?"

"The boys just call me. . . Camouflage."

==============================================

(Fallon)

"COME ON!" I yell broadcasting from the cockpit trying to get the attention of the UEC troops. There are currently two tanks moving around me trying to probe for a weakness in SD's armor. I hear around ping off of the armor I turn around to see the Tank explode from a shot fired from the Hanger.

‘Pilot, Magnetic shield recharging.’

"Saber one-two, I'm Oscar Mike." I hear the other ATLAS pilot say as the Hanger door explodes out. A UEC jeep that was too close to the door is crushed under the weight of the loader. The Icarus unfolds from Shadows back and fire a Penetrator missile at the tank that had just flanked me. Shadow waves me over I pull and slam a grenade into SD’s chassis and throw it behind us where it goes up like a five hundred pound mortar. I look around and see a sea of flashing red and yellow icons at least one hundred of the two hundred marines are either wounded or dead.

‘Pilot incoming hostile air’

‘Incoming! Iceman, Shadow take those out!’ Fick yells over the company channel flashing three helicopters coming low over the tree line.

‘Raid warning! Raid warning! Incoming air at point two-five November!’ I yell trying to bring my weapon to bear on the new threats only to be hit with a rifle grenade from an M-66.

I turn and blast the sympathizer to chum, before turning back around and bring my Icarus mounted penetrator missile to the ready. The missile leaps from its mount and streaks towards the helicopter now launching flairs. The missile streaks past its target and into the night and explodes. The second is intercepted by the Cockatrice’s pilot manning its wing mounted machine guns as they swing their helicopter to face me.

I raise my weapon only to have it blown from my hands by an incoming tank round. I turn back to see a missile come streaking my way, SD covers the cockpit with his hands to try to shield me. Then to my amazement, I see another missile with a glowing green propellant flame come from the woods and slam into helicopter making the guided missile go dumb and slammed into a tank.

‘Magnetic shield online’

The second Helicopter turned to engage and takes a Penetrator to the cockpit. The thing does a front flip and slams top down into the deck. A flash on my proximity scanner shows Shadow showing my downed rifle. I snatch it out of the air, pull the slide and fire a test shot into the ground, satisfied that it won't blow up in my hands Shadow and I raise our rifles and lay into the under armored helicopter tearing it to pieces.

=====================================

(Miiora)

I hear the sounds of the titanic Human engines roar to overhead as one of the Human Dragonflies. I look up and see the massive bulk of the Dropship seemingly only inches over our heads, it's massive VTOL engines pointed downwards kicking up dust. The rotary machine gun on its chin roars to life and begins sweeping the field with grenades turning tanks, LAVs, jeeps, and ground forces to mulch with a sound like a gigantic zipper opening the sky. Then the slow staccato of the ground attack cannon on the bottom of the drop ship's hulls open up and any UEC forces that had not halted their advance stop and begin falling back.

There is a massive explosion and an orange fireball lights up the night followed by a high pitched whine. I turn to see one of the human dropships falling from the sky one of its engines blown away by a tank shell. It falls in a slow spiral and for a moment it looks like Banshee one-three’s pilot will be able to put her down in a crash landing. The back door flies open and one by one marines begin leaping out however only about six make it out.

For at the last moment one of the landing skids strikes the ground and the whole thing flips over and slams back down before exploding. A massive clawed foot slams down in front of our Jeep and I see it is Avery Fallon's ATLAS holding its hand out catching the shrapnel from the explosion. The war machine then turns and fires the shards of the dropship at the fleeing UEC soldiers shredding a squad of UEC griffons who had failed to retreat. I would later find out that Fallon had a friend who died with Banshee one-three.

“YA that's right you fuckers! RUN!” Garza shoots firing his SAW. We watch the UEC retreat being pursued by the Dropships as the sun begins to rise. It looks like there's a dusting of snow on the ground in front of us. But it is in fact, the discarded SABOS of our flechette rifles that now twinkle in the sun, for once there is no rain.

======================================

(Trombely)

“On your right!” Camouflage yells firing his M-66 over my shoulder. We have been fighting like this all night so far and we are both tired but being hiked up on adrenalin and ephedra based ripped fuel really helps. Lightning flashes in the sky and the torrent of rain continues to pelt us.

“Thanks man!” I yell swatting a pegasus out of the sky with my SAW. I snap its spine with around and it goes limp and slams into a tree. The attack dies down as the sun comes up I look over at him and we are both drenched in sweat. His armor isn't even scratched even from rounds I know have hit him, It's like every round that came his way missed.

“GOGOGO! Follow me!” He yells swiping at the air. I Reload my SAW and together we begin sprinting off into the woods.We are running for about an hour when we reach a cave. As the cave’s twists and turns continue onward we begin to see glowing green portions on the ground and hearing voices approaching us.

“Let me do the talking.”

“Got it.” I say I hear his greeting someone by the name Honor Medal before it goes quiet. Then I here a series of clopping noises and quickly turn and am met with a pair of big gold eyes.

“Oh fuck!” I yell raising my weapon only to have it pushed down by Camouflage.

“Easy she's with us.” He yells gesturing to the Pony in front of me who appears to be studying my armor. The darkness is begin given an ominous feeling by the red identifier lights in our armor.

“Fine.” I say taking my finger off the trigger.

“Well that's…” The Pony speaks up again

“Shut up.”

Later after leaving the Cave, it is dawn and we jump over roots, tripping over rocks and slipping in the mud as we run but we keep running. I wonder what they were doing, and why that pony did not try to kill me. For once it isn't raining on this shithole planet but that takes away from our sound cover as two heavy troopers thrash around the woods on the way back to an airfield in battle armor.

“Here take this.” he says after we run for about a mile handing me a small black data drive.

“What is this?” I ask taking it and putting it in my pouch.

“Four weeks ago, on one of the shit “missions”, Skyler sent us on and I ran into a group that is fighting the UEC calling the Anti-Conclave Movement.” he says explaining my previous question. As we run I can see shadows begin to move as we near a riverbank. Then as we are only a few miles out and still on the riverbank we come under fire.

“Ambush!”

“Oh fuck!” I shout firing my weapon at the advancing UEC troops.

A grenade rolls my way and I dive out of the way and lie prone on the ground as it explodes. I stand to a crouch and time slows down as I turn to my left and see a forty millimeter grenade sailing through the air towards me. I try to move only to get caught on a root and look up to see the grenade come through a bush before Camouflage slaps it away like a bug. I stand there stupefied before a ricochet brings me out of my stupor and I continue fighting.

We make it out of the ambush and after another four hours of walking and being briefed on the ACM or The Movement by Camouflage we reach the edge of the clearing around the NAC controlled airfield. I have never been so glad to see another Marine in my life and I will do anything to pay back this big Marine.

“Come on, let's report in.” I say walking out into the field but when I turn around he is still in the woods.

“My orders are to stay with the ACM forces. Stay safe out there Trombely.” I turn around wave goodbye and he winks at me from the jungle and disappears into the brush.

As I reenter the Airfield I see Fick, Fallon, Forbes, Miiora, and Garza standing around when I run up they are all excited to see me. I give Fick the Data card and he sprints off, but when I tell the rest of my team what happened last night when I say Camouflage’s name, Forbes gets a weird look and Fallon calls over a medic who leads us over to a green tent. He walks over to a bed and pulls back the covers uncovering the Marine I was with all night.

“You may be telling the truth boy, but this here is Camouflage. And he’s been right here since he bought the farm last night. But before he went he yelled semper fi, and said his only wish was to save a young Marine snatched in a borage. So here take his dog tag and callsigns son, I know he’d want you to have it now.” the Medic says.

===========================================================

(ACM)

" I knew it!, I knew it!, I knew that the humans were more advanced than those dung filled U.E.C scientists from the Canterlot Academy of Science thought!. HA!" a green unicorn mare shouted excitedly as she danced around the room, annoying several of her fellow comrades in arms. The door to the hideout suddenly opens to reveal an NAC Marine.

“Do they have the data disk?” an older stallion asks the human at his side nodding his head as he studies maps. The big marine is then covered in green fire and replaced with a mare about the same size as an alicorn with holes in her chitinous form.

“Yes.”