Rounds whined and snapped through the grass, with the volume of incoming fire, it was a miracle we weren’t dead already. It had been ten minutes, an eternity in a firefight, since our evac helo had gone up in a ball of fire, crashing to the ground on the North end of the LZ. The pilots had died on impact, and as much as I hated to admit, the smoke from their funeral pyre probably saved our lives. I slammed a new magazine into my rifle, and kept dumping rounds into the ridgeline, Off to my left and right I could hear Hunter going cyclic with his Mark Forty-Eight, the heavy seven-six-two rounds chewing up the undergrowth. I finished off my mag and pulled a smoke grenade from my chest rig. “Smoke out!” I screamed over the din.

Seconds later, Scotty followed suit, “Smoke out!”

The grenades popped, I waited for it to begin to billow before I poked my head out of the tall grass, “We gotta move! Mark, Hunter! Fall back to the tree line, Scotty, and I will cover!”

“Covering!” Came Scott’s voice from off to my left.

“MOVING!”

I sat up and dumped a whole mag, barely feeling the recoil, as Mark went flying by me on my right, Hunter following close behind.

“Loading!” I called out.

“Covering!” Was Scott’s reply.

From behind me, I heard Mark, “Set! Covering!”

I finished my mag change, “Scotty move!”

“Moving!”

I heard the thumping chatter of Hunter’s machine gun and the smaller reports of Mark’s M-Four. I stood, briefly taking in the scene, muzzle flashes coming from the ridge, the burning helicopter, it was hell on earth. I turned to see Scotty hauling ass into the trees, I followed, legs pumping for all they were worth. The moment I came flush with the rest of the team, I heard Mark make the call.

“Back! Back! Into the woods!”

Now with a final burst of fire, we all just ran for our lives through the fading light. Weaving through trees, slipping and stumbling over roots. I grabbed the radio “Overlord *Huff* Disciple is breaking contact to the South, ETA on QRF?”

“Disciple, Overlord, ETA forty-five mikes, how copy?”

I felt my heart sink, we had no idea how many bad guys were after us, and we were running back into an area we’d just bombed. We were, in a word, fucked. “Disciple copies, requesting any nearby ISR assets to get eyes on our pursuit.”

“Standby Disciple, pushing new traffic to you.”

A smooth female voice cut across the line, “Disciple, Grizzly, OGA Predator times one entering your AO from the North, we are armed with Hellfires times six, pursuit force is foot mobiles time fifty. Call your shots.”

I almost took a header as I skidded to a stop in the dirt, “Disciple copies all! Guys! We’ve got a Predator! Hold here; Hunter toss me the painter! Strobes on!”

We formed a line in the sand, grabbing cover where we found it, Hunter pulled out and handed over a small, light-saber looking device, the “painter” formally known as the Izlid 200P IR Illuminator, would fire a beam visible to the Predator, painting targets for its six hellfires. I flipped the switch and ran the laser over the trees.”Grizzly, do you have eyes on my glint?”

“Grizzly is tracking glint and strobes. Your foot mobiles have entered the woods, Grizzly has eyes on, standing by for targets.”

“Copy, Grizzly patch your feed into Disciple Two’s ATAK.” I flipped down my chest-mounted cellphone, sending out a ping to the Pred’, after a few moments, the clear blue-white of the Predator’s night vision appeared on screen, “I have the feed Grizzly, stand by.” On the display, I could see our strobes flashing, and about three-hundred meters off, our bad guys were picking their way through the scrub. I took a moment to re-orient myself, raised the painter, and fired the beam in their direction. They must have seen it through their NOD’s because the whole enemy element stopped in their tracks, proning out on the ground. I guided the laser to the middle of the group and gave it a wiggle, “Grizzly, weapons free.”

When the voice answered, I could hear a smile, “Rifle.”

There was a short screech, like metal-on-metal, before the hellfire made impact, bathing the trees in a hellish orange glow, the shockwave washed over us second later, somewhat muted by the trees. “Impact, second target,” I tracked the laser to the right, the bad guys were running now, falling back wildly, they realized the rules had changed. I gave the laser another shake.

“Shot out.”

Again it sounded like the sky was ripping apart, moments before the impact, I watched on my ATAK as body parts flew in a wide arc from the impact site, there were only a few left now, served them right for bunching up. “Impact, Grizzly. Let's move guys, charge to contact!”

I stuck the painter in between my vest and my sweat covered shirt and took off after them, the boys hot on my trail. “Disciple, Grizzly, hostiles appear to be setting up a defensive position by your crashed helo.”

“Copy that Grizzly, Disciple is moving to contact.”

We were in a dead sprint for the edge of the forest, bounding over still burning trees, and past the two impact craters. If we kept the pressure on them, we could win this and get the fuck off this mountain. I could hear frantic shouting in Russian, we had them on the ropes, but they were professionals, they’d shake it off soon. The edge of the tree line came up fast; I dropped to my stomach next to a boulder as a few rounds cracked overhead. I pulled out the painter as the incoming fire picked up rapidly, tearing chunks off the trees around my head. I made the call right there, “Grizzly, we are under heavy fire, expend all remaining ordnance West of my strobe, friendlies are in the treeline!”

“Grizzly copies, heads down, boys.”

“HEADS DOWN!” I screamed.

“Man Down!” Someone called out behind me. Seconds later, the world exploded as the remaining four Hellfires detonated in the clearing. The overpressure snapped my head to the side, right into the boulder I’d sheltered behind, my vision tunneled, and everything went black.

I was only out for about five seconds; consciousness came rushing back along with a pounding in my head. I scanned around, trying to shake the blur from my eyes. My heart skipped a beat when I saw two figures kneeling over a third, I started crawling over, doing my best to ignore the dizziness, after a few feet I retched into the dirt, but I never stopped moving. The closer I got, the clearer things became, Scotty was kneeling in the dirt his flashlight illuminating the scene, Hunter across from him, tears in the big man’s eyes. Mark lay between them, blood still streaming from his mouth and nose, a neat hole in right at the helmet line from the bullet that had killed him, a quarter of an inch higher, and he would’ve had a nasty headache.

Fuck.

“Aw Mark, no man, fuck!” Hunter cried, pulling Mark into a hug, “FUCK!”

Scotty looked over at me; his expression was grim, tears in his eyes. “You alright?”

“No man, no, I’m fucking not.” I sniffed, it didn’t matter that I’d only just met these guys, family was family.

Hunter held his friend and cried until the QRF showed up.

The flight back to Canterlot was subdued; to say the least, we’d blown the remains of the helo after pulling the crew's bodies out. Now, seven covered bodies sat between the Rangers and us. Hunter was on my left, staring off into space, I leaned over and touched his knee then tapped my headset. I waited for him to key his mic. “I’m sorry.”

His expression turned surprised for a moment, “For what?”

“It was my call to move in, and I wasn’t quick enough on the trigger.”

He shook his head, “Fuck that; you did it right, OGA, Mark…” His voice cracked, and he took a deep breath, “Mark knew the score.”

“Thanks. If there’s anything I can do, you let me know.”

Hunter gave me a weak smile and nodded. Reaching up and switching off his comms.

I settled back into the jump seat, exhaustion overtaking me, I couldn’t sleep, not until the medics made sure this wasn’t a fucking TBI. After a few hours spent in silence, we flared to land inside the castle grounds. We helped the Rangers carry Mark’s and the Nightstalker’s bodies off the helo; the entire ad-hoc firebase had shown up, operators lined the landing zone, saluting when we marched those brave souls down the ramp. A Colonel I didn’t recognize met us in the medical tent as we arranged the bodies for Graves Registration. “Disciple?”

I nodded, “That’d be us, sir.”

“I wanted to let you know; first, ISR swept your target area, you decimated an invasion force that had its sights on Canterlot, they were going to try and take the city. It mattered guys, in a big way.”

I looked at the now flag-draped bodies and wondered if their families would see it the same way.

A few hours later, I’d been cleared by the medic with only a mild concussion and debriefed with JSOC officers. Hunter shook both our hands a thousand-yard stare still hanging on his face, and headed off to pack his gear, Scott and I walked back to our tent to clear our gear. "I can't believe we pulled that off, bro."

I shook my head, as I pushed open the tent flap, ripping my plate carrier off and tossing it in my bag, "Neither can I, just wish we'd all come back."

Scott stared at the floor as he unclipped his kit, "Yeah... I've gotta go find Rav' when we get done, I need a day to just be around her, try and put this shit in back of me."

"Sure, man, you don't have to explain shit to me." I gave his shoulder a squeeze, " Thanks by the way, for understanding about what I've got going on, I know we're playing a risky game, but it's worth it."

"I know, brother; you have nothing to worry about, not from me, I've got your back all the way."

"Thanks, man," I turned to walk out.

"Hey, Zack? Love ya, brother."

I smiled. "Thinking of leaving Raven for something a little more manly?"

"Fuck you, man; we've been friends for years, You're my family and my best friend. I don't say that shit lightly, and you know that."

"I do Scotty, love you too, man."

"But, I do like the way those Cryes fit you."

I was still laughing as I walked out into the din. The courtyard was chaotic; the JSOC boys had gotten word they were moving South to a FOB set up by the Brits. More troops were arriving through the Portal from every NATO country. I saw British Paras, German Tankers, French Special Forces, and so many more units and nationalities; all gathered to support Equestria. It helped take the sting out of the last eighteen hours, but not by much. I needed to sleep. But first? A shower. The hot water flowed over me, washing all the blood and grime down the drain. We’d barely made it out of that one; Mark hadn’t. I hadn’t known him, and I wish I had, the guy had fought like a lion. I idly wondered if he had any family, would someone’s world be ending when the Notification Team came up the driveway? I toweled off and changed into civilian clothes, pushing those thoughts away. That rabbit-hole led nowhere. I walked back down the steps of the trailer, Luna’s moon was slowly descending, and dawn was about to break. I pulled my hat down low and walked towards the castle, making my way through the servant’s entrance and into the main hall, Tia would be just starting her day, and I was about to use all of my considerable skillset to sneak a hug before I headed back to my apartment.

Threading my way past the guards, most of whom recognized me. I headed up, past Tia’s office, and towards her room. Her guards nodded to me as I approached.

“Is she in, Corporal?”

The earth pony mare nodded, “Stand by sir; I’ll see if her Highness is taking visitors.” She turned and knocked, and a brief conversation ensued before she pulled her head out. “The Princess will see you.”

“Thanks, Corporal, Private.” I gave them the nod and stepped into her room, instantly hit with that smell of vanilla and sandalwood that I’d missed so much. Tia had obviously just come out of the shower; she was brushing her mane, checking herself in the mirror. Her flowing hair, now lifeless and damp, hung around her perfect shoulders.

After the firefight, after the bombing, after all the last day's loss, I’m not ashamed to say my eyes misted, and my voice cracked as I called out to her. “H-…Hi, Tia.”

She knew I was there, but the tone, I think, caused her eyes to snap to mine. “Zack? Are you alright?”

I shook my head, leaning against the door, “Rough couple of days. I’m sorry to barge in here like this, but I needed to see you, even if it was just for a few minutes.”

She set the brush down and turned, holding her arms out to me, “Then for the next few minutes, I am all yours.”

I crossed the room and sank into her embrace, and for a little while, I forgot all about what was waiting out there.

I could’ve stayed with her forever, God knows I wanted to, but she had a joint strategy meeting with Luna and the commanders of the newly arrived NATO forces, the war was progressing all the while, Third Marines and the German First Panzer Division had entered Detrot, met with resistance with trying to evacuate the civvies and were now engaged in house to house fighting against Russian stay-behind units. The Equestrian Household Regiment and French Foreign Legion Commandos were engaged near Appleoosa with a mix of Russian and Griffon units. A hundred smaller battles were raging around the country to throw the Reds and Griffons back into the sea.

She’d offered me a guest room in lieu of my apartment, which I’d gladly accepted. I sank into the plush mattress, checking my phone to make sure I didn’t have anywhere to be before I closed my eyes and let sleep take me.

I awoke to my phone vibrating, someone was calling. “Hello?”

“Zack?”

“Yeah, Frank?”

“We…have a problem; I need you at Canterlot General now.”

“Wha-?”

“No questions, just get here.”

Everything about his tone scared me, that deep coiling kind of fear that settles in your gut like a lead weight. I hustled out of the castle without a word to anyone, making my way down the backstreets toward the hospital, my heart pounding in my chest the whole way. I walked into the lobby to see Frank, his expression was unreadable, but it looked like he’d been crying?

Oh Jesus

Now I was sprinting, He held up his hand to stop me, and I crashed into him “Zack…”

“Who?”

He shook his head, trying to speak and failing.

“WHO IS IT FRANK?!” I roared.

The lobby stopped, all eyes on us.

Tears shimmered in Frank's eyes “…Scotty and Raven. They went to dinner…Someone hit them on their way back to Scott’s apartment. Scotty…He got them here before he…They’re gone, Zack.”

The world dropped away; my ears started to ring as I sank to the floor. I heard someone screaming. It took me a second to realize it was me.