Sgt. Clare, Firebase Bravo:

The helicopter landed and both Shining and I disembarked the helicopter and reported directly to the CO tent.

As we walked inside I gave a salute then let out a quiet gasp as I realized the company CO was Daffodil. “Daff… you’re… the company CO?” I asked unsurely and he nodded. “Captain Wallace… died in a recent attack and that left me in command of the company. HQ says they’re working around the clock for a replacement CO but it’s been a few days” Daff informed me.

“So sergeant, how was your vacation?” he asked. “Cut short” I replied and he chuckled at the comment. “Yes well in any case, you’re here now and that’s all that matters. So, brief me on this little operation of yours” Daffodil said and Shining Armor began to tell him the logistics of everything.

“So that’s it huh? Okay then, good luck” Daff said, I gave a salute and went to leave but Daffodil called out to me before I left. “Oh Clare… you never told me that you made sergeant major” he said and I nodded. “Just got promoted this evening, sewed the stripes and chevrons on before I came over” I told him then left the tent with Shining Armor following close behind me.

Hart ran up to me. “Hey Sarge… oh guess it’s sergeant major now huh?” he said as he noticed my new stripes. “Sarge will be fine” I said as I continued walking along. “So Sarge, what’s new?” Hart asked as Shining and I loaded into a Jeep. “Hey Sarge, you just got back, don’t tell me you’re already leaving” he exclaimed and I nodded.

“Don’t worry I’ll be back soon, I promise” I told him as Shining Armor started the Jeep and we drove out of the firebase and into the jungles of the Everfree forest.

The Jeep bumped along the trails as I looked at the map. Intelligence had circled the places that The Apache was most likely to be at. “Hey Captain, how we supposed to find this guy in all the jungle anyway? He could be anywhere” I said over the loud roar of the Jeep engine.

“Well I’m not exactly sure, that’s what you’re here for. If you were a zebra sniper where would you hide?” he asked me. I shrugged, “Anywhere in the jungle… but if I was a crazy insane asshole that engraved my name into the chests of dead soldiers and cut off their genitals… I’d hid up in that hilly area” I said and pointed to a large hill. I looked to the map and realized Intelligence hadn’t circled it as a place to search. ‘Intelligence equals a bunch of ponies that sit behind desks thinking they know everything’ I thought to myself.

We drove the Jeep as far as we dared then turned it off and covered it with camouflaged leaf cover. We grabbed our rifles then began to cautiously approach the semi large hill, trekking through the thick jungle brush as quietly as we could. Shining Armor and I both kept our senses on full alert, listening and watching for anything hostile.

Shining Armor took lead while I walked a few yards behind him. We stayed off the main trails for the most part, only traveling along the trails when it was absolutely necessary.

The air was hot and I sweat profusely. I was wearing a regular camouflaged combat jacket along with the camouflaged cargo pants to go with them. I had a leather belt with a line of sturdy cloth attached to the waist harness. The belt came together at the front with a silver belt buckle. My waist harness carried several things: Ammo, rations, binoculars etc. Shining Armor had pretty much the same general outfit, minus the leather belt. We also both wore combat issued boots

I wiped sweat from my head, on top of my head sat a camouflaged brush hat. I was sporting a pair of dark sunglasses that tinted the bright rays of the sun. Sweat rolled down my arms which were exposed because I had rolled up my sleeves due to the humidity and hot temperature.

Birds chirped in the background and it distracted my concentration. I tried to focus on specific noises but the birds chirping kept distracting me. “See anything Captain?” I whispered my voice was so quiet I didn’t know if he could hear me. He shook his head.

My breathing was slow as we ascended up the hill. There was a large clearing up the hill that went on for about two hundred yards then turned back into thick brush. “I don’t like this” I whispered and Captain Armor nodded. “Yeah me either. Any ideas Sarge?” he asked.

“Yeah, we’ll crawl up there into the forest then take a sniper point on that ridge there” I said pointing to a small grassy ridge that overlooked most of the valley. “Good idea” he whispered and we quietly got down on our bellies and began to crawl the entire two hundred yards of the open clearing but luckily the grass was knee high so it gave us some cover.

The entire crawl took well over three hours and the night sky had encased the entire valley along with the ridge that we now lay perched on. “She usually causes havoc late in the afternoon so if she does cause havoc then she’ll be coming back about now” Shining told me and I nodded as I switched my scope to the night vision settings.

As I peered along the valley through the scope of my rifle I waited and thought to myself about how The Apache could be zeroing in on us right at this very moment and I wouldn’t even know it. We sat and waited for a half hour then Shining Armor gave me a nudge.

“Eleven o’clock, two hundred yards” Shining whispered and I directed my aim towards his directions. About two hundred and thirty yards away I spotted a zebra communist fighter with an SKS rifle, mounted with a scope. “That can’t be The Apache… he wouldn’t be that stupid to just walk right through the clearing like that” I whispered and Shining Armor nodded then took my rifle away from me.

“Well in any case I spotted him so I get to take the shot” Shining announced. I grabbed the rifle back, “No way, I’m the sniper so I get dibs on first shot” I said back and we began to wrestle over the rifle, making an awfully large amount of noise. We ended up knocking over our things and some of our metal canteens fell and banged off rocks with a CLANG.

I looked back to the zebra fighter who was now running in the opposite direction. I sighed in disappointment. “He’s probably going to warn his buddies… come on, we’ll set up on another ridge” I said and we quickly gathered our things then rushed off to another ridge and lay down to wait for our little friend to return.

Soon enough he did return, and with an entire platoon of armed zebras. “I think he was The Apache” Shining whispered, now that I looked I had to agree with him. Intelligence reported that he was a sniper and currently the only one with a sniper rifle was the young zebra with the SKS that had an attached scope.

“Well Captain… do you want to do the honours?” I asked and he smiled as he grabbed the rifle and adjusted his aim. “Elevation… about one inch, aim for the chest” I whispered and he nodded.

The Model 70 .300 Winchester Magnum thunder in his hooves and the mighty KA-BOOM of the bullet expelled out the end of the barrel. The zebra soldier with the SKS was literally taken off his hooves as the 180 grain ballistic round slammed through his body, blowing out a large exit wound in his back.

The other zebras looked around frantically and Shining Armor racked the bolt then fired again, taking out another zebra soldier. They must’ve seen the muzzle flash because the entire platoon of zebras began to charge towards us.

Shining Armor handed me my rifle and picked up his own. I took aim and began to shoot down zebras as the advanced. My magazine quickly ran dry and I swapped it for a fresh one then continued to snipe the zebras but more zebras poured out of the forest.

“Okay Shining we killed The Apache, now it’s time to go” I said, we both got up and ran higher up into the hill. Just as we began to retreat several zebras fired at us with AK47s. “Shit… shit… shit… SHIT” I cursed as rounds kicked up dirt literally just behind my feet.

We finally reached thicker jungle in the hill but we continued to run at full tilt. “Okay, we’ll head down this side of the hill then loop around and” I began but suddenly a group of zebras just appeared from behind the trees in front of us, like they had been waiting this entire time. “Uh-oh” I said and Shining nodded.

A zebra mare stepped forward, she had an SVD Dragunov with her. “I think she’s The Apache” I whispered to Shining. “Silence ape” she hissed. I leveled my rifle on her but several of the zebras pointed their AK47s at us. We were outnumbered and there was no way we could just shoot our way out of this situation.

“Clare… lower your gun… I don’t feel like dying right now” Shining said slowly. I did as he ordered and lowered my gun but as I did I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I grabbed the object that now stuck in my neck and pulled it out. As I looked at it my mind went fuzzy and I realized it was a tranquilizer dart.

My mind slipped and I fell into unconsciousness, the last thing I remembered was Shining Armor saying something.

Sgt. Clare, unknown location:

I awoke with a massive head ache and I rubbed my eyes. I realized I was in some primitive cell block. I heard screaming outside my cell then the doors swung open and Shining Armor’s body was thrown inside. He had been cut up pretty bad but wasn’t in serious condition yet though blood had stained his once pure white fur.

I had been stripped of my jacket, weapons and waist harness and all that was left was my pants, my white shirt and my black combat boots. I crawled over to Shining and held his body close to mine. “Don’t worry captain… we’ll get outta here” I reassured him as I brushed his mane out of his face.

A zebra walked in and kicked me in the head before dragging my body out into another room with a single hanging light bulb. He tossed my body to the floor then kicked me in the side of the ribs.

He bound my wrists together then strung me in the air by my hands. I found it somewhat difficult to breath. The zebra mare who had the Dragunov walked into the room. “Hello Sergeant Clare” she said in a very calm voice.

“Hello ma’am” I replied in a subtle voice. “You know that there is a bounty on your head” she informed me. I shook my head. “No ma’am, I didn’t know that. How much?” I asked calmly like we were having a civil conversation. “500,000 dollars to the one who kills you and confirms your death to the general” she informed me.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why haven’t you killed me yet?” I asked in a very calm and gentle voice. “Are you always this gentle and calm?” she asked and I shook my head. “I’m only ever considerate to those who have earned my respect ma’am” I told her. Her nose scrunched. “I plan on torturing you to death and you give me respect? What kind of fool are you?” she asked and I tried to shrug.

“Being a soldier for as long as I have would make anyone insane. But you did manage to capture me alive, a truly magnificent action, and one that you should be extremely pleased with yourself for doing” I told her. She smiled from the comment.

“Well I… you are quite a charmer aren’t you?” she asked, I shrugged. “Well I try” I chuckled. “Ma’am… can you hurry it up” said one of the zebras in the room. “Shut your fucking mouth you cockroach, I’m trying to have a civil conversation” she snapped at the zebra. He cringed in fear and stepped back fearfully.

“Remind me never to get on your bad side” I said and she chuckled. “You fool, we’re on opposing sides. I’m supposed to kill you” she laughed hysterically. “Well ma’am before you do, I need to know. Why didn’t you just kill me there in the forest?” I asked.

“Because we are all debating on who gets to kill you and we decided to execute you and make a video so that we all get paid” she informed me. “So… where’s the video camera?” I asked she chuckled insanely as she brought out a rusty knife. “This is your interrogation you fool. I’m gonna cut you up really bad then you’re going to tell me everything you know” she said.

“Okay, I was born in ’88, my family didn’t want me and left me in an orphanage. When I was sixteen I enlisted in the Canadian service, got fucked up then enlisted in the royal guard. Then they sent me to kill you” I said and her face went dire. “No you idiot, I want to know troop movements, shift changes, everything else” she said as she walked closer. “Oh sorry, can’t help you there. They don’t tell me nothing cause they think I’m insubordinate” I told her and her face went to a frown.

“Uhhg… I hate to say this but I have this terribly awful feeling that you’re telling the truth” she said grudgingly. I had actually lied quite efficiently because I did know a lot of those things. “Oh… well sorry to disappoint you, Uhm… want to be friends?” I offered and she shot me a cold glare. “Hey… it’s cool, I don’t care. I just thought maybe you’d want to be friends or something” I said.

“You think that you can just coo me… into becoming your puppet… Think that you can just seduce me, place my prince charming and fuck me like your whore?” she asked. ‘Okay where the fuck had that come from?’ I thought to myself and shook my head quickly. “Think that you’ll get out of here? Well I have news for you” she said as she put a pair of spiked knuckles on her hooves.

For the next hour she slammed punches into my side, blood now stained my white t-shirt and it was red with my own blood. Though the wounds weren’t fatal unless they got infected they still hurt like hell.

The Apache was panting heavily as I hung the, blood dripped from the tips of my boots. She walked up to me and was breathing heavily. “You really have quite an endurance… if we weren’t enemies I’d want to know if you were durable… elsewhere” she whispered and I cringed as she slammed another punch into the side of my ribcage.

“Cut him down” she panted then walked away. One of the zebras walked up and cut me down. Two zebras grabbed my arms and dragged me into another room where they had Captain Shining Armor. “Hey Shining… fancy meeting you here” I said painfully then a zebra slammed the butt of his rifle against my head. “Silence you dog” said the zebra as he continued to drag me along.

There were five zebras in the room along with The Apache and Shining Armor. In the middle of the room there was a hang noose and I smiled. “Hangman eh? Let me guess, the word is hurricane?” I joked and once again the zebra slammed his butt stock of his rifle into my head.

Cpt. Shining Armor:

I watched as Clare made crude jokes in this dire situation. I gritted my teeth as I tried to think about something I could do to stop this madness but could think of nothing, even a magic spell wouldn’t work.

“Cameras… action” said the insane Apache. They fitted the noose around his neck. “Eh to all you watchers out there this is how to hang a Canadian soldier eh” Clare joked. Even in his final moments he was making crude jokes. I despised him for the crude jokes yet I respected him for his fearlessness.

“General Kim Yung, this is The Apache. We have” The Apache began but Clare yelled over her voice. “HELLO, HEY GENERAL HI… IT’S ME CLARE” he yelled and The Apache shot him a cold stare.

“Shut him up” The Apache hissed. One of the zebras nodded and slammed their rifle stock into his gut. Clare cringed in pain as The Apache began over. “General, this is The Apache. We have” she began but once again Clare interrupted her.

“HEY GENERAL, HEY IT’S ME HI. HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS WEEKEND? WANNA HANG OUT?” Clare asked. “That’s it, hang him” The Apache yelled.

One of the zebras kicked out the stool from underneath Clare and he dangled in the air, stung up by his throat. He gagged and struggled as his life slowly drained away. His body cringed and he tried furiously to break free of the noose. Then within a minute he stopped moving. He was dead.

“FUCK!” I swore in anger but one of the zebras clacked their rifle stock against my head and knocked me to the ground. As they dragged me away I heard the laughter of The Apache and saw the lifeless body of Clare hang in the middle of the room. ‘Clare, I swear in the name of Celestia, I will avenge you’ I promised in my thoughts hopping that wherever his spirit was he could hear my prayer.