Days later,

SGM. Clare:

Daffodil had returned from his vacation but was about as happy as I was when he found out what a total ass the new base commander was. He would force us to do PT for most of the day but rather than participate he’d sit in a lawn chair with cold beer and watch, barking orders the whole time.

We hadn’t much in the terms of missions or patrols, mostly fire support with the mortar teams.

It was late in the afternoon and PT had finally come to an end. “Goddammit… this new base commander’s an asshole” Daffodil wheezed. I nodded as I wiped sweat from my forehead. Frost and Hart trotted up beside us, they were just as exhausted.

“Damn… I think I liked it better when you were in command Sarge” Frost gasped and I nodded. “Yeah, well get used to it. Most base commanders are pretty snarly” I said and he nodded then they both trotted off.

I sighed to myself as I walked over to the barracks. I hadn’t been this sore in a long time and I needed a good rest.

Third person:

“Man, I say we oust this fucker Houston and get the Sarge back in command” Hammerhead told the others in the barracks. They all nodded and looked to one another, agreeing that Houston was an asshole.

“We shouldn’t do that man. It could all get us in serious shit” said Cloud Dasher and several of the soldiers looked to the young shadow guard. “Are you serious? Dasher, don’t you remember when Houston had you shovel out all the latrines just because your pants weren’t tucked in?” Presell reminded him and Dasher sighed as he remembered that horrid day.

“Yeah but still I…” Dasher said but trailed off as they heard the warning alarms go off. Clare rushed into the barracks. “Every-pony out, there’s an invasion” he yelled and they all lept up and followed Clare out to the front line trenches. Bullets flew through the air and caught several soldiers as they charged up to the front lines.

“Bakers keep on them with the M60, Dickens try and get them with the 79” Clare ordered. Aussie lept into the trenches and unslung his M25 and began to pop of rounds downrange.

“Lickety, get the boys on the mortars to cut down the treeline” Clare ordered. As Split got on the radio a trumpet could be heard and soon a large swarm of zebras flooded from the treeline. Houston rushed up beside Clare. “Sergeant Major Clare? You hold this line while I go… call reinforcements” Houston said frantically then rushed back towards the inner compound of the base.

Several of the soldiers and guards looked in disbelief as Houston ran back into the base. “Keep on them” Clare ordered and the soldiers turned their attention back to the advancing zebras.

“Alright, Hammerhead: lay down some C4 in the trenches, we’ll fall back and as soon as those zebras get into the trenches we’ll blow them all to hell” Clare ordered and the corporal immediately followed his command.

Zebras advanced ever closer, even though they had high causalities they still advanced. Hammerhead rushed back up to Clare. “The C4 has been set” he informed Clare who nodded then turned to the others. “Fall back, FALL BACK” Clare yelled and immediately all the soldiers in the trenches retreated to the inner compound.

Zebras flowed into the trenches but as they did Hammerhead triggered the C4 and the trenches erupted. Zebras were blown to bits and pieces of body limbs were tossed into the air.

The group hunkered down and created a defensive line. “Hold this line, they’re not getting past us until they are stepping over our dead bodies” Clare ordered. He looked over to some of the new soldiers, for them it was probably their first combat experience. “Hey don’t fret, we’ll make it through this” he promised them.

It boosted their confidence somewhat and Aussie crouched beside Clare and began to peck off zebras as they advanced. Clare looked over to Lickety and grabbed the radio. “Air command this is Bravo one, we are about to be overrun” Clare yelled into the radio.

“We copy you Bravo one, what do you need, over?” the radio pony asked. Clare thought to himself. “Broken arrow, I repeat Broken arrow” Clare yelled then handed Lickety the radio and began to fire on zebras as they entered the base.

“Sir, in case we die I just wanted to say it was an honour fighting alongside of you” said Cloud Dasher. “You’re not dying today private, we’re going to live… or die trying” Clare said, the others chuckled from his comment.

Lickety was busy giving the coordinates to air command and soon the entire field outside of the firebase was lit up with napalm from the F-18s that flew overhead. Several cheers from soldiers roared as zebras screamed, their skin peeling from their flesh as the napalm ravaged their bodies.

“Smell that… it’s napalm. It smells like… victory. I love the smell of napalm in the afternoon” Clare chuckled. Suddenly a lone thunderous gunshot cracked through the air and Private Smithson fell over. “Fuck, sniper! Get down” Clare ordered but Aussie didn’t listen and instead charged out into the open. “Aussie, get your ass back here right now… fuck” Clare yelled as the Australian stallion rushed out towards the treeline.

Several gunshots echoed and dirt was kicked up by Aussie’s hooves as he rushed towards the treeline. The Apache figured it would be best to lure him deeper into the forest rather than have a one on one confrontation.

Aussie rushed into the thick treeline and entered the jungles of the Everfree forest. ‘Why the ‘ell do they call this place a forest anyway?’ Aussie thought to himself as he slowed his pace to a quiet stalk. The thick undergrowth silenced his footsteps.

Aussie stalked along through the jungle, he could see a trail where The Apache had run, either it was her or another zebra but he had seen a no good commie run this way so he followed the trail.

Sweat poured down his face and he constantly had to wipe the sweat from his forehead before it reached his eyes. He was a professional at what he did and even the animals couldn’t hear or smell him. He hadn’t bathed in months so he smelt like the jungle through and through.

His M25 weighed heavy in his hooves but he had become accustomed to the rifle’s weight and the gun had become more like an extension of his body. He heard some rustling in the bushes not far from him and he quickly paced over to a fallen log and looked to where the sound had come from.

He saw a female zebra with a scoped Mosin-Nagant rifle. Aussie breathed slowly as he crouched down. He slowly removed the slouch hat from his head and set it on the log beside him. His mane was a light shade of brown and it blended in with the forest. His mane was cut short and combed, it was probably the most civil look of his entire body.

He rested the rifle on the log and peered through the scope of his rifle. The female zebra was cleaning her rifle. Aussie smirked to himself as he zeroed in the scope and lined the crosshairs up on her chest. There was no way he’d risk missing the shot trying to do some fancy headshot. The zebra hadn’t noticed Aussie yet and she picked up her rifle in her hooves and looked through the scope.

“Goodbye Ms. Apache” Aussie whispered to himself as he slowed his heart rate and let out a deep exhale. The crosshairs of his rifle lined up perfectly with her chest and stayed absolutely still.

Aussie pulled the trigger on his rifle and it thundered throughout the silent forest. The 7.62x51mm round traveled through the air at incredible speeds and slammed through the zebra’s body.

The bullet traveled right through her chest and blew away her heart. She died instantly and immediately fell to the ground. Aussie sighed to himself, The Apache’s reign of terror was over. Soldiers everywhere could sleep a little easier knowing that The Apache was dead. He figured he’d scratch a notch into his rifle stock later, he had over seventy notches in the rifle stock already but the notch for The Apache would be alone by itself. A signature of how important her death was.

The brush beside him swayed and the pointed barrel of a Dragunov SVD pressed against the side of Aussie’s head. He slowly turned to look over to his aggressor. The real Apache stood with her rifle, its barrel pointed at him like a boney finger. “Clever girl” Aussie whispered as he swung around to try and shoot her with his own rifle. A lone shot rang out through the forest, followed by silence.

Back at the firebase ponies cleaned up from the mess. Houston barked orders and several ponies became agitated. “Alright fuck this, screw you Houston. Go fuck yourself” yelled one of the soldiers. “Excuse me? How dare you speak to me like that. You’ll be on latrine duty for the next year!” Houston yelled but then several other ponies banded together and stood up to Houston.

“Sergeant Major!” Houston yelled out and Clare immediately rushed up to him. “Yes sir?” he asked and Houston pointed to the mares and stallions that now stood defiantly against him. “Order these ponies to get back to work” Houston yelled. Clare sighed to himself as he looked to the base staff. He had fought alongside many of the stallions and mares here and they wouldn’t just go against orders.

“No” he said and Houston’s face turned red with anger. “That’s it, I’m court martialing you for mutiny” Houston roared and stormed off to the radio broadcast tent. He stomped inside then grabbed a radio and dialed it in. “Get me the General, tell him to get his ass down here right now. The Sergeant Major has decided to start a mutiny in Firebase Bravo” Houston roared.

In Canterlot a radio pony gave the note to the General who was conversing with Captain Shining Armor. “Sir, Firebase Bravo is experiencing a mutiny. The commanding officer requests reinforcements” the radio pony said. The General cursed to himself but Shining Armor rested a hoof on his shoulder.

“I’m going with you, I think I can talk some sense into them” Shining told the General and they both rushed off to the helipad.

SGM. Clare:

Houston had ordered us to all wait. We followed those orders and I cursed to myself for letting things get this bad. Several Hueys flew overhead and landed on the helipad. Several soldiers along with the General and Captain Shining Armor stepped out of the helicopters.

Houston immediately rushed up to the General. They all walked over to us and The General looked to me. “So, you’re in command of this mutiny?” he asked and I shrugged. “Well come with us. You’re being charged with treason, mutiny and possible terrorism” the General barked and I chuckled to myself as I walked up to him with my hands extended.

He slapped the cuffs on my hands and as we were walking away Hart called out. “You better arrest me too sucka” he yelled. The General turned around. “Who said that? I demand to know who said that!” the General screamed. Hart stepped forwards and the General handed Houston a pair of hoof cuffs. “Nah, it was me” said Bakers as he stepped forwards.

“Nah he’s lying, it was me” said Cloud Dasher as he stepped forwards. Soon the entire firebase staff was saying it was them. Both the General and Houston’s faces went pale. “Hey Houston, I knew you said you was calling for reinforcements but I didn’t think they’d show up so late” laughed Presell. Shining Armor looked to Houston. “Calling reinforcements?” he asked, unsure about the comment.

“Oh yeah, you should have seen him. We’re getting shot at by zebras and he runs up and is like Sergeant Major Clare?... You stay here while I go… call reinforcements” Presell laughed, making Houston sound like an idiot. “That was the appropriate thing to do” Houston said and the General nodded.

“Yeah, if he had actually called for reinforcements. The bastard went and hid in the supply shack until all the fighting was over” Bakers said and Shining Armor looked with a disgusted face at the colonel. “Really?” Armor asked and Houston’s face went pale.

“It doesn’t change the fact” the General barked but Shining Armor stepped forward. “Yes General it does. The current base commander is incompetent and likely to get ponies killed. I will not authorize the arrest of these ponies on account that the current base commander is a coward” Shining said.

“This is absurd, I will not allow a sergeant major to run a firebase” the General yelled. “He won’t. I’ll be replacing Houston as base commander. Now General, if that will be all. I think Canterlot has some paperwork for you to fill out” Armor said. The General snarled to himself then scowled as he and Houston trotted back to the helicopters and they departed back to Canterlot.

Shining Armor sighed to himself as he looked to Clare. “Next time rather than start a mutiny, call me and I’ll make everything right” Shining chuckled and I shrugged. “Sir!” yelled a private and we rushed over to him. He pointed out to the field where a bloody pony walked back towards the base. “Sir it’s Aussie” the private yelled.

I pointed to a mare and stallion. “You two, go out and get him. Take a Jeep” I ordered and they immediately rushed to a Jeep then drove out to Aussie as he continued to walk towards the base. Something was off, I could just feel it.