SGM. Clare:

I groaned as the light subsided, I was never going to do that again. It almost blinded me for Pete’s sake. I staggered to my feet and saw both Luna’s and Celestia’s bodies lying on the ground. I rushed over and checked both their pulses. They were fine just knocked out.

Twilight trotted over to me and rested a hoof on my shoulder. “Don’t suppose you could teach me that?” Twilight asked hopefully and I nodded. “We have to get to the hospital” I said and she looked to me curiously. “Your sister is having a foal” I informed her and she along with the others all gasped from the information.

“Alright, grab Celestia and Luna then I’ll transport us there” she said and I grabbed their unconscious bodies but then looked to Discord who was lying lifelessly on the ground. “Hey Rarity, can you hold Discord in your magic while we go?” I asked and she nodded then levitated his body over to us.

Twilight’s horn flashed and we all teleported to the hospital. A nurse looked over to us and I tried to wave. “Where’s Princess Cadence?” Twilight asked and the nurse looked at her checklist. “Room 207, but she’s in…” the nurse trailed off as we all rushed towards the room, following the numbers listed on the doors.

We found room 207 and rushed inside. “Okay just give a push” the doctor told her and Cadence screamed in pain, Shining Armor stood next to his wife and held her hoof. Rarity set down the body of Discord and joined the others as they stood around Cadence as she gave birth.

I laid down Celestia and Luna then shook them both. “Come on… get up, your niece is giving birth to your first grandchild and you’re not going to miss it” I said and they both regained consciousness.

“Alright, Celestia I know you’re pissed but Cadence is giving birth right over there and I don’t want you missing it” I told her. She looked to me with widened eyes, obviously not remembering the day’s events. I heaved both of them to their hooves and brought them over to watch Cadence give birth.

After an hour of Cadence following the doctor’s instructions she finally gave birth, to twins. A filly and a colt. The filly was a unicorn while the colt was a pegasus. “Cinnamon Swirl and Rose Pedal” Cadence whispered as she rocked both the foals in her forelegs.

I nodded and gave a smile but soon left the room figuring I was just taking up space. I leaned against the wall of the hallways and chuckled to myself. “Disaster adverted, good job there sergeant major. Guess you earned a vacation” I told myself but suddenly a scrawny looking stallion in military dress galloped up to me. “Is Princess Celestia in there?” he asked frantically and I nodded. He raced inside and soon both Celestia and Shining Armor stepped into the hallway with the young stallion.

They began conversing then soon Celestia gasped and she galloped off along with the young stallion. I looked to Shining with a raised eyebrow. He gave me a dire look and told me the news, “The zebras just declared war”.

Hours later:

Cadence was resting peacefully with both her aunts. Both Shining and I had gone to the Canterlot military base where most of Bravo Company had been assembled. All the firebases had been evacuated and now all forward operating bases were on full alert.

“Company, attennntion” I yelled, prolonging attention to get every-pony in attention. Shining Armor trotted up. “At ease gentlecolts” he said and the entire company relaxed but stayed in attention to his speech. “The communist zebra army has just declared war on Equestria” he told them and then he went silent.

Silence filled the air. I could see several of the Bravo firebase members in the crowd. We’d need some new replacements. “You’re now in part of Bravo Company. Sergeant Major Clare here has been in Bravo for quite some time now and some of you may know who he is… he answers to me and to me alone, no matter of rank or code” Shining said with a grin.

“Two days from now we will be flying deep into the Everfree and we will be attacking the zebra’s main base of operations and severing their army” he told the stallions and mares of Bravo company. “We have a medal ceremony in an hour and I expect most of you to be there” he said then trotted off. I sighed to myself as the stallions and mares departed. I had to go get a few new recruits.

I walked through the military base and found Aussie and I had to say, he looked very healthy. “Aussie?” I asked and he turned to look at me. “Eh Clare” Aussie called out and rushed over to me. I shook his hoof and smiled.

“Damn Aussie, you’re okay” I said and he shrugged. “What can I say, guess even The Apache’s torture wasn’t enough to kill me” he laughed and I nodded. “Listen I need some new recruits for our platoon, specifically ponies who have seen combat” I said and he nodded. “Come on this way. All the colts and fillies are playing basketball and volleyball. Some aren’t combat experienced but have exceptional marks on the ranges” Aussie informed me and led me over to the ball courts.

“Alright colts and fillies line up” Aussie yelled. They were far from fillies and colts but they were all very young. I looked to them with icy eyes and a few of the ponies stepped back fearfully. “Those of you who just stepped back, go back to playing. I don’t want you” I said and they left. There were at least a six stallions left and seven mares that had stayed.

“Alright any-pony with a low IQ step back. I don’t need any stupids in my platoon. Stupids are likely to get themselves and will likely get me killed as well. I don’t want to die any time soon and if you get me killed than I’ll come back from the dead and kill you myself” I said, one of the mares that was cross eyed stepped back. Her fur was grey and her mane was blonde.

“Hey wait a minute, you step back up” I said and she stepped back forwards. I walked over to her and looked at her crossed eyes. I could see she was shivering in fear. “Why the hell’d you join?” I asked and she tried to whisper a reply.

“Well come on, let’s hear it” I said and a tear came to hear eyes. “I…I…I was conscripted from my mail duty, I wasn’t essential” she said and began to sob but as she turned to run I grabbed her shoulder and swung her back around.

“Why did you step back when I said, stupids step back?” I asked and she whimpered a reply. “Because I’m stupid” she said and I scrunched my nose. “Why the hell do you think you’re stupid?” I asked and she stifled a sob. “Because ponies say I’m stupid because of the way I talk… and because my eyes aren’t straight” she sobbed. “How do you spell conditioner?” I asked. She thought to herself real quick. “C-o-n-d-i-t-i-o-n-e-r” she replied and I looked to another pony.

“Is that how you spell it?” I asked and he nodded. “Well I don’t think you’re stupid, hell you’re smarter than I am. Alright, looks like… what’s your name kid?” I asked. She was clumsy I could tell but I knew that any other platoon commander would have her cleaning latrines and would probably treat her poorly due to her unfortunate cross eyedness. As stupid as I felt for keeping a cross eyed pony on my platoon I couldn’t bear the thought of her getting poorly treated by another platoon leader.

“Derpy… Private first class Derpy Hooves” she stuttered. I looked to all the others. “Well it would seem Derpy here just filled the role of my wing-pony. She’ll be covering my ass while I cover hers” I told them and several of the others looked at each other in shock from my pick.

I pulled Derpy up to my side. “Is something wrong with this pony?” I asked but no-pony answered. I pointed to another mare with light opal coloured fur and an amber coloured mane. “You, what’s your name?” I asked. “Private Dust, sir. I’m the best” she told me, boasting a little. “Oh yeah. Tell me Private, would you have Derpy here as your wing-pony?” I asked and she shook her head. “No” she laughed and I gave her a cold look.

“And why not?” I asked and she laughed like my question was a joke. “Because she’s a retard” she laughed, Derpy’s face saddened from her comment. ‘I don’t want you, leave” I ordered and she gasped. “But sir I…” she trailed off then trotted away in shame.

“Doesn’t matter their creed, race or religion. The pony next to you will be your best friend because they will protect you until their dying breath because if they don’t then you will both die. So I want you to hug the pony next to you and give them a big wet sloppy kiss on mouth to prove you would fight and die for the pony next to you. If you don’t want to do this, then leave now” I said.

Several stallions and mares looked to each other. Some stallions looked to another stallion and would frown. Most ponies knew though, that to be in my platoon would be an honour and a privilege. They all kissed each other. Some reluctantly, others more willingly.

I nodded. “Well okay than, welcome to my” I began but one of the stallions interrupted me. “What about you sir?” he asked and I looked over to him. “What about me?” I asked and he pointed to Derpy. “You said we all had to kiss the pony next to us. Well you didn’t” he said and I realized what he was getting at.

“I have a marefriend” I replied. “So? I’ve got a marefriend to. But I still had to kiss this mare next to me. It’s orders, even the commanding officer has to follow his own orders” he told me in a defiant tone. I stepped forwards and loomed over him, giving him a cold glare. “What’s your name private?” I asked. “Thunder… Thunderlane sir” he stuttered fearfully.

I smiled than patted him on the shoulder. “Thunderlane here is a smart pony. He stood up to his commanding officer when the commander refused to follow his own orders. He’s smart” I said then gave him a nod as I walked back in front of them. I sighed to myself knowing that I couldn’t really go against my own orders and should have probably thought about my orders before I gave them.

I nodded then looked over to Derpy who stood there and looked at me curiously. “I have a marefriend so let’s not make this look too romantic” I said and she blushed. I felt like a real ass because technically this would be considered cheating on Luna, but I couldn’t really go back on my orders.

I stood Derpy up to her hindlegs and balanced her body so that she stood balanced on her hindlegs. I wrapped my arms around her and brought her in close to mine. I sighed once more to myself then leaned forwards, closing my eyes and giving Derpy a wet sloppy kiss, just like I had ordered every-pony else. I quickly ended the kiss and pulled back to see that Derpy still had her eyes closed but opened them and gazed into my eyes. “Right… so anyway, like I was saying. Welcome to my platoon, we’re stationed at sector B. Get all your things packed and ready” I said then walked away with Aussie.

“Little smooch from the babes eh?” he asked and I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t mean it like that” I said and he laughed. I heard the distinctive sound of a harmonica playing.

“Hey… hey Aussie wait” I said and stopped the Australian pony as I listened for where the tune was coming from. “Shit… that’s blues… and it’s damn good” I said as I rushed over to where the tunes came from to see a pegasus sitting on a wooden crate playing a harmonica.

“Hey… hey that’s real good, where’d you learn?” I asked and the pegasus stopped playing for a moment and shrugged. He had a short black mane with tinted blue fur and purple eyes. “I’m self-taught” he replied. “No shit?” I asked and he nodded then took the harmonica away from his mouth and extended his hoof. “I’m Lance Corporal Moon Crater sir” He replied and I shook his hoof.

“I’m Sergeant Major Clare. Do think you could teach me?” I asked and he shrugged. “Well maybe when the war is over” he offered and I shook my head.

“Nah, how’s it sound to be in my platoon” I offered but Aussie grabbed me by the shoulder. “You don’t want this one Sarge” he whispered and I scrunched my nose. “Why the hell not?” I asked and he sighed. “He’s a cherry” Aussie replied and I chuckled. “So?” I asked and he leaned closer. “He’s been in a combat situation before and froze up, couldn’t bring himself to kill the zebra and the zebra escaped into the Everfree” he whispered and I laughed.

“So what? The guy has got the bloody cutie mark of a marksmanship symbol. Bloody stallion has got talent I’ll tell yah that” I told him and Aussie shrugged. “Hey kid, tell yah what. I’ll train you to shoot to kill and you train me to play harmonica” I offered and he looked at me with those purple eyes of his. “I… I don’t know sir. I don’t know if I really want to kill” he said and I nudged him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, they want to kill you too so it’s fair game. Pack up your things and head to sector B” I told him then walked away with Aussie.

“Sarge, I don’t encourage this sort of recruitment” he said and I shrugged it off. Shining Armor trotted up to me. “Hey Sarge. Here are your mission papers. Give them to Daffodil and you two can go over mission planning. Remember the award ceremony begins in an hour” he said and I looked up to him.

“Shouldn’t we have the awards after the battle?” I asked and he shrugged. “Guess the brass wants all these fine young stallions and mares going into battle feeling like war heroes” he told me then trotted off. I opened the papers and my mouth gaped open as I read the mission parameters. “What’s up?” Aussie asked and I closed the papers. “Nothing” I lied then proceeded to Sector B to talk with Daffodil before the ceremony.