Sgt. Caramel, third platoon:

My breathing was heavy but quiet. My palms were sweaty and the handles on the M16 began to slip from my grip. James, the stallion beside me, leaned over. “Sergeant, I can smell them, they’re close” James whispered. “It’s just your imagination Corporal” I whispered back.

“No, I’m serious. I know they’re out their” he whispered back. “You’re just smelling the dead ones” I told him. “Please sergeant, it’ll calm my nerves” he whispered back to me. I reached over to the radio operator and dialed in the artillery stallions. “I need illumination on Whiskey Alpha 9-0-9-0-1-5, over” I whispered. The night was still and crickets peeped in the night.

The whistling of incoming artillery could be heard but there was no explosion. Instead a bright red illumination flare was set off and the forest lit up with the red haze. “CONTACT!” I yelled as the figures of zebras could be seen, we opened fire on the zebras and I grabbed the radio. “I need artillery on previous coordinates over” I yelled then leveled my M16 and fired upon the zebras.

Explosions ripped through the forest and devastated the stalking zebras that were now illuminated for us to see. In seconds it was over. “Cease fire, cease fire” I ordered and the platoon did as I ordered.

One of the privates crawled over to me. “Ma’am, we’re out of water. Some of the platoon members are becoming dehydrated” he whispered to me. “Do what you can” I said and he looked to me. “How?” he asked and I looked to the dead zebras. “Take Samson and Jennings and go check the zebras for any sort of water” I ordered and he nodded then quickly took Samson and Jennings out to check the dead zebras.

We struck lucky. They found a few canteens with some water, though not much it would sustain the wounded for the night. I hope.

Next morning,

SGM. Clare, First platoon:

The first helicopters landed and all hell began to set loose again. I rushed up with Shining Armor. “Sir” one of the lieutenants said as he saluted us. “No time, get your platoons and follow us” I yelled and the two platoons followed us with the new supplies they had brought along.

Wounded ponies were being loaded onto the helicopters then they departed. “Alright, we currently have eight platoons in this valley, third platoon is cut off and fourth and fifth platoon can’t reach them. I want seventh platoon to come around the sides and assist four and five with their situation then proceed to rescue third platoon. I want eighth platoon to move up and secure a forward line of defence on the battlefield” Shining ordered and the platoons immediately did as they were ordered.

A war trumpet echoed faintly and both Shining and I looked to see a large swarm of zebras charging through the treeline. “Fuck, Sergeant Major. I need that treeline gone” Shining said as he pointed to a treeline off to the side of the battlefield.

“Crater, Hooves” I yelled and the duo immediately rushed up beside me. Moon Crater had taken my advice and taken his M14 sniper rifle but had also taken along his M14 Juggernaut. “I need you two to come along with me” I ordered as I got up and began to rush towards the treeline.

Zebras hadn’t noticed me despite my dark brown duster coat, guess it blended in somewhat. I charged up until I was less than fifty feet away from the dozen or so zebras that had taken cover in the treeline. Derpy came up on my left and Moon on my right, who now had his M14 Juggernaut in his hooves.

We all fired from the hip and chopped down the group of zebras with a barrage of automatic fire. The zebras screamed and tried to direct their fire at us but it was too late, we already had the jump on them. In a matter of seconds we had chopped down the group and I turned to Derpy.

“You two stay here and give me covering fire, and for the love of Celestia don’t shoot me in the ass” I chuckled then ran forward. Zebras seemed to just appear out of nowhere and take the place of the zebras we had just killed. I fired from the hip as I charged forwards. .45 caliber rounds whizzed through the air, blood would spurt from exit wounds as the .45 caliber slugs tore through the zebras and sent them sprawling to the ground.

Moon Crater had unslung his M14 sniper rifle and began taking aimed shots as Derpy hosed down a group of zebras that approached them from the side. My Thompson ran dry and I quickly leaned up against a tree. AK47s fired upon me and some rounds chipped away at the tree but stopped the rounds from hitting me. I slipped a fresh drum magazine into the gun and began to charge forwards again. I cut down another dozen zebras before I stopped and pulled out a line of detonator wire. I quickly pulled out some high explosives from a satchel I had taken of a dead pony the night before. I quickly set up the explosives every few dozen yards then rushed back to the others with the long det cord and attached it to a detonator.

“Alright, let’s get back” I yelled and the two followed me until we reached the end of the detonator cord length and I triggered the detonator. The high explosives erupted and blew down the majority of the treeline. “Alright, let’s diddie back to the captain” I yelled and they nodded as we rushed back to Captain Shining Armor who was taking cover behind a mound of dirt with some other soldiers.

We slid behind the dirt mound. “Captain? What was the point of that?” I asked and he looked to me. “We’re going to send the next two platoons to that area and set up a secondary LZ just in case we lose the primary LZ” he told me and I nodded.

The next flight of helicopters would be arriving soon. “Alright get the wounded ready for transport” I yelled and ponies rushed over to the group we had created that were made up entirely of wounded. They retrieved the most wounded of all the ponies as the Hueys flew overhead and into the battlefield.

Elsewhere in the treeline sat The Apache with an RPG-7 and waited for a helicopter to land. She smirked and fired the RPG, the warhead flew downrange and collided with the helicopter. The helicopter erupted in a brilliant explosion that killed all the ponies aboard and forced another helicopter to crash land.

“Fuck! First platoon, follow me” I ordered and we all rushed out to meet the new platoons that exited the helicopters. “These are the final platoons Sergeant Major, we’ll be coming back every run to pick up the wounded and we’ll have new supplies” he told me. I nodded then ran up to the commanding first lieutenant. “Lieutenant, get these ponies to Captain Shining Armor, he’ll give you your orders” I yelled over the chattering of gunshots.

He nodded then led the remaining members of the platoons over to Shining Armor as I rushed over to the crashed helicopter. As we rushed up to the crashed helicopter, one of my platoon members looked like he had his hooves kicked out from under him. He fell forwards and tumbled along the ground as a high caliber round slammed through his chest.

We all rushed up and took cover behind the crashed Huey which was on its side. I crawled up and into the helicopter. I was mostly filled with supplies but there were two door gunners who were killed in the crash. I looked to the pilot cabin where the co-pilot had a piece of metal lodged in the side of his head. The pilot however was alive, but was bleeding.

I unbuckled the pilot and tossed him over my back then crawled back out of the helicopter. A single bullet chimed off the metal carcass of the helicopter next to my hand and I let myself fall over the bottom of the helicopter and crash to the ground.

I looked to the platoon then pointed to where Shining had taken cover. “We gotta get back there right now” I said just as a war trumpet echoed again. I peeked around the corner of the helicopter to see a large charge of zebras swarm out of the treeline.

“Well it’s about time we go” I yelled and we all lept up and began to run back to the captain. I had the wounded pilot on my shoulder and the bulk of my gear weighing me down but I still managed to keep up with the others. One of the stallions in front of me tumbled forwards as a lone high caliber round slammed through his back.

I couldn’t stop to retrieve his body at the moment and would have to get it later. A mare in front of me fell as well, shit okay my fears had come true. There was a sniper about.

“Zig-Zag” I yelled and we began to scurry about in random directions to make it harder for the sniper to pick us off.

Luckily the entrenchment we had used for cover wasn’t too far away and we lept into the entrenchment safely before any-pony else was shot. “Eight is taking a real beating so I sent nine up to reinforce the front lines. Ten is on the secondary LZ. Seven is taking a beating so I sent six over to assist them. Three is still cut off” Shining told me.

Zebras swarmed out of the treeline like a swarm of locust. “Radio operator!” I yelled and he rushed over. I pointed to the zebras who swarmed towards platoons eight and nine. “Get some napalm on those zebras before they overrun eight and nine” I yelled over the sounds of gunshots.

“Sergeant Major, zebras are trying to flank us” yelled a private and I looked over to him and could here AK47s chattering a little ways into the jungle behind us. The radio operator began to dial in coordinates for the jets and I grabbed Moon Crater and Derpy Hooves. “Looks like we’re working together again” I said and led the duo towards the zebras who advanced towards us from behind our main lines.

“Alright you two stay here with the wounded” I said and Moon Crater looked to me. “But sir, we only have a few stallions that can fight” he said and I nodded. There was Moon Crater, Derpy Hooves, three stallions and four mares that could fight. The rest were wounded ponies.

“I’ll be back” I told him then rushed back to Shining Armor who was trying furiously to command the company that was slowly being overrun on all fronts.

Sgt. Caramel, third platoon:

We all lay there and waited, we were supposed to be rescued but the ‘Calvary’ hadn’t shown up yet. I looked into the thick jungle brush and thought I saw something move. “James: grenade. Thick brush, my 11 o’clock” I told him and we both tossed a frag grenade into the thick brush. There were terrific explosions and two zebras were tossed into the air.

Soon the air was filled with gunshots and zebras swarmed out of the thick patches of brush. “Open fire!” I yelled and we all began to fire at the advancing zebras. “Shit Sergeant, they’re right on top of us” screamed one of the platoon members. One of the zebras rushed right up to me and I opened up on him and riddled his body full of 5.56mm rounds.

His body twisted and turned as I pumped several bursts of lead into him and he fell back. I grabbed the radio and radioed the artillery stallions. “This is third platoon, I need heavy artillery bombardment on Whiskey Alpha 9-0-9-0-1-5 over” I yelled and the radio pony on the other side once again acknowledged my request. “Roger, artillery strike inbound, over”.

Soon the whistling sound of incoming bomb shells filled the air and explosions rocked the ground around us. I couldn’t keep my aim straight and several of my shots strayed off target.

We cut down the last of the zebras. “Any-one wounded?” I asked. “Danny, it’s Danny sir” yelled out one of the stallions and I rushed over to see that Private Danny had received several shots to the body and one stray round winged his throat. He lay there and began to enter shock as blood squirted from his wounds. I knew that there was no helping him out of this and he’d probably die of blood loss before we were saved.

“Plug his wounds” I said then crawled back over to the radio operator. I dialed in Captain Shining Armor. “Sir, we are getting killed out here. We need immediate evac, over” I yelled. There was a moment’s pause then my reply came.

“Uh, we copy you three… uhm hold your position and wait for five. They’ll be there soon, out” the other pony said then the line hung up. I swore to myself and I could hear James crying. “Fuck this shit man… we gotta get out of here” he sobbed and I rolled over to him.

“Hey Corporal… calm down, we’re gonna make it out of this. I promise” I told him, not really sure if I’d be able to keep my promise.

SGM. Clare, first platoon:

The two radio operators were having sever difficulties directing the air strikes. “Captain…CAPTAIN!” one of the radio operators yelled. Shining Armor quickly trotted over to him. “What’s the problem?” he asked.

“Sir, we are being overrun on all fronts. Eight and nine have zebras right on top of them, five and four are pinned down under heavy fire. Six is experiencing difficulty with seven in reaching five and four and three is still cut off. Ten is spread thin trying to hold the secondary LZ” the radio operator informed him.

Captain Shining Armor trotted out to the entrenchment and gave a dire look to the battlefield. We were heavily outnumbered and about to be overrun. “Looks like this is it” Shining muttered to himself. I grabbed him and pulled him back behind the cover of the dirt mound.

“Don’t say that. Don’t ever say it’s over until it’s actually over” I yelled at him. He was struck in fear I could tell. He had no idea what to do. “Captain, what are your orders… CAPTAIN!” I yelled but he just sat there, the fear of death now coursed through him. “FUCK!” I yelled than looked to the radio operator.

I walked up to him and he had the radio to his face as he tried to direct the flyboys. “Tell them… Broken arrow” I said and he gave me a look of expressionless curiosity. “DO IT!”