SGM. Clare, First platoon, dirt mound:

Third platoon had buried themselves under dirt and leaves to conceal themselves from the zebras. Out of a complete platoon of twenty, only seven members had come out alive and of those seven only three were combat effective.

I lit a cigar and took a puff on it. Sergeant Caramel had done exceptionally well in leading the platoon, given the circumstances. “That was some fine leadership Sergeant Caramel” I commented and she nodded weakly, she had a breathing respirator on at the moment.

“Sir… command wants us to evacuate the valley. They say to link up with the human forces, they have taken their objective and are now moving through the valley. They said they’d get us a helicopter evac” Harry said depressingly.

“That’s stupid. We’ve been here for almost three days and NOW they want to get us out when we’re just about to take this spot… no, they can go to hell” I said and Harry gave a look of uncertainty.

“What do I tell them?” he asked as he held the radio in his hoof. “Tell them we’ll evacuate tomorrow morning” I said and he scrunched his nose then relayed the message. “What? I just thought you said” Shining began but I cut him short. “We’re taking the peak tomorrow morning” I replied and he nodded.

I looked to Angel Eyes, looking more specifically at his Model 70 sniper rifle. It was much like mine except it was chamber for 30-06. “You might want a different gun for tomorrow, things are going to get a little hairy” I told him and he smiled then nodded as he unslung his Model 70 and gave a sigh.

Next Day, 5:45am, The Valley:

We were all somewhat exhausted. Some of the stallions and mares had trouble keeping their eyes open. I moved my tongue around in my mouth and looked to Angel Eyes, he had somehow gotten a hold of an M4 with a Masterkey Mossberg 500 attachment.

Danko and Owens were close by as well, along with Derpy and Moon Crater. I nodded to Shining Armor who readied his M16. “Gentlecolts… Mares… safeties off” he called out and there were several clicks, the auto selectors of several rifles, replying to his order.

“This ought to be good” Angel Eyes commented. He had a cool, icy tone to his voice. “Yeah… war has a way to be like that” I replied and he looked over to me and chuckled. “Isn’t it always so?” he asked rhetorically and we both chuckled. It was nice to be working with a human combat veteran, well veterans I guess.

“CHARGE!” Shining ordered and everyone lept up and began to charge forwards. I got to my feet, last night I had manually reloaded all my drum magazines by using the ammo from the stick mags.

A zebra lept up and motioned for his buddies to move forwards but I was already drawing a bead on him. He looked forwards to charge but I held back the trigger on the Thompson and blew him away with a quick burst that ripped several bloody holes through him.

Zebras screamed in native tongue, probably war chants or something, as they charged. We all fired our rifles and zebras seemed to be taken off their hooves or knocked back. The hill climb was steep, zebras poured down it like wildfire.

Angel Eyes quickly knelt down and fired several bursts at charging zebras, several of them twisted and fell back as his rifle blasted them away with jacketed 5.56 NATO rounds. Despite the size of the .22 caliber round used, the bullet had a real nasty bite to it.

“Come on you stupid animals, Danko has present for you” Danko yelled out as he impaled a zebra with two large machetes then cut the machetes out in two different directions. The zebra’s body fell in two separate pieces but Danko was already on the move, utilizing his AN-94. The AN-94 was truly a magnificent rifle. Despite being of Russian manufacture, it had a quite impressive auto selection that allowed it to fire a two round burst mode, which somehow used the recoil gas operation and the barrel blowback to fire two rounds at the same time. It resulted in a rate of fire exceeding 1600rpm.

Moon Crater let out something between a war cry and a scream. He was kind of young so I think he hadn’t developed his war cry yet. He fired his M14 Juggernaut from the hip and the 7.62x51mm rounds kicked zebras off their hooves and they began to tumble down the hill.

Owens charged forwards with a group of ponies, taking more precisely aimed shots with his C7 carbine. Zebras would be kicked back onto the ground as he shot them down. A small group of three zebras lept out of the brush in front of me and I stopped then leveled my Thompson at the hip and held the trigger back.

.45 caliber rounds ripped through them like tiny rockets. Their bodies were ravaged by the medium pistol caliber rounds that spurted blood out of their exit wounds .They fell back to the ground in a slump and I continued on.

As we continued on I saw a small little cluster of branches and leaves that looked like it just didn’t belong. I waited for the others to charge past it then quickly went over and kicked down what I suspected to be a hidden passage. Sure enough it was.

I entered the passage and to my surprise it was lit by small lights. I didn’t know they had power back here, unless they had generators. I walked through the tunnel until I came to a large room where a lone, finely dressed, zebra sat with some papers on a desk. I set my Thompson against a crate and walked into the room

“BAM-BAM-BAM, Rambo eh?” he laughed. “No, The Sarge. And you must be The General” I guessed and he stood to his hooves. “Kim Yung, Zebra Army” he said proudly. “Commies huh? It figures. So what went wrong? Celestia turn you down for a loan?” I asked jokingly.

“Equestria will no longer profit while we suffer. We will have our supremacy!” he yelled as he spun a little letter opener on his hoof. “Yeah so I suppose giving out half million bounties is the way to make money huh?” I chuckled. “Cease with your petty insults” he yelled and I laughed as I drew out my S&W 500 magnum. “Or what?” I laughed but he threw his little dagger knife like a spear that caught the barrel of my revolver and pulled it out of my hand. Damn he was good.

I quickly reached to both my Desert Eagles but as I was drawing them up for a shot he lept through the air and kicked me in the chest. My body was sent through the air and my grip on my two pistols was lost. My handguns fell out of my grip and cluttered to the ground.

“Let’s see how much of a badass you are without your guns” he challenged as I got to my feet. “You are so dead you little communist shit” I cursed as he charged at me. He must’ve known some sort of advanced judo, or perhaps Taekwondo because he had a very strange stance to him. ‘Hand to hand don’t fail me now’ I thought to myself as I stepped forwards to throw a hook punch but he caught it with a lightning fast hold and twisted my wrist.

I grunted in pain and he flipped me to my back. But as I landed he flipped in the air and landed on me with a powerful body slam. I quickly grabbed him by the back neck skin and threw him off my body. I staggered to my feet. I was really hoping that I’d never have to fist fight again but I guess fate was cruel.

Kim Yung rushed at me again and I tried to side step him but he read me perfectly and as he passed me he lept up and jump kicked my head with a slight spin in his body. I fell forwards to my knees and he quickly grabbed me in a hold similar to that of The Apache’s.

He began to brutally slam punches into my side that burned and stung with every connection. I tried to break free of his hold but unlike The Apache he was heavier and more muscular.

I winced in pain and realized that I couldn’t simply overpower him so I’d have to outsmart him. Could I outsmart this guy, he seemed pretty intelligent. I knew my arm was trapped and that he was pummeling me like a punching bag. I only had one option that I could think of.

I quickly pushed myself off my knees and that caught him off balance. I began to backpedal with extreme force and slammed his body into a bunch of crates that broke and shattered under the force of the collision.

He released his grip on me and I spun around with a powerful round house kick that connected with the side of his head. He was slammed to the ground and I could hear him let out a hiss of pain.

He quickly lept to his hind hooves and jumped at me. He tried to connect a powerful jump kick to the side of my head but I grabbed his hindleg and held onto it. He lost all momentum and simply dangled there helplessly. He thrashed but couldn’t do anything to break free.

I began to swing our bodies in a circle at an incredibly fast rate than released my hold on his hindleg. He flew through the air and smashed through some more wooden crates. Blood leaked down his forehead as he staggered to his hooves.

“Sorry pal, you shoulda asked for foreign aid” I said insultingly. “Equestria will never make us beg… never” he said as he went to draw out an Automag .44 Magnum from his hip holster.

Like a flash of lightning I drew out my, The Apache’s, Model 29 and fanned the hammer as I held back the trigger. In less than a second I had emptied the entire six round cylinder into Kim Yung who was tossed back into the pile of busted crates from the force of the powerful magnum rounds that slammed through his body. Blood splashed against the crates as the magnum rounds tore massive exit wounds in his body.

“That was for The Apache” I commented then turned to see Shining Armor. “Jesus… well I guess that takes care of that loose end” Shining said but I shook my head and pulled out a scrap of paper then pointed to another crate. “These crates have lots of money. When we get back make sure this village gets enough money to live without fears or worries. Make sure that they live a good life” I said as I handed him the scrap of paper. Shining Armor scrunched his nose.

“Why don’t you do it?” he asked and I smiled. “Trust me, I think you’d have more pull with getting them help” I chuckled then we rushed out of the tunnel system. “We’re about to take the peak. We were just waiting for you” Shining informed me. I nodded, “Well, looks like it’s about time we ended this huh?”