“I’m awake!” Sparks shouted, but he didn’t know why. His voice sounded wrong even as he said the words. He opened his eyes. In front of him was an earth pony, roughly his size. He wore a woolen uniform and a gas mask on his face. On his saddle there was a large searchlight, closed up and off.

“Good to hear, Commander. For a moment there, I thought that you had gone ‘back home early’ on me,” The pony said, voice warped by the gas mask that he wore. Sparks became aware that he was wearing one too, the lenses distorting his vision and the feeling of leather on his face. Funnily though he couldn’t really feel the weight, it felt removed by miles from his head.

“Found anypony?” the pony in front of him asked. Sparks shook his head

“No, nopony yet, not even any bodies.” Sparks didn’t choose to say what he said, but he said it anyway. He looked around behind the pony. Snow and ash fell in equal parts from the sky, a dark ominous grey. All around him, dust hung in the air like a mist, obscuring his vision. Through the dust he thought that he could make out something towering overhead.

“You should hit your headlamp, Commander,” the pony said, and Sparks lifted a hoove up to his gasmask and pulled a lever he didn’t know was there. A light cut through the gloom. The towering thing was nothing more than shattered concrete and rebar, jutting up towards the sky at crazy angles, as if it was trying to escape the devastation on the ground. Sparks panned his head around, following the headlamps beam. There was nothing but rubble.

“I’m heading over here, Commander, going to see what I can find,” the pony said as he pointed a hoove off into the dust. He started trotting off, leaving Sparks on his own.

Suddenly the sound of static filled the air, and Sparks looked quickly to his right to see where it came from.

“All –orces in the aff--- -one –ve on a eas---ack. –apid response teams are---, -andby…”

The noise from the radio on the right side of his saddle faded out into nothing, and Sparks began to walk through the rubble. ‘I think I’ve done this before,’ he thought. ‘But it was different last time, right? Was there a last time?’ He continued trotting through the rubble, but he never felt his hooves touch the ground.

“Commander, I’ve found some,” a voice called out from the gloom. It was the earth pony. He didn’t sound excited. Sparks headed toward the voice. Soon he saw him, standing in front of a pile of rocks. “It isn’t pretty, Commander,” the pony said, pointing a hoove at the pile before him. Sparks trotted closer to see.

With a howl the wind picked up, and the dust flew so thick that Sparks couldn’t see a thing. It blew harder, and Sparks threw himself upon the ground to shield himself. He closed his eyes. The wind stopped. He opened them.

He was in an empty field in the middle of the night, a full moon bathing the countryside with silver light. He looked over himself, and all of the implements of war that he had were gone. He now looked forward.

In front of him were woods, the trees reaching up to incredibly tall heights. In the woods was a unicorn, looking at him with glowing eyes.

Sparks jolted upright and looked around hurriedly. He was in a ditch, ‘Why am I in a ditch!’ he thought in alarm. ‘Wasn’t I in a field a second ago?’ He looked up out of the ditch, and above him trees extended until they disappeared into the thick morning mist. ‘Oh, right,’ Sparks thought in mild annoyance. It was a dream.

He checked over his shoulder to make sure that he still had his SMCC and saddlebags at the ready, then peeked out from his muddy foxhole. The steady drone of crickets emanated from the forest around him, punctuated by the calls of songbirds. The woods stretched out over flat wet ground and into the fog. He continued looking out west for a minute, slowly scanning from left to right for anything suspicious. Apart from the noise, the woods were still.

He continued panning right, now making out the small indents in the forest floor that indicated friendly foxholes. Finally, he rested his eyes on a small fire to his direct rear, and the ponies sitting around it. Repeater raised a hoove a waved him over. Sparks crouched back into his foxhole, and then leapt out in a bound and trotted over towards the campfire.

“Take a seat, Manifest Destiny, breakfast is almost ready,” Repeater said with his customary grin, and for once Sparks grinned right back. Manifest Destiny. His new name. He looked around the campfire. So far it was him, Repeater, Joe, and 382 around the fire. Repeater and 382 were cooking something over a skillet.

“Do you think the smoke is going to attract attention?” Sparks asked. Repeater Shook his head, and stoked the small fire more.

“Naw, the fire’s small, and it’s a misty mornin’; the smoke’s gonna dissipate before it gets into a position that any unicorns can spot it from. And besides, this here wood is Elm, it ain’t green anymore, and it’s dry, so it won’t smoke anyway.” He looked up at Sparks. “Have you ever gone campin’ before?”

“No.”

Repeater looked down and shook his head in contempt. “Well, Ah guess that Ah don’t know what Ah expected. It don’t matter though, ‘cause me and 382 here have. Settler ponies, ya know? Anyways, we’re makin’ breakfast.”

382 nodded. “Yeah, pancakes, biscuits, scrambled eggs. We’re used to making breakfasts like this.”

Joe spoke up, “I could make a pretty good breakfast, if I had an oven.”

“They make those, you know?” 382 interjected. “Little ovens that are good for camping. You put hot embers on top of them and it bakes the stuff inside. Dutch ovens, they’re called.”

“Really?” Joe asked. 382 nodded. “Then I need to get one,” Joe stated, “make breakfast pastries like I used to. I used to be-“

“Shove over Joe. I need to take a seat.” Cold-Blooded grunted as he shoved Joes shoulder. Joe scooted to the left and let Cold-Blooded sit down, then shoved him right back, knocking the comparatively small earth pony to the ground. Everypony save Cold-Blooded chuckled as the pony got back up into sitting position.

“Manners, Cold,” Joe said jokingly, “You gotta be nicer to your squad mates, am I right?”

Cold-Blooded fumed for just a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah, I’m not a morning person. Especially when there’s a war on.” The smile crept away from everyponies face. Until now it had simply been a campout with an overabundance of rifles, but Cold-Blooded had brought them back to earth. “I was just talking with a few Royal Guard ponies, trying to find out what I could first hand. You want to hear it, Sergeant?”

Repeater sighed heavily. “Well, ah guess that ah have ta. Tell me what ya learned.”

“Alright then,” Cold-Blooded said. “Good news first, you know all those stories that we heard back home, about how they can teleport and make fire appear from thin air?” Repeater nodded. “The good news is that most of them can’t do that, they’re just ponies with guns like us. The bad news is that some still can. The guardsponies called them Mages, and they seem pretty intimidating.” He paused for a moment, staring at the campfire as he thought. “That wasn’t what they really seemed concerned about though.”

“Really?” Sparks asked. “They weren’t concerned about ponies that teleport and conjure flames?”

“No, they were concerned about their artillery.” Cold paused as he thought about it for second, staring into the crackling campfire before him, then he looked back up at Repeater.

“If they are correct, then the unicorns’ artillery – it’s – it’s 200 millimeters.”

“Dear Celestia,” Sparks said, the meaning of the statement sinking in. Everypony else around the fire stared blankly. Repeater threw up a hoove in defeat.

“Ah’m sorry, but 200 millimeters don’t mean a thing to me. Can ya say it like a regular pony?”

Sparks turned to him. “Two-hundred millimeters means about 8 inches in bore, and that’s big. Our biggest gun is the 25 pounder, and that’s 88 millimeters.”

Repeater furrowed his brow and looked up as he mentally crunched the numbers. “So that’s ‘bout a sixty pounder they got then?” Sparks shook his head.

“No, because the round is longer as well. They probably have a gun that shoots a two hundred pound projectile.
That’s 8 times ours.” Everypony was silent for a second, only the steady crackling of the fire and chirping of songbirds providing soundtrack.

“What does a 200 lb explosion look like?” 382 asked. Nopony answered. Nopony could. They sat around the fire in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Sparks looked up at the canopy that disappeared into the mist above him. It looked so peaceful, so picturesque. He saw a pair of songbirds chasing each other through the trees, and more than a few squirrels bounding through the branches. He tried to envision an explosion in the midst of it. He didn’t know how to.

The ponies became aware of the clip-clop of hooves approaching behind them, and turned to face it. A unicorn that they had never meet before was trotting over, coated in the standard equestrian brown earth dye. He trotted right up to the fire.

“Which one of you is Repeater Rifle?”

Repeater raised a hoove, “That’s me. What can ah do for ya this fine morning’?” he said cautiously. The unicorn faced him.

“I understand that two ponies in your squad are in the business of digging foxholes?”

Repeater relaxed, and smiled broadly. “Yessir, they most certainly are. I ‘spect you need a hole dug for ya then?” the unicorn nodded. “Well, if ya give me four bits and your location, then ah’ll point them right to ya when they get on back.”

“421rst Alpha Company, 4th squad. You’ll find us a half mile to the south.” The unicorn levitated four bits out of one of his saddlebags and laid them on the ground.

“Thank ya much, Ah’ll let ‘em know when they get back.” Repeater said as the unicorn began to trot back off into the morning mist. Repeater grinned as he looked at the bits before him.

“Ya know, this whole debt that they gotta pay me back on is a pretty good deal. Where are those two ponies, anyways?”

“Last I saw they were digging out me and 801’s foxhole,” said 382.

“Bring ‘em on over, would ya kindly?” Repeater said. “Breakfast is ready anyhow.” 382 got up and trotted off to back to his foxhole, leaving the others by the still crackling fire.

They sat in silence again, back to fighting the ever present war against their own fears, keeping them hidden from the other ponies. Sparks dug into his saddlebags and pulled out a pencil and notepad that he kept with him. The best way to fight the fear, he found, was by writing to Amber.

“What day is it?” Sparks asked as he began to write.

“It’s the tenth, partner,” replied Repeater. “What are ya writin’ about?”

“The same stuff that we just talked about. Telling her about it.”

“Has she wrote ya back yet?” Sparks shook his head.

“I imagine that she has, but we just arrived at the gorge yesterday, any mail sent to me wouldn’t show up yet.” Sparks continued writing, and it was quiet once more. Joe spoke up after a short time.

“I’ve never been in woods like these before. Never camped out either. We don’t have that luxury in Manehatten. The closest that we would ever get to camping was when Mom would let me and my brother go out onto the fire escape and count the stars. We had a little telescope, and we would look at the Mare in the Moon. My brother, he always would recall the legend, and I never believed him. I had to give him one hundred bits when he was right.”

He spoke to no one in particular. He spoke just to put himself at ease. Nopony interrupted him though. Anything was appreciated. Joe trailed off. “I miss that fire escape,” He concluded weakly.

Approaching hoovesteps signaled the return of 382 with the twins. Repeater perked up a bit at the sight of them. Sparks turned to look at them. The twins were both covered in mud, and glistening with sweat. In the cool morning, steam rose off of their bodies as they panted for breath. They flopped down in front of the fire as their legs gave out from under them. Repeater just chuckled.

“Diggin’ foxholes is gettin’ ta the two a ya, ain’t it?” Muddy nodded once, his bother too tired to even do that. Repeater grinned even more. “Well, ya’ll will be glad ta know that ya’ll are becomin’ famous ‘round here. Just got the first request from somepony outside the company. Gave us four bits for a foxhole.” Repeater slid one bit along the ground to the two exhausted ponies.

“And as per the deal we, what did ya’ll say again? Ah, that’s right. We ‘split those sweet, sweet profits 75-25’,” Repeater said with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “And I’ll even throw in breakfast for free.”

The twins looked at the bit with contempt, until Muddy spoke. “Where were you when we were doing all that work?”

“Makin’ ya’ll breakfast, and advertising ya ta all the other ponies. It’s hard work, ya know? Earned all 75 percent a these profits.”

“But you didn’t do anything!”

Repeater laughed, “A course Ah didn’t! That’s the best part!” The twins were not amused. “Come on now, Ah’m just doin’ what ya’ll wanted ta do ta mah cousin and her entire family.” Now the twins shifted uncomfortably. “That’s what Ah thought. It don’t feel too good, don’t it?” the twins remained silent. “Consider this ya’lls first lesson, and keep the bit so that ya’ll will remember.”

“Anyways, breakfast is ready.” Mess kits were passed around, and given small helpings of eggs, two pancakes, and a biscuit each. Silence reigned again as the ponies began to eat breakfast. Joe broke the silence again.

“Is camping always like this? A lot of silence and waiting?”

“Only if nopony talks about anything,” said 382. “Anypony got anything to talk about?”

Silence again. The obvious thing to talk about was the war, which hung over them like the morning mist in the trees. Still though, nopony wanted to admit that it truly existed yet, save for Cold-Blooded. He never talked anyway.

Sparks thought of something though. “I had this dream last night.” Everypony perked up and looked expectantly in his direction.

“Well, spill then partner. What happened?” asked Repeater.

Sparks cut out a bit of pancake, and levitated it up to his mouth as he remembered back to his dream. “Well, it was getting dark, and it was snowing, and it was dusty. I was in a gas mask, and I was walking around with some other pony looking for something. It was all wreckage.”

All the ponies looked a bit unnerved as Sparks spoke. He had broken the unspoken rule of not mentioning the war unless it was necessary. Only Cold-Blooded seemed interested.

“What happened?” he asked

“I don’t remember,” finished Sparks lamely. He wracked his brain as everypony continued with breakfast. “Wait, I ended up in this field, and I was outside of the woods.” Everypony looked back to him mildly interested in what he had to say. “I saw somepony in the woods, it was a-“

The ground shook. The woods fell silent.

A pair of songbirds took flight suddenly, flying east as fast as they could. The dew that had accumulated on the trees was shaken off, and fell to the ground like a light rain, pitter pattering on leaves as it fell to earth. Everypony looked into the mist to the west.

There was a deep muffled ‘thud.’

“Celestia,” whispered Cold-Blooded, his eyes fixed on the woods.

Their wait was over. The war had come.

Author's Notes:

If you've played Call of Duty recently, you'll see that there's this warning at the beginning of the game. It says "this game is really violent." consider this that warning. Next chapter the gore tag kicks in, but I'm not certain its bad enough to need a mature tag. if you people think so, then I'll add add one, but until that point I'm keeping it where it is.