Dear Amber,

I wanted you to know that I am alright, fine, okay,

Manifest Destiny crushed the paper with magic, and then stomped on it for good measure. Of all the things that he was right now, “alright, okay, and fine” were none of them. He pulled out another sheet, and started again.

Dear Amber,

I wanted you to know that I am alive. Our squad lost two ponies, 801 and our medic, but everypony else made it. I’m alive.

They attacked us at breakfast, starting with artillery to unnerve us. Then they charged, and every squad except for ours in our company ran away. They just ran.

Manifest stopped for a second, and looked away from the paper, a flame burning in his eyes. ‘We could have stopped them,’ he thought. In front of him, the squad was busy digging out the trench, ‘The Line in the Sand’ it was called, stretching from the bottom edge of the Unicorn Range to the Neighagra River. His break only lasted five minutes. He resumed writing.

They were able to run right past us, because we had nopony to help us. We were surrounded.

You’ve heard of how they have unicorns who can teleport, shoot flames, all those terrible things. We tried to fall back, and one of them attacked us. I watched as four ponies from sixth squad were burned to death. I watched bullets bounce from his armor.

I killed him. Shot him right through the head. I can’t stop thinking of it. When our squad fell back, we ran into a group of about 50 unicorns. They had lances. Just the 8 of us wiped them out. I killed at least 5 more then. I’ve killed six ponies. Dead. Gone.

They call us the Miracle Squad, because we were the only one that got encircled and made it back to our lines. The only ones. We’re heroes, of a sort. Heros don’t kill ponies. ‘

All that I know is that I’m not Static Sparks, not anymore. Static Sparks doesn’t kill ponies. Manifest Destiny does.

I’ll come back home, and I’ll be Static Sparks again, but until then, I’ll be a killer.

Manifest Destiny.

Manifest looked at the letter that he had just written. There was no way that he could send that off to her. It was too violent, too awful, and too negative. He couldn’t do that to her. With a pale blue glow from his horn he crushed it, and violently chucked it over his shoulder. He got up to his hooves, magically yanking his entrenching tool out of the ground before walking back to the squad.

They were all digging in silence, only the crunch of shovels in dry dirt being heard. Manifest jammed his tool into the ground, and then threw a shovelful onto the ground to the west, deepening the trench while also adding to their protective embankment. A cloud of dust blew from the pile that he threw back into his face, prompting Manifest to wipe his eyes. His hoof came back with a thin layer of sweat on it. He looked up into the burning July sun in a cloudless hazy sky. If he didn’t keep drinking he could get dehydrated soon.

He looked up and down the trench. Repeater was just to his right, 382 and 736 beyond him, the twins to his left. Cold Blooded and Joe were nowhere to be seen. He stood up on his hindlegs, trying to peer over the trench to see if he could find them.

Out to the west were open grassy fields, shimmering in the heat haze until they faded into the jumpy horizon. He glanced behind him to the multitude of ponies throwing up earthworks, digging trenches, trying to find the two. Back past the work he could see the twenty-five pounder field guns being dug in in the distance, and a few tents signifying the regimental headquarters. Looming in the far distance was Canterlot, a small outcrop on the side of the tallest mountain in Equestria.

“Manifest, ya gotta keep diggin’,” Repeater said. Manifest dropped back down into the trench and retrieved his entrenching tool. “Did ya write the letter?” Repeater asked as Manifest jammed his tool into the loose dirt.

“No, it was too…dark. She doesn’t need to have to read about what I did. She doesn’t need my baggage.”

“Well, ya got ta write her. Ah mean, she’s probably worried about ya, ya know?” Manifest nodded as he threw another shovelful.

“Yeah, but I keep on writing about that mage that I killed.” He turned to Repeater briefly. “You saw him, right?”

For once Repeater didn’t meet his gaze. “Ah try not ta think about it.”

Manifest resumed shoveling. “You did see him though.” Repeater nodded. “What do I tell her about that?”

“Pa always said tell the truth in as positive a way as possible. If ya don’t want ta disturb her with the details, just say that ya killed a mage, and saved the squad. And make no mistake, ya saved the squad. If ya hadn’t shot him, he woulda just worked his way on up and wiped us out at his leisure.”

“You saw what I did to him?”

“Ya saw what he did ta sixth.” Manifest fell silent. “Ah know that ya feel bad about killin’ him, but if ya didn’t then ya wouldn’t be writing any letters. Ah know it’s a horrible thing that ya did, but ya had ta do it. We all had ta. Understand?”

Manifest stopped and looked up at the city in the clouds above them, the rainbows falling like water from the edges before dissipating into the air. It was beautiful. He couldn’t reconcile the vision of the city in the sky with the body of the Unicornian he killed. “What do I tell her about the five I shot during the break out?”

“Don’t. Manifest, Ah shot-“he paused for a minute as he thought about it “-twelve ponies. The entire time, Ah just kept tellin’ myself, ‘don’t think about it’.” Repeater turned back toward Manifest. “Manifest, don’t think about it.”

“I don’t know if I can stop.”

Repeater starred at Manifest thoughtfully, and then asked, “Can ya still do your job though?”

“Yes.”

“That’s all that matters right now. Someday we’ll be able ta talk about this, but until the war ends ah just need ya ta keep on workin’.” Manifest nodded. “Just tell her that ya saved the squad, killed a mage, and helped us ta break out. Did ya tell her about our new name?” Repeater said with a slight grin, the first one that he had made all day.

Manifest didn’t smile as he continued to dig, not yet. “Yeah, the ‘Miracle Squad.’”

Repeater chuckled. “Ah think that she’ll be impressed by that. We’re heroes! Mares love war heroes, or so ah’ve heard!” Repeater grin slowly grew into a smile as he continued. “Ah imagine every mare in Fillydelphia is gonna be jealous a her. ‘Y’all know Amber’ they’ll say, ‘Ah hear that she’s datin’ a War Hero.’ ‘Oh really?’ ‘Yeah, a part a the Miracle Squad.’ ‘Celestia, really?’”

Manifest finally smiled. “I don’t remember any of the mares in Fillydelphia speaking with an accent like that.”

“Naw, just the ones worth keepin’ around.” Manifest shook his head. At least Repeater was happy. “Ya know, ah heard that we’re gonna be in the papers ‘cause everypony’s looking for a good story ta read, in light of the war and all. We make for a pretty good story, huh? The reporters are bound ta come by soon.”

Suddenly Manifest felt the happiness disappear at the occurrence of another thought. He couldn’t tell Repeater, not when he was looking up for the first time since the battle. Repeater sensed it though. “What’s up Manifest, what are ya thinkin’ about?”

Manifest sighed, ‘sorry, Repeater,’ he thought.

“What do we tell them about the medic and 801?”
The smile ran away from Repeater’s face. He turned away from Manifest and went back to digging. Manifest wasn’t there when it happened, he only heard that 801 and the medic died, hit with a 250 pounder. Repeater just dug in silence. Manifest dug with him. If Repeater didn’t want to talk anymore, then Manifest wasn’t going to force the issue.

“We’ll tell’em the truth, in as positive a way as possible,” Repeater said abruptly. “We tell’em that the medic was caught in the open, 801 went ta help, and they got hit.” He dug a little harder. “We don’t tell’em how the medic ran, or how 801 tried ta take over the squad, or how he tried ta pull a gun on me and the twins.”

Manifests eyes widened as he heard what Repeater was saying. “Celestia, he pulled a gun on you?”

To his left, Muddy Ruts piped up, “Yes, he did.”

“I stopped him, threw his gun down,” said his twin. Manifest looked over at the twins. One of them still had dried blood all down his back. It had been days since they had been able to wash up. Repeater kept digging, brow furrowed, and ears down.

“No matter what they were, if anypony asks ya about them, ya say they were hero’s.”

“Why?” asked the unnamed twin. “They don’t deserve it.”

“Ah know they don’t. But we’re gonna do it for their family. We ain’t tellin’ anypony what really happened. If ya had a son, he died, and then ya hear that he tried to threaten his own squad with a rifle, it would kill ya.” He jammed his shovel into the dirt with force. “Maybe someday we can tell everypony what really happened, but not yet.”

Repeater threw out another shovelful of dirt. For the second time since they had met, Repeater was angry. Manifest searched for something to say to make Repeater feel better. After all, Repeater had done that for him countless times. Before he could think of anything, Repeater spoke up. “Manifest, ya know where the MG team went?”

“No.”

“Go find them, they said that they were gonna set up the gun. Ah just let’em do what they want, Cold knows more about this then ah do.” Manifest stayed for a moment, wanting to say something. Repeater noticed his hesitation. With a slight, tired smile he spoke. “Go on partner, Ah’ll be alright.” Manifest nodded.

As Manifest trotted away, he shook his head in disgust. ‘You had to go ahead and ruin it, didn’t you? Everypony’s loosening up and you just have to mention how two of the squad died.’ He looked up and down the trenches for the MG ponies, but couldn’t find them. ‘801 pulled a gun on them though? I would have never thought that he would do that.’

He looked a bit more, and threw up a hoove in defeat. They were nowhere to be found. “COLD! JOE! Where the hay are you!”

“Out here, Manifest!” Cold called. His voice came from the field out west. Manifest hopped up to the lip of the trench and looked out. He couldn’t see anypony. A group of buckets about twenty five yards away drew his attention to a small hole. Manifest crouched down and leapt from the trench, and trotted over to the hole. He looked down to see a tired Joe, and a relatively excited Cold Blooded.

“Manifest, we’re gonna get so many Unicornians from here,” Cold said, almost smiling. At the bottom of the hole the machine gun was already set up, pointing northward at the side of the hole. Joe continued to dig, carefully putting the dirt into a bucket before levitating it out of the hole. The grass that they had displaced was laid out flat neatly next to the buckets.

“I don’t get it,” Manifest finally said. Cold simply shook his head as he looked to the ground in disappointment.

“Alright then, look north, what do you see?” Manifest looked to the north. About a foot away from the northern edge of hole there was a shallow irrigation ditch, which ran parallel to the trench for about the length of a football field.

“A ditch.”

Cold nodded. “Yes, a ditch. Its three feet deep and runs for 112 yards, I had Joe pace it out for me.

Manifest shrugged. “So?”

“This ditch is prime real estate. Look west, what do you see?” Manifest looked west now into the open plains. They were completely barren all the way until they faded into the wavering horizon in the distance.

“Nothing.”

“Yes. When the Unicornian’s attack they’ll have to run across that field. No cover. Nothing. They’ll be eating our artillery and bullets every step of the way. When they see this they’ll think it’s the answer to their prayers. This ditch will be filled to the brim.” He pointed at the Browns. “When it’s full, Joe pulls on this string, the tarp comes up, and the Unicornians have a machine gun pointing all the way down their cover.” He propped himself up on top of the hole and looked down the ditch, a ghost of a smile on his face. “We’re gonna get so many of them.”

Manifest looked down the ditch, and imagined it choked full with Unicornians. For a brief second he thought of the mage’s body again. He shook the thought from his mind. ‘Remember what Repeater said, don’t think about it.’ He turned over to Cold Blooded, who seemed lost in his own world as he looked down the ditch.

“Do you think you’ll be able to?” Manifest asked.

“What, shoot them?” Cold said as he snapped out of his daydream. Manifest nodded. “Yeah, I already hosed 30 of them at least at the Galloping Gorge.”

“Did you see what happened to them though?”

“They died.” Cold said matter-of-factly. “Little puff of red and they fell over.” Manifest looked Cold over closely, looking for any signs of emotion. He couldn’t find any. Cold Blooded was still cold blooded. Manifest decided to change the subject.

“How are you going to keep them from noticing your hole?” Cold nodded back to the tent tarp.

“We stretch this over the top of the hole, cover it with the grass. We’ll blend in with the earth enough that they shouldn’t notice, especially if they’re getting shot and blown up the whole time they sprint across this field. They won’t notice us until we pull up the tarp and start hosing them.”

Manifest looked back out west again. The Unicornians would be coming, maybe in a day, maybe a few weeks. Whenever they did though it appeared that Cold would be ready and waiting. There was nothing really left to see. Manifest looked on down into the hole at the pair. “Need anything?”

“Water,” Joe said, “it’s sweltering down here.” Manifest nodded.

“Alright then, water.” He turned and trotted back to the trenches.
.

Repeater jammed his entrenching tool into the soft earth again. Digging was strangely liberating. He didn’t have to think of the squad, or the casualties, or the killing, anything. All he had to do was move dirt from the bottom of the trench up to the top. He had calmed down from thinking about the ponies who ran, who tried to take his squad from him, who died under his command.

He wasn’t thinking about that though, not now. Now all that he was thinking about was deepening this trench. He hardly noticed the hoofbeats approaching from his left.

“Would you like help with the digging, Sergeant?” Repeater turned over to face Muddy Ruts, standing by with entrenching tool in hoof.

“Don’t ya have your own bit of trench ta dig?” Repeater asked.

“My name is Muddy Ruts, sir. I’m good at digging.” Muddy Ruts said as he nodded to the bit of trench behind him. His twin was still digging, but the section that Muddy had worked on appeared to be as deep as the trench was required to be. “Would you like help with the digging, Sergeant?”

Repeater shook his head. “No, Ah’m fine, but your brother may want some.” He faced the dirt again and stabbed again with his entrenching tool. This time though, his brain didn’t just shut off. Muddy talking to him reminded him of a question that he wanted answered. He turned to the twins. ”Back in the battle, ah was pinned under that tree, remember?”

The twins stopped and looked up at Repeater. “Yes, we remember.”

“Ah told ya’ll ta leave, but ya’ll ran through that barrage twice ta get me out. Ya disobeyed mah orders. Why?”

Muddy shrugged. “You told us to keep you alive.” His twin nodded.

“You said something along the lines of ‘if I’m in trouble, you save me or die trying.”’

“But Ah told ya just then ta go and leave me, and ya coulda been killed. Hay, ya almost were killed. Why’d ya come back?”

“We told you, you said we have to pay off a debt, so we’re paying it off.” Muddy said. Repeater sat for a moment. ‘These are the same two ponies that tried ta put mah relatives out of business, and they’re tellin’ me that they saved me because Ah told them they owed me?’ It didn’t add up. ‘There’s got ta be another angle here.’

The unnamed twin noticed the look on his face. “You told us to get you home, so we’re getting you home. That’s all there is to it.”

“Despite what you may think, we aren’t all bad.” Muddy chimed in. He lowered his voice as his twin went back to digging. “Don’t think that us saving you hasn’t had any consequences.” He nodded over to his brother, the dried, matted blood still on his back from the battle. “Stabbing that unicorn really messed him up.”

Repeater nodded. “Ah’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, it wasn’t your fault.” Muddy said, “He probably would have done it even if you weren’t in danger. You remember how the breakout was.”

“Ah know, ah just feel bad anyway,” Repeater finished. “Is there anything that ah can do ta help? Ya know, help him get over it?”

Muddy shook his head. “I don’t think so, Sergeant, I think the only thing for it is to give my brother time.” Repeater nodded once.

Over Muddy’s shoulder, Repeater could see Manifest walking through the trenches toward them. Repeater leaned around Muddy and called out. “Did ya find’em?” Manifest nodded.

“Behind me about twenty yards, then west twenty five. They’re dug in at the end of an irrigation ditch. They’re away from the trenches, so I don’t know how to connect up with them other than getting out and running overground.” Repeater looked to Muddy.

“Ya said ya were done with your part a the trench?” Muddy nodded. “Alright, Ah want ya ta take five, then help your brother finish his bit. Once ya’ll have done that then you’re gonna dig a tunnel from here ta their foxhole.” Muddy threw a salute.

“Alright, Sergeant, when do you want it done?”

“Before the Unicornians show.” Muddy nodded again. “Bring your brother over here, would ya kindly?” Muddy turned and went to fetch his brother as Manifest trotted up to Repeater. He turned around and looked at the twins.

“Celestia, look at him.” Manifest said, nodding at Muddy’s twin. “He still has the blood and guts running down his back.”
He turned to Repeater. “When are we going to be able to wash up? We look like we’ve been to Tartarus and back.”

“Well partner, we kinda have, haven’t we?” Manifest shrugged then nodded in agreement. “Anyways, Ah don’t know when we’ll wash up, this may well be our look ‘till the war ends.”

“I was afraid you would say that.” Manifest said in disappointment. “I guess that he gets it the worst, with the blood and all.” Repeater turned over to him quickly.

“What did ya say there partner?”

“I guess he gets it the worst, with the blood and all?” Manifest said quizzically.

“Naw, earlier, ya said he still has the blood and guts runnin’ down his back.”

“Yeah.” Manifest looked in confusion. Repeater started to smile again.

“Manifest, you’re a genius.”

“What?”

The twins trotted on over to them, and lined up before Repeater. “You wanted something, Sergeant?” they asked in unison.

“Ah just wanted ta thank ya’ll for what ya did for me. It means a lot ta me, ya’ll doin’ what ya did. So thanks.” The twins nodded. “Also, Ah got somethin’ for ya,” Repeater said as he pointed at the unnamed twin. “Your new name is Bloody Guts. Feel free to let it be known. It even rhymes with your brother’s name. Alright, ya’ll are dismissed.”

“Thank you, sir,” Bloody Guts said, perking up a little. He hesitated for a minute, then turned to go follow his brother. Repeater faced Manifest.

“See, Ah told ya ya were a genius.”

Manifest nodded, “I know.” The two ponies sat there for a second, looking at the newly christened Muddy and Bloody brothers and the ponies further down the trench, digging away. Manifest spoke. “I’m sorry about earlier.”

Repeater shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, ah needed ta get it out a mah system. Besides, it ain’t gonna happen again, ‘cause ah’ve got a great squad.” He looked up and down the trench. “When the Unicornians come again, ah know ya’ll will be ready for them.”

“Will everypony else be?” Manifest asked. Repeater looked down at him again.

“Were you this negative back in Fillydelphia?”

“I think so.”

Repeater shook his head. “Well Manifest, if we have a good leader, then ah think they will be.”