Manifest looked out across the sea of corpses in front of him, at the shattered fence and the cratered moonscape that the artillery had left behind. Smoke poured out of every opening of Repeaters Marechester as the earth pony set it down. Underneath the screams from the dying they could hear the rumble of artillery fire off in the distance. Repeater hopped down into the trench with a splash, and took a drink from his canteen.

Manifest couldn’t take his eyes off of the field. It was desolation, desolation and death. The smell of smoke and burning and something new, something worse, clogged his nose. He could only hear from one ear. He remembered what he saw at the Battle of the Galloping Gorge, the Mage he shot. This was worse, but it wasn’t.

Bodies by the thousand lay out in the field, each one mutilated in new and horrific ways, and he looked at them all. Bullet wounds were everywhere, shattered limbs attached to perforated corpses. In the distance, he could see lumps of blown apart ponies. He thought of the leader of the Unicornians second wave, how he stepped forward, and then just ceased to exist, vaporized by 25 pounds of high explosives.

Everypony on the edge of the trench was looking at the same sight, taking in its horror. Only Repeater sat at the bottom. Manifest thought that he heard something behind him through his good ear, and turned.

“Ya shouldn’t be lookin’ at that,” Repeater said, not looking at Manifest as he said it, but instead fixated on the body of the Mage in the trench. “Ah shouldn’t be lookin’ at this.” The Mage had blood running down its neck, its brains hanging out of its mouth from where they were blasted by Bloody. Repeater shook his head and tore his eyes away, and straightened up.

“Squad! Listen up!” the others in the squad finally tore their eyes from the field. “736, 382, ah want ya’ll ta get him outta mah trench,” he said as he motioned to the mage. “Bloody, Muddy, ah want ya’ll ta take a look at mah rifle. It’s darn near red hot, and it near burnt mah hoof off. See if ya can make any ideas ta fix that. Manifest, Ah want ya ta check on Cold and Joe. Understood?” The ponies nodded. “Dismissed!”

736 and 382 walked up to the Mage and picked him up. Fresh blood poured from the neck wound, and the armor creaked from the strain as they began to trot off. The twins trotted over to the Marechester and stared at it, not mentally ready to attempt to do anything. Repeater looked at Manifest. “Partner, do ya remember what ya did at the battle of the Gallopin’ Gorge, when ya killed the mage?” he said, still looking strong.

“I think so,” Manifest wearily answered.

“Can ah do that?” Repeater asked.

“Yeah.”

Repeater heaved over and threw up onto the floor of the trench, the scent mixing in with all the other horrible stenches. Repeater looked back up slowly. “Thanks partner.”

“Are you going to be alright?” Manifest asked. Repeater took another drink from his canteen as he looked at the wall.

“Yeah, just give me a few minutes, ya go on and check on Cold and Joe.” Manifest started heading toward the hole in the wall that lead to the machine gun nest his right front leg ached with every step that he took. Ahead of him he could see ponies from the other squads, their faces blank as they looked out at the field. Manifest stopped next to the hole and leaned his head in. He could hear whimpering.

‘Oh Celestia, no,’ he thought in horror. “COLD! JOE!” he yelled down the hole. There was no response. He immediately crawled in and started toward the light at the end. ‘Not Cold and Joe’ he thought. If they were dead or dying… no, they couldn’t be. But they hadn’t answered. He crawled faster, despite the pain in his leg. He could hear the whimpering clearer now. He was getting close to the corner that hid their machine gun. With a splash Manifest stepped into some water as the tunnel slowly went deeper. He rounded the corner.

Joe leaned up against the wall, holding Cold Blooded. Cold clutched at Joe and sobbed into the pony’s chest. Joe looked up at Manifest, who stared on in shock.

“I-is he hurt?” Manifest finally asked. Joe shook his head softly as the pony kept crying into his hooves.

“Not physically,” Joe said. Cold kept sobbing. He glanced over at Manifest quickly, and then buried his head again.

“What happened?” Manifest asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Joe looked out past the smouldering machine gun and nodded. Manifest leaned his head around the corner.

For 100 yards the ditch was choked with bodies, each one shot up to the point of being unidentifiable. The unicorns were grey underneath, but each was painted red with their blood and the blood of their countryponies. Manifest looked at them. One had his muzzle blown from his face, still connected by a red sliver of flesh. One was just a red mound. A leg lay on the ground just a few feet away. Manifest looked away at the ground. ‘Keep it together.’

Cold looked up from joes chest, looking down the trench, tears still falling from his eyes. “L-l-look at what I d-did,” He sobbed. “I s-s-shot them all. E-even when they ran. E-even w-when they were all d-dead.” He flung a hoof out and hit the machine gun suddenly. “IT WOULDN’T LET ME STOP!” he yelled. “I-it kept shooting them! T-they w-were already dead and it kept shooting them...” He looked over at his hoofs. “I got their blood on me, and it won’t wash off.” Manifest lifted a hoof out of the standing water. It was a muddy red. It wasn’t water.

Cold looked over at Manifest. “I don’t want to be Cold Blooded anymore.”

Manifest tried to think of something to say for a moment, as Cold went back to crying. “I-its ok Cold. You’ll be fine. We’re going to get you out of here and send you home, and then you won’t have to be Cold Blooded anymore.”

“NO!” Cold yelled, looking at Manifest, his eyes red from the tears. “I’m not leaving!” he shoved himself away from Joe, and sat on his own for a moment. “I don’t want to be Cold Blooded,” He muttered. “I have to be Cold Blooded.” He spoke low, just barely able to be heard. He looked out of the hole down the ditch, and sniffed back a tear.

“If I can do anything to end this war and go home, even by a second, I’ll do it.” He shut his eyes and wiped away the tears with a bloody hoof, smearing Unicornian blood on his face. He looked back at Manifest and Joe, his eyes wide, red and lifeless.

“I’ll never cry again.”

Calvary Charge looked out at the field through his binos, a smile growing on his face.

“My colts whipped them,” He said as his grin swelled.

He couldn’t see too well through the light rain, but he could see a lot of dead Unicornians, and a lot of living Equestrians. That poindexter Clockwork Engine may be a war profiteer and defeatist, but Calvary Charge couldn’t argue with the pony’s cannons. Right now the 25 pounder shells were chasing the Unicornians back to their lines every step of the way.

And the Royal Equestrian Calvary would be right behind it. The Unicornians were broken, no doubt about that. His colts on the other hoof were probably biting at the bit, waiting for their general to let them off the leash so that they could run across the field and kick the Unicornians out of the country. And he would let them.

He turned over to the ponies at the radios in the bunker behind them. “Transmit orders for full attack to all regiments in one quarter hour.”

One of the pony’s eyes widened. “Sir, are you sure?”

“Absolutely. The unicorns are busted, and we’re going to crush them.” He looked back out at the field and smiled some more. Today, he and his colts were going to be the heroes that won back Equestria.

Manifest crawled out of the hole and back into the trench, leaving Cold and Joe behind. He immediately turned left and started toward Repeater. Repeater was propped up on the trench looking out. Manifest hopped up alongside.

“How are Cold and Joe?” Repeater asked.

“Surviving,” Manifest said. He looked out at the bodies strewn across the field. The screams had softened, but they were still there. “I think that the battle rattled Cold.”

“The battle rattled everypony,” Repeater said. “The twins have just been starin’ at mah rifle for the past five minutes. Look at everypony.” He looked around, Manifest did as well. “They’re dead ponies walkin’,” Repeater said grimly. The description wasn’t far off. Nopony moved with energy, each with a blank look on their face as they stared beyond what they could see. Repeater looked back out at the field. “Ah guess that we’re just a little more used ta it.”

Manifest looked out there too. Now that Repeater had stopped talking, there was nothing to distract from the screams. Manifest looked up and down the trench again. He squirmed as another pony in the field cried out.

“Why isn’t anypony helping them?” he asked.

“Ah don’t know. Maybe noponys helpin’ them because noponys helpin’ them,” Repeater said. Manifest could tell by the pained expression on his face that Repeater wanted to do something, but the earth pony just sat there. Manifest dropped down from the top of the trench, he didn’t want to look at it anymore.

He looked over his shoulder and levitated his canteen out of his saddlebag, and as he lifted it he noticed a scrap of paper stuck to the side. He quickly unfolded it and read what it said as the rain came down and began to soak it.

Don’t choose to be someone that you’ll regret being.

He looked at it for a second, only a second, then folded it away. Today he had done a lot of things that he wasn’t proud of, but that he had to do. Today he had done a lot of things that he may regret. Now he had a choice to make.

He unslung his rifle and opened the bolt, slotting in a clip and jamming the rounds in, then slotting in another.

“Manifest! What the hay are ya doin’!” Repeater yelled down at him. “Why are ya loadin’ that rifle?!”

“I’m going out there,” Manifest said.

“No ya’re not!” Repeater said. Manifest closed the bolt and trotted over to the artillery cover dugout. He levitated out a entrenching tool and jammed it into the saddlebags. “Do ya hear me Manifest, ya ain’t goin’ out there.”

Manifest turned around and pulled out the paper, now damp from the rain. “Repeater, last night I had a dream. Princess Luna was in it, and she told me not to choose to be somepony I’ll regret being. If I choose to be the pony that sits here and does nothing while others suffer, I will regret that for the rest of my life. I’m going, even if it’s only to be able to say I tried to help.” Repeater held up a hoof to block him. Manifest stared at him. “Please.”

For a moment Repeater didn’t move, then finally he let his hoof down. “Ya be careful out there then, ya hear?” Manifest nodded.

The only way out into the field without having to cut the closest barbed wire fence was going through the tunnel back to the MG nest with Cold and Joe. Manifest ducked in, then quickly began to crawl his way on down. He rounded the corner and saw Cold and Joe again. Cold seemed to have recovered; he wasn’t crying at least. He just looked at Manifest.

“Why’d you come back?” Joe asked.

“I’m going out to the field,” Manifest said hurriedly as he stepped past the machine gun into the ditch.

“Good luck,” Joe said from behind him. Manifest tuned him out. Everypony that was in the ditch was dead, but he could hear yells coming from above and to the west. He scrambled up the edge of the ditch and onto the field.

He was standing alone, amongst the bodies. He quickly scanned around, looking for any unicorns that were still alive. He saw one around twenty yards away. He looked around the pony to see if there were any others nearby, but he seemed to be alone. Manifest started toward the unicorn.

As he got closer he could see the injury. A bullet had gone through the ponys flank and out the other side, soaking it in blood. The unicorn looked over and saw Manifest approaching. He stopped moving, but Manifest kept walking. He slowed down, and held out a hoof.

“It’s ok,” Manifest said to the unicorn softly, only a few yards away now. “I’m here to”-

His words were interrupted by a metallic ‘shink’. Manifest noticed a pale glow from the unicorn’s horn. He looked down. A small pin was suspended in the air, right next to the unicorn’s brace of grenades. Manifests eyes widened. He threw himself on the ground and put up a shield as fast as he could, praying that it would hold.

The grenade went off, blowing the unicorn up into the air. Manifest’s shield erupted with cobwebs, but held together as the bloody carcass fell to the ground next to him. Manifest dissipated the shield and shakily stood up. He looked at the body in shock.

“MANIFEST! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?” Repeater yelled from the trench. Manifest quickly looked himself over. He was unscathed.

“Yeah!” he yelled. The unicorn had landed on his back; ribcage blown open, the pony’s intestines draped along his body. “I’m fine!” he said. ‘Celestia,’ he thought. He looked back to the trench and froze. Everypony in the company at least had lined up along the trench to watch him. He couldn’t find Repeater, or even his squad. He turned back around to face the field.

He looked for another unicorn amongst the bodies, hopefully one that wouldn’t try and kill him. He saw one, tangled up in the barbed wire, but still breathing. Manifest started walking toward this one, moving cautiously the whole time, looking amongst the bodies for any potential martyrs. The unicorn was looking at him now. He was about fifteen yards away. Manifest stopped.

“I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to help. I’m going to take you back to the trenches and we’ll fix you right up.” The unicorn didn’t answer, just staring at Manifest with wide fearful eyes. Manifest looked down. This unicorn had a satchel of grenades too. “You’re going to need to get rid of those before I can help you.” The unicorn instantly clutched at the satchel, then winced in pain as the movement jammed some barbs into his flesh. “If you get rid of those, I’ll help you, we’ll fix you right up. Nopony’s going to hurt you.”

The Unicornian was looking just past him, and Manifest turned to see what he was looking at quickly. His rifle was mounted up on the saddlebag.

“I’m not getting rid of these until you get rid of that,” the unicorn said. Manifest turned back around toward him. “If you come toward me with that I’ll pull the pins, I swear.”

Manifest nodded slowly. The Unicornian was talking to him, which was better than the last one. ‘Just keep him talking,’ he thought. He looked wistfully back at the rifle. It was his only defense if anypony tried to attack. He saw the Unicornian, fear in his eyes that flicked back to the grenades he had.

“Alright, I’m putting it down,” Manifest said, slowly levitating the rifle out of his bags and laying it into the mud gingerly. “I dropped my rifle, will you drop the grenades?”

“So you can take me back to your generals for torture?”

“If you don’t let me, you’ll die out here,” Manifest answered. The unicorn looked away as the weight of that hit him.

“I don’t want to die.” For a second, Manifest wasn’t looking at an enemy soldier, he was looking at a pony who was hurt and afraid. He stepped toward him. Instantly the scared pony vanished, and the soldier returned. “STOP RIGHT THERE!” the Unicornian yelled. “I’LL BLOW YOU TO TARTAURUS! IF I DON’T GO HOME YOU DON’T EITHER!” Manifest froze on the spot.

“I just want to help you,” he said calmly, hoping that some of his calm would pass to the Unicornian.

“I don’t trust you,” the Unicornian said. Manifest thought about it for a moment. A bit of him wanted to turn and leave. But he couldn’t, and he knew it. He would just have to find a way for this Unicornian to trust him. The answer came to him, and he didn’t like it.

“If I let you keep a grenade, will you let me help you?”

“What?” the Unicornian asked in shock. “You’ll let me keep a grenade?”

“If you’ll let me help, yes,” Manifest answered. The Unicornian thought for a minute, then levitated a grenade out of his satchel and tossed the satchel away.

“Alright, you can come over, but if I even think that you aren't trying to help then we both go up.” Manifest slowly trotted over closer to the unicornian and looked at his wounds. The foreleg that didn’t hold the grenade was shattered by a bullet, and he had three strands of barbed wire wrapped around him. He had no way to get the unicorn out of it.

Manifest looked at what he had brought. His rifle was useless, his entrenching tool wouldn’t help. He didn’t even have anything to stem the bleeding from the unicorns wound. He looked in his saddlebags. He had rations, ammunition, but nothing medical. He couldn’t even help the unicorn he came all this way for.

“You said you would help me,” the unicorn said. Manifest looked back at him. He was bleeding from his shattered leg badly, his eyes wide with a slimmer of hope. Manifest couldn’t look at him. “Help me or I’ll blow us up.”

‘Come on! Think! I have to have something,’ Manifest thought. He had no uniform, no cloth. He did have his saddlebags though. Quickly he took them off and laid them on the ground. “Yeah, I’m working on it, don’t kill yourself just yet.” He leaned down and bit one of the ends of the saddlebags straps off, the taste of mud and leather on his tongue. He spit it out and bit off the other end. He now had an adjustable strap. He levitated it down and around the pony’s leg, above the wound, and started to tie it.

“This will help with the bleeding,” Manifest assured the unicorn. He hoped it would; he didn’t have a good idea of what he was doing. The medic was the only one who got good training, but he was dead. He looked at the unicorn, his eyes still wide with worry. He had to get the pony’s mind off of it.

“What’s your name?” Manifest asked. He finished tying, and looked around for another thing he could do. He couldn’t undo the barbed wire. He looked down at the pony. Hay, he probably couldn’t even drag him if he could get him out. The unicorn looked at him for a second. He opened his mouth, and then hesitated.

“We aren’t supposed to give our names.”

“Really?” Manifest said as he looked around. There was nothing more that he could do, except maybe keep the unicorn company. He decided to keep talking. “My name’s Manifest Destiny.”

“No it isn’t. All of our prisoners had fake names,” the unicorn said. Manifest could see seeds of distrust in the pony’s eyes. He glanced back at the grenade. Manifest stopped.

“Alright. My names Static Sparks and I’m from Fillydelphia. I worked at a movie theater, but always wanted to be an electrician. I don’t have a mark yet. How about you?”

The unicorn hesitated, unsure about saying anything. “My name’s Landscape. I painted the mountains outside of my village.”

Manifest looked around the field. “What’s your village?”

“Glacier Downs, in the north,” Landscape looked towards the equestrian trenches. “Some pony’s are coming.” Manifest spun around.

“Hey Repeater, Muddy, Bloody,” Manifest smiled. The earth pony stood a couple yards away, the twins flanking him on either side. “You brought them along?

“They wouldn’t let me go without ‘em. Can Ah come over?” Repeater asked.

“No Sergeant, you all just stand right where you are.” Manifest said calmly, looking back at Landscape. “I let him keep a grenade, as insurance, and I don’t want to risk getting anypony else hurt.”

“Manifest ya maniac! Get the hay away from him!” Repeater nearly yelled.

“No Sergeant, he’s ok, he isn’t going to hurt me, and he isn’t going to hurt himself. We’re all going to be good to each other, right Landscape?” the unicorn nodded. “See Repeater, he just needs help. His leg’s shattered, and he’s tangled in the wire. I put a tourniquet around the leg, but I can’t do anything about the barbed wire. Can you?”

Manifest heard some rustling from behind, then heard Repeater speak past something, “’ill ‘is ‘elp?”Manifest looked back over at Repeater, who had a set of metal shears in his mouth.

Manifest levitated the shears and replied, “Yeah. We’ll get you out of here, Landscape,” Manifest said as he cut the first wire.

“Landscape?” Repeater asked. Manifest nodded as he moved to the next wire.

“Yeah. Repeater and twins, Landscape. Landscape, Repeater and twins.” He shoved down on the shears, cutting the wire. “Landscape is a painter,” he said as he moved to the next wire, the unicorn staying still. He cut it, only one more kept the unicorn trapped, and Manifest cut that as well. He looked over to Repeater. “Should we get the wire out of him now, or take him to the trench and let a medic do it?”

“We’ll oughta take him ta the trench, ah’d hate ta tear him up tryin’ ta get it outta him.” Repeater sized the unicorn up, “Ah can carry him.”

“I don’t want to go,” Landscape said.

“If you don’t you’ll die; there’s no way you can walk on that leg back to your lines. We’ll fix you up, you just have to trust us.” The unicorn looked at his leg, then back to Manifest and Repeater behind him.

“You let me keep the grenade.”

“Yes Landscape, because I trusted you not to kill me. I trusted you and now you have to trust me. We aren't going to hurt you. Please.” Landscape nodded once, and then slowly moved the grenade away.

Repeater trotted over and laid down on the ground. “Can ya lift him on ta mah back?”

“Yeah,” Manifest said. He looked over to Landscape, “Can you move?”

“A little,” the unicorn answered. Manifest prepared to lift him when the twins interrupted.

“We’ll lift him. Ready, Bloody?”

“Ready, Muddy.” The twins horns glowed green and Landscape was lifted up into the air. Repeater crawled under the unicorn, and the twins let him down onto Repeater’s back. Repeater got up.

“Alright, let’s get him back,” Repeater said as he turned and headed back to the Equestrian lines. Manifest stopped and picked his rifle up out of the mud, and looked out at the sea of bodies again. He could still hear the crying of more wounded. “Hey!” Manifest spun around, Repeater was looking back at him. “Ya can’t save everypony, but we can save him. We can go back out for the others. Let’s go.” Repeater was right, Manifest turned and followed him back towards the lines.

They trotted through the ditch, careful not to disturb any of the bodies. Landscape looked around for a moment, then shut his eyes. Repeater hopped up out of the ditch and headed towards the last fence. The calvary ponies stood watching them the whole time. “Manifest, cut the wire, we can’t drag him through the tunnel.” Manifest nodded, and ran ahead of Repeater with the shears. He cut the wire and Repeater carried the unicorn up to the lip of the trench. All the calvary ponies watched silently, staring at the unicorn. “Ah need a medic,” Repeater said.

“Stretcher!” one of the calvary ponies called out. Manifest could see movement down the trench; he looked at the unicorn, who was looking at the Calvary ponies with wild eyes.

“Hey, Landscape, everything’s going to be alright.” A pair of ponies carrying a stretcher ran up, and Manifest lifted the crippled unicorn off of Repeaters back. He tried as hard as he could to hold the pony up, which was just enough to let the unicorn slowly fall onto the stretcher. Manifest let up and allowed his legs to fold beneath him. Celestia, he was tired. The stretcher bearers ran off.

“We could have carried him,” Bloody said. Manifest nodded wearily. He forced himself back to his hooves. There were still more ponies out there.

Repeater looked over at him. “Ya headin’ back out?” Manifest nodded wearily. “Alright,” Repeater said. He turned around.
“COMPANY! ATTENTION!” Manifest turned around to see The Artist heading from the command tent over to them. He looked furious. The ponies didn’t snap to attention, they just shifted their stares over to him. He stood up on the edge of the trench. He looked down at them, and Manifest saw his eyes begin to water. He looked away, out towards the field. He spat out his order.

“Mount lances, we’re going over the top.”

Everypony sat there in stunned silence. Celestia, they were going to attack.

“NO!” somepony yelled. The Artist glared off toward the voice.

“YES! It’s General Calvary Charges BUCKING ORDERS! Mount lances and prepare to go over the top. GO!”

The ponies began to move. Manifest looked across the top of the trench at The Artist. They knew each other; maybe he could try and stop him. “Major!” The Artist looked up at him. “You saw what happened to the unicorns, it’s going to be a slaughter if we go.”

“I know,” The Artist said softly. “And I’m sorry.”

Manifest stayed for a second, then jumped down into the trench. He had to find his lance. He looked up and down the trench. All the ponies were shuffling lifelessly. Manifest shuddered. They knew they were dead already. He ducked into the artillery cover dugout and immediately went to his footlocker. The rainwater was still there, and all of his paper was waterlogged.

‘Celestia, I’m not going to be able to write to Amber one last time’. He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out the note he had written himself. It was slightly damp, but he could still use it. He levitated up a pencil.

Amber, we just beat the Unicornians, but our general wants us to attack. After seeing what we were able to do to them, I don’t know if I’ll make it. I just want you to know that I love you, and I’m sorry that we didn’t try harder sooner. Maybe things could have been different.

Manifest didn’t know what to write, and his mind wandered to Amber. Maybe if he had just known sooner, they could have gone out and seen if there was a chance. He heard somepony coming in behind him and quickly jammed the note into the rafters. Hopefully there was a chance that it would get back to her someday. The lances were lined up against the back wall, and he levitated his up and turned to go outside.

“Maybe there’s a way to get out of it,” he heard one of the twins say. “There has to be something.”

“I’m sorry brother, but this looks to like it’s it for the Flim-Flam twins. All purchases are final and non-negotiable.” Manifest looked over and saw Bloody, hoof on his brothers back to try and comfort him. “Let’s just try and show the Unicornians our wares one last time.” Repeater walked into the dugout and grabbed up his lance as well, he looked at Manifest.

“Partner, for Celestia’s sake take your rifle, Ah’m gonna drop this as soon as ah get outta the trench.” Manifest nodded in agreement, then shuffled past him and back out into the trench. Cold and Joe had emerged from their hole, and were waiting with their lances at the ready. Cold stared up at the top of the trench intently.

The others came up now, each with a lance mounted on their saddles. They bunched up at the wall of the trench, lances poking up over the lip. Each also had their rifles at the ready on their saddlebags. Repeater looked at his squadmates to the left and right. “Everypony, as soon as ya get out into the field Ah want ya ta drop these lances and grab a grenade brace off a Unicornian. If the generals ain’t gonna outfit us for an assault then we gotta do it ourselves.”

736 looked up at the top of the trench nervously. “Sergeant, remember when you told me that your cousin knows the princesses?”

“Yessir.”

“Do you think if she put in a word for us they could keep us from going over?”

Repeater sighed. “Ah don’t think that the mail’s fast enough.” He looked up at the rest of the squad. “Don’t worry though, we’re The Miracle Squad, right everypony?” he said half-heartedly. There were tears in his eyes. “We’re all gonna make it.” He looked back at the top of the trench. “Good luck, everypony.”

Out above the trenches another pony was holding back tears. The Artist looked up and down the trench.

“What a waste of ponies.”

“What the hay do you mean he said ‘you have to give my colts all the help you can’?” Shining Armor said in confusion.

“He said that I needed to coordinate artillery for a creeping barrage from one mile ahead of their lines to one mile behind so that ‘his colts’ could break through. I told him that we don’t have the rounds or the range to carry that out, but he said he needed it because ‘my colts are begging to go and get them, and I won’t stop them’,” Clockwork said.

“So he’s going?”

“He’s sending the Calvary out in five minutes to cross the field.”

Shining Armor stood in disbelief. “I didn’t issue those orders.”

“It sounds like he’s going anyway,” Clockwork said. Shining looked back across the field. He remembered watching the battle, how the unicorns died by the thousands.

“Ace, do you think that we would be able to beat them?” Shining asked.

“If you attempt a frontal assault, no. It’s suicidal,” the griffon said.

“Get me the radio,” Shining ordered. “I’m going to put an end to this.” One of the lower officers brought the receiver over, and Shining lifted it up. “This is the Field Marshall for General Calvary Charge.” He waited a moment; silence came from the other end. “This is Shining Armor for Calvary Charge.”

The radio squawked, “This is Calvary Charge, go ahead Field Marshall,” the general said.

“General, I want you to stand your ponies down.”

“Field Marshall, we just licked the Unicornians! They’re on the run, and my colts are begging to go! We can win back Equestria today if you’ll let us!” the general protested.

“Stand them down, general! That is a direct order from a superior officer!” Shining was almost yelling into the radio piece. The radio was silent again. “Do your hear me, general? Stand them down!” Nothing. “General!”

Clockwork looked at his watch. “Four minutes until he starts the charge.” Shining threw the radio receiver on the ground. It was about a quarter mile to the forward observation post that Calvary Charge was at. He could make it. He ran out of the tent at full bore.

He had to make it. Or thousands of ponies would die needlessly.

The next minute and a half passed like a blur as Shining sprinted past artillery, into the trenches. With each step that he took, the mud splashed upon his white coat and blue tail, but he didn’t notice. He charged haphazardly through the trenches, and finally arrived at the bunker.

Calvary Charge snapped to attention as Shining skidded into the door. “Field Marshall! Our radio cut out on us before you could finish your sentence, we’ve been trying to contact you,” Shining glared at the pony as he breathed heavily.

“Well here I am, and here’s my message. Stand them down, now!”

The earth pony pointed at the radio. “The radios broken.”

“Then send runners. Stand them down, General Charge.”

Calvary put a look of pain on his face. “Field Marshall, we can beat them! We already have! If you let us fight, then we’ll be able to push these Unicornians all the way off the continent!”

“Stand them down!” Shining ordered.

“We can win this!”

Shining looked over and pointed at the officers in the trench. “You, stand them down!”

“Belay that order!” Calvary Charge yelled. “You and that war profiteer Clockwork are defeatists! You want us to lose! This whole war you’ve been falling back, losing Cloudsdale! Now we have them on the run and you are holding us back. Well, I’ve had it! I’m not going to let you take my victory from me!”

Shining didn’t know how to respond. The officer’s stood in stunned silence. Calvary stood in the center of the room, an angry confidence on his face. Shining heard a soft thump behind him. Suddenly Calvary’s mouth dropped open and his eyes widened.

‘cli-cli-cli-CLICK’

The sound was unmistakable. All emotions that Calvary wore before were gone, replaced by terror. “For Celestia’s sake, p-put that away,” he said quietly, all the authority gone from his voice. Shining looked over his shoulder.

Ace stood in the doorway. In his talons he held a large revolver. It was pointed at Calvary’s head.

“Stand them down or you die,” The room was dead quiet except for the sound of rain outside.

“Y-you can’t kill me,” Calvary stuttered.

“Yes I can. Easily. Stand them down.”

Calvary looked over to Shining Armor. “You wouldn’t let him kill me, would you?”

Shining paused, but only for a second. “One pony to save thousands, I’d make that trade. Stand them down.”

Calvary looked at shining with confusion. “B-but we can beat them.”

“Ten seconds,” Ace said.

Calvary looked at both of them. He turned to the officers. His ears were dropped, and he let his head down. When he spoke it was almost inaudible, but everypony could make out the the words.

“Stand them down.”