"WAKE UP! EVERYONE WAKE UP! WAKE UP! FUCK! GET THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW!"

"W-What's going on!?"

"The radio! Tune the radio to the military channels!"

"No, no no no...Not like this!"

"Why!? Why now!?"

Strawberry ran past the confusion - still in a state of undress as her half-naked form ran outside into the snowy camp. Not that for a pony it mattered to be partially undressed, but it was certainly unwise in this cold. A stallion ran into her, and with strength, she shoved him aside to walk towards her commander. "Hey! Fuck's goin' on!?"

Her comrades, the same who gathered around the campfire the night before, stood around the radio. Their faces crestfallen, and devoid of hope.

The words that repeated themselves in a monotonous manner had delivered chills - and froze the blood more than the snowy weather itself ever could.

It merely repeated what happened, when it happened, and what will happen.

...

"Hellquill is invading...?" Cursed Strawberry. "Why the hell...!?"

"..." Sky Salt sighed, loading bullets into his scoped rifle. "When Hellquill ended up with Edler von Wingenberg, we should've seen it coming. When he took Deponya, it was the first omen, but we thought since they left the coalition they weren't our problem...but the fact he's going for us..."

"Shh, shut it." Whispered Garaway. He pointed with a claw at the commander, who put the microphone of a long range radio to his mouth. It was hard to hear him over the sound of panicking soldiers and yelling, and the hoofsteps that thundered through the outpost. However, in the end, Oak put away the radio...And stood up.

He came close to the team. "We have a problem."

"No shit?" Strawberry grunted. "You don't say this is a problem, we're being invaded!"

Oak shot her a stern look, silencing her. He then continued. "A nearby battalion is five hours away from here...We need to stay still and not poke our heads out. However...The enemy is headed bearing 80 from Point Amber..."

"That's..." Sky Salt put a hoof to his chin. "Barely missing us, I suppose..." He said, looking at the map.

"You don't get it. Hold on...." Oak shook his head, and whistled. Immediately, all of the other ponies quieted down, understanding that they had to listen to their commander.

"Okay. Everyone, listen up." The commander said with a raised voice. "Things are grim. There's a hostile enemy group approximately 300 strong heading a little past our way. It seems that the enemy is bent on poking holes through our borders. These fuckers are genocidal, so they don't care about any tactical or strategic advantage if it means reaching the nearest town and killing anything non-Griffon within it."

The ponies looked at one another uncomfortably. Garaway caught a few glances his way, and this immediately stung him. He scowled. "Don't look at me, my dad was a partigiano. "Fuck fascism and ethnocide" is my family creed, you know."

The commander coughed, and continued. "Our outpost is not only hidden, but decently defended. We have good positions, and we can easily have any pegasi remove the mine warning signs around the perimeter to increase the odds. We also have the appropriate camouflage and our elevated position will be of no interest to the advancing army."

"..."

"But..." The stallion sighed. "We have determined that the enemy group is headed to Vrponsko."

"..."

Of course.

Vrponsko...

The small town that just happened to be where this platoon of thirty was picked from. Their friends. Their neighbors. Their families...

Their lives and their memories...

In the crosshairs.

The surrounding of the table was now echoing with gasps, mutters, and whispers.

"Oooh...Fuck..." Spring Song blankly looked at the ground.

"Shit...Shit...SHIT..." Sky Salt clutched the edges of the table as hard as he could.

"...No...P-Please, not like this. Not like this...Oh gods, please not like this..." Gasped Muffin Hearth, ever-so-slowly sinking to the ground as she began to pray, despite never having done so in years.

Garaway opted for silence. He cared very much, but if he had the ability to express it, he feared he'd make the others lose their cool. He wasn't raised there - but the ponies who took him in were still there, an elderly couple who by now were perhaps sipping tea, unaware of what was happening since they lived on the outskirts and never bothered to get a radio.

"Hey, come on..." Strawberry gulped. "Commander, get that intel re-checked! Vrponsko is just...I-It's just well...To them, it's just a middle-of-nowhere d-dump, r-right? I...They can't have a reason to--"

Sky Salt hissed at her. "Vrponsko isn't a dump! Take your words back, bi--"

"I wish she was right." The commander sternly interrupted. "The enemy should have disregarded it. The enemy shouldn't care. It has nothing to offer them. Any supplies they could take from it won't even provide them for long. No. They're there for one thing, and you all know exactly what it is."

"..."

After the gasping, muttering, and crying...Silence came.

The commander was able to speak again - knowing all thirty would listen.

"Soldiers, command has stated that we are to wait for the arrival of a friendly brigade that has detached from 5th Border Division. They will be able to cut the enemy from going deeper in - but their arrival will occur in four hours. Hellquill troops however, from their current position, will be able to reach Vrponsko in two."

"...I..." Spring Song swallowed. "I...I see where this is...g-going..."

"..."

The commander nodded. "We have trucks. Those unwilling, please leave right now taking the south-eastern road and link with the brigade. Those who will remain are going to join us on a diversion. We're going to set up a fake defensive line to trick the enemy that our numbers are greater than they really are. We'll make them think our 30 is a 100 - at the very least. This will redirect them and stop their advance."

"But what stops them demolishing us from a distance?" Asked Garaway.

Sky Salt began to nod. He understood. "No...They can't..Our position is concealed and our elevation makes artillery and heavy weaponry hard to work with. But more importantly, the enemy may not be carrying any artillery bigger than 80-mil-mortars. They know they're heading for a small town. What fortifications are you expecting to see there? They're not gonna bring any heavy equipment - at worst I can imagine armored carriers or light tanks, but that's it. They need to get here light and fast, and be able to retreat after they razed everything. Two hours to get to the village, one and a half to raze and loot it, and as they start leaving, the reinforcements are half an hour behind them. They expect a clean crime..."

...

"So we'll be able to harass them for as long as we live." Garaway nodded.

"Exactly..." Salt said.

"...So for that matter..." The commander looked the thirty soldiers in the eyes. "Whoever's leaving, embark on the trucks immediately."

...

...

...

He smiled. "I'm proud of all of you. Then let's get ready. We need to remove the mine warnings and prepare our defensive positions - dig entrenchments, and start propping up fake defensive features to make them think we have a bigger outpost than we really do. Move it!"

As the ponies and the one griffon scrambled off, running as fast as their wings and legs could take them.

Sky Salt approached Strawberry, who was searching through the tools to find the appropriate means to help set up the defenses. "I thought your ass would haul your ass on that truck."

"...Fuck you." Strawberry scoffed, heading to pick up a spade. "I'm not a coward. Why should I go?"

"Maybe you should." Salt grunted, pushing her out of sight behind one of the tents. Strawberry gasped, immediately taking her knife out of her chest-pocket and holding it in her mouth as she pressed it to Salt. Immediately, the unicorn stallion used his magic to hold it in place. "...Unlike the rest of us, you got a reason." He hissed.

"..." Strawberry spat the knife out with a stare of contempt. "...Pray tell, asshole."

"...You're the only one who's gonna ruin someone's life if you die."

"..." She froze in place, staring blankly downwards.

"Garaway feels like he owes his life to the old couple anyway. Spring was disowned. Hearth lost who she had. Oak outlived them. I never had any." Salt said. "But you...You'd break someone's life if you lost yours. You're different."

"Then why are you even here defending Vrponsko!?" She shouted back.

"..." Sky Salt smiled. "We all have an eternal debt to this town for being there in our hearts. And if not then, it's the right thing to do, even if I have nopony there for us."

...

He passed by her, and whispered into her ear. "Your dad and sister don't need to see a family member return in a body bag. Once was enough."

"..."

With that, Sky Salt walked away.

As the unicorn began to dig the defensive position, he found himself wiping the sweat off his brow. They had a bit less than an hour and a half to build it all. He planted his spade in the ground, to allow himself a break of only two minutes sharp.

By the time he crouched down to catch his breath...He looked at his spade, to see another plant itself into the same soil, and join it. His eyes slowly trailed up to the red hoof that held it.

Strawberry looked down at him with a stone-hard, stern gaze. "I don't need to see an entire village getting carried out in them either, Sky Salt. Not even once."