Mobile Apostolov Surgical Hospital (Medical Chaplains)

Trails stayed quiet for what seemed like a long time. Keeping himself from shaking by burying his face in Breeze's mane. He chose to wait until his eyes had dried before speaking, not trusting himself otherwise. When he finally did end the hug and speak to her, his voice was hoarse, like he'd been yelling his heart out for hours.

"She said she still loves me, but we can't be together. At least, not right now."

Lightning smiled lightly and was about to nod but quickly held himself back. "Uhh, yeah, got it. No moving." He watched as Winter began using her magic and began wrapping him up with some bandages. Wincing a little from the pain and gritting his teeth just a little harder, he made sure not to flail as the unicorn applied the bandages. After that, the pegasus felt the cool purified water seep over his bandages and over his wounds. Despite the pain that began shooting up his body, it was almost a little soothing. Giving Winter a smile, Lightning would say, "Thank you."

Breeze sighed in relief. "Then it'll be okay. Trail, if 'Tari told you that, then her heart meant it. Tari told you; not now, but eventually. You'll be together with her again one day."

She smiled gently to Trails. "One day. Until then, I'm here to keep you company."

Brutus let out a bark and jerked his head in the direction of the camp. Trails smiled weakly and nodded at the dog.

"Brutus's got a good idea, let's go get drunk. I'll buy."

Breeze laughed. "Ath long ath they have hard apple thider and I can get drunk with you," she replied. "I've never gotten drunk before, so thith'll be interethting."

Zestari let out a soft sob as Happy turned and began to walk away, no words, no, “I’ll try to do better’, no ‘I know what I need to do now’. He just… walked away. She had no idea what that meant, but it couldn’t be anything good, she reasoned.

Looking about, the hospital now seemed suddenly packed, there were too many ponies. She needed space, her chest hurt, her head hurt, and her cheeks grew ever more damp with each passing moment.

Turning in the opposite direction to the one Happy had gone, she began to rush through the hospital, vaguely recalling another exit at the opposite end. As she moved through the ponies, she tried to shield her face, hoping nopony would see her tears and reddened eyes.

Pushing through the door and out into an open area, finally she felt she could breathe, and did so, interspersing each gasp with a soft sob.

Was Happy walking away wordlessly Happy’s way of saying he wasn’t interested in trying? Had she set too much of a task? Why didn’t he say anything? Was this it? Was there never any hope now?

She wandered a short distance away before resting on the ground. Sighing softly, she rested her head against her forehooves and let herself be miserable.

Violet waved goodbye to Lispy Pony as she went to talk to Trails. She wasn’t entirely sure what was up with Trails, he hadn’t seen the pony for awhile, so she didn’t really know what’s been happening to him. But, she decided to see what was up later, she had other responsibilities, like Mr. Griffon who may-or-may-not be a Raider.

“Alright Mr. Griffon,” the little filly said as she walked back over to the griffon, “I’m pretty sure the effects of the Med-X should be nearly faded. Probably. Let me check...”

Violet picked up a nearby needle, before jabbing it into Mr. Griffon’s thigh. There were a lot of nerve endings in the thigh, so it should be pretty easy to see a reaction.

The med-x had indeed worn off by this point. Bone's eyes went wide and it took all of his effort not to yell, but there was a distinct muffled noise coming from inside his beak. He turned to violet with fire in his eyes, he felt like biting the filly's head off. Instead he picked her up by the scruff of her neck and held her in front of him. "Why the buck did you do that?" He asked her, his tone... wasn't pleasant. "You could have just tapped my knee with a hammer."

Violet ‘Eeped’ as she was lifted up, although her cheerful demeanor didn’t seem to diminish as she stared directly into Mr. Griffon’s death glare, unperturbed by it.

“Well they don’t really have a lot of hammers here, plus the needle was much faster and more effective.” she explained. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be a tough griffon? I thought you could take a needle in the thigh...Also, why do people use ‘Buck’ as a euphemism? Do they not want to say ‘Fuck’ or something? It just seems rather silly.”

Bone just gave violet a death stare, one thing was for sure the stab had kick started his system and now all hint of the med-x was gone. "Tough, you want tough, fine, you'll get tough." And with that he dropped the filly only to catch her with his other talon, grasping her by the neck and began to flap his wings. After a few seconds he shot into the air tearing a hole in the top of the tent as he and his cargo quickly gained altitude over the firebase. Once bone had reached a suitable height he lifted violet up to his face and asked her, "tell me night light, have you ever reached terminal velocity in less than three seconds." Before she could answer, not that she could thanks to the tight grip he had on her neck, he dove towards the earth with such speed that a cone started to form around him. "Lets see how tough you are!" he yelled over the wind before tossing her towards the ground. The filly slammed into the snow, the fluffy white cushioning flying off in all directions. Bone head slowly descended on the crater formed in the snow, "Such a shame night light, I had such high hopes for you, but now..." He stopped, he saw movement in the snow.

The snow continued to shuffle for a few seconds, a faint humming in the fluff. Suddenly a snowball flew out of the crater and smacked Bonehead right in the beak. A violet filly popped out of the snow shortly afterward.

"Hah! Got you!" cheered the filly as she beamed a wide, bright smile. "That was fun, we should do it again!"

Bone head was dumbfounded, "That- thats impossible." he shook the snow off of his face and landed. "How are you still smiling? and more to the point how are you still alive?" he tested the snow it should have been shallow enough to only wound her not stop her entirely. He had used this move on other ponies and the always came out of it with broken bones but... he had never tried it on a filly, the smaller body and less weight must have saved her.

"Oh I'm sure it was a combination of my low weight and size lowering my terminal velocity and the snow being deep enough to completely cushion my fall." she explained matter-of-factually. "Also, smiling's rather easy. All you have to do is curl your facial muscles upwards and boom, smile!"

She was still smiling, of course.

Bone head facetaloned. "Of all the ponies I get stuck with I have to get the happy go lucky one with the glow in the dark eyes." He was quickly reconsidering his offer to her earlier. "There is no way in tartarus i could stand this little filly for 5 minutes in my camp, maybe as prey though." He walked over to the creator and helped the filly out of the snow, brushing some of the white powder off of her. "Well i would love to take you on another trip but as you can see the med-x is gone and it's time i report back to my squad." Bone hated referring to the others as that but it was the appropriate term. "I'll catch you later night light." and with that he started to walk back to the firebase, only to stop and say over his shoulder, "and if i end up in the MASH again do me a favor, no med-x, i'd prefer to not be paralyzed again, i'll deal with the pain." and then the griffin made his way to the rest of the firebase.

"Alright, bye-bye Mr. Griffon!" Violet waved goodbye as the griffon flew off. She turned away, starting her trudge through the snow back to the medical tent. It wasn't particularly difficult, she was a light pony, and was able to easily stay on the surface of the snow and not fall in. In no time she found herself back at the medical tent.

Cuppa smiled a little at Flash after Winter left them, giving an appreciative nod to the mare before her attention was back on Flash. So many things were going on around here, it was quite hectic even after the battle.

Though, she spotted somepony from earlier who seemed to be quite distressed right now. "Jus' shout fer me if ya need anythin', ah'll be back in a few minutes, alright?" She said to Flash. "And when ah'm back, ah'll try an' find Spectrum for ya." She then slowly trotted out the way she'd seen the striped mare go, when somepony tries covering their face whilst hurrying out of anyplace, they were more likely than not in a bad way.

Pushing through the door and looking about, Cuppa spotted the zebra laying there and hesitated... Maybe she was wanting to be alone? It couldn't hurt to at least check, right? She recognised that it was Zestari, so at least it was somepony she knew the name of.

"Uhh.. Ya okay, Zestari? Ah dun wan' t' be intrudin' or nuthin', but when ya'll make a hasty exit, ah thought somethin' got t' ya."

Zestari stiffened slightly when she heard the hoofsteps of somepony come outside and make their way in her direction and for a moment she daren’t look to see who it was.

"Uhh.. Ya okay, Zestari? Ah dun wan' t' be intrudin' or nuthin', but when ya'll make a hasty exit, ah thought somethin' got t' ya."

Zestari turned, it was Cuppa. She was only mildly surprised; the unicorn had probably overheard her and Happy talking or something.

She stood up and faced Cuppa.

“It’s Happy,” she began a little awkwardly, “I originally broke up with him when his… violent tendencies got a bit toomuch and he hurt a dear friend.” She sighed sadly, “I was hoping that by breaking up with him it would spur him to try and change, or to leave the Khans, or at least not keep going down a self-destructive path.” She placed a tired hoof against her head.

“It was not a question of love. I still love him, but I can’t be with him unless something changes. I mean, look where we are!”

Well, then he confronted me, and asked what he needed to do. But I think I went over the top,” her voice started cracking, “and I think he’s given up” She slid back down to the ground. “I really made a mess of things, Cuppa.”

Cuppa listened to Zestari and gave a rather slow nod as she tried to think of how to help and console the zebra, even if only a little bit.

The problem was Happy Trails, the pony who'd lead them all here, Cuppa simply nodded again for the time being, she could see just what he'd dragged them into. "Ah'm no good wi' relationships an' all tha'. But there's one thin' ah do know fer certain." Cuppa said as she sat next to Zestari and gently patted her shoulder.

"If Trails cares, whether he's said he's gonna change or not, if tha' stallion loves ya like ya love him, he's gonna move mountains t' try an' make it up t' ya. He'll do whatever it dang takes t' make ya happy." Cuppa said with a smile before continuing. "If he doesn't, then he ain't worth the adoration an' respect ya want t' give 'im."

Zestari sniffed a bit, and nodded at Cuppa.

I hope you’re right, Cuppa, I just wish I had a bit more certainty than I do. Not knowing makes it somehow all the worse. If it was definitely a no, then I could work on moving on. If it was a yes, then I know that there’s hope. A non-committal answer, though. It leaves my head and heart in the lurch as well.”

She sighed and stood up. “But perhaps you’re right. Maybe I’m looking at things with the wrong perspective. She shook her head slightly to get the fog of loss away. “Thanks for coming to check on me, who knows how long I would have wallowed in my misery, otherwise.”

Grace smiled at her volunteer doctors. While they hadn't made much of an impact on the overall patient numbers, they had made sure the rest of Trails' recruits had been taken care of. So in the grand scheme of things no net loss, though there wasn't any gain either. Hopefully this little assignment she had for them would help give things a nudge in the positive direction.

"Sadly Firebase Echo was hit very hard last night." She said to the group as a whole, her smile fading. "Their MASH is unable to help with the sheer amount of casualties. So you'll be going their to help." The mare's smile came back as she gave all of her volunteers a set of medical saddle bags. "I'd suggest you take any combat gear you brought with you as well. Just because you're noncombatants doesn't give you a free pass. Quite the contrary you'll all have a target painted on your backs. Be smart, be safe, and do whatever you can to help. We'll all be eagerly awaiting your return."

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Firebase Echo hadn't just been hit hard, it'd been damn near wiped off the face of the earth. Half of the tents were nothing more than charred tent poles covering skeletons. When the group made their way to the MASH tent they found the patients had spilled out and were lining the streets of the base's main strip. Needless to say, things were in a bad way.

A medic covered in blood trotted up to greet them, his voice as tired as he looked. "Thank Luna, some help. You may not be much, but we need everything we can get." he said as he led the group through the streets. "I can't say for sure where they need you most so I'll take you the intake area. Any time one of the securing teams finds somepony who isn't too far gone they'll bring him here, good luck." With that the medic ran back to his post.

It didn't take long for more soldiers to arrive at the blood soaked patch of mud that was the induct area. Some had been so weakened by the trip here they died within seconds. Others still howled in agony as they struggled to move towards the overworked doctors. Most, though, were already dead and were simply dumped into the trench with the rest of the DOAs.

Cuppa frowned deeply upon the call to return to the MASH, she hadn't shown much talent in there last time, but now they were going to another base to help some other ponies? Well.... It couldn't get any worse, right?

The mare was wrong, it could, she could barely tolerate the sounds of the agony all the soldiers were in, she already wanted to go home and just relax, drink some tea or find something to read... She didn't want to have to hear and see all this...

Sadly, she'd agreed to do this, so she couldn't just leave these ponies to die without trying to do something. It was part of being a medical pony, in Cuppa's mind at least, is that you never just let a pony die without doing the best you can do.

If Violet was at all affected by the general presence of death that hung in the air, or the sounds of screaming agony, she didn’t at all show it. And indeed, she wasn’t.

Violet glanced around the tent, her glowing eyes examining injuries while her mind quickly diagnosed them. Most seemed to be beyond saving, and if she thought the doctors woudl let her she’d probably find a scalpel and end it for them right there, quickly and painlessly. But she had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case.

So she watched, waiting for a patient that wasn’t beyond help, although so far none showed up.

Zestari listened quietly as Grace explained where the group was to go next. Firebase Echo. She wouldn’t say so to anypony but she was sort of glad. Anything to get her mind off of her Happy incident earlier. Zestari took the offered medical saddlebag and took a quick inventory of what items were contained within. It all looked like standard medical equipment and tools. She added the bag to her own and began to get prepared.

Following Grace’s advice that she gear up, she began to collect her armour and weapons, pausing with a hoof resting upon the combat barding. She felt awkward about taking and wearing it, seeing as it was from Happy and she couldn’t be sure how he felt, but then, as her eyes passed over the .45, it would be foolish to not use it, just because of relationship issues, and so she put the armour on, tucked the .45 into her holster. Tucked her trusty 10mm in her saddlebag and with a smile, made her way with the group towards Firebase Echo.

Arriving sometime later at the camp, Zestari was generally shocked at the extent of the destruction. Grace certainly hadn’t been lying when she said that the place had been hit hard. It was hard for Zestari to withhold a look of concern at the blood covered medic, things must be very bad, she thought following him.

Finally they arrived at the place they were stationed, a place that could hardly be described as clean or pleasant. Still, she occupied herself with preparing things as best she could for the next wave of expectant patients.

When they began turning up, Zestari went into a state of near panic. There were so many and in so much pain, she didn’t even know where to begin. Trying in vain to organise things, she witnessed in horror, as bodies were dumped into what resembled a pit. What the hay was worth all this fighting and dying. Ponies were just foolishly repeating the acts of 200 years ago. Nothing learned.

Still she had to do what she could. This wasn’t the time to complain, and so, she prepared herself for patients she could deal with.

Sky awoke with nothing on her mind other than how she almost died, she slowly woke up to see nothing or no one around her. She was alone, on a bed, hooked up to Luna knows what. But in the instance, she pocked herself up from the bed. Only to grab her stuff and a medics uniform, she took a few minutes to dawn the medic uniform and a face mask. Only for her to sigh and walk out of the MASH tent, she saw her friends and comrades in the tent but with her wearing the uniform and face mask. Even a medic helmet she found. She slowly walked out to the trenches of the outside only to disappear from view of everypony. Only a small note left on the bed where she was left, she made a mutter as she vanished.


Thank you to who ever saved my life, if i had to guess it was zestari, if not then thank you anyways. Make sure you tell my friends, this place isnt for me. Keep the caps, i have no use for them. Anyways im sorry to leave you all, just stay out there if you all stay.

-Sky

Explosions ripped through the sky as snow so thick and fierce you couldn't see more than a few yards suddenly beat on the firebase. Soldiers frantically ran from their doctors, many still in the middle of being stitched up, to their posts. The Enclave were back, and they weren't taking no for an answer.

The blood covered unicorn from before came running up, yelling something about fall back into the trenches before being turned into a pile of goo by twin jets of plasma. Dozens of troopers flew over head, taking pot shots at will. They had thought the Enclave beaten back, in truth they were just reloading.

A soldier that looked more bandage than pony hobbled up and yelled at the volunteer medics, "Follow me." he turned and staggered off to the trenches, pausing to beckon them. "Take this radio," he yelled to be heard over the roar of canon and machine guns as the Apostolov war machine roared to life. "if anyone calls for medivac, you respond. Otherwise keep your head down and help the ponies I can send your way." With that he vanished into the snow and gunfire.

After a long time of uncomfortable stillness it became clear their soldier wasn't going to be doing anything, let alone send them ponies who needed help. All there was to was wait and pray that they weren't needed. But of course they were needed, the problem was they were needed everywhere at once, and nopony was going to call for fear that they'd doom sompepony worse off. Still, the war found them.

A giant roar went out followed by a geyser of plasma and flame as enclave bombs started to rain closer and closer to the trench they hid in. A squad of Apostolov came running up, firing at the bombers as they flew by. A lucky shot caught one of the bombs as they fell and ended the bomber in a sudden burst. One thing was clear: they needed to get out of here. What wasn't clear was how. Then a no doubt familiar voice came over the radio giving the answer.

"This is Sergeant Happy Trails of Vityaz to any and all Chaplains. I'm bringing a fireteam of hurt onto the battlefield and need a target to drop it on. If you're pinned, call out and we'll get you back to helping our brothers."