Warby bkam
Chapters
I (Old)
War
Chapter 1.
“Six weeks, six weeks they told us!” said a purple and white-maned (with not-so-subtle purple streaks in it) unicorn mare.
“Calm down Vesper,” said a royal blue unicorn with a jet-black mane and tail.
“I know Brandywine, I know… it’s just frustrating how we were all told ‘Oh, it will be a quick in and out, six weeks and they’ll be begging for a cease-fire,’ and yet here we are eight weeks into this, and we haven’t made anywhere near the kind of progress we were told we would make,” I replied, “It’s just that things really haven’t gone well lately,”
“Tell me about it,” Brandywine began, “What with the assignation of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the transfer and conversion of our squad into a company in this newly formed ‘army’ and the introduction of these weapons that can’t hit the broad side of a barn,”.
“Yeah, the Coltchester Mark I ‘Black Berry'*, ‘weapon of the future’,” I said making quotation marks in the air with my hooves, “but it ain’t worth shit compared to a skilled archer with a crossbow or even a skilled swordspony, so I really have to doubt that statement,” I finished.
*Crack*
“Who’s there?” I said at the sound of a stick breaking from the tree line off to my left, swinging my gun in my magic to point at said tree line.
“It’s just me!” called a light green earth pony mare with a purple mane and tail as she emerged from the trees, quickly snapping into a salute at the sight of us.
“Oh, hey Turnip,” I said, lowering my gun and returning her salute. “So, what did you see?” I asked this because she had just gone on the battalion's daily reconnaissance run for the forward operating base.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, they were just milling about as they have been,” she replied.
“Alright then, make sure to go ahead and report it to the commanding officer,” I said in response as I let her past me and head into the FOB.
A few hours later, we had been all summoned to the assembly area next to the flagpole by the base’s CO, Captain Cloverleaf, an experienced earth pony stallion who had previously been in the Royal Guard for 20 odd-something years before being transferred into the 1st. SID** and given command of 1st. Battalion.
“Attention everypony, I know that most of you are probably not very happy with how long this fighting has been going on for,” the captain began, “but I have received orders that tomorrow at 0800 we are going to launch an assault on the Rebels encampment to try and finally push them back further west," a collective ring of cheers could be heard at the news of us possibly, finally pushing the rebels back. "1st. Lt. Vesper Radiance I want you and 1st. Lt. Ice Box to take 1st. Company and lead a direct assault on the rebel's camp, 1st. Lt. Brandywine will flank the camp with 3rd. Platoon, meanwhile 1st. Lt. Hot Plate and 4th. Platoon will stay here and guard the FOB,”. A few grumbles of complaint could be heard at this, but nothing was said otherwise. “Aside from that, I have nothing else of importance to say, so make sure to rest up well for tomorrow, dismissed,” he finished.
A little while after that, we all headed over to the chow line to partake in the most important ritual of the day; dinner, which today consisted of hot potato and cabbage soup and hardtack, a delicious biscuit-like concoction made using; flour, water and a pinch of salt, making it into something that I swear would outlast the princesses themselves.
“So, what do you think of the cook’s choices tonight, Vesper?” asked Ice Box as she sat down next to me at the table that I had picked out.
“That they are once again trying to kill us,” I replied sarcastically to the light grey unicorn mare with a grey mane and tail who I had known since I had first joined the guard.
“At least it isn’t that carrot stew again,” Hot Plate, a light grey unicorn stallion with a grey mane and tail, who was Ice Box’s twin brother and also somepony who I had known since joining the guard remarked as he joined us at the table.
“I think it’s just the fact that somepony ‘accidentally’ dumped the entire container of Tabuckso hot sauce into the stew pot when no pony was looking,” stated Brandywine (who I might add, was another friend of mine from the guard) as he too joined us at my table. After a few minutes of relative silence, I decided to ask the question on everypony’s mind.
“So, what do you guys think of the attack tomorrow?” I asked, trying to chew on my hardtack.
“I’m excited to finally try and push those bastards back like we were promised!” exclaimed Hot Plate, slamming his hoof on the table for emphasis and getting a few looks for it.
“I agree with my brother, Vesper,” added Ice Box, “It would be nice to finally make some forward progress,” she finished.
“I couldn't have said it better myself, Ice,” said Brandywine.
"Thanks, Brandy," replied Ice Box.
Later that evening after finishing dinner and having washed up, I decided to review a map of the soon to be battlefield in my tent, making note of all of the small hills and other deformities in the terrain and how our battle lines would match them. While doing this, I couldn’t help but scratch this constant itch in my left fetlock at the thought of how the rebels might react to our planned attack. Putting the maps and my uniform away, I decided to not worry about it for the time being and instead focus on sleep.
“Welp, tomorrow’s sure going to be exciting,” I thought to myself as I laid down on my cot, closing my eyes and letting the world of dreams take me.
Author's Note
II (Old)
War
Chapter 2.
The next morning had been a pretty uneventful affair that began at 0500 with a breakfast of plain lukewarm oats and coffee so strong I swear that it would have eaten my spoon had I left it in there for too long, followed up by weapon maintenance and then a final gear check before we set out at 0745.
“Company halt!” I ordered as we came up to the field, the heat from the sun making my rough cotton navy-blue coat with shiny gold buttons and light-blue trousers just slightly uncomfortable to be in.
“Where’s the camp?” Ice Box asked from my left.
“I don’t know, the reconnaissance reports said that it should be about 50 yards ahead of us,” I responded, wondering just where in Tartarus they had gone as well. I mean you could clearly see where they had been thanks to all the worn-down grass but aside from that, there was quite literally nothing else left to show that they had ever been there in the first place.
“Well, no matter what, I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Ice responded.
Airing on the side of caution, I ordered the company to fix bayonets and to advance slowly. That’s when I realized something, this would be the perfect setup for an ambush…
*CRACK*
The sound of muskets firing confirmed my suspicions about halfway across the field as several of my ponies got hit and fell down, wounded or dead.
“Company, fire!” I shouted as we all fired our muskets at the gray-coated rebels that had just entered the field from the opposing tree line, cutting a few of them down. Reloading, I decided to do something that would be a bit crazy but, I figured why not do it?
“Company, CHARGE!!” I yelled as I heard the 3rd. Platoon’s bugler signal for them to do the same. Galloping forward, I impaled a private right through his heart with my triangular bayonet, killing him instantly. Spinning to my right, I withdrew my Coltchester 40-50* pistol from its holster on my lower right foreleg with my magic and fired it point blank into the base of some poor, unsuspecting sergeant’s neck, killing him in a shower of blood. I then threw up a shield with my magic just in time to catch a shot from a rebel sergeant major’s musket, I then impaled said rebel with my bayonet, killing her as well. Feeling a thunk on the back of my navy-blue helmet, I heard a cry from behind me, spinning around, I saw a rebel corporal charging at me with her bayonet. Holstering my musket and pistol, I drew Concursus, my enchanted broadsword that had been issued to me back in the guard, I then parried the corporal’s bayonet to the outside and swung my sword to the inside, decapitating the poor corporal before she had realized what had just happened. Running forward I then stabbed another rebel private in the side, taking him out.
A little while later, my sword dripping with hot fresh blood, I took a few seconds of relative calm during the battle to finally go about the tedious process of reloading my musket. Seeing that the rebels had begun to be pushed back, I wiped the blood off Concursus and ran up and down our line, making sure that all the wounded were being taken care of before rejoining the fight. As I was about to rejoin the fight though, the rebels started to run back to the trees and, seeing as how our orders were to just push them back and then take their camp, I made the painful decision to not pursue them.
“Company, halt!” I shouted, as everypony stopped chasing the rebels and a few instead chose to start complaining, cursing me and my non-existent mother. “Now look, I know you ponies want to chase them, I do too, but our orders were to take their camp and hold the position. Now what I need is for everypony to put aside their complaints and to help the medics look for wounded on both sides. After that, I want the 38 healthiest ponies to stay here with me and Lt. Ice Box and for the remaining ones with minor injuries to take the more severely wounded and dead back to the FOB with Lt. Brandywine, and that means ponies from both sides, so no skipping them because of their uniform. Sergeant Major Clover, get the casualty report together so we can send it back to the Cpt. with 3rd. Platoon. After that, I want the ponies that are still here to get a temporary camp set up,” I ordered to everypony as they began to run around, executing their orders.
Five minutes later, as I was finishing donating blood that was desperately needed for a rebel 2nd. Lt. that, ironically, needed it because I had cut off one of their forelegs, I saw my second in command, Sgt. Maj. Clover Field, a “vertically challenged,” as she put it, albino earth pony mare who had joined up only 12 weeks prior and had since been placed with me, trotting up with a scroll in her mouth.
“Lt., here’s the casualty report that you asked for. Out of 60 ponies, we have 8 severely wounded, 2 dead and none missing, as for rebel forces it’s too hard to tell at the moment,” Clover said, saluting me sharply as I took the scroll in my magic, returned the salute and then teleported the report to Brandywine once I had confirmed its accuracy to what Clover had said.
“Thanks Clover and remember, times like these you don’t have to use formalities, " I said because I wasn’t really the biggest fan of being addressed by my rank like I was somehow above the ponies around me.
“I know, I know, it's just that we were, y’know…” She replied, picking at a pebble in the dirt with her hoof.
“Trained to do that? Yeah, I know, trust me, my drill sergeant made that very clear from day one,” I said. “So, how are you holding up?” I asked her.
“Well, I’m still in one piece so, fine I guess,” Clover replied, smiling a little.
“That’s good to hear,” I said, “Now let's get everything finished up so we can get lunch ready,” I said, gesturing to all the ponies hard at work.
A little while later after we had finished cleaning up and I got the guard duties assigned, we got our itchy, wool navy-blue blankets out for when we would bed later (this was done because our white, canvas A-Frame tents were too bulky to carry with our personal gear). After that, we had our lunch, which consisted of hardtack, a salad “bar,” which was basically chopped lettuce and carrots held together in a “bar” shape with something that I think was supposed to be ranch and pickled, plus a Hershneigh bar.
“Well, this is…interesting,” Ice Box said after she took a bite of her salad bar.
“I swear, whoever is coming up with these is just trying to kill us at this point,” I replied after taking a bite of my own salad bar.
“Yeah, who would even think that this is good?” Clover added in scrunching up her muzzle at the taste of her salad bar.
“Probably the cooks,” I said, getting a laugh out of everypony.
“At least the chocolate is good,” stated Ice
“Ice, the day that a Hershneigh bar isn’t good is the day that we lose this war,” I jokingly responded, getting another laugh out of everypony.
Early that evening around 1645 I was approached by a messenger from the FOB carrying orders from Captain Cloverleaf. After taking the scroll from the messenger and thanking him, I went ahead and took a sip from my canteen whilst mentally reading the orders and then immediately did a spit take, rereading the scroll to confirm what I had just read, I immediately put my canteen down and ordered for everypony to assemble in the middle of our little camp.
“Everypony, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I had you assembled here. Well, that reason is because I have just received orders from the Cpt. that we are to continue pushing forward to the rebel town of Cottonwood ASAP tomorrow morning, where we will then meet with 5th. Co. from 2nd. Bn. who will be helping us take Cottonwood from rebel forces. As such, lights out will be at 2000 and I want us up by 0500 with everything ready to go by 0530 for an 0535 departure. Other than that, dinner will be in 15 minutes, dismissed,” I explained to everypony as they dispersed, murmurs of excitement and intrigue among them at this development. What made this news so surprising was the fact that normally command wouldn’t be this quick to tell us to attack after a victory, with this development though I was suddenly really excited for tomorrow…
Author's Note
III (Revised) (Old)
War
Chapter 3.
The next day had started out pretty calm, all things considered, and after a brief march we had made it to the edge of the woods next to Cottonwood, a small deserted village that had been so close to the front that, after 8 weeks of war, honestly looked more like a small fort then a village, with small earthen ramparts about three feet tall along the edge of the outermost buildings with about a ten foot gap between the two objects, though surprisingly, we couldn’t any see cannons. It was here at the edge of the tree line about 500 yards out from the fortifications that we met up with 5th Company and formulated a plan as to how exactly we would take the town.
==========
“Alright, so the plan is for us (1st Co) to march up to a distance of 50 yards from the rebel fortifications on the eastern edge of the town and engage them with musket fire. Simultaneously, 5th Co will flank the town from the north, at which point we are to then advance on the rebels to form a pincer maneuver and drive them out of Cottonwood for good. Does anypony have questions?” I said to the ponies under my command, getting no response I continued, “Alright then. Company, move out!” I finished. Forming into a two pony deep group, 20 ponies wide with a one pony gap in between each pony, myself on the right end of the front row, and my 2IC; SGM Clover Field, on the left end of that same row, the drummer and flag bearer in the middle of our row, 1LT Ice Box being behind Clover and her 2IC; a grey-coated, hot pink maned unicorn mare named Bubblegum, behind me. We then went ahead and marched out from the tree line towards the town, the rebels pointing their muskets at us. Reaching the distance ordered, I proceeded to give out the orders that would start this engagement;
“Company, halt!” The drummer relaying these orders, we halted, staring down the rebels.
“Platoon, ready!” The sounds of muskets being lowered and cocked as yet again, the bugler relayed the orders given.
“Platoon, fire!”
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
The sounds of both our, and rebel, musket fire filled the air as ponies on both sides, including our drummer rather unfortunately, dropped, having taken hits.
“Platoon, reload!” I ordered as my line (1st PLT) shifted to the right and began to reload.
“Platoon, fire!” Ice Box shouted as her line (2nd PLT), which now conveniently had direct line-of-sight of the rebels, fired at said line of still reloading rebels, cutting a few down, with the rest of the shots going wide and missing their marks’.
“Platoon, reload!” Ice Box ordered, as her line began to reload and mine returned to their original positions.
*CRACK*
As I was about to give the order to fire, the rebels decided that right then and there would be a good time to return fire and, while most of their shots unsurprisingly went wide, a few hit some of my ponies… and my left foreleg.
“Buck!” I swore as my wounded leg buckled, because funny enough, despite having been fighting for eight weeks and getting shot at repeatedly, I had never actually been hit, until now that is. Struggling back up, I spared a glance at some of the ponies around me long enough to see some looks of surprise and concern before returning my attention to the target. Fighting through the pain that I was feeling from the shot that was now soaking the sleeve of my uniform with my blood, I gave the order to fire.
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
After firing our volley, I was a bit surprised to finally hear a volley off in the distance come from 5th Co which meant that they were finally flanking.
*CRACK*
As I was about to give the order to reload, a single shot rang out from the rebel line catching the poor corporal next to me in the face, however this surprisingly accurate shot seemed a little too accurate for the guns everypony was using… Then, looking back at the rebel line I saw something that made my blood run cold.
“Shit, Shit, no that can’t be,” I mentally swore at the sight of a rebel captain wearing the same grey uniform as the other rebels, but this one so bad, was the two distinctive jet black collar patches reading SS, which stood for Special Services, an elite unit of soldiers that, if the rumors were true, were trained on how to kill alicorns on their own, however, one thing that was true about them though was that they gave our Royal Guard based Special Forces a run for their money. “What in tartarus is a SS pony doing here alone? And a captain nonetheless, why, what sense does that make?” Ignoring those questions for the time being, I decided that I should get back to what I was supposed to do, so I finally gave the order to reload and then fire with Ice Box repeating this as well.
==========
We continued this back and forth with the rebels for another 15 or so minutes, with myself having caught a few rounds aimed at me in magic shields from the suspiciously accurate gun of the SS Captain. However, I noticed at this point rebel troops inside the town were starting to retreat and I realized that the 5th Co had managed to start pushing into the town. The rebels we were engaging seemed to realize this too, because they began to retreat as well. Seeing this as an opportunity, I decided to press forward.
“Company, fix bayonets!” The clicking of triangular bayonets locking in rang out.
“Company, forward!” I ordered as we advanced at a trot, bayoneted muskets pointed straight ahead like fancy spears (which that’s all they were honestly), myself limping thanks to the musket ball embedded in my left foreleg that was burning like the fires of tartarus itself. Looking ahead, I saw that the SS captain was now leading the rebels in a retreat out of the village, with 5th Co coming into view, some of their ponies, including their Comdr; a 2LT and his 2IC; a CSM, engaging the rebels in CQC.
==========
The push into and through the village had been pretty uneventful, what with most of the rebels having fled further west. After that, we went back through the village and made sure that there were no rebels left, we then went ahead and dealt with the wounded (on both sides) and got a casualty report together.
“Here’s the casualty report, LT,” Clover said with a salute (which I returned), as she approached me and the 2LT, who was a strong, green earth pony stallion from 5th Co. We were currently in what was the town hall, where I had gone ahead and, very painfully, removed the ball from my leg with my telekinesis and then wrapped the wound with some of the bandages that I kept in my bags to wrap my hooves (and lower legs) for protection in combat. Currently, I was at work patching the hole on my coat as Clover continued.
“Out of the 80 ponies we started with, we have 23 dead, 11 wounded and 0 missing. As for the rebels, out of an estimated 100 ponies, 53 are dead, 10 are wounded but that number is probably bigger thanks to them retreating however, there were too many variables to calculate their missing,” She finished, handing me the actual report which I teleported back to the FOB after double checking it.
“So, how’s the leg?” Clover asked after a brief pause in the conversation, a hint of concern in her voice.
“It hurts like a bitch,” I responded flatly.
“Are you sure you don’t want the medics to look at it?” The 2LT asked.
“No, as I said, I don’t want to waste the medics time and resources on something so minor,” I responded.
“Are y-,” Clover started, before getting cut off by the arrival of an exhausted looking messenger, one that I surprisingly recognized as having been from 3rd PLT
“Or-Orders from the Captain,” he said, panting as he hoofed over the report which I took in my magic.
“Thank you,” I said, a bit surprised, as he and Clover left the room. “It’s only been three hours, why would he send orders out this early?”
“So what do they say?” the 2LT asked.
“Well, they read as follows LT; Your company (5th) is to head north to back up 2nd Bn at the town they just captured ASAP, and my company is to stay here and wait for 2nd Co to rejoin us before receiving further instruction,” I responded to the 2LT, as I went ahead and placed the orders down.
“Alright, I’ll leave our wounded here until they can be moved back safely, as for the rest of our troops, I’ll get them ready and out in half an hour tops,” The 2LT stated as he turned to leave. Putting my coat, cyane (infantry blue) hat and combat bags on, I followed him out as well.
“Well, things are sure starting to get exciting,” I thought to myself as I walked toward the center of town, ready to share the news with my company and get us ready for what was sure to come…
Author's Note
New Chapter! Sorry if it took a little bit, I had to rework this a little bit, also if you were wondering, yes, the Special Services are based off the Waffen SS. Finally, critiques and suggestions are greatly appreciated as they help me to improve this story and make it even better.
*The collar patches:
(If this shows up as a 404 error, DM me about it and I'll try and fix it ASAP)
**Edit; Okay so, I know it's been a while, but, all I did was fix a few things so that the story can flow better later on.
Chapter has been left here for those who wish to see an older version of this story.
IV (Old)
War
Chapter 4.
The next day had started out pretty uneventful, all things considered, after breakfast and flag, those of us who had stuff to do went about our tasks while the rest just milled around. After a few hours though, supply wagons showed up, signaling the arrival of the rest of 1st Bn, though there was some restructuring that happened, as our battalion was now a proper one, since we gained a HQ company (3rd Comd Co) as well as a support company (4th LGX* Co), doubling our headcount from 80 ponies to 160 ponies. Later, after the wagons had been offloaded and we had converted Cottonwood into the new FOB, we had lunch.
==========
“Huh, this salad is actually kind of good,” I said, chewing on my hardtack soaked in canteen water (This was done to make it chewable).
“Yeah, the fact that the cooks can make a good salad is surprising,” Hot Plate stated, chuckling a little.
“Thank goodness the rebels thought to start a garden,“ Ice Box added.
“Yeah, I’m just glad nopony trampled it,” I said, finishing off my hardtack and downing the remainder of my tin cup of water.
“Yeah, I wonder what the brass have planned for us though,” Brandywine said, thoughtfully.
“I think that it will just be more of the same y’know, us showing up, shooting the rebels, followed by them running away,” Hot Plate suggested as my left fetlock started to itch again.
“I’m not so sure, Hot, you would think that they might try and fight us more than they have, after all, that’s what we’ve heard has been happening all across the front. Heck, even at sea the worst that they did was sink HMS Celestia which was just an antique 50 gun ship-of-the-line, absolutely worthless compared to the newer iron-hulled steam sailors and sail-less ironclads like HMS Conquer and her sister HMS Ravager,” I replied, stating what we had heard from the report given the officers before lunch.
“Eh, we’ll see, Ves,” He replied, using a nickname that I hated.
Changing the subject, Brandywine asked, “So Vesper, how's the leg?”, as he pointed at the spot on my left foreleg where I had been shot the previous day.
“Eh, it still feels sore, but otherwise, I’ll live,” I replied, rubbing the sleeve of my coat where I could feel my leg bandaged.
“That’s good to hear,” Brandywine said, smiling a little.
==========
Later that afternoon after lunch, we were all ordered to form up in the town square in front of the flagpole by the CO, as he had said that the orders had just come in, thanks to this new device almost as fast as dragon fire that was called a telegraph, it had been something that we had wired up earlier when setting things up.
“Alright ponies, I know that some of you have been wondering what is going to happen next, and that some of you just want to see some action,” CPT Cloverleaf said this, smiling a little as he gave a glance toward 2nd Co, “Well, you will all be happy to know then that tomorrow all of 1st Bn’s fighting force will be heading west to take a hill that the rebels have fortified, we will also be receiving help from the rest of 1st BDE** and 2nd BDE’s fighting forces in this endeavor,” There were murmurs going through the crowd at this, I was a bit shocked too, as this meant that we would have 640 ponies in this fight (The most in any battle that Equestria had been in since the Battle of Midnight Hill 1,000 years ago during the Lunar Insurrection) and I suddenly didn’t want to know what the rebels had going for them. “We will be marching up in a block formation, bayonets fixed, and not to fire unless fired upon,” Cloverleaf continued, “The good news for us though is that the rebels only have 320 ponies, which should allow us to easily crush them as we have done thus far. As for now though, I would like you all to sleep well and be prepared for tomorrow,” He said, finishing as my left fetlock itched yet again…
Author's Note
War
Chapter 1.
“Six weeks, six weeks they told us!” said a purple and white-maned (with not-so-subtle purple streaks in it) unicorn mare.
“Calm down Vesper,” said a royal blue unicorn with a jet-black mane and tail.
“I know Brandywine, I know… it’s just frustrating how we were all told ‘Oh, it will be a quick in and out, six weeks and they’ll be begging for a cease-fire,’ and yet here we are eight weeks into this, and we haven’t made anywhere near the kind of progress we were told we would make,” I replied, “It’s just that things really haven’t gone well lately,”
“Tell me about it,” Brandywine began, “What with the assignation of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the transfer and conversion of our squad into a company in this newly formed ‘army’ and the introduction of these weapons that can’t hit the broad side of a barn,”.
“Yeah, the Coltchester Mark I ‘Black Berry'*, ‘weapon of the future’,” I said making quotation marks in the air with my hooves, “but it ain’t worth shit compared to a skilled archer with a crossbow or even a skilled swordspony, so I really have to doubt that statement,” I finished.
*Crack*
“Who’s there?” I said at the sound of a stick breaking from the tree line off to my left, swinging my gun in my magic to point at said tree line.
“It’s just me!” called a light green earth pony mare with a purple mane and tail as she emerged from the trees, quickly snapping into a salute at the sight of us.
“Oh, hey Turnip,” I said, lowering my gun and returning her salute. “So, what did you see?” I asked this because she had just gone on the battalion's daily reconnaissance run for the forward operating base.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, they were just milling about as they have been,” she replied.
“Alright then, make sure to go ahead and report it to the commanding officer,” I said in response as I let her past me and head into the FOB.
A few hours later, we had been all summoned to the assembly area next to the flagpole by the base’s CO, Captain Cloverleaf, an experienced earth pony stallion who had previously been in the Royal Guard for 20 odd-something years before being transferred into the 1st. SID** and given command of 1st. Battalion.
“Attention everypony, I know that most of you are probably not very happy with how long this fighting has been going on for,” the captain began, “but I have received orders that tomorrow at 0800 we are going to launch an assault on the Rebels encampment to try and finally push them back further west," a collective ring of cheers could be heard at the news of us possibly, finally pushing the rebels back. "1st. Lt. Vesper Radiance I want you and 1st. Lt. Ice Box to take 1st. Company and lead a direct assault on the rebel's camp, 1st. Lt. Brandywine will flank the camp with 3rd. Platoon, meanwhile 1st. Lt. Hot Plate and 4th. Platoon will stay here and guard the FOB,”. A few grumbles of complaint could be heard at this, but nothing was said otherwise. “Aside from that, I have nothing else of importance to say, so make sure to rest up well for tomorrow, dismissed,” he finished.
A little while after that, we all headed over to the chow line to partake in the most important ritual of the day; dinner, which today consisted of hot potato and cabbage soup and hardtack, a delicious biscuit-like concoction made using; flour, water and a pinch of salt, making it into something that I swear would outlast the princesses themselves.
“So, what do you think of the cook’s choices tonight, Vesper?” asked Ice Box as she sat down next to me at the table that I had picked out.
“That they are once again trying to kill us,” I replied sarcastically to the light grey unicorn mare with a grey mane and tail who I had known since I had first joined the guard.
“At least it isn’t that carrot stew again,” Hot Plate, a light grey unicorn stallion with a grey mane and tail, who was Ice Box’s twin brother and also somepony who I had known since joining the guard remarked as he joined us at the table.
“I think it’s just the fact that somepony ‘accidentally’ dumped the entire container of Tabuckso hot sauce into the stew pot when no pony was looking,” stated Brandywine (who I might add, was another friend of mine from the guard) as he too joined us at my table. After a few minutes of relative silence, I decided to ask the question on everypony’s mind.
“So, what do you guys think of the attack tomorrow?” I asked, trying to chew on my hardtack.
“I’m excited to finally try and push those bastards back like we were promised!” exclaimed Hot Plate, slamming his hoof on the table for emphasis and getting a few looks for it.
“I agree with my brother, Vesper,” added Ice Box, “It would be nice to finally make some forward progress,” she finished.
“I couldn't have said it better myself, Ice,” said Brandywine.
"Thanks, Brandy," replied Ice Box.
Later that evening after finishing dinner and having washed up, I decided to review a map of the soon to be battlefield in my tent, making note of all of the small hills and other deformities in the terrain and how our battle lines would match them. While doing this, I couldn’t help but scratch this constant itch in my left fetlock at the thought of how the rebels might react to our planned attack. Putting the maps and my uniform away, I decided to not worry about it for the time being and instead focus on sleep.
“Welp, tomorrow’s sure going to be exciting,” I thought to myself as I laid down on my cot, closing my eyes and letting the world of dreams take me.
War
Chapter 2.
The next morning had been a pretty uneventful affair that began at 0500 with a breakfast of plain lukewarm oats and coffee so strong I swear that it would have eaten my spoon had I left it in there for too long, followed up by weapon maintenance and then a final gear check before we set out at 0745.
“Company halt!” I ordered as we came up to the field, the heat from the sun making my rough cotton navy-blue coat with shiny gold buttons and light-blue trousers just slightly uncomfortable to be in.
“Where’s the camp?” Ice Box asked from my left.
“I don’t know, the reconnaissance reports said that it should be about 50 yards ahead of us,” I responded, wondering just where in Tartarus they had gone as well. I mean you could clearly see where they had been thanks to all the worn-down grass but aside from that, there was quite literally nothing else left to show that they had ever been there in the first place.
“Well, no matter what, I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Ice responded.
Airing on the side of caution, I ordered the company to fix bayonets and to advance slowly. That’s when I realized something, this would be the perfect setup for an ambush…
*CRACK*
The sound of muskets firing confirmed my suspicions about halfway across the field as several of my ponies got hit and fell down, wounded or dead.
“Company, fire!” I shouted as we all fired our muskets at the gray-coated rebels that had just entered the field from the opposing tree line, cutting a few of them down. Reloading, I decided to do something that would be a bit crazy but, I figured why not do it?
“Company, CHARGE!!” I yelled as I heard the 3rd. Platoon’s bugler signal for them to do the same. Galloping forward, I impaled a private right through his heart with my triangular bayonet, killing him instantly. Spinning to my right, I withdrew my Coltchester 40-50* pistol from its holster on my lower right foreleg with my magic and fired it point blank into the base of some poor, unsuspecting sergeant’s neck, killing him in a shower of blood. I then threw up a shield with my magic just in time to catch a shot from a rebel sergeant major’s musket, I then impaled said rebel with my bayonet, killing her as well. Feeling a thunk on the back of my navy-blue helmet, I heard a cry from behind me, spinning around, I saw a rebel corporal charging at me with her bayonet. Holstering my musket and pistol, I drew Concursus, my enchanted broadsword that had been issued to me back in the guard, I then parried the corporal’s bayonet to the outside and swung my sword to the inside, decapitating the poor corporal before she had realized what had just happened. Running forward I then stabbed another rebel private in the side, taking him out.
A little while later, my sword dripping with hot fresh blood, I took a few seconds of relative calm during the battle to finally go about the tedious process of reloading my musket. Seeing that the rebels had begun to be pushed back, I wiped the blood off Concursus and ran up and down our line, making sure that all the wounded were being taken care of before rejoining the fight. As I was about to rejoin the fight though, the rebels started to run back to the trees and, seeing as how our orders were to just push them back and then take their camp, I made the painful decision to not pursue them.
“Company, halt!” I shouted, as everypony stopped chasing the rebels and a few instead chose to start complaining, cursing me and my non-existent mother. “Now look, I know you ponies want to chase them, I do too, but our orders were to take their camp and hold the position. Now what I need is for everypony to put aside their complaints and to help the medics look for wounded on both sides. After that, I want the 38 healthiest ponies to stay here with me and Lt. Ice Box and for the remaining ones with minor injuries to take the more severely wounded and dead back to the FOB with Lt. Brandywine, and that means ponies from both sides, so no skipping them because of their uniform. Sergeant Major Clover, get the casualty report together so we can send it back to the Cpt. with 3rd. Platoon. After that, I want the ponies that are still here to get a temporary camp set up,” I ordered to everypony as they began to run around, executing their orders.
Five minutes later, as I was finishing donating blood that was desperately needed for a rebel 2nd. Lt. that, ironically, needed it because I had cut off one of their forelegs, I saw my second in command, Sgt. Maj. Clover Field, a “vertically challenged,” as she put it, albino earth pony mare who had joined up only 12 weeks prior and had since been placed with me, trotting up with a scroll in her mouth.
“Lt., here’s the casualty report that you asked for. Out of 60 ponies, we have 8 severely wounded, 2 dead and none missing, as for rebel forces it’s too hard to tell at the moment,” Clover said, saluting me sharply as I took the scroll in my magic, returned the salute and then teleported the report to Brandywine once I had confirmed its accuracy to what Clover had said.
“Thanks Clover and remember, times like these you don’t have to use formalities, " I said because I wasn’t really the biggest fan of being addressed by my rank like I was somehow above the ponies around me.
“I know, I know, it's just that we were, y’know…” She replied, picking at a pebble in the dirt with her hoof.
“Trained to do that? Yeah, I know, trust me, my drill sergeant made that very clear from day one,” I said. “So, how are you holding up?” I asked her.
“Well, I’m still in one piece so, fine I guess,” Clover replied, smiling a little.
“That’s good to hear,” I said, “Now let's get everything finished up so we can get lunch ready,” I said, gesturing to all the ponies hard at work.
A little while later after we had finished cleaning up and I got the guard duties assigned, we got our itchy, wool navy-blue blankets out for when we would bed later (this was done because our white, canvas A-Frame tents were too bulky to carry with our personal gear). After that, we had our lunch, which consisted of hardtack, a salad “bar,” which was basically chopped lettuce and carrots held together in a “bar” shape with something that I think was supposed to be ranch and pickled, plus a Hershneigh bar.
“Well, this is…interesting,” Ice Box said after she took a bite of her salad bar.
“I swear, whoever is coming up with these is just trying to kill us at this point,” I replied after taking a bite of my own salad bar.
“Yeah, who would even think that this is good?” Clover added in scrunching up her muzzle at the taste of her salad bar.
“Probably the cooks,” I said, getting a laugh out of everypony.
“At least the chocolate is good,” stated Ice
“Ice, the day that a Hershneigh bar isn’t good is the day that we lose this war,” I jokingly responded, getting another laugh out of everypony.
Early that evening around 1645 I was approached by a messenger from the FOB carrying orders from Captain Cloverleaf. After taking the scroll from the messenger and thanking him, I went ahead and took a sip from my canteen whilst mentally reading the orders and then immediately did a spit take, rereading the scroll to confirm what I had just read, I immediately put my canteen down and ordered for everypony to assemble in the middle of our little camp.
“Everypony, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I had you assembled here. Well, that reason is because I have just received orders from the Cpt. that we are to continue pushing forward to the rebel town of Cottonwood ASAP tomorrow morning, where we will then meet with 5th. Co. from 2nd. Bn. who will be helping us take Cottonwood from rebel forces. As such, lights out will be at 2000 and I want us up by 0500 with everything ready to go by 0530 for an 0535 departure. Other than that, dinner will be in 15 minutes, dismissed,” I explained to everypony as they dispersed, murmurs of excitement and intrigue among them at this development. What made this news so surprising was the fact that normally command wouldn’t be this quick to tell us to attack after a victory, with this development though I was suddenly really excited for tomorrow…
War
Chapter 3.
The next day had started out pretty calm, all things considered, and after a brief march we had made it to the edge of the woods next to Cottonwood, a small deserted village that had been so close to the front that, after 8 weeks of war, honestly looked more like a small fort then a village, with small earthen ramparts about three feet tall along the edge of the outermost buildings with about a ten foot gap between the two objects, though surprisingly, we couldn’t any see cannons. It was here at the edge of the tree line about 500 yards out from the fortifications that we met up with 5th Company and formulated a plan as to how exactly we would take the town.
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“Alright, so the plan is for us (1st Co) to march up to a distance of 50 yards from the rebel fortifications on the eastern edge of the town and engage them with musket fire. Simultaneously, 5th Co will flank the town from the north, at which point we are to then advance on the rebels to form a pincer maneuver and drive them out of Cottonwood for good. Does anypony have questions?” I said to the ponies under my command, getting no response I continued, “Alright then. Company, move out!” I finished. Forming into a two pony deep group, 20 ponies wide with a one pony gap in between each pony, myself on the right end of the front row, and my 2IC; SGM Clover Field, on the left end of that same row, the drummer and flag bearer in the middle of our row, 1LT Ice Box being behind Clover and her 2IC; a grey-coated, hot pink maned unicorn mare named Bubblegum, behind me. We then went ahead and marched out from the tree line towards the town, the rebels pointing their muskets at us. Reaching the distance ordered, I proceeded to give out the orders that would start this engagement;
“Company, halt!” The drummer relaying these orders, we halted, staring down the rebels.
“Platoon, ready!” The sounds of muskets being lowered and cocked as yet again, the bugler relayed the orders given.
“Platoon, fire!”
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
The sounds of both our, and rebel, musket fire filled the air as ponies on both sides, including our drummer rather unfortunately, dropped, having taken hits.
“Platoon, reload!” I ordered as my line (1st PLT) shifted to the right and began to reload.
“Platoon, fire!” Ice Box shouted as her line (2nd PLT), which now conveniently had direct line-of-sight of the rebels, fired at said line of still reloading rebels, cutting a few down, with the rest of the shots going wide and missing their marks’.
“Platoon, reload!” Ice Box ordered, as her line began to reload and mine returned to their original positions.
*CRACK*
As I was about to give the order to fire, the rebels decided that right then and there would be a good time to return fire and, while most of their shots unsurprisingly went wide, a few hit some of my ponies… and my left foreleg.
“Buck!” I swore as my wounded leg buckled, because funny enough, despite having been fighting for eight weeks and getting shot at repeatedly, I had never actually been hit, until now that is. Struggling back up, I spared a glance at some of the ponies around me long enough to see some looks of surprise and concern before returning my attention to the target. Fighting through the pain that I was feeling from the shot that was now soaking the sleeve of my uniform with my blood, I gave the order to fire.
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
After firing our volley, I was a bit surprised to finally hear a volley off in the distance come from 5th Co which meant that they were finally flanking.
*CRACK*
As I was about to give the order to reload, a single shot rang out from the rebel line catching the poor corporal next to me in the face, however this surprisingly accurate shot seemed a little too accurate for the guns everypony was using… Then, looking back at the rebel line I saw something that made my blood run cold.
“Shit, Shit, no that can’t be,” I mentally swore at the sight of a rebel captain wearing the same grey uniform as the other rebels, but this one so bad, was the two distinctive jet black collar patches reading SS, which stood for Special Services, an elite unit of soldiers that, if the rumors were true, were trained on how to kill alicorns on their own, however, one thing that was true about them though was that they gave our Royal Guard based Special Forces a run for their money. “What in tartarus is a SS pony doing here alone? And a captain nonetheless, why, what sense does that make?” Ignoring those questions for the time being, I decided that I should get back to what I was supposed to do, so I finally gave the order to reload and then fire with Ice Box repeating this as well.
==========
We continued this back and forth with the rebels for another 15 or so minutes, with myself having caught a few rounds aimed at me in magic shields from the suspiciously accurate gun of the SS Captain. However, I noticed at this point rebel troops inside the town were starting to retreat and I realized that the 5th Co had managed to start pushing into the town. The rebels we were engaging seemed to realize this too, because they began to retreat as well. Seeing this as an opportunity, I decided to press forward.
“Company, fix bayonets!” The clicking of triangular bayonets locking in rang out.
“Company, forward!” I ordered as we advanced at a trot, bayoneted muskets pointed straight ahead like fancy spears (which that’s all they were honestly), myself limping thanks to the musket ball embedded in my left foreleg that was burning like the fires of tartarus itself. Looking ahead, I saw that the SS captain was now leading the rebels in a retreat out of the village, with 5th Co coming into view, some of their ponies, including their Comdr; a 2LT and his 2IC; a CSM, engaging the rebels in CQC.
==========
The push into and through the village had been pretty uneventful, what with most of the rebels having fled further west. After that, we went back through the village and made sure that there were no rebels left, we then went ahead and dealt with the wounded (on both sides) and got a casualty report together.
“Here’s the casualty report, LT,” Clover said with a salute (which I returned), as she approached me and the 2LT, who was a strong, green earth pony stallion from 5th Co. We were currently in what was the town hall, where I had gone ahead and, very painfully, removed the ball from my leg with my telekinesis and then wrapped the wound with some of the bandages that I kept in my bags to wrap my hooves (and lower legs) for protection in combat. Currently, I was at work patching the hole on my coat as Clover continued.
“Out of the 80 ponies we started with, we have 23 dead, 11 wounded and 0 missing. As for the rebels, out of an estimated 100 ponies, 53 are dead, 10 are wounded but that number is probably bigger thanks to them retreating however, there were too many variables to calculate their missing,” She finished, handing me the actual report which I teleported back to the FOB after double checking it.
“So, how’s the leg?” Clover asked after a brief pause in the conversation, a hint of concern in her voice.
“It hurts like a bitch,” I responded flatly.
“Are you sure you don’t want the medics to look at it?” The 2LT asked.
“No, as I said, I don’t want to waste the medics time and resources on something so minor,” I responded.
“Are y-,” Clover started, before getting cut off by the arrival of an exhausted looking messenger, one that I surprisingly recognized as having been from 3rd PLT
“Or-Orders from the Captain,” he said, panting as he hoofed over the report which I took in my magic.
“Thank you,” I said, a bit surprised, as he and Clover left the room. “It’s only been three hours, why would he send orders out this early?”
“So what do they say?” the 2LT asked.
“Well, they read as follows LT; Your company (5th) is to head north to back up 2nd Bn at the town they just captured ASAP, and my company is to stay here and wait for 2nd Co to rejoin us before receiving further instruction,” I responded to the 2LT, as I went ahead and placed the orders down.
“Alright, I’ll leave our wounded here until they can be moved back safely, as for the rest of our troops, I’ll get them ready and out in half an hour tops,” The 2LT stated as he turned to leave. Putting my coat, cyane (infantry blue) hat and combat bags on, I followed him out as well.
“Well, things are sure starting to get exciting,” I thought to myself as I walked toward the center of town, ready to share the news with my company and get us ready for what was sure to come…
New Chapter! Sorry if it took a little bit, I had to rework this a little bit, also if you were wondering, yes, the Special Services are based off the Waffen SS. Finally, critiques and suggestions are greatly appreciated as they help me to improve this story and make it even better.
*The collar patches:
(If this shows up as a 404 error, DM me about it and I'll try and fix it ASAP)
**Edit; Okay so, I know it's been a while, but, all I did was fix a few things so that the story can flow better later on.
Chapter has been left here for those who wish to see an older version of this story.
War
Chapter 4.
The next day had started out pretty uneventful, all things considered, after breakfast and flag, those of us who had stuff to do went about our tasks while the rest just milled around. After a few hours though, supply wagons showed up, signaling the arrival of the rest of 1st Bn, though there was some restructuring that happened, as our battalion was now a proper one, since we gained a HQ company (3rd Comd Co) as well as a support company (4th LGX* Co), doubling our headcount from 80 ponies to 160 ponies. Later, after the wagons had been offloaded and we had converted Cottonwood into the new FOB, we had lunch.
==========
“Huh, this salad is actually kind of good,” I said, chewing on my hardtack soaked in canteen water (This was done to make it chewable).
“Yeah, the fact that the cooks can make a good salad is surprising,” Hot Plate stated, chuckling a little.
“Thank goodness the rebels thought to start a garden,“ Ice Box added.
“Yeah, I’m just glad nopony trampled it,” I said, finishing off my hardtack and downing the remainder of my tin cup of water.
“Yeah, I wonder what the brass have planned for us though,” Brandywine said, thoughtfully.
“I think that it will just be more of the same y’know, us showing up, shooting the rebels, followed by them running away,” Hot Plate suggested as my left fetlock started to itch again.
“I’m not so sure, Hot, you would think that they might try and fight us more than they have, after all, that’s what we’ve heard has been happening all across the front. Heck, even at sea the worst that they did was sink HMS Celestia which was just an antique 50 gun ship-of-the-line, absolutely worthless compared to the newer iron-hulled steam sailors and sail-less ironclads like HMS Conquer and her sister HMS Ravager,” I replied, stating what we had heard from the report given the officers before lunch.
“Eh, we’ll see, Ves,” He replied, using a nickname that I hated.
Changing the subject, Brandywine asked, “So Vesper, how's the leg?”, as he pointed at the spot on my left foreleg where I had been shot the previous day.
“Eh, it still feels sore, but otherwise, I’ll live,” I replied, rubbing the sleeve of my coat where I could feel my leg bandaged.
“That’s good to hear,” Brandywine said, smiling a little.
==========
Later that afternoon after lunch, we were all ordered to form up in the town square in front of the flagpole by the CO, as he had said that the orders had just come in, thanks to this new device almost as fast as dragon fire that was called a telegraph, it had been something that we had wired up earlier when setting things up.
“Alright ponies, I know that some of you have been wondering what is going to happen next, and that some of you just want to see some action,” CPT Cloverleaf said this, smiling a little as he gave a glance toward 2nd Co, “Well, you will all be happy to know then that tomorrow all of 1st Bn’s fighting force will be heading west to take a hill that the rebels have fortified, we will also be receiving help from the rest of 1st BDE** and 2nd BDE’s fighting forces in this endeavor,” There were murmurs going through the crowd at this, I was a bit shocked too, as this meant that we would have 640 ponies in this fight (The most in any battle that Equestria had been in since the Battle of Midnight Hill 1,000 years ago during the Lunar Insurrection) and I suddenly didn’t want to know what the rebels had going for them. “We will be marching up in a block formation, bayonets fixed, and not to fire unless fired upon,” Cloverleaf continued, “The good news for us though is that the rebels only have 320 ponies, which should allow us to easily crush them as we have done thus far. As for now though, I would like you all to sleep well and be prepared for tomorrow,” He said, finishing as my left fetlock itched yet again…