War
Chapter 4: IV (Old)
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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.
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“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.
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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…