Journal Entry
Capt. Twilight Sparkle
June 8th, 1944
The Eight Soldiers
Military carriages were being pulled by big Pegasus ponies down the road as I walked to Lieutenant Scratch's headquarters. It was just a small tent pitched up near the road, about the size of a small drug store. I approached the guard pony, who was sleeping on a tool in the front of the tent. I tapped her on the shoulder, and she woke up.
"Zome pony kalfur entry?" She said sleepily, blinking up at me with dark rings below her eyes.
"Captain Twilight Sparkle, Charlie Horse Company" I said, "I need to speak with the Lieutenant."
"Yea, yea, go on in..." the pony said, and she dropped her head and almost immediately fell back to sleep.
I pushed myself through the entrance to reveal the headquarters, lit by lanterns hanging from the ceiling. About six ponies were inside, some making sandwiches, some pouring coffee, and the rest playing poker and smoking cigars. I spotted Scratch at the end of the tent, chatting with someone on the radio.
"We expected 32 tanks on the beach. 27 didn't make it... I understand your position, but if we don't off-load those Shymans by 0600, we're gonna have an entire division stuck at Cantertan with its pants around its ankles... I know we don't wear pants! Any way, just let me know. Have Charlie Horse Company hold at Vierville until we can get some armor up there." she added to a Pegasus playing poker.
"Yes, ma'am," said the Pegasus, and dashed off through the tent, nodding her head at me as she passed.
Spotting me while watching the Pegasus leave, Scratch made her way towards my position, and said, "Airborne was supposed to win an open door for the rest of us. Instead they misdropped, scattered all their sticks into the wind. What's your situation?"
"Uh, yes, ma'am," I said, making my way to a map on a nearby table, "Sector 4 is secure. We took out towed Haytie 8s here, here, and here. They'd already gotten four of our Shymans and a number of our donk-and-a-halves. These two minefields are actually one big one. We tried to make our way up through the middle of it, but it turned into a mixed, high-density field-- little bit of everything, Sprengmine 44s, Schumine 42s, pop mines, A-200s-- the little wooden buckers that the mine detecors don't pick up. This road here, they placed big mushrooms-- Teller mine 43s, I guess for our tanks-- from here, right up to the edge of the village, right here. So we marked 'em and called the engineers."
"Resistance?"
"We had higher support expectations, ma'am. There was an understrength company without artillery. Wehrmacht 346 Infantry, Von Luck Kampfgruppe. We ended up with 23 prisoners. We turned them over to M.P.s from the 29th."
"What about our casualties?"
"Well... the figures, were 35 dead, times two wounded," I said, hating myself for letting more lives die under my command, "They just didn't wanna give up those Hatie 8s."
Scratch saw the sadness in my eyes, so she put her hoof on my shoulder and said, "It was a tough assignment, Sparkle. That's why they chose you."
I nodded, and turned to leave, but Scratch called me, and I stopped and turned around, facing her.
"I've got another one for you," she said, a serious look in her face, even with those glasses on, "And it's straight from the top."
"You and I are taking a squad over to Neuville on a public relations mission," I said to Whooves, a half hour later as we walked to our tent.
"You leading the squad?" asked Whooves.
"Some Private in the 101st lost a brother, and she's got a ticket home. She's also the sister of Apple Jack, meaning she's going home as well."
"Are we gonna send her home now?"
"No, I want to get the two together, so they can ship out with each other."
"How come Nueville?"
"They think she's up there somewhere, part of all those airborne misdrops."
"It's not gonna be easy, finding one particular soldier in the middle of this whole stupid war. It'll be like finding a needle in a stack of needles! And what about the company?"
"We take the pick of the litter, and the rest get folded into Baker."
"Dear Celestia! They took away your company?"
"It wasn't my company, it's the army's, so they told me, anyway. Give me Spike on B.A.R., Apple Jack, Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash, and Trixie."
"Trixie's dead."
"Well, Rarity then. Do we have any pony who speaks Foalch?"
"Not that I know of."
"Alrite, I'm gonna go look for a new interpreter, you stay with the squad. Assemble at the Battalion Mortor Pool on the beach," I said as we reached the tent, and as I turned to leave, I heard Whooves say, "Listen up-- What? What are we gonna do? I'll tell you what you're gonna do, Scootaloo, you're gonna go home wrapped in an Equestrian flag with a hunk of cheese in your rump, ya smartass."
I laughed to myself as I walked to the communication center, just less than a mile away from the tent.
"Attention!" some pony yelled when I walked into the center ten minutes later. Every pony there stood up quickly with their backs straight and noses up.
"As you were," I said, smirking, and every pony sat down again,"I'm looking for a Corporal Fluttershy?"
"Oh!" cried the closest pony to me, who was a yellow Pegasus with long pink hair. She stood up so quickly she knocked over her chair, which fell to the ground with a loud thunk. She blushed, and turned to me and said, "I'm Fluttershy."
I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or not, with that introduction, so I compromised by clearing my throat.
"I understand you speak Foalch and Germane." I said.
"Um, yes, ma'am," She said sheepishly.
"How's your accent?"
"Um, just a slight one on Foalch, but, not to brag, my Germane's clean. A touch of Bavarian, ma'am."
"Very good. You've been reassigned to me. Grab your gear. We're going to a place called Nueville."
The Pegasus pony, who went for her equipment when I told her too, stopped dead in her tracks at the mention of Neuville. She turned around to face me with fear etched across her face.
"Um, ma'am, there are Germanes in Neuville," she said shakily.
"That's what I understand, Corporal," I said, raising my eyebrows to her.
"Um, ma'am, there are a lot of Germanes in Neuville," Fluttershy said, making it clearer that she didn't want to go.
"Do you have a problem with that, Corporal?"
"Uh, n-no, ma'am. Just if you consider I've never been in combat. I make maps and I translate."
"I need a pony who speaks Foalch and Germane," I repeated, starting to reconsider, "My two ponies were killed."
"Yes, ma'am, it's just I've never held a weapon since basic training."
"Did you fire the weapon in basic training?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then go get your gear."
"Yes, ma'am."
Fluttershy ran back to her table, where, behind it, there was a shelf with a few items on it. Fluttershy picked up her typewriter that was sitting on the shelf, and pulled the heavy object off. Doing so, she dragged off a Germane helmet and a small box as well. As the typewriter came off the shelf, it was proven to me visually that Fluttershy wasn't the strongest pony as she fell with it.
"Oops," Fluttershy said, and let go of the typewriter and getting up. She bent down to pick up the things she just knocked over, hitting her head on the shelf and causing the support to fail, sending it crashing to the ground.
Fluttershy stared at the mess she just made, and then looked at me, trying to pick up the typewriter on the floor, and said, "Is it ok if I bring my typewriter, ma'am?"
I stared at her, trying not to laugh or smile, and held up a small pencil. Fluttershy blushed again, and let go of the typewriter. She then grabbed two bags-- one big and black, the other a standard issue backpack-- and the Germane helmet.
"What's that, a souvenir?" I said, pointing to the helmet.
"Oh, um, no, ma'am," she said, dropping the helmet and grabbing another one.
"Take your time, Corporal," I said.
She then walked over to me and took the pencil, after she finished cleaning up the mess she made after about three minutes.
"You should look on the bright side of things, Corporal," I said, "And for one thing..." I pulled the black bag off her shoulder and put it back on her desk, "...you're not gonna need that."
"Oh, ok, ma'am," Fluttershy said, looking at me through the corner of her eye.
"Alrite, then," I said, clapping my hoofs together, "Let's go!"
And so we finally got out of the communications center, met the rest of the squad, and set out for Nueville.
About four hours later, the squad and I were walking along a grassy slope in a farmland. Sheep were bleating and running past us as we walked. Trees were coming up in front of us, and Fluttershy kept talking to different squad mates, apparently trying to make friends. At one point, she tapped Apple Jack on the shoulder, startling her.
"Hey!" AJ said, whipping around and causing Fluttershy to jump back, blushing as she usually did, "You want your head blown off, you little chicken buck? Don't you ever buckin' touch me with those little rat claws again! Get the buck back in formation."
Fluttershy's lip started trembling, and she said, "I was just wondering where you're from, that's--" she shut her mouth when AJ gave her a glare that could've frozen molten lava. Fluttershy walked up to Scootaloo instead. "Hey, Scootaloo, right?"
"Drop dead, Corporal," said Scootaloo, "And another thing, every time you salute the captain, you make her a target for the Germanes. So do us a favor, and don't do it, especially when I'm standing next to her, capisci?"
"Uh, capisci," said Flutteshy, and walked quietly for a while after that, until Rarity asked her a question.
"Corporal, what's your book about?"
"Well," said Fluttershy, her mood lifting now that someone was talking to her, "It's supposed to be about the bonds of love and trust that develop between soldiers during war."
"Love and trust?" asked Scootaloo, AJ laughing, "What do you know about love and trust? Get a load of this pony, Aje!" she added to Apple Jack, "Why don't you ask the captain where she's from?"
"Yeah, ask the captain," AJ agreed, "She'll tell you everything you wanna know about her."
"You wanna explain the math of this to me?" Spike asked me, "I mean, what's the sense of risking the lives of the eight of us to save one pony?"
"Any pony wanna answer that?" I asked the company.
"Spike, think of the poor bloke's mother," Rarity said.
"Hey, beautiful, I've got a mother, too, all right?" Spike said back, "I mean, you've got a mother, Sarge has a mother, I mean, heck, I bet even the captain's got a mother... Well, maybe not the captain, but the rest of us all have mothers."
"'Thiers not to reason why, theirs but to do and die'," Fluttershy quoted.
"La la la la la," AJ mocked, "What the buck is that supposed to mean, huh? We're all supposed to die, is that it?"
"Fluttershy's talking about our duty as soldiers," I said, "We all have orders, and we have to follow 'em. That supersedes everything, including your mothers."
"Even if you think the mission's FUBAR, ma'am?" asked Spike.
"Especially if you think the mission's FUBAR," I replied.
"What's FUBAR?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh, it's Germane," AJ lied, and Scootaloo chuckled silently.
"I've never heard of that..." said Fluttershy, thinking.
"Ma'am," Rainbow said to me, "I have an opinion on this matter."
"Well, by all means, share it with the squad," I said.
"Well, from my way of thinking, ma'am, this entire mission is a serious miscallocotion-"
"Misallocation," I corrected her.
"Whatever. A serious misallocation of valuable military resources."
"Go on," I said, listening hard.
"Well, it seems to me, ma'am, that Celestia gave me a special gift, made me a fine instrument of warfare."
"Spike, pay attention," I said, "Now, this is how you gripe! Continue, Dash."
"Well, what I mean by that, ma'am, is if you were to put me and this sniper rifle anywhere up to and including 1 mile of Adhoof Haytler with a clear line of sight, ma'am-- Pack your bags, fellas. War's over."
"Oh, that's brilliant, Dashie," Spike said sarcastically, "And you do know we're talking about AJ's mom also, right?"
"Actually, that's where you're both wrong," Apple Jack threw in, "It's my granny we're doing this for, not my ma."
"Anyway," Spike said, ignoring Apple Jack, "What about you, Captain? I mean, you don't gripe at all?"
"I don't gripe to you, Spike. I'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that as a wrangler."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but let's say you weren't a captain, or maybe I was a major. What would you say then?"
"Well, in that case, I'd say this is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir, worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover, I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Privates Apple Bloom and Apple Jack, and am willing to lay down my life and the lives of my ponies, and dragon, to ease her suffering."
"She's good." AJ said simply, and Scootaloo agreed by saying, "I love her!" and she made kissing noises. Fluttershy giggled.
And so we ventured out of the farmland and came within view of Neuville, knowing that Private Bloom was somewhere inside.