The Battle Of Yonderhill
August 15th 1010, 14:06
Six Minutes Into the Battle Of Yonderhill
Colonel Zellix’s Recon Platoon
“Any Callsign, this is Two-Six Romeo, I have thirteen wounded, and seven dead!”
The situation was, as they say, rapidly deteriorating. Their transport truck, containing much of their spare ammunition, lay in a broken, smoldering husk along the railroad tracks. Huddled around the radio dragged from the vehicle, the Changeling squad leader yelled for help into the transmitter, as his forces fired through the trees and down the railroad tracks.
Bullets cracked around the ears of the dozen or so changeling recon soldiers, who were now in a ditch fighting for their lives. They hardly poked their helmets out to fire, letting their rifles rest on the forest floor and hoping their returning fire would buy them any sort of respite.
“Two-Six Romeo, this is Zellix. Additional Elements are flanking on your right. Hold position.”
In a look of disbelief, the squad leader looked down at the transmitter. “N-Negative sir, We need reinforcements at OUR position, we’re soon to be overrun!”
“Clear comms.”
The reconnaissance squad hunkered down in the ditch off of the railroad tracks, as their leader cursed the name of their commanding officer. Insubordination could be solved at a later time. The battle was here.
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Rifles on a line cracked out of Applejack’s formation, sporadically down the railroad tracks and throughout the forest. Over their ramparts, the auxiliary detachment brought with Applejack, along with Selenite’s Night Guard, concentrated themselves on the railroad crossing, moving forward ammunition to the frontline.
“Any casualties will be brought into the woodline behind these fortifications. Swift Roller has already set up a triage area in preparation.” Selenite stated, matter-of-factly over the rifle fire. “It will be the safest place for them. My soldiers can operate these guns, but it’ll be up to your detachment to keep them fighting.”
Holding her hat down on her head, Applejack nodded. “You got it, pardner. Ya’ won’t have any sorta’ trouble with a lack of ammunition if ah’ve got somethin’ ta’ do with it. If we run out, Swift Roller showed me where more crates of shells could be found.”
Turning off the line, Pinkie Pie seemed agitated. “He-LLO?! We’re dying to shoot the party cannons here!”
Selenite seethed over the gunfire. “They are 4.5 inch Field Artillery pieces! Not party cannons! We need to conserve their firepower until the enemy has committed the majority of his forces! We have to make every shot count!”
“General Selenite!” One of the Thestral soldiers called, moving with a small squad out of the forest. “The Changelings are moving over to the left side, they’re headed straight for Strawberry Cinnamon’s platoon!”
Nodding, Selenite looked over to Applejack. “We may have over-invested our forces onto our right. The terrain to our left is easily traversable in comparison, and Jungle Trek can’t maneuver from one flank to the other to assist them if needed! The left flank might be in serious danger.”
The rancher looked around. “Where’s Maerman?”
“Where the danger is.”
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August 15th 1010, 14:20
Twenty Minutes Into the Battle Of Yonderhill
Strawberry Cinnamon’s Rifle Platoon
This was happening. Strawberry Cinnamon had three dozen ponies with rifles primarily made of wood, and now the world’s most terrifying army, and one of their most terrifying units in that army, was engaged in battle with her unit. Of course, they had to choose her position to attack.
Ducking down from a sporadic burst of Changeling fire, Strawberry Cinnamon glanced on either side of her, as her ponies laid down shoulder to shoulder and fired here and there, trying to keep the enemy from advancing any further. It would have been really nice for Moerman to play along and actually pretend to be as scared as they were.
“You know for a bunch of Jaegers -” He said, as the Griffon perched himself on a smooth, large rock looking through the forest at the shifting enemy. “Whatever that means, I expected more than amateur execution. Are the uniforms just for show? I mean, they’re not even rushing in buddy teams, they’re just walking-”
“MOERMAN!” yelled Strawberry Cinnamon, ducked from her foxhole. “What the hay are we supposed to do? There's a whole company out there, all I have -”
Cut off by a burst of Sapphire Stream’s machine gun, Dobbelsteen Moerman held up a claw of understanding. “Eh, they probably have another company in reserve, but that’s alright. Now Strawberry, this is a good teaching moment. We are currently in defilade, but if we want to have a chance of holding such a large enemy, what we really needed is enfilade-“
“I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!”
He pointed to the far left, past her and most of her platoon. “You see that collection of rocks over there? Smooth like this one? Move a squad to get overlapping fields of fire on the enemy. We shoot em in the front, they’ll hit em in the side. ”
With a stern nod, Strawberry Cinnamon took off down the line and pulled ten rifleponies. Some scared, some eager, and most detesting the idea of leaving of their safe foxholes for a mad dash across the forest. Nevertheless, with a flanking element secured in movement, Sapphire Stream continued to fire at the Changelings. “Horseapples!” She yelled in frustration, as a rifle pony assisted her in reloading. “I can’t nick a single one! They keep hiding behind cover!”
The Griffon nodded. “Keeping them locked in place is a victory in itself. Nothing causes panic like being unable to move.”
“But they’re crawling… two whole companies, Mr. Moerman.” Sapphire Stream narrowed her eyes. “Just wish we could remove the cover entirely…”
Pondering for a moment, Dobbelsteen looked to two unfortunate Pegasi right next to him, who glanced away from their rifles up at the Major. With a quick point to each encouraging to follow, Moerman took off into the sky, away from the fight.
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“Colonel Zellix, sir! We’ve reached heavy resistance on the right flank!”
With an expression of complete confusion, the Changeling officer tilted his head at the echoes of gunfire not far along the railroad tracks. As trucks of Changeling soldiers dismounted around him and moved into the forest, he threw a hoof into the air. “TWO COMPANIES can‘t handle a trot in the woods, is that what you’re telling me? Should I get this in writing?”
Shifting her weight away from the Colonel, the Sergeant Major sputtered. “They’re up against an entrenched force! They have no supporting fires! Our mortars are still on the trucks at the rear of the formation!”
Another officer, a Captain, skidded to a halt from a full sprint over to the Colonel. “Sir, the forest has a natural incline up to the enemy. Our view of their lines is obscured by the terrain, so we have no idea of their numbers! We can’t move against them without supporting fires at least, if not support from gun -”
Throwing his cap into the rocks and dirt underneath his hooves, Colonel Zellix was in complete disbelief. “Against a force like this? Untrained, outnumbered, and spread this thinly across this junction? You want this ENTIRE FORMATION, to pull out Vanhoover levels of firepower, because none of my officers have the courage to move against the enemy unless in complete safety?” Rifle fire continued to echo in between his yelling. “Take the forest, NOW!”
Overtaking both the yelling of the Colonel, and the sporadic shots of rifle and machine gun fire, the sound of explosions could be heard from the right flank. Distant pops of thunder caught the attention of the Colonel, whose look grew ever sour.
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August 15th 1010, 14:45
Forty-Five Minutes Into the Battle Of Yonderhill
Strawberry Cinnamon’s Rifle Platoon
“Twist, pull, assume a good stance, throw and duck.” Moerman said, joined by his two new pegasus friends, who looked quite pleased with themselves as they tossed another grenade through the forest. With a pull, Moerman yanked them into a foxhole, only peeking up when the grenade went off. “Remember,” he said, “don’t look for the explosion, shrapnel travels. If you don't hear it, throw another. Oh, and make sure to teach your buddies this too.”
Standing up from his foxhole, keeping low from the now-panicked rifle from the Changelings, Moerman traveled down the line to set down a crate of grenades. As Sapphire Steam looked back, and Strawberry Cinnamon joined his side, Moerman handed them out to the platoon. “This is what we call a dilemma, Sapphire. If the enemy turns and runs, your machine gets him. If the enemy stays put behind cover, the grenades get him.”
Smiling, Strawberry looked around. “So we’re holding this, right? We’re good where we are?”
“They’re bound to have something further planned,” said Sapphire, who gave a burst of machine gun fire through the forest, as another explosion popped off. “They might go further left.”
Moerman shook his head. “No, he’s already trapped. If their commander moves even further left, he’s running further away from his own allies, then he’s really stuck.”
“What if they bring their vehicles here?”
Moerman turned, “Through this forest? I sure hope they do. If somehow they don't get stuck, we’ll pull a towed gun off from the junction and rain it down through here. No… they’re gonna move to the right, now. You got this well in hand, Lieutenant. Hold this flank through whatever means you deem fit. Good luck!” With a quick nod to Strawberry Cinnamon, Moerman took off once more into the sky.
Cinnamon, Stream, and a dozen rifle ponies all looked at each other, until one unicorn wondered aloud: “...Is this all they do in the Empire?”
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“Are you KIDDING me?!” yelled Colonel Zellix, slamming his hoof into the dirt as the battle raged. “We’re pinned in the center, our right flank won’t move an inch because of a couple of farmers who can’t read, much less shoot!” Bitterly, he looked at his gathering of officers. “Take the other flank with the armored cars and soldiers. If they face anything that SCARES you into paralysis, you’ll have two additional companies, and two tanks to support the offensive.”
“Sir, the terrain is heavily unfavorable, the vehicles could get stuck!”
“Sergeant Major Adelheid, as timid as she is, has already been carving a path for you.” Follow the path of trails and lightly wooded areas!” Yanking out a map from his uniform pocket, he pointed under a heavily swamped area. “Stay out of this and in the forest below it. It is the perfect gap to break through, and I am giving you EVERYTHING. Now, execute the mission, and get us going!”
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August 15th 1010, 15:03
One Hour Into the Battle Of Yonderhill
Jungle Trek’s Assembled Rifle Platoons
“Are you KIDDING me?!” yelled Jungle Trek, ducking behind a mound of dirt, as his company of soldiers each hid behind respective trees, shrubbery, and bushes, hiding from the rapid machine gun fire of the armored cars. “Moerman, what in Tartarus is THAT?!”
The Major, standing next to him, tilted his head and squinted behind his sunglasses. “...Looks like a tractor, dont it?”
“IT HAS A MACHINE GUN, MOERMAN!”
As if to enunciate Jungle’s point, the heavy chorus of crewed machine guns pierced through tree barks and limbs, forcing Dobbelsteen to duck quickly to the ground behind a fallen tree. As dust and dirt kicked up into the air, he crawled over to Jungle Trek’s foxhole along the line of soldiers. Jungle firmly held his helmet down to cover his head. “Wild Strikes and Caramel Crunch have been pulling any injured ponies off of the line and back for treatment, and Lucky Twirl’s company on the right side is facing the same amount of resistance we are!”
The two soldiers stole a look out of the foxhole and through the forest, as the armored vehicle slowly drove over the various rocks and fallen branches. “This is their main assault force. Strawberry and Sapphire have the left well in hand. You got anyone who can run a message, Trek?!”
He nodded. “SWEEPER!”
Brisk Sweeper pulled off the gun line with a spin, a nearby burst of machine fire forcing him to the forest floor, before he skidded to a halt before the two commanders. “What is it!?”
Firing his lever action rifle out of his foxhole, rapidly cycling the action to buy a window of reprieve, Moerman spoke. “Run to General Selenite. Tell her Immediate Suppression, 100 meters west of Jungle Trek. Enemy light armored vehicles, engage with High explosive and Fire When Ready. This is their concentrated force, and that’s how we break it!”
Brisk Sweeper, furiously jotting down Moerman’s words in a small notebook, took off from the gunline back in the direction of the railroad junction, as Jungle Trek got up to his hooves and held his rifle close. “They outnumber us by some wide margin, Dobbelsteen.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Low on faith?”
Jungle Trek loaded his bolt action once more, and Moerman could swear he saw a smile. “Only thing I’m low on is bullets.”
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“That is the greatest news I’ve heard in my entire life, Brisk.” General Selenite said, looking up from the Call For Fire sheet, though the artillery pieces behind her had been focused on firing down the railroad tracks and into the enemy’s center. “Was Moerman an Artillery Officer at some point?”
Brisk Sweeper just took a breath from his full on sprint from the frontline, looking up at the Thestral. The uniforms of her soldiers sporting an all-black color scheme made these artilleryponies look unbothered by the losing battle, though the fire that came out from those guns convinced Brisk they had a chance of winning it. “The main effort of the enemy is coming through Jungle Trek’s flank. They’re coming with soldiers and escorted by armored cars -”
Selenite’s ears twitched. “...A-Armored Cars?”
“Well, they look more like tractors…”
“You’re telling me their maneuver element on the opposite flank is unprotected infantry and thin sheets of metal on wheels?!” The Thestral, usually calm and collected, practically jumped in the air. “Pinkie Pie!”
From behind the most forward artillery piece, the gunpowder-covered face of Pinkie appeared with glee. “Yes, ma’am, Artillery Mare ma’am! The enemy won't get through the center as you have ordered!”
“Aim these field howitzers to the right flank, degrees to follow.” She turned to Brisk. “We’ll chart out the maps and get those guns rolling. If this flanking attack is their check, we shall raise them a checkmate.”
Brisk wondered if the prerequisite for command in the Equestrian Army was psychopathic tendencies.
“Selenite,” Pinkie Pie asked, “What am I putting in the cannons?”
“High Explosive.”
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In the cramped, fuming space of the armored vehicle, the hooves of a Changeling struggled to no avail against the terrain of the forest. Her hearing, consistently abused by the relentless machine gun fire going on in the turret behind her, made her deaf to the frustrations of her fellow crew. “This thing is STUCK!”
“Put it in reverse, then!” Yelled her assistant machine gunner, desperately searching for more ammunition in the small vehicle.
“The tires are caked in the mud!”
“Just do SOMETHING!”
Bullets pinged off the thin metal on the vehicles, ricocheting off into the forest with pings and pops as their sounds. Yet, as the engine continued to struggle against nature, the distant thunder of guns shook through each of their hearts.
“...Is - Is that Artillery?!” Yelled the Machine Gunner.
The assistant gunner pulled his friend out of the turret, just in time for the first shell to land and send debris and shrapnel tearing through the turret. “Tartarus! Stay low in here, it's the best chance we’ve got -”
The driver, a Changeling mare, took her two crewmembers by the hoof. “Absolutely not, our vehicles won't stand a chance against these guns. Follow me, and RUN!” Kicking open the door to the lightly armored vehicle, the crew sprang out and away just in time for a shell to land directly upon the engine block, causing an explosion that threw the vehicle into the sky, landing no more than five meters from a certain Changeling Sergeant.
She could barely hear. The harassment faced by her in the forests north of Salt Lick City had started this endless chase, and the fight her command was desperately searching for was now here. Despite her objections to Colonel Zellix, Sergeant Major Adelheid was now watching her soldiers die. She scampered away from the intense heat of the vehicle wreckage, as both artillery and machine gun fire caused her soldiers to hide as best they could behind cover. But they couldn’t stay here, they would die if they did.
Dashing through the gunfire, she managed to drag a detachment of Changeling machine gunners and bring them to the top of a small hump in the forest floor. Using fallen trees as cover, she brought the machine guns to bear up the slope.
As entire platoons of Changeling Infantry hid, Adelheid rose to fire with the machine gunners up at the pony positions. With a window of reprieve granted, save for the falling artillery shells, she ordered: “ALL JAEGERS, 300 METERS TO THE REAR!”
Shells and gunfire from the ponies continued to cycle, but the companies of Changeling soldiers regrouped on Sergeant Major Adelheid in close withdrawal back into the forest.
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Although the haze of battle left the soldiers of each side wandering aimlessly through destruction, Moerman could clearly see the way the battle was going.
“Do -” Jungle Trek coughed, as Sapphire Stream loaded one of the last belts into her machine gun, “- do we got 'em on the run?” He said, looking around as if he couldn’t believe it. “They’re retreating?”
Lucky Twirl peeked her little head above the trenchline, followed by the eyes of all of her soldiers. Suddenly, she sprang to her hooves. “They are! They’re running, you guys!” She smiled wildly, followed by the cheers of ponies up and down the line.
“Oh, don’t worry, they won’t be going far.”
Dobbelsteen turned to Jungle Trek, bringing up his wing to point into the forest. “There is no way in Tartarus I’m letting them escape without getting something in return. They don't have the organization to conduct a legitimate retreat. This is the opening we need to tear the feathers from this Griffon before he can fly away.”
Jungle Trek tilted his head, “That is an… interesting metaphor.”
The sounds of battle had rested still, only the heavy breathing of the shaken but living ponies all around Dobbelsteen Moerman. Behind him, a quick approaching pony of the night guard made himself known. “Sir! General Selenite wishes to inform you, we’ve completely expended all explosive shells in repelling this attack!”
Sapphire Stream looked up from her machine gun, over to Brisk. “You’re sure you can’t find any more ammunition for me?”
Brisk shook his head. “If we expended all our shells, it's only a matter of time before they attack again!”
Once more, worry creeped into the eyes of the hundred or so ponies along the defensive line, some wrapping bandages around their more injured comrades. Dobbelsteen’s sunglasses reflected what little sunlight got through the haze of gunpowder and swaying trees, before the Griffon’s head immediately tilted with an idea. “Who here has heard of a ‘Shake and Bake’?”
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With their very limits tested, the Night Guard hurriedly rushed new shells across the railroad junction and into the blazing cannons, their shells screaming across the sky, their close location allowing the artillery ponies to feel both the shooting and the impact of the shells. Down the railroad tracks, General Selenite personally stepped in for an injured thestral and sighted the weapon herself. That didn’t prevent her from being joyous.
“A SHAKE AND BAKE?” She exclaimed, somehow louder than the shells her troops were firing. “Yellow Rock, am I hearing you correctly?!”
Yellow Rock flustered, “T-That’s what Moerman said!”
Unloading yet another pile of crates for the fiending Night Guard, who eagerly picked up the shells, Swift Roller wiped sweat from her brow and adjusted her officer cap. “Shake and Bake… isn’t that a restaurant in Whinnyapolis?”
Selenite giggled to herself, the gremlin that she was, as she loaded the shells and instructed her crews to adjust the guns accordingly. It was only at this moment, with Yellow Rock and Swift Roller standing there without an answer, did they catch a glimpse of the label of the shells, proudly stamped in all capital letters: WHITE PHOSPHORUS.
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August 15th 1010, 16:13
Two Hours Into the Battle Of Yonderhill
Sergeant Major Adelheid’s Shock Company
The forest was on fire.
Adelheid did her best to wave down as many of her soldiers as she could, and she had done one fantastic job of doing it. There must have been two and a half platoons all huddled around her, as she peeled her way to the front and hastingly placed them in sheltering positions along the forest floor. Most of the Changelings had made their way and back to the railroad tracks, but Adelheid tore through the forest to find the scattered remnants. Small ditches, natural trench lines, even the small crevasse of trees served as protection for her soldiers. Not only had high explosive rounds tore apart the weak shrubbery of her surroundings, but now white smoke had fallen onto the ground and ignited the leaves, its trails carrying fire all around her.
“I - I can’t see!” One voice yelled behind her, amidst the shocking exclamations of the soldiers behind her.
“It’s all on fire! How are we going to get out of here?!”
It made no sense to Adelheid. The ponies were running to the hills not just weeks before. Days ago, they had made her outfit bleed, and now it had them beaten and surrounded. How could this have happened?
She pushed it out of her mind. The fire was getting larger, abated by the wind. But, as the heat pulsed around her and her soldiers hid for their lives, she glimpsed some part of the blue sky. A beam of sunlight, coming down into her vision.
“Jaegers!” She yelled, to the worried eyes of her huddled Changelings. “The smoke won’t cloud us forever. Grab your wounded comrades and take flight with me!”
Hope flickered in their eyes, even as one Changeling scampered to his hooves. “How will we know where to go! The smoke in the sky is on fire!”
Adelheid took her weapon close, then raised her hoof to point out the opening in the cloud of White Phosphorus. Guided by the sunlight, Adelheid commanded her troops. “The Queen is not through with us yet! Fly!”
As the wings of the Changeling Soldiers, some eighty or so of them, fluttered upwards to zip into the sky, Adelheid watched on as she assisted her wounded soldiers. She would be the last one to leave, and as she made sure each and every one of those responsible under her fled to safety, a strange emotion burned in her heart.
Before she could contemplate it, gunfire erupted from the treeline. She ducked down to avoid it, but that did little as she desperately tried to return fire, smoke now slowly closing all around her, leaving her alone in the fiery forest.
Over the rock in which she took cover, Strawberry Cinnamon grasped Adelheid by her helmet, the quick reactions of both causing a tussle to ensue. The anxious, smaller pony had managed to catch the Changeling by surprise, but Adelheid was free to scamper to her hooves and create meaningful distance between them. Rifles shook in both of their hooves, as each raised it to be trained on the other.
Adelheid aimed. Cinnamon aimed. But as they did, an opening of sunlight breached through the haze again, and Strawberry slowly lowered her weapon.
Adelheid was confused. Surrounded by fire and smoke, the pony somehow seemed to shrink before her, even when she had the advantage. The Changeling’s ears perked up, as she could hear the trotting hooves of distant soldiers on her way. She felt her wings flutter. She wanted to flee.
“Go.” Strawberry said.
Adelheid felt her hooves go slightly limp, her weapon lowered in confusion. She took flight, but not before the pony gave her parting words that left her with even more questions.
“But when you go back to your officers,” She said, “You tell them it was Moerman, and all of Equestria, that threw you back.”
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Jungle Trek couldn’t believe his eyes. His hooves were beginning to feel heavy, struggling to keep hold of his rifle as he watched them fly. Flapping their wings at high speeds, Changelings were disappearing into the skies, their figures quickly shrouded by the low clouds of smoke and fire that was beginning to spread throughout the forest in front of him.
His ponies, slowly peeking out of their foxholes and over mounds of spent cartridges, looked to each other in disbelief. At the center of the railroad junction, stacks of spent artillery shells littered the tracks as ponies of General Selenite’s night guard nearly collapsed from exhaustion, as even Pinkie Pie felt out of breath from all the excitement. Nudging her pink friend, Applejack tilted her rancher hat up to the sky to watch them fly away, as silence and crackling flame littered the battlefield.
But the loud revving engine of an armored car, littered with bullet holes and nearly missing its rear tires crashed over the ridge and out onto the railroad junction, causing Wild Strikes to yank Caramel Crunch behind crates and Applejack to command ponies to raise rifles to aim at the sudden intruder. Jungle Trek cycled his bolt action rifle and stood before the vehicle.
The door to the armored car shook, and seemingly giving up on the door mechanism, Dobbelsteen Moerman elected to simply kick the sheet metal out onto the tracks, climbing onto the hood. “Boreas-Damn-It Jungle Trek, those bugs are GETTIN’ AWAY!”
Selenite reacted with utter confusion. “Th-The Changelings are retreating, Moerman! We won!”
“This battle is not over until we have unconditional surrender.” The Griffon adjusted his glasses up into the clouded sky. “The White Phosphorus shells scattered the Changelings and I’m betting there’s still entire platoons out in the forest trying to avoid it. We need our elements to round up whatever bugs haven’t had the sense to take flight.”
Applejack adjusted her rancher hat and broke into a smile. “Well shoot, if its a ‘rounding up you need, you’ve asked just the right mare! Pinkie Pie, you can help Selenite here, me and Lucky Twirl can drag em out of the forest!”
The Thestral Captain turned back to the armored car, which she could swear was smoking under the hood. “What about you, Moerman?”
“We can’t chase em with our platoons, less we get baited into a trap. This vehicle holds enough maneuvering capability to harass any retreating elements-” He said, pausing to bring up a left behind Changeling machine gun emplacement on top of the vehicle. “And do whatever damage necessary.”
“You’re right!” Selenite galloped over the ramparts and climbed inside the armored car, bringing along a collection of maps under her wing which she layed out upon the dashboard. “If we hurry, we might be able to capture them, and their supplies!”
Jungle Trek shook his head. “You’re going to drive out there, ALONE? Just the two of you?” Around him, Sapphire Stream, Strawberry Cinnamon, even Shooting steps looked perplexed. “Surely you can’t be serious!”
“I am serious, and I’m not going alone.” Dobbelsteen Moerman patted his claw once on Jungle Trek’s shoulder. “You’re my driver.”
“Come on, Trek!” called Selenite from the truck. “Think of the firepower we can grab!”
He was really starting to regret being born in interesting times.
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“Colonel Zellix!” Frantically, out of the retreating huddles and batches of Changeling soldiers, the Jaegers now either coming out of the wooded forests or landing as quickly as possible out of the plumes of smoke above, one Officer skidded to a halt in front of the Command tent off the side of the road. “Colonel Zellix, the ponies have repulsed our attack! The smoke shells lit the whole forest on fire!”
Zellix was barely holding it together, as he could clearly see brief hints of flames through the woodline. “I can SEE THAT!”
“Sergeant Major Adelheid brought Alpha and Bravo companies out, but they pulled too far back and we lost contact. They might have disengaged from the area to-”
It took everything in Colonel Zellix’s power to only hit the officer across the face and not just outright shoot him. The strike forced the officer to the ground, as he bitterly remarked, “I will not have cowards in the Jaegers. Turn these forces back and keep firing.”
Commotion emerged from the Command tent, as one of the Changeling radio operators stepped out, doing her best not to look at the Officer on the ground. “Colonel sir, Field Marshal Trimmel is requesting a report on the developing battle. What should we tell him?”
Trimmel flared, “You won’t tell him ANYTHING!” His glared around the entrance to the command tent. “Beset on all sides by total weakness, and against the best efforts of my officers, we will prevail. We have an armored locomotive in reserve, the ponies have spent all the shells they have, We will smash right down the center of this railroad junction and strike the ponies right in the center.” His eyes narrowed. “I. Will. Not. Fail.”
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August 15th 1010, 16:45
Three Hours Into the Battle Of Yonderhill
A Barely Held Together Armored Car
Tearing through the undergrowth of the Yonderhill forest, with critters scurrying out of the way of its tires and fleeing the sound of its engine, Jungle Trek’s hooves barely kept hold of the shaking steering wheel, as his navigator in the passenger seat, Selenite, was hardly any help. His helmet, loosely placed on top of his head, shook with the rough terrain and had to be held down once or twice from flying off. Above him, Dobbelsteen Moerman had climbed into the turret and let a burst of machine gun fire, snapping twigs and branches.
“Selenite,” yelled Jungle Trek, “Where in tartarus are we going!?”
She squinted at the papers. “Uh… it’s beyond the brush!”
“It’s a FOREST, there’s brush everywhere!”
“Just keep following along these train tracks.” Moerman’s eyes peered through the forest, and fired again. “This gunfire is going to keep any Changelings from coming in this direction. Seeing as how these train tracks are their only way out, it’ll keep from stuck in place just for Applejack!”
Jungle Trek had to lean with the steering wheel as the car crashed through a ditch, threatening to tip the entire vehicle over as they lunged out onto the railroad tracks. Selenite’s hooves braced against the dashboard, tires screeching to a halt as Moerman leveled his eye sight and got his bearing in the turret, their vehicle now dead center of the railroad tracks.
What had to be over one hundred Changelings, hastingly assembled in scattered formations and groups dispersing their ammunition, tending to their wounds and waiting to regroup, all at once diverted their eyes to the Armored car. Frozen in place, they glanced to each other, and then back to the peculiar sight of an Earth pony behind the steering wheel, a Griffon in a floral shirt leaning out of the turret, and the Changeling vehicle they commandeered being riddled with bullet holes.
Click!
Jungle Trek’s pupils shrank to a comical size. “...What was that?”
Selenite shrunk back in her seat. “...Moerman’s out of ammo.”
The Griffon leaned down in the turret, nonchalantly looking at Trek. “...Back up.”
Sergeant Major Adelheid, bravely standing in front of her Changelings, raised her hoof in vengeance. “GET THEM!”
Dobbelsteen Moerman ducked just in time to dodge the fire of a dozen rifle shots directed towards the turret, hurriedly unslinging his lever action rifle and looking over at his driver. “BY THE GODS, GET US OUT OF HERE!”
Selenite screamed, “FLOOR IT, TREK!”
The Henchpony, possessed either by adrenaline, fear, or the power of alicorns, cast aside his impulses as he firmly slammed his hoof down on the accelerator, launching the armored car almost vertically towards the huddled group of Changelings. Roaring down the railroad tracks, Adelheid and the rest of the Jaegers jumped out of the way and into the sky as Moerman tried his best to return fire out of the turret. As Jungle Trek steered them out of danger, his ears twitched. “M-Moerman?!”
The Griffon kept firing, “YEAH!?”
“What’s that sound?”
“Burning oil? Gunfire? The voices?”
Selenite’s sensitive thestral ears twitched. “Hit the brakes! That’s a-”
As Jungle Trek reached a bend in the train tracks, the armored car lurched to a halt. Leaves picked up with the growing wind, fluttering around the damaged armored car as Jungle Trek leaned his head out the missing driver side door, and Dobbelsteen Moerman rose to the turret. The distant, roaring sound of an engine prompted the Griffon to raise a limp claw to his sunglasses, gently pulling them down his beak to take in the sight. The horn of a Changeling Armored Train, complete with artillery turrets, anti aircraft batteries, and a rushing locomotive sound its horn to shake the entire forests, as its wheels toe along the tracks. Directly towards them.
In a few moments, still reeling from their sporadic encounter, and making sure all her soldiers were still accounted for, Sergeant Major Adelheid glimpsed the return of the Armored car…reversing. At alarming speeds, and before any of her soldiers could react, flying once more through their hideout and down the railroad tracks, as trees splintered and fractured not far above them from what seemed to be an artillery shell flying down the tracks after them. Out of ammunition, weapons, but not lacking in confusion, her forces were only further starstruck by the appearance of a Changeling Armored train tearing down the tracks right after them.
The entire group now looked back to Adelheid, as one voice asked: “...Did we lose to those three idiots?”
Adelheid sighed. “...They had help from a fourth.”
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Though Sergeant Major Adelheid and her forces had slipped their close encounter with death and made it to safety, the same could not be said for Jungle Trek, Selenite and Dobbelsteen Moerman. The locomotive tore through the forest along the train tracks, the slopes of terrain on either side making escape an impossibility.
“Damn it!” Yelled Jungle, trying to veer the vehicle offroad and out of danger. “I can’t get this hunk of junk over-”
The air screamed as an artillery shell nearly clipped the armored vehicle in half, fired by one of the turrets. Dobbelsteen Moerman leaned down from the turret, as if the sheet metal was going to save him from such firepower. “Brake! Get right up next to the train!”
As the turrets of the Armored Train reloaded, Jungle Trek’s hoof slammed on the brake and skidded the armored vehicle to a halt, cast in the shadow of the locomotive. As the train slowly inched forward, Dobbelsteen Moerman had barely gotten his bearing before the armored vehicle was violently shoved.
“THERE!” Raising their eyes and rifles in the bed of the truck, a military transport vehicle with six changeling soldiers peered out, and the direction of their weapons told Moerman that they were not particularly happy to see him. The Changeling Officer with them that called out raised the pistol in his hoof, and fired, in synchronization with his friends.
Bullets scraped and barely pierced the sheet metal as Moerman ducked once more. Cycling his lever action rifle, and then patting down his two bandoliers, the Griffon’s eyes went wide behind his sunglasses.
Selenite peered back, locking eyes with the Griffon. “You seriously need to have a lesson in ammunition conservation, Mr. Moerman!”
“Moerman!” Jungle Trek yelled, still trying to keep his hooves on the wheel on the rocky terrain, sandwiched between the armored train and the Changelings, whose bullets now scraped the hood. “Tell me you got SOMETHING!”
The weight of the armored car shifted, as the earth pony’s eyes went wide. “Selenite,” He peered at the passenger seat. “Did he just-?!”
Alfred’s hole-ridden hooves had barely just cycled through his rifle before it was kicked down to the bed of the truck, as each of the Changelings froze with the sudden appearance of a Griffon who looked like he should be on vacation rather than in a warzone, safe for the stench of gunpowder and loosely slung lever action rifle around him. A brief glance was shared between all the participants, before each Changeling rushed forward.
The Thestral artillery officer only let out a groan of exasperation as she, too, climbed up through the turret, much to the objection of her earth pony driver. “You are insane! He has an excuse of being Feathisian, but YOU -”
“Somepony’s gotta help him!”
Swiftly thrusting forward with assistance of his wings, the Griffon’s claws seized one of the Changelings by the neck and threw him into two of his comrades, who scrambled to take hold of the bed of the truck to prevent themselves from falling off. But the fight was far from over yet, as a Changeling soldier, braver than most, seized the griffon in a chokehold, causing him to stumble against the cab of the truck, whose driver was currently locked in a shoving contest with Jungle Trek’s vehicle. Another Changeling soldier threw a solid punch into Dobbelsteen’s chest.
Jungle Trek twisted the wheel hard to the left.
The truck lurched to the side, nearly tipping over as it just barely held on to the road. Dobbelsteen wiggled his way out of the chokehold, grasping the Changeling in front of him and throwing him directly through the cabin’s rear window, glass shattering inside as he grappled the Changeling behind him and tossed him over the side of the truck.
Now back on their hooves, however, the three changelings rushed forward with their rifles. A shot from one was only narrowly avoided by Dobbelsteen by wrestling it out of the Changeling’s hooves and firing it into the air. With a twist, Dobbelsteen swung the rifle like a baseball bat across the muzzle of one of the Changelings, knocking them over the side as he now gazed upon the three remaining Changelings, with their three friends either over the side or the one out cold through the cabin window. They rushed forward. However, a silver maned blur of rage cut down the middle of the truck and seized upon one of the Changeling soldiers, who promptly collapsed to the floor and began screaming.
Seeing this, the remaining Changeling soldier looked over to his officer, opened his wings, and let the wind carry him out of danger.
Selenite tossed the Changeling riflepony into the corner of the truck, knocking them out cold as she turned to face the remaining officer. Standing side by side with Dobbelsteen Moerman, they both gave a triumphant grin, as the Griffon spoke. “No shame in running now, lieut-”
The Officer answered with a grin of her own, and pulled out a pistol to fire towards them. With such a short distance between them, it was a miracle only one of them embedded itself into Dobbelsteen’s left arm before the pistol was seized by Selenite’s hooves, the two soldiers wrestling the gun in the air above them in an aerial tug of war. Twisting and turning as their wings propelled them further and further into the sky, Selenite grit her teeth and let go of the pistol… only to seize the Officer by the waist and propel them directly into the bed of the truck, crashing through its floorboard and throwing them onto the tracks below.
Dobbelsteen leaned into his minor wound, as he and Selenite exchanged smiles. “Hey,” The Griffon said, “That was pretty good.”
The Thestral beamed. “Thanks! The Night Princess grants me strength in all the foes of Equ-
“GET YOUR FLANKS BACK IN THE CAR!!!”’
Jungle Trek was currently playing derby between the Armored train and the transport vehicle, but found no respite as both Selenite and Moerman jumped only briefly onto the armored car. “Somepony’s gotta stop this train!” The Griffon jumped back onto the armored car, and yanked the earth pony out of the driver's seat.
“W-What are you doing!?”
As the vehicle lost control, Trek, Moerman, and Selenite landed onto the deck of the Armored train, as both trucks behind them collided and quickly lost speed off behind them. Retracting their wings and setting down their earth pony friend, their moment of respite was short lived as hurried hoofsteps all around the train caused the trio to move, breaching the command car in the center of the train.
Inside, a variety of officers and soldiers stared back. One of them seemed particularly angry.
Quickly backtracking, Moerman slammed the door shut in front of their faces, just in time to meet a column of Changeling soldiers ascending the stairs up the car. Jungle Trek drove them back as he raised his bolt action rifle and put shots through the first two Changelings at the head of the column. “Either of you got some kind of plan?!”
Selenite spread her wings, “Keep em occupied Trek! I’ll go around em!”
But, as Trek and Selenite advanced, the door opened behind them and yanked the Griffon inside the command car as Dobbelsteen wrestled with the multiple officers then tried to pin him down. The Griffon took flight inside the command car, managing to launch himself into a corner and furniture across the room as cover, as he tackled-
“UNHAND ME, BIRD!” Colonel Zellix screamed as he tried to pull the wings of Dobbelsteen Moerman apart. He had to keep his injured claw close to him, blood gently dropping down his claw as he fought off the Colonel, crashing into tables and assorted chairs, with Changeling Soldiers nervously pinned against the windows afraid to incur either’s wrath.
“Trek!” Called Selenite from the other side of the train, crouched behind cover. “Moerman’s inside the Command car!”
Jungle Trek, still firing in the open air, scanned the train around him for a solution…As his eyes grew wide with a plan in his head. “Grab their attention, Selenite! This train has all the weapons we need!” Galloping off down the way, Selenite played her part by dashing into the sky with a beat of her wings, and zipping around the heads of the dazed Changeling soldiers.
But, ignorant of the henchpony’s antics, Dobbelsteen Moerman fought for his life against Colonel Zellix, as the Changeling’s eyes bit with fire and venom. “I knew there must have been SOMETHING!” He spat, a brief distance created between them. “No stupid ponies could have proven to be such an annoyance!” His hoof grasped a knife from the table and slashed towards the Griffon, who quickly dodged around the blade and flew back against the wall. His claw found some fancy dinner plates.
“It’s MOERMAN!” The Feathisian yelled. “I’m actually a great creature once you get to know me!”
Soaring through the air, plates crashed across the room, shattering against the back wall and all around Colonel Zellix. “Will-” He ducked. “For-” Once more. “STOP THROWING THINGS!”
Dobbelsteen tossed a chair directly into the face of Colonel Zellix moving forward before the Changeling soldiers around saw their window and moved towards Dobbelsteen. The Griffon did his best to fight them off, trying as he might to avoid the jabs to his stomach and wings. Colonel Zellix, regaining his strength, seized Dobbelsteen and tossed him across the floor, sunglasses flying off his beak.
Crying out from landing on his wounded claw, Dobbelsteen propped himself up just enough to see Colonel Zellix withdraw his pistol, cocking it. “Your Adventure ends here, Mor… Maer… Mir-.”
Just enough time was purchased for Jungle Trek, rifle smoking from driving off a crew of ponies, to let the Dual Anti Air emplacement machine guns loose on the Command car. Flaming bullets and tracers shattered the windows of the command car, only Colonel Zellix and Dobbelsteen Moerman managing to get low enough to avoid the sweeping fire from left to right. The other occupants weren't so lucky.
As the fire died down, Dobbelsteen Moerman launched himself upwards, seizing the Colonel by his uniform with his claw and locking eyes with him behind his sunglasses. Try as Colonel Zellix might, he couldn’t escape the Griffon.
“This is your stop.”
Zellix was thrown through the shattered remains of the windows of the Command car, screaming as he crashed onto the forest floor they passed and quickly moved out of sight. Dobbelsteen Moerman took a handkerchief from one of the tables, wrapping it around his wounded arm.
Jungle Trek and Selenite burst into the room, the two of them glancing from the falling Changeling and then back to Moerman. “...Celestia-damn-it Moerman!” said Jungle Trek, “You are without a doubt the craziest creature that ever set foot in Equestria!”
Picking his sunglasses off the floor and placing them on his beak, he gently pushed them up and nodded to Jungle Trek. “With friends like you two, I think I might just stay a while.”
But the moment was short lived, as the three creatures moved through the command car and noticed the controls to the train were destroyed in the fight, as the locomotive continued to soar down the train tracks, directly towards the junction.
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“...Wow!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. “Does anypony else feel the impending march of mortality!?”
Swift Roller’s eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks as she gazed down the train tracks. “That’s… that’s coming right toward us.”
“EVERYPONY!” Applejack hollered, “GET CLEAR!”
The three immediately sprinted off to the side. Swift Roller dropped a whole crate of ammunition off her to scamper away in time, as Lucky Twirl made sure to get her platoon and whatever Night Guard artillery soldiers she could find out of the danger area. Worried eyes looked to the soldiers in triage, only to find that Wild Strikes had already swiftly pulled them far off to the side. She was still holding on to Caramel Crunch, however.
Yet, even with advanced warning and considerable distance afforded by the watchful eye of Swift Roller and Pinkie-sense, nopony could of prepared for the burst of heat felt against their coats as an Armored train flew right through the railroad junction and soared right off the tracks, slamming right into the forest. As ponies scampered into the forests and out of the danger area, it only expanded to take up the entire junction as train cars twisted and turned, some launched into the air and careening down onto the junction, and that was all before the stockpiled ammunition for the gun cars cooked off and brewed one impressive mushroom cloud of fire, ash, and general destruction in plain view for the entire Salt Lick City Militia to view.
But, the final piece of the puzzle landed ever so gracefully, as Dobbelsteen Moerman and Selenite landed with the power of their wings, each providing a safe landing for Jungle Trek as the three soldiers took in the sight of their work. With the scattered train cars twisted and torn, and fire blazing into the sky and turning into blackened smoke, the trio breathed a collective sigh.
“Well…” Jungle gasped. “...That was enough excitement for my whole life.”
“...Is this what they teach you in the Empire?” Selenite asked.
“...No, Selenite.” Moerman shook his head. “I’m self taught.”
Turning away from the wreckage, they came face to face with the entire assembled companies of the Militia, adding in the Night Guard detachment, to be over 200 ponies staring right back at them.
Applejack shared a look with Pinkie Pie, as the entire formation busted out into cheers.
“...We gotta tell Twi and the others about this.”
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Are we so back?
awesome chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter
