MiE: Divided Path

[Jakob]

"One minute!" I shouted as the Humvee bounced us around, making me wish the turret had some damn seatbelts as I was thrown around. "I can see Manehattan now!"

"Roger that! A-10s twenty-six minutes out." One of the pilots answered.

"Thank fucking GOD you're almost here!" Huka yelled, and an explosion sounded behind him. "Know it's too much to ask for, but GET HERE FASTER!"

"We're almost there, too!" Ryan added as this ungodly machine stomped its way to the city. I would say it looks like a Transformer, but this was strictly US technology, by what the pilot says. He came from 2004, and claims that the Pentagon went up in flames, killing him.

Multi-verse Earth, where Bin Laden does 9/11 three years later.

Anyway, I glanced down at Connor o'Drake, who was driving the Humvee with his foot cleanly stomped onto the gas pedal, not letting up for anything other than a complete stop.

"How're you doing?!" The gunner on the Humvee next to us shouted over to me, barrel of the fifty pointing at the city.

"Honestly? I'm nervous! Never took a life outside of a video game before!" I shouted back, before realizing that the gunner was a .30 cal gunner from WWII.

"The hell's a video game?" He questioned.

"Something amazing, but after your time!" I answered. He was gonna reply, but an explosion rocked the Humvee and sent me flying as the front simply disintegrated.

"CONNOR!" I shouted as I struggled to my feet, drawing my pistol. The squad who's gunner I was chatting with a few seconds ago screeched to a halt as I ran over to the flaming wreck. A soldier dragged himself out from under a door that was blown off its hinges, bleeding from multiple lacerations.

"Nonononono!" I muttered, forcing the driver's door open and dragging Connor out, smacking patches of fire out.

"Leave him!" The squad leader of the .30 crew yelled, even as I tried waking Connor up.

"Wake up Connor!" I yelled, tears streaming from my eyes. "You gotta wake up!" I pounded on his chest before mashing my lips against his and forcing air into his lungs. He didn't respond, even as I was dragged away, screaming for him to get up.

[Huka]

"Raptor 3 is down. I repeat, Raptor 3 has been hit. Two survivors, Jakob and Gallan." A voice said over the radio, and I heard Mark swear on his end as bullets hit over his head.

"Roger that. Huka, when they get here, see if you can redirect a squad to my position." Mark said, firing a few bullets before he was forced back behind whatever cover he had. "It's just me and Bubba up here, and I got an ex-SEAL on my ass!"

"John find you?" I questioned as an explosion rocked the shop. Bastards decided it was too difficult to storm our position and were targeting us with magical (and more than likely actual) mortars.

"Yep. Remind me to turn my radio off next time I go behind enemy lines!" He answered.

"Roger that." I said, before switching over to the convoy's channel. "When you get here, be careful; bastards are using magic mortars and it ain't pretty." I warned.

"That's what took out Raptor 3." The guy said. I nodded to myself and hid by the door frame, poking out as carefully as possible to avoid attracting attention.

"A-10s delayed by pegasi patrols. ETA twenty-eight minutes, at most." The lead fighter said.

"Roger that, convoy arriving now." The dude said as a Humvee screeched to a stop, fifty firing at the day guard mortar teams.

"Convoy's here!" I shouted, running from cover over to a mail dropbox, crouching behind it for cover as I supported the gunners.

"About fucking time!" Allan's voice rang out as he worked his way over to one of the Humvees, firing my pistol off at some straggling guards.

"Mark needs a squad!" I shouted, pointing down the street. "He's pinned down about five hundred meters away!"

"Aye ay-" A driver started, but Huka never got the chance to listen to the rest of the response, as a bullet suddenly burst out the back of his head, while his body spun around in a complete 360 before hitting the ground.

"Sniper!" Gallan swore, and ducked back behind the mail dropbox. Everyone took cover where they could, as another bullet whizzed past them.

[Gallan]

"This ain't gonna fucking protect me..." I muttered under my breath, realizing that the sniper had a rifle called a Barrett .50 cal.

"I heard you guys needed a little help." One of the last voices I thought I'd hear at the moment rang out over the radio, before shouting some shit in German.

"Never thought I'd say this, but it's good to see you!" I said into it, edging away from the sides and doing my best to stay hidden.

"What're we looking at?" Schmidt asked.

"Mark's pinned down too far away for us to effectively reinforce him, and we got a high caliber sniper pinning us down." I answered, taking a peek to see if anyone was advancing. Another bullet whizzing past put my head back where I had it a moment ago.

[Mark]

"I hate to ask you of this Bubba, but I really need you to act as a distraction." I solemnly said, looking at him.

"You should know that I would fight to the death in your name, my lord." He answered unhesitatingly.

"And you should know I don't require that of you unless I ask." I shot back, before shifting a little. "But that time is coming up rapidly, and I'm asking."

"How do you want me to go about this?" He asked, shifting too as bullets ping'd around us. From the reports, it was my fucking M60 pinning us down.

"Change into me and start going down the alley away from us." I muttered, slipping my weapon under the dumpster and tossing my only flashbang at the group. When it went off, I turned into Sand Dune.

"With luck, they won't be able to catch or kill you." I finished. "Godspeed, Bubba."

'Mark' nodded, and I heard a weapon hit the alley as he stood up and bolted away, bullets and magic whizzing around him.

I waited for the guards to go chasing after him, and bolted away as a scared filly. They totally bought it.

[?]

Mien name is Iron Fire, a Germane unicorn in the First Reich. The new Fuhrer, Fuhrer Schmidt, had sent my tank squad and several others to reinforce the New Lunar Republic's forces in Manehatten.

"We're approaching now, sir!" The driver called out in Equestrian, all of us knowing that and Germane for our languages.

"Prepare to fire on mien mark!" I ordered the gunner, who nodded and sunk a shell into the chamber.

"Incoming pegasi forces!" The MG66 gunner shouted.

"FIRE!" I yelled, and the distinct boom of our tank shot out, and a building on the outskirts exploded with both magical and physical reactions from the shell hitting it. "Aim three degrees to the left and fire again!"

Boom. "Again!"

Boom. "Buck!"

"What is it, Iron Shods?" I demanded, glaring at the gunner.

"The verdammt gun's jammed!" He swore, clumsily working bullets out of the feed. I shot off a magical beam at a pegasus who was doing a bombing run, hitting the explosive ordinance he was carrying and emotionlessly watched as he became a mass of feathers and blood.

"Fixed!" Shods said, directing his fire at dive bombing pegasi to keep them off of us and the two Cheetah I's behind us, while their MG66's did the same.

"All squads, switch to secure channel Alpha and make contact with the NLR forces!" Fuhrer Schmidt's voice came over our radio, and the operator did.

"This is 103rd Cheetah Tank Divison, reporting in." Iron Telegraph spoke into his receiver.

"Good to hear from you all." An Equestrian accented voice came on. "This is Private Gallan of the NLRA. Do you think you can send a tank after General Durnkinscoff? He requires immediate assistance."

"Sir?" Telegraph asked, looking up at me. I spared a glance back at the other two tanks, before nodding.

"This is Tank Commander Iron Fire. Send coordinates of his last known location and we'll be there." I replied for him. "We're heading in through the east side of Manehatten."

"Due west twenty blocks." Gallan answered. "We're completely on the other side of the city and pinned down, so if we could have a tank come over and support us, that'll be a good thing."

"We're coming in to help you." The Radio Operator for one of the other Cheetah I's told him. "Sit tight and give us any helpful information."

"The sniper has a Anti-Materiel Rifle." Gallan said. "And don't go hitting the buildings near our vehicles; we got collection points for the wounded among them."

"Roger that. Blitz Three breaking formation to help you." The Commander said, and Blitz Three peeled off at about 30 kph. We (Blitz One and Two) continued onward towards where Gallan said General Durnkinscoff was last.

[Sand Dune]

I swear to God (who I don't believe exists, by the way), I'm hearing things because I can hear a pair of fucking tanks coming my way.

"Fucking..." I muttered, slinking around a corner and peeking out. A grey earth pony with a Model 24 'potato masher' grenade over an Iron Cross for a cutie mark and blond mane/tail looked back. We noticed each other, but it took a moment longer on his side since he was walking on his hind legs.

"Germane forces?" I hesitantly called out.

"Ya. And you?" He replied, casually lowering what looked like an Maschinenpistole-40 submachine gun. I held up a hoof, went back behind the corner, and turned back to normal.

"General Mark Durnkinscoff. You guys have a damn good timing, showing up right now." I grinned, but really needed a weapon. "You have anything for me to fight with besides my bare hands?"

"Ein second." He said, before digging around in his jacket for something. "I have a Maschinepistole-1573 for you to use, if you want." He offered.

"Good enough. Toss it over." I said, catching what honestly looked like a Luger. I slid in a magazine and nodded to him, who also tossed over two more magazines and a grenade.

"What's your name, kid?" I asked as the two of us moved down the block.

"Iron Shods." He answered. "My Tank Commander, Iron Fire, told me to try and find you while they went and distracted the enemy forces." So I did hear a pair of tanks.

"What's with the 'Iron' in your name?" I asked, sending an unknown caliber into a day guard pegasus as she swooped down to spear us.

"All Germane ponies have Iron somewhere in their name." He answered, before poking his flank with the MP'40'. "It has to do with the Iron Cross on all of our cutie marks."

"You guys got any Panzerfausts?" I asked as we kept moving, subtly changing the subject.

"We're not the Anti-Armor Divison, General." He said, rolling his eyes. "The only explosives we have are 20mm guns and our Model 29 hoof grenades."

"Huh. They look like Model 24 grenades from my time." I answered, looking at it. "What's different about them?"

"They pack a bigger punch." He grinned. "Half magical, half actual explosive." I nodded and rehooked it to my belt, before ducking as a bullet zing'd past us.

"Found John..." I muttered as Shods hid next to me.

"Who is this John?" He asked as I hugged the wall and unloaded the rest of the magazine in John's general direction. As the empty mag hit the ground, I felt a searing pain in my hand and I hissed in pain, dropping the Maschinepistole-1573 onto the street while withdrawing my hand to my body.

"Ex US Navy SEALs member, who decided to work with Celestia." I grunted, holding my hand as blood leaked from in between my fingers. "And the fucker just shot my hand."

"How far away do you think he is?" Shods asked, unhooking a grenade.

"Too close for you to let that off." I muttered, ripping some fancy ass shirt off of a clothesline and tearing a section off, wrapping it around my left hand. The blood flow slowed some, so I knew he didn't hit an artery.

"What do we do, then?" He asked, scowling a little.

"I'ma grab my smoke grenade, toss it at him, take your knife, and embed it into his throat." I said, doing just that. As the smoke billowed out of the canister I tossed, Shods' knife found it's way into my right hand as I hauled ass towards John. I got shot twice, but kept running, forcing John to backpedal.

"I have not..." I muttered.

"Come this far..." I kept muttering as I drop kicked John, sending my machine gun to the ground.

"To die now." I finished, getting on top of him before he could react, letting out a yell as the blade in my hand found it's way into his throat, just like I promised.

"This is what you deserve." I spat as I slowly got to my feet, Shods helping my legs support me. "And because you're a traitor to your own species, much less your country..." He gurgled as his hand inched towards his sidearm. A sharp crack sounded as a hoof smashed down on his wrist, breaking it. "...May the buzzards enjoy feasting on your carcass." I finished, spitting on him to add further insult.

"You going to be alright?" Shods asked as I weakly slung my rifle over my back as a MP40.

"If we regroup soon, yea." I wheezed, and we walked off towards the sounds of gunfire.