Band of Ponies

The town was empty. mostly anyways. Starlight was sure it had once had a name, but the sign had long since been destroyed. Equestrian artillery and air strikes had all but leveled the town, turning it into a ruin. The place apparently had been completely taken over by the Gryphons, who would use it as a staging area for launching a major offensive.

As far as Starlight could tell, this ‘intelligence’ wasn’t very accurate. So far, they hadn’t found ANY bodies, save for a few dead animals. They hadn’t found so much as a talon, or a feather since they began searching. The infantry was accompanied by an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), and a couple Armored Personel Carriers (APCs) with .50s mounted on them. Starlight thought this was a bit overkill, and strange, considering the 3rd ERA airborne didn’t normally operate with the armored cav.

She was glad she’d only brought her weapon, and canteen. She probably wouldn’t even need the former, but obviously she brought it anyway. A few newer ponies in the company had brought everything they THOUGHT they would need,  including their ponchos, extra water, blanket, rations, etc. Starlight always packed light. It was the airborne, they were supposed to pack light!

Glancing to her right, she saw the platoon’s LMG gunner, a turquoise colored mare named MorningDew. Dew had a short, light brown mane and tail, with eyes the same color. MorningDew was one of the last original members of the platoon, as most of them had gone home after their tours were up. Starlight, Dew, and three other ponies had stayed. Now the platoon was mostly new recruits, and incredibly understrength.

As they were walking through the war torn ruin of the town square, Starlight caught something in the corner of her eye. Suddenly, There was a burst of automatic fire,  and she looked just in time to see the bullets tear into the Stallion to her left.

“Sniper!” She yelled, dashing for what had once been a low brick wall surrounding the square. Dew landed roughly on top of Starlight as she took cover, barely missing the bullets that had been meant for her. The IFV began pounding nearby buildings with its 40mm cannon, unleashing devastation, each impact shaking the ground. Another burst, and a mare cried out as three bullets hit her right in the chest.

“Fuck, that’s two!” Starlight called out, making herself as small as possible. As soon as the words left her mouth, chaos erupted in the street. It was an ambush. The Gryphons were now unleashing hell onto the unprepared Equestrian soldiers. There was a scream from somewhere behind Starlight, and bullets pinged off the armored vehicles.

Suddenly, Starlight felt a hot flash of pain as a bullet grazed her flank, slicing open her khaki fatigues, and the flesh beneath. She got up, and continued to fire her weapon alongside MorningDew. Dew’s LMG was deafening, and before long, their ears were ringing from the nonstop noise, and  their vision was clouded with gunsmoke, and dust. The air was thick with the smell of burned gunpowder, sweat, and Starlight realized, blood. One of the APCs was hit n the side by a rocket, and bursts into flame. The screams of the ponies burning to death inside added to the cacophony of the battle.

Already, somepony had called in danger close artillery strikes. The ground shook with every concussion as the 105’ rounds landed close enough to knock Starlight back on her flanks as the suffocating heat washed over her. She looked over to her right, and saw MorningDew laying motionless in a pool of blood. She looked back towards the vehicles, and saw somepony yelling at her, and beckoning her over. As if in slow motion, she stood up. Taking the handle of Dew’s saddle in her mouth, she began dragging the injured (or dead, she wasn’t sure) mare back to safety. Two other soldiers ran up, and assisted her, taking over. Starlight looked down at Dew, and realized she had left a long trail of blood as Starlight had dragged her.

“Oh fuck me!” she cried. The last thing she remembered was a deafening explosion, and searing pain across her entire left side.