The Storms of War

I shivered, sitting in the bottom of the steel amphibious landing craft. The climb down the rope ladder from the side of the troop transport ship had been bad enough, as the seas today were gray and choppy. The skies overhead were just as gloomy as my thoughts, and Weather Command had whipped up a slight storm, just enough to ground flying units. It would be impossible for the gryphons to use their flight to attack us in our boats, but it meant that Pegasi like me could not fly to freedom either. This would be a battle between ground pounders, and the only ones really happy about that were the Earth Ponies.

Looking across from me, Butter Bar sat there, a slight tremble in his hands as he unscrewed the cap to his canteen, taking a gulp. Radio Wave sat right next to me on my left, grasping his Tome of Light and eyes closed, praying. Blaze put her hand on my shoulder, squeezing tightly as our boat went up and down in the surf. The morning was totally silent but for the sounds of the ocean and the occasional whispered prayer. Sergeant Bubbles grimaced as he pulled out a wad of tobacco and stuck it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully, and Major Leaf took a few puffs from her pipe. Finally, I looked at Blaze.

“You okay? I mean.... this is it...” I said quietly, leaning over towards her. “This is really it...”

She nodded. “The Day of Reckoning, that's what everyone is calling it. If we can pull this off... we can take the fight to them...” she said, wincing at a spray of icy seawater. Iron Hoof grunted, shifting his massive BAR over to the other side and rubbing his shoulder.

Finally, there was the first whistling sound, and a massive “SPLOOSH!” as a moarter went off next to us. I jumped slightly, and Radio Wave whimpered. There was a massive explosion to the right side of the boat and water poured over the side. Major Leaf swore loudly and viciously as the water soaked her pipe, and she stuffed it into her front left pocket. “Heads up, Heads up! When we hit the beac, do NOT stop moving! Do NOT stop for the fallen unless you have a medic symbol somewhere on your uniform! Get to the first piece of cover you can grab, and stay put until you get orders!” she shouted, looking around.

Butter Bar looked up, gulping again. “Half of you exit left, the other half exit right! Keep plenty of space between soldiers. One soldier, a waste of ammo. Five is a juicy opportunity! I wanna see all of you at the seawall! Radio Wave, stay on my ass! Bubbles, go with the major! Wing, you and Blaze do your best to stay alive. Blaze, we NEED that flamethrower to clear the bunkers, got it?”

She nodded, and held the nozzle out. Major Leaf produced a lighter, and the small pilot light was ignited as Blaze cranked a valve. I grinned halfheartedly at her. “You know, under other circumstances I would be calling you pretty hot...” I joked. She smiled slyly at me. “Lets get up that beach, and you can get me a drink, kay?” she said, and I flushed slightly, looking back.

“Stow it you two! If we get up there, I'm buying us ALL a drink!” shouted the major. The Coxswain piloting the boat cried “FIFTEEN SECONDS! CLEAR THE RAMPS! PLENTY OF GLORY FOR ALL OF YOU, HAHAHA!” in a gleeful tone. He was met with thirty glares, and gave a psycotic grin as the boat accelerated. Fifteen.... Ten... Five.... A slight bump, and everything was silent.

Often, I found myself noticing the tiny things. A random piece of equipment, a leaf telling me what the wind speed was, a slight temperature difference that I knew could throw my aim off. Other times, I saw really big things. A missing grenade pin, someone who forgot their ammo pack... that sort of thing.

But times like this... just like in that bombed city, what struck me was the SILENCE. The boat had stopped, and in this half second before the ramp went down, everything was dead silent as two opposing forces held their breaths. A slight quickening of the pulse, and there was a few thousand intakes of breath. One or two clicks of weapons being taken of safety finally... but... the silence. I swear, if you had dropped a pin, everyone on the beach would have heard it. A slight twitch could be FELT across the beach...

And then there was the splash of the exit ramp going down, and a bullet hell ripped through both of the soldiers in front of me.

Gasping, I reeled backwards, only to be shoved forward as Blaze shrieked. “Get going get going get going! MOVE!” she screamed, and Lieutenant Butter Bar dove forward into the water at the end of the ramp as Sergeant Bubbles took off running behind the major. Up ahead, there were obstacles inteneded to stop the boats from properly beaching, but they had been hastily deployed at high tide, and now only proved cover for us as we got off the boats. I sprinted forward, the world outside deadened as my vision zoned in, a tiny circle containing only a beach obstacle that promised safety. To my left, a soldier I didn’t know fell into the water, screaming as her entrails fell from her belly like worms from a rotten apple. I blearily gazed at her as I fell in behind the obstacle, and three others instantly huddled up next to me. A bullet ripped through my left sleeve and left a searing pain on my wrist, and I screamed out. For an instant, I thought it had taken off my hand, but a moment later I confirmed that everything still worked.

To my right, Blaze had her back to the obstacle, eyes closed tightly. “Shit shit shit shit shit...” she kept muttering over and over. Radio Wave was on the next one over, talking to Butter Bar. Finally, I poked my head out a bit, and a bullet spanged off my helmet, dazing me. Blaze stopped me from falling into the drink, and I looked at her. Her face of fear had twisted into nausea, and I clung to her arm as she pulled me back into cover.

“LIUTENANT BAR! LIEUTENANT BAR! THE FUCK WE DO NOW?!?” came a cry from Wire Tap, who clung to his barrier. He was closer to the boats, and he was waist deep in water. Shadow Step stood next to him, eyes wide as blood streamed down her left side. One of her wings had a hole ripped through it, but she didn’t seem to notice. Butter Bar looked at a map held in shaking hands, and said “Where the HELL are the DD tanks? The hell is our ARMOR?!?” he screamed. I looked back over the water, and saw that one was floating in the wrong direction.

Grimacing, I jumped out of cover and ran towards him as Blaze screamed at me. What the hell was I DOING? I thought to myself, grimacing. Sliding in next to him, I shouted “Foundering, sir! I see one floating backwards! I don’t think we are getting any armor support on this beach!”

Radio Wave shouted into the radio, then turned to the lieutenant. “Command says that the beach is already pre-sighted! We gotta move! In about ten minutes, a destroyer is gonna hit this section of beach with 105s and 243s to clear the obstacles! We gotta go NOW!”

He looked around, and I followed his gaze. “MAJOR LEAF! HEY LEAF! We gotta move! Command is gonna bring the hurt right on top of us in about ten!”

She nodded, and made a series of hand gestures. Beside her, Bubbles nodded and shouted “MOVE UP THE BEACH! GET GOING!” as he lept the obstacle, and took off sprinting. She followed, and a moment later, Butter Bar pushed me out. “Move move move! Get to the seawall, it has defilade from the bunkers!”

Once again, I found myself running up the beach towards certain doom. Two bunkers lay in front of us up a small bluff, one on either side of a steep dirt path. Barbed wire was on the top of the seawall, and on the other side was a small trench with gryphon soldiers throwing lead at us. Major Leaf sent up a magical flare, and it ignited in a starburst, signaling everyone to move if they hadn’t heard her orders. My lungs burned as I ran the hundred yards towards the seawall, a three foot high embankment of sand and rubble meant to stop the trenches from getting flooded at ultra high tides. In front of me, a gryphon soldier stood up, rifle leveled, before his head jerked back and he fell. I didn’t know who fired the shot, but at that moment I didn’t care as I dove into cover, once again safe for a moment. Major Leaf slid in next to me, and Radio Wave took up the other side. The moment he slid into cover, he grinned at me and gave me a thumbs up. “I'm alright! I'm doing fine!” he shouted. “Lovely fucking day corporal!”

I just stared. Everything was happening VERY quickly, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. “TELL HIM TO TELL COMMAND.... Omareha is NOT open, not yet! We NEED DD tanks on the beach NOW! If they can do that, we got this!”

I turned back to Radio wave, who was still grinning stupidly. “DO IT!” I shotued at him, and inched up the seawall a bit. There was a soft “Thud” as something landed next to me, and I stared a a short bar of metal with a bulge on one end. A moment later, my brain kicked in and I shouted “GRENADE!” as I flung it away with my wing. It exploded in the air above us, and everything went silent but for a ringing sound.

As I blinked to clear my eyes, everything around me was rendered in stark detail. Wire Tap was lying on the sand, coughing as he wiped a smear of blood off of his face. Iron Hoof was holding down a pony with one leg missing so that Shining Silk could bandage it. Several medics worked their way across the beach, moving from dead to dying as they practiced their craft. Shadow Step clung to her rocket launcher, mumbling to herself as one of her eyes had blood in it, and her wing drooped. Butter Bar was about ten guys down the line, shaking a private and giving him a good slap as the private nodded. Bubbles was in the act of throwing a grenade over the wall, plugging his ears...

There was a slap, and my focus snapped back in. The sounds of gunfire raged all around me as a bullet buried itself in the sand next to my shoulder, and Major Maple Leaf screamed “What did he say? What did Wave say?”

I rolled over. Wave grinned at me, and I shook him. “WHAT DID... Oh shit...” I said. His radio smoked, and the back of his head was missing. Blood oozed out of his ears, and his face was frozen in the grin he had given me a few moments back. “No no no.... shit! WAVE!” I screamed, the mix of emotions inside me dulled by adrenalin and sheer panic. Shaking him did not produce the desired response, so a moment later I turned back. “He's gone! Major, they fucking killed him!” I screamed, panic overcoming me. “They killed him and they're gonna kill us to! MAJOR!”

She swore, and yelled. “BANGALORS! WE GOTTA CLEAR THAT WIRE! GET BANGALORS!” Leaf turned over and several long tubes were produced. Radio Wave grinned at me still, and I stared into his face. He was barely out of his colthood, and everything he would ever be was now gone... how could they... How could they!

A rage welled up inside of me. For the first time in the last half hour, I was not scared, but pissed. Radio had worked hard on his radios, and he didn’t fucking deserve this! As the explosions went off, blowing barbed wire to bits, I jumped up. Major Leaf screamed at me, but I didn’t care as I hopped the seawall and jumped into the trench with two very startled gryphons next to me. Other ponies fell into the trench, and the ground washed with blood as I grappled with a large beast.

He threw a punch, but stopped halfway as my bayonet buried itself in his chest. Pulling back, he fell to the ground and I looked to my right. Blaze stood there, having kicked the other one over and over until he simply lay down, groaning. Major Leaf grabbed me. “YOU FUCKING IDIOT! FOLLOW ME!” she shouted, and we clawed up the other side of the ditch in the ground. The steep path up ahead of us went between two bunkers, but they could not see or fire on each other, meaning we had to divide into two squads to attack them. Behind us, a few hundred were still pinned on the beach. “We gotta clear those bunkers so that we can get men off the beach! Problem is that there is a machine gun post that has both of those bunkers zeroed in up on a small hill. I need you to take the gunner” she said, and we pulled up along side one of the concrete fortifications.

The rest of our squad lined up behind us, and I peered out. Up a hill, there was a sandbag wall protecting a machine gun, but down the hill there was a pile of rocks that provided convenient cover. Out on either side beyond the bunkers, other structures and the like were scatterd, troops rushing back and fourth, but for now, if we could clear this area, we had a path behind their death squads. “Get to that rock wall! Everyone else, COVER HIM!” she shouted, and Butter Bar leveled a Thompson Submachine gun, spraying up the hill. Everyone else screamed, swore, or otherwise made as much noise as they could manage while I executed the world record for a twenty yard sprint, slipping and rolling the last three feet into cover just a a round flew over my head.

Climbing to my feet, I pulled the slip off of my scope, and aimed up the hill. A gryphon peered over, and I squeezed the trigger. A puff of pink and feathers, and he fell. I opened the bolt, pulled back, and a round popped out. Reversing the actions chambered another round, and I aimed at the gun itself. With sure accuracy, the gun popped off of its emplacement, falling over the edge and dragging a very unlucky featherhead into several soldiers angry fire. The rest of the fortification gave way, and four more soldiers tumbled down. One of them drifted into my scope, and at twenty yards the shot was patheticly easy. Cold fury gripped each of my shots, and I executed them with determination.

With the threat of the overhead gunner neutralized, I turned and shouted “GO GO GO!” as the Lieutenant and Major nodded, waving half to each side. I jumped, following Iron Hoof as I let my rifle dangle, pulling out my sidearm, a the Colt Revolver that my mother had sent me. Moving low, Major Leaf, Iron Hoof, Wire Tap and I all slunk along the edge. Wire Tap pulled the pin on a grenade, and threw it into the bunker. With a muffled thud, smoke billowed out and two gryphons stumbed out coughing. I put one of them out of their misery, but the other one, a MASSIVE gryphon in an officer uniform and with a red crest, roared and jumped, flapping hard, and tackling Iron Hoof.

The two tumbled down, and then both sprang up. The gryphon grinned and spat something in his language, a knife in one clawed hand. Jabbing forward, his eyes went wide as Iron Hoof caught the hand, the knife impaling through his own, and closed his fingers around the now bloody fist. Squeezing, he twisted and twisted until the oversized bird went to his knees, eyes wide, shrieking with panic. His feathers fluffed up, and then Iron Hoof brought his other fist, complete with Brass Knuckles, across in a brutal haymaker. The gryphono went limp, head tilting at an unnatural angle, and Iron Hoof grimaced as the knife came out of his hand. “I'm good! Get em!” he shouted, and I jumped into the trench. Major Leaf and I jumped in, and a lone gryphon shot at us, his lugar clicking empty. Major Leaf grinned as she stepped forward, smiling. “Missed sucker! Guess you guys ain’t that good after all!” she crowed.

He scowled at her, hands raised. “I didn’t meese! Pon-ee SKAHM!” he shouted, and to my left there was a soft sigh. Major Leaf whirled around at the same time I did, to see Wire Tap on the ground, one eye a blood mess, and the other closed.

Time stretched as the majors face twisted in pain, and the gryphon behind her lunged. With a hoarse scream, I jumped at him, tackling him to the ground and sitting on his chest. Left, right, left, right, over and over I beat him in the face. His beak shattered at the same time as one of my fingers, but I kept going over and over, the world around me dissolving in red and gray, and his head tilted back and forth to alternate with my fists. To the right, I saw fire spit out the front of the other bunker, and screams in two languages met my ears.

Finally, the pain of three of my knuckles shattering brought me back, and I SAW below me. The gryphon's body twitched every now and then, but his head didn’t have much of a face anymore. The major cradled Wire Tap's head, and the rest of the squad was outside. Blaze's tear streaked face met mine, and I slowly, shakily, stood up. Shimmering Silk got up from next to Wire Tap and shook her head while everyone else came into the bunker.

“We... we made it... it's started” said Butter Bar, and the rest of us all stared at each other.

The Beach was Ours.

The Exploits of Major Leaf and the First Infantry, landing on Omareha Beach, were nothing short of legendary. The various regiments on the sectors of that hellish sandy landscape each had their heroes, but Major Maple Leaf of the Fifth was noted for successfully taking the single most difficult section of the beach, resistance wise. Despite nearly seventy percent casualties, the troops, in particuar her personal Ninth Squad, took down two bunkers that allowed soldiers to storm up the path and sieze nearly three hundred prisoners of war and kill nearly five thousand others. Naval Bombardment resulted in the beach being occupied within twenty four hours of initial landing, and to this day, historians disagree weather it was genius or insanity that paved the way to victory on that hellish morning.

However, victory, though costly overall, weighed heavily on Major Leaf. Private Radio Wave and Warrant Officer Wire Tap did not make it out alive, and Iron Hoof suffered complications in his hand for a week due to minor ligamant damage, although he is credited with killing a gryphon minor chief.