Lucky Strike

        Lucky Strike clutched his rifle tightly as the Amtrac rocked in the rough sea. Water splashed all over everypony inside as the amphibious vehicle broke through a large wave. The rocking back and forth was sickening, even to the most resilient passenger inside the landing craft. Lucky leaned over the side, and vomited into the ocean, getting a mouthful of saltwater for his efforts.

It was late fall, 1004 ALB. The 6th Equestrian Royal Marine Division was tasked with taking a Neighpanese airfield located in the Solomare Islands. The Neighpanese had taken it early in the war, and intended to use it as a staging area for launching offensives all across the western ocean.

Lucky didn’t care why they were there. At this point he just wanted to get to shore, he didn’t even care if the Neighpanese shot him. Shells from Naval artillery shrieked overhead, and pounded the coastline. They’d been shelling all day, and this was the last salvo before the boats landed.

Lucky Strike checked to make sure his Springfield rifle had a round chambered. Although the Army had already started using the M1 Garand rifle, the Marines of Baker company still used the old bolt action rifles. Trembling, he took out his canteen, and took a swig from it, calming his nerves a bit.

The two gunners in front opened up with their machine guns. The one on the left side, a .50 cal, and a .30 cal on the right. The vehicle lurched as it drove up onto the beach. Then, everypony exited the vehicle as quickly as possible. Lucky climbed over the side, along with most of his fellow Marines, splashing into the shallow water below. The sound of small arms fire was almost deafening, as almost every Marine fired into the treeline.

“Cease fire! Everypony cease fire!” Came the voice of the LT. The order was repeated down the beach, and the firing slowly died out.

Nopony was shooting back at them. The trees were silent. The only sound was the waves lapping at the beach. The PFC next to Lucky stood up from where she’d been prone, as did most of the Marines on the beach, looking around at everypony. Lucky stayed down. At this point, everypony was out of the Amtracs, and on the beach, with no cover. But either the Neighpanese had fled their positions, or they were waiting.

The Marines’ objective was to secure the beach, and move into the jungle. And so, as the Amtracs backed off the beach, the Marines advanced, throwing caution to the wind as they casually strolled up the beach.

“Lucky.” called LcPL. Cherry Pie, a friend of Lucky’s.

“Yeah, I’m up!” Lucky called back, getting to his feet, and brushing the sand off his dungarees.

No sooner was he up, then a burst of small arms fire was heard. Definitely not Equestrian. The mare to his left went down as three bloody holes appeared across her torso, splattering him with tiny droplets of blood. Every Marine hit the deck as the Neighanese opened up on them, catching them in the open, easily mowing down several. Mortar rounds started to land all around, spraying sand and water in all directions. Screams of pain could be heard over the cacophony of small arms and mortar fire. a mortar landed close, but there was another Marine between Lucky and the mortar. There wasn’t much left of him, and his blood splattered all over Lucky’s face and body.

“Ohfuck!” He yelled. “Oh, fuck fuck fuck!” He desperately tried to wipe off the blood from his face, despite the bullets zipping mere inches over his head. His ears were ringing, and his steel pot had fallen off at some point. There was no time to look for it now. his vision was blurred from blood in his eyes as he crawled up the beach. His weapon was gone too, and rounds were hitting the sand all around him.

“Get off the beach!” Yelled an NCO. She was about to say something else, but there was a loud ‘PING’ and the sickening sound of a bullet ripping through her skull and blowing her brains out the back of her helmet as she fell limply into the sand.o9

Lucky was almost at the sea wall, and saw a hand reaching toward him. He took it, and tried pulling himself up to the wall, but gasped as he realized the arm wasn’t attached to anypony. He was frozen for a second, but came around when a bullet thumped into his haversack, going completely through the pack. He crawled up to the slight bit of cover, right next to PFC. Peaches, who he knew from basic training.

“Where the fuck is LT?!” He shouted over the noise.

“No fucking clue!” came the reply.

Lucky made himself as small as possible against the low sand wall. He still didn’t have a weapon. The seawall started to get crowded as more Marines made it up the beach. He spotted a rifle in the hands of a dead marine about ten feet away, towards the ocean. He bolted for it, and grabbed the rifle from her dead hands, miraculously making it back without getting shot.

“We’ve gotta get off this  fucking beach!” yelled the Stallion next to him, a Sergeant with a Thompson submachine gun. “Stay on my ass, and move up!” With that, he was over the wall, running into the jungle.

Lucky just stared for a second and then followed. “Oh fuckfuck!” he yelled, as he crashed through the thick jungle. More Marines had already made it over the wall, and were taking cover in the craters from the initial shelling. Lucky slid into one such crater, in between two mares. They’d hastily set up their Browning Light Machine Gun on the rim of the crater, leaving the heavy tripod behind, and firing the gun without it. A round struck the water jacket at an angle, pinging off it.

The mare feeding the bullets into the gun was then hit right in the face, going down instantly. The other mare yelled as she continued to fire the LMG.

Lucky froze for a second before remembering what to do. He took the dead mare’s position, and fed the belt through, careful not to get his fingers caught in the action. The barrel was starting to get incredibly hot, as the water cooling hose wasn’t hooked up to the gun itself.

“We’re moving up, grab that  fucking ammo, and stay on my ass!” yelled the mare, taking the LMG by a leather thong she’d looped around the water jacket.

Lucky barely had time to strip the extra belts off the dead mare before the other mare climbed up out of the crater, and charged, firing the LMG from the hip. Lucky followed as best he could, knowing she depended on him for the ammunition he was carrying. The mare slid down into a crater only about 20 yards from the Neighpanese positions in the jungle. She propped the LMG up on the rim, and started firing again.

“Die you fucking pigs!” She yelled, firing her weapon at the enemy installations.

Two more Marines took cover in their crater, and took shots with their Springfields. One of the Marines had a rocket launcher slung over his shoulder, and loaded a round into it.

“Get clear!” He yelled. He stood up, aimed, and fired. The rocket streaked through the air, and hit the Neighpanese bunker, blowing chunks of earth and wood all over. Nopony could’ve survived that.

Now that the nest had been taken out, there was a gap in the Neighpanese defences, and the Marines now had some way to flank the enemies.

The mare with the LMG climbed out of the hole, and rushed the other nests. She fired the LMG from the hip, until it was out of ammo. Then, she dropped it, and drew her sidearm. She took a grenade off her webbing, and yanked the pin. She then ran straight at the next gun emplacement. She released the spoon, which flew off, arming the grenade. She tossed it into the slit, taking two bullets before she got there, one in the right arm, one grazing her side.

The grenade detonated, spraying shrapnel out of the narrow firing slit. The Stallion with the bazooka climbed up out of the crater, but took a round to the heart, falling back against Lucky, getting blood all over his white coat. The second time today he’d been soaked with somepony else’s blood.  He shoved the body roughly off him, and climbed out of the hole himself, barely missing being shot himself. He ran to the destroyed emplacement, sheltering against the packed earth mound it was built on. He checked the mare, but she seemed more angry than in pain, and above all, looked surprised she was still alive. More Marines had moved up to their position, and were organizing to take out the other guns.

A Sergeant from Able company looked over the Marines all sheltered behind the dirt mound. “I need volunteers!” She yelled over the din of battle.

Lucky and five others agreed to go, while the rest would keep the enemy distracted. Lucky and the five others followed her as she lead them around behind the Neighpanese defences. They didn’t bother staying quiet, and instead ran quickly to the nearest gun, shooting at anypony they saw. As they got closer, the Neighpanese manning the position started shooting at them. The Neighpanese had dug trenches connecting the gun emplacements, and they’d be good cover for flanking the guns.

Lucky jumped down into the trench and found himself face to face with the enemy. He and the Neighpanese Stallion stared at one another for a second. It was a race to see who raised their rifle first. Lucky won that race. He pulled the trigger, sending a round right through the Stallion’s chest. It was the first time he’d killed a pony, and he watched the soldier fall to the ground, as if in slow motion. Reality came back as he noticed another Neighpanese soldier further down the trench. He cycled the bolt as quickly as he could, and fired once more, dropping the second Stallion much like the first. Two. Lucky just stood there, staring at the two Stallions he just killed.

“Get moving, Corporal!” Yelled the Sergeant, urging him forward. “We’ve gotta take out that  fucking MG!”

Lucky shook his head, and blinked a few times before following the mare. They moved through the trench, towards the emplacement. The mare rounded a corner, and blood splattered all over Lucky as bullets tore through her, making a fine pink mist in the air.

“Oh, shit!” Lucky jumped back, pressing himself against the wall. He heard voices around the corner, yelling something in Neighpanese. “ fuck…” He cursed under his breath.

Another Stallion came up next to him. “Grenade?...” He asked. He had on an ammunition vest, which held three bazooka rockets altogether, but no bazooka.

“You cover.” Lucky said, taking one of the ‘pineapple’ grenades off his web suspenders. He pulled out the pin, and let it fall to the floor. “Now!” He yelled, releasing the spoon, and quickly tossing it around the corner. The blast sprayed chunks of dirt and shrapnel out of the trench. Lucky slowly peered around the corner. The sight wasn’t pretty. He looked down, and checked the mare at his feet. Dead, with four new holes in her body. He picked up her submachine gun, swapping it with his Springfield. With the Sergeant dead, he was now in command of the small mixed squad. “Fuck…” He muttered again. “O-okay. Everypony follow me!” He racked the bolt on the submachine gun, making sure it was ready to go. Then, he turned and advanced through the trench, followed by the five other Marines.

The gun was close now. Neighpanese voices could be heard up ahead, around another corner. Grenade first this time… Lucky thought to himself, pulling out a second grenade, and pulling the pin as quietly as possible. He eased up to the corner, then tossed the grenade into the rear door of the pillbox. The grenade exploded, and the firing from that gun ceased. Lucky rounded the corner, and entered the pillbox, checking to see that everypony was dead. They all were, peppered with shrapnel, except one. The mare was badly wounded, and would die slowly. Lucky pointed his submachine gun at her, but hesitated. He’d killed the others without thinking, but this was different. She posed no immediate threat to him, or anypony else. He knew there was a rule about this sort of thing.

‘BANG!’

Lucky was startled as a hole appeared in the mare’s skull, right between the eyes. He turned, to see the Stallion from before, holding up his rifle, the barrel smoking. “What the fuck was that for?!” yelled Lucky.

The Stallion lowered his weapon, and pointed to the mare. “Look.” he said simply. In the mare’s hand was a Neighpanese Type 97 grenade. The safety pin out, her finger about to press the cap.

“Fuck…” said Lucky, staring at the grenade in her hand.

“Never trust a Neighp…” The Stallion said with a slight grin.

Lucky just nodded, still a bit shaken. “Let’s get back…” He said, turning to walk out of the Neighpanese pillbox. The Neighpanese forces were all either dead, or had fallen back. There was still the crackle of small arms fire occasionally, but the worst was over. Lucky looked back towards the beach, visible through the trees. There were so many bodies. he looked back to the Stallion, who smiled a bit.

“looks like we win. for now…” He said, looking into the jungle where somewhere deep inside, the Neighpanese were waiting for them.

That night, they dug in around the former Neighpanese positions. More marines had come ashore, and they’d already set up radio communications, and a triage center. The marines had won the day, but at a cost.

        Lucky sat in his foxhole with the stallion from the beach. The stallion offered him a cigarette. “I don’t smoke…” said Lucky, leaning back against the dirt wall of the foxhole.

        “Suit yourself…” The stallion took one out of the pack, and lit it. The soft warm glow illuminating his face just a bit in the almost pitch darkness. He took a drag, and removed the cigarette from his mouth. “Hell of a first day, huh?...” he smiled, exhaling the smoke.

        “Hell of a first day…” Lucky said, smiling a bit to himself. “Hell of a first day…”