Nec-Romantic

"Fire!"

At that moment, Twilight heard dozens of loud reports from behind her, as if dozens of hammers were hitting one right after the other. She also heard what seemed like hundreds of very slightly softer barks to her left and right, and when she felt Edwin pull one of his fingers back, she understood where the noise was coming from. She felt something impact her shoulder, and she realised that it was the "rifle."

Looking out across the field, Twilight could see scores of the approaching figures falling to the onslaught. It took a few seconds for Twilight to make the connection. 'These... "rifles" must be some kind of weapon to incapacitate these... creatures! Do they hurt?'

Her question was answered as a shout of pain was barely heard over the din of the rifles, to her left. Edwin turned his head to look, and Twilight saw one of the creatures on the ground, screaming, clutching his hand to his left shoulder. Another creature ran over to the fallen one, slipped his arms underneath, and moved as fast as it could back to somewhere else. Edwin turned his attention back to the field in front of him, so Twilight couldn't tell where the wounded creature was being taken.

From what she could see, the advancing party was defeated, so they started running back to where they came from. Down the line, she heard some creatures give the order to cease fire. Edwin lifted his rifle away from the parapet, working the sliding metal piece on the side. A smoking metal cylinder flew out, landing on the soft, muddy ground with virtually no sound. "That ought to teach Jerry a lesson," Robert said from Edwin's right. "Try as they might, they aren't gettin' past us."

"Yeh," Twilight heard Edwin mutter. "We sure sent them packing."

"Alright, chaps," Edwin turned to see who was speaking and when he did Twilight could see another one of the creatures with what appeared to be a uniform, much like the others', but incredibly more splendid. "You've all got twenty minutes to foind the next rat and eat it. I've no doubt Jerry will try again today."

Twilight shuddered. These creatures ate rats?! Of all thing?! She knew about carni- and omnivores, but of all the animals in the world, these creatures decided to eat rats. Purely disgusting, always slithering in dirt and muck... Twilight involuntarily shuddered once again. However, she was forced to watch as Edwin strode toward a hole in the ground, about as tall as he was. She would never admit it, but Twilight was terrified of the thought of getting a first pony view of an animal hunting.

When Edwin ducked behind a door, she was astonished, to put it mildly. Gas lamps were spaced evenly and methodically throughout the clearly dirt-carved room. While large, almost cavernous, Twilight still had a feeling of being caged in and of being confined to a small area. Her host walked to the far end of the room, to a counter lit with a few of the lamps. He grabbed a tray, and Twilight wondered if that was what these creatures would eat their... kill from.

Instead of a dead rat, however, one of the creatures raised a large spoon and slopped a portioned size of what Twilight could only describe as vomit. Through Edwin, she smelled the glop, and thought that it could perhaps be vaguely edible. As Edwin moved down the line, a biscuit that even Twilight could tell had hardened with age, a packet labeled 'tea ration', and an apple were placed on the tray. Edwin, having finished receiving his 'food', moved over to a relatively empty table.

All throughout his time with which he was supposed to be eating, Edwin picked at his tray with his metal fork. The only thing on his plate he ate any real quantity of was the apple, and even then bits of it stuck to his throat. He did try a bit of the green goop on the tray, and when it touched his tongue, the taste buds transferred their response to Twilight. She felt like she had thrown up, but was helpless to see whether or not that was true.

"Alroight, everyone, back to your stations now! Move it!" Edwin, still mulling over something only he could see, didn't respond immediately. As such, the creature the voice belonged to moved over right in front of him. "Are you still hungry, soldier?!" Edwin shook his head no and moved to get up. "Tonoight, your gettin' the special treatment, Proivate Corliss. Make no mistake. This ain't Piccadilly Square no more, got it?" Edwin nodded.

With Edwin following, the two of them left the cave. Twilight heard Edwin mutter under his breath so the other creature wouldn't hear him, "Oi'm so gonna catch hell for this. Oi knew this was a bad ideh from the start."

And then the cacaphony began anew, once more sending Edwin to the ground for the second time that day. Twilight would have been able to get an accurate description of Edwin's soil had she been a geologist, what with all the time she was spending with her face in the dirt.