Tindale pattered down the concrete and metal companionway down to his sleeping quarters. It was a long night. His particular bunker had been under repeated wave attacks from the Erminean Mustela Emirate for nearly twenty four hours. He was utterly exhausted, the barrel of his machine gun had melted and he wanted nothing more than to collapse on his bunk. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep, but he knew he had to try. The rest of his squad had survived as well. No doubt, they'd be down at the chow hall stuffing themselves like it was the last night of their existence. He didn't know how they could do it though, after seeing so many slaughtered like that...
He shut his eyes and nearly bumped into an officer. Startled he stepped out of the way and saluted quickly. The officer didn't even look at him and kept going. He then sped off, using the last remaining amount of energy he had left to get to his quarters, throw open the door, and collapse on the bed. A few moments, later, someone was shaking him "Hey," he said "Tindale, time to get up buddy, you missed your chow!"
Groggily, Tindale opened his eyes, and blinked a few times. They were all there, with the exception of Sergeant Romero thank Thirth. It was Kipolane, a mouse like himself who was smiling and holding his mess kit with some...well...it at least looked like soup anyway. He sat up, and immediately felt light headed, must've been from all the sleep he'd had. He looked at Kipolane "What time is it?"
"About oh-five-hundred hours dude," he said passing him his kit "you were out for the past twelve hours. Any good dreams about the ladies?"
"Only you have wet dreams Kip," his brother, Kildorane joked punching him in the shoulder "come on give the pup a break."
"I ain't a pup," Tindale said suddenly, surprised at the indignation in his voice. He'd known these mice for years, what difference did it make?"
"I'm sorry," he said "I guess I'm just grouchy when I'm tired and haven't eaten in a while."
"None taken bud," Kildorane said "nothing to it. By the way, I saw you take out a whole Erminean squad the other day with your machine gun before the barrel melted. Good job, they were about to overrun our position when you made them think twice."
In their language, Erminea, are ermine, stoats, weasels, ferrets and the like, together, they formed the Erminean Mustela Emirate or the E.M.E. A loose confederation, trying to mirror the might and power of the Federation of Species. They too had realized that unless they banned together, they wouldn't stand a chance at surviving. Their form of government was more of a loose confederacy, rather than a true emirate. An emirate, by definition, is a principality, and has its ties directly to a monarchy of sorts, but since there was no monarchy by the traditional means, or a Diarchy or a Tetrarchy, where there are two or four rulers at once, their government was based on a highly corrupt regional democracy, where the "President" acted pretty much like a prince or a king in that land. His word was law, and he could only be a male. The Federation on the other hand was a strong Constitutional Republic. A highly capitalist enterprise, realized that when they allowed more than one particular species to join, that together, they could build a stronger defense and economic power house. They comprise of a total of six species who are called, at least in the standard dictionary of the Federation, Lapaliné, Lepalusan, Musiné, Tilapadae, Sciuridae, and Lontra. Each had their own specific role to play in the Federation, but of course, they allowed for the freedom of movement within the organization itself. It would be perfectly natural for example, for a female Lontra, or otter, to become the President of the Federation of Species or to have a female Sciuridae or squirrel, be a sniper in the Federal Special Forces otherwise known as the FSF along side with the Lapaliné who are the rabbits or Lepalusan which are the hares. Each species has its own name for themselves as well as their enemies, but in order for better unification, they created their own language which incorporates words from all of these languages. The result, is a quick, unstructured language which is relatively easy to learn, but is mind boggling when one first hears it.
Tindale, as stated earlier, was a mouse, this means he was a Musiné. Like the rest of his squad, he came from a large family. Mice tend to have around five to seven pups in a litter. Tindale was the youngest in his family. As a result, he wad drafted in to the Federation Armed Forces of the F.A.F. and, as part of the Federation's policy to control population numbers down to deflect food shortages, he was sent to the front lines. He wasn't selected from birth to become a super soldier, he was simply put there so that the rest of his family could enjoy regular full meals, instead of having to go to half or quarter rations, and knowing this, he fulfilled his duty rather cheerfully. This day was going to be different though. He would spend the rest of the day recuperating after the Erminean assault. Maybe he and Kipolane would go and play some ping pong in the Rec room. However, before any more such thoughts entered his mind, his squad leader entered the barracks. Kildorane snapped to attention and barked "Sergeant on deck!"
Instantly, they all snapped to attention and even Tindale, had to set aside his food to do so. The sergeant walked towards Tindale and smacked him "You need to shower private!" he said "your stench offends me. You have ten minutes, then the rest of you are going with me on a long patrol."
"Yes sir!" They all said back.
"Get ready," he said "that includes you too Tindale, and your time includes your shower. I want you smelling like roses by the time I get back."
"Yes sir, Sergeant Romero sir," Tindale said back saluting.
"Then get to it private," Sergeant Romero barked and then did an abrupt about face and left their quarters. The moment he left, everyone scrambled to get dressed and ready their weapons. Tindale sprinted to the shower and was finished in three minutes. It wasn't luxurious, but it made him clean. He was a little later in getting dressed than everyone else, but he got his armor on just like the rest of them and was out in the parade foyer with the rest of his squad, and they with the rest of their platoon. Sergeant Romero was there as well as Lieutenant Hammerstein. Hammerstein turned and addressed them through the communication's headset in their helmets "Today" he said "we're going to the surface. Double check your radiometers, your filters, and make sure your motion sensors are online. We're going to go to Ponyville to see what we can find. The General Staff wants to see if we can take a couple of prisoners for questioning."
He paused "Good luck," he said "stay safe, and come back in one piece."
They all then saluted, and he returned it. And with that, they exited their home. Tindale looked back as he saw the twenty three ton blast door slowly close shut to the harsh outside world in which he was going into. He was then nudged by Kipolane as he gestured him to keep moving, into the now waste land that was once Equestria.
