I stared at the picture with an and odd longing even though the picture was taken about three months ago. It held two gryphons, the one on the right was a young male gryphon while to the left was a older gryphon that was several inches taller than the other one. They both were wearing scarfs, black overalls that loosely fit the younger one, and bronze goggles with leather straps that are on there foreheads. The younger gryphon had a goofy smile like the kid was extremely happy and didn't care, while the older one had a smile that showed pride.

I held the picture in my left claw as I looked back at my fond memories of family and friendship. The world around me was gone except for me and the picture. If it wasn't entirely obvious the gryphon on the right was me, a young man that loved machinery and working with them more than other living creatures. Probably because they are obvious with there problems or it could be because I just found machinery interesting, I don't know but I will find out one day, Hopefully.

"Hey put up that picture we got patrol". My claw was pulled down by another claw and I looked up to see an older gryphon with all white head feathers. I put the picture in a pocket on my black and red uniform, grabbed my rifle which had a bolt that stuck out straight to the right and had obstructive rear sites, and followed the older gryphon. The man walked fast so I had to jog to keep up with him which wasn't too much a challenge.

As we walked I looked around the cavern as we head toward the entrance. The cavern was huge with the roof being almost as tall as a manner, It held tables, machinery, and supplies like ammo and meds. Though the stand out was the white marble looking statue that was about twice my size though I was a good foot smaller than most of the men here. The statue held a stone torch that almost seemed like a beacon though it wasn't lit, the statue was dressed in a toga but it overall didn't look like anything I've seen with pawed feet and a face that held a muzzle similar to a fox, though the head had a blind fold over it so we couldn't see any actual features. The most interesting part about the statue was.

"Hey stop dillydallying we are on a schedule"! I looked around to quickly notice my Commander and sped off holding my helmet on my head as I ran. The gryphon slowly shook his head in disappointment and continued in our walk outside the cave. When we went through the cave entrance I looked up to see the canyon walls on either side of us, and to see a cloudy blue sky. I looked forward to see the dug out, muddy trench line fitted with machine guns and barb wire around anywhere else that didn't have a station or a gun.

We continued walking to the ladder bridge which was a thin set of ladders we used as a bridge often. I carefully walked over it to the other side while my Commander walked over it barely altering speed or footing. I had him as commander for about a month since that has been about as long I have been here I think. I'm not sure since the days dragged on and rarely anything exciting happens, the last thing exciting happened was when the orb like cage chained to the statue sparked with electricity. And rather unfortunately that was about a week ago though I keep on hearing through the other soldiers they were getting close to unlocking what it held.

I looked up to see that we were away from the main trench and we were at the lookout post that was fortified with sandbags, which held the rest of our squad. They all were older than me though none as old as our Commander which from what he told us, he was pushing forty. The other three gryphons were either in there thirties or late twenties. They all had white feather heads at least from what I could see since we always wore head wear, though I have been able to identify them physically from there claws.

Steven was the gryphon with a rifle and yellow claws, while Henry had grey claws and looked older. We also had a burly gryphon that was about a foot bigger than me that had a scoped rifle, and yellow claws with black dots all around. His name was Samson and one of his defining features was that he rarely talked to us in a group.

Then there was our Commander. A yellow clawed gryphon with a full white feather head, green eyes and unlike us he wore a simple bright red hat. His uniform was also different, it didn't look as heavy compared to ours and it lacked the skirt around our black pants and boots. He also wore medals across his chest though he hasn't told us what they mean or he assumed we knew and left it at that.

Last and the least there was me. Alexander a nineteen year old that had a stable life working as an apprentice to become a engineer but decided to join. I could barely shoot the rifle properly while they shot with little issue, and I could barely keep up with some of them. That made me the least useful soldier in this squad. Though they didn't say anything but I could just feel it practically gnawing at me every time I messed something up or did anything inadequately.

I was shorter than everyone in my squad along with looking the most different. My head feathers are white with black strips that are actually oil stains that have forever stained my feathers. I wear brown leather gloves that I have had since I first became a apprentice but under them was yellow claws covered in black oily stains that are uneven and normally was in a splattered line but was mostly random from short lines, intersecting lines, and dots. My uniform was like the others in my squad just smaller and the red lines stood out more.

"Alexander come over here". I shook my head and looked over to my Commander who was beckoning me with a pair of binoculars. I walked over to him and he put the binoculars to my chest.

My Commander said" Alexander I want you to keep watch and point out anything that shouldn't be there, is that understood". I put my rifle down and nodded to him before I kept an eye on the valley of the canyon. The valley was filled with trees and grass that was a very bright green. It looked very nice compared to the cave and the trench in front of it but you tend to think any color is better than the color you have been looking at for a month. I kept my view at the end of the valley as my squad mates talked.

A gruff older voice said" So why you got the lad on watch, wanted to take a break Commander"? That voice belonged to Steven since he always had a annoying playful tone to it that made me angry, especially if I was the topic.

The Commander responded" Cause he has a better talent for noticing anything out of place, that and he has better vision than me". He wasn't lying I did spot anything that was out of place which hearing that made me feel a little better being here. I kept my eyes at the end of the valley barely leaving the spot other than to see the cliffs.

A older mans voice said" Well its nice for you to admit something but why him"? That voice belonged to Henry and he was just a bit older than Steven but not by a large margin.

My Commander said" He needs to do something other than beg to work on an engine, or stare at pictures". He wasn't lying that has been everything I've been doing since there is nothing to do here, other than wait.

I heard a thick heavy accent behind me" Hey just stop questioning the boss's decision he's been here longer than us and it's true that has been all Alexander been doing but seriously you need to do something while we're out here there is little to do". That voice was Samson since he naturally never was against me and just really helpful. I refocused my eyes back toward the valley and kept a watchful eye.

After a while our Commander said it was about time ready for us to leave so we started picking up our items we dropped. I took one final look at the end of the valley with the binoculars and that's when I noticed something. There was a armored car that wasn't there before and on the side it held the Equestrian flag.

I looked back to them all" Hey commander shouldn't any cars not have the Equestrian flag"? My commander without hesitation grabbed the binoculars and looked at the car. He then proceeded to run down the path toward the base quickly.

The Commander shouted" We're under attack everyone get to your stations"! After hearing that we followed our commander back into the cave to get any gear we left. We entered our tent and I grabbed my bayonet along with attaching it, it was long, sharp and shiny knife that was about three inches from my barrel exit. I looked around the tent to notice that our Commander was no where to be found.

"Hey that's all you got"? I looked at Samson who had a hatchet with a wooden handle and the rest had a big metal axe head that was almost the size of the handle. I nodded to him but he grabbed a gas mask from a hook rack and gave it to me.

"Keep it on you Alexander in case they decide to flood the cave with gas". I looked at him for a second but put the mask on a hook that was around my belt. I don't know what he meant by gas but after I had everything, including more ammo, I began walking with Samson to the rest of my squad mates who were sitting outside a white tent. We joined them after figuring out our Commander went in there to talk to some people and we were sitting outside of it for a couple of minutes before he walked out.

Our Commander shouted "Attention"! We all got to our paws as quickly as possible and stood at attention facing him. He eyed us but he kept a longer look at me than the others, while he began pacing back and forth in front of us.

"Men we need to hold this place at all cost, we cannot allow them in the chamber and get sight on the device"! I looked at him oddly but didn't show anything on my face out of fear. When he did stuff like this we were supposed to stand at attention and not move at all, but I can't help but show something at the fact that he called the statue a device.

He continued while keeping the his voice high" They cannot abort the test, so we must make sure the test works smoothly and without error. Thus we will be on the front lines and I want all of you to stick close together, work together, and get out of this in one piece"! He Stopped pacing and stood, back straight with claws behind his back.

He shouted" Is that clear"!

We all shouted in unison" Yes sir"! Without another word we trekked to the front lines at a quick pace. When we got outside the cave we saw almost every person in the cave was here. They were mounting up at positions with there rifles ready, and soldiers on the machine guns pointing down the hill toward the valley. We set up on the farthest left position which held a shooting position, a machine gun, and a way out of the trench. The trench it self was practically just mud and wooden supports but at the machine gun stations held wooden boxes of ammo for the machinegun.

Our Commander ordered" Henry get on the gun, Steven reload and cover Henry, Samson and Alexander focus on taking down other soldiers not within the main guns sights, I'll point out anything important"! Immediately Henry and Steven got on the gun and had it at the ready, while me and Samson got on the wooden barrier with just our heads and guns poking out. I looked down into the valley to see a large amount of uniformed ponies ranging from unicorns, to regular ponies. There uniform was bright yellow and irritated my eyes at how bright it looked, there helmets fit with there head like plated armor on knights. My heart was sinking at the amount of soldiers there were and how it donned on me that this was my first time being a battle like this, My gun shook semi erratically due to my nerves.

"Hey Alexander control your breathing it will help yo..." Samson couldn't finish his sentence due to a shout and everyone began opening fire. The sheer volume of our entire line firing down on the soldiers hurt my eyes and made a very high pitched whine similar to metal getting wrenched. I ducked holding my left ear trying to keep it from getting worse, I also closed my eyes though none of my attempts lasted long.

Samson crouched in front of me, grabbed my shoulders and began shaking me to try and get me out of it. He was also shouting though what ever he was saying sounded like it was inaudible though it all ended when I focused solely on him. Like a lever was just pulled and got an engine started the world came back to focus and I could now understand what Samson was saying.

Samson Practically shouted in my face" You okay we need you out here or we're all screwed, come on snap out of it"! He then slapped me in the face quickly and I reacted by grabbing his arm.

I said" I'm out of it now just... help me up and I'm good to go". He practically lifted me all the way up and gave me my rifle, that I apparently dropped to the ground when I held my head. I then looked out the station made of wood, and sandbags to see a large amount of Equestrian troops rushing up and a few hiding behind rocks. I pointed my rifle at a soldier near a rock and pulled the trigger when I was sure the sights were aligned. The rifle kicked hard into my shoulder as I saw the soldier's chest practically explode in a shower of blood, he dropped to the ground while holding his chest.

I tried my best to not look at him further so I racked my bolt to unload the brass shell before aiming for a person that was getting closer to the trench. No one seemed to notice the Equestrian soldier as he ran so I aligned my sights and fired at him, I saw him continue to move so I racked the bolt and fired again. He still continued to run though now with renewed vigor due to the discovery that he was getting shot at so I fired the next three shots and all missed but my last which hit him in the shin. He screamed and hit the ground but the moment he started to get back up his head exploded in a fine red mist, though in actuality he had a bullet hole through the left side of his skull.

I looked to my left where the shot came from to see Samson's smoking gun and him racking the bolt. He looked at me for a second but looked back to the front picking new targets and firing.

He glanced back at me and said" Point out any target that is an issue or one you can't hit and reload for fuck sakes"! He shouted the end but I quickly obeyed him and grabbed a clip. I pulled back the bolt and started forcing the brass bullets into the gun, focusing on the sole task. After they were all In I flung the metal strip out and racked the bolt.

I saw more men come up the hill so I fired upon them only stopping to reload when I'm empty. The noise around me was getting louder as I continued my task, the rapid loud gun fire from the machine gun, the rifles going off with a loud bang, and now a not as loud bang that was firing behind me. I looked to see our Commander firing with his gun toward the front with the same hard look he gave us all. All the noise around me just kind of melted together in a mass of sound, even though they were all different.

I looked back at the front and began firing again at a faster rate than usual though I noticed a green streak of light moving around in the sky. I looked at it for a while before it dived at the right side of the trench and caused a loud bang, making me cover my right ear. I glanced up again to notice another that was heading right for us.

I shouted at the top of my lungs" Hit the deck"! I dropped to the dirt before it hit along with everyone except Henry who was still on the gun firing. He looked at the green streak when it was an inch from his face, he looked surprise from my glimpse at that moment before it actually hit. A large explosion happened barely a foot away from us and my vision was going in and out, along with my eyes creating a loud high pitch whine. I ended up getting a glimpse of what remained of Henry and he honestly just looked like a pile body parts that have been blown apart with no care, or sense of right to it. His head was gone, And his chest was in multiple pieces along with any organs he had being in it just everywhere, If I could move I probably would have puked all over this muddy, dirt filled hell.

I was coming in and out of consciousness with short intervals in between of seeing things happen. I noticed bright yellow down the trench line and I knew they were in it. I got flipped over all of a sudden by my Commander to see a worried face and to guess was saying words to get me the hell up. My Commander looked up and all of a sudden slapped me with the palm of his claw and back giving me full consciousness.

I heard a shout and I rolled over back on my chest to see Steven charging a Equestrian soldier with his bayonet. He screamed bloody murder when his blade went into the soldiers chest, Causing him to fall on the floor with a knife all the way through his body. Steven was about to pull out when his chest suddenly spurted blood, He stood for a moment bending over holding his stomach before multiple shots hit him. He stood when he kept on taking the fire, But he fell over covered in dirt and blood on top of the previous soldier who still had the gun sticking out of him.

I picked myself up only to get pulled back from behind me, I looked behind me to see my commander and Samson me pulling me back toward the exit toward the cave. But I wanted to get Steven back at least, but that just made them both pull harder.

My commander shouted" Alexander There dead you can't do anything, and we can't stay we need to get back now"! My Commanders voice had a hint of fear but it still held a large amount of confidence. So I stopped struggling and slowly started running back following the rest of the people I knew after I quickly picked up my rifle from where it dropped.

We ran into the cave as someone was beckoning us and anyone else retreating. The last person of the small mass entered the cave and everyone was ordered to stand away from it. Before I knew it the top of the entrance exploded and all the jutted rocks collapsed on top of the entrance, covering it and making no way in for anyone left out there.

My Commander ordered me and Samson to follow him to the same white tent from earlier and when we got there he allowed us to enter with him. When we entered I saw a stressed gryphon in a generals uniform, it was black like all others but it had gold colored trims other than red.

He looked at our commander and asked" Is that what's left of your squad"? He seemed to be pleading for it not to be but my Commander nodded. The gryphon slammed his head on the table in front of him which had a map on it, it also had many notes on it but all of them were a giant red X.

"Get the men to turn on the gas and prepare to get as much research notes out of here as fast as possible". My commander stood there and nodded but he did not leave immediately.

My Commander asked" How long till the statue turns on"? The gryphon eyed me and Samson but answered our Commander.

He said" From what I'm getting five minutes".

My Commander said" Sir we don't have time, we lost a lot of men in the front entrance, and I don't know how long we can hold".

The gryphon said" You think I don't know that and we can't just retreat we need to make sure the engineers have time to get it on"! He sighed before continuing" Besides we can't leave we don't have time for that they can just catch up to us within the day". He put his head on the table making a knocking noise as he buried his head with his claws and arms.

My Commander said" Understood sir". My Commander then nodded and waved us to leave with him. We exited the tent to see a large amount of make shift wooden defenses, most prominently they were tables flipped over. I heard a blaring noise and saw a flashing red light spin and warn us of something.

Samson quickly grabbed me and shouted" Put your mask on now"! I got the hint so I reached to my belt to grab the leather, metal and glass mask, And put it on my face. It was hard to put on but that wasn't the worst of it, it got really hot quickly and I felt like I was in a smaller place than I could take. It didn't help that the glass eye covers had metal support areas on it that made it harder to see than usual.

A loud explosion came from the collapsed entrance and I looked over see it shaking along with small rocks falling from the roof near it. We pointed all our guns over to the entrance not daring to look anywhere else but a soldier who wasn't wearing a gas mask made me look at him. He was coughing so horribly that I thought he was about to vomit his guts out, But I looked into his eyes to see them blood red practically.

He started shouting" Please help me please I beg of you, anyone"! He then started doubling over coughing so much that it did actually make him puke out a ton of blood. There was so much blood he puked up I was wondering if he was alive but he fell onto the pool of blood coughing until we couldn't hear him anymore. If I took of my mask or if it got damaged would that happen to me, And why didn't he get one? All the thoughts started making me shake, and breath erratically like a fish out of water

Samson quickly moved over to me, Took my shoulders and started saying" Get a hold of yourself Alexander you wont die today I wont allow it"! He shook me harder toward the end but I was still shaking like crazy like everything just hit me like a train. Why the hell did I decide to do this, I'm in the middle of hell itself. I've killed people, watched my acquaintances die in front of my eyes and now I'm going to die in toxic gas. I was shaking so much that I didn't notice the explosions started shaking the cavern more, and finally our moment of reprieve ended.

The collapsed rocks exploded, and many Equestrian troops started rushing in with there bayonets ready. One equestrian soldier attempted to skewer Samson, But Samson brought out his axe and side stepped slowly. The moment the equestrian passed him, Samson wacked him in the head with the axe causing the soldier to hit the ground with his back hard. Before the soldier knew it the axe got Firmly planted in his upper chest, He screamed in pure agony as the axe got ripped out of him and got dropped on his head.

As Samson was pulling his axe out from the dead soldier a couple soldiers started advancing on us causing our Commander to shoot at them and him pointing at me to shoot them. I shot at the soldiers multiple times needing to reload my rifle three times to keep my gun firing, my shoulder ached more after each shot, my mask was fogging up due to my erratic breathing, but I still kept on fighting. Samson moved next to me and our Commander shortly after he was done mutilating another soldier that ran up on us.

Our Commander said" The alarms off the gas is clear get your masks off"! I was very hesitant but after seeing them both take there off and have no issue I took mine off as quickly as I could. While I took my mask off a enemy soldier appeared out of nowhere and shot Samson in the left shoulder, causing him to hold his now profusely bleeding shoulder. The moment I got my mask off I shot the soldier in the head causing his head to explode in red mist. I moved over to Samson quickly to assess his wound, He lifted his claw for me to see a arm that was very nearly torn straight off, All that held it together was a the lower end of the shoulder that was connected to a light yellow bone that was bloody.

Samson grunted out" Shit can I shoot"! I Shook my head no while quickly moving behind my Commander and vomit near the back of us. My body felt like it getting on fire, I was sweating like a madman now, My claws under my leather gloves felt moisture less, And I was beginning to get tired quicker the longer the battle went on. But now the short reprieve to assess my own condition was over when my Commander started shouting, and pointing again.

My Commander shouted" There charging again"! I picked up my rifle that I dropped and walked on unsteady boots toward my remaining allies. As I walked I saw Samson imbed his axe into a soldiers chest causing him to lean forward Then Samson ripped his axe out and dropped it on the back of the soldiers neck causing him to be decapitated. When I was almost there I saw Samson start swinging at a soldier that was screaming at the top of his lung, and with a bayonet poised. Samson failed to connect his swing and the screaming soldier embedded his weapon into Samson's chest but he managed to rip his weapon out of him causing any hope of Samson's survival to be gone.

Samson's corpse stared at me with his head upside down as his body twitched a little bit but most prevalent in his eyes. I stared at his corpse in a state of shock that I barely noticed the soldier that charged got shot multiple times in the chest, and that the noise was coming from barely an inch from my head. The soldier fell to the ground convulsing in a way that at a distance people would think he was alive.

My Commander shouted in front of my face" Get the fuck up and fight we need you"! My focus suddenly went straight to his eyes which were filled with concern, And sadness. This is actually one of the few times I saw any emotion in him but I was more concerned with the fact that everyone was dead.

He shook me as I gave my answer In a weak voice" Everyone else is dead". I never really liked Henry and Steven but Samson was oddly the only one that bothered to know me and talk to me, He would willingly talk to me when I felt down even though I could tell he was uncomfortable with topics like family, He would always try to talk to me. Now he was gone along with everyone except me and the Commander, I was feeling the hopelessness kick in.

The Commander shouted and shook me more" Snap out of it we need to get the hell out of here, we need to retreat... no forget that we need to get to the statue". I looked up to see the statue which was glowing with white electric energy literally. The broken stone cage that was chained to it was floating and held a ball of white electricity that looked like it would vaporize you instantly. It floated at the knee height of the statue which would only take a jump to get into, that is if you wanted to go in it.

I mumbled to him" Why would we want to go into that"? He fired a little more at some unseen soldier and responded.

"I heard that it could send us somewhere but there is no guarantee it does that but we can't make it to the other exit to the cave before they blow the dynamite but I'm willing to take it even if I can't do it with all my men". He became somber toward the end but I got what he meant we either go into a electric vortex and possibly die or die getting trapped in a cave. I picked myself up from my knees grabbed my rifle from the dirt and moved forward toward Samson.

I stayed silent as I closed his eyes and moved his arms over his chest, even to the agitation of the Commander trying to get me to hurry. When I was done I bowed my head a tiny bit and stood for a few seconds, The moment I was done I picked up Samson's axe and put it on a loop on my right side.

When I was done I said to the Commander" I'm done now lets get over there quickly, I don't want to die here". He nodded and went ahead of me with his pistol and ran forward as quickly as he could all the way to the other side of the cave under gunfire from both us and the Equestrians. I Began running shortly after he went past me and I could feel the bullets whizz past me to hit dirt or flesh but I continued to run even when my legs began hurting and my lungs began screaming for more air.

We where almost there when a soldier ran in front of me but gave no attention to me as he began shooting at some gryphons that were running toward the cave exit. I couldn't stop to shoot him so I readied my bayonet and screamed like a madman as I charged him. He didn't even notice me until I was barely a few feet away from him but by then my bayonet was beyond stopping. He doubled over onto his back when I hit him square in the chest seeing his bright yellow uniform get stained by his blood.

I muttered" Fucking shitting hell". As I ripped my bayonet out of his body and quickly tried to begin running to catch up with the Commander. I hit a part that looked like a trench opening but was actually a ramp to get on the landing that held the statue, It had wooden supports to make sure the dirt didn't just fall onto you and crush you but the most important feature was my Commander sitting on the left wall with his leg bleeding. I practically fell on top of him when I got to him but that was the least of my concerns.

I grabbed him as I said" Come on you're going to be all right I can fix you and we can go through it together". He didn't answer immediately but instead he showed me his pistol that looked empty judging by the fact the slide was all the way back, and several clips from under his coat.

The Commander said" I wont make it in time, it could turn off at any second and I cant afford having you waste time on a dead man". I was confused but he began reloading his pistol by putting the clip at the top of the gun and put all ten bullets from the clip into it. He tossed the gun so he held the barrel after he pulled the slide back.

"Take my gun Alexander and live so that our memory can live on even if the chance is slim". I took the handle of the gun that I heard some people remark it as a "broom handle" but I couldn't see the correlation. I also took the ammo for the gun that he held out with his other claw and put them in my coat.

I said to him" But I cant just leave without you I wouldn't be able to forgive myself to just have you die here in the mud". I kept my head down and kept my eyes closed not wanting me to be the last of us, And it being ironically the youngest and most worthless of us all.

My Commander said" Yes I know you might be thinking your the most useless of us all but I could see in you that you have strength like everyone one of you brave lads, and besides I'm not getting younger". The words went deep into me and I tried not to shed anything as it donned on me that I may never end up seeing him again even if he survived.

I said as I grabbed my rifle and put the pistol in my left pocket" Goodbye Commander".

He chuckled and said" It's Lawrence but goodbye Alexander you're a good lad". I slowly stood up and left giving glances back at my commander, I mean Lawrence as I walked up the ramp.

The moment I got to the top of the ramp I saw dead bodies scattered around it both Equestrian and gryphon but a single gryphon engineer was alive sitting near a lever. I moved over to him quickly to see what was happening.

I shouted" Are you okay"? I had to shout it due to the noise from the gunfire, and from the static noise coming from the electric vortex. He nodded in response telling he knew what was happening but gave me an answer to a question I didn't ask yet.

He shouted" If you want to get through you have to go now but I have no clue what will happen no one has been able to go through due to the battle"! I was surprised that he told me to basically go through but I could tell he was scared to hell, He was shaking like crazy and had his eyes darting in every direction.

I Picked up my rifle and began moving toward the electric vortex at a full sprint. I didn't have time to walk all the way to it in the few meters it was but I was also under danger from any group that moved up here. I put all my strength I had left into my legs into the sprint, From what felt like a day of intense fighting but what may have actually been only an hour.

The moment I was within jumping distance, I jumped into the electric vortex and regretted it almost instantly. My body felt like it caught fire and went instant to a chill in a second, The pain made my teeth grind and my vision hurt from the bright light in front me of so I closed my eyes shut as hard as I could. That was until the light vanished and I felt myself hit cold hard stone causing me to go out like a candle.

Author's Note

well hear is my next story a crossover of a game that I told myself I would never make a story involving it because I didn't want to mess with it. well to me I will keep it good and well this sure is different, first chapter is the Equestrian version of a world war 1 or great war, from the eyes of a gryphon that is 19 years old that didn't even sign up to be a soldier but to work on engines and mechanical objects.

"Not to mention this seems quite violent".

I send Kinkajou away telling her she's too young to see this.

well hope everyone likes this chapter and give criticism. This took about 20 days to write, So you can see I take forever. Also my longest chapter ever written.