Author's Note

The plan of this story is for 12 chapters. This chapter has been proof-read by LongForHope, credit to him for fixing my errors.

Waldblitz

Chapter 1

The eminent sound of distant gunfire, the rattling of bullets chained together, then a small burst of close gunshots. Again and again, explosions came and with them, and more agonizing screams. That’s all that could be heard on either side of No Man’s Land. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Soldiers on both sides had the same painful ring in their ears as bullets whizzed by. Both of the sides had constantly been sending battalions to conquer one another. They kept the trend, only to gain a few inches the next day. This is the life of all soldiers, no matter the front. This was trench warfare.

Be you German, British, French, Indian, or American. If you're a soldier, you're facing your destiny in the trenches. However, they fought because they held their country dear. Some soldiers gained ground, only to get punted back by a constant defense on either side. The stronger the effort, the harder the conquering parties pushed back. The focus is on the Great St. Quentin Scar, a massacre of craters, the ground charred black by the sheer amount of shells and bombs dropped from the skies. The Germans made their move towards the open, great, and once beautiful French countryside, where the Americans constantly assault the front lines.

Augustus could hear the screams of the Allies as the German emplacements mowed them down without much effort, and even in a safer area. Sweat constantly poured from his forehead, having to periodically wipe his forehead and re-adjust his spiked helmet. It was only minutes to assault a parish church in the charred area surrounded by hellish craters, more and more being added by the minute as both sides make use of their numerous artillery. He could sense something horrible was going to happen, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.

He constantly found himself flinching as bullets hit the dirt or the occasional man that peeked out. Augustus lost his posture, therefore dropping his helm. He struggled to get it back on his head before another bullet chipped the wood above him. It wouldn't be long now, the commander will come out, the whistle will sound, and the charge would begin. Soon enough, they would be on the receiving end of those terrifying machinations of death.

Augustus could hear the rumbling of the explosions racketing the whole area around him, and he saw the grand trails of artillery fall towards the front of them, mere yards away from him. Slowly, the line of smoke and small pieces of metal from the shells zooming in circles near him and his comrades. The line of explosions was a good hundred yards from the Germans, and soldiers began hurdling themselves over the wooden barricades and towards the plume of smoke covering No Mans Land. Augustus charged forward as soon as the shelling ended and our commander sounded the whistle. Almost immediately after, a snipers casing found a place through his commander's helm. Augustus turned his head back to the Allies line, machine guns blazing, mortars firing, and other German soldiers demolishing row after row of barbed wire. Axes, maces, and spiked bats with nails poked out at almost all angles of the bloodied wire.

Augustus climbed the Allies defenses, suddenly falling through a wooden hatch and found himself face down inside a wooden pillbox with 3 French machine gunners too occupied to watch. Augustus quickly scrambled for his weapon and potted shots at them. He heard several quick screams and the very high pitched click of his gun empty. He opened his eyes, looking at the three bloodied bodies that lay before him. He fell down against the side of the pillbox, feeling lightheaded. One of the soldier's had something in his jacket pocket, something paper. Augustus took it out and looked at it, his eyes wide. It was the man, and what Augustus guessed were his family, a wife and two children. Augustus began to sob and groan, tears running down his face. His aching heart wanted to go back to his own family, instead of sitting on the brink of death in some wooden pillbox. He didn't want to be like the man. He felt so much sorrow for leaving a woman and two children orphans and a widow. Screams of French woke him from his contemplation, over by the door. He pointed towards them and held the trigger of his rifle down until it was empty, leaving two more bodies in the doorway.

He fell down and held his helmet down harder on his head, screaming, “God, why?! Why have you put me in this godforsaken land?!” His heart leaped once more, as more muffled explosions boomed from around him, and many Germans shouting commands at each other, scrambling back towards their original direction. Soon enough, he could see the horrifying tear gas creeping through the pillbox holes and the doorway. He went to reach for his gas mask, his hand was stabbed by the broken glass of his gas mask, now crumpled and broken from the French soldiers gun. He started to panic and attempted to cover his mouth as quickly as possible, but the gas was too strong. It quickly knocked the air out of his lungs, causing his head to go numb and black, falling to the floor.

His throat choked up and his eyes blurred, his final thoughts went to his mother and father, his younger brother, and the love of his life, his spouse. As they faded, he saw a brilliant light, however, they turned into a swirl of colors. Red, yellow, green, blue and purple swirled around him, and his body felt warm and fuzzy. A very calming feeling washed over him. It was like he was free-falling until he hit a soft surface.

Augustus felt his head throb and he slowly opened his eyes, looking up at a wondrous blue sky, and not a gray smoke cloud. He moved his cut up fingers and hands, feeling his gloves touch something soft. He leaned his head sideways to see green grass, his mind finally coming to sense. Wait! Green, grass?

Augustus slowly tore a few blades of the green loft out of the lush light brown soil. His mind was astonished, confused, and a minor tad scared at the possibilities. Was he dead? Was this Heaven? He took a quick scan of the small opening of the forest around him, and he slowly got up, stumbling. He almost fell but used one of the trees as support. He picked up his empty gun and looked around for his belt with his ammunition, tools, and a pistol, but to no avail. The dazed man looked around some more, checking bushes. using his bayonet. Augustus began to wonder deeper into the heavy forest. He carefully lurched forward, constantly circling his view to make sure there were not any enemy troops scoping him down until he suddenly fell on something hard. He had tumbled backward, heavily, onto his back with a loud thump. Augustus looked down at his feet to see his belt, slightly covered in mud. He got up, picked up his belt, and put it back into place, finally getting a clip from it and putting it in his rifle. He sighed heavily and leaned the rifle on the back of his shoulder, looking around some more to find some sign of human life.

"It's as if everyone is gone." Augustus continued his walk through the forest until he saw an opening in the brush, and began jogging toward it right before he heard a twig snap behind him. His instincts took over and his rifle was already in his palms when he was turned towards the source. It was a small bunny, a white cotton tail, looking intently at Augustus. He sighed once more and continued onward, however, a small thumping sound could be heard from behind him. The wary man turned his head to see the hare following him. Did it need something from him? Augustus got down on his knees and snapped his fingers at it, attempting to draw it near him.

"Come little one, I won't hurt you." The bunny slowly approached Augustus and sniffed his finger that he had extended, and slowly hopped forward, right next to him, circling and studying him while Augustus laughed at its peculiar inquisitiveness.

"You're awfully smart for a rabbit." The rabbit tilted its head and started patting one foot on the ground.
"Wait. You can...understand me?" The rabbit nodded its head, and Augustus felt as if his eyes were going to fall out of his head, his eyes were so open. Augustus slowly sat down and leaned against a tree. The rabbit followed him and sat next to him. Augustus looked over at the tiny rabbit, staring at each other for a short time until Augustus spoke up.

"Do you...have a name possibly?" The rabbit nodded again and hopped over to a small dirt patch, Augustus watched as the bunny traced out a name with a stick. The words read 'Angel'.

"Mein Gott. I am definitely not in France anymore. Angel, are there any towns nearby?"Angel nodded and began hopping away, stopping and tapping his foot to signal Augustus to follow. Augustus grabbed his rifle and jogged to keep up with the rabbit, though proving difficult as the forest brush had become very thick, with heavy vines and fallen tree logs. Augustus was now running as fast as he could without quickly exhausting himself, but even then its hard to keep speed with the small bunny.

"Wait, friend! I cannot keep up!" Angel and Augustus ran, the man felt his lungs were giving up on him, and he could not go on much longer. He managed to keep up, just barely. Finally, Angel stopped and Augustus had fallen down, and Angel began jumping very quickly and high, occasionally stopping to pat his foot rapidly, pointing towards the heavy woods in front of them.

"What is it? Are we near the town?" The rabbit shook its head and began to tremble as several twig snaps began sounding all around them. Augustus looking around to see the glowing green outline of many pairs of eyes, all on him and his small comrade. Augustus slowly picked Angel up and put him in his satchel, and Angel watched with his head peeked through the small cover. Augustus turned the safety on his rifle off, pointing it at one of the pairs of eyes.

"Friend, if I am to fall, I want you to run for your life, to your home." Angel nodded frantically and ducked his head back inside the satchel. Augustus got on a single knee, rifle still in hand, slowly unlatching his knife and preparing it if needed. He heard a growl behind him, and his new enemy emerged from the darkness of the woods. Augustus saw, what he thought was a wolf made completely from branches, and an awful green slime on the joints. His watched on opened eyed, but he remained still. He slowly turned his head, and then suddenly hear footsteps approaching him. He turned quickly and he his bayonet towards the wolf, cutting the jaw off of one of his attackers. Three more of the wooden wolves started to circle him, and he broke one in half with a lucky shot of his rifle.

"Come! Cowards!" Augustus yelled, butting one of the wolves in the face with the stock of his rifle. Augustus's cockiness got him a large gash on his leg and a long scrape on his back as failed to pay attention. He grunted and returned it with a bullet to one of the bodies of the wolves. He kept fighting, reloading, and repeating. It felt like hours but he finally dimmed their numbers, and the wolves began retreating, feeling their losses. Augustus watched as most of them limped away or laid bleeding on the ground a green slime. His leg was still bleeding, he clothes dirty with wood chips from the beasts, and his face covered with sweat and grime. He looked to his satchel and patted it lightly.

"Are you still in there my friend?" Augustus asked and looked around for any more of the foul creatures. He began to walk away, not wanting another confrontation. He sat down when he thought he was a good distance away, and the little rabbit popped out its head. It looked around cautiously and then back at Augustus. It did some strange motions as if to thank him. It went back into the pouch and Augustus tied a rag around the gash he had gotten from the wolves.

Angel then popped his head up with a small piece of stale bread in his mouth, making Augustus chuckle. Angel went back into the satchel and continued merrily eating the stale bread.

"I guess you're hungry. So am I." Augustus looked at his pack and saw only a pack of saltine crackers, a small cantine, canned ham, and a small papered cheese wedge. He took them out and placed them on the ground, all the while Angel huddled with the bread, watching Augustus work.

"Looks like this is going to be lunch." Augustus opened the small sack of crackers and the canteen, taking a few sips before eating a cracker and breaking some of the wedges off and taking in the fresh taste of it. He opened his satchel and took off his belt to check his supplies, and he has very little. Plenty of ammunition for his pistol, but that fight caused him to lose a majority of his ammunition for his rifle. Augustus quietly cursed himself and his aim, looking through his other supplies which included a small survival knife, a hatchet, a small spool of barbed wire. There also came two bundled grenades, an unused bandoleer, a few strip clips, a shovel, and a broken misshaped lantern with a small amount of burnable oil in it.

Augustus sighed and drank some more water, seeing that Angel was near the end of the bread from his satchel. The man broke off a small piece of cheese for the little animal. Angel sniffed it quickly and grabbed it, nudging himself back into the satchel with the cheese in hand while a very lowly audible sound of content came from the satchel, making Augustus smile. As he did, he looked up into the blue sky, watching the clouds go by. It looked just like just before the war. Augustus's eyes saw only a small few black dots in the sky coming out of the clouds, and he squinted, trying to see what they were. His mind finally pieced the few parts together in his own mind. Bombers. Those damned bombers.

"Angel!" Augustus yelled loudly, sitting upright. Angel ducked his head out of the satchel and looked at him questionably.

"Your village, are there any kind of soldiers there?!" Angel nodded, not knowing the risk of the few flying shadows.

"Come on, we have to get there and warn them!" Augustus quickly wrapped his items up back into his satchel and looked in the direction that the shadows were going in, and began to run with all his might toward their direction. Augustus's barraging through the forest had begun, and already, thorns, pointed rocks, and small holes in the ground that constantly hit him, but his insistence on stopping the bombers kept him going through all the thick brush of the heavy forest. He looked through the canopy and the shadows from the sky disappeared, making him run even faster.

As he ran, his mind generated all the images from his previous encounters, his vision fooling him with ghosts of soldiers all around him, his friends falling. Wex soldiers burnt the enemy machine guns into molten metal sculptures and the enemy soldiers running are nothing but piles of melting and singed flesh. His heart beat in his chest, and he looked forward to see the barrel of a machine gun going off and time seemed to slow down. The visions disappeared, and instead, revealed Augustus beelining it for a tree, but the mud on the ground caused him to crash right into it. As soon as it came close, his vision blacked out, and a feeling of free fall enveloped him again.

Angel heard a thick crash, cracking branches, and felt gravity work its wonders as the satchel crashed onto the ground. Angel shook himself off of the dust from the satchel and crawled through the meager space, finally out onto the muddy forest floor. He looked around, and saw his new friend on the ground, rushing over to him. Augustus's head was very bloody, as was his side and his slashed leg. Angel tried to wake Augustus up by jumping on him, patting his foot on his head, but only came up with pained groans from Augustus. Angel began jumping up and down, gaining attention from the inhabitants of the upper canopy and the ground around him. Angels slight screeching sound attracted animals of all kinds to his spot with his friend. Deer, frogs, squirrels, birds, and finches of all types became huddled all around the unconscious man. Angel looked as all of his forest allies gathered around him. Angel pointed his paw at the deer and tapped rapidly in short bursts and nods, and the deer nods back, running off into the woods to get help from their caretaker.

A small yawn came from the figure getting out of bed, rather a long and drawn one with arms outstretched and then proceeding to rub its own eyes. Getting out of the bed at a snail's pace, it walks down the wooden stairs where many animal houses stand next to each other, each having a pillow or blanket on the inside with a variety of animals sleeping in each one. Bird cages hung from the ceiling, but lay empty and dormant, awaiting an occupant. Another yawn from the figure from the stairs, and a small patter of its feet. Upon better inspection, the butter yellow fur and thorough pink hair gave off an aura of calmness. Its name was Fluttershy, appropriate for its appearance.

Fluttershy's occupation, rather obvious to any visitor, is to take in animals, care for them, or tame them depending on the problem, occasionally a rare occurrence with all three. She loved her job, it gives her someone to talk to that understands her, not so much to someone as more like something. As she entered her kitchen, she greets all of her animals waiting to be fed and begins the long process of making sure everyone was fed evenly. Taking a few moments to get all of her woodland friends some breakfast, she starts on her own, making a simple plate of toast and glass of milk, reserved for only her best of mornings. She happily ate her breakfast, rarely uttering a word as she eats with her pets. She finished her breakfast at the same time as the animals, and picked up all their bowls to be put in the sink and cleaned later. She noticed one bowl that has been full for a few days in a row, and she sighed sadly.

'I wish I knew why you're still gone Angel, I miss you'
She continued her average morning, tending animals that were late to breakfast or overslept. To her, it's peaceful, not as hectic as being outside already at this time in the morning. She finally finished her business and walked to the front door to let some of her bigger animals in to relax and the smaller ones to roam a bit more. Once everyone was settled, she headed back up into her room to change, a difficult objective seeing how unnaturally tall she is. Once she finally got dressed successfully, she headed back downstairs and leaned on her windowsill. Complete tranquility and peace, nothing better. That was until a deer came, basically bucking his feet. Fluttershy gasped and ran out her front to door to calm down the anxious doe.

"It's alright, it's alright. I'm here now, what is it? Another bear coming after you?" Fluttershy said while stroking the doe's head calmly. The deer shakes it's head and begins treading in place, then falls over in a very charade like manner. Fluttershy knew what that meant and gasped, got up quickly, headed inside and grabbing her medical supplies.

"Where is it?!" She said, worriedly.

The deer scrambled up and ran while Fluttershy takes flight with her wings, kicking up into the air with her feet. She scanned all over the horizon, her eyes sometimes losing sight of the deer, only to see it again for a split second, constantly switching on and off until the deer banked left and ran into a lower part of the Everfree Forest. Whatever it is, it definitely is in trouble out here. That only spurred Fluttershy onward, her mind thinking of all the pain the animal is going through. She winced and only beat her wings harder, her speed matching the deer.

The deer entered a small patch of grass in the middle of a forest and Fluttershy dive bombed down and landed quickly with her medic bag in hand, ready for action. The deer canter through the forest and then begins running, as does Fluttershy. They ran up until a very guttural screaming could be heard, and very muffled cursing in a language Fluttershy couldn't understand. She ran even faster, and finally, she saw a crowd of animals in a circle, and she looked through them to see something, almost identical to her race, but not exactly... her race. Fluttershy met eye contact with it, and it saw her too, the place got quiet.

Augustus's eyes were never more awoken then now. This thing had a muzzle like a horse, but without as much length, but the rest of the body was human, noticeably that of a female, but with fur. He backed up slowly but then felt the cut in his leg, it was definitely infected. The area around the gash has turned purple and was oozing out a clear-yellow liquid. The figure slowly inched closer, the yellow figure towering over Augustus. His fear was getting worse by the second. He picked up his pistol and pointed it at the figure, halting it to a complete stop.
"You, yellow one! Who are you, what is your village?"
Augustus kept his pistol on its head.

"U-um, my name is Fluttershy. I live in Ponyville." The figure said meekly. Augustus noticed a white box with a red cross on the small satchel she has in her hand. He looks into her eyes, no different to his own, a shimmering blue color. He slowly put down his pistol and looked on,
"Are you a medic?"

"Y-yes, I treat animals."

"Do you have experience with people?!" Fluttershy nodded her head, and she started going towards Augustus and began to inspect the wound. She looked up and down his leg, attempting to tell how much blood he has lost so far.

"Its bad u-uhm sir, but I-I can help."

"Please, please do help."

Fluttershy nodded and opens her medical bag and begins to treat the wound. First, she poured a small pink liquid on the gash, making it a slightly less purple, stopping the puss from oozing into the infection. She then got out a rag and poured another liquid, this time clear, on the rag and applying it to the wound, making Augustus scream again in pain.

"Don't worry s-sir, it helps clean it."

Augustus watched her work in quickly and looks closer at her. Pink hair, beautiful blue eyes, and yellow fur. How is this possible? After some time, the wound was treated and wrapped, and Fluttershy moved on to check Augustus and finds his back wound, which was in the same condition as his leg. She repeated her steps once more, then wrapped his back and chest with gauze. Augustus breathed a sigh of relief and slowly gets up, his pain reduced to nothing more than an ache.

"Thank you, Miss Shy."

Fluttershy blushed and nodded, looking away for a moment. Augustus limped toward his bag a few feet from him, and picked it up, along with his rifle and belt.

"Would you mind pointing me in the direction of your village?"

"I could take you there. Do you need a ride?" Augustus looked at her, confused. Do they have vehicles here? Before Augustus could ask, he stepped back as Fluttershy revealed 2 light yellow wings, bigger than Augustus himself. He kept moving back until he hit a tree, and he looked on as the half woman walked with hesitation toward him. She put an arm out and Augustus took it slowly, clutching it tightly before Fluttershy's grip clamped down on him before bursting into the air at an impossible speed.