As the multitude of Jeeps loaded with the Marines and Army soldiers raced towards the causeway, the men were mostly silent as they looked over their gear and weapons. Redford let the slide close on his M1 Garand and turned to Roebuck, who sat next to him with his arm out the window. Even for a veteran Marine Raider, he seemed rather casual given the situation.

"So, are we expecting resistance?" Redford asked.

"Yep, heavy as a matter of fact." Roebuck replied, taking his own M1 and loading it. "We expected little resistance at Peleliu back during the island-hopping campaign. That miscalculation nearly cost us my good friend and our squad leader, Sgt. Sullivan."

"Did he make it?"

"Yeah, he did. He got discharged though. Never saw combat again." Roebuck shrugged. "No sense dwelling on that now, we've got a mission to finish."

"Agreed." Redford nodded as the Jeeps came to a halt in a clearing south of the first Causeway checkpoint. "Let's get this done."

As the Raiders and Army soldiers sounded a cheer and followed Roebuck and Redford towards the north, Redford looked ahead and saw movement in the trees. Firing two shots from his M1, the rest of the men took ready positions, then stood down once they realized they were in the clear.

As Redforc moved towards the source of the disturbance, he sighed gravely at the bodies of two Caribou scouts, lightly equipped with shortswords and mail armor.

"We're good, just two scouts!" Redford called, and Keller came over to search them. After a few seconds, he pulled a small leather-bound journal and handed it to Redford after skimming through it. One passage stood out near the end.

...should the humans advance too far, we are to collapse the causeway and bury the aggressors beneath it. Many of my tribe-brothers are ready for battle, but I have my doubts…

"Fuck. They've likely gotten the causeway rigged by now." Roebuck swore, looking over Redford's shoulder. "What now, Lt.?"

"Drake, Wilson, Cox, with me." Redford replied, motioning the three men to him. "We'll do some recon and see what we can do about those explosives in the meantime. The rest of you should hold position."

"Yessir!" the men replied, Roebuck giving a nod. As the four men advanced towards the stone path that led to their objective, they could see several Equestrian slaves being marched up the path, heavily bound and muzzled.

"That's barbaric." Drake muttered.

"Keep your voice down." Redford said, motioning for the remaining members of the strike team to move up and into cover. "Hey, Roebuck?"

"Yeah?"

"Open fire on my signal." Redford said, aiming his M1 Garand at the Caribou warrior leading the slave train.

"Roger that."

Redford went prone and moved to another covered position, a thicket of bushes nearby. As he stuck the end of his rifle out, he sighed quickly…and pulled the trigger.

As the crack of the rifle echoed through the clearing, the Caribou visibly jumped at the sound and turned to their commander, only to see a clean hole in his forehead. Spinning around to face their opponent, the last thing these warriors saw were the flashes of fired bullets from the treeline.

====

"Move up! Go, go, go!" Redford bellowed as the strike team pushed up onto the causeway, while Drake and Keller shepherded the terrified slaves to cover, working to remove their bindings with their combat knives. Once the restraints were off and the slaves were free, Drake motioned in Ponyville's direction, hurriedly adding "Don't stop moving for anything!". The ponies nodded quickly in gratitude, and ran out of danger as fast as their legs could carry them given their violated state.

As arrows and crossbow bolts slapped into the stone barricades on the sides of the causeway, Cox slid the shield to Redford, who shouldered his M1 and picked it up. Moving into the open, he motioned for Drake to open fire from behind him. As several shots rang out, the rest of the strike force moved into the combat zone and opened fire.

"Damn!” Miller cursed, as he hunkered down behind a fallen plinth on the left side. “These guys are dug in deep! Any ideas, Captain?”

“Use grenades!” Roebuck replied. “Move from cover to cover, and keep pushing forward!”

After several moments, the entire Marine/Army force had taken cover on the bridge. However, the fallen monoliths on the sides of the causeway hindered their advance in the face of a repeating shower of arrows and a few spell blasts from Caribou mages.

As the remaining members of the strike team dug in and continued to shoot at anything that moved, it was clear they were outnumbered.

“We need backup!” Polonsky growled, as he opened up with his own M1. "Where's the radio?"

"Back in the Jeep!" a Marine Raider private, Wendell Carman, called back.

"Then go fucking get it!" Holbrook roared. "We need air support! Or tanks! Anything!"

"Yessir!"

As Carman sprinted for the jeep, he gunned the engine and drove up towards the rear, before hopping on the M2 machine gun on the back. As he loaded it and opened fire, Roebuck and Redford both reached for another clip, only to grab air instead of bullets.

"We're clean out!" Redford swore, drawing his .45 and putting three shots down range. "Need ammo here!"

"Tossing some to you!" another Marine, Terrence Forde, called, tossing both Redford and Roebuck three clips for the M1. Then, in a single moment, the Caribou shower of arrows and spell blasts stopped.

Redford called "CEASE FIRE!", and the humans instantly stopped shooting.

"Why'd they stop?" Sergeant Jason Perry asked.

Then, his question was soon answered by a bellowing war cry from the trees. A cry of ferocity, of anger, sounded by a multitude of men.

"URRAAAAAAAA!"

Then, a horde of humans, some in trench coats, wearing the Red Star of the Soviet Union, charged from the trees, rifles and submachine guns ablaze. As the Caribou focused on the newcomers, three men approached Roebuck and Redford.

"Who is Lt. Redford?" a grim-faced, pale man in a ushanka asked.

"That's me." Redford replied.

"I am Captain Viktor Reznov." the man replied. "This is Lt. Petrenko, and Sergeant Chernov. What are your orders? We were told to aid you however we can."

"Good to have you!" Redford called, shooting down two Caribou warriors that broke from their position to push the human soldiers. "Plenty of enemies, so start shooting! We need to break their lines!"

"Say no more, my friend." Reznov smiled, his PPSh-41 opening up with a salvo of rounds. "Chernov! Signal for mortars!"

"Yes, captain!" Chernov replied, throwing a smoke grenade. As brownish red smoke marked the Caribou position, Redford called out "TAKE COVER, HEADS DOWN!".

Then, Russian mortars began to pound the bridge, sending stone, dead bodies, and dust into the air. Roebuck had to give whoever built the causeway credit, it was sturdily built. As the mortar barrage ended, Reznov smiled at seeing a gaping hole in the Caribou's barricade.

"Now, we must charge!" he smiled, speaking to Redford. "We shall sweep them aside, you must clear who remains!"

"Roger that!" Redford nodded. "Badger Team, Lancer Team, standby to charge!"

As the Americans consolidated into a group, the Russians again sounded out "URRA!" and charged as one. The Caribou had two choices in that moment as their enemy closed in, some with their bayonets ready to strike down anyone in front of them.

The lucky ones among the Caribou turned tail, fell back, and fled.

The unlucky ones got shot as they held the line, and those who were exceptionally unlucky got gutted by a bayonet or a trench knife. As the Russians punched through the caribou line like an all-shattering fist, Roebuck and Redford motioned for them to return to the Jeeps and ready themselves to follow.

"General Eisenhower!" Roebuck said once the radio was brought up. "This is Lancer Team at the Cloudsdale causeway, we've got Russian troops supporting us! When'd they get here?"

"Not too long ago, Captain." Eisenhower replied. "I sent them your way as soon as I could, and tank units are not far behind. Take that city, secure all areas."

"Roger that!" Roebuck replied. As the Americans stocked up on ammo brought forward by Nash and Cox, Redford turned to the carnage before them and chuckled.

"Man, those guys are fast." Drake smiled. "Doesn't look like they need much help at all."

"Still, let's give 'em a hand all the same." Keller said. "We have our orders."

"On that note, let's get our asses to the front." Miller said. "Marines, move out!"

"Badger team, fall in!" Redford added. As the combined human forces smashed their way into the outer areas of Cloudsdale, at the same time, General Rago watched from afar in anger as his troops continued to fall back. Caribou were trained to relish the thrill of battle and show no mercy to anyone.

Now, it seemed the humans had gotten a similar message as well, as their reinforcements continued to punch through whatever obstacle was in their path. And due to the enemy now holding the causeway, he couldn't destroy it to deny the humans further access.

"What are your orders, sir?" a warrior asked as the General turned to him in anger.

"My orders?" he growled. "I order all my troops to die for the glory of King Dainn and the Stonehooves. There will be no surrender from me or any of my warriors. Now...are you to stand around all day? Go to the front!"

As the warrior ran with his lance at the ready to join his brothers, Rago sighed and eyed a ceremonial blade on his waist. It was known that a Caribou should impale himself with that blade should he be captured by the enemy, as most Caribou fought to the bitter end in all cases.

"This time, it was different", Rago thought, as he unsheathed it and raised the blade to his throat. "This time, I do not claim victory...I welcome defeat and death's embrace. For the Stonehooves and the Caribou tribes..."

That was the last thing he thought before he plunged the blade into his neck. Falling to the floor in a spray of blood, it was only twenty minutes later that the Russians' advance troops kicked the door to his viewing balcony open and found his corpse.

But by then...the Caribou warriors had been routed in all areas. As the Russians headed off to secure the local slave pens, Reznov, Petrenko, Redford, and Roebuck sat down on a fallen pillar.

"Quite a battle." Petrenko sighed. "You fight with great bravery, Americans."

"Same to you." Redford said. "So...Why'd you guys get here so late?"

"It's a rather treacherous story, I'm afraid." Reznov sighed. "Our former commanding Officer, Major Dragovich, and his right-hand man, Lev Kravchenko, learned of German V2 rockets loaded with a new weapon, called Nova 6. A poison gas with strength unheard of."

"I thought poison gas was outlawed after the First World War." Redford said.

"I guess the Nazis didn't care." Roebuck shrugged.

"Indeed, they did not." Petrenko said. "During Operation Olympus, near the end of the war, Dragovich and Kravchenko allied with a German scientist named Steiner to secure this Nova 6 gas. We secured their base and a cargo ship carrying the rockets...but we were betrayed by the three of them and their men."

"Six of our fellow men were forcefully exposed to Nova 6, because Dragovich wanted to see its effects." Reznov continued. "Luckily, British commandos soon arrived and helped us capture the two traitors and Steiner. At first, we were gravely concerned, because Dragovich had many friends in high places."

"And we were almost right." Petrenko said. "Our Commissar accused us of mutiny, and it was only due to the British commando's leader intervening on our behalf that we got to tell our commanders the whole story."

"So...what happened after that?" Roebuck asked.

"The three of them were taken away." Reznov said. "I haven't seen or heard from them since. As a result, the three of us were promoted, and I was given Dragovich's former post and rank."

"Where's this Nova 6 stuff now?" Redford asked.

"Below the waves of the arctic ocean." Chernov said. "The ship was sunk, and the rockets went with it."

"Glad to hear it." Redford smiled as the four men stood up. "Let's get back to our men. We've got more work to do, and we're just the men to do it."

"Agreed." Reznov said as they shook hands all around. "Let us walk to a grand victory, together."

As the four of them headed out, American and Russian planes soon flew overhead, signalling another secured city, and another blow to the Caribou's rule.

Author's Note

Wow....just wow. This took too long to write.

I admit, I got inspired to finish this up by watching WWII in HD and Saving Private Ryan on Netflix. God, the DDay scene...a scenic masterpiece if there was one.

Anyway, I actually was considering linking this to Call of Duty - Black Ops Cold War - Walk the Line in some way, but I decided against it. I know, it would've been cool, but it would've been way to complicated.

Next up - The sweeping of Cloudsdale reveals important information on the Caribou leadership, the British send an SAS commando team to Equestria on an unknown mission, and King Dainn prepares a counterattack.