As the men of Badger Company sat outside their tent as the morning sun rose, each of them occupied with weapon maintenance, worked away, they didn't notice General Eisenhower approach until he cleared his throat.

"General." Redford saluted in an instant, along with his men once they realized who was waiting for them to respond. Eisenhower gave a chuckle before he waved them down.

"Lieutenant Redford." Eisenhower nodded. "I've got some good news for you."

"We're all ears, sir." Drake nodded in reply.

"We've just received a batch of men from the Marine Corps Raiders as backup for the Cloudsdale attack." Eisenhower said. "And the Russians are sending a whole division, complete with armor, artillery, and air support, but they won't arrive for a few more days."

"The Russians?" Jackson asked. "I thought they wanted to stay out of this."

"It seems that they've changed their minds and are sending some veteran tank, pilot, and infantry units." Eisenhower said. "Their commander, General Vasily Petrenko, said he is looking forward to fighting with us. Spoke with him on the radio this morning."

"Well, the more the merrier." Redford nodded. "Anything else, sir?"

"I believe that's everything." Eisenhower said. "Report to the gates when you can. We move on Cloudsdale in three hours."

"Yessir."

As Eisenhower departed, his place was soon filled by a squad of men wearing the Skull and Stars of the 2nd Marine Raiders, or otherwise known as Carlson's Raiders. Their squad leader offered a handshake to Redford, which he accepted.

"You're Lt. Redford?" he asked. "Glad to meet you."

"Who might you be?" Redford asked.

"I'm Lt. Adam Holbrook, squad leader for Lancer Team, 2nd Marine Raiders." the Marine replied as his men took a seat, and introductions began. "You guys ready for the attack?"

"As we'll ever be." Drake replied. "You guys saw action in the Pacific?"

"Yep, I saw action from Peleliu to the end." Holbrook said. "My former CO was a real sonuvabitch, but he was a good guy once you got to know him."

"What was his name?" Wilson asked.

"Funny you should ask that." said a burly Marine as he approached carrying a clipboard and a folder, the Marines of Lancer Team saluting in an instant. "I'm Captain Edward Roebuck, 2nd Marine Raiders. These two are Staff Sergeants Miller and Polonsky."

Two other Marines came forward, waving in greeting.

"Hey Captain, I thought you retired after Shuri Castle." asked Clarke Rivers, one of Holbrook's Marines. "Didn't you take a knife to the leg during an ambush?"

"Yes, and so did Polonsky." Roebuck replied. "Miller saved our asses then, and now we're paying him back for it. We marines need all the vets we can get right now."

"Well, more power to you." Redford replied as he finished assembling his M1 Garand, then shaking Roebuck's hand. "You two coming in with us?"

"Yessir." Miller replied. "We're moving out in two hours tops. I'd recommend all of you get to the rally point at the gate. Eisenhower's assigning squads to missions in about ten minutes."

Upon hearing that, the men of Badger and Lancer teams finished their maintenance tasks and were at the gate in seven minutes flat. As they stood waiting for Eisenhower to begin, the General stood up and approached the mic.

"Well, boys, we've got a helluva fight ahead of us." he spoke, wiping some sweat away. "It seems that the Caribou have fortified Cloudsdale in preparation for our attack. The only causeway that can reach the city by ground has been declared impenetrable by those sons of bitches."

"Badger Team, Lancer Team, you're going to prove them wrong." he smiled. "Come over here."

As they crowded around a map of the causeway, Eisenhower came over.

"Our tanks won't be able to push into the city until these three checkpoints are taken out." Eisenhower pointed to three black Xs on the map. "And we can't shell it, or we'd risk bringing the causeway down and that would stop our attack pretty damn quickly."

"As such, this is primarily an infantry assault, but we do have something special here to get you past their lines."

Eisenhower proceeded to produce a shield emblazoned with the US army star, and equipped with a small viewscreen. He tossed it to Redford, who caught it with ease, surprised at how light it was despite its steel construction.

"A shield?" Redford asked.

"Yep. The Equestrians have agreed to repurpose some of their magic in order to give us a hand." Eisenhower said. "That shield, apart from being made magically near-weightless, can also stop a full magazine from an M1. It'll give you cover as you advance."

"And we blow these barricades up as we progress? Like the hedgerows in Normandy?" Redford asked.

"Exactly. Though you'll need something about the size of a frag to do the job, as we can't risk too much structural damage lest we bring the causeway down." Eisenhower nodded. "Any questions?"

There were none to be said. Eisenhower then motioned the soldiers to a quartet of waiting Jeeps equipped with M2 machine guns.

"Mount up and get moving." he said candidly.

====

In Cloudsdale, upon the Causeway that led to the city, Caribou soldiers and mages were hard at work reinforcing the stone path. They had already lost Ponyville and much of the surrounding territory to the humans, and King Dainn had decreed that they were to lose no more of it at all costs.

As Rago, the General in command, watched Caribou mages weave defensive spells to prevent an air attack, like the one on the Might of Dainn, he turned to his second in command.

"Are all the preparations ready?" he asked.

"Yes, General. Should the humans advance past the second causeway, the bombs we have planted will topple the causeway and their only way to enter the city." the soldier replied. "They will have to be detonated manually, however. Our supply of fuses in the armory was...sabotaged."

"How so?"

"They were slashed short to the point of unusability." the soldier replied. "We suspect the slaves who work there performed this as an act of resistance."

"Once the attack is over, have them punished in the public stocks for an entire day." Rago replied. "And of course, keep their tails up and their legs spread through the entire ordeal. And make them suffer in as many ways as you can. I want to see them writing in pain by the day's end. "

"Yes, sir."

As the soldier bowed and left, the Caribou General turned to the entrance to the causeway in the distance, silently daring the approaching humans to come and face him in combat.

Author's Note

Update!

Yeah, I watched a playthrough of COD: WW2, and it got me inspired to write this. I hope I didn't make you all wait too long for it.

Next time - The attack on the causeway begins, and the Russians enter the field.