Serving Equestria in (your second) life

“So an assault must be made on this position here to create a distraction. While the baguette boys are busy rushing to defend that front, we attack from their rear. When they inevitably rush to defend their flank, we’ll push with everything we got. No, wait. We assault their flanks then push as fast as we could through the city and then take cover upon first contact. So when these flanks receive enemy fire, our boys here in the original fronts are going to push forward with our armor and knock out key enemy positions. Aerial support will be at it, knocking out enemy positions before we engage but before that we have to knock any enemy fighters and bombers out of the skies to avoid heavy casualties but I think once we’re in the city, we should be in the clear. They won’t risk hitting their own guys so let’s use that to our advantage. However, if we’re going to take advantage of that, we’re going to need some serious coordination if we don’t want to hit our own. Any questions?” Asked Plekanov upon finishing his explanation of the plan that he had made. A single hand rose up from the crowd and it belonged to an officer by the name of Sergey.

“What about the artillery in the city? What can we do about that? If we don’t eliminate them, they’ll prove to be a nuisance to our men.” He put a finger to his chin in thought. He was right, those artillery shells would be deadly but unfortunately, there was nothing they could do about that.

“I don’t know what to do about that. Only air support and explosives could take it out. It would be difficult to take out those guns without losing bombers from anti-aircraft and plus, we don’t have anyone in the city who could possibly sabotage them.” The whole crowd began talking with each other, discussing about this possible problem. “So, does everyone agree?”

The crowd slowly began raising their hands in agreement. “So this will be our plan for the assault on-.“ A private burst into the headquarters and bowed in respect before he began speaking. “Sir, we have received a transmission from the Colonel at the city of Zhytomyr. A spy has contacted the high command of something that may be of importance to you. “ Alexander rose and walked over.

The private whispered something in his ear and he nodded. “I’ll see to it. Everyone else, prepare yourselves for the operation ahead. I will be back soon.” He abruptly left to deal with whatever was going on. Everyone else stood up and left as well to rally the men and check the equipment. Hektor remained behind and sat down on one of the chairs. Someone else remained as well and sat down on the chair beside him. Without even looking, Hektor began speaking.

“Gavrie, how confident are you of my decisions? This is the first time I have come up with a plan that involves a military force that reaches to nearly a. The most I’ve had under my command was just a small squad of less than thirty men.” Gavrie just sat there, pondering on his question. After just a bit of thought, he gave him his truthful answer.

“It doesn’t matter if the plan is good.” His answer stunned him.

“What?”

“Like I said, any plan will work but its success lies on the leadership of the officers in charge. If a leader makes bad decisions, his battles would not last long but a good leader can pull through with his men, no matter how awful the plan.” He gave him a pat on the back and a friendly smile. “And I know you make a great leader. You have a lot of potential. I’m proud of how far you’ve gone.”

“Thanks Petrov. You’ve been a great friend to me ever since childhood. You’ve been there for me and I am greatly thankful to you.” They both smiled as nostalgia began to slowly creep into their minds.

“No need to thank me Hektor. Come on, we need to lead our brothers to victory. Remember, a battle has not yet been won until our objectives have been completed and we have a daunting one on our hands. Remember the Somme. They relaxed and they died for it but we… are different. We will show the world why we are different and they’ll suffer from it.” He extended out his hand to Hektor, who took it and stood up.

They both walked out of the tent, feeling renewed and determined in their aspirations. ‘Yes, they will suffer for every step they take in our homeland.

Meanwhile, in another continent. Nineteen hours after Kiev fell to the French.

America was not happy with what the French had done. Their policy was of containment, not extermination. It had always been that way and now they ruined whatever goodwill they had earned from the Soviets. But it could be salvaged, everything was. With this in mind, the president of the United States of America called for an emergency meeting to discuss what to do next. But first… perhaps a message to the French that… for once, America will not intervene in European matters.

Near the border of Ukraine and Romania

Soldiers milled around the temporary camp set up at the city of Vinnytsia, just over one hundred and twenty miles southwest from Kiev. Many unloaded and dragged the bodies of their dead comrades from the various transport trucks to the inner parts of the city where they were less exposed, in fear of losing morale. Still, the ambush failed and the counter attack, with help from the neutral yet influenced Romania, succeeded and gave the men ample breathing space now that they were safely no longer out in the open and being aided with supplies from. But there was no time to waste as Kiev was still on the line.

Elsewhere, soldiers from both French and Romanian loyalties chatted with each other, coming to the understanding that it was truly a harrowing experience for both sides. Soldiers of lesser ranking were ushered away from the communications room set up in one of the tall houses. Officers, COs, and Armed guards stood at attention as they tried their luck in getting in touch with French high command at best and German radio communications at least. After a while of fiddling with the radio equipment, the radio operators stood back and marveled at their handiwork. The radio crackled to life as the static began to clear. One of the radio men came closer and spoke into the mike some random words. Eventually, a voice with a thick French accent answered back with a single question. “The French embassy at Berlin speaking.”
At this point, the officers milled around the radio and began to talk among themselves. Would the embassy be able to reach the Paris?’ Was the question that in one way or another everyone was asking. One of the more senior officers stepped a bit closer and leaned into the mike. “Sergeant-major Matthieu Lambert here. Could you perhaps link us to Army General Elroy Bernard in an encrypted channel?”

There was a bit of silence, as the man on the radio left his post to go inform a superior. They waited impatiently, knowing there was probably a chance this guy was probably a intern or something like that which meant that this guy would probably take forever. But you know, they could wait… It’s not like the lives of many soldiers are on the line. Certainly not. Lambert sighed in annoyance. It took quite awhile but the operator came back eventually with no so good news.

“Sorry sir, We could connect you but it would take a while to encrypt it.” Lambert face-palmed as he realized that an embassy shouldn’t have an encrypted connection. He could probably get in touch but it meant that anyone with the knowhow could probably listen in on the conversation. He looked at the others and realized that none of them were even near him. ‘Fuck it.’

He leaned in closer to the microphone “Connect me to Army General Bernard now. I don’t care about the encryption bullshit. Just patch me up.”

“Alright sir.” The radio went silent and he waited for him to finish linking. Static began to emanate until it slowly went away when a gruff and authoritative voice suddenly spoke. “Sergeant-major Matthieu Lambert. You’ve neglected to encrypt your communications and instead opted to use the embassy in Berlin as a route for your communications. Care to explain?”

He cleared his throat “Well sir, we are currently in the city of Vinnytsia and we’re asking if there would be a change of plans because now that we have been intercepted and delayed, we won’t be able to reach Kiev in time to have a formidable defense for a reasonable assault that the Russians might have prepared while we’re still getting there.”

There was silence.

“How… are you in the city of Vinnytsia?” Befuddlement riddled his voice.

“Sir… we had some help from the Romanians.”

“Help?” His confusion was at an all time high.

“Well, more like them saving us from losing half the battalion to air superiority and artillery.”

“Did they declare an alliance with NATO?”

“No, they didn’t. They simply came by and smashed into them. They did send us some infantry after with some supplies so I guess they might be on our side.”

“I would be wary if I were you. They are still neutral after the Azure revolution. They could turn on you.”

“What about our current orders? It’d still take us longer to get to Kiev.”

There was a slight pause on the other side. “Lambert, ditch your current orders and listen up. I have a new objective for you. Reconnaissance from the air has noticed a large build-up of WTO infantry and some artillery pieces in the nearby city of Bila Tserva. Just less than an hour ago, majority of the infantry there have left in the direction of Kiev. This is a good opportunity to flank them. If you make haste, you could take the remaining, much weaker force there and take the dispatched force by surprise, eliminating majority of the assault force and could lead to their surrender, dooming the remaining force situated at Kiev. Understood?” Matthieu only had one answer.

“Understood sir.”

Several hours later
Gavrie lazed on the rooftops of the one of the high towers of the city of Bila Tserkva. His eyes gazed around the countryside looking for any potential threats. Not like there would be any. They only have infantry and light armor while the remaining force here was mainly composed of some NCOs and artillery because it would take too long to move it and could be intercepted by bombers and aircraft. Well, truth is… they were all fucked if even an aircraft saw them. Artillery would be a pain in the arse but… as long as they got inside the perimeters of the city, they’d be fine since they’re no longer out in the open. Seems like a sure… wait, what’s that thing out there? His mind couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Aircraft! And they weren’t from any country part of the WTO. His mind screamed at him to get up and warn the others and his body obliged. He sprinted down the stairs and onto the ground level. He began screaming to the others “Aircraft! Get to your positions! Artillery and anti-aircraft are vulnerable! Hurry!”

Men began to sprint everywhere. It was all mayhem and chaos as everyone rushed to get to their positions. Anti-air crewmen got to their positions but it was too late. Bomber aircrafts and their escorts were now visible to everyone in the camp and their hatches began to open. Sergey screamed to all who heard “Everyone, forget about it! Get to cover NOW! We’ll be alright without Anti-aircraft and artillery but we won’t be if there is no one to help defend this city!” Many heard his command and ditched their positions, opting to hide under heavily built buildings. However, not all heard. Too busy with their current objective, others didn’t hear or did not even care to heed the command. AA guns began firing and artillery pieces began to open fire in the general direction of the planes but it was too late. Their payloads were falling.

Hektor was one of the few who did not hear Sergey’s command. He rushed to help the artillery reload faster when an explosion rocked him off his feet and sent everyone to the ground in various directions. He pushed himself off the ground, only to be pulled up by the shoulder and dragged to the protection underneath a roof of a building. The ground shook as dust fell from the roof. He coughed from the dust and looked up to see who dragged him here. He was surprised to see Sergey hide underneath a table. He stood up to leave the house and help those caught outside when the ground shook again, causing him to lose his balance and fall forward. He grabbed onto the door knob as he fell, catching himself from falling. He opened the door, only to be blown backward as the front part of the building collapsed under the explosion of a well-placed payload. He rolled onto his back and leaned on a wall to support himself. He began to walk to what was left of the door when he felt something wet on his side. He placed a hand there and realized he was bleeding. He took a closer look at where he was bleeding and didn’t think much of it. He made a beeline for the outside and made use of cover as he dashed from his location to where most of the remaining survivors were staying. He was halfway there when the explosions stopped all of a sudden and he hesitated when suddenly the wooden beam beside him cracked into splinters and small arms fire began to concentrate his position. He ducked behind a concrete wall, keeping his head low to keep his head firmly attached to his neck. Gavrie spotted him and began to command the remainder of the force to open fire “Everyone, concentrate your fire there!” Small arms fire began to crackle from both sides and grenades were thrown. Both sides huddled behind their cover, with the occasional exchange of rifle fire.

Hektor took advantage of this distraction and he picked up a Kalashnikov off the body of a dead soldier. He began to search the corpse for extra magazines, finding three of them. He rose to a crouching position, took aim and open fired. Taken by surprise, the French took cover and ceased firing. This gave Gavrie and everyone else breathing room and they began to take various positions. Hektor caught on to the sound of buzzing from somewhere and tried to pinpoint the location. He moved to a more covered location when the small arms fire ceased. But all of a sudden, while he was moving there, he took a round to the side. He groaned in pain as he collapsed to the ground, just barely behind cover.

Gavrie called for a medic and a medic came forward. Two privates tried to approach Hektor but they were cut off by suppressing fire, forcing them to back down. Sergey called for suppressive fire on the enemy positions and it came but the enemy’s suppressive fire was more suppressive than theirs, making theirs more sporadic as the majority of them were too afraid to fire lest they get hit by a stray round from the hell storm that was being shoved into their faces. They began to chuck grenades to force them to move so that they could pick up Plekanov from the ground. The French did move but just as they began to move to drag Hektor off the crossfire when a familiar buzzing sound. “Bombers! Duck!”
They tried to drag Hektor faster but the French at this point had changed positions and had got themselves set up. They began to open fire, forcing the two dragging him to abandon him and take cover under a building as bombs began to fall from the sky. Gavrie Petrov watched as his closest friend, his childhood best friend and his comrade… disappeared into a cloud of dust, filled with shrapnel that would no doubt shred anyone in it. He stood there in shock as the cloud of dust began to dissipate and explosions shake the ground below him. When the cloud of dust dissipated, his body was gone. Nothing was left. Just a crater. He fell to his knees as his morale collapsed.

A black mist began to form in the frozen wastelands. It began to take the shape of a unicorn wearing a crown. Its eyes opened, revealing eyes with a green sclera and red irises. Its mouth formed into a wide grin, revealing it’s sharp, white teeth. It made a deep, guttural laugh that sounded demonic to an average person. Its voice sounded raspy, like it had a lung disease. “Good. This… creature shall help me bring down the Solar Empire and the Two Sisters. I shall reclaim my throne and Equestria shall fall. I will let him be… let him get in touch with these future slaves and gain their trust. He is the perfect creature for this. His race is violent… even more than I can imagine. He will fall under my influence… and he will help me defeat Celestia, the whorse who could barely beat me and her little slut, that damn Luna. She betrayed me for her sister and I’ll personally end her myself.” He coughed as his lungs began to give out.

“This will be enough for now. I shall soon have my revenge and I would like it… cold.”