We were soldiers, like the others that were there, it didn't matter that I was a Diamond Dog, all that mattered was the fact we were about to invade wingbardy. My name is Jack, I was a brown Labrador Retriever, but I was just another soldier in my squad. It was led by Boss, a large Mastiff, he was battle scarred from many years being in fights. Second in command was Zeus, he was about my size and was a blonde Golden Retriever, he looked terrified since he wasn't that big of a fighter. Our medic was Dirk a smaller black Shih-Tzu that was an immigrant from the east. Finally there was Jasper, he was a quiet and shy Pitbull, he was our radio operator, and there were about six others. I don't know them that well, at least I was with the dogs I knew.

I was apart of the dogs that suppressed the slaves when they tried to revolt and the rest is history, Molly convinced her father to hold a trial for the leaders of the rebellion, their lawyer planted the seed of Harmony in us, and Rover gave her power. It changed our society forever and many of us view our time fighting slaves as evil. Despite that most of those who served in Rover's army joined again to redeem themselves in the eyes of our new society.

I was apart of a naval invasion against Wingbardy, I wasn't completely aware of the reasons why, but I joined to be with some of my old friends who were in my squad. We were loaded up on some transports and sent to the beaches, we stood in the transports together chatting as we saw the beach come into view. That's when the artillery started firing at us, I saw two boats full of soldiers blown up before we even got close to the landing. None of us took this well and started freaking out, Boss yelled how we were told they didn't know about this operation, Zeus vomited, and I started shaking. Despite my experience I was still scared to go fight, yet I felt this wave if excitement go over me, a part of me wanted this.

As we approached the landing Boss calmed down and started telling us our objectives.

“When we land we need to defeat the griffons and take their artillery. We don't know what resistance we'll face and what defenses they'll have, but we should expect trenches. So when we land find a spot they don't have defended and jump in, this might be our only chance to get a foothold here.” Boss said strongly, despite the shock of the artillery he composed himself quickly.

When our boat landed on the coast and opened up for us to leave there was a flash and a loud ringing in my ear as I was thrown into the air, before I knew it I was laying in the sand, our transport boat was partially blown up by an artillery shell, and I was sent flying out. The sound of heavy fighting surrounded me at every side, my own blood flowed in front of me, I felt weak and couldn't move my legs. I couldn't even feel them, I was terrified that they had just been blown off and lost forever. I moved my paws and pushed myself up, I was expecting to see other Dogs, Ponies, and Changelings fighting valiantly and pushing into the beach, but all I saw was a massacre.

As I look around I saw other dogs and ponies charging up the beach, but many were being shot, some even having their limbs ripped off of them. I had seen this back when we were suppressing the slaves in the mines, but actually being on the side it's happening to is a much different situation. As I used my paws to drag myself behind one of the tank traps I looked to see that the enemies had situated themselves in trenches far ahead, I saw a pony get close to the trenches, he threw a grenade in one and the explosion thrusted a griffons body in the air. Before I reached the tank trap I felt a small paw grab my back and drag me forward, it was Dirk, he looked beat up, but him being alive gave me hope that I wasn't the only survivor in our squad, at least I could have a friend to talk to. At the tank trap he put my back on it, that's when I saw my legs, they were a mangled mess of shrapnel, my heart sank as I thought I could very well die from bleeding, but at least they were still attached to my body.

“What happened to you Jack!?” He barked as he was examining my body. “It looks as though someone smashed your legs with a rock!”

“I don't know, but what happened to the others in our squad!?” I barked back, I didn't care for my legs, all I wanted to know who else survived.

Dirk looked around, he looked visibly sader as he saw the Carnage of the battle.

“I don't know, but I know Boss and Zeus were killed in the explosion.” He said I he looked around more. “I'm not sure how injured you are, but I'm gonna help you as best I can.”

As he started removing shrapnel from my legs blood squirted out, some covered his arms as he was bandaging them closed. I started to feel even weaker, but before I passed out Dirk slapped me and forced me to look at him.

“Come on, keep your head up, I don't want to lose you!” He shouted at me, despite the anger in his voice I could hear sadness in it too.

I stared directly at his face as he removed more shrapnel from me, I couldn't feel anything, I didn't know if my adrenaline kept me from feeling pain, or if something much worse had happened to me. Whenever I felt too weak to keep my eyes open Dirk would slap me back awake, I don't know why he kept helping me, I might be a lost cause.

Past Dirk I saw more transport boats landing and releasing troops, as they raced by us I saw another Diamond Dog look at me, his faced filled with sorrow, but he was forced to move up by another squadmate, I even saw a soldier carrying small tubes as he advanced, I even saw a couple of Diamond Dogs carrying a machine gun over their shoulders. I kept hearing more explosions and gunshots, even a artillery shell hit near me and Dirk, it blew what seemed like pounds of sand on us, I had a few cuts on my arms and the sand made me grit my teeth in pain, Dirk notices this and after he bandages the parts of my legs he recently pulled shrapnel out of he takes out his canteen and pours something on the wounds. I'm not sure what those canteens had in them, whether it was just water or some medicine, but the sand was quickly removed from my cuts.

After a while another transport lands and more soldiers run out, a unicorn medic quickly drops some supplies off for Dirk, Dirk thanks the medic and continues to remove more shrapnel.

Then the sounds of fighting started to fade away, I was hoping that we were winning, but as I heard the sound of dogs barking triumphantly, ponies thanking Celestia, and Changelings cheering it cemented the fact we had won. A feeling of dim happiness filled me, we had won and no more soldiers would have to die on this cursed beach.

Soon enough more medics came by and assisted Dirk in removing shrapnel and bandaging my legs. After they bandaged my legs they brought in a stretcher to take me to where they planned to set up the field hospital, before I knew it I was surrounded by other wounded soldiers, but before I could get a better look at them I passed out.

When I woke up both of my legs had casts of them, I was connected to a blood bag, and I was one of the many patients in the field hospital. I wasn't sure how long I was asleep, but I hoped it wasn't long, I wanted to talk to Dirk, and maybe even Jasper if he was still alive. As I regained my senses the smell hit me the hardest, the hospital smelt of death, despite their best efforts many wounded soldiers died in here, it both saddened me and disgusted me, but many knew this was gonna happen, I only hoped they made peace with themselves before going to their creator. I started hearing pained moans from the other patients, it seems I might've been lucky to just got shrapnel to my legs by the sound of things. When i looked more carefully I saw soldiers burned, maimed, and torn apart, I could even see blood stains on the tent walls, some of their injuries were bloody, but I hope it wasn't too painful.

Soon enough I heard something enter our tent, I looked to see who it was, it was Dirk, he had blood stained on his paws and torso. When he saw me he quickly came over to me.

“Hey Jack, it's nice to see you awake.” He said happily, yet, there was something off about his tone of voice. “You got hit hard by the artillery, but we were able to take most of the shrapnel out of your legs, unfortunately your spinal cord got severed around your lower back by a large fragment of shrapnel.” His tone of voice became much more dismal, something was definitely wrong.

“What does that mean for me Dirk?” I did my best to sound strong, but after all I've been through I was still terrified.

“It means you won't be able to use your lower body anymore, most importantly your legs.” He came over and sat near me, when he told me this my heart stopped, I couldn't use my legs anymore, the things I've used all my life were gone, just like that, in an instant.

As Dirk went on about the medical side of it I started to remember the things I used to do, run, climb, wrestle, play sports, all of these things I couldn't do anymore, all these things I did as a pup, as a teen, even as an adult, were gone. A tear started to roll down my eye as I thought this. Dirk noticed my lack of attention to him and patted me on the shoulder.

“Jack, are you okay?” He said in a worried tone.

“I-I don't know, I just lost the use of my legs and two of my friends.” I said almost angrily, but I was on the edge of bursting into tears, Dirk noticed this and hugged me tightly.

“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that question.”

“It's okay, I know you didn't mean anything by it.” I hugged him back, we soon let go and I looked at Dirk in the eyes and said, “just tell me, do you think I'll be looked down by other dogs?”

Dirk looked at me sadly and sighed.

“No, most dogs will treat you better because you lost something fighting for your country, but there are still those that believe that death is preferable to disfigurement.” He was right, but I hoped I didn't run into any of those while I was home.

“What happens now Dirk?” I asked hoping he'd say something good.

“You're gonna be shipped home soon, there's already arrangements to send you to a hospital in Equestria after a few months home.”

“Why do I have to go there? Why not just keep me in our kingdom?” I was hesitant to go to Equestria, after all, they were ponies, I don't think they would know enough about our race to take care of me.

“They have better equipment and more trained staff to help you adjust to life, plus their society would take better care of you than ours.” he said as he did a quick examination of my body, most likely to make sure I was still treated correctly.

“Okay then, but where in Equestria am I going to?” I asked, I didn't know too much about Equestria, but Canterlot does have a bad reputation for how bad the nobles treat others

“I don't know yet, there are a few towns that have good hospitals such as Ponyville, but it'd depend on who'd want you.” He said as he stop examining me, he looked at the other patients in the tent.

“What am I gonna do at home then?” I asked, I was worried about how other dogs would see me, would they see me as useless? Would I even be cared for? These questions raced through my mind as our conversation went on.

“Well, you're to go to a reward ceremony where you'll be given a Rover federation purple heart, along with a service medal by Molly herself. Despite what happened I don't know how other dogs would see you, I just hope they treat you well.” He said, there was hope in his voice, unlike other dogs when I served during the slave uprisings he seemed to genuinely care for my well being. “You just rest up, I'll be sure to get you a wheelchair so you can learn to use it before you're shipped back home.”

“Thanks Dirk, just don't get yourself killed fighting these fascists.” I said almost jokingly to him

Dirk chuckled and patted my shoulder.

“I won't, but don't embarrass yourself in front of Molly, she's too precious for this world.” He said as he got up to leave.

“Dirk, before you leave, please tell me what happened today Boss and the others?”

Dirk stopped, he seemed to be contemplating on what he's about to say.

“I can confirm Boss and Jasper died when the artillery shell hit us, but Jasper is fine, he's gonna be here for a while, so you'll see him before you leave”. I could hear that he was about to burst into tears, so I let him leave at that.

When he left the tent I was left alone with my thoughts, I thought about my childhood with Boss, Zeus, Jasper, and Dirk, how we'd play as soldiers in Rover's army, how we helped each other through bad times, it was too much for me to think they were gone in a blink of an eye, and I cried, I cried for minutes. After I was able to recompose myself I fell asleep, I didn't know what the future would hold for me, but I hoped I would be able to at least pay my respects to Boss and Zeus and comfort their mothers before I was sent to Equestria.

Author's Note

I re-edited a large portion of this chapter to make it better. I didn't notice a lot of problems on my first reading and fixed them.