Equus: World at War

Standing atop a small hill outside the great, steel walls of Canterlot, the 95th regiment stood at attention before Colonel Bolt Affable as he discussed the days training quietly with a new lieutenant. It had always been the case that the 95th regiment was to be used as the 'practice unit', of sorts, for the new Commanding Officers. Such was also seen in the various sections of the Air, Naval and Ground divisions of the Royal Army. Each of these ‘testing’ regiments had to suffer through new and aspiring Commanding Officers, fumbling through their orders and commands as they came to terms with not only managing themselves but the lives of their unit, whilst assessing the battlefield and adjusting their strategy on the fly.

Thinking about it, Private Sky Star could understand just how much pressure was involved in maintaining a unit in a warzone or could at least imagine it. The young unicorn had joined into the 95th regiment less than a year ago and in that time had seen over two dozen new Lieutenants and Sergeants be tested with their unit.

His father had served in the previous wars within the Air Division, having seen frontline combat as part of the fast deployment squads. He always used to hear stories of his dad fighting, either boarding airships or landing behind enemy lines and capturing buildings. Since then, he had an ambition to be in the military. It was in his blood almost. His dad had seen active duty, and while his grandad and great grandad hadn't necessarily been involved in any wars during their service, with the EUP that served… that other Princess, they had still been members of the armed forces essentially.

His mother would have preferred him to work at the power station, using his magic to be used in powering their countries magic technology, but with the high demand for frontline combatants he knew he had to join up, to fight for his country, to fight against the prejudice and unlawful creatures that threatened the rightful Queens. How could some pony denounce Queen Nightmare Moon her throne, she had wrested it from ‘her’ in a fair fight and after much diplomacy… and those who shunned Queen Chrysalis showed how backwards thinking they were, not accepting a capable ruler only due to her species.

Eventually the Colonel turned to them, a pegasus in his late forties, having seen the many ins-and-outs of combat over a long career spanning close to twenty years. It seemed today he wasn't wearing the majority of his prosthetic right wing...most likely because it would rain soon and he wished to avoid cleaning rust of an all metal-wing, Star reasoned.

It would however leave the officer looking unbalanced as he walked towards them with a slight limp, his one wing tucked against his back, the first foot of the other wing, a metallic pole almost, protruding from his back. Affable’s long over coat hugged tightly to his body, a deep brown and green in colour with a bronze badge of two crossed muskets above a pair of outstretched wings it's only decoration.

"Right," He brushed his mane back, "Lieutenant Silver Willow will be taking you through 'his' training regimen for today so... sniff act as usual everyone, don't give him any special treatment because he's new, be that good or bad. He is your Commanding officer"

The regiment called out, “yes sir,” in unison.

With a satisfied nod the Colonel stepped to the side, letting the Lieutenant, an earth pony of 26 years, take his place. He gave the superior ranking officer a brief nod, "Right everyone, can you all hear me?" he called out, holding his hands up and waving them.

Some nodded, whilst others gave no response, leading the Lieutenant to clear his throat, "Guys I asked if you can hear me... give me a yes sir if you can?" his question was followed by three quarters of the regiment giving a yes sir, the rest either smirking or remaining still.

With a sigh, the stallion continued "Ahem... right I..." he looked to the Colonel for advice before quickly looking back, raising his voice, "Everyone listen up... training today will begin with three laps around the hill then back up to the crest, last three to make it will do another lap!"

The Colonel Affable shook his head, motioning for 'more' with his hand. The Lieutenant turned from the pegasus to the regiment, "Urr t-two laps," the earth pony corrected "Now go!" he'd soon call out, the recruits peeling off to begin running down the hill before circling it, using the time to talk to one another.

Soon enough Sky Star saw his cousin, Tumble Jinx, slow down to run alongside him. The unicorn was taller than Sky Star and stronger in build as well. Guess that's what you get when you have a lot of Earth ponies in your family

"So, he's scared of raising his voice, isn't he?" Jinx would say with a grin. His dark blue fur and almost black mane contrasting with the olive green of their uniforms as he easily kept pace.

Star gave a shrug, glancing up the hill where he could make out the Colonel moving his arm in a sharp motion before casting his hand towards the recruits as they finished their second lap. He seemed to be teaching the Lieutenant what he should have done.

With a second shrug Star would eventually look back, "He's just getting to terms with it all. I think Affable is giving him the standard rundown though"

At his words Jinx looked up the hill, "Yeah....bet it's 'be harsher and to the point. You can't let them off or they'll walk all over you'," he'd imitate the Colonel with a grin. Realising they were slipping towards the back as they spoke, he would speed up after nudging his cousin to let him know.

Star grinned, "Yeah he's going to have a lot to deal with when he finally gets sent out," the unicorn would say, soon continuing, "But you know everyone's got to start somewhere...hey did you hear that thing in the paper?" he tapped Jinx's as he moved on to a different topic, "One of the factories in Van Hoover blew up or something, like not a huge explosion, but it's completely wrecked!"

The larger stallion gave a pleased grin at the news. He would glance back as a creature rushed up to run alongside them, a human with short black hair and pale skin

"Is that the Van Hoover thing?" Jacob asked, the two stallions.

Star nodded to the human, "Yeah the big factory, like an airship manufacturing place I think,"

The human leaned in, "I heard from Wind Warmer, when he came back on Wednesday, that it was him and some of the others that did it. You know full on sabotage or something"

Jinx rolled his eyes, "Bullshit Wind Warmer and his lot did that, like they'd trust some blabber mouth like him to do something sneaky… and the lot of them with a bomb or whatever, they’d probably blow themselves up”

Jacob looked up, "Hey it could be true, you know we haven't seen him much, maybe it was training for that?" he looked between the two stallions.

Star thought about it, "Yeah, I'm with Jinx, can you imagine Wind Warmer 'actually' sneaking about. He'd just be going 'guys where are we going. Shit I dropped by rifle. Damn dude, did you see that explosion holy fuck that was loud’ !"

Jinx smirked, "Yeah and then that Sargent Ridge Birch would be like 'shut up you're louder than the fucking bomb'!"

"And then they just hide there, arguing for hours until our guys eventually claim the area. The lot of them are just shouting in a flooded ditch!" Jacob laughed, carrying on the story with the two ponies.

The trio laughed together as they began running up the hill, quickly going quiet as they reached the top. Still smiling, they filed into the formation, before standing at ease.

They waited for the remaining recruits to file in as the Lieutenant, chest puffed out, looking down to them. He stood straight, arms behind his back, whilst he scanned the line. He soon turned to the last three soldiers as they came up the hill, much later than the rest of the unit, talking loudly

"You three!" he called out loudly, catching the attention of all of the battalion now "Stay where you are!"

The three looked between each other before stopping in place, the Lieutenant making his way over, "Right... you three... will...," he lost his control briefly as he began to think, but regained it soon enough, standing straight once more "three laps around the hill then back up and forty sit ups each."

One of the stallions huffed loudly, "Oh come on you said... " he'd begin before being cut off

"Quiet! Now get round the hill and back up here. If you take longer than five minutes, you’ll be doing it all again, you understand!" at which point the officer turned away, walking back to beside the Colonel who gave a slight grin.

The one-winged pegasus turned towards the recruits, "Right, quick point before we carry on with training today, our regiment has been selected for trials with a new rifle that has been built. So, after the lieutenant is finished, we are headed to the shooting range. Now, I want you to tell me any faults you have, big, small even bloody petty ones, whatever it is I need to get a report in on whatever views you have on the thing. Understood? The standard stuff for this rifle."

"Yes sir," sounded in unison.

Colonel Affable nodded, looking over all of them will his bright blue eyes "good... good," he sniffed the morning air, stepping back and allowing the Lieutenant to continue.

The training was nothing different to normal with push ups, press ups, burpees and the occasional sprints. Nothing too difficult and more a means to teach the new officer how to command a large group of soldiers, reprimanding certain individuals and ensuring he kept his attention on the whole unit and not just a select few.

Eventually, they would all begin their march down to the firing range, a large concrete building which faced a large, flat field. Twenty individuals would step up at a time to test the new rifles, being taught the basic operation of the device. Once they understood how to use the weapon, they would begin firing at seven targets, each placed at fifty metre intervals down the field.

The bolt actuated rifle did not have a tubular magazine as they were used to but had an ‘internal magazine’. Utilising stripper clips to hold multiple rounds, it allowed for ease of reloading, comparative to breech loading rifles or hand feeding rounds into a tubular magazine.

They were informed that the new calibre was smaller in diameter compared to firearms they may have used previously. This was however offset by the increased magazine size and potential speed of reloading when using the stripper clips.

The trials for the 'Pakmit-Heartstring rifle' would begin. The recruits were provided 30 rounds each, in the form of three stripper clips. Though they showed the potential of the design, the stripper clips jammed repeatedly, the rounds not entering the rifle smoothly. Despite the problems, compared to the current rifles the Royal Army used, and especially the flintlock rifles found amongst the enemies’ ranks, they were significantly faster.

"Fire!" the rifle instructor called, twenty bullets going down range to penetrate the targets at fifty metres, casings ejected off to the sides.

"Reload... Fire!" eighteen bullets went down range as rounds in two rifles did not fire. Eventually the soldiers ejected the rounds, as advised, setting them gently facing down range.

The process continued, at one point everyone's attention brought to a rifle that broke during a shot, firing mechanism breaking loudly. The user was unharmed thankfully. Several minutes later and two more were malfunctioning. By the end of the trials, the original 20 prototypes were down to 15 functional rifles, the other 5 having been set aside on a table.

Colonel Affable walked down the line, looking at the table of firearms. Bouncing his brows, he turned on the regiment, "Right I'll just say it, they have issues," he held his hands up, "but this is the trial phase. Some things will be ironed out before they are battlefield ready, so... issues get written down on these here forms. In ponish please. If you can't, get one of the others to write it for you," he finished with a sigh, running a hand through his mane as he waited.

The forms were completed swiftly and glancing over several of the complaints, Colonel Affable nodded his head silently in agreement. Stacking them together, he would pass them on to the weapons instructor before motioning behind the recruits, "Back to the barracks, two columns" the Colonel sighed once more as he gave his orders, looking back at the regiment briefly as he and the new Lieutenant would lead the way.

The Colonel was beginning to feel his age, stretching out his wing as it felt all stiff. He was getting too old for all this now... but he knew he couldn't stop till they had won this war at the very least. He'd die before he retired, especially during this wore which tore at his country. That thought made him grit his teeth and begin marching, despite the pain it gave him in his hip, following the regiment through the fortified military base at the foot of Mount Canterhorn. He just wished he could keep his promise to all those mothers and fathers and keep their children safe. The stallion gave another fleeting glance at the regiment, shaking his head to himself.

********

Eventually they arrived at the barracks for their down time. Star lay back on his bed, looking up at the ceiling as he finally guessed, "... Marmalade," he looked to Jacob who made a face.

"The fuck kind of middle name is marmalade?!" The human would respond.

Star shrugged, "I don't know, ponies have that here... just tell me what your ‘middle name’ is then?"

Jacob grinned, "Nah I'm not telling you, you have to guess it," he'd say, eating the beef, rice and mixed vegetables they had for dinner today.

"Shit, like...that could be anything, I don't know what humans have for names...it's all like Bob, Rob, Job... weird stuff," he'd wave his hand at the man, “and its all just made-up words like Timothy. Nothing is even called Timothy,”

"Oh yeah, as opposed to flouncy two barrel name stuff like Flutter Petal or... or Raspberry... Twirl-tinkle-binkle," Jacob tried to think up a name off the top of his head.

"Come on at least try to think up a real name" Sky Star would say with a grin as Jinx sat down heavily on the bed with his own mess tin.

"Ohh you’re going to kick yourself when you find out his middle name... or kick him for having it," the larger unicorn would say with a smirk, digging into his food.

"Urgh come on give me a hint I've been at it for like twenty minutes," Star hit the bed lightly as he huffed. He rubbed his forehead in thought, though his attention drifted briefly to the rest of the conversation in the barracks between the other recruits in their respective groups. His attention turned to a group in particular, who belonged to the tank division.

He understood they had to mix up the sleeping quarters at times, since there was limited space, but did they seriously need to have some of the tank division here. They were always so...awkward and stuck up, preferring to stick to themselves and talk about their machines rather than with everyone else... especially the 'cannon fodder' that was the army, as they called them.

"Star you give up?" Jacob asked, interrupting his thoughts.

The unicorn turned back, "Urrrr yeah! I said I give up like six times now. What is it?"

The human grinned, "I'm Jacob... ready for this... Jacobson Baker"

Sky Star looked at him for a long moment, brows hiking up as he waited for the joke, but... that was it, "... you're serious... that's the fucking same name twice! That's like being called Oak Oak or something,"

The human quickly shook his head, "Nah it's... well sort of, but Jacob is my..." he would be unable to finish as all the creatures within the room turned their heads to the loud knocking on the open barracks door, Colonel Bolt Affable looking at them all.

The pegasus breathed in, holding it for a moment, before finally sighing, "... I just got word that the 2nd, 5th and 6th battalions of the 95th rifle regiment, Crews 1 and 2 of the tank division and finally the 9th company of Assault Sappers will be joining the Van Hoover front line... in two weeks."

He looked about at the various faces which displayed a mix of joy to finally see the frontline and serve their country properly and panic… knowing that in two weeks, it would be the day they truly saw war. From the side of the room an Earth pony was bold enough to speak up "But... Sir, I know we haven't fully completed our training courses and... and the 95th is a testing regiment we don't fight... we try out new stuff and... and we don't go out... there!" they'd say, trying to make excuses as already they were getting jeers from the other recruits.

The pegasus lifted his head to the ceiling, eventually dropping it back down to look at them. For the briefest moment the earth pony would see... pity from the Colonel, "... I'm sorry but those are the orders... that is all," the pegasus knocked once more on the door to signify that he was finished, heading off down the corridor with his usual limp as the Earth pony, amongst others, would fall silent in fear. Their silence was drowned out, however, by the renewed conversation between everyone.

Jinx was one of those who was getting excited to be having their first taste of war, of fighting and doing their part against the mad ponies who attacked at the core of their countries values of acceptance and spat in the face of law and order. These ponies who, from many accounts, led lawless lives in their cities and were known to rape and kill freely within them. They would finally have a chance to save their country.

As Star turned away from the door, looking to Jacob, he'd see the sombre expression the human wore, though they perked up at the realisation the unicorn was staring, giving a small thumbs up. Star would consider speaking up, asking if he was going to be alright though Jinx suddenly clapped him on the back

"Isn't this great cos'. Fuck this is amazing, I thought I would have to go through a whole transfer process to get to another regiment but we're actually doing it!" he'd wrap an arm around the smaller unicorn.

Giving a meagre a grin, Star would answer, "...yeah...yeah let's fucking show them what for right!" he called out as several other creatures cheered. His face dropped as his cousin looked away, glancing back to the human who had resigned himself to eating the rest of his dinner quietly.

Star slowly looked behind himself, out the window to Mount Canterhorn outside. The tall mountain blocked out most of the light cast by the full moon, shrouding the military base at the foot of the mountain. in darkness, which the gas-powered lanterns did their best to counter. Suddenly the safety of the giant steel walls felt so... far away... like he was locked out of them and now left to fend for himself in the wide, dangerous world.

********

Two weeks passed faster than one would imagine; the imminent knowledge of deployment at the front lines taking hold of most conversations at this point. In those fourteen days, their training had doubled, ensuring they were on par, as much as possible, with the other battalions they would be fighting alongside.

Training in covering the sapper units as they built fortifications and dug trenches, individuals teamed together to use the newly developed mortar systems that were being deployed, quick drills in hand to hand combat in confined spaces and manoeuvring with the tank crews to both protect them from flanking and avoid being trampled by the armoured machines....it was all knowledge they should have gained over three months at least....but two weeks was all the time they had.

On the fourteenth day of waiting, spirits had settled for the excited, while nerves were on edge for the fearful. Large heavyweight transport airships had arrived to take the 1800 ground troops and 2 tank units to the frontline outside Van Hoover.

Star stood alongside his fellow soldiers, waiting for the near two dozen tanks to be loaded onto the vessels. As the heavy machines rolled past, smoke rose from their large exhausts, trailing up into the cool morning air before dissipating. Their treads left imprints in the soft grass of the field, which ended as soon as they reached the ramps of the large 100 metre long airships. Once the vehicles were inside, the soldiers furthest down the line would begin to follow those patterned tracks into the bowels of the ship.

Star waited till they would head in, one arm holding onto the sling strap for his breech-loading rifle, while the other rest on the satchel on his opposite side. Despite the thick wool long coat he wore, which helped tremendously with the chill, the stallion would continue to shift back and forth on his hooves, keeping himself moving and warm.

A repetitive clicking to his left would make his ear flick, the unicorn turning to see one of the shark like creatures holding a cigarette in their lips, unable to get their small bronze lighter to produce any flame. They shook the lighter in annoyance, continuing again with the clicking, small sparks coming from the wheel but no ignition.

After several seconds, Star's horn lit up a light blue, as did the end of the cigarette, his aura flickering around it till smoke eventually began to rise. The shark looked down to the trailing wisps, glancing sidelong at the unicorn who'd helped him, inclining his head in thanks. Immediately they took in a deep drag, the cigarette burning a bright cherry red which moved up its length, ash falling in the gentle breeze that washed over them.

The whir of the massive engines of a transport vessel further along in the field would sound, a deep rumble that vibrated the air and the ground, even from where they were standing. Its hangar doors were closed and locked manually from inside before it began rising through the air, its engines, powered by magic due to its great size, propelled it with an invisible force up 500 metres before it turned in the air steadily, heading West as it climbed higher, beginning the fifteen-hour trek to Van Hoover. Soon Star would be on one of the vessels, trapped within its metal confines and waiting till they finally arrived.

Eventually they too would file on board their vessel, walking up the ramp and between the 8 tanks that had been loaded on this airship. Star glanced at a group of airship mechanics walking to the side of the hangar, bags of tools in hand, attention soon moving to the 8ft tall machines as he passed by them, outfitted with their 40mm canons and ports along the sides to fire at infantry. They truly were a technological marvel. The stallion patted the side of one, his hand bang quietly on the steel armour, as he hoped they would be able to do their job when the time came.

Continuing on in their line, they'd find available seats in the hangar area, the stallion making his way over to an open row, looking about for his cousin and friends as he'd take his seat.

Jacob would be first to sit beside him, buckling in and setting his rifle between his legs. He rubbed his hands together, tapping his boots on the ground, "You ready?" he'd ask forcing a meagre smile as he looked at Star

The unicorn sighed, "yeah... yeah I guess I am... where's Jinx?" he'd eventually ask, following Jacob's finger pointing to the them, down another row

"Getting unbuckled," the human would say, giving another wave to Tumble Jinx, motioning him over.

The large unicorn rushed to the seat on Star's other side before it was taken, settling in as he gave his cousin a pat on the knee, "Cheer up....the flight won't be that long!" the dark blue furred unicorn would say, belting himself in, "Hey, have either of you seen Aspy" Jinx turned his head left and right before calling out "Hey Aspy...ASPY, get over here!" he'd say, waving his large arm to a snake about to sit down.

The creature looked at the unicorn in annoyance, glancing about with slight embarrassment before walking over, their thick tail waving behind them as they hissed, "How many times to I have to tell you I'm not one of your asps! If anything, I'm like your planets water snakes!" he hissed though it truly didn't bother the reptile too much, "No nicknames like Aspy alright," they'd finish, sitting beside Jinx.

"Anyway....where will you three be?" he'd sigh, tongue flicking out briefly to taste the air, which was filled with the sweat and stress of hundreds of soldiers crammed together into a small steel box... practically a shipping container to transport them all.

Jinx grinned at the reptile, "Alright Laurel.... Aspy is better, but yeah, we will be on...the...lllllleft," the unicorn would finally answer.

The snake raised a ridged brow, "... the left... Jacob where will you be?" the reptile looked past Jinx to the human who replied soon enough

"In pathway Octagon, which is all branching up towards the west side of the city, towards the coast," Jacob would say, nodding his head.

The snake sat back, "I'm also on my way there, but I'll be part of the first reconnaissance group moving in to test the waters before you all advance... it's not pretty on that side, they have their water-born vessels bombarding the coast...I just hope you are inland enough that you will be alright," Laurel fell silent as he strapped himself in.

The other three, even Jinx, felt less excited regarding what awaited them.

********

Fifteen hours felt like forever. Locked in a confined space with nothing to do but make idle conversation. The ventilation was not particularly great and the room became almost unbearably hot and humid with all the creatures inside. The price to pay for being in a bomb proof box probably.

The constant monotonous tone of the engines' muffled rumbling and whirring the only sound they could hear bar from the occasional cough and tapping of feet or hooves on the grated, steel floor.

Star would pull out a picture he had of his mum and dad, most of the other soldiers asleep at this point. He looked at his dad in the old-style uniforms they wore twenty-three years ago, one wing wrapped around his mum who hugged him, her horn lit up orange, probably holding the camera and taking the photo of them.

It would be faint, but Star heard a subtle change in the snoring to his left, glancing over to see Jacob staring ahead, eyes practically blank.,"You alright?" the unicorn whispered

The human did a small double take at the voice, eventually looking at his friend, "... yeah yeah... just... thinking of home... we used to read of these big wars in stories... never thought I'd be in one. Just... I mean we all have to do our part," he looked about, making sure no one would judge him for his opinion, sounding as if he didn't want to fight. Eventually he carried on, "I just... kind of made sure to join this regiment so I wouldn't see the fighting"

The unicorn nodded, glancing at his sleeping cousin "I know," he whispered quietly, "same here...my mum didn't want me going in to fight so...this was the best thing," he looked down "I..." Star stopped midway through what he was about to say, instead looking back to the man, taking hold of their arm "We stick together alright, you, me and Jinx, we have each other’s backs... don't worry we'll be alright, I mean we already have these over them" Star tapped the side of his rifle, even though it wasn't a bolt action like the rest of the army used, it was far superior to the enemies flintlock rifles

"We just need to play it smart, stick to the plan and we'll be alright...come on," he held the human's wrist, giving it a shake, "let's do this for all the creatures that are abused by those bastards out there and get Equestria back to how it was."

Jacob would give a grin at his friend, "Yeah....yeah we'll do that Star....get everything back to normal. Then we can all go home,"

********

It would be another four hours before all of the soldiers heard the change in the engines tone, a slight inertia which made many of the creatures shift to the side, towards the front of the airship as it slowed.

A faint tinking sound would be heard, several soldiers looking up at one of the walls. Already they began taking their seats' belts off, stretching quickly before they had to go out.

Star breathed in, pulling up his steel helmet, like the old kettle helms of old, doing up the strap beneath his chin as he'd undo his own belt. Star reached down quickly for his rifle bayonet, a short 8-inch blade that had a triangle cross section.

He huffed, looking up to Jinx as his cousin slung their own rifle over their shoulder, Star doing the same.

Walking in front of them, Laurel pulled out a small book as he flicked through several pages, "Right... you three just follow the signs and listen for your battalion number alright, they'll get you to your stations soon enough. I, on the other hand, will be off to the Officer's bunker to discuss my work. I might see you all in a couple of hours if you are on the same line I'll be going... good luck," he'd put the book away, motioning to four others who all rushed up to him, forming up behind him.

They would be ushered to the main hangar area, where even more tinking sounds were heard as bullets were fired up at the vessel.

Ponies and other creatures would begin climbing into their tanks, hatches being pulled down and sealed, engines turning on and revving up. There would be a brief pause of silence, as if they were all holding their breaths in unison, before the hangar doors suddenly opened and the cacophony of sound blasted in.

Noise which they'd all been starved for hours, seemed unbearably loud.

It was just turning night, the moon rising as they beheld the warzone finally, the crackling booms of musket fire being answered by sharper bangs of their own rifles.

Explosions sounding out And echoing across the fields with large flashes of light, sending soil and shrapnel high into the air, to rain down in the vicinity of the magical blasts or mortar shells.

Smaller flashes of yellow and red would define the rough lines of the trenches that had been dug out around the city. It was enough that Star stepped back, bumping into his cousin’s chest who looked over the smaller unicorn, staring at it all in... bewilderment.

So many were hesitant to enter that chaos. The engines roared to life as tanks moved out of the airship in their small column, infantry following on either side in rough formation of a marching order, spurred on by the sound of their own vehicles.

They made their way down to the back of the rear-most trenches, several officers stationed at the splitting paths called out numbers and waved their arms in the correct trench to travel.

Jacob patted his friends' arms, pointing to one stallion in an officers attire calling out, "95TH REGIMENT, 5TH BATTALION! 95TH REGIMENT, 5TH BATTALION!" their shouts almost drowned out by the gunfire close to 800 metres into the trenches, towards the frontlines. They would all be siphoned off to their respective zones, huddled together, keeping their heads down and rifles up, looking about as the sounds of combat grew louder the deeper they went.

Before they reached the 'true' front, the 5th battalion would be guided down a line of trenches 500 metres back, to the armoury where they could be given the ammunition pouches finally.

Their rifles would soon be turned into long ranged weapons of death. It was scary knowing these weapons would soon be put to use. Not being dry fired during a drill, not shooting down some long concrete range at a roughly pony sized target, but actually in the direction of some creature, with the intention to hit their mark and take one less soldier of the enemy's side.

Jinx stepped up first, two ammo pouches, 60 rounds each, one bag with a basic medical kit, rations to last 3 days and a waterproof cover... they were expected to stay at their post till they either ran out of rations, were wounded or... well they wouldn't be moving particularly far if they were dead.

Each would step up to receive their standard issue equipment before being guided back to the front. By the grace of the Night Mother and Mistress of Change they would be together, only 2 metres apart from one another.

Before they huddled into their positions, Star had caught a glimpse of what they were pushing towards, Van Hoover. The city was surrounded by thick walls, like that of Canterlot but looked irregular in shape, at least from what the unicorn could make out in the darkness of night.

There were bright lights from within the city, beams cast up into the night sky as if searching, running over their own airships that hung in the air and watched the battle from far below. That was what they had to take out... that city and its defenses... and Star knew that it wasn't even the greatest of all the cities which stood against them

But there was no time to think of that now... he just needed hang tight and wait till morning...or until some creature shouted for him to put his head above the trench and start firing.

Looking over he could already see Jinx taking pot shots with a wide grin, shooting into the darkness... could he even see anyone out there or was he just... Joining in. He could just be wildly shooting the ground in front of them or way above...wasting his rounds.

Star intended to save his ammunition for when it was day. What if the enemy decided to storm the next morning, he needed to be prepared and have as many rounds as possible... if he could even use them.

Still in his hole, back pressed against the mud and wood wall, he would hear an especially loud boom off in the distance, not wanting to even look to see what had happened, just breathing and trying to stay calm as a bright flash of light illuminated the night.