Equus: World at War

The sky was mostly clear, apart from the few clouds hanging above the battlefield. They were heavy and dark grey in colour and threatened the soldiers with rain, if it were not for them being in such few numbers. Perhaps they had broken away from a larger body of clouds out in the sea... at least judging from their general movement inland. Star reckoned it was the case, the cool sea air carrying them the great distance.

The stallion eventually looked down to the ditch they were to call home from now on, their dugout in the side of a reserve trench, his fingers tapping lightly across the barrel of his rifle, the metal cold to the touch. It had barely been a week and already he was beginning to hate it... and he was sure others felt the same.

Eventually, with huff, Star would pull his rifle up from his side and into his lap, disassembling his weapon slowly. To his side was a 'mostly' clean cloth for him, Jacob and Jinx to lay the individual pieces of their rifles. Already he could see Jinx struggling to undo the screws, giving a warm grin.

"Wait Jacob, is it left or right?" Jinx moved his finger anticlockwise then clockwise in the air as he asked, eyes looking up as he tried to think about his gesture from the human’s perspective.

"You go clockwise to push the screw in, anticlockwise to pull it out." Jacob replied, continuing to strip his weapon and clean each section thoroughly, "Except the screw on the underside, that goes the opposite way, so clockwise for that one specifically."

"Okay yeah, that's what I've been fucked on just. So, I've been tightening up that weird screw all this time, right?" He'd show the rifle to the human.

"I guess if you've been doing it the wrong way for it," Jacob would reply with a nod

"Why would they do that… I mean it's fucking stupid to put one going the other way, isn't it," Jinx complained, looking over to Star, "I mean, who the hell is making these rifles and sticking a backwards screw in one place?"

"No clue, but I guess it would be..." Star pulled up the side plate for the rifle’s receiver "... Juniper Sugar. Wonder how rich they've gotten off this?"

"What, the war overall or making this rifle?" Jacob asked, leaning back in his chair, hearing a mortar shell go off in the distance, shifting slightly and looked back, towards the direction of the frontlines some 30 metres away.

"The rifle... but I guess the war in general. I mean you think about it, basically everyone had one of these, even my dad used the original ones. She's probably got millions of Bits," Star would say to them both.

"Yeah, but she's probably working her ass off to make new ones. Probably congratulated and that's about it." Jinx would soon add, "Bet she doesn't even leave the castle, you know, encase someone assassinates her."

Star and Jacob nodded to the unicorn, assassination attempts weren’t unheard of. If the rumour was true, one of Queen Chrysalis’ personal guards had been killed. At least that is what many believed, no creature having seen them for several months. They would all look up to the Lieutenant walking towards them, "Rifles clean yet?" he'd ask as he bent towards them briskly, entering their small dugout.

Before any of them could reply he'd pull up the blanket that kept the individual rifle pieces off the ground, tipping them all onto the soil. He yanked the blanket off to the side before slamming it down on the crate beside Jinx "DO IT AGAIN AND FASTER! NO TALKING!" he shouted, beginning to walk away before turning suddenly on Jinx "What did you just say?"

The large unicorn looked up with confusion from where he was about to pick up the pieces from the ground, looking from the Lieutenant to his friends, "I... I didn't say anything sir?"

The officer walked over to him, putting a finger in the stallion’s face, the smell of whiskey on his breath "I heard what you said, don't you dare think I'm deaf! Latrine duty as soon as you're done here, the lot of you! You're going to fucking learn some damn respect for your officers!" he shouted, eyes somewhat wild, “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!? HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO AN OFFICER IN SUCH A MANNER!!”

Eventually pulling back sharply, the Earth pony glared at the three of them. He would squint for a moment before walking away from their dugout and down the trench, using the wall to stabilise himself.

After a few moments, Jacob, Star and Jinx looked between each other. The larger unicorn would eventually whisper "... Cunt..." looking up to the entrance to their dugout but the Lieutenant didn't return. The stallion grinned, brushing back his dark blue mane out of his face, "... He didn't hear that one"

"What did you bloody say about him?" Star asked in a semi-reprimanding manner, beginning to pick up the pieces of his rifle, running his cloth over them and shaking his head.

Giving another quick glance to the entrance, Jinx leaned in, "I didn't, honestly. I think he's off his head and drunk. I promise you guys I was silent,” Jinx sighed, though his Jaw soon began working as he thought, “… Is he the Lieutenant Olive Board everyone has complained about?"

Star gave a shrug, though Jacob nodded "Yeah that's him, he was shouting the other day at some other guys. He was saying his name like he's the top dog and we should all be bowing to him and grovelling almost," the human could see the stallion had more to say, "What did you hear?

"Just some, you know talking about him maybe being on the old," Jinx tapped the side of his nose and sniffed, giving a 'knowing' nod, "get what I mean"

Jacob shook his head before looking to Star who also looked confused "What do you mean... Snuff?" he'd ask

Jinx shook his head "No no, what that kid at school used to have before the police got him. I think he was like a goat or deer; you know with the two horns"

Star thought for a moment "oh?... Ohhh yeah him, cocaine?" the stallion would ask after a moment.

Snapping his fingers, Jinx pointed to him and Jacob "That's it, cocaine. Apparently, a few of the officers are on it to keep themselves sane. Don't think it's doing good for him is it"

Jacob made a face, "You still let your officers do drugs like that?”

"Hell no, absolutely banned since 985 when everyone was going a bit crazy and probably like that," Jinx replied immediately

Star nodded "Yeah Nightmare Moon made sure no one would be taking drugs. It used to be for medicinal purposes, but stuff about paranoia stopped it being distributed and the law cracked down on anyone taking drugs."

"Then... why aren't we just telling on him, get him kicked out and probably get someone better, and I guess, stable" the human suggested.

Star opened his mouth to reply, though Jinx answered first "Nah the officers would just screw us over. They just protect each other if anything happens," the unicorn would explain, attaching a clean cloth to a draw cord, feeding it through the barrel of his rifle, pulling it through, "but a lot of guys say he is a bastard, always kicking off and shouting then breaking down when on the frontlines. You know, one guy said he pointed his revolver at someone."

Star and Jacob looked at him with concern, "Fuck, is that true?" Star asked his cousin, leaning in closer as he’d listen to the retelling of events.

"Eeyup, pointed it like that, right at his forehead. Shouting about the stallion to never tell him to calm down again" the stallion re-enacted what he'd been shown, arm raised and pointed at an imaginary stallion before him, beginning to do a mock impression of the Lieutenant “You dare tell me to calm down, I’ll blow your fucking head off! I am a Rifle Lieutenant of her Majesties’ Royal Equestrian Armed Forces! If I tell you to leave this trench you will do it without question.”

Star glanced at Jacob who was cleaning quicker at that point, already reconnecting the breech into the main frame

"You don't think he'd actually do it though, right?" Star would ask the human with a small grin "he's just threatening and… and wouldn't do anymore. There was probably way more to it than just saying calm down... and... and" the stallion went on, partially trying to reason with himself at this point.

"Would you chance it with him, we already saw he was mental. He looked like he was about to do the same to Jinx just," the human replied.

Star bit his cheek before nodding, doing the same and continued to clean his weapon, faster.

********

They finished cleaning their kit by the time the Lieutenant returned, the Earth pony barely looking over the rifles presented to him before pointing off to the latrines with a somewhat satisfied smirk, as if he had won some little war against the three of them.

Asking around, the trio would eventually find a soldier willing to direct them to the buckets, and for a few minutes, show them how to even go about emptying them. It wasn't as if latrine maintenance was part of standard training in their regiment, though they come to realise that most other regiments received some rundown to general process before being shipped to the front.

The work was arduous and disgusting for the most part, having to ship barrels of 'waste' to a ditch further behind the lines to be disposed of. A constant walk back and forth that seemingly went on for hours as the Lieutenant would occasionally return to provide them with more work. It was apparent he was holding some level of grudge towards the imagined slight he'd received.

Despite Jinx's desire to confront him, Star and Jacob would manage to settle his anger for the moment, believing the best course of action was to not aggravate the seemingly unstable stallion, hoping instead that the Lieutenant would lose interest if they did not retaliate.

They would have the opportunity to talk to the odd stallion or other creature willing to withstand the smell and give a conversation, making the arduous labour somewhat tolerable.

"... and then they go again and again with all this 'I’ve got a winning hand', fail instantly, pour more money in 'this is the winning hand', nope. Hehe, Peter felt so bad for him he just 'let' him keep half of the money he lost. I mean this unicorn has literally blown his entire months wages on cards, with an obvious fucking losing streak," the earth pony, who'd introduced himself as Cherry Wine, would say. The stallion shivered after a moment, pulling a hand from one of his pockets to remove his near finished cigarette, breathing a plume of smoke out to the side.

Jinx sat by the entrance to the latrine as Jacob and Star worked on filling the buckets inside, "Yeah we know a guy like that, this tiger who said he was some big con-artist in his world, selling all his goods for more than they are worth, you know the usual. Anyway, he is 'shit' at cards... Hah, I mean more shit than this crap we're pulling out" Jinx would laugh, motioning with a thumb towards the pit.

"Bucket," Star called to his cousin, moving the container out of the shack, setting it down carefully on the uneven ground.

Jinx moved over, hefting the bucket up, pouring the contents into a barrel before setting the bucket back to be refilled, "How close are we anyway?" Jinx would ask the two as they continued their work.

"I don't know I mean... just past halfway at this point probably," Jacob would reply.

Taking in another drag of his cigarette, Cherry would look at the burnt end which had almost reached his fingertips before motioning to the large barrel being filled "May I?" he'd ask, doing a mock throw of his cigarette into the barrel.

With shrug, Jinx leant back against the wall of the trench, “Go for it mate,” he’d say, tapping a wooden beam lightly as he cast a glance out of the small passage they all stood in, as several soldiers walked past.

The stallion lined himself up before giving a high throw, the near finished cigarette landing in the barrel and sizzling out

"Bang!" Jinx called with a wide grin, looking to Cherry as he jumped.

Eventually a grin spread across the other stallion’s face as he leant back, holding his chest "Nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought I'd actually fucked up bad!" Cherry shook his head, chuckling.

“And thought shit was explosive?” Jinx laughed

“Something like that,” Cherry replied, taking out a metal case from his front pocket, opening it up and took out another cigarette, lighting it soon enough. Quickly realising, he continued, "Oh hey, guys," he shook the metal tin, "Want one?" he called to them, lips pressed together to hold the cigarette in his mouth.

The three of them looked between each other before shaking their heads "It's all good mate," Jinx would begin.

"None of us smoke, but thank you," Jacob gave him a nod.

"Go on, take one encase you change your mind. Or you know, someone else wants them. Got a guy who often heads back to town and picks them up from the shops," Cherry would reply.

The three of them looked between each other once more before Jacob stepped out of the latrine "What town? By the way you're up now," he'd say, nudging Jinx as he passed him.

"Five buckets already? Fuck!" The dark grey unicorn called out, moving past Jacob and looking up to the sky in annoyance briefly, heading into the latrine to take over his job of holding the bucket, Star taking over for Jacob in turn with filling it.

Jacob leant against the wall, "What town is this, I thought they had to blow up Bucksweed to get here?"

"Oh no, I'm talking about the place that's further down, Honeywell. They sided with New Equestria as soon as we came by. A lot of the families were all a mix of creatures, so they weren't a fan of the Van Hoover rebellion to begin with. The non-equestrian people were treated like second rate citizens a lot of the time. They did half blow up Bucksweed, but that's on Van Hoover from what I heard. They moved the artillery back and bombarded it when we went in to evacuate people." Cherry finished off, brushing soil from the creases of his uniform.

Jacob bounced his brows "Really? I wonder if any of the other towns and villages are going to consider joining us at this rate?"

"Probably a hell of a lot. This unicorn I was talking to, he got pulled back to help evacuate some other town a few weeks ago. Van Hoover couldn't take them in as its overcrowded... Oh hey speaking of him, you guys heard about that unicorn who got court ‘badly’ marshalled recently? Found he was able to do a shit ton of magic, right under our noses. Been hiding all this time." Cherry shook his head in disbelief, "Honestly made it look so believable to me that he couldn't even lift a canteen of water with his magic."

Jinx glanced up to Star briefly, who ignored his cousin and kept working.

Shifting closer, Jacob asked with confusion, "What's so bad about using magic?"

"Well, it's not that he can do the magic," Cherry began, "it's that he just lied to everyone about it and isn't doing his duty. You know, we're all doing our part, why isn't he doing his!" the stallion stood up, getting angered at the thought

"I mean he should be back at the capital, giving his magic to the power stations and ready to defend it in an emergency, rather than out and about here. I mean if ‘I’ could do magic I would be using it to help everyone I could in the best way… the unicorn piece of shit! Bloody spike-head bastard lying to everyone and wasting his gift," he kicked a clod of earth away, "it's the bloody law... sorry... just pisses me off that they aren't doing their part like they’ve been told to," Cherry would say, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jacob glanced back to Jinx and Star, the two stallions both stared out of the latrine for a moment before continuing their work quietly.

"N-not there's anything wrong with unicorns guys, heh, just him and other unicorns who ‘can’ do a lot of magic and risk everything by being here. They can provide power, be doctors, use the magic to protect Canterlot, that’s there place in the world… sorry that didn’t come out right… I… " Cherry was quick to explain, realising how he sounded regarding unicorns but only making it worse.

Clearing his throat after his outburst, he continued "Ahem well anyway, I got to be heading off so, you know... keep the tin and… everything" he'd rattle the cigarette case before setting it down for them. The stallion gave a brief wave before setting off hurriedly, shaking his head to himself.

Jacob turned back slowly to look at Star, who turned to look at him as well, eventually sighing.

********

It was dark by the time they finished their work; the Lieutenant having not shown up at the last minute to give them yet another latrine to clean. They hoped he was busy with some official business rather than spending an entire day monitoring them to take out his grudge.

Returning the barrels and buckets to the storage area, they would pass by one of the first latrines they cleaned, finding two soldiers already hard at work emptying it and complaining to each other. They really did fill up quickly.

It was made worse by finding they were late for the food, most of it already taken away by the masses of soldiers. Jinx, fortunately, was able to convince the chefs to pool together what scraps they had available for the three of them, but it still wasn't much.

All in all, a hard day of work, cold scraps and no chance of a proper shower and clean clothes till the next day. The week really wasn't starting out too well. They could only hope the Lieutenant wouldn't come looking the next day and put them through it all again.

They wouldn't have their wish as immediately the next morning they'd find the Lieutenant actively searching through the dugouts for them, demanding they begin work helping the artillery. Though they questioned whether they were needed at their posts, they were swiftly silenced.

So began the next week and a half of their lives, even after they'd been moved to the frontlines again, he called them back, moving the trio from helping artillery to rebuilding trenches, cleaning uniforms, helping the chefs prepare food, bringing in supplies from the trucks that reached the backlines and more. Anything that could be found they would be made to do, the stallion even using them for 'Airship watch' involving nothing but staring into the sky, watching for signs of enemy airships flying directly above them, an activity which the Lieutenant supervised them perform from his chair, to ensure they 'did not shirk their duty' as he ordered them to stand for hours, looking up.

Gritting their teeth, they would find that by the 9th day the stallion was nowhere to be found, simply gone without a trace. Their tentative prying for questions revealing that he had been moved further down the lines where he was most needed. At least that was the official response, the rumours they heard in the trenches were very different.

".... lost his shit and had a heart attack," the ferret would say offhandedly, nodding as he began cutting up onions for the soup, looking at the trio from across the counter.

"A heart attack?" Star repeated after him, making sure he heard him right.

"Yeah, just keeled over on the spot going 'my chest, aaaggghhh my' then passed out completely. No one has to explain to me that's a bloody heart attack... Heh, unless Van Hoover has invisible soldiers going about bumping off absolute assholes" the ferret laughed, continuing his cutting, “Which I bloody wish was the case.”

"You're certain he's gone right, not just recovering in a medical tent for the night then coming back," Jacob would be quick to ask

"Wha-, noooo, he's been discharged under ‘medical reasons’," the ferret did air quotes before scooping up the onion, throwing them in to a pot, "Really the officers were trying to get rid of him for a while, but he spooked a lot of soldiers. You know, probably with that story you told us last week, with the gun to someone's head. Plus, he’s an ‘officer’ so you know, the stallion is higher value than the rest of us, even if he can barely keep his cool for ten seconds straight."

Star nodded "I'm just glad we can get some peace finally."

Jinx grinned, "As much as you can get whilst shooting back at the bastards on the other side. Anyway, thanks Hol'I. We’ll see you tomorrow," the stallion patted the countertop before walking off with his friends, "guess we go report to the front and... get on with our duties?”

"What was this all about in the end? Why did we get lumbered with him," Jacob asked, putting his hands in his pockets as the three of them headed out of the kitchens, turning a corner and making their way down the communication trench, to the front.

"Just bad luck," Star would reply, reaching into his pocket to pull out the cigarette tin. Taking one out, his horn lit up as he ignited the end of the cigarette, bringing it to his lips before closing the tin "But you know what... we kept our heads down and together we stuck to it, didn't we." Star would brighten with a smile

Jacob gave a small grin, shrugging, "I guess. Honestly that sounds like something I would have expected Jinx to say," the human commented, casting a glance over his shoulder

"Yeah, I know," Jinx began, "we are related though. Guess it's in the blood to be umm. Jacob come on; you know the word I’m thinking of…" he'd soon ask of the human

The man lifted his head up, "Optimistic, seeing the brighter side of life and glass half full not half empty."

"Yeah optimistic. Glass half full sort of thing," the stallion would say with a wide grin.

In no time at all their smiles would be replaced with grimaces as the constant gunfire and artillery bombardments reminded them of what their lives were now, without the distraction of Lieutenant Olive Board assigning them to every duty and chore available.

Rifle leant up against his side, Star crossed his arms over his chest and like the many other soldiers in the trenches, waited. There was nothing to do but wait as there was little one could do, besides the occasional shot over the parapet, but that would spell death. At least death was the most likely case, though for Jinx it did not seem so, the stallion still enjoying the thrill as much as he did the first night, standing up to take the odd shot or two.

Occasionally an officer walked down the line, mostly checking that everyone was in their positions and, if it was even possible, waking anyone who was asleep. For those who looked too shaken, the officer would provide them a small drink of rum to settle their nerves. It was a dark, tar like liquid that burned down the throat and tasted vile, but it did its job. Some soldiers would obviously 'pretend' to be shaken but their façade was seen through immediately, the officers had witnessed enough creatures to know what real shocked looked like.

Constant bombardment, the occasional screaming for help as some shell hit a trench and took out its occupants, plumes of soil and shrapnel being hurled in the air to rain down upon them, it was the same once more as they sat and prepared for the enemy to charge. Such would persist for the next few days, no distance gained by either side as the artillery and rifle fire kept each other at bay.

Star took once more to looking up at the sky and counting the clouds, eyes drifting slowly towards the city where he would begin counting the various airships flying overhead, a barrier to any airborne assaults upon Van Hoover. The constant circular motion of the large vessels that moved slowly in their orbit, along with the smaller and faster airships that extended the perimeter to just beyond the city’s hastily constructed steel walls. It wouldn’t take Star long to realise he had sunk into one of the jobs Lieutenant Olive Board had set them to do. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad pass time after all, watching the vessels fly through the sky, occasionally dipping down to be refuelled or going out to… sea.

The unicorn adjusted himself, standing back from the fire-step to get a wider view of the sky, the vessel was definitely heading out to the sea, a small vessel almost missed if one was not paying attention. Star shifted to Jacob, the man holding his ears and tapping the back of his head, seeming to be waiting, not wanting to step up and shoot lest receive a bullet through the head, they had quickly realised their steel helmets did very little to stop the enemies shots.

“Jacob, I just saw a small airship flying off that way,” Star pointed, “You know out to sea and everything, what else is that way… do you think we’ve managed to get some of our ships around to attack?” he’d ask.

“I don’t know…maybe they are planning to flank the trench and blow us up with a bombing run, heh, end all of us! Maybe I can finally get some proper sleep!” the man joked before his face fell slightly as such an event would mean the end of this torture but also death and for a brief moment, he tried to decide which one was worse.

“There’s no way they would be able to make it onto land with the anti-aircraft guns, it has to be something else?” Star would call back over the noise, not catching onto the morbid joke as he turned back

Jacob shook his head, shrugging “I don’t know Star I don’t know. Maybe they are running away but then they would be shot down by their own soldiers, I guess. Or maybe they have someone important on board, I don’t bloody know!”

Star could see the man’s anger rising. It was the stress of the whole situation though and Star knew not to take anything to heart. Giving a nod, the stallion shifted to his cousin, excited grin plastered over their face, “I fucking got one Star!”

“You got one?” Star would say in somewhat disbelief

“Oh yeah I was totally having a fucking fire fight with this one guy over there, you see the rise!” He stood up briefly before ducking down once more. Only a few seconds later sand poured out of the sandbags lining the parapets as bullets passed through them, just left of where the unicorn’s head had been.

“Yeah, there is that rise over there right, and I kept waiting for him to pop up because he always takes five or six seconds to reload and I ‘know’ I got him because I haven’t seen any flashes by that rise anymore!” Jinx soon went on.

“How do you know he didn’t just move or stop for a bit?” Star would question

“What?! Nah he’s dead, I know it.” Jinx would reply, shaking his head. That was all the break the stallion was having as he pulled the lever of his rifle down, spent case flying out. Forcing in a new round, he’d close the breech as he stood, continuing

How he could stay alive being so reckless Star would never know. He had tried to pull his cousin down constantly to protect him but if he stopped for just a split second, the other unicorn would be back up and firing. It had hurt Star at first to ‘let him go’ and know he could be hurt worse. To let a loved one do something that put their life at risk and almost stand by and watch… but nothing had happened to Jinx. He just kept going and remained unharmed no matter how bad the shooting became.

It even got to a point where Star was more worried for Jacob, who almost constantly remained in cover, as if the human was in more danger than his brother who literally put his head above the parapets.

The days passed by in the same manner, the back and forth with no victor close to being in sight. A true stalemate. Many soldiers may have thought the airship coming down when they first arrived and the other airship that joined their side were a sure sign of victory, plus the word of the very eastern most trenches making a large push of thirty meters and another of fifty metres were a signifier that the battle for Van Hoover, to get to its gates and walls, was coming to a close. The following days, and soon weeks, proved that these were small victories if not, simply minor setbacks for Van Hoover, which it would quickly recover from.

There was word of an infantry charge from the Van Hoover troops, charging boldly from their steel gates, on to the Royal army’s central trench line, leading to the loss of 500 soldiers or more. Even this was a minor setback for the New Equestrian army, as a newly trained battalion from the capital would replace the loses in short order. There was no end in sight.