Chapter 2 First contact

After reading aloud the proclamation of the queen, General von Stechen had a few words of his own to say. Twenty-one thousand pairs of eyes of drones and officers were directed at him, and an equally vast number of ears listened captivated.

Except the booming sound of the generals’ voice, there was complete silence. The drones even breathed as silent as they possibly could, just to hear every word, yes even every breath the general took. They were nervous and excited.

“Our nations, your brothers, our people, and our Queen count on you. They count on all of us. They believe in us. They trust us. The world has directed its spotlights upon us. Now we shall show the world our strength. Never again shall we endure starvation. Never again shall we be excluded and forgotten. We will secure our place under the sun! For the fatherland, into battle!” General von Stechen shouted and pointed in a powerful motion eastward.

There was a short moment of silence until the drones realized he was done. Then, the crowd broke out in cries of cheers and rejoice on a deafening volume, abruptly ending the silence. Their shouts roared over the plain landscape. A large portion of the crowd took off their helmet to threw them into the air.

“Gott mit uns!”

“Long live the queen!”

“Hurrah!”

These and other things the frenzied crowd cried out.

49, much like all of his brothers, rejoiced like a madling. His heart thumped quicker than it ever had been in his entire life. He could not believe what he just heard. For years they had been taught what terrible things the ponies had done to them, and now he and his brothers had the chance to avenge all of it. They had the chance to overthrow Equestria and make the changeling empire a world power or even the dominant power of all of whole planet. They had the chance to change their entire world.

This fanatic euphory lasted a few minutes until it started to subside.

While the drones calmed down, officers hurried through the ranks and orders were given. Shortly after, the marching blocks set into motion and the military band of the division started playing.

So this is why they set us up in parade formation, 49 thought.

Due to military tradition, the march the band played started with a foreplay of fifes and drums. While this played, the marching blocks first marched away from the platform Von Stechen stood on only to turn around. After they did an U turn, they marched past right in front of the grandstand. Right as the first block was about to reach the platform the foreplay ended and the drones started to do the parade step. The knee joints of the drones seemingly disappeared.

With stiff knees, the parade swung by their general and his staff who saluted them. In the corner of his eye, 49 could see a changelings standing next to Von Stechen. The changeling did not wear an uniform, and he wielded a strange device, directed at them. 49 did not know what to think of this, but he would certainly not turn his head to get a better look.

The ground vibrated under their steps. The rows of helmets bopped in rhythm to the music. The so-called goose step has always had a ceremonial role and elegance. But on parades, when such huge masses of soldiers marched, it lacked any kind of elegance. Grace yielded to a militaristic boasting and showing off of power and discipline.

The changelings were good at marching. Hooves exact 30 centimeter off the ground and the arm oposite to the not moving leg bent in in an angle that their hands reached up to their belt buckle.

As the block 49 was in marched past the staff of their division, 49 could only imagine the spectacles that had to be happening in the larger hives and cities. With music and hurray but without knowing what would be awaiting them, the drones marched off to war.

SD8749 and other soldiers of the 7. company laid prone behind the ridge of a large hill. The others took cover behind trees and other natural obstacles, a few meters behind them. In front of them was nothing but plain field, and somewhere in it, the enemy. Bullets whistled over their heads.

Things had not gone as 49 had imagined.

49 pressed himself against the ground, trying to make himself as flat as possible, to not reach over the hill he used as cover while bullets hit the dirt in front of him with high frequency. Every impact caused a small fountain of dirt, increasingly covering the changeling with earth, as the hailstorm of bullets went on and on. The bullets that missed the ridgeline and flew over him created an ear-piercing whistle.

He clenched his teeth and tightened the grip around his rifle.

“Argh!” A scream suddenly coming from his left caught 49's attention. He looked to where the scream came from and saw SD8752 cramp on the ground. His back had peaked over the edge and a bullet had tore it open. The drones left and right of SD8752 tried to pin their brother to the ground, so that he was not able turn around, to prevent the wound from getting dirty and infecting. SD8752 screamed. It were no words, just primal sounds of agony.

It was not a deep wound, the bullet had merely grazed him, but it created a long flesh wound that cut and bared many nerfs.

49 tried to look away. Seeing his brother in agony like this, his uniform drenching slowly green with blood, sent a shiver down his spine, and he imagined himself in his position. It stirred the fire of hatred for the ponies that burned inside of him.

Every second, 49 expected a bullet to come and pierce his skull, ending the war for him here and now. Any moment now. But no bullet found him. They either flew past him, or hit the ground in front of him, and the tension persisted.

All these years 49 had thought that he did not know fear, but the current situation tried its best to shake his believes. He felt helpless. Enduring under fire waiting for the order to attack was grueling. If they would just got the order to jump up and attack the cowardly ponies. He was not afraid of dying. But he could not bear doing nothing while being shot at.

“I hate machine guns,” 49 growled. “Where did they even get this from? He told us this was an underequipped, barely trained garrison!”

Shortly after crossing the border, the 8. battalion had quickly been engaging in combat. On their way into equestrian lands the unit came close to a small settlement. Hauptman Vicis ordered to march straight through the village and continue the advance into Equestria as planned. But the village had a garrison. In a briefing before the attack, the drones were told that the only defenders there were a small local garrison, not more than 90 ponies strong. Vicis had expected them to immediately surrender as soon as the superior force was approaching.

However, in spite the fact they were clearly outnumbered and outgunned, the small garrison decided to fight for and defend every meter of their homeland. When the battle broke out, the 7. company got separated from the rest of the unit. Chaos ensued.

Despite the so called “Auftragstaktik”, the officers acted stunned. Hauptman Vicis had not given them any clear objectives and the officers had trouble dealing with their newfound responsibility, especially now, that lives were depending on it. Especially their own.

49 could not find SD8750 anywhere in the chaos, and as if that wasn’t already bad enough, they had also ran head on in a preventive prepared defensive position of the ponies.

The first platoon was immediately pinned down by overwhelming enemy fire. Cover was sparse, it was almost an open field. The drones dove for cover in whatever small hollows they could find or behind small ground elevations. The other two platoons that were further behind them took cover behind trees, rocks and bushes of a nearby grove.

The blood of those who could not get into cover in time or were just unlucky now fertilized the golden grass.

The leader of 49´s company ordered them to hold, what they did.

Even with their years of training and preparation, when it actually happened, 49 did not know how to deal with seeing the brothers he knew so well being gunned down in front of him. He could only swallow the weird feeling, hoping it would go away.

SD8752 had stopped screaming, now he was just pitifully weeping. A knot started to form in 49´s chest. Only the thought that all of this and what would come was for the freedom of their race and their fatherland gave him determination.

TING. With this bright sound, the helmet of one of the drones trying to comfort SD8752 was flung away and the head of the drone dropped to the ground. Blood began to spread around it.

49 hands began to hurt from cramping onto his rifle. He tried to focus on anything else, just not on all the lead in the air. At least the grass was comfortable, he noticed.

The rattling of the machine gun and the cracking of rifles did not cease.

As the machine gun finally stopped firing to reload, 49 dared to raise his head over the ridge to look out for SD8750. He had to take his head down again immediately as rifles opened up on him. There was no way out. But to his fortune, he did not share the fate of his brother.

49 prayed that 50 just accidently followed the wrong unit and that he would return to them. 49 did not dare to imagine what else could all have happened to his comrade, especially since he had the injured 52 next to him. And a corpse.

To his relieve, even behind his cover, he spotted four drones running towards them as fast as their legs could carry them. Please 50, be one of them! he thought. The machine gun crew was still reloading. If they got close enough during the ceasefire, the four had a chance.

The rifles were firing at them, but they ran in a zigzag, dodging the bullets.

“Get Down!” yelled 49 over to them as loud as he could. He mentally counted down the seconds until the machine gun crew would have reloaded. The longer the four were out there, the bigger the chance grew they would soon join their fallen brothers.

The distance between the four incoming drones and slightly more cover got smaller and smaller, as did the time until the ponies had reloaded.

50! 49 thought. There was no way that he could have recognize his ID on that distance, but his instinct told him. His friend was one of the four.

The rattle of the machine gun broke the tension in two.

The four immediately dove towards the ground, but it was too late. The last one of them got rocked by the impact of bullets. No creature heard him scream, the sound of gun fire was too loud. As he slowly sank to the ground, the fire ceased for a moment, and they could hear him moan. In a dying state, he chanted moaning, “Changelingia over everything!”

He sank to his knees, before his bloody body fell over and his face sunk into the golden grass which quickly turned a dark green shade.

“This is bad, not good, absolutely terrible,” stated Oberleutnant Herus, the leader of their company who laid to 49´s right.

“SD8750, -8711, -8790 reporting back! I’ve got orders from Hauptman Vicis,” 50 yelled over the whistling of bullets. He had been crawling over to them with the other two, “he said we have to break through their defenses.”

Oberleutnant Herus was a normal changeling who enlisted for service as officer. That was pretty obvious by his body alone, but there was also something else. Unlike the drones, he was enveloped by an aura of worry and terror, and he made no attempt to hide it. His hands, clamping around his saber, were trembling uncontrollably. His eyes were wide open and looked like he was looking at something in the far distance.

“Wow, what an innovative idea. Why didn’t I come up with this?” Herus mumbled loud and sarcastically. “Any equally bright ideas how to accomplish this?” His voice was tense and nervous.

49 laid his head sideways on the ground too look over to Herus without exposing himself. The Oberleutnant looked sick. What he said sounded way braver than he looked. If he were to throw up, 49 would not have been surprised. But nothing happened.

Without further words, 50 pulled a grenade from his belt and screwed off the safety cap.

The Oberleutnant understood, seemingly seized with new zest for action. “Not exactly cunning, but what other choice do we have?”

“Frontal assault…. Oh well,” Herus muttered, accepting his fate. "I enlisted, there is no way back now."

“Vorbereiten zum Sturm!” he screamed. “Erster Zug, prepare grenades!”

As ordered, 49 got ready for an assault. He pulled his bayonet from its scabbard and attached it to his rifle. That was not so easy. The bayonet was probably 30cm long and he did not have much space to maneuver. The clicking sounds of bayonet snaping into position could be heard all around him.

“On my sign,” Herus bellowed.

When he gave the sign, a dozen drones ripped the fuse cord out of their grenades and hurled them towards the enemy with all power.

Thanks to the innate strength of the drones, they had no problem throwing the grenade all the way over to the with wood and sandbags fortified, trench-like defenses.

When the grenades detonated, 49 could not hear anything but a ringing in his ears. It hurt. His vision shook and he narrowed his eyes.

As soon as the Oberleutnant heard the explosions, he jumped out of his cover and shouted with his saber pointed towards the enemy, “Forward, Kameraden! For the fatherland!”

49 only heard muffled sounds, barely managing to make out words. The ringing had been replaced by a loud beeping sound. But it was not difficult to guess what Herus was saying.

"Hurrah!" he screamed as he got up and dashed towards the ponies.

His brothers got out of their cover as well. With chants of hurrahs, they charged behind their officer headlong towards the enemy without fear. They were in their element, fulfilling the most honorable duty to the fatherland. This is what they were born for.

The remaining pony soldiers that hid behind what was left of their fortifications stuck their heads out again. Left and right of 49, his brothers began getting gunned down as the ponies reopened fire.

Bullets flew past 49. A few came way too close for comfort. If there was any comfort in being shot at in the first place.

While running, 49 briefly glanced to his left. He saw 50, dodging the collapsing body of a drone in front of him and then jumping over an already dead body. 49 looked forward again just in time to see how the drone in front of him received a hit to the head and his helmet being flung away. He managed to catch the collapsing drone without falling over himself. While holding the dead drone, 49 immediately recognized him as SD8748, his older brother. The shock of seeing his brother, that he mere hours ago heard lively arguing, in this state, hit 49 like a punch to the face. He stared into 48´s lifeless, still and glassy eyes. And he saw the gruesome hole in his brothers's forehead before he pushed the body away from him. There was nothing he could do for him now.

With a thud the body of his brother hit the ground.

They were now so close to the enemy that they could look into the trench. They stopped and opened fire onto the remaining defenders cowering inside the trench.

The ponies fired back at them with everything they had, but it was not enough to stop the overwhelming numbers. What little was left of the defenders in the first trench was annihilated within seconds. Shot to shreds by the fire of the changeling's rifles.

49 raised his rifle, aimed at the first pony he saw and pulled the trigger. He did not hesitate for a even second. Rage took over his mind.

The bullet penetrated the pony´s throat. The green coated pony with a dark grey mane gurgled on its own blood as it flooded its mouth and throat. Crimson red came out of its mouth as it tried to cover the wound by pressing its hands on it. But it was to no avail. Blood slipped through its fingers, the pony could not hold it in. The pony’s breath became hectic, and its eyes screamed in panic before it fainted.

While the pony died, its comrades met a similar fate.

A cry sounded. Another group of ponies rushed from the town to reinforce their flank.

49 did not know whether this counterattack was bravery or stupidity, but he did not particularly care. The ponies where no match for them. They lagged the numbers, the training, even the equipment to make the fight even remotely fair. 49 even saw a pony wielding a spear instead of a rifle.

As soon as he noticed the approaching ponies, Oberleutnant Herus waved about with his saber and screamed, “Zum Angriff!”

Although the decision to go into a brawl with the ponies was questionable, given they had an already prepared trench right next to them, noone hesitated.

“Hurra!” one of the drones started to chant.

“Hurra!” the other drones yelled as well and ran towards the ponies.

“For Celestia!” the ponies replied.

As the two mobs got closer to each other, the biggest difference between the two armies got visible. The Equestrian army was a colorful, mixed force. They had everything, stallions, mares, unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies in all different colors and sizes. The changelings however were the complete opposite. They all looked alike: same frame, same face, same color and towering over the average pony. Only their officer varied in size and appearance.

As 49 was only a few meters away from the ponies he halted, raised his rifle and shot at the first pony that crossed his sights. With a scream and a thud, the pony hit the ground. Around him, the forces united, and the slaughter began.

While 49 struggled to push the bolt of his rifle back into firing position to fire again, he noticed a figure in the corner of his eye that quickly came closer. He turned to face whatever was running at him. It was a unicorn. A member of the physically weakest pony tribe.

This peculiar brave unicorn with an obvious tendency for making bad decision charged at 49 who stood still, yanking at the bolt handle of his rifle. When it was close enough the unicorn raised its rifle, ready to ram its bayonet deep into the changeling’s heart. However, 49 was expected this. When the pony stabbed, he used the stock of his own rifle to push the attack to the left and away from him, leading the stab into nothing.

The pony, confused by the fact the changeling had fended off the attack and still in full motion, stumbled a step forward and almost lost balance for a second. This was 49's window of opportunity. Exploiting the short yet decisive confusion of the pony, 49 attacked before the unicorn could react. He raised his rifle, turned it around and thrusted forward, hitting the unicorn with his rifles´ butt.

The impact has crucial. Although he did not properly aim, 49 hit the pony directly on the snout.

The cracking sound the pony’s nose made on impact was disgusting. Luckily it was almost completely drowned out by the chaos of gunfire, screaming and the sounds of melee combat.

The pony cried out in pain, stumbling backwards before losing its balance and falling on its back. There, the pony kept laying, crying and holding its bleeding and visibly deformed snout.

49 saw his opportunity to strike. He quickly stepped up to the pony and turned his rifle again, this time with the breech aimed at the defenseless opponent on the ground. But he did not shoot. That would have been a wasted bullet. Instead, he thrusted his rifle down with all the force he could muster.

The unicorn on the ground, like all the other pony soldiers, was wearing a thin metal chest plate, bearing the national emblem of Equestria in shining gold, over its otherwise brown uniform. This pathetic piece of “armor” maybe could have blinded the changeling with reflecting light but did a very poor job protecting the wearer from a lethal attack to the chest.

First, the sharp steel blade of 49´s bayonet penetrated the thin metal plate with ease, then it sliced through the fabric of the uniform and at last cut deep into the soft flesh of the pony.

The pony cried out in pain, then it tried to curl up on the ground, spitting and coughing blood. 49 did his best trying not to shiver at that miserable sight. He tried to pull his bayonet back out, but it did not move.

Yanking frantically at his rifle, 49 had to realize that it was to avail. It was stuck in the pony’s ribs. He braced his hoof on the pony´s stomach and tried again. This time, with the help of his hoof, the bayonet came out.

“Aargh,” he heard the pony cry and whimper. Without hesitation, 49 rammed his rifle down again, this time into the pony´s stomach and the screams of the pony died away.

As 49 pulled his bayonet back out of the dead body with full force, the blade was followed by a fountain of blood. SD8749 looked down on his body and saw that the blood of the pony had stained his uniform and claws red.

This small fight felt like it lasted at least a minute, but in reality, it had just been a few seconds. By then, the two groups had completely mixed and a fight to the death had broken out.

But before 49 could even begin to comprehend what just happened, his instincts told him that something was coming at him from behind. 49 reacted quickly. Trusting his instincts, he stayed where he was, with his back to the enemy and then rammed his rifle backwards with the right timing, sinking the stock deep into the stomach of a new opponent.

The pony bend over as a sudden wave of pain rolled over its nervous system, but it managed to stay on its hooves.

49 turned around. He had no time to aim. He held his rifle about the height of his hip and simply aligned the barrel with the pony’s head. While the pony tried to comprehend what just happened, 49 was already squeezing the trigger, putting a bullet between the eyes of his opponent.

The crack of his rifle went down in the noise of battle, but the mess this shot created did certainly not went by unnoticed. While the bullet made just a small hole entering the skull, it made a way bigger one on the other end where it left.

Blood, brain and bone shards all burst out of the back of the pony´s head like a geyser, creating a red-grayish puddle on the ground. The force of impact of the bullet had shattered a large portion of the back of the pony´s head and flung the pieces everywhere. The unfortunate changeling that happened to stand right behind that pony not only had to witness but was also hit by parts of the pony. He looked like he was about to faint.

Just seconds later, the pony fell over and hit the ground face down with a dull sound. It fell so convenient that 49 got a good look at what he did to the pony and what was left inside the its head. It was a sight 49 could have done without. Even on the ground blood was still flowing out of the large hole.

In a slight state of shook, 49 heard a voice yelling, “Forward! They are retreating.”

He was, to be honest, quite happy to move on. They continued their advance right into the heart of the small settlement.

The few ponies that had managed to flee from combat now tried to retreat out of the town. Although, “retreating”, was quite frankly the wrong word. Desperately trying to get out of there alive described it way better.

To their misfortune, escaping was something the changelings could not allow them. “Don’t let anypony escape or they´ll tell Sunbutt that we are coming!” Herus ordered.

Thus, the ruthless soldiers gunned down everything that tried to leave the town, whether it wore a uniform or not.

The smell of panic, despair and fear hung heavily over the town. It was everywhere. It smelled disgusting.

The remaining population of the small village had locked themselves up in their houses as soon as they had heard the first shots being fired, but that did not stop the changelings. As soon as they entered the settlement, they searched through every house for eventual hiding enemies. Groups of five soldiers each breached the doors and combed through every building, from the basement to the attic.

49 kicked in a door, and his group stormed into the building. It was an ordinary house. There was nothing special about it.

Inside was an entire family. The faces of the ponies inside were terrified. Nopony moved. One elderly mare even fainted right away. The changelings heard steps above them and rushed up the stairs. On the second floor they found a soldier hiding in a small back room. The soldier cowered even deeper into a corner of the room after the changelings broke open the door .

Just as 49 was about to shoot the pony, a way smaller pony came seemingly out of nowhere, ran over to the soldier and took a protecting position in front of him.

“Don´t you dare to hurt my brother! If you want him, you´ll have to get me first.” The pony yelled with a very high-pitched voice.

49 was more than just mildly confused. Why is this pony so small? What is it doing? But those questions did not stop him from carrying out his orders. Okay, if that´s what you want. He thought as he raised his rifle again. This time aiming at the smaller pony. The tiny pony swallowed and closed its eyes but held its ground.

Mere milliseconds before SD8749 pulled the trigger, he was stopped by someling rudely pushing his rifle upwards.

“What are you doing? Are you crazy?” a very, very angry Herus shouted directly into 49's ear.

The Oberleutnant together with three drones had entered the house too without 49 noticing. The three drones carried the small pony away which struggled against their strong grip and Herus glared furious at a confused 49. “What were you doing here, soldier?!”

49 stood at attention. “I was following my orders; clearing the object of hostile forces,” he responded mechanically. That was the only way to react he knew at the moment.

Herus first glared at 49 then at the Equestrian soldier behind him. One of the other drones in the room raised his rifle and the pony’s eyes went wide.

A shot rang.

“No, what you were about to do is killing a civilian,” said Herus, completely ignoring the dead body in the corner, the bloody stain on the wall, the cries from next door and the sobbing from bellow. “That was never part of your orders. You were about to execute a child. God damn it, soldier. A child.”

49 did not understand.

“I did not know, Herr Oberleutnant,” 49 said, trying to defend his actions. He was confused. Of course, he knew that they needed the civilians as love resource, but the pony was trying to defend an enemy combatant what made it also an enemy.

“Of course, you couldn´t,” Herus mumbled. “You have never seen a child. Your training did not include dealing with the ponies' stupidity.”

“Remember this, chisel it into your brain and tell your brothers; ponies about this size or smaller,” Herus said, showing the size he meant with his free hand, “are children. Children, like grubs. We don´t kill children for no reasons, got that? They are the most valuable love sources.”

49 clicked with his heels and slightly raised his chin. “Jawohl, Herr Oberleutnant.”

“Good,” Herus said and gave his escort a sign to follow him out of the building.

The rest of the purge went by without any more incidents. Buildings were entered, ponies were shocked and escaping soldiers shot.

It all went really fast. 49 did not have the time to think about or comprehend anything. He just strictly did what he was told, hoping, trusting his superiors knew what they were doing.

After the last remaining defenders got eradicated and peace returned to the village, at least to some extent, the 7. company rejoined the rest of the 8. battalion. Hauptmann Vicis let the changelings counted their numbers to calculate casualties; 50 soldiers killed in action and 32 wounded. Almost a fourth of their whole unit after just one fight. Upon hearing these numbers, Hauptmann Vicis´s facial expression went through multiple emotions over the span of only a brief moment.

49 could see him saying something to himself, but he could not hear what it was.

“The wounded will stay here. They will be cared for by the incoming reinforcements,” he explained before anyling could ask, “As the queen’s plan envisages, we will continue our advance eastward as the spearhead of our regiment, straight towards Canterlot. We won’t stop for anything.”

The drones just stood there and looked at him, unsure how to react.

“I´m not- that severely insured,” moaned SD8752, who was supported by two drones and had an improvised bandage around his Back where he had been hit. “I can still fight.”

“No, Kamerad,” said Vicis, “You need rest and medical attention. But I promise you will be back at the front with us in no time.”

SD8752 looked disappointed but did not object as he got carried away to the other wounded.

“What are you waiting for?” Vicis barked, but his voice trembled noticeably. He could not hide it. “Into formation, we are leaving!”

The murmurs that had been going through the crowd abruptly ended and the soldiers hurrying into formation.

From where he stood, 49 could see how the Hauptmann took off his cap and kneaded his face with his free hand. Then he pulled his hand down his face and swallowed visible. 49 did not understand why Vicis behaved so different all of the sudden. Vicis had always been the iron leader with a plan, but at the moment he seemed rather helpless and lost. Maybe even desperate.

49 looked around further. The forming column was way smaller than usual. The war had already taken a noticeable toll on the 8. battalion. 49 wondered what their ranks would look like after a week, a month or even a year. He hoped this war would not take that long.

“Im Gleichschritt, marsch!”

The column of drones left the pony settlement like nothing ever happened, leaving a devastated village, a traumatized population and a big pile of bodies behind. As they marched off on an unpaved road that led eastwards and into a forest, 49's mind got clear all of the sudden. It felt like he just stepped out of a dense fog, as if he regained control over his actions and mind. He began to comprehent what happened. 49 began to realize that he did not really control or think about anything he had done while fighting. Everything he had done had been somewhat intuitive. As if he was controlled by instincts, he did not know he possessed. Suddenly he began to comprehend what just happened.

In the fight he did not have the time to think about it, but now 49 had to realize that brothers of his were now gone forever. And it had never been impossible for him to be one of them. And he had killed. For the first time in his life. They had been trained for it for their whole lifes, but the real thing was diffrent. The real enemy shoots back.

49 had lost a lot of brothers in past hour and he did not know what to think of it. On the one hand he knew that they died for the fatherland, but on the other hand he had trouble accepting the fact that they were actually gone. Forever. Gone for the greater good of their country and race but gone nonetheless.

He did not feel sad for any of them. Dying while fighting for queen and country was nothing less than their duty. The only emotion he felt was anger. An anger, tight like a knot and hot like lead out of a gun, resting deep inside his chest. An anger directed at those who had taken his brother's lifes and at those that threatened his home. He had felt nothing when pulling the trigger or stabbing with his bayonet except for a morbid feeling of satisfaction and revenge for his fallen brothers.

To 49´s left marched 50, determination firmly occupying his face. 49 wished he could know what was happening in the heads of his brothers right now. He wanted to know what they thought about the whole situation and if he was the only one who could not bring up any emotions other than blunt hate over the death of their brethren and friends. Would he have felt differently if it had hit 50? And what was with the dead ponies? All he felt for them was contempt.

He shook off these thoughts. Defending their country required sacrifice. He was probably still in a state of shock from the fighting. He would need some time to get things sorted out. Too bad, chatting while marching or fighting was forbidden.

Author's Note

Second chapter and my first try at writing combat scenes. I hope you enjoyed it.