They marched on for hours, onwards, deeper and deeper into Equestrian territory.

Vicis, who marched in front of the column, raised his voice at some point, “Remember, we are the front. Behind us lays our beloved fatherland and in front of us is the colorful horde. Our Heer is the only thing standing between our home, our people, everything we love and the pony tyranny. Our Independence, freedom and our prosperity depend on our success on the battlefield. Don’t let our first victory fool you. The ponies may be ignorant, incompetent and arrogant but they wouldn’t be in the position they are in if they were giving up so easily.”

He got no reply, the battalion silently marched on. The only sounds they created were the sounds of their synchronized steps and the noise the gear they carried made. It was unnatural quiet. Not even the song of birds or the sound of the wind in the trees was there. It was like nature observed with bated breath.

Through all this subtle noise, 49 suddenly heard quiet whispering. It was their officers speaking. He could not understand what they were saying, but it sounded like a heated debate.

He tried to focus on their voices, trying to understand at least some words, but it was in vain.

Left, right, left, right, their hooves stomped the ground.

Suddenly the whispers from the officers stopped and their synchronized steps were the only thing that disturbed the silence of nature.

Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right. Their hooves hit the ground to a silent rhythm. A silent rhythm that connected them all. 49 did not have to concentrate to stay in sync with his brothers. Over all the years of constant drill, the rhythm had gotten into their blood. It dictated their life, their thoughts, maybe even the beat of their hearts.

The fact that it came to them so naturally was what made marching long distances so boring. While marching, they had nothing to do. Nothing to hear, nothing to say, nothing to concentrate on. Their minds were free to wander, while their legs carried them wherever the officers would lead them.

Since he had nothing better to do, 49 eyed the surrounding nature.

He noticed that the further they advanced into Equestria, the greener the grass and foliage got, the more colorful the flowers were and the less dry and dusty the earth became. He looked around. The terrain was mostly flat with huge golden fields stretching across the horizon, but in the far, far distance he saw a mountain chain with snowy tips.

They came by a small forest. The trees were not clad with needles, but with leaves and the undergrowth was not just dead wood and needles from the trees, but flowers, bushes and shrubs. Through this greenery 49 saw butterflies flying, and crickets chirping. Everything in this cursed land was beautiful, lively and peaceful. It was like they invaded paradise.

The intrusive beauty of the land made 49 feel like Equestria itself was trying to convince them to lay down their guns and peacefully integrate into this utopia.

This thought made 49 boil. He hated this land. How does it dare to think it was better than his homeland, or by extent the ponies that they were better than them? Of course, a territory was not able to think, but still his hate flared up further. He was not mad at a territory for being a good place to live, that would be ridiculous. No, he was angry because the ponies had it so much better than them. He could not describe or explain his feelings about it. Maybe it was jealousy, maybe not. 49 only knew that he would choose his homeland over this land any day and that he would never admit that this land looked and lived better than his fatherland. NEVER.

He did not care that the hive he came from was surrounded by literal wasteland, or that their forests were planted, cold, windy and overall, just mazes of identical looking rows of trees. He did not care that there were barely any smaller insects where he came from, or that entire rivers had been poisoned by their industries. He did not think about how the air of their cities was always fogy from the huge industrial chimneys that made up the majority of the skyline. All of this did not matter to him at the moment. All that mattered was that this was where he came from, and that wherever he was heading could never be as great as his home.

In his anger he saw a lot of animals and he could not help but notice that this place was more lively than his home. Back home, the only other animals they had were solely there for agricultural needs. But the animals around here were free. Not caged, not enslaved and not bred to be turned into meat. Yet the animals weren’t behaving lively, quite the contrary was the case. Instead of peacefully grazing or doing what animals do, they hid, ran away or stared at the changelings with terrified eyes.

The column came by small clearings, a peaceful stream and meadows of flowers in all imaginable colors. The highlight of their march though was a single little farm.

It was an ordinary farm with small fields, a house and a barn.

The residents of the farm stopped working and some even dropped their farming tools as soon they spotted the changelings. Nopony dared to move or say a word as they astonishedly stared at the field gray column. The changelings marched by, past the fields, farmhouse and barn, untouched by their stares. No word was spoken, and no shot was fired. It was an awkward occurrence.

Suddenly Vicis yelled, “This silence is unbearable. Ein Lied!”

“But Herr Hauptman, wont the ponies hear us coming if we make such noise?” Herus asked, objecting the idea.

“Should they plan an ambush: they know that we are coming anyways, and if they don’t plan an ambush, I doubt that they have a larger force in the nearby area that could get alarmed by some chanting. According to the intelligence our infiltrators have gathered over the years, the next bigger unit is stationed a good 120 kilometers away,” explained Vicis, “Didn’t you listen during the regimental briefing?”

"I-"

“Besides that, a good song raises the mood and the moral.”

Herus had nothing to add.

“Alte Kameraden,” Herus shouted. “3. 4.” And the drones began chanting.

“Alte Kameraden auf dem Kriegespfad,
Schließen Freundschaft flesenfest und Treu.
Ob im Kampfe oder Pulverdampf,
Stets zusammen halten sie aufs neu.

Zur Attacke geht es Schlag auf Schlag,
Ruhm und Ehr soll bringen uns der Sieg.
Auf Kameraden, frisch wird geladen.
Das ist unsre Marschmusik- ”

Their chanting thundered over the landscape and scared away even the last animals. The battalion lacked a military band, but that did little to belittle their performance. Back in the hive, the drones had mandatory singing lessons twice a week. There, the young drones learned songs about victory and loyalty, advertising their service and duties as honorable and adventurous, but sometimes he also wondered how it all started. Why did the ponies hate them? What did the changelings do to them? Changeling school never went much into detail about these topics. It just was how it was, and they had to fight the ponies. When the queen calls to arms to defend the fatherland, who then asks for the reasons?

49 could feel his hooves slowly becoming numb from marching for hours on end. Throughout this time, he had calmed down from his previous anger and used the silence to gather what he knew to evaluate the situation. Surely an unusual action for a drone, but he always admired the officers for having the full perspective in every situation and he wanted to see the bigger picture too.

He knew that at its current state, Equestria had a power monopoly no nation dared to question. Expect for the changelings, obviously. It is common consensus in Equestria right now that magical power is the only thing that mattered in society and combat. This believe and their trust in their ´all powerful Alicorns´ led to their arrogance and the false feel of safety the changelings were exploiting.

49 concluded that the changelings’ position was in no way advantageous. At least from the ponies’ point of view. As far as he knew, the changelings were just another form of insect, in their eyes. Only a hivemind and swarm without magic or technology and with tactics like those of ants.

49´s thoughts drifted away from reality and facts and into the realm of imagination. He imagined the surprise of a pony officer and an alicorn about realizing the true nature of their enemy. He smirked a devilish grin at the imaginary scene. Ponies running away in shock and terror as their magical shield collapses under relentless artillery fire.

The hours passed.

The 8. battalion was still on the march. The sun was slowly sinking sending its last rays of light and warmth to the changelings. The narrow roads and wide-open plains turned orange, red and finally violet under the influence of the majestic sunset.

Since the village and the farm, they had encountered, the column of soldiers had not met any other signs of civilization. This would change soon, however.

They heard a humming. It sounded like the wings of a bee or a fly, but it was too loud to originate from any kind of small insect. 49 imagined a gigantic bumblebee hoovering somewhere over tiny flowers. He wondered how fluffy it would be. Shaking his head, he silenced his bored fantasy.

Of course, the humming was not caused by an oversized insect. At least not from an insect like this. They spotted small black dots on the horizon, growing in size as they quickly flew towards them. The column stopped. All the drones were on alert, ready to spread on the fields on either side of the road. Vicis raised his binoculars to his eyes.

“Those are our scouts,” he said, and the soldiers relaxed visibly. None of them were eager to face Pegasi on such open terrain.

As the scouts came closer, 49 could make out their silhouette against the bright sky. Their proportions looked pretty much like those of 49 and his brothers. The only difference between them was their pair of wings.

The scouts landed in front of the battalion and immediately headed to Vicis. On the ground, 49 could get a better look at them. Indeed, they looked like normal drones, but their uniform was distinctively different. Like all flying elements of the changeling military, they wore a bright blue uniform and dark chitin chest armor. Also, their trousers were a lot less baggy than those of the infantry. Overall, they had an elegant and graceful appearance. This was supplemented by their dignified body language and elegant movements. They were the changeling counterpart to the knights of old.

On their backs rested a pair of shimmering wings, sparkling in the day’s last light. They almost looked crystalline. Even though he was afraid of heights, 49 often envied his winged brothers for their ability to fly, and the look of their wings.

From what 49 could hear from where he stood, the scouts had scouted out a bigger town, about 1 kilometer ahead of them.

He saw Vicis rubbing his chin, then nodding determinedly. Vicis let his drones know that they were stopping their advance for now and would rest for the night. Not only to give the soldiers some rest, but also to give the logistic units time to bring much needed supplies and reinforcements to the front.

“Biwak!” was the order.

Drones and officers alike greeted the decision. They were tired after a long day of fighting and marching. Their hooves ached and 49 had lost almost all feelings in his legs. He wondered how Vicis managed to still be on his hoofs.

A nearby hill next to a small river was chosen as the location for their camp and the drones got to work.

They secured the area and created fireplaces, but they did not erect tents. Tents were not worth the effort if they were already leaving again the next morning. The drones would sleep under open air using their combat luggage as pillow and their tarpaulin as blanket.

After 49´s platoon was done preparing their fireplace and “beds,” they took a seat in the grass. A sigh of relief escaped them when the tension in their bodies vanished, and their muscles were finally able to relax.

Usually, the space around the fires was sparce when 72 drones tried to find a place, but due to recent events, there was much more space than usual.

49 leaned backwards and rested his weight on his elbows. His back ached, his legs were numb, and his head was empty. He could not suppress a long yawn as a wave of sudden tiredness came over him. He was exhausted.

His yawning also infected his brothers. They were all lazily laying or sitting in the grass around the fire. Noling said a word, they were simply enjoying the break, the silence and that they were still alive. Their rifles rested stacked behind them. The bayonets were no longer dripping with blood, it had long dried up and was now a dark red, almost black coat over the cold steel.

49 looked down at his body. His hands, his tunic and trousers were stained with pony blood like the blades and covered in mud. Throughout his entire life, the officers would always notice and fault even the smallest stains and now, now no officer cared about the appearance of the drones or themself. There should have been at least one inspection by now, at least they handled it like this when they were on maneuvers. The officers were standing around a nearby fire, all of them with tense posture.

For 49, who like his brothers followed every order to the letter, it was an uncomfortable feeling. He felt dirty. Not just because his uniform was dirty but because they violated the service regulations, he had to live by his entire life. In battle or not, a dirty or in any other way imperfect uniform was uncomfortable to him. It was his second skin, and he liked his skin to be clean.

50 sat down next to 49. His gaze followed 49´s and then fixated on his own uniform. “Anyling want to go and ask Herus for permission to clean ourselves at the river?” 50 asked.

49 thoughts about it a moment and then nodded in agreement. “Good idea.”

The two got up. 49’s body screamed at him, it did not want to move again, but he ignored the pain.

“Hey, wait for me!” SD8747 said and jumped up as well.

“For me too.”

“And for me.”

The whole platoon got up eventually and went to their company commander. Herus was next to Vicis and the other officers.

“Herus, I think your boys want to talk to you,” Leutnant Agrilus of the 6. company said to Herus, who did not even notice the drones approaching in the dark.

Herus turned around. “What can I do for you?” he asked, surprised at the sight of 57 drones suddenly standing behind him.

50, who had the idea, stepped forward and assumed posture. “Herr Oberleutnant, first platoon requesting permission to go to the river to clean ourselves.”

“Of course, actually that would be the best for all of us,” Herus said, giving a little laugh. “You can go. But no deserting.”

The drones remained where they stood, confused by his remark. There was a general tension in the air that had never been there when they were on maneuvers. The war, of course.

“Go,” Vicis said. “It was a joke.”

The drones went into attention stance for a brief moment and clicked their hoofs. Then the group of changelings turned around simultaneously and walked off.

Herus continued looking at them dumbfounded, then he turned back to face his fellow officers. With great displeasure he had to see they were suppressing laughs. “What?!” he asked a little too harshly and Vicis began to laugh.

Cold water ran through 49´s claws. It was so cold that it was a burning sensation on his chitin skin.

49 sat at the river’s shore, hands sunk into the water, feeling the power of the stream pressing against his palm and fingers. Left and right to him were his brothers. Some were still trying to get blood off their uniform or limbs while others already sat with their hoofs in the water, enjoying the feeling of the water and the round pebbles on the riverbed on their tired hooves.

He rolled up his sleeves and sunk his arms deeper into the water. 49 felt the river flow through the holes in his arms. It was a weird feeling, to feel the river literally flow through his body.

He pulled his arms back out of the water. Dry blood still stained his claws and palms. 49 grimaced, before he immersed his hands into the water again. While he rubbed his hands to get the blood of, he looked over to where 50 knelt.

His brother did not seem to notice his gaze.

“Are you angry, or sad?” asked 49 suddenly.

50 ears twitched and his head turned in surprise. “Angry? Why should I be angry, or sad? We are part of probably the biggest historical event ever. We kick pony flanks for the fatherland, so why should I?”

“That’s not what I mean,” explained 49, “I mean angry that they took our brothers from us. Sad that they will not experience our victory with us.”

50 looked away from him, his eyes firmly locked on the curls of the water.

“I know,” he said.

That was not the response 49 expected.

“But that´s our duty. We live to fight, with all the consequences, so that our people back home don’t have to. Our brothers’ duty merely ended early, but that doesn’t mean that their death was in vain,” 50 continued. “Of course, I am absolutely pissed that these bastards killed our brothers, but I am not sad. Each of us would happily give their life so that the changelings may be free, wouldn’t we?”

“Yes, we would,” said 49 quietly. “Without hesitation”

“Our people will forever remember and honor their sacrifice, or the sacrifice of those who will have to fall. The most important thing is that we win this war. I don’t even want to think about what would happen if we didn’t.”

49 nodded silent.

Maybe it was a display of weakness to think and talk about the lost comrades after just the first battle, but it was good to know that his friend and comrade saw things just like he did. 49 wanted to have a clear mindset and he swore to himself that nothing would ever shake or undermine this ideology. For the honor of his brothers.

No matter the sacrifice, they must not succumb. Everything they knew and loved was at stake. He could not think of any bigger motivation than that.

The drones returned to their camp a few minutes later. 49 found a nice place near a bonfire and sat down. The moment his body touched the ground his muscles relaxed. He felt unbelievably tired.

“You better get some rest. Herus said that we will attack that town tomorrow,” said one of the drones from a different company as he saw them returning.

“I heard the flies say that the 4. Feldartillerie Abteilung has caught up with us, so when we attack that town tomorrow, we can request artillery support if it´s necessary,” said 50 as he sat down next to 49 who warmed his wet and cold limbs on the bonfire. The nights, though summer had just begun, were still unusually cold.

One of the other drones next to them chuckled at 50, calling the scouts “flies”.

“Mhm,” was all that 49 replied.

Artillery or not, the city would fall no matter what. Just like that village had today and other settlements will. They won´t stop us, 49 thought, Not with their magic, and not with their friendship nonsense. And he had good reasons to be confident.

When 49 and his comrades returned from the river, he overheard the scouts report from their latest reconnaissance flight. They claimed that the town was only guarded by about battalion worth of guards, and these guards were still equipped with muskets or even spears.

49 wondered, how were the Equestrians not able to supply all their forces with modern weaponry when even the changelings managed to hand out a rifle to all their drones? And their weapons were literally invented by the ponies.

For 49 that showed again that Equestria did not give a damn for their regular infantry. They seemed immensely unprepared for war. Why did the ponies attack them then?

“What do you think is the reason the ponies are so weak at our frontier? I mean, if they seek to destroy and subjugate us, shouldn’t they have a bigger contingent of troops?” asked 49.

50 answered something but 49 did not listen. It was rude, but right as 50 began to speak, his ears had found something of far greater interest. “Vicis, I have question,” a voice said.

49’s ears turned to listen to the conversation behind him. If an officer was asked a question, chances were, he could get some additional information about something that was going on, but nobody told the dornes about.

“What is it?” Vicis asked, his voice tired.

“This army reform every staff officer in the regiment talked about, will it happen?” Herus asked.

“I don’t know but let’s hope it does. I read about the ideas of the reform; I think it is the only thing logical if we want to get through this with our drones alive. We all saw what happened today,” Herus said.

Silence. 49 heard 50 was still talking, but his voice was nothing but a muffled background noise. His brain was thoroughly fixated on the conversation between the officers.

“I have a question too,” a different voice asked. 49 identified the voice as Leutnant Agrilus. “What exactly are we facing tomorrow? I heard that the ponies have some very powerful magical infantry.”

“I don´t know,” said Vicis.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” a different voice said. Probably the company leader of the 8. company 49 supposed. “I have seen multiple scout groups talking to you.”

“I mean that we don’t know how many enemy troops there are,” said Vicis tense. “Two different scout parties came to me during the last hour, both reporting completely different numbers. But I can promise there will be no magic, we will have to trust our comrades.”

“Then we attack an unknown enemy?” Agrilus hissed, trying to suppress his outrage.

“Yes.”

There was a second of silence.

“We can only hope that we get some reliable numbers by tomorrow and then-“ Vicis was cut off by one of the other officers.

“How will exact numbers help us should we find out that we have to fight an entire division? Until now, we only know about their armament.” The officer of the 8. sounded angry. “And I begin to question this information too, as well as the competence of our dear flying comrades.”

“They can’t come too close, or they would alert the ponies,” said Herus in defense of the scouts.

“Should there be an entire division,” Vicis said, putting strong emphasis on the word “should”, “then we can only try to take them by surprise.”

“So, we will attack no matter what?” asked Agrilus.

“We have our orders.”

There was another moment of awkward silence.

“But in that case, they outnumber us at least nine to one, and all we have is infantry.”

“Can we at least count on artillery support?” Herus asked.

“In theory yes. I think you all heard that the 4. Feldartillerie Abteilung has ‘caught up to us’. But the 4. is still kilometers behind us. They have merely crossed the border, but they are not on our tails.

“No intel, no fire support. Is there anything to our advantage?” Herus asked growling. The mood of the officers was obviously deteriorating.

“We have the superior infantry. And we still have the element of surprise. Something all the scouts reported is that the ponies are still not alarmed and-“

“Hey! What are you doing?”

49 flinched at the sudden voice right next to him. He turned his head and looked directly into the face of SD8701. SD8701 had taken a seat right next to 49 and had observed the curious drone for a good while without 49 noticing it. Now he was looking at 49 with amusement rather than anger, unlike 50 who looked rather unamused.

“I… uh…” 49 stammered.

“Heard anything interesting?” SD8701 asked.

“N-no, Herr Unteroffizier. I heard nothing of interest.” 49 said franticly, his body tensing. If changelings were able to blush, his face would have been grass green from embarrassment and panic.

SD8701 chuckled. “Hey 49, we´re all on the same side. I want to know too, what did they say?” 01 asked curiously.

49 swallowed. “Well, the only thing I heard is that; apparently we have no idea how many enemies we are going to be facing tomorrow.”

“No idea?” SD8701 asked surprised. “But all the scouts that come and go.”

“None of them report matching numbers.”

“So, ten or maybe ten thousand?”

“Yes”

SD8701’s mouth got very thin.

“Oh, and before I forget, Herus told me to tell you that ponies about this size.” He marked the approximate height with his hand, “and with a very high voice are probably children, and we are forbidden to hurt them.”

“Children, like pony grubs?” SD8701 asked.

49 shrugged. “I guess. Ask him yourself if you want to know more.”

“And why did he tell you this?”

“Because I almost shot one of them,” 49 said, as if there was nothing to it.

SD8701 nodded and got up to search for Herus. The other drones around the bonfire did not pay attention to their small conversation. They were busy heating field rations over the fire.

49 watched his brothers carefully holding their tin mess kits over the flames.

The quiet conversations were supplemented by the crackling of the bonfires. It was almost a cozy atmosphere, like a summer camp. But they were no students, they were soldiers.

50 poked 49’s side with his elbow to get his attention. 49 raised his eyebrows to signal his attention, but 50 did not say anything. He simply pointed at the drone next to him.

49´s eyes followed 50s finger and he saw SD8755 laying in the grass, starring into the sky.

“What are you doing?” asked 49.

“I´m looking at the stars. Aren’t they beautiful?” replied SD8755 absent.

49 laid his head back and stared up into the dark sky. SD8755 was not wrong, the night sky really was beautiful. If only the ponies did not annex the celestial bodies as theirs, it would make the sight much more enjoyable for him.

“Stargazer,” said 50.

“Pardon?” said 49 confused.

“Stargazer!” exclaimed 50.

“Yes, I heard what you said, but I don’t understand,” said 49, looking at his brother as if he was speaking in an alien language.

“SD8755’s new nickname. Forget 55, I´ll call you Stargazer.”

49 stared at his brother a little bewildered. 55, no, Stargazer, did not seem to mind, or even notice. Before he could say anything back, the drones that warmed up the rations began to distribute.

49 grabbed the tin cup with both hands, enjoying the warmth it emitted. The food itself was not noteworthy. Mediocre at best, but they were all hungry. The conversations fell silent. Eating noises took their place.

“Stargazer, I like it,” said Stargazer with full mouth.

Author's Note

Phew, this took a lot longer to edit than expected.... Next chapter should be quicker.