Author's Note

This chapter got a lot longer than expected. Also during the writing and editing process, I experienced a lot of technical problems and stress due to work, which might be noticeable in the quality of this chapter. Sorry in advance. Constructive criticism is welcome as always, and if you find any spelling or grammatical mistakes let me know so I can fix them. Hope you enjoy anyways!

Chapter 5 No matter the risk

“Okay, let’s go through the plan one more time,” whispered SD8701, 49´s direct superior and Zugführer.

Their platoon, or what was left of it, hid behind a ridge that was the edge of a forest. Said forest bordered the entire left flank of the city and the fort of the guards they were about to attack.

It was almost noon, and the sun was high up in the sky, but despite that it was pretty cold. Freezing wind howled through the rows of trees, sending shivers down their spines. It was unusually cold for the midst of summer.

Earlier that day, the first supply trains finally caught up to them. They brought no replacements or food, only bullets and grenades. “Priorities. You can fight without food, but you can’t fight without ammunition,” they told the drones. “But don’t worry, food is on its way.”

After restocking bullets and grenades, they dismantled their camp to get into attack positions around the town. The name of the settlement was unknown, as were the numbers of the garrison troops. When making the strategy for the attack, the officers were just helplessly looking at each other, because noling knew where to start. In the end they settled for attacking from all directions at once, in the hopes of finding and exploiting a weak spot and catching the enemy of guard.

The 7. company was given the task to take out or at least distract the guards stationed in the small fort that seemingly served as their barracks, while the other units tried to overrun and secure the city. If only the recon drones would have been able to get a closer look, That would have made planning the attack a lot easier. But if they had gotten any closer, they would have alarmed the ponies.

While 01 began explaining their position again, 49 was only listening with one ear. He had heard this before when he overheard the officers planning, he had heard this when the officers consulted the Unteroffiziere and when the Unteroffiziere informed their units.

“On my sign, we advance in Schützenreihen towards the walls with the company. Throw grenades over them as soon as you are close enough and then climb over. Try not to get spotted by the watchtowers when approaching. No prisoners, no survivors, but keep the civilians unharmed. We still need them. If we take the fort, we advance towards the city center. If we don’t take this fort, may good help us,” explained SD8701with dry voice. “Questions?”

The drones shook their heads. SD8701 nodded once and took a small silver watch out of his pocket.

49 pulled his rifle closer to his body and switched the safety to firing mode. The blade of his bayonet was still bloodied from the last fight. He could still smell the mixture of blood and connect the scents to their pony of origin. He cursed himself for forgetting to clean it at the river the day before and he swore to clean it as soon as this fight was over.

If he was still alive.

A moment passed.

Tension built up and it was grueling. When were they finally attacking? And how many foes would they be facing?

Another moment passed.

SD8749 felt a weird feeling deep inside his chest. An uncomfortably pressing pain that increased the more time went by. He could still feel the knot from yesterday in his chest. He wanted to do something. Anything.

Another moment passed.

49 hated waiting.

01 was still staring at his watch.

The gap between them and possible death got smaller and smaller. There was no guarantee they would survive, but they all knew that. They were all ready for that. So why was he nervous?

Another moment passed.

Or was he actually nervous? His thoughts raced. He had heard that nervosity is displayed by shaking hands. 49 removed one of his hands from his rifle and looked at it. His claws were completely motionless. No trembling. No unintentional movements at all.

He grabbed his rifle with both hands again.

More moments passed.

He was excited. Excited to be in battle again. Ever since the battle yesterday ended, 49 felt a strange sensation pulling him eastwards towards the enemy. Every dead brother of his strengthened that drive. The desire for blood, revenge and victory.

He was excited, but also, he was not. He knew what could happen, he was not oblivious and that lowered his excitement immensely. Though 49 had tried his best to shake off these thoughts, he could not help but notice the part of his mind that was greatly concerned. He wondered just how weak he was. Just one battle and he was already thinking like this. Maybe it was smart. Cautiousness kept soldiers alive. Cautiousness and a lot of luck. He hoped he was lucky today.

49 looked over to SD8750. Seeing his brother’s determined expression gave him a feeling of security and relief. He looked around. All the other drones shared that expression. It was oddly comforting to see how determined his comrades were about the whole thing. It strengthened his own determination. He was not afraid. He would not hesitate to give his life if it was necessary. He would fulfill his duty. But that did not mean that he did not prefer to stay alive.

His thoughts began to wander off. They still had not gotten any reliable intel about the numbers of the enemy. But that did not lower their confidence. If anything, it only strengthened their will to take this city. They knew that as long as they were surprising the ponies, victory was almost certain.

After a few more uncomfortable moments of waiting, SD8701 closed his watch, raised his arm, stretched out his claws and waved towards the fort. This was the signal.

As soon as the signal was given, the uncomfortable pressure in 49's chest disappeared, as did the cold of the air. All feelings were suddenly gone. The only thing that mattered was the order and that it got fulfilled.

The changelings rose from the cover they had blended in perfectly. From a wide section of the forest small groups of drones emerged. The 7. Kompanie formed twenty-four rows, but almost none of them had the proper full strength of 9 drones. They had taken heavy casualties yesterday.

Like a salvo of arrows, the rows of soldiers crossed the fields, directly and swift, approaching form three sides. Unnoticed by the ponies, the changelings gathered around their walls, ready to strike. As 49 and his group arrived at their part of the wall, they pulled their grenades out from their belts and got ready to throw.

They waited quietly for further instructions. On the other side, 49 could hear quiet chatter of the ponies.

The more enemies they killed with that first strike, the less they would have to shoot afterwards. They had not practiced attacking fortifications a lot. Not even remotely as much and intense as the pioneers. They had always focused on fighting in fields and forests. Still, everyling knew where to throw their grenades, where to stand and everything worked without verbal communication.

On the signal of their group leader, they primed their grenades and shortly after, seven of them flew over the palisade. Together with the grenades of the other groups, over one hundred grenades made their way over the wall. Some flew far and some flew short, to max out the area of death. They heard the quiet thuds of the impacts of the grenades on the ground on the other side. Then there was a second of silence where they heard absolutely nothing until the sound of multiple explosions tore the silence, followed by screams of ponies in agony or panic.

Meanwhile, the changelings got over the wooden palisade. Fortunately for them it was not that high. One of the soldiers got close to the wall to help the others over. He crouched down and formed a step with his hands. 49 was the first to climb. He stepped onto the hands of his brother with one hoof and his brother pushed him up. With that momentum he got high enough to get a hold on the top of the wall. He pulled himself up and climbed over the top. Then he jumped down and stood at the edge of chaos. The others followed suit.

The fort was not actually a fortress. It was a large square field covered by tents and surrounded by the wall. On one side of the square was a larger wooden building next to the wall.

Inside the walls was utter chaos. Ponies ran all over the place, rushing to get into their uniform and chest armor. Only few of them were actually ready for combat. On the ground in front of him, 49 saw a pony laying in a puddle of its own blood, holding the leftovers of one of its legs and screaming horrified. The brown uniform of the pony slowly turned to a way darker shade as it soaked up the blood. 49 raised his rifle and shot at the first pony that came into his view. He completely ignored the pony on the ground. It was no threat with that missing leg.

Only when the shot echoed through the fort and the pony dropped to the ground, the others noticed the changeling in their camp. But, at this point it was already too late. Changeling after changeling climbed over the wooden walls from all directions and began shooting into the mass of unorganized ponies.

The drones did not stand still. They moved and gave each other covering fire. From cover to cover, slow and steady, they advanced. Their constant shifting of their formation preventing the ponies from concentrating their fire.

Despite all the adrenalin in his blood that helped his body to transport enough oxygen with his blood, despite being shot at, despite facing death, his training kept him completely untouched by the events unfolding in front of him and focused.

But a strong beam of bright light caught him of guard. He winced as the thick column of bright blue light shot past him, feeling the heat it radiated and the air vibrating around it. The magic missed 49 only by centimetres and hit another drone that stood a little behind him. The impact was so strong that the changeling got shoved back almost five meters. He might have gotten thrown away even further, but the wall stopped him. With a loud thud he hit the wood. In his stomach gaped a huge hole. The magic had fully burned through his body.

It was a clean cut. The wound had been cauterized by the heat of the blast. There were no organs hanging out or blood flowing in rivers. Burned flesh and blood sealed the inwards. With wide open eyes the changeling stared at the giant hole in his abdomen before he collapsed like a bag of flour, revealing a circle of burned wood behind him, where the magic had left his body and hit the wall.

49 looked in the approximate direction that blast came from and indeed, he spotted unicorn standing surrounded by other ponies. It´s horn and hands were still surrounded by a bright blue aura. In fact, it looked like it was about to charge up for a new attack. No magic today, huh? he thought bitter.

Aligning his iron sights on the unicorn´s chest, 49 pulled the trigger. His gun kicked, smoke emerged from its muzzle and the unicorn was knocked over by the hit. As it´s body collapsed, the magical aura died.

After the unicorn fell all the ponies that stood near it suddenly focused on 49.

Cover. He needed cover. There was none around him except tents, but they really only served as concealment and not cover. 49 reacted within the fraction of a second and dropped to the ground behind a tent while harshly pulling back the bolt handle. The impact with the ground knocked the air out of him, but he heard the recognisable sound of bullets flying over his head. He pushed the bolt handle back into firing position, rose again from the ground and pulled the trigger. His rifle cracked and a pony hit the ground. He had to change position again if he did not want to continue being targeted.

He dashed from tent to tent and crouched behind a barrel. 49 perfectly vanished inside the mass of his brothers which were slowly closing in on the ponies.

The sound of combat, of bullets whistling through the air and the multitude of screams formed a chaotic choir of anguish and death.

The ponies were slowly being surrounded and pushed back by the changelings. The survivors desperately tried to scramble for cover and shoot back. Those who did not have guns either cowered somewhere in fear for their life or tried to find a gun on the ground.

From all directions the ponies were under fire, their numbers quickly dwindling. The cracking of the rifles did not stop, and the number of changelings did not seem to be shrinking.

As his gun ran out of bullets, 49 did not reload. Instead, he and a few others whose magazines were also dry charged at a smaller group of ponies that fought separated from the rest. The ponies, still in utter disarray, tried to flee as soon as they noticed changelings running towards them, bayonets at the ready.

But there was no place for them to run. 49 reached one of the stragglers and struck the pony down in one blow with his rifle´s stock. With a battle cry he rammed his bayonet into the pony´s throat. The pony stared into his pupilless eyes. 49 stared back. It was a Pegasus with grey coat, silver mane and bright slightly purple eyes. 49 could not even determine its age or gender but it looked young.

The small group was quickly destroyed, and the main force of the ponies got rounded up in a corner of their fort, where changeling rifles decimated their ranks at a steadily quickening pace.

The remaining ponies tried to escape through the main gate, but that got blocked by the changelings. In desperation, some of the ponies tried to force their way through in melee. That failed miserably. They were too inexperienced to defeat the changelings in melee combat.

The slaughter dragged on for a little longer, until the ponies decided it was not worth it and surrendered. They threw their weapons away, mostly old single shot rifles but also some newer ones with internal magazines and raised their arms. Seeing the ponies just giving up like that caught the drones off guard.

So much so in fact, that they ceased fire and just stared at the ponies. In the general confusion, Herus commanded his drones to round the ponies up.

The changelings crowded the ponies up in the corner of the fort. They grabbed those who were too far away from the others by the elbow or wrist and pulled them harshly to where they wanted them to be. The wounded got picked up and thrown next to their comrades to the ground.

Silent but hectic chatter arose from the pony crowd which had pushed in as deep into the corner as they could, like a herd of sheep being cornered by wolfs. The loudest sound that came from the ponies was the whimper and weeping of the wounded.

They had to follow their orders. “No prisoners.” The words of 01 suddenly began to ring through 49´s mind as he pushed a new clip of bullets into his rifle. The other drones reloaded as well and made ready, without even having the order to do so.

The quite conversations of the ponies immediately fell silent. The sounds they heard were the sounds of the wounded.

“Wait wait wait wait wait! Please!” a pony stallion shouted and suddenly took a step forward, staring down the barrels of changeling rifles. He stretched out his arms and open hands in a gesture that begged for a halt. His face was dominated by panic and the squealing of his voice displayed nothing but pure dread. The bittersweet smell of despair radiated from the ponies and anxiety enveloped their bodies.

“We surrender. Please!” But his pleading fell on deaf ears.

As Herus walked past his drones they lowered their rifles, resting the stock against their hips, muzzle pointing slightly upwards. Herus stopped between the changelings and the ponies. He looked behind himself, seeing the ground littered with not only dead ponies but also with fallen changeling. Herus turned back and eyed the ponies with contempt.

“Anlegen!” Herus shouted. Perfectly in sync, the drones raised the stocks of their rifles back to their shoulders, muzzle pointing at the ponies. But Herus did not give the fire order just yet. He seemingly indulged in his victory and the ponies’ fear.

The stallion let his arms drop and his ears flattened against his head.

“Feuer!” This time he did not shout. Oberleutnant Herus sealed the fate of the ponies with single, calm, almost whispered word. It was so silent in the fort however, that every being present could hear it. Even the wounded had fallen silent in anticipation of what would happen. The next thing to be heard was rifle fire and the sound of bodies hitting the ground. Volley after volley tore into the mass of ponies, until all of them were dead. Within seconds, everything was over.

It felt kind of cowardly to shoot them, since they were unarmed and had given up. But they had killed so many of their brothers and orders were orders.

And what now? Was all SD8749 could think about as he reloaded his weapon again. The others looked equally aimless. He looked over to SD8750. His brother stared with a lifeless expression at the pile of lifeless bodies.

Just as he wanted to say something to his friend, 49 heard Herus shout, “come on, don't play statues! Our comrades need us in the town.”

He waved sabre in hand towards the gate that separated the outpost from the rest of the city where fighting was still audibly raging. “Three platoons, three streets. We try to reach the centre of the city. We have to help the other companies.”

Without further words, the company left the fort, broke up and spread across the wide streets. The city was arranged around a central square, all the main streets lead towards it.

From house to house, over intersections and crossroads, the changelings slowly and carefully advanced. Everything was silent. Only the sound of their hoofs on the cobbled street and the shots being fired somewhere else could be heard.

49 pressed his teeth together tight. He was moving in the middle of his group, his posture slightly ducked and rifle at the ready, prepared for all eventualities. Yet they moved on unopposed.

The buildings looked familiar. Small wooden houses with only one floor and an attic. He had seen houses like that in the hundreds in all the small villages scattered around their hive. 49 wondered if pony cities looked anything like changeling cities as well.

Despite all the homes, he did not see a single pony which unsettled him. He could hear fierce fighting, yet there were no ponies to be seen. Where were they? 49 took in deep breaths, trying to focus on even the smallest hints of pony scent. He smelled so many different things, but nothing decisive. Suddenly there was more. He sensed an emotion. Uncertainty. Lots of it.

At first, he did not notice it because all of it had very subtle deviations, but when he tried to focus on the emotion alone, he could clearly smell and sense it. It came from behind them.

Suddenly rifles cracked.

Bullets hit the ground all around him and ricochet of with deafening sounds. Small parts of the cobblestone were blown off with each hit. But not only the ground fell victim to the ambush.

Simultaneously to the bullets that missed, drones started dropping as well. With a loud squeal, the drone in front of 49 suddenly fell to the ground.

Fortunately, they were not paralyzed by the sudden attack. As soon as the first shots were fired, the changelings started running. Only a small group stayed behind, rushed towards cover and began to return fire. Only when there were no more bullets hitting around them, they slowed down again but they did not return to their careful pace. The drones kept a reasonable fast walking pace.

The ponies laid ambushes behind corners and on top buildings. Again and again, seemingly at random, they opened fire on the changelings. Each small group of ponies that attacked them forced an equally large group of changelings to leave the main force to deal with them. Whether it was part of their plan or improvisation, but the ponies effectively thinned out the changelings and forced them to split up in many smaller groups.

Eventually, SD8749 and SD8750, who had put themselves at the helm of the main force to not be separated as well, together with a bunch of others made it very close to the city centre. All around them they could hear fighting. Herus, who went with their platoon, was nowhere to be seen. He was probably caught up in a skirmish.

They rushed down one of the main streets. In front of them was the city townhall, and their comrades. They stopped as they saw changelings behind cover, barely 200 meters away from their target. They hid behind a fallen over carriage, inside alleys and house entrances. 49 wondered why they were doing that. Mere milliseconds later, he knew why.

Without thinking, 50 and 49 hastily joined their brothers behind the carriage as the first burst of bullets whistled past them. The others hurried for any kind of cover too, but not all of them got lucky. A machine gun again and somewhere directly in front of them. 49 gritted his teeth even tighter as soon as he heard the next burst of shots turning into a long spray of lead being sent their way. Out of the dozen that arrived here, only eight got into cover.

As soon as he was behind the carriage, he took deep breaths, his lungs were demanding oxygen. He pressed himself against the wood and could only watch his unlucky brothers slowly dying from their wounds. When there were no more changelings standing in the open, the fire subsided.

The wooden contraption 49 and 50 used as concealment was already partly shot to shreds. It had so many holes in it that it was barely a concealment anymore. Through these holes, 49 could look down the street. At the end of it was a large marketplace and the townhall. The large building towered over all the other houses, the equestrian flag proudly flying on its top.

“Where are they?” shouted 49 over the deafening noise of machine gun and rifle fire. It felt like the bullets came from all directions at once.

“The majority of them has barricaded inside the townhall.” Said a soldier next to them in reply. “And they got a mg in there.”

“Yes, we noticed,” said 50.

“Only muskets and spears, huh?” 49 remarked sarcastically.

“I don’t think this carriage will-” 50 began again but got interrupted by a sudden hailstorm of bullets, coming directly at them. The machine gun crew finally realized that the carriage was in fact only made out of wood.

The bullets ripped through the leftovers of the carriage effortless, tearing it apart within seconds. Without any consideration, the changeling left their ailing cover and ran towards the nearest building that looked like it could withstand the hailstorm of lead. Two of them did not even get away from the carriage. One more got shredded on the way to the building.

50 kicked in the locked door and they dashed in. As soon as they were inside, they dropped to the floor, ignoring everything around them. They heard the impacts of bullets on the sturdy walls made off tree trunks. The bullets got stuck in the thick wood, but still caused sizeable splinters to fly all over the place on the inside.

49 closed his eyes and pressed his palms onto his ears has hard as he could. He felt splinters of wood falling on his back and legs. One flew directly against his helmet. Luckily none hit his eyes, because he laid with his legs towards where the fire came from. The noise was disgusting.

After the machine gun redirected its fire away from them, SD8749 looked around to see where they had taken shelter. For a brief moment, he panicked. What if they entered a house occupied by enemy soldiers? Only then he noticed the four headed group of inhabitants staring at them, eyes and mouths open in disbelief and shock.

They were no soldiers. If it was not for their current situation, the group of ponies could have been a normal family on a normal day. But currently they cowered under their table to avoid the fragments. A large earth pony stallion, a slender unicorn mare and two smaller ponies. Remembering yesterday, 49 assumed that these must have been their children. If he was not mistaken, they were in a family home.

“78!” A scream startled him. 49 looked to his left, one of the drones was staring out the open door, at the bloody and holey body that laid there. So close to safety, a fourth one had been caught by the fire. “Diese Hurensöhne!” the drone cried. His ID read SD8677.

While one of the other drones tried to calm their distressed brother, 49 frantically looked around to find 50. His relief was unimaginable as he found his friend right next to him. 77 was still vehemently cursing as 49 stood back up and picked up his rifle.

The ponies came out from under the table. The mare, most likely the mother, stepped protecting in front of the stallion and the two fillies.

The situation was tense and did not ease as the other soldiers rose up from the floor again. An awkward silence hung in the room and the longer it lasted, the more uncomfortable it got. Trying to break the silence, 49 cleared his throat, trying to speak. This brought not the desired effect, however.

The whole situation was too much for the male pony. Shrieking like a little filly, the stallion suddenly ran towards the still open door, leaving the rest of his family to their fate. SD8750, who stood closest to the door, reacted quickly and extended an arm to grab a shoulder or arm of the pony to stop it. Unfortunately, he only got hold of the jacket the stallion wore. His sharp claws tore off an entire sleeve of his jacked but did not stop the escapee.

Sleeve in hand, 50 watched baffled as the stallion ran out on the street. There, the ponies in the townhall opened fire. They must have mistaken the pony for a changeling. The pony instantly fell victim to the bullets of its own kind.

When the body hit the ground next to 78, riddled by bullets just like him, the unicorn mare finally found her voice. Yet the only thing she managed to say was a long and loud, "NO!"

Faster than any of the changelings could react, the mare tried to run after the stallion.

Startled at the sudden, impulsive and very stupid decision but not paralyzed by it, 49 ran after the unicorn and managed to get a hold of one of her arms. The mare was stopped in her track immediately.

First surprised, then frightened by the strength of the changeling, the unicorn stopped, and her brilliant blue eyes met 49´s turquoise, pupilless orbs. The tears in her eyes mirrored the emotional turmoil that he sensed raging inside her mind.

“What do you want from us? Why are you here, you monsters?” the mare cried out loud, half screaming half sobbing.

For some reason 49 felt slightly offended by the mare’s outburst, but neither did he have time nor the desire to argue back. After he pushed the mare back into the middle of the room, she fell to her knees in front of her children, took them into a deep hug while audible sobbing. Her children looked more stunned and confused than anything.

SD8749 tried to comprehend the quick series of events that just happened. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not find any logical explanation for anything that happened after they entered this house. Neither did the changelings threaten these ponies, nor was there another visible cause for the stallion´s actions.

49 looked asking at the others, but his brothers only shrugged and shook their heads. Whatever, 49 thought. They had no time to waste.

“Do you have a basement?” 49 asked the ponies. His voice sounded cold and robotic. He did not ask this out of care, but out of orders.

The unicorn mare’s head snapped up from her children. Her face deep red and wet from tears, her mane messy. She was undoubtedly surprised to hear the voice of the changeling.

Her face expressed surprise, shock and confusion. The multilayered, somewhat snake-like and raspy voice of the drone paired with a strange accent must have been the cherry on top of her personal cake of fear and confusion.

The mare nodded hesitantly.

“Then go and hide there until the fight is over,” 49 commanded. Down there they should be safe, and he would have obeyed SD8701´s order to keep the civilians safe for later.

Not daring to disobey him, the Unicorn pulled her remaining family with her out of the main room.

“Now, back to our own problem,” said 49 and drew the attention of the others at him, “Where are the other units?”

“When the attack began, we advanced from three sides towards the city centre. But as you probably experienced as well, the city garrison started to force us into many small skirmishes,” said one of the soldiers, he was from the 6. company like the others. “Our forces got split up and scattered. Leutnant Agrilus tried his best to organise an attack on the townhall, but without connection to the other unit and that machine gun, we were not able to get any further.”

“And then 78, I and 77 over here got separated from the others,” he said and pulled 77, who was still clearly not over the death of his friend, close to him.

“At least not that easily,” added 50 while looking out of a window. Extremely cautious, of course.

“Where is Vicis?” asked 49.

“I think he was with the 8. company, but I don’t know for sure. The chain of command is problematic,” answered another soldier from the 6 company. 49 knew him, his ID was SD8611.

“We need a plan, and that quickly. Our brothers are dying out there,” pressured 50

“If we could somehow get around and behind that mg, we could take it out to make an attack possible,” SD8611 thought aloud, while still rubbing 77’s back. In moments like these, 49 was grateful for their ability to sense who the drone in front of them was.

“I got an idea!” exclaimed 49. “SD8750, I and whoever else wants to help can use the small alleys and connectors that are everywhere to sneak up to the townhall from behind. If our group is small enough, we could get there unnoticed. Then we go in and take out that Mg.”

“We could need a distraction to make sure they don’t notice us,” theorized 50.

“Whatever we are going to do, we need to do it quick. Our brothers are dying out there,” said SD8624 and pointed with his thumb behind him and towards the door.

Thinking about their chances, SD8611 scratched his chin. Then he said, “that could work. 24, can you organise us some noise?”

SD8624 nodded and stood there for a moment, thinking. “Be ready in ten minutes.” With that said he walked to the door. There, 24 took a deep breath before he ran as fast as he could. He dashed across the street into a small alley where more changelings were hiding. 49 watched as 24 spoke to them, before they disappeared around a corner. When he could not see them anymore, 49 faced the others.

“Will you help us?”

77, who still had the arm of SD8611 on his back, nodded. “Of course, they will pay for what they did to 78.”

“Yes,” agreed SD8611.

The five drones searched the house for a back door, and indeed they found one. It led into a small garden behind the house. Peeking carefully outside, 49 checked their surroundings. The houses were arranged in blocks and formed a wall around the gardens inside. This meant they were safe from the machine gun that overviewed the main street, but also that they were locked inside of the block.

49 stepped outside. Upon further investigations, he noticed a small alley leading out of the square of buildings. Separating the left and right side of the square was a narrow path, leading to the alley. The drones quickly walked to the fence that surrounded the garden they were in and climbed over it. From there they made their way through the alley and found themselves in one of the many small side streets of the town.

They hurried down the narrow streets in silence, weapon at the ready, trying to avoid any contact with ponies, civilians or soldiers. The drones stayed as close to the walls of the building as they could and to move as quietly as they could. Everything to not be spotted and attacked by a hiding group of ponies. That proved to be way easier than expected. The streets and houses they passed were empty as if the entire city had been abandoned. If it was not for the constant sound of rifle fire, one could think they were the only beings in the city. But the changelings would hardly complain about that right now. Windows and curtains were closed, as were the shops they came by. It looked like all the inhabitants of the city had left their homes.

The closer they came towards the center of the city; the less buildings were made out of wood and the more were built out of stone. 49 increased his pace, the others followed suit. He did not want to come across any of these pony groups. He prayed for them to be lucky.

He had expected that it would be difficult to navigate behind the town hall without a map or general idea where the streets were heading but he was proven wrong. The houses were not more than two stories high, and the town hall had a tall clock tower that could be seen from all over the town.

It did not take the changelings long to arrive at their destination.

49 abruptly halted the group by raising his fist. The town hall was right behind the next corner. Rubbing parts of his bayonet clean with his sleeve and using it as an improvised periscope, 49 looked around the corner. He spotted 3 pony soldiers guarding the rear entrance of the building.

Three. That was not much, but they could call for help.

“How many are there?” whispered 50 who stood directly behind 49.

“Three,” replied 49. “Let´s hope that they leave when 24's distraction begins. We wait until they leave before we enter.”

They did not have to wait much longer for their opportunity.

“Feurüberlegenheit, ich will Feuerüberlegenheit!” the cry, shouted in their native language echoed from afar. “Los, ran an den Feind, Jungs!”

Then, just seconds after, the rifle fire intensified. Hundreds of shots rang through the air, followed by the hissing sound of smoke spells. The three ponies heard the noise as well but did not immediately leave their position to support their comrades. They stood there, visibly uneasy and not sure what they should do. The ponies persisted like this, until a fourth pony shouted to them from inside. “Get your flanks in here, we need help.”

They immediately rushed inside. As soon as the ponies were out of earshot, the changelings followed them.

The space inside was limited, too tight to keep the bayonets fixed. The tiled floor made no sound as they moved down the corridors with careful steps. The noise of the machine gun hammered against their ears, the volume many times amplified by the narrowness of space inside the building. All that noise made their caution needless, and they quickly changed pace into a hurried jog.

They checked many offices, but they did not find the nest of the Mg crew. The offices were occupied by Equestrian soldiers, the windows serving as their embrasures and the tables and filing cabinets as barricades.

With every office that did not house the gun, their pace increased. They needed to hurry. Their comrades were in danger. Office after office, corridor after corridor. Nothing. They heard the gun hammer, but it was nowhere to be found.

Finally, almost at the end of the long corridor that stretched from one end of the building to the other, they found the source of the noise.

The room was smaller than the others they had seen, as was the single window it had. The air was foggy, and the smell of black powder was heavy. That heavy that 49 could taste it on his tongue. The window with view on the Main Street was missing all glass in its frame and was halfway covered with furniture, creating as much cover as possible. The machine gun was braced on the ledge of the window, its barrel barley fitting through the tight slit of window that was still open with just enough space to turn to effectively cover the entire street and a few of the nearby houses.

50 rushed past 49, who leaned against the wall next to the door to peek inside. 11, 77 and 79 were protecting their backs.

“Do you have a grenade left?” 49 asked under his breath, but 50 did not understand due to the noise. 49 repeated, this time just loud enough for 50 to understand.

“No. You?” replied 50.

“Would I ask you if I had one?” 49 hissed in return. Then he turned around to the others. “Grenades, anyling?”

They shook their heads. He stretched his neck out again to look through the door. They had only one option remaining.

A glance at his brother told 49 that they both had the same idea.

Rifle at the ready, 49 swallowed and whispered to 50, “on three, I take the ones on the left, you the ones on the right.”

50 nodded confirming.

“One. Two. Three!”

The two changelings did a turn towards the door while raising their rifles. They only revealed their arms, gun, and part of their head like that and began shooting. The ponies, still distracted by the other changelings, did not know what happened to them. Two ponies dropped each time they shot. Only one pony, that was in the left corner of the room, noticed his comrades’ demise.

This last pony, startled and confused, turned around and was horrified to see the changelings behind him and dead comrades next to him. No less horrified were the two changelings, as they aimed their rifles at the last pony, pulled the trigger and heard a metallic “click”, telling them that their rifles were empty. At the same moment the pony in front of them yanked his rifle around and pulled the trigger.

He too had to hear that dreaded metallic “click”.

A second passed. Both, pony and changelings just stared at each other, not even daring to blink.

Hundreds of thoughts about all possibilities raced through 49´s mind while he stared directly into the pony´s eyes. The pony stared back.

A sudden sound broke the tensed silence as the pony, facing the changelings’ weapons, threw its rifle away, curled up and covered its head with its arms. The soldier began sobbing.

“No, p- please! I- I have a wife and c- children. Please, take my love, take whatever you want, but please spare my life! My family needs me.” the pony pleaded.

50 looked over to 49 who still had not moved. The words of 01 once again echoed through his head, “no prisoners!”

“No prisoners,” 49 repeated their orders.

“W- What?” the pony asked and looked up from its pathetic stance.

“The order is: no prisoners,” 49 repeated louder and more aggressively while he furiously pushed a new clip of bullets into his gun.

As he raised his rifle again ready to pull the trigger, the pony gasped, and its eyes widened. They were displaying a tumult of different emotions: fear, despair, sadness, anger, confusion and hate.

The pony swallowed audibly and then said with visible effort and trembling voice a quiet, “W- why?”

This unexpected question stopped 49 dead in his tracks. He halted, rifle still aiming at the pony, but his trigger claw did not budge.

His mind tried to find an answer to the question, even if he would never tell the answer to the pony. This was when he remembered they still did not get told what exactly caused this war. Something about pony aggression yes, but what exactly? Suddenly he felt the cold again. It was cold, even inside this building. Probably because of all the open windows.

“Hey, 49! What are you waiting for?”

49 snapped out of his thoughts and looked at 50. His brother looked confused and slightly in panic. He noticed that he still aimed his rifle at the sobbing pony.

He silenced his thoughts and focused on the here and now. A swift pull on the trigger and a loud bang later, the tensed tense posture of the pony relaxed. Like a sack of potatoes, the pony collapsed in the corner of the room.

49 growled at the corpse. What did the reasons matter now? They could not simply back out now.

After that situation was resolved and the mg silenced, 50 reloaded his rifle and looked reproachfully at SD8749.

49 had nothing to say. Only in his mind did he admit that he lost focus there for a moment.

Suddenly SD8611, 77 and 79 entered the room as well. “They noticed the machine gun stopped, get ready,” 77 said while rushing inside the room.

As if to prove his point, a small, round metal thing rolled through the door. Its metallic sound dragging the gazes of the drones on it.

“Scheiße,” cursed 50 after identifying the metal thing as a pony grenade.

“Volle Deckung!” screamed 49 as he jumped to the grenade, grabbed it and threw it back out the door as quickly as he could.

“Take cover!” They heard somepony yell from down the hallway.

“Don’t try to-” another pony yelled but got interrupted by an explosion. The only thing reaching the drones in the office was the deafening sound and a cloud of smoke and dust.

Persisting in the room, the drones awaited what would happen next. With a quick gaze out of the window, 49 saw more changelings rapidly approaching the town hall. Ignoring the losses the remaining ponies caused, they pushed onwards.

With their hearing slowly recovering, they heard a pony shout, “Here they come!” before more shots drowned out everything that was said.

The drones looked out the room and saw how a pony stumbled out of an office and hit the wall with its back. A changeling followed the pony that had nowhere to escape and thrusted his bayonet upward. The blade entered the pony through the soft skin beneath its chin and left it again on the back side of its head, impaling the pony on the wooden wall.

More and more changelings now came out of the offices and continued to clean the building. 49 and the others just stood there and watched with relief, a feeling of accomplishment in their hearts.

In the middle of all the drones, 49 spotted one smaller figure. Vicis.

The Hauptman held his saber in his right hand and had to do very fast and long steps to keep up with the drones. His head snapped in their direction, as if he had smelled how they stared at him.

Very quick, almost running, he walked over to them. Since the situation seemed fairly secure, the drones assumed attention stance as they saw Vicis approaching.

“Have you taken out the gun?” the Hauptmann asked, while more drones rushed inside behind him.

“Jawohl, Herr Hauptmann,” said 49 proudly and clicked with his hooves, his chest swelling with pride.

“We talk about that later. Do you all belong to the same unit?”

“Nein, Herr Hauptmann.”

“Not important now. Follow SD8673 there and help his platoon secure the upper floors,” ordered Vicis.

“Jawohl Herr Hauptman,” the drones said and all of them clicked their hooves. Usually they would have simply saluted, but because they carried rifles, changeling drill demanded clicking the hooves instead of a salute to pay a higherup respect.

Making their way past their brothers which were clearing out every room on the first floor, they joined SD8673´s unit which was already climbing up the stairs.

The staircase was very wide, and the steps very flat and long. The walls were covered with paintings of ponies, landscape and buildings. Although all the drones were in really good physical condition, climbing stairs with steps this flat for so many floors exhausted them. On their way up, 49 looked at all the paintings that decorated the walls. Some showed pretty landscapes, but most of them were off ponies he would never know the name of. He only recognized one pony. Tall, alabaster fur, crone atop her head, long horn and rainbow-colored mane that defied physics with the way it waved without the influence of wind.

Celestia. The ruler of Equestria, alicorn of the sun, declared to be a god by the ponies and the greatest enemy of the changelings. 49 hated that visage. It looked so comforting, caring and sincere, the complete opposite of what the changelings saw in alicorns.

49 heard 77 growl something. He did not understand what his brother said, but his glare at the painting of Celestia led to the assumption that it were no compliments. Suddenly 77’s arm lashed out. It happened so fast that 49 only saw a blur.

The thin canvas still trembled in the aftermath of the attack, five long rifts going from the top right to the bottom left completely distorting the depicted face.

Noling commented on 77’s action.

Reaching the final floor, SD8673 gathered as many of his drones around him as would fit in the relatively tight space, the others waited on the stairs. They were a mixed bunch. Apparently 49 and 50 were not the first drones to be reassigned to this unit. 49 even saw a member of his own platoon.

“Listen up,” said SD8673 quietly, “the ponies are like cornered rats up here. Expect an ambush behind every corner, behind every door and behind every box. They are desperate. They will resort to any kind of tactic to survive. The only chance we have is to fight equally remorselessly. Swarm out in teams of at least two. Clear every room, every chamber and every dark corner. We have to make sure we don’t miss anything. Terminate every soldier and capture every pony that looks like it´s part of the administration of this place.”

The drones split up.

The attic of the town hall was not like a usual floor. It did not have the usual thick stone walls but wooden ones instead. These were thin walls that separated the large space into small rooms and chambers. SD8673´s warning caused 49 and 50 to tense up.

While they carefully walked down a narrow corridor, he looked back over his shoulder like paranoid again and again. 49 noticed multiple auras of emotions, it was a weird mixture of sensing and smelling. Knowing the enemy was there but not knowing where, stressed 49´s mind. He had been in a constant state of alarm for the entire day, he was becoming exhausted.

The two drones had chosen the right side of the attic. Together with many other groups, they searched through multiple possible hiding spots but found nothing.

Every step they took made the wooden floor creak. It was unnerving and it revealed their location, speed and direction they were heading. 49’s ears twitched at every creaking sound he heard, his brain desperately trying to figure out if it was a comrade or a pony.

Then they suddenly heard a sound behind them. It was a weird sound. Indescribable, supernatural. 49 and 50 immediately spun around and raised their rifles, just to see the empty hallway behind them. Then the sound was followed by a bright flash of light.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” With a shocked cry and a loud thud, a drone broke through one of the thin walls. But what was thrusting him away did not stop there. The bright light just continued to push their brother around like he was nothing. Two more loud thuds and a sound of breaking glass later and they heard another horrified scream that quickly grew quieter and more distant.

49 and 50 stared with wide eyes down the corridor where two large holes gaped in the walls. 49 was not scared of magic, but he sure had caution for it. Even though what just happened looked more like an uncontrolled outburst than a calculated attack, the effect was undeniable.

A shot echoed through the attic, and one of the auras of emotions disappeared. It came from the direction the magic came from.

49 looked at 50 and tilted his head to tell him to get going. At the end of the corridor was only one more room they needed to check.

They slowly walked towards the door. Terror was behind the door, literally. Terror and uncertainty. 2 emotional presences. 49 tightened his grip around his rifle.

50 carefully entered the room, 49 directly behind him.

Inside the room, illuminated only by a small window, cowered a pony. But it was no soldier. The elderly looking unicorn mare wore a tailored suit and a blue silk tie. Her silver mane was kept in a bun. No, she was certainly not a soldier. Upon seeing the two large, black creatures, the pony tried to cower even deeper into the corner she was in, raising her hands in a defensive position in front of her face.

Yet she seemed alone, but 49 was certain that there were two in here.

50 took a step forward towards the pony.

So where was the other one?

50 suddenly got thrown to the ground, groaning as his body hit the wooden floor. From the left of the door, a pony jumped out of the shade to finish off 50. While 50 tried to get up, 49 took a strong step forward, shoving the pony away from his brother with his rifle.

The Equestrian soldier caught himself by taking a step back, preventing himself from losing balance. Then he attacked 49.

SD8749 took a step back to create some distance between him and the pony. The pony did not seem to care, it just kept going towards 49, without any form of defensive stance.

49 raised his over his shoulder, its butt facing the pony. Then, he took a quick step forward and rammed his rifle´s stock against the pony´s unprotected throat.

The pony gasped before it began to groan and cough for its life, its hands shooting up to its throat. 49 took another step forward, moving past and behind the pony. There, he lunged out before ramming the butt of his rifle into the pony’s back. The pony got on its knees, both hands clinging to its throat, suffocating on its crushed larynx.

49 grabbed 50´s arm to help his brother get up.

As another shot went off in the distance and someling shouted, “got another one!”, the pony in the corner winced in fear and its horrified gaze darted between the dying soldier on the floor and the drones.

49 took a step towards the pony. Only then did he realize the pony was a unicorn. His heart began to race. He aimed his rifle at the pony and began screaming, “put your hands up! C´mon, hands up I said! If I see that horn even spark once you are dead.”

The unicorn reacted by raising her hands but looked away from the drones, trying to avoid eye contact at any cost. 49 was ready to shoot her as soon as he would see her horn ignite. 50 grabbed one of her arms, trying to pull the pony up and the pony did not resist, but her legs trembled so intensely that 49 expected her would fall over every second.

“Please, please don’t hurt me,” the mare begged.

“What do we do with her?” asked 50 grim, still holding the arm of the pony. 49 replied with a shrug, not lowering his rifle. The unicorn tried to say something but got silenced by 50 tightening his grip.

“Let’s get her to SD8673,” proposed 50 and 49 nodded in agreement.

The two drones left the room. 50, still holding the arm of the unicorn firmly, walked in front and 49 walked behind the unicorn carefully observing its horn, rifle at the ready. They brought the pony back to the staircase, where SD8673 stood.

“Herr Unteroffizier,” 49 called out to get his attention, “we found this civilian. What should we do with her?”

SD8673 looked over to them and eyed the pony. “You look important. What is your function?”

“I- I´m the mayor, s- sir,” the mare stammered. Her legs had stopped trembling, but her upper body and hands were still shaking slightly.

SD8673 was silent for a moment before he spoke up again. “Bring her down to the Hauptmann. He shall decide her fate.”

“Jawohl!” said 49 and 50, and brought the pony downstairs.

The lower floors were now full of changelings. Dozens of drones buzzed through the narrow corridors, fulfilling whatever task they had. The sound of firefights outside had almost completely subsided. Only rarely the dull bang of a shot was heard.

The two drones and the pony pushed through the crowd, searching for Vicis. Multiple wrong rooms later, 50 finally knocked at the right door.

“This is a disaster and must never happen again! Under no circumstances,” they heard Vicis rant behind the door. “Two out of four. The army reform is long overdue.”

50 knocked again.

“Offen,” Vicis muttered.

50 opened the door. The room Vicis was in was one of the few rooms in the building that had not been destroyed in any way. The furniture and decorations were still intact and more or less tidy. Only a painting of Celestia on the wall looked like someling tried to cut it into small shreds with a bayonet. Vicis was not alone in the room. He sat behind a desk and began to search through mountains of paper while Herus and Agrilus were standing in front of the desk. The two officers looked very uneasy.

“I know it was not their fault. Still, we need to somehow bridge the time until we get replacements. Hopefully with the reform,” Vicis said, noticing the tension of his officers.

Upon noticing the three entering, Vicis looked up from the papers and the other two officers turned around. “Who is this?” asked Vicis as he spotted the pony.

49 and 50 stood at attention, rifle placed firmly on the ground next to their right hoof, before 49 took a step forward and said, “she says she is the mayor. SD8673 hat befohlen sie zu Herrn Hauptmann zu bringen.” 49 did not like to switch between languages, especially when talking to a higherup. But there were just things that could not be said in Equestrian.

“Is that true? Are you the administrator of this town?” Vicis asked the unicorn. His tone had changed from outrage to a purely professional one, not even showing a hint of his previous anger.

She nodded. The unicorn had, since they entered the room, not dared to move. She still stood at the exact same place, had her hands clenched to fists and pressed against her legs. Sweat was beginning to form on her forehead.

“You two can leave,” said Vicis to 49 and 50.

The two drones snapped to attention, their hoofs clicking as they entered attention position. Then they turned around on their left hoof and pulled their right hoof sharply after, causing yet another one of the characteristic clicks.

The mayor jumped both times she heard the click.

“But you, I have a few questions regarding this city’s accounting,” Vicis said to the pony, raising two hands full of papers.

The mayor gulped.

Before 49 closed the door behind him, the last thing he heard Vicis saying was, “please sit down, we have a lot to talk about. Herr Oberleutnant, Herr Leutnant, you can leave.”