I felt my bones shudder slightly as the cool ocean breeze licked at my coat and watched as Celestia's brilliant blazing sun slowly began to tuck itself down behind the horizon. I flicked my ears up and right, I could hear the sound of hooves squelching in the mud approaching me. I turned my gaze ever so slightly and saw Amethyst dragging herself up through the muck. It was a shame she had to wear the Khaki uniform all of the time, her lilac coat was a lovely shade and it paired well with her icey blue mane, she was smiling at me horn aglow in a soft pink.
“I thought you might want some hot soup Peachy?” It had taken me a while to get used to her Prench accent at first but now I found I rather enjoyed the sound of it, my muzzle curled up into a smile as she set it down on the firestep.
“That the culinary delight of the evening then?” I leaned my head down and took a sip from the bowl, leek and potato soup. As far as rationed food went this was pretty good fare. I took another deep slurp before turning my head back up to her rolling her eyes at me. I just grinned back at her.
“Not got a horn remember? Don't you tut me with your fancy table manners. Thanks though it was getting a little chilly.” I shined a thankful smile before briefly turning my eyes out over no creatures land. All was quiet for now and Celestia willing it would remain so for the rest of the evening I peered over the parapet and past the reems of barbed wires and looked out over the churned up landscape I didn't have the fortune of seeing Vanhoover or the surrounding countryside before the war came here and torn apart this fare part of Equestria, All of the trees were gone torn apart in the fighting or purposefully cut down by both sides for timber. All of the green grass had been replaced by the brown morass cratered worse than Luna's moon. The shell holes from both sides could easily fit two or three ponies and then there were huge ones from the Royal Navy guns in the bay blasting bug attacks as they came at us and was our only life line to the rest of the world.
I heard a distant boom, it was hard to tell apart the boom of Pegasi forging thunder clouds to send the bugs way and keep them wet and miserable or the boom of artillery guns duelling it out over the course of the siege. I turned my head around to look back at the skyline of Vanhoover a few miles away and could see black roiling clouds approaching this way. Pegasi it was then I turned up to Amethyst.
“Very glad for the hot soup now looks like I'll be catching a bit of the rain as they kick it over their way.” I started to rummage around looking for a raincoat to have it ready by my side as the rainstorm made its way over our trench and into bug lines. I could hear the tell tale sound of unicorn magic and looked up as it was passed to me in a pink glow. She was watching the storm clouds approaching with a soft whinny.
“I am glad I do not have watch tonight. Do you have many hours left? The Apple cousins Diamond and I all planned to play cards in the dugout. Do you wish to join?” I looked over the watch above my fetlock and let out a sigh.
“Couple more hours. Yeah once I get relieved I'll play a few hands just don't take all my bits this time!” We both chuckled and she gave me a small nod.
“I shall see you then, Adieu” With that she turned herself around and made the trek back down through the slime and muck that was overflowing the duckboards in this section of the trench. I waved her off, finished my soup and set in for the next few hours of boredom.
Celestia cursed my hubris just as I had the traitorous thought and right as the sun was about to finish its path below the skyline I heard the rumbling off in the distance, seconds later I could hear the Sergeant bellowing out round the zig zag of the trench.
“Artillery! Get down everypony!” my instincts kicked in and I dropped down from the parapet and threw myself down into the duckboards, I could feel the cool mud slipping into the uniform its chill pressing through the stitching in the uniform and robbing my body from any heat the soup had given it and pressed my ears down flat against my skull and closed my eyes in fear as I waited.
I don't care what anypony said, every creature was terrified of a shelling, while I was not a fresh faced green recruit who may wet themselves at their first one even still the shaking and rumbling of the ground below my body, the horrific deafening bangs the terror that this could be your last second and you would be dead before you knew it happened or the greatest terror of a shelling of being buried alive the experience was always terrifying and I could not bring myself to blame or hate any of my friends who had snapped under the terror. Even now it took all my willpower to not bolt in sheer terror away from the certain doom.
As I lay down on the cold muddy bottom of the trench praying to Celestia to see me through this I felt a hoof touch my own, I dared to crack an eye open to see Amethyst laying on the ground across from me, her uniform mane and coat caked in more mud than I was I could see she was just as scared as me but she smiled at me and pressed her helmet against mine.
I was still scared out of my wits but with my friend at my side I no longer felt the overwhelming urge to bolt. She needed me at her side and I needed her at mine and we would see ourselves through this.
The ground continued to shake and rumble in rage as great clods of muck were thrown skywards only to crash back down like rain, my ears inside the helmet began to ring as several clumps from a near miss crashed down into the trench and bounced off our helmets, it seemed to never end although eventually the thudding and rumbling receded and the shelling ended. I still felt slow, sluggish, my ears were still ringing and felt like they were filled with cotton wool but I still heard a shrill whistle followed by several others. I titled my ear up and over the slight dullness and ringing in my ears from the barrage I could hear the screams of the Sergeant although it felt like he was really far away.
“Everypony to the firing line! Buck these bugs back across no mares land!” More shrill whistling. Bugs? Huh? I was confused and couldn't get myself on my own fore hooves. I felt something violently shaking me and I looked up to see Amethyst, she was yelling and looking frantic but everything felt so slow and sluggish. Then she slapped me across the muzzle.
“Peachy! Snap out of it! The Changelings are coming!” With that the fog that seemed to have surrounded my brain slowly lifted. I could hear shouting, and whistling, the thunder of hooves galloping. She helped me to my forelegs and I gave myself a shake, getting some of the fragments of dirt that had showered me off and lifting the last of the fog from my brain as I looked around.
The Machine Gun had been toppled over in the shelling I cantered over and grunted with the effort as I righted the tripod and gave it a quick once over, the water jacket, receiver all looked to be in good condition as I yelled to Amethyst.
“Load a new belt! Let's buck these bugs!” She took up a spot to my left and began to pull away the belt that had fallen into the wet mud during the shelling and loaded up a new one, as she did so I racked up the charging handle and waited looking at no creatures land as the sky got gloomier and darker.
At first as they flew or sprinted across the quagmire they looked like living shadows as they darted around. I struggled to make them out in the gloom before I heard a loud fwoosh and the gloom was lit up with a dull red lighting and I could finally make them out.
There were hundreds of them! I could make out their black carapace and grey uniforms as they swarmed towards us a great tide ready to swallow us all. I heard a voice cry out.
“Open fire!” With that a new ringing in my ears took over and my hearing dulled again as I pressed my forehooves into the two flat paddles and felt the machine gun rattle into life. It gave a rhythmic thump thump thump as spit hot lead at the changelings every few rounds a bright fiery light zipped towards the bugs guiding my aim as I swept the gun across the approaching swarm cutting chunks out of it.
Around me and in my periphery I could hear and see as my friends all along the trenches joined in and we poured a mighty stream down upon the changelings and the tidal wave was stopped, they dropped down into the craters or tried to hide behind knocked out trucks or abandoned carts in the mud anything to get out from under the curtain of death coming their way.
Soon the dull rhythm that I could feel in my hooves stopped and a loud click sounded. I turned to Amethyst yelling over the din.
“Reload!” Both our training had kicked in by this point she already had the box open, the fabric belt was being loaded into the feeding mechanism and shortly afterwards the dull thud thud thud at my hooves resumed as the Changelings stalled stuck in the middle of No creatures land as we ripped chunks out of the swarm.
I could see the bugs scarpering around in the shell holes hiding from our line of fire, they were up to something and it quickly became clear what as thunks filled the dusk sky followed by a shrieking whistle as mortar rounds started to pound just in front of the trenches. They started to creep closer and closer and we were forced to pull our heads back down as the shrapnel cut around us a few tinkles even bounced off my helmet. Stars above that were a close call. I looked to my left and my eyes bulged out.
Amethyst has several bloody cuts on her forehooves and she was biting back the tears stinging at her eyes, as I reached over to try and help her she shook her head.
“I am fine! I can bandage myself, keep an eye out for the bugs!” I hesitated for a moment but her magic glowed as she set about bandaging her legs and gave my hindleg a kick with her own hindlegs leaving her to mend herself I kept my head down until the barrage lifted, peaking back up over the parapet I could hear a horrible buzzing sound as the bugs rapidly closed in on us.
A bright brilliant light shone to my right and I had to squint my eyes only to see a majestic white Unicorn officer with a horn that shone brightly in the gloom with a sword held aloft in magic bellowing out.
“They shall not pass ponies! Fight! Send them back!” The effect was electrifying to us all, even over the din of shells guns and their horrible insect wings I could hear a mighty cry along the length of the trenches I even felt myself yelling out as I lifted myself back over the edge and pressed back down on the paddles and the steady staccato resumed as I tried my best to keep large groups of the swarm at bay cutting into groups of them as I felt Amethyst take her spot back at my side and held the belts out of the muck to prevent any jams.
Despite the hail of lead coming their way the wave finally broke on the trenches, the first two changelings to charge up the hill hissing at us quickly crumpled into a balls as they were hit square in the chest with two bursts however his friend got luckier as he barrelled past the gun and into Amethyst knocking them both to the ground as she cried out.
“Merde!” The bug hissed at her in that horrible way they tend to do before they close for the kill as It lifted its rifle with its horn. I couldn't let this monster hurt my friend, I dropped the spade grip and let out a primal roar and threw myself into it. As sent us both hurtling down into the cold wet muck rolling atop each other.
Coughing and spluttering the muck out of my muzzle as I tried to force myself atop it using my superior Earth pony strength I wrestled it into the ground. Both of us were now slowed by the muck clinging to our uniforms coats or in its case shell as I growled and began to pound on its carapace with my hooves yelling with each battering as it hissed and bit into my legs with its fangs it kicked and squirmed and fought me until I felt a crack beneath my hooves and it stopped its struggling beneath me.
Panting and groaning from the effort I pulled myself off of it shuddering slightly as the cold started to bite and the over flow of adrenaline took over looking at Amethyst I could see her eyes wide and magic aglow I opened my muzzle to reassure her before a loud bang deafened me in my left ear and I stumbled dropping down to my forelegs from the sudden deafening.
After a moment to collect myself I turned my head to the left and saw another dead bug laying in a heap and Amethyst’s revolver floating with a slight tremor in her magical grip. I grunted and pulled myself back up and gave her a thankful nod and smile. I limped over to the machine gun taking in the situation. It didn't look great they were in the trenches but we had beaten four of them with just the two of us, we could win. We had to win. We just had to hold the line.
I pulled myself to the machine gun and turned my head to see Amethyst was still standing in shock. I called her twice before yelling at the top of my lungs.
“Amethyst!” She was broken from her stupor and looked at me, still shook but she was back again.
“Amethyst we need more ammo for the machine gun, I'll stay here until you get it and find somepony to help us up here!” She gave me a shaky nod before galloping off.
I was left alone in the gloom, I took the belt into and lay it over my left hoof hissing as it rubbed against the bite from earlier and used my free hoof to press down the paddle adjusting the aim and creating a beaten zone using my muzzle and one free hoof as I did my best to stem the tide of any of their reinforcements and just hoped to Celestia the rest of my friends could beat them out of our trenches.
As I continued to pour fire down into the Changelings I felt a sharp thud on my chest.
I opened my eyes and everything felt off. Why was I laying on the ground? Why did I feel so wet? I looked down and saw a growing red spot in my uniform. That.. wasn't right? Why couldn't I hear anything either? My eyes closed for a moment again and when I looked up I saw a changeling in front of me pointing a rifle right at me. I tried to launch myself at it but something was still wrong. My legs weren’t responding to what I tried to tell them to do.
Right as he levelled it at my chest I saw a white blur slam into the Changeling. Who was that Unicorn again? I swore I recognised him. My eyes blinked closed again, breathing was getting hard for some reason and everything felt cold. When I opened them again I saw Amethyst, she was crying? Why was she crying? It made me sad to see my dear friend crying. I could see her lips moving saying something. I wanted to ask her why she was sad but I just needed to sleep. Just for a little bit.