But You Were There

As the sun set on the battlefield sentries kept watch for any movement under cover of night. Stray shots went off through the night and lit the battlefield up for a brief moment before fading. It was a normal night as always if you were a frontline soldier. Further back from the frontline, Lunar officers were arguing amongst each other and strategizing their next move. Stardust was among them and listened in, she wanted revenge on the Solar Empire for today, however her biggest holdbacks were her superiors Major Vega and General Apollo. Vega is more traditional and calculated whereas Apollo believes in shock tactics and is the more reckless of the two. has been known to be a cruel leader bent on glory hunting and has always been a death sentence to those under his command.

“They caught us with our trousers down you old fool! We need tanks! We need reinforcements!” Apollo hissed at Vega. “Telegraph back to the homeland that we are out of supply and our rail lines need to be expanded further out!”

“Calm down son,” the older mare said with an air of elegance to her, “our factories can only produce so much and the production lines can only make so much if we don’t have the proper resources to build them. We will have to make do until the Republic has more to spare. Now,” she said standing up and going to the map table, “they got us with our trousers down so we must prepare for their next attack. They have flamethrowers, tanks, more allies and resources, more of everything. Do you know what we have?”

“An old windbag as a commander and a cruiser of fuckall nothing?” Apollo hissed at Vega with his arms crossed.

“Respect your superiors!” Vega snapped back. “No, what we have is strategy. After all, Neighpolean proved that artillery wins battles. And we have a lot of artillery.” She removed her picklehaube and rubbed her chin, thinking about a defensive strategy. “Stardust, you are quiet. What do you have to say?” Stardust was surprised that she was asked her opinion and stepped forward in attention.

“I suggest that we utilize every resource we have to plan a counterattack, Ma’am!” Secretly she was hoping to use this as a rescue mission or, worse, a recovery mission. “Are we still waiting on Command or are we on our own in this?” She hoped that if Command was going to act it would be soon. As Apollo was going to give his two bits in when an alarm went off that shook the three of them to the bone; gas attack.

As the major and general stayed behind in the officer’s barracks, Stardust ran to the frontline after donning her gas mask to see what the situation was. A few Thestrals had succumbed to the gas, the warning coming too late for them. When she arrived, there were no bullets firing nor were there any Solar soldiers to be seen. A frontline officer called back to the artillery crew for a flare so they could see what was happening out there. A moment later a flare was shot up and through the green cloud they saw smoke that concealed several dozen Solar troopers.

“Open fire!” the officer called as he blew a whistle. The frontline trench erupted in the sound of bullets being fired from bolt action rifles and machine guns. The occasional grenade was thrown into No Pony Land for good measure. Stardust stood alongside her fellow Thestrals and fired her luger into the twisting shape of ponies or at least what looked like ponies to those defending against the attack.

“Hold this point!” she commanded, “Don’t let the Sun humiliate us like it had done to us today!” She walked past the members of the 381st and shouted to them: “Make them pay for what they took from us today! Show them what the Moon is capable of!” As she spoke, she snarled through her fangs, anger filled her by the moment. She fired back into the mist, hatred taking her over, Make them pay for what they took from me today.

As the day went on, Spectrum looked for every opportunity he could to leave his hole. He could try to hop from crater to crater but he’d be too exposed for a few precious seconds and that could spell death for him. What he did instead was bide his time and try to regain his strength back as best he could, Mercy’s patchwork was holding up well for now. If he could get back to the trenchline he could get well needed medicine and a diagnosis if needed. As minutes turned to hours, he began thinking how he would get back under the cover of night. He listened to the sounds of skirmish as he sat and strategized, today will not be the day he died. In the mud he drew out a map and rubbed his chin, memorizing it so while he was blind in the dark he could see. There would be no second chances here, no way to do it again if he made a slip. It was time to be an iron pony.

He took Dewpoint’s helmet off of him and spoke to his departed friend one last time: “Sorry Dew, I need this. I promise I’ll get your letter out. Ya won’t be forgotten.” To see if anypony was watching, he stuck the helmet up out of the shell hole as a decoy. He waited a minute, and nothing struck the helmet. He took a deep breath and hauled himself out of the crater, back in No Pony’s Land again but…something wasn’t right. His fur began to stand on end and his eyes and nostrils began to burn, his eyes widened in fear as he quickly donned his gas mask and breathed out into it. They were using gas now!? Strangely enough he couldn’t see a thing, it wasn’t like the nighttime air at all. It was thick and he couldn’t see a foot in front of his face, smoke maybe. It was then he heard the marching of boots coming from the Solar direction and realized his predicament; he was stuck in the middle of a sneak attack. Spectrum began hopping from hole to hole, wondering what to do. Thestrals can see at night, but they cannot see through smoke, they’ll be crushed. He could shoot but that would give away his position, if he did nothing then they might not see it coming. He continued to think as he snuck through No Pony’s Land, the only sounds he heard were the marching boots behind him and his breathing in the mask. Think Spectrum, think. He then had an idea, he had two grenades still, it would give him a brief window of opportunity, but it might be the alert that his soldiers need. As he, as well as the gas, approached the trenchline by the minute he knew it was time. While sitting in a crater he pulled the cord out of a grenade and set it down before hastily making his way into another one nearby. The grenade went off seconds later and it lit up the green cloud as a result, however, the marching boots quickened their pace believing that the Thestrals were onto them. Seconds passed and he could hear the gas alarm, a minute later a flare was shot up. The sneak attack had been spotted and the firing began.

As the sound of firing grew louder, he knew that he was getting near the frontline trench but if he was spotted moving the cloud he might get mistaken for a Solar soldier. Through blind luck he found the wreck of an armored car to hide behind as the Imperials advanced. Minutes passed and it sounded like the ambush had been pushed back, firing died down and the sound of boots was no longer advancing. He took a deep breath and ran around the armored car when he thought that the machine gunner was no longer at their post, as he exited the cloud of smoke, he saw a Thestral aiming at him to which he flapped his wings rapidly.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t Shoot! I’m unarmed!” he shouted as best as he could through the mask, which wasn’t well. The machine gunner was about to pull the trigger when she saw the Lunar crest on his helmet:

“Leutnant!?” she exclaimed in shock seeing him, moreso when he dove into the trench with a thud. Shock filled other creature’s faces upon seeing him alive and somewhat well. Between the injury in his side, running through No Pony’s Land and now diving into a trench, he began to feel his ailments catch up to him.

“M-Medic,” he uttered as those not repelling the Imperial stragglers off surrounded him. Within minutes a stretcher bearer was there and carried him off to the medical line where he would be tended to.