The Black Squirrel Brigade

Bricks for a buck,

Streets for a stamp.

Tanks for a tooth,

Guns for a gut.

It was quite sudden, the transition from the forest into the city.

The forest ended at a near perfect tree line that had been cut away. There was only a few feet of grass, shrubs and debris that covered the area between the tree line and the paved road that ran parallel with the trees, stretching far to the left and right.

To the right, the road eventually curved, along with the trees, until they both dipped behind the buildings, while to the left, the road eventually turned into a sharp right turn and cut into the city, along with the trees.

The stretch of road they came onto looked like it was used often and was about to soon be developed more, but due to the obvious war, that likely wasn’t happening anytime soon.

Besides the tree line and road, the next thing was the buildings that donned the city side of the road, that spanned the entire length of it. Throughout the row of buildings were other roads that cut into the city at various points. There were a few around the section that the 1st and 2nd Companies were pushing into.

The surprising thing about this area though, was how little the city was damaged. A few broken windows were about, but there was no destroyed building spanning up or down the main stretch of road. It looked relatively intact.

The biggest concern right now was the many windows that faced the tree line that the two companies were advancing in from. There was no denying that it was dangerous, it was a war after all, but still, walking straight into view of that number of windows would give anycreature worry.

Nonetheless, the attack had to continue.

The first thing to break through the tree line and enter into the open area between the trees and buildings were the first two Muletilda’s.

They rolled over bushes and sticks as they pushed forward until they sat in the openness of the road and waited. After a moment, the infantry that followed them began pouring out of the trees, rushing across the street until they got to the buildings on the other side and had better cover against the windows above. Some of the infantry still sat in the tree line while they watched the windows as cover.

Even though the Breezy’s hadn’t yet rolled into the street themselves, the 2nd squad had already pushed up to the buildings across the street.

Just as they began catching their breath from the run across, the last three tanks made their way into the street.

By now, the first two Muletilda’s had begun moving around and going for the road that they had planned for the main assault.

The other squads that were following those Muletilda’s were starting to clear the buildings that turned down into the road the two tanks were going for. Some of the other squads following them waited outside, taking cover at walls and corners while they waited for the tanks to push down the road.

While they lead the main force, the last Muletilda lagged behind, putting some distance between the first two, acting as a backup and rear security, while the two Breeze’s pushed along two side roads that were separated by buildings from the main road.

While other squads within the 2nd Squad’s force began pushing into buildings, they continued to stay outside, holding a corner at their road while they waited for their Breezy to push down it.

All the commanders for the tanks at this point had gone back down into their tanks and closed their hatches. At this point, the radio ponies who followed along with the command squads that went with each section were the most reliable way of communication with the tanks.

The first Breezy was to the far left, pushing down a road by now, while the two Muletilda’s had already gone between the buildings on their road, with infantry falling in behind them now, while the second Breezy was only now just reaching the roadway it had been ordered to take.

Shadow shouted out while she pointed her SMG up at a window, “Once the tank goes pass this first building, we’ll follow along the left side.”

There were some nods and grunts of response from the 2nd squad while they aimed their guns at various windows and doors around. Hazelblossom was currently laying down, aiming her MG down the road the Breezy was going to take, while Chaser and Snow aimed their bolt actions down it.

After adjusting its position by turning on its tracks, which didn’t damage the road unlike the Muletilda’s, the Breezy finally began pushing down the street.

The street size worked out perfectly for the Breezy, as it could maneuver around easily unlike the Muletilda’s if they had gone down it. The road they were currently taking was bigger in size.
Once the Breezy passed the building that Shadow had talked about, she informed the squad, “Alright, alright! Let’s start going! Me and Snow will be in front!”

As the other squad on the other side of the road waited a moment longer still, the 2nd squad started moving, joining the tank in its advance.

There was another squad that was behind the 2nd, with the two others on the opposing side.

When everypony of the 2nd squad had left the main road they started on, was when the other side also joined in.

From any point now, it was expected for things to start kicking off, but after the second building was passed by the infantry, Moonshadow had to speak up. “We–”

She was cut off as a burst of gunfire was heard from the main road, followed by the sound of a tank firing its cannon.

The echo and reverberation of its cannon was heard even by the 2nd squad from their road.

As the sound of the explosion died out, Blaze yelled at Moonshadow, “You just had to speak didn’t you! I know what you were about to say!”

Shadow turned towards Blaze and yelled at him in return, “Keep your focus on the windows Blaze, of course there’s going to be Changelings!”

And just as Shadow finished speaking, a crack broke through the air as a bullet whizzed by and hit the ground, only to be followed by a second.

“Down the street! Down the street! Up on those stairs behind the bush!” Somepony yelled out as everyone began diving for cover and taking up firing positions.

The Breezy halted after they were informed about what happened, which caused its momentum to carry forward into its front tracks as it wobbled back and forth to a still.

Hazelblossom had found a spot and quickly set her MG down and was already unloading a spray of bullets in the direction that was called out. None of the shots were hitting any confirmed target, as she was just suppressing.

Chaser, who had been the one who made the call, was firing a few shots at the stairs, with Snow and Rain joining him in the volley.

After two short bursts from Hazel’s MG, she held her fire while the three firing the volley finished up and dipped down into cover in time for Gust and Blaze to take aim down the street.

The front most squad on the opposing side of the street then suddenly opened up with a few shots from their bolt actions and a single burst from somepony’s SMG.

Hazel then gave another short spray of bullets, dragging her barrel across the street, sweeping an area in the direction of the stairs.

Shadow was waving her hoof to grab the attention of the other squad across the street, “There’s a small alley to your front that opens up back that way!” She motioned towards it directly, trying to help indicate what she said, “See if you can go around that way!”

When the other squad acknowledged they heard Shadow, their sergeant discussed it with somepony for a moment and then shouted back, “Suppress it for us then!” They then gave a command to the squad behind them, who proceeded to move up to join them.

“Ok. Ok. Hazel! Give another burst,” Shadow then looked at everypony who had their bolt actions ready, “And y’all, give a few rounds as well,” Shadow then was quick to draw her attention to the Breezy and yelled at it, “Damnit, do something!”

Even though the crew inside the tank couldn’t hear Shadow, the turret began rotating before finally adjusting its elevation. Though the caliber was small compared to the Muletilda, the Breezies still had HE rounds, which was what it suddenly shot out.

The puff of smoke from the turret wasn’t big, nor was the sound, but it was still a cannon.

The round it fired had gone further down the street, into a building that hadn’t been the target, and exploded inside of it as the round broke through its window.

Just as the smoke from the HE shell grew to max size and spilled out of the building, was when Hazel gave a burst of rounds at the same spot, while everypony with a bolt action looked out from their cover and began firing a few rounds at the same spot.

When the rounds of fire from the 2nd squad died out, the Breezy fired a second round at the spot everypony had been firing at, but instead of hitting it, it had aimed too low and hit somewhere in front. The round didn’t ricochet as it exploded on impact.

During all of this, the other squad that had been on the other side of the road was all in the alleyway now, with the squad that had been behind it, taking their position.

The squad behind the 2nd was the 1st, and they yelled out to Shadow. “The tanks going to move up!”

Shadow waved her hoof in response before turning to her squad. She then peeked down the street to see what it looked like.

Everypony with their bolt actions were still aiming down range.

“The tanks going to start moving, when it does-” Shadow ducked down when another crack was heard. The bullet ended up hitting the Breezy, which sounded like a loud ping.

Another shell was fired from the Breezy, this time it hit a different building, which proceeded to explode as the round detonated.

Hazel let loose more bullets at the staircase with Chase and Rain, while Blaze, Gust and Snow fired at the spot the tank hit.

After a few bullets were exchanged, the gunfire stopped, and the tank began rolling up.

“They’re in that building the tank just hit,” Blaze said. He was ducking down for cover as he reloaded his rifle with some extra bullets. Chaser did the same but stayed standing.

“Snow and Jackpot, bound up to that garden ahead, Gust and Blaze, go past them towards that wall, and stay behind the damn tank! Hazel, get ready to suppress anything you see,” Shadow motioned down the street at the spots she talked about.

Just as she finished, the tank sent another round into the building it had hit before, exploding another portion of it. When that happened, Gust and Blaze were the first to go forward, making sure they didn’t get into the pressure zone of the tank.

Hazel fired a few rounds before Snow and Jackpot bounded up themselves.

The cover Snow and Jackpot had wasn’t the best, so they had to stay to the ground and aim over a little berm, while Gust and Blaze had a wall for protection.

There were no more shots being received from the Changelings down the road, but there were some sounds of gunfire elsewhere within the city now. The Muletilda’s had fired their cannons as well, but the heat of the gunfight prevented the 2nd squad from hearing it.

Gust and Blaze took turns peeking from the wall to fire at the building, while Snow and Jackpot fired at the stairs.

Once the Breezy had rolled up to the stairs, the rest of the 2nd squad moved up, along with the other squads. The 1st squad began moving into the buildings while the 2nd stayed in the street, and the squad on the other side was also still following along the road.

Since reaching the stairs, the tank had come to a stop while its turret stared at the building it had been shooting. The infantry began taking up positions around it, the other squad searching around the stairs and not finding any Changelings present at it.

As the lull in the fighting dragged on, everypony began reloading their weapons.

Hazelblossom had moved up into a new position now and worked on getting more ammo loaded into her MG.

Gust finished topping his rifle off and peeked down the street, only for a crack of bullets to announce themselves, which caused Gust to duck down for cover.

Quickly adjusting his helmet, Gust took a peek back out once the bullets stopped and returned fire at whatever his gun ended up aiming at, just to get some suppression down.

Other ponies returned fire at the seemingly invisible enemy, while the tank began rolling down the street again.

As the tank closed its distance on the building it had been shooting, it fired another round. The round exploded on the outside. With this shot, it had especially kicked up a lot of dust and made the area between the infantry and building clouded.

While the tank didn’t halt for the smoke, the infantry did for a second, waiting for it to clear a bit before pushing.

The tank fired another round and kicked the smoke back up, which made it hard to see at this point, so an order was made for everyone to finally push up.

Thankfully, as everypony pushed up, the smoke was able to clear in time before they got too far.

Once the view of the building was clear again, everypony stopped pushing and waited again.

The two squads fired a few rounds at the blasted out sections of the building before they finally began advancing on it. The tank continued pushing down the street, making sure it stayed clear of the building by going down the right side of the road.

As the infantry pushed up on it, the tank turned its turret away from the building and watched further down the road.

The other squad, which happened to be the 5th squad, quickly took up positions around the tank as they watched the buildings around while the 2nd squad moved up on the blasted out building.

“Moon, Jack, Blaze, and Gust, we’re clearing the building,” Shadow said.

Hazel, Chaser, and Snow set up near the house outside and helped watch down the street while the others gathered up at it.

Gust took out one of his three grenades and when he sat under one of the blown out windows, he unpinned it and tossed it inside the window, “Frag!” He screamed out as he did.

Jackpot, Moon and Shadow were all about to enter but halted while they waited for the grenade to go off.

When the grenade exploded and vibrated the building, causing some of the remaining glass to break, Gust and Blaze quickly joined with the other three as they began pushing into the building.

Inside, the building had been blown to bits from the obvious tank rounds exploding inside of it, but there were no bodies of any Changelings inside that they were able to find, just some drops of blood from them.

With how quickly they entered the building, they were soon to leave it back into the street where they met with Hazel and the others.

They all took cover to see what the situation was like now in the street.

“Did we get them?” Chaser asked once Gust and Blaze joined them.

“Nah, they were able to escape somehow. They probably went out the back or some other way,” Gust said as he shook his head as well.

“Damn, first engagement, and right off the bat they escape,” Chaser said while also shaking his head in disapproval.

As the 2nd squad sat for a moment, the sounds of the other fighting within the city was heard.

They could barely hear the sounds of the Muletilda’s engines now, but their guns still fired away occasionally as they encountered the enemy.

The Breezy at this point had rolled down the street some while the 2nd squad was in the building, and the 5th squad had followed with it.

“Ok, let’s hurry up and push up more,” Shadow said once everypony was ready to go.

Just before they began pushing up some more, the 1st squad quickly caught up after they came from the building they entered.

“I think behind this building,” Shadow motioned at the building they had cleared, “Might be where those bugs escaped too. Are you able to go back there and check? We’ll keep pushing with the tank.”

The commander of the 1st squad agreed and took themselves into the building that was just cleared, to find a way behind it.

“Alright alright, let’s start bounding,” Shadow said.

After bounding for a few buildings, it became clear that there was no enemy at the moment, so they loosened their formations and began carefully moving down the street instead, with the tank.

Up ahead, two ponies came out of an alleyway and were quick to check up and down the street before noticing the tank and two squads following it. They were from the 4th squad that had pushed into the alleyway before.

As the tank halted with the two squads, they all took positions as the two ponies quickly made their way down the street to meet up with everypony.

It turned out that the 4th squad had got into a firefight with the Changelings that had been at the stairs and were able to take them out. It was only two of them, but they were treating a minor injury somepony took. They currently sat in a building just ahead that they were able to push to from the alleyway they went down.

Once the squads learned of that, they, with the tank, pushed down to the building the two ponies talked about and halted again.

Jackpot was sent into the building to help with the injured pony, given she was the 2nd’s medic, while everypony else waited in the street holding security.

While they all watched the buildings, windows, and any area a Changeling might pop out of, the adrenaline of the fighting began cooling off.

“She’s warm,” Hazel said from her prone position as she aimed the MG down the road.

“I’d think, given you’ve thrown a few bursts through it already,” Chaser said.

“Shit, our bolties don’t even get hot to the touch when we rapid fire them,” Gust added.

“What about your stuff?” Blaze asked at Moonshadow.

“I fired a few rounds a while ago, and it’s not like the ammo’s hot anyways, so it’s basically cold still.”

“Blaze and Rain, keep your rifles pointed down the road,” Shadow said as she went around to everypony making sure they were alright so far.

While the current situation was calm, the air above wasn’t as much.

Gust took a single look up and it dawned on him that there were planes flying about the entire time they had been pushing into the city.

The planes didn’t fill the sky, but there were a few currently decking it out with one another. They were quick to disappear behind a building.

“You even notice that?” Gust asked pointed upwards at the sky.

Blaze looked upwards for a moment before looking back down the road, “They’ve been dog fighting for a few minutes now. I saw a few planes flying right when we started pushing into the city as well. It really is active.”

“Enemy! Enemy!” Somepony shouted.

Right as Gust looked down from the sky, down the street he saw two Changelings running across it.

Everypony got ready instantly.

When another two Changelings started to run across the street, everypony opened fire on them.

Bullets landed around the two as they tried crossing, with only one of the bugs getting hit and falling over. They were able to get themselves back up and stagger to cover.

Once the two disappeared, everypony stopped shooting besides a few who were firing at the spot they disappeared at.

When their firing stopped, an object was thrown into the street ahead from one of the buildings and exploded after a few seconds.

A second passed after that before a few Changelings popped out from some areas and opened fire.

A few ponies ducked for cover, while the others returned fire.

Once the tank fired its cannon at one of the Changelings and mistified it, the rest of the bugs took cover.

“Push it up!” Shadow shouted at the squad with the radio. She was pointing at the tank.

After the pony spoke on the radio, the tank began moving forward.

“Push, push!” Shadow yelled to the squad.

The tank fired another round at another corner the Changelings had been at as it rolled forward.

The 2nd and 5th squad pushed alongside the tank, clearing windows and nooks they passed.

When they closed the distance halfway, they all stopped again.

While they sat there, the 4th squad began pushing up from the building they were in, which brought along Jackpot who quickly joined back with her squad.

This time around, it was the 5th squad’s time to flank around the buildings and see if they could find another way forward.

Right as the last member of the 5th squad left, a Changeling ran out into the road from one of the corners they’d been at and was immediately shot.

Despite being shot, they also ran back behind cover before the hail of bullets hit around their area.

Once the tank began moving forward again, a Changeling appeared in a window up ahead and fired a rocket at the tank, which missed over the top and exploded behind it. The explosion caused dirt and debris to fly everywhere.

On que with the rocket, a few Changelings appeared in some other windows and from down the street and began shooting.

Because a lot of the ponies had ended up ducking after the explosion, they didn’t have as many guns pointed down the road, ready for the attack.

The tank turned its turret towards the building and fired a round at it, all while being under fire from the small arms that the Changelings were shooting.

The gun fire exchange between the two forces went back and forth, with each trying to not get shot in the process.

Because the 4th squad was closer to the Changelings, some of their members ended up throwing grenades at the Changelings, while the 2nd squad pushed up.

The tank was still able to help push forward as its armor held up against the small arms, but not rockets, which is why it fired another round into the building, making sure that whatever Changeling had the rocket, didn’t fire it again.

Finally, through the chaotic mess, the gun fire stopped for a moment as all of the Changelings took cover or had died.

Because the squads had pushed up far enough now, they began making plans on what to do regarding the building and were about to enter. They were stopped in their tracks with entering as the Breezy decided to shift on its tracks, face the building it had fired at, and roll forward, straight into the broken window it had caused.

The infantry tried to communicate to the tank over the radio, but the tank didn’t stop as it came to a halt, raised its turret and fired a round point blank into the building. As debris fell onto the tank, it began rolling forward again, pushing directly into the building, destroying its walls in the process.

“Holy sh-”

Whoever just about spoke was interrupted as a few rounds were fired at them.

Shadow had to take cover for a moment, and in it, she yelled out confused, “The fuck are they doing!”

Another round was fired from the tank, which then resulted in some ponies yelling out as they watched the tank.

The tank suddenly began sliding forward and crashing through the floor underneath it as it caved through the ground and into the basement that building apparently had.

It fell far enough that when it hit the basement floor front first, the weight of it vibrated the ground in a small thud.

A few more bullets whizzed by as the Changelings attacked without the tank threat.

The ponies didn’t have much time to respond to the tank crashing as they were quickly brought into another small gun fight.

At the end of the small fight, once the Changelings scurried off in a retreat, the only damage they were able to inflict was a shot through a backpack. The Changelings though, lost another bug, one that they had dragged to cover themselves.

With the tank still stuck in a basement, the two squads made their way up to the tank and cleared the building themselves that it had driven into.

The tank’s engine finally came to a sputtering stop after it had redlined its engine a few times, realizing it was indeed stuck.

As it became quiet and the 2nd squad was able to hear while next to it, Gust and Blaze began trying to see if they were alright while everypony else held the location.

Gust had crawled onto the tank’s top, which was angled downwards, and banged on one of the hatches.

“HEEEY!” Gust yelled out. He was unsure what the crew could hear from within the tank as he had never been in one.

“Open up! We’re clear out here!”

The commander’s hatch ended up opening and the thestral from before poked his head out, cursing as he did.

“Yo! What happened to you guys? Why’d you crash?” Gust asked, despite the commander not paying him much attention.

“Are you able to pull him out? No? Shit,” The commander then looked at Gust for a second and then looked downwards at the driver’s hatch, which was pinned shut by the building debris from the tank falling through. “Gods dammit, can y’all get that hatch open?” The commander directed at Gust as he pointed down at the hatch.

Gust looked at Blaze, who was inspecting the bottom of the tank from below, who looked back at Gust before climbing up onto the tank to move some of the bricks.

The tank commander had looked back into the tank and was talking with his crew members before poking his head back out, “Yeah, shit, we need one of the medics for our driver. He broke a leg and can’t climb out.”

Gust then looked upwards, at the first floor, where Shadow, the 4th’s commander, and Jackpot stood, and yelled up to them, “Hey Jackie! The crew needs your help it seems. They’ve got a broken leg!”

Shadow and the 4th’s commander both looked like they were done with this shit when Gust yelled out.

The tank commander poked back in and shuffled around for a moment before yelling out, “Hey light blue! Give us a hoof, we’re pulling our driver out!”

Gust realized that it was him, given he had blue colored fur, so he poked his head into the commander's hatch to see what it was.

The Breezy only had a crew of three, and the commander and gunner were currently navigating around their tight space of a turret as they tried dragging their driver through the space and up towards the two turret hatches.

As Gust looked into the space, the lighting dimmed due to him blocking the hatch, which caused the commander to look at Gust’s poking head. “Open the other hatch, the gunner's one. Twist and push, you’re–” There was a loud interrupting scream of pain from the driver as their broken leg got caught on the tank.

Gust covered his ears momentarily until the scream stopped.

“Yeah, gods damnit, open that fucking hatch!” The commander yelled up to Gust once the scream subsided, “And then stop blocking our light!”

Gust pushed himself further into the tank so he could reach for the other hatch. He felt around for the supposed handle it had, which he found and then did as the tank commander instructed. It took a few tries of twisting the hand in various ways before it finally did, and Gust was able to push the hatch open.

With it open now, Gust pulled himself back out of the tank and opened the hatch the rest of the way from the outside.

In the time Gust had helped with the hatch, Blaze was already working on trying to clear his way to the driver’s hatch while the 4th commander and Jackpot had come down to the basement.

Gust had to shimmy his way around on the tank, so he was clear from the hatch while staying near it to help if asked.

The voices of the crew members became louder as they slowly pulled themselves up to the hatches, which was accompanied by the pained grunts.

Once the crew members got into position within the turret, they began helping get the driver through the gunner’s hatch.

“Help him through bluey, just be careful of his back right leg!” The commander said.

Gust couldn’t see a good way to help the driver out while on his own, so he yelled down at Blaze to join him, who still happened to be clearing the driver’s hatch. Blaze started climbing up the tank to join Gust, who by now was already helping handle the driver, giving them stabilization so they didn’t fall head first from the hatch.

As Blaze began helping, he and Gust communicated with the tank crew, doing their best to firstly get the driver fully out of the tank without falling down. Once the driver was out of the tank and stood on the sloped tank, they put no weight on their back right leg, so with the continued help of Gust and Blaze, they were able to slowly get themselves down onto the basement floor, where the 4th commander and Jackpot met with him.

As Jackpot began assessing the driver, the commander poked his head out of the hatch again and yelled down at Gust. “Get back up here and help us get our shit out!”

While Blaze assisted Jackpot, Gust scrambled back up the tank to the turret hatches, where he was met by the gunner who quickly handed Gust a bag.

The commander was elsewhere in the tank, not in view from the hatch, but they were handing stuff to the gunner, who in turn handed it to Gust. Gust piled the items at his feet until the gunner got word from the commander that was everything.

Gust climbed down the tank some before taking the bags and stuff and handing them to the 4th’s commander, who placed them on the ground.

During that, the gunner and commander popped out of the hatches and came down from the tank. The last items they had brought out were SMGs that they had slung around themselves.

Once everypony was on the ground, the tank commander and gunner both inspected the tank, but were interrupted by the 4th’s commander.

“The fuck was that! Why did you go into the building! You just lost us a damn fucking tank!” The 4th’s commander, who was Sergeant Temp, was obviously angry now that he had the opportunity to speak with the crew.

The tank commander returned the hostilities to Temp and the two got into a quick argument until the sounds of gunfire from the street began up.

“Fuckin’ damnit!” Temp cursed out.

Shadow yelled down from above as the gun fire continued, “Blaze and Gust, get back up here! We’ve sat here for too long, they’re attacking us now!”

Before Gust and Blaze left, they looked at Jackpot who was still tending to the tank driver.

“What about him?” Gust asked when pointing at the driver.

“It’s shattered is what. I gave him some pain relief, but he’s done for. He has himself a one way ticket home,” Jackpot said as she quickly finished her assessment.

The two other crew members' faces were horrified at that news and quickly spoke with their driver.

Just as they started speaking, a loud explosion happened above, which prompted Shadow to yell down at the others again, “DAMNIT, GET YOUR ASSES UP HERE!”

With the urgency of the situation now, Gust and Blaze quickly made their way back upstairs, joining Shadow within the building as the others were firing away from the street.

“They shot a rocket at us. They’re at the end of the street now,” Shadow informed Gust and Blaze. She pointed out of a window that didn’t put her in danger.

As more gunfire is exchanged, Gust and Blaze look around for where they can get an angle to shoot back themselves.

“Here, you two go upstairs, there’s a view from up there I think,” Shadow said by pointing at the stairway that went up.

The stairs were shattered and splintered about, holes and dust lining it up and down, but it still looked sturdy.

With an adjustment of his helmet, Gust nods and begins making his way up the stairs with Blaze behind him.

They go up a few flight of stairs until they reach the third floor of the building and find a window that indeed faces down the street towards the Changelings. They still had a bit of cover from the building, so they used it as they aimed their guns, being at the ready.

Blaze looked around the room, checking to see if there were any openings that the enemy could see them through, or vice versa, but there was nothing, so he focused back on the one window they currently used.

For a moment, the only gun fire they heard coming from down the road was happening from somewhere they couldn’t see.

The only things they could see were the puffs of smoke from bullet impacts from their MG’s gunning away and one dead Changeling.

As the moments passed, the gunfire came to a stop and silence dawned on the area outside of the distant noise of war.

“Shit,” Blaze muttered to himself.

“Oh, oh, oh!” Gust spat out as he quickly aimed down his rifle and took a shot at a Changeling that came into view.

Gust quickly chambered a new round and fired again before Blaze shot as well.

The Changeling wasn’t hit in those three shots, so they were able to get to cover.

Blaze took a pot shot at the spot the Changeling hid at, which somehow made them hop out of cover and run somewhere else, but before either Gust or Blaze could shoot again, the Changeling had cover again.

Without warning, a massive explosion hit the end of the road, which kicked up dust and smoke.

Gust looked at Blaze with a confused look before the shouting from below made its way to them through Shadow.

“Friendly tank! Friendly tank! Coming from the left!”

After Gust and Blaze focused back on the road, they saw MG tracers flying through the streets, which was coming from the left turn at the end of the street.

From his perspective, Blaze saw a sliver of the tank out of their shot out window. “It's that other Muletilda.”

By now, the Changelings began retreating from their positions down the road, running under fire from the tank and the infantry.

With the Changelings pushing out of view from the rest of the infantry, the 1st squad began pushing down the street to the intersection.

The 2nd squad stayed at the building for now as the tank crew figured out what to do.

After a few minutes of fighting, the Muletilda finally rolled into the intersection and pushed past until it blocked the right side of the road. While it pushed to there, friendly infantry followed in from behind, checking walls and corners where the Changelings had been, before holding to the sides of the road while some cleared the buildings.

Shadow then came up to the third floor and got Gust and Blaze to come downstairs. The tank driver had been patched up the best Jackpot could and currently sat on the first floor with his crew mates.

When Gust joined the rest of his squad outside, the Muletilda ahead had reversed and backed up down the road towards them with only its front end and turret’s cannon peaked around a corner. The infantry adjusted to the shift and no longer lingered to the tank's right and took positions on the left side of the road.

With things being stable now given the Changelings had been pushed back and weren’t attacking currently, the 2nd squad and the two other tank crew members moved up to the Muletilda’s position, sticking behind the tank, with only the injured driver, Jackpot, and the 4th stayed behind at the Breezy.

After holding position near the tank for a moment, the commander of the Muletilda opened up their hatch and popped their head out and instantly began yelling at the Breezy’s commander.

“You fucking dumbass! You fucking fuck head! Why the fuck are you driving your tank into a fucking building!” The Muletilda commander had to take a breath to calm themselves down before they continued, “Your ass is done for if we can’t recover it later, you hear me?” The Muletilda commander then ducked back into their tank for a moment before popping back out. “Is your gunner alright?”

A look of defeat dawned on the thestral before they checked over their gunner and answered, “They’re fine!”

“Then get their ass up here, I need a replacement for my loader. They got swacked by hull shrapnel, so our gunner’s been having to load the shots themselves,” The Muletilda commander then pointed down at the other tank commander, “Go get your driver to the backlines. I heard over the radio they’re out.”

There was a bit of discussion between the two on the ground before the gunner started climbing up onto the tank and then entering the gunner's hatch after it was opened by the Muletilda gunner.

As the situation with the Breezy’s crew finally became sorted out and its commander left to go help the driver, the Muletilda’s commander went back into the turret and closed the hatch.

There was a bit of downtime as the Muletilda and the three squads sat around. They had been at the intersection for about ten minutes while they waited for orders to come in, or for the Changelings to attack again.

While they all waited, the reorganization of gear began. Everypony made sure they had loaded magazines and clips, topping of their bolt actions or repacking SMG mags if they had been partially used up. Some ponies traded grenades between one another and a lot of them took swings from their canteens or nibbled on some ration bars they carried.

It turns out that one of the 4th’s members ended up getting hit by shrapnel from one of the rockets and didn’t notice until things had calmed down. They were treated too, but they ultimately had to be sent to the backlines.

Jackpot had rejoined the 2nd squad after the Breezy’s driver was taken away with a few others and the Breezy’s commander.

“I mean, they’re not fighting that hard. I would think they would given they put a lot into taking the city,” Blaze stated.

“They had those panzers when they did, but they left for Hedgewards. I guess they underestimated themselves finally,” Snow said.

“But still, so far, it’s gone pretty well, for us at least. Well, outside of the tank crashing,” Blaze added.

“I don’t know, maybe they’re strained on units because of the extra help that we brought in,” Gust said after motioning at the two black stripes that were with the 1st squad. “Maybe they’re good in combat,” Gust then shrugged his wings with his answer.

And with that, the click of one of the radios between the squads sounded on. Through the static of it, some orders came in.

Based on the positions of the tanks and all squads, the spot where the 3rd Muletilda was, which was with the 2nd squad, was in a prime spot to conduct a small ambush.

After the orders were finished being delivered, the squad commanders spoke with one another and made a plan on a map. After some quick discussion, they all split to their squads.

“Alright 2nd squad, we have a new task. We’re going to push into the backroad behind this building,” Shadow pointed at the building that was in the center of the intersection they waited at, “And we’re going to push for this building that has a AT gun inside of it. It’s currently watching the road the other two Muletilda’s are trying to take but can’t get around any of the buildings. We’re hitting it. We have a direct path to it from that backroad. Any concerns, questions, complaints?”

“Yeah, where’d the 5th squad go off to?” Hazelblossom asked.

“They’re actually holding off to the right somewhere. They’re going to rejoin with this tank,” Shadow points at the Muletilda, “And push with them down the right. We’re the ones going because we haven’t had anyone injured yet, lucky us,” Shadow said with a shake of her head, “Anything else?”

When nothing came from the members of the 2nd squad, Shadow quickly had them rally together so they could move out. The rest of the squads were already moving themselves, with the tank rolling down the road as well.

As the 2nd squad made their way between buildings and behind the one from the intersection, they made their way onto the backroad that was there.

From here on, they were a lot more cautious about their movements and began watching all windows and corners again as they moved along.

Because the distance to the building with the AT gun wasn’t that far, they didn’t have to travel for long.

The only encounters they faced were some birds that gave the squad a small fright, but didn’t stop them. It wasn’t until somepony peaked around a corner that the described building was now in view.

At this point, the sounds of the fighting throughout the city still went on, but they were tuned out as the 2nd squad had to focus on their attack.

From some quick peeking, the distance to the actual building from where they were now wasn’t that far, but there looked to be an enemy MG position in one of the windows facing down their road. They had just barely been able to make out the barrel of it, which probably saved their lives.

The 2nd squad was able to discuss a quick plan before they took on the house. They had looked around for another way to access the building, but that proved to be unsuccessful, so they had to go with the direct approach. This was probably why the MG was positioned this way.

“So, because we have the surprise right now, we’ll have Hazel spray it down while you, you-” Shadow pointed at Snow, Rain, Gust, Moonshadow, and Blaze, “Will all begin bounding up. You’ll get about halfway and then lay down fire on the house, that way the rest of us can come up and join you,” Shadow looked around at each pony for agreements or disapproval, and only saw some heads nod, which prompted her to continue. “After Hazel’s in position again, you five will run up to the building and enter it. We’ll hold at the midway point until you take that room the MG’s in. And obviously, if shit changes, adjust accordingly. Ok?”

With nods of approval from everypony, Shadow had everypony get into position to start.

Once Shadow gave the word to start, Hazel quickly moved out into the road and laid down fire on the building, specifically the window that had the MG in it. Chaser stood nearby and fired a few rounds from his bolt action at the other windows.

The five that had been directed quickly ran around Hazel and ran down the side of the street near whatever cover there was in the event of return fire.

The bounding was quite successful as no return fire came back, but now that the five were in position halfway to the building, they quickly took up their guns and continued firing on the house.

Their fire rate was a bit slower due to them only having bolt actions, while Moonshadow just held security for the other four due to only having a SMG.

While those four littered the house with bullet impacts, the four behind them quick began running down the street, on the opposite side of the road. Once they reached the midway point, Hazel was quick to set up her MG again, but she had to have Chaser assist with reloading it, so his rifle was down while Shadow and Jackpot held security for them.

“Ok! Bound again! Bound again!” Shadow shouted at the five.

As the order came, the four stopped firing and quickly loaded up their rifles with a few extra bullets before they began their second bound down to the house.

Before they reached the house, the first return fire began. The enemy’s bugsaw wasn’t what fired, but rifles. Their shots weren’t landing anywhere close as it appeared the bugs were holding the rifles out from cover and firing blindly. It was only two as well.

The front five quickly took cover at what they could before reaching the house and took aim at the building.

They then quickly, along with Hazel’s bursts of fire, shot at the windows the rifles were at.

Puffs of smoke began clouding them as their bullets hit around the window.

Finally, one of the guns disappeared while the other continued. When the second one disappeared for a moment, that’s when the five took the opportunity to start bounding up again.

This time, they were able to reach the building before any return fire happened again.

Hazel stopped with her bursts to not hit the five as they got ready to enter the building.

The five were all underneath a few of the windows to the building, with them all being shot out now because of Hazel, which Gust quickly took advantage of.

“Toss some frags in!” Gust said as he was already getting one of his two grenades prepared.

“Lend me one!” Rain said. He didn’t have any himself.

Gust tossed Rain his other one, so those two, along with Moonshadow, unpinned the grenades and on the count of two, they tossed them into the windows of the building.

“FRAG OUT!” Gust said loudly before all five braced for the explosions.

Moonshadow had crouched down and held onto her helmet as she prepared.

One, two, three. All three grenades exploded at different times, and each time they went off, it rattled each pony, along with the building. Dust shot out of the windows, which also sent the remainder of broken glass flying.

Some pieces of glass and debris fell onto the five’s helmets, but they were able to shake it off as they quickly got their weapons ready to enter the building. The door they were going for already had some shots through it from Hazel, who also happened to suddenly fire a controlled burst into the upper floors of the building.

Snow was the first to enter the building as he breached in through the door, with the order behind him being Gust, Blaze, Moonshadow, and lastly Rain.

The inside of the building was clouded with dust from the previous three grenades, so it was hard to see in some areas.

As they pushed through the first floor, the bodies of two Changelings were found in the rooms where they had thrown the grenades. After they cleared that room, they continued going through the building.

A waiting Changeling gave a surprise pop as he? She? It? Fired a round at Snow after he had turned a corner. The bullet missed as Snow didn’t stop moving until he butted against the hallway wall. Snow returned fire at the bug, who fired back as well. Neither were hit still until Gust also rounded the corner and quickly took aim at the bug and shot them. The bug fell to the ground with a thud and squirmed around, only for Snow to finish them off.

“Go past!” Gust yelled out as he quickly went to Snow to check him. Gust patted Snow down, seeing if he found any blood on him, which resulted in nothing. Some sighs of relief were interrupted by the spray of bullets from another room, that sprayed across and through the wall.

Blaze fired a few rounds into the wall in return, as he had been the one who pushed on, but was quick to take what cover he could as more bullets sprayed through the wall.

Blaze pointed at the doorway that went into the room to bring attention to the entrance.

Moonshadow was finally able to make use of her SMG and give her own return fire of bullets into the wall herself, with the hopes of them hitting whoever was on the other side.

In the meantime as Rain fired into the wall with Moon, Blaze had taken out a grenade, unpinned it, and threw it at the doorway. Blaze then quickly retreated backwards.

The grenade had bounced off the edge of the doorframe and into the room, and after a few seconds, the grenade was suddenly back out into the hallway.

Everypony took cover back the way they came, ducking around the corner before the grenade went off.

Boom!

The vibrations of the grenade were a lot worse now that they were within the building, but they were all fine.

Moonshadow took up position on the corner of the hallway, looking down towards the door frame Blaze had tried to grenade, while the rest figured out what to do.

While figuring out what to do, the Changeling that was in the room peaked around the corner, which caused Moonshadow to fire at them. The Changeling retreated their head back in but quickly stumbled out into the hallway from being hit, which made Snow and Gust finished it off.

With the single Changeling dead, they all began pushing down to the doorway and entered the room to quickly clear it. There were no other bugs inside the room.

There was only one more room on this side of the building, so while Snow and Rain held the hall that led to the other side, Gust, Moonshadow, and Blaze setup to clear the room.

Just as they were about to enter, Snow and Rain began firing at some Changelings that tried to counter-attack them, but having to focus on this final room, Gust quickly charged into it. He didn’t make it far, only into the doorframe as there were two Changelings in one of the corners of the room, ready for them.

Gust began to panic as he tried aiming at the bugs, but they had already fired at him, “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!” Their bullets nearly missed him while his own also missed.

As all three began chambering new rounds in a panic, the few known Changeling curses were being shouted in return from the bugs. As one of the bugs got a round chambered, they fired it again and missed Gust while Gust’s rifle jammed up, only for Moonshadow to slam into Gust’s side and with indirect aim, sprayed her SMG into the two Changelings. They couldn’t get any rounds off in return as one dropped to the ground and the other collapsed.

One of them started kicked and shoving themselves away into whatever there was for protection, while the other lay still, both had dropped their rifles in the process.

While Moonshadow moved further into the room despite having an empty magazine in her SMG, Blaze came in behind and took aim at the two bugs. As he noticed the one moving around, so he shot it twice before moving over to the two.

While the gunfire from Snow and Rain had stopped, Blaze took the moment to check over the two bugs, making sure they were dead before turning his attention to Gust.

Gust finally gave up and just violently shook the bolt, “FUUUUUCK!” And in doing that, he was finally able to get a new round to chamber in.

Moonshadow had finished swapping magazines and was already moving out of the room to get back with the other two.

“By Celestia’s grace, how’re you still alive!” Blaze was dumbfounded himself at the situation just went down as he watched the pissed off Gust calm himself.

Gust and Blaze both now began following Moonshadow out, but as Gust left the room, he kicked a wall in a spout of final anger and put a hole in it, “Damn fucking gun jammed on my ass and wouldn’t load,” Gust showed off his gun to Blaze, not that there was anything visually wrong with it.

As they gathered up with the other two, they learned that a Changeling had peeked at them but retreated back up the stairs that were down the hall.

“Ok, so right around us above us should be that window with the MG,” Gust pointed up at the ceiling and then down the hall. “It should be quick to access from those stairs. We’ll frag it, clear it, and then signal for the other four to join us. Anypony have any frags?”

It turned out nopony had any grenades left. “Ok. Rain, Snow, hold at the bottom for us, we’ll just go up and get the room. That should draw the upstairs attention long enough then that we’ll come back down and signal for the others, ok?”

With nopony disagreed, they got ready to start it.

“Ok, push,” Gust said now as his focus was back on clearing and not his weapon. He had done some function tests while they figured out what to do and it worked fine.

Snow and Rain pushed down the hall and were the ones who cleared the stairs. When no Changeling fired at them, the other three came in behind and started pushing up them right away while the other two held security at the bottom.

Blaze was the first one pushing up the stairs as they went, with Moonshadow right behind and Gust last.

When they got to the top, they didn’t encounter any bugs besides more hallways and doors to more rooms, but as expected, there was a door around the spot they had expected the MG nest to be, it was also the first door.

They quickly pushed for the door and got ready to enter it.

As Blaze opened the door, a rip of bullets teared through the wall, nearly splitting Blaze in half. The spray of bullets didn’t stop for a few seconds, but it didn’t hit anypony else, or Blaze anymore as he’d fallen to the ground in pain.

In the chaos of the smoke and gunfire, Moonshadow and Gust had ripped past Blaze into the room and as the initial burst of fire came to an end and they both fired their own weapons.

This time around, Gust was able to cycle a few rounds without fail until the two bugs were both dead.

For a moment, the two stood in the room under the clouds of dust all the gunfire had kicked up and made sure nothing else was about to pop out and bite them.

In the silence of everything, Gust turned back around and went into the hallway to check on Blaze.

As Gust saw the condition of Blaze, he began shouting at Moonshadow, “Let’s get downstairs! Quick! Blaze is hit!”

Gust immediately began dragging Blaze down the hall to the stairs and pulled him down them. Moonshadow followed right behind Gust as this happened. Once they had gotten back downstairs, the looks of Snow and Rain as they saw the condition Blaze was in. They went from looks of concern to fear as they saw the holes and nearly torn off leg.

“Shit- Fuck-”

“Go get Jacky! Shadow! Them!” Gust yelled as he continued dragging Blaze back into the cleared portion of the building. Moonshadow ran past them all and went to the entrance they had used to flag down the other four.

Once Gust had found a spot to put Blaze, he began treating Blaze himself to the best of his abilities. He had a few bandages and tried plugging the spots that Blaze bled from, but that was about the extent his knowledge allowed given the situation.

After a minute or so, the other four barged into the building. Hazelblossom and Chase set up near the entrance to secure it, while Shadow and Jackpot assessed the situation.

“Oh, shit hells,” Was Jackpots first response upon seeing the condition that Blaze was in.

It took Jackpot less than a minute to announce Blaze was dead. This dulled everyone upon learning about it.

After letting some tears flow for a few seconds, Shadow pushed Gust away from Blaze and dragged him to the stairs where the other two still waited.

“This side of the building,” Shadow motioned down the hall Snow and Rain were watching, “Should be where that AT gun is. We’ll push down and find it, kill the crew or whatever we need. Got it?” Shadow asked. With no disagreements, Shadow looked at Gust and said, “You’re watching the stairs while we clear the rest.”

Without even asking about Gusts thoughts, Shadow force Gust into a position to watch the stairs while she went with Snow, Rain, Jackpot and Moon to clear the rest of the building.

Gust was quick to suppress his feelings while he watched the stairs. He was trying to clear his eyes of tears so he could see properly.

The sounds of gunfire from the others were heard a few times over the course of a few minutes as they cleared the bottom floor.

During it, a Changeling appeared from the top of the stairs, so with quick thinking and acting, Gust fired at them. His round missed, but the Changeling didn’t disappear. They were trying to surrender, which was evident of a white sheet of cloth they carried.

After the first shot, the Changeling began screaming in its language, none of which Gust was able to understand as he failed to understand what was happening and fired at the bug again.

This time, one of the previous tears got in the way of his vision and made the round miss the bug at the last moment.

Through the fear of death, the bug still pursued with its surrender in hopes of it working out as Gust chambered his third round, but with the third round, Gust realized what was happening, seeing as there was no threat, he didn’t fire.

Because the bug had gone halfway down the stairs during its descent, Gust started yelling at them to stop and while aiming his rifle at them.

While the bug was unarmed, they didn’t stop and continued going down the stairs, yelling themselves because of the tense situation.

Gust wasn’t sure what to do, so he made a split decision to go up the stairs and meet the bug directly on, grabbing them and pushing them hastily down the stairs. The Changeling ended up tripping down the stairs as this happened, but they were quick to push themselves back up and keep going down, while Gust followed them down with his rifle.

At the bottom of the stairs, Gust again grabbed the Changeling and brought them over to a wall where he forced the Changeling to sit on the ground so he could watch them. Gust’s focus was now split between the bug and stairs now.

Thankfully nothing happened further, but when Jackpot and Moonshadow were the first two to come back from clearing the rest of the bottom floor, they were surprised to see the Changeling Gust had.

“Why’s there a Changeling!” Jackpot asked.

“I don’t know!” Gust answered with confusion.

Moonshadow was quick to raise her SMG at the Changeling when she approached closer, but she didn’t get in physical distance of them. The Changeling before this point had been trying to speak to the others, despite the language barrier.

“Why didn’t you shoot them?” Moonshadow asked with a snarl of hate. She normally didn’t act like that, but the death of Blaze probably fueled it.

“I missed twice!”

As Gust answered, Shadow had come back as well and quickly noticed the captured bug herself. “Gods fucking damnit, why’s there a prisoner!” Shadow didn’t sound happy either about the bug.

“They were unarmed, and I missed damnit!” Gust had to respond again for Shadow.

After Gust had spoken, Shadow moved over to the Changeling and aimed her gun at its head and nearly pulled the trigger on it, but Jackpot stopped her.

“I didn’t want to take a prisoner today! Shit! Just kill it and we don’t have to deal with it!” Shadow said.

Gust had put his full attention back on the stairs as the other three were dealing with the Changeling, so he couldn’t keep track of what they were doing.

“Gust damnit, they just killed Blaze, and you let one live!” Shadow shouted, “I didn’t want to deal with this shit and the black shits!”

With Shadow not wanting to execute the Changeling anymore after Jackpot’s decision, Moonshadow went back to holding the Changeling at gunpoint. Jackpot had left back down the hall to where Blaze had been left while Shadow quickly went back towards where Snow and Rain still were.

It was a quick interaction between them and the Changeling, and since Shadow had almost shot them, the Changeling had been quiet.

With the small moment of silence, Gust gave Moonshadow a quick glance to ask her a question, “What’s the bug saying? They were just speaking a moment ago!”

Moonshadow knew a little bit of the Changeling language, but nothing that proved much use for their normal operations on the front lines against them.

“Ask them what?” Moon asked back to Gust.

“They were speaking something since I had them sit at that wall. Are you able to figure that out?”

Moonshadow gave an attempt at asking the bug a question, which was a very simplified down to her just saying ‘what’ in their language.

When the bug was asked that question, they began speaking again, but not as hectic as they had been during their initial surrender or when Shadow nearly killed it.

There was a small back and forth between the two, but Shadow soon returned and halted it.

“I already didn’t want prisoners, so don’t make it harder on me by talking to them! I don’t want those black shits becoming a problem because you can’t shut up.” Shadow was right to the point as she then quickly hurried past Gust and Moonshadow.

At her first sighting of Hazel and the others, she asked for a smoke grenade from them, who were quick to supply Shadow with. Once Shadow had the smoke grenade, she quickly went back down the hall to where Snow and Rain were, wherever that was.

Once Shadow was gone, Gust asked Moonshadow a question. “What’d they say? The bug?”

Moonshadow shifted her focus to Gust for a moment to answer him. “I didn’t understand most of it, but they’re surrendering and then something about ghosts. That’s all I was able to get.”

After Moonshadow finished speaking, the bug began speaking up again, but they couldn’t say much as they were interrupted.

This time, instead of Shadow appearing, it was Jackpot who did. “Listen, we should follow the orders we have and not speak with them, but let's also not kill the damn thing, ok?” Jackpot moved down to join Moonshadow, trying to get Moon to lower her gun from being aimed at the Changeling, “I’m sure it’ll be interrogated, and they’ll talk about how we spoke with it, and then our asses are shit out of luck somehow. I don’t want to deal with that shit myself.”

After Jackpots long answer, the Changeling began speaking yet again, thinking it had the opportunity to.

“OK! Clear the upstairs! Me and Jackpot will hold down here with the prisoner and the hallway while y’all are upstairs!” Shadow had appeared again with her quick orders, along with Snow and Rain. They both go ready with Gust to push upstairs. The captured Changeling was then forced to stay quiet as Shadow and Jackpot watched it.

Things happened fast after that, the original four that entered the building went upstairs and checked it out. They didn’t find any other Changelings up there besides the dead ones, and supposedly the gun from the one they captured.

Once they had come back downstairs, Shadow ordered the four to go down the hallway to where the AT gun was at and meet the main advance once they arrived.

There wasn’t much time to stop as the other three guided Gust to the room where the AT gun was. There were a few dead Changelings who had been around the gun, but all four ponies ignored them.

The Four ended up taking up positions around the AT gun while they looked out the hole the gun faced out of. It had a clean shot down a road that was currently filled with dissipated smoke, which had come from the smoke grenade Shadow had gotten.

It had been a few minutes since the smoke grenade was thrown, so it wasn’t long until the first few ponies pushed through it as they approached the building the 2nd squad had taken over. They took up positions around the road and faced a direction that led further into the city while some came into the AT gun building.

By now, the smoke had really dissipated, but right before it did, a Muletilda tank rolled through it and then turned down the street going further into the city and advanced down it some before stopping. Right as it came to a stop, the second Muletilda tank that had been with it also showed up.

Both tanks had light bullet damage to their hull and paint that wasn’t present before, but they were functioning just fine.

With the short break they currently had before continuing on with the advance into the city, this main advance’s command unit came into the building the 2nd squad was in, which brought along with it, the few black stripes they had.

While other ponies were holding security, Gust and the other three went back into the heart of the building where the Changeling had been captured and where Blaze was.

The black stripes were quick to take over control of the captured prisoner and made sure that nopony else was able to get close to it once so. That had only brought on the interest of others outside of the 2nd squad, as the 2nd squad was quickly gathering where Blaze was.

Hazelblossom and Chaser were still holding security at the back of the building, so they weren’t present as the rest stood around Blaze’s body.

Now having the proper opportunity, they were able to mourn over him.

Moonshadow and Snow didn’t stick around for long. Shadow was quickly pulled away for discussing things with the other commanders and giving a statement for the black stripes, while Jackpot had been pulled away to go help some other injured ponies, so it was Rain and Gust who were left with Blaze.

Blaze had been moved to a different room that was out of the way while other ponies went about through the building for various reasons.

After Gust had calmed down from his mourning, he ended up taking Blaze’s pack of smokes and matches. Blaze didn’t carry anything of value with him so there wasn’t much else to take. The pack of smokes had a small bloodstain on it, but that didn’t prevent Gust from taking them.

Not wanting to dwell on Blaze’s death and sour their mood any more than they should, Rain and Gust finally left and joined with the others. Blaze’s body location was marked down for retrieval later, but because the assault on the city was still happening and because support ponies were occupied with living victims, the dead weren’t a priority.

The rest of the 2nd squad ended up trying to cheer Gust up, as he was the closest to Blaze, so they were having a fun time nagging on him and shit-talking with one another while they sat around and waited now.

They had replenished themselves with refreshing water from their canteens and some more nibbles of rations and small snacks they had. They were all just sitting around outside near the street in some cover as they waited for their orders. This group wasn’t who they were supposed to be with, so Shadow was trying to figure out what to do.

With what ponies they could though, they all exchanged stories of their perspectives on the attack, trading information on what they could so everypony knew how the assault was going. It was currently going fine besides a few injured ponies and the few less that were dead.

The biggest thing that was brought up between all the other small groups was how the resistance from the Changelings wasn’t as tough as they had thought. It seemed that their attack was either unexpected or they just didn’t have the bug power for it. It was something that they all passed off though as panic started happening from the squads that held at the front of the road, near the Muletilda’s.

Snow, Rain, Gust, and Moonshadow were all trying to figure out what was happening before they noticed ponies getting ready for their weapons, which caused them to also get ready for the supposed attack. The attack then showed up in the form of a Changeling panzer III that rounded a corner far down the road the Muletilda’s sat on.

“PANZER!” Were the shouts that ponies all began spreading throughout the group.

Everypony took cover as no enemy infantry showed up, which was good for them as the Changeling panzer fired a round at one of the Muletilda’s. It was a direct hit and punched right through the hull of the tank.

Nothing happened for a few seconds until smoke started flowing out of the hole the panzer made. The smoke slipped through what cracks it could in the Muletilda as it burned from the inside. None of the hatches on it were open as the crew had been sitting inside.

In this time, the panzer had rolled back behind cover. The second Muletilda wasn’t able to react in time to the panzer, so it never fired a shot back, but it did rev up its engine and began rolling backwards to get behind a building.

Ponies that were around the tanks began pushing away from it, retreating back for better cover.

And then the panzer pushed out again and stopped in the road as it looked for the other Muletilda. The two saw each other and both fired at one another, though the Muletilda had worse accuracy as it moved backwards, that didn’t stop it from landing a hit on the panzer. The panzer didn’t hit the Muletilda.

The Muletilda didn’t stop backing up until it had reached cover behind the building it was getting behind and so it was only infantry that looked down the road at the panzer, but the panzer didn’t move after it had been hit.

Eveyrpony tried to hide, doing their best to not move as they feared the panzer might see them and blast them away, but nothing happened. As brave ponies peaked to see what was happening, they noticed that the panzer was also smoldering, but not as bad. There was a hole in the side of the turret that cleanly punched through, but it didn’t kill the entire crew as the driver’s hatch popped open and a Changeling began climbing out.

As the ponies saw this, some began firing at the Changeling, but none of them were able to hit it, only putting marks in the panzer itself as the Changeling got cover behind its tank.

When the gunfire from the ponies stopped, they kept their guns pointed down at the tank as they expected enemy infantry to show up.

The second Muletilda now pushed forward again and positioned itself to fire at the panzer again. It landed a direct hit on the side of the panzer’s hull as their own gunner had time to aim properly.

One the Muletilda fired at it, it didn’t reverse as they were loading a new round to fire. Once they had their new round loaded, they aimed as best as they could behind the panzer and fired. This round, when it impacted, exploded. After the HE round exploded behind, the panzer itself began cooking off as its insides turned to flames and burned heavily.

The first Muletilda that had been hit by the panzer still smoked, but none of its crew had climbed out so it was clear they were all dead or would be soon if not already. Nopony wanted to check though.

As they all prepared for more Changelings to attack, they began to realize one might not, so with new orders, the squads began pushing down the road to try and clear the area the panzer was at.

The 2nd squad didn’t push with them as they had regrouped in the AT gun building. There they learned that they would go meet back up with the original group they were with and push with them again. They would be making contact with the eastern companies that were pushing in from the east and then they would all push west to the western part of the city to retake the fortified areas.

So, with everything that had happened so far, as the second Muletilda pushed alone with the rest of its group and a dead Blaze lay in the building they had cleared, the 2nd squad set out with their new orders.