Ch 1. The First Panzer Division
It was 6:00, and like clockwork, Mandell woke up. As other members of the Heer started to stir, Mandell slipped out of his bed and slowly walked to the changing room. Mandell walked through his earthen barracks, which he was pretty proud of. It had clean, thick wooden planks lining the sides and floor, lighting, and small openings for decent ventilation. While not the most aesthetically pleasing, it wasn't horrendous to look at, and it did the most critical thing a barracks should do: keep the lingering cold out.
Mandell finally made his way to the changing room and grabbed his uniform. It was a simple, plain, grey uniform that looked similar to the equestrian one. The only defining difference is the Queen's emblem, replacing the top button to brand it under the changeling hegemony. He stepped out of his sleeping clothes, which were just plain civilian clothes, and quickly changed into his uniform. The uniform fit well enough, and Mandell grabbed his helmet and clipped it under his muzzle before grabbing his Gewehr 7. He headed out to the training field, where someone significant was meeting their unit today.
Mandell soon made his way to the training field, fell in line with the other changelings, and stood in formation. Mandell put on a cold face and stared ahead to the platform where the special guest was supposed to arrive. He watched as the other changelings filed in. Some looked groggy, while others seemed slightly nervous about their division being visited.
As the changelings stood in line with each other, it soon became what seemed to be an endless wave of gray uniforms with identical changelings inside each one, and certainly to a Pony or a Griffon, this would be the case, but Mandell knew better. He knew that despite all looking very similar, they had minute differences. For example, Mandell was of your standard height and build of the average changeling and had the standard array of holes in his hooves. However, he had darker green eyes and head fins almost reminiscent of an emerald, making him stand out. Others had larger holed hooves, distinctive head fins, or plenty of other defining features.
Finally, there was a shout that spurred Mandell from his thoughts. His company leader was up on the platform shouting for everybody to stand at attention. Veask, the company leader, was a no-nonsense changeling who had served the Heer for years. He had led the company when it was just a motorized division during the changeling invasion of Olenia and subjugated the Polar Bear Communities.
"Attention, you grubs!" Veask shouted in Hertzlander, "I know that there are some rumors around that our glorious Queen Chrysalis has been posturing for war against the dirty harmonic Equestrians."
Mandell noticed that Veask paused, scanning the sea of grey for any squirming changeling; however, they all had stoic faces that couldn't be discerned from one another. Mandell then watched Veask give a small disappointed sigh as Mandell guessed he wanted to berate some poor changeling for talking about the supposed upcoming plans. After seeing Veask give one more glance over the crowd, he stepped aside from the podium and to the side of the stage with the other officers of the division.
"Well, in light of these rumors, we have had a guest go around to our elite divisions and speak about this to our glorious armored core." Veask then faced the podium and took a deep bow with his muzzle practically touching the floor. “Please bow for Hivesfieldmarschel Trimmel!” Mandell followed the motion of the crowd and bowed, pressing his muzzle against the dirt and gritting his teeth. He looked up under his helmet at Trimmel, and for a brief second, his face contorted into a brief look of disdain and hate before immediately returning to a cold, stoic face like the rest of his comrades. Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Mandell, Trimmel called out,
"RISE,"
His voice echoed out over the field, amplified by the microphones surrounding the podium. Responding to his call, the grey mass stood up to their feet. Mandell followed them up and stared ahead to the changeling at the podium. Trimmel was shorter than he thought. But besides that, he looked like your average changeling if it weren't for the extravagant uniform. It was a dark black instead of the standard grey uniform, with medals and pins covering his chest for his campaigns against their northern neighbors and various other achievements, with a shiny black peaked cap and cufflinks to tie it all together.
Mandell stood there observing Trimmel, watching his eyes sweep over the crowd before taking a deep breath and starting his speech.
"Loyal changelings of the Queen," Trimmel started, stamping his hoof against the floor. "This will be a great day for the Changeling Lands! After months of preparations, it has finally become time to strike against Equestria!"
A cheer erupted from the crowd in a deafening fashion. Not bothered by the noise, Mandell cheered—as to not be singled out—and looked around. He saw some changelings smug with themselves for knowing this was coming and others cheering with fanatical zealousness for their Queen. Finally, after a minute, the cheering quieted down, and Mandell retook his place in the formation and turned his attention back on Trimmel.
After a few more seconds, Trimmel resumed his speech. "Our glorious Queen is sorry for keeping this information away from our elite soldiers. However, you have been training for this day since Chrysalis united the hives… All of Olenia, The Communities, has been for the inevitable revenge against PONY KIND!"
Mandel watched as the organized audience of changelings slowly devolved into a raving crowd of half-feral changelings as Trimmel spurred them on in hatred and fervor.
"The ponies stand no chance against us!" Trimmel said while speaking up so as not to be drowned out by the crowd. "They are weak from being led in a HARMONIC government, where they squabble and fight against each other, making them weak!"
Trimmel is shouting by now as he reaches the climax of his speech. "MY FRIENDS… MY BROTHERS IN ARMS, YOU WILL BE THE ONES TO CAPITALIZE ON THIS! YOU WILL STRIKE DOWN EQUESTRIA! YOU WILL BE THE ONES PAX CHRYSALANIA IS BUILT ON! GO NOW AND CLAIM GLORY FOR YOURSELVES AND YOUR QUEEN!!!"
The world shook for Mandell in that instant as thousands of artillery pieces opened up simultaneously.
Author's Note
This chapter was a bit shorter than planned as i have broken it up into two sections. i have also changed the order of the chapters for obvious reasons as this one starts where the first (now second) one begins.
Hope you enjoy!
Ch 2. All is quiet on the changeling front
Buck had been in this nightmare many times before. It was a recurring nightmare that had plagued him since the attack, and no matter how many times a day he prayed to Princess Luna, the horrible dream would not go away. Defeated, Buck resigned himself to live through this dream again, as Buck could do nothing to escape it. He sat down on a small bench a little ways away from the crowd around the royal palace. Buck sighed as he observed the serenity before it was broken. He smelled the wedding flowers emanating from the royal palace, saw all the happy colts and fillies running around, and heard.
*boom*
Buck sat up a little. He never noticed the sound before in any of his previous recollections but quickly swatted it away as it being a foal playing with a firecracker he had never noticed before. As Buck focused back on the scene, he heard a low buzz in the background and braced himself for the coming chaos as the crowd began to swell during the climax of the royal wedding when all hell broke loose. Chrysalis had launched an attack on Canterlot, and Buck had been in the center of all of it.
When the attack happened, Buck was 12 years old and still just a foal. He was part of the crowd and was visiting Canterlot with his mom and dad for the royal wedding between Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. Buck was caught in the middle of it all when the changelings attacked, and the screams of joy and laughter turned into ones of fear and panic. Separated from his parents and at risk of being trampled by the crowd, Buck was forced to try and find his way out. During all of the chaos and panic, Buck saw other Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi getting picked off by the changeling and being drained of love, leaving frail husks of the victims. All Buck could do was pray that the next changeling grabbed somepony else, not him. When Buck finally freed himself from the crowd, he hid in an alleyway and observed the Elements of Harmony fighting back against the changeling incursion. When the elements of Harmony finally repealed the attack, Buck went out searching for his parents. He called out their names for hours and wandered the torn-up streets until he saw them.
*BOOM*
All he could remember at this point was his mom's body and his father's laid over the top of hers. Buck's mother was a weaker mare already struggling with her own body, and Buck did not doubt that when a changeling went for her love and struck down his father protecting her, she joined him soon after. Filled with overwhelming rage and sadness, Buck swore revenge against the changelings for what they had done to him and Equestria.
Buck had curled up into a ball, trying to ignore the scene playing again for him. He tried to ignore the tears running down his muzzle and the growing sounds of screams and explosions. Buck's heart was beating so loud and fast in his head that it created a deafening, repetitive thump, and Buck felt that at any moment it was about to burst and explode when
*BOOM*
Buck shot up with sweat covering his body. He was still adjusting from coming back from that nightmare and trying to get his bearings again. He slowly exited his bunk, grabbed his canteen, and threw water on his face. His name is Buck McFlourish, he is a soldier in the Equestrian military and he is in some trenchwork on the Ancornage line. After Buck had realigned himself, he started to take in his surroundings. The sad, earthen barrack he had been living in for the past two months was weirdly devoid of other soldiers. Buck knew he slept like a rock but figured that at least somepony would wake him up if there was an emergency. While thinking this, Buck noticed an increased commotion in the trench line as he heard dozens of ponies shouting over each other to get orders across to high command. Concerned about the commotion, Buck walked towards the dressing room and started to change.
As Buck put on his shirt, a plain gray button-down with pockets for storage, he noticed they were short around his front legs again. The Equestrian military could never size him correctly as Buck wasn't built like the standard earth pony. He was taller than your average pony with a dull yellow coat most akin to dry hay. Moving up to his face, he had dazzling crystal blue eyes that were contrasted by deep eyebags from his many restless nights and sat on top of it all was a scruffy brown mane that clearly hadn't been tended to in weeks. He was also skinny and gangly, with his ribs carving a clear outline against his barrel. Primarily due to the Equestrian military being undersupplied and overstretched. He sighed as he made a mental note to talk with his logistics officer after discovering the commotion. Finally, after finishing dressing, Buck grabs his Limestone SMG and runs out into the trench line to find the worst possible sight imaginable.
Buck was immediately hit with the overwhelming smell of gunpowder mixed in with the cool early spring air. The next thing he noticed was the absolute chaos of his trench line, with shell-shocked and wounded soldiers lying everywhere. Confused and deeply worried, Buck makes his way to the nearest command dugout to try to find an explanation for this madness. While making his way there and being careful not to step on fellow soldiers or accidentally bump into a runner, Buck noticed the state of the ground everywhere around the trench. Massive gashes and craters could be seen everywhere, some deep enough that if you were to fall in, you wouldn't be able to get out without help.
Trying to take in all of this destruction, Buck barely noticed that he had arrived at the command dugout, which was filled with frantic officers trying to relay orders across the line and with high command. Buck looked around and saw a Mare scribbling something in her notepad on the far left side of the room. She figured that she could give Buck a brief explanation. As Buck approached her, she shot daggers at him with her bloodshot eyes.
¨What do you want?¨ The officer asked coldly ¨can you see that we are trying to relay orders so that our front doesn't collapse immediately?!¨
¨I can clearly see that,¨ Buck replied with slight annoyance, ¨but what in Celestia is going on? I have just woken up, and I come out to a brutalized trench!¨
The officer paused, writing for a second and with confusion across her face ¨did you really sleep through the opening barrage of artillery fire? Then, before Buck could reply, the mare shook her head ¨matters not, all you need to know is that Equestria and the Changeling lands are now at war,¨
Buck stood there for a second, shocked. He didn't want to believe it, but he knew deep down that this was the case before he even came to the officer. Buck was about to turn around and head back to his barracks to prepare himself. Just before he could do that, the mare called out to him.
¨soldier,¨ the mare commanded while ripping out the front page of her notebook ¨I need you to run this to the northern section of our line and tell them to prepare themselves. I doubt Trimmel would leave us alone after the massive artillery barrage we just endured ¨
Buck gently grabs the piece of paper before saluting the officer. ¨yes ma'am ¨\
The officer salutes back and softens her harsh stare for a split second ¨good luck out there, soldier. May Celestia be on your side,¨
With his orders received, Buck turns around and re-enters the line. He hardens his face and heads up the trench, knowing what he must do.
Author's Note
hello to whoever reads this. first off thank you so much for choosing to read my attempt at fan fiction. this is my first try at writing fan fiction and I'll be honest, I'm not that great of a writer. any feed back and constructive criticism is welcome. one final note is that chapters will be slow to roll out and my guess will be around 1-2 weeks per chapter. so i hope you're in it for the long haul. that is all that i have to say and thank you again so much for reading this. i will be happy to answer any questions in the comments!
Ch 3. The Sound of Thunder
Buck galloped through the trench line, bumping into soldiers frantically carrying ammunition to the machine gun nests. He knew that an attack was coming soon and that he needed to get to the northern section as fast as possible, not only because he needed to bring orders for the commander there but also because his only friend was stationed in the section above him.
Buck had met Solar Flare in training camp in 1008 ALB. Buck had just signed up to join the Equestrian military when he turned 18 and wanted to get back at the changelings after the attack on Canterlot. After the death of his parents, he was found by some members of the royal guard and brought to the nearest orphanage in Canterlot. Buck had always looked up to them and decided he would become a royal guard for Celestia and Luna if he could. Even more so since they had saved them.
After he was brought into the orphanage, Buck stayed there for the last six years of his childhood. He received a basic education but lived an isolated life. He was never able to make friends with the other orphans. He never knew how to interact with them, and they never shared the same interests. After a while, Buck stopped trying to make friends for the rest of his childhood and secluded himself in his own studies and interests from there on out.
Once the fateful day came when he turned 18, he packed his small bag with the few things he owned. A few pairs of clothes and a picture of him and his parents. He then made his way up the street with his small bag, passing plenty of posh ponies on his way to the newly built recruitment office. He knew Equestria had been gearing up for war recently as more recruitment offices were popping up everywhere and more and more patriotic propaganda was appearing.
He slowly walked through the capitol, taking in the beautiful sights, for he knew that he would never come back here unless things went horribly wrong. As much as this place harbored bad memories for him, it was still a sight to behold, and he wanted to have a good last memory of it.
Finally, Buck arrived at the recruitment office. He stopped outside the door and looked at the building before entering. It starkly contrasted the vibrant storefronts and houses one grows accustomed to seeing in Canterlot. It was a plain building built with a dull grey stone. It had a sign above it labeling it as a recruitment office; otherwise, one might mistake it for an abandoned building. The last noticeable thing outside was a poster next to the door. It depicted Celestia pointing towards the reader with the elements of harmony in the background with bright, bold text saying, "We want you to join the Equestrian military today!"
Buck gave one last wary look to the outside before entering the door. Upon entering, he was immediately greeted by an enthusiastic recruiter. After a few hours, Buck was registered and sent to the nearest training camp to join a standard infantry division. From what he had gathered, there was a ponypower shortage in the military, with not enough ponies signing up to fight for their country and Celestia not wanting to sign conscription laws in order to not anger and worry the public.
Eventually, the truck that Buck was riding in arrived at the training camp somewhere in the Minneapolis plains, and he got out of the truck with his bag. He slowly meandered towards the field in the center of the camp, where he saw other recruits waiting to be separated into groups for basic training. As Buck walked towards the field, he slowly became lost in thought. Buck couldn't believe he was here, training to be in the military, protecting his country, and getting revenge against the changelings. It was strange to him to be entirely on his own now. No family, no guardians or caretakers either. It worried him somewhat as Buck realized he was alone and had no one to rely on. Buck was lost in these thoughts about the present and future when
*WHAM!!!*
Buck had wholly lost awareness of his surroundings and had walked into a unicorn who was going in the opposite direction. Buck had dropped his bag and fell back on his haunches, rubbing his shoulder where he had collided with the unicorn. Buck was shocked to see a unicorn in the military, as most unicorns were well-off and pompous. He would never expect a rich pony to serve in the military, even if they were the most zealous pony out there. However, he quickly grabbed his bag, got back on his feet, saluted the unicorn, and promptly apologized to the unicorn.
"Sorry, sir, I didn't see you there," Buck quickly said, figuring that the unicorn might be his drill sergeant or someone even more important.
The unicorn then turned around and completely stunned Buck into silence. The unicorn was a mare! Buck was already surprised at a unicorn being here, much less a unicorn mare. The unicorn finally spoke, bringing Buck back into focus.
"Sorry, hon'. I musta been in the way. I'm Solar Flare. What's your name?"
The unicorn spoke with a thick Applossean accent, which was strange to Buck as it was primarily known as a more "rural" region. Giving the mare a once over, Buck noticed they had similar coat colors, both being yellow; however, hers was a brighter and more vibrant shade of yellow. That's where the similarities between them ended, though. Solar Flare was shorter than Buck by about half a head, had a shorter muzzle, and had a bright orange mane compared to Buck's dull brown.
"My name is Buck… McFlourish…what exactly are you doing here?" Buck said cautiously
"Well, I'm waiting to be assigned to our training groups. Like you, I presume," Solar retorted while looking Buck over.
"Wait?! Are you a volunteer? I figured you were a higher-up or something. Not some footsoldier!" Buck exclaimed
Solar then stepped up to Buck and looked up to him, standing almost muzzle to muzzle with a smirk on her face. "I will have you know," she started in a pompous voice. "This footsoldier is training to be in one of the world-renowned mage
companies in the Equestrian Military!" she ended while teetering on the edge of laughter.
Getting over the shock, Buck looked down at her and decided to play into it. "Ah yes, the great and powerful Solar Flare is gracing a common infantry soldier with her presence and assistance. I can't express how honored I am," he gave a mock bow and felt a smile creep across his face.
Solar stepped back and gave Buck a wide smile. "exactly, you get it! All the other ponies don't believe the true power Solar Flare wields," she then paused and pursed her lips for a second before saying, "Say… I don't want the great and powerful Solar Flare's only believer to have a hard time during training… Why don't we stick together? For your sake of course!" she tacked on at the end.
Buck froze up for a few seconds as he was surprised at Solar proposing the idea of staying together and potentially becoming friends. Buck immediately began anxiously running through scenarios in his mind. What if this is just a prank? What if I become friends and she leaves me and gets assigned to a different division… or worse, what if she dies while fighting? But Buck quickly shoved aside his worries and awkwardly agreed.
"Great!" Solar responded with her warm voice, "Say if we're going to be seeing more of each other, you can just call me Sol. No need for my loyal friend to repeat my grandiose title every time," Sol snickering at the end
Buck also gave a light chuckle and responded, "I think that sounds great, Sol…" when he was cut off by some pony in a higher-up position screaming for all the recruits to fall in line. Buck and Sol quickly got in line together and waited for the groups to be assigned, and as luck would have it, they ended up in the same group together.
For the next ten weeks of basic training, Buck and Sol stuck together and became close friends. Mostly because—and what Buck later found out—they were each other's only friends. Sol learned of Buck's tragic sob story, and Buck learned that Sol had run away from her parents to join the military. After that, their division was officially deployed.
They had never seen combat; Equestria was a peaceful country. They have only read manuals and participated in simulations but have never truly experienced enemy fire coming their way, and Buck was upset about it. It's not that he had a death wish or anything along the lines of that. He just wanted to kill changelings and protect harmony, though the latter wasn't necessary. Shortly after their division was deployed, the Changeling Lands invaded Olenia, and Buck was chomping at the bit to go to Olenia to fight them.
Unfortunately for Buck, however, Celestia didn't want to help Olenia directly, and on top of that, the Olenian front collapsed so quickly that fighting was over within weeks of the conflict starting. The one small silver lining was that Sol wouldn't have to kill him for dragging her to fight a winter war in the mountains. Outside of that, however, there wasn't much action. An eventful day for Buck was playing cards and talking with Sol, maybe even firing the machine guns at the shooting range.
Eventually, they were moved up to the Acornage line after rumors that the Changeling Lands were gearing up for war. As much as Buck was excited for his hopes to be realized, he was also worried as he knew from just the number of soldiers and under-equipped divisions that Equestria would have a tough time withstanding a sustained changeling onslaught. Although Buck was concerned, he still was ready to fight for Equestrian, and now that day has finally come.
Buck had been galloping for about 10 minutes straight, cursing the officer for not giving this redundant message to a pegasus or over the radio, but Buck still pushed on. Finally, he made it to the next command dugout up the line, indicating that he had arrived at the next section. Buck quickly veered inside and flagged down the first officer he saw. He explained the situation to him all across the front and left as soon as he came. Buck yelled out that he had to deliver orders to the machine gun nests, figuring that was where Sol was since she loved to hang out with them.
After two more minutes of straight galloping and avoiding other soldiers, Buck had finally arrived at the machine gun emplacement. His legs shook from exhaustion, and Buck thought he would faint for a second before steadying himself and looking around for Sol's unmistakable orange mane. After scanning the vicinity for half a minute, Buck gave up, assuming that Sol was among the thousands of ponies hurrying around the trench line, and figured he could find her later. Giving a snort and feeling exhausted, Buck turned around when suddenly somepony pounced on his back.
Surprised, Buck immediately brayed and stood up on his rear hooves, tossing the assailant off of him before turning around and putting his hoof down on the pony's chest, pinning them down before instantly noticing thereafter that it was Sol, who was under his hoof.
"Dear Celestia, Sol! You couldn't have just greeted me normally?" Buck started, letting Sol wriggle out from under him, "I could have seriously hurt you, Sol! What would've happened if I had stomped and tried to crush my attacker instead of just pinning them?!"
Sol, now finally out from under him, brushed herself off, stood up, and looked him in the eyes. "Oh please, Buck, I could have stopped you if I was in danger," she said while her horn glowed, brushing the dirt off her uniform. "Plus, look at you! If you had any weight to you, you could do that, but with your skin and bones state, I doubt you could hurt a fly,"
Bucked rolled his eyes before smiling and pulling Sol in for a quick hug. "it's great to see you, Sol, though I do wish we could be hanging out without the threat of attack coming,"
"I will agree to that," Sol said while slowly letting herself go from the hug. "but aren't you supposed to be somewhere, though?" she asked slyly. "I thought you were supposed to be stationed in the section below me,"
Buck gave her a sheepish smile. "I may or may not have lied, saying that I had to deliver orders to the machine gun nest here, figuring you would be ogling one of the newer models."
Sol let out a warm chuckle "You know me too well, what can I say? I'm a sucker for good weapons," then switched her tone to be more serious, "But Buck, listens to me, Okay? I know you want revenge for your parents, and I understand that, but I need you to stay alive out there. For me and for yourself," Sol was glaring into his eyes with radiating intensity," do you understand? If you die out there, I will track down your wandering soul and kill you again,"
Even though Buck was bigger than Sol in every possible way, he still felt as though she was towering over him with her words. Ultimately, Buck relented. "Fine," he snorted before lightening his mood. "But that goes for you as well. No charging over the top without your shield," Buck said as he tapped her horn.
Sol returned to her regular playful attitude and laughed. "Sounds like we have a deal, no dying on each other. " She then walked over to Buck, put her arm around his shoulder, and started leading him further up the line. "Might as well make the most of our time before the steel wave comes."
Buck was led up the line some more, brought to a clear area of the firing line, and sat down on the fire step. Sol sat down beside him and let out a long sigh. Buck looked up into the sky and saw beautiful black flowers blooming everywhere. He figured the air war had started, but it was impossible to discern which dots were fighting on his side. Buck decided to not worry about who was winning for a brief moment and enjoyed the morbid serenity of the scene. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts wander. First to his parents and then to Sol, about how every moment of his life since that fateful day had been leading towards. Finally, he looked up one last time and noticed dark clouds approaching from behind them with the low rolling sound of thunder. Both from the clouds and the sound of the motorized, mechanized armor making their way to his position.
Author's Note
last exposition chapter i promise. and believe me i am exited as yall are for the action if you want a hint on what the next few chapters will be like. it will be very similar to
All is quiet on the western front more specifically the scene with the Frenchman in the artillery hole
that's all for now!
