Chapter one
The Origins Of War
It had been almost two years since Humans entered the land of Equestria. They came in peace, and we welcomed them with open arms and helping hooves. We offered them, places to live and food to live off of... We gave them everything they needed to survive in this new environment.
Now they are our enemy and a deadly one at that. If this doesn't stop then we could lose Equestria. It abruptly started when they hit Manehaten, quickly moving on to Canterlot, and I fear Ponyville will be the next in line. When they started this war they brought their infernal war machines through, weapons and vehicles of strange design. Large metal beasts called “tanks” that roll on treads and shoot projectiles that wipe out multiple ponies at once. Their weapons aren't so different from ours though, and in many ways ours are more powerful. Our guns can hold more rounds then theirs and we have more readily available ammo and supplies as well. Theirs shoot metal rounds. Ours shoot metal rounds as well, but most of ours are almost twice the size. Our biggest dilemma is the tanks. We have no efficient way of taking them down, so we try to capture them or destroy them with hand-held explosives. Despite heavy casualties, we take down more of their soldiers each battle and are holding a strong front line outside of Canterlot. Still, as long as the portal remains open, they can bring in more. We must destroy that portal, or I fear Equestria will be lost.
The Soldier.
They stood side by side as the rain came. It started as a drizzle but soon was falling at a steady pace. They looked down over the battlefield that was before them. Countless dead were littered across the fields and the flames of the enemy tanks were still blazing from the previous day’s battle.
It was the fourth fight in the battle for Canterlot and they still managed to hold back the enemy. But their numbers were getting smaller and smaller every encounter. As for the humans, after every battle they seemed to get more reinforcements through that portal, and it appeared as though it would never end.
Sam looked over at him and spoke softly.
" You ready? You look nervous."
"Ya ... I’m fine." He looked back at her. Her Magenta eyes made him smile a bit. As he looked back he thought of everything before this war. His family; his daughter and his wife who were killed during the first invasion of Canterlot when they attacked the city by surprise. He remembered fighting back and pushing the attackers back to the far outskirts of Canterlot. He looked down and kept thinking.
Now the only thing he could do is fight for one thing and one thing only. He did it for the only thing he had left. The girl standing to his right. He swore to himself that he wouldn’t let her die. Not her. She was the only thing left that kept him going. He wasn’t going to lose her.
His eyes shifted to the bracelet that adorned her hoof. It was dirty and tattered but you could still make out the vivid colors. The blue, the green, the yellow, the purple, the red, the orange, and the pink. It was every color in the rainbow. Her friend back home had made it for her. It surprised him how the colors hadn’t faded after all they had been though recently.
A soldier came up and told them to get ready, they departed on their mission in 30 minutes. They gave each other a reassuring nod and went to the ammo depot. As they walked not a word was said. Only thoughts of what they had to do went through their minds.
Their job was to take out a power station that helped the portal stay open. If it went down the humans would not be able to get machines through, only men, and it would take them months to fix. It would turn the war and put them back in full control of the area.
~~~
Twenty minutes later their squad met near their transport, an armored truck. Most of the vehicles were reverse manufactured from the human’s vehicles that had been captured. Their truck was dented on its side from an explosive round but it still worked, and it was the only one available, so they piled in with their gear and got ready.
Sam sat across from him and looked at the floor as the truck started to move. It was a bumpy ride and they had to drive for at least one hour before the drop-off point about 10 clicks(kilometers) away from the power-station. It would be dark when they got there. All they could do was wait.
He had his friend Jake to his right. He was a small fellow but he was fast on his feet and was their best marksman. He held the sniper rifle. His job was to provide reconnaissance from the hill overlooking the plant and tell them what was going on. Next to him was Stevie; well that what they called him, but his real name was Steven. He was their support gunner. He held a shotgun for close quarters and a light machine gun. To the left of Sam was Jackie. He was one of the assault specialists. He held an assault rifle and a rocket. To his left was the last member, Sev. His real name was John but he was the best at math and Sev was short so it stuck. He was the second assault specialist, donning an assault rifle and a sub machine gun picked up from the battlefield. Sam was their medic. She only carried two pistols. She needed to be fast and not be weighed down by a rifle.
As Squad Leader, it was his job to get everyone back, and he had a good reputation of doing that. His squad called him Dan. It’s what he wanted to be called by his squad and others. It was the name everyone called him.
They sat in the truck and prepared for the enemy at the power plant. He thought about Sam; about her before this war. It changed her. She has seen things no one should have to see and every once in a while he would catch her staring into space, her eyes dulled and out of focus. It scared him when she got that look. He cared for her and he didn’t want her to change. Unfortunately, the war made it too late for that.
His mind wondered.
In his thoughts he was sitting next to Sam, who was crying. He had an arm around her and was comforting her.
"It wasn’t your fault Sam"
" I was supposed to watch him. He would still be here if I had been with him."
"No Sam, you wouldn’t. You would have died with him. But I promise you that won’t happen to you. You won’t end up like him, I swear it. ... "
"okay.... Dannie"
"yea"
He heard an explosion, and the truck flipped. There was a pain in the side of his head and then everything went black.
~~~
When he woke he heard gunshots and heard yelling. He opened his eyes and they met Sam’s. She was leaning over him patching a wound he had taken.
"W-What happened?" He tried to move but winced at the pain.
"The truck was hit by a rocket and you took a bit of shrapnel from the blow. They are currently falling back and regrouping. We are about 14 clicks away from our target zone, but we need to get you out of here."
He stopped her from finishing wrapping up his wound, rolled over, and pushed himself up, ignoring the pain. He looked at her and smiled a little.
"I will be fine for now, I promise” He looked around and saw Sev on the ground. He was bleeding from his forehead but you could see his chest slowly rising and falling back down.
"Go help Sev, I’ll help the others”.
She nodded at the command and went over to him and took out some bandages.
He turned and picked up his rifle and slung his sniper over his shoulder. He immediately started returning fire. At the first sight of movement he fired and his target dropped.
After about ten minutes they enemy finally retreated. He went over to Sev and kneeled next to him. Sam still wrapping his head with bandages. His eyes were open and he was looking around. "H-hey guys, how ya doing."
"Fine, thank you, but I see you’re not doing so swell. We’re gonna get you home buddie."
He nodded and looked around at his squad members.
Their plan had gone horribly wrong before it had even started, so now all they could do was take the long walk home.
ome.
The Leaders
They stood around the hard wood table that held a map of Equestria. Red and blue lines marked the map around one section... Canterlot. A red circle showed the area that the humans controlled and the red Xs represented all of the positions of generators, vehicle Depots, and Command centers. Commander Kat stood focused on the map. She pointed to one of the red Xs and her student noticed.
"That is where I sent the attack squad. They should be returning in about an hour or two if all goes well." Her voice was smooth and clear. Her Student, Daze, nodded and brushed her hair out of her face. Her eyes were purple and she looked at the other two around the table. Kat`s second in command stood next to her, she was her sister and the first thing she noticed was the necklace she wore. It was a crescent moon. She spoke about the line movement to the general that was next to her.
"We need to move our right flank back. If we do that and they push forward we can circle around them and surround them. We will get more Prisoner`s to deal with and we might be able to get their attention for once." The general stood there and thought. She put in a possibility.
"What if they do fall for it but when we surround them they are better equipped and break through to Canterlot we will lose the entire city... It`s a risk we can’t take in a time like this. Kat looked at her and smiled she had tough her student well over the years and she had faith in her student.
She spoke and looked over to her sister.
"She is right Dawn if they are better equipped then we will have little chance of keeping them at bay with our front line as our troops circle around, and if we lose Canterlot we lose our main recourse center. All our troops are trained here and we need every one we can get."
Her sister took note of that and looked back at the map. They looked at the map and thought of ideas they could throw in. After about twenty minutes the Squad leader Kat had sent out opened the tents flap. He was early to early, she was shocked when she saw him.
"What happened!!? It’s too early for you to be back we estimated the mission time to be 5 hours its only been three." She sounded extremely
He spoke sarcastically.
"Awwe did you miss me Kat." his statement made her smile and he explained what had happened.
"We were ambushed on our way there I was hit plus our vehicle was destroyed. So we walked back and now here we are. We pushed them back but we need an aircraft to get close enough to do any damage. If we go back out will you supply us with a Huey or little bird, something that can get us in without being detected so quickly?"
She looked at him and thought "When a Huey opens up you and your crew will be the first one on that flight."
He nodded and left the tent.
Daze asked her teacher a question.
"What was there mission Kat.. "
"They were supposed to take out a major power generator holding their portal open. But since they failed it will remain open for more tank`s and jeeps to get through. We need that generator down so we can finally turn this war. We -"
She was cut short by the sound of a she explosion that landed twenty feet from their tent. They all fell from the shock of the blast but quickly recovered. Daze went outside to assess the damage. She saw the crater it left a small pool of water already formed from the falling rain. Nothing was hit but two men were injured. They were taken to the medical tent for treatment. She walked back inside and noticed a few holes in the tents fabric. All on her side of the tent, shrapnel was the most dangerous part of those damned shell`s not the blast just the shrapnel. As they looked at the map, more options were put out but none were chosen. After about an hour they retired for the day and each went back to their own tent except Daze she went over the Sam her friend, who was sitting around a fire outside her tent.
Her Squad was sitting around the fire also but didn't say a word. She sat next to Sam and looked at her. Neither spoke but still they both were scarred. For different reasons but that didn't change anything. Sam almost lost another friend that day. Daze was scarred because if they didn't make a move then the enemy would soon over run their current position.
They had their reasons when it grew dark they both entered the tent they shared the events of the day. They lay in there bed`s Sam fell asleep in minutes but Daze lay there thinking. This war was pushing her mind to the limits. The more strategies that came up the more counters that might be able to stop them. The stale mate was killing her but after tossing and turning she finally found sleep.
