//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Loinengrad // Story: The Griffon War // by headhunter //------------------------------// The griffon war Chapter 1: Loinengrad The sun beamed down on the dry trenches that had been dug at defensive positions around the city. The summer heat bearing down on my head making me sweat. My black uniform of course doesn’t help the matter. In fact I’m pretty much roasting alive out here. I spend ten minutes washing off in the shower from yesterdays patrol and this is my reward. Nothing actually happens around here. Canterlot high-ups are just scared because of the declaration of war by the griffon empire. They have yet to act on it but they’ve already taken it too far. For example... I’m twelve. The draft age was ridiculously low. Of course they just pull the number out of a hat and roll with it. There are ponies here who’ve never even held a gun in their lives... including me. A hoof tapped my shoulder as i was hunkered down in the shade my back against the hard dry wood that made up the wall of the trench. I looked up to see a grey pony with a black face mask, grey camo uniform, and blue eye. He had an eye patch on his other eye for reasons he was keeping to himself. In his hoof he had a shiny red apple which he passed to me. My eyes went wide at the sight of it. “how in Equestria did you manage this?” i asked him as i took the apple perching my rifle up against the trench wall. He smiled warmly at me “if anyone asks it fell off the back of a truck” he replied as he hunkered down next to me pulling out another apple from his saddle bag. just as shiny and red as the one he gave to me. I bit into it. It tasted as if it had just been picked. That or i wasn’t used to actual fresh food. I closed my eyes and chewed slowly savoring every bit of taste it had to offer. Then i swallowed and the feeling was pretty much gone but the taste was still there. “Mmmm.... you are a god among ponies Steamgauge”. He laughed a little. Having known Steamgauge for five years he knew how to make the best of any situation. It’s probably because of him that i can maintain my sense of humor out here miles away from home. I sighed. He gazed at me in concern “Something bothering you?”. I shrugged “thinking about home”. I had been doing that a lot. The draft came so suddenly there wasn’t much time for goodbyes. They practically dragged me out the door with a half-packed saddle bag. he put a hoof on my shoulder “Hunter... They’re not going anywhere.” I turned to him “i know that... but i don’t want them to worry”. My parents had plenty of reason to worry. Even though i was an expert with a sword i had never held a gun in my entire life. Equestria had no use for guns up until now being the peaceful place that it is. This was our first war since the Changeling war seventy years ago and Equestria didn't have the assault rifles, tanks, and heavy artillery like we do now. Steamgauge rubbed my head. “I’m sure they think you’ll be ok. I’ve known you for a while and they raised a smart kid”. i waved his hoof away “watch the mane” i stroked it around a bit “i have a thing going here”. He smiled and rolled his eyes. I took another bite of my apple. I have to admit the compliment and the apple did make me feel better. I managed to crack a smile and he patted my shoulder “there you go... that's the nerd that i remember”. I gave him a playful swing of my hoof hitting him on the forehead “It’s just my special talent” i then went back to eating my apple. “Hunter you assembled that computer in under five minutes. Call it what you will but to me...” he pointed his hoof at me “You're a nerd”. He took the first bite of his apple and his eye went wide “wow these are actually pretty good” i smiled at him and said “i think its because we’ve been eating paste for the past two months” he laughed at that. It was good to hear him laugh. We hadn't been doing much of that. It was the early months of the war if you could call it that. We had been stationed defending the city of Loinengrad about three hundred miles away from Canterlot with a regime of about six hundred and fifty other ponies. Mostly foot soldiers but there were also engineers, officers, and other ponies among us. Steamgauge was actually a field engineer. He had a knack for fixing anything that the armor division manages to break. He would always say that if he couldn't fix it it wasn't broken. Then again it was his special talent. I on the other hand was what everypony considered a tech expert. I was skilled with computers. Amazing with them actually. Everypony probably didn't expect me to pick up on how to re-program some of our malfunctioning satellites or how to use our field computers. Our commanding officers were surprised at how well i could coordinate troop movements and execute strategies which is probably why they put me in command of this squad. Maybe Steamgauge was right... maybe i really am a nerd. I certainly didn't have a lot of bulk going for me. Looking at Steamgauge he was still a bit bigger than me. He also had that male snout going for him which i would never have thanks to genetics. None the less i could probably out-run him and i could definitely out-fly him. My dad was a weather pony and he taught me everything about flying INCLUDING how to fly quickly without tiring myself out. Of course on a late summer day like this i didn't want to fly anywhere. I had finished my apple and was taking a swig from my canteen when another pony walked up. "slacking on the job again?" i lowered my canteen to the sight of another one of my squad-mates. An earth pony mare wearing a combat vest and forest camo uniform. Her dark red hide and yellow and orange mane was almost blinding in the sun. "hello Crimson..." Her red eyes were glaring down at me with a sense of disapproval. She was always one to follow orders but she was also one to pull off a few war crimes while nopony's looking. "Need i remind you we're supposed to be on patrol? Big-Mac and i aren't pulling double shifts" i glared back at the earth pony as i tucked my canteen back into my bag "and need i remind YOU that we've been paroling for two months and absolutely nothing has happened" she wiped the sweat off her brow and stood there for a moment. Finally she rolled her eyes and continued walking her patrol route down the trench without saying a word. I watched her as she walked away and then turned away down an adjacent trench. "She really needs to lighten up" Steamgauge commented. I nodded "you know what... i can agree". He smiled at me and i smiled back. We hoof bumped each other and i checked my watch. It was 2:38 in the afternoon and the sun was still bearing down on us. For Celestia's sake you stupid giant ball of fire go behind a cloud alread- Just then something very loud slammed into the ground not ten feet from where we were sitting down in the trench. The impact threw all kinds of dirt and debris into the air landing in all directions around the impact site. As the dirt rained down on us i popped up to get a view of what was going on. "looks like a mortar shell" i told Steamgauge who eventually looked out to where the shell landed. He shrugged at the sight of it "probably more live fire tests". We waited a short while and nothing else happened so we sat back down in the trench. "I'll let them know they almost killed us with their stupid test firing" i said as i crossed my hooves. Just then the field exploded with noise and debris shooting up from all around us. In the sudden commotion i stumbled forward and landed on my face. Steamgauge helped me get back on my hooves when i finally got a look around as to what was going on. The forest around us was exploding! That's what was going on. Mortar shells were raining down on our position in all directions. I grabbed my rifle which had slid down the wall and fallen in the dirt as we proceeded to run in the direction Crimson had gone. We ran as fast as our hooves would carry us in the staggering heat as we heard what sounded like gunfire coming from beyond the forest and it wasn't long before we heard the same coming from the other direction as well. Neither of us dared to fly as moments later there were bullets flying over our heads. The mortars continued to rain down on us when i tripped and fell on a rock. I landed on my back face up toward the sky. And that's when i saw it... Dozens of them... Brown, black, grey... soaring over our heads flying west. Wings carrying them aloft as their weapons bristled brightly against the blue sky. We were at war...