Under Fire

by bosoxboy521

Chapter V

Twilight emerged out of the foliage and met face to face with the squad of American soldiers armed to the teeth with weapons of all sorts.

"So," said Captain Kelly, "you're the magical talking pony?"

Twilight nervously nodded, she was still terrified of what she saw. She slowly trotted up to James and gave a concerning look at him. The look on her face made James feel somewhat guilty inside, he never expected to feel this way when he joined the Airborne. He knew it was gonna be hard to kill another human being, but, to feel guilt from another human being, let alone a talking pony, he then decided to make it up to her. An idea came popping in his head, to show Twilight he wasn't so bad after all.

"Sir, " he began, "can I have one request?"

"Depends corporal, what is it?" asked Kelly. James took one long exhale, and spoke up.

"You see, this pony is not from here..."

"No shit," said a man in the background, holding his machine gun on his shoulder.

"Not now Benning, continue corporal," said Kelly.

"Anyways," James continued, "her name is Twilight Sparkle, and she wants to know how friendship works in alternate universes. She's from a land where, war basically is non-existent. She's means no harm whatsoever to any of us, and if any of the Nazis catch her, who knows what they would do to a talking, magical hors-pony." Captain Kelly had a confused look on his face.

"What are you getting at Matthews?" he asked.

"Well sir, there isn't any other way of saying this. Can she come with us?" he finally asked. James felt foolish after what he just said to his superior. He knew in his heart there was no way the Captain would say "no", but, Kelly was a different kind of CO than anyone else in the Airborne. His leadership was clearly shown throughout bootcamp, and even during the war. Kelly was a hardened veteran and knew how to fight well. But, having somepony like Twilight around would cause some questioning to his leadership, and James thought he wasn't willing to risk it.

"Well corporal," he began, "if she's gonna come along, she's your responsibility, can you handle it?"

"I'll do my best sir," James replied. The Captain smiled a bit.

"And that is why you're the best Airborne sniper out there, you know how to take care of your comrades," said Kelly, he then turned his attention to Twilight. He put down his Thompson and walked up to her.

"You better know what you're getting into, are you willing to take these risks?"

Twilight had gulped a little, but she made up her mind.

"Yes sir," she replied confidently.

"Then lets get back to base, fall in everyone. Looks like Matthews and his purple companion are all we're gonna find in these woods."

The squad got up and began to walk back to the base at Sainte Mere Eglise, where many Airborne troops rested and geared up for some assault or another. Twilight looked around, machine guns laid on to of crates, jeeps driving up and down the street, and men taking care of others that have been wounded in action. Twilight followed James around, not knowing what to do, if there was anything she could do.

"Listen up, the boys at Omaha and Utah are still at risks of those guns, our job is to take them out. We're moving out in an hour or so, get ready," said Kelly. The squad sat down on a set of stairs near the HQ, to catch up on their rest and relax for a bit. Some pulled out cigarettes to ease themselves for battle. Twilight sat next to James, she looked up at him nervously.

"Hey don't worry Twilight, these guys don't bite, right?" he said.

"Most of us don't, unlike Millar here," said Benning.

"Eh shut your pie hole Benning," replied Millar. Twilight showed a somewhat reassured smile to James, and he smiled back.

"So, let's introduce ourselves to her, if she's gonna stay for god knows how long," James said.

"Alrighty, my name is Ed Benning from Philadelphia, BAR gunner," he said, holding his machine gun proudly in his hands.

"Private First Class Michael Millar, Arlington, demolitions expert," he said, pumping his shotgun at the same time with a smile on his face.

"Sergeant Riley "Finn" Finnigan, Boston." said the next man, holding out his revolver.

"Private Tom Kearney, Brooklyn, riflemen," said the next man.

"Private Lewis Arroyo, Chicago, riflemen," said the next man.

"T-5 Sergeant George Winters, St. Louis, radioman," said the last man.

"It's nice to meet you all, so, what did all you do together before this...war?" asked Twilight. The men looked at each other with a puzzling look. James decided to speak up.

"She doesn't know about the States at all," he said. The men looked at each other now understanding why Twilight asked that question.

"Well, none of us knew each other before the war," said Kearney.

"Huh? But, that doesn't make any sense," said Twilight.

"Whaddya mean?" asked Millar.

"Well, when I met all of my friends, they were all in the same town together, so, how did all of you become friends even though all of you are from different regions?"

"The war brought all together," said Arroyo.

"But that's impossible! War tears people apart, not bring them together. That's why there's no war in Equestria, none of us what to tear each other apart. Both literally and figuratively."

"Well, that isn't the case here," said Benning. Twilight had a confused look on her face, not knowing how to process the new information from this alternate world.

"Yeah, most of us volunteered to go to war," said Finn. Twilight had a shocked look on her face.

"Are...you...CRAZY?!" she exclaimed, "Why would anypony volunteer for something as awful as war?"

"Twilight," said James, "this world isn't as simple as your world. There's a lot of complications here. We all have our reasons to join the army. Plus, it's important to respect one another's decisions."

"I get that James, but, why though? I-I don't understand," said Twilight.

"War is awful, yes. But, sometimes it's necessary."

"War is NEVER necessary. Why fight when people can discuss things logically and peacefully before resorting to violence, it makes no sense."

"Heh, no arguement there," said Benning.

"This world is rather complicated Twilight, and it takes a lot of explaining to understand the circumstances of war," said Winters.

"Exactly," said James, "this world is complicated to get. You'd understand it more if you were born here."

"I'm sorry James. But, I've studied on what little wars there were back at my home. And all I've heard were terrible things, nothing good ever came out of all the wars in Equestria, just death and destruction. Why is it different here?"

"Well...it's a long story to get. It involves a lot of politics."

"What do you mean?"

"War is different here. It's...well...it's hard to get war when you're first explained to it. And because your world is a lot different then ours, it's...well..." James was interrupted with the voice of the Captain.

"Gear up men, weapons and ammo only. We're taking out those guns right now," he shouted.

"How many krauts we facing today Captain?" asked Benning.

"Enemy strength is unknown, but, assume for the worse," he replied.

"Oh this outta be fun," said Millar.

"Y'all heard the Captain, gear up," shouted Finn. The men disbanded and loaded up on their gear.

Comments

[bosoxboy521]

4917339 but honestly, it would be nice to have someone who speaks actual german to help out.

[ThatBatJess]

They are GERMAN soldiers.They are in the Weremacht, which belongs TO the Nazi political party, in reality, the only ones committing the mass murder of the Jewish people are the higher ups.Im sorry for the rant, but I just HATE the misconception that all Germans in WWII wanted to kill thousands of people.Sure, SOME did, but that's not the point!Most soldiers were forced into the military....Thank you for your time.

[bosoxboy521]

4925959 i understand where your coming from and completely agree. However, I try to portray BOTH sides as ruthless killers, the exception being Twilight. I kinda call this the Call of Duty: World at War approach, where evey soldier is a trained, merciless killer, no matter what side.

[Johndye]

"Gear up men, weapons and ammo only. We're taking out those guns right now," he shouted.

Brécourt Manor, here we go

[FinalFan]

Twilight looked around, machine guns laid on to of crates, jeeps driving up and down the street, and men taking care of others that have been wounded in action.
This should be, "Twilight looked around AT machine guns laid on TOP of crates, jeeps driving up and down the street, and men taking care of others that HAD been wounded in action."

still at risks of those guns
risk

none of us what to tear each other apart.
want

it's hard to get war when you're first explained to it
Yeah, it's pretty hard to explain something to war. It never seems to understand.

Oh this outta be fun,
I'd say "oughta" to avoid spelling it the same way as "outta" as in "out of". But if you're messing with spellings anyway, it's your call, I guess.