"Have Third Brigade go and reinforce everywhere. Have an additional company or two in town and a squad with the Princess. Have someone come by here with our weapons. Actually, send a squad and we'll come back to base. Get people inside. Have all units check in. Make sure a battalion is always inside the base."
"Roger that, sir." In the distance I heard several rifles shots.
"Hurry up on it, I just heard gunfire." I didn't wait to get a response and went back inside. I went back inside and found the civilians against the far side wall and hiding, with parents holding their kids.
"What's going on?" A civilian asked. Since it was obvious they knew something was wrong I didn't hold back.
"Changelings have launched attacks across the nation." I waited a moment to see if panic would set in, luckily no one flipped out, at least verbally. "At the moment a squad of troops are on the way to protect you on the way to town."
"Are you mad? Sending us out there with those bugs being Celestia-knows where." Another parent shrieked.
"I assure you I am not insane. This building is quite isolated and you all being home will making it easier to protect you all." Behind me, the door slammed opened and a black pony with holes in its limbs was outside, its horn glowing
"Changeling!" The sargeant shouted and rushed him, both tumbling back out the door. The magic from its horn went into the roof. I ran to join them outside as the civilians screamed. They were rolling around on the ground, I grabbed the changeling by his shirt and threw him into the wall.
"What do you want?" I asked, instead he punched me in the gut. I loosened my grip on him and he punched me again. I staggered backwards, I tensed up waiting for another hit, but the sergeant keep along again.
"ETA for back up three minutes out." My radio announced. I took a few steps back to recover my breath and get ready in case more come out of the woods. The sarge was stilling handling himself well. He gave the changeling an uppercut and tripped him, forcing it to fall. He quickly jumped on top of it before giving it a few punches and it passed out.
"Now what?" He asked me.
"Hold him down , Sergeant..."
"Solar Rise, but everyone calls me S."
Before I could respond, several trucks pulled up in front of the school. Only one had troops in them. I walked over to the officer in charge, a lieutenant.
"Lieutenant! Where are the rest of your men?"
"Sir, they are at the base and I brought these trucks to bring the civilians back to town."
"Alright. Keep your eyes open on the tree line."
I went back inside the school. "Okay, everyone, trucks are here. Just stay calm." I watched them head out, Cheerilee in the rear, I followed her out. "This is one hell of a career day, huh?"
"If I do another one and it bests this, I'll quit right away."
"I'll hold you to it." I watched her get in a truck, pushed the gate up and banged the side twice. "My boys! Mount up! We're heading back."
We remounted, prisoner tied up, and I drove as I fast as I could with a stick shift. Luckily I had experience with driving stick, thanks to my shitty Honda Accord that was older than me when I got it as a first car.
We pulled up to base and were checked to see if we were changeling. Unfortunately, no spells were created yet to find hidden changelings, until they released one we couldn't tell. I'd have to create a verbal challenge until they did.
I drove to the motor pool and slammed the brakes and ran to the armory. Instead I remembered that I was a general and shouldn't be near the front.
"Take that prisoner to the jail! Have intelligence talk to him." I turned and took off for the War Room, hopefully someone else will be there. Jame's brigade must come back, resupply and head back out.
Inside of the room were my colonels, making adjustments to the map.
"Third is about ten out." James said. "Danny boy wants a battalion here in reserve, then another company in Ponyville. We could send out platoons to wherever else." I leaned against the wall to watch them interact. I wanted to see if they could work together.
"Oak Ridge would need two more platoons." David added, "Minimum."
"James, you should send a company up there. Maybe even a battalion and spread them out further. Oak Ridge has fifteen thousand." Michael said, moving an orange battalion block to the town.
"I do not tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise me with their results." I quoted, to reveal myself. "Now name a state in the U.S."
"Why?"
"Need to make sure you're not a changeling." I said.
"California."
"Texas."
"New York."
I let out a small laugh. "Yeah, your foreigners all right. If any of you said Rhode Island or Idaho, I'd be concerned. Glad to see you all could work together. Have all companies check in?"
"Yes. The platoons in Oak Ridge have no contact but request reinforcements. How long have you been here." Michael
"Since Third was ten mikes out. So they're five out now. You're still missing two thousand men, right James? That's four battalions."
"Yeah. Why?"
"Doing some math, five companies of a hundred men make a battalion. Twelve battalions of five hundred make a brigade. Three brigades of six thousand make a division."
"Add the fact me and Mike are missing a thousand men each and James is missing two thousand and you'd have the First Motorized." David pointed out.
"I have eight battalions to go wherever." James said. "Well, seven actually since you want one here."
"One to Oak Ridge, for sure. Then, I guess break them down to battalions and send them wherever else. Actually, keep them all here except the one to Oak Ridge. We're blind against their plans. I heading over to the castle, I need a bigger picture and see what is happening in the rest of the country. Keep in touch on radio."
Canterlot Castle
"How much of the city is ours and when will we have full control?" Princess Celestial asked.
"Just a few more blocks, there's probably a few hiding in the area and no doubt some who are still hidden or we missed. The city will be ours again by night." General Keg answered. "Most units have reported they have searched half the city. The only ones we haven't heard from are the countryside units, but I guarantee by morning we'll have full control."
"Of which: the country or city?"
"Both. We're also drawing up plans to respond."
"Excellent, I want my sister to review them tonight and for me to see it in the morning." Celestia said as she walked out.
Castle Friendship
Evening was slowly turning to night and I was still waiting to hear that we had the whole area under control. Twilight and I were in the War Room in her castle.
"All units, check in, over." I called on the radio.
Usually it goes by company all the way down to the last one in Third Brigade. Not this time.
"Sandman two-one! The whole town is being attacking, over." Someone answered. In the background I could hear yelling and gunshots. "We need immediate reinforcements. We may be forced to pull out."
"Base here. Two companies are ready, what is your location, over." Someone else said
"North edge of Millport, but platoons are scattered throughout the town. I'm not certain of their status. We're taking heavy fire now, over and out."
"Over and out." I put the mic back on the side. "Damn. Twilight, pass on that the town of Millport is under attack and not under control." The two of us have been in the room, occasionally someone else entering to give us an update on town. Surprisingly, the town had few changeling to attack. They must've expected to failure and didn't give a shit. "Also tell them gay I won't be around."
Twilight turned to look at me. "Where are you going?"
"Millport. That's where the fight is."
"You're not some young and innocent private who wants to fight."
"You're right. I'm not innocent. I have the blood of at least a hundred men on my hands. Besides the tank will hold."
"So you want more blood on your hands? You're just going to kill anything that moves?"
"Only if they try to kill me first." I answered as I walked out. I feared a direct attack on the castle, so I arrived with tank and crew in tow. Scattered around the outside was a squad along with other troops to defend Ponyville.
"Mount up, we're heading to Millport." I ordered, the engine roared to life and we took off to joint the trucks already heading over.
3rd Person, Millport
Captain Blue Steel peeked out from his cover, a heavily damaged truck, to see any changelings. Unfortunately, he saw twenery pairs of blue eyes staring back. The only good thing he saw was that all of the dead on the road were changelings. He took a potshot at one and pleasantly surprised when he hit one, blue-green blood spluttered. A few magic bolts flew at him and he went behind cover again.
"General Kroger said he's a mike out!" His radio operator told him.
"What's a mike?" Captain Steel yelled back. He watched one his men get hit in the arm and he shot what he thought was the one who did it. Before his radio operator could guess what a 'mike' was, machine gun fire and an explosion hit the changeling side of the square. As his part of the fight, quieted down, over a dozen trucks through by and at the end was Dan's machine. A door on the roof opened.
Dan POV
I climbed out of the tank. "Heard you boys needed a hand!" I shouted over the engine.
"Yes, sir. This here is the square and we have control of it now."
"Have you checked the buildings? Make sure no one bad is in them."
"I have men in them for protection and the civilians weren't near the buildings. They all should be back home."
"Unless the fucking bugs have them!" I called back. "I'm off to help secure the rest of the town. How many men do you have?"
"A hundred but 5 are hurt. One is pretty bad and I'm moving them out soon."
"Good thinking. Establish a seven block perimeter around the square. Have your men get some sleep, the night is still early. Urban warfare sucks when you're tired."
"Yes, sir!" The Captain said and saluted. He turned to give out orders. I went back inside and checked my map.
"Square is on the north edge on town. Whole town is a war zone so let's drive around and see what we find."
Sentry turned around. "Are you saying we drive around until we find trouble?"
"Yep. Driver forward, take us anywhere."
"Roger." Box said and we left the area. We drove a few blocks before several magic bolts came out at. Almost immediately the turret swung to shoot back. I hoped to use the cannon as rarely as possible in the town. The machine guns opened fire at wherever the magic came from. There was no other units nearby to help us, so I swung my periscope around. Sure enough, a black silhouette was on the back. I grabbed my sidearm from the little mount for it and popped the hatch. I looked right at a pair of blue, glowing eyes. I pulled the trigger, the area briefly lighting up the area. Blood splattered across the tank and my face. I went back inside and closed the hatch.
"Does changeling blood do anything to people?" I asked everyone, "Like will I get superpower or something."
"You get to change shape, it only to something useless." Eye Spies responded sarcastically. "You'll most likely turn into a potted plant or a chair."
"I'll be the ultimate spy." I peered outside and didn't see shooting, "Alright, let's keep moving."
We ended drove around some more and every time I asked how they were doing, they had the area secured. We went down to the south edge of town to see how everything was going, it was pushing almost midnight before we found trouble.
The area was a absolute war zone, one building was engulfed in fire and several others were on fire. Immediately, magic bolts were flying over us. I was waiting for one to bust through the armor and hit someone. Three houses were flinging green bolts around the area.
"I'm going out, see if I can find whoever is in charge." I grabbed my gun and jumped out. I ran for cover and slid in next to a Corporal. "Who's in charge?"
"Not sure, I heard the Captain got hit, but I'm not sure if that's true. Sarge is next to me."
"Alright. Switch with me." He probably could tell who I was in the dark, but we slid past each other. I joined in the fight for a minute, taking shots at anything glowing. I was pretty sure I bagged one or two more.
"Who's in charge, Sarge?" I asked.
"Maybe me. Maybe a lieutenant. Captain took a hit to the chest."
"We need to secure these houses. Set up a Causality Collection Point."
"My squad is with you, sir."
"Okay, have your men rendezvous in front of the house on the left."
"Sergeant Clipper's squad! On me." He shouted and ran forward. I followed and so did another ten men. "Somepony put a grenade in the windows." Someone smashed out the window and lobbed a grenade in. The walls shook as it went off and screams told us someone was hit.
"Breach and clear!" I said, instinct kicking in. I moved up and kicked the door open. We killed the rest of the survivors before I had everyone spilt up. I heard a scream from upstairs and I quickly ran upstairs. I found two dead changelings, with one holding a small knife, which was the first time I've seen any weapon from them. In a bedroom were the soldiers, one jerking around on the bed. Everyone was telling about pressure and bandages.
"We need a medic!" One shouted, just before the body on the bed stopped moving. They made a few more futile attempts on him, before finally giving up.
"I'm sorry." I simply said, "I've lost friends before. You guys take a moment then bring him out so they can take him back."
"Thank you, sir." One of them half-whispered. I turned around and went back out. I bumped into Sentry.
"Canterlot wants an update, sir!" He told me. It was easily one in the morning so we've been fighting for around nine hours.
"Still heavy fighting around Millport! Civilians inside or evacuated. Rest of the area unknown, ask base!" I ordered.
"Roger that." And he took off to pass it on.
The next morning, Canterlot
"When will we have an actual report from Kroger?" Princess Celestia asked. "For the last eight hours all I know is that Millport is the only part of the country where we know changelings are still at. Then he just says he is just fighting them and nothing else." She and are sister were sharing breakfast, one of the few times they were together of the day.
"Hopefully soon, sister." Princess Luna replied. "Considering he even went to join the fight doesn't help with the reports. I got a new plan from the generals. A few more were on the way soon."
"Anything good?"
"Besides the original plan that we had. One more was created over night and I do like it more than the original one. It involves those inside the hive. I think it would be our best chance of a peaceful resolution."
"Peaceful or the one with less bloodshed, there's a reason Chrysalis has kept power for years." Celestia pointed out.
"You're right. Plus I don't think committing genocide would look good for us."
"Agreed. Option Two?"
"Option Two." Luna agreed.