"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."

Twelve

Daybreak

Daring jolted awake to the shrill drone of machine gun fire, as the tell-tale paper shredding noise of the captured Changeling machine gun destroyed the early morning's peace. A shout of, "Changelings outside! Incoming!" Lent good reasoning to the interruption of the Sergeant's sleep, as she stood quickly, snatching up her rifle as she went. Around her, others from Sergeant Ditzy's platoon and Maud's remaining team did the same, leaping up from their uneasy sleep and directly into combat, as rifle fire began to snap back and forth.

Sergeant Yearling herself moved over with her rifle and gazed out the window, selecting one of the dozens, if not hundreds, of targets, and squeezed gently on the trigger. The scoped type K pattern barked, and down went one of the Changelings. Dozens more rose forward to fill their place, even as the platoon's two machine guns tore into the Changeling advance.

Maud and her remaining sewer rats, weapons readied and loaded, rushed downstairs to hold the lower levels as the Changelings attempted to break into the apartment. Almost immediately, their submachine guns and shotguns began echoing out with fire, causing Yearling's ears to twitch from the noise. They'd be fine, she told herself, as she refocused outwards, raising her rifle back to eye level. Breathing in and out at a steady pace, she laid into the trigger on her rifle once more, causing it to bark harshly as a second Changeling fell outside.

Off to her right somewhere, Ditzy reached a wing down to her waist belt, tugged a grenade free of it's pouch, and primed it, chucking it hastily out the window after releasing the spoon. It was shortly followed by an explosion and pained cries of Changeling infantry, as Ditzy returned to firing her own carbine rifle. "Someone get up top and pop off a signal flare!" The mare barked, over the din of the gunfight. "And find me a fucking radio! I want that approach marked for artillery fire!"

"Radio moving, sarge!" Called one of Ditzy's Ditzy's privates, as they pulled back from their window and slid towards the gray pegasus.

Daring, meanwhile, snagged the platoon's flare gun from Ditzy's outstretched wing, nodding back at the mare as she did the same before turning to the radio set. Holding the flare gun tightly in her wing as she shouldered her rifle, Daring backed off the firing line and headed towards the central stairwell, whilst heavy gunfire echoed all around the building. Ducking with a short gasp as a burst of Changeling SMG fire stitched itself across the wall a couple inches above her head, she turned to face the downward staircase. By the time she'd spun around, however, Maud had slid out of a side room, and was dumping a magazine from her PPSH's large drum.

Exhaling the breath she'd been holding, Daring simply nodded to Maud before booking it upstairs and past the defenders to the fourth floor of the apartment building. The ceiling here had been partially collapsed by explosives of some sort judging by the shrapnel damage, Sergeant Yearling noted, before she was nearly immediately torn from her musings by a rifle shot splintering the door frame around her. Cursing loudly, she ducked back around the hallway, checking herself for any wounds. Finding nothing but a couple splinters, the pegasus Sergeant calmed herself, and readied the flare gun. Now was not the time to be playing peekaboo with Changeling sharpshooters.

Running back down the hall to the caved-in section of roof, Daring pushed out into the open, firing the flare gun with a snap of her wing and dropping the empty tube as she quickly doubled back down the stairs. A hasty rifle shot ricocheted off the collapsed roof behind her, the round whizzing harmlessly through her mane as she slid back into the safety of the stairwell. Rushing back downstairs and passing by Maud as the Earth Pony swapped out drum magazines from her large pockets, Daring pushed back into the room with Ditzy and gave the Pegasus a nod as she flicked on the radio set.

"Longsword, Longsword, this is Saber-One, over!" A pause, as Ditzy awaited reply. "Confirm, Longsword! Saber-One reads you loud and clear, break!" Ditzy paused again, momentarily, as she chanced a look outside. "Longsword I'll be brief. Situation normal, heavy contact, break! I need Earthquake One, break. Estimating enemy strength at battalion level, over!"

There was a pause as Ditzy listened intently to the radio set, exhaling in relief a few moments later. "Earthquake one, this is Saber-One, break. I need a fire mission at grid… four four eight, one zero four, break. Yes, I'm aware that's my last reported position, break! I need fire north of the shiny ass flare launch, break! Yes, fucking danger close! Fire for goddamned effect!" The mare dropped the radio as she turned to her squad, bellowing, "Take cover! Incoming, hot and heavy!"

The defenders tucked themselves as low as possible inside the apartment, and for just a moment, Daring swore she could hear the distant thrums of Twenty-Five Pounders losing their heavy shells- then came the terrifying and audible whirr of incoming howitzer rounds. Then, chaos reigned outside the apartment, as the large explosives blew massive holes in the snow outside, while snow, mud and gore sprayed upwards and through the shattered windows of the complex. Daring wheezed, as literal hell was raised a few feet outside her building's safety, and she could barely hear Ditzy screaming into the radio, any communications discipline gone from the sheer terror of the barrage.

"Fucking good effect on target! Holy Fuck! Adjust five degrees north and repeat barrage!"

The guns echoed again from the rear, as Daring chanced a glance outside the apartment. Shocked by the sheer carnage, her mouth went dry as she watched mutely, life and limb tossed apart by the Princesses' Own 49th Artillery Brigade. Whatever Changeling survivors of the hellish barrage could still walk or crawl began retreating back north towards their lines, as quickly as they could manage. "Cease fire! Cease fire! Saber-One calling fire mission complete. Stay on the wire, Earthquake. Saber-One out."

Daring exhaled shakily, as she shifted herself back to a standing position. "Don't get too comfortable, Sergeant Yearling. They'll be back." Ditzy warned, spitting out the window. "Fucking bugs. Casualties, weapons and ammo! Where's my runner?"

Any Changeling corpses that had been inside the building were unceremoniously dumped outside, whilst the four ponies that had been killed- three by Changeling fire and one by artillery shrapnel- were carefully laid out in one of the safer basement rooms. If they had a chance later they'd conduct a burial detail for the ponies and the Changelings, but odds were they'd be hard pressed to go anywhere for quite some time.

Any extra rifles and ammunition was gathered up and divvied out amongst the platoon, who themselves were shoring up holes in their defenses with anything they could lay their hooves on- crates, furniture, sandbags packed with mud and snow, et cetera.

"Company is doing it's best to push through the bug lines and open up a corridor to us, but it's pretty hard going." Ditzy groused, lighting a cigarette, before offering her lighter to Daring, who lit her own cigarette off the open flame. "Stiff enemy resistance two blocks over; dug in Pak guns and mg nests. Artillery is being tasked with breaking up what it can."

"I was wondering who it was trading gunfire behind us. Guess the bugs are about as dug in as we are." Yearling mused, gazing idly out the apartment windows, only vaguely sweeping for enemy threats. She'd taken the time after the bugs fell back to kill that upstart sniper, with a little help from Light Step.

"Mhm. I got through to Cheers- er- Lieutenant Cheerilee on the horn, though. Lead elements of Two-Fourth armored is on it's way through the city to help relieve us. High command wants this shitty apartment at least as bad as the bugs do."

"Guess we hold position then." Daring shrugged, taking a long drag on her cigarette.

Ditzy nodded, swirling her own cigarette around her mouth. "Hell or high water, yeah. You'd best find yourself a good firing position. Won't be too long now before the bugs are back in force, and I don't have any more artillery support from the 49th."

"You got it, Daring." Ditzy blinked, then shook her head and held out a wing. "Hey, wait a sec. Just in case the bugs bring up armor, grab a couple AT grenades off the stash as you head up. We've got plenty of the damn things laying about, may as well use them."

"AT grenades, got it. You think they'll bring up tanks?" Daring nodded, dousing her cigarette.

Daring scanned the roadways and bombed out buildings to the front of her as she shook off the morning chill. Only about an hour had passed since the first race, and in that time the wind had kicked back up- and with it, the biting cold. Not as bad as say, November or December's freezes, but still not anything near the Spring thaws.

Daring jerked back into attention, raising her rifle, and swore quietly. Here they came again, dozens upon dozens of bugs armed to the teeth. Squeezing on her trigger, Daring dropped the first Changeling she sighted in on, even as the machine guns downstairs sprung back to life.

A smallish explosive detonated near the base of the apartment, sending Yearling ducking for cover momentarily, as shrapnel scattered about and dug into the walls of the apartment. Peeking back up, Daring began to scan frantically with her rifle scope. The Changelings were still too far away to be chucking grenades, which meant they had brought up some sort of cannon or mortar. Hopefully, it'd be the latter, which was generally more exposed.

There, on the far end of a vacant lot past somepony's bombed out grocery store. It'd be a bit of a shot, what with the wind whistling around like it was, but she had to try. Taking a deep breath, Daring steadied herself as her hoof tended around the trigger. Breathe in, breathe out. She first settled her sights over one of the two Changelings crowing the small mortar tube, then began to shift her sights upwards and to the left, following the wind pushing against her. Breathe in, breathe out.

The bark of her rifle surprised her, as she'd been so focused on lining up her shot, but her eyes remained glued downrange as she observed the crew. She winced slightly, as her bullet visibly ricocheted off the mortar tube itself and buried into the throat of one of the two Changelings crewing the weapon. She grit her teeth and racked the bolt on her rifle, as the other mortar Changeling dropped to the floor and began dragging their comrade away, whilst said bug choked on their own blood. Snapping another shot frantically off, Daring cursed her luck as it ricocheted harmlessly off the nearby grocers', the Changelings taking cover behind the destroyed brick building.

Turning her gaze back to the advancing Changelings, Daring fell into a steady rhythm of aim, fire, aim, fire, reloading as necessary whilst the defenders from Ditzy's own platoon dumped their magazines into the advancing pile of Changelings.

Then, she heard it. The low rumble of a Changeling panzer. The enemy combat vehicle turned the corner at the far end of the block and began rolling down the street towards the apartments as Daring swore vehemently. Packing up her rifle and ammunition as quickly as possible, she booked it back for the stairwell not a second too soon, as the tank's main gun blew a massive hole in the fourth floor behind her. Wood splinters and shrapnel dug into the back of her uniform and stung her rear legs and back, as she continued down the central staircase.

"Tank! Fucking tank!" The mare bellowed as she rounded the corner of the third floor stair,as, then leapt back in shock as the Panzer blew apart the defensive line she'd been yelling at with a well placed shell. Debris and body fragments went everywhere, as Daring held back the urge to puke. The machine gun position was just gone, as was the poor sod who'd been lugging the radio set and a good portion of the area defenders.

Ditzy, having sprawled flat immediately at the call of "tank", hacked and coughed as she pulled herself out of the debris, coated in sawdust and blood splatters. "Faust alive, that thing's tearing us apart!" She spat, wincing as a glob of blood followed her saliva. "Think I bit my tongue, dammit. Medic! I've got wounded up here!"

"Down, now!" The medic- a white earth pony with a pinkish red mane- barked as the two and Daring once more hit the deck, about half a second before the buzz of the tank's machine gun began tearing chunks in the far wall above them.

"Someone kill that fucking tank!" Sergeant Ditzy raged, as she and her medic did their best to sift through the rubble for casualties whilst prone.

Yearling's muzzle twitched as she rested a hoof on the anti-tank grenades she'd crammed into her grenade pouch, then sat her rifle down against the half destroyed wall, careful to stay low. "I'm on it." And then she was off, galloping towards the stairs. The angry snaps of machine gun fire behind her were close enough to feel the heat of the tracers whizzing by, and she didn't slow down until she hit the safety of the central stairwell.

Except, as she came face to face with Sergeant Maud Pie laying face down in a pool of her own blood, Daring figured this place wasn't safe at all. Reaching down to snag the dead mare's PPSH submachine gun from her lifeless hooves, Daring came face to face with the barrel of a Changeling rifle. The changeling who turned the corner was surprised themselves, and fired a snap shot as they brought their rifle up to a firing position that tore through Daring's shoulder. With a grunt of pain and dragging the discarded SMG with her, the pegasus mare slammed back into the wall of the stairwell, whilst the Changeling struggled with their rifle's bolt. Squeezing the trigger on her recently acquired gun, Daring shredded the changeling with a long burst of fire, as it tumbled backwards down the stairs with dozens of other corpses. Maud had been busy when she'd finally died.

With no idea how much ammo was left in the weapon, Daring took a moment to drop the PPSH's drum magazine, flipping Maud's body over so as to reach into her pockets. Pointedly ignoring the dead mare's glazed over eyes, Daring tugged a fresh magazine free of it's pouch and loaded the PPSH, before continuing downstairs. Spraying a couple bursts into the Changelings that were down there, Daring pushed across the bottom floor to a side door, and tumbled out into a mortar shell crater as she caught her breath.

There it was, still spitting machine gun fire angrily at the apartment building, and surrounded by Changeling infantry. Daring grit her teeth and jumped up from the shell crater, and began to rush towards the tank. She held fire until one of the Changelings happened to look in her direction, at which point she emptied the magazine into the group. As the tank barrel began to slowly swivel her way, she dropped the PPSH, letting it dangle from it's strap around her neck, and retrieved her two AT grenades. Rapidly judging the distance between her and the tank, she tossed the grenades before planting herself face down in the snow.

The tank detonated spectacularly, her aim true and on-point. The tank snapping and crackling loudly as the ammunition began to cook off, Daring picked herself back up off the ground, and rushed for the apartment, dodging sporadic rifle fire from surviving Changelings. Her lungs burning, Daring cleared the doorway, immediately ducking down as a rifle nearly took her head off from point blank.

"Yeah, the tank's dead." Daring exhaled, wincing as she placed a hoof on her injured shoulder. "And, uh, I need a medic."

"Right. Back upstairs and we'll consolidate weapons and ammo. They seem to be falling back again; I think you spooked 'em." Ditzy replies, watching the door behind Daring.

It was a shaky hoof that accepted a cigarette and a light from Ditzy, as Corporal Red Heart- Ditzy's medic- did her best to stitch up the hole in Daring's shoulder. "No way we can hold again if they bring up more armor." Ditzy began, lighting a cigarette of her own. "It's down to you, me, Red Heart, Light Step, and Cold Stream. Maud and her team are dead, 'sides those two she sent back last night. We've no machine guns, but if we scavenge the corpses we've got ammo at least."

"Well, we could always pull back. Is the radio still good, Sergeant?" Red Heart inquired, as she tiredly and methodically sewed up the bullet hole Daring had caught.

Ditzy shook her head. "Nope. Direct hit from the bug panzer. I dunno about you Doc, but I'm not about to pull back. Too much stake in this damned building for that."

Daring simply grunted, as Red Heart moved on to applying antibiotics and a gauze wrapping. Swishing her cigarette about once, the mare nodded. "Yeah, I agree. Was nice meeting you though, Sarge. Corporal. I heard about your slog through the mountains last winter."

Ditzy just chuckled dryly, shaking her head. "Oh no, a fan. Just did what we had to, Sergeant Yearling."

"Yeah, I know." Daring agreed readily, helping Red Heart hold down the gauze wrapping as she tightened it. "Doesn't make it less-"

"I hear it too. Damn, that's tanks." Red Heart sighed, as Ditzy checked the magazine on her Type K.

"Hell. It was nice knowing you all." Daring sighed, standing up and loading her- Maud's- PPSH with a fresh drum. "Well! Come on then, Changelings! We're over here, innit we?" The pegasus snarked at the noises outside, only stopping as Cold Stream nearly broke down the door getting it open. "It's twenty fourth armored, not Changelings! It's friendlies!"

Lieutenant Cheerilee sighed, as she gazed about the four story apartment building. Artillery spotters and sharpshooters were already reinforcing the top floor, which commanded this whole section of Vanhoover- the main reason she'd been ordered to hold it at all costs if taken. And what a cost that had been. Medical details had been working around the clock for nearly twelve hours to clear out the corpses of her ponies and three companies' worth of changeling casualties, and were expecting to be at it for several hours still, even whilst the Princess' Own 49th Artillery spent hours clearing land and setting up it's regimental guns for fire support.

Twenty Fourth Armored had pushed through the area and onwards, deeper into Vanhoover- and were still going, if the distant gun and cannon fire was anything to go by.

Ditzy and the remains of her unit- or what was left of it anyhow- were safely back at company command, receiving medical treatment and hot food, which was one less burden on the middle-aged schoolmarm turned officer's shoulders.

Turning away from the half destroyed building to look once more at the proud city that was once Vanhoover- now little more than a shattered ruin- Cheerilee shook her head, and re-donned her helmet, before walking back to her waiting jeep.

All Quiet on the Equestrian Front

by Tempest Wind

Daybreak