Chapter 2
The Griffking river is vast; and here it was stretched out in front of them all. Oskar peered out across the river through a pair of binoculars. On the other side, he could see the earthworks being set up by the Reformisten, as well as Reformisten soldiers of the Ordenstaat Hellquill moving about behind their fortifications. He saw dozens of black helmets and a few peaked caps with the all-too-familiar griffon skulls emblazoned on them moving about from behind the sandbags.
The crack of gunfire broke the silence. He quickly turned his binoculars to the East when one of his fellow knights and a couple pegasi came right up beside him. “What is it this time, noble sire?”
Oskar used his binoculars and his excellent griffon vision to spot a squad of junior violet guards taking potshots across the river, shooting at the Reformisten. Oskar described what was happening to his equine comrades with inferior eyesight, “Violet Guards… looks like the battalion from Varena is guarding our right flank…”
The Reformisten wasted no time returning fire. The fluttering banners on both sides helped mark their positions amongst the sandbags. Oskar continued. “And the return fire from the Reformisten bastards and their professional army discipline…”
Oskar then turned his attention towards to towering temple spires in the not-so-distant horizon. The city of Hellquill itself was just across the Griffking river, and he could see its beautiful Herzland architecture from his position in the trenches from Longsword. The griffon knights around him decided to take a few shots of their own at the Reformisten positions in support of the inexperienced violet guards further East. One of his knights took aim across the river and asked, “When are we getting our reinforcements and a hot meal?” He then cracked a shot off across the Griffking.
“Soon… before Hellquill falls.” Oskar said jokingly in response. Longsword and Hellquill were not officially at war with each other yet, but already there were skirmishes breaking out all across the border as both sides knew it was only a matter of time before hostilities would ensue. Many Reformisten from Longsword had escaped across the river as the Visaginas partisans approached Swordson. Oskar himself still had bitter memories from the Longsword civil war, yet here he was with his former enemies fighting against the hated Black Cloaks. “First one among you who can hit Wingfried von Katerinburg from this distance wins a special prize from your knight-captain!”
Several griffons, pegasi, and a few Earth pony engineers immediately picked up their rifles and began shooting at the Reformisten in response to Oskar’s joke.
Pretty Pond and Radiant Flash finally pulled up in their loaded truck and parked it amongst a group of small trees close to their squad’s position. They could hear shooting up at the trenchline ahead, about 20 meters away. Upon climbing out of the cabin, they were greeted by a couple Earth ponies who went straight to the bed and began offloading munitions, sandbags, and rations. Pond and Flash got to work alongside them, but after hustling one sandbag over to the earthworks, Flash just laid down on his back and wrapped his hooves around the back of his head, then quickly put a pair of shades over his eyes with one hoof before reclining again. “Right then, I think this pony is done for today!”
One of the Earth ponies passed by him on her way to retrieve more supplies, “You going to make the revolution just sitting around all day? Pegasus?”
“Well… we can make the future of the revolution by laying around together!” Flash said as he gently slapped the mare’s haunches as she walked by him.
She let out an annoyed equine snort. “Keep dreaming… and don’t dream too deeply stallion… maybe one night, us mares will have to pay you a visit!” She was suddenly right above him, and dropped a box of rations right between his legs from a short distance above him.
“AGH!” He yelped before quickly rolling over and clutching his pride in his hooves.
Just a couple seconds later, a machine gun from across the Griffking cut loose and bullets sprayed all over the position of the ISO creatures. Pretty Pond was just on her way back to get more supplies when she noticed the temporarily crippled Radiant Flash moaning for help with bullets landing only a few feet away from him. Pond immediately rushed to him as their squadmates either took cover or attempted to get some shots off in return, but were quickly suppressed by the hailstorm of bullets being put out by the dreaded Reformisten machine guns.
“PRIVATE! Get to cover!” Swift Bolt was shouting over the gunfire as well as the Knight-Captain yelling orders to the Rosewood knights in a Herzland dialect that the equines couldn’t understand.
Pond got to Flash’s side and used her powers in defensive magic to put up a shield. Just an instant later, another volley of bullets shattered against the shield, making plinking noises and causing sparks to fly right where she was standing. Pond felt her heart rate fly through the roof, almost like her heart was in her head! She helped Flash up to his feet and the two of them hurried themselves into the trench where they were embraced by a few of the pegasi waiting for them.
Bolt spoke up as the griffons slowly stopped firing at the Reformisten. “Pond! What did you just do?”
Pond looked up, worried that Bolt was about to admonish her. “I’m sorry sir! I just… I just used magic to make my own cover! “
“Pond, that was absolutely brilliant!” Bolt gave her a paternal pat on the back. “You just saved your comrade’s life! Remind me to give you an official commendation for bravery once we’re on leave!”
Pond was surprised to hear those words. She was even more surprised to see one of the knights approach her and offer his forearm, “Can your magic tend to gunshot wounds?”
She smiled softly, took his arm in her hoof and used her powers to remove the shrapnel from the griffon’s arm and close his wounds. She looked over at the other knights, “Anypony else need tending to? Anygriff else?”
All she got were silent stares from the assembled knights. She looked around and noticed that all the ponies were standing on one side, behind her, and all the griffons were on the other side, in front of her. She was the center of attention!
The Knight-Captain of the griffons approached Pretty Pond and Swift Bolt before taking his helmet off. The knights always looked so very stern and intimidating with their armor and helmets on, so it came off as deeply personal to look at the griffon in his handsome face and hear the words forming in his beak without the helmet filtering everything out. “What’s your name, soldier?”
“It’s Pretty Pond, sir!”
“You may call me Captain Oskar. Pond… my griffons and I have always considered ponies to be a frivolous and ill-disciplined lot. However, what I just witnessed from you… I think I can speak on behalf of all my brothers when I say that I really appreciate having you in this squad.”
“Really, Oskar? I just… it’s a basic spell… I just did what I felt like I had to do…”
She felt a hoof on her shoulder and spun around to see Swift Bolt with a cheeky smile, the kind of smile that young pegasi stallions put up when they get optimistic about their next great endeavor. “What he’s really trying to say is that you’re one of the bravest people he’s ever met! Throwing yourself into the line of machinegun fire like that! And he really respects your magical powers, am I right Oskar?”
“I suppose so. You ponies always have a way of putting things so cheerfully…” Oskar stated; the tone he used to deliver those words gave Pond the impression that he had a small chip on his shoulder, but also a peculiar kind of respect, possibly even admiration for the equine folk. She thanked the Griffon before slowly walking away to the other side of the trench with Swift Bolt.
“Hey Swift Bolt… what’s the deal with Knight-Captain Oskar? I can’t tell if he respects ponies, dislikes us, or both.”
Bolt smiled in that semi-smug pegasi way again. “Well… if you must know,” he briefly checked to make sure that Oskar was out of earshot and then lowered his voice, “Oskar used to be in the Reformisten, back during the civil war. He was captured and about to be executed, but Golden Morning stayed his execution, and after speaking to him in his prison cell for almost an hour, Oskar was reinstated to lead a squad of knights from the Zeltstadt uprising who also pledged their allegiance to the Vaideva.”
Pretty Pond’s eyes lit up like the full moon. She could hardly even believe what she was hearing. “Oskar used to be a knight in the Reformisten!?”
“SHHHH! Keep your voice down!” Bolt exclaimed as quietly as he could. “It’s not something he likes to talk about.”
Pond couldn’t help but wonder aloud, “And now he’s commanding our unit against his old Black Cloak comrades? Who’s idea was this?”
“The Vaideva’s idea.”
That shut up Pretty Pond pretty quickly.
After an awkward moment of silence, the earth pony mare from earlier stepped over and broke the tension.
“Sergeant Bolt… I respectfully request that we wait until dark before finishing the fortifications. Maybe after din-din?”
“Agreed, Private Beetle! Let Knight-Captain Oskar know that it’ll be apples and hot oatmeal tonight, unless he wants to go fishing in plain view of that Reformisten machine gun nest!”
Beetle allowed herself a small smile before trotting off.
Swift Bolt turned back to Pond. “By the way, I’ve seen the way Radiant Flash looks at you… and I’ve seen the way you look at him…”
Pretty Pond was already recovering from the last awkward moment and then her own Sergeant had to just drop this on her! She gave him an anxious look, again, and decided to let the question hang in the air for a hot second before finally mustering up the courage to answer.
“The two of us go back to a childhood spent in a communal village. We… we were dating when he was dragged away by the Reformisten. Partisan sympathies.”
Swift Bolt nodded.
“I just hope you can show the same amount of courage for the rest of us as you did for him. Not every unicorn has the guts to willingly dive into machinegun fire! I understand he’s a childhood sweetheart of yours, and I’m happy for both of you, I just want you to understand that there’s a lot of risk that comes with this… for the two of you and for the squad.”
“I understand sir. I have it under control.”
Swift Bolt smiled just a little. “That’s what I like to hear. Now, how about you get to meet the rest of the squad? We can finish unloading the truck after sundown and a warm meal.”