//------------------------------// // I Know My Soldiers and I Will Always Place Their Needs Above My Own // Story: If You Want Peace, Prepare For War // by tranhdxrbntd //------------------------------// Everyone tried to settle themselves in as the night approached. Supplies, like ammo or grenades, were redistributed and rotating watch shifts were drawn up. If you weren't on guard, you were either sleeping or eating. Unfortunately, no one had brought anything for the night's rest and there was little food to be had. What was there to eat, would have to be eaten cold. A fire was useful earlier but now, it would be a death sentence. The night was especially dark, the moon being barely started in a new cycle and the griffons had an advantage here, they could inherently see better in the dark compared to the ponies or any of the four humans with them being part eagle. It was something that both sides knew in addition to the established weapons and numbers advantage. They had their jobs cut out for them. Rainbow Dash gave it her all in cleaning her rifle but she'd definitely need to get it completely taken apart and detail cleaned out, when she survived this mess. She had even used some of her feathers in trying to clean out the internal mechanism of her rifle but it was an effort in futility. She was now focused on her next all too important task, food. This whole train fiasco started when in the morning and now it was night time. Since it all began, she hadn't eaten yet. All of the action that she had done so far today had burned a lot of calories that she had yet to account for. Worse, she was a pegasus, the most calorie burning variant of the three pony species. What little food there was, was now being eaten. Whoever had the mind to grab their field packs, would have the standard emergency ration. Soldiers were expected to always have it with them and having it was an inspectable item that officers could ask to see. Unfortunately for everypony who had the standard emergency ration, they had to eat the standard emergency ration. The standard emergency ration consisted of three things. The first part was half a kilo of hardtack. Hardtack was an incredibly dense cracker/biscuit that was composed of only two ingredients, water and flour. After being mixed, it was then baked for eight hours. The extremely long baking period made it long lasting and hard, very, very hard. Supposedly, it could stop a bayonet thrust if somehow worn as body armor. The second part was desiccated (more like desecrated vegetables). Desiccated vegetables contained string beans, turnips, carrots, beets, and onions (no apples) that had been forced dried for several days before being compressed into a small brick (it could probably be used to make a house). Soldiers would often refuse to eat the desiccated vegetables because they tasted so dreadful. The last part was a tin of a half kilo brick of chocolate. Unlike the other two parts, it wasn't an edible war crime. It actually had a good taste to it and most soldiers would enjoy eating it, if it came to it. Unfortunately, soldiers didn't get to eat it often as it was a very expensive commodity (industrially for the country to produce) and was only consumed in emergencies when other rations weren't available. Rainbow Dash really wanted something to eat, anything to eat really. She wasn't one of the ones who had grabbed their gear, only having grabbed her rifle. She did, in fact, have a tin of the chocolate ration but it wouldn't have been good to eat right now, in terms of regaining proper body sustenance. Right now, she was in the center of their defensive position, looking over the supplies, wondering if she could find something to consume. Being here in the most defendable position they had, she was also in the area where all of the wounded were. Specifically, these were the wounded who wouldn't be able to move much or fight with the rest of them. They were as comfortable and tended as the others could make them. Hopefully, they'd live to see the end of this. The distraction counter raid had yield four casualties, two of which were severe enough to knock them out of commission. One was caused by a few unwanted bullets while the other was caused by a grenade explosion. They needed a hospital, not a hole in the ground. Rainbow Dash's stomach growled and she grimaced. She was really hungry. If only Pinkie was here. If she was, she'd somehow have an infinite number of cupcakes or pie. That was when somepony tapped her on the shoulder behind her with no warning and she damn near jumped out into the open, had her wing not been broken. She almost damn near stabbed the offender but found herself facing Tran. "Don't do that!" she demanded. Tran didn't say anything and held out his hand, offering her... A pair of large food bars? She cautiously took it and scanned it over. It was very dense and reddish/pink in color, appearing to be mostly made of oats and nuts. She tentatively took a bite of it and it was indeed, made of oats and nuts but strawberry flavored and with a hint of honey. She looked back to Tran, chewing on a mouthful of the beautiful sustenance. "Logan's homemade," Tran answered. "We suffer as one." "Hank phu," Rainbow Dash said through a stuffed mouth. Tran nodded once before walking off. Dash was about to copy what he did and leave this area to check up on the other defensive positions when she looked back to the worse of the wounded, the one who had been shredded by a grenade. She thought back to how, despite the hostility between them, she and Tran was in this horrid situation together and they'd have to work together to survive this ordeal. She trotted up to the severely wounded pony and gently tapped one of his forelegs. He groaned in pain and shuffled in the spot where he laid. His body was covered in bloodied bandages, including his eyes. The explosion had blinded him and he had served enough for this country in this blasted war. He was part of that distraction raid that she had almost ruined. That was many hours ago. She doubted that he had eaten yet. She broke off a chunk of the food bar that she had started eating and stuck it onto the soldier's mouth who quickly recognized what was happening. He started chewing and soon swallowed. He let out a groan, not one of pain or discomfort but one of gratefulness. She finished feeding him the rest of the food bar and turned to leave but noticed the other wounded soldier sitting up with what little strength he had, looking at her. She looked down at the second/last of the food bar that Tran had given her before grimacing again. She took one bite out of it, slowing savoring it's taste before she handed the rest of it to the other wounded soldier. He looked at her with a face full of appreciation. He didn't need to say anything, she understood. The wounded were suffering from a lot but hunger would not be one of them. -X-X-X- Logan had a lot of other stuff. He tried his best to distribute what he could. Grains, sweets, and other vegetarian foods went to the ponies, obviously. It wasn't enough for everypony to have but it was enough to supply the ones who hadn't grabbed their packs, and consequently their food. For himself, Tran, and Eric, they definitely had enough food to be comfortable, for now. He had a decent amount of pemmican and dried salt beef for them to temporarily subsist on. However, he didn't have enough coffee to share. He had enough for only himself. It was his black gold. Eric chewed on a piece of dried salt beef. "You really enjoy hoarding, don't you?" His mouth was dryer than a desert in a drought, probably from the excessive amount of salt used to make said salt beef. Logan crossed his arms and had a look of 'Are you serious' on his face. "You're literally eating my food." He and Eric were sitting in a brand new machine gun position, armed with a machine gun courteously gifted by the griffons. Logan's messenger bag was with them, one that was full of crucial tools and food. Eric chuckled lightly. "True. I still don't know how you managed to bring all three of your bags." Logan smirked. "Just talent, I guess." Logan reached down to his belt and pulled out a canteen and took a swig of it. He offered it over to Eric who took it. Eric, with a mouthful of salt beef, took a drink from Logan's canteen in an attempt to remedy his mouth's salted status. Replacing the salt taste, his mouth was now filled with the taste of coffee... And whiskey. He honestly didn't expect that and choked on it a little before swallowing down whatever entered his mouth. Eric looked back at Logan who had a look of evil on his face. "You fucker," Eric said to Logan. Eric moved to hand back the canteen but froze. Logan was about to ask something when he heard it too. "GET DOWN!" Eric screamed out, loud enough that even hell could hear him. Whistling filled the air and then shells started raining down from the heavens. Logan and Eric had ducked down into their machine gun hole together, cuddling up to each, close enough to wear each other's cloths. Many, many shells impacted. No one had the focus to count. They were more focused on praying that they'd survive. The explosions rang in everyone's minds, reminding them that they could die any second. When the explosions ended, some could hear pained crying/screaming. Eric jumped out of their hole, AK74 ready. "HEADS UP! WATCH YOUR SECTORS!" It took Logan longer to recover. By the time he was up and manning his machine gun, Eric had already run off in the direction of where the pained screams originated. Eric knew that the shelling was a preemptive strike, there would most likely be an attack and the griffons were probably going to want to use their superior night vision as soon as possible. The first sounds of gunfire erupted as he sprinted towards the screaming. Bullets threw up the dirt around him. Looks like they wanted a piece of him.