//------------------------------//
// The Amateurs Discuss Tactics, the Professionals Discuss Logistics 
// Story: If You Want Peace, Prepare For War 
// by tranhdxrbntd 
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Wilson angrily readjusted the bandages on Tran, who was lying on his side and among the rest of the field of wounded. "You should be dead." Tran shrugged. Wilson pressed some fingers against Tran's neck. "I can barely feel a pulse. You've lost way too much blood." Tran shrugged again. "You're not done yet, are you?" Tran shook his head. Letting out an annoyed breath, Wilson dug through his bag and pulled out some prefilled needles. He stabbed one intro Tran's thighs, emptying out the needle's contents. All of Tran's weight was lifted from his shoulders and he sat up, being careful not to agitate the bayonet that was still in his leg. "Ketamine, better than morphine. Just try to stay here and don't try to move much."  

Tran's eyes fell over to the rest of the wounded, seeing that they were in a similar state, just waiting til this all ends. Whether it was some relief from the battle ending or the easier relief of death, it wasn't going to come soon enough. Tran noticed one particularly eye opening crater in one section of their dug out sector that housed the wounded. It was the very obvious impact from a mortar. "What was the damage?" 

Wilson turned to see what Tran was looking at and was instantly filled with rage. "Killed twelve, eight of which were ours. When this ends, I want them set on fire," Wilson said through gritted teeth seething in anger.

A passing griffon medic who had been tending to the wounded heard the conversation. "You have all the right too," the medic commented.

"They've been already shot," Tran stated.

Wilson grunted and handed Tran another one of the prefilled syringes. "Opposite thigh, only if you need it." Tran nodded and tucked it into his gear. 

-X-X-X-

Rarity and Blueblood stood at one of the machine guns that the griffons had given them in an attempt to falsely win their trust. They had taken it apart and checked it over. It was real and it was perfectly working. It even fired to its full capacity. Before, their defense only had two machine guns. Now, it was eight. Two more were from the reinforcements that Wilson brought back and the other four were griffon. While their total numbers were severely marred from the fact that many were wounded and some dead, they now had a significant amount of more firepower. Hell, they even had a decent amount of ammunition for the time being.

"I suppose we're lucky," Rarity said.

"Pardon?" Blueblood asked.

Rarity's eyes glanced at the direction of the wounded. "We haven't taken our fair share of bodily punishment."

Blueblood looked up and down at the mare's previously perfect uniform and coat. "No, only in appearance," he joked.

Rarity let out a chuckle. "At least its not cake."

Blueblood also chuckled and reminisced on old memories. That had been so long ago, when times were better. Blueblood pulled out the pack of cigarettes that Logan had given him. "Would you like one?" Blueblood asked. Rarity looked at the pack and nodded. 

Blueblood had seen a fellow soldier do this. He pulled out two cigarettes and simultaneously stuck both in his mouth. He lit both of them at the same tame, taking a puff to make sure they were lit. Then, he pulled one out of his mouth, by hoof not telekinesis, and offered it to Rarity. 

Rarity had watched the entire process and only took a bare heartbeat to make the decision. While it had his saliva and germs on it, she didn't care. She took one of them, also by hoof, and stuck it in her mouth. All of them, humans, ponies, and griffons, were in this hellish situation as one. She took a puff, coughing as she felt the nicotine gave her a relaxed feeling. 

Rarity dug through her gear and pulled out a bar of chocolate. It wasn't one of the military chocolate rations, it was a milk chocolate bar that Pinkie had given her. She unwrapped it and took a bite from it before passing it to Blueblood. He took the chocolate bar and took a bite from it, biting into it right next to where Rarity had bitten. "You know," Blueblood started. "This isn't one of the worse dates I've ever had." 

Rarity scoffed. "You would call this a date?" 

Blueblood smiled. "I thought you wanted to find your prince charming?" he ribbed. Rarity looked away and took an embarrassed puff from the cigarette, coughing from the still unfamiliar experience. "Tell you what. Once we get out of here, I know of a cafe that still manages to make the most delectable menu, even with the war rationing."

Rarity smiled. "Would you like to try your hoof at some commoner's carnival fare?" Blueblood raised an eyebrow at the question. "I have a friend who makes the best pastries in Equestria."

It took Blueblood a second to realize what she was referencing before nodding back. "It can't hurt to try." He took his own embarrassed puff from his cigarette. "I was trying to dissuade you from my company. Nopony ever sees me as a pony. All they see is a noble and expect snobbish, conceited pony who contributes nothing to society except inconsequential complaints. I joined the army to prove that I wasn't a drain on society and even then, everypony still has the same beliefs."

Rarity leaned against Blueblood. "I think you showed that you're a very brave pony, one that anypony can always depend on for life." 

A massive roar tore through the forest, shaking the trees and everyone's souls. Rarity and Blueblood's fur stood on end, recognizing the source. This time, it had to be a full sized one instead of one that had been magically compressed for transportation. 

-X-X-X-

Applejack looked to Logan. "Ah don't suppose yah got a cannon in one of dem bags ah yours?" she asked. Logan shook his head. "We're boned." 

A powerful wind started removing the leaves from the trees and throwing dirt up into the air as a five story tall Dragon landed in the middle of their defense, between the foxholes and the center's setup of machine guns. Everyone scrambled about as it smiled, looking down at its prey.

The smile was interrupted when one of its eyes was blown out, followed by the sound of Tran's sniper rifle. The dragon started screaming and thrashing about as everyone started shooting at its head, attempting to do any damage to it. The dragon recovered and blew a stream of fire at one of the groupings of foxholes. The cloud of fire filled every crook and crevice of the foxholes, setting ablaze to everyone inside them. They screamed in pain for anyone to help them but it was for naught. 

A group of ponies jumped out of their foxholes and rushed forward. They pulled out grenades and threw them up at the dragon. Some weren't timed right and exploded under the dragon when gravity took over them. However, a few were timed right and exploded when they close to the dragon, opening up large wounds in its body. 

The dragon roared in anger and swiped its tail at the ponies, striking one of them. The pony soared through the air before hitting a tree and falling down. He wasn't moving.

The ponies in one of the other grouping of foxholes jumped out and ran when the dragon targeted them and spat fire at the defensive holes. Most of the fleeing soldiers managed to escape their demise. Most. One unlucky pony's lower body was caught ablaze and he dropped.

One of the dragon's leg's exploded with the force of a mortar and the dragon collapsed to his side. Everyone was stunned, what the hell was that? 

"Hey!"

Tran stood in the open and was holding a mortar shell in each hand. He slammed the shell in his left hand against his helmet before throwing it at the dragon's head. The shell blew apart the front of the dragon's face and it stopped moving. Everypony cheered as Tran threw the second shell at the dragon's head. The corpse no longer had a head anymore as it was spread apart in every direction. Tran felt all of the strength leave his body and nearly collapsed but somehow managed to stay standing. 

The celebration was cut short. Gunfire had started to erupt from the outer lines. Ponies and humans alike scrambled to defensive positions as the griffons had started to advance on them. Tran tried to get to a defensive position but could barely amble about. 

Then another roar echoed through the forest, coming from the skies. Everyone looked up, finding an equally giant dragon hovering alongside several groups of griffons. 

Rarity popped out of the foxhole she was in. "Oh come on!" Rarity screamed. Blueblood pulled Rarity back down as some pot shots nearly hit her.

Eric slung his rifle and drew his pistol. The rifle had clicked empty and he carried no further ammunition. Looking around, he saw his disabled friend out in the open. He jumped out of his foxhole and ran towards his friend. Grabbing one of his bleeding arms, Eric started dragging Tran towards cover. "Jesus fuck, how the hell are you still alive?" Eric asked as Tran's blood started staining Eric's uniform and gear. Tran let his friend take over his strength and put his attention up at the hovering dragon. The two of them didn't have to look very hard for cover as conveniently enough, the previous dragons corpse wasn't far. Being close still meant that they had to get to it first. 

The hovering dragon saw the two humans out in the open and smiled. His first victims. It filled up its lungs with superheated air and let out a powerful blast of fire down into the battlefield. Eric was surprised when Tran got out from Eric's assistance and wrapped himself around Eric. The two were hugging face to face when Tran collapsed the two of them onto the ground with him exposing his back to the sky. Tran covered Eric's head with his arms as the blast of fire hit them.

The wave of fire only last for a second but it was a very long second. When it ended, Tran rolled himself off of Eric, the entire back of his body alight with flames. Eric felt the heat of the flames that engulfed the very few bits of himself that were exposed when the attack hit and quickly worked to extinguished him. It didn't take very long, he wasn't wearing anything that was flammable. He looked over to find his friend, who was very much on fire. 

No screams or panicking came from him. Tran just worked around on the ground calmly as he worked to put out the flames. Eric scrambled over to help put out Tran. With Tran's body smoking and uniform and bandages smoldering, Eric grabbed him by his body armor and dragged him the rest of the distance over to the previous dragon's corpse was, where cover was. 

Eric propped up his battle body up against the dragon's neck, who then pulled a syringe out of his gear and inject it into this thigh. "Still alive?" Eric asked.

"Still moving," Tran replied. 

Eric redrew his pistol and looked up at the dragon who had turned its attention at something else. "What the fuck are we gonna do about that?" 

"Eric." 

Eric looked over at Tran. "Yeah?" 

Inside the stump of the dragon's neck was the shiny glints of metal. Eric crawled closer to it and used a knife to further expose the item. Pieces of flesh were removed and Eric exposed... Gun cases. He pulled one by one out, the total ending at four. They looked the same as the ones found inside of that one smuggler's bar inside of Ponyville. 

Each one was labeled with one of the four's names on them and Eric found that he couldn't open any of them, aside from his own. Inside of it was something helpful, just not against the dragon. Eric picked up something that would help the fact that his rifle had run out of ammunition, along with several loaded magazines for it. Picking up one of said loaded magazines, he loaded it into his Saiga 12 and chambered a round. 

Tran's case, well... Tran felt the painkiller course through his veins. As his body felt its pain go away and fresh energy and strength fill it up, he got up as if he was right as rain and pulled himself over to where his case was. 

-X-X-X-

The bolt on Gilda's submachine dropped on the last drum. Gilda clenched her beak as she slung it and drew a pistol. She looked over to Rainbow who was firing with her rifle. The two were sitting behind cover at one of the machine gun nests. "I'm out!" she screamed. 

"Tell me some good news!" Rainbow yelled back.

Gilda looked up at the dragon who was trying to find a new target. "The dragon's still here!"

"I said good news Celestia damn it!" Dash replied.

The dragon filled its chest up with more fire but before it could release the deadly blast, its chest had exploded open, engulfing the nearby supporting griffons in fire. The griffons were set ablaze while the dragon looked down at itself, trying to process what had happened with its freshly open chest orifice. A second passed and its neck exploded, decapitating the beast and sending it tumbling to the ground where it crushed various advancing griffons. 

All around, the griffons were shocked with the latest breaking news. When roasted chickens started falling from the skies, they all turned tail and fled. Ponies around (and Logan), cheered as the griffons retreated, some taking pot shots. "Worthless chickens!" Rainbow Dash taunted. She turned to look at Gilda. "No offense." 

Gilda took it in stride and got out of cover. "What in Tartarus was that?" 

Over to where the first dragon's corpse was, around its upper chest and neck area, was a cloud of dust in the air, as if an explosion had happened there. It quickly settled, revealing Tran standing with Eric standing beside him. 

Gilda got out of cover, followed by Rainbow Dash, and walked over to Tran and Eric. "Was that you?" Gilda asked.

Tran was carrying something new. His hands were holding onto a pistol grip that was attached to a large tube that was resting on his shoulder. The item had a set of crude ladder iron sights welded to it and it was all painted a dark green. "Yeah," he replied. 

Dash pointed at Tran's leg. "You're, uh, on fire." True to her word, the bandages wrapped around Tran's left arm were on fire. They were previously smoldering and smoking but where there's smoke, there's fire... Again. Eric reached over and put out the fire. "So, uh, what the fuck is that?" she asked while pointing at the tube.

"Bazooka," Tran replied.

Earlier

A small airship landed at the Royal Equestrian Royal Flying Corps mountain base at Neighagra falls. In recent news, the griffons had started an offensive from their holdings in Fillydelphia towards Baltimare to take it back. It was inconveniently timed with the diplomatic mission with the yaks so both the humans and the Dauntless were unavailable for any counteroffensive or defense. In light of this, all nearby Equestrian forces had sent all immediate response and frontline units to help reinforce the area, having started doing so since yesterday. The first forces that had been already been sent were obviously the air based units like dogfighters or light infantry. They would hold the line while the regular forces were brought up. 

The airship was filled with a number of personnel ready to refresh the base's numbers. It held only two platoons worth but more were coming. They'd be linking up with other personnel before being sent off to fight in Fillydelphia. They'd also be gathering up more supplies and taking a short rest before being thrown to the lions. 

The soldiers that were inside of the airship exited the craft but stayed in its vicinity as it awaited preparations. Four of the soldiers trotted (except one who bounced) a good distance away, stretching out their legs. Spitfire, uniform impressive and proud, led a much less experienced soldier. "Just because I used my name to transfer you to my unit doesn't make you immune to the rules. You're still in the army, act like it while you're with me," Spitfire said to the much smaller soldier. The soldier in question wore the same uniform, just not with the same rank or accolades. She also had all of her standard gear and rifle, as if she was ready to go into battle. "And keep that pistol you stole away from prying eyes. I don't give two shits if you have it but others will."

Scootaloo hugged the model 92 (the one she scavenged in Baltimare) closer to her body. It was tucked away from sight inside of her uniform's coat, loaded and ready to go. It was the same that Rainbow Dash had, definitely not a hand cannon like Tran's. "I didn't steal it!" she retorted.

Spitfire scoffed. "It might as well be. Standard issue pistol? They'll want it back."

Scootaloo felt somepony put a foreleg on her back. "Oh, you'll be fine. Everypony here is stealing at least something," Pinkie Pie said. Pinkie turned to look at Fluttershy. "Right?" Fluttershy kept quiet. She definitely did not want anypony to find out about what she kept in her cottage (or her shed) with all of the medical equipment or supplies that she had accidentally taken home while being the head nurse. 

A pony hobbled up to great them. He wore the standard Royal Flying Corps's uniform. Well, he wore most of it. He wore the just the dress coat. It wasn't like anyone was gonna stop him, he was quite well known. As for the ones who didn't know him, the coat very clearly displayed all of the authority and chest candy that would tell the remainders to "fuck off". "Spitfire! Where the hell have you been?! I haven't seen you since the last Gala!" Spitfire groaned, realizing what she just walked (trotted) into. "I heard you got to work with those new human things. They can't be-" 

The words died in his throat, as did all of the emotion on his face, when he spotted something that Spitfire was wearing. She instantly knew what had gotten the loudmouth to shut up for once in his life. The red scarf that she wore, at this moment, felt like a noose around her neck, with what it meant to the two of them. "Its real."

The pony, once her partner in dogfighting, trotted closer to her. The pony slowly reached up with his left hoof to touch it but grimaced and set the hoof back down before reaching up to touch the scarf with his other hoof. The instant his hoof felt the silk, pain filled his body. "H-How?" 

Spitfire pushed his hoof away. "Wasn't a dogfight. Needed help from one of those humans you mentioned." Soarin grabbed Spitfire, tears welling in his eyes, and hugged her. She wrapped her forelegs around him and returned the hug. "I miss her too." 

Two pegasi fell out of the sky to interrupt their moment. They both look battle ragged and physically drained, as if they hadn't eaten in days. They had bad news. The two of them were part of the Dauntless's aerial accompaniment. 

Spitfire looked at Soarin. "Want to meet those humans?"

Soarin grinned. "Are they as cracked up as everyone says?"

Spitfire shrugged. "One of them's killed at least three Jaegers." 

Soarin's mouth dropped open and closed repeatedly as if he was trying to mimic a fish. When he recovered, his remaining wing bristled in excitement. "How are we gonna get there?"

Pinkie popped up in literally in between the two of them. "We steal!" 

Spitfire shoved herself away from the surprise. "Steal what?" 

Pinkie turned around to look at something, like she was a dog. Soarin and Spitfire followed her gaze and found that she was looking at the airship that they just stepped off of. Spitfire opened her mouth to say something but closed it when she looked at Soarin and realized it was futile. "Want to get your hooves dirty for once?"

Soarin held his left hoof, the fake wooden one. "I'll lose another."

Spitfire nodded and turned back to the two exhausted pegasi that gave them the news. "You're coming with us." The two pegasi groaned internally but knew they had a very important job to do.

The seven of them made their way back to the airship. As Soarin hobbled his way there, he whistled, getting the attention of the other soldiers that had left the airship to stretch their legs. Their uniforms and reputations proceeded him, and none of the other soldiers disagreed with the idea of coming with him and Spitfire. Inside the airship, the soldiers got to their seats, gear ready for battle and minds ready for combat. 

-X-X-X-

Pinkie, Fluttershy, and the two Dauntless pegasi made their way to the airship's command/pilot's room. The aircrew and pilot refused to take part on the journey.

"We're needed in Fillydelphia and you have no orders to do this supposed mission!" the airship's pilot/commander angrily told them. 

Pinkie smiled. "And where were those orders when you smuggled back goods from the frontline?" 

The pilot's anger disappeared. "One unsanctioned trip, coming up," he said while going to the controls. 

Fluttershy blinked a few times, looking at Pinkie. "How did you know he was smuggling goods from the frontline?" she asked Pinkie when the two of them were alone.

Pinkie started to make her way back to the troop transport area of the airship, skipping her way there. "I told you, everypony here is stealing something!"

-X-X-X-

Spitfire and Scootaloo returned to where they had been originally sitting at in the airship when they first started riding it, finding their original seats and where Spitfire had intentionally left behind her gear at. Soarin followed them sitting beside his best friend. He eyed Scootaloo's youthfulness. "So we're taking along this stray?" Scootaloo's face adopted a, starting to be familiar, frown on her face. Spitfire nodded. Soarin looked back to Spitfire. "You know, I don't even have any gear or even something to fight with." He detached his fake wooden foreleg. "I'll guess hit them with this or something."

Spitfire almost started laughing but kept it welled inside her. She went to her gear and grabbed her rifle, handing it to Soarin. "You can borrow mine."

Soarin reattached his leg and took up the rifle before looking back at Spitfire. "And what'll you use? You gonna hit them with my leg for me?" Spitfire smiled and handed Soarin the ammo and gear that went along with the rifle before digging through her gear again. She pulled out another rifle. It had a silencer and a scope and it was obviously a rifle that previously belonged to the Griffon Empire. 

Soarin whistled at the sight of the rifle. "Where'd you get that?" 

Spitfire smiled. "Same place I got the scarf at." She had ammo for it too.

Soarin adopted Spitfire's smile. "Niiice." He turned to look at the stray. "So what's that pistol you're hiding?"

Scootaloo's heart sank into her asshole. "I-I don't know what you're talking about," she replied.

Soarin looked at her with disbelief. "I can see the bulge. It's either a knife or a gun. If it was a knife, you wouldn't be hiding it." Scootaloo looked away from Soarin and over to Spitfire who's face told her that Soarin was trustworthy. 

Soarin smirked. "I don't care if its stolen. Everypony here steals."