The griffons were fleeing as fast as they could, abandoning the area and flying off in the distance. The fresh pony fliers didn't bother chasing after them and returned to the ground where the griffon defenses had been built, making sure there was no opponents left. Everypony cheered and uniform caps/hats were thrown into the air. Even the wounded had partaken in the uplifting festivities.
Despite the distinct lack of an aggressor., there were a few of the battle weary and exhausted defenders who were still busy. Namely, the medical personnel. Four REA medics were working tirelessly, not having slept for two days, dealing with the fresh wounded from the previous battle. Having learned from the human medic's example, they worked on both griffon and pony injured alike, even a few still alive minotaur assault troopers. Joining the REA medics were IGAF (Imperial Griffon Air Force) medical personnel.
Unfortunately, they had only been working for a short minute before some of the fresh troops had drawn weapons on them and were attempting to round them up. One of the other, non-griffon medics, angrily left the patient he was furiously working on and charged towards the group of REA soldiers were trying to lynch the griffon medics. This medic charged from behind the fresh soldiers, threw the rifles out of a few of ponies' hooves and knocking them to the mud below before stepping in front of the griffon medics. He drew a sidearm with a free hand and aimed it at a member of the lynch mob. "You fucking kill any of them and I'll fucking drop all of you!" Wilson threatened.
The fresh ponies were stunned but some of them kept their resolve and kept their weapons leveled at the griffon medics. Eric quickly joined the company of Wilson and the griffon medics, aiming his revolver at one of the fresh ponies. A few members of the lynch mob lowered their weapons but that still left some of the more radical lynchers still brandishing weapons at the griffon medics, who, by the way, hadn't stopped working on wounded soldiers the whole time.
And then, from another direction came the frightening visage of Tran, who was covered in the blood and guts of minotaurs, dragons, and griffons and not caring that he was impaled with a short sword styled bayonet, with his hand cannon drawn. If they weren't scared off by Tran, the unarmed REA pony medics who had also decided to protect the griffon medics, definitely changed their minds.
With that Mexican standoff dealt with, the medics went back to work and Tran tactically collapsed to the ground. Wilson holstered his pistol and sprinted back to his patient to work on him. Meanwhile, Blueblood and Rarity walked over to the fallen sniper, who was looking very, very pale. Wilson saw their guests and scowled. He had a few fingers in a deep bloody wound in Tran's leg, where a bayonet previously was. "You fucking moron. Do you know how much of a fucking moron you are?!" Blueblood flinched, realizing he was the cause of this. There was a lot of bleeding that Wilson was having trouble controlling. "I should feed you your fucking teeth right fucking now!"
Blueblood and Rarity was standing beside the two humans, both afraid of the angry medic. Blueblood felt bad for what he did but it had been done in the heat of battle. Wilson got ready to stand up to face the major but Tran put a hand on Wilson to stop him. Wilson looked back at Tran and was shocked, but only for the shortest of moments before continuing his work. Tran looked to Blueblood, who was giving the human a look that was thankful for the human at stopping the angry might of 1000 suns. Blueblood got down beside Tran, who was lying on the ground, and gently put a hoof on Tran's chest. "You're not as bad as everypony rumors."
Tran smiled at the compliment before lashing out with a fist into Blueblood's jaw and knocking the major down. "Thank you," Tran replied.
Blueblood was stunned for a few seconds before he got back up, rubbing his jaw. "I deserved that," Blueblood replied. He felt around in his mouth with his tongue before spitting out a pair of teeth into his hoof. "And that."
Rarity was horrified at the sight of the bloody broken teeth but recovered her composure quickly. "The personnel in charge of this airship will be rendezvous with us soon to discuss plans. They're reinforcements intended for the defense of Fillydelphia."
Tran nodded in acknowledgement while drinking from his canteen. Despite Wilson literally hands deep in his leg's giant gaping wound, he didn't so much as flinch from each of Wilson's efforts. A familiar pink sight hopped into view and looked at the fallen soldier. "Wowee, you look like you had a fun time!"
Wilson grunted as he pulled his fingers out of Tran's leg and finished putting a pressure bandage around it. Wilson stood up and held up a hand to Tran, who took it and stood up with the help of the medic. "Leg's packed with clotting gauze and bandage should keep enough pressure to help keep it the wound compressed. Can you stay off the leg?" Wilson asked, already knowing the answer. Tran shook his head. "I figured." Wilson let out a irritated snort. "At least take it easy." Tran nodded.
That was when a gunshot rang out, followed by angry yelling. Blueblood, Pinkie, and Rarity immediately took off in the direction while Tran and Wilson were left standing, guessing what was the problem. With Wilson's help, Tran slowly walked off in the direction of the commotion.
-X-X-X-
Gilda sported a new bullet impact on her body armor and she had a pony pinned to the ground with her talons wrapped around her victim's throat. Beside her, Rainbow Dash and Applejack had their sidearms drawn on four other fresh soldiers who had their hooves on their weapons but not raised. There were other soldiers, part of the original defense force, weapons drawn and holding other fresh soldiers at gun point who had their weapons pointed back.
More ponies, from both sides, were quickly joining the commotion and the Mexican standoff. Spitfire and Soarin, when they joined in, immediately homed their eyes in on the red scarf that Gilda wore and both of them had their hooves instinctively reach to their respective sidearms. Applejack noticed this, while her sidearm was pointed at a set of different fresh soldiers, look at the two and shook her head, mentally telling them to back down. The two pegasi didn't draw their pistols but were ready to quickly draw and fire.
Meanwhile Blueblood and Rarity entered the fray and immediately ran in between both sides, hooves in the air. "Stand down!" Blueblood commanded. The fresh soldiers eyed the major and were hesitant to leave, keeping their primary attention on the Jaeger.
Another rather important pony entered the mix, the airship's commander. He immediately recognized Gilda and what she was. "What in tartarus are you doing!? That is the enemy!"
Blueblood growled and trotted up to the pilot and squared up against him. "No she is not the enemy and as a major, I am ordering all of you to stand down!"
The pilot shoved Blueblood back. "Well, major. I am a wing commander and if memories serves correctly, I rank above you and I am demanded that she be shot before she causes trouble!"
Rainbow Dash heard the verbal dick measuring contest and naturally had to join in. She trotted closer to the two high ranking officers while keeping her pistol still up and ready. "Hey! If you're gonna pull that rank bullshit, I'm also a wing commander and I say you aren't demanding anything!"
The pilot eyed Rainbow Dash and her uniform, trying to corroborate her claims, finding them true. She was indeed a wing commander, as he was. "And you're siding with the likes of her!" he demanded while gesturing to the Jaeger.
Gilda shot the pilot and angry stare, pointing her free clawed hands at him. "I'll kill you first if you think you're gonna kill me."
At the same time, Logan and Eric arrived at this situation from one direction while Tran and Wilson arrived at another. All four of them had their sidearms drawn at the fresh ponies and slowly stepped in between both factions. The most frightening presence out of the four of them came from Tran. He was coated in blood, (his own, griffon blood, and pony blood), had a bayonet sticking out of his body that he paid no attention towards, and was the tallest of the bunch. Also, he sported a piece of artillery as a primary sidearm. "You try to kill her, then you'll have to try to kill us," Tran stated.
Everypony in Equestria were aware of who these four were, at this point in the war. Their exploits weren't exactly subtle. Wilson was helping Tran stand but it didn't take away any of his presence. Wilson snorted in anger. "Key word, being TRY."
More of the Dauntless former crewmembers were joining in on the situation, having heard the commotion and realized what was going on. They stepped in between Gilda and the fresh forces. "You fight them, you fight all of us!" yelled out one former Dauntless crewmember.
"Yeah!" yelled out another Dauntless Crewmember.
Tran lowered his handcannon and turned around to address the Dauntless crewmembers. "Soldiers of the Dauntless, should we kill this griffon, a Jaeger, formerly of the Imperial Griffon Military? Say aye if you agree!" Dead silence came from the, once again, defending side. None of the Dauntless former crewmembers made a noise. "Say aye if she belongs to us!" Cheers erupted from the Dauntless crewmembers as they screamed in Gilda's protection. They didn't even need to know her name to defend her.
Tran turned around to see Spitfire slowly trotting over to him, joining in on his support. She was weary of having to defend a Jaeger, her mortal enemies, but stood alongside Tran. Soarin was appalled at Spitfire's choice for a split moment but trotted over to join his compatriot. Following the two was, to Tran's surprise, Scootaloo who had somehow made her way to this situation.
Spitfire separated Blueblood and the pilot. "If you absolutely want to pull rank, I am an air force captain and I hold the senior position her. You will stand down and let this Jaeger on your airship or I will relieve you of your ship," Spitfire said while jabbing the pilot in the chest with her hoof.
The pilot angrily snorted and darted his eyes at everyone defending the Jaeger before turning around and trotting back to his ship. You could easily hear the anger in his hoof steps as he left, along with the fresh soldiers who wanted to kill Gilda. As every aggressor left, weapons were lowered. Tran hobbled over to Gilda who was still pinning the pony who had shot her. Tran put a hand on her shoulder and she angrily pulled the pony up to his hooves. Beside them, was a rifle lying on the ground. Once the pony was up to his hooves, Gilda picked up the rifle and shoved it down into the earth, muzzle first, and plugging the barrel with dirt.
"Hey!" shouted the fresh soldier. Tran and Gilda silently glared at the pony who sheepishly grabbed his rifle and sprinted away.
Spitfire looked between Tran and Gilda. "What's the story behind this?"
Tran shrugged his shoulders. "Later."
Soarin tentatively made his way closer to Gilda, in such a sheepish and scared manner that he would have made Fluttershy proud. He stood beside Spitfire and nudged her. "You sure about this?"
Spitfire shrugged. "He trusts her," she said while pointed to Tran.
Tran looked at the fellow veteran and held out a shoved his open hand forward. Soarin flinched but recovered when he realized what he was doing. He put his his fake hoof in Tran's hand and they shook hands/hooves. "If not, I've dealt with five of them so far."
Gilda gave Tran a glance. "I thought you've killed like four of us?"
Tran looked back at Gilda. "I said I've dealt with five." Gilda looked away, realizing what he meant.
Blueblood eyed the griffon's uniform and gear. "This is gonna be a constant problem," he stated. Gilda looked down at herself and realized what he meant. She sighed and ripped off her uniform, leaving just the gear and scarf. "That's not gonna do much."
Rainbow Dash had taken off her gear and uniform, handing her coat to Gilda. "Here," she said.
Gilda tried to don the coat but failed to and handed it back. "That's not gonna fit me," she said. "You are a tiny hummingbird while I am a huge majestic eagle."
Rainbow Dash blushed in embarrassment. "I'm aerodynamic!" She was indeed aerodynamic. Aerodynamically fucking tiny. She was a pegasus, the smallest of pony races, and she was on the smaller end of pegasus size. She was barely a size up from Scootaloo.
Applejack chuckled and handed her REA coat to Gilda. Gilda took the coat and and tried it on, finding that it indeed, did fit with some extra room to spare. She would have to cut wing holes later on. Applejack as an earth pony, the largest of the pony races (barring alicorns) and she was on the larger end of the spectrum.
Blueblood looked at the weird combination of Jaeger scarf and equipment and REA coat. "Well, from afar, that might pass." The standard Equestria military uniform was a light tan while the standard griffon military uniform was a dark grey.
Tran grabbed a handful of Gilda's new coat. "You stick with me and do what I say, no ifs, ands, or buts." Gilda nodded. Tran then pointed to Scootaloo. "And you, the fucking stray cat that won't fucking go away, too." Scootaloo glared back indignantly but nodded. With that, Tran collapsed against Gilda who took the brunt of Tran's weight without falling. He was still conscious but his energy was waning.
Tran, leaning against Gilda, grabbed Blueblood and pulled him in closer. "She is now one of us, understand?" Tran whispered to Blueblood. "You take care of your soldiers and they'll take care of you, Understand? Blueblood nodded rapidly in response. "You don't take care of your soldiers and they WILL, take care of you." Blueblood gulped and nodded, understanding the hidden meaning. Tran let go and the major walked off.
-X-X-X-
Eric looked around the group and pointed at Spitfire. "Since you're in charge, what the hell is going on?" Spitfire explained that the griffons had sprung an offensive from their holdings in Fillydelphia. The airship with its soldiers and supplies were intended to help reinforce the defense but were sidetracked to here. Eric looked to Tran and then back to Spitfire. "There's a defensive line that's been setup there ever since the griffons took that city, right?"
Blueblood was aghast. "You want to keep fighting?" he asked.
Eric shook his head. "No, if there's a defensive line and resources, it should have a field hospital and medical posts. Its two times closer than going to Ponyville or Manehattan."
Blueblood looked back to the airship. "We could head to Neighagra Falls where the airship came from?"
Eric shook his head. "I've studied all of the war maps. Neighagra Falls doesn't have the capacity to handle the amount of wounded we have nor do they have the facilities to treat what some of them need. We can rush them to the front line in a matter of hours."
Blueblood raised an eyebrow. "You've read ALL of the war maps?" he asked.
Eric nodded. "Yep, all." Eric looked back to where the griffons previously had their defenses. "Hey, grab some of those fresh soldiers and have them scavenge the griffons' old site. One hour. Take anything useful."
As if summoned like a demon, two ponies appeared. One was the tiny sapper/combat engineer and the other was the quartermaster, both previously of the Dauntless. The sapper, despite being dead tired with more bags on her eyes than height in her stature, bumped into Eric to get his attention. "Did you just say, take anything useful?" the sapper asked.
Eric looked down (really, really down) at the sapper. "Are you sure you want to be a part of that detail instead of napping on the airship?" he asked the tiny chihuahua.
The sapper, shook her head, trying to hide the beginning of some tears. "Nah, Steam Piston would kill me if he found out I had the chance to steal something and didn't take it."
Eric smacked his gums before gesturing towards the griffon trenches with a hand. "Alright, go ahead and start grabbing everything not nailed down. You can be in charge of that detail." The sapper nodded and trotted off with the quartermaster in tow.
Blueblood looked to Eric. "Who is Steam Piston?"
Eric looked back to Blueblood with a look of disgust. "Steam Piston, he was the fucking Chief Engineer for the Dauntless." Blueblood had the look of a scolded dog. Eric grabbed a handful of Blueblood's coat and pulled him in closer. "You gotta learn your soldiers." Eric let go of Blueblood's coat and shoved him away. "You don't have to be their friend but if they're gonna be your soldier, learn about who your soldiers are. Not just their names, but what they are. If they're yours, they're yours." Eric pointed at the sapper who was now off in the distance. "He was their husband."
-X-X-X-
As the last of the remaining wounded, soldiers, and scavenged equipment was loaded onto the airship, a number of people/ponies stood (except one) at the loading dock of the airship, having a last smoke before the journey. Blueblood stuck two cigarettes in his mouth and lit them with a lighter, all without the use of his telekinesis due to the broken horn. Once both were lit, a light blue telekinetic aura enveloped one of the cigarettes and moved it from Blueblood's mouth to Rarity's mouth. Like Blueblood, Logan lit two cigarettes, handing the second to Eric. Meanwhile, Applejack prepped two cigars, cutting the ends off of them. She stuck one in her mouth and handed the other to Tran. She then pulled out a box of matches, handing one to Tran and taking one to herself. She struck the match on the crate that a helmet-less Tran was sitting on and lit her cigar. Tran, not wanting to lean over, just struck the match against the side of his face and lit his cigar.
Minutes passed as they enjoyed their nicotine in silence. Being able to have a break and relax, not having to be on guard, was nice. All good things must come to an end. The airship's horn was blown indicating takeoff was imminent. Everything was finished being loaded. All the smokers finished or threw away their smokes, the last ones being Tran and Applejack. Applejack took one last puff before giving a sad look at her cigar before stomping it out on the ground.
Applejack looked at Tran, who had stood up and was in the process of stomping out his cigar. "She's all over yah, yah know?" Applejack asked. Tran nodded. "She shouldn't be fightin this adult's fight, but home ain't even safe anymore. You keep her safe now, yah hear?"
"Yep," Tran responded with.
Applejack snorted while chuckling. "You remin me of mah brotha," Applejack said. "Promise yah keep her safe?"
"Yep," Tran responded again.
The top of the crate that Tran had previously been sitting on popped off and Pinkie Pie shot out of it like a Jack-In-The-Box. "Pinkie Promise?" Pinkie Pie asked.
Tran redonned his helmet. "I'll be dead before she is."
-X-X-X-
A number of very tense creatures sat around each other, eyes fixed on one another. Tran (no longer impaled with bayonets) was getting a blood transfusion from a sleeping Logan by Wilson while also getting fluids intravenously from Fluttershy. Scootaloo was intently watching the two's efforts to save the sniper while two pegasi were having a very intense staring contest with a pegasus and Jaeger.
Gilda was still wearing her Jaegers scarf along with the REA coat she got from Applejack, now with wing holes. Spitfire was also wearing an identical red scarf. Tran was using two of the red scarfs as a sling for his rifle and the other two were hanging off of his battle belt. The red scarf represented strength. The red silk came from giant magical intelligent spiders and was stronger than steel. They were incredibly expensive and only a very small number of beings wore it. It was a number that was quickly dwindling.
The fastest heartbeat easily belonged to the pony with the least limbs at this spot while the slowest heartbeat belonged to the one closest to death. Soarin's eyes was fixed to Gilda's scarf. Gilda was the first to break the silence. "Want to try it on?" she asked. Soarin didn't respond or move. The loudmouth had no words. Gilda raised one of her hands to undo the scarf around her neck and Soarin flinched when she raised her hand, almost like he was ready to bolt. "Easy there, not trying to hurt you."
Something grabbed Soarin's hoof. Soarin looked down to see what had grabbed his hoof and noticed Spitfire holding his hoof with her hoof. He looked up at her and she had his gentle, supportive look on her face. She slowly nodded.
Soarin looked back at Gilda, who was holding her scarf up to him. Since one hoof was occupied, he reached out to grab it with his left hoof. His left front hoof and most of the leg was not real. Soarin had loss 3/4 ths of his front left leg because of a bad encounter with a singular Jaeger. Spitfire had been his supporting wingmare that day, just like right now. There had been a third Wonderbolt, Fleetfoot, with them that day and she loss a lot more than a leg, her life. Ever since then, Soarin wore a mostly wooden prosthetic. The red scarf made contact with Soarin's prosthetic wood leg and it stung. It felt like his leg was back and the red scarf was burning it like a red hot poker. Soarin dropped it and reeled his fake hoof back against his body. Spitfire squeezed Soarin's other hoof as tears welled in his eyes.
Spitfire looked at the Jaeger. "Why switch sides?"
Gilda picked up her scarf and gestured to Tran. "Saved my life, twice. Meanwhile, the birds I'm working for are trying to get me killed with their stupid decisions. The only times they're not making stupid decisions, they're being dirty back stabbing rats."
Spitfire looked at Tran and the new scarf that he had acquired, indicating another Jaeger kill. "And he didn't just shoot you right away?"
Rainbow Dash snorted, knowing the exact answer to this question. "Nope! He did!" she interrupted.
Gilda nodded in agreement and pointed at the big bullet impact and splatter mark on her chest armor. It was through shear luck that she had survived. Tran's rifle was capable of punching through the steel breastplates that Jaegers wore but the bullet that Tran had shot her with had lost too much energy beforehand from punching through a drum magazine. She then pulled the bandage off of her neck, revealing the bullet splash wound on her throat and bottom of her beak.
Soarin finally averted his eyes from Gilda and looked at Tran and then to Spitfire. "You trusted him enough to protect her?" he asked to Spitfire.
Spitfire gave his hoof a gentle squeeze and nodded. "He put his life on the line for me."
Soarin looked back at Tran. "Well, if that's true, that puts you in my good book!"
Gilda pointed at their hooves, holding each other. "What are you, fuck buddies?"
The two looked at each other, blushed, let go of each other's hooves, and looked away in opposite directions. "No," Spitfire answered. "The two of us were part of the same team of Wonderbolts."
Gilda raised an eyebrow upon mentioning of the name 'Wonderbolts' and she looked at Dash beside her. "I think I've heard of them before. Dash here, used to mentioned some kinda flying group?"
Rainbow Dash stood up in incredulity. "Some kinda flying group?! The Wonderbolts are the best flying group in Equestria!"
Soarin and Spitfire were surprised at the level of interest that Rainbow Dash showed while Gilda nearly busted out laughing. "Nah, you're crazy. The best flying group in Equestria are the Jaegers."
Rainbow Dash was ready to bust a blood vessel in her forehead but Spitfire's statement surprised her. "Yeah. You're right. We left the Wonderbolts because we loss against our first action against a Jaeger."
Soarin chuckled. "We weren't good at dogfighting but we were the best aerial demonstration team there ever was." Soarin's face went downtrodden. "We lost the best of ourselves that day." Spitfire grabbed Soarin's hoof again. Gilda eyed the hoof play between the two, something that both Spitfire and Soarin noticed. "Jealous or something? Do you want to join in?" Soarin asked. In the next instant, he popped off his prosthetic leg and tossed it to Gilda. She caught it and looked down at it in curiosity before dropping it upon realizing what it was. A smirk crept up on Soarin's face as he reached down to get his prosthetic back.
"That was one of the early days, right?" Gilda asked.
"What?" Soarin asked.
"Your aerial loss? All of you pegasi don't dogfight anymore," Gilda explained. "It really took the fun out of it. For the first year or so, that's what pegasi would keep on trying but losing."
Rainbow Dash smirked. "Says you!" Rainbow Dash boasted. "I'm the best dogfighter and fastest mare in Equestria!"
Gilda smirked with an evil grin. "That's not something you should really be bragging about."
Rainbow Dash had a look of confusion on her face for a second before realization struck her face as it turned red. "Fastest flier in Equestria!" she corrected.
Gilda folded her arms and squared up against the dogfighter. "Pegasi are still dog ass at dogfighting," she boasted, gaining a look of irritation from the nearby pegasi. She noticed this and flared out her wings. "You guys can't bank as well against us. We got bigger wings. They turn better. You definitely have the speed advantage but I've never seen one of you take advantage of that."
Tran ahem-ed to get everyone's attention. "They got size and probably strength advantage." Tran pointed to the bullet impact on her armor. "Do all of ya'll wear armor?"
Gilda shook her head. "Just Jaegers and dogfights," Gilda replied. She rubbed her bullet-splash-damaged beak with a free hand. "And minotaurs."
Tran pointed to Rainbow Dash who was just about ready to fight. "We're gonna fix that."
Rainbow Dash sat down. "Fix what?"
"REAF's dogfighting."
All three pegasi dogfighters, two former and one current, had questions. "I've been doing fine so far!" Rainbow Dash boasted.
Tran adopted a frown. "Only you. Others, no," he replied. He also reached out and grabbed the pegasi's broken wing, eliciting an angry pained yelp. "Doesn't matter right now, does it?"
Soarin eyed the broken wing. "How'd that happen, anyways? How did the best dogfighter in Equestria get her wing clipped?" he asked. Rainbow Dash blushed in embarrassment, looked at Gilda, and sat down. Soarin's jaw dropped slightly. "No. She didn't, did she?"
Gilda smirked. "I did. She got close and lost."
Soarin looked between the two and raised an eyebrow. "Wait, why didn't' you finish her off? I don't remember Jaegers being merciful." That was when Gilda had an embarrassed look and looked at Tran, as to which, Soarin realized the cause.
Soarin looked at the unkillable monster and had questions. "Is that why she got shot?" Tran smirked, but only for a barely noticeable second, something that Soarin and Spitfire noticed. "I'm glad you're on our side." He pointed at Gilda.
That was when they started hearing explosions. They weren't close enough to be hurt them but close enough to worry about. Blueblood ran up to them. "We're close."