//------------------------------// // Chapter 44 // Story: Equestria: World War II // by The Unseen //------------------------------// 4TH FEBRUARY 1940 --------------------------------------------------------THE FRANCE-GERMANY BORDER--------------------------------------------------------- It was now 8:00am here. It was a rather cold morning on the France-Germany border. It was still the Phoney War for now, due to the highly decreased amount of skirmishes and battles here, but still, the soldiers were alert, as they would probably never know when it could become a real war. Among these were the first batch of newly deployed Royal Army ponies. This batch included Applejack, and Lyra Heartstrings. They were among the first to enlist, and had been excited at first to be deployed after months of training. Now, they weren't as excited, after facing quite a bit of sexism from the human men in their regiment, who questioned if females could fight on the frontlines. Applejack and Lyra were eating their breakfast alongside some of their fellow pony soldiers in the regiment. Most of the male pony soldiers, who used to support them, had now abandoned them, to try and make better friendships with the human soldiers. Applejack was not happy about that. Abandoning their friends that they had grown up with just to get on the good side of the aliens? That was a new low. Applejack did like the humans in some ways, such as their technological advancements and their fighting tactics, but did not like their sexism and racism. Applejack and Lyra were eating sandwiches. Most human foods contained meat, which the Royal Army kitchens had successfully adopted to Equestrian-friendly cuisine, which did not use meat. However, it had no grass or hay, so that a human soldier could consume it if in a scenario where it was needed, which was fine with the ponies. The Equestrian sandwiches had a lot of vegetables in it, as well as cheese, so it had a bit of flavour, but it was mostly bland, like all the other military food she had eaten so far. As she continued eating breakfast, one of her fellow Equestrians came up to her. "Hey, Applejack, do you think we'll see any action today?" "Ah' don't think so. Them Germans have been pretty quiet lately." replied Applejack. "Well, apparently, the Commander got intel that the Germans may try to take this position today, so we may have to go on duty soon." "Ah' see. Hopefully them Germans don't try anything today, or they'll face tha' wrath of tha' Allies." said Applejack, as she continued eating. "I don' fancy getting into ah' battle on my fifth day of deployment." "I hope so too." said Applejack's fellow soldier, as she walked off to talk to her comrades. Applejack continued eating her sandwich, as she thought about how far their worlds had come in the time since they had come to Earth. So much technological advancement. In fact, she was actually shocked and surprised at the same time how humans didn't have magic, and used machines to grow crops. However, to the humans, farming was more like a chore or job, without passion. The Apples didn't like that part about Earth's agricultural practices. Applejack felt that farming should be the perfect balance of work and passion, else it would get too boring or too exciting to do. Applejack and Lyra finished their sandwiches, and headed to the Commander's tent to report for duty. "Commander, Private Applejack, and Private Lyra Heartstrings reporting for duty!" said Lyra. "Alright, Privates. You're on patrol duty today. You'll be meeting up with Corporal Cake on the east side, in the trenches. We have intel that the Nazis may be trying to attack today to capture some ponies, so we'll have to defend this camp. Dismissed!" said the Commander. "Roger that, Commander!" said the two ponies, as they went to get their gear, and get out on duty for the day. They grabbed their standard arms, which were Lee-Enfield rifles, and a Webley Mk. IV revolver, along with enough ammunition for a battle, just in case. They wanted to both come back home from the war alive, not in a coffin for their families to mourn over. At first, they thought Corporal Cake would mean the Cake family from Ponyville. That was when they remembered that the Cakes had not enlisted, and the corporal they would be reporting to was Jonathan Cake. That was one thing the ponies found funny about the British. They always had funny last names. They went into the trenches, and reached Corporal Cake's position in the trenches. A few other ponies were already in their positions, conducting patrols, keeping an eye out for German military. "Ah, Private Heartstrings, Private Applejack. You'll be relieving Privates Golden Harvest and Minuette today. They've been on patrol duty for the last 7 hours." said Corporal Cake. "Roger that, Corporal Cake!" said Applejack and Lyra, as they joined their fellow soldiers on patrol. The two ponies got out their rifles, and began their patrol. As they passed by one of the human soldiers, who was on overwatch duty, he decided to be a little sexist to them. "Say, aren't you ladies in the wrong place? Women, human or alien, can't fight! Maybe you can be a nurse, but not a soldier!" laughed the soldier, as they walked on, although Lyra wanted to knock him out cold with her magic. They continued the patrol, when the alarm began blaring, gunfire was heard, and the ponies' walkie-talkies began blaring. "Attention, all units! One of our patrol units has detected a large platoon of German soldiers heading straight for FOB Charlie! Neutralise them!" shouted the voice of Corporal Cake over the radios, as all of the soldiers took up attack positions, and began firing at the enemy. Lyra and Applejack took up positions as well, and also began firing at the Germans. They had done good in the shooting part of military training, so despite the fact their Lee-Enfield rifles weren't so great, they were doing pretty good, and within the first twenty minutes of the battle, they had killed twelve German soldiers. However, that was one another message came over the radio. "Shit, the Germans have entered the trenches! All soldiers, retreat back to FOB Charlie, kill as many as you can!" said the voice of Corporal Cake. "Roger that, Corporal!" said Lyra over the radio, as the ponies began their retreat. Applejack didn't want to, but Lyra convinced her that the Germans were targeting the ponies, so it was safer to head back to the FOB. As they ran back towards the FOB, they noticed the same soldier who had mocked them earlier being attacked by two German soldiers. He had already been stabbed by them twice, by the looks of it, to reveal where the pony soldiers were. "Applejack, we have to help him!" whispered Lyra, as the duo hid so as to not be noticed by the Germans. "No, Lyra! We'll get captured if we try to save tha' sexist fool!" said Applejack. "If we don't, then he's a goner. Plus, he may reveal our location to save his own life, and I don't want us to be captured!" said Lyra. "Fine." said Applejack. "Let's kill those bucking Germans!" shouted Applejack, grabbing her Webley revolver, as her rifle was out of bullets, while Lyra grabbed her rifle, which still had two bullets. The duo instantly charged at the Germans. Lyra shot the first man twice with the rifle. It penetrated the German's body armor, killing him instantly. However, as Applejack tried to shoot the second German, her Webley revolver jammed. Just as the German was about to fire, Lyra fired a large blast of magic at the German, blowing him up like he a bomb strapped to him. Soon, there was nothing but bits and pieces left of the German. The British soldier whom they had been attacking for information was shocked at this. "Why... why did you help me?" asked the soldier, as Applejack and Lyra quickly did some first-aid and began dragging him to safety. "Well, for one, I was feelin' in the mood to kill some Germans today. Next time, I won't be so nice until ya stop being sexist. Got tha'?" asked Applejack. "Yes, Ma'am." said the soldier, as they dragged him towards safety, with blood still bleeding from his wounds. Normally, they would have done more, but Lyra didn't really know any healing spells for such large wounds. As they reached the FOB, multiple medics took over saving the soldier from there, and as the duo left, the soldier gave them a quick salute, before he was wheeled off for treatment. It was now 11:00am. The whole battle, incredibly, had lasted just under two hours. Despite the fact that four Allied soldiers had lost their lives that day, they had killed close to 30 German soldiers. As the injured were treated, and those not injured at all or lightly injured took a quick break before continuing their daily patrols, they knew that this war was only just beginning.