Chapter 2
Apple Bloom was getting sick of being rudely awoken. Once again it seemed the checkpoint was taken up in a frenzy of action. Orders were being shouted, marching songs were being chanted, heavy hoof falls could be heard and machinery somewhere was whirring. She was starting to wonder if she’d ever get a break. Slowly pulling herself from her cot, the first thing she saw was a very tired looking Corporal Whisk staring back at her.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “we don’t have to do anything apart from put up with the noise. You might want to take a look outside, though. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
The mare mumbled a “good morning” before making her way towards the door. The barracks was about half filled with tired, frustrated looking soldiers who were desperately trying to get to sleep despite the noise. Avalon and Sweetie Belle were absent. Apple Bloom wondered what part her friends were playing in the commotion outside. Exiting the barracks, she felt her jaw drop at the site before her.
A stream of soldiers was running down the main road of the checkpoint. They marched in tight squads of three files by four rows. Between them, each squad hauled a small wooden cart covered by a green tarpaulin. The ponies themselves were mostly earth ponies, with a few unicorns thrown in the mix. Their uniforms were lighter versions of those worn by the soldiers in the checkpoint. They gazed around at the checkpoint with great interest, but none of them were stopping. Squad after squad entered the checkpoint, crossed the river, and exited.
“What, you didn’t think we were the only ones who got hit the other night, did you?” Ensign Riggs, the massive stallion from the Badlands, said as he walked outside and saw the stunned pony, “One of the communications officers told me this morning: Equestria is getting ready to hit back. Hard. Half the military is being pushed south, and that ain’t and exaggeration. Entire 1st division is moving below the river, all the Marine bases north of Los Pegasus Delta on the west coast and the Horseshoe Bay on the east coast are being practically emptied, the Airborne and Air Force are scrambling, and the Defence Force is moving up to take all these empty positions. We saw the first company march through here at about 9 o’clock. Marine boats started pouring in not long after that. Hey, want to see what happens when you try to get an entire battalion marine waterborne at once? Come down to the dock, it’s chaos.”
Arriving at the quay, Apple Bloom thought she’d stumbled across some kind of natural disaster. The river was congested with barges and PBRs, while the dock was crowded with annoyed and confused marines trying to figure out what they were supposed to be doing. Supplies were being loaded and unloaded, soldiers were embarking and disembarking, and wounded were being transferred on and off the boats. Some medical officers, the quartermaster, the Major and several marine officers were engaged in a heated argument.
As they walked past, Apple Bloom heard the major yelling “I don’t care what the bloody Marine Force told you, this is my checkpoint and I want you to get your boats out of here! This isn’t the ruddy Horseshoe Bay. We need to keep the traffic flowing though here, and that means we need to keep YOU flowing though here!”
Aboard a barge that was slowly trying to leave the dock, Apple Bloom saw a familiar face. The Marine Chief Sergeant who had been injured on the PBR to the checkpoint was lying on a stretcher on the deck, looking dazed and confused. Apple Bloom waved and smiled. The chief didn’t notice her amongst the confusion. The young expeditionary private moved to say a proper farewell, but was stopped as Riggs placed a hoof over her shoulder.
“It’s bad news in the long run I guess,” he said, “but this is a beautiful sight to me. I made a bet with Whisk that we’d be in position before any other of the mobilised divisions, and with the marines this disorganised that cash is as good as-”
He was suddenly cut off by the deafening roar of hundreds of pegasi overhead. They were flying fast, and obnoxiously low. The elite pegasi took pride in the fact that they’d be the first ones ready to fight, and felt the need to remind all the earth ponies below of their superiority. The airborne didn’t deal in massive amphibious or naval machines like the Marines, or heavy small arms and artillery like the Expeditionary, or even in aerial fire support like the Air Force. They dealt in pure shock and speed, relying on the element of surprise and superior mobility to best their enemy. Within a minute, the sky was once again empty.
“Right... Airborne. I forgot about them. Always seem to confuse them with the Air Force. Pegasus is a pegasus, right? I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to make a bet with that damn corporal. That pony always holds the right cards. Anyway, it occurs to me you haven’t had a normal day yet at Checkpoint Charlie, so you don’t know the normal drill. We normally assemble the platoon in the barracks at dusk and dawn for rollcall. Haven’t had a chance since you’ve been here, for obvious reasons. Make sure you’re at the barracks at 1700 hours. Seriously, that’s important. You don’t want to be done for going AWOL at the best of times. Normally you get chewed out, pay cut, extra work, that sort of thing. Considering current circumstances, though? You might get court martialled for desertion. Make damn sure you clean your weapon, too. I’ll see you at five.”
Without waiting for the private to reply, the officer patted her on the back and trotted down to join the argument on the docks. Apple Bloom tried to find the marine from the PBR again, but it was no use. She had evidently been shuffled off someplace else. With nothing better to do, she decided to try to find Sweetie Belle.
***
The rebel was running the universal truths through her mind as she observed the road, tallying the squads as they passed. “First: all authority is an illusion,” she thought as she noted a squad of the uniformed soldiers passing her. “Second: all authority comes at the cost of freedom”. The soldiers looked terrified. This was rebel territory, and they knew an ambush could come at any moment. “Third: all illusions can be shattered with truth”, the rebel thought to herself as she lay perfectly still in the muddy pit. She didn’t fully understand why she had to be there, but her commanding officer had told her to stay put, and she knew better than to question her superiors.
***
The entirety of platoon two had assembled in their barracks. Malum and Riggs stood by the entrance while Whistle slowly patrolled up and down the middle. The other enlisted ponies were standing at attention besides their beds, their weapons lying before them for the chief to inspect. The ensign was calling out names from a list and making a check when he heard a cry of “Sir!”
“All soldiers present and accounted for, sir,” he concluded, reaching the end of the list. He looked to the chief sergeant, waiting for her to finish inspecting the soldiers’ weapons.
“All weapons clean, cleared and ready for action, sir,” she said at last.
“Good,” the lieutenant smiled, “they’ll need to be. Fillies and gentlecolts, a few nights ago we had the honour of being the first defenders in this war. Tomorrow, we have the honour of taking part in the first counterattack. Our battalion will take part in a combined arms operation across the entire Everfree Forest. Our objective is to locate and eradicate all enemy bases and outposts. Once we have crippled the enemy, we will be relieved by Defence Force regulars, allowing us to join the rest of the regiment in the south. Until then our company will remain stationed in the checkpoint, but our platoon will join platoon one in the attack on the forest itself. Soldiers, we are truly blessed. Very few ponies have an opportunity to be part of something this big. I’ll hand you over to Ensign Riggs to give you the full details on our platoon’s part in the plan.” With that, he exited the barracks.
Riggs smiled incredulously for a moment as he stared at the exit. “At ease,” he said flatly before turning back to the soldiers. “The shit has hit the fan, my little ponies,” he laughed.
“Alright, here’s the deal,” he continued after a brief pause, “Captain Ugly is taking platoons one and two, that is, Haymaker’s platoon and our own platoon, out into the forest. It’s expected to be a four week operation, but that could change at any time. Wake up call’s at 0400 hours sharp. I want you all assembled outside in under a minute. Bring nothing but your weapon. After that, we’re hitting the mess hall. You have ten minutes to eat. We’re picking up all our supplies from the quartermaster at 0415. That gives us another fifteen minutes to load up for a 0430 departure. Platoon one is our escort, and we’re hauling the supply carts. Together we’ll follow the road for about six hours. There, we have to ditch the carts and haul the supplies with saddle bags to a clearing a few hundred metres off the road. We want the command post set up by midday so our friends in the Airborne and Air Force-”
This was met by a disapproving groan from the crowd.
“-I know, I know. So our friends in the Airborne and Air Force can use it as a springboard for their attacks. This is combined arms operation. The Air Force is our only fire support, and we might be fighting shoulder to shoulder with Marines and Airborne, so play nice. Anyway, the rest of the day will be spent setting up defences and such. We got no palisade to protect us this time, so stay alert. Those are all the orders our platoon’s been given, but it goes without saying that we’ll be sending squads out on patrol in the coming days, and the Major’s hinted that we might be hitting a big rebel base soon. Any questions?”
There were none.
“Good. Get some sleep, soldiers. You’ve got a long road ahead of you.”