This chapter is a Bonus chapter! I was going to skip this and write the next one but I decided you guys deserved a little love. And for the first time, I am revealing the name of the country that Equestria was in war against: Datria
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"Hey, Tread" I turned my head and Charcoal was marching next to me on the dirt road. I could hear explosions in the distance. "You excited?" A smile betrayed him and broke onto his face, showing how excited he was. "Yeah a little."
Coil ran up and joined us followed by Trooves. "Man, am I ready to whoop some Dartrian flank." Some 'Hoorah's echoed down the group of recruits. A stallion in the back added to it. "I also hear their mares are nice! I'll beat those flanks!" Some cheers also ran up and down the line.
My ears perked up. Coil and Charcoal looked at me slightly concerned. "You OK?" My ears flicked around then I shook my head."I thought I heard a whistle." A group of dirty stallions with their rifles and helmets ran through us, bumping into some of us. "Lads!" We all turned towards the Unicorn stallion with a Canterlot accent. "Incoming!" He began pushing and shoving us toward the ditches on the side of the road, and that is when the first shell hit.
"Fuck!" I heard voices yelling orders and voices screaming. My ears were ringing. I could barely hear. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and looked to see Charcoal. "You good?" I blinked and looked around as my hearing returned slowly. "Tread you OK?" I looked back. "Yeah." I ran over to a veteran whom was helping remove debris to clear the road. "What can I do?"
"Shit, what a day to start out." We had been moved to the front lines to relieve D company. " Well you signed up for war Coil." Charcoal was unpacking his stuff into his trunk. I nodded "We all did." The bunker shuddered with a rumble and some dirt fell from the ceiling. We all jumped to our feet, ready to run. "We should sleep." I kicked my boots off and layed down on my bunk. "I have a feeling we will need it,"
"C'mon lads! Wake up!" I felt a nudge. I groaned and opened my eyes against their immense will. "That's it." I rolled out of bed and stretched. "What time is it?" I rubbed a hoof to clear the sleep out of my eyes. It was the Stallion who pushed us into the ditches. "Its time to wake up and eat." He chuckled at that then regained his composure. "I am your squad leader. Call me 'Wings'." He walked over and pushed the door open. "gear up and come out."
We looked at each other. "Well lets do what the Sarg' said!" Charcoal put on the hoof socks we were issued and slipped his boots on. We nodded and followed suit. Not long after we were following 'Wings' to the mess line and were waiting for our food. That is when we noticed a rather nice and clean looking stallion trot over to us. "Sargent Wings." 'Wings' stepped forward and tipped his helmet at the officer. "How are ya doin' sir?" The officer smiled and laughed. "I am doing fine, Wings."
That's when we heard a cough. We looked at the cook who was impatiently tapping his hoof on the table. "Sorry." We quickly apologized and grabbed out mess kits. We carried our now filled soup cans and coffee cups back to the front lines. Coil pushed it around with a spoon that was surrounded by his green aura. "What the hell is this stuff?" He raised an eyebrow as Charcoal tasted it and grimaced. "Its not the best but its better then anything." I shrugged and began eating it. I picked some hay up with my teeth and dropped it in the soup. "This is disgusting." I tried the coffee and coughed. Holy shit this is strong. "You boys are better than the last group." I swallowed and saw Wings levitating his food.
"So you boys are from Candell?" We all nodded and I sipped on the so called 'coffee'. I grimaced and swallowed. "Yes sir. I-" I paused and looked at the guys. "Do you remember hearing of a little earth colt from a small town that walked on a cloud about..." I paused to do the math in my head. "10 years ago?" Wings thought for a minute. "Aye, I do." He nodded and all of our eyes connected. "Sir," I leaned forward looking him in the eye. "I was that colt."
Then an officer swung the door open suddenly. "Wing! Get your boys to the wall now!" The officer turned and began out the door the turned back. "We are under attack." Our eyes must have lit up because Wing frowned. "Well you heard the man. Go!" He motioned with a hoof. We scrambled around and gathered our helmets and weapons before we ran out into the war.
"Holy shit!" Coil was yelling as he fired and pulled the rifle bolt back with his magic. "They keep coming!" Charcoal had mounted the machine gun with Trooves who was feeding the belt. Wings had been firing his rifle without saying a word.
I ran beside Coil and propped my rifle on the ledge and I placed the bar that popped out of my boot into the trigger guard and pulled back. I smiled as the rifle fired. The dirt in front of me kicked up and I ducked. I raised my head again and a bullet ricocheted off my helmet. "Damn." I grumbled. I fired back. "Here they come boys!" Wings was wielding his knife."Get ready!" I pulled the bolt back and pushed it forward when the casing ejected.
I fired then put my rifle down and removed my knife. when the first enemy jumped in the trench we looked at each other. Suddenly I was over come with a rage. I yelled the best I could with the knife between my teeth and charged at him. I swung my knife at him and he jumped back and bucked me in my chest. I yelped from the pain but my rage increased. I swung again and our blades connected.
Our blades repeatedly connected, causing sparks to fly. Others had jumped into our trench but were met with resistance like mine. I spun and kicked out both of my back hoofs and felt them connect with the stallions skull. I turned back around and slashed. I felt the knife meet the resistance of flesh and my snout twitched as warm blood sprayed from the wound. My eyes met with his surprised expression as he stumbled back, bleeding from his neck and head. I looked around and the enemy was retreating. As I realized the result of my rage, a enemy medic ran to the heavily wounded stallion and dragged him out of the trench in a stretcher.
I dropped down and the boards lining the trench bottom voiced as my flank connected with them. "You OK, lad?" Wings ran over and searched my body for any signs of serious wounds. I was a mess, I was cut, bruised, covered in blood and mud from the fight. My knife was laying on the floor boards, bathed in the spilled blood. Charcoal ran over and joined him. "Lets get you cleaned up."
I silently complied as I was nudged to a corner of the trench. I sat there as they sprayed water on me. I scrubbed my snout and the stubborn blood broke off in chunks. I couldn't get the face out of my thoughts. "Tread, is something wrong?" Coil trotted up, he too covered in mud. I shook my head, knowing well that I would be forever bothered by this image.