March 15th, 3345
NLR and CE Joint Support Base,
Harmony Sector.
45 days after Outland Federation war declaration.
Gunnery Sergeant Ironworker sat in the briefing room. Over the last few hours, six other Ponies, mostly officers, had entered the room. While he had waited, he had sat and studied them. He knew who they were at least in name, and a few by reputation, and he also knew their specialties.
The first to arrive had been Grey Amahein, a NLR Petty officer, and a Medical assistant. He knew her personally, mostly due to the fact that they had been dating for about six months. They kept their cool however, greeting with only a hug and a peck on the cheek. After that, they had sat quietly while the other ponies arrived.
The next to arrive had been a CE Naval Commander, Twilight Sparkle. The insignias on her uniform indicated that she was a tactician, and judging by the ribbons on the left side of her jacket, one hell of a naval officer. He knew a bit about her, and he also knew that it was because of her tactics that the NLR had been stalled many times during the Equestrian Civil War.
After her had been a pilot. CE 2nd Leiutenant Ranbow Dash. He didn't know much, other than she had been recently promoted judging by her new shiny Squadron Leader Pin. It still had the plastic on it in fact, keeping it protected, but letting slip the fact that it was new.
A few minutes later, A Pink Mare entered with a haircut that was definitely against regulation. He had a hard time identifying what she was, due to the fact that she walked quickly, and slightly skipped, to her seat. He had enough time to figure out that she was a naval gunnery command specialist, and that she was a Leiutenant.
Next had been a yellow mare, with a pink mane. She walked slowly, cautiously even, as if she expected the very deck to jump up and hit her. She was a Warrant officer, CE, and a medical technician but he had been confused due to the fact that she also had a gunship pilots meritous service pin on her uniform.
He knew that there was supposed to be another, due to the empty seat, but apparently they were late as a NLR naval Captain walked in. With a clearing of the throat, he began.
“Ladies and gentlecolt, thank you for coming. This is a briefing on your new duty assignment.”
He paused as two other ponies walked up beside the podium. One was another NLR naval officer, another Leiutenant. He was tall, and slightly built. But he had the air of a person who knew his job, and knew it well.
The next, was a bit more... excentric. He clanked as he walked up to the podium. Both of his legs were fake, replaced with bionics. As was his right arm. It clicked and whirred as gears and servos moved. His right eye, as well as a good portion of the right side of his cranium, were also fake. He smiled, an odd and aloof smile, as if the world didn't have any problems. His right eye, a glowing red light, moved around in it's socket and focused as he surveyed the room, and the ponies in it. After his analysis, he just smiled even deeper.
“Hmm, interesting...” was all he uttered.
The captain continued.
“My name is Captain Cloudmatter, commanding officer of the New Lunar Republic Ship Valiant, and that is precisely the ship you all are going to end up in.”
A collective air of surprise overtook the room. Many knew of the two sister ships, the mightiest vessels in the entire combined navy, but none of them had expected to be stationed aboard it.
“To my left is Leiutenant 1st class Orion, he is the ships navigator and helmsman. To my right is Static, the ships chief engineer. They are both supremely qualified for their jobs.”
The two nodded their greetings to the group, and Captain Cloudmatter continued.
“The next I would like to intoduce is Leiutenant Pinkimena Dianne Pie. Our new Gunnery Commander. Her time during the Equestrian Civil War has made her an expert in her field. We're lucky to have her.”
The pink mare he had trouble identifying earlier stood up and giggled before sitting down again.
“Then there's Warrant Officer Fluttershy. She is a Medical technician, however, due to the fact that we don't have a medical officer aboard the Valiant, she's being promoted to Leiutenant Junior Grade, congratulations.”
Everyone clapped as the mare hid her face as best she could.
“Assisting her will be Petty Officer Grey Amahein.”
Ironworkers girlfriend stood up and acknowledged who she was.
“Next is Naval Commander Twilight Sparkle, my new tactician and executive officer. Welcome aboard.”
The purple mare stood up and nodded her greetings.
“Leiutenant Ranbow Dash. Squadron leader of the 155th Celestial Empire aerospace wing.”
The cyan pegasus remained seated, but nodded to all.
“The next member on our list seems to be...”
He was cut off as an orange mare walked in.
“Ah apologize captain. I'm afraid I was preoccupied with some paperwork that needed to be done and I lost track of time. Won't happen again.”
“See to it that it doesn't, but I understand, at least you made it here. Ladies and gentlecolt this is...”
“Second Leiutenant Applejack, Celestial Imperial Army, 212th regiment, 2nd batallion. Special operations. Served with distinction during the Equestiran Civil War on Planets Vir, Cintaur IV, and Manehattan.” Ironworker cut him off.
Cloudmatter was taken aback.
“I see that you two have met before?”
Applejack grinned,
“Not officially sir.”
Ironworker smirked.
'Not officially indeed...'
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Four years ago, battle of Vir.
October 23, 3343
Sergeant Ironworker treaded lightly through the streets of the blown out city. Rubble lay everywhere and smoke filled the air. His squad was tired from hours of patrolling these streets, but they needed to keep moving. Their objective was to hunt down any enemy troops or vehicles still remaining within the city, and report their position back to command for a surgical orbital strike, unless otherwise stated.
Ironworkers squad had been with him since the beginning of this campaign. They were just normal NLR Marines, but it was his job to make sure that they operated like Reconnisance troops to best accomplish their task, like right now. Ironworker had been in Force Recon for several years, and he knew the ropes. And, not so surprisingly, the rest of the Marines were catching on quick.
Almost all of them...
One private just didn't get it, Private Smelter. He was constantly screwing up, and jeapordizing everyone. Whether it was because he couldn't keep his mouth shut about “Celestial Pigs” and was heard and blew cover, or the fact that sometimes he just moved too damn slow, there was just a disconnect. Ironworker had tried his damndest to break him of these things, but he refused to learn. It would figure, he was the son of a political and military aristocrat.
However, today he had been better. Even so well as to be able to call in an orbital strike without telling the ship the wrong grid coordinate and blowing the squad up. Ironworker hoped that this was a symbol that the kid was coming around. He may have been a spoiled brat, but he was a good fighter. Something that, unfortunately, they had to avoid on this particular mission.
Ironworker had the squad spread out, staggered formation, five meter spread. They were all watching as much as they could, keeping alert for any sort of movement that would give an enemy position away. They had been moving for about fifteen more minutes when Ironworker had light shine in his eyes. He squinted and moved his head out of the way, looking for the source. There was a broken window in one of the buildings. One of the shards must have been reflecting it. Or so he thought.
The shard moved.
'Scope glare'
It was a sniper.
“TAKE COVE...”
Ironworker didn't get to finish the sentence. An enemy machine gun opened up and shredded the left side of the squad. The sniper fired and took out another stallion on the right. The machine gun began to move back and forth, and Ironworker was making a mad dash for cover. He almost made it when he noticed Smelter wasn't moving fast enough, he was going to get hit. Ironworker looked into his helmet's heads up display. The other squad members status' were red. KIA. It was just him and Smelter.
Taking a chance, Ironworker tackled Smelter to the ground, and then dragged him by his belt to a pile of rubble. Now safe in cover, Ironworker put his M23 carbine over his head and started spraying .308 caliber rounds in the general direction of the fire. He heard a yelp, and then shouting.
'Well, at least that's one down...'
Reloading, he peeked over the rubble. Only to hear a clink behind him. Whipping his head around, he saw a grenade right at his feet.
“Shit!”
Kicking out, the toe of his left boot caught it and hurled it away from his position. It bounced against one of the adjacent walls of a building, and detonated, bringing a section of the wall down with it. Unfortunately, his kick has exposed part of his head, and the enemy sniper took a shot. It knocked his helmet off, and the force of the hit left him in a daze, ears ringing. He was in a fog, time had no meaning, and he was just trying desperately to get his bearings. He reached out to feel for Smelter, but only felt empty air and ground. He heard shouting, but he couldn't make out the words. Shaking his head, his senses came back to him.
“PUT HER DOWN, NOW!”
“MAKE ANOTHER MOVE, AND SHE'S DEAD!”
Ironworker turned his head, and felt his stomach sieze up.
When the grenade brought down the wall, it had exposed a family that hadn't evacuated. Private Smelter had apparently run over and held the families little girl hostage, his side arm to her head. Ironworker also noticed that the male with the family was wounded, a gunshot wound in his shoulder. Had Smelter done that?
“AH'M GONNA GIVE YA'LL TO THE COUNT OF THREE!!!”
“I SWEAR I'LL DO IT!!!”
Ironworker watched, the two sides at a standoff. And a little girl in the balance. He didn't know who was on the other side of the scene, the rubble he had taken cover behind was blocking his view, but he couldn't sit by and let one of his men, one of his Marines, do this. It wasn't honorable, and it made him sick.
“PRIVATE SMELTER, YOU WILL STAND DOWN IMMEDIATELY!”
Taking a chance, Ironworker stood up, hoping that he wouldn't get shot. The private looked back at him.
“What's the big deal, these are just another bunch of Celestial Pigs, all of em'.”
“Private, you are a New Lunar Republic Marine, this display is not honorable, and you are tarnishing the name of the Corps. Stand down, NOW!”
“Screw you, the Corps, and your old, oudated idealism's of honor. These pigs deserve what's coming to them!”
The private began looking back and forth between him and the Celestial Army troops. Ironworker took the chance to look out the corner of his eye, and saw six of them. Rifles raised, ready to shoot both of them if they tried something.
One of the CE troopers was an orange mare, and judging by how the others formed around her, she was in charge. A Sergeants rank patch was on her left sleeve, and she wore a boonie hat. Her shotgun was currently pointed at Smelter, but she kept shifting her eyes between the private and Ironworker.
“Jest listen to your squad leader over there. Stand down before Ah put a round through ya' boy.”
“Like I'll take orders from a Celestial pig, much less a woman.”
Ironworker could almost swear that he saw her finger tighten on the trigger a bit.
“That's it, no more chances. Ta' three.”
“You don't have the guts...”
“One...”
Ironworker mad a quick analysis. The CE sergeant was standing about ten meters away from Smelter. She was carrying a shotgun, and although the spread probably wouldn't widen that much at that distance, the odds still weren't good.
“Two...”
“You move, I shoot...”
Ironworker couldn't let this happen, they were civilians, and Smelter had dishonored the Corps. Taking a chance, he turned his head to the CE trooper that was aiming at him, and winked. The trooper cocked his head in confusion.
“THREE!!!”
The mare fired, and fired wide. Reacting to this, Private Smelter pressed his sidearm harder to the girls temple, he was going to fire. The girl screamed.
But when the shot rang out, it wasn't her blood that sprayed against the wall. Private Smelter's head jerked to the side. His lifeless hand dropped his sidearm, and he fell to the ground with a dull thud. The Celestial Troopers whipped their heads around towards Ironworker.
He was standing, right arm outstreched, his .45's barrel smoking from the shot that had just taken Smelters life.
The world stood still for a few seconds, neither the family, nor the CE troopers knowing what to do. Ironworker holstered his pistol, and moved forward. The girl's face was speckled with blood. Removing a hankerchief from his pocket, Ironworker wiped it away.
“Shhh, It's okay, I won't hurt you.”
The girl's sobbing soon quieted down. The family moved towards them, the male squatting down and scooping the girl up.
“Thank you.” the stallion said,
Ironworker nodded.
“You guys need to evacuate. Go on, get outta here.”
The stallion nodded his thanks, and grabbed his wife before moving through the building towards another exit.
Click
Ironworker tunred his head to see one of the troopers aiming at him. But the CE sergeant stretched out a hand and pushed the muzzle down to the ground. Ironworker looked at her, and she nodded solemnly to him. Returning the gesture, Ironworker turned around and grabbed his carbine and helmet, before running down the street back the way he came, towards friendly lines.
….............................................................................................................................................
Applejack let go of her troopers rifle and sighed.
“Sarge, why did you do that, we coulda taken him prisoner. He's an enemy!”
She turned towards the trooper.
“Starshine, if there were more like him, there wouldn't be a war like this goin' on.”
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One year later.
Planet Centaur IV
December 15, 3345
Sergeant First Class Applejack moved through the mud and muck at a slow pace. Her boots were caked in mud and she was tired. She and her squad had been running for a good three hours, and the rain did nothing to help their fatigue. Centaur IV had been taken by NLR forces early in the war, but now they were fighting to take it back. But planetfall had been disasterous.
Celestial Command had known that the planet would be well defended from orbital invasion, but they had never imagined that the NLR would have had anti-orbital defenses of such magnitude. Out of nearly 147 ships that they had entered the sector in, only 43 were left, half of them limping along about one astronomical unit away from the planet. To make matters worse, nearly two thirds of all the drop ships had been destroyed during their ascent to the planets surface from anti-aircraft fire. Including the one that had been carrying Applejack's squad.
The pilot had sacrificed himself to ensure that the crash landing wouldn't kill AJ's troopers in the hold, but despite his sacrifice, they had still lost two ponies. And as a result of the crash, the remainder of the squad had landed about 23 kilometers away from their objective. An orbital defense grid. Their task was to enter stealthily, or try to, and take out the grid's power stations or targeting mainframe.
So far, neither looked like it was going to be a success.
Their best bet looked to be taking out the grid's sensor station. A large complex that housed all of the targeting equipment and data for the grid. Although AJ's squad had covered the lost kilometers quickly, they were still approximately 3 clicks away.
“How we doin' back there?” she asked the squad.
In her goggle's HUD, all squad indicators winked bright green. They were doing fine.
“Only three clicks to go. Let's go ahead and stop here to rest before we go the rest of the way. We should be far enough away that we won't be spotted, but I still want a defensive perrimiter. Starshine, I want you to take Flicker and Gridiron and face east. Northway, I want you to take Brightwater and face south. Hawkeye, I want you to set up in that tree over there and provide overwatch towards the facility, if any of you see anything coming our way, I want to know about it so we can either set up an ambush, or start moving again.”
Squad indicators winked green again as they acknowledged. Without a word, her orders were carried out, and within two minutes, they were sitting in behind an old blown out wall.
“We'll set up here for about fifteen minutes, then we have to go.”
She gazed around the area again. Besides the blown out wall, there was one delapidated two story building, or what was left of it. Only the northeast corner was left, with much of the interior exposed. A quick cursory glance told her that there wasn't anyone inside.
She should have looked harder.
A loud crack echoed throughout the area, and Hawkeye's indicater on her hud went from green, to red.
Hawkeye was KIA.
Starshine's voice echoed over the radio.
“WHERE'S THAT COMING FROM?”
Northway cut in as gunfire erupted from his position.
“CONTACT, SOUTH SIDE!!!”
Another crack echoed, and Gridiron's indicator changed to red.
“REGROUP IN THE TWO STORY BUILDING!” Applejack ordered.
Stupid. She had been sloppy because she was tired, and two of her men were dead because of it. The squad members with her started running towards the building, and she followed behind, making sure everyone made it.
Another crack echoed out, and she was suddenly thrown to the ground. She lay there for a minute, her body numb from the force that had just knocked her down. Slowly, her senses returned to her. At first all she could feel was rain hitting her, hearing it pepper agianst her uniform and equipment. Then, slowly, a dull pain in her left shoulder trickled in.
'Ah'm hit...' she thought to herself.
She started to get up, but it seemed to her as if her limbs were moving at a slug like pace. She knew that the sniper had another bead on her, and she knew that she was about to feel the searing kiss of hot lead from another shot.
Suddenly, something rammed into her with the force of a freight-train, and again she was thrown into the mud. This time into an old impact crater. She groaned, her bones aching from the force of the blow.
There was a snap of a bullet that whizzed over her head, and then another crack. The sniper had missed because something, no, somepony had tackled her out of the way.
She opened her eyes to a grey blur holding her down, as the image cleared, the grey blur solidified into the familiar edges of something she had pointed her weapon at many times.
A NLR Marine was holding her down.
With a sudden surge of adrenaline, she rolled over and drew her revolver, and pinned the Marine to the ground. She pressed the weapon underneath the Marine's chin and began to pull the trigger...
But suddenly stopped as she recognized the face she was staring into. Those same brown eyes, hardened and dulled by years of conflict, the same look that she saw in hers everytime she looked in a mirror. The same brown haired face that had saved that little girl on Vir one year ago.
“What in tarnation?”
The Marine was staring at her, that same expression he had given her over a year ago. She looked him over wondering what had happened, when suddenly she heard a ping. Whipping her head around, she saw a grenade in his hand. The noise had been the safety spoon flinging off as he primed and activated the grenade. Shutting her eyes tight, she waited for the end.
'I shoulda shot this bastard myself then, I was wrong about you...'
Only to hear a pop and hiss. She opened her eyes to see a thick white smoke start to pour out of the grenade. She was frozen in place, puzzled, as the Marine threw the smoke grenade out of the crater, giving her and her men a shroud of cover to escape by. Quickly rolling over again, the Marine again pinned her to the ground. His left hand shot out and grabbed her right wrist, pinning her revolver to the ground as well. She looked up at the marine, even more stumped than ever, when the marine looked her right in the eye and leaned forward.
“We're even.”
And with that, he got back up and dashed out of the crater, into the smoke.
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Two months later.
Major population space colony, Manehattan
January 30th, 3345
The station was occupied by both CE and NLR forces, and although it seemed as if both sides had started to scale down on combat action and patrolls, Leiutenant Applejack still found herself clearing out yet another building. The NLR Marines weren't firing or putting up a fight at all, but they were crossing the clearly set boundries that divided the station between the two forces.
Manehattan space colony was big, almost a planet in its own right. With a population of nearly 27 million, it was still a sight to see the colony from the outside. A massive floating space station basically, a feat of engineering that had taken decades to produce, and it was still growing. The colony had been around for almost two centuries, constanly expanding and being built onto by the population that called it home.
It boggled Applejack's mind that with a station this big, the NLR still had trouble keeping on it's own side of the colony.
'Ta' be fair though, you and your unit were technically tresspassing just last week...'
The thought caused Applejack to sigh before chuckling. With an atmosphere that was as close to peace as one could get during a war, she speculated that it was easy to push boundaries that were'nt really enforced with any real consequences. When her unit was found last week, all that had happened was that they were escourted by NLR Marines out of the area back to their side of the colony. And vice versa.
'Though, I swear that my ears are still ringin' from that flashbang they threw in the door.'
She did, however, find some satisfaction in the fact that they were about to do the same thing to a squad of NLR Marines that they had discovered in this building.
“Ready ma'am.” Starshine reported, her troops were stacked up on the door.
She took a quick look in her HUD, all squad indicators were green and outlined in a white square, they were all ready.
“Hit it.”
With a nod, Starshine kicked the door in, and another stallion threw in the flashbang, quickly slamming the door shut again, they waited until they heard a loud bang from inside the room. There were a few shouts from the occupants inside, and then the squad entered.
The room was a caucophany of noise as troopers shouted commands to the ponies inside. Most consisted of “Hands up” or “Don't move.”
However, the commands were unnecessary. Most of the NLR Marines were on the ground, their hands clasped to their ears, others were standing, but were in no shape to put up a fight. But, surprisingly, none of them were wearing their combat gear, and besides their sidearms, they didn't have any weapons.
What was even more surprising were the mares that were also in a state of panic.
'It seems as if I've ruined a party. Whoops.' AJ thought to herself with a chuckle.
The Marines were coming back to their senses, and none of them were happy.
“Hey,” one said with a dazed expression, “what'd you have to do that for?”
“Y'all know you're not supposed to be here, this is the Celestial Empire sector and you know it. Now, with respect, we're gonna have to escourt you and your marefriends back to the NLR green zone.”
“Aw man,” another started, "Gunny is NOT gonna be happy about this...”
“Not happy about what?” a voice came from the doorway AJ's squad had just entered.
The whole squad suddenly turned and trained their rifles on the door. Standing in it, was a brown stallion. One that AJ recognized with a quick jab of pain in her left shoulder.
The stallion recognized her, and smiled.
“We meet again it seems.”
“So it seems.” Applejack responded.
The stallion looked around her, looking for something.
“Sweetie, you okay?' he asked.
Suddenly, AJ realized he was looking for somepony, and not something. She moved out of his way and turned to see a brown mare stand up, stumbling a bit for balance because her equilibrium was shot from the flashbang.
“Y-yeah, I think” she started, her voice almost a shout from temporary deafness “Damn, no wonder you can't hear so well babe, that thing was LOUD.”
The stallion laughed.
“So now you know that I'm not ignoring you when I use that excuse.”
The mare looked up again, a half lidded and not so convinced expression on her face.
“Oh, I'm sure of it.” she said sarcastically.
AJ rolled her eyes.
“Listen, I don't mean to butt into y'alls conversatin', but the fact remains that you are all tresspassing on Celestial Empire territory, I'm afraid that we must escourt y'all back to NLR grounds.”
“Actually, we are not tresspassing...” the stallion began again, “You see, this is my home, and these marines and their dates are my guest.”
Applejack's eyes went wide.
“You're home? But you're New Lunar Republic citizens!”
The stallion nodded his head.
“Yes we are. However, I bought this appartment eight years ago, before the Celestial Empire had an occupying force in Manehattan. And, under your own rules, since this is my home, you do not have the right to remove me or my guest from the premises, as long as we are not engaging in any combative actions, which you can clearly see” the stallion gestured to the almost unarmed Marines and the mares around the appartment, “we are not. These stallions are friends of mine, and we are simply having a little get together on our day off.”
Applejack was about to reply with a not too polite remark when suddenly the TV monitor crackled to life and the emergency frequecncy alarm came over the speaker system.
“This is an emergency alert system update, please stand by....”
The image that appeared on the screen was a sight that had not been seen in over a century.
Princes Celestia and Princes Luna, standing side by side.
Everyone in the room was stock still, and it almost seemed as if all noise from traffic outside had stopped.
In fact, it had.
The message was being broadcast over every piece of video equipment in equestrian space. And everyone had stopped to see what was going on.
The group of soldiers and Marines watched, perplexed. Their minds almost couldn't comprehend what they were seeing. The two leaders of their warring factions standing shoulder to shoulder, and not saying anything. Just a calm demeanor and expression. Princess Luna parted her lips, as if taking in a breath, preparing to say something. Then, the two spoke in unison, something that hadn't been heard since before the war.
“It is for the prosperity of all that we venture forth into the black abyss of space, to expand and discover the opportunities that shall lead our people to peace. It is for the good of all that we hold our leaders accountable for their actions, so that they may lead our people with open hearts and gentle hands. It is in the name of peace, that we go forward like a breath exhaled from the great earth, to lead all into an age of prosperity, an age of discovery, an age of opportunity, an age of friendship. This we all do swear upon our sacred honor, In the name of peace.”
The group stood in shock, as did most of the galaxy.
The two princesses turned to each other, and embraced.
Applejack's brow furroged, trying to decipher what was going on.
“Sarge, what does this mean?” one of the Marines asked.
Turning her head to the stallion, she saw him wrap his arm around the waist of the mare he had talked to earlier.. His eyes were watering up, and he closed them as he smiled and let out a shaky laugh. Raising his head again, he opened his eyes. The hardness and dullness from years of conflict was slightly replaced by something that AJ hadn't seen in any of their soldiers eyes in a long time.
Hope.
“It means,” his voice cracked, “It means that the war is over son, we're going home.”
The silence lasted another full five seconds before everyone in the room let out a cheer.
AJ herself let out a whoop. Her heart bursting with the thought.
'After all these years, peace....'
She almost didn't see the stallion extend a hand to her. She looked up and saw his smiling face. That face that had managed to follow her throughout her later years in this conflict, and yet a face she had always hoped that she wouldn't have to see again, for fear of ending his life. Looking down at his hand again, she reached out and grabbed it, giving it a good shake.
Nothing was siad, nothing had to be. Despite the ways they met in the past, they were now what they never thought they could be.
Friends.
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Present.
Captain Cloudmatter nodded.
“I see. Well then, since you have already been introduced Leiutenant, may I introduce to you your new platoon sergeant. New Lunar Republic Marine Gunnery Sergeant Ironworker, 5th recon batallion, 1st Marines.”
Ironworker stood up and saluted his new Leiutenant.
“It's a pleasure ma'am. I look forward to working with you.”
She returned the salute.
“Well then,” Cloudmatter continued. “ You all now know who you'll be working closest with. I want you all to report to docking bay 13 at 0600 tomorrow. You'll receive your orders and your work assignments when you get there.”
Taking one last look at the group of ponies now under his command, Cloudmatter cleared his throat.
“Dismissed.”