//------------------------------// // Chapter II: Taking Stock // Story: World War Equestria // by brony at war //------------------------------// Chapter II: Taking Stock [Morning After First Squad's Arrival, Sweet Apple Acres] I woke up to find the sun slowly rising and blinding me. I turned away and listened to the birds and the breeze in the apple trees around me, something that I hadn't heard for a long time. I stood, grabbed my rifle, and walked over to the rest of the squad. "Finally got your lazy ass up, did you?" the Sarge inquired, frowning. Ehh, who am I kidding? He's always got a frown. I realized I was the last one to get up this time. Vic was scraping the last of his rations out of the can while Schmitty and Brooklyn played cards. "What's the plan, sir?" I asked the sergeant, who was re-tying his boots for the second time since I'd awoken. "We're going to find out what gear we got, then where the hell we are." he responded. "As one can tell, that panzer failed to kill us. Or leave a mark even." He looked around, and the rest of us, on instinct, followed suit, seeing nothing but apple trees and grass in every direction. After we all ate, we began the slow process of getting our gear in order and finding out what we had. It looked like everything except the Jeeps and Jerries, which still meant we had a fair amount of gear. Together, we all had 16 C- and K-Rations, one five-in-one,and five full canteens. "The way Vic eats, these won't last five days." Brooklyn joked, immediately earning a solid whack from Vic. "Cut it out before the Sarge gets over here and tears into your asses." They obliged and we began counting out our personal effects. When we finished we each had our pistols, each with three magazines, our combat knives, bayonets, trench shovels, medi-kits, eight grenades each, but that's where our similarities ended. Weapons-wise, the Sarge had his M1A1 Thompson, as always, with ten magazines, and his M1 Carbine with another ten magazines. Brooklyn and I both had our M1 Garands that we've had from basic, each with 12 magazines, but he had a BAR with 11 magazines whereas I had my Springfield sniper rifle with the 30 rounds that I always carried with it. Schmitty only had his M3 Grease Gun with 10 magazines, with the rest of his inventory being filled out with 10 demo charges and a few mines. Finally, Vic, being the big guy in the squad, had the squad's M1919A6 .30-caliber machine gun with 5 belts of 200 rounds and his M9 bazooka, complete with five rounds. "Well," Schmitty said. "We can put up one hell of a fight if we need to." We all nodded in agreement, and I watched as Brooklyn attempted to grab the bazooka, only to get slapped away by Vic, who said "You want to lose your hands?" As the two began fighting, I climbed up into a nearby tree and looked around, spotting a village a few miles away, a forest a little beyond it, and what looked like a farm or ranch only about a mile away. While I was up there, I picked an apple from one of the top branches. I went back down and observed the new shiner Vic had given Brooklyn and the dislocated wrist he had given himself. "Brooklyn, guess you really are hard-headed, aren't you?" I said as Schmitty helped fix Vic's hand. The sergeant, on the other hand, looked no worse for wear from breaking up the fight. "There's a farm or ranch only 'bout a mile out, and a town not too far off as well." I said before biting into the apple, juice running down my face and into the dirt as I savored the first real food I'd had in months. As I began to sit back down, a loud rustle nearby made us all jump up and point whatever firearm we had nearest to us towards the noise. [Applejack POV] After Applebloom and her two friends dragged Big Mac and I away from the harvest into the north orchard, rambling on and on about some 'strange, two-legged creatures', we had them stay with Granny while we went out and investigated. As we got closer to where the Cutie Mark Crusaders said to look, I thought I began hearing voices. "Ya' hear that, Mac?" I asked my brother. "Eeyup." he said in his simple, low voice. We slowed down as the five 'creatures' came into view. Were those… Humans? [Corporal Burns POV] They were horses. No shit, there were two, brightly colored horses looking at us, with some weird marking on their flanks. It didn't look like a brand, and even if it was, who would have three apples as a brand? "Uhh, Sarge?" Vic said, thoroughly confused. I couldn't blame him. I was extremely perplexed as well. It's not every day you see two rainbow ponies, and this is from three Texas boys. "That' better not be one of ma' apples." I looked around for the owner of the voice as I hid the half-eaten apple behind me. "Ah'm over here." the voice said again, and this time, I saw the orange pony's mouth move in perfect time with the words. I pointed at the pony, slightly dumbfounded, who nodded and said "What? You ain't never seen a talking pony?" All of First Squad nodded and Vic said "Yeah, talking horses didn't pop up too frequent in Texas. Or at all, really." "Where's Texas?" the orange pony, obviously female, asked. "And it's ponies, mister." the big red one, which was even more obviously male, reprimanded. "Wait a sec'." I said. "If you got that accent, but got no clue where the hell where Texas is, then where the hell are we?" "Equestria, of course." the mare said. When we all gave her a blank look, she muttered "Looks like we got to find Twilight." "Eeyup."