//------------------------------// // Chapter VII: The Guns of August // Story: World War Equestria // by brony at war //------------------------------// Chapter VII: The Guns of August "We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle, our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on one hand, of overwhelming power on the other." -Chief Of Staff George C. Marshall [Seven days after the conference in Canterlot] "Nice day, ain't it?" Applejack and I were sitting on her porch, drinking some of her fresh cider. We had finished harvesting all of the apples today, and so were relaxing in the warm sunlight. I was trying to, at least. There were only a few clouds in sight, and I could see the weather teams as they made their rounds. Big Mac had gone into town with Granny, and it was pretty much a normal day. Even so, I couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness that I had. "It is." I said, taking another sip of cider. I used to think that the hardest think I've done was go on a cattle drive without half of the team showing up, during a thunderstorm no less, but this definitely surpassed it. There were simply way too many apples to pick. "When the harvest is done and them apples are all stored, what're yer plans?" I sighed and said "I'll probably work at the club until next season comes around, or if you need help before then." AJ nodded and looked to be thinking about something as I noticed something in the air, too high to be a pegasus. The outline was familiar, but I couldn't place it immediately. "Sam," AJ said. "There's been somethin' I've been wanting to tell you…" I cut her off as a low roar became noticeable as the object in the air turned towards the farm, an all-too familiar roundel on the side. Thank God for sniper eyes. "AJ, not now." I said, standing up faster than Celestia did at the mention of cake. I saw more black specks appear in the distance, all on course for the town. Looking at her, I said "You need to get to town now. Get Applebloom and tell everypony to get underground or out of town." She stood and trotted over to see what I was looking at as I quickly put on my gear I had brought with. "What in the hay has got you so worked up?" she yelled as I began to run towards town. "Just go!" I yelled back. "And tell Twilight and Luna to help!" I ran towards the bar, where I knew the sergeant, Brooklyn, and Schmitty were. I took one last look at the approaching aircraft as I full-out sprinted to my destination. I burst in through the doors, spotting the squad playing a game of cards with Luna. They all looked at me, the Sarge amused, Luna startled, and the rest simply surprised. "What in God's good name in your problem?" Vic asked as I bent over to catch my breath. "Outside…bombers…German." I managed, throwing the squad into a frenzy. They ran outside and I followed, listening to their statements of disbelief as they observed the oncoming horde of aircraft. As I still recovered, the sergeant took control of the situation. "Luna, we need you to help Applejack, Twilight, and us with evacuating Ponyville or getting everyone underground." "What is the matter?" she asked, clearly confused. "It'll take too long to explain." the sergeant told her. "Just get everyone out of town or into their basements if they have one." She nodded understandingly, and left as the rest of us went and grabbed all the gear we had come with. Running upstairs, I grabbed my rifles, brushing the dust off of them and blowing into the breeches on both, clouds of dust filling the air as I thought about that day so long ago when I'd put them up. "Let's go! Move!" I yelled as the bombers grew steadily closer. I thanked God for giving the weather teams the intuition to have such a clear day, but it wouldn't matter if we didn't get everypony where they were needed. As it was, the general panic among the ponies as we tried to get them out was making it a lot harder. "Samuel!" Schmitty called, running towards me, radio in hand. "Why do we still have that thing?" I asked as I helped a filly carry her saddlebags. "It's a useless piece of crap, unless you want to throw it at those bombers." "Not right now. There's someone on the other end." he said, handing me the radio. Looking at him, unconvinced, I traded the bags for the phone and listened as a scratchy voice cut through the radio waves. "Anyone on this net, this is Baker How, please respond, over." "Get the Sarge." I said, and Schmitty ran off, the little filly looking bewildered at what was happening. "Anyone on this net, respond, over." the voice repeated, and this time I responded. "This is Corporal Hawkeye, identify yourself, over." "Hawkeye, huh?" the man responded. "Good to hear a friendly. You're speaking to the flight leader of the 354th Fighter Group, Baker How group." I silently thanked God for the miracle and replied "If you're in fighters, we could sure as hell use some help. We've got German bombers closing on our location. What's yours, over?" "Like to know the same. We're looking at a small town about a mile out, has a nearby forest and possible farm." I looked around wildly, then spotted a group of seven or eight shining aircraft approaching. "I have a visual on you." I said. "Go straight and you'll run straight into the target. We're evacuating the civilian population, keep them away from the town, over." "Understood. Baker How, out." I hung up the radio and watched as Schmitty and the Sarge ran up to me. "We've got support." I said simply, handing the Sarge the radio. We all looked up as eight silver P-51s flew overhead, the lead one doing the familiar Allied wing waggle. The ponies in the streets looked up in shock at the Mustangs flew over. "Go get them!" Schmitty yelled as they met the bomber group only about two miles from town. They dove down on them and we watched as the bombers began falling like rain, listening to the familiar sound of machine guns firing. Slowly, the bombers decided it would be in their best interests to turn around, and they fled as quickly as they had appeared. The fighters gave chase for some ways, before finally turning back. "Good job, boys." the Sarge said into the radio. The pilots circled around the town as we looked for a place for them to land, finding an open, flat field that would work. Brooklyn popped some red smoke and we watched as the squadron of fighters landed, along with a few ponies. Schmitty and Brooklyn left to give the all clear to the town as the pilots jumped out of their aircraft and strode over to us. "Captain Jack Williams, US Army Air Corps." The sergeant shook his outstretched hand and introduced himself. "Sergeant Jake Adams, US Army, Infantry. You sure as hell have some good timing. Mind telling us how you got here?" "I'd like to know the same." the captain replied. "We were just on a routine flight when we all blacked out and woke up here. Speaking of which, where is 'here'?" The squad just shared looks among ourselves, and right on cue, Schmitty and Brooklyn showed up, followed by Luna and Twilight. "Well, captain." Sarge replied. "This may be hard to swallow, but you're not even on Earth. Welcome to Equestria." After the captain and his men had gone through the whole 'Welcome to Equestria' process we did a year ago, Luna took us to Canterlot, where we met with Celestia again. We left Brooklyn and Vic behind to explain things, and the airmen wanted to clean up their new airstrip. "WHAT!?" Celestia roared, earning a look from all of us. We had never heard her use the Royal Canterlot Voice yet, but it was much more powerful than Luna's. She had us give her the details of the attack, defense, the arrival of more humans, and so on. "I can't believe that man would do something like this." Celestia said, more to herself. "How did he even get the technology to reach Ponyville?" "Ma'am." the sergeant said. "I don't know if we've told you this, but humans have a bad habit of getting into war. Even the 'war to end all war' didn't stop us from trying to tear each other into bits." "War to end all wars?" She was obviously about to ask something else when a royal guard nervously walked into the room, handed Celestia a package, and left wordlessly. She opened it and pulled out what looked like a movie reel from home and an official-looking piece of paper. She read it silently, and her jaw dropped as she said out loud "…hereby declare war on the nation of Equestria and its people? That insolent…" she noticed that we were watching her again and put down the letter. "Why would he do this, sister?" Luna asked, attempting to comfort her angry/confused sister. "I don't… I don't understand." Celestia replied. "We haven't done anything but talk to him, and that was only a week ago." "We're here." I stated bluntly, causing everyone to look at me. "We're American soldiers, he's a Nazi dictator leading a country and army. That's like fire and water." "That doesn't give him right to attack and declare war, especially in that order." Celestia argued. "He did that to two countries, ma'am." Sarge said. "Like it or not, he's a sick, twisted dictator who thinks that the world should be his." She shook her head and turned her attention to the film, putting it in a small player I hadn't previously noticed, and watched as it began to play. A familiar image of a tank rolling in front of many others caught my eye, and I saw the immense number of them. Panzers, Panthers, even Tigers. I nearly dismissed it as propaganda from Earth, but a strange flag in the back caught my attention. "That's the Germane banner." Celestia noted as a song began to play in the background of the footage. Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen! SA marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt. Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit. Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit. The scene switched to the image of thousands of troops marching past through a Nuremberg Square look-alike, again with the Germane seal on a flag, but it was underneath a massive flag with the swastika on it. There were ponies too; mainly grey unicorns and earth ponies, cheering on the massed troops as the song went into its second verse. Zum letzten Mal wird Sturmalarm geblasen! Zum Kampfe steh'n wir alle schon bereit! Schon flattern Hitlerfahnen über allen Straßen. Die Knechtschaft dauert nur noch kurze Zeit! Schon flattern Hitlerfahnen über allen Straßen. Die Knechtschaft dauert nur noch kurze Zeit! The scene changed again, to show two battleships at sea, surrounded by destroyers and firing their massive cannons. It also showed U-boats at sea, cruisers, and the like. It changed once more to show aerial footage of fighters and bombers making practice runs as the song went into its third and final verse. Die Fahne hoch! Die Reihen fest geschlossen! SA marschiert mit ruhig festem Schritt. Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit. Kam'raden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen, Marschier'n im Geist in unser'n Reihen mit. The song and video ended with another shot of panzers on a training ground, and the screen went black as the Sarge, Schmitty, and I gave each other the 'shit' look. "What was the purpose of that?" Luna asked. Celestia shrugged (could ponies do that?) and looked towards us. "They want you to know their strength. Which, unless you have a few armored divisions and some battleships hidden in those manes of yours, is a metric shit-load more than yours." Sarge said, turning to Celestia. "It's up to you whether or not to accept their declaration." "I don't seem to have a choice." she replied, looking hopeless. "He has already declared war and attacked us." A loud explosion at that moment interrupted our conversation. "That sounded like Dash just did a Rainboom." Brooklyn noted. We looked outside for the cause of the noise, but despite searching everywhere, we couldn't find the source until a scroll, trailing green flames, entered into the room through a window and dropped at Schmitty's feet. He picked it up and opened it, reading it aloud. Schmitty, You are needed in Ponyville. Large numbers of more humans showed up. Twilight "Way to be brief, Twilight." he said with a small smile. We left the princesses to discuss the new problems as we rushed to the train station to catch the next train out. [Ponyville Outskirts, near the airstrip] Twilight met us at the train station, and immediately began telling us of the events that had transpired in the six or so hours we were gone. "There was a loud noise and a lot of smoke, and when it cleared up, me and the rest of the Elements went to investigate, and found a lot of humans." she said as she cantered. That clears things right up. I thought as we jogged to keep up with Twilight. She seemed to be somewhat unhinged, and the look in her eyes would have been funny had the situation not been so serious. As we walked through town, I noticed almost nopony was out. Doors were shut, as were windows. The marketplace was a ghost town. "Where did they all go?" I asked. "They're hiding." she replied. "Most of them were scared of the mass amount of humans that showed up." "When you say 'mass amount', what do you mean?" Schmitty asked as we left town and began to crest a hill. "Ohh, maybe…fifteen thousand?' she said seriously. I was about to ask her if she was joking when we crested the hill and… There were hundreds of tanks, vehicles and whatnot lying around, and even more infantry, most of which I saw had the First Infantry Division patch. The airfield had received new aircraft in the shape of more P-51s and some P-47s. The sheer amount of men made me speechless. "How the…?" I said. "Baltimare and Las Pegasus are reporting that they have ships and more men, respectively." Twilight said. A voice behind us said "The Navy and a detachment of the 101st." Vic came up behind us with Brooklyn, who had our radio. "How the hell did they get here?" Schmitty asked. "No clue, but I ain't one to complain about it." Brooklyn said, walking down the hill. We followed him and looked around for anyone in charge, meeting a lot of old friends. [Ponyville Theatre area, two days after reinforcement of American forces in Equestria] The mass amount of both people and ponies in front of the stage was amazing, stretching back as far as the eye could see. I watched as the sergeant went out on stage with the new-found commander of the forces in Equestria and former leader of the First Infantry, Major General Clarence Huebner. After careful communication, we had learned that the equivalent of nearly two infantry divisions and most of the 9th Armored had arrived, along with half of the 101st Airborne, bombers and fighters from the Army Air Corps, and 20-30 ships. "Hell of a turnout, isn't it?" I asked Vic, who stood next to me. He nodded his head and everyone in the crowd fell silent as the Major began to speak. "Men, I'm sure that none of us ever expected to wind up in a world full of rainbow ponies. As most of you should now know, we now currently reside in the nation of Equestria, which was first discovered by the first squad of the First Infantry about a year ago, when they got screwed over by Jerry in the Hurtgen." As per usual, the major tried to lighten things up with humor before giving us the bad news. No one, however, made any response as he continued. "I wrote these men's families the letters telling them that I would let them know as soon as their status was found, and now it is, but it seems now I can't write that letter." I grew a faint grin at the irony. "Anyway, the reason I believe we have been brought here is to stop that force we have been fighting for years, The Nazis have found their way here now, and have attacked and declared war upon this nation. This will be their first war in over two thousand years." The crowd of ponies gasped in disbelief, as I predicted. I was with them; I had hoped I could hang up my rifle, settle down, maybe live a peaceful life with AJ, but as always, the Nazis screwed that up. Typical. "So, it is with a sad heart that I must ask us to ready for war. For, on this day, August 21, 1003, Princesses Celestia and Luna have given the go-ahead for a full declaration of war against the Nazis. May the Lord be with us in our endeavor, may he strengthen us as we push on to eliminate Nazi tyranny, and may he welcome the fallen into his kingdom." At the end of the Major's impromptu prayer, the collected humans muttered 'Amen', and we went off to prepare for war. The Guns of August had sounded A crushing defeat was in order The military's best were grounded Doomed to languish in a bloody roar Marines had fought; Marines had died Civilians had hid; Civilians had bled Wives had anguished; Wives had cried Politicians lobbied; Politicians had fled Sergeants screamed with all their might Privates huddled in foxholes in fear Captains were ushered in and then out of sight Generals saw the carnage and shed a bloody tear … Unknown