The Rein of Darkstar
Captain Twilight Sparkle looked out into the gloom of morning. The sun was covered with an overcast sky, except for some small slivers passing through the thick layer. She looked outside the tent provided to her. She was charge of the 12th heavy infantry brigade. She went back into the tent, pondering over what had happened in the days prior. Rainbow, a recruit with no fight experience had suddenly been transferred into an elite group of special operations agents, and been given the rank of sergeant. At this moment, she would be on a shuttle in charge of a squad in the 15th airborne division. Why was she here? Rainbow was in command for the first time in her military career and would be flying straight into enemy territory. Twilight comforted herself with the thought that there would be little to no resistance up in the clouds. The only chance of danger would probably be the anti- Pegasus guns at the enemy encampment, but those were hardly known for their accuracy. They should do fine, she promised herself. She went outside the tent and looked around at her platoon, a military force of about 140 ponies. Mostly unicorns, as was her prowess, but a few earth ponies, too. Every pony in her special ops squad was in charge of at least a squad of normal troops, whether it was the airborne, light infantry, artillery, or heavy infantry. Artillery boomed in the distance. A grey stallion approached her.
“Captain Sparkle, a message from the front,” He said. Twilight accepted the note.
“We have begun to fire artillery at the enemy forces. Move your troops over to the east front and hold position until instructed to charge. Cover for light infantry until the 4th Airborne Division can support you.” Twilight mulled it over. It was logical to move to the east, as the battle had already begun in the west, and most of the enemy ponies would be massing. All they would do by moving would be disrupting them. Twilight walked to her leading NCO.
“First Sergeant Scratch,” said Twilight. “Instruct the troops to move to the east front in 5 minutes.” A white unicorn with electric blue hair responded.
“Yes, Captain,” she said, then moved out to deliver the message. Twilight got her rifle and began to walk.
“Get those M198’s reloaded now!” Pinkie looked back down at her map. “We need to hold ‘em back long enough until the 16th can get into position! MOVE!” Ponies scrambled around her. Pinkie could feel the booms that each piece of artillery as it sent a 43 kilogram high explosive round into the enemy lines. With a 50 meter kill zone and 100 meter casualty zone; this thing could keep the enemy back long enough for a regroup on our side. Pinkie made a few marks on the map, and walked to her primary NCO, First Sergeant Sunray.
“Promise the troops a muffin tonight for each of ‘em if they can keep the artillery blasting for a while.” She quickly turned around and began to march down the hill they were positioned on.
“Wait, where are you going?” questioned Sunray.
“I need to find some more ammo for the M198’s.” She giggled and bounced down the hill. She checked the belt tied at her waist. Every type of grenade you could think of. Fragmentation, Incendiary, Concussions, and flash bangs. Pinkie smiled and turned a little, taking a muffin out of her belt. She took a bite and walked down the hill, looking for her next shipment of artillery rounds. She found them next to a crate of rifles and batteries.
“Wow, I found these quick!” She looked around and saw a guard standing in front of a medical tent. “Hey, private,” she yelled. “Go and get any others you can find and carry these shells up to the artillery on top of that ridge.” She pointed to the ridge her artillery was on.
“Yes, captain.” The guard saluted and ran off; looking for some other ponies that could help him carry the heavy rounds up the hill.
Pinkie looked back at the artillery shells she found. “Hmm… incendiary, eh?”
Rarity leaned back in the chair she was sitting in. It was more of a stool than a chair, but you couldn’t ask for much in a time of war. Anyways, this battle wasn’t her job. She didn’t like big battles like this. Too much blood and mud everywhere. She liked clean deaths, and so her expertise was in assassinations and espionage. She would have to go and do something later with the rest of her squad, but for now she could just wait. She looked at the color of the stool she was sitting in. Olive green... ick. It was such a terrible looking color. Looked like someone had puked out broccoli and green beans. She fiddled with the needle in her hoof. It was a sewing needle. It had such an innocent purpose, but could be deadly if put into the hooves of the right person. Rarity was the right person. She flung the needle at a poster of Darkstar on the wall with a quick jab of her hoof. It stuck right out at the end of the neck. A needle into the neck wouldn’t do much. It would have to cut a major blood vessel, or at least graze one; not just stab it. If that poster could move, it would be clutching its neck and gasping as blood leaped out of the wound. If that had been a real pony, the needle would have gone straight through the side of the neck, leaving a gash along the side. Rarity took out another needle. She looked closer upon it this time, seeing the tiny barbs she had put on it herself, which would increase the chances of death, as the barb would rip out any extra flesh or artery wall as it went by. Hmph. Maybe she did like blood after all.
Rarity stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. Another pony guard walked up behind her and touched her on the shoulder. He was in a sleeper hold before he knew what hit him.
“Stop! It’s Cloudbreeze, don’t kill me!” he yelled, nearly passing out from a lack of air. Rarity let go and he slumped to the floor, coughing.
“Don’t sneak up on me next time. You could end up passed out. Or worse.” She extended a hoof to help the wheezing guard. He took it and got up, trying to regain his breathing. “Well? What is it?”
He breathed deeply for a second, and then said,” You are to return directly to the Forward Operating Base when Sergeant Dash comes back. You will regroup with the rest of your squad and make an advance towards the service tunnel.”
“Alright. Thank you. Dismissed.” Rarity saluted the still gasping for breath stallion and he saluted back. Rarity watched as he galloped off towards the FOB and disappeared behind the masses of other soldiers going to the front.
“What is it?” asked Fluttershy. She had been watching Applejack building something in the FOB for about an hour now and still couldn’t figure out what it was.
“It’s a new turret I’ve been working on. Ya know those little disky things I throw out onto the battlefield a lot that grow into a big turret?”
“Yes.”
“Well I’m improving it. I think I might be able to add a small rocket launcher, but I can’t figure out where to store the ammo.”
Fluttershy didn’t really care much, but pretended to be interested anyways.
“Well, what if-“She was interrupted by a colt that had just walked into the room.
“Lieutenant Fluttershy.”
“Yes, corporal?”
“The medical areas have been set up as you requested.”
“Thank you corporal. Please now set up the operation tables and open the disinfectant bottles. Soon injured ponies are going to come in needing our help.”
“Yes Lieutenant.”
“Alright then. Dismissed.” Fluttershy picked up a bag from the corner of the room.
“Well bye, Applejack. Duty calls!” Applejack waved goodbye and Fluttershy walked towards the medical tent, hearing cries of pain.
Twilight looked through her binoculars. Still no movement. She had instructed her brigade to remain as still as possible, and hold their position until she gave the mark. She looked up to the grey sky. Little flashes of light broke through the grey clouds every once in a while. What? What could be making those flashes? Certainly Rainbow couldn’t have run into any… She didn’t finish the thought. Just then, a Pegasus smashed into the ground next to her, leaving large red streaks on the ground. His wings were cut off and were lying, twitching, next to his lifeless body. His skull had been cracked in on impact, and brain oozed out of the side. There seemed to be some sort of net around his body, and razor sharp blades sticking out were covered with blood and rust. Twilight winced.
“Get this pony outta here!” she yelled to the troops next to her. “She went up to the corpse, and looked at the tags. This Pegasus is part of Rainbow’s squad. She put the tags into a pouch on her waist as several of her troops carried away the carcass.
Twilight turned around, walking back towards where the rest of her brigade was hiding. Just then, a bright green bolt whizzed by her head. She whisked around, using magic to locate the location of the attacker, and instead turned to see the Imperial army charging to their location. She froze for a moment, and then her training kicked in.
“OPEN FIRE!” she yelled. Immediately her own troops began to fire into the approaching mob of enemies. Twilight turned and jumped back into the trench she was in before. A rifle lay to her side. She picked it up, and turned off the safety as only a professional would. She fired bolt after bolt into the oncoming mob, but there were too many. The pony next to Twilight suddenly burst into flame, ignited by a ball of green fire. Incendiary bolts. The pony next to her fell to the floor, writhing in pain. Twilight used a quick water spell to put her out, but the damage had been done. Her flesh was hanging loosely on her bones in dark, burnt masses. Her mane was gone, as was her tail. A terrible smell filled the air. Twilight turned around again and let loose several more bolts into the oncoming mob. Before long, her battery ran out.
“I need ammo here!” she yelled back into the ponies behind her.
“Sorry Captain, but we’re all on our last ammo packs!” Then I’ll have to use magic. There was a large stump in the clearing ahead of the trench, and she jumped out and ran behind it. She could feel bolts hitting the stump and blasting heat with each hit. Immediately she ran a spell through her head. The constant thumps against the wood attempted to make her lose her concentration, but she continued. When the spell was done, Twilight jumped up and let it loose. A large wave of energy burst forth, cutting through a large mass of trees the enemy was using as cover, along with most of the ponies hiding behind it. Thumps were heard as halves of ponies fell to the floor.
“Advance!” Twilight ran ahead into the now cleared area and braced herself for another wave of troops. The rest of her regiment followed suit, climbing out of the trenches they had dug and running into the clearing, using stumps for cover and recharging their guns. Twilight unbuttoned a cylindrical canister from her belt. She pulled out a tab, and rolled it in front of her into the trees. It exploded, firing goo that covered anything near it. Screaming ponies ran from their hiding places as the acid slowly ate away at their bodies. Twilight’s soldiers took each of them out with trained precision. Twilight looked up. A platoon of Pegasi was flying overhead. The Lieutenant flashed a thumbs up towards Twilight and flew northwards.
“They got it from here. Hold this position until command gives the word to advance. First Sergeant Scratch is in charge now. I need to return back to the Forward Operating Base.”
“Yes Captain,” replied Vinyl Scratch. Twilight heard her giving orders to troops as she walked back towards base.
As the shuttle landed at the FOB, Rainbow sat up. She had been feeling sick the entire flight. Not really sick, no, but she felt it. An overwhelming sense of despair in the pit of her stomach. She got up. Derpy had noticed something was wrong the entire flight, and approached to Rainbow.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine.” She put on a big smile. Derpy wasn’t fooled.
“I’m not an idiot you know. I can tell when something’s wrong. Tell me. You can’t hold it in forever without telling anypony.”
Rainbow looked down as she walked. The ground was cold, and the earth was loosely packed. It began to rain. “Well, I was in charge of you guys, and I failed.”
“What? You didn’t fail! That was amazing! You followed through the mission with minimal casualties! The objective was accomplished and it was only your first mission!”
“Three ponies died out there and it’s my fault! I’m a terrible leader! I led you to a slaughter!”
“Three. That’s what you’re upset about. This is a WAR that we’re fighting. You can’t sit around and cry about every pony that dies under your command! You gotta stick your head up high. You were a great today sergeant. You led the mission. You were always ahead of the rest of us, but didn’t go too fast. I’ve heard about some Pegasus’ who lose their squads because they go too fast for them all to catch up! You did amazing, so I don’t see what you’re so sad about.”
Rainbow smiled at the compliment. “Well, I did do pretty well, didn’t I?”
“That’s the way to think about it! This is a war, Sergeant. Ponies will die no matter what. It takes a good leader to make them willing to die. Those ponies who were killed today all knew the risks they were facing, and they all went ahead willingly. They didn’t die because of you. They died because of Darkstar and his evilness.”
“Yeah... I guess,” she mumbled.
“Alright then. Hold your head up high. The battle’s not over yet.” Derpy bounded off, leaving Rainbow thinking.
Twilight saw Rainbow walking around at the FOB, waiting.
“Rainbow! It’s nice to see you still in one piece?”
“Thanks… I think.”
“Alright then. How was your first mission?”
Rainbow grinded her teeth.
“I dropped the beacons as you ordered. They’re on the entrance to the service tunnel right now.”
“Alright. This was a pretty straightforward mission, though you did amazing for somepony who has never seen any real battle before.”
“Yeah… well when do we head out for the base? Don’t we have to infiltrate it or something?”
Rainbow apprehensively waited for an answer
“Hmm? Well we do, but I’ve been thinking. This is your first mission and everything, so I’m wondering if maybe you would want to sit out for this first mission. You already went through enough for a rookie.”
Rainbow felt relieved, but also disappointed. She had wanted to see what her squad did. It felt like she would be here from now on, so she wanted some firsthand experience.
“I actually want to go… get some training with the squad and stuff.”
“Oh, really? Well, you’re the first pony I’ve ever met to want to go on a mission. Since you do want to go, meet me and the other squad members right here in about 5minutes. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure you want to go? This mission is probably going to go through to the enemy lines. We will be in the midst of fighting, and I feel it’s a pretty complicated infiltration mission for a recruit such as you.”
“Hey! I’m not a recruit, okay? Just let me go.” Rainbow didn’t know why she was so angry all of a sudden. It just felt like some pent up adrenaline inside her just burst out, filling her with a mad sense of pride.
“Alright then, no need to yell about it. Just meet back here in 5. Jeez.” Twilight walked off.
Rainbow stared at the ground. What had she gotten herself into?