Of a German and American soldier in Equestria

by redspark

Griffons, a Russkiy and a tank

Chapter 31
"Griffons, a Russkiy and a tank"

A large boom echoed across the cabin as a mine exploded beside the large IS-2 tank, causing it shiver slightly. Luckily, none of the tracks had been compromised; it had been their fifth time passing a mine. They were going to end their advance soon if it continued like that. The sound of the tank working and the metal scraping against debris filled the interior of the metal beast as it made its advance through the German capital of Berlin.

"Captain, anti-tank gun up front!" the driver shouted. The captain, named Dimitri, nodded.

"Fire!" he commanded. The large boom of the main gun going off filled the air around it as a large explosion appeared on the area were the anti-tank gun had been; it was now a black crater.

The tank kept advancing through the street, following another three tanks in a column. They had been sent to secure a building that was filled with Germans, along with two units of a hundred men each.

Ever since they had entered the now bombarded capital of the Germans, it had been total mayhem. It was obvious the Germans did not want to surrender, and they weren't going to give up easily.

The red army had been going on it for a day now, and though the advance had been faster than expected, it was still hard.

Dimitri peeked through the visor in the top of the tank and spotted a group of Germans settling on a building. He was about to order his gunner to fire at it, but stopped once he looked and saw who they were in it.

"Wait a second..." he muttered.

Seconds later, the sound of machine guns started, causing the Soviets to scatter and take refuge beside the tanks and the building alongside the street. Dimitri cursed at himself and ordered:

"Alright, point at that building and..." he was stopped as an anti-tank gun fired from it and got a hit on the tank in front of his. There was a soft boom as the tank in front exploded from the inside.

"They hit their munition storage!" Dimitri's gunner shouted.

"Don't waste time! Fire!" he ordered. Seconds later, the loader shouted ready and the gunner fired. The boom of the explosion ensued along with half the building collapsing.

Dimitri sighed. "Well done," he said, patting his gunner's arm. "Now, driver, move it around our fallen tank and keep onward." The tank started and began going around. The soldiers followed as well now that the threat had been cleared for them.

Soon, the whole column was moving again.

Dimitri remembered who had been shooting...

They had been kids... Kids in that building?

He shook his head and focused. Yes, the Nazis were heartless enough to use their youth to try and save their skin. Even then, they had no soul for the Russians either.

He slowly regretted his indecision; for that, a tank was gone. He needed to focus and not let distractions get him.

"Captain, there's debris up front. The tanks can't go forward," the driver said. Dimitri sighed and opened the hatch, looking outside. He saw the other tankers doing the same and inspecting the debris.

"Maybe if we blow up a hole through it we may be able to pass," came a voice from the radio. He took his own.

"Negative, I believe that might create more damage than what there is already," he said. "What if we go around it?"

He waited.

Seconds later, the column's captain spoke.

"Yes, we'll go back and round up to the next block." Dimitri nodded and closed the hatch. "Stay sharp though, we don't want to lose another tank."

"So what now, captain?" the gunner asked.

"Turn her around and move left on the next street. We'll go around that thing," he said. They were now the head of the column.

The driver nodded and started the tank back, turning it. Soon, they would take down the fascists and go home.

He looked through the visor and inspected around. Nothing out of the ordinary...

Wait...

He noticed a small group of Germans forming a barricade, right where they needed to go through.

"Alright, load an explosive shell and fire as soon as it's possible. Aim at the middle. Gunner, get ready to fire." He received nods. The tank kept moving forward, as if nothing bothered it.

"Ready!" the loader exclaimed. The gunner fired. Instantaneously, the whole barricade blew up.

"Good now..." he didn't finish as a large explosion filled the cabin and a wave of heat enveloped him like a blanket...

*** *** ***

The smell of roasted meat filled the night air.

Lieutenant Darius, from the griffon army, inspected the small camp he and his troops had. His stomach rumbled, yet he remained where he was.

The war had been going tough for his griffons. The changelings had managed to surround the griffons, leaving them no choice but to stay there and defend themselves from the occasional changeling attacks. He had received an order to return to the capital, but the changelings had stopped him; he was now, literally, a caged bird.

He noticed a black form flying towards his camp.

He immediately guessed who it was, but he prepared nonetheless.

Looking at two griffons beside him, he gestured for them to follow him and he took to the air with them behind. Soon, he recognized the changeling.

"Halt!" he ordered. The changeling stopped, buzzing his wings.

"Lieutenant griffon, sir, I bring news."

Darius nodded. "Come."

They flew and landed in the camp. The sight of the changeling caused for whispers to start all around the camp, which wasn't very big.

Darius entered his tent, followed by the changeling and the two griffons.

"You can go now, thank you," he said to them. The two saluted and left.

The changeling saluted. "Lieutenant griffon, I have something very important to tell you. You ordered me that if I heard something important, I was to report to you."

Darius nodded. "Yes, I did." The griffon sat on a chair.

"Well, I suppose you've heard of the Equestrian generals, the humans."

Darius looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

The changeling sighed. "The Equestrians are being commanded by two creatures from a race never seen before in Equestria nor any known land. They have trained it to be strong enough to repel our attack." Darius nodded.

"Go on..."

"Well, they arrived the moment a strange magical anomaly happened. That same anomaly just happened a few miles north of here." He took a step closer. "Sir, one of them, a human, just arrived. If my queen gets him to work with them, the war will be a lot more complicated for you."

The griffon closed his eyes. "Are you certain this information is accurate?"

"Yes! Hundred percent sure!" the changeling said enthusiastically.

"And you can take me there?"

The changeling seemed to drop his enthusiasm a little. "Eh... I suppose I can, yes."

Darius nodded. "Good. I'll ready a few griffons and head..."

"No!" the changeling interrupted. Darius looked at him surprised, anger slowly rising within him. No one, whether it was pony, griffon or changeling, raised his voice towards him.

"Eh... Sorry..." the changeling said. "But you need to move more than a few. The queen sent her personal guard to fetch him for her. Our most elite warriors; even you cannot fight one of them on your own."

Darius calmed himself. He had learned to let things slide with that creature, especially since it had been useful and seemed to be happy to help. He knew he could get tricked by him, but he knew that and was ready in case the changeling betrayed him.

He stood up. "Very well. I'll take fifty of my best fighters with me. We'll be leaving in the morrow."

The changeling looked down. "I think you should go as fast as possible. The queen is sending her own soon too, and my hive camp is closer to it than yours is."

Darius rubbed his head a little. That changeling was indeed a pain in the head, especially with all those interruptions and suggestions.

"Alright. I'll trust you on this one."

The changeling smiled. "Thank you! You won't regret it!"

As the changeling left, Darius sighed again. "I hope I don't..."

*** *** ***

The sun slowly rose in the horizon, its warm light casting a huge shadow across the forest. The sky felt peaceful and empty...

Suddenly, a column of griffons broke the emptiness of the sky, their organized flight seeming almost like an air show. In the front of the column flew Lieutenant Darius. His once naked feathery body now covered in full armor with a sword hanging on his back. Behind him, his troops also wore similar armor and vests, only less impressive. Some carried bows or ballistas, others swords and others spikes.

Beside the Lieutenant griffon flew the changeling spy. His wings buzzed faster than the griffons’, and it was obvious he was having a harder job at flying at the speed the griffons were. He had a slightly worried expression as they approached the place he had indicated the human was supposed to have appeared in.

"How much farther!?" Darius shouted above the air. The changeling flinched a little. He had been distracted by some thoughts.

"It should be within our sight in not much time," he said. "A few minutes. It is a clearing in the forest!"

The griffon nodded and made a signal with his left claw. He headed down, followed by the rest of his troops. The changeling took some time to realize they were descending, but also followed.

Darius landed along some of his troops. He waited for everyone to land before turning his attention to his officers.

"Alright. We are going to surround the area. The changelings will get there without caution, so they'll simply land in the clearing." He used a stick to draw a simple sketch of his plan. "When the changelings decide to land, we will ambush them."

"How do we know they're not already there?" one asked.

Darius looked at him. "Because according to little changeling over there," he said, pointing at the changeling, "we are here and they are not." He looked at the rest. "Now, I sent a scout to go further. He should be back in a few minutes and tell us if he spotted a human or any unusual thing in this area. Until then, we wait."

He received a few nods and confirmations. They disbanded and went to instruct their units. Darius looked at the changeling.

"I hope for your sake that this is not a false mission," he said. The changeling seemed to shiver,

"N-no lieutenant griffon, sir. I guarantee this is true."

Darius sighed and nodded. "Very well." He looked around. "Now just wait for the scout..."

As if on cue, a griffon landed in front of them. He saluted him.

"Sir! I scouted ahead as you ordered and spotted a few odd things." Darius nodded.

"Go on..." he said.

The scout continued. "The clearing seems to have been disturbed by a large object in it. Trees fell down and in the middle there is some sort of metallic creature. It's not moving and seems asleep."

Darius looked at him confused. "Metallic creature?"

The scout looked down. "I... I didn't investigate further because I saw at least fifty changelings approaching from the west."

Darius nodded. "Good job. Rejoin your unit. We'll advance now." The scout nodded and flew away.

The griffon lieutenant started to ready his troops and soon they were moving into position. The trees gave them good cover against the changelings as they landed and formed a ring around the metallic object. Darius stood ready to give the order to attack.

"In the name of the changelings, come out!" came the voice of the leader of the changelings.

Darius felt a shiver as he heard the voice, and his body stiffened as he looked more closely at the changelings in question.

They were bigger than the average changeling, their wings and their horns also bigger. Their natural chitin armor looked thicker than that of a normal changeling and their voice was deeper and colder. From what the changeling had told him, he had expected changelings with armor, or weapons. Instead, these ones were menacing, even to a griffon.

He prepared to give the order to attack...

"Come out or we'll have to attack!" came the changeling's voice again.

Darius breathed in, and then out. He relaxed his muscles as he unsheathed his sword, a long sword with the golden head of a griffon in the pommel.

"Attack!"

*** *** ***

'Agh... My head...'

Dimitri slowly opened his eyes, feeling around him trying to feel his surroundings. The light around him immediately allowed him to recognize that he was still in the tank. Obviously, the explosion hadn't kill him. He closed his eyes again, feeling all his muscles ache with each slight movement.

He rubbed his forehead before opening his eyes again, this time ignoring the pain as he shifted position on his station. He looked around.

"Viktor, status report..." he said out loud, expecting the usual answer from his driver. Instead, he heard nothing. He looked around, getting off his station and around the small spaces inside the tank.

"Viktor, Ivan, Nikolai..." he said, calling out his crew members. When no answer came, he stopped moving. Where could they be?

He immediately thought that they probably were outside...

And that's when he noticed the sounds of shouting outside.

'What is going on outside?'

He went to his station and looked through the visor.

What he saw caused him to open his mouth wide in confusion and surprise.

Griffons? From mythology...

There were griffons outside!

And not only that. It looked like there was fighting. The griffons against some sort of... Bug-like horses? He shook his head. He was surely dreaming!

He looked more intently.

Maybe he had hit his head hard, or maybe something had happened back in Berlin that caused illusions? A new Nazi weapon maybe?

He stared for a few minutes at the mayhem outside.

Griffons fought bravely, he had to admit that. Their bug opponents were definitely stronger and more resistant to blows, their only weakness being the fact that they had no weapons. The griffons had various old, middle-age era weapons.

If he was still in Berlin, hallucinating due to some new weapon, then these bug things and griffons were probably his fellow soldiers fighting the Nazis, only who was who? In that case, he probably ought to wait and watch until the world made sense again. But if this was somehow real, he should probably take a more active role instead of letting fate decide whose hands … or whatever … he fell into.

He rubbed his chin. Probably if he intervened, he’d end up winning. Not singlehandedly, but joining one side would definitely turn the tide in their favor. He couldn’t operate the tank all by himself, of course. But he had his sidearm and an infantry weapon: a TT-33 pistol and an M44 Mosin Rifle. He also had a DShK heavy machine gun mounted in the top of the tank. If he used that at the right moment, he could probably not only inflict heavy losses but also cause panic in the rest of those he used it against. The way the griffons and the bug things were fighting, the trick with a weapon like that would be to avoid killing the ones he was trying to help. He didn’t want to scare his new allies into running away too, or trying to kill him.

He started to think about who he would support.

The griffons seemed to be fighting desperately to win, as if their lives depended on it. As for the bugs, they wore blank faces.

The griffons seemed to be on the defensive, and the bugs looked menacing and intent on killing them. Somehow, they reminded him of the Nazis and their despicable officials.

After a minute of looking around, he spotted who appeared to be the bug-horse officer.

Yes, he looked despicable.

Suddenly, it appeared as if the thing noticed him, or knew he was looking at it; rapidly, he stopped looking.

"Come out and surrender! You are coming with us!" came a shout from outside.

After hearing that voice, he remembered something faintly... That same voice...

"In the name of the changelings, come out!" he remembered. "Come out or we'll have to attack!"

As he recalled that, he felt his muscles tense.

Nobody, not even a bug-horse or monster bug or whatever that thing was, threatened him or his tank.

Anger rose within him...

He knew whose side he was on.

With quick and professional grace, he moved to the top hatch and opened it. He was momentarily blinded by the light as he adjusted to the morning sun. The smell of carnage reached his nostrils, and many of those fighting nearby stopped to gawk at the new and strange activity.

He ignored them, and pulled and locked the machine gun, getting it ready to fire.

He turned to one of the griffons.

"What are you waiting for?!" he said. "Fight!"

With those words he aimed at the closest bug-horse and pulled the trigger. Immediately, the sound of those still fighting was overpowered by the sound of bullets leaving the mouth of his machine gun.

Just as the poor devil was torn to pieces by the rain of bullets, the fighting resumed, much more intense this time.

With support from his gun, the griffons began to push the bugs back. His machine gun made bug after bug to die in pieces, the rapid fire of the machine gun rapidly giving a notable advantage to the griffons. Soon, the bugs were entirely surrounded by the griffons, and the bug officer lifted his right hand... Hoof...

"We surrender," it said. Dimitri kept aiming at him, as did most of the griffons.

Only five bugs remained; the rest lay dead across the forest clearing either by Dimitri's gun or griffons.

The griffon that appeared as the highest ranked officer walked up to him, though remaining a safe distance away.

"You don't surrender. Why would this time he different?" he demanded. The changeling smiled.

"Because we haven't lost yet..."

With that, its horn thing began to shine with a sickly green color. Dimitri saw many griffons run away and take cover. Some shot with their bows and crossbows, though they seemed to be ignored by the thing. The other four bugs also lit up their horns.

That made him guess what was going to happen.

He heard the warning word 'grenade' inside his mind as he closed the hatch of the tank.

That was followed a second later by a large boom that shook the tank. The Russian waited a few seconds before opening the hatch again, looking at what had happened.

Where the changelings had been now was a large hole, as if a bomber had thrown a rather strong bomb. All around, bodies of both griffons and bugs laid on the ground, giving an eerie sight. Dimitri had seen worse scenes, though, and the fact that these were strange creatures instead of humans helped with the shock.

For a moment he thought that they all might have been killed before he started to see some of the griffon bodies stand up, and some starting to come out of hiding places and covers.

Many of the griffons immediately looked around their fallen comrades. He managed to see some of the ones in the floor moving, obviously in pain. He got into the tank, looking for his first aid kit.

*** *** ***

"...sir?"

The sound of an explosion...

"...sir!"

The human.

Yes... They had been overrun by changelings right after their initial ambush. They planned to ambush the changelings; instead, they had been ambushed by the changelings.

And the human had saved them...

"...he's barely breathing..."

What was that noise... Someone talking...

He felt tired, really tired. All his body aches. He wanted to simply fall asleep and let the pain go away...

"Sir, WAKE UP!"

That shout did it. He opened his eyes and immediately groaned at the sudden brightness.

"Ah, sir. We thought you were a goner," the medic said. Darius blinked a couple of times before standing up. Pain made him grunt and stumble a little bit before correcting himself.

"Sir, you shouldn't stand..." the medic began.

"Where's the human?" Darius interrupted.

The medic sighed. "He's beside his metal thing. He started helping wounded there. He seems to have a nice deal of medical training and has a first aid kit."

The griffon lieutenant nodded and started walking towards the metal beast, seeing the bipedal creature beside it. The human was leaning over a fallen griffon, holding a bandage around the griffon's leg.

"Now, hang in there. You just need to wait for a medic," the bipedal creature said. The griffin nodded, obviously in pain. Suddenly, Darius approached without them noticing, causing the griffon to try to stand up and salute.

"Sir!" He said with grunts, only to fall back again, Dimitri helping in lay down slowly. Darius looked around.

"Medic!" he shouted. He saw a griffon approach.

"Yes sir!" the medic said.

"Tend to this soldier," he instructed. The medic saluted and kneeled beside the griffon.

Dimitru stood up and looked at Darius. The griffon was tall, and if he stood on two legs he'd be taller than the human. Without that the griffon reached the human up to his mid-stomach, almost his ribs.

"I presume you are the human we came looking for?" Darius said. The human seemed to get slightly alert.

"You were looking for me?" he asked warily.

Darius nodded. "Yes. There've been reports of a human arriving in a neighboring land, so when we found out you had gotten here as well we needed to rescue you from the changelings."

'So that's what the bugs are called...'

"And how can I know you are not lying to me?" he asked.

The griffon lieutenant sighed. "Well, I've got no reason to do so. After all, I lost many good griffons today to get you."

Dimitri nodded. He felt tired... All that had happened... It was probably a dream, but a really real-looking dream after all.

"Alright, I'll trust you." He looked around before stretching his arms. "I'll wake up though. Then this dream will be over and I'll probably be in time for the celebration of us taking Berlin and killing that weird mustache-guy named Hitler."

Darius looked at him with a confused expression.

"Eh... What?" he said confused. "You think this is a dream?" he asked.

Dimitri nodded. "Yes, it is. I'll wake up soon inside my tank, Viktor bothering Ivan and the rest angry at them for not shutting up," he said dreamily. "I'll then take the bottle we reserved for victory and open it for us to cheer together." The Russian smiled at the thought.

The griffon sighed. "Alright, if you think this is a dream, fine; we'll have to move soon, though. We can't stay longer or the changelings will come back with reinforcements."

Dimitri nodded. "Alright, I'll follow..." He stopped and looked at the IS-2 tank. "Though there's a problem."

With a confused glare, Darius asked "Which problem?"

"I don't have a crew." The griffons gave him an even more confused look. "I mean that I can't move my tank without another man at least."

Darius nodded. "Alright. I can send a griffon for you if you want. He can help you moving it."

Dimitri nodded. "Very well. I'll be inside; you just tell him to come inside without knocking or anything." The Russian walked to his tank and climbed up.

"Very well," Darius said.

He turned and went for the scout he had sent before. He was gonna be a good one for the job, especially since he seemed to know how to get along with other species.

"Fetch me Private Quick Claw..." he said to a griffon nearby. With a fast nod and salute, the griffon took to the air.

Darius breathed in deep before shouting.

"Alright! We start moving in one minute!"

Comments

[Tx Avenger 218]

Ahhh a Russian. This gonna be interesting when he meets our German friend first, if he does. All three will meet eventually... But first impressions are always important.

Not mention I've played plenty enough of the game R.U.S.E. to know that the IS-2 Russian tank is a truly beast of a machine.

[Amethyst Blade]

Heh....the biggest players of the second WW are all here.

[redspark]

6312557 it'll be interesting and probably entertaining to write that encounter

Indeed it is. The greatest WWII Russian tank in my opinion. (Based off of my own inexperienced opinion, though )

[redspark]

6312740 Eeyep!

[Amethyst Blade]

6312910 The greatest Russian tank of WWII is the T-34 and T-34-85
The best tank is the IS-2. I think

[treegrowth]

welp, here we go again!

[Shadow Ranger]

You should one day add someone from Japan, or Britan.

[redspark]

6325756 Hahaha. I could try later, yes.

[hs0003]

There are few things I dislike more (in HiE) than adding another person mid/late story.

[redspark]

6351397 Awww.

Well, I hope that if you do keep reading I make it up to this

[M4Tiger4014]

1 problem: where will he get gas?