Adapting and instructing
Chapter 32
"Adapting and instructing"
Quick Claw, a griffon private that had been recently drafted into the army, walked beside his companions from the unit. He was tired from both the fighting and the intense scouting flights the Lieutenant had sent him on lately. Apparently being the fastest flyer under his command gave him harder jobs than the rest of his fellow soldiers.
He was awaiting command from his captain when a griffon walked towards him.
"Private, the lieutenant wants to see you."
Quick Claw looked surprised. "Why? D-did I do something wrong?" A few minor and major punishments began to form in his mind after considering the thought. Griffins were very strict on those matters, and even more harsh in the punishment they gave. Ever since arriving from Equestria for drafting, he had begun to miss somewhat the peacefulness of the pony land. Somehow, the griffon warrior society was, in a way, much harder to him. Being a griffon meant he had to prove he was worthy of being one, and his time with the ponies had led many griffons to believe he was now like one of them and not a griffon.
The griffon rolled his eyes. "No. It's something about the human. He needs you now."
Quick Claw relaxed. "Oh, okay. I'll be right..." he didn't finished before the griffon simply turned around and walked away. "...there?" he finished. Alright, that had been rude.
He sighed and started to walk towards the metal beast. Griffons treated him horribly, and he felt horrible for that. The war seemed to be working in his favor to prove himself, but even then, even if he tried hard to prove he was a griffon, they kept shoving him aside and treating him like...
Like a pony...
He hovered above the air for a few seconds until he reached the metal thing. Lieutenant Darius stood there with another griffon officer, giving instructions.
"...in one minute. We can't stay much longer or the changelings will come in greater numbers." The officer nodded. "So take your unit and the wounded and fly to camp. We'll stay behind and keep your unit and the wounded safe." The officer saluted.
"Right away sir!"
Darius saw Quick Claw.
"Ah! Private." He made a gesture to indicate the officer to leave. The officer turned and flew up. He made a screeching eagle-like sound and flew up, soon followed by many griffons carrying bunks with wounded on it. Soon after, another unit took to the air forming a protective circle around it.
"You called for me, sir?" Claw asked. The lieutenant nodded.
"Yes," he said. "Your experience with the ponies and foreign creatures might help on this." He pointed at the metal thing. "Inside that is the human. So far he's proven to be our ally, so he's coming with us. Only thing is he needs another one to help move his..." He hesitated for a second, trying to find a word. "...thing."
Claw nodded slowly. "And you want me to be the one to help, sir?"
Darius smiled. "Precisely."
Quick Claw looked up and shivered. He had met another human... Louis... He would never forget that in his life. A nice creature, and seemed to know war. The thought of meeting another one wasn't as scary as he would normally feel, at least knowing how powerful they were; instead, it was going to have a lot of pressure. He only hoped the human was like Louis...
"Alright sir, I'm on it."
The lieutenant nodded saluted. "Good luck, soldier. He's awaiting for you inside. I'll lead our forces to the camp, be sure to take him there, understood?" The last he spoke as an order.
Claw gulped, feeling slightly nervous. "Yes sir."
Darius turned around and flew up. Seconds later, another screech sounded and the griffon army took to the air, none staying behind. Somehow, feeling all alone seemed to lift a weight off his shoulders.
...he felt it again once he realized he was still beside the metal thing, and with a task alongside the human.
'Come on Claw, you can do this!' he thought to himself. 'You've already met a human before. It's probable he's gonna be just like Louis!'
The last he said slightly cheerful. Somehow, the thought of spending time with a human seemed nice.
He flapped hard once to jump to the hatch on top of the metal thing, feeling it underneath his claws and his paws. It was cold, and yet he felt something... It wasn't just something to transport oneself on it. It probably did something more, and surely, the second he entered through that hatch, he was going to find out.
He breathed hard before going in.
"Close the hatch behind you!" came an order from deeper inside the thing. Claw turned and closed it, sealing it shut. He studied his surroundings.
It was far more spacious than he had imagined, though it was still slightly small for griffon needs. He wasn't going to be able to spread his wings inside that thing.
He was about to take a step forward when the human went towards him.
In a quick review, he was like Louis. The difference was the beard on his face and that he seemed also much more dirty than the German he had met. The uniform was also different, the red star catching his eyes more than the rest of the human; the red star had also been outside engraved on the side of the thing.
"Ah, you'll help me then," the human said, snapping Claw out of his thoughts.
"Err... Yes!" he answered. "Yes, I was sent here to help you move this..." he stopped and looked around. "...thing?"
The human laughed. "It's called a tank. It's used to blow things up when we need to and helps a lot when someone finds himself in uncomfortable situations."
Claw imagined that things causing explosions. It was hard to imagine, how could it be?
"What magic does it use for blowing things up?" he asked, confused.
The human chuckled. "Magic? Nah. We do real stuff. You saw the big tube on the outside?" He received a nod from the curious griffon. "Well, that's called the cannon." He grunted as he pulled himself forward and sat on a position below the hatch Claw had just entered. "But that's not something we'll worry about for now." Dimitri moved to the driver’s seat, though Claw didn’t recognize it as such. "I'll go here. You go where I was sitting before, understood?" Claw nodded slowly and stood on that place. "Correct, you'll see through the visor up front and tell me where to go. Left, right, front, or back." He started moving something. "Understood?"
Quick Claw peeked through the visor and saw the outside. "Yes sir."
'Wait... Did I just say sir?'
Dimitri nodded. "Good, now open the hatch. Unless there's trouble you'll not close it. Instead of peeking through the visor, just look outside through the hatch and instruct me from there. If we come under any kind of attack, come back inside and close it. You'll use the visor then."
Claw nodded.
"Alright, you tell me whenever you want."
Claw looked around. "Okay, go left thirty degrees and head in that direction..."
Suddenly, there was a strange sound as the motor of the tank came to life. The exhaust vent began to release the smell of burning fuel and the tank shivered as the engine turned over. Quick Claw looked around. Had the beast woken up?! He quickly moved down to tell the human, but stopped once he saw him moving levers. Seconds later, the tank began to move forward.
Quick Claw relaxed and instead wondered how it worked. He felt stupid for thinking it was a living thing, but now that he knew it was a kind of transport machine, he couldn't help but wonder how it functioned.
Well, all in due time. He needed to get them both to the camp, and he was going to do so.
He looked around and relaxed. It was going to be a simple job...
*** *** ***
The sound of the tank moving filled the inside as the two made their way to the griffon camp. Dimitri tried to keep his mind focused, knowing that he was only delaying the time of truth... The moment when he'd need to admit he wasn't in a dream.
He knew it, but he didn't want to believe it. He wasn't dreaming, it was just too real for it to he a dream. He had discarded the possibility of a weapon because then he'd be dead; the Nazis probably wouldn't bother with something that would induce dreaming in their enemies... Right?
As far as he knew, he was in an alien land, probably even world, alone and getting involved in something he probably shouldn't be getting himself into. That was something he began to wonder after an hour of driving.
Should he have done things differently and not have helped the griffons? Maybe they were the bad ones in the war! The equivalent to the Germans. Maybe the changelings were simply trying to defend themselves.
Or maybe he had done the right thing.
He knew he hadn't been really in danger for involving himself in the battle. He simply could go back inside should things turn against him. The tank was, after all, built to resist explosions. A simple hand of horses looking like bugs and griffons wouldn't get it open or cause a major damage.
So why had he gotten involved? He hated being threatened, and the bugs had threatened him. He remembered feeling anger rise in him as he recalled the memories when he had been barely waking up.
He remembered what had happened right before he woke up in that strange land. Their assault on Berlin had been going on, and he had been in his tank with his crew...
There had been en explosion, so he should be dead.
As probably his crew was...
He groaned silently and tried to focus on the situation he currently found himself.
Now that he had time to think, he started to see forward and think what he'd do. He couldn't involve himself in a war that wasn't his problem; after all, he was from the red army. He should be instead trying to return to home homeland, though he wasn't sure if that was the right course...
Those creatures, the griffons, needed his help. In one way or another, he had seen beneath their hardened faces the desperation of war; he had seen the same thing on his own men and his countrymen during the war.
They were tired of it.
He felt the shaking of the tank’s engines working at full speed. The griffon was getting the hang of it, it seemed. He had to recognize that he seemed a nice soldier, one that probably would earn his respect. He followed orders without question and seemed happy to do so. He only needed to see him during a fight.
"What was your name, private?" Dimitri asked.
The griffon seemed to jump a little at the sound of his voice. "Quick Claw, sir."
The Russian nodded. "And how long have you been in the army?"
"A few years, though I began to participate actively once the war started," the young griffon said slowly. "I was in Equestria, that is the other allied country."
"And that country... Does it have a good military?" the Russian asked, his curiosity getting the best of him. He didn’t usually hold long conversations with others outside his unit, much less outside his country, but he was curious.
Quick Claw shrugged. "Supposedly no, but they've proven to have able leaders that have led them from one victory to another. For what we've heard, they are strong when in battle and intelligent when not.” He spoke with respect in his voice, with even a hint of admiration. “I met one, once…” he seemed to be remembering something.
Dimitri looked at him. He seemed to have more on his story than a normal soldier. To have lived in another land was something interesting, but even to have met a military leader was better.
“He was like you, a human if I remember how you are called correctly,” he said slowly. The Russian immediately got alert. If there were more humans, that meant he wasn’t alone. Maybe he’d be able to get back to his world after all… “He was interesting to hear and had seen much fighting. I was awed back then at that… to have experience in battle is something we regard highly, and he spoke like an elder in the fact of experience. I have no doubt he has been important in Equestria’s victory, even if there were no news of their leaders and their names remained anonymous.”
Dimitri nodded. He needed to find out more of them.
"Is that a palisade wall?"
Just when he was about to ask, though a wall made him think in something else than his question. Quick Claw said, “We’re here.”
The Russian stopped what he was about to ask and went to the hatch. “Come, let’s get out.” Quick Claw followed him as he opened the hatch and jumped off the tank. He quickly looked around and noticed the lines of tents and the large wooden palisade that surrounded the small camp. At a glance, it seemed pretty simple. When he looked more carefully, he noticed the defenses and the organization. It was very good.
“I see you made it safe and sound,” Darius said. “Very good, since if you had taken an hour longer you’d probably end up overrun by changelings.”
Quick Claw looked at him confused. “What do you mean sir?”
Darius looked at them. “I mean that the changelings are finally onto us.” That earned a few gasps from the griffons around. “And we’ll be surrounded by nightfall, so we better prepare, since it won’t be a stroll in the park.”
He turned at Dimitri. “Will you help us?”
The Russian was unable to answer right away. He knew he should help, but this wasn’t his war. He wasn’t supposed to meddle in it. Maybe he could, but…
“I’m sorry, lieutenant. I can’t help you unless I find myself threatened.” Clear looks of betrayal showed on the griffons around. “I’ve already meddled too much into something that does not concern me.”
Darius nodded slowly, regaining his composure. “I understand.” He pointed at a tent. “There is food and water over there. You might want to eat before we start rationing.” Without another word he turned and walked away, followed by the rest of the griffon except for Quick Claw.
“Come, I’ll show you to the kitchen,” the griffon said slowly, walking without waiting for an answer. Dimitri followed slowly behind as a large cloud curtain began to envelop the skies...
Stats
Page generated in 0.041 seconds
Total duration
1,086 users online
1,564,513 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
yes!! another chapter in your remarkable story ! boy is dimitri going to get a shockwhen he meets davis! and really gets pulled in to the war after seeing what the changelings are do! great story, can not wait for you to continue it! thank you!
6515758 I'm happy you're looking how it's going! Hopefully I can give you a new episode soon and the meeting between the equestrian leaders and the Russian is something I have very neatly planned
Awesome chapter! I'm reading the Russians speach with a Russian accent. Sort of like FPS Russia. So lets see, you have an American, German, Russian, Japanese, and British, right?
6520846 I do that when writing their parts!
And no, I only have a German, and American and a Russian.
6521380 you should add another one day... Maybe a pilot?
I'm going to blame harmony magic on them calling a truce. But even then it would be such a subtle force their memories would have been overkill to overcome such a force.
Waking up in an unusual new area near your enemy does not equal truce. Did they forget the allies of their own the other has killed? Had killed? Would have killed? The war they'd just left? The situation they were just a part of? Not realistically. In their life's best interests and fresh memories they'd've killed one or the other, 100% guaranteed if they have a gun on each other.
Been in my read later since the near beginning, glad I can clear it at least.
MOAR!!!
7009813 that's a low blow
7010053 spoilers
7010064 soon... (I hope
)
7012445 Hitler was a TERRIBLE straightest, but at LEAST he knew how to use SOME of his SS units well
So, it's true
7009813 the problem with hitler (militarily speaking) was that he wasn't a man prepared to lead and command an army on his own decisions. that was his generals' duty. Still, he ignored them on most of his crucial defeats, so he lost.
7014008 Look, they're/were both terrible strategists.
6312910 na greatest ww2 tank was the Sherman firefly we gave the British some m4 Sherman's and boy did they not disappoint they put that Royal 17 ponder on it and that thing could melt tiger armour like butter
7042601 WTF you talking about? Tiger 2, IS-2, and the O-I were ALL MONSTERS of a tank.