World War Equestria

by brony at war

Chapter I: The Last Patrol

Author's Note:

As a brief heads-up: These first chapters are a bit short, only in the 500-1000 word range, but size will increase over the duration of this story. Also, they may seem a bit low-quality, as I've never been the best at introductory work; that also improves.

Feel free to go check out my FanFiction page (KonigstigerAce334) to see the most updated version of the story as of this update.

Chapter I: The Last Patrol

"Old soldiers never die. They just fade away."-MacArthur

[Corporal Samuel 'Hawkeye' Burns, October 17th, 1944, Schmidt, Belgium]

"Alright, listen up." the Sarge said, walking towards the little secluded corner First Squad, along with Second and Tenth Squads, had taken up. I shook Schmitty up from his nap, causing him to jump up and look around, hand on his rifle. "We've pulled patrol on the east side of town, out near the forest." the sergeant continued, causing all of us to groan. The Hurtgen Forest was a major hotspot for the Germans, who had decided to screw up our supposed 'relaxation time' from being on the front lines.

We all got up and went out to the battalion motor pool, where two Jeeps were waiting for us to go out. Before we left, we all ate a round of K-rations, forcing down the government-issued food. Sarge had us finish in five minutes, and we loaded up on the Jeeps and headed out.

---

[2 km outside of Schmidt, Belgium]

The engines of the two vehicles whined as we drove along the road, looking for any suspicious activity. All around us, broken down tanks and shell craters marked the area. On orders from the major, we headed out to where an enemy armored column had been spotted earlier and attacked by aircraft.

Up ahead, the smoking wrecks of tanks and armored cars littered the road. "Eyes peeled." I said, slowly moving the mounted M2 fifty-caliber machine gun across a ridgeline, watching for any signs of movement.

"Poor bastards didn't even stand a chance." Brooklyn commented as we passed by some overturned tanks. Suddenly, a shot rang out, followed by more.

"MG42!" Schmitty yelled. "Left side!" Together, Vic and I opened up on the machine gun nest as even more infantry started surrounding us.

"It's a bushwhack! Get us the fuck outta here!"

Brooklyn floored the accelerator and the Jeep lurched forward, throwing my aim off and forcing me to hang on to the handles of the M2. Behind us, Vic was hammering an armored car that had reared its ugly head behind us, and I joined in as we continued driving down road. Out of nowhere, a panzer drove out onto the road in front of us, and, before I could register it, fired its cannon straight at us.

---

[Sweet Apple Acres]

"Ughh." I said intelligibly as I came to. I took in my surroundings, noting that the rest of my squad surrounded me, all passed out. We all had our weapons still, and I saw that wherever we were, it was peaceful and actually quite beautiful, something I'd been missing ever since I joined the army. "If this is heaven," I said to myself, "I like it so far."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw three pairs of eyes watching me. Upon realizing that I had seen them, the eyes appeared to blink and disappeared, followed by what sounded like running. I stumbled over to see who it was, but could see no traces of anyone.

---

[Third Person POV]

"What was that thing?" Sweetie Bell asked her two friends who both somehow shrugged their shoulders as the three fillies galloped towards the farmhouse.

"Ah' don't know, but it didn't seem too hostile t' us." Applebloom responded as the buildings of the Apple family's trade came into view. "Let's jus' tell my brother an' sis' an' let them handle it." With that, the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up the hill and into the farmhouse.