The Atlantean-Dominion War

by The Atlantean

5. Wounded Commander

“Pull out! Come on, greenies, move it! We gotta get to the station!” Colonel Silvercrest yelled. All around her, the tattered remnants of the 2nd Coastal Regiment raced to pack up all necessary supplies and hurry to the train station.

They were in retreat. Back near the town of Pacifica, the Sarge sent a message regarding a Dominion breakthrough. All border patrol regiments were to pull back towards the major towns before the Dominion exploited this gap further and cut AREA in half. Even if they hadn’t needed to go, Sarge would’ve relayed the order anyway. There just wasn’t enough trained ponies to hold the border. Silvercrest also lost a full third of her trained regiment to new Dominion weapons that were much more accurate than muskets. Staying was a death sentence.

The trampled grass churned to mud with a late-spring freeze the night before, but the wet ground was the least of their concerns. The once-distant gunfire had come much too close already; the three hundred odd ponies left besides the recruits down to their last trench before the camp was overrun.

Crimson waved his musket in the air, directing his comrades where to go to get to the station. He himself was already packed up. His friends were as well and lined the road to the train station at intervals, directing under his orders. The trek was less than a mile, but scared ponies still needed guidance.

A bright green flare shot up from Platinum Starlight’s horn from the waiting train. The signal Silvercrest was looking for had arrived: the train was ready for departure and loading quickly. She leaned her head back and howled. It was her retreat call: only she could do it, as her Unicorn mother was bitten by a werewolf, and it scared the hell out of the enemy because ponies don’t howl. That split second of surprise allowed the two hundred fifty remaining defenders to get out.

A Dominion sniper fired his rifle at the source of the howl, trying to kill what he suspected was a timberwolf. The voice cut off abruptly, but in a mare’s cry of pain. It was immediately followed by a rush of defense around a small mound in the Atlantean camp.

Crimson was already halfway to the station himself by the time Silvercrest was hit. He didn’t understand the issue, but kept running. “Come on! Get on the train!” he called to Northern Lights as he ran past.

Silvercrest opened her eyes to the lolling head of a dead stallion. They shot open the rest of the way and she looked around. Somepony was placing her on a stretcher. She pulled her steel helmet off and looked into it. A small but deep dent with a bloody hole marked where a bullet had slammed into it. The criss-crossing pattern of steel layered with bronze had saved her life. Around her, only twenty of the original fifty that had formed a circle around her remained, falling as the more accurate Dominion guns put holes in their targets.

Two Pegasi carried her to the station and she mumbled, “The circle… They came for me...”

“Private, help us out!” one of the Pegasi, a lieutenant, called. Silvercrest rolled her head to see Crimson getting ponies aboard the train. “She’s going into shock!”

Crimson whirled around. He took one look and cleared a path himself. The colonel was carried aboard and placed in a hastily-made medical ward in the frontmost car. A single earth pony doctor hurried to her aid and began conversing with the Pegasi that brought her in. He grimaced at the description of her wound, then asked for clean bandages and disinfected tweezers. A Unicorn gave him the supplies and he started.

He worked the tweezers into her wound, getting some blood to come out. “Hey, somepony get me a heated rod! Glowing hot! I’ll need to cauterize this. She’s lost too much blood to live unless I do!” He pried the bullet out of her skull and wiped the tweezers, then did the same thing for two jagged pieces of metal. “Sorry, Colonel, but I had to leave the anesthetic behind. Bite this,” he said, giving her a bit. She clamped down hard. The doctor turned to see the same Unicorn come up with an orange-hot rod with a flat end, fresh from the engine. “Alright, you jam that into the wound. I’ll hold her down.”

The Unicorn looked at him incredulously. “Do it now or I’ll ram it up your sorry ass!”

The Unicorn pushed the rod against Silvercrest’s head wound. The searing pain caused her to jerk suddenly and it almost hit her eye. The doctor, true to his word, held her still while the rod was pushed harder. When the scent of burning flesh reached his nose, he motioned for the Unicorn to stop. The Unicorn backed away, frightened to all hell that he just had to jam a hot metal stick against his commanding officer’s head. The doctor smiled at him. “Don’t worry about retaliation. You just saved her life.”

Silvercrest tilted her head on the bloodied stretcher and closed her eyes.

-------------------

The Pegasus woke to the screeching of the train’s brakes. It halted and ponies filed out wearily while the medical division waited for the car to clear more. Then she was carried out and placed in the Pacifica Encampment Medical Ward, groaning the whole time.

“Shh. You’ll need to stay here for a week.” The soft voice of a determined but shy medical officer was barely heard over the racket around her.

“Nurse Lieutenant Rose Thorn. How are you on this fine night?” Silvercrest groggily replied.

“I’m fine,” the Unicorn said quickly. She unwrapped the bandages covering the colonel’s head wound and replaced them.

“I know that look. You like somepony.”

“I can never hide things from ponies, can I?”

“No, you hide it pretty well. I just smell it.” Silvercrest made sniffing noises like a wolf, and the two laughed quietly.

“Fine.” Rose Thorn lowered her voice. “You know that red Pegasus under your command?”

“Which one? The officer or the NCO?”

“The young one. He acted like he had orders directly from you when the train arrived. Even the lieutenant couldn’t get him to stop. Almost got arrested for insubordination, but his argument was that you were his mentor. Until you said otherwise, he took orders from only you. They couldn’t counter that.” Her face flushed darker than normal. “It’s him. He’s cute.”

The colonel’s head spun. The shyest mare in the army liked the one colt who stood his ground against an outranking officer? That sounded like Private Dawn alright. “You do realize he like you too, right?”

“Everypony likes me. That isn’t saying much.” Rose Thorn stood from her slight crouch. “I’d better get going. More wounded are coming in.”

Silvercrest turned her head towards the dark pink Unicorn, who was walking away now. “I wanna get up,” she pouted mockingly.

Author's Note:

Feedback appreciated.

Comments

[Fireheart 1945]

Well, that engagement didn't go well.