All Quiet on the Equestrian Front

by Tempest Wind

Storm Front

“War is not only a matter of Equipment, artillery, group troops or Air Force; it is largely a matter of spirit, or morale.”

Eleven

Storm Front

The blizzard looming over Vanhoover had finally moved back in, and with it, the heavy November snow. If the blizzard that raged two weeks ago was anything to go by as well, then it was shaping up to be a winter for the history books.

Sergeant Yearling snorted, shaking the snow out of her mane, before re-doffing her faded gray field beret, which blended in nicely with her mane and tail color. She missed her old pith helmet sorely, but there wasn't much left of the old thing except ash and cinders, after a much- too- close run in with a Changeling Flammenwerfer back in San Fransiscolt.

For now the beret would make do. Trotting carefully across the cobblestone street, Yearling moved to the company command post- formerly a post office- and slipped inside, breathing more easily once she shut the door behind her. Feasibly this was a secure block of Vanhoovet, but one could never be too sure, what with the fight for the city's sewers raging beneath the streets below their hooves. Removing her beret now that she was inside, Autumn allowed herself to relax, pocketing the beret.

"Evening, Sergeant." Another mare- she, a dusty brown Earth Pony with a Corporal's chevrons- greeted. Newly minted, based on the cleanness of the olive chevrons upon her tan uniform, most probably. That or a new uniform, which seemed less likely given the state of the siege of Vanhoover. A stripped down 'jungle style' Type K carbine was slung across her back, and belts of .303 Vickers ammunition was slung across her barrel and shoulders, bandolier style.

"Evening, Corporal. Headed somewhere with a machine gun?"

"Trying to, Sergeant." The Corporal nodded, enthusiastically. Much too enthusiastically. "Corporal Dusty Trails; I'm trying to track down my unit, Shire River Garrison Brigade, Section Baker."

"Oh, damn." Yearling whistled softly. "You're way off, then. Were you injured? They've reformed as First Shire Hoof Regiment under Colonel Midwinter Halo. Right now they're up on the northern edge of the city, pushing up the coastline towards the dockyards. How'd you end up so far off?"

"Oh, her, Sergeant? Corporal Trails here got shot a bunch of times back at the Shire river." One of the company's staff Sergeants waved a wing in her direction. "She just got back from emergency medical leave this morning."

"Yes, Sergeant." Corporal Trails agreed, nodding. "And I had to fight with my surgeon for a week and a half over it. I got stitched up pretty good by a bug tank."

"No shit?" Yearling blinked. "Hey wait, yeah, I remember you, Corporal. You and that bat pony friend of yours, Gale something. You two were crowing a Vickers gun. I gave you cigarettes."

"Hey yeah, I remember you too, sarge." The earth pony chuckled. "Didn't recognize you without that funky hat of yours, though."

"Got burnt up, sadly. Bug flamethrower."

"Ouch."

"Quite. Anyhow, I've got to report to command, if you'll excuse me?"

"Yes, Sergeant. Have a good one."
---

Sergeant Yearling waved a wing at the CO- a Second Lieutenant- as she entered her office. "Evening to you, ma'am. How's your week been?"

Second Lieutenant Cheerilee paused momentarily to smile at the Pegasus, looking up from her typewriter. Gesturing to it, the newly commissioned officer returned to typing her latest report. "It goes, Daring. Yours?"

"Oh, it went, ma'am." Daring shrugged, unslinging her type K rifle. The rifle she then placed gingerly on the wall rack, next to Cheerilee's own type L machine gun. "The bugs are finally starting to feel the pressure. Having to deal with First Vanhoover was already giving them hell, what with your regiment's skill and determination. With Keg's infantry on the other end of the city, and Halo dug in up north at the docks, they're hurting."

"Mhn. Colonel Keg'll be glad to hear his regiment is doing well, then, and Halo's really been a thorn in their ass for the past week or so. Good on her. Continue, Sergeant."

"Yes, ma'am. Anyhow, with first Shire holding the actual dockyards, you and Keg pushing from the flanks, and twenty-four armor corps being railed in, we've got them between the devil and the deep blue sea."

Cheerilee grinned broadly, then leaned back in her chair as she took a short break from her report. "Yeah, I agree. Now that Division's got it's head outta it's ass, we've got them where we want them. Now, we just need to hold them there. Any word on that fleet action we heard yesterday? That was close as hell to the docks."

"I've got one better for you, Lieutenant. I was able to shimmy up the top of that old Solarian church near the bay, and saw the whole damn thing from the steeple. Three of our destroyers and what I'm guessing was one of our cruisers are sunk, but we nailed two bug battle cruisers and an actual battleship, as well as a good chunk of their screen. I saw the Pegasopolis' torpedo bombers plaster a second bug battleship, and it had a pretty bad list to port, but it limped outta my view. I think it probably ended up limping home, unless the Big P sent out a second sortie of torpedo bombers I missed."

"Nicely spotted, Sergeant. Looks like the sea remains ours. Okay, that simplifies my report a bit then, so thank you for that. You up for another sally forth out into the wild, wild, west?"

"All day, every day, Ma'am."

"Brill. Alright, I've got a priority objective for you, then. I sent one of my Sergeants out to reccy this big-ass apartment building with her platoon a couple hours ago, and gave them orders to secure it if feasible. They still haven't reported back, and I can't raise them on the wire. I don't want another platoon walking into a Changeling ambush, but I need my missing platoon found. You have a map on you, Sergeant?"

"Yes ma'am." Daring Do- maiden name Autumn K. Yearling- nodded, producing a somewhat faded and quite well folded map of Vanhoover and it's surrounding suburbs. "Don't mind the pencil marks, I got it off an injured Louie headed back to Canterlot."

"I'm sure the Lieutenant won't miss it too badly from his hospital bed, Sergeant. Okay. We're.. here, at Company Command on Mulberry Avenue. My patrol went missing… over here, at this fucking four story apartment complex on the corner of Moonshine and Dayglow. It should be a safe enough trek until you hit Dayglow and have to start cutting Northwest, but past that it's disputed territory, still. Snipers, dug in panzers and AT guns, interlocking MG positions, it's a mess over on my end, Sergeant."

Daring nodded, humming. "Surface trek's out then. I'll have to take the sewers. Any sewer rats I can tag along with?"

"Sure, Sergeant. I've got a patrol heading out to sweep the sewers from Dayglow up to Westbrook, so you can follow them as far as Moonshine before you break off."

"You got it, Lieutenant. When do they leave?"

"Half an hour. Sit down a few, drink some coffee, and get warm. They'll rally up outside here before they leave."

"Music to my ears, ma'am."
--

Daring idly adjusted her beret, as she followed the sewer patrol towards the nearest sewer access hatch, their team leader up front and lugging an SMG. The weapon itself, a Stalliongradian PPSH-01, had been apparently given to her by her sister, a Lavochkin LaGG-3 Ace.

Maud. The dull gray earth pony's name was Maud. One of the famous Pie sisters, made famous by the family's two youngest- Pinkamena Diane and Marble, who were an Equestrian Brigadier General and a Stallionist LaGG-3 ace, respectively. Maud herself, though, was just a Sergeant. A Sergeant with a five pony patrol that was about to crawl through dark and disgusting sewers hunting for changeling infiltrators and infantrylings.

A thankless job, but someone had to do it, and that someone was Maud.

Maud nodded to Daring, as the sniper approached the sewer access her patrol was standing taking positions around. "Sergeant Yearling." She monotoned, her facial expression barely moving a millimeter in reaction.

"Sergeant Pie. Down we go?"

"Down we go."
--

The sewer was deceptively quiet, as the six pony patrol- counting Daring- crept through Vanhoover's ancient sewer system. The wind- occasionally sneaking in through cracks in the ceiling of the sewer tunnels caused by the constant shelling of the city that was still underway by the Royal 8th Artillery- caused a low constant howl of noise occasionally punctuated by the loud dripping of condensation from the ancient pipework.

The lead pony, a stallion lugging a trench gun, halted and crouched low, raising his scattergun as a Unicorn mare behind him with a New Mareland model Bits gun levitated the somewhat ramshackle SMG into a firing position over the point stallion's head.

The sloshing noise and low chattering the two point ponies had caught soon came into the rest of the patrol's hearing, and they too readied their mishmash of weaponry.

Three changelings eventually sloshed through the poorly lit intersection before them, toting sub machine guns of their own and chattering in their native language about Faust knew what. They slogged their way past the silent patrol, who waited a couple seconds before opening fire on the bugs, cutting the trio down in a couple bursts and a single shotgun blast.

The patrol waited another couple of seconds as the brass hit the floor or splashed into the sewer water, listening intently for any other noise or changeling response, before continuing on down the sewer.

This continued for nearly an hour, Daring guessed. They'd ambush- or be ambushed- by small groups of Changelings similar to their own, and then move on once the brass fell and the noise quieted. Finally, Maud halted her team, and turned to Daring as her team looked over ammunition and kept watch. "This is Daybreak and Moonshine. We'll escort you to friendly forces."

"Oh, no, that's not necessary, Sergeant. I can take it from here."

Maud just cocked an eye- by that, raising it all of a couple millimeters- as Daring turned and shimmied up the access ladder, out into the cold of Vanhoover's streets at night time. Daring took a quick peek around the street corner as she exited the sewer, spotting no one else- pony, changeling, or otherwise. Satisfied, she turned to replace the access hatch, and froze, as she met Sgt. Pie's stony gaze.

"If anyone asks, we completed our patrol, then doubled back to assist you."

Daring, for her part, inhaled and exhaled, before offering Maud a helping hoof. "Understood, Sergeant. I appreciate the backup."

The five sewer rats finished shimmying out of the access hatch after a minute or so, and Daring shut the hatch behind them, before turning back to address the patrol. "Alright. Lieutenant Cheerilee's missing patrol should have holed up in the runoff ditch across the street from that bigass apartment up the road. I think for now, we should operate under the assumption the bugs have observers or snipers or something on the top floors."

"Probably wise." Maud agreed, hefting her SMG. "We can probably use the brick wall along the road to crawl over without being visible to the top floors."

After a moment of surveying the wall herself, Daring nodded firmly. "Agreed, looks good as anything else to me."

The team got down low, and crept forward along the wall at a painfully slow pace. Idly, Daring noted that before the war, it was probably quite a nice privacy wall, judging by the effort put into the brickwork. At least, before the war and the bombs and fighting ruined it.

Oh well.

Sliding across finally into the drainage ditch, Daring wheezed softly in surprise as she just about tripped face first into a corpse.

Not a corpse, the sniper quickly corrected, as the frost covered pony shifted below her. "Oh fuck, hello there. Didn't mean to run you over." Daring apologized quietly and briefly,as she waved Maud and her team over with a wing.

"S'allright. Sergeant Ditzy Doo, First Vanhoover." The gray pegasus mare greeted, pulling herself into a low crouch as well. "You'll wanna stay low. Whole ton of bug snipers out there."

"Good to know, Sergeant Doo. Sergeants Yearling and Pie, from Delta Coy and Alpha coy, respectively. Cheerilee sent us." Daring greeted, as the patrol fell in with Ditzy's platoon in the drainage ditch.

"Glad to have any assistance. I bet Cheerilee got antsy when we didn't report in?"

"Nailed it in one."

"Yeah, I figured. Our radio's down, and that damned apartment's gagglefuck of snipers and MGs is keeping us from sending runners back to company; too dangerous."

"Makes sense. So the apartment's a no-go, in terms of feasibly capturing?"

"Now, I didn't say that." Ditzy chimed, glancing back at the building. "But there's a whole gaggle of snipers over there and my own sharpshooter, Light Step, doesn't want to get picked off."

"Mhn, yeah, that could be a problem I suppose. Where's Light Step?"

"Private Step's on the far right. Can't miss her, scrawniest mare I've got."
--

Private Light Step had never really recovered from the trek out of Vanhoover at the beginning of the war. She was still dull-coated, ramrod thin, and if other privates were to be believed, prone to night terrors.

But Light Step was a fine sniper, Daring noted, as she observed the pencil thin Unicorn mare. "Private Step? Sergeant Yearling. I hear you have a sniper problem?"

"Yes, Sergeant." The mare mumbled. Her breath was slow and steady, any movements deliberate and slothful on purpose. "I've counted scope glints from four different hides. Four snipers."

Yearling nodded. "I see. Locations last spotted?"

"Third floor; far left window, and third window from the right. Fourth floor; one far right, one direct middle."

"Any signs of them moving positions?"

"No, Sergeant. They've been pretty sedentary. I've been observing since we got here."

Daring nodded again, rubbing her chin with a wingtip. "Right. So, how's their aim?"

"Not the greatest, not the worst."

Yearling hummed then crept back over to Ditzy. "I need a runner for sniper bait."

"A runner for what now?"
--

"This is a stupid idea, Sarge!" The unfortunate private- Snap Freeze- complained with a hiss, shifting her weight back and forth whilst Derpy snorted.

"It's either that or stay here until they find the brain cells to rub together and start ranging mortars. Your call, private."

"Okay, but why me, Sarge? Green Grass is faster."

"Because Green Grass has a fatass head and a fatass body. Now get ready for my mark."

Daring and Light Step looked over from their positions on either end of the ditch, and gave Ditzy a nod each.

"Mark! Covering fire from the emma-gee!"

Snap Freeze leapt up from her spot in the snow covered ditch and took off at the dead sprint into the snowstorm, as Ditzy's Vickers gun team began to lay down suppressing fire towards the apartment complex.

Autumn raised her rifle to eye level, and began frantically scanning the apartment building's upper floors, where Light Step had pointed out- there, a small shift of movement, only just visible past the heavy snowfall. Eyeballing the distance as she squinted through her rifle sight, her hoof tensed around the trigger handle, as she centered her sight, adjusting for distance as the Changeling no doubt did the same.

The rifle in her hooves barked suddenly, as she eased far enough into the trigger for it to discharge. To her satisfaction, she watched some sort of spray- probably blood- erupt from the enemy sniper, as Light Step's rifle echoed out as well. Assuming she hadn't missed, that left two, as Daring went back to scanning the upper floors.

No doubt the two changeling sharpshooters were doing the same now, assuming they'd heard their rifles over the steady thrum of machine gun fire.

Or not, as a flash of light from inside one of the dark rooms on the upper floor took a potshot at Snap Freeze, missing her head by a couple of inches as she raced across the snow.

Daring returned fire, nailing the sniper, but swore to herself as the last sniper's shot slammed into the snow-covered berm of the ditch directly to her front. Thankfully, Light Step's rifle cracked shortly after, and the unicorn waved an all-clear down the trench line.

Derpy, Catching it as well, waved a wing to her platoon as well as the sewer rats. "Let's go everypony! Keep low and watch those bug MGs! Base of fire, break it down and get moving! Regroup on the first floor! Let's go, let's go!"

The ponies let loose a cheer, as they rose up, and the firefight began in earnest. Daring, still back at the trench with Step, snapped off a shot that pegged a changeling machine gunner, though not before a burst of his cut down teo of Derpy's soldiers. Light step was firing as well, though they both halted as Derpy's platoon closed and began heaving grenades into the building.

"Okay, time to go, kid." Daring ordered aa the explosives sent shrapnel and gore flying through the apartment. "Let's catch up."

"Right behind you, Sarge." Light Step stated, standing up and galloping after Daring, as the pair ran to catch up to the platoon, who had moved off the first floor and up to the second, as well as down to the basement.

The pair of snipers entered the house as machine gun fire chattered above and below them, as well as the heavy thuds of hoof falls on the wooden floorboards.

After a few moments, the gunfire stopped. "Clear up!"

"Clear down!" Came the reply from the basement.

"Casualties?!" Ditzy barked, as her platoon checked bodies and took up defensive positions.

"Coffee cake and Ash Wood, Sarge! They bought it from that bug MG."

"Dammit. Grab their rifles and tags, and move 'em down to the basement. The bugs liked this building, they're gonna want it back. Gimme two runners from the sewer team to report back to Cheerilee!"

Maid's voice cut through the shuffling movements, as Daring and Step passed Ditzy's vickers team lugging their gun upstairs. "I'll send Lugnut and Wind Chill. You two, report back to Lieutenant Cheerilee at Alpha Company command, let her know the apartment building is secure for the time being and will need reinforcements as soon as is possible."

"Yes sergeant. Stay safe."

"No promises, privates. Ditzy, I think we can probably salvage the changeling machine gun from downstairs."

"I agree; that'll give us two, and we're gonna need all the firepower we can get our hooves on, I'm betting. This… this is about to get ugly."

Comments

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Statement: Intriguing.