Frontlines

by MlpHero

Chapter 2: D-day

June 6th
0600 Hours
Off the Shore of The Griffon Country, Griffondy
Pvt. Spearhead

Spearhead, Boltaction, Rainbow, Flash, and Gallus sat at a table.

“So he ask me for my watch and I’m like, ‘what the hell do you want my watch for? You’re the captain of the goshdamn griffonball team.’” Gallus said moving his knife between his talons. He was so focused on the conversation that he accidentally cut himself a bit. He looked at the wound in between his talons. He slid the knife over to Spearhead.

Rainbow looked up. “Okay,” she started, “let’s make this more interesting.” She pulled a small pendent from around her neck, “Princess Luna, Guardian of Soldiers, she’s had my back since Yakyakistan.” She dropped the pendant onto the table. “Gallus, three times in ten seconds, she’s all yours.”

Gallus raised his talons, “I don’t know.”

“Oh, you could always wuss out.”

Spearhead slid the knife back to Gallus, “my money’s on Gallus.”

He grabbed the knife, “Alright, I’m in.”

Flash looked away, “I can’t watch.”

“Just time me when I’m ready,” Gallus replied, “now, back to my story, so me and my boys muscle our way into this poker game the opposing team had going on. We worked out a way they could signal to me everybody's cards, you should’ve seen the captains face when I took that pot.” He turned to Flash, “ready?” Flash nodded, “that’s what happens when you hustle a hustler, now.” He made the knife jump between his hands so gracefully, it could almost be considered a dance of its own. He finished and slammed the knife on the table, “You get flushed!”

“No fricking way!” Bolt said. Gallus slid the knife back over and reached his talon out to Rainbow.

“Mom said never shake hoofs with a griffon.”

“That’s not what she said last night,” Gallus replied winking. Rainbow looked like she’d seen a ghost.

“Eh, who needs a stupid pendant anyway?”

“Apparently you did,” Gallus said flashing the pendent.

“I’m gonna get something better, a real trophy, you’ll see.”

“Good luck with that.”

Spearhead was impressed. He’d never seen any creature do the knife game that fast before. He wanted to try it, but remembered it would be to easy, considering he had hoofs. Flash looked at his watch. “Oh crap!” He said, “briefings about to start, come on!”

The group got up and ran towards the briefing room, where Silverstream was giving them the run down of what to expect. “When you get to the beach, get ready to find cover,” she started, “they’ll have bunkers with MG’s. Also, mines and mortar strikes are aplenty, so watch where you walk.” She stepped down.

Shining Armor walked on. “Remember, who and what you fight for! Hooah?”

“Hooah!” The ponies repeated.

“That’s right, now head to the armory and get ready.”

The ponies and hippogriffs went to the armory. Spearhead walked to his respective armor stand and slipped on the armor.

“What’s this for?” Gallus asked curiously.

“Armor,” Spearhead replied slipping the chestplate on. His fur turned from its normal goldish yellow look to a snowy white color, his dark blue eyes turning into a much lighter blue. Boltaction, on the other hand, turned into a deep gray color.

“Why did it change you?”

“It’s a way to show patriotism, and to strike fear into our foes.” Spearhead picked up his rifle and revolver and left for the boat. He climbed down to the deck of the boat. Already he felt uncomfortable, especially with the water that laid across the floor of the boat. The boat started moving towards the shoreline. The ponies stood in formation. Spearhead looked over the side of the boat, the waves crashing and knocking the boat around. He looked at Gallus and Silverstream. The two had some form of connection, he just couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Alright,” Somepony started, it was the Sargeant, Sargeant Halberd, “get ready for the ramp to drop, you move or die!”

That vote of confidence didn’t really help. Spearhead took out a cigarette, and using the lighter he brought from home, lit it. He smoked it for awhile before he got bored and threw it over the side. He studied his surroundings. Some ponies were throwing up, probably a mixture of the heavy meal and the shaky water.

“Sir! We got incoming!” The driver yelled.

A mortar strike landed near the boat and exploded in the water. Then a hail of bullets came flying around the soldiers. “Everyone down!” Silverstream yelled. The soldiers ducked down as the bullets flew past them. Spearhead looked over the side, only to see mortars and bullets hitting the water. The boat hit the shore and the ramp dropped. Bullets flew in and soldiers dropped. Spearhead looked and saw the some of the bullets had cut through the soldiers like wet paper, some even maiming their limbs. He crawled over to the side of the boat and jumped over the side. He landed in the water, the armor weighing him down like and anchor. He looked around, seeing many ponies throwing off their armor and weapons and swim to the surface, other weren’t quick enough or were seasick and drowned. He tried to swim to the surface, but the armor was too heavy. Someone came from behind him and pushed him up. He surfaced and caught his breath, then looked around to see his savior. It was Silverstream! “Come on kid, move!” She said. He followed her orders, moving to the shoreline. While walking, a hippogriff from the boat next to him, jumped into the water while on fire. When he surfaced he was dead. When Spearhead got there, he saw a even more horrific sight. The bodies of hundreds, maybe even thousands of dead hippogriffs and ponies, some ponies out of guard form some in. He was so focused on the hellish sight that he didn’t realize that there were bullets coming his way. He turned and saw the bullets coming. He panicked thinking he was gonna die when Ember tackled him. The two got behind a nearby tank trap.

“Corporal, what do we do?!” He asked Ember.

“Like hell if I know!” She replied pulling a nearby BAR to her.

Another soldier was calling for help. Spearhead got up to help him, before another lightning strike of bullets tore the pony to pieces. Halberd dived into cover next to them. “Spearhead, join that battalion of pegasus up there!” He said firing his Thompson at the bunkers

“Yes sir!” He flew up to the others. They flew to were the Griffons were bunkered at. Somehow, even with this giant battalion, it still felt like a trap. He raised his rifle just in case. The battalion got closer, where they saw a giant defensive line of bunkers, closely followed by a small city. They noticed the bright spotlights that came from the city. “That’s the garrison!” Spearhead yelled. They got closer, very confident, only for another hail of bullets to come through, sounding like a million hornets. Spearhead could only watch as some Ponies got a quick and painless death, while some got hit in the wing a fell to their deaths. He only heard the gunshots and the screams of the pegasi who fell to their death. But then the gunfire stopped, which was confusing considering they’d only cut down a good fifty, while they still mobilized in hundreds. They just stood still, pointing their guns in all directions. The sound of wheels had drawn their attention. They stared in the direction of the sound, which turned out to be griffons rolling something towards their original position. “Should we shoot?” One soldier asked. The griffons moved the thing towards them, then out of nowhere another hail of bullets came flying towards them. However, these bullets seemed different, as they tore through pegasi like someone had thrown a rock at wet paper. Spearhead could only watch as the soldiers fell down dead, as the gun blew the top half of their bodies off. A pegasus came flying to Spearhead, “we gotta move now—“ he was cut off by a bullet that blew his entire upper body off, covering Spearheads hooves in blood. Spearhead and the remaining Pegasus flew back down to the ground. Some soldiers fell to their death as both normal and cannon fire decimated them. Those who’d survived landed back down on the ground.

Spearhead ran over to Shining, avoiding the giant guns fire. “Sir!”

“Yes Private?”

“The griffons! They have a garrison in the nearby city!”

“You must be talking about Griffatin.” Another cannon shot flew past them, hitting a wounded Pony and tearing his head off. “Celestia’s mercy.” He looked up to Spearhead. “Private take this!” He said passing Spearhead a metal rod. “Bangalore, take it to the barbed wire wall!” Spearhead nodded and made a break for the wall. He had to avoid all of the mines, mortars, gunfire and more. He dived behind the wall and waited for more soldiers to show up. Boltaction took cover beside him.

“Spearhead!” He yelled, “use the banger, I’ll cover you!” He positioned his rifle to face the defilade, “after we breach, keep pushing towards the bunker!”

Spearhead pulled the bangalore from over his shoulder and aimed it at the barbed wire. “Light it! Light it!” Boltaction yelled.

He pulled the pin and threw the bangalore onto the wire, “fire in the hole!” The explosion sent a deafening ringing down his ear as he watched everyone around charged into battle, some getting cut down by the MG fire. Flash helped him up.

“Come on Spearhead!” He said grabbing Spearheads’ hoof. The two ran into the battle.

Spearhead ran two a nearby gunner nest and jumped in. A griffon appeared and tried to shoot him, but Spearhead was faster, putting two bullets in his chest. He ran out and saw a griffon shanking a pony. When the pony fell down, Spearhead shot at the Griffon, but missed, and the rifle made its signature ping. Spearhead tried to draw his revolver, but the griffon tackled him. With the pistol knocked away from him, the griffon raised the knife up, but was put down by Gallus with his rifle. Gallus stared in horror as he’d just realized what he’d done.

“I just killed one of my own...”

Spearhead looked at Gallus, knowing this was probably hard on him. He looked up and saw the big gun aimed at Gallus, who was still standing there. He instantly jumped up and tackled Gallus into a trench. He looked at Gallus, who was still traumatized. “Gallus come on!”

“Am I... Am I evil?”

“No, your not. It was just natural instinct, come on Gallus, push forward!”

“Okay!” He took a breath in, “okay.”

The two ran up the nearby hill. Spearhead took this time to reload his rifle. Silverstream looked up at the guns’ dugout. “Spearhead, Rarity, Boltaction, go capture that gun.” The three nodded and left for the cannon. The group moved as quietly as they could, as they wanted to ambush the griffons. They took cover behind some crates. They counted to three, then they let lose, cutting down their enemies like they were shooting targets back at Basic. The griffons fell as hard as they’d hit. The ponies ran over to the cannon.

“The hell is this thing?” Rarity asked. Spearhead wall around to what appeared to be the trigger. He looked through the cross hairs, which had a line going through the middle of it with a metal dot in the center.

“Looks like a cannon,” Spearhead replied. He pulled the trigger and the cannon fired.

Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack!

The cannon smoked like a stove after it fired the rounds. Spearhead motioned for Boltaction and Rarity to help him push it back to the squad. The cannon was surprisingly not that heavy, but was actually light, even with Rarity not using magic. They moved it to the squad, who stared in awe at the cannon.

“The Höllensturm,” Gallus said.

“The what?” Rarity replied.

“That’s it’s nickname,” he said, “it’s Griffish for ‘Hell Storm’. But it’s real name is the Flak Cannon.” He walked around the gun, admiring it like it was a diamond. Ember came running towards them.

“Captain! Lieutenant!”

“Yes Corporal?”

“Griffons, over the hill!” She said pointing at the nearby hill.

Shining turned to Spearhead, “Private, can you—“

“All ready on it.” Again, the gun wasn’t heavy, which was surprising seeing as how it did so much damage. They positioned the cannon and aimed it at the charging griffons. Spearhead cranked the handle and let loose. He decimated the griffons, well at least those who couldn’t get to cover, those were picked of by Rarity and her sniper rifle. Spearhead backed away from the gun as the barrel smoked like a cigarette. He was in a mixture of disgust and amazed.

“That thing is evil,” Ember said, “and I would know.”

“Come on, we got a job to do,” Shining said, then looked at two more soldiers, “you two, get on that gun, let’s turn it against those sons of bitches.”

Walking through the war-torn city was somewhat eerie, as it was new soil that they were walking on, and anything could happen. Spearhead looked down to his hooves, the sound of his metal boots click-clacking with every step he took. The town was quiet, and only the sounds of marching could be heard, with the occasional whisper here and there. He looked up at the sky, which had been filled with big grey clouds. Then thunder came a’ knockin’. Shining raised one of his hooves up.

“Alright, Sergeant Halberd,” he started, “you take a squad and capture the town hall. Me and Lieutenant Silverstream will find an exit out of this dump.”

Halberd nodded and motioned for his squad to follow him. Spearhead and several others walked deeper into the city, checking every corner and every alley. He looked at the Rifle he was holding, the mud and sand from the beach covered it. He noticed Flash closing a container that read Griffon Shoreline, Griffondy: June 6th. He walked over to Flash and asked him about the container. He explained that each one held soil from each place he visited while deployed. Spearhead nodded and walked away. He noticed that Halberd was looking at Gallus in a strange way. Gallus noticed and backed away. He turned to Spearhead.

“What’s wrong with Herr Halberd?”

“Herr?” Spearhead asked.

“It’s Griffish for sir or mister.”

“Oh, well I don’t know. Sarge hasn’t been this on edge, even after all we been through.”

A small noise came from a nearby store. The soldiers turned and aimed their guns in the direction of the sound, all except Fluttershy. “tu uns nicht weh!”

Gallus looked up, “wir nicht, du kannst rauskommen,” he said in his griffon dialect.

Three griffons stepped out. “Don’t shoot, we’ll leave.” The family ran away.

“So they can speak Equestrian?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah, but they speak Griffish here for obvious reasons,” Gallus replied. One of the griffons came running back. He looked at Gallus.

“für griffon und ruhm,” he said, “for Griffon and Glory.”

“For Griffon and Glory,” Gallus replied. The griffon nodded and ran back to his family. Halberd looked at him.

“For Griffon and Glory, huh?” He said.

“Yes sir, not everyone agrees with the new regime,” he said, “some griffons started resistances, and are fighting for freedom.”

“Interesting, everypony watch your shot, there are still civilians out here.”

The soldiers marched to the town hall. When they got there, they noticed a few griffons running away.

“Get them!” Halberd said, “you five, with me!”

Spearhead and the other four soldiers followed the Sergeant. They walked to the door. Spearhead bucked the door down, then the soldiers walked in. They looked around the town hall room. A hail of machine gun fire flew into the room, everypony dropped. Spearhead got behind a nearby table. He stayed as quiet as he could, when the griffons walked in. One griffon took his helmet off and wiped his forehead. Spearhead looked at Sergeant Halberds body, who was twitching. He used a nearby mirror to see the exposed enemy. He took a deep breath in and shot at two griffons. One fell down dead and the other injured. He ducked behind the table again. He heard the living griffon yell something.

“Hilfe! jemand!”

Spearhead looked in the mirror. The griffon wasn’t armed, at least not that he could see. He heard movement coming from in front of him, but when he turned, it was just Halberd getting up. The Sergeant started limping towards the downed griffon. He looked at the griffon for awhile, before drawing his Pistol.

“No wait! I have a family—“

Bang!

By this time, Gallus has run in and saw Halberd shoot the griffon. He stared at the Sergeant in horror as he dropped his rifle. “Sir, you— you didn’t have to shoot him, he— he was surrendering.”

“Gallus look,” he started, “there is only one rule in war, kill or be killed,” he pointed to the dead griffon, “it is us, or them!” Gallus just nodded, picking up his rifle. Halberd turned to Spearhead, “Private, that was you on the gun right?”

“Y— yes sir.”

“Good job out there,” he said moving past Spearhead. While walking he patted him on the shoulder and said, “worthy of a promotion, I believe.”

Spearhead turned to Gallus who looked at the dead griffon. “Kill or be killed my flank.” He walked over to the dead griffon, drawing his knife and looked at the talon. Than, he craved in an ‘X’ with FGAG in going through the middle.

Spearhead took out his journal and drew the symbol as best as he could. The two left out and followed Sergeant back to the others. They walked to where the rest of the platoon had set up a small base camp. He sat around the campfire and ate the MRE’s that we’re provided. Spearhead pulled out his journal, and looked at the sky. A small drizzle of rain came down. He quickly wrote in the journal before it could get ruined.

Taking this beach is somethin’ I’ll never forget, especially with how many Ponies got killed. Only Celestia knows when this war will end.

On the other note, Sergeant Halberd had killed a surrendering Griffon. I’m not sure if he was putting him out of his misery, or just amping up the bloodshed. I sure hope it ain’t the latter, otherwise I would not want to be on his bad side. That’s all for now. Celestia, please watch over us.

—Pvt. Spearhead

Author's Note:

Translations

tu uns nicht weh= don't hurt us (German)

werden wir nicht, du kannst rauskommen= we won't, you can come out (German)

Hilfe! jemand= Help! someone (German)

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why is there a profanity tag if we don't actually get to hear said profanity?

[MlpHero]

9905920
Just wanted to be on the safe side