No Heroes in War

By

Tealfeather123

Chapter 1

The scenery was peaceful and quiet, as my surrounding was filled with tall green trees and soft green grass. The cool wind blew from above, making the leaves rustle and the flowers and grass sway as they were blown gently. I looked around me and enjoyed the beautiful sight, thinking that it looked calm and peaceful and filled with tranquility. Nothing could have ruined this place that was made by nature and for a moment I believed that. I believed that beauty such as this could never be destroyed or be blemished by anything. For anything that would do such a thing would have its conscience stop it. But deep inside I knew that was not true. I knew that it would not last forever and so I tried to enjoy it as much as I can before it disappears.

But the beauty of the land disappeared quicker than I thought when a sudden shrieking sound zipped towards us before being engulfed by a large explosion. The explosion rang in my ears as I saw dirt shoot up, just a few feet in front of me. Instinct suddenly kicked in, as I plumped myself on the ground, keeping low and sticking close to the dirt. Screaming and hoof steps were soon heard, as I saw fellow soldiers hit the ground and gallop for cover.

The soldiers, who were walking in columns as we followed a dirt path, all took cover on the ground. We quickly change position from quietly patrolling the beautiful land to panicking in fear and taking cover. Some of us moved far from each other, as more shells fell on us, keeping a distance from the other. While most of us lay on the ground in fear not, knowing what to do and waiting for a leader to instruct us.

But who could blame us? This was out first time in combat, and despite out months of training, we were still green and inexperienced in the line of fire. So situations like this were new to us. Most of us didn't know what to do or just completely forgot the all our training.

Sad to say, I was one of them. For a while I just lay on the ground and kept my head low while having my hooves over my head and tucking my metal helmet. With my eyes closed in fear, I felt my body shake and shiver as I hoped that this was just a nightmare and it would soon be over. But of course it wasn't. This was the real thing and I must face it or die.

"Spread out! Spread out!" My platoon sergeant yelled as he tried to keep low and inspect out columns. "We don't want one shell wiping out a squad do we? So spread out!"

The sudden feeling of pain, as a hoof hit me on my side, distracted me from my fear and made me look away from the ground. Looking up, I saw the platoon sergeant looking down at me with a crossed expression.

"Do you want to die, private?" He asked me, with a stern voice. A few feet behind him a shell landed, sending shrapnel towards a poor pony, as he tried to move to a better position. The sound of shrapnel hitting a body was like punching a nag of flour. I watched as the pony fall on the ground with a thud before planting himself on the dirt. A pool of blood soon formed around him, as a medical pony rushed by and try to save him.

I felt paralyzed and stiff as I watched. 'That could have been me.' I thought. The thought of getting hit by a shell anytime scared me and for a moment my body frozen in fear. But I was soon snapped out of the trance when the platoon sergeant kicked me once more, with his fore hooves, and shouted:

"I asked you a question, private! Do you want to die on this bloody dirt road?"

"Nn….no se….sergeant…." I stammered as I gave him a shaky look.

"Good." He said nodding. "Then I suggest you find better cover before a shell hits you and rips you to bits. Now move!"

I turned my head to the left and noticed some ponies already taking cover behind the thick trees, which were parallel to the dirt path. In fact, my squad was there. I must have been caught up by the fear of dying that I didn't notice them shift towards the cover of the trees. So I immediately moved towards them, keeping low and moving fast.

My rifle swung left to right, from my neck as the straps held it there, while I moved towards the trees. Like any standard issue Equestrian rifle, mine was semi-automatic and made specifically for pony use. The stock of the rifle was meant to rest on a pony's shoulder, when being fired, so that it could absorb the force of a shot being fired. On the left side of the rifle, near the area where the barrel connects with the stock, was the handle. The handle was meant to be grabbed by the jaws, so that it could be held and aimed properly. The sights lay in front of it while the trigger was on the handle. To fire the gun, all you have to do was bite hard on the trigger. All of this could be done by using the mouth only, which was useful since most ponies (For example, pegasi like me) don't have magic like unicorns.

"I'm glad you could to finally join us." A cream colored earth pony mare said as she watched me jump towards the rest of the squad. She was taking cover behind a tree that had large roots, which were like small wooden walls, surrounding her on both sides. Her helmet was loosely placed on top of her head while her raspberry mane flowed out of it. She didn't seem to be worried at the fact that we were being bombarded; in fact she was very calm and relaxed. I wondered how she was able to stay relax in a situation like this and wondered if she would tell me her secret.

"Oh, shut up Roseluck!" I said as I crawled towards her. There was enough room and cover around her, so she scotched over to the side for me.

"Don't you know that you're supposed to spread out and not bunch up?" She informed me.

"Yeah…well…." I said, remembering that basic rule of engagement. The real reason I moved towards her was I was scared, scared of the fact that I could die and die alone. The feeling of having someone beside me reassured a safe feeling and gave me the idea that I was not alone. Besides, she seemed like she knew what she was doing, even if we were both green. Too bad it broke a basic rule of staying alive.

So I moved away from her, taking cover on a small depression on the ground, that I found really convenient.

As I took cover there, I looked towards the dirt path to see one of the craziest sights that I have encountered. There, standing in the middle of the path, where three pones. The first pony, a tall gray unicorn, wore a green hath with a Colonel's insignia (Which was a silver eagle) on it. The second one, an orange unicorn mare, wore a green helmet (Similar to mine) that had a Lieutenant's insignia (Which were two silver bars that were parallel to each other) on it. The third pony, a green earth pony, had a sergeant's insignia on his sleeve band. The earth pony sergeant stood slightly behind them, with a flag placed on his saddle bag. Inspecting the flag I noticed that it was the regimental flag, with a picture of two swords crossing each other and the number 4 imprinted on it.

Looking at the sergeant, I noticed that he was trying to keep low while standing in the middle of the path. Unlike the Colonel, who was standing tall and proud, the sergeant was scared and flinched at each explosion. I felt sorry for him, seeing that his job could lead to his death, but knew that it was better him than me.

"The Colonel must be crazy!" I heard Roseluck exclaim. "Where does he think we are the parade ground? He's going to get himself killed."

I had to agree with Roseluck on this one, since even I knew that he made a large target. The Colonel was known for following everything by the book and following tradition, since he extensively drilled us with marching and all during training. But does he really think that walking around with the regimental banner was a good idea?

The three ponies pushed forward before stopping near us. I could just hear what they were saying through the sounds of shells falling and exploding around us.

"Lieutenant Silver, I want those mortars silenced." The Colonel told the orange unicorn. She nodded before giving a salute and rushing forward towards our squad. She then stood there and looked around, before her eyes fell upon our squad leader.

"Sergeant, move your squad forward. We need those mortars silenced. The rest of the platoon will follow; your squad will take point."

"Yes, mam." Our sergeant, Sgt. Lance, said as he saluted. "Alright everyone, you heard the Lieutenant, let's move out."

I didn't really want to move away from the little piece of cover I was in, since I knew that I was safer there than walking around, but I knew that I had no choice. I didn't want to get arrested and get court-martialed for cowardice. So I stood up and started following the squad, while more shells fell upon us.

The squad moved forwards, keeping close to the edge of the forest, while following the dirt path. The mortar fire seemed to follow us, since they always seemed to fall on top of our position. This made our movement slow and cautious.

We soon reached a bend on the path, where it makes a sharps right turn. The sound of mortars being fired was loud and I knew that we were getting close. They must have been on the forest, before the path bends to the right. As we continued to follow it, the sudden ripping sound of a machine gun firing caused as all to hit the ground. Most of us manage to hit the ground for cover, but the poor earth pony who was leading the point wasn't lucky. Bullets ripped through his body, puncturing through his skin as it made a loud thud at each hit. There were three hits on him and he was soon a dead mass that was bleeding on the ground.

The squad started to return fire and my ears were soon filled with the sound of guns being fired. From rifles to the machine gun in front of us, the sound of war filled the air. Although my squad mates were letting lose and firing everything they had. I just lay there in shock. The reality of combat was just sinking in on me, as bullets flew and shells fall all around us. Unlike training, where we shot a card board targets, we were in actual combat. The targets that we were shooting at were firing back and trying to kill us!

"Hey, don't just sit there! Shoot back!" I heard Roseluck shout at me, as she took a position on my left and fired her gun. For a moment, I just watched her, not sure what to do. But I soon regained my senses and let my training kick in.

So I grabbed my rifle, holding the handle by my jaws and positioning the stock on my shoulder. I then aimed it towards the flash of the machine gun and fired. Biting on the trigger, the gun fired a shot, sending a bullet towards the direction I pointed it at. The force of the gun firing pushed on my shoulder, as the recoil of the gun applied pressure on it. But it was nothing that I couldn't handle, since I fired gun before during training. The bullets flew through the air at a speed that I could not see them. But I knew that they were flying towards the target I aimed at. Whether it hit or not, I didn't know.

I continued to fire and fire until the sergeant started to move around our position and give us orders.

"This is getting us nowhere." He exclaimed as he noticed that shooting from afar is not hitting the machine gun. "We need to get up close." He then looked towards us, before his eyes fell on me and Rosé luck. "Midnight, Roseluck, I want you two to move to the left and through the forest. Get towards the flank of that machine gun and eliminate it. We'll provide covering fire if anything goes wrong."

"You got it, Sergeant!" Roseluck said immediately before looking towards me. "Alright, let's go!" She then raced of towards the trees, as bullets landed near her.

Taking a deep breath, I cleared my mind and quickly rose up. I then dashed towards the trees at full speed. I could hear bullets land near me and I swear I heard one nearly miss my head. But I got luck and manage to reach the cover of the trees unscratched.

We moved through it, swerving through the trees as we went as fast as we can. With all the equipment I had, I found it difficult to move fast. I noticed that Roseluck to was also having a hard time, as I heard her panting as we ran. But we ignored our weariness and continued to move until we got to our destination.

Reaching the spot, we took cover on a small bump of dirt on the ground. We kept silent as we listened to the machine gun firing. Firing at our squad which was trying to fire back to no avail, as the bullets hit the bags of sand that acted as their protection. Crawling forward, we moved towards a position that would enable us to get a peek at them.

Moving forward, I saw three Griffons on the sand bag position. Two of them were servicing the machine gun, while the other was looking through his binoculars. Behind them was a mortar position that had six more Griffons. Two mortars fired away at our positions and I noticed that the one with the binoculars was giving them orders. He must have been the one spotting for them.

"Alright…" Roseluck began. "…I'll take the two on the machine gun while you take the one looking through the binoculars. That wouldn't be too hard for you, would it?

I shook my head, since I felt my throat dry from the rush of fear and excitement of the moment.

"Good." She said before adding. "Don't worry about the ones on the mortar, I think we'll catch them by surprise and they probably won't have enough time to get their rifles."

I nod once more before grabbing my rifle again. Keeping the handle in my jaws, ready to bite on the trigger, I aimed my sights on the Griffon's head. I didn't know how long I stayed still, but it felt like hours, as time slowed down. I waited for the right moment, gently squeezing on the trigger, before…

BANG!

I fired my gun and felt the recoil push on my shoulder. I heard Roseluck fire two shots and saw the two Griffons on the machine gun fall, as their blood burst into a sprinkle. But as I looked towards the Griffon I aimed at, I noticed that he was still alive, and angry. I watched as the griffon took something before raising his arm and throwing it towards us. The object could be seen flying through the air and heading towards us. But as it did, Roseluck fired her gun once more and killed the Griffon with a bullet on the head, blowing his brains all over the place and spreading it on the sand bags.

The object he threw landed on the ground between the two of us and as my eyes fell upon it, I felt my heart stop. Roseluck too noticed it and her eyes went wide as she saw it. It was a grenade! Fear ran through me as I started to run my possible options. I could attempt to race away, but with my gear weighing my down, would I get away fast enough?

So I did the next best option, which, now that I look back at it, sounds idiotic. I let go of the handle of my rifle and took the grenade between my jaws. I now had a piece of deadly explosive in my jaw and if I didn't act fast my brains would be spread all over the ground and on Roseluck's cream fur (If she doesn't get hurt by the grenade itself).

Summing up all my strength, I threw the grenade towards the direction of the mortar crew. I then planted myself on the ground before hearing a loud explosion. The sound of the explosion made me glad that it didn't blow while it was between my jaws.

Looking up, Roseluck turned her attention towards the enemy position before giving me a large grin. "Looks like you did a great job, private." She told me as she patted me on the back with her hoof.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"Well take a look for yourself." She told me. So I moved up and looked towards the direction she was looking.

Towards it, where the mortar crew used to be, was a pile of dead Griffon bodies. Their bodies were mangled and placed to positions I didn't know a Griffon could do. Blood was splattered everywhere while one of the mortars was covered with it. The other mortar was tipped over and was planted on top of one of the Griffons. One of the Griffons, which lay on the ground, had a large wound on his stomach, spilling his intestines and other organs out in long lines. Fluids spilled out, combining with the blood on the ground. I couldn't believe that the grenade did all that damage, which made me even happier that it didn't explode on me. But the gravity of the situation still dawned on me. I was the one that did this. I killed them and turned them to this bloody mess of intestines and thick red blood.

"That must have been one powerful grenade." Roseuck said as she continued to pat me on the back. Grinning, she looked to me with a proud voice. "Nice job, kid."

But her happiness was not shared by me. I didn't feel happy when I killed them. Griffon or not, they were still living being. Or, at least, they used to be. Now they were pieces of flesh and organs, which would soon be buried under the ground. Looking at it, I knew that it would give me nightmares. Terrible dreams that I would never forget. These were terrible things that were just a part of the horrors of war.