User: Lunar Captain Prowler (Ret.)
Date: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R7-\
Location: /-INFORMATION REDACTED per order 77Y6R8-\
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/-BEGIN AUDIO LOG-\
Where was I? Ah, right, our deployment. After the leave in the city, Grit had tossed our flanks back onto our Hawk and sent us to Hollow Shades, situated west of Manehatten and Fillydelphia. The village itself was small and, honestly, not very important to Equestrian culture.
It was a good thing it wasn't important, for the war tore apart the basin that it resided in. All that's left now is empty trenches, craters, and numerous graves, some of which are unmarked. In fact, they're still pulling bodies and bones out of collapsed bunkers and mass grave sites.
That's where we were sent. A pony-made place of nightmare. What was our task there? "Assist local forces in pushing back the Imperial aggressors and collect any intel that you come across."
Grit translation: "Get out of my mane!"
Yep. Did I mention I hated her?
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/-END AUDIO LOG-\
A week. That's how long we have been in this Luna forsaken basin. A week of constant shelling and machine-gun fire. A week of failed strikes against the Imperials. A week of defense against their attacks. A week.
"I'm going to kill Grit," Surprise intoned suddenly.
"No you ain't," Bale replied as she played chess against Ice Mist, who had also been assigned to the destroyed basin. This had been a shock to the team, but it was especially a shock to Jetstream. Of course, the mare didn't disapprove of it. Jet had actually told the team the night before heading back that her and Ice were a couple. Her nineteenth one, as Cable had pointed out and was subsequently hit by the four mares for.
"At least," began Prowler, who was looking over a map of the basin that had troop positions drawn on top of it, "not in real life."
"Yeah. In my mind, I've already killed her fifty-eight times," Jagged added from where she sat beside Prowler, also looking over the map, "Each way different than the last."
"Cover her in jewels, drop her into a Diamond Dog den and watch her get torn apart," Cable stated from where he sat, manipulating the hard-case covered computer on his foreleg.
"Fifty-nine," Jagged announced with a smirk. A chuckle swept through the bunker that Meteor squad, and Ice Mist, had claimed as their home. It was barely able to house them comfortably but being comfortable was the least of their worries. Staying alive kind of overrode comfort.
"What would you do to her if you could Ice?" Gazer asked from where she sat next to Bale and Ice, watching their game with interest.
Ice chuckled before speaking, "Take a carbine, shove it up her rear as far as I can and depress the trigger 'til I run out of ammo," he paused as he moved a pawn forward, "then reload and fire again."
Stunned silence filled the bunker as the six members of Meteor looked at their sniper attache with jaws slack. Surprise was the first to laugh with the others following suit soon after, their jovial laughter spilling from the bunker and undoubtedly drawing looks from nearby infantryponies.
"Honestly," Bale began, wiping tears from her eyes, "I thought it was gonna have something to do with your sniper rifle."
"Nah, she's not worth Blizzard's attention," Ice replied evenly.
"You named your rifle?" Cable asked, not sounding the least bit surprised. They all knew that troopers occasionally named their weapons, especially snipers and heavy troopers, however it was from conversation's sake more than anything.
"Yep. She's taken care of me since she was first given to me."
"She? Better not let Jet find out you're with another mare," Jagged warned playfully.
"She already knows I've named my rifle," Ice stated with a slight blush on his cheeks from Jet's name being mentioned.
"Knowing Jet, she'd have probably just tried to invite her for a threesome anyway," Surprise joked before holding a hoof out to Cable, who he was seated close to. A couple seconds passed with Cable not averting his gaze from the small computer, "Oh come on, give me some fur. Don't leave me hanging."
Cable sighed and rolled his eyes before reaching out and reluctantly putting his hoof against Surprise's. Taking the half-hearted hoof bump, Surprise retracted his leg with a simple nod.
"Cable, what are you even looking at?" Gazer asked as she walked over to her coltfriend to look over his shoulder. When she did, Cable got up, turned so Gazer was in front of him, and sat back down.
"You know I hate people reading over my shoulder," he explained, "And I'm looking at the roster and manifest for the local forces. Our forces currently comprise of Second and Third Company from the Twenty-Fifth Lunar Brigade. Second Company is currently operating at sixty-one percent combat readiness while Third Company is operating at a mere thirty-seven percent."
"Thirty-seven percent?" Prowler asked, looking up from the map. He knew that Third Company was underponied but to hear the actual percentage...
"Correct. However, we have enough guns, vehicles, food, and ammunition to keep three full companies fat and happy for a month."
"Logistics mistake?" Bale questioned as she knocked aside one of Ice's pawns with a bishop.
"Possibly," Cable replied, "or High Command knew this stalemate would happen and wanted the Second and Third fully stocked to withstand a long duration of fighting."
"Why would High Command automatically anticipate a stalemate? Were they hoping for failure?" Ice asked as he avenged his fallen pawn.
"Very likely," Cable simply stated.
"Remember where we are," Jagged stated, "this basin can allow us to control the main roads and rails that lead to Canterlot. If they fall here, Canterlot itself will be in our sights."
"Anypony else wonder what they're going to do when this is all over?" Ice asked after the silence had dragged too long. Despite make conversation like he had wanted and expected. Instead, the silence just seemed to thicken in the bunker with everypony lost in thought. What would they do after the war? What could they do?
Even if they did find jobs that matched their talents, would they seriously be able to acclimate to the life of a normal civilian? Would they honestly be able to forget about the war and live life like it had never happened? No; they all knew they wouldn't. They couldn't; not after good ponies have given their lives for this war.
Before the silence could be called awkward, a loud boom permeated the bunker as loose dirt fell from the ceiling. After the boom of the artillery shell, the rat-a-tat-tat of machine guns began their song of death. Under the rattling machine guns, one could hear orders being shouted and hooves stomping against the trench floors.
"No rest for the wicked," Prowler muttered as he stood and levitated his assault rifle to him. Wearing nothing but his torso armor, he was a long-shot from the fully-armored, hooded appearance that Night Shadows regularly took. In these woods, though, wearing all that would have you dying from heat stroke.
It was only a half a minute before the rest of the team had their weapons ready. Like Prowler, most of them forsook everything but their torso plates and HUD system. The only one wearing something more was Ice Mist who wore his bandanna underneath a hood.
Funneling out of the bunker, they were immediately swept into the angry tide of ponies rushing one way or the other down the trench line. Infantryponies getting to position, couriers running messages, supply ponies hauling ammo, they all pushed to get to their destination faster. Just on the other side of the tide of ponies was what many referred to as 'The Battlements'.
The Battlements was an elevated dirt stretch that allowed a combat pony to aim their over the edge of the trench and fire at any attackers. Like the battlements on ancient castles, some wooden sections rose from the lip of the trench to allow the defenders to slip into cover when necessary. It was on this stretch, that Meteor squad stepped up and looked out into No Pony's Land.
Smoke rose from the ground itself, it seemed, but the unmistakable silhouettes of ponies could be seen in the smoke. Most fell in the smoke, their silhouettes disappearing from view. Others broke the smoke, wearing the golden combat armor of the Solar Empire. Those that broke the smoke fell shortly after doing so, screams of agony replacing war cries.
Meteor squad wasted no time in getting to the Battlements just across from their bunker. Joining the infantryponies already there, the squad began to open fire on the approaching Imperial forces. Each muzzle flash signified another fallen Imperial as they charged at the Lunar lines.
The fighting wasn't one-sided, however. Lunar soldiers began to drop from the Battlements, wounded or dead Prowler couldn't tell. A flash of light in the smoke caught Prowler's attention. The stallion followed it when it began to move. Within a second, it erupted from the smoke in the form of a rocket. It screamed through the air before slamming into a Lunar fortification to Meteor's left. The explosion sent a colorful mix of wood, dirt, fire, and blood into the air.
Turning his attention back on the front, Prowler continued to pick off target after target with his rifle. A resounding boom next to him accompanied the decapitation of an Imperial soldier. Beside Prowler, Ice smirked as his rifle's firing mechanism cycled a fresh round into the chamber. As soon as the bolt locked into place, Ice depressed the trigger with his magic and caused another Imperial to fall to the ground without their head.
A yellow light snapped into existence behind the Night Shadows. Spinning around, Surprise was the first to recognize what it was.
"Blinker!" he shouted as he turned and fired on the handful of Imperial soldiers that had suddenly appeared on the other side of the trench. In the middle of the group of soldiers was a unicorn with a golden hood over his head. The Imperial mage had teleported himself and his allies behind the Lunar lines in a gambit to break them.
Prowler spun around in time to be tackled by a knife wielding mare. Bringing her head up, she had every intention to plant the knife held in her mouth into Prowler's throat. Punching out with his hoof, Prowler caught the mare in her own throat. The shock from the hit caused her to stumble back and, at the same time, drop the knife. Wrapping his magic around the knife's hilt, Prowler drove the serrated blade into the enemy's chest. The body dropped to the dirt, spasmed once, and then stilled forever.
The spasm was lost on Prowler as he pushed himself back to all fours. With his rifle lost after the impact with the mare, Prowler drew his pistol and began to fire at the Imperial Blink group. They fell quickly under the combined fire but not without taking down a few Lunar soldiers. The forest, or what was left of it, was beginning to run red with blood as the Imperial mage teleported again.
"Surprise!" Prowler shouted. Said unicorn had his horn aglow immediately after the departure of the mage.
"Got his trail!" Surprise shouted. Every time a unicorn teleported, they left a thin trail in the magical realm, detectable only by trained unicorns. It was this trail that Surprise had found and followed to the Imperial's exit point. Using this trail, Surprise sent two armed grenades traveling through the magical realm to come out at the exact same point the Imperial mage did. The effects of the grenades would be unknown but it was the effort that counted in this case.
With the Blink group dispatched, Prowler turned around to the smoke-filled No Pony's Land. The smoke was dissipating now and the amount of Imperials had followed. With the attack coming to an end, Prowler looked for and found his rifle. Picking up the weapon, he shook off the mud that had gotten on it before firing at the remaining golden-armored troopers.
An unsure amount of time, it surely felt like hours to Prowler, after the beginning of the assault, the Lunar soldiers found themselves alone in their trenchline. No more Imperials charged at them and the silence was deafening. No pony cheered as they all knew that another attack would undoubtedly come tomorrow or that they would be forced into a charge by their commanders.
"Meteor, sound off!" Prowler shouted as he kept his eyes glued to the battlefield.
"Okay," Jagged called back.
"Ready for more," Surprise shouted.
Similar sayings were echoed by the rest of the squad, Ice included. With his squad accounted for, Prowler lowered his rifle and allowed a small smile to grace his lips. They had all survived another day. Bloodied and dirtied, no doubt, but they had all survived.
That in itself is a blessing from Luna, Prowler thought as he and his squad stepped back from the Battlements.
A/N: Here y'all go. Sorry for the wait, I got distracted by... well... a lot of things. For one, I am currently in Eatonville, Washington (far from home) due to the memorial services for my granddad.
Also, in case you haven't noticed, I've changed my pen name to ShieldedSpectre-Sandstorm Ink. It won't stay like that, though. About a week from now, I will change it to Sandstorm Inkwell to match the name of my OC. Any concerns about this should be addressed to me via Private Messages.
Anyway; as usual: questions, comments, concerns? Please leave a review.
