My Little Pony: Sleeping Giant
Chapter 14: Not Gonna Die
These are our friends. Bound by our honor and our friendship to our allies, we will stand and fight against all that stand in the way of the safety of Singvogel. We will hold our ground against the fury of Celestia's armies. A shot rang out from the flanks. The 8.8cm anti-tank gun hit the frontal armor of an M25 medium tank, and it burst into a fireball.
The tank crew-ponies were fleeing from the inferno, screaming with their manes and pelts on fire. We did the merciful thing to end their pain, and shot them. It did not stop the advance of the infantry-ponies on both of our flanks. The Equestrian Ponies attacked the flanks while the Gritish Ponies charged the slope from the front supported by their tanks
The tanks advanced in a wedge formation only to have the lead Centurion tank get hit by a high velocity armor piercing shell from one of our Type 6 'Youkai' medium tanks. The commander's copula was blown off, and there was an flaming orange light where the shell hit the tank at the front of the hull. Bullets from rifles and machine guns rang in chaos
From our entrenched positions, we shot at every pony that climbed up. Yet one bullet too many was shot. A bullet hit it's mark on White Lotus below the horn, between the eyes. She fell back in the trench, "Byakuren?! Byakuren!" I yelled, holding her body in my hooves. Her eyes were open. Her mouth was a bit agape with a trickle of blood from her lips.
Keen Eye gasped with her hooves at her muzzle "Oh no..." she gasped in shock at White Lotus's dead body. Her eyes welled with tears for the fallen mare. She went up to me, and put a comforting hoof on my shoulder. Amid the rain of artillery shells and machine gun fire. Amid her tears mixed with mine, we looked to see our tanks advancing forward.
I put my hoof on her shoulder, and I smiled back. There was only one thing on my mind: 'for her'. I looked to a griffon-soldier named Gloria armed with a Panzerfaust 250. She nodded, and looked at a heavy machine gun nest in the way of our advance. She fired a rocket, and destroyed the machine gun. I unsheathed my katana, and yelled a battlecry.
Following alongside me were Keen Eye, Valiant Charge, Grey Ghost, and Blackjack to lead the charge. With them were Princess Ghislaine, and Wilhelmina De Faucon leading the Griffons and Mountain Hippogriffs. I saw the pony-soldier officer reloading his pistol, and chopped off his head. Wilhelmina used her talons to slash, and bleed out a pony's throat
"No mercy! None!"
The pony-soldier held his bleeding throat, choking on his own blood as he fell dead on the field. She spun, and shot another in the head. The artillery did not cease, and we did not let it deter us as we ran ponies through with bayonets and bullets. White Lotus's death lit a fire in us. Our tanks knocked out every enemy tank that attacked us on this day.
I gritted, and gnashed my teeth as I slashed and cut down everypony in my path. A pony-soldier tried to crawl away after I chopped off his hoof. Before his magic could grab a pistol, I ran him through in the back and out the chest. My eyes welled with tears for my best friend. As we all charged the lines, I saw the pony-soldiers retreating to their lines.
I saw the machine guns waiting for us at their lines. I have no fear of them, or the ponies behind them. The tanks aimed their shells, and destroyed the machine gun positions one by one. Ponies were vaporized by direct hits, or torn apart until they were no more a pony's shape. We held our position on the field, and allowed the tanks to do their work.
The pony-soldiers began to run like rabbits. We had saved Singvogel, and saved Griffonstone. For some soldiers, it was a time to cheer for our victory. For me, and many of our officers, we had lost a dear friend. In the trench, I went up to White Lotus's body, and I closed her eyes for her "We won," I whispered. A medic came up to us with the bodybag.
Keen Eye came up to me, and we shared a hug, "I'm sorry...for your loss, she was my friend too" said Keen Eye, I looked into her friendly brown eyes, and placed a hoof on her shoulder. She did the same for me. I feel like I can share that same sisterly bond with her that I had with White Lotus. I can tell in her words that Keen Eye means what she says
White Lotus's body was taken, and placed in the bag. Though she died, it was a noble and honorable death. Even as I lose a friend, I know she is watching over me, and waiting in the next life. My friends offered their hugs, and condolences which I very much appreciated. I looked to my troops. They followed me into the heat of battle without questions.
I was proud of all of them. I expressed my proudness in them with a salute, and they all saluted back. For morale's sake, we brought out the beer and the sake. It helped me in numbing the pain. I looked to not only my troops, but my allied friends as well. They're all trying to help. My soldier-ponies are looking for a leader now that White Lotus is dead.
"White Lotus was a brave soldier, let us honor her" I raised as I raised a beer to my troops "let us honor all of those that gave their lives today" I added, they raised their beers and sake to me. Even Gio is still alive after the day's battle. Another day for him to see, and hold his wife again. It will be another day when I will soon get to see my family too.