Western Front/ Champagne sector/ Petain's personnel command Headquarters/ January 1st/ 1917
"So, Gentlemen what is our current situation." Petain said calmly.
"Currently reports seem to be holding up we are not facing the Germans." General Henri Guarad said as he held in his one arm a field report. (Henri Guarad had his right arm shot off at Gallipoli fun fact)
"If I'm not mistaken the enemy based on their descriptions are spawns of hell specifically the fly lord Beelzebub if reports of their descriptions are to be believed." One of Petains staff officers said.
Petain internally sighed. The situation on the front was already scary considering the complete collapse of frontline trenches and the destruction of 3 full battalions of men as well as several regiments of the Corps De African. The loss of these Elite soldiers of the Corps de African didn't bod well with Petain. These elite soldiers couldn't be easily replaced. They might have been early war but certainly not now with the French army spread dangerously thin.
The last thing he needed was his staff getting scared that they were fighting some hell spawn. Which might be true, but that truth would have to be kept at bay. For now, one thing was clear. These creatures while dangerous were just as susceptible to bullets as any normal man.
He had compiled with his staff the little information on these creatures they knew. 1 they were attacking indiscriminate and anyone whether German or French could fall victim to their invasion. 2 they could be killed. Rather easily one might add. 3 There were new reports coming in of some wearing a type of blue armor that could deflect bullets, this would certainly be trouble. 4 they could fly and shoot acid beams out of a horn located on their foreheads. 5 and lastly reports of them capturing and cocooning soldiers were certainly disturbing. Petain was internally wondering if they these cocooned soldiers served as food for them later which the thought of was grislily or... Food for their offsprings. Disgusting.
Whatever nefarious goals these things had he already had thought of the consequences of these things reaching Paris or any major urban area would be. They would have to be bottled up in Champagne. He had already telegrammed French high command and Commander in Chief of allied Armies Robert Neaville directly.
Petain knew that if he told the whole truth he would not be believed so he told parts of it. He told them that a major breach in the Champagne front had occurred and that he needed men and more specifically the Shneider A1 tanks France had been developing to be sent immediately. He had heard positive reports about British mark V tanks at the Somme and with Frances first tanks just coming out of the assembly line he wanted to grab as many as he could and cobble them together on a test run against these new invaders. Hopefully they will provide some shock value and scare them off.
Petain lastly had sent runners to the Germans under a white flag to organize a ceasefire and necessary but brief alliance as he put it to stop the new threat. He doubted the Germans were in a position to reject his proposal as he'd heard they'd gotten the blunt of the attack from German soldiers captured while fleeing from their lines.
Petain snapped out of his inner thoughts and looked back at his bickering staff.
"Gentlemen." He said calmly as they halted their bickering and look over to him.
"We have been put in a drastic position however we cannot let these creatures, invaders make it out of the Champagne region. Even if it means cooperation with our German enemies. Right now, even if it may seem like it, we are at the center of the world. If we fail these things will soon be flying towards Paris, Loyn, Marseilles, Verdun, and other sights of our beautiful country. If we fail. If France fails then they will turn their eyes on the rest of Europe, then the middle east, Africa, Asia, the Americas. If we fail the world may as well end. We must not let them pass. If we do, then god damn us all." Petain said calmly yet with hints of passion in his old gravelly voice.
His staff officers look at him as the seriousness of the situation truly waned on them.
"I'm with you General" Henri Guarad said.
"Me too" another said.
"Me as well." Then another one said.
His staff slowly fell in line.
Petain and his staff then poured into the maps and reports to try to mark out how far the creatures had truly advanced. They had taken most of the heights his army had in the Champagne sector though they would yet to make headway into any of the towns on the French sector. He knew little about the German sector other than what the German prisoners had told him or their interrogators.
"We can establish a temporary line of defense along route 90 and the towns of Jockhery, Souain, Tahure, Ripont, and Cernay. These towns run along each other in a semi straight line making our job easier." Henri Guarad said as he drew a rough line using a red color pencil along the towns in a horizontal manner.
"We also seem to still have control of Butte De Souainn giving us the high ground in the area between Souain and Tahure as well as the Butte De Tohure which is right in front of Tahure granting us the high ground in this sector as well." One of his staff officers said circling the hills on the map with a blue colored pencil.
Petain looked over the map. To make this defense plan work he'd be forced to secede the towns of Auberive and Fontaine, but the ruins of both towns didn't offer much in strategic value and they were already probably coming under the occupation of those creatures considering how close those towns are to the Front trenches. While none of the creatures had been spotted in these ruined towns yet they were soon to fall considering the speed of their advancement.
Sacrificing two piles of rubble would never hurt the defense.
"Give the order to bring up the armies reserve we need every man available to hold the new frontline. Once we have halted the creatures we will push forward and kill every single one of them or drive them back to where they came from." Petain said.
"Yes General." His staff said.
As his staff soon hurried out of the room to relay his orders and to plan out the exact hasty defense for the towns and areas in-between them only Guarad remained in the room.
"This plan of yours better work Petain. The best-case scenario so far seems that we will get another Verdun." Guarad said calmly but with worry laced in his voice.
"At least the loss of hundreds of thousands of men will have meaning in this context if we get another Verdun. These creatures seem evil in nature. If they are the spawn of Beelzebub as many say, then its only appropriate that God is punishing Europe for waging such a bloodbath of a war. God might be nudging us in the right direction which is towards humans being peaceful towards each other. For now, though theology aside the survival of France is of upmost importance and the slaughter of the invading creatures." Petain said cooly as he put on his military cap and adjusted it into position.
"Ay" Guarad said in agreement as he turned to leave.
Petain once again looked out the window and saw the smoke of the battle in the distance rising and could already picture the screams of the dead and dying in their fight against such horrific invaders. He shuttered at the thought of encountering one of the bugs like things if their description proved to be true.
Western Front/ Champagne/ French sector/ Bouconville/ January 1st/ 1917
Louis and the men of his worn-out battalion along with a company that hitchhiked with them marched across the muddy snow that dotted the shelled-out road leading to the town up ahead. He had found an enemy worse than the fucking Germans and the disgusting ticks. The bug/Pony creature things that had flown around his trench slaughtering his comrades.
Half of his battalion was gone and only 100 or so of them remained. Jaques, his friend, walked alongside him trying to keep up. They'd been running for the last day fighting off any forward elements of the creatures that dared get close. A battered company of Moroccans and Zouaves had reinforced them.
He could smell the disgusting and rotten wounds of the wounded that had been hit by the acid and survived. It produced a smell more fowl than the dead and he and several other could barely control the urge to throw up. The stench and the sound of the sizzling sounds wounds of the wounded produced as some of the acid still burned slowly through their skin as they cried in agony was horrible.
He would rather get gassed than have to smell the awful stench. That said something about how horrible the smell was.
As they walked, he spotted something familiar up ahead. Another soldier! He was wearing the typical standard issue blue overcoat and helmet and seemed startled out of his mind. Louis easily guessed it was due to the horrifical maimed body beside the man. Must have been a new recruit.
He spoke up as he ran towards the startled soldier.
"Comrade what happened." He asked.
The man looks up at him and began to babble something in a foreign language. English to be exact. Great he was one of the foreign legionaries. Louis new little English and cursed whatever officer oversaw the man's unit for not teaching this legionary one word of French. He had come across this issue when his battalion was serving next to one of the foreign legions.
Some officers were too lazy to teach their soldiers basic French and just relayed orders in English.
He felt bad for the poor soldier who seemed to probably American.
"American?" Louis asked as he held his hand down to the man. The soldier was clearly in shock as his limbs refused to move properly for a good 2 minute before Louis managed to get the young man who seemed to be in his teens up. The man was a nervous wreck as he looked around nervously as the other approaching soldier.
He was definitely one of the new foreign legion recruits. Probably never thought he'd be fighting some bug things from hell. No one was expecting that, but it did not surprise him new recruits were hit harder.
"American?" Louis asked again to which the man slowly and nervously nodded his head.
Louis made gestures for the soldier to stick with him to which the soldier slowly and nervously followed. The soldier had no rifle on him so Louis would have to find a suitable weapon for the man.
"Who is this?" Jaques said as he came by Louis.
"Some American foreign legionaries I found. He looks scared out of his mind." Louis said stating the obvious.
"Did you get his name or anything." Jaques asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Pleasantries is the last thing you'd want to do in this situation. I barely talk English, so I don't even know how to ask for his name and right now what's important is digging into that ruined town." Louis said pointing towards the small town up ahead.
Jaques nodded and slung his Bether Mil bolt action rifle before walking towards the town with the others of his battalion.
Louis followed in suit helping guide the nervous American towards the town with him.
Thorax POV: An hour earlier
Oh god Oh god Thorax moaned internally. He'd really done it. What was he thinking? If his brothers and sisters find him he's as good as dead.
He'd been flying for a day or so across the war-torn landscape. He could easily see were these Bipedals got their toughness from. He couldn't even imagine living in such a hospitable place. Were there whole civilizations built on living in these ditches he saw.
If they were they had probably run into the front of some ditch city which would explain all the soldiers. Or maybe this was an inhospitable border region of the Bipedal. Maybe there'd been a war. So many questions with so many possible answers. Here he was flying around in another dimension. He doubted these people spoke Equish (Equestrias common language)
He needed to get a good look at a bipedal so he could morph into their form. He was sure they'd probably kill him on sight if he tried to approach in his normal changeling form.
The weather here was also awful. It was bitterly cold not to dissimilar to the Equestrian winter. It was not helped by the smell of the dead. He still couldn't forget the face of the man he killed. Half melted off with the other half painted with defiance and rage as he weakly tried to move forward to kill him with that sharp object.
Thorax as he contemplated the brutality of what he had witnessed he spotted what he needed. There was a fresh dead body of one of the Bipedal's lying on the side of a road. He swooped down and took a good look at its facial features. The nose of these creatures were triangular shaped and they had little patches of hair on their head. This one had a small patch of hair going horizontally across the space in-between his nose and mouth. They seemed semi built probably due to the harsh environment.
They wore these strange blue uniforms as well as a blue metal helmet of shorts though he saw some brown ones mainly on the darker skinned ones. These creatures seemed to come in white, brown, and black color. Each which has some small differences in facial features.
He then began to channel his magic to change into one of the bipedal getting a picture in his head of what he wanted to look like. This however was hard. He felt sweat dripping across his forehead as he struggled to change into one of these creatures. Maybe it was because they looked so different from Pony's.
"Come on!" he yelled in frustration.
He put all his magic into changing he felt his vision go white before he fell onto the floor. He looked at his hoofs. They were hands now. They had multiple joints which he assumed these things used to grab things. He struggled to get a footing. He wasn't used to walking on to legs. He fell down repeatedly.
Ok now that he knew he could change all he needed to do was to change back and then look for a nearby group of these creatures. Change into one of them and try to help them against his kind while keeping his identity secret. Ok all he needed to do was change back now...Why wasn't it working?
Wait, something was wrong. Why wasn't he changing back into a changeling. He tried but his magic would not work. His new body wasn't allowing him to channel magic. Work please! Please! Why isn't it working! he yelled internally.
He soon collapsed on the floor dazed and crying. He was stuck in this alien body. He simply could not channel his magic through this. He was stuck in this new body permanently as much as he tried to convince himself otherwise depression soon began to set in.
Why?
Why did all this have to happen to him? What had he ever done wrong in his life other than being born into a cruel species that did nothing but feed on love. He wished he was born as a pony or anything else. At least he his shape shifting had also allowed him to copy the Bipedal's uniform and have it on when he changed.
He tried once more to change back into his normal self, but it didn't work.
Thorax felt himself being reduced to a self-loathing nervous wreck. He then heard a voice from above and looked up.
He saw one of the Bipedal's. One with a golden patch of hair on his face and with an eyepatch looking down at him and extending his hand. He could not understand was he was saying at first until he spoke one word in Equish. They knew a little bit of Equish!
The man said 1 word.
"American?"