The Soldiers of the Great Equestrian War

Not all ponies in the war did so of their own free will, some like Seaman Yogurt, from the Solar Navy were forced into duty. Those soldiers didn't fight for a flag or princess, or set of ideals, these ponies fought because they had to. Of the 42 million ponies who fought during the war, records show that 5 million were in their respective branches against their will. Of those, only 100 survived.

I woke up one morning, my parents were standing over me with a look void of all feelings, they grabbed my out of bed and sent me to the Seaddle recruiting station for the Solar Empire, they threw me into the building and the Chief Petty Officer came to me, and started shouting at me. “Get off the ground! If you can’t stand up on land there is no way you’ll stand up on a ship. Put on this uniform! NOW!” He threw me a uniform, and left. I gazed out of the window, and my parents were walking away, not even gazing behind them at what they have done. I didn’t want to fight, I was a Yogurt, I just wanted to make frozen yogurt, and open a little shop in a little town. But I went thru hell instead, hard to keep yogurt frozen in hell buddy. I looked at the dull yellow uniform, and put it on, tears streaming down my cheek. “Hopefully,” I thought, “I’ll be dead when the first shell flies.”

Cherry Yogurt was one of the lucky ones, he was just thrown in. Others... they were forced by every definition of the word, sometimes lethally. Grey Skies had to watch his younger brother lose his life while on their way home. Skies was then sent to the Twilight Crusade’s Magic Division. The Twilight Crusade’s Magic Division was the best one there was, but it also had the highest rate of accidental death from experimental spells. Skies managed to avoid being killed by his allies and enemies, of the 2 million Twilight Crusade Magic Division troops, only 12 survived. Skies was Pheonix rank, comparable to a Major in the Army.

It was supposed to be overcast that day, so I did my job for the weather team there in Tailahaysee, it helped that I was a Unicorn so I could both manipulate the clouds and see what they looked like from the ground at the same time. I put the clouds where they belonged when the rest of the team brought me them. Similar to making a campfire, your friends dump all of the wood at your feet and you organize it to make it work. Well, I finished early that day so I walked over to where my brother goes to school, it was his recess hour, at the end of the day, so I stood at the front door for around 5 minutes and he came running out screaming my name, “GREY! GREY! What are you doing here huh brother? I thought you had to work today.” It was the last time I would hear him say my name without it being lased in fear or sorrow. We were about 5 blocks from home, the hot humid air being lightly blown around by the wind. The clouds remained motionless. We walked around the corner, and there was a group of people wearing the insignia of the Twilight Crusade. They turned and stared at me, and at my brother. They advanced and we turned and ran, only to be held by a magical field cast by one of the unicorns in the group. They stared at me, and one asked, “When are you signing up for the Twilight Crusade?”

Trying to contain my panic I replied in with ragged breaths. “I... didn't... plan... on... it...”

They started to laugh, the same one asked, and this time I could see him... he was yellow, a dull yellow, with vivid blue for his mane, which was disheveled, like he has been doing this all day, like some sort of demonic recruiter. “Well then... guess your plans have changed” The field splits into two, separating my brother and I into two bubbles, I tried to fight back the field with my magic... but it was dampened somehow, I was powerless. I started to cry, and they looked at me, and he spoke again, “Tsk, so soft, maybe some blood outta harden you right up.” He pulled out a gun and pointed it at my brother.

Speaking through tears I begged, “Please, don’t hurt him! I’ll do anything you want just let Feather go!”

“Sorry, but this runt is too small to join the Crusade, sucks to be you mate.” He pulled the trigger, but instead of hitting him in the heart, or lungs, or head he aimed at his hoof. His scream of pain still echoes within me to this day. Every five minutes he would shoot just a little higher, and my brother would be for me, his constant cries of, “GREY HELP ME! WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS?” will always haunt me. After an hour they finally made it to his lungs, and he died, his blood staining the streets as red as a rose, while I watched. They released me crying and in a fit, I ran to his body. They grabbed me and dragged me to the recruiting office, saying that I was crying because some Solar Empire guys killed my brother, they brought the body to prove it. I was in too much duress to argue, I couldn't form sentences, or even words, not even syllables. I sat there, while the commanding officer walked over to me, and said, “Put all of your hatred into a magic bolt, and fire it at this target.” He gestured at a wall with a target, it had holes ranging from a pea to a quarter on it, I fired and the pony sized target was incinerated, I was accepted into the Magic Division right then, without knowing that it was my entrance test. I thought it was just a way to calm ponies down. During my first battle I had a “misfire” and killed all five of those fucks.