Chapters The Soldiers of the Great Equestrian War
Entering the War, Quick Sliver
“In war there are no victors, nor defeated. There is only the dead, and the guilty. I am both.” ~Last words of Cpl. Rod, Twilight Crusade Marine Corp.
Three years, a reporter for three years, yet I have only seen one story come my way, not because I am bad at investigating, but the story took three years mind you. My name is Inkblot, and I can tell you the stories of the war, because I interviewed some of the survivors from all sides, I may also be able to tell you what I saw. I think I still have some contacts as well, unless they are all insane, this was Equestria’s second Civil War, and the first World War, it is... interesting to think about, how both events happened at the same time. Most assume Discord had something to do with it, I however call bull, he was killed in the first few days, if Discord caused it he would have stopped it before then. What did him in? Well, it was an IED placed in his sandwich that killed him, splattered him all over the castle’s kitchen, it was a mess. The only way we could tell it was Discord was because the blood kept changing colors. This is probably the only story you will hear that is first hand, I was reporting on the Political situation which, by the way, was a dead end, when it happened. It was the start of the Civil War, a Purple banner rose up above the castle, and Twilight was sitting on Celestia’s throne. Celestia retaliated, and both were severely harmed and sent to a hospital, Luna seized power and tried to keep it, but Cadence, who came late due to her long distance, attacked HER so they both ended up in the hospital, ponies sensing a Civil War started choosing sides. Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth ponies all choose sides, none remained neutral and all four sides had an Air Force, Army, Navy, Magic Division and Marine Corp. It was a mess especially outside of Equestria the Buffalo attacked Griffons, Griffons attacked Zebras, and Zebras attacked Buffalo, and of course they all attacked Equestria as well. There was no way out. We all just had to sit there and fight. Even the Elements of Harmony fought against each other, and the only one left alive is a sadistic killer now, she is locked up in a ward somewhere, and she won’t be laughing anytime soon. So, now that I have given you a brief overview, do you still wish to know more? Well okay, this first story is from the Air Force of the New Lunar Republic, one of their aerial snipers, 1st Lt. Quick Sliver, this is the story of the beginning of the Civil War, and of choices that must be made.
TWILIGHT AND CELESTIA IN HOSPITAL AFTER DUEL FOR POWER, LUNA NOW TAKEN THE THRONE!!!!! The headline still runs in my head from that newspaper, that day my family got the letters, each a recruitment letter from the three factions of Canterlot, the Solar Empire, the New Lunar Republic, and the Twilight Crusade, we knew it was coming, there were banners being raised, reminiscent of the Stallion era of Moscow. Painted onto walls, secret meetings. Everywhere each side gained momentum, gangs started in the name of their “True Princess.” Families were split apart, some even killed each other for being Night instead of Day, or other such trivial difference. My family didn't care, so long as we all lived, yet we had to choose two things that day; the first was who was going to go? My father, 50 years of age, or me, only 18. The second was, who do we support, we knew it wasn't going to be possible, Trottingham would fall to one of the factions at one point, open battle in Canterlot on the streets not to mention the two duels tipped the entire country off that civil war was brewing, my family banked on the New Lunar Republic being able to seize and control this particular area, as our building were being painted blue and black, with splashes of the purest white, even against our will, as I looked out the window as Mother was telling father that he cannot go, basically damning me to the war, I see our neighbors, and my best friend Light Rail, leave, their Solar Empire flag waving behind them, I shut the blinds and cover my ears as I see four ponies in purple masks jump from the darkness. My parents look at me, at the window, and sat beside me. I uncovered my ears, and my father gazed out the window, and sat next to me. We spent the evening sitting together in thought by the fire. We fell asleep in each other’s arms, and something changed in me, as I awoke, in the middle of the night, the full moon was out, and my parents were asleep. I softly grabbed my saddle bag, and looked outside, Light Rail was still dead in the street, the flag of his parents choice resting in tatters on him. I softly opened the door, and left, hearing the click behind it, my hoofs rest on the cobble. I gaze at the moon once more, and travel to the New Lunar Republic recruitment center. I enlisted in the NLRAF. The Nocturni of the NLR High Command gave me the look over, and gave me an assault rifle, 10 targets popped up and I flew while pulling the trigger, each bullet hitting between the eyes of each target, of course I was significantly slower than the others, so they gave me a sniper and set me out a mile, 2 targets popped and I pulled the trigger twice. The Nocturni nodded in approval, then told me to fly and do the same thing. One target, one mile, one hundred miles per hour, one shot, one kill. He stared at me, assigned me a Sniper, and told me I was deep aerial infiltration. They gave me an assignment they had only 3 people for, so I become close buds with my superiors, who oddly enough were only an Airman and Tech Sergeant. We were new, naive, and the best infiltration force of the war, for the most part it was Tech Sergeant Cream trying to be a leader, and Airman Shot trying to calm him down about not being good enough. I will never forget them, they have saved my life many times over.
That is one of the happier stories of this war. 1st Lt. Silver had the highest hit ratio, the most confirmed kills, and a particular fondness of killing Twilight Crusade soldiers. His tales are horrifying, of dark infiltrations to head quarters of entire units, slaughtering an entire battalion by darkness. Their unit was code named, Shadow Beast, every single army, weather they be Buffalo, Griffon, or Pony, when they intercepted the transmissions of assistance and heard any phrase meaning that Shadow Beast would be sent out, all non-Lunar forces’ moral took a crippling dive. They were so good their name was a weapon, a political scientist calculated that their indirect killing totaled over four million of the 60 million killed during the war. Of those four million, two were Twilight Crusade, and only 100 thousand were Solar Empire. I still have many stories to tell about each side, every facet of war from logistics to traditional, to tales of survival, of attack and defense, of deep ops, and of terror. Nothing was spared in the First Great War of Equestria.
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The Soldiers of the Great Equestrian War
I didn't sign up for this, actually, I didn't sign up at all.
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.
The Soldiers of the Great Equestrian War
After all the recruiting concluded, all ponies seemed to have a side, there was no neutrality, there was only with us or against us. Of course, when dividing a country where ponies follow princesses, not a regional power, figuring out which city belongs to which faction, who gets the food shipments from this farm, or other logistical issues tends to be a bloody mess. Such was the scene at many locations in Equestria, and news of it spread like wildfire, during this time the other nations were still looking at each other sizing up their weapons, manpower, and resources, all that ceased with the situation in Equestria coming to light. First contact of Pony and Pony came first, within 4 weeks, the only ponies not at conflict were those under Princess Cadence’s command, the so dubbed, Conclave of Love, but we’ll get to them later. First contact between the Solar Empire and the New Lunar Republic began on the streets of Canterlot itself, and to this day, nopony will ever call the Upper Class pompous windbags. This was the most bitter of fights, and one that destroyed the first friendships. Blueblood and Fancy Pants, one of the Sun, and one of the Moon, just like the princesses, these two fought in the past, and they fought against each other in the war, unfortunately, the loser’s destination was not the Hospital, it was the morgue, this was the beginning of the Equestrian Civil War.
At last the time for the retribution of the heathens who see Luna above Her Royal Majesty Princess Celestia will pay for their insubordination, they will be laid to rest, and Canterlot will be cleansed of filth once again! Oh today will be most certainly glorious! These thoughts and more ran throughout my head on that bitter day. It was less than proper, but at the time social norms meant nothing, Princess Celestia and Canterlot was the only thing that mattered to both me, and the entire Solar Empire’s Canterlot Division. However, I was not aware that my friend of a long time was one of the others. Unlike the uncivilized ruffians of Hoofinton, Trottingham, and Seaddle, we at Canterlot met with banners raised, in an orderly line, much like the the battles of old, there was honor, and order. Myself, the Commander of this particular company met in the center of Canterlot, but who I saw step from the ranks of the New Lunar Republic shooked me to my core. Fancy Pants, my friend from my foalhood, the only one to have been with me not as someone to please, not a Prince, but a pony. We stared at each other, and we exchanged words, “F-Fancy Pants! What are you doing among those... filthy-hoofed, insignificant traitors! You belong with those who see the light of the sun and love its feeling! You deserve better than what Luna and her New Republic can offer!”
“That my friend is where you are wrong, the sun’s pale radiance provides the citizens of Equestria no warmth. You are the one who is mistaken, and if I must, you will die by my hoof, what I fight for is greater than my own needs, it is an inescapable fact. Prince Blueblood, I am sorry, but fate has decided that only one will walk away from this, and by Luna’s name it will be me.” Even though he has a strong face, I remember the fear and remorse that arose from his lecture, I began to tear up, choking out the words,
“But... Fancy, what about our foalhood!”
“I know. Blueblood, I will cherish those times till my end, but the need of the many tromp the need of a few I’m afraid, and as such, this will be our final goodbye.”
With that we walked back to our lines, both of us suppressing tears, at least, that is what I like to think, and picked up our rifles. We raised to firing position, and fired. The first volley took out most of each army and the next minute was spent ordering my soldiers. The front crouched and my second rank fired. Decimating most of the Lunar’s second before they even fired a shot. By this time the first has finished reloading a round, and fired as well. This continued for many more minutes, before the only ponies left on the battlefield were some Privates I didn’t know on my side, and Fancy Pants on his. He was alone, the lone soldier to survive. I walked to him, and gazed upon his matted fur, his disheveled mane. Before I extended a hoof to him. “Fancy Pants, I hereby capture you as a Prisoner of War to the Solar Empire, and thus demand your immediate surrender of Canterlot, and any remaining soldiers under your command. Do you agree to these terms? However, I can promise you will be treated with the utmost respect and honor a fair opponent and a good friend deserves, Fancy, we both can walk away from this, we can still be friends! Please, agree.”
He stared at me, his voice riddled with defeat, “Of course,” A sudden change in his demeanor shocks me as he utters the next sentence, “magic squad, please won’t you come out and greet our captors?”
In seconds, deep blue magic bolts are flying threw the air striking down the remaining of my lines, the 20 or so Republican unicorns walk from the shadows, a feel the blood of my fellow Loyalists run down my back, and a tan hoof lands in my mane, I pull it out and look at it in disgust, and I stare at Fancy Pants, the Magic Division subdues me, as they are taking me away, I see no remorse in Fancy’s stare, whatever he had thought of me, whatever feelings of friendship we had were gone, that day I vowed to end him for the sake of the Solar Empire, but I never got that chance, I remained a POW for the remainder of the war. I lost a dear friend that day.
As you can see, the war started killing ponies physically and emotionally almost immediately, however that was the most organized attack for many weeks, while the territories were being drawn out in “assaults” the rest of the world took a keen interest, when all was said and done, the Solar Empire had the east and Canterlot, the Lunar Republic resided in the west, and the Twilight Crusade in the south, everyone seemed to forget the crystal empire, to the north, but they wouldn’t lay in shadows for long.
Author's Note
I might rewrite this chapter later, go more into detail about the other battles in Canterlot and others, meh don't know yet. Thanks for the comments and likes!
The Soldiers of the Great Equestrian War
More on the Battle for Canterlot
What? You thought the only skirmish in Canterlot was between Blueblood and Fancy Pants? Please there is more to large battles like this, and even then, I only gave you a view on what happened between Blueblood and Fancy Pants, that is what I asked of him, not about the battle, no if you want to hear about the battle then we need to look to the New Lunar Republic Airman 1st Class Hotshot, before he went into service for the NLR he was an avid Motocross competitor, but when things turned sour he needed a way to save both his image, and hopefully, his family’s lives. So, just a few days after he enlisted he was assigned to Canterlot to work under Filthy Rich, who retreated to Canterlot when Ponyville started dividing itself, but instead of fighting the Empire he was fighting the Twilight Crusade, and unlike the first battle of the war, Hotshot, who mind you was a pegasus was engaged in an Aerial attack on a passing Company of Twilight Crusade Magic Division troops.
Oh you want to hear about my first battle huh? The Battle for Canterlot, yeah that was one of the NLR Air Force’s shining moments, a squad of 9 Pegasi taking on 80 TC Unicorns, and suffering no casualties no less! Ah, moments like those make me glad I supported Luna! Hey, if I am going to recount this, mind if I light up? Thanks, ahh yeah, love this brand. Anyway, so back in the first day of the war Canterlot was divided up into 12 districts based on where the supporters of Luna won or lost, the problem was, most of these territories were separated so frequent patrols were done to ensure that any infidels trying to link up their territories weren't going to do it through NLR space. I was apart of Lunar Squad Delta the squad in charge of the NLR’s second zone it was mostly ruined merchant shops, we were flying in a V formation with me in the lead to break the wind for the others, as I was just a Private at the time, and since Equestria hadn’t had a war in many many years, the technology wasn't as good as it was during the end of the war, so we were stuck using old-fashioned rifles, you know the ones that you fire once then have to spend two minutes reloading? Yeah those lame things, so when we encountered the company of TC unicorns heading directly toward our front operating base, we called in and started our work, using the stealth of the night that Luna has graced us with, we silently took a prone position on a cloud, our barrels peeking out just enough for the gun to fire, which we did, we took off in formation as we reloaded and landed on another cloud, the TC were furious as we started taking down their comrades in small groups, their blood staining the cobblestone below them, within an hour there was only three left and they were scared shitless! I mean they were fucking aiming at leaves as they blew in the wind they were panicking so bad, they were also covered in the blood and, if the Sergeant killed ‘em, the brains of their allies and friends, they were too busy to actually cast the basic killing spell, they just turned whatever they hit into oranges! It was hilarious! Anyway we finished them off, but we left one alive to take back to base, the look on his face when we flew from the clouds, you could have put him in snow and he would have been whiter! Such a wimp! We returned to base and were given Medals of Outstanding Service as well as an extra ration token! Still don't know which was worth more. Anyway, that Mr. Inkblot, was the first time I kicked ass and made the NLR proud! If you want my autograph, please don’t hesitate to ask!
As you can see the Battle for Canterlot was not only detrimental to some friends, but it was also a chance for young soldiers to prove themselves, but what about the losing side? What are their stories? Was the Battle for Canterlot so ruthless that no one on the losing side was spared? Thankfully not, as we can hear the tails of Longtail, a Twilight Crusade Private in the Army, he was the only one in his Platoon that survived.
That day was the worst one of my live, I wasn't a Private because I was new, as I served the united Equestrian Army before hand, I was a Private because I constantly failed the mental exam, you see before I was a member of the Twilight Crusade I was addicted to blood, not like ingesting it, but I craved to see it run from the bodies of my foes, even those whose only crime was being 3 minutes late for a meeting, I wanted them all do die, and I wanted to do it, I never surcomed to those thoughts, however, it prevented me from being a command officer, as they thought I would gut those under my command, after that day everything changed, that day I saw blood, that day the gore of my friends and allies were splattered on my coat. Those days in a POW camp where some of the most sober days of my life. So, what do you want to hear? The battle, or the about the camps? The battle huh? Yeah I figured as much, it was a sunny day, and we were patrolling the border of TC zone 1, also known as the market district, it was directly adjacent to NLR zone 2, and we shared a border with both, there were tall buildings and narrow streets, it was a nightmare to patrol and a common excuse for a late patrol was getting lost, on the second one hour patrol of my Platoon that day, we would be more than late.
We turned onto Filthy Street from Hoity Plaza, those two streets were actually named in honor of the rich ponies who helped plan that part of the city, when we were ambushed by some Solar Empire joint forces, they had air support as well as the basic squad of ground units, were weren’t outnumbered, but since we were still using the old rifles from long ago we only got in one shot per few minutes, quickly we took cover with my Sergeant lying next to me, he told me to keep down and aim for the throat, as the kickback might cause the bullet to go high, I did as he said with four other members of my platoon resting besides me, Pvt. Hands he was a masseuse, so when we were stressed we would go to him, he was one of my closest friends. Three others were lying beside me, I didn't even really know their names, but their faces will always be etched into my mind, because they were the ponies whose blood I had on my face, within minutes the ground forces of the SE were eliminated, but with the air support still having both rounds and their lives, we were still under great distress, as with every bullet missed, we had to wait two minutes to get a second chance, soon I felt something warm and wet on my left, one of the privates heads just exploded, covering the ponies directly next to them in both brain and blood, both of them wretched, and while Hands was doing the same, another bullet flied, and landed in his temple, causing more red and pink to join, but this time, it landed in my eyes I SAW his brain and his blood covered my eye and I shut down, not able to function. What? You think I should have toughed it out!? Well... you know what! You try having your face covered with the insides of your friends HEAD! HIS BRAIN CONTACTED MY EYE! I JUST... I just... shut down, I didn't even notice when my commander was killed, or the remaining private in my position, I just sat there with my mouth agape, when the remainder of the air squad landed, I counted 3 left, we four are the only ones who survived, they took me to their forward operating base, and handed me over to their commander, Tech Sergeant Mill. From there I can only tell you of being a POW for the SE. But not today, I just want to be alone. If you want to know more, come tomorrow at 10.
As you can see, all sides had different tales to tell, but ultimately it was the Solar Empire that took control of the city. All others taken as POWs, killed, or were lucky enough to retreat, little of importance followed, well that is an understatement, lines were drawn, and a lot of logistical information began to be created, with this brief lull in battles, another power came from the ashes, the Crystal Empire and their Conclave of Love.
Author's Note
Wow, a bunch of short one shots. If only there was some pony we could follow, or a branch of someone's military, or something of that nature. Well you're in luck!... after the next chapter.
The Soldiers of the Great Equestrian War
About the future of this story.
As of now, I do not plan on continuing this story. However, plans change, as of right now however, there is no plan, nor desire, to continue this story. I apologize for the few of you that read and enjoyed this story.