My Little Pony: Northern Aggression

Chapters

1.2 South Carolina on My Mind
1.3 Reunited and It Feels So Good...
1.4 ...Or Maybe Not
1.5 First Day on the Job
1.6 "Hard" Knocks
1.8 The Eve of Battle
1.9 Bull Run
2.1 Iron(clad) Will
2.2 The Ballad of Fluttershot
2.3 Way Back Home
2.4 Mare About Town
2.5 A Scholar and A Farmer
1.1 The Last Train from Ponyville
1.7 "Finding Your Niche"

1.2 South Carolina on My Mind

The boom was so loud, it deafened Rainbow Dash for a time. For a couple moments, she could hear nothing but the ringing of her ears.

But, the noise was something Rainbow wasn’t concentrating on – it was more the instant, hard fall she had just taken – like as if she had fallen 50 feet, even though she had barely fallen.

Her eyes remained squeezed shut, in an attempt to soothe to horrible pain in both her ears and her entire body. The ground, which she had expected to be soft grass, wasn’t helping out either. It was this hard, cold, rocky material – individual pieces of rock stabbed into her fur.

She huddled in the fetal position, which is how she’d been since she’d created the Rainboom and teleported. The sound began to come back to her, gradually – the ringing faded away, only to be replaced by the booming. As if the firework was just continuous, and there were more of them.

What the - ? Those fireworks aren’t supposed to last that long…and just how many do they have?

“Ah! What the hell - ?”

Dash’s eyes snapped open at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, an only moderately low tone, but one she didn’t think she’d ever heard before. This, as she soon found out in shock and terror, was a correct assumption.

The…thing standing before her was as tall as two of the pegasus stacked atop each other, and then some. It was bipedal, kind of like Spike, but this was no Spike. It wore a navy blue uniform, complete with gold buttons down the front and on a cap it was wearing. No, fur either – the only fur that Rainbow could see was on its face, or what she imagined was its face. There was a bit of stubble around its mouth, just under its equally shocked eyes.

Of course, the usually-cocky pony didn’t just see that either. She also saw the inside of some sort of tube, pointed directly at her face – the thing gripped a larger part of it, white-knuckled, like he was going to squeeze something. Rainbow thought she had seen something at least slightly similar back in Equestria…she couldn’t put her tongue on it.

“Hey, hey – somebody! Get down here now! We’ve got a – a – a situation!”

The thing’s unsteady, shaky voice interrupted her thoughts, and made Rainbow shiver, even though it was fairly warm here. Still keeping her eyes trained on the thing, she waited until it looked like it had turned around then looked behind her, to see if any of her friends were nearby.

Sure enough, there was Applejack and Twilight, just lying there – unconscious. They couldn’t handle the initial explosion. Of all the times to be a pansy – now?

She poked her farmpony friend with an unsteady hoof, but nothing resulted. Same for the unicorn behind her.

“It’s moving! Come see!”

Rainbow’s had snapped back around, only to see the thing back, less shaky, with some others like it approaching from behind, still unaware of the pegasus’s presence.

“…I swear, Ephrams, I think you’ve been hitting the bottle too much,” one of them jokingly said as they approached the thing in front of her, not aware of Rainbow just yet, “I mean, a Martian? Really?”

“I don’t know what else to call them!” exclaimed the one named Ephrams, “Here, come look!”

“Them?” asked the one talking earlier, “There’s more of them n – Jesus Christ!”

The other things finally caught sight of the pegasus and her two friends. Her friends remained knocked, out cold, leaving a wide-eyed Rainbow to deal with the newfound things.

What do I – I don’t – Are they going to…?

Dash found she was at a complete loss of thoughts, and words. She was amazed that they spoke the same language, but didn’t want to jeopardize anything right now, considering most of them had their…weapons, she supposed, pointed at them.

“W-what are they?”

“I haven’t the slightest notion. I’m guessin’ Martians.”

“Sure this isn’t a Confederate thing?”

“Goddamn it man – when the hell would Confederate’s get their hands on a Martian?”

“They kind of look like horses…well, sort of.”

“Like a 5-year old drew on one of those Greek vases or somethin’.”

“Well, what do we do with ‘em?”

They looked amongst each other, as if one of them was going to put forward a constructive answer – none of them did anything of the sort.

Rainbow heard a groan behind her, causing the things to tense up even more, shaking all the while. She felt one of her friends moving behind her, and judging by distance, it was Applejack.

“Wow,” commented AJ, unaware of the things, “That sure was a mighty big explosion.”

“AHH!”

AJ turned around quickly, seeing the things who were frightened as anything.

“They can talk!”

“And…they speak English!”

“What the hell? Didn’t know Martians could speak English.”

“Listen to it talk…its accent…you don’t think maybe…”

“Confederate? Well…actually, I don’t know. That is one hell of a Southern accent, though.”

In fear, AJ leaned towards Rainbow, and whispered in her ear, “Rainbow – what are these things?”

“I…I don’t know,” she whispered back.

The things couldn’t do anything; weapons pointed, not moving or speaking. With slow movements, Applejack reached over to Twilight and gently shook her shoulder. She finally awoke. “Ow, my head….”

“They all talk!” one of the things cried.

“Huh? Who said that?” Twilight turned around to face the uniformed group, and, unlike everyone else in the room, was more puzzled than frightened.

The things continued talking amongst themselves, as if the ponies couldn’t hear.

“Is…is that a unicorn?”

“I…I don’t know. That other one is a pegasus, I think.”

“Great. First, we’re trapped in this hellhole, now this happens. This day has just gone to – “

Twilight, the pony that she was, used the period of confusion to negotiate somewhat. “Um…hello?” she asked, unwarily.

The things stopped talking, and just looked to Twilight. Weapons still pointed, the one named Ephrams replied, “Uh…Hello to you, too.”

“Can – can you, um – can you tell me and my friends where we are? I’m not entirely sure.”

The men looked to one another for answers, but this time looked with a face of disbelief. Ephrams, being their temporary ambassador, spoke for the group. “You’re in…um, Fort Sumter. At not the best of times, either.”

“And…” Twilight cocked her head to the side, more sure of herself, “Why would that be? And where is Fort Sumter?”

“Well, there’s a bit of hostility between us and the Southerners, I’m guessing, so we’ve been – uh, trapped here, for a while. In South Carolina.”

Twilight nodded. “Okay…so, who’s us?”

Ephrams lowered his weapon, and with an eyebrow raised, asked, “Just where are you guys from?”

“So, lemme git this straight – this ain’t in Equestria?”

About a half hour later, another boom shook the fort, and the orange farmpony still couldn't grasp the gravity of the situation. Had it come any earlier, it would’ve drowned out Applejack, who now cringed at the rumble.

Ephrams shrugged. “Well, considering I have no idea where that is, I would say not.”

“AJ, he already told us!” yelled Rainbow, “We aren’t in Equestria anymore. We’re in South Maroflina – “

“South Carolina,” Ephrams corrected.

“Whatever.” The pegasus waved him off with a hoof. “We’re in South Carolina, in some place called America – I’ve never even heard of here! Are we even on the same planet?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Beats me. Why should I know? I ain’t the one who got us here.”

Dash glared at AJ, and then turned to Twilight, who gave the flier a nervous smile. “You,” said Rainbow coldly, “You got us here.”

“It was an accident, Rainbow!” replied Twilight, “This has never happened before!”

“Guys, guys,” Ephrams attempted, “ – er, ponies – just calm down. Now, I don’t know where you came from, or how you got here, but fighting isn’t going to solve anything.”

Rainbow turned her attention to the soldier. Losing all of the fear she had earlier, she hovered straight up to Ephrams so that she was eye-level. “Oh yeah? Then what are you doing outside these walls?”

Ephrams held up a hand to counter, but, after thinking about it, withdrew his hand, unable to come up with a reply.

“She does have a point,” noted Twilight.

“Look,” Ephrams said, “I meant that kind of fighting. This,” he pointed to the walls, in the direction of the constant explosions, “is a little different, in case you haven’t noticed.”

As soon as he said that, a greasy, bruised and battered man came stumbling into the room, from the set of steps just outside the opening. “Ephrams,” he panted out, “Ephrams, we need your help outs – what the hell? What are them things?”

“Don’t mind them,” dismissed Ephrams, “What is it?”

“A fire – there’s a fire in the south corner and we need more men to put it out, before it spreads.”

“Another one?” questioned Ephrams. He exhaled, shaking his head. “Alright, let’s take care of it.” Turning to the ponies, “You three stay here. I don’t need anymore commotion out there than there already is.”

He walked off with the soldier who had just come in. The three ponies looked to one another.

“Well?” asked AJ, “What are we gonna do?”

Twilight looked to the ground. “I – I don’t know at this point.”

“Did you hear him?” said Rainbow rather loudly. “A fire! How cool is that?”

“Uh, Dash, I don’t think cool is the right word to describe a fire,” Twilight replied.

“More like dangerous,” noted the orange pony, “Why are there fires, anyway? Is this place that much of a danger?”

The pegasus put a hoof to her chin, thinking. “I think they’re from those guys – whoever’s hurling the cannonballs at us.”

“What?” inquired Applejack, “Why would anypony deliberately start a fire? That might hurt somepony. Or – or even kill them.”

“I – “ the scholarly Twilight began, slowly realizing things, “I think that’s what they’re trying to do.”

The other two ponies just looked at her in shock. “They – they want to hurt these guys? But why?” Rainbow asked, shocked.

“I don’t know,” answered Twilight, “These things are so different than what we usually do – “

“Wait, wait,” interrupted Applejack, “Y’all hear that?”

The three ponies listened. They didn’t hear anything.

Wait, they didn’t hear anything. The usual, constant booms they had heard for the last hour, were now replaced with silence – the fire had ceased.

“Did – “ started Rainbow, “Is it over?”

As an answer, the sound of boots on concrete began to get closer, and Ephrams stepped in. “It’s over,” he said, “We’ve surrendered.”

“Er, Mister Ephrams, what does ‘surrender’ mean?” Applejack asked.

“It means that they gave up,” replied Dash.

“No, no,” Ephrams quickly replied, “It means we’re ending things before someone gets hurt. By some miracle, no one’s died yet, and we aren’t going to last much longer. You three should probably come with me – we’re going to salute the flag before we leave this hellhole.”

He led the way out of the door. The three friends looked to one another, for an answer. Twilight just shrugged and said, “He’s the only one we’re familiar with. If we’re ever going to know what to do, or get time to find out how to get home, it’s best if we do what he says.”

With that, she followed him out of the door, and her two friends reluctantly followed, albeit slowly.

There was talk as the four of them passed by, but they were soon hushed by the commanders. The three Equestrians went red with embarrassment as they walked by, and went back to their original state of scared silence.

Ephrams walked to a spot in the newly formed grid of soldiers, the three ponies standing right in front of him. He leaned down to them, and whispered, “Go over to the side for now – we’re about to honor the flag. It might be a little loud, just warning you.”

Twilight led the way once again, as they stood to the right of the group of soldiers. From here, they could see most of the fort.

The entire place was in shambles. Rubble, destruction everywhere – blackened bits of dilapidated walls and rooms, from where fires had been. There were some other men in leaning over some soldier – they seemed to be wrapping them in bandages, or cleaning them with some sort of washcloth.

Twilight just looked in awe. She had been right – they had been out to hurt, but more likely was that they had been out to kill. But, who was "they"?

Looking over to the right, out on the bay area, a wooden warship floated, docked in the calmish water. A flag waved over the mast, contrasting with the overcast of the day – the design was not entirely unlike that of the one on the flagpole in front of her now, but there were a lot of differences. Was that boat – were they them?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a tall, sturdy man walking back and forth in front of the flagpole on the fort. He spoke with a booming voice, and his words seemed to pierce the hearts of the soldiers.

“Gentlemen,” he began, “It has been an honorable battle. We haven’t lost a single man, and for the past day and a half, we’ve fought bravely and valiantly against our Confederate opposition. But, there comes a time when we must stop.

“Our supplies are almost down to nil, and I don’t want to risk losing a man while we still can. The Confederate general, Beauregard, has graciously allowed us safe passage back to the north. We shall spend the night on that very ship in the distance, the Isabel, before transferring to one of our own.

“Do not be shamed men – we have done a great honor to our country, in fighting the first battle of this great war. We shall now honor the flag of our country, our homeland, our pride, with a one-hundred gun salute. Drummer, if you would please.”

He motioned towards a smaller soldier, who Twilight guessed must’ve been several years younger than Ephrams or anybody else she’d seen. The soldier began playing the snare drum what hung around his neck, in true military fashion.

“Ready!” exclaimed the soldier at the flagpole.

The grid’s first row, a line of 10 soldiers, reached behind their backs for the thing that had been pointed at Rainbow earlier – a rifle, Ephrams had called it. They pointed it towards the sky.

“Fire!”

The soldiers squeezed the triggers, and the sound was louder than the muffled explosions. Smoke shot out from their guns as a sound as loud, if not louder, than a sonic boom reverberated throughout the fort. Applejack crouched down and covered her ears; Twilight cringed, and Rainbow stood there, although the scholar could see she was suppressing the urge to cover her ears as well.

“Move up!”

Those soldiers split down the middle, and walked around the group until they were in the back row. The next row of soldiers marched up – Ephrams was among them.

“Ready!”

The soldiers took to position.

“Fire!”

The sound happened again. Amidst this, Twilight noticed their form of salute to be odd – by shooting whatever was in the rifle towards the air around the flag. Maybe I’ll understand it, she thought. But then again, maybe not.

“Move up!” Marching again. “Ready…Fire!”

Another round of gunfire disrupted the still air. The next row of soldiers lined up.

“Ready!”

They raised their rifles.

“Fire!”

This time, the sound was accompanied by a larger boom, and the lavender unicorn saw a flash of light from the other side of the grid, along with hearing the screams of some soldiers. The entire group looked to that general area, where moaning of pain only got louder.

“The gunpowder!” one screamed, “It ignited!”

“One more!” screamed the commander at the flag. “Ready!”

Through the panic and confusion, ten soldiers managed to line up to do another salute.

“Fire!”

The gunshots fired simultaneously, the sound in unison with a groan of pain from one of the soldiers. The commander walked over to the scene, and, after some silent and mental debate, the three ponies followed him to the scene. The soldiers looked to the ponies, with some shock, but not as much as before- they were focused on whatever happened.

“Out of the way,” commanded the major, and the soldiers stepped aside to give the commander a berth to the carnage. The ponies used this opportunity to see what happened.

White powder was everywhere. There was a massive burn mark on the ground, and several soldiers lied on the ground, either moaning in pain or otherwise unconscious. On close inspection, Twilight saw that some of the soldiers had red liquid seeping through their uniforms, and all over their skin. Blood, recognized Twilight, What happened?

“What happened?” asked the major.

One of the soldiers, who appeared to be a doctor of some kind, looked up from the soldier he was examining. “The salute – it ignited some of the empty cartridges. Or, what we thought was empty. Poor boys never saw it coming.”

“Well, what’s the report?” demanded the commander.

“Mostly injuries,” noted the doctor, “Although this one here’s a little more serious. And…” he looked at the ground, exhaling, “We lost one. Private Hough, I think his name was. Didn’t stand a chance.”

The major hung his head, breathing out deeply. Some of the soldiers did the same, while others looked to each other unsure of what to do.

Twilight was actually shocked. Somebody died?!?

She looked towards her two friends – Dash simply went wide-eyed, and Applejack had taken off her hat and put it against her chest, like all the other soldiers began to do, including the major.

The commander, after a brief moment of silence, looked up from the ground, placed his hat on his head, and began speaking again. “Men, Private Hough will go on in history as the first casualty of this War with the South. Let us hope there are few others.”

The doctor resumed working, and the men separated, going about their ways, collecting their things, getting ready for the passage.

“He…he died?” asked Twilight to an approaching Ephrams.

“It would appear so. Only a private, too – that man’s soul will go to a better place, after dying for his country. He’ll be there to greet the others, I suppose.

Others? asked Twilight to herself, More people would die?

Just what kind of war was this?

Lost in shock and thought, Applejack interrupted her reverie. “Well, would ya look at that…”

Rainbow looked towards where AJ was looking. “Wait, what? How is that even possible?”

“Guys,” mentioned Twilight, “A soldier just died out here. He died! Not from sickness or anything – from actual weapons! What could be more important than that?”

AJ looked over to Twilight. “I don’ know, Twi’. I ain’t sayin it is really important – but I think what’s on that boat out there is a bit more related to our situation.”

“What are you talking about?” inquired Twilight. She looked out towards the warship anchored in the bay. She squinted, trying to see clearer. “Applejack, I don’t see any –“ She cut herself off mid-sentence.

There, on the deck of the boat, mixed with the grays, greens, and blues of the warship and uniform, was a splotch of pink. Now, Twilight hadn’t been here long, but she could imagine that pink wasn’t really a big thing around here. And, the splotch was moving – more like bouncing.

Bouncing. Only one thing around here would have the eagerness to do that, if they were even here. And, unless Twilight’s eyes deceived her, they were.

There, on the deck of the Isabel, was Pinkie Pie.

1.3 Reunited and It Feels So Good...

The pegasus looked nervously through the throng of soldiers. Why did they all have so tall? They were all at least two times her height, maybe even two-and-a-half times.

Her unicorn friend noticed her moving around, trying to see. She spoke up. “Fluttershy,” she spoke fatly.

Fluttershy, still moving her head every which way, responded, “Yes, Rarity?”

“You realize you do have wings, right?”

The yellow pony stopped moving around, and thought about it for a second. “Oh, yeah, that’s right.”

With that, she flapped her feathery wings twice, and floated gently in the air, now about five or ten feet above the heads of the soldiers in front of her.

There, a group of similarly-dressed soldiers, but not quite the same, were climbing up a rope ladder from a small little rowboat next to their warship. She could see more off to the distance, paddling slowly but surely to the Isabel.

“Well, what do you see up there?” called Rarity from the deck.

“Just a bunch of soldiers,” she called down. “I don’t know what Pinkie Pie was talking about when she said she saw the three of them…”

“That’s weird. Pinkie doesn’t really lie, does she?”

Fluttershy pondered that for a moment. “I don’t know. Does she?”

“Guys, I’m dead serious!” yelled a bouncy voice. From the throng of Confederates, Pinkie Pie weaved through the crowd and stood next to Rarity. “I saw all of them! They were on that fort!”

“Pinkie,” said Fluttershy from her vantage point, “I’m looking in all of these boats, and I still don’t see them. Wait, hold on a second….”

Rarity looked to Pinkie Pie in a mix of excitement and apprehension. “What do you see?”

“I think I – I think that may be Twilight in the boat! It’s a little far off but…oh, wait, there’s Applejack too!”

Before the pastel pegasus could continue, a flash of cyan tackled her right out of the air, knocking her on the deck of the wooden warship. The impact of the wood was enough to knock the wind out of her. She cringed at the immediate pain, and with her eyes squeezed shut, as not to see her attacker, she began waving her hooves wildly. “Ah! Who are y-y-ou…and w-w-what d-do y-you want with me?”

“A hug! I thought I completely lost you!”

Fluttershy recognized that voice. She opened her eyes to see another pegasus, just like her, only with rainbow-colored hair and a light-blue coat, standing over her.

“R-Rainbow Dash?” she asked warily.

“Of course it is!” replied her ecstatic friend.

“Oh thank goodness,” Fluttershy breathed out, relief in her voice. She raised herself up so that she was hugging her friend, just when two sets of hooves appeared from over to the left. Rarity spoke first.

“Fluttershy! What happen – “

“DASHIE!” Pinkie cut off Rarity’s questioning, and tackled Dash with a force equal to Dash’s initial tackle.

Fluttershy stood up, as Pinkie squeezed Dash even tighter.

“Dashie, Dashie, Dashie, Dashie!” Pinkie repeated loudly.

“Hey to you – too, urrgh, Pinkie!” Dash groaned cheerfully through Pinkie’s squeezes.

Pinkie finally got up, letting go of her friend. “I thought you were gone FOREVER! I’m so glad you’re here now! Where are the others? Are they here, too?”

Rainbow tried to get the air back into her lungs, and was finally able to speak again. “Yes, they are – they’re in one of the boats coming in.”

“I saw them already,” Fluttershy was able to say, “They should be up here any minute.”

Pinkie clapped her hooves together. “YAY!! We’re all together again! Or, we will be! Oh, it’s going to be time to throw a party!”

Rarity shushed her pink friend. “Shh! Can’t you see we’ve already drawn enough attention to ourselves? I don’t need us getting shot at – again.”

Rainbow went wide-eyed. “Whoa, what? Again?”

Fluttershy looked to the ground. “Well, yes, you see, when we first got here, we um – “

“See, I told ya, Twilight – you can spy Pinkie from a mile away.”

The four ponies turned to the sound of the Southern voice, to see an orange earth pony and a lavender unicorn walking towards them slowly, smiling at the sight of close friends and re-unification.

Until a flash of pink bounded across the deck and flattened them both to the deck, screaming their names all the while.

“So, you guys got here okay, then?”

The six of them sat in a small little cabin the Confederate commander had reserved for them. He didn’t want to give them trouble from the other soldiers, nor did he want them to give trouble to the other soldiers. He figured that it was a matter that only the higher-up officials should deal with, honestly.

As the moon rose on the first night in the new place called America, the purple mare finally asked the question she intended to ask hours ago. Twilight had meant to ask about what had gotten them there way earlier, but Pinkie insisted on throwing the smallest of parties in their little cabin. Before anypony could object, or tell Pinkie about the impossibility of such a thing, their bouncy friend promptly fell asleep, tired from the day’s events.

So, naturally, the rest of them decided it may be time for a nap. Even Twilight, who realized that there had been a time difference and that it would only cause more problems, succumbed to sleep, eventually.

When they all came to, sometime during that night, unaware of the actual time, Twilight asked her question, before anypony could say anything else.

Rarity was the first to respond, nodding slowly. “Y…yes, er, we’ve gotten here alright, I guess.”

“Well, where in tarnation did y’all end up?” questioned Applejack, “’Cause it sure as hay wasn’t with us.”

“Well, um – we landed in the water…” Rarity began.

Fluttershy closed her eyes, reminiscing the event while Rarity retold it. They had teleported a foot or two below the surface of the water, and almost immediately broke the surface. At this point, they had no idea what was going on, so it only made it worse when really fast shards of metal were being thrown at them – and, as the pegasus would eventually find out, the term was actually called “being shot at.”

They were eventually told to cease fire, and a soldier waded out and retrieved them, to a shocked military group, who had no idea what the things were. Eventually, they resumed firing positions, and the soldier became their guide to the world, where they honestly didn’t learn a whole lot. Fluttershy remembered that they were part of something called the “Confederacy”, they were in a war with the northern part of America, and…no, that was about it.

Later, they were told to join some other Confederates aboard the Isabel, for the time being at least. So they did, and that’s where they spotted the other three.

Fluttershy’s thoughts moved in synch with Rarity’s explanation, which ended around the same time.

“…And then, the soldier told us to go aboard the Isabel, as we may be moving to another part of the country later. I don’t know, something like that,” her unicorn friend finished up.

“He was really nice!” added Pinkie Pie, “The soldier, I mean. But, he seemed really nervous, too! I don’t know why – they’re the aliens here, not us!”

Rainbow cocked her head to the side. “Uh, Pinkie…actually, we are the aliens.”

Pinkie shook her head disapprovingly and waved her hoof in the air. “Pish-posh. They’re the ones who aren’t colorfully-furred, and we’re the aliens. Rainbow Dash, you need to – “

“So!” Rarity interrupted, sensing the danger to Rainbow Dash, “So, um, what about you guys? How’d you end up here?”

Twilight relayed the entire story to them – from how they ended up in the middle of the fort, and were picked up by a friendly Union soldier, all the way until gunpowder accidentally went off and killed somebody.

“Wh-what?” Fluttershy asked upon hearing this, “S-s-somepony – oh, I mean somebody – somebody d-died?”

AJ nodded slowly. “Well, yeah, sugarcube – the poor boy died almost as soon as the explosion occurred.”

“That’s terrible!” Rarity cried, “What a freak accident!”

Twilight motioned her hoof as if to say so-so. “Well, it was and it wasn’t. The whole gunpowder – whatever that is – the whole gunpowder thing was a mishap, but apparently people are dying all the time. Mister Ephrams and the commander, um – Major something – kept telling us that he was only the ‘first’. I’m afraid to find out what that truly means.”

“Well, duh!” Pinkie yelled, “It means more people are going to die!”

The five others just stared at her, mouths agape, in shocked silence. Pinkie’s ear flopped back. “Sorry...”

Fluttershy looked to the ground, concentrating. Sure, Pinkie could be loud and obnoxious, but she had an unhealthy feeling she might be right this time. They had almost been riddled with…”bullets”, as they were called, which probably would’ve killed the three of them. The pegasus would never admit this revelation out loud, of course – she didn’t want the six of them to freak even more than usual. But she did feel the need to say something here.

“Um, guys?” she cautiously started, “I think Pinkie may be right. They – they are in a war, after all.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied, “But you don’t kill each other in a war….do you?”

Twilight shrugged. “I have no idea. The last great war in Equestria was over a hundred years ago, and there were no actual deaths, so to speak. Killing’s not really in our nature.”
“But is it in theirs?” Fluttershy questioned.

Another shocked silence fell upon the group. It did seem like they were trying to kill each other earlier – were any animate beings really capable of such a thing? Purposely killing their own race – because they can?

Rarity shook her head. “No, I don’t – it doesn’t seem possible. We’ve been in some bad conflicts, and not a thought of killing the other was around. Remember, when we were in Appleloosa half a year ago? All they had were pies – “

“Sweet Apple Acres!” Applejack exclaimed, with a look of worry on her face.

“What about it?” asked Twilight.

“No, not the Acres – Appleloosa! The festival is today! And I have no idea what time it is! Maybe we can still make it!”

Rarity looked a bit taken aback by AJ’s comment. “Applejack, dear…do you hear yourself? We’re in an entire different world!”

“Oh, I know, I know…” It was clear to Fluttershy that AJ really didn’t know at all. The orange pony stood up and trotted in place, nervously. “Oh, but – I need to give that speech! It’s probably too late now!”

“Forget that!” Rainbow said, “We need to get back home, period! Twilight?”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah, you guys are probably right. Hopefully I can teleport home, though. I’ve never teleported to other planets, or dimensions, or wherever this is.”

She thought about it for a minute, concentrating. “Alright – alright, I think – I think I may know the spell. Let me try it first, so I can check to see if it works – it’ll be better if only one of us gets lost, rather than all six of us. Stand back everypony.”

The other five got up from their sitting positions and moved a foot or two away from Twilight. She looked to the ground, thinking for just a moment more. She furrowed her brow, and her body went rigid. “Here goes,” she muttered.

Sweat dripped down her brow as she squeezed her eyes shut, and leaned forward, lost in deep concentration. Her horn began to glow with that magical aura she always seemed to have. Fluttershy watched in awe as her horn’s glow grew brighter and brighter, turning a fluorescent reddish-violet.

Then, in a massive flash of the same color, Twilight’s silhouette disappeared from view, leaving the cloud of pure magic lingering for only a moment longer.

The magic dissipated, leaving the five other ponies in the room, hoping that their unicorn friend wouldn’t forget about them when she returned.

Almost as soon as that thought entered all of their minds, the weird, high-pitched buzzing associated with teleportation shattered their silence, the cloud appeared again, and a confused and physically drained Twilight stood there, wide-eyed.

The five friends gasped. Her friend looked like she had been through a war, which Fluttershy figured was an appropriate simile, considering their situation. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair frayed and tossed everywhere, she was sweating in some places, and her entire coat was tossed every which way – what had just gone on?
Rarity spoke first. “Twilight, what happened?”

“I don’t know,” the unicorn replied, still frazzled, and out of breath, “I pictured Equestria, and teleported, but I only remained in this…this magic void. Couldn’t… couldn’t figure out how to get out. I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve left.” She swallowed, her Adam’s Apple moving visibly against her tired body. “H…how long has it been, since I’ve left?”

Pinkie Pie said, shocked but still jubilantly, “Um, about two seconds.”

“WHAT?!?” she asked. “I’ve been gone for…for days! Weeks, even….oh, Celestia, I’m so tired….”

She walked forward groggily, and fell on top of a mattress provided for the six friends. The five ponies looked over their tired, confused, and drained friend, with a look of concern.

Applejack put a hoof to Twilight’s shoulder. “There, there, sugarcube…yer home safe now. Or…wherever this place here is. No more weird magical void.”

Twilight, slowly regaining her usual breath pace, and nodding off, mumbled back, “I know…I know…but, girls, I’m sorry – I don’t think getting back to Equestria is even possible.”

With that, she closed her eyes, and fell asleep, unaware of her open-mouth friends looking at her in disbelief.

1.4 ...Or Maybe Not

Applejack, along with her companions, simply stared at a peacefully unconscious Twilight. After what seemed like an eternity, she somehow found her voice. “D-d-d-did she just say…n-no more Equestria?”

Pinkie Pie, ever-jubilant, but less so now, replied, “I…I think so.”

There was even more silence as the revelation finally sunk in. Forget about the semi-anniversary, AJ thought, No more Equestria? No more friends? No more Sweet Apple Acres? No more…family?

The last thought hit her like a speeding train, one she would never catch. All at once, she felt all moisture in her mouth leave and move up to her eyes. A terrible lump formed in her throat. Granny Smith…Big Macintosh…Little Applebloom…

“Excuse me for a moment,” AJ said shakily, and, after taking one more bleary-eyed glance at the napping harbinger of doom, turned and left the room, stepping out into the hallway.

She thanked Celestia that the rumble of the steam engine drowned out her crying. It started out as just a whimper, and pretty soon she was lying on the ground, muffling her would-be-noisy sobs into her arms.

How could it be that she’d never see her family again? It…it couldn’t be possible. No, it can’t.

But as another sob escaped her throat, she knew deep down inside that is was. Applejack thought warmly of the loved ones she’d never see again.

Granny Smith…oh, how she cared for them all. She could get a little weird at times, but isn’t that why she and everypony else she knew loved her? She was nice to everypony, a fantastic grandma…and an even better mother. Granny was the closest thing to a mom Applejack had really known, for as long as the farmpony could remember, and she went above and beyond the call of duty.

Big Mac, her brother! The hard worker she wouldn’t see again, the gentle giant that was her sibling. He was always so nice, even if al he ever said was “Eeyup.” If she could only hear him one more time…

And Applebloom! Sure, she got annoying at times, but she was the best little sister anypony could ask for. She – she –

Applejack let out the biggest wail yet, and it wasn’t muffled by anything. She immediately clasped a hoof to her mouth – Celestia, what would her friends think if she was in a state like this?

Multiple tears lingered on her face just then as another hoof gently rubbed her back in a comforting manner. AJ looked behind her to see Fluttershy, calmly stroking her friend’s back, her face a billboard of a tiny bit of distress and a whole mess of understanding.

“There, there,” the pegasus crooned, “It’s alright, it’s alright.”

The farmpony felt no need to hide her sorrow anymore, and resumed crying. “No!” she whined between sobs, “It ain’t alright! M-my family! I-I’m never gonna see ‘em again!”

With this, she whined again, and Fluttershy simply continued comforting, never ceasing. “There, there,” she repeated.

But as the last word left her mouth, another sound accompanied it – the sound of boots against wood. Upon hearing this, AJ paused her crying, and looked to the end of the hallway, the source of the noise. The pegasus soothing her did likewise.

Silent, just looking to the direction of the window at the end of the hall, the two ponies saw a pair of silhouettes turn the corner. The two figures – which the friends automatically recognized as men – were illuminated by the waxing moon outside, and they appeared to be deep in conversation.

“…not sure if sending them off with you is the best idea.”

That voice – it belonged to the major at the flag ceremony, Applejack racked her brain for the name – Amberson, maybe?

“Why?” asked the other, “I assure you, Anderson, we are more than capable of handling them.” So that’s what his name was.

Fluttershy tapped AJ’s shoulder. Not turning her still-tear-stricken face away from the exchange, the farmpony leaned an ear. The winged one whispered, “That’s the Confederate general – Beauregard, if I’m right.”

The other man replied to Beauregard’s remark. “Let me rephrase: I’m not sure if sending them off with you is a fair idea.”

“That’s the Major,” Applejack muttered, her voice still somewhat shaky, to Fluttershy. She felt the need to offer up some information herself, as compensation for her friend’s info. “I’m guessin’ his n-name is A-Anderson, but yeah, h-he’s a Major of the Union.”

“Fair?” inquired the silhouette of Beauregard, “What do you mean fair? I found the three of them; the other three are their friends. I don’t want them split up, so I take all!”

“Oh, yeah?” the major countered, “Well, I found the other three, and since ‘yours’ are their friends, maybe I should take them all!”

Beauregard exhaled. “I see your point. Well, we appear to be at an impasse on that one. I had another idea we could use – we let them go – just leave them on the shoreline, or on the shore of some big city like Charleston, or somethin’ like that, and have them find their own way abou- “

“Are you outta your mind, General? They’re not from here. They don’t know how America works. They’re completely alien to everyone and everything here. And, they came at the start of what’s going to be a bloody war. They’ll die out there.”

“I know, I know.” The Confederate sighed. “Look, honestly, I don’t want to give them up. You probably don’t, neither. Two of ‘em seem to be able to fly, I think the unicorn-thingys can do some sort of crazy magic – nutty as it all sounds, who wouldn’t want ‘em? If one were to do things right, they could change the course of a war.”

Now, the Union official sighed. “I’m well aware of what these things could do, General. But to be honest, I don’t want to give them to you knowing they could be all-powerful, nor do I want all of them if they turn out to be worthless, or do worse for the Union. I also don’t want to leave them to die out there. Not to mention – “ he stopped and swallowed here – “I have higher…people to answer to.”

“Likewise. It’s a big risk, I know.” At this point the two figures halted their conversation and began to visibly think, making all the stereotypical gesticulations one would associate with wondering.

AJ had stopped her sobbing for a while now, and was only focused on this conversation. At this point, the orange pony had figured out two things – 1.) they were talking about the six ponies, and 2.) this was probably a conversation not meant for her and Fluttershy’s ears.

All of a sudden, the Confederate general held up a hand. “Wait, I’ve got it,” Beauregard said, “I think – I think I’ve got an idea.”

“Well…?” Anderson asked, “What is it?”

At that moment, the Isabel’s steam engine gave a mighty bellow, scaring Fluttershy and getting a barely audible “eep!” from her.

The two commanders looked down the hall, towards the direction of Applejack and friend, listening for the sound. “Hello?” one called out.

Silently, Applejack led Fluttershy back into their room, away from the two commanders. Upon seeing all of their friends asleep once more, the farmpony tiptoed the two of them to an empty corner of the room, on the floor.

AJ lied down on the wood, Fluttershy doing the same. As she began to relax, she felt herself growing very tired, and, remembering why she had been out in the hall in the first place, thought, Oh well. I guess I’ll hafta cry ‘bout my family another day.

The thought of her family brought back depression. Before sadness could regain control, though, the Sandpony worked his magic, and she fell asleep.

The next morning, she wished she hadn’t woken up.

The trouble began on the deck of the steamer. A loud, brass trumpet had woken everybody on board up, including the six mares. They were then told to go up to the deck, as the union relief ship had finally arrived. Reasonable demands. That wasn’t the trouble, though.

The sleep wasn’t all bad, either. AJ had tossed and turned all night, but it wasn’t the worst sleep she had ever gotten. No, there had been plenty worse – and she feared there’d be worse to come – but this had been decent. She had even done her best to try and rid thoughts of her family from her mind for the time being, but with little avail. That wasn’t the problem, either.

As the six watched on, just minutes later, as all of the soldiers walked across of gangplank from the Isabel to the relief ship, the three who had first ended up at Sumter spied Ephrams. Ephrams, who had been their guide. Ephrams, the only soldier that’d talk to them and keep a semi-sane conversation. He was the closest thing to a “friend” any human was to the ponies.

It was only right to see him off. As he walked across the gangplank, Twilight raised a hoof, and waved to him. “Goodbye, Mister Ephrams. Thank you for everything!”

Seeing their friend, RD and Applejack followed suit, waving goodbye to their Northern friend.

“Later, Mister Ephrams.”

“So long, Ephrams!”

The soldier, who had just set foot on the relief ship, turned to see the ponies. When he saw them, he gave them a slightly puzzled look, but waved cheerfully anyway.

The major, who, unlike Ephrams, hadn’t quite left the Isabel yet, stood next to the three. He looked down, confused, his face identical to Ephrams, at the three mares. “Why are all o’ you sayin’ goodbye?”

The ponies looked at him skeptically. Dash asked, “Well, we were gonna stay here…with the others. Does this mean we’re all going with you, then? Me and all my friends?”

The major turned his head to the side. “You three are…” then, pointing to Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, in their own little group just a coupled feet away, “They’re not though.”

All six went wide-eyed. Applejack began to tense up. Oh no, not again…

“Wait, what?” asked Rarity, “We can’t…be with them?”

“’Fraid not little mi – er, filly.”

Twilight, who had remained silent since her goodbye, stomped her hoof on the ground. “No!” she exclaimed, “It’s bad enough I can’t figure out a way home – but we are our own ponies! Our plan was just – oh, I don’t know what our plan was! But we were at least going to be together. We aren’t your property, and this is not for you to decide!”

The other five nodded in silent agreement. The major, however, did not.

“Actually,” stated Anderson coldly, “You are.”

With that, he reached behind his back, pulled out his rifle, cocked it, and aimed it at the three friends in front of them. “And,” he continued, “I don’t take kindly to deserters.”

All six, mouths agape, watched in horror. If looking down the barrel of a gun twice in 24 hours is any indication of what life was like here, AJ didn’t like it.

Pinkie Pie started up. “B-b-but that’s not fair! Why can’t we all be together?”

The major looked up from his rifle. “Confederates found you, you’re theirs. We found these, they’re ours. Me and your general, Beauregard, have reached an agreement on that. And, I hate to break it to you, pony, but life ain’t fair.”

There was a noise like a popped balloon, as Pinkie’s hair literally deflated before all of their eyes, flattening out.

The two groups looked longingly at each other- unable to speak, not sure what to say if they could, and generally scared and confused.

The bellow of the Dixie steamer spoke for them, telling them it was about to leave. The major got behind his “group” of ponies, and began pushing them across the gangplank. “Don’t worry, you three, I’m sure you’ll see your friends again…maybe on less-than-friend terms, though.”

When they were all aboard, and the last stragglers set foot – and hoof – off the gangplank, the board of wood was pulled back onto the Union boat. The soldiers all just stared at the enemy, silent, but intimidating.

Except for the ponies, who stood at the railing of each boat, still unable to comprehend what just happened. Applejack figured Dash would’ve flown away by now, but even the cocky pegasus was too shocked to do anything.

The only thing they could do was give a measly wave, with tears in their eyes, to their companions. All but Pinkie Pie, who, while the boats began slowly moving away from each other, was bawling her eyes out, her tears forming two legitimate fountains from her eyes.

AJ felt her heart sink and split in two, as the Isabel changed away from the relief ship. When it and her three friends finally left her vision, she simply looked down to the murky water, and sighed. No more tears could flow at this point.

The same couldn’t be said for the usually-tough Rainbow Dash, as tears were streaming down her face, “This…this can’t be happening!” she yelled.

“My apologies.” The major’s voice startled all three, Twilight, RD, and Applejack. They turned around, first in surprise, then in fury at the union officer.

“You,” Rainbow Dash retorted accusingly, “Don’t you dare say ‘sorry’ to me or my friends. You have no idea what we’re going through.”

The Union soldiers went about their business on the ship at this point, making an attempt to block out the heated exchange between their commanding officer, and three things that looked like they came out of a children’s coloring book. However, the major’s voice could still be heard. “No, I probably don’t. But, little fillies, I wasn’t the one to make this decision.”

“Oh yeah,” inquired AJ, “Then who the hay is this monster who split us apart?”

“While Beauregard and I were the ones who came upon the compromise,” the major replied, “The one who really wanted you is the man we are taking you to right now. He should make things all clear for you, as you three appear to be very troubled. And, I would refrain from calling Mr. Lincoln a ‘monster’ in the future.”

1.5 First Day on the Job

The staredown was in full swing at this point.

In one corner, you had the three of them – the usually extravagant and proud Rarity, now shifting nervously on the wood floor, her eyes darting between the floor and the ceiling, not wanting to upset the silence she was so very well maintaining;

Fluttershy, who just bore her eyes into the desk in front of her, refusing to lock vision, rigid in posture, yet it was easy to see she was scared beyond belief;

and Pinkie Pie, who was basically carrying all of them onwards at this point, her hair caught in the middle between perky and depressed, in a sort of limbo of inflation and deflation, glaring into the eyes of her competitor, not entirely sure what was going on, but refusing to break eye contact.

And in the other corner, you had him – a man sitting at his desk, half-worried, half-confused, his wispy goatee a distraction to the almost attention deficit Pinkie. He stared at all three of them, but mostly into Pinkie Pie’s unyielding eyes, somehow entranced by them.

He blinked. Breaking the silence, Jefferson Davis blurted out, “What are you doing?”

“YES!” Pinkie shouted, startling everybody else in the room, “I win the staring contest! It’s okay mister – I’m kind of unbeatable, just saying.”

Davis squinted at the pink pony, as if trying to see through her jubilancy. After a good moment or two, he exhaled, and rubbed in between his eyes with his fingertips. “Of course,” he muttered under his breath, “The war starts, and I have this to deal with.”

Rarity had regained her confidence, albeit not all of it. She asked politely, “Um, if I may, Mister, um - ?”

“Davis,” the Confederate Commander-in-Chief said slight impatiently, “President Davis.”

“Right, right. Mr. Davis, um, you asked to see us and well, you haven’t actually said anything.”

He sighed again. Pinkie Pie noticed how stressed out he seemed. Or, maybe it was just his lack of ability to handle things.

Either way, he was one grumpy Gus.

“Yes, well,” the president continued, “That was before I found out I’m talking to a living, breathing, political cartoon. I’ve still got things to – ugh.” He stopped midsentence, unable to complete his thought. Impatience and arrogance seemed to boil up inside of him.

Pinkie Pie watched as he reached over to a small balance beam, and began to feverishly tap on one side of it, incredibly fast and (it seemed to her, anyway) randomly. Davis held a hand to his face as another gentlemen came into the room., looking stately like his president but without having that sense of power.

“Yes, Mr. Davis?” He asked. He then looked down at the three ponies, who in turn gave him a passing glance, all except for Fluttershy, who just stared at the ground, still. The man pointed a finger towards the three of them, and asked, “Is this- um, er – is this a, ah, bad time, Mr. President?”

“Pay no attention to them,” Davis dismissed, “Go get those papers I told you to put in your drawer. And Lee. I need Lee in here, now.”

“Right away, sir.” And with that, the man left the room.

“Lee?” Pinkie Pie asked, “Who’s that? We’re going to meet him? Oh, I hope he’s nice. And I hope we don’t scare him. I don’t know why I scare everybody here, but I do know one thing – you guys sure scare – “

“Look!” Davis said, rather loudly. Noticing the ponies’ reaction, he sighed again, regretfully. “Look, I have a lot on my plate, now, okay? I’ve got a war to fight, and a new country to run – Lee will explain everything once he gets here.”

“Right, but why are we here?” inquired Rarity, “Why couldn’t you just…let us go?”

Davis said matter-of-factly, “If you were fighting a war….wherever you came from, and suddenly something showed up, and it had an unsurpassed amount of power, larger than you’ve ever seen, and it had absolutely no purpose being there and it would get killed otherwise…would you leave it there? Or have it work for you?”

“Leave it,” Rarity retorted, “If it doesn’t want to be part of somepony else’s conflict, then it doesn’t need to be.”

“You three agreed.”

“Only when that crazy Union general threatened to blow our friends’ brains out!”

Jefferson contemplated this for a second. “Union, huh? A Union man did this?”

Pinkie Pie nodded. “Oh, yeah. It was scary as hay, I thought they were all going to die!”

The president nodded slowly, a smile forming on his face. “The Union are bad, aren’t they? What if they had killed your friends?”

“Well, I – “ Pinkie Pie began, but then stopped. “I – I dunno! I guess I’d say something to them, or - or do something – I mean, killing is seriously serious business. I might even fight them at that point! Those were my friends!”

“Yes, Mr. Davis?”

The voice came from behind. The three ponies looked behind them to see a man with white hair, stretching down until it literally became part of his equally-wispy beard. He held a small thing of papers in his hand.

He gestured to the Confederate president. “I heard you needed me and….” He trailed off, looking at the ponies. “Erm….w-what?”

“Ah, Robert!” Davis said delightedly, standing up a bit too quickly. He shook the man’s hand, and removed the papers from his other. “Great to see you. My equestrian friends here – “

“Hey!” Pinkie Pie interrupted, “How’d you know where we were from? I thought we hadn’t told you that?”

The man was as confused as ever. He looked at the pink pony, then to Davis, then to the pony, then to Davis, at a loss for words.

Jefferson gave a wave of his hand. “Don’t mind her, she rambles a lot. Anyway, my equestrian friends here need a little more ‘guidance’ on what they’re doing as Confederates, and I have a bit to do.” He held up the papers. “Since I imagine they’ll be going with you, is there anyway possible you can take them to the encampment and explain things a little bit?”

“Uh…” Robert started, “Y-….I don’t…erm….uhh….”

“Great!” Turning to the ponies, “Girls, this is Robert E. Lee, my head officer here in the Confederacy. Lee this is…um, well, you’ll find out, I suppose. Go right ahead then, I shan’t keep you longer!”

And with that, Jefferson almost trotted out the door, seemingly eager to get away from the ponies.

Robert E. Lee just stood, unable to comprehend what the hell was going on at this point, at the ponies. There was only silence, and a staredown seemed likely to occur again.

Then Pinkie Pie shattered the silence. “Your beard…it’s SO COOL!”

“So, I am still trying to run this through my head – you’re from a place called Equestria, and some of you can perform magic?”

Lee sat down outside of his tent on a small stone bench, along with the three ponies, who were nestled in the grass. Pinkie had been very flamboyant, as always – despite missing her friends, she did her best to put on a smile. There was no use in crying over what couldn’t be controlled, she supposed.

Rarity had gradually warmed up to Lee; not really talking to him as much as Pinkie, but enough to speak comfortably to the Confederate officer.

Fluttershy, as before, refused to make eye contact, and only spoke when directly called upon. She did, however, seem less tense – a good sign.

The question hit Pinkie’s ears, and it amazed her that someone hadn’t picked this up yet. It was a fairly basic concept – some ponies, unicorns to be specific, did magic; others didn’t. They were from another place, where ponies are the norm, not humans.

Instead of blurting this out, though, the earth pony just nodded, rather eagerly. “Yup. Our friend, especially. Unicorns can perform magic, and through some sort of bad accident – we kind of ended up here, in this strange place. Well, not strange to you. Strange, isn’t it? And then you guys took us in, and separated us from our only friends like heartless monsters, and – “

Pinkie felt another hoof come down on her shoulder, as Rarity reprimanded her friend. “Pinkie Pie! What have I told you about your tongue?”

Pinkie Pie looked down at the ground, and brushed her front two hooves together. “,,,to think before using it…”

Surprisingly, Robert E. Lee just laughed. Pinkie Pie looked up, in better spirits, and both Fluttershy and Rarity looked at him in confusion. The unicorn of the group asked, cautiously, “Mr. Lee, um…why are you laughing?”

“Your friend…her blatancy, it’s hysterical! And her wisdom…she has no idea how right she is.”

All three cocked their heads to the side simultaneously. “Come again?” Pinkie asked.

“To be honest,” Lee began, sighing happily, “I hate this war. I don’t like the idea of a Confederacy, I feel the Union should be together, and I disagree with the ideals that made the Confederacy the Confederacy.”

“What ideals are those?” Rarity interrupted.

Lee started, “Well, the idea of sla – “ But he stopped. It seemed to Pinkie that he was keeping something from them, but not necessarily out of derision. More like…protection, almost. “You’ll find out sooner or later, I suppose. Based on what I know about where you three come from, I’m not sure you’ll like it. But, I digress.”

This was beginning to be an intriguing concept. Even Fluttershy had become less skittish and was actually looking back and forth between the officer and her friends. Pinkie asked innocently, “Well, then, mister –if you don’t like the idea, then why are you here?”

Lee sighed again, this time, out of reminiscence rather than contentedness. “My state, Virginia – I love her. That’s where I come from. You come from Equestria, I guess; well, I come from Virginia. Virginia joins the Confederacy – so do I. If I’ve got anything to be proud of in this whole thing, it might just be my loyalty.”

“Loyalty?” Pinkie Pie gasped. “That’s my friend Rainbow Dash’s Element!”

“Element?” Lee had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

But Fluttershy did. Her face seemed to contort a bit, as she looked back towards the ground, sniffling a bit, and trying to blink incoming tears out of her eyes.

Rarity lent a comforting hoof. “Oh, Fluttershy, don’t cry…”

Lee looked with sympathy to the pegasus, then to her pink friend, whose face seemed apologetic. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh. Rainbow Dash was our friend…she kinda came here with us, and was sent…over there…”

“To the Union?” The officer seemed appalled at this. “Why would they split you three up like – no, wait.” He exhaled, realizing his mistake. “Never mind. I’m sorry.”

There was an awkward pause on that campground in Alabama, with Fluttershy trying to suppress tears, Rarity comforting, Pinkie Pie somber, and Lee looking around nervously, realizing what had just occurred.

Then, changing the subject, “So, you three are here…for what reason exactly? How are you supposed to serve the Confederacy? No offense, but – you’re all colorful miniature horses. Too small to ride, I think.”

I highly doubt we could carry their weight, Pinkie Pie thought, although the other way around might work. Maybe we can play a game of chicken! All we need is a pool –

Rarity’s Canterlot-esque voice destroyed her friend’s thoughts. “Mr. Davis simply said that you’d give us something to do.”

“Well,” Lee said, standing up and stretching, “Since you three are here, I might as well give you something to do. No point in having you three sent over here and through all this trouble unless there’s something over here for you to be a part of, right?” He allowed himself the slightest chortle. “Now, let’s see what we can do…”

The three ponies stood up straight, all meeting eye contact with the Confederate general, except for Fluttershy, of course. Lee took notice of the pegasus’s antics, and questioned her about it.

“You, in the yellow – I apologize, I don’t know your name.”

The yellow pony whispered something incomprehensible.

“Come again?”

“Fluttershy,” she said, louder.

“Okay…Fluttershy…what did you do when you were…at home?”

She looked to the ground, once again speaking so low that whatever she said couldn’t be picked up by the even best of ears.

“One more time, miss. I can barely hear you.”

“I cared for the animals.”

“The animals? Whose, exactly?”

“All of them.”

Lee was taken aback by this revelation. “A-all of them?”

Fluttershy nodded.

Lee put a hand to his face. “We do have some animals, mostly just horses, though. Not like you three, though – horses here, that are much bigger than you three.”

“Horses?” Rarity questioned, “There are other – “

“What about you, Miz um – Rarity. Miz Rarity, what are you good at? What do you do?”

She looked to the side. “Well, I was sort of a fashion pony. I made alterations, tailoring – ran my own clothing business. I even made my own dresses – “

“Dressing?” Lee asked eagerly, “Like, dressing wounds?”

“No, no” Rarity replied, trying to get out of this, as she knew where it would soon lead to, “Dresses, not dress – “

“Dressing wounds! Perfect! We could use you on the medical staff! We’re always shorthanded, so this is great.”

The unicorn tried to say something, but ultimately couldn’t. She felt too worn out to even counter the general’s rash statement.

Lee moved on to the next and final pony, anyway – Pinkie Pie. “And you, miss…”

He didn’t even ask what Pinkie Pie was good at. The pink pony felt his eyes scanning her over, looking her all around, lost in deep contemplation. She could see his thoughts arguing with one another in his eyes.

He exhaled. “You…” he began, “I think there are a number of things you could do around here…”

“Like what?” Pinkie asked nicely.

“Well…are you any good at putting on a show?”

“A show? Like, what kind of show?”

Lee began pacing. “Well, if this ramshackle lost cause is going to get anywhere against American, we’re going to need more troops. And nothing brings in troops like propaganda. A few warnings, good pictures, a good symbol…something easily recognizable, a shining image of the Confederacy…”

He extended his index fingers and thumbs, and placed them together so that they formed a rectangle. Winking, he brought the rectangle closer to his eyes so that he looked at Pinkie Pie through his window.

“Yes, of course,” Lee said, approvingly, “A dash of Pinkie Pie - or ‘Dixie Pie’ - maybe, just maybe, is what the South needs.”

Pinkie Pie had no idea what the general was talking about, or what “propaganda” was, or what he meant by “Dixie Pie”. She hadn’t heard of that flavor pie before.

She wondered if her friends in the North had just as much of an eccentric first day as she had.

“Eccentric”, however, was not the word the three in the North would’ve used.

1.6 "Hard" Knocks

The sun rose over the Potomac and gleamed on the stub of what will eventually be the Washington Monument, a little over a week since three ponies first spoke to Jefferson Davis in Montgomery, Alabama. One day, the government promised, the obelisk would be completed – still, it was an odd sight to watch a monument construction be put on hold for about seven years.

What was an even odder sight was the Union encampment, not too far off from the National Mall, which at this moment in time housed rows upon rows of tents, a pole bearing the American flag, a field in which the Northern soldiers were trained…

…and a cyan-colored pegasus moving in slalom to a row of makeshift pillars.

Rainbow Dash tried to imagine what it looked like to the other Union soldiers, a smile spreading across her face as she imagined the look of envy they would get when watching her completely awesome skills. Nopony –and nobody – could ace this course like she was doing.

With this in mind, she continued to move back and forth about the pillars, just missing the edges of the next ones, as she maintained a constant speed throughout. While slaloming was probably not an actual factor in the war, it did help her flying skills – which were already top-notch, she thought to herself.

It probably helped that she did slaloms as a part of her Best Junior Flyer Award routine. This made the menial training a breeze – no, a breeze she left behind when she flew.

Damn, she was cocky.

But, she also didn’t care.

She finished the row, and turned widely to the left, giving herself a wide berth to about-face and do the slalom again. For the nth time.

The nth time….just how long had she been slaloming? It seemed like she had been doing it for a while now.

She finished up this next row, and instead of making a wide turn, stopped and hovered in the air. She spotted her two friends, sitting idly in the grass forward and below her position. Twilight, her unicorn friend, was laying down, just thinking about something. Something serious, Dash noted. Her face was contorted in a sort of mental pain.

Applejack, on the other hand, had been admiring Dash’s flying skills, and now waved to her from the ground. “Heya, Rainbow!” she called. “Why’d ya stop?”

“I just want to know how laps I’ve done,” the pegasus replied. “Have you been counting?”

Applejack nodded happily. “Yesiree. You’ve been doin’ about…hmm…I’d say five.”

Rainbow felt a little pain in her head. She had to be joking.

“That’s not near a hundred!” Rainbow said, “I need to do a hundred! I thought I was way past that number!”

AJ shrugged. “Well, ya ain’t. And if you wanna get to a hundred, then go to it! I won’t keep ya waitin’.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. This was ridiculous.

Patience is a virtue, or so they say. Well, as Dash flapped her wings in preparation, she began to wonder if “virtues”, whatever they were, were a good thing.

An hour later, a sweaty and tired Rainbow Dash crashed into the ground, too tired for any sort of gentle landing. She let herself breathe for the first time in a while, since beginning the slalom training. Her wings ached, and so did her arms, legs, head, body – basically, everywhere.

She turned over, so that she was lying on her back, and just laid there for a while. A set of hooves began to approach her from a distance, and she looked over through half-closed eyes to see her farmpony friend approaching.

AJ opened her mouth to say something, but Rainbow Dash held her up. “Don’t even say anything. I know I did a hundred. I kept counting.”

“Naw, I wasn’t gonna say that,” Applejack noted, “Tired, much?”

Through subtle gasps of air, Rainbow muttered, “No, I just decided to crash into the ground and I figured I might as well hyperventilate, too.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Enough o’ your sarcasm, Dash. Why don’t we go back to our tent – just relax for a little bit, huh? I somehow managed to get some apple cider for us. Reminds ya of home, don’t it?”

The pegasus could see AJ was trying to put a light spin on their predicament, but it wasn’t doing too much good for Rainbow Dash. The idea of not being in Equestria had eaten away at her for the last week, and even worse – the idea of not seeing Rarity…or Fluttershy…or Pinkie Pie…

Before her thoughts consumed her, Dash asked, “Is…is it hard?”

AJ cocked her head to the side. “What?”

“The cider…is it hard apple cider?”

The orange pony looked over to the side. “I haven’t tried it myself, but I did manage to sneak it off some Union soldier…an’ based off my knowledge o’ these things, I wouldn’t be surprised if all their drinks were alcoholic. They probably have hard water, come to think of it.”

That made Dash laugh out loud. “Yeah, I need a drink. And to be honest, I don’t think hard apple cider would kill me today. Don’t judge.”

AJ lent a hoof to Dash, helping her up. “None taken. It’s been a hard week – I could use some myself.”

The two friends walked slowly to the tent they were living in on the encampment in silence, just taking in the Washington air that day in April.

Yet another hour later, a bugle sounded. When the brass instrument finally stopped playing its tune, 100 or so recruits walked onto the field, dressed in light clothing. They faced a man in an official’s uniform, who was riding back and forth on a horse. An Earth horse – a brute of an animal that’s twice the Equestrian ponies’ height.

The men on the field were talking amongst themselves, but upon the sight of the officer’s glare, they ceased talking. He continued to pace on the horse, and once he saw everybody’s eyes on him, he spoke.

“Gentlemen,” he began, “I’m sure you’re aware of the Southern attack on our own Fort Sumter. Which also means, as I’m sure you know, war. Yes, it’s true – the United States is at war with its newfound counterpart, the Confederacy. So we must train, my boys! Those men down there – some of them are trained to the caliber of you, most even better! That means we’ll have to work a bit harder in these next couple weeks if we want to even think about winning this fight against them.

“Now, I know this is just about the same amount of men I’ve had training with me for the last couple weeks – but, expect that number to change. I foresee a great number of true, American men ready to fight for their country – President Lincoln himself has called for thousands of volunteers.

“But, we actually have gotten some in early. Men, I’m sure you’re aware of the three newcomers who arrived here the other day.” The officer pointed to the ponies’ encampment. The men turned around to see Twilight, just relaxing on the ground. She smiled and gave a wave of her hoof.

The officer looked around for a bit around the tent. Then, “You! Get up here, little missy – Lincoln wants you to fight, so I’m going to train you to fight. Understood?”

The unicorn sighed. “Yes, sir.” She stood up and trotted over to the group of soldiers, some of which just stared at her in disbelief.

“Men,” the officer continued, addressing the group, “This here is – is Twilight. She’ll be helping the war effort with us, mostly because she has access to certain abilities that none of you have or could comprehend – “

“What, does she actually stop talking? That’d be a feat for any woman around here.”

The comment came from some random soldier within the crowd, and caused a bit of laughter and unsettled the group a bit. The officer pointed a gloved hand at the soldier and barked, “Johnson! I don’t take interruptions! Just for that, five extra laps on the trail! Starting now.”

A sigh was heard, and a soldier with short hair and a goatee began jogging towards the woods, the beginnings of the trail.

The officer saw him off, waiting until he was well enough away, and then went on even further. “Yes, miss Twilight is here for the war effort, and has agreed to train with the rest of us. There are two more – Twilight! Where’re your companions?”

The scholar blinked a bit, and then looked back to the tent. Seeing as how her friends were nowhere in sight, she looked back the officer and shrugged – which caused the entire company to gasp. Since when did ponies shrug?

“I have no idea, officer,” she stated honestly, “They went into that tent and they – haven’t – “

“We’re – we’re comin’ don’t you –don’t you worry – w-worry ‘bout us n-n-none.”

The Southern voice was accompanied by Applejack stumbling out of the tent and promptly falling flat on her face. Her unicorn friend rushed over and helped stand her up straight with her magic.

“Applejack,” Twilight said worriedly, “Applejack what’s w – what were you doing in there?”

Applejack looked like a train wreck. Her eyes were bloodshot, she could barely stand up, she seemed tipsy altogether – and, when the farmpony replied, she could do nothing but slur.

“I- I been fffffine thank you, li’l missy. Don’t – don’t ya st-start grilling – grilling me for…for…information! I was…me and Rainbow….We were just havin’…having some uh….some o’ that appla cider in our t-tent there.”

“Apple cider?” Twilight asked. Then, suddenly, she saw the answer. Apple cider. There was more than one type.

Almost as if to answer her, a voice in the crowd shouted, “She’s drunk to high hell!”

The vote was unanimous. Applejack was inebriated. Out of her mind.

“Where did - ,” the scholarly unicorn began, trying to think of how to ask the question, “Where did you get the cider? And…where’s Rainbow Dash?”

“RD is….heh, that girl’s passed out on the cot,” AJ slurred out, “And we – we gots…we gots the cider from a certain somepony….someone, I mean…” She flicked her eyes back and forth flirtatiously, “Although….” She giggled before continuing, “I might’ve had to do a few favors…certain favors…”

Twilight took a step or two back, her eyes widening in shock and disgust. As did the group of soldiers. “APPLEJACK!” the lavender unicorn yelled.

“Ah’ma just kiddin y’all, sheesh…wow, this stuff sure is…good. It’s good, it’s good….”

“Enough!” the officer shouted over the din that was beginning to grow. “We’re all beginning the trail run this instant! It’s my job to prepare all of you for the war that’s going to destroy this nation, and goddamn it I’m not going to lose it just because some horse from another planet got into somebody’s booze! Twilight, stay here and care for your friend – she’s too drunk to stand.

“The rest of you, let’s go! And you,” the officer said sternly, point at a drunk Applejack, “I expect you to be running later. Alone. Welcome to the Army of the Potomac, little filly. Ain’t no place for goofing off.”

And with that, he exclaimed “Let’s go!” to his steed, and they took off, running along side the group of men, leaving Twilight and AJ to stand outside of the tent.

Once they were to the woods, the purple pony turned around angrily to AJ, who was beginning to come out of her drunkenness. “What is your problem?!” the scholar demanded.

“Huh…wash?” was the only reply.

“You’re drinking hard apple cider? Do you have any idea where you are, AJ? Any idea, at all?”

“Uh….”

“We’re in a war! A war not like in Equestria! Where people die! Where ponies could die! Where you could die if you do stuff like this!”

AJ shook her head. “Twig’ dear…this is…this is training’ camp.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Twilight countered, using a voice that was a bit louder than her normal, “It doesn’t matter! This isn’t like you, Applejack. You’re usually one to go out there and get stuff done – the only one out of us with this fantastic gung-ho attitude! And a work ethic! I’m sitting here, trying to figure out what went wrong when I tried to teleport back – and you’re drinking it up with Rainbow Dash!”

“She-she…she wanted it, more than I did….”

“And you let her?”

This question hit AJ hard, even though she was still half-drunk. The farmpony felt the question kind of…deep. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but she got the feeling that this may be a serious thing. “What?” she managed to say clearly.

Twilight sighed. “Rainbow Dash was hard at work this morning, going through all of her training. I watched her. She’s embraced this whole ‘other world’ thing better than most of us, and no doubt she’ll be on the frontlines. I pray to Celestia she’ll be safe. But, I’m not sure whether I should be praying to the Sun Princess because of the battle, or because of the alcohol! You have no idea what this is doing to her, do you?”

“Well, I…I don’t – “

“She’s passed out in the tent, that’s how drunk she is!”

“Calm down, Twilight…p-please…”

“No, I won’t! You should know better than to give her that stuff! Why are you even having alcohol?”

“’Cause…’cause it’s been a hard week, that’s all…and…and…”

“A hard week? A HARD WEEK?” Applejack began to recoil at how angry Twilight was getting. She’d never seen her friend like this before. “YOU’VE HAD A HARD WEEK? TRY DEALING WITH THE GUILT KNOWING YOU GOT YOUR FRIENDS HERE, AWAY FROM THEIR FAMILY, AND YOUR OWN, AND YOU CAN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT?”

Applejack looked down to the ground. She knew she missed her family, but she hadn’t considered the entirety of the ordeal from Twilight’s perspective. She couldn’t imagine the kind of guilt her unicorn friend was experiencing. The headache she was beginning to get from the alcohol was no compounded by her friend’s yelling, and Ax’s own guilt.

“And now,” Twilight continued, fuming, her hair fraying in different places, “All you’re trying to do is keep them alive as you try to find a way home. And you’ve failed, already, by losing three of them! I need you two alive! I’m not going to let you die in the Celestia-forsaken war. But how can I do that when you, the sensible, hardy one and the arrogant, constantly-moving one are drinking it up! I can’t do this all alone, AJ, it – it’s too much stress!”

“Twilight,” AJ began, the sense coming back to her, “I – I’m sorry…”

“She’s passed out! That means alcohol poisoning! What if she doesn’t wake up?”

“Twig’, you’re over-reacting’ just a smidge – “

But the scholar paid her no heed. “What if she doesn’t wake up? I should’ve known you two would get into trouble? But why, AJ? Why’d you give her the stuff? You’re becoming more of a doormat than Fluttershy!!”

The lavender pony’s words hit her in the face. She immediately clasped a hoof to her mouth, to stop herself from saying anything more. Applejack just looked at her in surprise.

Had that…had that really come out of her mouth? Her friend could be dead….her friend who she had to have protected…and they were using her name like that? A…a “doormat”?

Almost five minutes went by, and no words were spoken.

Tears began to well up in Twilight’s eyes. “I…I should go…” she said, warily, and then galloped away to the woods, to join the Army of the Potomac in their training. As she crossed the field, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get rid of any tears. What monster had she become?

AJ didn’t raise a hoof to stop her friend. While the drunkenness was still there, it had deteriorated since she staggered out of the tent. Enough for AJ to realize what the war was doing to the three of them.

She wasn’t sure what scared her more, though: The fact that this was the first panic attack Twilight’s ever had, or that the unicorn was right in all her statements.

1.8 The Eve of Battle

July 20, 1861 E.T. (Earth Time)

Today, I have finally decided to

Using her magic, Twilight lowered the pencil back down into the grass. She couldn’t think of anything to write in this journal she had been keeping. Despite everything that happened, she couldn’t think of the event that would get the glory of being written down in her Earth journal.

Fortunately, she didn’t need to worry about it too much. The officer, who had been in charge at that encampment all those months ago, McDowell, now stood before her. His medals and buttons jangled happily against one another. “Miss Twilight?” the brigadier general asked.

The unicorn looked up from her work. “Yes?”

“I’d suggest gettin’ some shuteye. My plans are to move out at around 0200 hours, and it’d be best for everybody here to get some rest.”

The mare sighed. “I know, I know. I’m just waiting for Rainbow Dash. Has she come back yet?”

McDowell shook his head. “Not yet. But I’m sure she’ll be along shortly. I suppose if you want to stay up long enough to wait for her, that’d be alright.”

“Thank you, sir.”

The officer turned to move, but then looked back at the mare. “You sure you don’t want to be out there in the field, helping your fellow soldier? Your magic sure could prove useful.”

The scholar looked to the ground in contemplation. She raised her head to the officer again. “No, my statement still stands. I’m staying as far away as I can, if that’s quite alright. Goodnight, sir.”

The Brigadier General tipped his hat and continued on his way, telling every other soldier there to go to sleep, because tomorrow was going to be a big day.

Twilight contemplated this as she looked at the darkening sky. The period of night where the sky was a deep cerulean had come about, and the waxing moon made it all the nicer. Noises began to wind down there, in Virginia. It was peaceful.

Except of course, for Applejack’s snoring. She had clocked out around 20 minutes ago, tired from the rigorous extra training she had done today as well as the travel time to the spot they rested at now. Twilight couldn’t blame the orange pony, who was sound asleep on the cot next to her.

She worried for her friend. Tomorrow would not be pleasant; she knew that. The first real battle of the war. Twilight hoped in her heart it’d be the only battle – but, her newfound knowledge of strategy and battle told her it wasn’t going to be that way. If only her magic could get her back to Equestria…

Suddenly, an idea came to her to write about for tonight. She hadn’t thought about getting home in a while, and it might be best to write down her notes on what had happened the last times, maybe try to figure out a plan. She looked down at the paper in front of her, levitated the quill into the inkwell again, and wrote.

July 20, 1861 E.T. (Earth Time)

Today, I have finally decided that I shall draw out a plan for getting home tomorrow during the battle. I know for sure I’m not going to get involved in the battle itself – I’d only hinder the Union’s chances of victory. Not that there’s much of a chance they can lose – as far as I know, the Confederacy is even less experience than we are.

Nonetheless, it’d be wise to stay out. I have no idea how to fight in a war, unlike my two friends here. Rainbow Dash has been doing reconnaissance and some aerial stuff ever since we got here. Balloons are apparently “easy to shoot down”, and there’s no other form of air transport here. Rainbow’s superior flying skills will probably be a decisive blow in this scuffle.

She found that tonight’s entry almost seemed to write itself. The mare paused, realizing how far she had digressed from her original subject. But she figured it might be best to continue with her recap of everything. Just to remind her where she was, what was going on.

And Applejack, she probably is the best artillery gunner out there.

It was true. In the last couple months, Applejack’s work on the farm had paid off, and she operated the cannons and artillery guns with more finesse than the other gunners combined. She had managed to stay mostly out of the battle as well, but Twilight still worries for her friend. Constantly. It wasn’t like a good shot wouldn’t take a chance at the artillery people. Or artillery ponies.

She was glad they were on better terms. Ever since Applejack got into that cider…well, nothing was the same. It got close, and their friendship was almost to the level it was before. But, there was still some tension left. On both of their parts.

Twilight hung her head. She wished she hadn’t acted that way. It did no one any good. It was bad enough they were split up in the first place…

Forget those thoughts for now. Back to the journal.

The two of them almost make me wish I did something productive. Almost. But, I made my position clear to Lincoln that one time we talked. I am going to remain out of this war as much as I can. If I have to give strategically advice, then so be it. But, I’m not fighting a war that isn’t mine.

Still, I can’t help but feel maybe if I intervene, this could end quickly. But, what if it isn’t supposed to? What if it’s supposed to drag on forever?

Who knows? I sure

The paper was thrown out of her hands as a blur of cyan crashed into her, knocking her off her cot and only stirring AJ. After a brief cower in fear, Twilight opened her eyes to see and exasperated but excited Rainbow Dash standing on top of her.

Her pegasus friend smiled, “Hey, Twi’! I’m back!”

“I can see,” grumbled Twilight, “You knocked my journal all over the place.”

“Pssh,” Dash waved a hoof in the air, showing off a new boot specially made for her, “Even on the battlefield, you’re still an egghead.”

The purple mare couldn’t help but chuckle. Dash did the same as she got off her friend and walked over to her cot. The unicorn magicked all her papers into a neat stack, and lied down on her cot again, just relaxing. Two boots followed by another two flew into the air as Rainbow bucked them off her hooves. She exhaled as she flopped on her own cot.

The scholar sighed. “I’m glad you’re back. I was getting worried.”

“Worry about me?” Dash jokingly asked, “Me? You know how I am, Twilight. I’m invincible.”

“Now, now,” Twilight countered, “Just because it’s kind of hot outside doesn’t mean your head needs to get the same way, too.” The two of them shared another laugh.

The pegasus let out a relaxed sigh. “Yeah, yeah. It doesn’t matter. I got the information we needed. We’ll be sure to get those Dixie Devils tomorrow. McDowell has the plans. We’re set. All thanks to me.”

Twilight shook her head at her friend’s brashness. “Doesn’t calling them Devils seem a bit harsh?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” She paused, looking for the words. “I mean, we haven’t been told anything about them, yet. Lincoln told us he’d tell us later. All we know is that they’re disliked. What if they’re ordinary people just trying to get by?”

Rainbow turned to face her philosophical friend. “If they were ordinary people, why are we fighting a war with them?”

The scholar wanted to counter, but couldn’t find any reason against Dash’s statement. Twilight had wondered why a war was being fought, considering that no one had told her yet why she should be fighting for the Union. The answer was usually, “Why not?” But, Rainbow’s idea had put it into a bit of perspective.

At any rate, it was another reason why Twilight felt she shouldn’t be fighting. She hadn’t found a reason to yet – she felt she needed at least that.

“Got ya there,” Rainbow noted, “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to catch some Z’s. Big day tomorrow, you know? First battle, lots of flying. G’night.”

“Goodnight, Rainbow,” Twilight said softly, and sat up to resume her journal. The pegasus began to move around in her bed, trying to find a good place of rest, as Twilight resumed her journal.

Who knows? I sure don’t.

At any rate, Rainbow did put a new spin on things. Maybe we don’t need to intervene because we can. Maybe we just need the right motivation to fight. A reason to dislike the Confederacy. So far, I’ve found none.

And until I do, I’m staying out of the battle. I’m praying to Celestial for the others.

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle

No sooner had she written down the last word than she fell back onto her cot, suddenly overcome with fatigue, and fell fast asleep on the surface, her papers still at her back hooves.

Smoke. Smoke and gunshots.

That’s all Twilight could see as she looked around, trying to find Applejack. It was like a deep fog over here.

Not to mention the screams. The yells of all the soldiers dying on the field was absolutely mortifying. Twilight’s ear pressed back against her head as she called out for her friends.

“Applejack!” she called into the fray, “Applejack!”

BLAM! A union soldier’s head exploded in front of her, blood splattering all over her lavender mane. She recoiled in utter shock, but then shook her head. No, Applejack first. Why did she ever leave her artillery post?

Twilight realized she had remained in the same position this whole time, in the midst of the advancing Union Army and the steadfast Confederacy’s scuffle. Scuffle being the grossest understatement there ever could have been.

It was a nightmare. Blood and guts spilled everywhere, bodies dropped like bricks to the ground, and it was all Twilight could do to maintain her sanity and breakfast.

The purple mare began to weave in and out of the soldiers, looking into the fray for her friend. Nothing.

“Apple- AH!”

She activated her magic instinctively, and looked up to see she had successfully captured an incoming cannonball. It hung in the air, swirling slightly, enveloped in a purple aura. Twilight lowered it to the ground gently.

She heard a whoosh overhead as Rainbow Dash appeared from the sky. Twilight looked up to her pegasus companion and shouted, “Dash! Have you seen AJ?”

“No, still lookin’!” called back her friend, as she reached into her saddlebag with her wing and pulled out a dart-like object. She heaved it downwards, towards the Confederacy. A large, fiery explosion followed, synchronized with the screams of agony from the Southerners.

Twilight cautiously advance, eyes wide, in between the Union soldiers who seems oblivious to the Equestrian pony. The mare realized with horror, among the bullets and badges and bayonets beside her, that there was nothing but her magic she could use to protect herself in this battle. And she highly doubted she’d see a bullet before it hit her.

Her heart began racing, exponentially increasing speed at a horrible rate. At one point, sound began to drown out, the only sound in her ears being the rapid thump-thump of her heart.

There was a muffled shout to the right. Twilight looked over to the direction of the sound, and almost heard herself say “What?”

Then, an explosion. From behind. She felt a splatter of liquid on her flank, and felt the vibrations of bodies hit the ground near her hooves. She froze in her tracks as a high-pitched buzzing replaced every sound she heard, including her heartbeat.

The pain in her head was awful, and to make matters worse, sound came back only to hear the words, “Retreat!”

Twilight looked around, panicking, having no idea what was going on as all the Union soldiers began to run the other way, back towards D.C. What was going on?

A fleeing soldier rammed into the idle horse and she fell face-first into the muddy ground. The pony turned over, looking up at the overcast sky, spitting out the bits of mud that had somehow gotten themselves into her mouth. In contrast to the clouds, Rainbow appeared again, a bit scratched up, in fact.

“Twilight! Get up!” Rainbow screamed, “You need to move, now!”

“A…Applej…” Twilight attempted, recoiling from the reverberating pain going throughout her head. The cyan pegasus dashed away from the battle, leaving Twilight in the swarm of retreating Union soldiers…

…and an orange pony who donned a cowboy hat.

Applejack!

“Twilight,” the usually-calm pony said hurriedly, “What’re ya doin’? We need ta go, now!”

Twilight began to pick herself up from the mud. “I was waiting for you! What’s going on?”

“The Confederacy,” AJ started, “They have the upper hand! Reinforcements! Twilight, we have to – “

A bang silenced Twilight’s hearing as a bloodied dot on Applejack’s forehead appeared. The red ichor dribbled from her brow as the orange pony’s eyes remained unwavering. She stood still only for a moment, before collapsing onto her side, lifeless.

“Applejack!” Twilight screamed, rushing against the seemingly infinite Union Army, “Applejack!”

But the pony didn’t respond. She just bled out more, the ground around her becoming a dark shade of red as the blood dribbled down her face and snout. She stared with empty eyes into the world in front of her.

“No!” Twilight began to yell, “Somebody! Applejack! No, please!”

The Union Army began to dissipate as a different army, traveling the same direction, began to take its place. The uniform was different, and their running was more of a chase-like than a retreat-like sprint.

The purple mare remained at her friend’s side, holding the pony’s body close to her, rubbing her friend’s back as if to make it all better. “Somepony!” the unicorn cried out, not caring about the proper term for the things here, “Somepony, please!”

A jeer of sheer amusement resounded in her ears, along with the trot of Earth horse hooves, causing Twilight to look up. An enemy soldier riding on an Earth horse trotted towards her and her friend, in quickening pace. He was holding something.

She only saw the glint of metal before the blade of the bayonet was jammed between her eyes.

“Twilight!”

The mare awoke with a start, almost on the verge of tears. She looked down at her body and saw that it was soaked in sweat, and yet she shook like she was hypothermic. She just stared at herself, still recoiling from the shock of the nightmare she just had.

“Twilight! What’s wrong?”

The unicorn turned to the voice, which belonged to Rainbow Dash, who looked frightened out of her mind. She simply gave her the 1,000 mile stare, not able to do much else at this point. The images of death remained crisp and clear in her mind.

“Twi’, you were shakin’ like a wet dog! What happened?”

The stare was now given to AJ, the asker of the question, on the other side of Twilight’s own shock. The scholar realized, gradually, that she was hyperventilating.

A trot of hooves began to come closer. Earth horse hooves.

Twilight screamed bloody murder and began backing away quickly, off her cot and straight into a nearby tree. She didn’t feel the pain of the impact. She just remained at the base of the tree, petrified.

The hooves stopped as Brigadier General McDowell appeared in front of the pony’s cot, stopping on his horse. Dash and AJ turned from their friend to the officer, surprised he was here.

“Well, aren’t you three on the ball!” the officer happily commented, “It’s 0200 hours exactly! I don’t even have to wake you up! Good to see that – time to move out!”

1.9 Bull Run

The snare drum started off the morning of July 21st with the most militant air it could.

And then, Pinkie “Dixie” Pie’s voice killed it.

“You call that a snare drum march?”

The nine-year old drummer on her Confederacy-suited back almost fell off the pony, shocked out of his boots. He tried to stammer out words, but none could fully form. The boy was informed that the pink pony he was riding on had the capability of talking, but to actually hear her was another thing.

Meanwhile, while the boy held on to Pinkie’s back for dear life, Pinkie demanded, “Now you strap the snare around my neck and put one o’ them drumsticks in my mouth, and I’ll show you how to really play. After all, I did lead a swarm of ravenous insects out of Ponyville all by myself. Musically, of course.”

The snare drum shook in the child’s hands. “Uh….”

“Well?”

Inside, the drummer shrugged. He was riding on some alien pony, pink in color and resembling a demented political cartoon, playing the drum for some war he’d probably die in. What the hell. Let the pony play the drums.

With hands shaking as if hypothermic, he lifted the drum off his neck, and slowly, carefully, put it around the cooperative pony’s neck.

“Ugh, itchy,” the flamboyant pony said, rolling her eyes, “But, it’s alright. Now, come on, gimme the drumstick!”

The boy backed away a bit while still holding out the drumstick, fearful that the animal he rode upon would bite him for whatever reason. The child wondered what an alien pony’s bite felt like. Did it still hurt?

Before the question could be answered, wood slid against his coarse hands and Pinkie Pie had the drumstick between her teeth, the drum just below her so that, if she so wished, she could technically smash her face into the face of the drum. Perfect for performing.

“Herr, Rariree!” she called through her drumstick-holding teeth, “Rariree!”

The white unicorn at the other end of the field pulled her eyes away from the flap to her tent to see her Confederate friend, smiling happily with a drumstick on her mouth and snare drum at her chest.

“Wah wiss!” Pinkie yelled.

Her eyebrows scrunched up, she focused on the drum, and with more concentration than Rarity had seen before, she began to move her jaw side-to-side, playing, actually playing the snare drum. The sliding of her jaw cause the drumstick to hit the snare drum at such a fast pace, it actually worked. Irregularly, but still.

The child riding Pinkie was in a state of pure disbelief. He begged to tell himself that now he’d seen everything, but a sinking feeling from within told him it wouldn’t be true.

Rat-a-tat-tat tat-tat-tat-tat tat-tat-tatat-tatat-tatat rat-a-tata-tata-tata –

“Very nice, dear!” Rarity called to her friend, then turned back to the flap of her tent. The medical cap she wore on her head was slowly sliding different ways, and had it not been for her horn, it probably would’ve fallen off already. Human caps were not made for ponies. She whispered quietly into the tent, “Fluttershy, are you ready? Beauregard’s going to start the charge any minute now.”

“I…I don’t know…” came the soft reply, “I…I’m not fit to do…this.”

“Oh, come on, now, Fluttershy,” the medical pony tried to console, “You’ve been the South’s top target shooter for a while now! You’re a dead shot! Now, come on out and let’s see your uniform.”

“It’s not even a uniform…Celestia, I must look ridiculous.”

“Well, I am a fashionista,” Rarity joked, “I’ll be the judge of that. Come on now, let’s see it.”

The unicorn backed off once she heard the sound of hooves rustling in the grass. Slowly, the flap of the tent moved aside, and there she was.

Fluttershy stood before Rarity, completely unsure of herself. On her back, a modified rifle suited just for an Equestrian pony was strapped, and an ammunitions belt around her stomach. Besides that, her normally pastel pink mane was covered with alternating green and brown war paint. The most distinguishing feature was the Confederate war flag, in bandana form, wrapped around her forehead so that one eye was completely covered. Perfect for a sniper.

Rarity cocked her head to the side. “Aww, you look like a regular warrior.”

Fluttershy shrugged and just looked over to the side. “Maybe so, but I don’t think I can do this. I don’t think I can actually fire at these soldiers…”

“Nonsense! Ever since you’ve gotten that…that thing, you’ve been able to bull’s-eye every wooden target and destroy every bottle like it was all you ever knew! By the way, where’d you learn to do that?”

The pegasus looked up into her eyelids, the answer clearly being there. “Uh…I had a bit of a bow-and-arrow feeding system for the birds at one point. On the days I was really busy, I would tie a sack of bird feed to an arrow head, and fire it into some trees, for the birds to pick on. Saved me the time of doing it myself whenever I had to go to Cloudsdale or Canterlot or wherever. Accuracy’s kinda my thing, I suppose.”

Rarity nodded her head at a minute pace, internally applauding her friend. “That’s ingenious. But, my point is – if you can do all that, then I’m certain you won’t have any trouble dispatching a few Union soldiers – “

“It’s not that I’m not able to do it,” Fluttershy sighed, “It’s just – I can’t. I can’t kill an actual living thing. Bottles and targets are different. It’s…it’s just wrong, Rarity. I can’t end the life of anypony, or anybody for that matter.”

Rarity looked at the ground, trying to come up with an incentive to shoot. But, none were found. Her friend was timid, and even though Rarity herself wasn’t nearly as shy and reluctant, she did see the clarity in Fluttershy’s viewpoint. But, this is what she was meant to do! She picked it up so fast – this was her niche! What else could she do?

“Fluttershy,” the medic mare began, “I know it’s hard, but – “

“’Can’t even eat my damned eggs in the morning and they’re already starting to fire. Jesus Christ.”

The voice of General G.T. Beauregard permeated the air and silenced Rarity. He and a company of two other soldiers marched towards their tent, on their way to the throng of thousands of soldiers just a little ways away from the ponies’ living quarters. The officer stopped at the sight of Rarity and her friend. “You two ready? I’m about ready to start this fight and finish it. Damn Yankees! Artillery firin’ at this hour.”

Rarity nodded triumphantly. Fluttershy, not so much. “Err, yes sir, but, um…”

“Good! We’ll need the both of ya’s out there.” Turning to his other two officers, “Tell the men to ready up. We leave this here encampment as soon as I blows my whistle.”

Fluttershy began to panic. They were going to start the battle now. What was she supposed to do? She couldn’t use this thing against the Union! She couldn’t kill anybody!

“Fluttershy, let’s get to Pinkie Pie,” Rarity stated urgently, “He’s about to move out! Come on!”

Still dazed in her thoughts, and petrified for her life, Fluttershy galloped after a trotting Rarity, in front of the massive grid of soldiers who had their bayonets out, ready to kill. The two ponies just got across the gap to their pink friend by the flagpole when Beauregard yelled out:

“Gentlemen! We fight today! For the Confederacy!”

And blew the whistle around his neck as loud as he could.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be joking.”

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up at the voice of General McDowell over on the Union side. He was squinting, looking intently over at something on the far end of the wide expanse they were at.

“What, whaddaya see?” Rainbow asked eagerly.

The general took out his binoculars, and looked through them to the same point. “Damnit,” he muttered, “Didn’t think they’d respond to artillery that fast.”

He turned away from his binoculars to his fellow subordinate officers, who were on horseback. Earth horses, not Equestrian ponies. “They’ve started to charge! Git your men out there and let’s end this before it begins!”

Rainbow watched as the officers nodded their heads rigidly, and began to gallop away perpendicular to where she stood, yelling and shouting incomprehensible things and sometimes even blowing a whistle.

While they did this, McDowell, with an oxymoronic look of both worry and confidence in his face, turned to Rainbow Dash. “Ready, Miz Dash?” he questioned, “We’re ‘bout to have ourselves a little skirmish. A real one. I trust Applejack’s still at the artillery?”

Rainbow thought about it for a second. “She hasn’t told me otherwise.”

“And, your other friend, Sparkle?”

Rainbow cast a sideways glance to the Virginia grass. “I’d be surprised if she leaves our tent. She had some sort of nightmare last night, and she won’t respond to anything. Something big last night, I guess. I wouldn’t bother her too much. I’ll talk to her later about it, see what’s up.”

A large quantity of shouting then occurred, and both general’s and pony’s heads alike turned to see the massive battalion of Northern soldiers running, shouting for the glory of Columbia, heading straight off to meet the enemy with guns at the ready. It was time.

McDowell tipped his hat at the prismatic pegasus beneath him. “Ready to go?”

Rainbow Dash then proceeded to give him a cocky smile – mouth turned up in a smug fashion, her eyelids halfway down with one eyebrow raised. Fitting for the rest of her look – her new favorite Union boots; a small unbuttoned jacked for her upper half, its only eye catching object being a special, emblazoned patch on the back that read “1st Magical Calvary” in a stylized yellow lettering; and, of course, a belt with about four grenades in it. A smile that told the general –

“I was born ready.”

Battle ensued. Harsh, awful, grizzly battle.

Man against man, sometimes from a distance, sometimes as close to one another that knives were drawn and used. Bloody battle. In the hours that began to pass, the ground became red with the blood of downed soldiers, and littered with the bodies of downed soldiers.

Those that had to fortune to die were prayed for my friends and other soldiers from their respective side. The ones that didn’t have the good fortune to die either kept fighting…

…or, as another unlucky soldier with a bullet in his abdomen did, ended up in Nurse Rarity’s tent.

The battle was getting to the unicorn. The two sides had been at it for a good couple hours already, and the wounded numbers only seemed to grow. Somewhere, deep in the recesses of her brain, she knew there were other tents in her encampment for this sort of thing. But, when soldiers were being dropped off left and right, to a staff of only a few people (and one pony) who didn’t have any of the proper medical supplies, it seemed there were no other tents.

The soldier who had just come in was writhing in pain, carried and supported by two of his buddies who were walking the hunching soldier in. Rarity was the first to approach them. “What?” she asked, knowing that at this point in the game, there were no reasons for formalities.

The soldier on the wounded one’s left answered first. “Took a bullet to the stomach.”

Rarity cringed. These were the worst cases. Mess up even once, and you just had a dead body lying in a pool of blood on your medical blanket, with nothing good to show. And that was just wrapping the injury.

One of the other doctors in her tent spoke up, as some others began to carry the wounded one. “How is it out there?” he asked hopefully, trying to get his mind off the horror that was this medical tent.

The other buddy spoke up this time. “Not too good. Gittin’ pushed back some. Ain’t we supposed t’ be gittin’ reinforceaments? I ain’t seen none yet, and we ain’t gonna last much longer, m’afraid.”

The doctor shook his head. “Just stay vigilant. Beauregard will do what he thinks is the best.”

The two soldiers nodded, and the weary men went back to the ol’ grind on the Virginia plain.

The sound of gunfire, screams, and bloodshed could be heard all the way to the medical tent, which was a long way off from the actual battle. Rarity gave a concerned look to the outside world before looking down on her new patient, who still writhed in pain horribly.

“Where’s the wound?” she asked politely.

“ERRRRRRRRRRRRR,” he groaned loudly, “I – I TOOK A DAMNED BULLET – ARRRGGHHH – IT’S – IT’S LODGED IN MY STOMACH. AND – AND – “

Rarity had already begun folding back the clothing with her magic, finding the red stain on his uniform with ease. Being as gentle as she could as not to hurt the man anymore than she had to, she continued talking. “And what?”

She recoiled in horror, as did the three other doctors in her medical tent did, at the sight of the soldier’s bare stomach.

“I – I – “ he tried to explain, “I – I PULLED IT OUT, BUT – BUT – ONE O’ THE YANKS – ARGGHHH – THEY THREW A KNIFE – AND – AND IT HIT – ERRRRRRRRRR – “

That was clearly evident. Rarity felt her small breakfast winding its way back up as she saw his stomach. Not the outer area around it, which was covered with a mixture of light and dark blood specks.

The knife cut so deep she could see his actual stomach, mixed around with other various internally bleeding organs.

Out of the dozens of soldiers Rarity had wrapped so far, she hadn’t quite lost it. She had gotten close, but never there.

This poor soul wasn’t making it.

And, although outside she did her best to keep her composure, inside, the white unicorn had finally snapped.

Back on the other side of the field, Applejack held a firm grip on the cannon. She thanked her observation skills, as without Pinkie Pie’s constant firing of the party cannon back in Equestria, she never would’ve figured out how to use this thing.

A grin appeared on her face. But, she did.

“Light this baby!” she yelled out to nobody in particular, as she had been doing for the last couple of hours. A random Union soldier ran up to the scene, lit a match, and then struck the match on the string of the cannon. Hands cupping his ears, the Northern soldier ran from the cannon as quick as he could.

Applejack rotated the massive gun hastily, finding a random point in the Confederacy line, and tensed up as the fuse began to wind down. She went white-knuckled and turned her head away, unable to cover up her own ears. She squeezed her eyes shut as the fuse silenced itself.

BOOM! Recoil launched the gun a few inches back, along with Applejack. Though, after the initial shock, the cannon lurched back into place, much lighter than before. The artillery pony opened her eyes again to check her work, only to see a Rainbow Dash in her path.

“Ah!” the farmpony exclaimed, not expecting to anybody that close. When she recognized the face, “Rainbow! What’re ya doin’ here? Shouldn’t you be bombin’ or whatever?”

Rainbow waved a hoof at Applejack. “Nah, I can wait. Need to load up on more of those grenades, anyway. You’ll never guess what I did, though!”

AJ cocked her head. “No, what’d you do?” She suddenly caught herself, and just as Rainbow took a breath to speak, she held up a hoof. “No, wait, hold up.” To the other soldiers, “Hey, fellers! I need another one loaded up in this’un!”

She turned back to Rainbow Dash, leaning against her cannon. “Go ahead, Dash. Tell me whatcha did.”

Rainbow’s disinterested and impatient face was replaced with one of excitement as she took a deep breath, and then told her tale.

“Alright, so I was doing my fly-by, you know, dropping these explosives on those Southerners, and out of nowhere my instincts kick in. There’s something behind me. All the way up in the sky. I know, right? Weird. Anyway, I turn and kick out my back left hoof, and I kick – you’ll never guess – I kick a knife out of the sky! Some ‘Federate thought they could pull a fast one on ol’ Dash and give her a throwing knife from behind, but no sir! I kicked it right back, and I watched it fall. And then, guess what?”

The orange pony was getting increasingly impressed with Dash’s aerial skills; she hadn’t had this kind of reflex back in Equestria. That was easy to see – there were plenty of holes and cracks in buildings where her flying was “a bit off”. Applejack was intrigued. “Aw, I don’ know, what happened?”

Dash cocked a smile, as the sound of metal-on-metal resounded through the air, the cannonball now loaded into AJ’s gun for another go. The pegasus said, “I watched the knife – and it went right into some Confederate! Can you believe that? I got ‘em good!”

Applejack’s state of intrigue was replaced with one of vague disappointment. For some reason, taking pleasure in what could possibly be a death wasn’t something she really liked to do. Sure, she shot artillery – but, she thought of that more as a scare thing. She doubted anyone really died from her cannon blasts – but, then again…

“Mighty respectable,” AJ eventually said with a wry smile, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta keep at it. Stay safe, Dash!”

The blue pony nodded. “AJ, please. You’re talking to Rainbow Dash here! I’m always safe! Later!”

And with that, she flew off into the gunfire again, belt clip loaded with new grenades, and Applejack resuming her position on the cannon again. The fuse had already been lit, and she now looked away from the cannon as the sound winded down to a climax. It was about to blow.

And then, the orange pony spotted a boot on the ground. One that’d fit a pony.

One that’d fit Rainbow Dash.

AJ barely noticed the cannon recoil as it fired, for as soon as the BOOM! occurred, she leapt for the boot, and stood up again with it in her mouth.

The two other soldiers manning the cannon looked at the pony questionably. She pointed a hoof at the two of them, and got out through a boot in her teeth, “You two! Man dat cannon! I ha ta go gi’ iss to mah rend!”

The two men looked at each other, then to Applejack, nodding militantly. They understood.

AJ replied with an identical nod, then galloped away from her position, straight into battle to give her friend her boot.

Another explosion occurred. Fluttershy could see it from her vantage point, and bit her lip. She had lost count of what number that was a long time ago, and that was a problem, considering that’s about the only thing she’d been doing up here.

She was leaned against a tree branch, high up in the thicket of leaves where nobody would see her. Perfect for sniping. Though…she hadn’t had the heart to even get out the gun. It was primed and loaded already – all she needed to do was step on the modified trigger mechanism after looking down the sights, and pop!, a Union soldier down in an instant.

And by “down”, she meant “dead.”

Fluttershy shook her head in response to her own thoughts. No, she couldn’t bring herself to do that yet. She doubted she could ever bring herself to that. The pegasus couldn’t kill anything. Why did she ever agree to keep firing this thing at targets?

She glanced at the gun on her back, then to the battlefield, and sighed. She had done absolutely nothing up here. The pony figured she should at least try to help, but she didn’t know how. She wasn’t about to kill anything with the lethal weapon on her back, but at the same time, nor could the pegasus fly away. It would be like shining a spotlight on herself. Everybody saw the flying horse.

No matter how she wanted to be one, now was not the time to be a tree. The pink-maned pony knew she had to help in some way. But, what could she possibly do?

Sighing, she looked down to the battlefield, watching the Union guys keep moving forward at a steady rate, while the Confederates dwindled greatly. They didn’t back down, though. What, were they nuts? They would get themselves killed out here. They were getting themselves killed. Why not back down?

Another artillery explosion rocked the battlefield. “Sixty….seven?” Fluttershy said aloud, “No, that can’t be right.” She exhaled. It was hopeless. She was basically part of the tree up here. Unable to do anything but watch and listen. She didn’t even know what time it was.

Maybe, is she looked at the battle a little more closely, she could learn a bit for next time there was a battle. If there was a next battle. Readjusting herself, Fluttershy watched and listened intently, just like the studious tree she always wanted to be.

She heard a different sound – vaguely reminiscent of the sound the cannonballs made when they landed, but at the same time, kind of different. More of a BOOMing sound than the crashing she’s been hearing.

Almost as soon as the sound was heard, she heard a distant Southern voice call out, “Artillery!” The men in his general area began to run away as frantically as they could, before the entire area was covered with the thick smoke and explosion of the cannonball.

Fluttershy scratched her chin. “Huh,” she thought aloud, “They’re scared of the cannonball before it even hits…they know the sound.”

A memory floated back to Fluttershy. One in June with her practicing with the weapon that was now on her back, the officer who originally handed her the thing standing right by.

“Look, see?” he said, pointing to the hole of the bull’s-eye, “You’re doin’ a great job!”

Fluttershy blushed. “Thank you.”

The man continued. “You know, snipers don’t get too many hits? Naw, when someone shoots a sniper rifle, they mean business – and everybody knows it. You never forget the sound of a sharpshooter goin’ off, or the speed of the bullet that comes outta it. Now, that’s something that’ll make ya run.”

The answer to what she could be doing, back in the present on the battlefield, hit her in the face. She didn’t have to kill anybody. All she had to do was scare them away.

Slowly, and with the use of both hoof and wing, she pulled the rifle from her back and raised it up to her uncovered eye. She looked right between the iron sights of the sharpshooter, making sure she was lined up just right. The pegasus was. Perfect.

Then, rather than aiming downwards at the battlefield, she aimed upwards, to a random cloud Fluttershy thought about separating with a sniper bullet. With the cloud inside, she held her hoof on the modification – a series of levers leading to one hoof-sized pedal that was attached to the trigger, so that she could shoot it.

She stuck her tongue out in concentration, and, taking a deep breath, pushed down on the lever.

The crack! of the gun was just as loud as she needed it to be. She cringed at the sound, like she always did, but then as soon as she had taken the shot, listened down to the battlefield for the results she wanted.

A smile grew on the pegasus’s face at the shouts of Northern voices below.

“Sniper!”

“Where?”

“Confederate snipers!”

“Get outta there! Move before they get ya!”

“Where are they?”

“I don’t know!”

Fluttershy looked down to the battlefield; her gun placed on her back once more, and watched the tough-as-nails Union Army falter. The sniper bullet had caused a bit of confusion, and through it all, the incoming forces had faltered a bit. Just enough motivation that the small Confederates actually stood their ground and pushed forward a bit.

Through the corner of her blue eyes, the pegasus saw that “small” was a word not going to be used for very much longer. She turned her head to see a group of Dixieland-dressed soldiers, numbering in the hundreds, maybe even thousands, rushing from the dense Southern edge of the forest.

The reinforcements had arrived.

Fluttershy leaned back against her tree. Maybe she could use that gun, after all.

The sky began to turn a gray overcast as Rainbow Dash flew back to the Union encampment, worry in her flight pattern. She thought she had seen an orange blur within the Union troops, and just wanted to make sure AJ was still at her post. The battle itself was no place for anypony.

Dash landed at the artillery site, and finally found the rusting cannon that Applejack had been firing from. Only, she wasn’t there. The two men who originally were with her orange friend were, but the pony herself wasn’t.

Calm down, Rainbow, she thought to herself, Applejack’s smarter than to run straight into battle. Just ask the men where she went. Probably with Twilight or something.

She called over the din of the battlefield, “’Scuse me? Have you two seen Applejack?”

One man was too busy loading the cannon to hear. The other, the one who actually heard rainbow, gave the pegasus a pained look, and shook his head. “No, we haven’t. She said something about returning a boot to her friend.” He gestured to the one hoof of Rainbow’s that didn’t have a special boot on it. “I’m guessin’ that means you.”

Oh, no.

Rainbow began to panic. Her friend was out there! She was out there in the battlefield, for who knows how long! And, it was about to get worse. The pegasus had seen the incoming Confederate reinforcements. Things were about to get ugly.

She needed to think. Dash couldn’t just fly in there – she’d get herself killed. Everybody saw the flying horse. Then what? She’d be dead, and Applejack would most likely be dead. The pegasus needed to act, and fast.

With a look of near desperation, Rainbow shouted to the men, “There’re Confederate reinforcements coming! Tell the officers!”

The man who hadn’t been listening prior to this now listened, and did as told. His on-the-ball, ever-vigilant attitude that only half these soldiers seemed to possess reminded her of Twilight.

Twilight.

Of course! She could do it!

Rainbow took off from the ground and flew to Twilight’s tent, the events of the previous night ringing a bell in her head. No, Twilight would come to for something important like this. She never gave up, and Celestia knows the unicorn has had to do some tough stuff. Plus, she could teleport right in and teleport out. Getting Applejack would be better if Twilight did it.

The prismatic pony almost barreled into the flap of the tent, not paying attention, but caught herself beforehand and stopped. She took a brief glance over to the battlefield, which only heightened her worry. The reinforcements were getting closer. Applejack was priority number one. She’d be dead out there soon.

Rainbow burst into the tent, and startled Twilight, who had been just sitting on her cot, thinking. The unicorn looked up, slightly scared, at Rainbow. “Dash?” she asked nervously, “What – what is it?”

“Applejack!” Rainbow exclaimed, “She – she went into battle, and reinforcements are coming in! I can’t get to her, they’d shoot me down! I don’t know why she did it, but she’s gone. You can do it!”

For a reason the pegasus didn’t know, Twilight’s eyes got to the size of dinner plates. “Wh - wh – what? Why me?”

“You can teleport!” Rainbow said, now yelling, “You can get in, find her, and teleport out! But, hurry! There’s not much time!”

Rainbow Dash only had a mini heart attack when she saw her friend, usually tough and resilient, begin to just stare at the wall at the tent, attempting to give the structure the thousand-yard stare. And…was she rocking? What had happened?

The pegasus didn’t know. But what she did know, was that…

“Twilight, you’re her only hope. She’ll die out there. I think she’s looking for me, and I can’t help her. You’ve….you’ve got to get to her. I’ll watch your back as long as I can, but those soldiers won’t be able to grab her in time.”

Twilight didn’t budge. Dash sighed, and then once more, pleadingly, begged.

“Please, Twilight. Only you can get to her.”

The unicorn stared at the tent only a minute longer, and then looked to Dash.

Unfaltering, Twilight stated, “We need to get her.”
Smoke. Smoke and gunshots.

That’s all Twilight could see as she looked around, trying to find Applejack. It was like a deep fog over here.

Not to mention the screams. The yells of all the soldiers dying on the field was absolutely mortifying. Twilight’s ear pressed back against her head as she called out for her friends.

An awful feeling of déjà vu came over her. She had hoped her dream had meant nothing. And still did.

“Applejack!” she called into the fray, “Applejack!”

It was a nightmare. Blood and guts spilled everywhere, bodies dropped like bricks to the ground, and it was all Twilight could do to maintain her sanity and breakfast.

The purple mare began to weave in and out of the soldiers, looking into the fray for her friend. Nothing.

“Apple- AH!”

She heard a whoosh overhead as Rainbow Dash appeared from the sky. Twilight looked up to her pegasus companion and shouted, “Dash! Have you seen AJ?”

This was terrible. What was her magic doing to her? Giving her nightmares that she’d only have to live out later? Like a teaser trailer? What sort of sick joke was this?

Her heart began racing, exponentially increasing speed at a horrible rate. At one point, sound began to drown out, the only sound in her ears being the rapid thump-thump of her heart.

There was a muffled shout to the right. Twilight looked over to the direction of the sound, and almost heard herself say “What?”

The pain in her head was awful, and to make matters worse, sound came back only to hear the words, “Retreat!”

Twilight looked around, panicking, having no idea what was going on as all the Union soldiers began to run the other way, back towards D.C. What was going on?

The answer hit her harshly. Rainbow warned her of the reinforcements. The Confederacy now had the upper hand. Plus, she had dreamed about this.

The last part, Applejack’s getting shot, and the bayonet – maybe there was still time. Maybe this wasn’t all destined to come true.

“Twilight! Get up!” Rainbow screamed, “You need to move, now!”

…and an orange pony who donned a cowboy hat.

Applejack!

“Twilight,” the usually-calm pony said hurriedly, “What’re ya doin’? We need ta go, now!”

Twilight began to pick herself up from the mud. “I was waiting for you! What were you doing?”

“The Confederacy,” AJ started, “They have the upper hand! Reinforcements! Twilight, we have to – “

A bang silenced Twilight’s hearing and killed Applejack’s sentence as all the energy she had focused into her magic. The bang of a teleportation spell was always a good feeling – it meant danger was out of the way.

And what was even more comforting was the second bang – the pop out of teleportation. Relief swirled through Twilight as she and Applejack fell with a thump just outside the battleground – several yards in front of the retreating forces.

A mud-stained Twilight got up as quick as she could, standing proud and smiling. She lent a hoof to Applejack, who just shot her a confused look. “Twilight, what’s uh – “ she tried to say.

Before her lavender friend cut her off, that is. “Saving your life,” Twilight stated, “I had a bit of a dream yesterday. Now we need to run!”

“Where to?” she asked in her farmpony voice just as Dash landed right next to them.

“D.C.,” the unicorn replied, “Nice to see you, Dash! Now, let’s move!”

With that, they began galloping, just a couple feet in front of the pack of retreating Union soldiers. AJ saw Dash running with them, and shouted over the din of soldiers, “Hey! I got your boot! It’s under mah hat!”

Rainbow flashed her a smile of relief. “Thank you! But, next time – don’t get yourself killed over one of my boots!”

The three ponies, without stopping, led the group of retreats across the plains of Virginia, back to Lincoln, back to the Capitol – back to DC, and with it, ended the first real battle of the American Civil War.

Beauregard wiped his brow with his forearm, as the congregation of his Southern soldiers began to walk back to the encampment, a smile of victory on their faces. They had won the battle.

Hell, Beauregard smiled, too. Here they were, a ragtag group of soldiers from eleven states that wanted out – no proper West Point-style training. And here, they won against one of the toughest armies out there. The officer beamed at the sight of his boys.

Someone began cheering throughout the throng, and soon all of the Confederates were dancing, cheering, and whooping about. The signs of death and war were all about them, but they didn’t seem to care. The general saw; but he let it go. Let them have their moment of joy before the truth hits them.

At that point, he became aware of a rustling next to him. Looking down, he spotted none other than Dixie Pie – or so General Lee had aptly named her. She was looking rather proud of herself.

Beauregard smiled down at her. “We did good today, didn’t we?”

Pinkie Pie nodded. “Yup. We sure showed the Northerners what for!” She kept her smile planted on her face even when she said what the officer never would’ve expected. “’Coulda done better, though.”

“I imagine,” the officer said, a little taken aback by the statement, “A bit less loss of life. We certainly lost a number today, didn’t we?”

“Well, yeah. But besides that.” Her blatancy was something to marvel at, no doubt about it.

The general pondered it a moment more. “Well, what do you mean, ‘besides that’? How could we have done better, then?”

“We could have ended the war.”

G.T. Beauregard couldn’t answer this. He wanted to tell her that war didn’t work that way, but couldn’t find the right words. He wanted to tell her that the Confederacy wasn’t nearly as trained as the Union, but only silence remained. He wanted to tell her that you can’t end the war on the first battle, but his voice remained idle.

Pinkie’s didn’t, though. “But, I guess that’s the fun, isn’t it? I mean, what would a war be if there was only one battle? It’d be no fun at all, would it?”

The two looked on, through the throng of dancing, cheering, and whooping soldiers, and at all the dead bodies on the fields. The general thought somberly of all the wounded that lay in either side’s medical tents. And, of all the more dead and wounded that were to come.

Yes. What would a war be if there was only one battle?

It would be no fun at all.

END OF ACT I

2.1 Iron(clad) Will

ACT II:
SPRINGTIME IN AMERICA

“Has Rainbow Dash come back?”

“I haven’t seen our reconnaissance since she left.”

Twilight took on an expression of concern. Dash was the fastest flyer she knew, even in the air of this place called Virginia. She left a half-hour ago – there’s no way she should be taking this long.

Twilight didn’t want to ask, but she felt the need to question the officer at the entrance to the tent. “You…you don’t think…she’s been captured by the Confederacy, do you?”

Lieutenant John Worden turned back to the purple mare. “I’m trying to remain hopeful. I honestly doubt it, though. I’ve seen your friend fly – she’s too fast for those Dixies.”

The unicorn looked back to her desk. It was humid, even for March – maybe that’s because they were close to the river, but she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that is was hot in this tent.

She stared intently at the map – she’d had Norfolk mapped out, and analyzed the entirety of Hampton Roads and its tributaries. Twilight knew how this battle would play out probably better than any other of the Union officers – so, Worden’s next question was to be expected.

“Miz Sparkle, we’re going to have to depart from the banks in minutes. If your friend doesn’t return by then with the location of the Virginia, we’re going to have to go with what we know – more specifically, what you know.”

She took a deep breath. The mare had become a little more involved than she’d hoped.

In the past nine-or-so months, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash had become legendary. They were ponies – ponies – from an entire other world, and were exceptional in combat.

Rainbow Dash was the Union’s secret weapon – aerial combat. She flew faster than anything else, was basically the only thing that ever flew except for explosives and artillery, and was expert surveillance. The pegasus also knew her way around grenades, and frequented them in many battles.

Applejack was artillery, and damn good at it. Able to handle the cannon, aim it appropriately, and at the right spots; AJ was a force to be reckoned with. Even the Confederates knew this – rumor has it a nickname had actually been coined for the orange pony: though, what it was, Twilight hadn’t the faintest idea.

And of course, there was Twilight. While she never actually participated in battle, she memorized the maps and read up on war strategies of the past – she would be an excellent commander, if she ever chose to step out into battle. She only did once, way back at what the North was beginning to call “The Battle of Bull Run” – she ran into the combat zone to save her friend. An act of bravery even the president himself commended.

Today was no different. Twilight had no plans whatsoever to go into battle. But, contrary to her wishes, the Union wanted her – needed her – to board the Monitor and give the crew all her statistics on where she thought the Confederate ironclad would be, and how this battle would play out.
The mare took a deep breath. “I guess that means I’ve got to board, right?”

Worden nodded solemnly. “Let’s get a move on, we’re about to leave.”

Twilight stood up. She’d been able to avoid the majority of the war for now, by giving some plans for action and staying in her tent, practicing some magic to see if she could actually get home. No such luck so far with the latter, for the most part the exact opposite with the former. ‘Til today, of course.

It had been a strange change-up. Under the discretion of president Abraham Lincoln (whom Twilight had only met once, almost a year ago in Earth-time, and had been directed by a lot), the three mares from a world afar had been moved from the Army of the Potomac to a small regiment working with new, experimental ironclad warships. He had figured if anyone could use the power of the newly-official “1st Magical Calvary”, it was them.

Worden held open the flap for Twilight, and she slowly walked out of the officer’s tent. She would’ve been a spectacle for all her friends in Equestria – dressed in typical Union paraphernalia, complete with golden buttons on her cap. The uniform itself was adjusted to fit the needs of a pony – but only the top half of course.

The first thing the scholarly pony noticed was the warship. The USS Monitor was docked right next to a ramshackle wooden pier, and didn’t look so much like a boat, as cheese on a raft. Either half of it was underwater, or it was incredibly thin.

With butterflies in her stomach, she walked towards the ironclad, synchronized in step with Commander Worden, and stepped on the rickety dock. The creak that resulted didn’t scare her too much – it was the orange earth pony that just appeared out of the hatch.

“Hiya Twilight!” yelled Applejack.

“AH!” exclaimed Twilight, as she almost fell backwards. Regaining her composure, she noticed who it was. “Oh, hey AJ.”

“Gettin’ on board with us, are ya, then?”

Worden answered for Twilight. “Yes, she is. Our scout, unfortunately, hasn’t returned yet, and Twilight here knows the area and the war strategies the best. Is our vessel ready?”

A loud rumble was heard from beneath the boat. Applejack nodded cheerfully. “Yup. We’re a-okay over here. You two best get in the boat, or y’all are gonna miss the show!”

“You first, Miz Sparkle.” Worden gestured with his hand to the hatch.

Twilight took a deep breath. Here goes my official entry. Into a war. One that isn't even mine to fight.

She took one step aboard the Monitor, and a blinding flash of color came down from the air, and knocked Twilight flat on her stomach on the top of the ship.

“Whoops! Sorry, Twi!”

The voice of her prismatic tomboyish friend aroused her from her dizzy state. “Oh…hey,” she somehow managed, “Rainbow…”

“I got the stats,” she retorted happily, and reached a pegasus wing into her saddlebag to grab a slip of paper. She winged it off to AJ. “This should tell you all you need to know about that crazy Confederate warship,” she noted, “Did you know that it’s actually made from a Union ship’s parts?”

“Yes, we all know,” said Worden quickly, his face reddening, obviously embarrassed by this fact, “But, now, we’ve got to go if we want to protect what’s ours. Miz Sparkle, if you’re not going, now’s the time to leave.”

Twilight bolted up from her position on the metal deck of the boat, and went at almost a gallop ashore. Worden climbed into the boat, Applejack moving aside to fit him in the hatch. She waved a final time. “Wish us, luck, guys! We’re puttin’ that hunk of Dixie metal at the bottom of the ‘Roads!”

With that, she retreated into the interior of the boat, pulling the hatch shut behing her. The door clanged shut, and the rumble became muted, but louder, and the Monitor began to leave the port, onwards down the river.

Rainbow, wearing an American Flag as a bandana around her forehead, and her boots, which lately had seemed to become part of her, waved them off as Twilight walked back to the officer’s tent. Noticing this, she asked her friend, “Twi’, you alright?”

Twilight turned and nodded. “Oh, I’m fine. I just want to avoid the actual conflict of this. The less things I have to worry about, the sooner we can get home.”

Dash raised an eyebrow. “You have a plan for that? I mean, teleporting back didn’t work? Still?”

The purple mare shook her head. “Nope. I can only teleport a couple yards, if anything.” She was taken aback by her own comment – she was starting to use the American units of measure. Just how long had they been here, again?

Her sky-blue pegasus friend interrupted the unicorn’s thoughts. “Wait, so, how can you figure out how to get home, without your spell-book?”

Twilight shrugged outside the tent. “Don’t know. Practice, just outright thought maybe. It takes a while, Rainbow. We’ve been here almost a year, haven’t we? Well, an Earth year, anyway.”

Rainbow acknowledged this hastily. “Yeah, yeah. But, if you somehow can get us back, when are we leaving?”

“As soon as possible, Rainbow. I want to get out of this war-zone before one of us gets hurt.”

“But…what about the Union? We kind of owe them for their hospitality. And, we’re a bit valuable to them. Why would we want to ditch them in the midst of their war? They need us.”

Twilight pondered this idea. The Union had been exceptionally grateful and generous to them…Rainbow felt that the ponies needed to pay tribute to them. The purple mare began to think about the Union, and how and why ponies should pay tribute. She also pondered Rainbow’s sudden loyalty to the American North as of late – she was the Element of Loyalty, but even to Twilight, it was a bit weird.

Well, she knew that if this was her war, she – well, she wouldn’t have a war! She was too intelligent for that! But if she did –

Out of nowhere, her horn began to tingle, and an unearthly sneeze erupted from Twilight, dispelling her thoughts.

“’Bless you,” said Rainbow, using the humans’ customs for sneezing, “And what about the others? Face it, Twi, we know they’re here. Remember, Carolina? I do, at least. Why would we leave them here?”

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but then her horn glowed, tingled, and out came another sneeze.

“Geez, Twi’,” commented the pegasus, “Bless you! You’ve been sneezing a whole lot more since we’ve got here.”

Twilight shook her head. “I know, I know. I think I’m getting…oh, what did Worden call it…a…a…CHOO!!” She rubbed her snout with her hoof.

“BLESS YOU.”

“Thanks, again, Dash. A cold. I think I may be getting a cold. No, that wasn’t it…it began with an ‘F’. The flu, maybe? I think that’s what it was called.”

Rainbow looked all-around, to make sure no one was around, then turned back to Twilight, wide-eyed. “Twilight, the flu? People die from that! And it contagious! You need to get help!”

The scholar dismissed the idea with a wave of her hoof. “No, I’m not getting the symptoms the humans are getting. I don’t think it’s lethal on me, but it sure is affecting my magic. Sometimes I just have weird outbursts of it, every time I sneeze.”

“Oh, okay,” replied Dash. Then she started laughing. “Oh, wow! Can you imagine? What if you sneezed, and you somehow teleported back to Equestria?” She laughed out loud again.

Twilight thought about this absurd idea for a second, and joined Rainbow in a chuckle. “That is kind of…kind of…”

She felt another sneeze coming on. A big one. A – as her friend, Pinkie Pie, whom she hadn’t seen in almost an entire year, would call it – “a doozy.”

Before she could finish her sentence, Twilight sneezed, a massive sound that could be heard by multiple tents in the compound. But, the one who caused the sneeze was nowhere to be found.

Rainbow took a step back in awe. Did she just really teleport to Equestria?

Twilight thought so, too, until she saw the metal. She couldn’t hear a single sound other than the roar of some engine, and the splash of water. She felt intense heat, wherever she was, like she was in a stove. She looked around, and ended up facing her cowboy-hat-donning earth pony friend, looking as shocked as Twilight was.

Except, Applejack’s face turned into one of delight. “Twi’! Ya changed your mind! Ah, now we’ll have them – them, uh – luhjisticks o’ yers. Aw, we’re gonna win fer sure!”

Twilight suddenly realized where she was. She was in the hull of the Monitor.

Heading down the river.

To fight another ironclad.

She was about to enter the war.

Twilight couldn’t even correct Applejack on the proper way to say “logistics” – in fact, the only word she said, an expletive common at the base she learned all too quickly, was drowned out by the drone of the warship’s engine.

The Monitor chugged on, down the Hampton Roads, towards the mouth of the body of water. Twilight began to feel sick to her stomach, and she had a feeling it wasn’t on account of the “flu” she might have.

Applejack reared up, kicking her hooves in the air. “Hoo-wee! We’re a-getting’ closer now!”

“Jack, battlestations please.” The voice was couple with the metal clanking of footsteps. Worden appeared from the bow of the ship. “We’ll be approaching the – oh, Miz Sparkle!” He was obviously not expecting Twilight to be here, in the bowels of the monitor ship.

The mare looked nervously to the ground. “Yeah, um – see, about that – “

“Well, this is splendid! You can be my second-in-command, with what you know. Come on, follow me to the pilothouse.”

The unicorn had no time to tell the commander that this was an accident – she was just thrust into the heat of battle. Some sweat began to mat her forehead as she followed Worden past the many cramped rooms within the ship. Applejack followed close behind.

When they reached the turret canopy, Applejack waved a hoof to the two of them. “This is where I leave! Don’t wanna be missing the heat o’ the moment, as they say – so I’m a-gonna take my hand at firin’ some. Wish me luck!”

“Onward, Jack,” replied the lieutenant, using the Union’s nickname for the orange farmpony. Twilight gave a nervous, small wave to her friend.

All the way down the hall to the pilothouse, she kept reassuring herself that this wasn’t going to be any trouble. The Confederates had no idea what they were doing – just because they destroyed two wooden warships yesterday, doesn’t mean they could fight an iron clad today.

It’ll be alright, we’ll get there, fire off some rounds, and that thing is sure as sunk. Doesn’t matter if it’s basically a Union warship, with some…modifications. Or, if it has already proved a threat. Or that the Confederate officers have just as much experience as Union officers…

She wasn’t doing a very good job.

But, it wasn’t any matter – the two were already at the stairs. Worden offered Twilight to go first, and she reluctantly accepted. Each step seemed heavier than the last – she was about to see and be in a war, up close and personal.

The pilothouse itself was cramped – just a small little box above the main, flat deck, with slits about the size of Twilight’s head. She leaned on a ledge to see, and found that there was actually a perfect view of the battlefield.

They were making their way, slowly but surely down the river, towards the ocean. The banks of the river seemed to get farther and farther apart with each chug of the steam engine. Twilight soon saw the reason they were here – a good-sized warship, in the middle of the river, unfortunately damaged and ran aground in shallow spot. Union soldiers were trapped there, and it was the North’s spiffy new ironclad that must protect them.

The words "USS Minnesota" could now be read on the hull of the wooden boat. Wow, are we really that close?

A large, drawn-out engine wail answered her question. With her heart sinking, Twilight realized it wasn’t from the Monitor.

“There she is,” mumbled Worden. His new second-in-command followed his glance, and went wide-eyed when she saw it.

A large, iron warship was making its way towards the Minnesota, but from the other side. It had sort of a cone/boxy shape to it, at everywhere except for its flat bow, paralleling Twilight’s own vessel. The Merrimac approached.

Or, as it was now called, the CSS Virginia.

The scholar gulped as the Monitor’s engines began to chug less loudly, approaching the Minnesota. The ironclad came to a slow drift, halting in front of the wooden ship. The Virginia refused to slow its roll.

Twilight began to feel intense fear. That thing could kill them. It probably would, too, she was sure of it. Hastily, she remarked, “It’s getting closer – why aren’t the men firing? Why haven’t the gunners on this ship started firing?”

Worden held up a hand to stop Twilight. “Easy there, Miz Sparkle. These men are experienced gunners – and I imagine the same for your country-town friend. They know what they’re doing. Clearly the Virginia isn’t in range to f – “

BOOM!

A cannonball whizzed past the pilothouse, cutting off Worden’s sentence and scaring the bejeezus out of Twilight, before landing with a mighty splash! in the Chesapeake Bay.

Worden, after scratching his chin a bit, unfazed by the blast, commented, “Huh. Maybe we are in range. Miz Sparkle?”

Worden looked down to the floor, where a cowering Twilight covered her head with her hooves, laying on the ground, shaking like a mad dog.

The Monitor returned fire almost immediately, firing its massive shells from its 360-degree-rotation canopy. They found their mark, on the hull of the Virginia – but did little to it.

Twilight, upon hearing the shots, asked Worden, “Did…did we do any damage?”

Worden squinted out of the slot in the pilothouse, trying to see the Virginia even closer as it began moving its way towards the Monitor. His only answer, upon further investigation, was, “This is going to take a while.”

Some hours later, the two ironclads stood their ground, or water – side-by-side, constantly firing at each other. Twilight remained at Worden’s side, half-cowering, half-offering advice when she wasn’t cowering.

Meanwhile, on the deck, Applejack stood with a couple other officers, shielded from the Virginia behind the canopy. The gun let off massive booms as it fired its rounds into the Virginia’s hull.

AJ thought she had gone almost deaf. She could barely hear anything besides the boom of the cannons, and the yelling of her comrades, not to mention the constant roar of the water and random creaks of the Monitor.

The gun stopped firing.

“Reload!”

“Reload the gun!”

“We’re rotating!”

At least 10 different voices began to shout the same thing, albeit with different wording; the massive, twin Dahlgren guns needed to be reloaded.

The canopy creaked, the sound paralleling that of a Sonic Rainboom, as it slowly spun around to the reloading team. The men began to pass cannonballs off to one another, until they got to two men directly behind where the gun was firing earlier.

The canopy finally reached a full-out about face, pointing the two massive barrels at the Minnesota and the Union soldiers. Quickly, and only somewhat orderly, the soldiers loaded the gun, pushing down the cannonballs ‘til they were in a readied position, at the bottom of the cannon.

The men pushed one in, but it refused to budge. It just remained there, stuck in the opening of the gun.

“Dammit, it’s stuck!”

“Well, we gotta move it!”

“Jack!”

“I’m on it!”

The last phrase coming from Applejack, she moved in front of the stuck cannonball. Thank Celestia I’m an Applebucker.

With steel-hoofed horseshoes, she reels back, and with a massive kick, slams her back hoof into the steel ball. The cannonball flies into the belly of the gun like a bullet.

“Y’all are good to go!” yells AJ.

A muffled thank you comes back, somehow over the din of the battle and creaking of the canopy rotating back to battle position.

“Good job, boys,” says one of the soldiers, “And Jack. Keep up the good work. We’ll have this battle won in no time.”

The soldiers resume their business before, readying the cannonballs for another go, loudly talking to each other over the noise of the naval battle. Applejack just stands her ground, which was what she was doing before, deep in thought.

Well, this ain’t the front lines, but it’s darn near close to it.

A massive burst of sky-blue pegasus suddenly interrupted her thoughts, landing on the Monitor with a metallic bang. AJ, who had flinched, now returned to her original position, staring at a frazzled, out-of-breath Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow - ?” asked Applejack, “What are ya doin’ here? Helpin’ out the effort?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, sure,” RD replied hastily, “But more importantly – Twilight teleported back!”

The farmpony cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow. “Back to…?”

“Back to Equestria!”

The orange earth pony became confused. “Wait, what? When?”

“Like, a couple hours ago. I wasn’t sure if she did it or not, but she hasn’t come back yet, and I’d have told you earlier, but there was a battle goin’ on, and I didn’t want to get shot, and – “

“Well, that don’t make any sense. Twi’s in the pilot house, with what’s-his-face…Worden!”

Now, the pegasus became confused. “Come again?”

“Yeah! She teleported right into this here fine vessel right before we got started!”

Rainbow looked to the ground, seeming to search for an answer. “But – but she didn’t want to be a part of this. Oh, wait, she said her magic’s off today –“

“LOOK OUT!!”

The voice was a human one, and Applejack heeded the call, going straight to the ground. Dash merely turned around to see the voice, only to have a massive ball of steel miss her snout by inches as it whizzed past her. She screamed a common expletive as she took in what just happened.

“Wow, you an’ Twilight sure like usin’ them fancy new words,” mentioned Applejack, “Don’t look like you’re goin’ anywhere anytime soon.”

Rainbow could only turn to Applejack, wide-eyed in shock, and slowly nod her head.

Just then, a large blast shook the boat, from the front end of the canopy. The sound was almost unrivaled in intensity, as well as the scream heard afterwards.

“AAAHHH! F---!”

The Union soldiers aboard the boat leaned their ear into the canopy. The yell continued. “Damn Confederates – Ah! I can’t even – ARRGGGHH SOMEBODY ELSE MAN THE GUN!! I CAN’T FEEL MY GODDAMNED FACE!!”

The crew members outside the canopy looked amongst themselves. There were very few people experienced with these types of guns – none of them were one of those people.

Neither was Applejack, but when she turned to her rainbow-colored friend, and asked, “Wanna get up close and personal?”, she didn’t care.

It was time for some real action.

Rainbow Dash simply eyed the canopy, as AJ grew a large smile on her face.

The pilothouse seemed to only grow warmer and warmer as the battle progressed, but Twilight figured it was just her, being scared out of her mind.

The cannonballs had come dangerously close to the room at least a hundred times, causing her to hit the floor as the lieutenant remained as still as a stone. She felt embarrassed, but also felt she wasn’t going to survive.

The commander saw her hitting the deck for the nth time, and, after giving directions to a canopy crew member who walked in, mentioned, “Never been in a war before, have you?”

Twilight shook her head. “We don’t even have them where we’re from.”

He seemed to be taken aback. “No war? What are you, on opium all day?”

The purple mare looked to Worden. What the hay was opium?

He shook his hand, as if to dismiss the idea. “Never mind that last comment. Listen, do me a favor, since the pilothouse seems to be a bit much for you – go check in on the canopy guys. One of them was just ruined, so they have two new replacements, and it’d help if someone who knew what they were doing was in there just to make sure things were…decent.”

The scholar nodded, and, with nervous hooves, wandered out of the pilothouse, down the stairs, and into the belly of the monitor ship. She heard the metal clanking of her steps once again, as she trod the floor she had only hours ago. It was kind of unsettling for her, but she wasn’t sure why.

When she reached the canopy stairs, the sound that greeted her, besides the obvious booming of the guns, was one she didn’t expect to hear, at all.

“Take that, ya Dixie devils!”

“Yeah, one point for the North!”

First of all, “point”? No one around here used that word in the way it was used here, ever. Twilight shook the grammatical point out of her head, and, recognizing the voices, climbed the stairs to investigate.

Sure enough, it was as she had expected – the two soldiers mainly manning – or should she say, ponying – the cannons were her two friends, AJ and Rainbow Dash. And they seemed to be doing…decent.

“Rainbow…AJ?” Twilight asked unwarily.

Rainbow looked from her job, and noticed her purple friend. She waved an excited hoof. “Twilight! You are here! Applejack, look it’s Twilight!”

“Not now,” said Applejack, opening her mouth to show gritting teeth, going white-hooved on the cannons, “I’ve gotta fire.”

She squeezed her eyes shut as the cannon lurched back in the musty room, letting out a fierce BOOM! and reeling back somewhat. AJ called out to the wall behind her “Reloading!”

Her call was answered by many different muffled voices, and she and Dash and the other 10 or so soldiers in the canopy began to turn the wall furiously, trying to get it to turn fast for reloading. Twilight watched in awe at the teamwork being used to rotate the wall, despite the constant booming of the Virginia in the background.

Rainbow Dash, after grunting for a full five minutes, rotating, pauses and stops, letting the rest of the team finish off the job. She hovers over to Twilight. “Not bad, huh?”

“Not bad?” Words couldn’t describe the precision and skill she’d just experience. It was perfect. They knew what they were doing, somehow. “It’s….amazing!”

Dash laughed. “Good to know.”

A muffled voice from beyond the canopy wall: “Done! Turning ‘round!”

Rainbow returned to the wall, helping to spin it, as another barrage of whistling sailed through the air. Twilight began to get used to it.

Suddenly, however, instead of the usual splash or thud of the cannonball, there was a massive explosion, and tearing of metal, up towards where Twilight had come from. Every soldier in the room, including the three mares, looked towards the wall, in the direction of the explosion, stopping what they were doing.

Was…was that from the pilothouse?

“ARRGGHHH!! I – I CAN’T SEE!!”

Worden’s booming voice answered. At full gallop, the scholar went down the stairs and up to the pilothouse, or what remained of it.

Where there had been a pilothouse was this massive indent of metal, jutted and frayed at various points. It looked like a bomb had gone through it. Twilight knew that unfortunately she wasn’t too far off – a cannonball had hit it instead.

And there was Worden – blinded by the explosion. He was hunched over, leaning on the wall with one hand, while holding his face with another, nicked and scratched hand. And…was that blood? Coming from his eyes?

“Hey!” yelled Twilight down the hall, “Hey! We need medical assistance!”

A Union soldier did eventually appear, jogging towards Worden and his second-in-command. After giving Worden a brief look over, the soldier said, “He should be fine.”

“Thank Celestia,” Twilight mumbled to herself.

“IT HURTS!!” yelled Worden.

“But…” continued the soldier who had come in, “We’ll need to take him back to base if we want to get rid of his pain. He’s got shrapnel in his eyes – he’s no use commanding to us now, and it’d be best if he was on the shoreline.”

“Oh…” said the scholar, “So, who’s the second-in-command?”

“You…are,” grunted out Worden through flashes of pain.

“ME?!?!?” The purple mare backed away into the wall. How could I be the commander now? Is he nuts? I’m too afraid of just this battle to even do anything!

John Worden nodded, slowly, and with a lot of effort. “Your…ARGH…your call…Commander…”

The soldier shrugged. “I can pass on whatever message you need to the rest of the crew. But we need to act, and fast.”

The unicorn bit her lip. She had studied military tactics, knew all about this battle inside and out, she was the most knowledgeable about what could happen, probably. And now…she had to put this to use.

This wasn’t just a test. It wasn’t some book for research or for fun.

Lives were at stake.

Property was at stake.

A battle was at stake.

Possibly the country was at stake, too.

She looked to Worden, and then to the damaged pilothouse. If I stay, I’m an inexperienced commander who’s afraid too afraid of the battlefield to do anything. If I don’t stay, I save Worden and the rest, but risk the Minnesota and the battle itself…Celestia, help me.

But, the Princess couldn’t hear her. She was in another world, another dimension Twilight belonged to, originally. But, for almost a year, she’d been here. On this wretched, war-torn place known as the American South.

She didn’t want to be a part of this war. She was just dragged into it. And now she was at the front lines.

All she wanted to do was get home.

And, she realized with sudden insight, she wasn’t going to be able to do it…

…not out on the Roads, at least. She knew what had to be done.

“Tell the engine crew to turn back,” began Twilight, “We’ll head back to the encampment, drop Worden and myself off for a more trained commander, then return to the battlefield. Understand?”

The soldier nodded. “Yes, Miz Sparkle.” With that, he helped a leaning and damaged Worden to a cabin, then continued down the hallway, out of Twilight’s line of sight.

The engines churned, stopped, then made a different sound. She felt the Monitor move in the other direction.

Let’s hope this works.

Twilight paced back and forth on the grass outside the encampment. Worden was doing fine, she had no worries about that. And there was a new commander aboard the Union’s monitor ship – there was no doubt about that either.

But, had she made the right decision? Did the Confederates completely obliterate the Minnesota? And the Monitor, too? They went down the river a while ago – she had heard the booming intently, but it had since stopped, and they hadn’t returned.

Of course, she had no real concept of the time – there was no clock anywhere near her. She had come outside to practice her magic, but, as she did, her cold or flu or whatever the hay it was came back to her again, and she was fearful she’d teleport somewhere less friendly than the Monitor this time around.

Not that it mattered, anyway. She didn’t care about teleporting right now- what she cared about was how the soldiers, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack were doing. They were on that boat, risking their lives, following what Twilight told them to do –

She stamped her hoof down in anger. Why wasn’t she aboard that ship? The mare felt horrible, telling them what to do and she was too afraid to see to it herself. They could be dying out there – she should be the one dying out there –

No, don’t think about that. They’re fine, right? Right.

They still didn’t come back.

Twilight grunted at nothing. They were dead out there. And she caused it! She knew it…but she didn’t want to admit it.

As she squeezed her eyes shut in sorrow, a mixture of cheering and engine-churning began. Twilight opened her eyes to see the Monitor, slowly chugging its way down the Roads, damaged and with dozens of soldiers dancing and cheering on its metal deck. They were alive. And…it looks like –

“We won?” asked Twilight aloud.

“’Sure did,” came the unexpected reply from Rainbow Dash, who appeared right next to her.

The scholar looked over – Rainbow had been flying in at very random points today – and asked, “Seriously?”

The pegasus nodded. “Uh-huh. The Dixies were retreating before we even got back! We sure whooped ‘em good this time! ‘Wouldn’t be surprised if we just won the war!”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Rainbow,” Twilight said sternly, but was unable to suppress a chuckle. She looked at the happy soldiers, and among them saw Applejack, do-se-doing with another giddy soldier. She gave a wave to her lavender friend, who returned the gesture.

“I should go tell Lieutenant the good news,” Twilight commented to no one in particular, “He’ll want to hear about it.”

RD put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Relax, Twi. Let him be – isn’t he blinded or something? Tell him in a couple minutes. Just chill out for a little bit, I guess.”

Twilight was actually taken aback a bit by her friend’s words. Rainbow was the only one who still talked like that - everybody else talked with this air of regality and formalness, it seemed….kind of like Rarity…

Rarity…the others…

The thought reminded Twilight, albeit somberly, of something she meant to tell Rainbow. “Your bouncing about, coming up in random places…” she began.

“Yes?” urged Rainbow.

“Well…it’s…almost like you’re a bit of Pinkie Pie…”

“Ha,” chuckled Dash, “Me? Be like...Pinkie Pie….” Her voice trailed off.

Twilight could tell by the way her friend looked at the ground, the way her eyes sort of shimmered, as if she were about to cry, that they were thinking the same thing.

The cheering and celebrations continued on the Monitor, as Rainbow just walked away, into another part of the encampment. She heard sniffling towards her direction, and Twilight knew it was the sky-blue pegasus doing it.

The systematic part of her brain went into action – a year. It had been almost a since the three of them had seen any of Equestria, but that wasn’t the main problem.

None of them had seen Rarity, or Fluttershy, or even the flamboyant Pinkie Pie in almost a year.

Their closest friends.

Twilight looked to the sky, the soldiers’ cheering as ambience, searching the clouds for an answer to a question she knew might never be answered.

Where are they?

2.2 The Ballad of Fluttershot

Warm, humid air entered her nostrils. She exhaled daintily, savoring the air. Tennessee. Nothing like it.

It had been almost a month since a Confederate “victory” with iron warships up in Virginia. “Victory” in quotes because it really wasn’t – as found out by Confederate spies, the Union thought they had won, too. In reality, nobody had – she thought it very anticlimactic for what was apparently a big deal, but kinda funny all the same.

Fluttershy’s little nest in the tree wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it sufficed for what she needed to do. She stood on a large, thick branch of the tree, and leaned back on another one that was about shoulder-height. Her saddlebag was slung around the latter branch.

Of course, anybody passing under her tree probably wouldn’t see her, in part because she was 50, maybe 60 feet up – but also because she was covered, mane to hoof, in mud and leaves. Not a single speck of yellow coat or pink mane shown through the camouflage.

She simply leaned against the branch in the early of the morning, waiting for her signal. Even at this hour, the forest was alive with tons of creatures – crickets chirping happily, birds singing their daily songs, the rustle of leaves as small mammals ran across it. It felt like home to her. If I could live anywhere in the world, it’d definitely be here.

Well, this world, of course. The woods of Tennessee were still a ways a way from her cottage in Ponyville, but it was a close second. At one point in time, she would’ve spent all day thinking about Equestria, and wishing to go home – but now, things are different. One could not afford to dawdle all day long around here.

A songbird whistled its tune a little louder than the rest. Fluttershy knew it wasn’t really a songbird – it was her fellow soldier, giving her the first signal.

The camouflaged pegasus reached to her left, picking up her newly-fashioned Sharp’s Rifle leaning on the same branch she was. She held it up, so that it was pressing against her shoulder, while she put her hoof in a special holster on the barrel, made just for her to use. For a pony with no opposable thumbs, or digits for that matter, the boys sure made it easy to hold a gun.

With that thought in mind, she raised her right hoof to the other apparatus the boys at the base came up with – a sort of pedal-extension for the trigger, so all she had to do was push down the lever to take a shot. Fluttershy rested her right hoof on the lever, and waited for the next signal.

Leaves crunched, and twigs snapped in the distance. It was a whole mess of different natural sounds, but Fluttershy knew those weren’t rodents making those noises. They were soldiers. The other soldiers. The Union.

She raised the sniper rifle up to her eye level, so she’s aiming down the sights, and just waited. Deep breathing, that was the key. Deep breathing. Those Northerners had absolutely no idea what they were in for.

Almost as soon as her fellow Confederate, the same one who had given the pegasus her first sniper rifle, handed her a modified Sharps Rifle, which had been originally pulled off a K.I.A Union sharpshooter, her accuracy on the target field increased ten-fold. Better than the rest of the Confederate Marksmen combined. Able to hit a target from two, sometimes three hundred feet away, in any weather and wind condition, she soon became to prized soldier of Davis’s Confederacy, even if she was a pegasus from somewhere else. Her marksmanship earned her the nickname “Fluttershot” – a title she took in pride.

Fluttershy was a kind, gentle, and often passive mare, who would’ve never harmed anypony – or anyone, as it was said here. But, as the saying goes, war changes people. Double for ponies.

That kind, gentle pony still existed – but Fluttershot was also ruthless, cunning, and accurate.

Supposedly.

However, she did come to possess loyalty that could only be matched by Rainbow Dash, whom she hadn’t even seen since they got here, and used that loyalty as motivation for what she did best – sniping.

A songbird sung softly. How sweet.

Fluttershy took a deep breath, one last time, and looked down the iron sights as a platoon of Union soldiers walked in the forest. She picked a random one – aiming at the gold buttons on his military cap – and moved the gun directly up so she targeted a cloud. She pressed on the lever.

There was a crack! as the bullet left the gun, and entered the puff of a cumulus cloud high above the Tennessee woods.

“What the - ? Harding?” The soldier she had “aimed” at began frantically searching about, “Harding! Watch your back!”

“Snipers! Snipers in the tree! Take cover!”

The Northern soldiers shuffled around on the forest floor, as the nature sounds in the once-still air changed to sounds of war – gunshots, cries of pain, and general chaos. Fluttershy – now, in full Fluttershot glory - smiled. Music, sweet music.

Back to the matter at hand. Fluttershot pushes her hoof against the lever on the bottom of the gun. She felt it click in place as the breech slid open, the empty cartridge falling out of the gun. Reaching with a muddy wing, she finds the pouch around her waist, pulls out a new cartridge, and inserts it in the breech. Then, using the same wing, reaches over to another pouch – this one containing gunpowder

She takes a small funnel, scoops out a small bit of powder, and pours it into the cartridge, at the back of the bullet. Fluttershot pulls the lever back ‘til it clicks, closing the breech.

She replaces the funnel in the pouch, then, uses her other wing to tilt back the hammer of the gun. With her teeth, she removes the percussion cap on the top of the gun, tosses it aside, and pulls a new one out of her bullet pouch. She uses her wing to pull back the hammer even further, and hears a small click as it stays in its final position, percussion cap in place. The gun was ready to fire.

Lengthy process, she thought to herself, but I think I’m managing just fine.

To any other treetop sniper, the battlefield would’ve been almost impossible – a small layer of smoke engulfed the floor, leaving visibility only to small shapes and forms moving about below.

Not for the almighty Fluttershot. She found another target, hiding behind a tree. The gold buttons twinkled in between the iron sights.
Lean to the left a little bit. Now there was another, person-less tree in her sights. Push.

The soldier’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he shrieked in horror. Make that “two” for today.

Push, place, pour, pull, pop, place, pop. There was a system to sniping, even if it was long, but Fluttershot had found it. It came almost naturally to her.

The battle in the Tennessee floor progressed on like all the other battles did – unable to hear too much besides the crack of guns and the words of comrades.

“One more down!”

“Talk about Northern aggression!”

“Yeah! Atta girl, Fluttershot!”

She blushed in the treetop, glad the red on her cheeks couldn’t be seen through the mud and the actual pattern of the bullets couldn’t be seen by any Confederate. “Thank you!” she yelled down the tree.

Her vantage spot was perfect – she could see everything, and as long as she didn’t move around a whole lot, she was practically invisible. Even if she talked, she was hard to spot among the treetops – and any Union soldier attempting to find her would be dead before they could. Anyone that could successfully find her, missed. You needed an awfully powerful infantry gun to reach all the way up there. That’s part of the reason she never went into battles involving a turret. Too risky.

Fluttershot readied the rifle for another shot. She noticed a rather elusive shape down below in the smoke – it’d probably benefit her squadron to get rid of that one. Or, at least scare them out of the front lines.

She put the iron sights to her eye. She finally found her target, and then her actual target – a branch just above the shape. Fluttershot took a breath inwards.
And then, out of nowhere, the songbird came back – not merely chirping, but actually flying in front of the pegasus’s eyes.
“Oh!” she squeaked as she jumped, unknowingly lowering the gun pushed down the lever, firing the bullet.

As Fluttershot’s mind and eyes drifted back to the battle, she watched as the figure dropped to the ground almost immediately, and Fluttershot pulled away from her gun.

What struck her first wasn’t that she potentially hurt anything – in fact, that shape looked too…inhuman to be a Union soldier. Initially, Fluttershot thought she just shot a bush or some sort.

But, upon closer investigation with the naked eye, the thing was wearing a Union uniform – and through her brief glimpse, it still didn’t look like a regular human. You didn’t just dress up a bush in Union outfitting. And, come to think of it…was that orange she had seen through her sights?

Without reloading, she looked through the sights again, and found the lifeless figure on the ground. She was right – the figure was orange.

And it was a pony, too.

One she recognized.

“Oh!” she gasped, and dropped the gun. She heard the thump of the Sharps hitting the ground, but faintly.

What had she done? She wasn’t used to killing the enemy humans, and had no desire to. Especially not ponies. Especially not ponies. But…why was she there? No…it…it wasn’t possible. They wouldn’t fight, would they? The Union wouldn’t possibly make them fight…why would she be here? On the other side? Was she stupid?

No, Fluttershot – Fluttershy was stupid. Why was she “killing”? Why had she even agreed to this? This wasn’t her – this wasn’t her at all. Look where it got her! She killed one of her best friends…this wasn’t just being angry or mean…this was killing! She ended the life of a close friend!

What was she doing? She was a monster!

She put hooves to her mouth, muffling sobs as tears came. “No…no…” she tells herself, “It didn’t happen, I didn’t kill her…”

But, she knew the truth – she had definitely killed her. She fired the bullet – she was the murderer.

Fluttershy sobbed. “No, no, no!” she bawled, “What am I doing? I don’t deserve to be here! I don’t deserve to be alive at this point!”

This was too much. She got in way over her head, and paid the price. It was time to end this.

She reached with her wing into her saddlebag, and pulled out a small pistol. Cocking the pistol, and turning the safety off, she toyed around with it in her wings, feeling its weight.

“I killed her. I don’t deserve to be alive…” she repeated.

Fluttershy moved the gun up so it was pointing to her forwards. She squeezed her eyes shut, and said goodbyes in her head as she began to squeeze the trigger.

“FLUTTERSHY!”

The voice came from below, and the pistol, now glowing with a bluish magical aura, was ripped from her wing and thrown into the expanse of the Tennessee forest.

She looked down, recognizing the voice. She saw the pony the voice belonged to among the throng of Confederates, her horn still glowing from the magic she just performed. Next to the white unicorn stood a usually-bouncy pink earth pony, standing in shock. The pink pony spoke now.

“Fluttershy, what were you doing? You could’ve killed yourself!” She yelled over the gunfire, which had begun to move further away from Fluttershy’s sniper nest as the Union soldier retreated.

“Pinkie Pie, I was trying to!”

“Wh- WHAT? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?”

“Pinkie Pie…I…I don’t deserve to live! Not after what I did! What am I doing, scaring out these Union soldiers by ‘sniping’ them – I knew this would happen!”

“Fluttershy,” the white unicorn spoke this time, “whatever are you talking about?”

“I – KILLED – APPLEJACK!” Fluttershy yelled down from her position, “SHE DIDN’T DESERVE TO DIE, AND I ENDED HER LIFE. I DON’T DESERVE TO BE ALIVE.”

The unicorn and the earth pony looked over towards where the battle was going, looking for signs of Applejack. While they looked that way, Fluttershy reached into her saddlebag, and pulled out her sole grenade, an experimental Raines Grenade. Clutching it close to her mud-covered chest, she yelled down, “Goodbye, Rarity! Goodbye Pinkie Pie!”

They looked up, and went slack-jawed when they saw the dart-like object in her hooves.

“Fluttershy! Throw that grenade away!” screamed Rarity.

“Fluttershy, no!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

Fluttershy held the grenade close. Goodbye, world. I’ll see you soon, Applejack.

She pushed the grenade into her chest, feeling the pressure-plate slide into the grenade, activating the charge.

And she waited.

And waited.

Waited for the explosion that’d take her life away.

But there wasn’t one.

She looked at the grenade, turned it around in her wing, and tossed it behind her. “Defective,” she muttered, “Of course.”

Fluttershy grabbed her saddlebag, and flew down to the now-emptied forest floor. The two ponies greeted her with a hug.

“I’m done!” bawled Fluttershy, tears beginning to flow down her face like a waterfall, “Applejack didn’t need to die – she didn’t need to be a part of this. I didn’t even know she was involved.”

“Neither did we,” noted Rarity, as she looked towards the Union soldiers, “I figured they wouldn’t – oh, but, it looks like someone picked up her body. Maybe the other two are there, too. We can find them.”

Fluttershy shook her head slowly. “I don’t care, anymore, Rarity. I – I just want to be done. With everything.” She blinked in a futile attempt to end her tears. “I never thought I’d actually kill her…”

Pinkie Pie rubbed her Confederate-gloved hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “There, there, Fluttershy. Nopony said you had to continue with war, so why don’t you stop? We’ll find the others, and – “

“No,” stated Fluttershy, “I doubt you’ll find the others – they’re probably dead, too. And even if you do, I’m not confronting them – I’ll have to tell them that I killed Applejack. I just want to go home, guys. I - I want to go home, to my cottage, and n-n-n-ever ever leave.”

Rarity gave Fluttershy a hug, in an attempt to comfort her. “I know how you feel, Fluttershy…”

“No, you don’t!”

“Okay then, I don’t. But, I do know that if you ever want to see home again, we have to find Twilight. If Applejack is…was…here, then the other two are, too. She brought us here, she can bring us home.”

Fluttershy sniffed. “I know, I know, but…”

“No buts,” retorted Rarity, “We have to find her. We’ll go all over this damned country and their war if we have to, but we will get home. Right Pinkie Pie?”

The pink pony lightened up. “Right! We’ll get home lickety-split!”

Fluttershy sniffed again. “Without Applejack…” she said, “Rarity, I – I can’t. I’d rather be – “ depressively.

Rarity, before her friend even finished, took her hoof and struck it across Fluttershy’s face lightly. Fluttershy, shocked, looked up to her.

“Okay,” began Rarity, “That’s enough. You and I both know that there’s noth – nothing you can – you can do about it.” Her voice was cracking and water formed in her eyes. “A-Apple-Applejack is gone. I’m s-sorry, but she is. Now, we’ll just have to go on. Tell Lee that you’re done. Find Twilight. A wise soldier once told me not to – n-n-not to dwell on the past. And, I – I – we just have to, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy just stared at Rarity. Eventually, she just looked down in thought.

Rarity sniffed, somewhat regaining her ladylike composure, and continued. “So, you’re coming with us – and then we can get out of here before another one of us dies. I believe in you, Fluttershy. No – I believe in you, Fluttershot.”

Fluttershy looked up. “Please,” she begged, “I can’t bear to have that title anymore.”

“Let’s – let’s not deal with that right now,” Rarity began to rush, looking cautiously over to the retreating Confederate troops and the stray bullets that still seemed to get near them, “Let’s head on back to base for now, I suppose. But, I – I might grab the Sharps first, if I were you. Just in case”

Fluttershy looked towards the rifle, which had landed only a few feet from where they had been standing. She sighed deeply. She didn’t ever want to have to hold the rifle again. But, Rarity tended to be clear-minded about things.
She trudged over, and reluctantly picked up the rifle. Just in case, I guess.

The three ponies turned, the Sharps Rifle strapped onto Fluttershy’s back, like it had been for the last couple months, and began a slow walk back to the Confederate base outside the battlefield. Fluttershy could think of nothing but Applejack on the way there.

Neither could the other two ponies, but they made sure to hide all their lingering tears of sorrow for their fallen friend. Fluttershy’d been through enough, she didn’t need to see anymore – war puts all through enough.

But, all three it wasn’t enough. There would be more, unfortunately.

That’s just how the War of Northern Aggression works.

2.3 Way Back Home

She saw her friend fall to the ground. Without pizzazz, without drama – just a fall. As if she simply got tired of standing.

But Rainbow knew it wasn’t like Applejack to do that. Lying on a cloud not too insanely high above the battlefield, dodging the occasional stray bullet that somehow made its way up there, she looked down at the orange clump with a stern face. She reached with a wing into her saddlebag and pulled out her binoculars.

Through the lens, she did indeed see Applejack.

She lie on the ground in a clump.

On her forehead, a dark red dot let a stream of blood flow down her face. Like an awful brook of death itself.

Rainbow’s heart nearly leapt out of her throat.

“No, no,” she repeated, shaking her head as horror set in, “No, no, no!”

Without hesitation and no concern of getting shot, Dash shot down from the clouds and landed in the midst of the Union side of the battle. Dust and dirt rose from the ground, shaking some of the soldiers where they stood.

Rainbow knelt and held Applejack in her hooves. Her friend’s eyes were glazed over, and some of the blood was now smeared over one side of her face. She dangled limply in Rainbow’s forelegs, lifeless.

“Oh, Celestia, no!” Rainbow screamed, catching the attention of everybody around her. Bullets just missed her prismatic mane as the pegasus wailed. But, before she full-out cried, for once in her life, common sense got the best of her.

Twilight.

In one fluid motion, Dash held Applejack so that she was nestled comfortably in between her hooves, and then took off for the Union encampment. Soldiers took cover as what they imagined was a cannonball flew past their heads.

But, a friend trying to save another’s life flies much faster than a cannonball does.

Once outside the field, she saw Twilight. Talking with one of the soldiers in one of the open plains just outside the rows of tents. They seemed to be having a pleasantly mild conversation.

Rainbow never broke her speed, she slowed down only enough to stop in front of the two of them, which she did without much grace. Dirt and grass flew everywhere, and Twilight’s mane whipped back, along with the soldier’s cap. From behind the pegasus, a sonic boom resounded.

“Rainbow,” Twilight began, “What are you doing? Can’t you see I’m – “

And then, the lavender unicorn saw Applejack. Laying in Rainbow’s forelegs. Her eyes glazed over.

A massive bloodied hole in the middle of her forehead.

The scholar jumped to her feet, as did the dark-skinned soldier beside her. He pointed a shaky finger at AJ. “M’Sparkle,” he stammered, “Ain’t – ain’t that yer frie – “

“Take her to the medical tent.” Twilight’s statement was cold. No emotion in it but a sense of urgency.

Dash, on the other hand, could barely keep her voice from cracking. “Tw – Twilight, I – I think – I think she’s – “

“Don’t say that,” Twilight retorted with the same tone, “Medical tent. I’ll see what I can do. There’s – there’s no way any of us are dying out here. Get to her NOW. Charles?”

“Yes’m.”

Twilight led the way to a khaki colored tent, a dirtied red cross painted on the side of it. Charles, the soldier Twilight had been talking to, stood close by, watching every move with anticipation. The unicorn looked inside the tent really quick, and then enveloped Applejack in an aura of purple magic, carrying her inside. Rainbow followed, until her friend turned around and stopped her with a hoof.

“Rainbow,” Twilight began, “I need you to stay out here. If – If I’m going to save Applejack, I need the utmost concentration. Charles, stay out here too, if you don’t mind.”

The Element of Loyalty began to protest. “B-b-but, Twilight – “

“Rainbow, please,” she seemed to begging.

And, without another moment’s hesitation, unicorn and earth pony disappeared behind the flap of the medical tent.

Charles remained outside, breathing regularly and thinking about what Twilight could be doing to her friend. Rainbow, on the other hand, danced around in her spot and began panicking wildly.

“This – this can’t happen!” she bawled, “Not to Applejack! Never! Who would shoot us? Oh, Celestia, why – “

“I’d say Confederates.”

Rainbow froze in mid-panic, and, with water in her eyes, turned to the black soldier on her left. “W-what?”

“Confederates. They’s the ones who killed your friend.”

“DON’T SAY THAT!” the pegasus commanded, the soldier shaking in his boots and taking a step back at the force of the order, “Don’t say ‘killed’! She’s not dead! She can’t be!”

Charles nodded. “I know, I know – it’s tough out there.”

A single tear rolled down Dash’s face. “You don’t know the half of it.”

The Northerner shrugged. “I think I know a little bit. I’ve watched ‘couple o’ my friends die.”

A look of newfound curiosity, along with a bit of sympathy, was received by the soldier. “R-really?”

He nodded. “All different ways. One got his leg blown clean off. Bled out. Another caught pneumonia. I think two o’ them got their head blown off. Nothin’ but a neck.”

“That’s – that’s terrible!”

“Yeah, I guess so. Name’s Charles Freelance, by the way.” He stuck out a coarse hand.

Rainbow, weakly, put a cyan hoof to meet it. “Rainbow Dash.”

“I wish we’d have met under better circumstances,” he chuckled. The pegasus couldn’t exactly find the same enthusiasm.

Noticing this, the soldier continued talking. “So, you’re with Twilight and all? And that was the third?”

A nod. Freelance acknowledged this. “Gotta be astoundin’ to be one o’ you. I was talkin’ with Twilight earlier – she can perform magic! Actual magic!”

“It isn’t so uncommon where we’re from,” Dash explained, “And I doubt ‘astounding’ is the kind of word I’d be using right now.”

“Could be worse,” Charles countered, kicking the dirt with his boot, “You could be like me.”

“What? A medical assistant?” Dash actually snickered. “You can actually stay out of the battle, though. Why is that – “

“No, not that, Miz Dash,” the soldier interrupted, “I mean you could be like me. You could be a black man.”

The tears stopped momentarily on Rainbow’s face, as her head tilted to the side in confusion. “W-what do you mean?”

Freelance opened his mouth to speak, but just then, Twilight came out of the flap in the tent. Her face was covered in sweat, her hooves in blood – she was a sight to behold.

“How is she, M’Twilight?” the black solider asked.

“She’s…” Twilight tried to begin, breathing heavily. Then, closed her eyes and swallowed, nodding vigorously. “She’ll be alright. I managed to get the bullet out and patch up what I could with magic. It’ll be a very, very long time – but I think she may pull through.”

After a short pause, she locked eyes with Rainbow Dash. “Come into the tent. I need to speak with you.”

Applejack looked bad. But better than she did before.

Her eyes were shut, now, so she did look peaceful, but it seemed her entire body was splattered with blood. On her fur, her mane, especially on the layers of gauze and medical tape around her forehead. But, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Dash noticed her stomach moving up and down faintly, so that was good.

There were no words for almost five minutes. Dash just looked at AJ and smiled, and thanked Celestia she was alright. Twilight had been looking between the two of them, lost deep in thought. Eventually, Rainbow was the first to speak.

“So, she’ll be alright?”

Twilight nodded.

“Good. I can’t imagine what I’d do if we lost her. I just hope she’s more valuable to Lincoln or maybe the guy Grant than the rest of the soldiers. Think we can see if we can pull her out of the remainder of the war?”

Twilight found her voice. “I am.”

“Oh, good.” Rainbow sighed contentedly as she leaned back on a medical crate. “So, what is it you wanted to talk about?”

Another pause. Then, the scholar spoke. Her soft voice delivered a harsh reality to Rainbow’s world.

“We’re going home.”

Dash gave Twilight a glare. “Twi’, now’s not the time for jokes. Maybe tomorrow, but – “

“I’m being completely serious.”

The pegasus stood up straight. “Wait, what?”

Twilight nodded solemnly. She took a deep breath. “This…this just isn’t safe for us anymore. I’ve been trying to get home this entire time, but I didn’t want to because we didn’t have the other three. Plus, we seemed to be doing all right. But this…this is too close a call, Rainbow. We’re leaving this world and its war.”

Dash scratched her head. “But…I thought you didn’t know how to get home…”

“I think I’m pretty close. But, we have no real option right now. We have to go as soon as possible. Which means now. Anywhere else is better than here.”

The unicorn put a hoof on AJ. “Grab hold of Applejack, and I can get the three of us out of here.”

Rainbow did nothing of the sort. She didn’t move a muscle. “Wait…what about the others…?”

“Dash.” Twilight’s eyes lowered in a sort of somber glare. “Face the facts. We haven’t seen them in a year. Who knows how long it’ll be until we see them again? What if we don’t? What if they’re dead? You’ve seen Applejack – they probably shared a worse fate.”

The pegasus shook her head. “You’re saying Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, and…Fluttershy, even…they’re all dead?”

The scholar sighed. “I know it may be hard to believe, but that’s most likely the case.”

“’Most likely’? We’re leaving here with the knowledge that they could still be alive?”

“Dash, I’ll come back for them – “

“But, what if you can’t? You don’t even know how we got here, or really how we get back. How do you know we can get back? How do you know you could come back here for them once we’re back in Equestria?”

The unicorn looked off to the side. “I…I know. But, for Applejack’s sake, I need to get her home, where I can help her. This place is too dangerous for her, and it's too dangerous for us. Let’s go.”

Rainbow looked out the flap of the tent. Extending a hoof in that direction, “It’s too dangerous for them, too – but they still fight it. I think we have more of an advantage than they do. We’ve fought in almost their entire war up to this point! You’d leave them here?”

“This isn’t our war,” was the cold reply, “It’s theirs. From my conversation with Charles, it seems humans like to have little ‘games’ like this every few years. They’re used to it. Regardless of whether we have an advantage of it or not, they’re used to it. It’s on their world, and their war.”

“Yeah,” Dash countered, “But, we’ve also been in it since the beginning, the Union was kind enough to provide for us, and we’ve helped change the course of a few battles. They need us, Twi’, just like we needed them when we came here.”

Twilight reeled back a bit. “You really are the Element of Loyalty. Wanting to stay with these people. It’s admirable, Dash. But, I’m sorry, we need to go. This isn’t our war, and I don’t plan on fighting it any longer if it involves endangering our lives. We’re getting out of here as quickly as we can.”

“No,” Dash replied, “You’re getting out of here as quickly as we can.”

“What are you talking about?”

Dash exhaled slowly. “I’m – I’m not coming with you.”

The silence in the room seemed louder than the battle outside, which seemed to draw nearer.

Twilight broke it. “Rainbow, don’t be silly. Now, put your hoof on Applejack and – “

“I’m. Not. Leaving,” Rainbow stated, “It is our war, whether you like it or not. And I intend to finish it and find our three friends. If you leave, so be it – I’ll stay here for all I care. I owe the Union, and it’s a debt I plan to pay.”

Twilight looked solemnly at Applejack, then closing her eyes. When she looked back to Rainbow Dash, she had water in her eyes. “I guess this is ‘goodbye’, then.”

Dash remained stoic, but on the inside, she began to break. “I guess so.” As a formality, she held out a hoof.

Reluctantly, Twilight met it with her own, and they shook hooves for what seemed like the very last time. Dash told herself she’d never forget this moment. The khaki walls, the fur of Twilight, the tension – but most of all, the pain of her heart breaking.

The shake didn’t seem long enough. All too soon, for Rainbow Dash, it was over, and Twilight closed her eyes once more, but this time in concentration. Before she knew it, a glow surrounded Twilight’s horn.

The aura traveled all around the unicorn’s body, and then down her arm to Applejack, where it also covered her, from orange back hooves to bloodied, bandaged head. The aura intensified in light and a high-pitched buzzing was heard.

Rainbow squinted and brought a hoof up to her eyes to shield herself for the almost-solar intensity of Twilight’s magic. The buzzing noise heightened in volume.

And just like that, it was over.

The tent darkened again, and Dash slowly removed her hoof. Where Twilight and Applejack had been only moments before, there was nothing. Just stale air.

So, that’s it, then.

Before Rainbow had a chance to mull over the morning’s events any longer, Charles opened the flap and looked in. “M’Twilight, there’s – Miz Twilight?”

He looked around the room, the valiant attempt fruitless, just like Rainbow knew it would. Freelance looked over to the pegasus, who was wearing an expression of sorrow without any tears. “Uh, Miz Rainbow Dash – where’s Twilight and the other ‘un?”

Rainbow sighed. “They, um – they had to leave. You just – you just missed them.”

“Oh.” The soldier pulled something out from behind his back and held it out for Rainbow to see. “One o’ the soldiers from the battlefield dropped this off. I think it’s meant for your friend that was shot.”

Rainbow felt terrible looking at the object in Charles’s hands; she felt that the pony with Twilight wasn’t really Applejack without it.

In Freelance’s hands, Applejack’s Stetson hat rested.

All hope of Rainbow forgetting her two friends vanished upon the sight of it.

2.4 Mare About Town

“Hmm…where do you suggest we start looking, Pinkie?”

The small town of Savannah bustled with minimal amount of life. There were barely 1,000 people living there, if even that much – but, almost every one of them who walked by the entrance to town stopped and stared at the curious sight. A white unicorn with a purple mane, and an all-around pink earth pony, each donned in Confederate garb, stood close to the post office. The pink one lifted her hoof to her chin.

“Well,” she began, “If I were a Fluttershy, I think…hmm, I think I might be a tree. But, Rarity, there are so many trees here! How will we know which one is – “

“Relax, Pinkie,” Rarity cooed, “I highly doubt Fluttershy is actually a tree right now. One doesn’t desert an entire army only to become a tree.”

After a slight pause, “I think, anyway.”

Ever since Fluttershy had shot Applejack, she hadn’t been the same. She’d been shy – not terribly out of the ordinary, but to the point where she wouldn’t say a word to either Rarity or Pinkie Pie. She had fitful nights, her frail mind often plagued with terrible nightmares that Rarity could guess the content of. Every now and then, Rarity would even wake up in their tent to see Pinkie Pie dragging Fluttershy in from outside, who’d be asleep. Wasn’t like the pegasus to be a sleepwalker.

Amazing what can occur in just five days.

And then, she was gone. The two Confederate ponies woke up this morning, their friend nowhere in sight. After searching the camp for a bit, a terrible truth dawned on them – she was missing.

“Well, I mean, you never know,” Pinkie was saying, “She always wanted to be a tree! If I was a Fluttershy, and I didn’t wanna fight anymore, I’d be a tree.”

“But…how can she do that…” Rarity tried to piece together, “If she doesn’t even have magic?”

“Beats me,” Pinkie said, shrugging (to most passing people’s amazement – since when do ponies shrug?), “But, Mr. General Lee told us to search everywhere. He doesn’t want any of us separated, remember?”

Rarity nodded. Lee had sent the two of them into the nearest town, Savannah, to go look for her. He put a lot of strain on this search, and promised to come in himself a bit later. Rarity felt odd that so much time and effort was being put towards the search for Fluttershy, and couldn’t tell what was making him this way. I mean, his heart was in the right place…still, it seemed kind of awry.

“Alright…” Rarity began, pulling herself out of her own reverie, “Let’s split up. We have a lot of ground to cover, so we better get – “

“We do?” Pinkie’s bouncy, cheery voice interrupted.

The white unicorn cocked her head to the side, opening her mouth to say something. But as she looked around the town, she found words didn’t come quite as easily. All in all, there was a post office, which doubled as a gunsmith; a tavern/hotel – type place; and a general store.

Yes – lots of ground to cover. Thank Celestia (and, whatever the human deity was known as) for small towns.

“I guess not,” Rarity sighed, “Might as well split up, though, shorten the time. I’ll take the post office, you take the general store?”

“Okie dokie loki!”

“Then, let’s trot to it.”

The door to the post office gunsmith swung open, and remained that way until the jubilant pink pony had bounced completely through the door, donning a Confederate military cap and canteen with the Navy Jack on it. The man behind the counter was busy polishing the surface.

“Welcome to Savannah Post, how may I…” he looked up from his cleaning, into the shimmering blue eyes of Ponyville’s Premier Party Pony. “…help you?” The man’s eye brows soared higher than an artillery strike. “Um…uh…”

“Hi,” Pinkie said cheerfully, “My name’s Pinkie Pie! I’m a soldier for the Confederacy!”

“Uh…huh…” The man nodded his head slowly, eyes unmoving from Pinkie’s. “And, you’re…you’re, um…here….because….?”

“Why does everybody give me that look?” Pinkie questioned, cocking her head to the side. Then, shaking wildly, “Oh, never mind that. I’m looking for a fellow soldier, Fluttershy – seen her anywhere? She’s a pastel yellow pegasus with a sniper rifle on her back.”

The man continued to say nothing. Instead, after his eyes bored into Pinkie’s for another five minutes, he reached under the counter to produce a large bottle of whiskey. He rotated the bottle in his hands, talking to himself. “Did Bill put something in this? What the hell is this strong?”

“Um, excuse me, mister?”

“Oh…right,” the man said, taking a rather large swig of the whiskey bottle before returning it. “Your, um, friend…you do realize that the lodging is at the tavern, right? Not at the post office?”

“Well, duh! I may be a silly pony, but I’m not a dumb one!”

The man blinked. “Then, why – why are you here looking for her?”

“Well…” Pinkie began, “Did she come in here at all? Maybe she sent a letter to us that we didn’t receive yet. Or, she may have bought some ammo-untions for her snipy rifle.”

“Uh-huh. I think I’d be pretty sure if a yellow pegasus came in here and I haven’t seen her…” The gunsmith/post-office owner trailed off as the pony’s blue eyes grew to the size of lakes. The pleading pools of blue put the man in a sort of trance.

“But…’pretty sure’ isn’t one-hundred percent,” the baker begged, “Do you have any records of people or ponies that came in to buy something?”

The man, somehow, through his strange hypnosis, held up two hands. “I…I’m sorry, there, little filly, but…I haven’t seen any pegasus walk through these doors. Trust me, I would know.”

Her eyes seemed to only get more depressed. The energy in the room seemed to disappear. The man panicked. “Look, don’t cry, please. I’m sure that – “

“Oh! I’m not crying!” she exclaimed, suddenly perking up and perking up the entire shop. The gunsmith/postman was taken aback but the sudden shift in mood. “I was thinking! I saw some trees in the back of your shop.”

The man looked from side-to-side, expecting the odd creature to continue. When she didn’t, he motioned his hand to signify continuation. “Well? What about them?”

“Do you mind if I take a look at them?”

Rarity tapped a nervous hoof on the counter, as the general store owner flipped through his logbook. He muttered incomprehensible things frequently, enough to the point where the dressmaker had stopped glancing up every time she heard a noise.

The white-haired storekeeper squinted at the record book. “Now, er – whadid ya say yer friend’s name was?”

Rarity ho-hummed to the ambience of the store, her eyes focused on an odd-looking speck of dirt on the wooden floor, oblivious to the actually comprehensible statement.

“Uh…miss?”

She began to tap her hoof along to the rhythm of the song she was humming. The storekeeper touched a tentative hand to her foreleg, startling her a bit.

“Oh! Huh? What?” Rarity stammered, out of her daze, “I’m sorry, did you find something?”

“Maybe. I wanna know what yer friend’s name was. I ferget.”

“Oh, pardon me, sir. It was Fluttershy.”

“Uh – huh. I thinks I actually has its here.”

Rarity placed both hooves on the wooden counter and leaned forward. “Yes? Yes?”

The eagerness didn’t affect the elderly storekeepers patience. “Actually, I think so. Was it spelled F-L-U-T-R-S-H-I?”

Rarity leaned back. “Well, no, it was spelled – “

“An’ was she a tough-lookin’ charac’er? Kinda pinkish, rifle on ‘er back?”

Rarity nodded. “Sounds like her.”

The storekeeper looked to Rarity, trembling as his usual manner was. “She have wings?”

Rarity’s eyes shimmered like waterfalls. “Oh, yes, yes, yes! That’s her!”

The old man smiled. “Well, sure I know ‘er! She was here jus’ this mornin’! In fact, I think she’s at the tavern, right now, if she ain’t left yet. She walked in there not too long ago.”

“Oh, yes, can you – “ Rarity, who began to jump up and down in her military barding, stopped moving. “Wait, did you say ‘tavern’? You mean the hotel part, right?”

“Aw, shoot, t’ain’t none o’ my business what she does in there! But, we can sure as hell look fer her! Come on, I’ll walk ya over there! I ‘members what she looks like.”

Rarity’s happiness was now replaced with a hint of apprehension as the storekeeper yelled out, “Charlie! Yer takin’ over while I take little miss Extremity to see her friend!”

“Rarity,” the dressmaker corrected.

“Right, right,” the elderly, and as Rarity began to believe, somewhat-senile storekeeper said as he opened the door to the general store and walked out into Savannah.

A trembling hand gestured to her. “Well, there’un she is.”

Rarity’s jaw dropped.

Sitting at the counter, downing a shot of bourbon, a large blunderbuss on her back, a brawny, muscular woman laughed loudly, and obnoxiously. Rarity could see the tattered, and full-of-holes clothing she was wearing, along with the massive set of wings on her back, which was actually an imprint. Self-branded, it seemed.

The burly woman gave another laugh as she slammed the glass on the counter, shattering it.

Rarity’s eye twitched involuntarily. The old man’s, however, did not.

“Well, there she is!” The man exclaimed, “That right there is your Flutrshi. She’s a regular ‘round these parts. Tough ol’ gal, from what I hear. Wonder why you’re lookin’ fer her.”

The pony gulped down pure fear. “Uh-um-wuh-he-well-she-that-Flutter-not- “

“I oughta get back t’ the store, now. Have a wonderful day, little filly!” And with that, the storekeeper strided out of the room.

Which left Rarity, in her military outfit. Standing like an idiot in the front of the tavern.

Looking at Flutrshi.

“Dear Celestia,” she marveled, “That is not Fluttershy.”

“What are you talking about, Rarity? That’s definitely Fluttershy!”

Rarity almost choked on oxygen, hearing her friend’s voice, for two reasons: one.) What in the Princess’s name was she talking about? And two.) When did she get here?

Pinkie smiling face greeted Rarity’s one of shock. Words were produced from the latter. “Pinkie, what are you talking about? Fluttershy isn’t even here!”

“Yes, she is!” Pinkie insisted, pointing a hoof at the end of the counter, “She’s right there, with the smoky-stick in her mouth! And there’s Mr. General Lee right next to her!”

Rarity shook her head, rolling her eyes and mindlessly searching the room. Was Pinkie looking in a bad tree or something? Fluttershy isn’t –

And then, Fluttershy was.

There she was, bandana, rifle and all, leaning on the wooden counter of the tavern. And, right next to her was none other than the General Lee himself, albeit dressed differently so that he blended in. Both deep in heartfelt conversation.

And nicotine. Rarity saw a glow on the end of the cigar protruding from Fluttershy’s mouth.

“Son of a mare…” Rarity mumbled as Pinkie happily bounced over to her pegasus friend. The unicorn trotted slowly behind.

The pegasus noticed their arrival. “Oh, Pinkie Pie! Rarity! I’m so – “

“FLUTTERSHY!” Pinkie said, squeezing Fluttershy tight, “We thought you’d left forever!”

“Well, Mr. Lee, um, convinced me otherwise,” she said sheepishly, “Oh, Rarity. Can you ever forgive me for my actions?”

“Oh, of course darling,” Rarity replied, being pulled into Fluttershy’s warm embrace, “As long as you can forgive my reaction to your reaction.”

“Absolutely!”

“Hey, Fluttershy,” Pinkie asked, causing Fluttershy to open an eye during her embrace with the dressmaker, “What’s that thing you had in your mouth?”

The hug ended. “Oh, that was just a cigar,” Fluttershy coolly stated, “It’s helping me to relax after the…’trauma’ I’ve been through, as Mr. Lee put it.”

“That’s right,” Lee said, speaking up for the first time, “War is nothing to be applauded. It tears people apart, and has them kill their best friend. I hate to be fighting my American brothers up in the North – I can only fathom what it must be like to shoot your lifelong friend.”

Discomfort swarmed Fluttershy. “Well…yes, it wasn’t exactly…”

“Let’s change the subject, shall we?” Lee laughed off nervously, sensing his mistake. “Actually, I’m glad I found Fluttershy alone – it gave us a chance to discuss the proposition I plan to give to you two.”

The pegasus nodded, taking a long drag from the cigar gripped in her wing before putting it out on the ashtray. “Oh, yes. It’s a wondrous plan. No doubt it should help us end this terrible war.”

“Ooh! I love plans!” Pinkie yelled loudly, beginning to attract attention in the tavern, “Tell us!”

“Sh!” Rarity hissed, “Pinkie, you’re so loud!”

“Yes,” Lee began to say hurriedly, “Why don’t we head on back to the encampment? This is a rather big thing, and should be discussed in private. Shall we?”

Lee and the three ponies got up to leave, and began walking to the door. All the way there, Fluttershy began looking back and forth from the barkeep to the overcoat Lee was wearing.

Rarity, the pegasus’s close friend, nudged her shoulder. “Something more troubling you dear? About the plan, maybe?”

“Yes,” Fluttershy said instantly, “I mean, no. I mean – well, it’s something serious. Something I’d rather not be so tense about.”

“So...why are you looking back towards the barkeep and the overcoat? Is someone watching us?”

Fluttershy bit her lip. “No…” She looked from side-to-side before whispering into Rarity’s ear, leaning in close. “But, I wouldn’t mind being not-so-stressed when he tells the plan again. I was pretty anxious the first time.”

With soft eyes and a rather mischievous, yet gentle smile, she faced Rarity and muttered, “Those cigars really help.”

2.5 A Scholar and A Farmer

Everfree.

Ponies talk about the terror of the mystical forest – the darkness of it, the cockatrices and manticores and other horrifying creatures, ghost stories of ponies going in for a “swim” and then others finding their bones sprawled about a watering hole or some other thing like that.

But, perhaps most of all, the never-ending-ness of the Everfree is what scares ponies the most.

Twilight Sparkle knew that better than anypony else.

She reflected on this as she used her magic to carve a mark in the tree she was near, levitating a knife with her magic. She carved a number “73” in it – to signify what number tree this was. It was the only way the unicorn could get back. Back to the middle of the woods. Back to Applejack and their tiny, ramshackle shelter.

The scholar slumped against the tree, sliding down it until she came to a rest at the trunk, sitting down and taking a minute to rest. She lifted a hoof and brushed the sweat off her horn and forehead. Celestia, why was it so hot?

She had to have done something wrong. She always managed to get out of the Everfree just fine before. This shouldn’t be any different.

But, ever since she and Applejack teleported from that Tennessee battlefield to Equestria, the duo hadn’t seen a trace of civilization. From Twilight’s estimations, they must’ve teleported to the far side of the forest, far away from any sort of town or city except for the small huts and houses that hermits made. She couldn’t even find any of them, either.

The unicorn levitated her canteen in front of her and took a swig from it. Thank goodness all of her war gear came with her. She almost left it with Dash – she wanted the ties to be cut clean between her and AJ and the friends she was leaving behind. She’d come back for them, there was no doubt about that.

Eventually.

Cool water crept down her throat, chilling her body and saving it from the ridiculous amount of humidity in the air. Twilight let out a sigh of contentedness before replacing the canteen back in its pouch. Her lavender eyes were drawn to the darkening sky. The sun was beginning to approach the horizon.

She had been out here almost all day, and no progress was made. The unicorn left in the morning, came back to the shelter for lunch and to check on AJ, and then went out again. That was…what, six, maybe seven hours ago?

The scholar had no idea. Although, she did know it was time to turn in for the night.

She turned and looked at the “73” she had carved in the tree. Leaning her head past the tree a bit, she saw the one behind it – a crudely carved “72” in it.

It’d be a long trek back.

Long trek, indeed. By the time the wooden sticks that served as her and her friend’s home came into view, the sun had set, and Luna had just begun her ascent of the moon.

Luna, Celestia. Why aren’t they looking for me? They’re princesses – I’m Celestia’s protégé. They can find me. They can find us. Why haven’t they?

She shook her head. Thoughts like this only made her head hurt. And more often than not, her heart, as well.

She walked by the small spring they had formed camp around, within a small clearing in the woods, and saw the box made out of sticks, using the side of a tree as support. On one side, half of the wall wasn’t existent, and there was a light shining from the inside. Various odds and ends were strewn about the inside.

Home, sweet home.

For the past two, maybe even three weeks, this lovely box had been exactly that.

Home, sweet home.

The unicorn sighed and walked in, the lantern casting a deformed shadow across the sticks that made up the wall – a shadow of a tired, worried, and near-despairing scholar. She looked worse now than she had during the war.

But, it was nothing compared to Applejack.

The orange mare had just been lying on her back, staring at the cracks of night sky that got through the ceiling made of sticks. She didn’t even notice her friend walk in. Her emerald eyes, just below the bandages wrapped around her forehead, were focused on the stars and nothing else.

Twilight magicked the piece of cloth that served as their door over the opening of the small shelter, using small rocks to keep it in place. After making sure that was done, she laid down on the sand/grass mixture that the floor was and removed her canteen and cap. Putting it to the side gently, she turned back to the farmpony, a sad look in her eyes.

“Hey,” she said, gently.

The pony turned to look at her lavender friend, and her eyes lit up fairly quickly. She even managed a small smile.

That was good. AJ was recovering.

Twilight continued speaking. “I…I, um…well, I couldn’t find Ponyville today…again…but, I think I might be close to the edge of the Everfree,” she lied.

Applejack nodded slowly, her eyes having drifted to a pebble on the ground.

Seeing a sadness and disinterest setting in, the unicorn quickly tried to come up with better news. “On the bright side, I haven’t seen any timberwolves or cockatrices or, um….anything like that. That’s good, right?”

Her friend yawned. She didn’t even seem to hear her.

A lump began to form in Twilight’s throat. She tried to push it down with more conversation. “So, um…I was thinking…you’re doing better, aren’t you? You can…um…well, would you want to come with me tomorrow? You know, to go scouting out for Ponyville? It must be terribly boring in this…in this tent.”

Applejack stopped looking at the stars and looked to the wall at her feet. She blinked a few times before looking to Twilight, just blankly staring. The unicorn thought part of her lip turned up – but, on second thought it was just her imagination. The farmpony looked to Twilight as if expecting her to continue – but, as the scholar had learned over the past two weeks, that wasn’t what AJ was doing.

Her blank eyes gave Twilight an indecisive answer, and only added to the unicorn’s sadness. Swallowing, Twilight nodded slowly. “Well, we can talk about it in the morning, I guess. Good…good night, Applejack.”

Twilight watched as AJ looked to the sandy floor for a moment, before rolling over and facing the wall, falling asleep. Twilight turned the lantern off with her magic, and rolled over to face her own wall.

A statement she made once rang through her head.
“She’s…she’ll be alright. I managed to get the bullet out and patch up what I could with magic. It’ll be a very, very long time – but I think she may pull through.”

“Pull through.” The things that phrase could mean…

Applejack wasn’t in immediate danger anymore. From Twilight’s daily checkups, it seems like AJ could’ve started walking around and doing normal things again as of a couple days ago. Could’ve.
‘ But, in reality, she couldn’t. There was something else Twilight didn’t quite account for when patching up Applejack. And that was just where the bullet went.

Applejack no longer had metal in her head. There wasn’t a bullet in her brain anymore, but it left a mark. A mental mark.

It affected the farmpony in a unique way. Her mental capacities had deteriorated – or, rather, they had plummeted altogether. She couldn’t speak, she barely ever moved of her own accord – she was normally unresponsive to whatever Twilight said. All she ever did was look at the scenery around her, blissfully unaware of the world. All she ever did.

It was up to Twilight to get food for her, make her comfortable, bathe her in the spring – everything. She had become, in all reality – no matter how much Twilight despised the word now – a vegetable.

“She’ll be alright.”

The unicorn buried her face in her hooves. Why? Why does this have to happen to her? Why can’t we find Ponyville? Why?

A soft whimper came out of her mouth. She immediately muted it, letting tears flow freely from her eyes while trying not to wake her friend. But, the sobbing continued. Twilight did her best to block out the sound.

Thoughts of Applejack and her dilemma, their lost-ness – even thoughts of the ponies she left for dead (which, she reluctantly accepted, is what she did) crept into her mind. They wouldn’t leave. Instead, they only fueled the depression.

They were never finding their way home. They were never going to –

And then, she stopped crying.

A soft hoof had wrapped around her chest.

Twilight looked down at the darkened orange silhouette of an earth pony’s hoof, and followed it to Applejack, who was sleepily looking at Twilight with a comforting look in her eyes.

The unicorn just stared at her friend, unable to speak or move. Drawing a blank of what was going on.

Applejack then nuzzled her friend, before going back to sleep, this time closer to her friend. Her hoof hadn’t left Twilight.

She was comforting her.

As Twilight turned to face the wall, a shaking smile found its way onto her face, to complement the redness of her crying eyes. She…she must’ve been too loud. But, she didn’t quite care anymore.

Her only response to all of this, as she fell asleep staring at the wall, as released in a single whisper.

“Thank you.”

Dawn broke through the tops of the Everfree the next morning, a cacophony of forest animals providing ambient accompaniment. The sunlight pierced through the branches and sticks, and into Twilight’s eyelids.

The unicorn opened tired eyes, still puffy from the previous night’s crying. She carefully moved to remove the orange hoof from her chest, only to find that it wasn’t there anymore.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, still lying on the ground. The mare propped herself up on her forelegs and looked to the left of her, where Applejack should be, only to find the cloth and straw that served as bedding was unoccupied.

The scholar scratched her head for a second, before realizing that it probably wasn’t good that AJ was up this early in the morning in her condition without first telling the unicorn. Not that she really could, but still.

Twilight stood up in the shelter, and moved to grab her canteen and cap, but they weren’t there, either.

Her gear and Applejack were missing.

As fast as the bullet that had handicapped Applejack, she leapt off of her bed and bolted out of the cloth door –

only to smack right in to Applejack, sending them both sprawling.

AJ hit the dirt, dropping the gear she had been holding, while Twilight had flown forward into the small spring. Sound was lost to her for a moment as all the unicorn heard was the sloshing and churning of the freshwater. She pushed herself up on her hooves, getting her head out of the water.

Once she was fully out, she shook like a dog, getting the water everywhere and trying to get her wet hair out of her eyes. When the last swoosh of her hair was completed, there was Applejack, standing right before her. A little dirty, but nonetheless cheerful, and wearing Twilight’s cap. The scholar’s canteen hung from AJ’s mouth, along with her saddlebags.

“Sorry, AJ,” Twilight apologized, “I’m a bit of a klutz sometimes. You alright?”

The other mare didn’t respond. Just kept staring. She blinked, and leaned forward, almost shoving the canteen into Twilight.

“Yes, I see you have my stuff,” the lavender pony commented, as she levitated her canteen around her neck and magicked the cap onto her own head, “Does this mean you’re coming with me this morning?”

The orange pony looked to the ground, eyebrows scrunched in concentration. She moved her mouth in weird ways, and as Twilight perked her ears, she could actually hear sound coming from them.

“Err…ugh…y-…mmm…arr…I….y…argh!”

Applejack stamped her hoof on the ground in frustration. Now it was Twilight’s turn to be the comforter. The mare placed a hoof on the farmpony’s shoulder. AJ stopped and looked up to Twilight, a slightly regretful look in her eyes that she couldn’t get whatever she needed to say out.

“It’s alright,” Twilight said reassuringly, “You are. Thank you, Applejack. This…this means a lot to me.”

“And…that makes ‘93’!”

Twilight had just finished carving the number into the corresponding tree, and now, with somepony to talk to, was feeling much more cheerful about doing all of this. “Look at that, Applejack; we’re almost to one hundred! Wait…that’s not really good, is it?”

AJ seemed to ponder it a bit, standing not too far away from the tree, and did something which slightly resembled a shrug.

Twilight smiled and waved it off. “Oh, of course it’s good,” she commented, more to the benefit of herself than her friend, “It means we’re making progress, right?”

Applejack smiled.

“Right!” Twilight used her magic to open the saddlebag pouch and placed the blade in it.

They had been trekking for the better part of four hours, taking breaks every now and then to sit and rest, something Twilight was careful to do with Applejack around. She wanted to make sure AJ was alright the entire time, no matter how much longer this scouting thing took. But, the unicorn didn’t care – she finally had company on one of these trips.

Speaking of which, she trotted over to where her friend was. “How’re you holding up? Alright?”

AJ closed her eyes and smiled, giving a short, brief nod.

“Fantastic!” Despite what she had been thinking to herself last night, Applejack was making a bit of progress, and Twilight was immensely happy for that. Hey, it was better than when she was lying on a table inches from death. If only she could hear that sweet, backcountry-tinted voice again…

But, it was what it was. Twilight couldn’t care too much at the moment. This was the first time she was with somepony for the whole day. The whole day! For the past three weeks, most of her days had been spent by herself, foraging for food, adding to the shelter, scouting in different directions. This specific trail she was working on she only started last week, but she had a hunch that this trail might just be the one.

“Alright, AJ,” Twilight happily said, “Why don’t you pick what direction we go in? Remember, we’re looking for a clearing. Do you see somewhere where there might be one?”

Applejack looked around the forest, keeping a look out for a clearing. Twilight highly doubted she’d actually find a clearing of some sort, considering she herself had barely any luck. So, when Applejack pointed a hoof to a seemingly random direction, and Twilight noticed the lack of trees past a bit of them, she almost jumped in place.

“Yes, AJ!” the unicorn exclaimed, “You found one! Come one, I’ll race you there!” And, giddier than a schoolfilly, she ran off into the forest, Applejack quickly catching up and running past her.

The canteen clanked crazily against her chest, and the heat and humidity were as unrelenting as yesterday, but Twilight didn’t care. She was with her friend, and they had found a clearing. It could be the clearing. The one they were looking for.

Nothing could bring her down.

Applejack stopped at a point in the clearing, standing still and looking at something with a fierce intensity. As Twilight approached her, she noticed that it wasn’t a point in the clearing. It was the edge of a cliff.

She turned her jog down to a slow trot, and stopped at the edge. Her eyes lit up and a smile wider than Ponyville itself found itself on her lavender face.

They had reached the end of the Everfree. There, at the bottom of the rocky cliff, was a town. Not Ponyville, but it didn’t matter at this point. A town. A town with log cabins, and smoking chimneys, and wagons and carriages and figures going about their business.

Civilization.

Civilization.

“Applejack!” Twilight yelled, “We did it! We found a town! We can go home now!”

The orange mare didn’t seem to share much enthusiasm. She just stared, confused at a wooden post on the edge of a cliff. She didn’t appear to acknowledge Twilight at all.

The unicorn approached Applejack and tapped her on the shoulder. “AJ, did you hear me? We’re finally – “

The farmpony put a hoof on Twilight’s mouth for a moment, ceasing her speech. Then, with the same hoof, she tapped the post, which, now that she was closer, Twilight could see was actually a sign.

“What is it?” Twilight asked, “Is it the sign? Here, let me read it.”

AJ moved back as Twilight stepped forward, studying the wooden post. There were only two words on the entire sign.

“Ambersville, Georgia,” Twilight read aloud.

Ambersville, Georgia.

Georgia.

That wasn’t Ponyville.

That wasn’t even Equestria.

Georgia is an American state.

American.

This wasn’t the Everfree forest.

It was Appalachia.

Twilight and AJ had never left the world, or the country.

Twilight’s teleportation was still a bust, as she realized with wide eyes and a mix of fear, anger, and depression settling in.

They had only teleported deeper south in the United States.

And, by the looks of a Navy Jack flag flying in the wind down in “Ambersville”, not only had they not left the way, they had teleported into what was technically enemy territory.

Still wearing all of their Union equipment.

1.1 The Last Train from Ponyville

ACT I:
IMPROMPTU ENLISTMENT

The pounding at the door became louder. No matter how much Twilight Sparkle attempted to block it out, it only became worse.

Go away, she thought to herself, Who would knock on my door this early in the morning?
She sat straight up in her bed, on the second floor of her cozy library in Ponyville. The purple mare suddenly realized that there would only be one pony who would knock this early….

Almost like an answer from above, a voice from behind the door yelled, “TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! ARE YOU UP?!?!? THE FESTIVAL IS TODAY! THE FESTIVAL! REMEMBER?!?!?”

Pinkie Pie. Of course.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” the scholarly unicorn grumbled groggily. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves, and looked down at her “Number One” assistant and friend, Spike, still curled up in his bed, snoring the waking hours away. How can he sleep through all this racket?

She was careful not to disturb his slumber as she slowly walked to the door. Using her magic, she pulled open the library’s door, and reeled back in shock.

There was Pinkie Pie; her eyes slightly bloodshot, a massive load of bags on her back, in mid-knock. Noticing the door open, she regained her happy, flamboyant composure. The pink pony flashed her massive smile.

“Pinkie Pie…” said a half-asleep Twilight, “What are you doing here so early?”

“Twilight, you silly goose, why aren’t you ready? The train leaves in a half hour!”

The unicorn scratched her mane with her hoof, racking her brain for an answer. “…Train, what train?”

“The train to Appleloosa! Goodness, Twilight – of all ponies, how could you forget the Anniversary of Good Tidings?”

Twilight’s eyes shot wide open. The Anniversary – that was today.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” she yelled to nopony in particular, “How did I forget? Why am I not up yet?” She gasped. “My alarm! It didn’t go off! But why?”

She began to dance around, all over the place in one spot. “How did I forget? Oh, gosh, I’ve got to get ready! I’ve got to pack! No, wait, I did that already. Did I? Oh no why – ”

Pinkie Pie placed her hoof over Twilight’s mouth. “Twilight! Calm down! You dropped your stuff off with AJ last night, remember? To be ‘provocative’ or something.”

Twilight stopped her crazy clog dance for a second. “You mean ‘ proactive.’”

“Right, right! But we’ve got to GO! NOW!”

With that, Pinkie Pie grabbed Twilight by her shoulders, and yanked her out into the square, kicking the door shut with her back hoof.

“Oh, wait, what about - ?” Twilight tried to say.

“Spike can meet us there later! But, we’re going to miss the train!”

“Right, right!” With a frizzy mane, and worries put behind her for now, Twilight led the way to the Ponyville Train station, at a full gallop, followed closely behind by Pinkie Pie.

“Where are the others?” asked Twilight between breaths.

“Um…” replied Pinkie Pie, “Most of them are at the train station. But, we’re not going to get on until you’re on, so let’s get a move on!”

The rest of the way there, neither said a word – the only ambience being their large breaths, and the clanking and banging of all the supplies on Pinkie’s back.

The orange pony trotted around the station nervously. “Okay, now where could they all be?”

Her fashion-loving friend replied, “I don’t know, but what I do know is that I could use more beauty sleep. If you don’t mind, I’m just going to take a nap on the train - ”

As she walked towards the door of the open car, a dive - bombing Rainbow Dash stopped her, causing Rarity to rear back a little bit.

“AH!” exclaimed the unicorn.

“Not now, Rarity!” advised the pegasus, “We all agreed that none of us were going to get on ‘til all of us are here. We stick together. If we all make it, we make it. If we don’t – we all don’t.”

Rarity stomped her hoof on the ground. “How come Fluttershy gets to go onboard, then?”

“She’s putting our bags in the train!”

Almost on cue, a grunting was heard from within the sleeping car, followed by a thud. From the darkness, Fluttershy stepped out, hyperventilating but cheery. “All done,” she said, “Except, for of course, Pinkie Pie’s things, although I’ve got Twilight’s all set to go…Where are those two?”

Applejack turned suddenly around to her yellow friend. “I don’ know! It ain’t like Twi’ to be late fer anything! Mighty unusual.”

Rarity yawned. “I know, this isn’t like Twilight at all. Do you…do you suppose something happened to them?”

The thought went through all of their minds – they all simultaneously shook their heads, trying to dismiss any bad things that could happen to their friends.

Applejack stamped the ground with her hoof. “Where are they? I don’ wanna be late for this…I’m an honorary speaker! All o’ them in Appleloosa are countin’ on me to deliver the Good Tidings speech!”

It was important. It had been half a year since the Appleloosian residents and the local buffalo tribe had come to an agreement, and this long-lasting harmony was cause for proper celebration. AJ had played a big role in it – it seemed only natural she would play a part in the Anniversary.

Fluttershy walked over to her distraught friend. “Relax, Applejack. They can’t be too far from the train station by now.”

Before anypony could say anything else, an announcement came over the loudspeaker: “All aboard! Next train to Appleloosa leaves in one minute!”

They all stared, slack-jawed, at the P.A. system. The system spoke once more. “Oh, sorry, my bad, folks – that’d be two minutes. There’s some sort of pyrotechnics being set up, and we don’t want the train to be in the middle of their tests. Thank you.” It cut off.

Thank Celestia for the Mayor’s Annual Harvest Roast being held today, too. Festivities usually went all out, and the firework team might just buy them some time. Even so, Applejack frantically turned to her friends. “Two minutes! Two minutes! They ain’t gonna make it, they ain’t gonna make it!”

After a period of silence, Rainbow Dash decided to offer up some support. “Now, let’s just try and calm down. When’s the next train, if we miss this one? Like an hour or two?”

“Three days.”

“Three days?” Rainbow was taken aback at this. She hadn’t expected this answer at all.

The farmpony nodded rapidly. “Trains to Appleloosa are a long ride, and there ain’t many of them. Oh, horsefeathers! Where are those two?”

The train blew its whistle in the early hours, just as the sun began to come over the horizon. It was time to go.

All of a sudden, Twilight and Pinkie Pie appeared from the distance. The ponies at the station cheered.

Rarity waved a hoof over. “Hurry up, you guys! The train’s about to le – “

BOOM! A massive explosion was heard down the track, shocking all the friends in their hooves. The firework team – why couldn’t they have waited longer?

The train blew its whistle again, and creaked, its engine beginning to go.

“They ain’t gonna make it, they ain’t gonna make it!” AJ repeated.

“Everypony get ready to board the train!” yelled Dash.

The two ponies running kicked it up a notch, and approached the station at speeds they didn’t know they could. Especially Pinkie Pie, with all the supplies on her back. At this rate, they might just make it –

But, no. The train whirred to life, and began chugging slowly down the tracks. By the time the baker and the scholar arrived at the station, the train was already down the tracks, and it looked like they weren’t going to make it if they tried running.

They missed the train.

“No!” yelled Applejack. She took her hat off and stomped it into the ground.

“I’m so sorry, AJ,” said Twilight softly, “It was all my fault. I accidentally – “

The farmpony shook her head wildly, then cooled off a bit. Picking up her hat, “Don’t worry about it Twilight. I’m sure I can give the speech…after the celebration…”

“Arrgh, we were so close!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, “Why can’t Twilight move at the physics-breaking speeds I can?”

“Pinkie Pie!” scolded Rarity.

“Oh, um, I mean – it was probably the stuff on my back…”

Twilight hung her head. No, it was her fault they didn’t make it. Why hadn’t she heard her alarm going off? For a librarian, she sure wasn’t as organized as she thought she ought to be.

She had to make this up to all of them. Especially to Applejack. But…how?

The lavender unicorn looked down the track, towards the train that kept chugging its way to the end of the horizon, past the small area where three ponies were working with what looked like a rather large firework. One of them said, “This one’ll give ‘em a show – one minute, you see it, it disappears – then, boom! Massive explosion somewhere completely different! They never see it coming!”

Disappearing…reappearing…teleporting…

A thought came to her mind. Twilight wasn’t entirely sure, her teleportation wasn’t at its full potential yet, but it was pretty decent, still – she might be able to teleport all the way to the train. She could pull the E-brake there and get everyone aboard, too. But, chances are she might not make it to the train.

Anything was worth a shot. Especially now.

The chatter of her friends began to fade away, as Twilight got in position on the edge of the station. She took a deep breath, inhaling the coolness of an Equestrian morning.

And she bolted right off the track, getting a running start for her teleport.

“Really, Pinkie Pie – you have to watch your mouth when near friends! I doubt that Twilight needed any more guilt put on – hey, wait, where’s Twilight?”

Rarity stopped scolding Pinkie Pie, and began looking around the station. She’s completely vanished, she thought to herself, Where is that pony off to now?

After some brief searching, Fluttershy found her: “Look, there she is! She’s galloping down the tracks!”

The pegasus’s soft voice rang in Applejack’s ears. The orange earth pony looked over, only to see that Twilight was indeed sprinting down the length of the railroad track.

Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side. “What is she doing?”

“I don’t know,” replied Applejack. She really didn’t, either. Was…was she running ‘cause she was upset? Twilight was very...unexpressive sometimes, but AJ got the feeling that she could get very emotional at times. And, when somepony who’s usually quiet takes off down a set of railroad tracks – it can only mean one thing. “I’m going after her. Y’all stay here.”

AJ thanked her lucky stars she was faster than her target, and took off after her, bolting down the tracks, at a rate just a little bit faster than Twilight’s. She’d catch up to her.

At some point.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “What do you think she’s doing?”

“I don’t know,” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, “But, check it out, those guys are gonna shoot off another one!”

The pink pony pointed a hoof towards the pyrotechnics area, where the firework crew was lighting another fuse to a firework. The flame struck the rope, and began to climb up the rocket-like explosive.

Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof and gasped. “It – it’s going to go off right near them! They could get hurt!”

Fluttershy gasped as well. “Oh no! How can we tell them? Do you want me to yell for them?”

“Ponies, please.” The cocky voice came from the sky blue pegasus now hovering in the air. “I’ll get them to stop.”

Rainbow Dash backed away a little bit, and zoomed off the platform, flying towards the two ponies at breakneck speeds.

Twilight soon realized she wasn’t going to catch up to the train anytime soon. It was now or never.

The unicorn lowered her head, and squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating all her magic on this. She tried to envision the inside of the train car, and her standing there, and at once felt her horn begin to tingle. All sounds were blocked out, and all she could hear was her heavy breathing, the massive clops of her gallops, and the magical aura of her horn.

The tingling intensified, and a high-pitched sound came out of her horn, as the inside of the train car soon became a clear image in her mind. Teleporting time.

Applejack remained vigilant through her running. She hadn’t stopped, and fatigue was only now just starting to get to her. It wasn’t going to stop her, though.

Twilight lowered her head as they rounded a bend in the tracks. Just a few more steps, and AJ could literally touch Twilight at this point.

The farmpony’s friend’s horn began to glow. AJ didn’t even question it, and in a mighty lurch, jumped out to grab her friend. A high-pitched whine came out of her friend’s use of magic as her hooves hit purple fur.

Rainbow Dash only focused on flying faster and faster. She’d catch them, all right – there was no question about it.

The ends of her mouth flew back, a result of the speeds she was traveling at, and tears began to fly from her eyes. She wasn’t sad right now, she knew that – Dash did know what soon could happen, though.

As if scripted, once that thought entered her mind, the air pressure around her began to increase, enclosing her in a barely visible cone of pure air. Dash looked down, and saw Twilight and Applejack only moments ahead of her. A new energy swelled up inside of her as the pegasus got closer to the ground.

It never hurts to add a bit of style to a rescue, Rainbow thought to herself, and pushed herself a little more, breaking the cone and causing a fantastic prismatic phenomena.

The explosion came from her right.

The firecracker, designed to keep ponies in suspense due to its crazy flight pattern and near-invisibility, went off right near Rainbow Dash, in unison with her Sonic Rainboom, creating an insanely loud boom, mixed with a now shining bright rainbow emitting from the blast zone.

At the exact same time, Twilight teleported, taking AJ with her.

The resulting combination of forces created a spectacle like no other ever seen in Equestria.

A large, rainbow-colored sphere encased the three ponies, flashing incredibly brightly, and shooting out in all directions at the same time as its flash. It reached multiple ponies within the area, but, when the blast reached Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, they, too, became encased in a large, ever-expanding rainbow ball. It seemed only natural that such a harmonious phenomenon would take the Elements of Harmony captive in their wonders.

The last thing the six of them saw was a blinding flash of indescribable color, before they were erased from the early hours of the morning.

Twilight had teleported, like she had intended to.

But, none of them ended up on the inside of the train car.

1.7 "Finding Your Niche"

As it was getting onto late May, in that year of 1861, a month or so after two ponies just across the river got “drunk to high hell”, Fluttershy found herself in a bit of a dilemma.

The horse in front of her, an Earth horse, laid down on the ground, his front leg stuck out stiff. She was told that the other day he had sprained it, and she had watched the horse actually walk in front of her with a bad limp.

The pegasus put a hoof to her chin. There had to be a way to fix his sprain. A leg support, maybe? That’s what they did back in Equestria – chances are it’d work here.

“Um, excuse me?” she got out softly to a passing officer. The officer stopped and looked to the yellow pony.

“Yes, miss?”

“Do you, um, have any sort of leg brace or support? For a horse. I think we can get this sprain all cleared up pretty quickly if we do that.”

The man chuckled. “A leg brace? I ain’t never heard of that before.”

“Oh, well it’s, um…” She looked to the ground, hoping the answer would somehow grow out of the dirt. “It’s like a piece of wood, or metal, or maybe plastic, and you put it against a leg – his leg – so that way he can’t move it. Then, the sprain can clear up, and he’ll be on his way.”

The officer raised his eyebrows and nodded coolly. “Right. And, this is for the horse? It’s got a bum knee?”’

Fluttershy nodded. “It’s a sprain. That’s the only way I know how to heal a sprain, and it works very well for animals, and ponies like me. It’d probably work on this horse. Do you have one? If you do, he can be out there again in no time.”

The officer, eyebrows still significantly higher than their normal position, just shook his head. “Nope. We don’t have none o’ that. But, I can tell ya a little secret my pappy used on horses with a bum leg.”

“Oh, really?” the pegasus asked hopefully, “Well what is it – DEAR CELESTIA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?”

The officer had removed his rifle from his back, and now placed it at the head of the horse. He merely stated, still looking at the horse, “Takin’ care o’ your problem.”

Those words were barely finished when he pulled the trigger, blowing the horse’s brains out and splattering a few drops of blood on Fluttershy.

The pegasus had no words. Her pupils got smaller as her eyes reached the size of dinner plates. She didn’t even breathe. Her jaw just hung open, in pure disbelief at what the Confederate just did to the horse.

The officer replaced his rifle, and turned back to Fluttershy. Noting her expression, he asked, “What’s the matter? Ain’t ya never taken care of a horse with a bum knee before?”

Again no words.

The officer shrugged, then waved a hand to a group of soldiers relaxing over by a large oak tree. “You three!” he yelled, “Get over here, and get rid of this horse. The dead ‘un, I mean – not the winged one.”

With that, and the group making their way over to retrieve the carcass of the beast, the officer continued his rounds and left Fluttershy to stand there. The soldiers each took sides on the horse, and began hauling it away to the woods to bury it. But, before they did, one of the soldiers recognized the petrified pegasus. He stood up, letting go of the body. “Hey, I remember you! Fluttershy, right?”

The yellow pony nodded in slow-motion. The soldier beamed. “Well, hey, what’s the matter? I know you’re quiet and stuff, but it’s like you’ve seen a darned ghost or somethin’…”

The pink-maned Equestrian mumbled, the Confederate barely hearing her, “I – I’ve never – I’ve always healed animals. No – n-n-nopony’s ever – ever killed an – killed an animal – j-j- - just because they – they couldn’t heal – heal it…”

The Confederate shrugged. “Well, what can ya do? The poor thing suffers, and it ain’t ever gonna walk right or work hard again. Put it outta its misery.”

“B-b-b-but,” Fluttershy countered, “I – I c-could’ve s-saved it- p-p-probably – “

“Look,” the soldier said, still calm, “You’d need a whole lotta things we don’t have here if you wanted to save that thing. I don’ know if y’all have ‘em where you’re from, but we don’ have ‘em here. An’ I wouldn’t be so shocked, either. Ain’t you the vet?”

The pegasus nodded slightly. “O—one of them…”

“Well, yer gonna have to do it, too. That’s what ya do as a vet – gotta horse with a limp leg, ya put it down. Happens a lot.”

Somehow, her eyes got wider than they already were. “W-what?!?!?” She looked down to the ground, averting her eyes from the soldier. “I – I don’t think being a vet is cut o-out for me. Not here.”

“Well, it ain’t fer everybody, that’s fer sure,” the soldier agreed, “You know, you seem awfully quiet. I know you’re scared and shocked an’ stuff, but you seemed quiet in the first place.”

“I – I don’t talk much.”

“I can see that,” the man replied. Then, his face lit up. “Wait a sec; I think I might have an idea.”

“Rufus!” one of the men still holding the horse yelled, “Git over here and help me with this horse!”

“Right, right, I’m coming.” The Confederate turned back to Fluttershy. “Meet me out in the shooting grounds in a half hour or so. I wanna see somethin’, if ya wouldn’t mind.”

“O – Okay.” The pegasus seemed wary, but agreed all the same. The soldier was nice enough – maybe it was a way back to her friends.

But not now. She turned away from the bloodied carcass in disgust as the men carried it off. She wondered if Rarity was doing a better job medically than she was.

“OWW!”

“Now, darling, if I’m ever going to get this bullet out of your leg, you’re going to have to feel some pain. Do you want a rag to bite on?”

In horrible pain, the wounded Confederate in front of Rarity nodded slowly. Using her magic, she procured a rag from the other end of the room, and gave it to the man, who bit down on it hard. Rarity continued her work. “Now, just try to remain calm, won’t you? I know this hurts.”

She then focused back on his leg. There was a massive gash in the side of his calf, slightly scabbed and very bloody. Levitating the tools she was using earlier, she opened the wound just a bit more. Now, she could see the metal object a bit into his knee. It was coming along nicely, she thought.

Maybe it wasn’t all bad that I took Pony Anatomy in high school. Of course, these things aren’t ponies – but we’re similar enough.

The dress-maker found that being on the medical team, once you got to it, wasn’t entirely bad. Mostly, it was just getting over everybody’s pain, suffering, and gore all over wherever somebody was working. Or, in Rarity’s case – somepony.

Sweat glistened just above her horn, which glowed with a magical aura. While still magically holding the tools, she looked to a pair of tweezers close to her, and willed them to the wound in the man’s leg.

Carefully, with surgical precision – after all, this was surgery – she reached the tweezers into the open wound, being careful not to touch the muscle in the leg. She had already moved it apart with the end of the scalpel, enough to let her tweezers in – but that didn’t mean she didn’t have to take a risk in doing this.

She felt a closing motion reverberate from the tweezers up into her magic and into her horn. She had found the bullet. Rarity concentrated all her energy into this, and, slow as possible, began tugging on the bullet.

The unicorn didn’t know how clumsy someone could get. When a bunch of soldiers are firing at a target, in firing squad formation – it usually meant not to step in front of them. Some idiot Confederate – the one she was working on now – had decided that was the perfect time to step across the shooting range.

Rarity stuck her tongue out. The bullet was almost out, she could feel it. The metal began to appear at the opening of the wound. Almost done.

“Hey, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked as she materialized at the entrance to the medical tent.

“What is it, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked calmly, her concentration lost on the bullet which dug back into the soldier’s leg as she turned to her friend.

“MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMFFFFFFF!!!” screamed the soldier through the rag.

“Oops,” Rarity exclaimed softly, and gently removed the bullet in haste. “There you go. Sorry ‘bout that, dearie. Let me fix that up.”

As she cleaned the wound and began to wrap it in gauze, she looked to her pegasus friend. “Hello, Fluttershy. Sorry, caught up with a patient. What’s going on?”

“Is this a bad time?” the pony asked calmly, “If it is, I can go…”

“No, no!” Rarity replied, “In fact…” With that, she finished wrapping up the leg, and tied it together. “There!” she retorted to the soldier, “That leg will be good as new…in a couple weeks. Take it easy on that leg.”

There was a noise as the Confederate spit out the rag. “Thank…you…” the man groaned through short bursts of pain, “…Doctor…”

“No trouble!” Rarity then trotted over to her friend. “Shall we walk and talk, ‘Shy? What seems to be the trouble?”

“I….I don’t know if the whole ‘veterinarian’ thing is for me,” Fluttershy softly began, “I mean, I couldn’t heal this horse – so they blew his brains out!”

“What?” gasped Rarity, stopping in mid-stride, “That’s terrible!”

“Mmhmm,” the pegasus replied knowingly, “But apparently it’s commonplace. I don’t think I have the heart in it to kill a defenseless animal like that.”

“And why should you? Still…” The unicorn looked away, to the capitol building of the city, “Then, what will you do? I’m sure the President is going to have you do something productive, instead of sitting around. And I doubt running away would do you any good.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No, I’ve thought about deserting. But what if they catch me? Then I’ll be dead for sure. Besides,” she waved a hoof around to the area, “I kinda like the change of scenery. There’s more forest and creatures that I know here, in Virginia, or wherever it’s called. I’m kind of glad the Capital moved to Richmond. It isn’t half bad here.”

Rarity sighed. “I suppose you’re right. It was awfully humid in that…other place. Much nicer weather here. But what will you do?”

The pegasus shrugged. “I don’t know. One of the soldiers who carried away the dead horse has an idea, and he wants me to check it out in a little bit. I’m not ready to see him, yet, though.”

“Well, I’m all done my shift at the Ward – how ‘bout we go and visit Pinkie Pie? Isn’t she doing some sort of – oh, what’s the word – ‘propagandistic’ thing by the amphitheater?”

“Oh, that’s right,” the pegasus said, remembering now, “Actually, I heard it was a show.”

“A show?!?” Rarity inquired, baffled at the idea, “A show like a musical? In the middle of a war?”

“Apparently.”

“Well…” The unicorn was at a loss for words. As if the situation wasn’t crazy enough, now there was some musical-like thing being put into the middle of it. Something right up Pinkie’s alley. “Why don’t we go see it, then?”

It wasn’t exactly a musical, but it was pretty damn close.

When the two friends arrived at the amphitheater, Rarity still wearing her medical cap, and Fluttershy her veterinary armband, they were met with a massive throng of soldiers, all sitting and watching the stage with intent. Sometimes they cheered and laughed, too.

After pondering what could possibly be on the stage, the two friends found a seat and decided to see for themselves. The moment they did, they were mesmerized by the figure on stage.

“Is…is that…?” Rarity tried to ask.

Fluttershy finished for her. “P-pinkie Pie?”

On the stage below all of them, a pink earth pony danced and walked around on stage, complete with her own outfit that was basically the Confederate flag on a uniform outfitted specifically for her. A band of soldiers played on stage with her, and she was smiling, and in the middle of something. A song.
Rarity cocked her head as she though she heard the song somewhere before. She felt she did. Although, she doubted the Southern instruments had accompanied it the first time she heard it.

“…All I really need’s a smile, smile, smile,” the pink pony sang in a loud, cheerful voice, “From these happy friends of mine!”

Suddenly, the crowd of soldiers broke into unanimous song, even though they were a bit tone-deaf. Rarity couldn’t concentrate on the soldiers’ background singing, though. Her eyes and ears remained on Pinkie Pie.

“Yes a perfect gift for me

Is a smile as wide as a mile!

To make me happy as can be,

Smile,

Smile!

Come on and smile!”

The dancing suddenly stopped as the band played on and Pinkie planted her front hooves on the ground. She turned to show the audience her profile, and then gave them a wink as she finished up the last line.

“Come on and smile!”

The band ended their song with a massive simultaneous beat of all the instruments. The roar of the audience probably overpowered all noises in any vicinity to the amphitheater. The cacophony began to hurt the unicorn’s ears as she recognized the song Pinkie had sung randomly one day.

The cheering died down as Pinkie nodded, accepting the applause. She put a hoof in the air and waved it down, quieting the soldiers. “Thank you! Thank you, everybody!” she cheered to the soldiers.

She began to walk about the stage again, only this time, talking, not singing. “Thank you all so much. But, really, I should be thanking you guys! I mean, you men had the guts, the courage, and the willpower to come fight out here for good ol’ Dixieland! This is gonna be a hard fight, my Pinkie sense is tingling all about it! But, I know you can pull through.

“You soldiers do an important job, and should feel proud of yourselves! Dixieland will triumph, and it’s all because of you men. Deo Vinidice! And, thank you, all again! Show those Northerners that we deserve this nation! For the Confederacy!”

“For the Confederacy!” the soldier shouted in unison. The throng stood up and clapped, as Pinkie Pie bowed once more, and walked off stage, behind a curtain where she disappeared.

Rarity turned to Fluttershy, who’s one eye actually twitched involuntarily. “D-did…” the pegasus asked, “What did I just watch?”

“I…” the unicorn attempted to reply, also at a loss for words, “I don’t know. Is this what ‘propaganda’ is? Putting on a show and telling everybody they’re the best?”

“I…I guess so.”

“What do you mean, guess?”

The two ponies turned around and almost reared up at the source of the voice. There was Pinkie Pie, still in her Confederacy suit, standing right behind them.

Rarity raised her eyebrows. “Pinkie, what are – how did you get here so – “

“Pssh. You know me, girls! If I wanna get somewhere, I get there.”

The other two ponies agreed. This was not uncommon of Pinkie Pie to travel at speeds unimaginable and appear at the weirdest of places. It’s only natural that it can happen here, too.

Fluttershy still tried to comprehend it all. “Pinkie….what was that?”

“Oh, that was my show!” the pink pony exclaimed, “I sing a couple songs to the soldiers, and I finish up with my ‘Smile Song’, so that they’ll smile! ‘Cause war is tough. And then I tell them all how great they are! Mister Lee tells me it ‘boosts morale’ or something like that. I dunno what that means, but it sure is fun!”

Rarity contemplated this. Fun? She was having fun? Here?

Fluttershy spoke what was on the unicorn’s mind. “Fun? You’re having fun in this weird place?”

The pink one nodded. “Of course! I mean, you have to get used to things after a while, but once you’re done finding your niche, it ain’t half bad!”

“Ain’t?!?” the other two ponies said simultaneously.

“Goodness,” the pegasus commented, “You’re talking like them now?”

“Why not?” Pinkie replied.

The sound of boots on concrete began to approach them. So did heavy breathing. The three ponies turned to see a Confederate soldier, holding a rather large contraption that kinda looked like a rifle, out of breath and fast approaching them.

“Fluttershy!” he gasped out, “There ya are! ‘Was lookin’ fer ya!”

“Oh, hello again,” the pegasus said, “I’m sorry, I must’ve forgotten about our meeting.”

“It’s alright,” the man panted, “I have this…” holding out the contraption “For ya to try out. Specially modified. I worked under direction o’ General Lee hisself, for it. Wanna give it a try at the range?”

“The range?” The pink-maned pony looked over the thing, which was looking more and more like a rifle, albeit with a few…well, modifications, as he said. “What…what is that thing?”

“You’ll see. Come along!” he said, and Fluttershy looked to her friends one last time for help, and then continued to follow the man out of the amphitheater. Rarity felt the need to give her advice, but honestly couldn’t. The man seemed well-to-do – and she hadn’t been feeling too bright because of the whole vet thing. Maybe this was a good thing!

“Looks like he’s gonna show her how to do something,” Pinkie commented upon her friend’s departure, “Oh, this’ll be great! I hear she didn’t too well with the vet. Maybe this is it! Maybe she’ll find what she does best here! Maybe she’ll find her niche!”

Rarity contemplated this. Her niche…

Pinkie seemed to find her niche rather easily. So did Rarity. She was fantastic at being on the medical staff. Most people, herself included, seemed to think so. Was Fluttershy the only one who hadn’t found her special place here yet?

“Her niche…” she repeated aloud. Then, she saw the light in Pinkie’s words. She turned to her pink friend and exclaimed, “Oh, wouldn’t it be great if she finally found it?”