A Cold Heritage

The Wonderbolts soared across the skies over the ocean swiftly approaching their target. The pre-emptive strike was thought of by Luna and reluctantly backed by Celestia, a simple bombing of the land ship depot would definitely assist the Equestrians in defending their lands by slowing down the inevitable invasion. Even if it did look bad in a history book.

“We’re comin’ up to the mark!” shouted Spitfire as she reached into her pack and pulled out a bomb, the wind gushing against her face. Here goes nothing, she thought.

Commandant Iron Cross heard them before he saw them, a droning rumble in the distance. He looked upon the skies and cursed.

“Get to cover, take shelter now!” he shouted at the dock workers nearby as he ducked into cover. The Wonderbolts flew overhead and as they did so several whistling noises became apparent. The bombs landed with several ear piercing explosions, levelling the depot to a crumbling mess of splintered wood and disembodied tank pieces.

The Home Guard had prepared for an aerial attack however and were only just now in position.

Iron Cross spoke with a tone of vengeance as he climbed out from his shelter, the guards prepared the flak cannons.

“Hold your fire for now gentlecolts, wait until the enemy is in a prime position to receive a warm German welcome.”

The Wonderbolts cheered as they heard the explosions behind them, Spitfire, with a satisfied smile, eased up and glided into the middle of the formation.

“Alright guys that was perfect, now we need to return over the factory and drop another volley and then we are as good as home.” They all cheered at this and prepared for the second run.

As Spitfire prepared to drop her second bomb she noticed that several clouds of black smoke were quickly forming in front of them. Suddenly, one materialised just metres in front of her, her instincts told her to dodge it and with a swift change of direction she swerved just out of the way but feeling her left back leg clip the side of the cloud with a horrific sting.

It was all happening too fast, one cloud appeared right in front of the mare in front of her, all that was visible was a red flash, that was all she could see, red, she wiped the red off her goggles and the mare in front of her was gone. As if part of some sort of twisted magic trick or illusion she was gone.

“Get ready to drop!”

The second run was less successful than the first but still enough to destroy what was left of the production lines. In a gloomy success the Wonderbolts began their return flight home, as Spitfire only then realised in agonising astonishment that her leg was utterly lacerated.

Ponyville was quiet this time of year, particularly Sweet Apple Acres. This meant that Applejack had been working rather lightly and had had a rather lax day in general. She fed the animals, bucked a few stray apples and had just been checking on their latest expansion of apple trees. This new section was planted just before winter to create some tough specimens that could maybe even produce a reasonable harvest during the cold, they would however require no small amount of attention to grow them just right.

She was just emerging from the plantations when, from a distance, she saw two stallions making their way up the path to the house.

“Can I help you gents anyhow?” Applejack yelled out to them as she moved to intercept their path. The larger of the two motioned the other to stop, he was obviously in charge. As Applejack came closer to them she noticed that they were wearing similar uniforms to the Equestrian riflemen that she so admired. They wore Brodie helmets with an insignia of what appeared to be some kind of artillery.

The taller one stiffened up as Applejack came within a reasonable talking distance, she noticed him to be encroaching into middle-aged.

“Ma’am, my name is sergeant Hammer and I would like to speak to a Big McIntosh,” he stated rather gruffly in a southern accent.

“Oh, well he’s here, what exactly do you need to talk about?” Applejack asked as the sergeant remained vigilant.

“He’s been drafted into army for the upcoming war, we need strong gents like him to pull and operate the artillery.”

Applejack’s heart stopped, her jaw slightly open immediately locked into position as thousands of thoughts raced through her head. Would Big Mac be able to handle the life? Could he work under pressure? Was he strong enough to even pull one of those cannon things? … Would he ever come home?

Sergeant Hammer had seen this reaction before moved to comfort the mare, however this was interrupted when the large stallion himself came into view.

“Ahh, Mr. McIntosh?”

Big Mac hesitated before answering.

“Uhh… yep.”

“Excellent.”

Applejack watched solemnly as she waved her last goodbyes to Big Mac, she bit her lip in an effort to hold back her tears but the minute she looked down at little Applebloom sobbing away she gave in. Granny Smith simply watched him go, holding the fort she showed no tears and remained strong for her family, he would return, she thought, he would come back to them with his own stories to tell.

Big Mac steadily boarded the military train with the other Ponyville draftees and disappeared into a sea of uniforms.

Applejack turned to Applebloom and looked her straight in the eyes with compassion.

“Come on little sis, let’s go on home now.”

Putting his wide brimmed hat over his eyes helped Winter sleep throughout the voyage, the rhythmic rising and falling of the ship had become a standard that toyed with his head as he too, tossed and turned in his restlessness. He eventually gave up trying to sleep and emerged from his bunk wide awake, to his surprise most of the other soldiers were awake by this point as well. A couple were playing some sort of card game whilst a few more simply sat there or read a book, no one made any noise though. The only noise to be heard was the creaking of the ship. Perhaps for some, this was due to boredom, others maybe tiredness, but a few of the older veterans were quiet for a different reason.

Winter viewed them with perplexity, it was as if they knew something that everyone else didn’t. And suddenly out of nowhere came something that was a shock to everyone. One of the mares playing cards laughed rather loudly as she won her game, this small spark seemed to ignite an entire tinderbox of cheer and before he knew it, Winter was in a happy place again, all solemnity seemed to disappear as the flame re-ignited in the hearts of everyone in that room. He smiled as the chatter returned to the group. Everything was going to be fine.

The ships sailed on in their slow journey across the ocean to Equestria. Hundreds of people lay awake in each one as they pushed on into the morning. Hundreds of people who all shared the same thoughts at that time. Everything was going to be fine.