The War Effort

by Steambirds

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Alternate Universe
Length: 838

A war that has been going on for twenty years finally sucks up Twilight Sparkle's friends.

Twenty years ago, Twilight Sparkle heard the announcement of war when she was a little filly. An adult, the same dreary war continues, seemingly sucking the life out of everything in the world. To boot, the awful exchange over oil has sucked her friends away from her, leaving her to be by herself.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-08-21 21:05:27 UTC

The Pub

A purple unicorn sat at a bar, drinking from a mug of cider. A yellow mare with equally yellow hair sat across her, tending to the other bar's inhabitants.

"Listen Twilight, I know you don't like the war. I don't either, but I do what I can," she droned, pouring a mug for a suspicious looking pony in a trenchcoat. He waved at Twilight, sipping from a beer stein. Twilight didn't know much about this pony, even though he frequented the bar. Rumor had it was he owned a pet dragon, as big as a military truck.

"At this point... this point we've spent more oil than we'd gain," Twilight slurred, waving in her seat in a manner akin to a stalk of wheat in a field. She hated the war. It took everything. Food, money, metal, electronics, and sleep. Another squadron of fighters roared overhead, wind from the props blowing at every piece of plant matter. The steady throb of bomber engines was eternal, as the four engined machines slowly passed over, only to be reduced to scrap in mere seconds. Every now and then, a battalion of tanks would roll past Ponyville, commanded by a new recruit who had never seen a tank in his life.

"Yeah, but black gold keeps the world running more than ever, Twilight," the barmaid said, polishing a beer stein. The pony in the trench coat waved her over and they began talking. Twilight wondered if the war had taken his friends away. Twilight didn't care too much however, she was still bummed the only friends left in Ponyville were Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie. The three were eternally busy making uniforms and food, respectively. Fluttershy had left to serve in the army as a medic. Whenever she wrote back, she always wrote about how awful the injuries were. Rainbow Dash had left to serve the air force. She wrote back with all kinds of epic, and most likely exaggerated, stories of heroism and cool explosions. Twilight couldn't do anything to help, other than being a soldier. Putting bullets into ponies' brains didn't seem like her idea of fun.

Twilight's mind left the war when a pony tapped her on the hoof. It was a silver coated pegasus mare with a blonde mane and tail. She was no taller than the average mare, a confused look on her face. Her cutie mark was a crosshair, similar to one seen on the inside of a sniper scope.

"Ma'am, do you know where the recruitment office is?" she asked. Her voice was a lot lower than Twilight expected.

"For now, the recruitment office is the Ponyville Library," Twilight informed her, placing bits on the counter as she got up. "Follow me." The silver mare followed her, looking at the Ponyville sights as she passed.

"Ponyville is beautiful. It doesn't look like there are any factories here," the mare mumbled, looking at the clear blue skies, another squadron of ten fighters roaring overhead, tailed by a second squadron of larger ones with deep rumbly engines.

"Beautiful as long as you don't look at the awful contraptions in the sky," Twilight mumbled, commenting on the fighters. Only until recently had monoplane fighters been invented, and the air force loved them. They were faster, among many things.

"What is your name?" Twilight asked.

"I'm Silver Bullet, what's yours?" the mare replied, trotting to keep with Twilight's brisk walk.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia's personal student. I am, or was here to study friendship. Now my friends have left to help with the war," Twilight droned, teleporting up a key ring as she reached the library's front door, unlocking it. Haphazardly placed in the center of the library was a desk with many sheets of paper on and around it.

"SPIKE! Get down here!" Twilight shouted, the purple dragon scampering down the stairs as fast as his little legs would let him.

"Should I get the pistol?" he asked, looking at Silver Bullet.

"What? No! I need you to help this mare," Twilight groaned. He loved that stupid gun ever since she had showed it to him.

"Should I be worried?" Silver Bullet asked, watching Twilight dig through papers using both magic and her hooves.

"No, he just likes guns," Twilight explained, pulling out a recruitment form. "Please write down all of the information you can give us, and what portion of Equestria's forces you would like to join."

Twilight watched as Spike scribbled down Silver Bullet's answers. She had never seen a pony with a cutie mark for sharpshooting. Oddly enough, guns were only invented in the last fifteen years. The mare looked about Twilight's age, so she was at least twenty years old.

"Alright, last question. What is your date of birth?" Spike asked, holding a pen in his claw.

"October 3, 1923," Silver Bullet replied. Twilight was surprised that Silver Bullet was only sixteen years old, making her name actually feasible.

"Your friend is staring," Silver Bullet said, staring back at Twilight.