The Clockwork of War

   'Nothing is permanent'... this phrase always seemed to linger in Quick Silver's mind when in stressful situations. he never quite understood why he would recall it, surely there were other things to remember when getting shot at from hell knows how many directions with automatic grounded light machine guns. Still, it was nice to have a few milliseconds before your commanding officer orders you to charge forward into a storm of bullets, mines and grenades. Battle was underrated. You would see war commandos in movies hatching a plan to save the day, when in reality you would be lucky to even remember your own name with the shouts and cries followed bruntly by the rash hiss of machine-gun fire and bashes of mortars demolishing the ground that lingered a few meters in front of you. Often enough the only comforting thing is battle is positioning your back to the wall of a trench and hearing the thud of bullets piercing the ground a few centimeters above your head. The sensation reminded Quick of when he first went to Cloudsdale with his mother. Axel was unable to come due to the fact that he was a unicorn but Quick was lucky enough to take after traits from his mother. The city was quiet when Quick visited, only the sound of friendly discussions and acts of love filled the streets. Alleyways were free from crime and it was considered a luxury to live in the sky city... how times change.

   As Quick was thinking something very unusual occurred to him, the sound of loud bangs and thuds was draining slowly because of the fact that both sides of the battle were running dangerously low on ammunition. Everyone knew what that meant, when your guns run out you use your knives, when your knives go blunt you use your hooves.

   As the sound decreased to about half of what it was a few minutes ago the commanding officer stumbled over and crouched beside our post, shouting as loud as he could due to the fact that even half of the noise was still enough to make you go deaf after a while.

   "When there last two machine guns run our we climb the trench and charge forward!" He shouted as loud has he could, he then moved over to another group of ponies a few meters away. It had only occurred to Quick that his brother Axel and the other six in our group had been trying to fire at every open opportunity while Quick had been sitting daydreaming. Axel looked down and saw Quick slumped on the wall.

   "We have to head over, how many bullets you got left?" He said crouching against Quick's ear.

   Quick frantically searched himself trying to determine the amount of whole magazines he had failed to use. Without saying a word he passed three of his four magazines to Axel and signaled for him to split them with the others. It soon came to Quick's realization that there were only 3 other ponies left in our section of the trench including Quick and Axel.

   Axel stood up slightly shouting as loud as he could. "Were going over in thirty seconds, make every remaining shot count. Make sure you hook on your bayonets and try and stay out of cover as little as possible". Things weren't looking good for quick, his bayonet had been damaged and refused to screw onto the front of his bolt action rifle and his fur colour itself made his stand out against the surrounding environment, a dark blue mane with a slightly dark silver coat. The uniform did provide a small amount of cover from bullets and from standing out from the crowd. His once blue and black army overalls were more of a brown colour from the mud. Axel on the other hoof was fine. His light brown fur was complete with black mane, it was remarkable that they both shared the same blood mother and father.

   Quick's thoughts were once again rudely interrupted with another order. Like last time Quick hadn't been paying attention but it became obvious when the other ponies started to climb the trench and run to their imminent and short deaths. Axel grabbed Quick's hoof and dragged him up. They both along with the rest of the group climbed the muddy edges of the trench only to be greeted with the cruelest of views.

   Planes were flying low creating roar like no other, there bullets shells falling hard on the wet, muddy surface of the battlefield below. The mortars and bullets had scared the land with craters and holes along the fifty meter stretch from the enemy trench. The sky was going from a light blue to a bright orange. Quick took his attention from the skies and looked beyond at the battlefield that lingered before him. They were trying to size control of a town east of the Appelosa. A town that the Lunar Legion believed to be supplying weapons to Appleloosa via railroads. An abandoned railway was lined with barbed wire about 15 meters in front of Quick. Royal Union soldiers were retreating back to their trenches using the last of their precious ammunition.

   Quick's attention turned back to his group, Axel had just helped the last pony over the trench and looked over at Quick, his face blunt with the dread that they were most likely not going to see each other again. It didn't feel right, all the noise, ponies being mowed down with bullets spilling out from their flesh. A member of the group ran forward, followed by the others. Royal Union soldiers had began climbing from their posts to meet with their last foes.

   As Quick ran forward with the others he looked again at his surroundings. He noticed something. The ponies that had emerged from the enemy's trenches weren't all shooting. About a third had their hooves in the air and looking to the skies, a glimpse of the sunset would seemed to be the best possible way to spend your last seconds. Quick had traveled about 20 meters and now felt he was close enough to shoot. He found the best cover available on the battlefield. A fallen train sign made of thin sheet metal and weak wood. He aimed down the iron and glass scope, a luxury in terms of firearms attachments proceeded to scan for a potential target his target. His gaze fell upon a pony running forward with red fur that stood out from the surroundings and a black mane that scared the crosshairs. Two other ponies were running with him, another wearing a hat and a third with scoped sniper just like Quick's. Without blinking his crosshairs fell upon the first pony with red fur. Out of everything Quick thought about in this situation all that came to mind was that they weren't very different. He was told the enemy was ruthless, but yet Quick could only see himself in the crosshairs. But he couldn't pull back now. If he commanding officer found out he had shown mercy he would have Quick killed. Without another precious millisecond Quick pulled the trigger. He was the pony fall, his bright ref fur now stained with another shade. The pony to his left stopped and ran over to his companion. Screaming he began trying to put pressure on his wound. It didn't take long for the soldiers of the Lunar Legion to cut him down with the iron that emerged from their guns.

   Quick looked over at the trenches again. Some soldiers from the Legion had just broken the enemy's lines, the once secure trench that separated Union soldiers and a quick death was useless now. The rest of the Legion was rushing forward cutting down Union soldiers like bamboo. Quick ran forward, the deafening noise of abundant shouts and the metallic roar of plane engines still filled the air and the dreaded sight of mortar craters full of corpses and blood. There was no mercy in battle, only pain.

   Moments like this reminded Quick about the stories he was told as a filly growing up in the city of Manehatten. He was told of vicious leaders that were commanding the nation into an eternal winter. Hate, just like love needed to be involved in every aspect of life, without hate there could be no love. These stories often led to more questions that answers. He had visited the capital one, with Axel in his mid teens. The city was bustling with life, opportunities in ever corner. But things were too good, there was no compromise, there was no negativity. Those that tried to express any sign of negativity were sent away to the farming villages in the east. But those that forced other around them rose to power in the capital of Equestria.

   The remaining Union soldiers were retreating from their posts to the town of Blanway. Quick kept running forward with the rest of the army. Jumping over trenches and avoiding the few remaining Union soldiers that were bleeding out on the scared battlefield. The sun had completely submerged under the horizon. The only light left was sourced from the Holy moon and and abundant fires that burned brightly in the horrors of night. The only comforting thing was that all sight of the corpses that were planted around the battlefield had dissipated into the hugging darkness.

   The Legion ran on, passing the blood-scorched trenches and beginning the journey from the edge of the forest beyond. The town was in sight now, maybe 200 meters or so west. The remaining Union soldiers had ether died fighting or were fleeing into the dense forest. Quick looked around. He was travelling with a large group of maybe 20 or 30 ponies all marching to the targeted town. A soon realization dawned upon Quick, his brother was no longer with him. It wasn't uncommon to get split up in battle, but the one they had just faced was especially bloody. The noise of screams had faded, the roaring engines of the planes had been dimmed as well. There was only the small marsh as hooves marched on the muddy ground below, and the patting rain was all that was left in the lasting night.

   "Are you hurt?"

   Quick jumped. He turned around quickly only to see a slightly bloody version of his older sibling Axel.

   "No, I guess, I think i'm deaf in my left ear, but apart from that i'm fine. I didn't expect to see you so soon".

   "Oh any why's that?"

   "It pretty difficult to find some-pony in the dead of night in the middle of a storm" Quick replied.

  "I have my ways", Axel smirked as they marched on.

   "Have you ever wondered what this place was before the war?"

   Axel was slightly taken aback by the question, though it was understandable, Quick had only had four years of his life out of conflict, Axel had had seven and knew quite a bit more about the subject. "Well the bloodbath we just walked out of used to be a grazing field, and the forest were in now is owned by the Orange family in Menehatten. Apart from that all I could tell you is what I learned about the geography of this landscape from school".

   "Its sad on ya' think? The fact that everything had to go to waste over arguments in the royal sector of Canterlot".

   "The rulers of Equestria are fools Quick, there can never be life without love or hate, like ying and yang, one cannot exist without the other. And when you try to use earthly powers to separate the two... well, that's when shit goes south".

  Quick was about to reply when something caught his eye. A faint yellow light could be seen in between the trees and a dim noise was growling louder and louder as they marched closer and closer to the town. After about five minutes of marching they had finally broken through the dense forest. What lay in front of the two brothers was... disturbing.

   The town was an inferno, yellow flames danced atop the straw and wooden houses. The buildings themselves looked populated. Doors were still open, crates and stalls were lined up on each street, the only thing that this town was missing were ponies. Not a single soul lingered over the settlement, that was unusual for a battle, though in the back of his mind Quick felt relieved. He had seen enough gore for one lifetime, and though he knew this battle would not be his last his hopes were set high for the  few days to come off duty. The group that Quick was travelling made their way down the main road. Most of the buildings down this road were made of cracked stone and thick wood. A haven from the vicious flames.

   After a short walk the group collided with another, creating an even larger crown all walking in the same direction, though it wasn't fully visible Quick could see some of the ponies in front stopping. A large crown of the remaining Legion soldiers  started to crowd around a light grey and brown train station. A figure climbed onto the platform with its back to the tracks, facing what remains of the army. It was the colonel, he had led the attack on the town a few days prior, when the battle started.

   "Another victory for the Lunar Legion!" He yelled happily, "Our objective was to secure and ether take or destroy the weapons in this facility, and we have succeed without question, our sacrifice as an army will never be depleted, what we have done today will greatly aid in the capture of Fillydelphia and lead on to the eventual re-capture of the southern strip of land that separates us from our vendetta with the scum in the capital. May this battle slaughter the thoughts of all those who appose us! We will secure the ruins of this town and set an outpost to aid in the capture of Fillydelphia. Until then our journey will never be over!"

   The crowds of ponies that lay before the colonel shouted in triumph and danced at the though of the enemies defeat. A small voice lingered in the back of Quick's mind. He looked around him at the joy of the crowd, even Axel was dancing, something of which Quick hadn't seen in a long tine. But the voice still broke through all happy thoughts.

   'Nothing is permanent'