I watched as the autumn sun began to dip below the Canterlot skyline, pulling Luna's evening sky behind it. My hooves carried me to the lower South Side of Canterlot, taking me to the Cracking Dawn Tavern. As I approached the tavern, I could hear the cacophony of the bar-goers as they shouted and laughed. I opened the door with a quick telekinetic pull and paused.
The bar was packed to the rafters, quite literally.
Ponies were crammed into booths with pyramids of empty ale mugs at the end of some, all in various stages of height and width. All of them had smiles of drunken happiness, enjoying a good time with their friends before the weekend officially kicked off.
Finding my first assignment is going to be impossible in this crowd. My higher ups assigned me to this project to publish a series of stories for the Manehatten Times, all centering around the stories of our war veterans. Oh yeah, the names' Quick Quill, reporter for the Manehatten Times. Pushing my way into the packed tavern, I pulled my way towards the wooden bar counter and found myself and empty seat. The bartender approached me, an exhausted look on his aged face.
"What's your poison?" he asked, his voice deep and booming.
"Strawberry daiquiri, extra on the strawberry." I said, casting my gaze around the bar-goers. A light brown colored earth pony mare with a buzz cut mane of light blonde sat next to me. She was cute, but had a hardened look about her, especially in her emerald green eyes. My eyes ended up wandering down to her flanks, well-toned and adorned with a pair of cinnamon sticks bent into a heart.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer..." she growled. My eyes immediately shot up to hers, our gazes locking. The two of us sat there in silence, heat rising to my cheeks.
"U-uhm...sorry ma'am. I'm looking for somepony..." I stutter.
"Aren't we all?" she asks, taking a drink from the whiskey sitting before her. "She got a name girly?" she asked, looking at me from the corner of her eye.
I mumbled as my magic pulled out my notepad from my saddlebag. "U-Uhm...her name is Cinnamon Crunch." I say, looking to her. She stares at me, a grin pulled across her lips.
"Well, you found her. I'm not into mares, but I'm up for giving new things a try." she purred. My cheeks exploded into heat as I realized the retired Air Captain was coming onto me.
"U-uh-no, no! I'm Quick Quill, reporter with the Manehatten Times!" I said, waving my hooves before me to repel her.
For a while, there's silence between us as she stares at me. In the background, a jukebox begins to play a catchy big band tune under the din of the bar crowd. Then, Cinnamon Crunch speaks.
"Oh yeah...I got a letter from your boss..." she trailed off, a frown forming on her lips. "So...you actually want to hear my story...?" She asked, unsure if this was actually happening.
"Uh, yes ma'am. The Manehatten Times is interested in publishing the stories of our veterans, to help the citizens get a feel for what war was like." I explain. The cinnamon brown earth pony mare looks at me, scanning over my features, probably determining whether or not I was worth her time. Finally, she shrugs and sighs.
"Five seconds. That's all it takes for your world to go from being happy as can be to being shot at by your fellow ponies. I was pilot for the Solar Empire, assigned to the First Pursuit Squadron in Vanhoover. My job entitles me to flying around in these flying machines built for Earth Ponies like me, keeping the skies safe from threats to my homeland. In training, we were told our most likely enemies were Griffons, but...I never expected the enemy to be our own kind..." She takes a drink of whiskey from a shot glass before setting the glass back on the bar.
"My flight and I had taken off at 0630 hours, early morning patrol flight, just as the sun began to come up. We had just received a new shipment of a lightweight fighter we liked to call the 'Peashooter'. All-metal construction with two gem-powered machine guns in the nose. Beautiful little fighter, if I do say so myself. Anyway, the four of us were flying our patrol route over Vanhoover, our heads on a swivel. We heard there was some major upset in Canterlot, so our Commander told us to be on alert when we were out and about. That's when we spotted it; a recon aircraft with Lunar Republic markings." She trails off, staring hard at the shot glass before signalling the bar tender to give her a refill. The puce unicorn buck trots over with the whiskey bottle in his magical grasp, refilling her glass.
"The plane was by itself with a crew of two. The one behind the pilot was leaning over the side and taking pictures with a camera as they flew over. I tried radioing them, but they didn't respond. I ordered Rays and Fog to split off and buzz the recon plane. I didn't even notice the rear mounted machine gun until Fogs' plane began smoking from his engine. Seconds later, his engine erupted into flame and he went spiraling in. Rays pulled off and circled around, rejoining me and my wingpony. We grouped up and began to shoot at the recon plane. I can still remember seeing the rear gunner snarling at he shot at us. Rays took a few hits and peeled off while Brass and I continued the attack. A few seconds later, Rays reported new aircraft coming in, but that was the last I heard from him. I could see a fireball in the clouds nearby before three flights of Lunar Republic fighters came in through the clouds. They flew these biplanes, meaning they had two sets of wings instead of one set. And, while we had one set of two guns, they had two sets of two guns; and they could shred your plane apart." She stops, taking her shot of whiskey and knocking it back.
"We had to split from the recon plane to engage the fighters. We were outnumbered two to ten. We had the speed advantage, roughly by five miles per hour. But what they lacked in speed, they made up for in maneuverability. And boy, did they use it. We were forced to pull into these harsh turns and dives while reducing out speed just to keep the bastards in our gun sights. The biplanes were metal like ours, so their structures took quite a beating before showing signs of major damage. Brass and I managed to even the odds before Brass got an idea. We were running out of ammo, and Brass decided to lure the fighters over our airbase. I thought it was crazy, but Brass made the point that the Triple-A crews on the ground could pick them off with their machine guns. Running with the idea, Brass and I turned around and high-tailed it to base. I radioed the Commander to get the base on alert and get the guns ready. When we got over the base, Brass and I began circling over the base, waiting for the fighters." She trails off again, letting her mind think over the next part of her story.
"But they never showed up, did they?" I asked, taking down a few notes. Cinnamon sighs and turns the shot glass over, signalling she was done.
"Nope. Fifteen minutes of waiting later, we were ordered to land. We got quite the scolding from the Commander when we got back on the ground. After blowing up in our faces, we were debriefed and looked over the damage to our planes. They got a few good hits on Brass and I, but nothing too serious. The repaid crews weren't too happy with us, but can they blame us for engaging in the first air fight of the war? No! It was only a few hours after we landed that the declaration of war was issued by Luna against Celestia." She stops, only to give her mane a vigorous scratch.
"Records show that after the declaration went out, hundreds of troops left the military. Why didn't you?" I ask, flipping through my notes as I asked my question.
"Why?" She asks, her temper rising rather quickly. "Because I have a family to defend. Because I have a country to defend. Those ponies who signed up then backed out at the first signs of a fight? They are cowards to me. When your home is at risk of being taken from you, you do all you can to keep it safe, even if it means putting your life on the line in the skies above Equestria." She says as she leans forward towards me aggressively, her hoof tapping the bars' counter top to get her point across.
"Okay, okay, easy ma'am. I understand, it's difficult to understand why they backed out so suddenly." I say, waving my hooves before me to calm her down. Giving a deep sign, Cinnamon ribs her temples a bit before speaking.
"Well...if that's all...?" she asks tiredly.
"Uhm, I do believe so ma'am. I thank you for your time and service." I say, giving her a sincere nod before getting up and leaving the bar.
"Hey!" she calls after me. I turn around at the door, looking at her. "Thank you for caring...not a lot of ponies know of the truths of war...or even care to hear them." she says before turning back to the bartender and signalling for another round. With a nod, I put my notepad and quill away into my saddle bag before leaving the bar and entering the Canterlot nighttime.
The Friendship Express pulled into the Ponyville Station with a screeching of its' brakes. After the Conductor hollered for us to get off, I trotted by way into the town. What was once a small-town smack-dab in the middle of Equestria, was now a rapidly developing city. Where single and two-story buildings once sat, now were replaced by modern condos and apartment buildings. What used to be the tallest building in town, Town Hall sat dwarfed by the skeletons of in-development skyscrapers and shopping centers, seeming inferior to the changes around it. Ponyville was only receiving this kind of attention due to the massive need of rebuilding and the sudden tourist boom.
The cause of the tourist boom?
Ponyville was a battlefield.
Despite the best efforts of the clean-up crews, tank hulls and infantry positions remained where they sat, untouched by the modernization occurring around them. If one were to look hard enough, they would still find bullet casings and blood splatters from the street fights that happened between the Solar and Lunar forces. Much like what happened in Stalliongrad, Ponyville endured the second longest confrontation of the war.
The first longest confrontation was the Battle of Stalliongrad, which beat the Battle of Ponyville by only a week in length.
Outside Town Hall, a marble monument sat in dedication to those who defended Ponyville with their lives. The Battle of Ponyville only occurred due to Princess Luna's interest and close relationship with the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. In Luna's attempt to turn them to her cause, Celestia intervened by deploying troops to protect her student Twilight Sparkle and her friends. It was only a week later that Lunar forces pushed into the town, hellbent on killing the protection troops and kidnap the six mares. However, what started as a skirmish, turned into a full blown battle for the small town.
As I walk, I approach a olive drab unicorn buck as he sat at a table in front of the war monument. He was passing out fliers to the tourists and giving information to whoever asked about the battle. What the tourists didn't know was they were talking to a survivor of the very same battle. He pulled the informed historian act better than the Veteran act. Despite being young, his eyes held no youthful glint. That was extinguished by the brutality of what he had experienced and what he had done in order to survive. After a pair of Griffon tourists leave the table, I approach and clear my throat.
"Sergeant Rally?" I ask, adjusting my glasses as they slipped down my snout. The Sergeant looked up, his eyebrows raising a bit.
"My my, what a pretty young lady! What can Ol' Sarge do for you?" he asks, giving a charismatic smile. I giggle a bit and shake my head.
"Sorry sir, but I prefer the company of mares." I say. He looks a bit deflated at this news, but his smile continued.
"Well, if you're not here for me, then you must be here for some information? What would you like to know?" he asks, leaning back in his seat a bit.
"Our records indicated that you survived the Battle of Ponyville by leading a charge against Lunar forces in what was the last push of the battle. What we would like to know is, what was the battle like in the very beginning?" I ask, looking at him. His smile vanished, replaced by a grim frown.
"You must be Miss Quill. Manehatten Times, right?" he asks, pointing a hoof at me. I nod in confirmation and he returns his own nod. "Mighty appreciate what you're doing at the paper, getting our stories and such. But be careful, some of us won't be as open as others. You're just lucky enough that I'm willing to talk about it." he says with a small chuckle. With a sigh, he reclines in his chair and leans his head back towards the sky, a look of remembrance overcoming him.
"In the beginning, we were just assigned to protect the VIPs. There were reports that Princess Luna was constantly making trips to Ponyville in order to recruit the VIPs. Acting quick, Celestia sent an order for a detachment of infantry to deploy to Ponyville and to guard the homes and even the mares themselves. There was only one more encounter with Princess Luna after she teleported into Twilight Sparkles' room in the middle of the night. After driving her off, the troops were on edge, including me. I was guarding Miss Rarity when the report came in about Luna having been spotted in the Golden Oaks Library. Naturally everypony went on edge, and we were like that for a few days. I remember when the very first artillery salvo came roaring in." he trails off, taking a deep breath to steady himself.
"Private True Shot and I were changing guard duty from Miss Rarity to Miss Fluttershy outside of Carousel Boutique. We were only a feet yards away when the shell came in and blew the Boutique apart. I remember hearing Miss Rarity scream bloody murder, both in terror of what happened to her shop, and what happened to her new guards. The two bucks were crushed under a wooden beam, their spines shattered under the beam. Miss Fluttershy had fainted at the sight, and I ordered True Shot to get her to safety. I rushed over to Miss Rarity who was on the ground sobbing her eyes out. I tried to help her up, but she was in an absolute fury. Her horn flared up and she picked up both rifles from her dead guards. She swore bloody vengeance against whoever blew her home apart. I managed to stop her from running off and got her to drop the weapons before taking her to safety. After meeting up with True Shot and Miss Fluttershy, we hunkered down in a nearby flower shop as more and more artillery rounds came in." he trails off once again, leaning forward from his reclined position.
"The bombardment lasted for about an hour before the ground troops came marching in. Gunfire began whizzing through the air from both sides as enemy light bombers roared in, dropping small bomb payloads into the town. After initial contact, both sides began to dig in. True Shot and I could tell things were going to go on for quite a while. A few hours passed before a messenger ran to our position. He reported that our armored forces were rolling in from the Army base at the bottom of Mount Canterlot. True Shot and I made sure the Miss Rarity and Miss Fluttershy were okay to move before we left the flower shop. But before we could even leave the doorway, one of our light tanks came rolling up and stopped to fire. Seconds later, a magic blast slammed into the front corner of the tank, flipping it onto its' side and into the store front. With the front door blocked, the four of us moved to the delivery entrance to try and get out, but only three of us were forced back inside due to some enemy fire that strafed the doorway. Private True Shot was the first pony I've seen killed before me." he trails off for a third time, resting his head in his hooves. It took me a bit to realize that a crowd had gathered around me and Rally, listening intently to his story.
"What happened next?" called a buck from the crowd. Rally looked up and chuckled, surprised at the crowd surrounding him.
"Well now, quite the audience it seems." He said, sitting back up again. "Well, what happened next was just a series of the three of us moving from building to building. At one point, Miss Rarity took a bullet to the shoulder, but she managed to get along just fine. The three of us were passing through an intersection when an one of our M2A2s came screaming around a corner, driving full force towards us. We dove out of the way and into an alleyway, only to see three enemy light tanks speed by in pursuit of that M2A2. Few seconds later, there was a large explosion down the street, followed by two of the enemy light tanks retreating and into cover. They took turns pulling forward and taking potshots, only to get sprayed down by the M2A2s' fifty-caliber turret. I don't know what happened after because the three of us had to keep moving. By nightfall, we made it to the Command Tent and Miss Rarity and Miss Fluttershy were reunited with their friends. The six of them were evacuated to a safe location away from the battle. After getting restocked and patched up, I was attached to an M13 Multiple-Gun Carriage with a small squad of six. We were ordered to meet up with the Second Armored Division and to defend the Town Hall at all costs. For two-months, it was a tug-of-war between our troops and theirs. For every step they took in, we pushed them back four steps. For every advancement we made in our defensive line, they would drive us out of our little foxholes and trenches, only to be driven back themselves a few hours later. By end of the first month though, Ponyville was nothing but smoldering ruins, which made combat a tad bit easier, but it also made it easier to get killed. Days turned into weeks, which became months, and soon into a year, which turn into more years. But for me, it all started with an artillery round blowing Carousel Boutique to pieces." he finishes.
The tourists and I all give applause at the end of his tale, some wiping tears, others going up to the buck to thank him for his service. After checking my notes, I approached him as well and thanked him with a hug. He returned the gesture and sighed. "Thank you again for listening to my story. It's not often that I tell it, or get a crowd that large willing to listen to it." he says with a smile, happy to have shared his experienced with so many listeners. "Still a shame that you're into the ladies. You are quite the cute one." he says with a chuckle.
"Thank you sir. Good to see your flirting skill survived with you." I shoot back, grinning slyly. Waving goodbye, I leave Rally's company and make my way over to a pastry shop. Stopping, I turn to look at Rally again. However, his gaze isn't towards me, rather towards the statue that sits behind him. Looking from him to the statue, I realized that the most prominent figure on the statue was Rally himself, his face contorted in a war cry as he leads a group of soldiers from the safety of a trench.
Turning away, I entered the shop, got myself a large cinnamon bun, then caught the train out of Ponyville on my way to Appaloosa for my next interview.
