Blood Sands

Twilight Sparkles house

2 days after recieving departure notice

Twilight was still going through the shock of being drafted back into the service, tomorrow she will be going to one the many training bases to get the brushup on the physical and mental tests while new recruits will be going through new training and physical tests which is complete hell if your new.

"Well twi i guess this means that i wont see you for a while", sniffled spike, tears forming in his eyes,"an..and theres always the possibility you could get killed and i d...dont want that tw..twi",said spike as he broke down in tears.

"Oh spike dont cry, im a skilled soldier and you know that", said twilight softly hugging the baby dragon to calm him down from his worries."I wont let myself get killed spike...i promise", twilight said in a comforting voice, her natural sense felt spike calming down and the fact that he stopped crying and was now just sniffling."w..well alright twi i trust you", said spike as he released himself slowly from her hug.

After she calmed spike down, twilight then walked slowly upstairs to pack her duffle bag for her departure to the base.All twilight really needed to pack her duffle with was essentials not playthings and other junk that she doesnt need, checking over everything and apparently had everything except for one more thing.Twilight trotted over to her closet and using her magic a green and lighter green camoflauged digi floated out of her closet.Twilight smiled slightley at the sight of the digi, these were given to all ponies as training and combat wear for on the field and the base.

Twilight folded the digi and placed it on her chair,this clothing was what she would need to wear when she departed tomorrow morning for the base, she then zipped the dark green duffle bag and with her horn glowed softly set the bag down beside the chair the digi was resting on."Well buck, i never thought that i would thrust back into war but that doesnt seem to be the case right now", twilight said with a sigh and a pang of irritation, but at least she already knows what to expect when the lead starts flying.A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of how many young mares and stallions will die out of fear and confusion as their thrust into a war zone.

"Oh how many lives will be wasted on both sides on the first battle, such a waste of ponykind war is", sighed twilight as she went to go sit on her bed preparing to go to sleep, just a little ways from her bed spike was sleeping soundly in his tinier bed, his sides going in and out from his soft breathing this brought a small smile to her face and conforted her.

"Well i should go to bed now i gotta big day ahead of me",said twilight quitely as she turned off her light and laid down in bed, her mind strangley calm even though tomorrow she will be departing for the war effort.Twilight relaxed then closed her eyes going over her training that was taught to her during the griffon war.

Its funny she thought, she still remembered how to assemble, clean, and disassemble a firearm.

The next day...

6:40 a.m.

Twilight breathed in the cool morning air her head busy with the thoughts of what came next, but she strangly felt calm not happy but....just calm.Spike stood next to her his eyes looking at the ground knowing that his best friend well practically his mom will be departing for a unkown amount of time with the threat of death around each corner.Twilight looked down the road and saw the military bus cruising up the road and would soon be arriving in front of her house.

After seeing the bus, twilight then turned around and kneeled down to the point wear she was eye level with spike and put her hooves on his shoulders and started to speak,"spike dont worry about me ill be fine, while im gone you will be living with granny smith and applebloom"."Thanks twi i always liked staying on the apple farm and i can play with applebloom and help granny smith with the farm, but ill still be worr....", said spike before he was hushed at his last part of his sentence."I know spike that you'll be worried but dont be i'll be fine", said twilight as she gave him a promising smile, she glanced over her shoulder at the fast approaching bus.

"I want you to have something before i leave spike", twilight said as she stuck her hoof in her pocket, she then pulled out a small silver key on a key ring and handed it to him."Take this its a key to our house if you ever need anything from here you can just walk down here and open the house to get it", said twilight as the bus stopped in front of her house its brakes making a slight squeak.

"Hey twi theres one thing i wanna give you before you leave its something ive kept for a long time", spike said as he opened his little hand opened revealing a small silver figure of a dragon,"its my good luck charm but i figured that you will need it more than me".Spike placed the the small pendant in her hoof, she smiled then hugged spike,"ill miss you spike but dont worry ill be fine",said twilight holding back her tears."You too twi", spike said choking a bit.

The two both released each other from their hugs, twilight smiled, turned around and slowly walked over to the entrance of the bus.She stepped in and saw and felt eyes on her, sighing she walked over to a seat by a window.The bus jerked slightly forward and started to move, she looked out the window at spike he waved slowly twilight did the same.She took the duffle bag of her lap and set it next to her, laying her head back she then snapped it back up, remembering that if your caught resting your head or asleep that the drill sargeant will practically beat the crap out of you.

Twilight sighed as the bus drove onward to the base,"well here we go again, back to hell".

Solar Base Echo

6 miles from the border between the solar empire and the new lunar republic.

The bus was closing in on the base, out the window twilight could see formations of soldiers march and jogging singing little tunes as they went along.Just ahead she could see the dark green barracks and command buildings inside the base behind the gates.Overhead she could hear the roaring of jets off to fight and also test their firing systems and whatnot, the bus stopped outside twilight could see the security fence slowly opening, once again the bus started rolling forward.

Then after going midway into the base the bus stopped, turned off, and the front exit opened and in came the drill sergeant he was a large built, brown earth pony with a dark blue buzz cut mane."Alright you little bucks, when we unload you from here i want the new recruits on the left and the already in service on the right if you buck up i will beat your little asses, am i understood!!", yelled the sergeant,"SIR YES SIR!!!", yelled twilight and the rest of the ponies.

Everypony had gotten off the bus and into each of their categories, the new recruits with the drill sergeant and the already in service with another pony, it was a blue, middle aged mare unicorn with a purple mane that was a bit longer then the sergeants but practically still a buzz cut.But something was off there was 50 ponies on the bus but she only counted 49, by the time she noticed this the drill sergeant was already in the bus and looking at the one sleeping pony with his head against the window.

The sleeping pony woke up then the drill sergeant spoke in a soft voice,"well hello there sunshine did you have a good sleep?", the young earth ponies eyes were now wide with fear,"here lets get off the bus now", said the sergeant still in a soft voice as he escorted the young pony who was stumbling a little from fear."NOW YOU BUCKING SORRY PIECE OF SHIT YOU WILL GIVE ME 100 PUSH-UPS RIGHT NOW AND MAYBE THAT WILL WAKE YOU UP!!!!", screamed the sergeant in the face of the young pony, without saying a word and struck with fear the earth pony started his punishment.

The unicorn with the group twilight was in chuckled a bit then spoke,"alright then, most of you might remember me from when we fought in the griffon war but i am sergeant smoke, call me smokey and i will beat the living shit out of you, am i understood?", she said roughly,"MAM YES MAM", shouted the group in response.

"Good, now we're going to march in formation to the barracks and then you'll go find the one you are placed in, right after that you will report at the flag pole in the middle of the barracks, dont buck around either or there will be serious consequences", said the mare unicorn strictly, the group then got into formation and marched to the barracks.

Finally they arrived in the center of all the barracks where the flag pole was located then the unicorn began to speak once more,"now this is where we are going to reform now bucking hurry up and find where your placed", said the unicorn shouting at her group making some jump a little.

Twilight broke from the group and went on her way quickly to find the barrack she was stationed in, she reached in her pocket and pulled out a paper that held the information she needed, her horn glowed softly as she held the note in front of her to read.

She scanned the note and after a few seconds found what she needed and read it silently to herself,"barrack: MB-43", twilight looked up and scanned the buildings for the barrack number, she found it in the upper right region and quickly started off for it.Twilight entered the barrack it was noisey with different ponies on on either side but no stallions for the obvious reasons of "playing around".Twilight walked along the rows and found her bunk she looked at the top bunk in a curious glance out of who would be her top bunk partner.

"Well hi there sugarcube!!", said a friendly voice that she new and loved, one that she has known for most of her time in ponyville."Oh applejack im so glad to see you", said twilight cheerfully as she threw her hooves around her in a hug,"who slow down there twi", said applejack as she patted her friend on the back.

"Where's the rest of the group did they get called in or not?", questioned twilight rather quckly, the mane six are already active duty so they didnt need to go through boot camp and all the other crap the recruits do."They'er already gatherin' by the flag pole in their formations", said applejack pointing in the general direction of the flag pole.

"Well we should head out there now or risk getting our flanks kicked", said twilight as she and applejack started off to the gathering point.

The area where the flag pole is located was now filled with square formations of ponies, twilight quickly scanned the area for her friends finally she found the rest but couldnt get to them because they were in formation.In the far left formations she saw rainbow dash, pinkie pie, and rarity.In the upper formations she caught sight of fluttershy and applejack, a stallion pegasus stepped in the middle of all the formations and started to speak.

"Tomorrow we will be heading out to the war to fight the approaching republic, it will not be easy i assure you they are a superior fghting force what they lack in skill they make up for in numbers.I cannot guarantee that all of you young stallions and mares will make it back alive but i will make it my lifes duty to ensure the best outcome.This isnt like the movies we will not come back to the camp after each battle, at times we will be out fighting for 4 weeks at a time before even returning.I will be the first to step on the battle field and the last to step off and i will make sure that no pony is left behind".

"If you see your fellow comrade wounded you will pick him or her up and aid them, if you see your fellow comrade get killed or blown apart you will shut their eyes for them and carry them out!!We will fight to the death for the motherland and for our freedom!DO YOU UNDERSTAND STAND ME SOLDIERS!!!!!", yelled the pegasus general.

"SIR YES SIR", replied twilight and the rest of the formations in unison, nopony needed to look at each other for they were thinking the same thing.

The horrors of war were about to unfold tomorrow on the front doorstep of equestria.