It was a painfully hot day as the sun beat down upon the dry plains that stretched on for miles. Dust and heat blurred vision, but you could still see the force that slowly approached. The ground shook and the sky shivered as hundreds of intruders ploughed through the, once great, now timid land. Above them, waved the flag of their land with all the respect and power that its soldiers had given it.
A few metres away, there was quite a different scene on a small mountain overlooking the plains and those on it. Here two mares were pushing a rather large cannon up a slope and onto the designated vantage point. The mare on the left of the cannon had a dirty orange coat and was doing everything she could to get the cannon up the last bit. She was hot and sweaty in her heavy dark blue uniform, but she kept pushing through it. Making sure that she didn't lose focus or momentum, she let one step constantly propel her into the next.
Applejack resisted the urge to look over at her pink friend to see if she was having any trouble for fear of messing up this close. She shook off any worry about her, knowing full well the Pinkie could take care of herself.
Then as Applejack closed in on the spot she took a breath, fond a stable bit of footing, and with one final charge she forced the cannon into place allowing Pinkie to slot the wedge under the cannon to keep it in place. This was followed by a much-needed sigh of relief as they slumped over taking a minute to catch their breath.
Pinkie was the first to move as she took her rifle off her back, sat on the ledge, and looked down at the marching below her. She kept gazing for a good minute but then got a cloth out of her pocket and started to clean her weapon. Applejack at that point had moved to lean on a rock facing Pinkie and watched her clean.
While watching her she noticed a couple of things about Pinkie: her hair was very dirty and her face was littered with injuries and dirt patches, but her uniform in comparison was holding up well; her boots still looked kind of shiny from being regularly polished, rips in her uniform from being stabbed were neatly stitched together, neater than the stitching for the actual stab wound; and her shirt was a lot cleaner than the average soldier. The only downside was all the blood stains which Applejack could forgive considering how difficult those were to get out.
As she noticed all these aspects, Applejack realised that despite being in the same squad for a whole year now, she didn't really know anything about this particular pink pony. They got on well and she felt as if she could rely on her, but they never actually had any time to talk. There was always someone else in the squad she knew better to talk to. However, now they are all dead from the last battle, she thought now is probably a good time to talk.
“Hey Pinkie,” Applejack started.
“Yeah AJ?” Pinkie replied looking up from her gun with a smile.
“Well, I was just wonderin’,” Applejack continued, “why is it you joined the army?”
“Hmm,” Pinkie thought for a second. “I guess the same reason everypony joins her royal majesties army. To serve my country, bring honour to my name, the pleasure of watching an enemy's life slowly disappear, and the traveling.”
“Fair do's,” Applejack replied as Pinkie smiled gleefully.
“Why did you join AJ?”
“Well ah was walkin’ downtown when I saw a poster that said ‘do your bit and fight for the empire’, so I started thinking. Ah then I got hit on the back of the head and woke up on a frigate,” Applejack said with a sigh.
“Oh…” Pinkie stopped as her smile dropped, “but you’re still having a good time right?”
“Ah guess,” Applejack sighed.
“Come on AJ, think of all the good we’ve done,” Pinkie championed, “thanks to colonization we’ve helped re-educate so many Zebras and cleansed so many places of barbarians. I mean the last town we went to they have already started building a school there.”
“Oh yeah, ah heard about that. Where are they building it?”
“Where the old school we burned down used to be.”
“That makes sense.”
“Yeah, the old place was a mess, blood everywhere.”
“Wasn't that because you went in there shooting?”
“Meh maybe,” Pinkie shrugged, “but zebras are terrible at running a society. You remember that one town that was on fire.”
“That’s because we pillaged it.”
“Oh yeah,” Pinkie giggled. “What a fun day that was.”
Applejack chuckled but then looked down. “Ah guess it’s just been the war against that republic that shook me up. All those farm ponies we had to kill really got to me.”
Pinkie let there be silence for a second but then got up to put her hoof on Applejacks shoulder. “I know it was hard, but we got through it together. It’s difficult but sometimes in the army you have to do things that are morally questionable, it’s not all fun games and killing zebras.”
“Mares what are you doing here?”
They were interrupted by a shout from down the slope behind them. They simultaneously turned to see a purple unicorn in an officer uniform stood with an angry look on her face.
Pinkie immediately stood to attention, “Officer Twilight ma’am, we have set up everything here. Glory to Celestia.”
“Glory to Celestia Private Pinkie,” Twilight replied with some of her anger turned into interest. “I was under the assumption that all earth ponies were in the cannon fodder positioning, so why are you two up here?”
“Oh the general thought this would be a good position to set up a cannon, so she asked us to push it up her and operate it,” Applejack calmly replied.
“Ah good job then, but keep on the ball. The trumpets are going to be played soon and you need to be ready to fire,” Twilight asserted “We all play our part as a team remember. You charge and I tell you when to charge.”
“Yes ma’am,” Pinkie enthusiastically replied.
“And don’t worry. Whatever happens we have something they don’t.”
“Determination? Honour? A righteous cause?
“The machine gun.”
“Oh yeah,” Pinkie replied with a blush.
“Well I must be off,” Twilight said as she turned to leave, “Glory to Celestia.”
“Glory to Celestia,” they replied
Then as Applejack watched Twilight trot down the mountain, she frowned at a thought that popped into her mind. Before long she decided to turn to Pinkie who had the biggest smile she’d ever seen her with.
“hey, Pinkie ha—“
“I can’t believe that officer Twilight remembered my name!”
“… erm yeah but is it just me or have you noticed that all the high ranks are always unicorns and never earth ponies?”
Pinkie shrugged. “We’re all ponies, that’s what unites us.”
Applejack nodded and shook the thought out of her head. “Yeah you’re right, sorry about that.”
At that moment, the sound of the trumpets echoed through the land. This was followed by a sudden stampede of soldiers beginning to charge and Pinkie giving Applejack a little grin.
“Time to do what we’re meant to do.”
Author's Note
This was inspired by my research on European imperialism (mainly my countries) and unfortunately a lot of what's talked about in the fic is based on real events and ways of thinking so it's surprisingly realistic. You know, minus the ponies
