'War', a reality always glaring onto those who choose to ignore it. A reality capable of doing so much harm. The very definition of suffering and death, no matter how one may see it.
Today's world is very different from the past's. It's funny almost, seeing how barely seven years ago, the very mention of the word was frowned upon whoever spoke it. It was unimaginable how Equestria, prospering under the wise leadership of the Sun Goddess herself, could ever face such trivial things as 'war'.
Indeed, the tribes that eventually formed Equestria did have some conflicts between them, they however were never on a scale such as war. Since very young, fillies and colts were taught to resolve an issue with calmness, and without resorting violence. And it worked, for ponies at the very least. For nearly a thousand years there never was a major clash in Equestria. Most of the issues being solved by using nothing more than diplomacy.
It was paradise back then, everypony could go out of their homes and visit the nearest shop to meet a friend, a filly could go to school to learn how to read and write, a farmer could sell his products at the local market and greet his fellow customers.
Everything was fine.
But one thing that these ponies were taught, was that war, war never happens.
And that's what is leading them to their demise right in this moment.
King Sombra, a corrupt leader of the Crystal Empire sought to conquer Equestria and take it as his own. However, as many times the creatures of Equestria strove for that objective, Sombra had something the others had not:
An army.
The Empire's population was enslaved and used as soldiers to allow the King to reach his goal, being considered a very infamous act all over Equestria.
The Sun Goddess, Princess Celestia, seeing no other solution to this, raised her armies and marched them to the Empire's borders. What they saw was something seen only in the wildest dreams. The Empire's soldiers were being controlled by their mechanized helmets, making them unaware of their surroundings, and doing only what the machine told them to do.
In the first clash, each side was being commanded by their nation's leader. But... It was a decisive battle nevertheless. Even with Princess Celestia's guidance, her forces lacked what the enemy had in abundance, and were utterly crushed by the more disciplined and resilient army of The Empire.
In the aftermath of the battle, nearly a quarter of the total army Equestria had, vanished in the fight, and forced Celestia's hoof upon her beloved ponies.
Every capable mare and stallion was called upon the battlefield against The King and his nearly indestructible forces of 'Ghost Ponies'. A name attributed to those who fight without being aware of it, very much the case for the Empire's population. It was encouraged that any or all who could not join in on the front directly, could do so indirectly, providing supplies such as food, water, weapons and equipment. Everypony's help was needed to win this war.
And that is how Applejack finds herself checking the list of the newest freshly picked apples from her orchard, to be delivered in about an hour to the nearest supply center.
"Big Mac, how're 'tha production going? Nothin' wrong with 'tha machine right?" Her voice muffled behind her mask.
The tired red stallion replied by shaking his head slowly.
Applejack, a mare used to the big cities and towers that could surpass the clouds, a mare who used to live with a rich family, and endless spoils that they could buy, now works alongside the staff of the Sweet Apple Acres Factory.
Since very young, Applejack left this farm in order to pursue higher ends to sustain her family. Of the many years she lived there, it never truly felt like she was at home, although, she practically had everything she ever wanted right there with her spoiled aunts and cousins. When she was old enough, she managed to get a stable and profitable job in Manehattan, and a considerable amount of money from it, much of which was directed towards her family in Sweet Apple Acres.
This did not last long, however. The war had arrived just a short year later, and it demanded heavily on those who had the ability to produce supplies. Unfortunately, Sweet Apple Acres was no exception and was dragged in on the demands list. It first began as a simple request, a certain amount of apples and exchange of bits. Then it grew more or less to a regular thing, every week asking for more and more apples until the farm could not offer anymore.
There certainly was trouble when the Apple family announced they had no more apples to sell, and were threatened to have the farm closed down if there wasn't anymore apples by the next month.
Applejack saw this as an opportunity to finally return to her home, and packed her things to Sweet Apple Acres. When she arrived there, the family was in desperate need of producing more apples to sell. With the help of some friends back in Manehattan and a little bit of experience in the city, she turned the once honest and simple farm to a mass-producing factory compound, introducing new ways of growing apples and its use in various other apple-based products.
Even if she helped upgrade the farm to what it is now, she does not consider herself as the one who should direct how the farm works, limiting herself to help the family in the production of apple goods inside the factory, purely out of humility.
And she worked for hours on end, only stopping to rest if she absolutely needed it. By now, she was boringly pushing the barrel full of canned apple cider up to the cart, just outside the main factory. She placed it next to the rows of other barrels. Then, she glanced up at the darkening sky.
Always clouded, always filled with that unappealing brown. She still struggled to get used to this, to what she thought was an idea that could help the Apple family, but in the long run, it only made things worse...
Her gaze turned to her old tree house in the distance, almost covered between the rows of trees of the orchard. It reminded her of somepony, somepony like her sister, Applebloom.
Soon after the first batch of barrels had been delivered since Applejack came to the farm, the family met a supposed army stallion who was looking for more hoofpower in one of the newest army camps near the border of The Empire. The stallion almost at random, chose Applebloom to join in on the ranks. At that time, Applebloom, who always stayed in the farm with her family, was old enough to do shores around the farm, and nearly reached her sister in height. Even so, she was still young.
The Apple family rejected of course, but they were ultimately threatened. Applejack and her brother offered against his decision, stating that they'd be a better candidate to join in on the army camp. The face the stallion made when he heard those words was enough to scare even Big Mac to submission, by which time, he demanded for the young mare to come and join him with his guards.
Applejack still remembers Applebloom being pushed forward while looking back at the farm in a neglected sadness. It hurt her tremendously, and she struggled for a long while to keep herself from falling to the ground and crying for her little sister. She'd tried to run and deal with them face to face, but was restrained by her brother, who reluctantly stood there in a flood of tears watching his little sister disappear over the hill.
But it wasn't easy for anypony else, some who even struggled to even keep their stomach from grumbling each passing day.
Applejack saw before she left Manehattan, ponies, even fillies and colts, begging in the streets for anything they could offer. Most of the proud ponies of the city of course ignored this, treating it as if it was just a simple act. However, Applejack could not withstand the sight of these ponies suffering out in the streets, and offered bits to those she met. But her behavior changed as she drew closer to the city's main train station.
An endless crowd of ponies awaited in line to embark on to the next train. Confused by this, she'd ask a nearby pony for an explanation on why there was such a large crowd headed towards the train station. Her question was met with silence, to which she would ask another one, only to be replied with silence once more. Considering her options, she chose to wait a while in the nearest cafe.
Being served by the bartender, she happened to ask for the reason of the commotion outside. This time, the bartender replied, although a bit arrogantly, that 'The Cause' needed more soldiers to fight in the battlefield against The Empire. This struck Applejack as odd. She at the time, never expected that literally every pony able to fight had to go and enlist themselves to join, because the posters all around the city already did their job of informing the citizens about the on-going war.
Applejack shook off the train of thoughts her mind had immersed itself in while at work. She jumped out of the cart, closed its lid and left it for the next delivery pony to bring it to the supply station.
Trotting back inside the factory, the dense and polluting air made her have a coughing fit to let her body get used to the inside again. Only a minute-long walk away from the factory was enough to cause a severe problem with breathing if not properly protected, thankfully Applejack had a mask that kept her safe from the air.
A voice suddenly reached her ears in the midst of all the machinery inside. She turned her attention to Big Mac, who was looking at her with a slightly annoyed expression. He pointed his hoof towards the hammer that sealed the cans shut after being filled with their cider. Although the cans were moving along the conveyor belt, the hammer stood completely still.
"What in tarnation is wrong with tha thing?" She asked irritably.
Big Mac simply shrugged and directed his attention back to surveying the production line.
Hesitantly, Applejack made way next to the hammer and examined it. Experience in this field of work allowed her to pinpoint the problem almost immediately, this being the lower part of the arm that moved the hammer being dotted with rust, blocking its movement entirely. She sighed at the discovery.
"Tha thing's filled with rust! How are we goin' tha seal them cans now?!" She exclaimed, now looking at her brother.
He curtly nodded towards the hammer and then at her.
"What? Ya want me t'a seal them all by myself?" She received an affirmative nod, "Sigh, Ahm going to bed early tonight..."
Removing the hammer from the rusted metallic arm, she used her mouth to grasp it and began doing the machine's job instead, sealing the contents of the cans with a powerful hit once at a time.
She was almost glad everything else in the factory was automated, only requiring to input a considerable amount of apples on one end, and then store the brewed cider inside a wooden barrel. But she wondered if everypony had the same luck as she had... Then it hit her.
Rarity, her old-time friend back in the abandoned village of Ponyville, who sought to become Equestria's most famous fashion designer, at least, that's how she recalled her saying when they were just fillies. It was a long time ago. Her white coat and purple mane made her easily recognizable, even if surrounded by a crowd. Her ambitions and creativity, however small they were, were admired throughout the village by nearly everypony. Applejack and Rarity would spend large portions of time together back then, playing games for hours on end, just being the normal fillies they were.
However, Applejack's family had sent her to Manehattan, and left Rarity isolated in Ponyville. According to what Applejack heard, she had created a somewhat successful boutique, dubbed 'The Carousel Boutique', given to her by her grandparents, near the center of town. Although she never aimed to dedicate her life fully on making dresses for ponies, it was one of the most lucrative parts of her job and helped her keep the shop open.
Applejack still had a chance, after several years in Manehattan, to visit Rarity in her boutique. However, when she arrived there, she'd expect to see a wide arrange of dresses and a happy Rarity to greet her. Instead, what she saw was the final day of the Carousel's existence. Rarity greeted her long-gone friend anyways, completely ignoring the conditions of her nearly abandoned shop. After a short catching up, Applejack happened to ask what was going on her shop, to which she paused for an uneasy moment. Then it came out like a flood:
Rarity had been called earlier that week to contribute with the design of protective armor for use in battle against The Empire. Her abilities in design have been monitored ever since the war began, and they were certain that she'd be able to significantly help gaining the edge needed in winning the war. She had tried to convince them otherwise, that she could not help the The Cause because she didn't know how design any other type of clothing than dresses, and that only one pony in a conflict of thousands wouldn't make a single difference in the end. But they insisted that she was valuable to The Cause, and after a long discussion on the matter, it was decided that Rarity had three days to make up her mind on whether or not to join.
The day Applejack returned, was the day her old friend had to leave. Both of them felt the sadness, both of them didn't want this to happen, but they knew it was to no use fighting against it. They were dealing with forces far beyond their reach, and all they could do was to comply.
As she said her final goodbyes to her friend, Rarity left her now-closed down boutique for the train station, where'd she would never be heard of again by Applejack. She guessed though, that her old-time friend was stuck in an endless loop of making armor for the war like many other unicorns she'd see along the shops of Manehattan do. She would never allow that to happen to her friend, but she'd put her and others' life at risk if an attempt was made to change a superior's order.
Superior... That was one type of pony Applejack learned to dislike to the point of hating. The factory who's upgrade was directed by Applejack herself, was eventually handed down to a wealthy business pony managing the supply center in Ponyville. His requests were very exhausting for the family, and if they were not met, there would be some 'problems' as the capitalist would put it. The very thought of it turned Applejack's face red... But afterward, it would turn blue.
As night finally reached the sky, Applejack pushed the last barrel of cider into a shed right next to the main factory. She closed the door and made way to the main entrance, where Big Mac was already shutting the massive door close. He took a chain lock from his suit's pocket and surrounded the door's handle with it, making a familiar click.
Big Mac turned to his left, where he saw his sister, holding a torch, looking at him in a sort of expression he thought funny at first. But then, it came to him.
She made a firm nod to his brother, and trotted past him to a corner of the factory. He followed suit shortly after.
Not long, in the dead of night, both of them arrived in front of a small garden. It was quiet, silent, no creature of the night making themselves noticeable, no noise from the bustling machines of the factory, no nothing. Just a calm breeze that shook leaves and grass alike in a serene melody.
Applejack placed the torch on the ground and removed the hairnet from her head. Big Mac promptly removed his and glanced at his sister sadly before directing his attention to the stone object in the middle of the garden.
Here Lies Granny Smith,
One of the best Farm Ponies of her time,
Died of Pulmonary Cancer during work.
Rest In Peace
"Ah- Ah just wish ah knew about it..." She said in sobs.
Big Mac extended his arm over his sister.
"There was nothin' you could've done,"
So many lives have been lost in the fight against The Empire, so many more will surely follow.
... But, was this really it?
Was this the Cost of War?
No pony knows it best, but the Apples.
