By royal decree of Princess Celestia, Equestria has joined the war for the allies. Our friends in the griffons and fancylands will stand with us against the forces of Dictatoria. All able ponies will be expected to either fight or work for the war. We will not let this force threaten our united country and its friends.
A letter was all it took to draw on Applejack's patriotism. It was the first day of war and she knew the only way Equestria would be safe was if it ended over quickly.
Her family began working twice as hard on the farm, supplying every apple they could to the citizens and the front lines. For a time, Applejack had pride in supporting the war.
After a few weeks Big Mac had signed up as a private and was trained in a single month. Before Apple Bloom or Applejack could even say goodbye, he was shipped to the battlefields, fighting for Equestria.
Every week Big Mac sent a single worded letter answering the question of 'is he alive?' Eeyup.
Despite living on a farm Apple Bloom was soon evacuated, the proximity to Ponyville was just too high a risk. Applejack could only hope that her sister stuck with the CMC, living in a lovely manor somewhere.
After a month, Applejack finally received a single letter from the filly, reading about the strict family she was boarded with. Apparently they refused to celebrate anything and worked all day every day with no breaks.
Applejack at least felt some relief in her sister's safety. Apple Bloom could grow up after the war. Maybe she could be the first Apple princess; always dream big.
Granny Smith found it hard from then on. The old mare had struggled to keep up with the drills and often dozed off during them.
One morning the sound of fast beating wings led the air raid siren. Applejack managed to get Granny up; the two made for the air raid shelter. Granny Smith slugged behind her granddaughter as the bombs began to fall.
Whistles from the sky signaled the fast descent of explosives. Applejack stood at the door of the air raid shelter, beckoning Granny Smith to the door; the old mare didn't make it.
A blast sent Applejack flying into the shelter. She tried to barge passed the warden, but he forced her back for her own safety. By the time it was over Applejack was in tears, knowing the fate of her beloved gran.
Her work alone on the farm became an insane cycle, forced to work day and out to provide for thousands of ponies. Her grief had to be ignored; her life had to dedicate to the cause, and worst of all her friends had to leave.
Twilight and Spike joined Celestia, planning battles and sending hundreds of ponies to their death. Applejack heard of one particular battle that cost the lives of half the Equestrian army.
Twilight had been branded a failure in the newspapers. Twilight Sparkle possible Dictatorian agent? seemed to be the worst headline of all.
All the princesses were over worked, Luna and Celestia occasionally forgetting to raise the sun or moon. This would leave a grey haze in the sky, no night or day just nothing.
Rainbow Dash soon joined up with the Cloudsdale air force. She managed to get a place in the Wonderbolts squadron and together they took on the most dangerous operations.
Tales of Rainbow Dash's bravery were told throughout Equestria until one fateful mission. No information of her assignment was disclosed in her obituary, just her bravery and patriotism.
Pinkie Pie disappeared entirely. Two major rumors circulated throughout Ponyville, both believing her to be a spy.
Most ponies believed the first, that Pinkie was working for the enemy and feeding information to them. This idea stemmed from most of her personality quirks and her abnormal organisation systems.
A few ponies came to believe she was sent on a mission from Celestia, and was in the enemy lines gathering information for the good of Equestria.
Rarity went into isolation, finding it extremely difficult to keep up with war orders. She made a thousand military uniforms each day and even that was not enough. Her disgust at the design sent her into hiding and horrid tales began to emerge.
Ponies around Ponyville had gone missing and some believed Rarity was imprisoning them in a sweatshop below her boutique, forcing them to make uniform after uniform.
Fluttershy found herself swept in the war too. Her pity for the animals in the no-ponies land persuaded her to join as a nurse. Her skill and care was greatly admired until she was shot for dereliction of duty.
She chose to save a small family of bunnies from a mortar strike instead of the bleeding pony next to them. That pony turned out to be the field general and was vital to the operation's success.
Despite the grim and dark somehow Applejack kept her patriotism. Her desire to help grew at each failure and defeat for Equestria.
Unfortunately for her, Sweet Apple Acres was covered in machinery, and eventually Applejack's job was fully automated. All she had to was keep up maintenance on the machines.
Her days got slower and she waited for something to do but nothing came to her. What more could she do? Ponies needed food and she had to supply it.
One fateful day was all it took. Big Mac had not written for weeks. A sudden hard knock on the door; Applejack opened it to see a white unicorn in full uniform with a huge mustache.
Floating in front of him was another uniform with the Equestrian flag, and on the badge was the name Big Apple Macintosh. He looked up to Applejack. "I'm sorry. He did his nation proud."
She knew what this all meant. Applejack fell in tears; in a year the war had took everything from her. Her friends, her gran, her sister, her job and now her brother. Applejack made the only logical choice left. she was going to sign up to the Equestrian army.
"Name?" Without looking the grey recruitment pony picked up her pen. Her mane was a very dark brown and around her neck was a white collar with a pink bow tie. A little name tag was stuck to her desk, Octavia, recruitment officer
"Applejack." Her hollow voice came out in a monotone. She had no pride in her name anymore, just wanting to fight and die or stop the madness.
Octavia wrote the name on a recruitment form. "Right, date of birth."
Applejack whinnied at that question, and whispered the answer across to Octavia. She held a hoof to her mouth, not wanting to give her age away to any other pony, for personal reasons.
"Lastly, address?" Octavia's blank voice showed only apathy to the world she now lived in. Her glances were cold and her emotion had drained away; Applejack found some common ground in those feelings.
"Sweet Apple Acres." Applejack felt no love for her life. She spoke as plainly as all the miserable ponies across Equestria, but inside she was hurt and alone.
"You have three hours until the next recruits are dispatched please wait outside for the train to arrive." Octavia finished writing Applejack's recruitment form and slid it over."An inspection pony will be sent to your residence every month. They will check your home is safe. If you agree, please sign that dotted line to finish your recruitment process."
She hesitated for a second, knowing everything would be different after this day. Pen to paper and Applejack had signed the form, she was now officially a recruit.
"Do your nation proud, we all wish you good luck." She faked an optimistic tone. As Applejack left Octavia let out a sigh and then mumbled the next few words to herself, but Applejack overheard them. "As if that ever helped anypony."
Sitting there Applejack had no idea what to expect. She had never considered the days of a soldier, it was an alien concept to her. In a few days she would be living that life.
As time passed a few more recruits joined the growing mass. Applejack soon recognised one pink and troubled mare walking around.
Cheerilee had 'pretended' to date Big Mac a while ago, and Applejack was sure they were still at it before he left. To her surprise Cheerilee sat next to AJ, her face distraught from the war life.
"They wanted me to go with the kids, to help them settle in their new homes." Tears welled up in Cheerilee's eyes. A sudden empathy hit Applejack. "But I said no, I told them I had something to wait for here and now that's gone."
"Ah know what ya mean." Applejack moved closer to Cheerilee, feeling a common grief between them. "He was brave, and ah bet he loved you to the very end."
Applejack's words caused Cheerilee to break, her hooves trying to hide the tears that escaped her eyes. "I- I- I love him Applejack, we were gonna get married and have little foals."
"Ah know, he told me." Applejack would've cried too but if she cried for Big Mac she'd cry for everypony else. She bottled all her emotions up and threw them away. "But we've gotta stay strong. If not for us then for him."
Cheerilee continued to fight the emotions she felt. As she sat there crying, the sound of a distant train floated on the wind. "I don't know what I'll do without him."
"Don't be like that, he'd want you to live your life." Applejack wrapped her hoof around Cheerilee in an attempt to comfort her. "At least you're fighting for him."
On the distance the dirty train could be seen moving fast towards Ponyville. A dark smog cloud became the only contrast to the grey sky above it.
"I'm not going to fight." A pain could be seen in Cheerilee as those words were spoken. Shrugging Applejack off of her, she was about to do something very stupid.
"Cheerilee?" Applejack tried to place a hoof on Cheerilee's but it was swept away. Meanwhile the train had closed in and was beginning to slow.
Cheerilee stepped to the edge of the platform and then turned, standing on her back hooves. "I'm going to see him again."
"Cheerilee no!" But Applejack was too slow. Cheerilee jumped back as the train screeched to a halt at the platform. One final tear was all she left.
Her blood covered the engine carriage, and with a crunch the corpse was mangled into the train wheels. Applejack closed her eyes, leaving nothing but sickly sounds of gears on bones.
Applejack had to hold in a vomit as she dared to look again. Bones sticking out of places they shouldn't be and blood covering half of the platform. But the true horror was the removal of the corpse.
One of the conductors stepped out of the engine cabin and checked the wheels. He then called back into the cabin, "We got another one Steamspur, just reverse and it should come out."
Applejack felt crushed by the lack of care these ponies had. She watched as the mangled corpse squeezed its way out of the wheels, forcing bones and limbs to detach.
Another pony jumped down on the track with what seemed to be a bag for trash and a pair of gloves. She picked up the body and stuffed it in carelessly. '
How could a war do this to ponies?'
It wasn't long before the conductors went back to their job, signalling ponies to come aboard. Applejack joined the masses entering the train, but she felt shame at leaving Cheerilee's body with these careless ponies.
It would be an hour before the train left the station, and Applejack could only sit and wait.
Another death on her list, Applejack wanted more than ever to end this war. Good ponies shouldn't be treated like dirt, regardless of the circumstances, or at least that's what Applejack was always taught.
She couldn't help but feel angry; she hated the ponies of Dictatoria, they caused this. It went against her nature but she had terrible plans.
Dark thoughts of her torturing ponies wearing the enemy colours consumed her. Applejack would do anything to save her home at this point, and if she had to kill them all she'd do it.
She stepped onto a dark and grim carriage, all grey with hard plastic seats. Each pair of seats were set in one of two columns, separated by a single aisle and all faced towards the front.
Bumps from the train distracted her occasionally. Her seat was nearer the back, a grey and blonde pegasus sitting at the window next to her. It felt like a one way ride to the very pits of Tartarus.
A sudden pain in her head pulled Applejack from her lonely mind. The grey pony had reached for a bag above but clumsily dropped it.
"I'm so sowwy." The grey mare tried to pick her bag up but ended up spilling muffins everywhere. "I just don't know what went wong."
Applejack couldn't stand this pony; she let her anger get the best of her. "Why're ya even here?"
"Sowwy?" Her eyes drifted unrealistically apart. She reached for one of her baked goods and held it up as an apology. "Muffin?"
"They'll take anypony now Applejack." A familiar snobby voice spoke from the seat in front of Applejack. "The elderly, the ill, they'll even allow young colts and fillies to join if they lie about their age."
"And you are?" Her head leaned out to locate the source of the voice. In front of her, the carriage aisle stretched to the opposite door.
A white face with a purple mane peered around from the seat in front of her. Rarity scowled at Applejack for not recognising her voice. "So Applejack, what brings you onto the well trodden path of doom."
"Ah could ask you the same question Rarity." Though it was Rarity, Applejack was relieved to see at least one friend again, but anypony else would've been better.
"Well, let's just say somepony may have accused me of something very bad and the war seems a better gamble than my other option." Rarity's nervous laugh gave away all the shame she wanted to hide. "So, now you?"
Applejack's eyes glared past Rarity in an emotionless daydream. A bored sigh escaped her lips before she finally responded. "Big Mac died."
Rarity staggered back, raising her hoof to her forehead for more drama. "Oh my, I'm terribly sorry for your loss dear."
"Don't be." Applejack stayed absolutely still, throwing any emotion she felt away. Her very soul losing its love for the world. "He died for Equestria."
Rarity could see right through Applejack's tough exterior, her compassionate side taking control. "Oh Applejack, it's good to feel sad or upset about it. I'm here for you if you need me."
"Ah'm not sad." Applejack didn't want to open up again; everytime she considered it Cheerilee's mangled corpse returned to her mind. "Just leave me alone!"
"I'm sorry dear." Rarity could only try to comfort her hurting friend. Applejack tried to hide any hint of the incident outside the train, knowing Rarity most likely missed it, but Rarity sensed the disturbance in her.
Again she made an attempt to soothe Applejack and get an emotional response. "Did something else happen that you want to talk about?"
"No!" Her anger betraying her, Applejack slumped back into her seat. Once again wrath controlled Applejack's words. "Shut up Rarity!"
"Hmph!"Rarity had enough. She glared at Applejack with all the anger she could muster, her face almost imploding at the expression it made. "Well fine, I know you're feeling grief over your brother but there's no reason to act so immature."
"Shut up Rarity!" Applejack reached for a pair of old ear muffs from the back of Rarity's seat, using them to block out the annoying voice. She closed shut her eyes and slowly drifted to sleep, despite the train's bumps and shakes.
Miles ahead and miles behind, nothing. Just empty space before her and empty space after her, no emotion, no colour, no warmth. Applejack tried calling but her voice created no sound. She wanted something to happen. Anything to happen.
Cold chills would be a comfort but nothing came. Her heart would've sank if she could feel it, but everything she felt had gone. A ghost in an empty world.
Suddenly a mare appeared in the greying distance, dashing towards her faster than any normal pony. She was blue and her mane a rainbow mixture.
'Rainbow Dash!'
Her voice again failed her. the mare continued right passed Applejack charging into a sudden burst of colour. In it a moving picture of an air battle, Pegasi fighting one another in the Equestrian and Dictatorian colours.
Spitfire fought a large black pony in front of Applejack. Both of them striking hard but in the end the large pony won. He crippled Spitfire's wing with his hoof and left her to fall to her death.
Rainbow flew passed all of them and dived down. Applejack found herself helplessly floating after her friend. A communication building on the distance seemed to be Rainbow's target.
In her hooves she clutched onto something, a large metal object. Applejack made out one word plastered across the strange item BOMB
A tear seemed to fall from Rainbow's eye as she made a desperate plunge into the building. Pulling something out of the bomb as she descended fast.
'Rainbow!'
BANG
In the explosion the scene ended and Applejack found herself back in the emptiness; she felt something touch her hoof and looked down to see it. There a tuft of a rainbow mane settled next to her. She wished she felt sorrow but all her pain seemed to dissipate from her, and so too the tuft of mane.
On the distance another mare ran towards her, this time a yellow pegasus with a pink mane. Fluttershy repeated Rainbow Dash's actions and lunged into a sudden colour bubble.
Applejack found herself in a courtyard. An Equestrian officer held a weapon in his unicorn magic, aiming at a kneeling Fluttershy. Around them ponies stared on, watching the execution.
Futtershy's fore hooves were tied to a metal bar behind her head, stopping her from running from fate. A young bunny hopped up to Fluttershy and placed a flower in front of her.
A tear escaped Fluttershy's eye as the bullet flew for her skull. Her whole body jolted flying back as the projectile passed through her brain.
And then back again, the emptiness getting emptier. Another tuft of mane touched Applejack's hoof, all pink. It was gone before she could pick it up.
Suddenly she found herself dragged with another mare, this time a completely pink pony bounced through.
In this scene an office setting. Pinkie Pie wore a Dictatorian uniform and seemed to be talking to an officer. She spoke in a language Applejack could not understand but her accent was still recognisable. The officer shouted at Pinkie angrily, but the pink pony stood their with her head hanging low.
Pinkie Pie shook suddenly and the officer pulled out a gun shooting at her, but he missed. Pinkie Pie dashed out of the office as and ran for the surrounding base's gates. Before she got halfway blood was spouting from all sides of her. She fell down, leaving a single tear behind in her death.
Another reset, another piece of mane, another mare.
Twilight sat in a study with Spike; in front of her were piles of military tactic books, plans and a war map. Spike was curled up in a ball sleeping beside her.
Twilight looked at all the plans and in a sudden moment of grief pulled a drawer open. In the drawer sat a pistol; she picked it up with her magic and held it to Spike's head, a tear falling from her. She shot her pet dragon in his sleep, his blood splattering all across the room.
She then turned the gun to herself and pulled the trigger.
Emptiness concluded that scene and Applejack sat there, no emotion, no grief or regret. She only felt anger hate at the war and the Dictatorians. She would kill them all.
Another mare appeared on the horizon, a pale unicorn with a purple mane. Applejack found herself dragged onto the battlefield. Tanks and infantry charging at one another.
She saw herself standing over Rarity, her gun aimed at the unicorn's head as bullets flew passed.
'No?'
A single tear passed between them both and then a shot.
'No!'
Finally nothing was left, everything gone. Applejack's sorrow and grief turned to anger. All her worry turned to fuel for vengeance. Equestria was not and never would be the same, but Applejack would at least try to make it better.
A hard pain in her cheek woke Applejack from her sleep. She opened her eyes to see Rarity standing in front of her, her eyes piercing Applejack's soul (or at least whatever remained of it).
A horror grew in Applejack, and then relief supressed it 'A dream.. As she calmed her nerves, Applejack removed the ear muffs to hear an explanation.
"That one was to wake you up." Rarity slapped Applejack a second time, harder. "That one was for telling me to shut up."
"Buck that hurt!" Applejack recovered from the surprising pain of Rarity's strike. She resisted the urge to jump on Rarity and tear her to pieces. "We there yet?"
"Yes, welcome to camp Treefree." Rarity pointed out of the window. "Not exactly the prettiest holiday destination."
Applejack recognised the name but this was not the camp from her filly days, at least not anymore. Barbed fences surrounded the entire area with only one entry excluding the train station
Each grey building seemed to blend with the dreary sky above them. Tired ponies jogged around the facility, training for their deaths on the field of war.
Her memories of the green trees and picnic tables replaced by trucks and apple shaped tanks. Even her fillyhood couldn't escape the war unscathed. Beyond the fences was a pegasus runway, their a group of pegasi including the grey mare from earlier had gathered.
"The pegasi were all taken to the runway for flight inspection." Rarity began narrating. "Us unicorns and earth ponies are expected at the main assembly hall, you were asleep when we arrived so I left you here to rest up."
Applejack could make out a large sign atop a building that looked like half a barrel, Assembly Hall. "So we're ta meet up in that building."
Rarity nodded back. "Yes, we have ten minutes, well five now."
Applejack climbed out of her seat and stood up next to Rarity. "Well, ah guess we need to get going."
Together they made a dash for the assembly hall, there a huge group of ponies had gathered. If it weren't for the ponies and the stage then the entire building would be completely hollow.
On the stage was a group of seated ponies and a microphone hooked up to some surrounding speakers; behind the microphone was an older blue earth pony. His mane was a clean white and he wore the Equestrian military uniform; His outfit littered in medals and his face scarred from his experiences.
He stepped closer to the microphone and tapped it loudly to get the ponies attention. "Today is the first day of the end of your lives. My name is Ricochet Black but you will refer to me as either general or sir. You got that miserable whelps?"
Applejack and Rarity joined in the crowds as they answered their superior. "Sir! Yes, Sir!"
He continued his speech. "Good. Over the next month your plots are mine, me and my experienced team will personally try to break you and you will be broken. If you prove unfit for duty then we'll just court martial you, we can't have useless ponies in Equestria not at this time you got that?"
Most of the room began questioning their general's sanity. Little conversation broke out but were soon reeled in by Ricochet Black. "I said you got!?"
"Sir! Yes, sir?" An unenthusiastic response came from the worrying crowd, some ponies not even answering their leader..
A sudden anger seemed to grow in him as his brow furrowed. "I'm not going to ask again whelps!" Stomping his hoof as he demanded satisfaction
"Sir! Yes, sir!" Ponies too afraid to rebel against this stallion submitted quickly, but some still felt unsure of their leader.
Applejack hated this pony, he was just like the ponies at the train station, no care for anypony else. She considered what kinds of war crimes he committed to get those scars, she knew they weren't from battle. Each of his scars was a mark of betrayal in the army, yet he was still a general.
Ricochet smiled at his new pawns. "Better! Now, unicorns and earth ponies fill our infantry and mechanized units."
"Unicorn infantry are expected to take the defensive role, using their magic to protect the earth ponies as they shoot at the enemy."
" In the mechanized units Earth ponies are the engineers, gunners and scouts while Unicorns operate the machinery itself, moving into position and firing the heavy guns. You're first week will test whether you are suited for an infantry or mechanized role, you got that?!"
Once again the room unified in voice. "Sir! Yes, sir!"
"Good. Now we'll separate you out into different squadrons based on where you come from for your first week. You will wait for your town to be called by one of the instructing officers here. You will then report to that officer for orientation." Ricochet Black stepped back from the microphone and sat down next to the instructors behind him.
Ponies stepped up to the mic calling many different towns together then leaving with their group. After about ten minutes a large red stallion stepped up to the mic. "Ponyville." His voice was surprisingly deep.
"That's us let's go." Rarity shook her friend but Applejack was dumbstruck at the sight before her. "Applejack, what's the matter?"
Applejack shook as if she had seen a ghost. She completely blocked out Rarity and barely managed to say anything. "Bi- Big Mac?"
"My name is Lieutenant Grand Oak, I will be your instructor for this week." His stature seemed to intimidate most of the ponies, especially with his strong features and deep voice.
"You're right, he does kinda look like Big Mac." Rarity whispered to Applejack, who was still trying to pull herself together. "His oak tree cutie mark even kinda looks like Big Mac's apple upside down."
"I'm not here to make friends, you will follow orders and you will not disobey the rules." He marched across the lines as he continued on the rules. "Rule number one, no food fights in the canteen, you are soldiers not fillies and colts at summer camp."
"Though he talks more than your brother does, I mean did, sorry." Rarity bit her tongue, trying to stop that particular topic from resurfacing again. "Do you think the uniform will be too tight for me?"
Applejack could only stare in confusion and horror; memories of Big Mac and the scene of Cheerilee's death kept fighting for her mind, tormenting her and taking her sanity away.
"Next thing, residence, we are situated in block C, mares sleep in barracks one and stallions barracks two." He stopped in front of a small stallion with a suspicious mustache, then yanked revealing the mare underneath. "No trespassing or else, got that."
A frightened giggle escaped the little mare. "Sir! Yes, Sir!"
"Now, last thing, you will wake up at-" He paused when his eyes met Applejack's, for a second a sign of recognition crossing his face. His gaze then moved away. "Err... ahem at O six hundred hours got that?"
Applejack was to distracted to join the response.. "Sir! Yes, sir!"
"You are all dismissed, get some lunch at the canteen" He pointed at a large building like the assembly hall with letters plastered over it, Canteen. " We will rendezvous at the block C at thirteen hundred hours."
The Ponyville battalion dispersed, most ponies heading towards the canteen. Applejack instead sat watching the lieutenant walk away, she had to know who he was.
Snapping out of it Applejack reluctantly followed this ghost of her past. He knew her somehow, he recognised Applejack.
'How could it not be him?'
