SHORT STORY: We are Legends
My friends, you cannot put this off any longer. We will stand in time of crisis, for together we are strong and apart we are weak. Stand, my friends and rid our sovereignty from this menace with me. There is no place for it in this world. Equestria needs its legends, and only together we can pull through…
Time… something so timeless. So strong and majestic, as nothing can escape from its grasp. It influences everything in the universe, yet it moves so slowly, like a large beast awoken from its long slumber. Time cannot be stopped, and it resists the tampering and meddling that gods and mortals alike have performed. To know your future is to throw your life away because of the implications of attempting to change what fate had already determined.
It was the future that Avilius Nostrum yearned to know as he sat in the trenches, with the sound of war raging endlessly around him. Soldiers ducked in and out of trenches, firing their rifles and hoping the bullet hits home, not risking taking the time to aim. The excruciatingly loud explosions of artillery shells sounded, and echoed around him, and through the trenches as the shockwave produced by the shell rattled the ground mercilessly.
Avilius’ time was limited, he knew. Pulling his rifle from his back, the sound of the day he was told by Celestia to never give up replaying through his ears. “It is unfortunate that you were born at this time. It is just a matter of bad timing, yes, but I have lived for thousands of years longer than you, and seen many more things, much more horrific than this, yet you do not see me break,” she said, “You, my little pony, must have the courage to pass whatever hardships are thrown at you, no matter how hard. Life will go on, with or without you, so the wise will make their mark on the world, while the foolish would stay back yonder and live mindlessly.”
He unstrapped his rifle from his back, brushing the dirt and grime that had settled on it and loaded it firmly with one of the magazines on the belt that ran down his chest. He cantered down the trench, eventually reaching his blue pegasus friend, who was reading a shabby piece of paper, the newspaper that was handed out every week on the front line.
“Hey Ferrum,” called he, “I have a plan, but we need the masses for it to work.”
The blue pegasus jumped from his seat, looking at Avilius with a bored expression. “We are all going to die, and that’s that. There is no point in fighting anymore, for our princess or not. It is a lost cause. We are outnumbered ten to one,” lamented he as he sat back down onto his green army bag.
“Since we are doomed, why not strive to make a dent in the enemy lines? If we are doomed to die, we might as well charge and make it easier for out reinforcements to finish them when they approach route 172,” persuaded Avilius, “It’s not like you have anything else to do.”
“Tell me one thing,” ordered Ferrum, though he was lower ranked than his friend, “Are you afraid of death?”
Avilius took a step back at this statement, then regained control of the situation. “My dear Ferrum, only the foolish fear death, for they do not see what comes ahead and is afraid of the unknown. The wise will welcome death, as a new experience, not as a foreboding doom that all of us must live through.”
Ferrum stroked the longer tufts of fur that lined his chin, thinking about the statement. “My dear Avilius,” he copied mocking his friend’s tone, “Are you not afraid of being forgotten in the mists of time, and just being… no more?”
“Afraid I am not, for this day I have decided to make my mark on this world,” said Avilius calmly, “It is time.”
“My comrades!” he shouted over the rumble of explosions and cracks of guns, “Together we shall charge, and rid Equestria of this filth!”
Soldiers looked at him from beside in the trenches, most looking unsure but the minority looking determined, Avilius saying the exact thing that was in their minds. With a signal of the hoof, and the flaring of wings, the pegasi charged into the air, the unsure lingering for a brief moment, then taking to the skies with their brethren. Ferrum flew close to his friend.
The cackle of the enemy machine guns rang through the air as multiple pegasi died in the charge, the remaining rushed into the enemy lines, and fought valiantly for their princess. The unicorns and ponies who were burdened by the lack of wings climbed out of the friendly trenches, charging on the land.
Crimson liquid splashed like water onto the battlefield, staining the dirt on the ground a brilliant shade of red. Avilius and his friend fought valiantly, sweeping the whole east of the enemy trenches, but he felt a piercing pain in his heart as he rounded the corner to the western flank trenches. He felt his own crimson life drain out of him as he collapsed, burning pain on his chest.
He saw Ferrum yelling at him, but could not hear the words. Slowly, the world around him dimmed to a greyscaled version of reality, then slowly faded to pitch black, not feeling the pain in his chest anymore. He finally felt free, yet chained to his body. He felt the shaking of his friend’s hooves anymore as he slid into oblivion.
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The dawn sun rose, colouring the sky around it blood red, fading into a royal blue on the opposite horizon. The whispers and shuffling of the gathered ponies in the audience subsided as the soldiers stood stoically around the stage, medals flashing brightly, with rifles clutched in their grips. The white princess of the sun slowly walked onto the stage, using her magic to amplify her voice.
“Today, we remember all that gave their lives gallantly in the great war one hundred years ago. On this ground was the blood shed by the ponies who fought to give us a land of freedom, and justice. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them. Lest we forget…
The silence was kept, as the wind whistled eerily through the once was battlefield. Some could swear, they could still hear the explosions of artillery shells, the crack of guns, and the yell of the wounded. Little did they know, of the courage these ponies shewed, charging into the enemy, guns blazing. It tipped the tide of war, and led to a crushing victory for Equestria. No one ever knew, except for a little part of Celestia’s soul, nagging at her that something courageous happened here, long ago…
LEST WE FORGET…