The Principality of Equestria

Tenth of First Rains, 1935 DA

Road leading into Ponyville

A pony walked down the dirt path leading into the city. She adjusted her jacket and paused to look around.

Other ponies were heading the other direction, further inland. On foot or in vehicles, it was clear one thing was going on: evacuation.

She shook her head and kept walking. Her sister was expecting a visit from her, so she needed to keeping walking.

“Marble!”

Marble looked to her right. One of the trucks passing by had come to a halt. Sitting in the passenger seat, was a blue earth pony mare. “Mrs. Cake,” Marble said, “I’m glad to see you.”

“I’m glad to see you, too, Marble. Pinkie’s still waiting for you in Sugarcube Corner.”

“Alright. And, uh, congratulations. Sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner.”

Mrs. Cake patted her belly, smiling. “It’s quite alright, dear. I’m ready to pop any day now.”

Marble smiled slightly and said. “I’d better get going. You know how Pinkie can be when she’s waiting for someone.”

“Yep. See you again sometime.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Marble began walking again, and the Cakes drove away. The sign denoting where the outskirts ended and the town proper began was just a few hundred meters away.

Three ponies in the uniforms of the Ponyville Town Watch were walking along the road, on a patrol. “Yo, Marble!”

The pony in front, who Marble recognized as Rainbow Dash, had called out to her. “Hi, Dash,” Marble replied, hiding her face slightly behind her long hair.

“Headin’ into town to see Pinkie?”

“Mm-hmm. I told her I was going to visit her today.”

“Alright. Well, stay safe. You know, with the whole evacuation going on.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Marble turned to walk away, but then gunshots rang out. “Miss Dash!”

Another watchpony ran up. Dash asked, “Yes, what is it?”

“We’ve got a team of Imperial forward scouts coming over the hill!”

“Oh, dammit!”

Dash looked at Marble. “Marble, can you fight?”

“Y-yes,” Marble stammered, “I-I’ve taken the military training courses in school and university, as the law requires.”

Dash waved a hand and shook her head. “No, no. I mean, do you have a gun?”

Marble nodded. “Yes, a pistol my dad gave me, for self defense.”

“Well, pull it out, then. We’re going to defeat those scouts!”

“O-okay,” Marble replied, drawing a pistol from the satchel sitting at her hip.

Dash noticed the pistol and grinned slightly. “Between our rifles and your pistol, we’ll put an end to these scouts easily. Come on.”

The watchponies started jogging toward where the other watchpony came from, with Marble following closely behind.

***

The five ponies, crawling to keep from being detected, came to the top of the hill. Dash whispered a question to the pony who had came to get her, “Who else was with you?”

“Four of the Royal Army. Their leader told me to run and get you.”

“Where are-? Oh, there they are.”

Dash pointed to four blue-uniformed bodies lying in pools of their own blood. “Guess we’re a bit late, then,” she muttered, “well, we’ll just have to do.”

She looked at the surrounding area. “Okay… There’s the Imperial scout team.” She pointed again, at a group of ponies wearing gray armor over their uniforms, and said, “They’re not looking at us at the moment. We come up behind them, and take ‘em out.”

The other ponies nodded, though Marble hesitated for a moment. Then, she nodded, too.

Standing up, the five ponies bolted for sandbags that were close to the Imperials. Crouching down behind them, they readied themselves for the upcoming fight. Looking at Marble, Dash noticed that Marble was clearly regretting coming with the others. Dash mouthed an assurance, “It’ll be alright, Marble. I won’t let you get hurt.”

Dash nodded to the group of ponies. Springing up, the watchponies opened fire. The Imperials, caught off-guard by the surprise attack, couldn’t react in time. Six of the troopers fell before the watchponies had to reload, their rifles making a ping-like sound.

The surviving troopers turned, and, drawing knives, charged the group of ponies. Dash and the watchponies found themselves tackled by the Imperials.

Dash grabbed the arms of the trooper on top of her, pitting her strength against his. To her horror, she found the knife blade being forced down toward her chest. He was an earth pony and she was a pegasus, so he was going to win, even with Dash trying with all of her might.

There was a gunshot from her left, and a round tore through the steel of the Imperial's helmet, taking pieces of helmet, bone, and blood with it as it emerged from the other side of the trooper's head. He went slack, and, moving the knife away from her body, Dash shoved the trooper off of her.

Dash stood, and glanced over to where the shot came from. A brass case sat on a sandbag, signaling who had shot it. Eyes wide in terror, Marble sat trembling against the sandbags. Walking over and kneeling, Dash rested a hand on Marble’s shoulder. “Hey,” she asked, “you okay?”

Marble shook her head. She spoke, stuttering, “I-I… It was just…”

“Hey, they’d have killed you, if they had the chance. You did the first thing that came to mind.”

Marble said nothing, but her trembling abated somewhat. The pegasus stood, and nodded. “Well, no one’ll fault you for killing that Imperial.” She turned and, gesturing to the fallen troopers, spoke, addressing the watchponies, “Take their guns and ammo. We might need them.”

The watchponies nodded and set to work, looking through the pockets of the fallen trooper. Dash reached a hand toward the trembling mare. Still trembling, Marble took the offered hand and she was pulled to her feet. “Let’s take you to Sugarcube Corner, and see if we can’t cheer you up,” Dash gave a smile that she hoped was reassuring.

************

Zipping around the room fulfilling orders, Ponyville’s resident party mare was exuding energy. She hummed a tune as she did so.

The door to the confectionery swung open, and the bell mounted over the door jingled.

Pinkie stopped and looked at the door. Rainbow Dash and Marble, her younger sister, had entered. Marble was trembling, with a terrified look in her eyes, while Rainbow Dash had bloodstains on her town watch uniform. Setting her tray down, she rushed over to the two mares. Worry written on her face, she wasted no time. “What happened?”

Dash gestured to the door. “Met Marble while out on patrol, and we went and dealt with an Imperial recon team. Unfortunately, the Regular Army guys that were here helping out with the watch are dead, those Imperial troopers took ‘em out.”

Pinkie put her hands on Marble’s shoulders. “Are you alright?”

Marble’s mouth opened and closed, as she was still trying to process what happened. “She shot one of those troopers, keeping me from becoming another casualty in this war,” Dash interjected. “She’s still in shock over it.”

“Miss Dash,” another watchpony entered the confectionery and addressed Dash, “the captain is calling a meeting of the watch.”

Dash nodded. “Right, right.” She turned to Pinkie and said, “I gotta go. See if you can’t help Marble out somehow. And get these ponies evacuating. As they’re supposed to be.”

************

The lieutenant stared at the town in the distance through his field glasses and nodded, grimly and slightly. “Sir,” one of the troopers in his platoon approached and spoke, “the recon squad has been eliminated.”

The officer sighed. “I figured as much. They’ve not sent a trooper to report back in the time allotted.”

“What do we do, sir?”

“Nothing for now. When the rest of the company gets here, we’ll appraise them of the situation and go from there. The Equestrians are putting up resistance…”

************

Ponyville Town Hall

The town hall was a flurry of activity as various ponies rushed about, packing up records, deeds, and all the other administrative things that Dash didn’t really think were important, but apparently were.

“Miss Dash?”

The captain’s voice brought Dash back to reality. “Sorry, captain,” she apologized, “you know how it is with we pegasi.”

A small smile formed on the captain’s face. “Of course, like crows. Or ravens. As I was asking, what did you find on your patrol today?”

Dash sighed, “There was an Imperial scout squad we encountered in the outskirts of town. We found four of those Regular Army guys we’ve got here dead. Killed by those Imperial bastards.”

“And the Imperials?”

“Dead, all ten of them.”

“I see.” The captain paused, and pointed to one of the other watchponies, “Send word to the mayor. Tell her that we need to speed up the evacuation. If the Imps are sending scouts already, then the rest of the scouts’ unit, and the rest of the Imperial Army, won’t be far behind.”

The watchpony saluted. “Yessir!”

Dash muttered beneath her breath, “So this is how it begins.”

Author's Note

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