Prologue: War Never Changes
War never changes...
Silence. There was finally silence. Even the rain that had begun to fall made no sound. As if it would be rude disrupt the horrible peace that had come at last. After what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only three or four hours, the battle was over. For miles in every direction the land was covered in the dead and dying. Bodies and various body parts littered the earth. Hundreds upon hundreds of zebra Legionnaires and pony soldiers lay dead and dying across the battlefield. They were strung across barbed-wire spirals, slung over the shallow trenches, and large smoldering craters were the final resting places for the soldiers who had been reduced to little more than vapor from the massive artillery guns that still continued to fire. Though they too seemed to be respecting the dead. It was as if the world had frozen. The little sunlight that managed to pierce the clouds above reflected off the blood-stained fields with gruesome brilliance.
Victory.
Gilda watched from her perch far above the battlefield as the Striped retreated. Desperately trying to escape from the range of the ponies artillery. The griffin watched the scene with an expression torn between satisfaction and disgust as three more shells detonated among their ranks before they finally reached safe territory. She watched with grim satisfaction as more than a hundred zebras were torn to pieces.
“Serves you bastards right,” She whispered darkly. The horror of Littlehorn still burned brightly in her mind. Hundreds of foals slaughtered by the Striped. In Gilda's mind, every dead zebra was a step closer to victory. The carnage that lay before her eyes was just one of many, many battles she had seen. Just another bloodbath that burned in her mind. “Fuckers...” She looked down upon the battlefield once again, and that's when she saw her. That rainbow mane was unmistakable. Rainbow Dash flew across the battlefield, her dark Shadowbolt uniform was torn in places, and her left flank was bleeding. She stopped to hover by two ponies. The first Gilda recognized as Big Macintosh. A well known buck in the ranks. The second was a green earth pony stallion that had been torn in half by some manner of horrid weapon. Gilda scowled darkly at the pegasus mare before turning her attention to her own wounds. Far below she knew that the ponies were doing the same. It started out low at first, but it began to grow. The groans of pain and suffering began to fill the air as dozens of Ministry of Peace sky-wagons descended from the clouds. Bringing aid to the injured below.
Gilda stripped off her damaged Talon armor, wincing from several nasty yellow bruises covering her torso. Talon armor: Stops bullets, yes. Stops bruises, fuck no. Gilda thought while digging through her saddlebags. She pulled out a super restoration potion and pressed it to her beak, eager to relieve herself of the fiery pain in her breast, but she stopped before a single drop touched her tongue. Gilda's entire body felt like warm water had cascaded over her. All the pain in her torso, and the pain from every other minor injury she had accumulated over the course of the last several hours disappeared. Replaced by a pleasantly warm, yet itchy sensation. She looked down in bewilderment at her torso looking for her injuries and, but only found perfect brown fur.
“What the hell..?” Gilda's eyes widened. She quickly strapped her armor back on, grabbed her weapons and then jumped off the cloud. She dove down for a hundred yards before spreading her wings and gliding over the battlefield. All over the blood-stained fields ponies and zebras alike were getting up off the ground. Ponies that had been on the verge of death mere moments earlier were now fully healed. Many dozens of zebra Legionnaires were pulling themselves out of the mud, grasping their weapons. Gilda's keen griffin eyes could see the smug smiles on many of their faces.
“Damn it!” Gilda dove straight down, pulling her sword from the sheath between her wings and grasping it with one paw, while she drew one of her trusty .45 automatic pistols in the other. She landed in the center of a group of three Legionnaires just as gunfire began to ring out across the battlefield again. She slashed out at the first zebra, a mare with a light machine-gun strapped to her side, the griffin's sword slicing clean through the nape of her neck. Decapitating her. In the same instant she fired three rounds into the masked helmet of a zebra stallion armed with an assault rifle. Killing him instantly. The third, a mare holding a sword crackling with magical energy, slashed out at Gilda's pistol. Sending the weapon flying into a nearby trench.
“Oh, you wanna dance, bitch?!” Gilda snarled, striking a combat stance. “Come on!”
“In the name of the Caesar I shall end you!” The mare said through her mouth full of sword. She reared on her hind-legs and sent two fierce bucks at Gilda's head. Gilda, having fought the Striped many times, knew their moves. She dodged the mare's attack and slammed the hilt of her sword into her face. The zebra mare growled in frustration before charging and swinging her blade with surprising speed and precision for a mouth held weapon. Gilda caught each strike with the flat of her sword, preserving the edge of her weapon. If anypony or zebra around them had been able to pay attention to the pair without being shot and killed, they would have sworn that they weren't watching a fight. They were watching a dance. Each moved with grace and elegance. Striking out at one another fiercely while also trying to protect themselves from their opponent.
Gilda ruffled her wings subconsciously. She knew taking to the air would give her a great advantage over her foe, but the fighting around them had intensified. The Striped, crushed and defeated just minutes before, now had a second chance to win the day. Gilda knew at any moment the zebra forces that had retreated would return to aid their comrades. Her suspicions were proven correct when the artillery began to fire again.
Use your opponent's arrogance against them! Gilda heard the words of her Grandpa Gruff echoing in her mind. Put up a fight at first, make it seem like you're tryin' your hardest. Then you give up some ground, let 'em think they're winnin'... Then you get in close and fuck 'em good! Gilda focused on keeping her breathing steady while she took a step back. And then another. Her opponent took the bait at once. Increasing the speed of and strength of her attacks. Gilda didn't strike back, she only dodged her enemy's strikes or blocked them when she had to. The confines of the trench were too small for proper maneuvering, but Gilda was agile enough to stay a step ahead of her enemy. Time for the closer…
“I hope I made you proud, Grandpa!” She yelled in the mare's face, startling her so badly that she stumbled. Gilda lunged forward, driving her blade clean through the mare's armored breast. She lifted the mare off her hooves and pushed her into the wall of the trench. “I would kill you now,” Gilda said darkly. “But I don't waste my time on losers.” She pulled her sword from the mare's chest and let her fall to the ground. Where she sat coughing blood and sputtering curses. Gilda turned from the dying mare, sheathed her sword and pulled her service rifle from its holster. The griffin could hear the mare's final blood-choked breaths before she raised her rifle, lined up its iron sights and began picking off Legionnaires.
BLAM! Down went a zebra with a light machine-gun. BLAM! BLAM! Two high precision rounds pierced the garish helmet of a Legionnaire to her left. The zebra's limp corpse rag-dolled into the trench, landing with a meaty crunch. The battle soon became nothing more than instinct. Aim. Fire. Dead zebra. Aim. Fire. Another dead Legionnaire. Aim. Fire. Dead zebra. Reload. Gilda fired again and again, felling every Legionnaire that came too close. Getting too close! Gilda thought angrily. The zebras main force had returned to the battlefield, overwhelming the scattered ponies and forcing them back. Gilda could see a swarm of Striped charging towards her.
Click! Click! Gilda holstered her empty rifle and pulled out her 9mm SMG. She lifted the weapon over the side of the trench and began spraying wildly in the direction of the Striped. Emptying clip after clip They were coming faster now. If she didn't take to the air soon she would be overwhelmed. Reaching for her radio headset and tuned it to the ponies frequency. “This is Captain Gilda 1st Talon Company... damn it!” She cursed loudly. Her radio headset exploded from a bullet that barely missed her head. She touched the side of her head and wasn't surprised to see fresh blood on her talons.
“Fuck it!” She emptied another clip in the direction of the Striped and jumped into the air. Her powerful wings completing only two strokes before a high-caliber round tore clean through her left wing. She fell back to the ground, landing on one of the dead zebras. She jumped to her hind-legs, pulled her remaining 45. pistol from its holster and firing wildly at the enemy. Doing her best to ignore the searing pain in her wing. Every shot she fired sent a jolt of pain through her injured wing. She tucked her wing against her back, trying to keep it from moving. Gilda knew she couldn't hold them off for long, but she intended to take as many of the Striped with her as possible.
“GET DOWN!” Gilda bristled at the sound of her voice. So urgent. So... fearful. Gilda dropped onto her belly, slamming her chin into the ground. An instant later the top of the trench exploded in fire and shrapnel. Gilda, her ears ringing and bleeding profusely, got to her feet and reached for her service rifle. She pulled the weapon from its holster and shoved her last clip inside. She turned to her left just as Rainbow Dash landed to her right and began spraying the Striped with her quadruple SMG battle-saddle. “Nine a clock!” She shouted. Gilda's damaged ears barely registered what she said, but it was still enough for Gilda to turn and put five rounds in the chest of a massive zebra buck wielding a magical-energy hammer in his teeth. He fell into the trench with a dull thud.
“On your three!” Gilda told her, holstering her now empty rifle and switching back to her sword and pistol. Rainbow Dash turned to her right and shot down three Legionnaires with magical-energy lances. Gilda jumped back as three Legionnaires jumped into the trench and charged her. Gilda emptied her pistol into the first and lunged at the second. The third was tackled by an enraged Rainbow Dash, wielding a wicked curved blade in her teeth.
The zebra Gilda faced swung her sword at Gilda's throat. Without thought Gilda parried the strike and kneed the mare in the chest. Sending the mare into the wall of the trench and bruising Gilda's leg. “Damn it!” The mare recovered quickly, slashing at Gilda with renewed vigor.
“Your blasphemous nation will fall!” She said, slashing Gilda across her injured hind-leg. The griffin Merc grunted in pain, her body going rigid from the sword's spell. The mare swung her weapon again, but this time Gilda caught the blow with her own. “You and your species will be annihilated for helping these heathens!” Gilda chuckled at that. Annihilated huh? The griffin shoved the talons of her left fore-paw into the mare's throat. Gilda bit down on the mare's sword, every hair and feather on her body standing on end from the electric shock. She wrenched the sword from the mare's grasp and sank it deep into the mud before pulling her bloodied talons from the zebra's flesh.
The mare fell to the ground choking on her own blood while Gilda turned her attention back to the battle. Rainbow Dash had killed her opponent with her knife and was firing at the enemy. Gilda could see nothing but the Striped for more than a mile. Hundreds, if not thousands of zebra Legionnaires were marching across the battlefield. The artillery guns blew massive holes in the marching columns, but they continued to advance undaunted. Even though she had superior weapons and training, Gilda knew that the Striped would win. Drowning their enemies in the blood of their own soldiers was a common tactic the zebras used. And this battle was no exception. The mass of dead zebras was more than three times the size of the ponies own dead.
Gilda readied her sword, staring down the enemy with righteous fury in her eyes. She knew it was over, and she intended to make her last minutes count. She raised her blade as the zebras drew in closer. They were less than a hundred yards away now. The hundreds of soldiers firing thousands and thousands of rounds at them. A cacophony of rapid fire cracks and explosions drowned out all other sound.
And it was over in an instant.
Gilda shielded her eyes from the blinding pink as a wave of fire rolled over the battlefield. Fiery destruction rained from the sky as half a dozen black horrors flew over the battlefield. Massive warships with large energy canons blasted the zebra forces below. The smell of burnt flesh and fur rolled over the ponies much as the waves of magical-energy fire rolled over their enemy. Gilda watched the ships in awe, along with the remaining pony survivors. The zebras retreated under the onslaught, and soon were nothing more than a blur on the horizon. The large warships continued to hover above the battlefield, keeping the enemy from trying to seize victory a third time.
The danger having ended, Gilda retrieved her empty magazines, and climbed out of the trench. Intending to find her other pistol in the devastation.
“Hey, G!” She heard Rainbow call. The griffin turned to the cyan pegasus, watching her hover silently. “We... uh... we made a pretty good team, didn't we?” In response Gilda scowled darkly at the pegasus pony. Without a word she turned her back on Rainbow Dash, and continued to search for her pistol. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, only to close it a second later. She closed her eyes, and shook her head slowly before sighing and flying towards the nearest group of ponies.
Gilda pulled her pistol out of the mud and began wiping the muck off its finish as she watched the cyan pegasus return to the ponies. Yeah, that's right. Hang with your loser ponies. She scowled darkly again before testing her injured wing. She flinched at the slightest movement, scowling at her useless wing. Better find a medic. She climbed out of the trench, looking for a Ministry of Peace pony. As Gilda trotted across the blasted and scorched remains of the once tranquil fields south of Littlehorn Valley, moans of suffering and pain began to fill the air again.
Its the same every time, Gilda thought, her eyes focused on three Ministry of Peace mares as they tended to a badly wounded buck. It doesn't matter how much progress we make. War never changes.
Author's Note
Hello everypony! This is the beginning of a long road. I wrote a story a few weeks ago called, Fallout Equestria: Audio Logs of Gilda. In that story Gilda recounted her life after the megaspells. Telling us a story of horrors, and beauty. After the response it received, I've decided to expand the idea into a full fiction. I hope you enjoy it. The story Fallout Equestria, and the fandom around it, has, and will always have a place in my heart. I've wanted to see what happened to Gilda for a long time, and I've only seen a single attempt on this sight, and it was cancelled nearly six years ago. With this story, I will make that right. It's high time that Gilda received the recognition she deserved in the FoE Fandom. Anyway, I'm rambling. I hope you enjoy reading this story. I'm having one heck of a time writing it!
