Learning True History (An Equestrian Civil War Story)

"Uhh....uhhh"

Applebloom slowly opened her eyes, as her head was still woozy from..whatever it was that happened. She realized she was laying down on a stash of hay in the middle of some town. She was wearing a dark grey rag as some sort of scarf, and a beat up white sack that was wrapped around her torso. Dirt covered her face, and her hair was tangled and messy. She didn't have her pink bow, and she was covered in dirt and ash from head to hoof.

She looked around the town, which was claustrophobic and beyond filthy. The atmosphere was dark and depressing, and not a single bright color shined amongst the darkness. It was the exact opposite of ponyville. The ponies were all earth ponies, and each and everyone of them looked equally as filthy and emotionless. She looked up at the sky and frowned. It was a nasty dark orange color, and the clouds were all black. In the distance she could see smoke and hear the sound of thunder.

"Do ya think them sons of bitches will make it over here"? A nearby colt said. Applebloom shifted her direction to a colt and a mare leaning up against a wall and looking at the black smoke in the distance. Both were a dark grey dirty color.

"It's hard to say, but I reckon they won't. We just got a large shipment of bows and arrows from Applelossa", the mare said, still staring at the smoke.

"Still, we ain't got much food left, and apparently a new disease is shifting its ugly head 'round the town". The colt forwned as he looked around the area. A lot of ponies were coughing and throwing up blood on the street. "Plus, we ain't got no where to put the dead. So it ain't helping us none when they leave them bodies in the street. Also them fucking dirty flying Pegasus gots themselves a new little invention. They flying 'round and dropping bags full of flaming rocks, but get this, them rocks are exploding on impact".

"The hell kinda rocks they got"?

"We don't know, but they raisin hell on towns across the lands. Even the Unicorns are facing some heavy casualties from them". The mare smiled at the news of that.

"How is the northern fight with the Unicorns going"? She asked. The colt frowned and shook his head, which caused the mare to lower her head and drop her ears.

"THEY'RE BACK". Applebloom shifted her attention away from the two. She saw a large crowd gathering towards the entrance of the town. Up the hill and coming down was a large Calvary of earth ponies. Some where as old as Big Mac and Applejack, while others where only little fillies, no older then the crusaders. They were all wearing torn up rags and had white bags wrapped around their torsos. Some where pulling wooden carts that contained something that was hidden under some red stained blankets. Other ponies were limping or being carried.

Applebloom stood on a barrel to get a better view. She was still beyond confused of where she was and what was going on, but upon glimpsing at the ponies returning from wherever they went, she immediately knew exactly what was going on.

"Why that piece of crap Discord". Applebloom gritted her teeth, but then looked terrified as her current situation sunk in. She was in the Equestrian Civil War, the war nopony even rembered, and now feeling the tone around her, she began to realize why. Her realization was confirmed when seeing the earth ponies entering town. It was a sight Applebloom had never seen, and was something that no pony shouldn't have to lay eyes on in their life.

The ponies were covered in blood, and looked lifeless. In the cart and under the blankets were ponies. Mares, Stallions and Fillies, all dead and covered in blood. One of the fillies legs were blown off, and his eyes were sunken into blackness. Next to his lifeless body was a mare, probably in her early teens. Half of her face was burnt off, and her skull was starting to show. One of her eyes were bright red, and devoid of any life. Flies hovered around the carts and the wounded. Mothers teared up in front of their husbands or children's dead bodies, while others grew nervous. The nervous ones would be the next poor batch of souls to head out into the fight.

Stallions and mares were grabbing their bags and heading out of their houses to join the calavary. Some were kissing their loved ones goodbye, fearing that they might never see them again. Others had no family. A majority of the fillies didn't. Pitch forks, spears, swords, almost everything was a weapon, and one of the carts were full of them.

Applebloom didn't know how to process everything she was seeing. It was so surreal to her. She had never seen so much sadness and death in one location. She had never seen a dead body, let alone a mutilated one, and it made her tear up.

She hopped off the barrel and vomited on floor, causing some rats to scatter off into the buildings. "They had it the worst", she rembered what Discord said. It indeed was an awful display of living. Applebloom hadn't even witnessed any fighting and she already felt the gravity of the war. In the 5 minutes that she's been in this small town, she has already seen more death then anypony back home probably will ever see. She felt sick, and cold. She wanted to go back home now, as she quietly sobbed and pleaded.

"I've seen enough, please, I don't want to be here". She was met with silence, save for the crying that was coming from the crowd. Just as Applebloom was about to start pouring tears, a loud BOOM woke her right back to reality.

"THOSE FUCKERS ARE HERE"!

"THEY'RE ATTACKING US"!

"WE AINT READY"!

Screaming and shouting rose from all directions. Everypony was running for their dear lives as buildings blew up.

"MAN THE GATLING"! A scratchy voice yelled. Applebloom saw two mares running towards a building. Ontop of the structure was a large crossbow like Gatling gun. Within seconds the two mares began opening fire at the sky. Applebloom's eyes followed the wave of arrows approaching a swarm of Pegasus. They flew over the city and dropped those "exploding rocks" the colt was talking about. One flew right ontop of the gun stationed on the building, and within seconds it exploded. The two mares bodies flew over the edge, both missing their lower torso and legs.

Smoke began covering the town, as more and more rocks blew up within it. Bodies were flying all over the place with missing appendages. Some of the poor souls were still alive, begging for help as all four of their legs were missing. Others laid amongst the ruble of buildings, completely lifeless.

After a while of standing in shock, Applebloom finally snapped out of it, and began running to wherever safety seemed present. She passed by headless and dead ponies, destroyed infrastructures and large fires. She even passed the dead bodies of the mare and colt that she overheard when she first woke up in this hellish reality.

The sound of a Pegasus wings flapping grew louder and louder from behind Applebloom, until they flew right over head, releasing a flaming rock from a white bag. Appleblooms eyes followed the rock, as it slowly fell to the ground right in front of her. Time seemed to move slow at that moment. Her hoofs couldn't stop in time before the rock exploded and a wave of fire engulfed Applebloom. She flew back into a wall as she could feel almost every bone in her body shatter. One of her lower legs ripped right off, and a river of blood began to flow from it. Upon hitting the wall, she fell right onto her stomach and just laid there on the dirt.

Appleblooms vision became blurry, and her breathing seemed to be distant and slow. She could see the swarm of Pegasus leaving behind the destroyed villiage. Dead bodies laid infront of her, and soon she would join them.

She could feel her heart slow down its beat. Her vision grew darker and darker until all she could see was blackness. She could now only hear the slow beating of her heart, until it beated no more.

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