Decades of Sorrow

The three friends sat silently in the large chariot that was being pulled towards the front lines.

They had been traveling for three days now and they were only a mere hour from the front lines now. Soon it would be time to fight. Soon it would be time to kill.

"How soon do you think we're going to be in a battle?" asked Rainbow Dash as she cleaned her rifle.

"I imagine in the first few days or so, these are the front lines after all," said Rarity.

"So...this is potentially our last day alive?" asked Applejack. Rarity opened her mouth to answer, but immediately closed it as the realization of what that meant hit her. Rainbow Dash seemed more focused on cleaning her rifle after Applejack said that. Applejack examined the behavior of the Pegasus. "Uh Dash, that's not loaded right?" she asked. The chariot ride was bumpy and Applejack didn't want Rainbow's first kill to be friendly fire. Rainbow Dash didn't change expression but she silently shook her head. Applejack decided not to press Dash any further and the chariot ride was silent for the most part apart from the occasional whisper from another recruit.

As the chariot ride continued, the three friends saw a truly terrible sight that was made worse by the fact that they knew that they were still in Equestria. The land was scorched to the point where Applejack wondered whether or not any plants had grown there in the first place. It looked like a forest fire had raged through the land. The only indication that it was the result of war was the fact that there were craters from shells and other explosives littered around.

The three looked on in horror as they saw a line of ponies advancing from the other direction. all of them were bandaged up in some way. The new recruits looked on silently as the lines of wounded slowly walked away from the front lines. Applejack wondered if they took comfort in the fact that most of them would be going home now or if that fact was marred by the heavy sacrifice that they had paid to achieve that. One stretcher in particular caught Applejack's eye. It was being carried by two Unicorn ponies that were using their magic to lift it up. On the stretcher was a completely deformed pony. He was a little younger than Applejack herself but three of his legs had been blown off. A bandage was wrapped around his eyes indicating that he was blind now. Applejack could only tell that this pony had been a Pegasus because of the torn up wing that was sticking oddly from his back.

Applejack couldn't look at the lines of wounded any longer so instead she chose to look at the floor of the chariot, hoping that those images wouldn't haunt her forever but knowing that they wouldn't because they would be replaced by ones even worse than that.

Eventually the chariot ground to a halt and the Pegasus drivers yelled out to the recruits. "We're here now everypony out!" Applejack adjusted her helmet and slung her rifle over her shoulder before filing out of the chariot.

The three friends saw rows and rows of tents and hundreds of ponies rushing about. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash wondered what was going on but they were soon greeted by a friendly sergeant.

"Well hello there girls, first time on the battlefield?"

"How'd ya guess?" said Applejack. The sergeant shrugged.

"After a while you can just tell. You obviously didn't come here from the Diamond Dog front. You haven't bathed in Changeling blood quite yet."

"Uh...'bathed in Changeling blood’?" said a rather disturbed Rarity. The sergeant gave a weak chuckle.

"Only an expression although it is a decently apt one. Those buggers come by the thousands but we've got the advantage from where we are which is why they attack once every few days at least."

"When is the next attack?" asked Rainbow nervously. The sergeant's grin faded from his face and he looked out towards the horizon and pointed.

"Within the hour I think," he said glumly. "We're not sure how much longer we can hold out, even with the new recruits we just got. We need a thousand reinforcements, not a few hundred." The trio looked out to where the sergeant was pointing and sure enough, a large black mass was advancing towards the camp. Rarity's eyes widened and she backed away.

"No, no I can't be in a battle, I'm not cut out for this!" she said hysterically.

"Rarity, you're the best shot in the entire company, you have to fight!" said Applejack.

"It's fight or die, private," said the sergeant simply.

"Come on, we'll be right beside you the entire time," said Rainbow Dash comfortingly. Rarity continued to panic at the thought of imminent battle but when the order came to take positions for the fight, she did so willingly.

Applejack walked up behind a pile of sandbags and pointed her rifle towards the black mass that was drawing closer. this is it she thought. do or die.

"Wait for my signal, then fire!' said the commanding officer. Applejack gripped her rifle tighter and began breathing quickly. She reprimanded herself, this was no time to panic.

She was able to make out individual Changelings now; they were disgusting insect like creatures with black rifles in their hooves. They were hissing and snarling at the wall of pony defenders as they drew ever closer. Applejack took aim at one in particular; ready to shoot him on command. "Steady men," said the officer. "Steady..." Applejack tensed up and centered her aim. "FIRE!" Applejack pulled the trigger and the Changeling that she had been aiming at instantly dropped from a round to the skull. Applejack didn't even have time to realize that she had just killed another being as wave after wave of Changelings charged and were shot down.

Applejack noticed a Changeling aim his rifle at a pony and she instantly shot him out of the sky. However, she only managed to shoot the one Changeling as the entire front row of Changelings aimed their rifles at the pony defenders and fired off a round.

Applejack heard the screams of ponies as they lived their final moments in agony as they were slain by volley after volley of Changeling bullets. It was all that the Equestrian forces could do to keep the Changeling army at bay but their numbers seemed to be infinite.

Within a few more minutes, the Changelings broke over the defenses. Now the fighting was at really close quarters now. Ponies pulled out pistols and shot Changelings at close range while the Changelings attached bayonets to their rifles and were now stabbing anypony that came close to them. Applejack saw three Changelings come straight for her, an unmistakable thirst for her blood in their eyes. Applejack spun her rifle around and dropped two of them before the third reached her and tackled her to the ground.

Applejack struggled with the Changeling, trying desperately to not be in the wrong end of the bayonet. However, the Changeling was surprisingly strong for something half her size and Applejack realized that she was fighting a losing battle. The Changeling let go of his rifle for a brief moment and slammed a hoof into Applejack's face, stunning her momentarily. He raised his rifle and brought it down hard. Applejack only barely managed to roll out of the way in time for the sharp blade to miss her throat but not fast enough to avoid all damage. The sharp Changeling bayonet sliced through the side of her shoulder. Applejack cried out in pain but she managed to kick the Changeling away from her before he managed to stab at her again.

Applejack stood up and looked around for her weapon or anything really that she could use to stop the attack. The Changeling saw this distraction as an opportunity and Applejack noticed too late that he was charging her. She wouldn't be able to get away without serious damage this time.

However, to her utter surprise, the back of the Changeling's head exploded and he fell to the ground. Applejack looked behind her to see a mare behind her with a rifle in her hooves, giving a satisfied smile. Applejack nodded in thanks before she picked up her rifle to join the fray once again.

She turned back to the mare that had just saved her life only to see her dead on the ground with a Changeling gleefully pulling a knife out of the back of her neck. Applejack immediately shot him in the face and he dropped to the ground on top of the pony he had just killed.

Applejack pulled a fresh clip out of a belt that she was wearing and reloaded her weapon. She realized that from her position she had merely been at the edge of the fighting. The real battle had been to her right the entire time. Applejack was shocked to see the pure carnage unfolding before her. Ponies and Changelings alike lay slain on the ground while others cried out in pain from missing limbs or bullet wounds that had not instantly killed. Everywhere ponies and Changelings were fighting for their very lives and with each passing second, scores of soldiers from both sides dropped to the ground. Applejack unloaded her clip into a group of Changelings that were advancing towards a trio of ponies who were trying to protect a wounded comrade. Most of the Changelings fell down dead but there were still many left and within a few seconds, the trio lay dead on the ground in a bloody heap.

Applejack reloaded once more and charged directly into the fray.

The chaos of the battle was even worse in the middle of it than it was simply watching. Applejack suddenly became disoriented as the screams of the wounded or the soon to be dead of both sides rang around her. She took a few seconds to gather up a few clips form dead soldiers before shooting at any Changeling that she saw. She didn't know how she did it, but pure instinct took over as the battle raged on around her. She wasn't even aware of what she was doing, she just killed.

She saw a Changeling run towards a mare, who had her back turned as she was fighting off another Changeling, with his bayonet poised to sever her spine at the neck. Applejack raised her rifle and shot at the Changeling. She missed his head but the bullet hit his right foreleg and the force of the impact tore it off completely. The Changeling fell to the ground, screaming his head off. Within a few seconds, the mare that he was trying to kill in the first place fell down dead with her throat slashed by a bayonet. Applejack shot the Changeling that had killed her before turning around just in time to see another Changeling charging at her with a knife. She raised her rifle but to her horror, she heard a single click as she pulled the trigger. The Changeling had briefly stepped back when he saw the rifle being pointed at him, but he grinned and charged once more once he realized that Applejack was empty.

Applejack threw down her rifle and reached towards her belt to pull out an army knife that she had been issued. Thankfully it had not fallen out in the chaos. She charged towards the Changeling and ducked his bayonet swing before she smashed her shoulder into the Changeling. She used the temporary advantage to stab the Changeling in the chest.

She sheathed her knife and took a brief moment to relocate and reload her rifle before rejoining the fray.

Applejack didn't know how long she fought but she kept fighting as long as her aching body would allow. Her shoulder was killing her but any weakness in a moment like this could mean death for her right here and now. She merely ignored the pain and fought as hard as she could.

Eventually, she heard a terrifying noise: the remaining Changelings all buzzed their wings at the same time and took off. The terror that Applejack felt at the noise was replaced by one of joy at the sight of the Changeling army in full retreat. The pony soldiers cheered as the opposing army fled. Applejack cheered right along with them.

* * * *

Applejack was sitting in a medic tent, waiting for her shoulder to be treated. In truth she didn't really care about her shoulder right now. The only thing that mattered to her was finding out about Rainbow Dash and Rarity. Nothing else mattered at all. However, a medic that had seen it had insisted that she get checked out so she was pushed towards a medic tent and told to wait for the next available medic. Applejack groaned in frustration. Surely the medics had bigger issues than a cut on her shoulder.

After a half hour of waiting, the tent flap opened at to Applejack's delight, Fluttershy walked in! "Fluttershy!" said Applejack happily. "I can't believe it's you!" Fluttershy gave her a small smile.

"Yeah," she said simply. Applejack frowned. This was Fluttershy, no doubt about it, but she seemed different somehow, like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. Fluttershy wordlessly got to work patching up Applejack's shoulder.

"Fluttershy, what's goin' on with you? How long have you been here?" asked Applejack.

"About a week," she said blankly.

"How many battles have you seen?" Fluttershy began blinking very fast now.

"Six," she said. Applejack didn't feel the need to say anything else. The one battle was bad enough for Applejack but six battles and then having to patch up the wounded as best as they could afterwards? Six times! Fluttershy worked on Applejack's shoulder in silence for a few minutes before Applejack noticed that Fluttershy had a pistol on her hip. She couldn't resist herself; she had to know everything about Fluttershy's experiences here!

"H...have you ever used that thing?" asked Applejack. Fluttershy was about to pick up a bandage to wrap around Applejack's shoulder but at that question, she put them down almost a little angrily.

"Yes," she said. She was breathing heavily now, almost as if she was about to begin yelling at Applejack. Applejack knew that she had pushed too far and began to apologize.

"I--" she was immediately cut off.

"EIGHT APPLEJACK, I'VE KILLED EIGHT CHANGELINGS! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW!?" screeched Fluttershy.

"N...no Fluttershy, I was gonna apologize for bringin it up in the first place," said Applejack who was a little shaken up by Fluttershy's outburst. Fluttershy took a moment to calm herself down before reaching for the bandages again.

"It's okay I guess," she said quietly. "I just..." she sighed.

"Just what?"

"I dunno, forget I said anything," mumbled Fluttershy. Applejack nodded and left it at that.

Within a few more minutes Fluttershy finished bandaging up Applejack and stood up to leave. "Wait," said Applejack. "Have you seen Dash or Rarity?" Fluttershy stopped for a brief moment before turning back to Applejack with a sad look on her face.

"Um, yeah, Rainbow Dash is with Rarity now. She didn't get hurt at all," said Fluttershy. Applejack breathed a sigh of relief.

"How is Rarity?" asked Applejack. To her horror, Fluttershy began to cry.

"I...I...tent twelve," she said between sobs before she ran out of the tent. Applejack's heart sank and she immediately ran out of the tent. She ran around looking for tent twelve before being directed to it by a passing stallion. She bolted towards it and to her horror, she heard uncontrollable sobbing coming from inside.

"No," said Applejack quietly, "Oh Celestia no."

However, as she got closer to the tent, she realized that the crying wasn't coming from Rainbow Dash, but Rarity. Applejack burst into the tent to see Rainbow Dash holding a sobbing Rarity. Rainbow Dash seemed to be doing her best to comfort her.

Rainbow Dash looked up when Applejack burst in and a look of relief spread over her face followed by one of concern when she saw Applejack's shoulder. "It's nothin'," said Applejack. "How is she?"

"Well, she got grazed by a bullet in her left foreleg, but nothing serious. She’s just in shock from everything, that's all," said Rainbow sadly. Applejack nodded and she moved in closer to Rarity.

"Rarity, how ya doin' sugar cube?" she asked.

"Blood...th...there was s-s-so m-m-much b-b-blood. I s-s-s-shot h-him and he just d-d-died...just like that. So much blood, so much blood," she said. Applejack looked up at Rainbow who gave her a grim look.

"She's never harmed a fly before and she just killed Changelings. She's talking it pretty hard," said Rainbow.

"Yeah...I'm not too sure how well I'm goin' to be takin' it myself later," said Applejack.

"Did ya kill a lot of them?" asked Rainbow. Applejack nodded.

"My fair share I guess. I lost count after six I think. Didn't really see the need to keep track," said Applejack. Rainbow nodded this time.

"Yeah, I lost track after about eight myself," she said before rubbing her forehead. "Did you hear the stats from the battle?" she asked. Applejack shook her head. "Our side, five hundred and forty-three dead, eight hundred and ninety-one wounded. Theirs, roughly eleven-hundred head and we took about 100 prisoners most of whom were wounded." The statistics sounded hollow to Applejack. She couldn't even comprehend those numbers right now. Heck, she couldn't comprehend much of anything right now.

"It um, it wasn't quite what I was expecting," said Applejack quietly. Rainbow Dash nodded vigorously.

"You're telling me! I mean, I didn't expect it to be fun or anything but that...I don't even know what that was. I don't even think we were ponies in that battle we were more like...bloodthirsty animals. There was no dignity to it, there was no honor, no class, just animals slaughtering each other," said Rainbow.

Rarity seemed to have calmed down a bit during the conversation. At any rate, she was sitting up now.

"Why did that have to happen?" she said shakily. "Why?"

"Well, if we don't fight them then they take over Equestria and enslave the pony race," said Applejack. Even though that was the reason why, it still sounded like a hollow reason, like even a reason such as that could not justify what was going on around them.

Night began to fall over the camp and Applejack went back towards her tent. She was grateful that Luna made the nights peaceful even in these dark times.

She collapsed on her cot, wondering when the next slaughter would be but still, she was grateful that she had survived today. Could she survive another battle like that?