Author's Note
Please feel free to critique or point out mistakes in the comments.
Prologue - Who am I?
I have gone through a horrible experience and I don't know what to do. I can hear their screams in my head, the thunder of rifles hitting flesh. I've decided writing down how I feel will help me think about my feelings. I don't think any of what I would say would make sense if I didn't explain who I was or my history.
My name is Steady Shot, I am, or was, Second in Command of Her Majesty Queen Victoria's 10th Colonial Division. I come from a small family as a single foal, to my father Accurate Shot and my mother Steady Hoof.
My father was a Pegasus ranker in the Crimean War of 1853. Pegasus rankers were more valued over Earth and Unicorn rankers due to Pegasus mobility and more innate battle skills, because of his background as a minor noble, and due to his abilities on the field of battle, alongside my mother's noble connections, after the war he quickly ascended to the rank of Captain to command his own company of soldiers, to eventually lose his life in the second Opium war of 1856 - 1860. He was a brilliant soldier who fought valiantly, which lead to me looking up to him, for better or for worse.
When I was a foal I was sent to the local school, King Edward VI Grammar School, I made little to no effort to make friends, I didn't really care for my education, I knew my times tables, I thought "Isn't that all I need to know?" I barely passed my GCSE's that was all I needed to get into the military as a soldier and that is what I did. When I became 18 I enlisted to join the army, and I was almost immediately sent out to a settlement in South Africa in 1864.
I was trained on how volley fire worked, which commands meant what, the whole shebang. I made some good friends like pike and shot, they were twins, and very good at pretending to be each other, leading to some mischief which got them in quite a lot of trouble. Another friend I made was Gunpowder, he was a cannoneer and very good at reloading a cannon, the fastest in the battalion.
Three years into my service I saw my first bit of action, in the British Expedition of Abyssinia 1867 - 1868 where our battalion was moved because of a greater need of Line Infantry. Our battalion never really saw the front lines, except in the siege of Magdala. It was on that day in which I got my first taste of blood, I didn't know how I felt about it then, I still don't know how I feel now, it was a horrible act done in seconds, but yet I felt indifferent, does that make me a bad Pony? I don't know. We were able to rescue the hostages which is good, I guess. Only two British soldiers died, which is a success technically, but loss of life isn't, so I'm divided.
When we won that war I was much more enthusiastic of our victory then, than I am now. I guess I've finally grown to see reason. Pike and Shot threw a celebration when we got back to South Africa, our "First Military Engagement" party. A pretty pitiful party if I look back at it, we celebrated surviving a battle, not much worth celebrating but at the same time survival in a war is rare.
The next war I partook in was the Third Ashanti War. I thought they acted like savages back then, sacrificing ponies for a better harvest, using the bodies to ward off evil spirits. I remember looking one of them in the eyes as I blew their brains out, again I felt nothing, only now I wish I did, maybe then I wouldn't have stayed in the military.
Now I look back on it, the Ashanti's weren't savages none of the Africans were. We were the true savages, killing and subduing other ponies for being "inferior", and to better our "Empire". Separating families so we could control them better, it was and still is truly horrific.
The real horror however started during the first Boer War. What I am going to be writing next will be my recollection of the battle of Rorke's Drift, and the horror which comes along with that battle. The battle that finally opened my eyes to this horror.
Chapter II - This is a Joke... Right?
What we saw in Rorke's drift was two building barely held together, with a knee high wall around them both. The storehouse presumably had food and other items to tide us over until the relief column arrives. Thinking about it I might have to rescind my previous offer of a day off, much to the anger of my soldiers, but we have to be ready for the war. There was also another building which is a hospital with two rooms and enough beds to hold 20 ponies if needs be.
As we are marching over I can hear the complaints of my soldiers, "Come on, if we all complain and don't try and fix the problem, you'll never stop moaning. So lets fix this place up and then you can have two days off for relaxation and the like," My promise seemed to quieten them down a bit. God knows I need the quiet, I need to come up with a plan on how we'll get this place ready for a war.
Once we got to the camp and looked in the buildings, there were sand bags that could be used to build a wall. But right now we need to get settled in, the soldiers are setting up their tents, and starting to cook food and soup, Pike is starting to cheer up the troops with jokes and songs. Things weren't looking as bleak as they did before, I was thinking of ways to set up the sand bags and how to position soldiers in my head.
We would need a fallback line but also a front line, we could use the preexisting wall and stack sand bags around that. I was brought out of my thoughts by chowder, the cook, telling me that the soup will be finished in twenty minutes. I can see the tents going up, the same faded sandy colour as everything seems to be here.
The land was not arable, which could be a blessing and a curse. On the plus side any besieging force couldn't support themselves on our farms, but again that meant neither could we. We'd have to survive off of the relief column and if we were besieged for an extended period of time there'd be no food after about five to six days. Meaning we'd have to stock up with rations and water. But that will be a job for another day, right now we have to be defend-able.
"Fort, Gunpowder, can I speak with you," I asked, hearing both of their affirmatives I called them over to a rough sketch of the encampment in a near by tent, "Now, we've found quite a few sand bags in the storehouse, they could be set up as a front line based on the preexisting wall, but I think we'll need to establish a fall back line just in case a breakthrough occurs. Your opinions?"
"Yes, but a fall back line needs to be in the right place so we need to anticipate how the Zulus will attack us." said Fort.
"How about instead of guessing, we build the front line slightly further out than the brick wall and have us abandon the hospital and funnel them into volley fire for the fall back line" Responded Gunpowder.
"That would mean we would be risking the lives of those that may be in the hospital," Fort rebuked.
"I see that, but it may be a necessary sacrifice," I said.
"You can't seriously be considering this?"
"I'll do what needs to be done to save most if not all of the ponies here, don't you forget that. But some sacrifices must be made to save the many." I said, "Gunpowder tell the rest to start arranging the sand bags."
"Yes sir"
I could feel Fort's eyes boring into the back of my head, "Dismissed Fort."
"Sir! Yes sir!" He responded, and left.
He does that, when his opinion was disregarded he would go into 'Soldier mode', meaning he would act the perfect soldier, out of spite. But that doesn't matter at the time, at least it'll be one less thing to worry about, right now I need a contingency if all goes to hell.
