Fallout Equestria: Into the Abyss

I had enlisted into the army just after my 18th birthday. The war at this point had gone on for a year and seems to keep on escalating. My original intent was to join the Royal Guards to which my sister, Silver Line was a part of. They were the first to respond to Princess Celestia's call to arms and before the the activation of the Regular Army and subsequent changes and restructuring of the entire Equestrian Military force. The Guards were more of a peace keeping force that protected the Princesses and the local population of Canterlot. At the onset they were formed into the 1st Expeditionary Army and were deployed to the various forts on the frontier. Despite this they were unprepared for the conflict, their golden armour was not suitable for protection against bullets and artillery as well as cumbersome on a modern battlefield. Firearms then were still crude and rudimentary but the Guard performed admirably on the many fronts they were sent to but at high costs. The casualties and restructuring happened so vast and quick at such a large scale that that many Royal Guards were finding themselves folded in elsewhere instead of receiving replacements, their units broken up and their armour obsolete. Only the first regiment remained as the personal body guard of the Princesses and the Regular Army would take over. The Royal Marines were the toughest branch under the Princess' reign which peaked my interest briefly. They trained longer and fought harder to be the first to invade the Zebra lands which made their allure more promising for those who wanted to be the best and first in the fight on Zebra soil. Their sharp Dress Blues and white barracks hat would make any mare swoon and any buck eager to be one.

Living near the harbour in Manehatten, I saw the construction, launching, and docked of many ever evolving naval vessels. It was almost a year into the war and Equestria had rapidly evolved from wooden sail ships to ironclads, battleships and cruisers of steel and steam. As a child I once slipped into the water and almost drowned. That tells enough that I didn't want to be surrounded by it thus ruling out the Navy and Marines for which branch I wanted to serve with. Being of average height and skinny build and eager for the fight. The Army was the more practical choice.

My parents were not elated to hear my eagerness to go and enlist in the army. We've received the news that their eldest Silver Line was badly wounded during one of the campaigns on the Pony Zebra frontier. She was alive and would spend considerable time in hospital and the loss of her legs. This had made me think cautiously of my decision. I didn't want to miss out but the thought that anypony could be maimed horribly and still live shocked me. When ever I was out selling news papers, I would see a carriage stop in front of a house or apartment. Two ponies in uniform and a chaplain would exit the vehicle and deliver the bad news to the grieving family that their son, daughter, husband or wife was killed in the war. It started out in small ones and twos a month. In the months following, it was a near daily occurrence. I could only imagine what terrible cost it would have been to smaller towns like Ponyville.

Outside the recruiting offices, long lines of ponies from all over the city would come to give the zebras what's coming. The posters promoting each branch were bright and colourful, almost as if to serve and fight and die was a romantic and glorious thing a pony could do for Equestria. It all looked clean and safe. Far removed from the true horror and brutality that is war. Even the movies depicting the heroism of pony kind though entertaining as a civilian, bored and disgusted me for the false depiction as a soldier.

The ponies were boastful that they'll be the next Big Macintosh or Rainbow Dash. Both had already distinguished themselves early on in the war and were the poster children to boost the war effort. I read their exploits in the papers. Of course far removed and sanitised from the true horrors I would later share with ponies like them. Here we were safe, the war would never reach Manehattan. The ponies uninvolved would go about their business with no hurry and complain about little things like that the service is too slow or coffee not hot enough. This dress costs too much and sweating the small things. The others were jittery and scared with forlorn faces. They wanted to do their part too but feared what would become of them.

A recruiter one day came out for a smoke and bought one of my papes. He asked me if I wanted to join up. Nervous I said I wanted to but I was still not sure. The soldier chuckled sardonically.

"Kid if you believe you have what it takes you would have signed up already. Chances are even if you did. By the time your out there you'll be sent home in a box right quick"

He didn't intend to scare me from enlisting, he only told me as it was. War is something as confusing and random as it was just as organised. We didn't know what we could be capable of and had to learn by experiencing it. Before Equestria had only known peace for a thousand years. War was as foreign to us as it was to be in our nature once unleashed just to survive. Poetically it was like the two sides of the same coin.

What tipped the balance was the Massacre at Littlehorn. I read the text on the front page. Bold and black with a photo of the ruined school. Now innocent children were being killed in the war.

"These Zebra monsters, not only they managed to attack and destroy a school in Equestria but also murdered children living there" A dapper unicorn in a top hat said reading the paper. "I hope our troops will give them what's coming."

"These zebra monsters!"
Another put in.

"How could Princess Celestia allow such things to get out of control"

Now it wasn't right that I should sit it out. Innocent children were now among the victims of the war and me, safe at home. Many other ponies became enraged at the news and urged on anypony they could find to vent their anger on to go and kill the zebras. Many would join up upon learning the news, before it was mild optimism that the war will not last long, now it was for retribution for Littlehorn and the utter destruction of the Zebra and escalation to a scale beyond measure. The details trivial and pointless, the reasons of the failure of friendship was purely our own. This would be the heavy price to pay for our failures on both sides.

After I had finished my sales, I trotted to the nearest recruiting station to enlist into the army. Later that day the news was brought out that Princess Celestia would abdicate the throne and that her sister, Princess Luna would ascend and handle the now escalating war. The news was received with mixed fan fair. After Littlehorn, any talk of peace between the Ponies and Zebras felt like it had been far away on the moon. Far from the reality that we had to endure in the years to come.

My recruiter, Sgt Spear Head was typing in my information in as well as had me sign many official documents to begin my application on his terminal. He had a line outside and wanted to get me in as quick as possible to get in the numbers of his monthly quota. The other recruiters joked and kidded each other during the ordeal, trying to sway their ponies to join their branch. It was like as if it was one's own family fussing with each other and the children which were the new recruits wanting to join in but not sure which side to take.

"It's like a weird dysfunctional family we have here. We throw the shit at each other and work together all the same"
He said.

I mentioned to him that my sister was in the Royal Guard and was wounded. He joked about the guards albeit respectfully what I had mentioned. The Royal Guardspony next his cubicle peaked over and cussed at him with a sly grin. It was returned with a cheerful "fuck you too rusty guard". I didn't know what to think of it. So I chuckled along in an obvious confused way. This was my introduction to the kind of humour that service ponies relate too. It was dark, crude, offensive and surely the things that mothers would swiftly cup the ears of their foals upon hearing them.

I signed a few more official documents and took a short practice aptitude test to see where I could possibly stand with what Military Occupation Speciality, MOS I can go for in my contract. The list of the current available jobs all had numbers and letters to them. The recruiter explained them to me.

"The Army can only operate and work efficiently as long as the means for it function can be filled. That would be either the 11 Bravos which are infantry, 88 Mike the cart and truck drivers that deliver troops and supplies, 68 whiskey are medics and so forth. Choose which one you like and we'll even throw a twenty thousand bit sign up bonus when you sign the contract."

I nodded and looked over the various positions carefully. He explained each one using very choiced words to sell to me. I had to pry for more information.
He didn't know everything but gave the confidence as if he did. Whether he was lying or not, each of us would have to find out on our own. The drill sergeants at Basic don't care one bit and openly made fun of the recruiters and the odd things they would tell us to get more enlistment numbers. After picking three that I liked, infantry was on the top of my list. The others where somewhere along the lines of helpful but engaged on way or the other.

"Do you have any medical deficiencies or scars?"

We were at the medical history portion of the application. What ever I told them they would look up on my medical records anyway so there was no point in lying. I had told them I contracted pneumonia as a colt and had almost drowned. He noted that those weren't really anything to serious that would prevent me from serving.

"If the doctors ask me if I told you to lie on the documents I'm going to deny it. I suggest that you stick to the script assuming you were honest. These doctors will find any excuse or hint to get you out before you even start."

We had finished the last of the documents in my packet and he stored in his files with my name and a picture of my cutie mark on it. He shook my hoof and welcomed me into the army. All that was next was M.E.P.S, Military Entrance Process Station. There I would undertake several hours of physical tests, paper work and waiting to see if I was eligible to sign the contract. Then I would swear in as one of the many thousands of the armed service for Equestria.

My parents were upset when I broke the news to them. Naturally. It was too late to compromise. I couldn't go to Officer's Candidate School to get a desk job where it would be safe because I had never gone to college nor have I asked for it. It would have been nice to be an officer but it wasn't going to be my intention to join the army and sit out the war behind a desk. The fact that I had signed up to be canon fodder was a decision felt I should have regrets over. When I learned first hoof of the dangerous work I signed up for I wanted nothing but to come home alive but at the same time I appreciated and was proud as I was to serve with genuine, selfless and many times brave ponies in the face of danger during my time in the army.