Warhammer Equestria

The morning after the party Marshall walked past his comrade with a present in his hand for Applejack who seemed delighted to see him.

"Mornin there soldier, heard you boys got into it with a few of the local thugs in Canterlot." Applejack smirked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah word gets around fast." He said sheepishly before giving her the present.

"What's this?"

"A token of thanks for your hospitality. I know it's been a burden for you and your family."

"Oh think nothing of it hon." Applejack smiled as she opened the box.

"It's the least we...could..." Applejack paused as she looked inside to see a jar full of sugarcubes and her face began to blush.

"I thought you could use some extra sugar for your coffee."

"Uhh...thanks....I gotta go!" Applejack said before suddenly racing off.

"Whoa, never seen Applejack act like that before." Said Twilight who was coming down the street.

"Morning Princess Twilight."

"Morning Marshall, do you know why Applejack was in such a hurry?" Twilight asked.

"Not sure, she seemed flustered after receiving my gift."

"Oh? What was it?"

"A jar of sugar cubes." He said aloud as Twilights eyes suddenly went wide with shock.

"Oh. That explains it..."

"Explains what?" Marshall asked.

"Well you see in olden times, giving a mare a jar of sugar cubes was..." Twilight paused.

"What? What was it?"

"It was...a marriage proposal." Twilight said sheepishly as Marshall's face turned red.

After hearing that, Joe and Darren couldn't help but laugh their asses off. "Sigmar's grace, man! You didn't even stick your wick in her and you're already on your knees, begging for her hand!"

"Way to go captain!"

"Good on ya sir!"

The men cheered as Marshall felt the humiliation wash over him.

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!?"

"Well, you can always just explain the situation and give her another gift. Course, that could lead to you offering your dick on a platter!" Joe joked before patting Marshall's shoulder.

"I-I'm sure she knows you meant nothing by it!" Twilight stammered, trying to defuse the situation as the men laughed.

"Let me go talk to her and we'll clear this whole mess up."

"Please? thank you." Marshall grumbled as he stormed past his soldiers.

"I need a drink!"

"Remembers your orders?" Darren said.

"JUICE! I'll drink some damn juice!! HAPPY?!?" Marshall shouted back as he kept walking.

"Hoo, man. This day just gets better and better." Joe smiled like an idiot before gathering his supplies. He then remembers what Dash told him. "Uh, listen, guys. Belay that order for tonight. We'll go tomorrow."

“What changed your mind?” Darren asked before spotting Dash waving hello.

“Ah, then by all means,” Darren said as he placed a comforting hand on Joe’s shoulder. “You’re relieved for the rest of the day. Go to your woman.”

“Men! Since I’m in a good mood today, you’re all relieved for the day! Relax, mingle, do whatever comes to mind!” Darren announced.

While the troops took their day off, Applejack was at her farm completely flustered by Marshalls gift and did her best to keep it hidden from her family to avoid any misunderstandings.

Knock knock knock

"Applejack? It's me?" Twilight called out to her friend from the front porch.

When Applejack opened the door, she could instantly tell she was still flustered from Marshalls gift as the two of them sat down with a cup of Applejuice for each of them.

"I...explained everything to Marshall." She said to break the silence.

"You mean...he didn't know?" Applejack asked in surprise.

"Apparently not, you should've seen his face when he found out!" Twilight said before she started laughing.

"Even Darren and Joseph were teasing him about it!"

It didn't take much for Applejack to start laughing after hearing the aftermath of the captains accidental proposal but after having their laugh, Applejack turned back to the sugar jar and gave a gentle smile while looking at the tag with her name on it.

"Applejack? Aren't you glad?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm better now sugarcube but...for some strange reason I also feel disappointed..."

"Disappointed? why?" Twilight asked as her friend poured her a glass of juice.

"Well...all my life, I've lived on this farm with my family. Never thought about well starting one of my own." Applejack sighed.

"When I was a filly, colts from all over town would actually try to ask me out but I kept telling them I was too busy or wasn't interested."

"And why is it different this time?" Twilight asked.

"I really can't say sugarcube." She replied while leaning back in her chair.

“Well…what do you think of Sir Marshall?” Twilight asked.

"Well he's hard working for starters and he's not too bad at farm work plus he and Mac really seemed to hit it off and...he's nice." She said before coming to a sudden realization.

"Twilight I...I think I might actually like him!"

“And what’s wrong with that?” Twilight wondered. “If you like him, why not give him a chance?”

"Twilight...I don't know." Applejack said while slumping on the table.

"What if he doesn't like me back?"

"You'll just have to find out." Twilight smiled before drinking her juice.

Applejack sighed as her thoughts drifted back to when Marshall saved her during the ambush at the orchard, she was no stranger to getting help from others now and then but for some reason this felt different and she couldn't understand why.

"Well now. What do we have here?"

Applejack was suddenly startled when she heard her grandmothers voice and saw she was holding Marshalls present.

"Granny wait!"

"To Applejack...from Marshall. Ohh well bust my buttons! My little filly's finally found a man!" Granny Smith cheered.

"Granny it's not like that!"

"Ohh don't be so bashful youngin' why when I was your age, colts from all over town came knockin' at the door to court me! Of course, your great grandpa always had a pitchfork ready for em." Granny said while tapping her chin.

"Well I'm glad ya found someone Applejack, now we can start extending the family!"

"GRANNY?!?" Applejack cried out while covering her face with her hat.

"I'll leave you to sort the rest of this out. Thanks for the juice." Twilight said as she left.

"Thanks for comin' Twi..." Applejack said, still buried under her hat.

Later That Evening

Marshall was marching up towards the farmhouse in his normal attire with a sunflower in his hand and felt nervous as he tried to figure out what to say to Applejack after their misunderstanding in the market but each scenario in his head seemed to come out worst than the last.

"Applejack, I want you to understand I didn't mean to say I wanna marry you." He said to himself.

"Not that I wouldn't wanna marry you, you're very pretty and hardworking and I...I...ugh...I'm in trouble..." He grumbled.

Marshall sucked in a lungful of air before approaching the door. "Okay, here it goes." He knocks on the door and waits for someone to answer. When the door opens, he saw no one there.

"Ahem." Marsh looked down to see that Apple Bloom was the one to answer. "Hi, Mister Marshall! What brings you by? As if I don't already know," She said while bumping her elbow against him with a smirk.

"Uh-uh is your sister home?" He asked bashfully, making the little filly giggle.

"She's by the river. Tonight's a full moon~." Applebloom hinted with another friendly nudge.

Suddenly, the blood rushed to his cheeks before he turned around. "Thanks, AB."

"You'll be sure to thank me again later!" She called out before going back inside.

Just as Applebloom said, there was her sister by the river looking up at the sky with the moon shining down on her and surprisingly she was without her hat. The moment Marshalls eyes fell on her, he could swear her mane was giving off a bright golden glow under the moonlight before a breeze suddenly made her mane flow like waves of golden wheat.

"Ahem! Um Applejack?" He called out after snapping out of his trance.

Applejack looked back and got up from the riverbank and walked up to him. "Evening, Marshall."

"Listen, about the gift I-I hand no idea." He stammered while trying to apologize.

"If I had known I would have properly courted you first-! WAIT!! Forget I said that!!" He shrieked when she suddenly began to laugh.

"Relax, Sugarcube. Twilight explained the situation earlier. In truth, I shouldn't have run off like that. I should have realized your gift was just that, a gift from one friend to another," AJ told him before noticing the flower. "Though, I take it you had other ideas."

"Um sort of. A proper gift." he said before giving her the flower.

"Much obliged sugarcube." She giggled before taking the flower.

"I really do wish to thank you for your hospitality. Your family is not like the others back home...despite my service to the empire, many turned me away because of...this." He said while running a hand over his scar.

"Even at celebratory feasts I was shunned, the ladies of court would laugh behind my back and called me a monster..."

Crack

A crunch was heard nearby, the cause being Applejack punching a hole into one of the trees. "Those... those...Bitches!"

"Applejack?"

"How can they do that? Judge someone based on their looks without getting to know them?!?" She asked in frustration.

"It's the way things are." Marshall replied, making her even more frustrated.

"Well it ain't right! You defended those rich snobs and they repay you by treating you like that?!? I have half a mind to go across the ocean and give em a good walloping!" Applejack said in a huff as she gave a pouty face.

"Well I'm glad to know I have one ladies approval." Marshall said before taking her hand.

"If possible Applejack, I'd like to talk with you again some time."

Applejack felt her heart flutter as he looked at her with his silver eyes and could not help but smile at his offer.

"I'd...I'd like that." She said as he kissed her hand.

"May I walk you home?" He offered while showing her the way.

"Um...sure."

As the two went back towards the house, a certain rainbow pegasus was grinning at the lovey dove sight and watched them take their stroll under the moonlight.

"Wow your friends pretty smooth~."

"Not as smooth as this~."

Rainbow Dash yelped as Joe squeezed her flank and licked her neck while she braced herself against the apple tree they were using.

"Now," Smooch "what can I do," Smooch "to say I'm sorry," Smooch "and make you feel like the only mare in the world?" Joe asked while kissing along her collarbone, and neck, and ending the trail with her lips.

"Mmm whaddya think stud~?" Rainbow asked as they went down to the grass with her giggling as she pulled him down.

"Yipe!"

Morning

After explaining his plan to his superiors, Joe volunteered to lead a small expedition into the Everfree forest in hopes of finding the orks main base.

"The caravans have been attacked along these roads, at first it seems like a disorganized pattern but if we all trace them back to their origin source." Joe said as he traced his finger along the map.

"We have our base."

"Let's not be hasty." Darren advised.

"We don't know how many greenskins we're up against and given the orks reproduction rates, we can't afford to waste this chance. Once you have found the base, send up a flare and we'll launch a mortar strike to your location."

"I'll have the crews prepare the canons at once." Marshall said before dismissing himself.

"Understood." Joe turned to his men and nodded to them. "Move out, ladies!" The men and a couple of ponies that wanted to join saluted before heading for the forest. As Joe went to meet with them, he spotted Dash running up to him.

She jumped onto him before hugging his neck tight. "Be safe, alright."

"I will do my best." They shared a quick kiss before Joe let her down. "With any luck, I'll be back to you before the day is done."

"You sure you wanna take them Joseph?" Marshall whispered to his friend after getting a look at his squad.

"Some of these guys haven't even finished training."

"It's just a scouting mission, we'll be fine." Joe said before giving the signal to move out with some of the townsfolk wishing them luck as they marched towards the forest. The squad moved further into Everfree wtih the two Equestrians leading them through the safest route to their destination.

After a few hours of trekking through the dense foliage, one of the men spotted the familiar glow of a bonfire up ahead and signaled the others to follow, what they found filled them with both dread and excitement. An entire timber wolf den was turned into a makeshift corral by a band of goblins who seemed to have complete control over the beasts with some being used as mounts to patrol the area.

"Sigmar preserve us, look at them..." One of the men whispered as Joe got a quick look at the perimeter.

"Alright, I count at least five goblins but there could be more inside." Joe whispered as he ducked behind a large boulder.

"What's the plan sir?"

Joe turns to the pegasus and gives him an order. "I need you to fly back and inform the others about our findings. The rest of you, fan out and circle the encampment."

"Alright lads, this is what you trained for." One of the men said to the two pony recruits as they readied their flintlocks.

"Stick to your partner and you'll be fine."

The men took their positions and prepared to ambush the camp when suddenly the scout was struck out of the sky by an arrow and a warband of orks suddenly began swarming out of the trees.

"IT'S AN AMBUSH!!"

"Fall back!!" Joe shouted after shooting the first one down.

The men soon turned in both directions, their backs to each other, and fired what they could at the Greenskins before drawing their swords and axes. "For the Empire!" One of them shouted before plunging his sword into the gut of an Ork.

The fighting was fierce as they fought tooth and nail to get through the orks but it quickly became clear that they were outnumbered and without a second thought, Joe deployed a flare to signal the artillery before he and his men were finally able to cut a path through the warband.

"MOVE! MOVE!!"

"Sick da hounds on em!!" One ork shouted to a goblin who giggled menacingly as he opened a large cage full of timber wolves who immediately gave chase.

Edge of Ponyville

The artillery crew spotted the flare and quickly began loading the canons as fast as they could.

"Range, four hundred yards!" Their lieutenant shouted as they cranked the gun barrel towards the flares direction.

"Ready...aim...FI-!"

WHAM!

Just as they were about to fire, the crew were suddenly knocked out cold by a group of masked assailants who quickly tied them up and began trashing their equipment, among the victims of the assault was Bulk Biceps who could barely see straight and as the vandals finished their work one of them held up a peace sign declaring.

"Make love, not war!"

Back in the forest

Joe had already lost half his squad after the timber wolves had chased them down, the two equestrians who came with him were badly injured with one of them on the brink of death after he took a sword to his gut.

"AGH! I-I gotta stop!" He shouted, no longer being able to take the pain.

The survivors quickly formed a defensive circle around a tree while Joe got to work on tending to his wound.

"You'll be alright, son. Here, bite down on this." Joe grabbed a stick and placed it in the stallion's mouth. Once he bit down, Joe started applying some alcohol to the wound.

"Nnnng!" The guy screamed while Joe treated him.

"Certainly gets you up in the morning," Joe tried joking with him before grabbing the nearest pistol and firing it into the maw of a charging Timber wolf. "Where the hell is my artillery!" He yelled before firing another flare into the air.

"G-go on without me..." the stallion yelled as Joe finished bandaging his wound.

"Just go!"

"A good soldier never leaves a man behind!" One of the men said before draping the rookie over his shoulders.

"I got him sir."

"Good man."

AWOOO!!

"They're close..." The second stallion said nervously while gripping his sword.

"Let's haul ass!" Joe said as they made a run for it before running into another party of orks.

"Goin' somwhere humie?" One of them grinned with his blade pointed at Joe.

"Da fun's just startin'!"

Joe just smirked before letting a throwing knife slide from his sleeve and into his hand. "Right you are, you pig-skinned fuck!" He shouted before tossing his knife right into the Ork's eyes.

"AUUGH!! ME EYES!!"

"RUN!!"

The men ran as fast as their feet could carry them with the orks firing their arrows and shouting wildly, soon one of the men was shot dead as three arrows were lodged in his back while the second rookie was ambushed by a timber wolf and viciously mauled.

"AGGH!! OH CELESTIA!! C-CAPTAIN HELP!!"

"GET OFF HIM!!" One of the men roared as he ran the beast through with his sword before being shot through the head by a goblins arrow.

Joe quickly recovered the recruit and kept running towards a clearing after ditching the orks once more. Now he had two injured soldiers and all that were left of his men were exhausted.

"This it? This is all that made it?" He asked after seeing it was just the four of them.

"I'm afraid so sir..." his squad member replied while checking his ammo pouch.

"And I'm out of bullets..."

"I think I have a few left." Said the rookie who was mauled by the timber wolf.

"Load up what you can," Joe ordered before bringing out his axes. "We still have a long way to go, and it's obvious by now that our artillery strike isn't coming anytime soon." Just then, he hears the sound of multiple howls and war cries. "Coffee break's over. Move!"

Just before they could make their final push out of the forest a lone timber wolf appeared out of the brush yet this one seemed different. Instead of its usual green glow, the eyes of the beast were a hellish red and it seemed to be secreting a strange black ooze that poisoned the very earth around it but what was most disturbing of all were the tentacles sticking out of the creatures back wriggling about like worms in the soil.

"What in sigmar's name..."

"Men, stay back. This beast is mine." Joe declared while stepping cautiously towards the beast.

Joe and the beast started to circle each other while making sure to keep the survivors behind him. The wolf took a step closer, sniffing. Savoring the meal to come.

Joe glared at the beast while raising his axes. "You want a bite of me? Well, I'll tell you this. Only Dash gets to bite this ass!" He roared before charging toward the wolf.

The moment the two clashed Joe was nearly overpowered by the wolf as he used one arm to keep its jaws at bay while the other furiously hacked away at its side but during the struggle, the wolf managed to pull back and crunched its jaws around his arm to the point of nearly breaking the bone.

"AGH!! YOU SON OF A!!" Joe cursed before bringing his axe down several times on the monsters head, forcing it to let go as it yowled in pain.

Joe couldn't stop and continued to chop at the wolf's head till it was nothing but splinters. With the beast dead, he nursed his arm and went back to his comrades. "This sucks. Now we're low on ammo and I only have one functioning arm."

"I...I don't wanna die..." One of the rookies said as he began to weep.

"I don't wanna die out here!"

"Hey hey, just keep calm soldier. Our boys will come for us."

"What if they don't?!? What if they can't find us?!?"

"Shh! calm down rookie." Joe said as his squadmate became more frantic.

"Calm?!? Captain we're all gonna die out here!"

"Hey stop that! Our boys WILL come for us!" Joe shouted while rubbing the pain out of his arm.

"Now let's get moving, we can't linger here forever."

"Sir." The soldier who was carrying the other rookie called over to Joe and saw that their recruit was getting worse.

"He's burning up, if we don't get him some medical attention soon he's not gonna last."

"Ze-cora...." the mauled stallion said while pointing into the forest with his one good arm.

"What's that, son?" One of the soldiers asked while bandaging his leg.

"Zecora. She's a medicine zebra that lives not too far from here," The pegasus who got shot down said. "We should be able to get the help we need from her."

"Then let's move it out," Joe ordered the men.

The men made their way to Zecora's hut while sneaking past the orks now patrolling the forest as they furiously searched for Joe's party.

"De're here somewhere! FIND EM!" One of the bigger orks shouted to the rest unaware that his quarry was just behind him as they crawled beneath the brush, trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Hey boss!" A goblin shouted forcing the men to freeze in their tracks.

"Warboss Cracktoof wants us back at camp! He sounds mad..."

"Grragh! Da humies and dem pony gits get away dis time but we'll have fun burnin' down dere pretty little town to ashes heh heh heh heh! BACK TO CAMP BOYZ!!"

"What luck..." One of the men sighed in relief until the goblin caught a whiff of their scent.

"Boss you smell dat?"

"Smell wut?"

"It smells like...humies!"

The goblin crept closer to the bush Joe and his men were hiding in as he homed in on their scent before he was suddenly shot in the head by a musket.

"CHARGE!!"

"Marshall!!" Joe shouted with excitement as an entire platoon of imperial soldiers came charging into the ork patrol and slaughtered them to the last greenskin.

"Joseph?! JOSEPH!?" Marshall yelled out for his friend once the last of the orks were driven off.

"Over here!" Joe called over to his buddy just before the blood loss started to kick in. "Aww, crap. About to black out." With that, he slumped over and passed out.

End.