“Ugggh” I moaned as I heard a officer bark into the tent. I slowly got up out of my cot and got dressed. I put on my gear and headed to the food tent, I was always the first one there so I got fresh food. Usually they would give us eggs and stale toast but today they let us have pancakes.
I walked away to a random table and placed my tray down. I sat down and started eating. Now if you told me a few months ago I would be in a war fighting ponies in the magic land of Equestra I would have laughed so hard that I would begin to cry. But of course now I’m stuck in a military camp on the border of Equestra in a war with ponies. Oh you’re wondering why we’re fighting ponies? Well it all started awhile back, one of our newer shuttles landed on this planet, more specifically the country Equestra. Of course with our modern day government the first thing they do is attempt to abduct 10 or so ponies, well apparently that did NOT go over well with Princess of Equestra and she declared war on us. By ‘us’ I mean the whole entire Earth, and out of all the people they can choose to draft, I get drafted! Suck my luck… So far no real fighting has happened but really, how strong can ponies be? I guess I’ll find out soon enough…
My friend Rich dropped his plate across from me and without saying anything looked down at his single pancake and dug his fork in and started eating. Rich was a friend I met at training camp. He didn’t talk much and ate on his own. One day I sat down with him and started talking about random stuff. I found out he was Hispanic and was born in New York, his favorite sport on Earth was football. I also found out he was a Brony so this whole war with ponies must be hard on him. I tried to comfort him whenever I could and always tried to be upbeat but today felt like a dark day. There was this dark vibe just sailing through the base. By now everyone in my section of the camp was up and was eating. Once everyone was done we all made our way to a little area within the camp to exercise. Our sergeant made us do about 100 sit-ups and 50 push-ups per day which I now was adjusted to and did them with ease. Now to be honest before getting drafted I was a tad heavy, but when I did get drafted I slimed down tremendously. So I am a bit thankful for that but other than that being here is a living hell. No excitement, no fun just exercise and patrolling. Speaking of patrolling, I had to go with my squad to patrol the border of Everfree Forest, for movement.
My squad consisted of me, Rich, a 26 year old guy named Anthony with a small scruffy beard and Sergeant Wilson. We drove over in a Humvee to a trench that we dug about a week ago and got out. Sergeant Wilson told us again we were going to be patrolling the border of the Everfree for movement. We jumped into the trench and got on a little stool made of dried mud and stared into the thick fog that covered the forest. I wondered what those ponies had in store for us; I mean we had no idea of what weapons they had or what warfare tactics they used. All I could do was wait and stare into the thick fog, wondering how this whole war would play out...
“Some of our spies have confirmed the enemies’ position and we will assault over the course of the next few days” Our lead Stallion talked while he pointed to a series of red dots that was supposedly the ‘enemy’. We didn’t even know what the enemy looked like! All I knew was they were an ugly looking race called Humans. I zoned out while the lead Stallion rambled on, the last word I caught was “Dismissed.”.
Me and everypony else walked out towards the little camp we setup in the Everfree Forest. When we got there we prepared for the upcoming battle with these ‘Humans’. Later once finished we all went back to our tents. My bed was setup next to a pony named Applejack. She was a nice pony, orange and light yellow mane. She and I became friends and we talked about our past lives. I learned she was born and raised in Ponyville and worked with her family at Sweet Apple Acers and had been recently been drafted to Princess Celestia’s army like me. She also had an unusual accent that was a bit annoying at first but I soon adapted to it. Anyway as we got settled for the night, Applejack and I talked a little of the upcoming battle.
“What do you think they’ll look like, or what weapons they have?” I asked worriedly.
“None of us know sugar cube, we just have to wait and see.” she replied.The next hour consisted of me asking tons of questions that for the most part, she couldn’t answer. But eventually I asked one question that stopped her cold.
“What will happen If they win, will they kill us all?” I asked.
She stuttered before answering quickly and quietly “Ah' don't know, but we may find out soon enough.”
After that we both went to sleep, I let that one question ring in my mind as Applejacks slow breathing lulled me to a restful sleep...
“What shall we do with this one, sir” A deep male voice said.
I opened my eyes to see two creatures that looked like mutated monkeys holding me. I struggled to break free but they had an iron grip. “This one will be executed” said a deep booming voice. They two monkey like creatures dragged me by my forelegs through what seemed to be the Canterlot Castle, only instead of ponies there were the monkey like things roaming around. The two creatures dragged me through the castle until we stopped at a door. They threw me into a room with two other creatures with great force. Tired and dizzy another creature shoved me into a wall and told the other one to take aim; he pointed what looked to be a gun. I didn’t know these things had guns too. The only true difference was the trigger was changed so they would be able to fire the weapon with ease. I heard the ring of a bullet thinking my life would end right there...
“Ah!” I let out a little yelp while awaking from my nightmare. Luckily I had not woken anyone up and I could hear Applejacks slow paced breathing to the lrft of me. I tried to go back to sleep but had a hard time, that image of those monkey like creature was embedded in my brain. For the next hour or so I couldn’t sleep, but finally I drifted off to sleep.
I awoke to Applejack poking me softly with her hoof “Mornin' sugar cube, it’s time for breakfast.” I rose slowly and walked to one of the setup bathrooms. I wiped the crust out of my eyes and brushed my teeth. When I finished I walked tiredly over to the mess hall. When I got there I noticed Applejack waving me over to her and her other friend Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash is also from Ponyville Applejack had told me, she had also said she was trying to get into the Wonderbolts, the best flying team in Equestria. Even with all Applejack had told me she was still something. She was very dedicated to flying but her cockyness held her back from her dream. Why she was in Celestias’ Solar Army you may ask? Well unlike me she joined show she could show off her speed and defeat the humans. That’s why I said she was so cocky; she thinks she can win this war all by herself. I was zoned out and walked straight into a table and fell backwards. “Ughh” I moaned as I got up. Luckily neither Applejack nor Rainbow Dash had noticed me. I got up and made my way to the table. I sat down and greeted both mares.
“Rumors say our assault on the humans is today!” Rainbow Dash told me. She sounded excited about the fight, Applejack on the other hoof…
“Eat up Rainbow, you’ll wish you had later.” Applejack said with a grimace on her face as predicting the ending of the fight later. It was a silent lunch, no pony talked throughout the whole mess hall. When everypony finished we were told to skip exercises and go straight to the Briefing Room.
“We will soften up there defenses with each fire team advancing on different sides. Each squad will consist of three ponies, listen closely to the names. When you hear your name meet with your groups outside of the tent.”. He went on with the list of names until her reached the last squad. “You three are the last left, so get moving.” The Lead Stallion announced while he pointed to Applejack, Rainbow Dash and I. We were surprised to get paired up together, although it didn’t mean much, at least we would die together.
We got our gear and waited. Some higher ranking ponies came around giving us our weapons. Pegasus were given large machetes for sky raids, and Unicorns and Earth Ponies were given special guns that fit comfortably around our hooves. I was given a light semi-automatic gun and a knife. Applejack was given a custom painted shotgun with her cutie-mark blended into a woodland camouflage. She was one of the few equipped with a shotgun, and for one simple reason. SHE COULD USE A SHOTGUN! At training she hit every target in such a short amount of time, she beat an Equestrian record! What an amazing pony I thought as I zoned out…
“Pay attention soldier!” I heard a loud, grim voice scream at me. I quickly looked and tried to pay attention. The loud colt that had screamed at me was apparently a general. He told us what number each fire team was and where we would be attacking. Two fire teams teamed up to make a squad. We were set with fire team Y. Their team consisted of a male earth pony, male Pegasus, and female unicorn. We were told we were moving in 10 minutes, everypony said their goodbyes to friends they had met. Finally we set out, me and Applejack talked very quietly while we walked down the trail. Now it was her who was nervous, I tried to comfort her every way I could tell her we would make it through all of this. Her facial expression said she didn’t believe me, but she tried to make a small smile. Finally I heard the general scream to move out to our positions and charge when we hear the signal. All the squads broke off and went to their positions. When we arrived we all sat in silence, waiting for the bell of death to ring.
[size=18][/size]
One thing the military failed to mention to any potential recruits is the factor of how repetitive the daily routine typically is...
Get up, eat, do some exercises, stare into a large patch of fog for about eight or nine hours, then repeat the whole process over again the next day. It was a long and tedious process in the trenches, and today promised nothing different. After going through the whole morning routine, my platoon moved once again to take our positions in the main trench at the southern end of the camp. We settled into the mud hole, and began our standard routine of watching for movement in the fog.
“Good news maggots!” The Sergeant shouted, grabbing our attention. “We’re expanding the trench today! All of you grab a shovel!”
A chorus of groans met the orders as men swapped their weapons for shovels. My squad mate Rich threw his rifle carelessly to the ground, but I knew better than to abuse my gun in such a way. I carefully set my M-4 against the nearby wall, being careful not to let any mud even near the barrel.
I saw Rich tossing me a shovel out of my eye, catching it little thought. I mentally prepared myself for the backbreaking work as I moved to join the others. When we finally reached the wall of dirt and mud we would work on, we immediately got to work. We dug for about an hour or so with no breaks, and sore muscles. After a little bit more silent digging Rich spoke up sounding madder than ever.
"This is bullshit…”
“What?” I replied, knowing it wouldn’t end well.
“I’m wasting my life, digging a fucking hole. I could be with my girlfriend, or finishing my engendering degree. But no, I’m stuck here digging… A. FUCKING… HOLE!” He screamed throwing his shovel in anger. I felt like I was watching a 5 year old on a tantrum, but at least he had a legitimate reason to be mad. By now everyone was staring at him, I was going to chip in a defend him but Wilson came at the right time.
“Stop digging!” I looked up and saw Sergeant Wilson holding the shoulder of a really pale man. Rich looked extremely embarrassed and looked up at Wilson. “This is Private Harris; he comes from the U.K and is here to help us win this damn war. I assume you guys will give him a warm welcome.” The man named Harris jumped in the trench and sat there wondering what to do.
I pointed “There are some shovels over there, go grab one and help us dig.” He nodded and picked up a shovel and walked over. Almost immediately some guys made fun of him.
“Pip pip cheerio!” one of the guys joked in a rather bad English accent.
“Come on guys, this isn’t a third grade classroom.” I told them. I could tell he was embarrassed. Idiots…
“Whatever” The guy said and went back to digging.
“Thanks mate.” Private Harris said, walking over toward me for.
“You’re welcome” I said. As we talked, I learned that he was 22 years old and his full name was Will Harris. Me, him and Rich grew
close friends and talked while digging.
After about three hours of the grueling work, we were finally done. Rich wiped the sweat off his forehead.
“God I hate manual labor.” He mumbled.
“Suck it up,” I said, putting my shovel back in its place. “It won’t kill you.
“But why take the chance?” I just rolled my eyes, not in the mood to start up an argument. I looked over to Will, who seemed to be staring into the sky.
“What are looking at Will?” I asked. Rich also looked over to where Will was staring.
“Eh, it’s just an incoming helicopter,” He said. “Probably coming to deliver some supplies or, maybe some reinforcements.”
“It’s not that,” Will said absently. “Something seems… off.” I looked at helicopter, squinting to get a better look. Now that he mentioned it, something did seem wrong. It almost appeared as if a few smaller objects were flying next to it. At first, I didn’t understand what I was looking at, but then the helicopter’s tail suddenly exploded, and realization hit me.
“THEY’RE HERE!” Someone shouted. We ran for the top of the cliff when I saw Wilson.
“Come on, they’re coming!” He shouted. We all rushed to our guns and picked them up and got ready to fire. I soon realized the Will had no gun. Stupid military, I thought to myself and handed him my M-9 pistol. We all looked at the flying ponies and fired; I probably used half a magazine on them. We had shot 3 of them and the other 2 had escaped. I turned back to the thick fog and saw ponies charging at us.
“TAKE THEM OUT!” I screamed out of sheer terror. I heard the pops of rifles across the whole trench and let my rifle join them. I shot in every direction, spraying the bullets and praying they would connect, wondering if I had killed any of them.
“INCOMING!” a soldier shouted. I immediately ducked down, my shoulder buried in the mud. A blue ball of energy exploded just a few yards to my left, reducing a group my fellow troopers to ash.
“What in God’s name…” I handed Will my M-4 and ran over to the ash pile. Luckily for me, that blue ball didn’t destroy guns. I picked up an M-240 machine gun and an M-9 pistol and ran for Will. Rich had mounted a nearby Humvee turret, screaming something inaudible as he sprayed hot fifty-caliber lead into the fog, trying to hit something, anything. I smiled over at Will, seeing how he was eying my machine gun.
“Here’s where the fun begins!” I said mounting my M-24 on the edge of the trench.
“Damn straight!” He yelled back. The noise of the gun was almost deafening. It felt as I was playing a children’s game, pointing at colors and them dropping. But I knew this was much more that a silly child’s game. I couldn’t believe these ponies were so strong; their magic could creep in and blow up. But we fought back very hard and finally after fifteen minutes of loud pops, they stopped.
“Cease Fire! Cease Fire!” The Sergeant shouted. “They’ve stopped attacking for now. Someone get me a status Report!” After several exchanges back and forth between squad leaders, we learned that we had lost about twenty five men and a few choppers. Our Sergeant pointed toward our general area.
“
You men, keep a watch over the line, there might be a second wave coming!”
I looked at Will and we both said at the same time “What the hell just happened.”
From 6 ponies to 3 in about 30 minutes sense the other fire team was elected to run in our first ‘little’ charge towards the enemy. Well, I can tell you one thing… That charge was a win within a loss. We had lost about 70 ponies in that single charge, pretty harsh. But one thing that came out of it was us softening the enemy’s lines, plus when we go in for our 2nd and last charge they won’t expect to be hit a second time.
Back to reality… We had told Rainbow to get me, her and Applejack some water. We made sure she stayed low while flying, because we didn’t want to be that group that ruins everything! When she finally left me and Applejack talked about our families and friends back at home. We talked about her friends that were the true embodiments of loyalty, laughter, kindness, generosity, magic, and herself, honesty. Finally, we reached the topic of my past…
“Well, Ah told you all about my life. Tell me bout’ yours.”
“Um, I don’t know…”
“Come on now, you can trust me.”
“Really”
"Of course” she smiled “That’s what friends are for”
My heart did a hop, gallop and a jump when she told me we were friends. But explaining my past was hard, because there was little past explain…
“Okay”
“Well, come on now.”
Well, Applejack… When growing up from being a baby colt to getting drafted into the army I had no friends, and little family. I was abandon in the Everfree Forest when I was a month old; a zebra that spoke in rhyme had found me on her “herb day” and brought me in. I had no friends growing up, just… well my mom… When I got older I moved out and tried to get a job in Trotingham, but sense I had never talked to anypony I had no social experience. I ended up with no friends and no way back to moms… I lived on the streets for half my life, getting food in hay kitchens until one royal sun guard told everyone in the hay kitchen we had to join the army… That’s how I got here…
Applejack just stared blankly at me. She came over and put her hooves around me and hugged me. “Ah am so sorry.” She said in a kind voice.
“Awwww!” I saw Rainbow looking at us with a HUGE grin on her face. Applejack and I quickly backed away from each other, her blushing. Rainbow floated down to where we were.
“Didn’t want to interrupt, but I got you the water” She gave us the water, with that signature grin on her face. “The general told me to inform you, we are going to charge in, and oh I’d say about 5 minutes. Applejack and I looked at each other with a ‘WHAT’ look. There is no time to waste I better get ready to fight.
Silence filled the room for the next 5 or so minutes until… *DING*. That was the bell for the charge. Rainbow immediately flew straight into battle. Me and Applejack looked at each other and nodded.
“CHARGE!” our shouts blended in with all the other screaming ponies. We fired our guns at the hole about 40 yards away. I made sure to I was always near Applejack, and her to me. I shot a fire spell at the trench and saw 3 burning clothing fall to the bottom of the pit. We were making progress; the only thing stopping up was the vehicles with machine guns mounted on the top. After three minutes of intense fighting we made it to the trench where two different races tried to kill one another. I aimed my gun at a 6 ft tall man and pulled my trigger. He fell to the ground lifeless, I was horrified. I saw Rainbow create a tornado around one of their metal flying contraptions. I was surprised at how easy this was, they were running back into the main facility and we chased them. We reached the wall,
“Open the door” somepony shouted. The doors slowly moved open, and with it were 4 viechals with huge cannons pointed at us.
“RUN!” I heard somepony shout. I ran back, hearing bullets fly past my face. When I was just jumping out of the trench I heard a moan in the pit. I looked back, and under a bloody mess I saw my friend Applejack…
