From The Ashes

by Horizon Sunrise

Chapter 7: Apple of Your Country's Eye

“Ah…” I was stunned. No one has ever asked me about her past before, not my family, not even my soldiers.

“What wrong Applejack?”

“Nothin… Also address me as commander!”

“Come on Commander, this is just friends talking about their past. No big deal right?” she pat my back.

“I’ll tell you Twi, it's not pretty. I did some horrible things.”

“I'm always here for you AJ. Don't forget that.”

Darnit Twi! Always know how to force words outta my mouth.

“Ok… I'll be warning y’all, it's not nice and peachy.”

~

Sometimes… you need a little less gun.

That statement was one of those I said to myself over and over again. And surprisingly, the first kill I have obtained in the war was not by my SMLE rifle, but with my hooves.

I was tending to the farm with Big Mac while Granny Smith took Apple Bloom to Canterlot for… somethin (I don't actually remember but that's besides the point) when Starlight declared war. Since we were in the countryside, (the part where all armies tend to march off to first apparently), we saw the gigantic army of the Equalists. Honestly, that was the most intimidating thing I've ever seen in my life. Millions of ponies marching with their Gewerh 98 rifles, ready to kill at a moment's notice.

I hid inside the barn as they marched through our fields into Ponyville while Big Mac ran off to another house. Back then I was scared of them, I didn't know what to do. I just sat there. I could hear loud explosions and raging fires.

After a few hours, the barn doors were forced open. Two soldiers entered the barn and began checking for survivors.

“Dammit why do we have to enter the spooky barns. Our comrades are now celebrating at the town square for our victory!”

“Shut your mouth private! We are searching for anymore ponies for Starlight to incorporate them into our ever growing army.”

Oh no. I'm not gonna be made to fight for a cause I don't even know! I stood my ground and came out of my hiding spot behind the two ponies.

“Come get me ya hornswogglers!” I ran into the shed.

“Get her!” they loaded their weapons and ran towards me. I looked around for anything to defend myself with. There was nothing else in the shed left except… a shovel!

I grabbed the shovel and waited for their unwelcomed arrival.

“Where are you, you little- ‘plonk!’” my shovel smashed into the face of a soldier. His muzzle was bleeding and he toppled down to the ground as the concussion took over him.

The other soldier raised their Gewerh 98, ready to fire. With all my might, I bucked him, causing him to drop his weapon and fall down. I grabbed the gun and fired.

“Bang!” His face exploded into a million pieces, his blood splattering on my coat. I just stood there, dumbfounded by what I’ve done.

A few hours later, I met up with Big Mac and we ran to Canterlot.

~

I’m guessing I’ve just destroyed Twilight’s mind.

“Wow Applejack…” She said.

“And that’s not the end of my story.”

~

Now it is 5 years later. Big Mac has been posted to fight in the Ponyville Front while I was posted to Vanhoover as a general to defend it at all costs.

Why defend it at all costs? Well apart from Manehattan, which has already overtaken by the Equalists, Vanhoover was the only trading city we had left. Without Vanhoover, we will not get any more resources and technology from Saddle Arabia, and that will cost us the war.

My squad took our positions in the newly constructed bunkers on top of a hill and prepared our machine guns. Far out from the city, there were an uncountable amount of artillery stations and over a million Equalists.

We waited for their arrival. Normally they would charge up the hill immediately like idiots,bring mowed down by our Machine Gun posts, but this time, they weren’t coming first. Instead, millions of shells took their place in the sky.

The shells were devastating, destroying many of our machine gun bunkers and buildings. The forest that once surrounded the city was in ashes. The sky turned from blue to black in one day. The deafening explosions occurred almost every second.

We tried to hide in the buildings at first, but the shells raised them to the ground, killing a lot of our troops. We couldn't dig underground either! The soil is too wet and we didn't bring shovels with us to defend Vanhoover. We just hoped and pray to Celestia that the shelling would stop.

After 2 days of shelling, it finally stopped, meaning that the Equalists will be marching in soon. We tried to recover anything we could, but we have been reduced to 3 divisions and 4 machine gun posts around the city. Intelligence had it that the Equalists prepared 9 divisions to attack Vanhoover.

Many of our mares gave up hope and even considering surrender to the Equalists. Moral was in an all-time low for our army. Being the General, I had to find some way to encourage them to fight. We have to stand strong for Equestria. We had to stand strong for…

And that's when I realised the true reason why we were fighting.

I ordered every mare to the Town Square (which was not nothing more than a wooden box and debris flooding the surroundings). Those faces of fear and uncertainty stared at me, ponies from all over Equestria, there were even some griffins and changlings in the masses. Once I've gathered everypony, I said one of my most famous speeches in the entire war.

“This war has been a sad and miserable one for all of ponykind. With Celestia gone and the victory of Starlight’s brutal regime being ever so possible, I can see why this can seem so hopeless. But they shall not pass!”

“Let me tell you, we are not here to fight against Starlight, not even to fight for the protection of Luna and Cadence. We are here, in these trenches, facing certain death from shells, to give others a future to look forward to, and to be remembered.” Everypony looked at me with brightening faces.

“If history remembers one in every thousand of us, then that future will have countless stories of who we were and what we did. But until that day comes, we will stand. We will look death in the eye, and we will FIGHT!”

Everypony cheered. Even with Starlight’s army approaching, with all the destruction around us, we all cheered.

~

“...and, as we all cheered, they did not pass. We successfully defended Vanhoover and that battle gave us the opportunity to turn the tide of the war.” Applejack concluded.

“Wow Applejack, you really can inspire.” I looked at her with amazement.

“Yup! NOW BACK TO TRAINING!”

Comments

[scorched apple]

is vanhoover verdun? and one of verduns modos were "they shall not pass"

[Horizon Sunrise]

8052533
I've planned this fanfic really well

[scorched apple]

8058683 ya cant wait till the next one