Interviews with a War Veteran

by walk-in closet brony

Prologue

The rain pelts down on my news van as I gaze out the window of the small cottage that my crew and I now inhabit. I rest my feet on the soft, felt rug as we await our host's return from the modest kitchen to our left. Pictures of serviceman in fatigues line the mantle above the fireplace, snapshots of memories that had occurred long ago. Brady Fitzgerald, my camera man, tinkers with his state-of-the-art dual lens camera while Sarah Hardy, my boom microphone specialist, fidgets with her thumbs. We're all quiet, knowing full well the endeavor we were about to undertake. We were all interns, just a couple a' kids trying to get by in life, when our director comes up to me and gives me the assignment. He told me to pick my cameraman and someone to hold the boom mic, grab the company van, and drive cross country searching for a select group of people for a special documentary they were filming for the History Channel.

That was two days ago.

About five hours ago, we found out who we were looking for and why.

"I've got chamomile and ginseng. Take your pick, it's all I got and to be honest, the chamomile tastes much better."

The three of us look up and smile as Bill Powers, former U.S. army infantry man steps through the door holding a tray of old mugs. The warm steam, matched only by his smile, beckons us after our long drive through the chilly Ohio countryside. I can hear the bones in his back crack as he lowers himself into the corduroy recliner. At the age of 42, Mr. Powers has lived on his own in the small town of Tippecanoe, many deep stress marks creasing down his face. He rests his left hand on the armrest and I take notice of his thumb and pointer finger, or the lack of them. Mr. Powers' right ring finger also seems to be missing, a long scar running down his right arm complimenting the grotesque wound.

Mr. Powers was number one on our list.

"So, I suppose you're gonna be filming this?" He asks.

"Yes sir, we'll begin whenever you're ready." Says Brady, all the while not taking his eyes off of his camera.

Powers takes a long sip from his tea, savoring every last drop. Sarah levels the mic in the crook of her arm for support, waiting on the seasoned military veteran to speak. This is why we were here for Mr. Powers. The only reason we even bothered to visit this little town in the middle of nowhere.

Because Mr. Powers, had been in the first wave of infantryman to invade the foreign world of Equestria.

Bill Powers gives us all a short nod, signifying that he is ready. Brady hits the timed record button on the side of his camera and gives me a countdown, dropping a finger with each number.

Three . . .

Two . . .

One . . .

Go . . .

"Bill Powers? It says here in your dossier that you were a corporal in the First Infantry Division." I say.

"Yeah, that's me. I can give you my serial number if you'd like." He says as his face shoots me a smirk.

I gulp before speaking my next words, this being my first time on camera. Powers doesn't even flinch.

"No that's fine. We're here to document your service in the U.S. army during the invasion of Equestria. Can you tell us a little about that?"

Powers shifts uncomfortably in his seat, his face donning a somber look.

"Wow . . . where do I start?"

"Anywhere you think would be most comfortable, then just go from there." I say.

"Sheesh, okay. Well, as you probably know, the army mobilized after that big fiasco with the Equestrian government when we declared war on each other, but that's a whole other story for a different time. You're here for the nitty-gritty stuff right? The battles? The inside story?" He says.

"I guess, in a sense, yes. That is what we're here for. Could you indulge us?"

"You bet your candy-ass I could. Pardon my French, but I'm sure you could just bleep that out right?"

I smile as I nod gently, his humorous approach at such a touchy subject kind of off-putting. He takes another long sip of tea, this time finishing off the mug. He belches as he sets the mug down, preparing for his story.

"Alright, we deployed a month after the initial call. A bunch of us were pretty surprised that we were going to war with the ponies. I mean for god's sake, it sounds stupid just saying it! They were walking coloring books! More than half of their population were females who gardened and sold fruit at some two-bit stand. None of us were really geared up for doing this anyway. No one wanted a war. Especially between our two countries."

Powers pauses to cough, then sneeze twice.

"Sorry, this weather is really messing with my sinuses. Anyway, what ticked us off the most-"

"Us?" I interject.

"The grunts. The infantryman that were going to fight the war. What ticked us off the most was that the world just stood by and watched us half ass our way into a conflict. A conflict that we so foolishly got ourselves into! By Day seventeen, we had already boarded the C-130's and were on our way to the IDTP."

"The IDTP?" I ask.

"Inter-dimensional-transportation-portal. Just a long name that the geeks at the Universities called the portal to Equestria. The thing was pretty wide. Eight of us could stand shoulder-to-shoulder and walk straight through. Hell, that's exactly what we did."

"I see, and can you tell us what happened when you got through?"

Powers takes a deep breath.

"Well, it sorta happened like this . . ."

Author's Note:

When I kick off the story in the next chapter, the point of view will be reverting back and forth between the man interviewing the veterans and a flashback taken in third person from the veteran's point of view.

I first thought of this when I read Max Brooks' World War Z about a year or two ago which is pretty much where most of the inspiration came from.

Fun Fact: The story was originally going to be about a seventy two year old veteran who is the last surviving member of the war named Louis Castillo.

Comments

[walk-in closet brony]

And so it begins!

I also want to take this time to apologize for doing absolutely nothing for the past month. This story was floating in the back of my mind for a while and I figured, "Why the fuck not."

Also. remember my story Camaraderie? In the beginning, Camaraderie was either going to be about the army fighting against the ponies or with them against a common enemy. That juggled around in my mind for a while before I chose the latter. This fic is kinda like what would've happened if we went to war with the ponies.

Oh well, Like, comment, and enjoy! Any of the three make me a happy writer!

[Padwan]

Haven't read yet, but the description says human-pony war, yet it also implies that only America fought, so did they start the war or is the story focused on american war veterans

[thereareonly2genders]

lol wtf?

[walk-in closet brony]

2359266-It's gonna flash between both Pony and Human veterans
2359562-Whaddya mean?

[Padwan]

2360039 ok, that only partially answered my question and that is my fault because I worded it badly.

What I meant to say is which human factions (I.e. England, America, Russia) fought in the war

[walk-in closet brony]

2362194-Only America, but we'll get into that later. It's all a matter of resource warfare.

[CECUNSC]

I really don't understand why this is being rated so badly.... I think it's really interesting. I hope you come out of your hidy hole soon.

[walk-in closet brony]

2381289-
I know. It's odd that even though I've posted only one chapter on this thing, everyone thinks it's terrible. I mean, it was only like one thousand words worth of story. Well, it must have been bad enough for eleven people to hit the dislike button. Oh well, I'm not scorning them for it, I'm just wondering how such a little bit of introduction was so unbelievably terrible. Thanks for the positive feedback anyway!

[Jman796]

The three of us look up and smile as Bill Powers, former U.S. army infantry man

Infantryman is one word. But I'm starting to like this.

[itsjustteal]

Why gi to war with each other?