A Tale of Two Brothers Part 1: The Truth about Equestria

A Tale of Two Brothers Part I: The Truth about Equestria

By Sir Bitterheart

Peace and Harmony. That is what everypony wants to reach in life. It is only natural. They say that with peace and harmony comes love and understanding, and with that comes happiness. By the laws of nature and good will, all sentient beings are to find their own path of inner peace and harmony. But they must be careful. For they only must pursue their own peace, and not the peace of others. True peace and harmony is safety. But what is safety exactly?

Peace and Harmony. That is what we were all promised, what we promised to maintain, and what we promised to our people. The main duty of a soldier is to maintain peace at all costs. This is what I was taught. Our leader was taught that as well and it was by her orders that we marched ourselves into the unbelievable and unforgiving fires of hatred. I have lived my entire life building up my hatred, as my comrades and I were born to do. We were promised peace and harmony, but found only chaos and destruction. After everything that has transpired in my life, I have come to find the truth of peace and harmony. There is no such thing. There can only be order. Order is what keeps nature in the state we all accept as peace and safety. I was promised order and safety, and I found nothing.

Before I get to the tragic story of the gruesome adventure I bestowed upon, allow me to introduce myself. They call me Sir Bitterheart, as is the nickname I was given during my knighthood. My real name is Harsh Truth and my special talent is finding the main source of a problem, used only when necessary. Other ponies might not approve of what I am, and may find I don’t have a good approach to life. My methods have been questionable on the field sometimes, so nopony talks to me very often. Sometimes those that do won’t live to tell somepony else about it. Fear is definitely something I have been good at spreading. I am of course deeply ashamed of this and tried to end my own life, seeing as I couldn’t take everything that was happening, but how could I? If there is a next life, it might be worse if I end the one I have now. But I still hated everything in my current life anyway, so why didn’t I do it?

And so came the name “Bitterheart”. I was born with a white coat and mane with grey eyes. I’m skinny but strong. My destiny emblem, or “cutie mark”, as the rest of you call it, is a sword. It symbolizes my strong iron will to defend my pride, country, and the devastating truth of what my “harsh truth” might be. A sword is precise, crafted, clear, brilliant, immortal, and courageous, even though I mainly used guns in my military career. Guns are the perfect weapons for liars and cowards. Clumsy, random, dirty, unnecessary, fragile and secrete. A perfect weapon of liars and cowards, but they survive one way or another. So don’t call me a hypocrite for having to use one myself and don’t you dare call me a coward even though some ponies nowadays still say I am. What would you do to survive?

A sword fitting mark of destiny for a loyal, dedicated, and dangerous officer. It first appeared when I happened to discover a traitor in the ranks. Slick Assault was his name. He was somepony I have never met before in my life, but it was easy to tell he had spirit. He rose to the rank of sergeant as fast as squirrel after a coffee drink off. Anyway, he was guilty of spying for Queen Chrysalis. It put the lives of me, the commanders, and the rest of the squad at risk. Slick also cost us some heavy artillery that really would have helped us out even though we managed to save some of it. We were pinned down the rest of the battle, but managed to pull through.

Since I was just a young private in the platoon, I wanted to prove myself like all the others. I was starting out back then and wanted some major action all the time with no breaks. So I decided to put my ear to the door when the commanders were debriefed. When I was caught peeping by the commanders, they made me a suspect. To prove my innocence, I was tasked of helping to catch the traitor. I was a young private back then. What could I do? Another chance for major action has come. It first started right after Princess Celestia herself assigned the task to us. After she and her sister, Princess Luna, left the meeting room, we noticed that someone left their “walkie talkie” on, hearing everything we said. We were interrogating the rest of the platoon when we came so close to being wrong. Slick was reassuring the last suspect when we noticed he knew the Princesses were gone. The commanders and I were the only ones who knew that. He attacked and fled. We pursued him to the armory and found he had planted a bomb, narrowly escaping the blast. After tasking the troopers with keeping any good weapon they could find in tact, we searched for Slick. It wasn’t hard, since Slick wasn’t very bright. Hiding in the airshafts is clever, but typical for any desperate hider. He was captured after a hasty brawl. When asked about his motives, he said he wanted freedom for his friends and himself. Like I said before, he had spirit. Maybe seeing his friends die almost everyday must have provoked this. I don’t blame him. When my friends died, my fighting spirit just breaks out of control. Except Slick should have known that for soldiers like us, there is no freedom. Not to mention he put the lives of his living friends at risk. Slick was taken to prison and executed by firing squad.

The darkness that our dear and wise leader, Princess Celestia, saw in my heart was only made my nickname a good fit, or as such everypony says about me nowadays. I bet you think she tried to get rid of this darkness by using a magic spell or by some form of reformation. No. The “harsh truth” is that hatred is the real main source of her power. She dares not show it to her subjects, as they would fear her worse than they already do. Her hatred is only a last resort though. That is where my comrades and I come in. We were not of the Royal Guard, we were the Royal Army. We were kept secret from the rest of Equestria and never associated with civilians. The families of the newest soldiers were sent away from their ancestral homes and sent to the Village of Service located far in the Frozen North, further from the Crystal Empire and Yakyakistan. The weather fortunately got warmer once you completely get past the Frozen North. It doesn’t say warm during the winter as you can well imagine. It snowed during once Nightmare Night believe it or not.

As I was saying, a soldier’s family remained in the Village of Service the rest of their days, and their children after them, and their children after them, etc., etc. The common civilian must never know of our existence. Those were my orders. If any civilian knew, they had to be silenced. Our duty was to defend our boarders from the forces of darkness and hatred. It was done so with hatred of our own. Casualties and losses were common on both sides, and there also occasional “departures from sanity” for some. You may have guessed that some of the forces got past us. I answered for what happen and so did others. It always gone off easy for me, but most of the others were not so fortunate. As far back as I can remember, all my friends are dead now.

I bet you can also guess others of our kind know about this army, as secrets cannot be kept forever, and you would be right. In fact, some make a good deal of profit for keeping Celestia’s dirty secrets and others hate her for keeping them. Everything she did during a crisis, what disasters she created, and even what she does in her spare time. I will get to that later. Those secrets are another reason the army fights. Anypony who got their hooves on those secrets got the ability to ruin her, and Equestria as we all know it. Mostly, those who know either are believed to be a myth, or are big time crime figures that are either greedy pigs or psychos who want to burn Equestria to the ground. My brother was one of those criminals, thankfully just one of the greedy ones. All brothers are opposites it seems. He became the big, bad, crime boss, and I was the “goody two shoes” soldier. Neither of those jobs lasted long for us though. He tried to warn me what would happen if I went though with being a soldier, but I just don’t listen sometimes, even if I have a gut feeling begging me to. Well, now that introductions are out of the way, you will now hear my part in this tragedy, “The Tale of Two Brothers”.

My brother and I were born on the outskirts of the city of Fillydelphia. Miles beyond it. He is four years older than me in case you were wondering. You will hear more about him later. My parents have traveled a long way to Equestria. Their former lives were kept secret from the rest of our nation. We moved into the Village of Service right after I was born. What was inside of me was noticed right away, and it took six months to contain. Celestia’s secret regime begun training me as soon as I could walk and talk. It was surprising that I had to do everything myself, even transport myself in a short time. I learned everything from magic spells, engineering, vehicle piloting, and skills in weaponry. Defensive skills were all I was taught. Why I didn’t learn the great magic I have always pictured in fables? I do not know. As the years went by, my experience brought me closer to the top of the regime. Equestria’s enemies were held back successfully for years and I was seen as a hero in the eyes of the nation, even though I lived hidden among the major cities in Equestria, and battles were few for me. It is hard not to think about them though. Battles were not my job either just yet, but my job does have the risk of one every now and then. There were major improvements of everyday modern Equestrian life that involved me, another heroic honor. Eventually, history books labeled me as the strongest officer to serve in the secret army. Please allow me to shed some light on this subject.

My training lasted for 5 or 6 years. Even that was more brutal than you can imagine. I had to serve on an actual battlefield a lot, and there were things I still couldn’t figure out, and I was always lucky to come back alive. Our biggest threat was various monsters from areas in Equestria we never even heard about. Giant lizards with the ability to find anything by hearing their heartbeat, giant birds with a body and hunting style similar to a lion, evil spirits possessing various suits of armor of past Equestrian Nations made by treacherous rebel sorcerers, and of course, Changelings. We even fought each other to the death. I had to kill almost eighty of my fellow recruits. The worst part is we even had to fight them after they died. It turned out the instructors reanimated their corpses somehow, and they came back as dead bodies walking around with an endless need to eat. Yes, I am saying they were turned into zombies. And how “lucky” we were that they wanted to eat us, and it gets even “better”. If you got just one bite or scratch from them, you became one of them. After that, the last remaining recruits had to fight to the death until there was only one left. The trainers started by pooling everypony in for the first bloodbath by laying out supplies so the battle would last as long as it needs to. I hid until the rest of them killed each other off after I got my weapons as quickly as I could. How lucky I was that my plan worked. But I found out later some recruits quit before the battle started. Nevertheless, my plan worked and I won the final battle. I ended up being to only recruit in my team to graduate.

I started out in the “Search and Obtain” division. Have you ever wondered where Celestia gets all her magic and the supplies involved with it? She obtains it by sending her army to find it. Wherever there is a powerful magic, we can find it. When we find it, we contain it and bring it to Celestia, by force if necessary. I was the best she had back then. Whatever stood I our way, I was able to use some of the magic I got to know myself to obliterate the obstacles in our way. Learning the magic we obtained for ourselves was usually made to be a last resort, but I wanted more. Aside from that, I didn’t ask any questions and I did what I was told. Fighting the enemy was a thrill. But then the map from the Tree of Harmony came by. The Elements of Harmony managed to be master negotiators, and so I was transferred. Whatever magic I learned I had to hand over to Celestia never to be seen again. My new job was “Extermination”. I bet you can imagine what that is like.

The job of the “extermination” division is to get rid of all the obstacles in the course of finding powerful magic, destroy the criminals that poison the lives of good ponies, and is the last resort to eliminate all threats to Equestria if the Elements of Harmony should be declared useless. A secret police force you could say. I started out there as a prison guard on Death Row. Shootings and various tortures were common. The big names on death row were executed by means of choice of the families of victims. They even had the option to have their offender’s blood in their hooves and take their life themselves. Usually they declined.

It started out easy but boring at first. One particular prisoner started to form questions in my mind about my duties. He was a large zebra foal that looked as if he could have exceeded expectations if training for war. His body was covered in scars and he wore overalls over his tattered undershirt. Since he could have easily overpowered me and the other guards, I don’t understand why he didn’t attempt any escape. He seemed very ashamed about what he did, as he assaulted and killed two young foal girls, so I would be ashamed as well. At the time, I didn’t pay too much attention to anything like pity or regret. Anypony who broke the law was evil and deserved to burn. It was my job and I carried out my orders without remorse.

The next prisoner that came in attempted to escape. He left me with a broken rib, but I managed to stand my ground. As soon as the situation was taken care of, I stayed behind while the other casualties were taken to the infirmary. As soon as the door closed I collapsed to the ground, and then the zebra called me over, saying he just wanted to help me. To this day I still don’t know why I obliged and dragged myself over to his cell. I guess I was either desperate or just wanted him to shut up. After I made my way to the edge of his cell, he pulled me over through the bars and put his hooves on my chest and started chanting in a strange language, probably zebrish. It hurt much worse than when it broke. The last thing I heard before he let me go was a light bulb shattering. I got up and found him throwing up in his cell. That was it. He told me he helped when I demanded an explanation. I never spoke of that day until now.

When the other guards came back, the captain sent me to the infirmary. I came out as clear as day. I was so sure I had a broken rib. It felt as if something had been severed from my body and even saw a drop of blood fall on the floor. It hurt when I touched it and felt it move. Strange thing was that feeling didn’t last long. As soon as I got back to my hooves, the pain was gone. This was the only act of kindness I got from a prisoner. I did research on the zebra’s case to find out more about him. It turns out he pleaded he was trying to save the foals he was accused of killing. The majority of testimony came from friends that ruled in his favor. But the victims were found dead in his cottage, which did not go in his favor. That was all Celestia needed it seems. She makes all the decisions on trails. The zebra was found guilty and sent to death row. A week later he was executed on the electric chair. All that stayed with me when the draft called me in. I eventually put it aside to focus on my survival.

My first was an undercover mission, which took Seven Moons to complete. I infiltrated the Manehatten Mafia and gave whatever good info I had to the government. The plan was to destroy their entire operation from the inside. I had a feeling I would see my brother on the way, but I never did. Asking about him never occurred to me either. I started slow, being a bodyguard for big shots who were still at the bottom. I helped them with debt collections, robberies, and product shipments. Once or twice, I had to help the factories with making the product. Eventually, it turned out to be worse than I thought it would be. I had to kill innocent ponies whenever they got out of line. I burned them alive, shot them in heavy populated areas in broad daylight, and tortured a few rival gangsters once or twice. Sometimes it was out of my own anger for no good reason at all. Seeing as the Mafia has info that could destroy Celestia, I never went to prison. Nopony else I knew did either. Of course I got arrested a few times, but every time I was bailed out. I don’t know too much of her secrets anyway though. But she spent some of her spare time with me in the past. I had no say in the matter. I’m not telling you what she wanted from me. So forget it. But that may be another thing that kept me clean.

I also worked with another unicorn and an earth pony in hits. Lyra Heartstrings and “Bon Bon” Sweetie Drops. Getting the information I needed was a breeze. I still wonder to this day why nopony suspected anything. I got to know everypony in the gang. My most common partner in crime was Trixie Lulamoon, the watchdog in Ponyville. She was the collector for the bosses’ cider business in Ponyville and the narcotics business in Manehatten.

When things got boring, I got to know my supposed “Co-Workers” pretty well and even made a few friends. You can’t help but feel sorry for some of them when you hear their stories. Lyra and Bon Bon were two prime examples of that. I had to do research on them since they had a bad record for a long time. It also helps keep a friendly image when you’re undercover. They have been charged with a brutal murder of a famous unicorn family of music makers, many counts of bootlegging, prostitution, and public displays of “gross indecency”. Gay ponies were not looked upon with welcoming eyes in Equestria.

Lyra was raised as a lyrist. Her family has a long history in Equestrian music, and they stayed at the top for a long time as a result. She had everything she needed and everything she wanted. She was proud of her heritage and her life. She got bored of it all eventually. So when she graduated college, she moved to Ponyville. She thought it would be adventurous to lead a cheap life. Her family of course offered help whenever she needed it. Everything seemed to be going smoothly when the life she planned for herself went down the drain. To have a career in music, you need to show potential. A common way to do so was to perform at pubs and other establishments as such. Pubs were cheaper and less stuck up. A lot of pubs were dependent on strong drinks and they were prohibited when Princess Cadence came into power. The secret pubs that remained were not friendly towards unicorns, and so Lyra eventually found her self on the streets, where she met Bon Bon. Before she turned to a life of crime, Bon Bon was a former agent of the Equestrian secret service, S.M.I.L.E. I heard she was left jobless after S.M.I.L.E was disbanded after a monster escaped from Tartarus. Since they knew how bad it was at the bottom, they can be good people to talk to when you have problems. They were reliable and honest too.

Trixie however was a spoiled brat. She never had a record and I don’t know why. Since she talked about her self all the time, with many unnecessary details, there were crime that would have put her on death row by now. She told me she was guilty of every single crime that ever existed, making the “Greatest and most Powerful” villainess to ever lived. I had no choice but to listen to every boring detail about her life, like what little thing she did at one time, talking like toast was an exclusive luxury for breakfast. She grew up at the top of society and wanted to bring herself back. Her father was a phony stockbroker who used brilliant schemes to hoard any company he could take stock from. His firm was huge in Manehatten and everypony wanted to work for him, as everypony who worked for him ended up becoming as rich as he was. When her father and mother divorced, Trixie and her two sisters found themselves at the bottom of the food chain, Ponyville. She naturally wanted to get back on top. Their mother died when her carriage rolled down a cliff uncontrollably, so they went to live with her uncle. Trixie seemed to idolize her uncle, who was a traveling magician. It seemed he was the best at the time. Whenever she had the chance to accompany him in an act, she always said “yes.” His masterwork trickery made him a fortune. Believe it or not, ponies everywhere began to tell the most ridiculous stories and spread preposterous myths. They believed he was some god foretelling the end of an era. Ironic it seems. When the economy failed, her uncle went downhill. It got so bad; he turned to crime, stealing, swindling, and blaming good pony folk for crimes he was guilty of. Trixie still view him as a role model, so she helped him with whatever he needed. Her sisters didn’t like the idea of being witnesses or accomplices, so they ran away for a different life, never seen again. When crime failed, he turned to searching for things that were proven without a doubt do not exist, such as The Two Golden Cities in the Unknown, the Fountain of Youth, and other ridiculous stories. Trixie stood by him every step of the way. Her uncle finally decided to quit when he committed suicide after he was thrown into prison on Terror Charges. It seems every Trixie did was to honor his name.

Trixie protects the distributors and gets a slice of what they make. Whenever a shipment was scheduled, I was sent to make sure it all went smoothly. Usually it did. In fact, it seems Trixie and I had the best luck out of everypony else. We were the only distributors who were not taking out in the gang. Hits were easy too, even though I had two different partners, and since they were a filly fooler couple, they were pretty awkward to be around. Not to mention I would have been killed on the spot if ever invaded their privacy. But once you get friendly with them, it gets easier. Lyra had a huge temper, but I could easily beat her in a fight. She was a decent shot and clever in close combat, but her confidence always got the best of her. She does think too much either. Bon Bon however was a member of S.M.I.L.E, so it would take a miracle to beat her. From what I heard about the Secret Service, their training marked guaranteed survival. Anything they did was done with perfection. For example, one kick to the head from her is equal to point blank range pistol shot if she was willing. She also had an internship as a nurse before the Great War, so she knew how to get people in the hospital and make everyone else see it when she wanted them to, and don’t even get me started on how well she held weapons in her hooves.

I managed to meet the brains of the entire operation, Rarity Diamond, the Element of Generosity herself. I could not believe an Element of Harmony is one of the most notorious criminals in Equestrian history. Seeing how well shipments went in my care, she tasked me in leading a campaign that will put her rivals out of the picture, and make her the metaphorical “Mayor of Manehattan” itself. After a blood boiling and hard fought war in the city, I lead Rarity and the gang to victory, leaving over 30,000 rival gangsters dead by my hooves. That alone got me made, that and the fact I was a unicorn. You have to be a unicorn to become a full time, legitimate crime boss. 100 percent pure blood unicorn. No exceptions. After I rose to the top, my mission had come close to an end. I just needed a match to start the fire. Done and done.

When I got everything I needed from Rarity and all the other bosses, every they had burned to the ground when I turned them in. Everyone I knew managed to get away, but they lost everything. I don’t know what happened to Rarity. She won’t survive for long I’m sure. But what I could not believe was that out of all the people who got out scoot free, it was Trixie. Why? It turns out she was working undercover for Celestia too! Unbelievable! Turns out she informed the government of every shipment that made Rarity’s empire, and brought them down one by one. I guess she made herself so bad, nopony even wanted to remember she existed. Nopony wanted to talk to her or even see her. The gang was too stupid to even look at her and she set them up right under their noses. Lyra and Bon Bon were undercover as well and they still are as of this moment for other missions. Bon Bon was still a secret agent it seems, even though I was told her department was disbanded. That was the first lie I was told until years later. Their job was to take out any threat that could destroy their cover or anypony else’s, and they usually convinced Rarity to carry out the order. And that is how the Equestrian Mafia started to slowly crumble until it destroyed itself at the end of the Great War.

After that, I was called to fight in the Great War. My next job was observing the last day of training for new recruits, sent to help keep them in check. The ride in was not any easy one. We attacked an enemy base and nobody told me why. I hardly saw anything either since I was on the train the whole time, crammed in the back. When I finally got a look at the only thing I remembered that day, I saw a machine gun mowed down an entire family. Some confirmed civilians got gunned down on the final trip, but the train was moving so fast it was hard for me to tell. The gunner kept firing and saying “Get some, get some” while shooting like a dragon attacking a village with its fire breath. I didn’t say anything to anypony, but I listened to them talking sometimes. Before the last trip landed, the gunner was telling reporters on the train all about himself and his strategies.

“Anypony who runs is an enemy and anypony who stands still is a well-trained enemy” he said during a pause.
He was so good that he got over 200 enemies killed, including mares and fillies. “How could you?” I asked.
He answered “Easy. You just don’t see them.”

I still have no idea what that means. It was his job to notice something like that, and he was no as good as he said he was if he didn’t. I just think he was joking around. There are many different kinds of training in case you were wondering, except this one involved an actual battle on the job for the fresh meat. Having experience actual battles during my training, I would serve as a good example to them. My destination was Baltimare. A “Code Red” was called for all valuable soldiers in the area. The enemy was getting lots of information from spies. With it, they attacked key regions all over Equestria. Civilians were of course killed during these attacks. I saw about twenty that were confirmed. It seems their main target was Government Officials, Military Officiers, and even School Teachers. It started with the enemy trying to negotiate, but everyone ended up dead and some buried alive. This is about as short and sweet as I heard it. One of their last stops was in Baltimare.

Taking back the Southern half of the city wasn’t so hard. We were just escorted the rest of the force, ran into the city, searched our half of the city for anything that could turn our offensive around, and made way for the “big guns” when everything was clear. There was a press interview on us on our thoughts on the war and all sorts of questions afterwards. Typical patriots said we should win the war. The weird part was some said they belong in the war. They asked me why I came here in the first place.

My answer was “I just wanted to get out the house and make some friends.”

Next we were sent on patrol to confirm intelligence on an enemy position across the river. They retreated from our area overnight. The fight was against Changelings of course, just in case you were wondering, but Chrysalis managed to convince some Pony Nations to fight along side her. We ended up coming under sniper fire, 8 guys ended up dead. That includes the enemy, a single sniper who turned out to be a young teenage mare to our surprise. The first recruit that shot her didn’t get any recognition, since he just mortally wounded her. The second one who shot killed her, and they congratulated him. I’m just telling you what I heard since I didn’t want to watch this scene. I heard it was ugly.

Only three of our guys were killed by the sniper. The lieutenant was killed by mines, his replacement by enemy fire, and after him by a booby trap. Not a lot was said when we buried them. Goodbyes and “Good Lucks” of course, but there was also the occasional “Better You than Me.” The one who was guaranteed to say that was a stallion named Beast Brother. I managed to know him for a long time before I was ordered to execute him. I didn’t know why for a while but a soldier must never question the orders of his superiors. He was a strange stallion. He showed great care for his people during battle but seemed like the complete opposite afterwards. We always ended up getting into the same argument whenever we buried our fallen brothers.
“At least they died for a good cause”, I said.
“What cause was that”, he asked.
“Freedom”
“You think we waste creeps for freedom?” he laughed.
“This is a slaughter.”
I tried to forget about it every time, but it ended up happening again and again on almost every other mission afterwards. At least Trixie was put somewhere else.

After that, I was assigned to a unit in the Hayseed Swamps. Like always I didn’t ask any questions, just followed orders. One private, a fellow field rookie, wanted my feedback on a letter he wrote to his grandma. Only a week passed by and he hated the work already. It was the same thing just about everyday, get up, dig a hole, eat, and doing whatever we’re told, which at first was mostly ambushing enemy forces coming near us. That featured sleepless nights, sometimes in the rain. The worst part in his opinion was that nobody told us how things are done, just because we were new. Nobody cared about the new guys, not even Celestia. It seems she doesn’t tell anypony anything. It seemed they weren’t worth as much as the vets because they didn’t put their time in yet. Sleeping seemed to be out of the question. It was a lucky break though, normal or not. The guy who wrote the letter also said if you getting killed in the first few weeks is better since you don’t suffer anymore than you already did. There was nothing to blame him for. Our first hike through the swamp was aggravating. No breaks and you can’t help but drink enough to get yourself cramped enough to end up in the infirmary, especially bad for the guys who were out of shape. Dead bodies were also a common sight in the swamp, friend or foe. I remember one in particular; a changeling body was just about rotten to the core with both limbs missing on his left side. Some of us had to stop so we could fall on the ground and throw up, and then we end up getting ants all over us. Red ants were the lucky ones. Black ants are the worst to have, but you could get into some serious trouble from either of them though. If you don’t be careful where you step and stumble upon their main nest, you’ll be eaten alive from the inside out underground. I made a choice to stick with my fellow rookie throughout my time here. His name was Easy Time.

A good thing was that there were guys just like me there, but I started to get a taste of real battle eventually. The field commanders were real bastards. A slacker, a coward, and an idiot who left everything up to his second in command, who was worse than him, was our lieutenant. We called him Lieutenant Cognito. Authority in his own platoon didn’t seem like a big responsibility to him. He always avoided the action, where he was needed the most, and waited until the last minute to diffuse a bad situation. He gave all his power to his second in command, Staff Sergeant Trouble. That guy expected everything from his men, a really scary guy too. Tall, muscular, a huge scar running across the entire right side of his face, starting from his forehead going down his cheek, going through his lips to the bottom of his chin. We trusted him but he didn’t trust nopony. The only commander who seemed decent was Sergeant Veggie. He was the long timer you can only hope to meet, and was everything you would expect from a good commanding officer. He looked out for everypony, especially the new guys. It wasn’t just common courtesy to him, but a definite key to running a successful platoon.

My first interaction with Sergeant Trouble was short but unforgettable. We were set up for an ambush. While everypony else was asleep, one stood watch with his rifle, night vision goggles, and an anti personnel mine detonator at his side for three hours. My shift ended and I passed the gear to the next guy. When I woke up, nine hours passed and everyone else was asleep except for Easy Time. When the enemy approached, we couldn’t move. They were almost right in front of me when the first explosions came. I tried my best to detonate the mine, but I forgot to flick the safety off. The soldier to my right did it for me. Only one enemy soldier was left. Everybody shot at him, including me, but no luck. A friendly grenade maimed the guy next to me. I got hit too, but only a scratch right off the left side of his neck. First shot I ever took on the field. Easy Time made it, but our last fellow rookie got killed. Sergeant Trouble told everyone to remember what it looked like. I got blamed for everything since I was the only one awake before it all started. Funny thing is that when he gave us a warning if it ever happens again, he seemed to be talking directly to the soldier who was supposed to take lookout after my shift.

On New Moons Eve, after 4 Months of waiting in the hospital and walking around the base camp with a pain in my bandaged neck, I was sent with the same squad on patrol. Bombs were dropped near us. We were to make sure there was no more enemy activity. I remained with the squad on guard while five others moved out in separate paths. Three investigated a bunker complex and the other two stood watch outside, including Easy Time. We lost two guys from a booby trap in the bunker and the guard on the left by an unknown assassin. Our losses pissed everyone off.

We continued on our path, which happened to come upon a village of zebras we decided to check out. Right before we arrived we saw somebody running back the way we came. Sergeant Trouble took him down in three shots. With the loss of three men earlier, thing heated up right when we entered the village. Zebras either were being forced into a pigpen or shot. Some guys even shot the pigs, goats, and cows they lived on. After some searching and blowing up a few teepees, we found a cache of weapons. The village chief was interrogated with the help of a zebra who happened to be part of our squad. Chief said he was hit in a bombing raid and he had no choice in terms of the weapons. He agreed to do anything the enemy wanted protect his village after the enemy killed the old chief. Sergeant Trouble didn’t believe a word he said. All of a sudden the chief’s wife approached him, shouting all sorts of questions at him. She seemed mad about us messing up their livestock, who were also their close friends. She had ten seconds before Sergeant Trouble shot her in the head.

Chief’s little daughter started screaming right away. Trouble threatened to shoot everypony else if the chief didn’t start talking, starting with his daughter. Some of our boys encouraged that. After thirty seconds of the chief’s daughter with Trouble’s pistol right against her forehead, everyone in the platoon went nuts. Sergeant Veggie approached Trouble and brawled with him on the ground. Everypony, except Easy Time and I, was cheering either one or the other. They were broken up when we were ordered to torch the village, round up all suspected enemies, and blow the weapons cache in place. There wasn’t much daylight left and no time to debate anything. So we just left with what we had, some ponies having a little fun at the expense of some zebras before leaving. All the prisoners were innocent and free to go, including the chief and his daughter. It was the last we ever heard or saw of that day.

When the murder of the chief’s wife was reported, it was put aside for later, with a court martial promised if an illegal killing was discovered. The platoon was split in half with bad blood. Half of the soldiers were with Veggie and half with Trouble. Things went by uneasy during lazy time. It all got worse after we were ambushed during a recon. Easy Time and I were two of the last three to retreat along with Sergeant Trouble. Easy asked about Veggie who went down by the river alone in case the enemy tried to flank us. He said he moved faster alone. I understood that perfectly. Extra hooves give the herd extra weight. Trouble said the enemy killed Veggie. Funny thing is when we got a good look after retreat, Veggie ran as fast as he could after us, drowning in his own blood. By the time somepony got to him, it was too late.

Easy and I looked at both Trouble. I saw nothing, but Easy said he saw something in his eyes when we got back to base, accusing Trouble of killing Veggie. Easy wanted to frag Trouble, with only one of us agreeing with him. I didn’t know what to say, but I wanted Trouble alive. He was the best guy to have on the field now, with ten years experience in battle. Losing somepony like him would be a major problem for the rest of the platoon. Not to mention Easy would be cut down in no time. I even heard he was shot ten times even, and judging from the scars I saw on him, the shots landed in critical points. Trouble happened to overhear the conversation and dropped in to give his testimony personally to us. I didn’t want to hear any of it, so I just left.

The others told me the aftermath was nuts. They told me Trouble said we need war to live. That if the war were to end, Equestria would lose its power and fall by the hands of the parasites we fought. After that, he told them to kill him. Just as he was about to walk out, Easy attacked him. Trouble got him on the ground with a knife in his face, and gave him a little scar after some hesitation to show him who’s boss. I didn’t believe it until the end of the next fight.

The enemy broke through our barrier and we tried hopelessly to maintain control. Last thing I saw was Trouble tackling Easy to the ground and raising his folding shovel for a hard blow. I was running toward him when the bombs hit the ground. I woke up the next morning to find everypony dead, only recognizing a few. My left shoulder hurt like crazy, but I was still able to walk decently. Eventually I found Easy Time was still alive, walking just as slow as me with a scavenged rifle in his hooves. After catching up to him, we found Sergeant Trouble dragging himself across a tree line. He asked us to get a medic. I was just about to oblige when I noticed Easy wasn’t following me. Ten seconds passed before Easy shot him. Two hours passed before anypony else came. The hospital got a look at me, and I had a dislocation on my right shoulder. I was out of service for a while. As for Easy, he got shipped out permanently. His ride was just taking off when the Changelings ambushed us and took his chopper down. I didn’t even want to know what happened to him even though I was sure he died. The wounded was taken to safety, including myself, and the enemy retreated that day, Thank Celestia. Not literally.

When I got back on the field, everything happened all over again, only getting worse and worse each time. Executions seemed to be at random. We had mares and fillies executed more time than I would like to count, we turned villages to ash day by day, and prisoners were brought in two to five times a week, some lasting longer than others. There wasn’t any fight from the enemy either. We just stormed the village, gathered prisoners, and killed anypony who resisted or on death list. There was no fighting until we got home. Our base camps were the worst part. Nobody could stay in one camp, and it looked as if we brought the enemy to us every single time. I began to lose my mind eventually. One example took place during the winter when I spent the remainder of my last fight completely torturing my last victim by ripping his heart out after pulling and cutting with everything I had. Even when the battle ended and all my allies staring at me, I didn’t stop until his heart was in my hooves. I drank the blood that leaked out afterwards. During the summer, I shot the platoon commander for no reason whatsoever. He just put his hoof on my shoulder, and I shot him. The last one I remember was when I smashed my helmet with a pick ax. Maybe battles got so bad for me I was sick of waiting for death. Those were the only really bad incidents I remember, even though I’m sure there were others. Ask anypony in the army about me, they will say nopony will live to tell the world about me. They’ll even say my eyes turn red when I get especially sadistic during a situation involving death. It’s all a question of who is really the crazy one.

This was when I was transferred to a different branch of the military. Those who were not sane enough for the line of battle anymore did not have any use. They were shipped out to Celestia knows where. It took some intense training for me to get use to this next job. I never even knew a job like this could be real. I was tasked with helping with the production of supplies for the war. I bet what you’re thinking I was put to work in a factory of some kind. Your answer is “yes”, for a short amount of time at least. Two factories actually. I just stood on guard and made sure everything went by smoothly and efficiently. It took me a long time to realize that was the best job I could have I got, with the amount of work it took to get it. This was a safe job for me at least. Still hated it though.

It started out with days and days of basic training. We had to sit through hours of lectures and video recordings. The worst part was the field trips. They weren’t boring fortunately, in fact quite the opposite, even though we were sure it would be boring. The trips were to the factories of some everyday things like rainbows, fertilizer, artificial crystal, and too many others than I could count. It may not seem like it, but these items cost the lives of many prisoners. They were ground up, melted, frozen, or worse to make these items. I never thought such things could ever be done in reality. If you fail the flight test as a Pegasus, you are taken to the Rainbow Factory and ground up into Spectra for the rainbows that made the day worth waiting in the rain for. I was particularly interested in this because Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty, was in charge of this factory. I never liked her since she was worse than Trixie in terms of narcissism, but she was smart and strong enough for her job. She also does the best she can not to be a pain in the flank when I come around. Rebels attacked the factory once and I had to help out with saving it. The boys told her how I was and she respected that. With the rainbow factory being the fate of failed pegasi, other factories as such were shrouded on the ground. If you lack strength as an Earth Pony, you are turned into compost. How else could our plants be so healthy? And since unicorn were supposed to be the greatest out of the three pony nations as they say, so many punishments were inflicted on the failures. There are too many to count and I don’t want to try. New tortures were invented everyday. A favorite method was locking them in a chamber with various poisonous gases. One brutal one in particular I remember made them laugh uncontrollability and melted their bodies from the inside. All that was left was a smiling body bag, overflowing with blood.

Sometimes the guards had a little fun with the prisoners, like making them play games that either degraded them or got them killed if they weren’t lucky. The prisoners fought amongst themselves even. Quite a number of them had grudges with another. Usually they would be the ones to push the button to maintain supply before receiving a quick death for themselves. It was disgusting at first but eventually fascinating to watch the conflict among the prisoners. It didn’t just seem like some sick way of maintaining production for Equestria, but I found that the prisoners were being tested in their faith in life. Those who prevailed were more alive than ever before.

I saw this watching security footage. Sometimes, the other guards like to film one prisoner in particular. The cameras followed their every move until they come upon the final trap. You just do not know who injured who until the prisoners meet in the final trap, where only two or three prisoners remained. Either the prisoners learned forgiveness among themselves or tore themselves apart with only one or two walking out. I don’t remember where most of them ended up afterwards but one ended up becoming a physician in the army, helping the war effort with great skill and torturing other prisoners in his spare time.

The only other I remember was somepony I knew on the field. It was Easy Time. I could neither believe he survived the explosion or that he was taken prisoner by his own people. I never even asked what it was for. He was put in a Game of Roulette, where you hold a revolver with one shot to your head. To avoid getting shot too quickly, the cylinder was spun at the beginning of each round. If that shot goes off on you, you’re dead. His opponent was Beast Brother believe it or not. I didn’t about seeing him much, even though it was surprising to see him as a prisoner now. Easy ended up shooting himself right up front with his second turn. I never saw Beast so broken down before. He ended up back in the ranks eventually but his condition seemed to get worse, as we eventually found out he helped some prisoners escape and gave information the rebellion. That is why I executed him.

Later, almost a month after Nightmare Night, we defeated the Changelings once and for all. There was no grand battle involved though. I missed that. They were already defeated almost a week before Nightmare Night. My squad was sent to finish the job. We invaded the hive and evacuated all those who were listed as prisoners. Prisoners pretty much consisted of the entire hive. We executed only commanding officers from Chrysalis’s army and who ever fought against us. The Changeling who was supposed to be their new leader and make the struggle between our species a thing of the past, King Thorax, decided to rebel against us. I can’t believe how lucky I was to get the chance to shoot him down and chop off his head. If you are wondering why they look like weird fairy creatures nowadays, Celestia made them that way. She developed a spell to make them in her own image. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know really. I guess she was sick of their usual grotesque sight. I think they looked better as they were personally.

A month or so later, I was sent to help liquidate a small village located in the wastelands leading to the Crystal Mountains. Intel said the commander overseeing the village, Starlight Glimmer, abandoned her post and she used unfit methods for productivity. Her prisoners and her own soldiers turned on her and took over the ghetto. After we liquidated all the prisoners on the list, we were to burn the village to the ground and kill any hiders we came across. The first time I’m not sure whether to consider failure or not. Rebels ambushed my squad and I was taken prisoner. They have taken over the same prison I worked at before I got drafted. After two days had past, I found out what was going on when I first met the commander of the operation. I ordered him as a commanding officer of the Equestrian military to release me. After an intense confrontation involving a pistol being pointed in my face, he miraculously obliged. My theory was proven correct. The whole mission was a hoax, including the enemy ambush, just to prove my potential. This was the last part of my training, as I realized it was still going on. There was just one more part of my training I needed to get past, taking authority when the situation demands it. The only truth to that day was I lost a good amount of stallions that day by the hooves of my own nation. Princess Celestia was waiting at the front gate with Princesses Luna, Cadence, and Twilight Sparkle. Celestia congratulated me on a job well done and officially stated me as an officer of the Equestrian Royal Guard. After years of such revolting training, I found myself becoming a commanding officer in the most prestigious branch in the military. I was put as second in command for security at a prison, the same one where I was prisoner supposedly and where I got my first job.

It was such a boring and very irritating job for a long time. I had to stand at the warden’s side very commonly, at least my boss had to. As in my supervisor, who turned out to be none other than the dreaded “Great and Powerful” Trixie Lulamoon. She recently made friends with the warden, and Starlight Glimmer was the warden I found out, and that she was in on my last test. Everything went by smoothly with her running things, as in I still had a job, so there was no need for me to worry about her. Starlight was close with Princess Twilight Sparkle as well, so it wasn’t too hard to see why I guess. Starlight didn’t pay a lot of attention to me, but I wasn’t making friends on the job anyway. That seemed to be out of the question nowadays.

Trixie however was impossible to work with. She demanded a lot of attention first chance she got. Trixie lied on how she herself took down the Mafia in some huge, glorious battle ending in a final confrontation with Rarity. Not to mention she slacked off all day. I hardly saw her do any work. But I got used to it eventually, like always. Things only got fun when we needed to make room for new prisoners, although I only helped on that job once. Any prisoners that were unfit to work were killed immediately. That’s all there is to it. I still got to go on missions on occasion. Usually it was to liquidate ghettoes and retrieve a shipment of prisoners, old and new alike. The old ones, and I’m talking about escapees, usually end up executed, along with anypony else who interfered with our affairs. Important tasks were also appointed. I was sent to the village near the Crystal Mountains again, no hoax this time, to destroy it and execute all the villagers as well. Rebels put up defenses around the village, but our tanks and heavy fire turned things right around, along with some kind help from reinforcements. After the rebels were taking care of, they pursued any villagers that tried to escape while my boys and I reduced the village to ashes. We found some survivors on our side of the field and gunned down any we saw on the way home. This was around the time I began to love my job.

Until the next mission came, it was back to my daily job. Running the prison is a pretty good life. Sometimes the job can be pretty relaxing, when you are left alone with your thoughts. I usually thought about what I’m going to do and when I’m going to do it. But most of the time it as boring as a desert. I attend meetings, write documents, and fill out reports all in the name of keeping check of my progress in the regime. Eventually, when I could not stand it anymore, I decided to have some fun with the prisoners myself. The temptation was too hard to resist. When you see other people on the job have so much fun, you can’t help but get curious yourself. I had my fun by shooting them at random from the top floor of my barracks with either a bolt-action rifle of anti aircraft gun. I also lined them up in the courtyard and shot them with whatever gun I wanted or went around wherever and shot who ever I wanted. Sometimes I like to hang a prisoner in a corner with chains from their front legs and torture them in various ways. Commonly they were burned to death, shot, or died from the shock of the pain. Shooting was more common for me though, even for prisoner hanging on chains, not being tortured at all. That wasn’t the weirdest part. For me, the weirdest part was my appearance began to change completely. Not just how I acted. My physical appearance was changing. Over my time at the prison, my mane and tail began to turn black, with only a small white strand extending from my front cowlick. My coat turned grey with red spots that would easily be confused with bloodstains. I thought it was blood at first when I tried to wash it off. When I got the check up in the infirmary, they said it was part of my body. The other thing that changed were my eyes. They turned ruby red and looked more like the eyes of a dragon. What am I turning into? What was causing these changes? But as bad as everything seemed to be in the past, I eventually have come to accept this as my life and became happy with it.

That was until I reached my breaking point and shot down anyone in my path before I made my escape on a motorcycle. I took my two pistols, as much ammo as I could find, my life savings, and my sword. Once I retreated somewhere safe, I sent the bike off the edge of a cliff along with my guns and ammo, and continued on with only my sword. With my guns I felt like my chances of survival were limited, but with a sword hope seems to never run out. The gleam of the blade as you shine it on whatever solar silhouette lights the sky lights the flames of fury within a warrior’s spirit. Even so, I still don’t know what I’m going to do as of now. My savings are limited, I’m have enemies all over the nation on both sides of the war with a price on my head, I’m lousy at creating a disguise, and I have never thought things through. I can just imagine all the people that hate me with passion. All I my life what I was told was the right path. As that being the only life I know, how am I going to make a life for myself completely?

That night was all a dream. I woke up in my room like always. It seems the time has come for me to finally come to terms with my job. I live my life as a killer and nothing else, carrying out my orders without question. Besides, how could I just throw it all away? If do, I’m all alone. Nopony would help me and I would end up dead in no time. I was frustrated everyday and started killing and torturing prisoners everyday. I lost track of how many of my assistants I killed. Shortly after though, I got over it. For some reason, the execution of a blind mare from Trottingham really stayed with me and I’m writing about it. All she wanted was to save her son from sharing her fate. She was diagnosed with a hereditary disease that would make him blind, and she wanted enough bits to get her son surgery. Her testimony says her neighbor stole the money she saved while the neighbor’s spouse said otherwise, since the blind mare killed the neighbor in question. Either way she was guilty though. Another prisoner that seemed to be her friend told her son got a successful procedure. I don’t why I’m writing this. Maybe I just needed a release of some kind when I killed all those ponies. If you are wondering how many, the best I can count as of now is 31,004 confirmed kills. It seems to help better writing everything out actually. Those who are reading this, please show it to my brother. I’m quite sure he has something to say as well, especially to me. Before I left to fight in the Great War, he told me one of us would end up killing the other some day. That was the last time we ever heard of each other. Since I haven’t seen him for several moons now, and I have no idea where he is, and the fact that spies may love a story like this off change they get a chance to steal it, just give it to him if you can. Maybe this is a better alternative to killing each other. And if his story turns out to be a confession to the Royal Court, then so is mine. The last thing I’ll say for now is that this story so far is just the beginning.

Sincerely Yours,

Lieutenant Bitterheart of the Equestrian Royal Guard