"War! War! Changelings attack Acornage! Get today's paper!"
Applejack could hardly believe her ears as she heard the newsdealer. War? The concept seems foreign to her. This isn't Griffonia. This is Equestria, the land untouched by war for a millennium, thanks to the wisdom of the princesses. How did it come to this? She and her friends had beaten the Changelings eight years ago. That should be the end of it.
But they came back. Did she do something wrong back then? What should she do now?
Applejack shook her head. The thought could be addressed later. Her mind was too scrambled to think. She continued pulling her apple cart, leaving the stunned Ponyvillians to comprehend what had happened.
Her journey home was spent in silence, her mind was still unsorted. As she was trotting, she heard somepony calling from behind her.
"AJ! AJ!"
She turned her head back to see Rainbow Dash approaching and eventually landing in front of her.
"Hey, Applejack! You heard what's going on? We're at war!" shouted Rainbow.
"Ah know, Rainbow. Ah was there when the newsdealer broke the news," Applejack sighed.
"Oh, uh..." Rainbow stuttered before she continued, "Oh! Twilight's calling all of us to her castle, she said it was urgent,"
"No doubt about this whole war thing, I suppose," her tongue felt sick at the mention of war, the word was still foreign to her tongue. "Ah'll be there after Ah bring these apples home," she continued.
"Right, I'll help ya," Rainbow offered.
"Thanks, Rainbow"
"No problem, AJ."
Applejack was standing beside Rainbow in front of the door of the Cutie Map Room.
"You ready?" Rainbow asked.
"As Ah'll ever be," Applejack replied.
Rainbow opened the door and they both entered the room. They were greeted by Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy, all of them wearing various expressions, none of them were cheerful ones. Applejack grimaced and headed to her seat by the Cutie Map. They all sat in silence for a full five minutes. Applejack shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable of the silence.
So she decided to ask the whereabouts of Rarity, the last of their friends currently absent.
"So, where's Rari—"
The door slammed open.
"So sorry, girls! I tried to arrive earlier but the train station at Canterlot was so unbelievably crowded!" said Rarity as she gasped for air, no doubt galloping from the train station right after arriving.
"No problem, Rarity. Take a seat," answered Twilight. Rarity thanked her and nodded before she trotted to her seat. The room returned to silence again.
"Right, now we're all here, we can now start. Okay, so due to the current situation I have sent all the students of the School of Friendship to start packing and return home, we can meet them tomorrow at the school hall before they leave," Twilight began.
Applejack, along with the rest of the group nodded before Twilight continued.
"Other than that, I've received a letter from Princess Celestia. She offered me the position of Head of Research and Development in Canterlot. She also asked if any of us would volunteer to be generals on the front. Our General Staff is very understaffed at the moment. Right now, Equestria needs somepony to lead her armies, any of you would like to volunteer?"
"WHAT?! I thought we have Soarin, Spitfire and other high-ranking Wonderbolt captains?" Rainbow shouted.
"Yes, Rainbow. That we do. Soarin, Whiplash and Fast Clip are heading to their headquarters in Tall Tale right about now. Spitfire went to Cloudsdale to assemble the Royal Air Force. But they're not enough to handle the entire changeling army," Twilight sighed.
Applejack who had been listening intently, had a thought.
"Wait, wait. Hold up. Why don't we use the Elements of Harmony on the changelings or Princess Cadence and Shining Armor's Love Spell on them? That worked eight years ago right?" she asked.
Twilight flashed a wistful smile, "I wish it works like that, but the Elements of Harmony only works for individuals like Nightmare Moon, Tirek or Discord. Queen Chrysalis on the other hoof, had she lead her armies on the front, maybe we can use the Elements on her, but she's in Vesalipolis, her capital city, far away from the front, the Elements are useless against a million changelings along the frontline and a million more in reserve. Even if we are to infiltrate the changeling defense and try to reach Vesalipolis, there's over a million changeling soldiers between us and Chrysalis. Not to mention, VOPS is keeping a close eye on anything suspicious at home and the front. We can't possibly sneak past that much changelings without getting caught," Twilight sank into her seat and sighed.
"What's VOPS? Is it like their version of SMILE?" Rarity asked.
"You can say it like that, it stands for Vesalipolis Office of Public Safety, though they don't exactly do what their name says," Twilight muttered the last part. "They have a notorious record for infiltration, internal surveillance and censorship. They also like to make people disappear. Nothing gets past them. The letters I received from Thorax said that he's fleeing the country and now is in hiding after VOPS cracked down on his underground harmonist movement," Twilight finished. She then thought of Applejack's suggestion of the love spell.
Twilight continued. "The love spell... It's a good thought, Applejack. But remember, it only covered Canterlot when it was unleashed. The changelings right now are invading with a million soldiers across the 1500km border. How can the spell cover that much land? Right now, the Changelings are outside Vanhoover. Acornage and Fairflanks have already fallen in the first hour of the war," She sank further into her seat.
Applejack grimaced. Equestria is losing ground. She has to do something, anything to help the situation. She looked back at Twilight's offer to volunteer and join the General Staff. It sounded like a good idea, an Element Bearer leading one of Equestria's army would surely boost the morale of the military. But, she had never led an army before, she was just a farmer. What if she makes an error? How many would die? How many lives would haunt her in her sleep? She shook her head and dismissed the thought. She doesn't want to think about it. It sounded like a good idea, but the responsibility was simply too great for her, others would take the mantle on that front. She started looking at other ways on how to help the war effort and came across one.
Her farm. She could give her produce to help feed the soldiers on the front. Milk, Apples, Apple Cider, even Zap Apple Jam could be helpful. Surely the ponies on the front wouldn't want to eat drab military rations everyday? She smiled, a worthy idea perfect for a mare like her had just been laid out.
"Twilight," she began. "Ah'm afraid Ah'll hafta pass with the offer to join the General Staff. Don't think Ah'll be suited for it anyways. Ah think Ah'll be managing the farm, to help from the home front, ya see. Ah think Ah can send some produce to our stallions on the front. Keep them happy and fed," she said.
Twilight smiled "Oh, no worries AJ. I think your idea is splendid. Since Equestria's industry is still in shock at the moment to start to switch their production to weapons and rations, sending your produce would certainly help the production front," She turned to the others, "Anypony wants to volunteer?"
Pinkie raised her hoof, "Ooh, ooh, I do! I do! Everypony on the front has to be happy and what do you need for that? A party pony!" She pulled her party cannon out of nowhere and fired confetti in the room. "I'll make a telephone call to Maud too, we can build party bunkers!"
Everypony giggled at the pink pony. Even in the darkest times, she can still make everypony smile.
Rarity then cleared her throat, "Well darlings, I'm afraid, like Applejack I have to pass, being on the front is simply not for me, though I can design and make our stallions uniforms. After all, to go to war you need a good clothing for your comfort and for advantage in battle like camouflage or ventilation in uniforms. Oh, imagine how dashing they would look in a uniform. Oh, Idea!" Her eyes lit up as she pulled out a sketchbook from her saddlebag and started to sketch, "Oh, this is marvelous. You are smashing it, Rarity," she said as she continued to sketch away.
Fluttershy shifted in her seat as she started to speak, "Um... Twilight, I think I'll join you to Canterlot in the Research Division, maybe I can help to um... help with the war effort, maybe to integrate animals in our military?" the last part sounded more like a question more than a statement.
"Sure!" Twilight replied before turning to Rainbow Dash, "How about you, Dash?"
"Well, I think I'm going to Cloudsdale tomorrow to help Spitfire with the Air Force," Rainbow replied.
Twilight nodded and continued, "Alright, so let's sum this up, Fluttershy, Rarity and I will go to Canterlot tomorrow, Rainbow Dash is going to Cloudsdale to help Spitfire, Pinkie will also join me to Canterlot to meet with the General Staff and will be leaving for Tall Tale to assist the front and Applejack will be staying here to help the war effort on the home front," she nodded again, "Now with that settled, then I believe we are done here and everypony can go home to prepare for tomorrow. Remember, we still have to say goodbye to the students tomorrow so our timetable will be packed, better to rest now and get ready for tomorrow," she finished.
Everypony hugged each other and waved goodbye before heading to their homes, preparing for the dreaded tomorrow.