//------------------------------//
// First Blood 
// Story: The Great Poniotic War 
// by Uber_Shy 
//------------------------------//

	Flutterhy sat down with her animal friends. They had prepared a tea party for her birthday. They were always so nice. “Comrade Fluttershy” a voice called out, but she didn’t notice. Angel Bunny presented her with the homemade lemon cupcake he had prepared for her. “Comrade Fluttershy!” the voice called again. She ignored it and took a bite from the cupcake. “Oh thank you Angel it’s delicious,” she said softly. To her surprise Angel opened his mouth to respond.
“COMRADE FLUTTERSHY!” he yelled.
Fluttershy awoke with a start. She looked about her. Instead of being at her woodland home, she was in a dimly lit underground bunker. The ground was shaking and the lights that hung from the ceiling gently swayed. She looked up to see Sgt. Twilight standing over her. 
“Rest time is over comrade,” she said curtly. “It is time for you to join your fellow pegasi. They are already forming ranks. You don’t want to hold up the attack.”
“Oh are you sure we have to attack now?” Fluttershy asked nervously, “I mean we have been fighting so hard this whole month and-” Twilight cut her off with a glare. She looked at Fluttershy with her one good eye.
“Get to the air corps staging area right now or I will kill you where you lay!” She said as she charged her horn with magic.
Fluttershy immediately got up and started walking. “Yes ma’am,” she said as she made her way out of the bunker. Once on the surface she looked around. The scene was the same as yesterday, only with a few more craters. It was a dark field full of dead grass with smoke rising everywhere. The sky was red as the sun began to rise. An incoming bolt of magic exploded next to her and she jumped back into the bunker entrance. She slowly glanced back out. She found the air corps in their staging area behind a line of trenches. Even worse, she found her platoon. They were in the dead center of the formation, and they called it the dead center for a reason. She slowly made her way to them. Her platoon leader, Rainbow Dash, was there to meet her.
“Ah there you are Fluttershy,” she said, “It’s time to kill us some coward fascists.”
“Yeah, about that…” Fluttershy began.
“Get in formation comrade! We can’t delay any longer.” Rainbow Dash nudged Fluttershy into position. Each platoon was arranged into a V formation. The corps commander came by and inspected the ranks. When he was satisfied he called to Commissar Mare. “All platoons ready comrade Commissar,” he yelled above the explosions. Commissar Mare was standing boldly in front of the trench the unicorns and earth ponies were huddled into, seemingly oblivious to the incoming fire. 
“Hear me comrades,” she began, “today you fight yet again for Mother Equestria!” she paused briefly as the crowd cheered. 	“Today you spill your own blood for the lives of your fellow comrades, your families, and the glorious Homeland!” The crowd gave another ‘Hura’. “Many of you will die today. But if you do, Make sure it is with your hoof on the neck of one of those coward fascist sukas!” She gestured across the field where the enemy trenches were. “Today you fight in glorious combat! Now GO! Fight for your homes! And the Red Republic! HURA!” At this call the officers blew their whistles. The ponies in the trench all cried out ‘Hura!’ as they poured out of the trench like a water spilling from floodgates. 
“That’s our cue,” said Rainbow Dash to her platoon.
“Air Corps, Charge!” yelled the Corps Comander.
All of the pegasi launched into the sky in unison. They flew over the ponies on the ground. Fluttershy looked down at them. Even from here she could see Sgt. Twilight’s purple frame and bizarre mane cut. It stood out like a sore hoof among the massive amount of beige-clad ponies. The pegasi flew at double quick pace making their way to the enemy lines. It wasn’t long before they started taking fire from airburst magic rounds. The beams of magic exploded in mid air among their ranks. Immediately they started taking losses. Several platoons withered down to less than four ponies. Fluttershy watched in slow motion as a purple bolt of magic shot up at her. It came up just a few feet in front of her and exploded. Thunder Lane, the pony in front of her in the formation, was caught in the explosion and disintegrated. Fluttershy closed her eyes as she flew through his ashes. She started crying. Oh how could anypony call this glorious? she thought, This was just awful. So much hate and death…
“Get back in formation comrade Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash yelled. 
Futtershy opened her eyes and saw that she was drifting out of formation. She would have run into the formation next to them, but they were already missing their entire left side. She got back into formation and continued flying at double-quick pace. Since the time that she was snatched out of her home and impressed into service, she had managed to avoid major conflicts. Now though it would seem she was going to have to fight. 
They flew directly over the enemy trenches. They were so close she could see the unicorns in the harnesses of their magic amplifiers. They were the same unicorns that had been launching bolts at her for three days straight. She tried to get angry at them, but they were just doing their job just as she was now. 
“Dive, Dive, Dive!” Rainbow Dash ordered. Her platoon dove in unison. The rest of the pegasi followed suit. All of them gained speed and hit the ground hard. Each impact sent out a shockwave that killed or knocked over the surrounding enemy ponies. As soon as they landed, the pegasi fanned out and engaged the enemy ponies. Fluttershy was the only one who stayed in her crater that she had created. She ducked and covered her head as a bolt of magic flew over her. She closed her eyes tight wishing the madness to go away. Each explosion and cry of pain made her try to shrink smaller in her crater. She missed her long mane. It had been cut short along with her tail when she joined the air corps. She wanted to use it to cover her face. She suddenly felt the sharp pain of a hoof kicking her side. She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. There was a light green unicorn standing over her. She was tall, and had a shining new helmet emblazoned Celestia's Maremacht logo. The strange unicorn smiled at her menacingly and charged up a de-atomizing spell. Fluttershy closed her eyes again, wishing to wake up from this bad dream.