"I just can't believe the bastards got him."
"Yeah... God."
We were standing outside one of the saloons in Appleoosa, waiting for the other guys to finish up their drinks. The only reason we were at a saloon was because this one served Root Beer, which was everyone's favorite drink.
"Hey sir, what happened yesterday when you... you know." Hodge asked carefully.
"I don't want to talk about it." I replied.
"Okay sir, I don't mean to pry, just curious." Hodge said.
"It's fine." I said.
After a minute or two, the saloon doors swung open, and out stepped almost all of the guys.
"Hey Anthony, is everyone done?" I asked.
"Zachary isn't, he's still inside." Anthony replied. "I don't think he's doing well."
"Alright... I'll go check on him." I sighed.
I walked in through the saloon doors and took a good look around the room. I could see many DAF soldiers sitting at small round tables, mixed in with a few pony civilians. I looked all around for Zachary, who almost blended in perfectly with everyone around him.
Luckily, he wasn't blending in perfectly, because I could see him sitting a few tables from the door, laying his head on his arms. I walked towards him, avoiding tables and people who were walking about, and sat in the chair across from him.
"Mind if I sit with you?" I asked.
"S-sir?" He said, looking up at me.
"I'll take that as a yes." I said. "So..."
"What?" He said.
"How does the root beer taste?" I asked, resting my hands on the table.
"Fine." He replied, putting his head back on his arms.
"Listen, I know how your feeling. I hate seeing my men lose their lives, or any man." I said. "But I- everyone needs you to be strong if you don't want to end up... like Dylan."
"How can I? How can you just forget something like that? How... how do you get over that kind of thing?" He asked.
"I... the best thing I can say is that it's in the past... and you really can't do much about it... except move on." I replied, trying to choose my words carefully. "You just gotta keep going, even when it's hard."
"But..."
"I need you. We all need you, especially since we're one man down." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder.
"I... Okay, okay." He sighed.
"You're a good kid, you know that?" I said. "I just need you to be tough when you can."
"Alright... I'll try." He said reluctantly.
I smiled a bit and patted his shoulder, getting up out of the chair I was sitting in.
"Now, you just come outside when you're done drinking." I said, walking out of the saloon.
I stepped out into the wide outdoors and walked towards my squad, still standing next to the saloon.
"Agh, damn Mosquitos!" Hodge grunted, attempting to slap small dots flying around him.
"Hey, I got some repellant if you want some." Wade said, rummaging through his backpack.
"Thanks." Hodge replied, happily taking the bug repellant.
"Hey, you talk to him, Mat?" Anthony asked.
"Yeah, I think he'll be fine." I sighed, putting my hand on my forehead. "Hell of a talk, though."
"Really?" Anthony asked.
"No." I replied, chuckling a bit.
"Oh, okay." Anthony said, just as a truck drove by.
The truck stopped a few buildings away from us and dropped off some soldiers, one running towards me with a paper in his hand.
"Sir? All squad leaders from I Company are being called back to Langston for a briefing." He said, running up to me. "You can ride back with us."
"What about the rest of my guys?" I asked.
"If you want to take them back to your barracks yourself, thats fine. Just make sure you leave as soon as possible and head over to CC." He said.
"Alright. Uh... I think I'll... I think I'll just ride with you and have my Co-sergeant take them back." I said.
"Okay, we'll be waiting over there for five minutes before we head out. See you then!" He said, running back to his truck.
"Alright!" I yelled to him, before turning to face Anthony. "Okay-"
"I know. I'll get everyone rounded up." He said. "I'll see you back at the barracks."
"See you then." I said, walking towards the truck.
I climbed into the bed of the truck and sat down next to a few other NCOs. A few minutes later, the driver got into his seat and turned the engine over.
As we were driving away from Appleoosa, I could see a few ponies being lined up against a wall, with soldiers aiming rifles at them. Then multiple shots rang out, and all the ponies that were lined up fell to the ground, pools of blood forming under them.
Whoever they were, they probably deserved it.
"-so the others went in and shot her! Can you believe it?" Jonathan said.
"No, I can't." I replied.
"Mat? Is something wrong?" He asked.
"No, everything's fine-"
"DIVISION, TEN HUT!" An officer yelled.
We all shot up out of our seats and stood at attention, not moving a muscle or saying anything. A little while later, I noticed a figure walk onto a small stage that had been set up in the large hanger we were currently in. The said figure was the Commanding General of our division, as well as the Deputy General.
"Seats!" The General called out. "At ease."
There was a low rumble as everyone sat back into their seats at an uneven pace.
"Men, I want to tell all of you how much of a fine job you've been doing, and if you keep this up, we'll be in Canterlot in no time at all." He said, beginning to slowly walk around the stage. "Which brings me to the subject of this briefing; Operation Mercury. This operation is a big one, and it requires all the manpower we can muster."
He walked over to a large board and pulled a sheet of paper off of it, revealing a large map with a red dot on a small town, though it's name was too small for me to read from where I was sitting.
"The main plan is to merge both the Eastern front and the Western front together at this town, known as Ponyville." He said, pointing to the red dot I noticed earlier. "If we manage to get here, and we will, we'll have a straight shot at Canterlot. So, in order to get to Ponyville, our forces here have to take the Broncordia district, and the Eastern forces must take the Konikticut district. The Northern districts will be taken over by our forces waiting in the Griffin Empire, as well as a force waiting to attack from Jama."
He pointed to a small country that separated The Mild West and Northern Equestria, then he dragged his finger along the border of Equestria and the Griffin Empire, which was huge.
"The invasion of Northern Equestria will be massive, with a total of twenty armies participating. They are all headed in the same direction we are." He said, taking a red marker out and drawing four arrows pointing towards Canterlot. "Thanks to the great defense done by our very own army, Langston Airfield is the closest air base to our area of operation, which is what we desperately needed for this. Fighters and bombers will carry out strafing missions against enemy positions lined up by the front, then after they do their job, we come in and do ours. Now, the first town we'll be assaulting is Brismane, which isn't that far from San Fransiscolt. Right after that come Sydneigh, then we fight our way through Hoofington, and then to Ponyville. That clears up the large or important towns, but whatever happens in the smaller ones is up to you. Aerial reconnaissance suggests that the Equestrians have their forces scattered throughout their lands, so it might prove difficult to figure out where an attack might be coming from. Though at the same time, this will allow us to take them out easier since their defense will be thin and spread out."
He walked back over to the small podium standing on the makeshift stage.
"Men, I know it's been tough since San Fransiscolt, but we must push onward if we want to all get out of here alive; and that means ending this war by winning it." He said, grabbing the sides of the podium. "We've come to the conclusion that the only way this war will end is if both the princesses are dead, otherwise they will never surrender. We must kill Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and since they won't come to us, we're going to them. We are going to need all the manpower we can get for this operation, and I am trusting all of you to do your job to the best of your ability. We will leave Langston within the week, when exactly we will leave this week is unclear, so I suggest packing as soon as you can and be ready to deploy any minute. Now, get some rest, you may not have much these next few months. Good luck to you all, and may God be with you. Dismissed."
Everyone around us stood straight up and walked away from their seats, headed to the hanger door. Me and Jonathan followed behind the large crowd of soldiers, passing by the other divisions that had been briefed in the other hangers.
"Urgh... shit." Jonathan grunted, stretching his arms and legs.
"Yeah..." I said. "I just wish it would end already."
"Well, at least we know what we need to do to end it. Just walk up to both the princesses and put a couple rounds through them, and that'll be the end of it." Jonathan replied.
"If only it were that simple..." I said, looking towards the horizon.
If only...
So they fought, and won, and we all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful.
I marked my spot and closed the book, feeling satisfied with its conclusion. Though there was only the afterword left, I left it alone for now because I had to check up on all of the weapons I currently had, even the AR-1 I had picked up yesterday. Firstly, I took apart Lucy and carefully pulled her apart, reading the cleaning instructions provided when I bought her. When I finished cleaning and reassembling Lucy, I moved onto the AR, but found it difficult to figure out what to move and what not to move.
"Hey Zachary, come here a sec." I said.
"Yes sir, what do you need?" He asked, walking up to my bunk.
"Do you know how to disassemble an AR-1? Cause if you do, I would like some help." I asked, pointing to the Attack Rifle.
"Uh... sorry sir. I don't know how. Sorry." He replied.
"Well... alright then." I said. "You can go back to whatever you were doing."
"Alright sir." He said, walking back to his bunk.
I looked back at the relentless AR, it's complex design extremely intimidating to the untrained person. Its so difficult because this thing is a new weapon that I have never had, nor trained with before yesterday, November 8th, 2023.
I have to do something, otherwise I won't have a working weapon on me.
Around that time, Frankfurt decided it would be a good idea to hop onto my bed and lay right next to me. The bunk creaked as the large dog settled atop my dangling legs, pinning me to the mattress.
"Heh, I think Frankfurt prefers you over everyone else, Mat." Anthony said.
"Probably." I replied.
Then Frankfurt began to whine. A lot.
"What's the matter boy? You feeling alright?" I asked, petting his soft fur.
He raised his head and stared at one of the empty bunks for a good long while...
Wait...
The empty bunk Frankfurt was looking at...
Was Dylan's...
...
"What's he looking at, Mat?" Anthony asked.
I just pointed to Dylan's empty bunk, remaining silent as I realized something terrible.
"Oh god... that's awful..." Anthony said, realizing why he was looking at the bunk.
I looked down at the dog, and just thought about how innocent he was, how he couldn't ever truly know what had happened to Dylan, he would only know that he was gone...
Which got me thinking about ponies...
...
No! I have to stop thinking like that!
There is no resemblance between a dog's innocence and a pony's innocence!
The ponies aren't innocent...
They've made this hell themselves...
...
God...
...
Why did the ponies start this war?