Struggle

by totallynotabrony

Struggle

The rain had started a few minutes ago. It pattered off the leaves of the forest, dripping lower to reach the men huddled on the ground.

There were eight of them. It used to be ten, no, thirteen. John had a hard time remembering. He concentrated for a moment. It was only with effort that he remembered everyone he had fought beside in the months since he had joined the fight. The exact dates and the many faces had blurred into the past.

John was one of the newer members. Some of the others had been fighting for a lot longer. He’d arrived with all the enthusiasm that a young man could muster, ready to change the world and be a hero. Maybe the others had started that way, too.

The rain had started to run down the back of John’s shirt. He shivered, but there was nothing he could do. None of them had proper rain gear, or really, any proper gear.

There was top-notch equipment to be had elsewhere. John had seen others parading it around. His boots and clothing had been stolen from a ransacked shop. The rifle he carried had been taken from a dead soldier. None of the men with him had anything better.

This was the struggle. They fought an enemy that was better equipped, supplied, and trained. John couldn’t understand how things had gotten this way. Why hadn’t good men like him done something before now? Why had they allowed injustice to rise?

There was a quiet hiss of static as someone turned on the small portable radio. Batteries were scarce, and they could only listen to the airwaves reservedly.

The wash of white noise persisted. The dense forest allowed few signals from the outside world. But then, a smoother silence came through the small speaker. Everyone crowded closer.

Hello. This is a message from Equestria, on behalf of Princesses Celestia and Luna.

The translation was very good. The female speaker sounded almost human.

If you can hear this, you are taking shelter in the Everfree Forest. We know where you are, but we haven’t come for you yet. You are unimportant. You are at the bottom of our list of priorities. Instead, we’re dealing with your bosses first. They tell you what to do while they stay away from the danger.

The message was always different, but always some variation of the same theme.

If you are listening, it means that we aren’t coming for you today. You still have time to leave. Go home. Go back to your families and tell them that you fought. You can be a hero. Or you can stay, and one day, we’ll eliminate the more important targets from our list. And then, we’ll come for you. We don’t want to hurt you, but if you stay, we will take it as a threat and we will be forced to eliminate you, too.

John breathed a little easier. The ponies weren’t coming today.

Why they bothered to declare their intentions, no one knew. They just did. John figured it was a pony thing. It could have been an attempt at psychological manipulation. Not that it would do any good. Not that unicorn magic or pegasus weather sorcery or anything else ponies could throw at them would work.

A burst of static came out of the radio. There little point in leaving it on any longer. The message would just repeat until the ponies were sure they’d heard it. John hunkered down, and did the only thing he could do these days: he held his weapon, and waited.

As the day wore on, the rain didn’t stop. Not that it would have made much difference. Between sleeping on the ground and the threat of constant danger, none of them were rested.

There was little to do. Sleep, perhaps, although even as night began to fall that didn’t come easily. Eventually, in boredom, someone turned on the radio again. It took a few minutes of exploring the airwaves, but they found a different broadcast.

Broadcast sounded like just the right word. John remembered that it meant a transmission that was one way only. The ponies broadcast their radio messages, while he and his fellows had no hope of replying. Not that the ponies would care. They were deaf to the message, blind to see the error in their ways.

The radio played something different this time. The mare, John supposed, sounded more accusing.

You have trespassed on our lands, on our world. You are not welcome here.

That was good for a half a chuckle. Ponies weren’t welcome on Earth either, as far as John was concerned.

You have come to destroy. But what do you plan to build instead? What you failed to build on your own world? Did you expect us not to resist?

Ponies were pushovers. They kept playing the recorded messages but had done nothing.

We hope you are enjoying your stay in the forest. You know that if you venture outside, you will all be killed or captured. Meanwhile, how is the rain? How are the insects and the cold ground?

So smug. What had ponies ever done to feel so superior? Was it the fact that they thought clothing was superfluous? They could eat grass or whatever they found. Did they think that made them better?

You should stay in the forest. Maybe it will teach you about proper fields of battle. We know you are only brave enough to attack our small towns and our children. We don’t want to hurt you, but...

A long pause. The raindrops began to come faster than before. And then,

Can’t you see that you are in the wrong? What mind could even consider doing what you have done? You are the evil!

The message abruptly ended there. Despite the inhuman voice, John thought he had detected a rising tone. Maybe she had been too angry to continue.

There was a small comfort in that. He could only listen to the radio, but just him existing was putting a thorn in the ponies’ sides.

John frowned. It was a small victory, one of precious few these days. How sad it was to call it a victory when the enemy did little more than play radio messages at them.

He glanced up and immediately wished he hadn’t. The constant drizzle was turning heavier. There was a distant rumble of thunder.

The last message from the radio had ended on an emotional note. It was the first time any of the broadcasts had done that.

John considered it as the rain picked up. He knew the feeling of righteous anger at injustice and the thrill of battle. He’d never seen ponies show anything like that.

Moving to the meager shelter of a tree, he sat and huddled over his weapon. His fingers brushed over the gun. He wanted to use it. The ponies never gave them an opportunity. They never presented easy targets any more. Whenever the men tried to assemble a larger group to attack something important, some pony would always blunder through. They would play their terrible music over the communications radios. They would conjure apparitions and tricks. Sometimes they would simply watch from a cloud, out of danger, but close enough to keep watch.

A dim flash was followed a few seconds later by a rumble, signaling that the storm was picking up. John gritted his teeth and hugged his gun closer. It was an insult, being forced to scrape just to survive. The days of being a lion were gone. Now he was just a scavenger.

His fingers gripped the gun more securely and his jaw tightened. The struggle would go on.

A flash of lightning cracked overhead. An inhuman shadow loomed over him, wings spread, weapon pointed.

“I don’t want to hurt you, but if you move, I will take it as a threat.”

The voice hadn’t come from the radio.

Author's Note:

John is a terrorist, BTW

Comments

[Nightmare Wolf]

You have come to destroy. But what do you plan to build instead? What you failed to build on your own world? Did you expect us not to resist?

That quote gave me the idea, that they are some fanatics, that think that ponies are Satan, or other bullshit.
Nice tension anyway. I was afraid I was wrong.

[Kicks Mcgee]

Not bad. I like the mare losing her temper in the transmission. Fighting an enemy that commits cruel and evil acts is bad, but fighting one that does so while insisting you're the evil must be uniquely frustrating.

[Silentwoodfire]

5379705

I have to agree with you there, and no sane mind would EVER want what they're trying to peddle.

[RandomHamster33]

Whoa . . . this was quite interesting.

[Lancerlot]

Hmmm... Nope. There's not enough here. Insufficient data. There's no way to even tell what has really happened up to this point, or what anyone is fighting about. The only legitimate clue is blacked-out by the author so it would be impolite for me to discuss it.
It does seem that the first chapter ends with a decision point which will largely direct the next chapter.

[The Grey Pegasus]

So, it seems you were in the mood for a psychological thriller short. A depiction of wartime propaganda broadcasts. Curious. Also, the A/N. Also curious.

5379967
Except there is no next chapter.

[Lithl]

5379967
Agree on not enough data to make an opinion. Unfortunately, it's marked "Complete" so I doubt we'll get it.

[Blaze Spectrum]

I wish there was more, but I suppose it'll do.

[Mysterious Stranger]

"I thought you said you weren't coming for us yet!"

"We lied!"

[Lancerlot]

5380669
I like to pretend the fans can have an effect on the authors of work they enjoy. Kind of like how the MLP fandom keeps thinking they've influenced Hasbro to make changes to the show series. If totallynotabrony happens to be in the mood to extend this story, then maybe enough comments will push him over the edge.

[RandomPerson]

Aw come on.....one more chapter? Pleeeeeease?

[metallusionsismagic]

"No John, you are the terrorists!"
And then John was a zombie.

[RedGlare]

i want moaar i need know what happened with john

[Katamariguy]

It's always so frustrating when a story has such an ambiguous situation.

[Sauron]

I strongly advise you to not under any circumstances make a sequel or another chapter. Despite the pleas of other commenters and the fact that it would be amazing and would totally get me and others hooked, leave this fic as it is.

If the reverse psychology doesn't work, I can capitalize on the lack of more to write my own story.

[The Informant]

Interesting... But yet really not enough there to make any sort of judgement. I am not entirely sure what your intention was when it came to leaving a lot of details in the dark, maybe it was to make it mysterious so that others would use their imagination or something like that (or you simply forgot that you put a complete tag on the story), but overall it just feels incomplete.

Way too much is left in the dark. We can't exactly tell who or what john is (besides for obviously being human) or what the hell he is even doing out there in Equestria just through the story itself. The fact that you had to explain to us in the author's notes that John is a terrorist is not a very good sign.

We really can't tell what the conflict is in the story either, all we can see at the moment is that humans are at war with ponies and we don't know why. The only theories I have so far is that John is with a group of terrorists that are terrorizing Equestria for some variety of reasons, including religious, territorial, or plain malicious implications. However, I only had these theories due to the spoiler in the author's notes, it was not apparent in the story itself. Unless this a purposely left vague introduction to a bigger story, which I highly doubt due to the complete tag, this story is incomplete.

If it was your intention to make a vague one shot story that readers are supposed to figure out on their own, then I have to say you didn't do it quite right. Although you got the mystery of the situation down, I can't help but feel that you didn't leave us enough details. A mystery is only fun when you can solve it, and in this case, there is not enough clues. So if vagueness was your intention, I would suggest expanding upon the story a bit more, just so the mystery is (if only barely) solvable and the readers can really understand what is going on here.

On a positive note, I am interested in this story. I wouldn't mind reading it should it ever become more than just a one shot short story. However, I will be happy enough if you take the time to simply fix it, maybe then I will be able to give it a fav and a thumbs up.

Good day to you and keep up the good work!

[Hurgusburgus]

John is a terrorist, BTW

Then it's safe to say he deserves whatever disaster befalls him.

[Raichu]

That twist though.

In the... author's notes...