A Collection of Colourful Creations

by Lt Rainbow Slash

Interview with a Bolshevik

Author's Note:

This was a project I had to do on the Russian Revolution a while back for history class. I'm a writer so I thought what the hell and whipped this up. Now with 100% more pony.

P.S. Yes I ripped the format straight out of the book World War Z. Its a fun way to write.
P.P.S also for those of you who are waiting on the Winged Defender replacement, this is how a lot of it is gonna be formatted.

Ponyville

July 14th, 1942

[The warm morning sun shines through the windows of the house. The view out the window is of the beautiful green Equestrian countryside. Across the room sits Valeri Stronghold, a large Earth Pony in his forties. His face shows the wear of thirty years living in his motherland. He speaks with a thick Russki accent.]

So you are a former Bolshevik?

Indeed. I fought for the Communist cause in the Civil War.

How did you get involved with that?

Well...I was sixteen when the First World War began. I lived with my parents on a farm just outside of Stalliongrad where I grew up. We lived well for peasants. We never went hungry, and had half a dozen farm hands. But as war continued the tsarists began to take some of our livestock. Then some of our harvest. A little more. Prices went up and up. Taxes went up. Eventually we had to lay off the farmhands. We had to go hungry for the first time in my life. By 1916 I was eighteen. And I was angry at the Tsarists. We barely survived.

What did you do about it?

I left in December of 1916. We didn't have enough money to buy the supplies we needed to keep running the farm. I left with a promise to my parents that I would go to the city [Stalliongrad] to find work and mail them some of the money. So I made my way into the city, looking for any work. I ended up getting a job at one of the munitions factories. Conditions were appalling. We worked long hours for barely any wages. I lived in the streets and used what I could spare to keep myself fed. It was filthy.

How long were you there.

Three months. Slowly getting more and more discontent. Yet I worked. I knew that this was the best it would get. And then the revolution began. The Steel Works in the south of the city locked out several thousand workers. Something or other involving pay talks. My friend who was with me, Rookinev was his name, talked me into joining over half the factory in a sympathy strike. So here we were. Almost 100,000 discontent workers wandering around the city. The next few days were much the same. Bakeries began running out of bread. Rationing had already been in effect but now the long lines of angry workers began looting the bakeries. Soon hundreds of thousands, myself included, were demonstrating in the streets. I heard later that the police broke it up in some places by firing into the crowd. Soldiers ordered to do the same joined us instead. It was the same for several days, massed protests and all. Almost a week later we got the news that the Tsar had abdicated. Everyone was celebrating.

Interesting. Now you were a Bolshevik. How did you end up aligned with Linen?

I was swept away in the crowds. I found food, and quiet places to sleep every night. When Linen came to Stalliongrad I was wandering around near the train station. I didn’t even mean to be there. But a train pulled in and the brown maned balding unicorn stepped off. Ten minutes must have passed before he was giving a huge speech to what must have been a thousand ponies. Peace, Bread, and Land. That’s what he promised. And that was all I needed to hear. I could go back to my parents and everything could go back to how it was. So I followed him. He promised equality and a better quality of life. I went to all his speeches, all the rallies. In June I went back home to see my parents. They were getting by on what they were growing on the farm. I told them of what had been happening in the Capital. I stayed for four months to help them before returning to the city.

That would have been October. So you took part in the October Revolution?

Yes. I returned to find Linen calling for the overthrow of Clear Sky. I took part in storming the Winter Palace. We disposed of Clear Sky and his provisional government and gave all the power to the Soviets and ourselves. Almost immediately a civil war broke out between us and the Liberal and monarchist forces. Our Red Army, which I was a part of, against their so called ‘White Army.’ I like to think in the four years I became a hardened soldier. I fought all the way from Stalliongrad to Vladstok. I lost many good friends.

That begs the question: why are you in Equestria?

Two words. Just. Steel. That Ублюдок. When Linen passed away I was sad, but I moved on. I was a...what is your word...Ah yes, Sergeant in the Red Army. I had served the revolution faithfully. But when that Сукин сын came to power...I knew he was bad news. I went to see my parents just after his rise. My father shared my feelings of unease. We decided right then we needed to get out before it was too late. We packed up what we could and caught a train. We traveled all the way through Germaney and Prance before coming to Equestria. I found a job, and learned Equestrian as did my father. Eventually we made enough money to buy a small farm. Over the years we have bought adjacent lands and expanded it. Now we live quite comfortably. It’s almost like before the First World War.

I suppose you are grateful you decided to leave when you did?

Absolutely. Look at the mess Steel has made of Russki...Sorry, the USSR. He’s killed millions, and made life hell. It pains me to see Mother Russki in the state she is. I feel sorry for all those who didn’t leave and are stuck in the hellhole she has become.

Do you think the Nazis will be able to win?

HA! Not in a million years. If Steel could say one thing to Hitter, I believe it would be something along the lines of: ‘You underestimate how many people live here and how little I care for their lives.’ Russki may be backwards and behind technology wise, but who needs that when you can throw thousands of men at your enemy?