The War That Killed us All

by ShadowBrony21

Sergeant Soarin

Rainbow Dash woke up from unconsciousness.

Where am I? She thought to herself.

She could feel pain and bandages all over her body, especially her right wing and eye, which were heavily covered.

Looking around, she could tell that she was in a makeshift hospital, lying on a wooden board padded with cloth that was soaked in blood.

"Probably from me," she muttered to herself, thinking about how much blood she had lost. Then she realised that she could be in danger; the hospital could potentially be the enemy's.

There was nopony in sight, at least nopony who was still alive. On the 'beds' around her were either empty, or occupied by a failed patient, whose body was left to rot until somepony decided to dump it away.

She heard a rattle outside and looked over at the entrance of the tent. First the sound of a piece metal being hit by a hoof and then spilling of liquid on the ground. The liquid seeped through the walls of the tent to Rainbow's clear view; it was blood along with a few bits of guts.

"Fricking! Son of a Bach! That F*cking hurt! Who put that 'ere?!" a young stallion cursed. After no response, he sighed and went into the tent. "Seriously?! Who puts a bucket of organs in the way of the entrance of a normally busy area along with another bunch of crap?!" he muttered to himself. Rainbow Dash looked up onto the oncoming stallion.

He was a very young stallion who looked to be in his adolescence; he had a very skinny frame along with a newly grown pair of wings. He was covered in soot and blood, which was mainly on his hoofs. But even with the pain in her eye, she could make out his colour scheme; orange coat and blue hair.

At least it's a pony, she thought hoping that he would treat her not as bad as the regular prisoner of war.

"Oh, hello 'ere!" The stallion chirped with a much more happier tone as a spotted the conscious casualty looking down her surroundings. "You've been out for a week! Never though I'll have conscious company till now!"

Rainbow Dash looked at him with a confused look on her face. This was noticed by the stallion, who gave a frown back at her before realising the reason of her confusion.

"Oh!" he gasped with realisation, "I'm not the enemy, you were brought back from the 'attle with a blown up wing, scars and bruises. Barely made it out alive I 'eard."

She let out a sigh of relief and looked onto the roof of the tent, trying to recount what happened.

"They always want to know, don't 'ey?" The stallion said, "Every single one of 'em." He sighed and started to tidy up her surroundings; picking up guts and loose bandages. "Well you would expect yourself to be in enemy hooves after falling unconscious deep in enemy territory. Do you remembered what 'appened?" he asked, looking at her one bandage-less eye.

She opened her mouth before a massive headache hit her head, and ended up shaking her head slowly and biting her lip, trying to sooth the immense pain.

"Can't talk eh?" He commented, putting down a medical kit full of supplies next to her.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, feeling the same pain, but pushed through and tried to utter a voice before feeling a much stronger headache before shutting her mouth and shaking her head again.

Bloody hell, I can't even talk! How long have I been out? she thought to herself, wiggling her other body part to see which she can move or not.

"Probably the fatigue, don't worry, I'll cook up some 'ing" He pulled up a couple ration packs from his pack and prepared a stove. "Hurts?" he asked as he lit a match.

She nodded and silently sighed, her bones and muscle were aching from staying still for so long, along with the battle wounds she received. "Just relax and lie 'own," he said preparing a metal bowl. "I don't need any help; It's my job to take care of ponies like you." He poured water into the bowl, along with some dried vegetables, which he quickly chopped with an issued, blunt butter knife, and then putting it on the lit stove after a quick stir.

She lowered her head onto the 'bed', watching the stallion doing his work. "You like spice or sweet? or none of 'em, nod up for spice, down for sweet, and side to side for none."

Rainbow nodded slowly up, then down, earning a grin from the stallion. "Both!? I like your style, just like the taste of a rainbow!" he joked, adding a few drops of condensed milk, a hint of paprika, a drizzle of vinegar and a little dip of alcohol from his ration pack. After letting it simmer, adding a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and adding a few drops of fresh tomato paste.

Rainbow rolled her eye (single) at the joke. Still, she was surprised that the stallion would give up his alcohol and fresh paste for her, giving him a curious look.

The stallion gave it a quick stir before looking at Rainbow Dash and noticing the look on her face. "Don't worry, you're consisdered as a war hero now. Everyone knows about what you did. You deserve it; consider it a treat," he said, giving her a reassuring smile.

After a few more seconds of simmering, he approached her with the hearty soup in his hoof. Rainbow Dash was about to get up by herself, but her lack of strength forced her to be helped up by the stallion's free hoof. She groaned; she wasn't use to be feeling so helpless and requiring assistance for even the most basic of actions. She couldn't even talk! And of course, she has a reputation to maintain.

At least nopony else is here to see me like this, she thought as the bowl of soup came closer to her lips.

"Sorry, I don't have my spoon with me. It probably fell into a pile of sh-ait, I hope you can handle the heat," he said apologetically.

Rainbow gave him a small smile, as if saying; its alright. She pressed her lips on the bowl, gulping down the hot and fresh soup. It tasted quite good actually, with a bit of spice and sweetness, but mostly the feeling of relief as she had her first meal of a week. The piece of vegetables just slipped down her throat, relieving the thrist she had when she woke up, and before she knew it, the soup was all gone.

"Quite the hungry one eh? Not surprised; you've been in a coma for a week, especially after that battle you had." He took away the bowl and scraped the bottom for the spare vegetables and dunked them into his mouth.

The battle.

Thoughts came streaming through her head about her last memories before she fell unconscious. Featherwing. Thunderlane. All the bolts and arrows, all the ponies, all the dead.

"Need another?" the stallion asked, snapping her out of the thoughts. She shook her head and sighed out loud.

The stallion pulled out a several medical equipment and started to survey Rainbow. " 'At soup really did a miracle eh? You look much more livelier." He began to check her pulse, her throat and her abdomen. Rainbow couldn't agreed more, see was starting to regain her strength and her head felt much better. Her stomach felt warm and comfortable; she never felt so happy for food.

"Looks alright..." He muttered and began checking her wings. Dash felt really uncomfortable about the experience, but she knew he was just doing his job.

"Oh... dang, looks like you'll have to have a mechanical," he muttered. Rainbow initially thought, worst medic ever.

What type of doctor says "whoops!" and "Oh crap!" during a surgery or check?!

Well... he had to be a bit blunt, you can't sugar-coat; "Oh... you'll need to have your wing sawed off awake without any painkillers because we can't afford them. And then strap on mechanical wing on the side cause we can afford a fully functional, aerodynamic, mechanical wing but we can't afford a jar of painkillers, and most healing unicorns with numbing or painkilling spells are shot dead or captured."

She sighed. "What's your name?" She uttered, the soup having its affect on her fatigue. The stallion paused, and looked towards her. "You're Rainbow Dash, right?" he asked, before slowly continuing on preparing medical equipment.

She nodded. "Ever heard of the name; Sentry?" He asked, only to have her dumb folded; history was never her strong point, especially with the Wonderbolts. He sighed, "That's my family's name, as well as my brother's." He picked up a small bandage and dabbed it with salt water. "Name's First Base," he said, taking a peek under the bandage of her eye.

"Funny, I never heard of you in Cloudsdale."

"That's cause I live in Ponyville," First Base muttered. "When my parents died, my brother decided 'at he couldn't supply both of us, so he took me to Ponyville Orphanage and left me there under the care of a teacher. After that, he moved to Canterlot to join the Guard."

"What happened after that?" Rainbow asked

"He just rose up the ranks to Sergeant, while I never knew I had a brother." First Base continued to treat Rainbow Dash's eye. " 'En, the disaster struck and I left to help in the war effort along with everypony else."

"Did you meet here?" She questioned.

"Yes, I was volunteering to fight on the front but the officers thought that it would be better if I was just a back-line medic because they needed more of us." He rolled his eyes and sarcastically mocked the recruiting officers, "We 'on't want yah to experience the 'orrors of war!"

He chuckled, "and here I am; sawing of ponies' limbs and hearing 'em scream."

Rainbow Dash looked at what would of been a young and innocent stallion, who was covered in blood and making jokes about the destruction of the war. How things could've been different, she thought. How did such a glorious nation like Equestria, became this hell hole? She sighed at the thought.

"And 'en one day, He was brought to my post along with his platoon, who needed medical attention. And 'at's where he saw me," he concluded, whilst removing the bandage.

Rainbow Dash pondered about what to ask about as First Base began to tie the new bandage on her face. All they could hear was the clip-clopping of hooves that belonged to ponies running supplies and messages past the tent, along with the sound of constant artillery fire in the distant with the occasional scream.

Finally, Dash decided to speak up. "Who brought me here?" Dash asked. "The last thing I remembered was passing out in the middle of the battle."

First Base paused and thought, "Umm... I think... It was a Pegasus stallion by the name of... Oh crap, I don't remember." He sighed and continued to wrap up her eye. "I was busy treating the others when you were brought in," he explained. "But 'at looked to be a waste of time," he said while pointing at the blood, dead corpses and amputated limbs that were scattered around the tent.

"Oh, I do believe he was a Wonderbolt," he thought out loud.

"Wonderbolt 2nd platoon?" Dash asked.

"Yeah, you were from the battle of Rambling Rock Ridge... Yeah, the Wonderbolt 2nd platoon was with you. It's possible." First Base concluded wrapping her eye and examined her other minor wounds.

"What is it this time?" A white unicorn stallion with a blue mane sighed as mare began to read the report.

"110th Unicornian regiment was decimated at Galloping Gorge." A grey mare with a blond mane responded and continued to list down the incidents.

"the 32nd platoon of Unit 512 is missing in the proximity of Neighagra Falls, the 233rd Hoof Regiment was pushed back from Macintosh Hills, the dragons have been reported to have landed within the Haysead Swamp, and the 67th Apploosian Regiment is reported to have routing members." The mare stopped and looked up from her pages of reports to the stallion behind the desk in front of her.

He sighed, "Always bad never the good," he muttered. "Thank you for the hourly report, Lance Corporal Hooves."

The mare saluted and walked out of the office. The stallion sighed and looked towards the picture of his once happy family; his father, mother, sister and himself, all together went times were different.

"General?" a voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Uhh... yeah. Come in." he responded.

A dark blue unicorn stallion entered the room with a report in hoof. "We have lost the Castle of the two Sisters, all troops who were stationed in the everfree are reported to be missing or dead except for a handful of survivors who managed to make their way to Ponyville Fort. They are currently waiting for orders."

The white unicorn sighed, "Tell them to add themselves to the existing garrisons, there's not much else they can do."

After receiving the order, the unicorn left the room, leaving him to think over the events of the war. He glance at the map on the table which was covered in boxes, arrows and scribbles. He sighed and focused on the situation on the map.

Ever since the start of the war, the Kingdom of Equestria had lost many lands. It first started out as a civil war between the bat-ponies and the ponies, but as the war raged on, the nations surrounding Equestria took the opportunity to take some lands as their own. First, the dragons decided to take part of the Badlands and the Forbidden Jungle, followed by the Griffons taking Baltimare and Fillydelphia. Because of this, Reinforcements had to take position at Manehattan, leaving the Bug Bears to Ravage the north. Since then, the Yaks took the initiative to take the lands north of Vanhoover and the Buffalos to take Macintosh Hills. The changlings decided to base themselves all over Equestria, undercover and ready to strike at any time.

"Shining Armour?" a voice called from outside.

"Don't call me that! It's anything, but!" he snapped.

"Look! I know you're still mad about all this, but there's nothing you could of done!"

"Yeah... yeah, yeah. HOW is that meant to help me in ANY WAY! My parents died! My sister DIED! MY OWN DAUGHTER DIED!!! ALL THOSE I LOVED DIED BECAUSE OF ME!!!! BEACAUSE I COULD OF PROTECTED THEM!!!!!" he boomed. "'Knight in Shining Armour'? My parents gave me the wrong name." he muttered to himself.

Realising his sudden outburst he apologetically said, "I'm sorry about it Cadence." He took a deep breath, pulling his right hoof towards his chest before extending his hoof as he exhaled. He had been getting intense mood swings and a shorter temper ever since his coronation.

The alicorn mare watched him as he continued to take deep breaths. He had been in his office for five entire days, planning, sending ponies to run errands and organising the military forces. The pressures of his position had clearly taken its toll on him; his hair was messed up, his eyes were baggy and bloodshot, and worst of all (in her opinion); he smelt like crap. For sitting in an office and thinking, he sure does sweat a lot from the stress of his position.

"It's just that I... I..." He drooped his head, unsure about what to say next, before peering over his shoulder at the painting behind him. There hung a full portrait of himself in royal armour at his coronation, armed with a decorated sword and holding his helmet in his hoof, confidently to the side with his nose pointed up; the opposite of who he is now.

He sighed and drooped his head and ears, "Ever since my coronation, Equestria is just plummeting into destruction. More troops are landing on our shores, more of our troops are dying, ground is being lost every second, and the bat-ponies are currently at the door-step of Canterlot. What can I do?!" He put is head in his hooves and sighed, before weeping quietly to himself.

Cadence walked toward the weeping stallion, she felt sad for the poor prince in front of her as he wept to himself, thinking about his failures. She walked to his side and put a hoof onto his shoulder. "If anyone of us had the power or ability to stop all this, the war would've ended by now."

He looked up at her with a tear stained face. Nods slowly and sighs, drooping his head and ears back down to the ground. "Do you think we are helping Equestria, or delaying the inevitable?" he asks her with a deep and monotone voice.

Her reassuring smile faded away as she looked towards the ground, deep in thought, before putting her hoof on his shoulder.

"I don't know."

First base was writing down details of Rainbow's condition on a clipboard, humming a tune with Rainbow lying down on a brand new 'bed'. As the colt was writing away, she was in deep thought. What happended to the rest of my section? How the battle?

A knocking an a piece of wood was heard from the entrance of the hospital. First base put down his clipboard and walked towards the front of the tent. Pulling the cover open, he was stunned to see who was standing in front of him.

"Sergeant?! What are you doing here?" he asked in utter amazement.

"I was told that Corporal Rainbow Dash is recovering here. I have orders to bring news to her about her new platoon," a stallion's voice replied.

Rainbow peeked over towards the front where First Base was, curious to who this sergeant is.

"Yes, at once sergeant! you may come in, she is currently well and conscious." First Base answered and pulled the cover of the tent open to the newcomer.

Rainbow Dash was supprised at who the stallion was. He has a light blue coat along with dark blue mane, dressed in tin aerial combat armour and armed with an iron lance. Three cheverons engraved onto his shoulder plate to signify his rank.

"Soarin? The Soarin?! Wonderbolt 2nd platoon Soarin?!!" She question with excitement, fueled by her inner fangirl of the Wonderbolts.

"Somepony's quite excited to see me," he chuckled, making Rainbow shut her mouth and continue to internally squeal.

First Base smiled, at the encounter before focusing his attention on Soarin. "What are you here to tell Dash here about?" he asked.

"There are some changes that are being put in place during your recovery that must be known to you." He said, turning to Rainbow. "Due to the sear amount of casualties recently, The Equestrian Military is reorganising sections and platoons universally." He continued. "Because of the lack of survivors from your unit's recent attack, new ponies are going to be put in place to fulfil empty positions. These ponies with vary in origin from all over Equestria from decimated units. That includes your privates, Lance Corporal and Platoon Sergeant."

As that was said, Rainbow would recall her old platoon's mates, who'll no longer serve by her. Especially Thunderlane, Featherwing and many members of her old section; and to just have them replaced was a stab in the heart.

"Your Lance Corporal will be chosen by you after a week of training under your new Platoon Sergeant."

Rainbow took the information in and thought it through. Then she came across a few questions. "Where will my new unit be stationed?" She asked out of curiousity.

"I believe your unit will still be the 52nd Light Calvary, but your unit's stationing is currently unknown. Your week of training will held somewhere on the borders of the Everfree Forest." Soarin replied without hesistation.

"Okay, umm..." Dash thought to herself about the next question. "Who will my new Sergeant be?"

Soarin looked down onto his list in his hoof, he bit his lip as he searched throught, flipping page after page on his clipboard. "Platoon Sergeant... Sergeant, Sergeant... Sergeant," he muttered as he scanned page after page before striking gold. "A-ha! There we go!" he shouted, catching First Base off-guard as he flinched hard at the sudden outburst.

"It seems your new Sergeant will be a Pegasus by the name of Flash Sentry!" He finished.

Rainbow nodded her head up and down, and then looked towards a surprised First Base with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "My-m-mm-my Brother?!" he exclaimed with surprise.

"It seems so." Soarin gave the paper one last time before putting it away.

"Wow! didn't think his new platoon would be stationed so close to me!" First Base cried out.

"I think we will be moving away from here," Dash said pointing at the ground. "And to somewhere else after the week of training."

"Well, we can always just keep in touch," he replied smiling at her.

"If not, I can always get severely wounded again." She joked.

"It seems that your week of training will begin in two weeks," Soarin continued. "How would the injuries hold up?"

Her smiled faded as she was unsure if she could even heal quick enough considering the injuries were quite life threatening. She turned her head towards First Base with a worried look on her face. Sure enough, he still standing there with a grin on his face.

"I bet Dash can pull through, after all, she did survive a blown-up wing as well as extremely blood loss on the front lines." He said confidently. "If we replaced her wing, at the end of the fortnight, her eye should heal nicely and then she'll be as good as new except with a few cuts and bruises."

The medic's report put an ease through her mind as she checked her other injuries.

"Good, then I think I'll be on my way now. It was nice meeting you two again," Soarin chuckled as he turned to leave.

Again?, Dash thought. No, it can't be!

"Wait! Wait again, umm... Soarin!" She called out, making Soarin turn back.

"Yes?" He responded.

"Your from Wonderbolt 2nd Platoon, right?!"

"Umm... yeah. So...?"

"Who pulled me out of the battle when I fell?" She asked with the same intensity as her eye glared at him.

Soarin was taken aback. He turned to First Base, "You didn't tell her?"

"I mind blanked, alright!" First Base excused himself.

"Alright then," He said turn back to Rainbow.

"I pulled you out."

Author's Note:

Sorry for the lack of updates, I was really busy with "important" stuff and never really found the time to work on my stories
From now on, I'm going to upload chapters one by one switching from each story, and try to have one update a month.
So I'm currently working on SSoTS (Sentry: Soldier of the Sword) when this chapter comes out and vice versa.
BTW here is a pic of Dash getting shot:
<-Still working on it.

Comments

[mermaidvssailor]

I'm' really diggin' this story so far. Also, I love First Base's accent. (If he has one)