The War That Killed us All

by ShadowBrony21

A New Sergeant, A New Life

"Alright, I think that would be all." First base smiled at his recovered patient after looking up from his clipboard.

"Thanks for all your help," Rainbow Dash replied, gratefully.

"Aw... it was nah-thin'," he replied blushing.

"Really, thank you."

"Just... doin' me job."

Rainbow smiled at he as he gave a grin back, then she turned away and walked towards her new platoon, armed with a metal wing on her back. Giving is a stretch before flopping it back down, testing it for the umpteenth time.

First Base grinned at the mare walk away. Nothing was more satisfying for a field medic to watch a pony who came in on the verge of death, to walk out recovered. He sighed as he watched her trot away and thought; My first successful patient.

It took a while to navigate her way towards her unit, which was allegedly about to depart for Canterlot. She trotted pass many different ponies from different units on the way. Ponies of all different races and hometowns eating, chatting, reporting, performing surgery and running errands; another day of the war.

She sighed and stretched her limbs and wings as she made her way around other ponies wandering about. The whole time, she could only think about how would she approach re-engaging in combat, especially with a new platoon.

Would she be more cautious? Or more aggressive next time? Can she cope with another group of friends? Or would she be not as lucky?

After wandering around and asking a few ponies for directions, she finally spotted a pony with a '52nd Light Calvary' insignia on their armour and made her way towards him. As she came closer, the pony turned out to be part of a section, with was part of a platoon milling around, chatting and mucking around with one another.

"Hey! It's Corporal Dash!" A pony cried aloud as he spotted her, causing a crowd to form.

She wore a small grin of pride as the ponies recognised her, as well as showing her egotistical side. Wow, for only a few weeks since, word has gotten around of her 'heroic actions'.

"I heard that she led her section on a suicidal charge at the Rambling Rock ridge and barely made it out alive," a mare muttered to her friend right next to her along with uver mutterings in the background. After hearing that, Rainbow's grin only grew larger.

"We're gonna kick the bat-ponies' butt now! We got Rainbow Dash on our side!" A stallion cried out.

"I've heard that you killed 10 griffons without breaking a sweat!" A mare said aloud.

The cheering and the praising went on and on, getting loud by the second. Until suddenly, a loud voice boomed over them all.

"WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON OUT HERE??!!! I JUST LITERALLY TOLD YOU GUYS TO SHUT UP FIVE MINUTES AGO!!!

Everypony went silent and looked towards the pony who shouted.

Rainbow peered over the crowd to see a particular battle-scarred orange stallion with a blue mane. Her eyes crawled down from his head to see his rank slide on his shoulder, which consisted of three chevrons. This was definitely her new Sergeant.

The Sergeant scanned the crowd of ponies and picked up a mare with a rainbow mane within the crowd.

"CORPORAL!!! Care to explain?!!" he boomed.

Rainbow fumbled with her reply. Should she answer him truthfully or defensively? How should she answer him? First Base said that this was his brother; but he never mentioned that he would be such a big arse.

"Well?!!"

"Umm... Sorry Sergeant..." She replied.

"Get in here!" he gestured towards a tent. "Get your stuff ready and we will go at 1200 sharp! Understood?!!"

"Sergeant!" Rainbow acknowledged and rushed inside a tent, hoping to not cause any more trouble.

During that exchange, the crowd of ponies started muttering quietly in disapproval.

"How dare he treat her like that!" A mare muttered.

"Rainbow Dash doesn't deserve that treatment." Another said in disapproval.

"I bet she's seen more action on the battlefield than he has!" A stallion chipped in, trying to be smug.

Flash's ear popped up at that comment. From what one could tell; it hit a soft spot. He slowly turned to face the stallion who made the remark and marched up to him with a harsh glare.

He stopped in front of him, directly muzzle to muzzle, exhaled deeply and said, "May you repeat your last comment Private?" with a strangely calm voice without gritting his teeth.

The stallion who was clearly crapping his pants, puffed his chest forwards and tried to intimidate Flash without looking intimidated himself.

"You don't scare me!" He remarked suddenly.

Flash looked at the stallion with a disapproving gaze. After a moment's pause he continued.

"Are you stupid?" Flash asked. "Or do you think I'm stupid?"

The stallion decided not to take the risk of angering the Sergeant in front of him and managed to squeeze out a, "No...?"

Flash tilted his head with a confused glare and went on, "Then why didn't you answer my question?"

"I... I... Um..." The stallion stuttered. His legs started shaking slightly and he looked at the ponies around him for any sign of an idea or support. Finding nothing, he just looked back at the stallion in front without an answer.

"That's what I thought." Flash muttered as the stallion failed to get an answer out.

Flash turned away and started trotting towards the tent. The struggling stallion watched helplessly as some ponies, started giggling at his futile attempts against the Sergeant. The he mustered up the rest of his courage and blurted out as a last ditch attempt to save his dignity.

"You... You... You're A BULLSHIT FUCKING PILE OF SHIT!!! YOU... YOU... YOU ABUSE US ALL! EVER SINCE WE MET YOU!!!!! YOU NEVER GIVE US ANY CHANCES!!! YOU... YOU MISTREAT US!!!! AND THEN YOU MISTREAT A WAR-TIME HERO!!!!! YOU'RE A DISGRACE!!!!! I BET THAT YOUR... YOUR... your..." The stallion ran out of lines as Flash approached him again. This time, the stallion was visibly shaking in fear.

Flash stopped in front of him calmly and waited for him to finish, which he never did as they stood face to face in silence.

Finally, after a few seconds of standing, Flash broke the silence.

"One, Can you listen to yourself? All that crap you just blurted out? Tell me... What do you have to back it up?"

The stallion stood in silence, instantly regretting his decision to go up against the Sergeant. He thought back to what he said and instantly regretted ever trying to blurt out crap. His plan to save his dignity, made him loss more of it.

"And Two, If that's how you really feel, then you got some problems."

He paused for the slight off-chance that the stallion would look at his actions logically, but that was an 'off-chance'.

He sighed, "Tell me Private. Have you ever been on the battlefield? Have you ever seen any action? Have you even seen the dead and wounded from the battlefields?"

The stallion stood in silence.

"Did you ever see your mates slowly fall apart from you and die? Have you ever killed a pony? Have you ever beaten somepony to death in front of your very eyes?"

Every pony was silent.

"War is unforgiving. You think I abuse you? You think I never give you chances? You think I mistreat you?"

Flash's stern glare was as hard as ever. "Go onto the battlefield and see for yourself that I'm not lying."

Even the units next to them were silent and looking at the exchange.

Finally Flash sighed as the Stallion stood there, frozen and was stubbornly holding in his voice.

"Get out."

Those words cut through the silence like glass smashing in the middle of the night.

"Get out, Now. I've given you chances, I've let yourself redeem yourself for the past month, I've treated you as a fellow pony for the past 2 months. If this was real war, you're the equivalent of a recruit straight out of his recruitment, getting shot through the head as he took his first steps towards the enemy. Now, Get out. I've had enough of this shit."

The stallion just stared at the glaring Sergeant in dread as he knew; Flash Sentry never kids around. He looked at around him again for any sign of defence, but came up with none.

The ponies just watched and thought about it all.

Even his 'friends' didn't step in. Partly from fear and dread, but mostly from seeing the proof in the Sergeant's words.

A part of his brain told him that he was right and to step down. Another suggested that he would go onto his knees and beg. Unfortunately for the stallion, 'Stubbornness' was in pilot seat today.

He took a deep breath in and shouted aloud, "FINE THEN!!! I'LL GO AWAY FROM THIS STUPID PLATOON AND UNIT AND FIND A BETTER ONE!!! AS LONG AS I AM AS FAR AWAY FROM YOU, YOU ASSHOLE!!! ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN THIS!!!!!"

He tore of the insignia, as well as a large, embarassing chunk of his uniform off and threw it onto the ground. After giving it a couple of stomps on it, he stomped away with as equally as much force into the ground.

The ponies watched in surprise as the event occurred. Flash deeply exhaled and picked up the insignia and marched over to a gapping-mouth Rainbow Dash who as at the front of the tent with her new gear on.

"When possible trim this up and wash it," he muttered and gave it to her.

"Oh... Yes... Sergeant..." She answered quietly in surprise.

"ONE PLATOON!!! FORM UP!!!" he commanded as Rainbow put the insignia into her pocket.

This was one interesting Sergeant. Things will be very different.

---

"Sorry Sarge... but you guys can't make the trip. There ain't enough carriages and the tracks got sabotaged. For safety purposes, we reject your request to board." A pony said towards the Sergeant.

Flash sighed and looked back to the pony and asked, "When's the next train to Canterlot?"

"Not too sure, but we estimate that the train's gonna be back at late afternoon tomorrow."

"How long's the trip?"

"About two hours with the reduced safety speed."

Flash thought in silence and looked back towards his platoon, then back to the pony.

"Alright, thanks any way," he muttered and headed off towards his corporals who were waiting for him with the rest of the platoon.

"NCOs over here!" he commanded as Rainbow Dash and two other ponies walked up to him.

"So what now?" A corporal asked.

"We'll walk," Flash replied.

"WALK?? it'll take twelve hours even without a break!" Another Corporal cried out.

"Look," Flash said. "We are due to arrive 1800 tomorrow! The train can be earlier or later. If we march and set up midway for the night, we'll have enough time to eat, sleep, pack up and arrive before six. It'll give these recruits some basic training while we're at it."

Rainbow looked towards the clock on the station, and back towards the platoon and asked, "Is everypony packed?"

"Yes," Corporal Whiplash replied.

Rainbow grinned and said, "It's one right now, if we leave now, we'll arrive halfway before eight."

The two corporals looked at one another in disbelief.

"We're seriously walking from here to Canterlot, along with these bastards?!" Corporal Silver Streak cried out, pointing to the platoon.

Flash grinned towards Rainbow and let out a chuckle, "There's this thing called marching, you may of never heard of it."

"Let's get this show on the road!" Rainbow cheered.

"What are you guys standing here doing?! Get the buggers over here and literally get a move on!" Flash commanded as the two corporals went towards their respective sections the prepare for the march.

Flash gave a small smile to Rainbow and complimented her, "It's good to have somepony who actually has initiative."