Battlefield: Equestria

by Capanna925

The Trenches

The cold surrounded me and I found myself encased in a sort of unconscious daze. Hide. It's all my mind could understand to do. Kneel. Crouch down. Oh, for Luna's sake do SOMETHING, Rarity!!

But somehow, I couldn't. Something was wrong. So terribly wrong that it chilled my bones and turned my blood to ice.
My..my legs....

They were blown off. They must have been. No. That can't be possible. My mind clouded in complete fear and shock as I tried to gasp in some air to get my brain working and assess the situation. C'mon, Rarity. Pull it together. What was the last thing you remember.

Gas masks.

They were scattered all across the floor of the trench, most of them were being worn by ponies that lay on the ground, not breathing. I tried to focus my eyes upon their faces. Apparently they hadn't been able to get them on quick enough before the gas leaked into their lungs.

My ears were ringing and all else I could hear was hooves pounding on the ground, seeming to be above me..they were getting quieter.

All of a sudden, my back went weak and my body was pinned to the ground in a matter of seconds. It was so dark, and my eyes were so watery I could only make out the silhouette of a unicorn's horn.

"Twilight..?"

The sound of my voice was so horse and dry from the excess gasses that were stil circling around inside my mask, filtering out slowly.

"You keep your head up like that, and you're just a sitting duck waiting to get shot!"

Her voice was so recognizable, yet so sharp and demeaning through her dirt covered mask.

"I-I'm sorry, Twilight-"

"Sorry won't keep you alive!"

I hated seeing her like this...I knew she only means to protect me, but seeing her so battle-harden just reminds me of those days back in Ponyville. She was always so kind to everypony...kindness.

The word brings a flood of painful memories into my mind. My stomach clenched as I thought of that cream colored pony, one of my dearest friends, being shot down during a scouting mission. Fluttershy knew it would happen at some point.

We all knew.

She would never fight back, she would never have any blood on her hooves. She hated war, and just wanted it all to stop. That's who I'm fighting for. My friends, my allies.

"From now on, keep your head lower."

Twilight's weight shifted off of me, and slowly drew me back to reality. The gas and the smoke swirling in clouds around me made me tear up, and left streaks of freezing water on my face. The coldness from the ground began to creep up my back, making me want to sit up, yet laying down, finally resting, was so nice I wanted to lay down and rest forever.

I grimaced as icy winds blew into the gashes on my face and body, most of them opening again and sending trickles of blood running down my camo suit.

It hurt.

Everywhere.

"Please..."

I managed to let the words slip past my purple lips.

"Make it stop..please..it's so hard.."

Twilight glanced over to where I lie, and I could feel my head being lifted involuntarily.

"Rarity,"
Twilight peeled off her mask and set it on the ground.

"I know it's hard. I know you feel like you can't go on. But you need to start with getting up. You won't go far just lying there."

Her words were blunt, yet through my water-logged vision I saw a sparkle of sympathy in her eyes that told me she was still on my side.

I began to lift my head again, and as I did, my eyes followed the trails of smoke all the way up the sky, only to find blackness.

Not one star out there to give me any hope..

"Where have all the stars gone..?"

I managed to scrape some words from my burning throat, as I too took my mask off.

"Behind the rain clouds, I'm guessing."

Just as the words came out of her mouth, a streak of lightning went over our heads.

"Great. Just what we need."

Twilight's jaw clenched as she picked up her binoculars and peeked over the lip of the trench.

"Twilight, do you see anything?" I said.
"Nothing. Just bodies." Twilight gulped.
"Well- what about the soldiers who gassed us earlier?" I said worriedly.

The purple pony remained silent, indicating her first statement was in fact true.

Suddenly, I heard a shivering-sobbing sound behind us. I focused my eyes enough to see Berry Punch had just now joined us down here. Twilight put down her binoculars and whipped her head around,

"Berry! Where have you been?!"

Berry just stared at her with wide eyes and continued to shiver, and I noticed she was favoring her right arm.

"Are you hurt?" I said.

Berry Punch lifted up her arm and started to whimper. I held down vomit when I saw her mangled arm, hot and wet with blood, the cloth of her jacket arm was in loose threads around the gashes.

Twilight's eyes were wider than mine as she dashed towards her and began propping Berry up on her back.

"Rarity!!" She snapped.

I trotted over and helped Berry Punch on my back as well and started down the trench, through the tunnel that eventually led to the base. My eyes squinted when I saw lights for the first time in hours.

I started to notice Berry stopped breathing so quickly and was replaced by slow, shallow breaths. She must have past out; good thing we're here.
Twilight led the way into one of the small tents with a red cross covering the opening.

I soon became overwhelmed with the smell of blood and sickness, but my mind cleared when I saw my good friend Applejack. She was distracted at the moment, slowly injecting a needle into a patiant who's eyes were glazed over. I read her name tag; Bon Bon.

I didn't know the pony too well, but I do remember a time back in Ponyville when she said a dress that I made was the most magnificent thing she's ever seen. It meant a lot to me, coming from a stranger, and I never even knew her name until now.

We laid Berry Punch on an empty bed that was dyed dark red. She moaned, drawing the attention of the country pony. Applejack's eyes lit up when she saw me and Twilight.
"Rarity! Twilight! Am I glad to see you!"

She trotted over to greet us, and then took a look at Berry Punch. Her face turned white when she saw the mangled mess that might not even qualify as an arm.

"What in the hay happened..?!"

Twilight answered, "Not a clue. We found her like this."

Applejack leaned down close to Berry's ear,

"Soldier Punch? Can you hear me?"

Berry's eyes rolled back as she let out a moan.

Applejack stood up again, as she murmured, just loud enough for us to hear. "This wasn't done by anypony." The way she emphasized "Pony" sent a shiver up my spine.

There were other enemies out there. More threatening than Celestia's soldiers themselves. As the next words slipped out of her mouth, my thoughts were sent reeling.
"..Timberwolves."

Comments

[theDdash]

Not a bad start but you should have had a ptolaugue. Sorry I know my spelling is painfully bad

[Styrofoam]

Wait. This is brutal. It sounds like World War I.

And... Poor Fluttershy! She wasn't made for this!