Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories

by Piccolo Sky

Daybreak: The Battle of Deadwood Fields

“Sgt. Applejack!”

Although she hadn’t been the one called, Pinkie Pie perked up on hearing that sound. It was a bit hard to find the source. It was getting late and, although the rain had let up, the sky was still thick with clouds; leaving only a few small and purposely dim campfires around most of the military encampment to serve for illumination. She managed to catch the glimpse of an outline of a new figure in a uniform on the periphery of the Civilian 39^th’s area.

Applejack herself, seated across from the fire and, like the rest of her kin, doing her best to get one last real meal in before the next conflict, immediately rose to her feet. “Yes sir!”

“The word’s been given! We’re moving out in one hour! CO said that she wants you in on the briefing!”

“Yes sir!”

The figure turned and walked off. Pinkie turned to Applejack with an excited gasp. “You didn’t tell me you were a sergeant!”

She frowned. “Well, I wasn’t ‘fore yesterday. One of them field promotions I guess. Anyway, hop on up. You heard the man. We gotta head over to whatever they’re plannin’.”

“Ooo! I get to come?” Pinkie asked excitedly as she bounced to her feet. Since she was an official draftee along with the rest of them, the rest of the company had managed to scare up a uniform for her that fit, although between her pink poofy hair and her childish mannerisms it was still hard to imagine her as a soldier.

“Damn straight, ya’ do. You may not be as tough as me, but you’re worth a good fifty soldiers too,” she answered as she quickly moved over to her. “’Sides…we’re gonna both need to know when’s a good time to cut and run fer the border. Even if we lick these Trottingham types, I gotta make sure the rest of the family can handle it from here before we push on.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie cheered. “I mean…” She quickly saluted. “Aye-aye, sergeant!”

Applejack grimaced just slightly as she led on. “In the army, it’s ‘yes sir’.”

“Yes sir, sergeant sir!”

The two had a bit of trouble working their way over to the briefing tent for their company. This was, after all, a secondary briefing following the main one that the head officers had already had. By now the word was going out over the entire camp as well as others throughout the countryside that it was time to mobilize, and the brief respite that the armed forces had was now rapidly coming to life preparing the mobile artillery and whatever cavalry could be mustered to move out. The camp lanes, that had been drying out somewhat, were now quickly being obliterated into fresh mud and filled with traffic as they wormed their way through one after another.

Finally the two reached a larger tent that had guards posted at the front, and was well illuminated on the inside. Many other officers were already pouring in. Applejack and Pinkie both approached the entrance, but on reaching the threshold one of the two guards at the entrance put out a hand and stopped her.

“Lieutenant and higher only. This is an official briefing.”

She frowned indignantly. “Y’all called me out here ta’ begin with!”

The guard nearly responded, but before he could the other guard spotted her and quickly interjected. “Let her pass. That’s Sgt. Applejack with the Civvie 39^th. Her CO wants her in on this.”

The other guard paused. He looked back to the two of them, now turning to Pinkie Pie, who cheerfully waved back.

“What about that one?”

The guard was silent. He looked to Applejack, who in turn stood plainly for a moment, glancing back to Pinkie and then forward again. “Well…she’s someone I want in on the briefin’.”

The two soldiers looked to each other. However, there were other officers beginning to fill in behind them, and all of them were beginning to look impatient. After a moment longer, one of them finally turned and looked. Apparently, whoever the CO was for the Civilian 39^th had been watching the entrance, because one of the officers stared right back and gave a single nod. When that happened, the two guards finally parted ways, letting the two walk inside.

As soon as they were in, they spotted a large pair of tables set up in the center, covered with both maps of the area as well as small figurines to indicate forces. They even had tiny flags on pins attached to them to represent which corps the figurines represented. The tent was already filled with officers in addition to the CO that had helped wave them in. Applejack immediately went to her and fell in alongside.

“Thanks fer bringin’ us both in,” she mentioned.

“Well, if she can do half the stuff you can, she’s more’n welcome,” the officer responded.

“Aw, you bet. Wait’ll you see her on the battlefield. She’s tougher than any other boy you got in the unit.”

“Ooo!” Pinkie chose at that moment to exclaim. She began to wander away from Applejack and to the table. “They’re going to play soldiers over here! I’ve never seen figures like these! Hee-hee! They’re just like the soldiers in the army! Where’s the cannons? I want to blast the bad guys! Boom-boom-boom!”

Applejack grimaced. She turned to her CO, who gave her a half-frown. Quickly she began to chuckle nervously. “Uh…heh…she saves it fer when it counts.” Quickly, she parted from her side, ran up to the woman, grabbed her by the arm, and drug her away from the table. “Get back here already!”

“Aw…” Pinkie remarked disappointedly.

Applejack didn’t care much for having to keep her friend’s attention when she was acting like a little child, “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” at every little thing, but fortunately she didn’t have to worry about that for too long. The last few attendees soon arrived, and as soon as they did the room became quiet. Only then did a single officer in particular step forward. Neither Applejack nor Pinkie Pie had seen the one in charge of their entire group yet, but considering that he looked older, his uniform was decorated for that of a colonel, and that everyone was giving him their full attention, they soon reasoned this one had to be the person in charge.

“Alright,” he announced with a gruff, impatient tone, quieting down the remaining noise, “I’m going to keep this short as we need to get a move on, so pay attention. This is the move that’s going to halt the Trottingham advance and, with any luck, send them packing in retreat.”

He gestured down to the map, in particular toward a large set of figurines holed up in one area. They were painted a red color unlike the green color of most of the other figurines, and the flags that they bore were those of Trottingham. In addition to figurines of numerous troops, there were a few large ones that looked airship shaped.

“The advance they’ve made this time is different from their past attacks on Appleloosa. The new commodore pushed hard and fast in a quick campaign. We weren’t ready for it and we paid the price. However, so did they. They pushed forward so fast without a place to fortify themselves or resupply that they’ve spread themselves too thin. The main bulk of their forces pushed deep into our territory using their airships to cover them, but now they’re low on ammo and fuel and without any of their tank divisions or most of their artillery to back them up. They’re holed up right here in the town of Deadwood, likely because it’s the only town that has a railway that still passes all the way to the east border. They’re planning on staying there until they can resupply and catch their breath. We’re going to counterassault them before they get the chance.”

He proceeded to gesture around the map to the nearby locations, starting with a rather large force that was made of regular figurines, artillery figurines, and ones with horses.

“Our main force is gathered here. Supporting it, we have two companies, including the one headed by myself that you’re all part of.” He proceeded to gesture to two smaller groups of figurines, one to the north and one to the south. After that, he reached for the table and grabbed a wooden pole with a flat rod braced over the top of it. He extended it over the map behind the largest force, and pushed it inward toward the enemy figurines.

“Shortly, the main army is going to make a push to Deadwood in what we want the enemy to think is an attempt to retake the city through superior numbers and firepower. However, the enemy knows the surrounding fields are still muddy and inundated from the rain and they’ll count on our cavalry to be largely out of commission. They’ll come out to counter us and try and drive us back before we can move artillery into range.”

He moved the rod to the opposite side of the friendly units and pulled them away, before reaching out with it to some of the enemy units and pulling them after them.

“At that point, the general is going to break before them and pull back, which we plan on drawing out the rest of their army in pursuit in an attempt to keep us from coming back until they can resupply. At that time…”

He moved the rod around and had the two smaller companies sweep in on the line from the north and south.

“This company and its sister company will move in and attack simultaneously from two fronts, north and south. We plan to split the enemy force clean in half. When that happens, the main army will turn back and wipe out the force that went too far, while the two companies turn on Deadwood itself and drive out the attackers. They should be helpless to do anything but fall back with the rest of their army, and we’ll have retaken at least half of the territory we lost and the station in Deadwood. Any questions?”

“What about the airships?” one spoke up. “They’ve been using those to get the upper hand on us since this fight got started.”

“Yes, but these ones have exhausted most of their munitions,” the colonel answered. “They aren’t even much in the way of flying artillery, let alone enough to drive us back. Plus the rain will be hurting them too. The clouds are so low that they won’t be able to get a good shot unless they put their big fat asses right in range of our anti-air artillery. They shouldn’t be much of a factor. The fighting is mostly going to be man-to-man. Anything else?”

Silence from the rest of the group. Pinkie, looking like she felt left out, began to raise her hand, but Applejack stopped her before she could make a scene.

“Alright then, get to it. We move out in forty minutes.”

---

“Ok…so, first we need to move out and get them to run after us…then we need to come around and go in…then we need to get their airships to run after us… Wait, no…what was that all again?”

Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. “All we gotta do is move out, waiting for the bugle to blow, then tear inta’ the Trottinghamites, Pinkie,” she tiredly corrected.

“Oooooh…” she responded knowingly. “That sounds much easier. Why didn’t that man in the tent just say that?”

Applejack grimaced but kept walking. However, she only got a few more steps before Candy Apples walked up alongside her, looking a bit uneasy. “Uh, coz? Are you sure she’s gonna hold her own when we get there? I mean…”

“Don’t worry,” Applejack half-sighed back, “Trust me. She can handle herself. Just make sure you stick behind her and pick off what gets by her, alright?”

Candy still looked rather uncertain about it, especially on looking at Pinkie again and seeing her merrily skipping along, but nodded and fell back with Big Macintosh and the others.

At this point, the entire Apple family along with the rest of the Civilian 39^th and the accompanying divisions were making their way to Deadwood. As much as they were able, they stuck to the roads, especially with the cavalry. The surrounding area was nothing but farm fields, much of which had turned into muddy quagmires in the wake of the continuous rain. Only the ground closest to the road was dry and stable enough to move any horses or light artillery on. Everyone else was doing as best as they could, trying to stay out of puddles and mud as they trudged on their way to their destination. It didn’t help things one bit that it was still quite dark outside. In order to get as much surprise as they could, their company was being forced to march all night to get into position, such that when first light broke they could rush on the enemy. That really didn’t help them avoid any mud patches or huge puddles that were littering the area, however.

At any rate, following the last exchange, Applejack and Pinkie Pie had a bit of privacy to themselves. Considering her power, Applejack’s CO had put her at the head of the Civilian 39^th, both to lead the charge when they reached their destination but also to handle any surprises that might try to leap out and stop them along the way. As a result, their current arrangement gave them a bit of privacy. Applejack and Pinkie were walking in front, the four “special” members of the Apple family were next behind, and the rest of the troop was bringing up the rear. So long as they kept to that arrangement, the two were effectively out of audio and visual range.

For that reason, Applejack took that moment to speak up to them. “Awright, here’s what’s happenin’. After we win this here fight, Trottingham’ll be in full retreat and we can link up with that other company that’s got the rest of my kin in it. My family’ll be together and we’ll have bought some time, so we can go take care of your family. We ain’t gonna stop once the battle’s over. We’re gonna keep on pushin’ and head all the way into Trottingham right on the heels of these palookas.”

“Neat!” Pinkie cheered as she kept hopping along. “But what if we don’t?”

“Huh? What if we don’t what?”

“What if we don’t win?”

Applejack snorted. “Didn’t ya’ hear back there? We got this in the bag already. Trottingham may have made a good run of it but their luck just ran out. They made a deep push but they ain’t got no steam left. They may have got the best of us at first, but now they’re playin’ on our side of the field. This sorta thing happens all the time whenever there’s a war. We lose a bit at first, then we push back and they lose a little…and when it’s all over and done with we’ll be back where we started. ‘Sides, they got us here. So this company sure ain’t gonna lose.”

Pinkie thought of that for a moment. “Hmm…I guess you’re right.”

“Course I’m right! Don’t you be worryin’ none ‘bout this. Just worry ‘bout beatin’ the stuffin’ outta ‘em pretty soon. Pay ‘em back for everythin’ they had Sunset Shimmer put us through.”

“Oh, I can’t do that, Applejack.”

“Huh?” she retorted, looking almost indignant. “Why the hell not?”

“Gaia Everfree says we shouldn’t seek personal revenge against people who wronged us. That’s what Maud tells me.”

“Well you can-” Applejack began to retort, before sighing and quickly composing herself. “Well then, just worry ‘bout beatin’ them up so we can get to your folks, alright?”

“Okie-dokie-lokie!”

Realizing that was the best they were going to get for now, Applejack turned forward and kept marching.

It was such a slog and took so much of the night that everyone was feeling a little tired out by the time they finally reached their destination. At length, however, Applejack and Pinkie Pie alike both began to see a glow on the horizon being reflected from the clouds. It was rather faint, but it definitely wasn’t moonlight or anything natural. Applejack would have estimated it was still a good ten miles away when they suddenly heard the sound of a trumpet letting out a single long note blare over the entire company.

At that, Applejack stopped. As Pinkie kept walking, she quickly put out a hand on her to halt her as well. “That’s the signal for company halt,” she informed her before she could ask.

“Oh…that means we stop, right?” she answered, even as the large army behind them quickly made the sound of shuffling to a halt as well. “Great! So what now?”

“We wait here for the next signal. That one’ll be to charge.”

Time slowly ticked by. Pinkie never lost her own enthusiasm, and Applejack and the rest of her family remained bold as they stood at the front raring and ready to go. The rest couldn’t be said for the remainder of the Civilian 39^th behind them. Most of them looked rather nervous, constantly wrenching and grasping their weapons in their hands, wiping at their heads, or shifting in place. Occasionally, far, far in the distance, they heard sounds of some sort of large mechanical movement, but nothing en masse or to indicate any major move.

At last, in spite of the clouds, the first glow of the coming dawn began to break over the horizon. When that happened, those gathered finally began to hear a movement. It was a low, soft rumbling; obviously the sounds of many feet marching out in unison. As time passed, the sound of a drummer keeping the beat for the pace began to echo over the field as well. When that happened, the group gathered began to finally see something. While still quite distant, against the rising sun’s glow, they saw a faint outline of an airship begin to lift off into the sky. Soon another joined it, and a third after that.

Applejack’s family had their own arms at the ready all along, but Applejack had nothing on her save for her claw hammer at her waist. She drew it out at this point, but didn’t stop there. Reaching behind her, she felt around for a moment before she grasped something else and held it before her. It wasn’t much…just a pot lid with a metal handle. However, she twisted it around in front of her with one hand and the hammer with the opposite.

“Oh! What’s that, Applejack?” Pinkie asked curiously. “You planning on…tee-hee…getting the enemy really ‘steamed’?”

Applejack merely smirked back. “Jus’ you wait and see.”

Pinkie merely giggled as she got out her own “weapon”…an old, dull, meal knife she had gotten from the eating supplies that the Apple family had lent her. Nevertheless, she looked daring enough as she brandished it.

Not five minutes later, a distant bugle blared. The first sound like a bunch of firecrackers echoed over the field. More quickly followed after it, followed by several much deeper and booming sounds. The distant battlefield erupted with burst of light and clouds of smoke rising in pockets all over. Nevertheless, the company held its ground and patiently waited as the battle unfolded.

Time ticked by again, with the blasts growing more violent and frequent. The battlefield became blotted out again with all of the smoke from the gunpowder, the fighting, and chaos that unfolded. It became impossible to make out anything going on. Nevertheless, none of the group was at ease. The entire division remained on high alert and tensely waited for the moment to come.

After what seemed like an eternity it happened. The noise that everyone had been waiting for peeled loud and clear as the bugle sounded over the Civilian 39^th.

“That’s it!” Applejack shouted. “It’s time!” She held her hammer into the air. “Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Bastion of the Field—Bright Macintosh!”

Applejack’s aura erupted soon after, and within moments she was clad once again in the role of the Warrior. As on previous occasions, she wielded a warhammer, once again a bit different from the other two she had previously used. The other noteworthy difference, however, was in the stove top lid. It had transformed as well, this time into a round buckler large enough to protect her entire upper torso if need be.

“Hey! You got a shield now, Applejack!” Pinkie cheered. “My turn! My turn! Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Sage Geologist—Maudileena Daisy Pie!”

Pinkie’s own aura erupted, and in moments she was standing there in her own familiar role of the Rogue. Unlike Applejack’s new and more impressive look, she was still very much in her old form, and her dinner knife had become a simple dagger once again. Nevertheless, she seemed to be just as enthused as she tossed it up and down, almost bouncing again already.

Seeing her in that form made Applejack smile wider. “Alright…let’s show these Trottingham sons of bitches! Stick behind us! Charge!”

With that, she tore off across the battlefield. Pinkie immediately moved alongside her. The four Apple family members quickly fell in behind, and the rest of the Civilian 39^th plus the remainder of the company brought up the rear.

For several minutes, the charge was no more than that. The bugle continued to sound several times before changing fully to the drummer, but even that began to fall faint as Applejack and Pinkie Pie easily outstripped the rest of the army. Finally, they heard a thunderous noise in front of them, coupled with a flash of light.

“Split up!” Applejack yelled as she veered to one side.

“Why?” Pinkie asked innocently as she ran the opposite way.

The farmer didn’t need to answer that question as the response came in the form of an artillery shell hitting the area where they had been. It burst in an eruption of flame and shrapnel, but with the speed of the two of them coupled with the fact artillery fire wasn’t meant to hit individual targets they were both well in the clear. More cannons, however, soon thundered all around them as the rest of the guarding artillery opened fire.

Applejack quickly leveled her shield in front of her and kept charging, while Pinkie merely laughed and went into a series of merry skips. The area around them lit up with one cannon eruption after another, but none of them could make any direct hits against two targets the size of normal people running. Several of the shells came close, but it was no use. Applejack stayed behind her shield and barreled right through the fire and shrapnel. As for Pinkie, she merely laughed and twisted and leapt through the clouds of firepower that went off around her, completely undaunted and actually treating the entire experience as a game.

Soon the cannon fire subsided. The ones manning the artillery were forced to reload. Applejack lowered her shield and grinned when it happened. She glanced behind her as she kept running, seeing the field still smoldering and settling from the first volley. However, the shots had also been wasted trying to hit the two of them. Now the rest of the Apple family and the civilian corps behind it had smooth sailing. She turned back forward, just in time to spot the first gun emplacement. In a hastily dug-out pit a smoking field gun was being frantically serviced by a crew of four Trottingham soldiers in an attempt to fire again.

She never gave them the chance. Keeping her shield at the ready, she charged straight at it, leapt into the air, hoisted her hammer over her head, and brought it down on the barrel. With a tremendous metal snap, she half-broke it off and dented the rest inward. Immediately, two of the crew members dropped what they were doing and went for their rifles. In the time it took them both to get them up, her hammer had come down two more times and flattened the other two members of the crew. They both fired at point blank range, but it was useless. Applejack raised her shield in front of her face long enough to deflect both shots, then whipped out her hammer to simultaneously break and knock the rifles out of the hands of the soldiers as well as broke the wrists of those holding onto them. With another swing, both soldiers were struck down and the emplacement was clear.

“Yee-hah!” she yelled as she jumped out of the hole. “That’s one! Let’s lay up the others!”

“Applejack, look!”

The Warrior’s enthusiasm ebbed momentarily on hearing Pinkie’s alert cry, but even without her yelling she would have seen it soon after. While the fog of war was already reducing visibility on the battlefield considerably, there was no mistaking that she heard the roar of airship turbines. Through the smoke of the gunpowder and the low hanging clouds, she saw a large shadow loom. The noise of its engines quickly grew louder as it hovered closer.

Her face showed a trace of fear on seeing that the airships were coming for them rather than the front, knowing that the small amount of firepower they still held could do far more damage than the artillery shells. She quickly braced herself for what she expected to be a bombing run.

However, her fears were unjustified. The airship didn’t even lower enough to go into firing range. It simply continued to roar past and soon it sailed right over her head. She continued to stand there momentarily, looking behind her to see if it was saving its payload for the rest of the Civilian 39^th. It didn’t drop bombs on them either though. It continued to shoot by and vanished. Not only that, but two more airships soon followed suit after it. None of them dropped their bombs either. Soon the sounds of their engines were fading in the distance.

Applejack looked at this in some puzzlement for only a moment longer, before she heard another cannon fire off. Gritting her teeth, she spun around to Pinkie and motioned. “Nevermind them! We got a job to do! Take out the rest of these guns ‘fore any more of them can fire!”

“No problem!” Pinkie cheered, giving a salute to her before taking off just in time to evade another cannon shot. She proceeded to bounce in a serpentine manner straight for the next nearest gun emplacement. Its own cannon leveled itself at her and three of its own crew members pulled out their guns to meet her, but she was too fast. She jumped into the hole and was soon moving around them in a blur. Moments later, she hopped out again, now behind them, and leaving the befuddled gunners confused. After a second, one shouted to shoot at her from behind, only for, moments later, all of their weapons to fall apart in their bare hands. That was exactly two seconds before their cannon did the same.

The two of them made quick work over the rest of the field, jumping from one gun emplacement to another. Not only did this serve to keep most of the attention focused on them, but it allowed them to quickly make the area safe for the remainder of their group. It wasn’t long before Applejack busied herself simply disabling the cannons and moving on. Pinkie did much the same with disarming the field guns she came across. The rest of the Apple family quickly followed up behind them and polished off the gunnery squads that were associated with them. In no time at all, the bulk of the Civilian 39^th was pouring over into enemy territory, and what few cannons were still functional found themselves hopelessly outmanned. A few struggled to stand their ground, but they didn’t get off more than a shot or two before they were overwhelmed.

“Awright!” Applejack shouted over the growing din, for now conventional gunshots from both their forces as well as those of the Trottinghamites were beginning to mingle together. “Don’t go lyin’ down on the job now! Time fer the big push! Let’s kick their sorry asses outta Deadwood!”

The charge began again, once more with Applejack and Pinkie Pie leading the way and the Apple family right behind them. They didn’t have to go too much farther, for the Trottinghamites were coming out in ranks to meet them. The fog of war provided some protection at first, but as soon as they became visible the two ladies saw the soldiers taking aim at them both and preparing to fire.

They didn’t get very far. Applejack charged right at them with her shield guarding her, while no rifleman could land a hit on Pinkie Pie no matter how sharp they shot. Soon either one met a firing squad. Applejack laid into hers, flattening them left and right and leaving them strewn across the battlefield in moments. Pinkie easily took apart their weapons as simply as she had taken apart the cannons. In moments their first groups of opponents were disarmed or disabled, and the two were moving on to the next.

With the two in the lead, the division plowed into the enemy like rock into water. None could hold back or restrain Applejack and Pinkie Pie as they moved in. What few tried to move in around them soon found themselves meeting the brunt of the rest of the Apple family. Apple Split and Candy Apples seemed to be natural dead eyes with their own rifles, picking off Trottingham soldiers faster than any of them could draw a bead on the two. Apple Brown Betty kept up support by hurling grenades into the midst of any large groups that came upon them. As for Big Macintosh, seemingly not to be outdone by his sister, he barreled right into the midst of riflemen whenever they paused to reload or get their bearings and proceeded to pick up the biggest and burliest one he could find—using him or her as a human shield as he bashed and beat his way through the others. Their assault kept the enemy at bay long enough to let Pinkie and Applejack keep plowing forward while the rest of the army quickly fell in their footsteps and shredded the disorientated ranks.

The two barely attacked for 30 seconds before the troops began to break before them and pull back. Not only them but also the small troop behind them, allowing the push to move forward practically unhindered. The biggest exhaustion to Applejack was simply running across the field in moments, not actually battling. At their current rate, it was inevitable that the enemy ranks would be split in two and collapse. The thought brought a smile to her face, even as she finally broke a sweat. She had more than enough steam left to finish this battle, and Pinkie looked like she was enjoying herself all too much.

“Heh…almost too easy…” she couldn’t help but mutter as she finished off the latest attack platoon. “Thought after last time y’all would bring out those big fellas! Or did they all turn yellow and run fer it?”

“Wait! Come back!” Pinkie shouted to another group as they fled into the fog of the battlefield. “I haven’t had a chance to take out your firing pins yet! Anyone? Anybody at all?”

Applejack snorted as she watched the next nearest group flee into the smoke as well. “Ya’ all lose yer nerve after the last whoopin’ I gave ya’? How ya’ expect ta’ win a battle when y’all just run away? Not that I should be complainin’…”

“Gee, Applejack,” Pinkie called as she got the opportunity to bound back over to her. “It’s almost like they don’t even want to fight us!”

“Well, I can’t blame ‘em fer that. I mean, ‘tween the two of us we got ‘em…”

Applejack trailed off. Her enthused look dimmed.

“Like they don’t even want to fight us…” she whispered to herself. “What the…?”

“Applejack!”

Snapping out of it, the Warrior looked up and saw Candy Apples running to her. Yet she noticed something else. Surrounded by smoke from the gunpowder and cannon fire, it was impossible to see most of their company. In fact, they had apparently spread so thin that she saw no more than a hundred bringing up the rear behind her. More than that, however, she saw that the field had vacated in a hurry. The only troops she saw was their own. No sign of anyone from Trottingham.

Apparently, Candy had noticed that too. “What gives, cousin? We ain’t got no one left to shoot already!”

“Hell, I ain’t even thrown half of these yet!” Apple Brown Betty spoke up, hoisting a grenade. “That was all they got? Fight’s already over!”

“Fight ain’t over at all!” Apple Split retorted. “Can’t you hear that?”

Applejack stopped and listened, and Pinkie soon bounced up to her side and lent an ear as well. Sure enough, in spite of the field being clear, gunfire was going off rapidly in huge choruses. It made sense. With the heavy amount of smoke on the field, how could it be otherwise? Although there was no enemy in front of them, their company had to be engaged in heavy battle. She only now noticed that even the drummer had gone silent.

“Someone’s fighting…” Pinkie remarked, her own chipper attitude beginning to wane a little. “But who are they shooting at if the bad guys are all in front of us?”

Applejack listened a bit longer, before her eyes widened.

“They’re shootin’ behind us.”

Coming to the same realization, Big Macintosh’s own pupils shrank. “Eeyup…”

“Behind us?” Candy Apples echoed. “But…but they can’t be doin’ that unless…”

“Applejack! Applejack!”

This latest call was far more frantic and louder. From out of the fog of the battlefield behind them, the mists parted to allow a single officer to charge out. She was bloodied and looked like she had already been hit in one arm, and her hat was gone. It took a few seconds for the group to recognize her as the CO.

Applejack blinked in astonishment on seeing the fearful, tense look on her face and the wounds she sported. “Ma…ma’am?”

“It’s the airships! They dropped a battalion behind us rather than bombed us! We’re getting massacred! We…”

Her own eyes suddenly widened, and in moments Applejack realized she was staring past them.

“Look out!”

Applejack whirled back around, just in time to gasp as she saw the fog of war part again. This time, reorganized and fortified, huge rows of Trottingham troops sporting rifles charged out of the gloom and into the light. As soon as they spotted the Appleloosans, they wasted no time. An entire forward line of them dropped to their knees and took aim while the ones behind them quickly leveled their rifles from a standing position. Applejack scarcely could muster her wits past her surprise to raise her shield before the gunfire went off.

“Augh!”

In spite of getting the shield in front of her head, hot, burning pain still ripped into one of her legs and through it as gunfire erupted. She faltered and fell to one knee, but grit her teeth and kept from buckling under the pain. She looked down to her side and saw blood was now oozing out of one of her shins. A rifle bullet had pierced it. Off center, but it had gone all the way through.

She gnashed her teeth in a mixture of anger and pain. In her current body it would take more than a single rifle shot to stop her, but she wasn’t invincible and it didn’t fully negate the pain. Still toughing through it, she lowered a hand to her shin guard, adjusted it over the wound, tightened it to act as a form of tourniquet, and then forced herself back to her feet. She couldn’t put her full weight on that leg now, but it didn’t stop her from brandishing her hammer again.

The rest of the Apple family had managed to hit the dirt, partially because Pinkie jumped on three of them and the other two followed suit. Yet she quickly saw the soldiers behind them weren’t so lucky. They had been cut down almost to a man…including the CO. She caught just a glimpse of her head before she fell down and sank beneath the grass.

Applejack fury flared. Her teeth grit harder than before. She spun around, and in a moment she would have barreled right at their new attackers in spite of their renewed numbers.

Fortunately, even from the ground, Pinkie seemed to spot this. “Uh…I think that might be a bad idea, Applejack…” she spoke up a little nervously.

Applejack wheeled on her with a furious and incredulous look. “Are ya’ serious?! Look at what they just did to us! To the CO! They gotta pay for what they’ve done! Let’s get up and get ‘em! They ain’t gonna stop either of us with them rifles! Not like how we are now!”

“But…what about your family?”

Applejack froze, her anger abating. She looked up to her family. Sure enough, the ones who had been thrown to the ground by Pinkie were wide-eyed and gasping, realizing just how narrowly they had evaded death. Big Macintosh and Apple Brown Betty weren’t much better. Both were now rather nervously looking up at the closing troops, and unlike Applejack they didn’t have higher pain and stamina tolerance to protect them.

Pinkie continued to look at her anxious. “Don’t you think…maybe…sorta…the reason the CO came running back was because she wanted us to get the army to fall back?”

“Fall back?!” Applejack echoed. “Fall back?! After all they…”

However, she trailed off as Pinkie kept staring at her, and she kept seeing the fearful looks on the faces of their family. She looked back up and around and saw the Trottinghamites were still marching forward and had reloaded. Standing their ground was hopeless. There was no way she could protect them all unless they all aimed at her, and if they did she knew, as much as she hated it, she couldn’t protect herself.

Gnashing her teeth in anger but also resignation, Applejack hefted her hammer and her shield. “All of ya’ stay behind me and fall back as fast as ya’ can!”

A moment later, she got to her feet. She was immediately greeted by rifle bullets, but this time she kept her body hunched and her shield in front of her. The gunfire was intercepted even as she forced herself to hobble back as fast as she could. The rest of her family quickly got to their feet, Big Macintosh and Apple Brown Betty helping up the others, and bolted for it. As they did, Pinkie ran out front to Applejack’s side, providing a second target to shoot at. Fortunately, even with all of their weapons behind them, she proved to be just as nimble and unhittable now as she had been before.

Or, Applejack thought, perhaps a few of the shots did hit her but it didn’t matter…

Between the two of them, in spite of Applejack’s injury, they were slowly able to put some distance between them and the approaching soldiers. The repeated firing eventually began to hinder their attackers as the increasing amount of gunsmoke finally created a curtain. The enemy soldiers tried firing blind into it a few times, but by then the rest of the Apple family was able to turn and run for it. After blocking a few more attacks, Applejack and Pinkie Pie turned and ran after them as well. Only then did the former of the two begin to realize just how badly her leg was hurt as she hobbled painfully on it as fast as she could stumble across the field.

“Are you ok?” Pinkie called over the firing both in front and behind them. “Need me to help you walk?”

“Nevermind me! We got to take out whoever they dropped on us from behind! And I’ve gotta good guess of who…”

The two soon reached their own troops. Most of them were scattered and in panic, especially since most of the errant firing had caused the whole field to be shrouded in smoke and the constant eruptions of gunfire only drove them into further fervor. However, Applejack came yelling for them all to rally to her as she tore across the battlefield, and on hearing her sound the rest of the Civilian 39^th quickly fell in behind her once again. And as their own corps began to consolidate, the rest of the company began to rally and come in behind them as well.

It wasn’t too long, however, before Applejack and Pinkie began to come across the first of the dead. Initially, they saw that they had been felled by rifle bullets. Yet they only had to run a bit more to see new types of bodies on the fields. Ones the looked folded in half. Or broken into pieces. Or twisted in some inhuman angles. They only picked up in frequency as they got nearer. Both Pinkie as well as many of the troops falling in behind them spotted the bodies and began to grow increasingly uneasy.

Applejack and the “veterans”, however, only stiffened their lips and kept running as they started to see gunfire and hear animalistic noises just through the fog ahead.

“Get ready, Pinkie… I ain’t sure if ya’ got some rule ‘gainst killin’, but I think ya’ might have to break it pretty soon…”

A few more steps and they broke through. As soon as they did, Pinkie’s jaw dropped.

Applejack sneered. “Knew those gutless sons of bitches would come in from behind…”

“Um…are those soldiers, or gorillas?” Pinkie asked.

It was rather hard to tell the difference looking at the field. A force of muscle-bound soldiers, so hulking that they looked more like apes than men, were moving down the field and mowing down everything in their way like they were a group of harvesters cutting wheat. Unlike most Trottingham soldiers, these ones wore some sort of metal body armor over their uniforms that would have slowed a normal human to a snail’s pace yet didn’t seem to be hampering them. Their faces were concealed behind metal masks that showed only their eyes, although those seemed to almost gleam from the slits that were left for them.

The weapons they bore were colossal, looking more like small barrel cannons rather than guns. It didn’t stop them from firing them without personal injury, however, and considering the caliber they never fired without tearing through at least one opposing soldier. That wasn’t the half of it, however. The bayonets they had mounted on each rifle were large enough to be the size of axe heads, and they made use of them as such as soon as they were out of ammunition.

Judging by the sheer number of dead on the battlefield already in their wake, it looked as if they had mostly finished their bullets. That wasn’t stopping them. If anything, they were even more brutal now as they were charging at the soldiers and cutting them down from behind while growling like beasts. The soldiers were fleeing in their wake, and the reason soon became clear. Single or even double shots from rifles weren’t killing them, and shots to the head were useless due to their metal masks. Even a misfire should have left them injured or unconscious, but any bullet that struck their head protection only left them stunned for a few seconds before they kept coming.

Applejack glared at them without fear. “I’ll tell ya’ what they are… They’re about ready ta’ get lain down right next to the last bunch I ran inta’!” With that, she took off straight for the nearest one.

The goon in question was charging in to cut down a straggling Appleloosan soldier. Panicked and nervous, he managed to get his rifle reloaded and up. He took aim and squeezed the trigger just as the goon reached him. The gun went off right in the enemy’s abdomen, but he barely faltered before letting his momentum carry him forward and swing out with his weapon. The rifle the Appleloosan held was struck down out of his hands and nearly cleaved in two, and the soldier himself cried out as he was knocked off balance and onto his back. Bleeding but still coming, the goon stood over him and raised his weapon over his head to split the soldier’s skull next…

He didn’t get the chance. Applejack, vaulting over the fallen soldier, swung upward with her hammer and landed a solid blow that left a ripple in the air under the goon’s chin. As hulking and massive as he was, even he couldn’t stand up to that. His arms went limp as he fell backward and sprawled on the ground.

Not wasting any time, Applejack left that one and the soldier behind and charged right for the next. This one saw her coming, and quickly brandished his weapon. He swung out for her as she reached him, but she countered by swinging out with her hammer and knocking his weapon aside. Unlike with the previous clash, however, he managed to maintain his grip. It didn’t do him much good over the next moment, though, for Applejack dashed inward and smashed him in the helmet with her shield. The blow was solid enough to make him stagger back two steps, but then he sprung back to life and drove his axe-head bayonet inward, trying to gouge her side.

Luckily, she had already recovered her shield arm and deflected it. Twisting around, she ran inward and swung the claw part of her hammer inward toward his torso. It landed in his shoulder, piercing the armored pauldron and digging into flesh beneath. He let out a roar that almost didn’t sound human, and quickly snapped back his good arm, released his weapon, made a fist, and drove it forward smack into Applejack’s face. Her head did snap back a little and she snapped backward, ripping the hammer out at the same time, but the blow didn’t leave nearly the impact the goon had hoped. As he reached for his bleeding shoulder and tried to mount a counterattack, Applejack recovered, came back inward, and swung her hammer head laterally at the side of his skull. With a resounding crack, he went limp and fell to the ground.

She quickly hefted her hammer again, and just in time. Two were bearing down at her from either side. Before she had much chance to react both were swinging at her one after another. She quickly backstepped to avoid the first slice for her neck, then had to implement her shield as well as step back to deflect another slice aimed for her ankle. The first quickly followed up with another cross-slash for her side, which she had to batter away with her hammer head, before the second thrust out for her head. She quickly raised her shield up to deflect it skyward, but left herself open for the first to try and bury his own axe handle into her gut.

She countered by swiveling her hammer head around and bringing it down to catch the axe handle with the claw of her hammer. As the second pulled his axe back and moved to drive the tip into her exposed side, she grunted and twisted her hammer arm to keep one pinned before swinging her opposite arm in a circle to deflect the tip before sweeping her arm about to pin the gun barrel of her opponent’s weapon in an arm lock. She swung it down to her side to hold him there, and for a moment struggled with both opponents at once.

As the first suddenly wrenched his arms to try and pry himself free while twisting her wrists, the second used the fact he was closer to reach out with his fist and pound Applejack in the side. For a moment, she only grit her teeth and took it as he punched her once…twice…thrice…buckling slightly under each hit but toughing through it. Finally, he reached up and seized her by the arm. If what had happened to the others was any indication, he looked ready to dislocate it from its socket to get his weapon free.

That, however, was what she had been waiting for, and she tightened her muscles before twisting her hammer with all of her might. With a sound of metal snapping, she broke the axe head of the weapon she had caught in her hammer’s claw completely. The goon holding that weapon went stumbling back at suddenly being released, and she used that moment to snap her arm up, around, and drive the claw into the center of the chest of the goon attempting to seize her. This time, the mark hit true and mortal, and she immediately felt him go limp in his grasp. Letting him fall, she released his arm, spun around, and proceeded to give her other opponent a pair of slams across this head with her freed hammer. He soon was dropped as well.

Breathing a bit harder now and no longer showing a lack of trauma, Applejack looked up to face her next round of opponents. Unfortunately, four were now targeting her. And of the four, two of them still had ammunition. They stood at a distance and both took aim with their rifles, while the other two brandished them like partisans and ran in from either side. For a moment, a faint look of worry came over her as she once again readied her hammer and shield, clearly not knowing if her defensive item could protect her from their large caliber bullets…

Fortunately, she didn’t have to find out. She saw a pink blur dash past both individuals, and they pulled their respective triggers only to have their weapons fall apart completely. Their two comrades continued to run forward only to have their weapons disintegrate in their bare hands, stunning both of them. When gunfire did go off, it wasn’t from them but from behind her. She turned around, just in time to see her family fire as one on the attackers. While the goons might have been strong enough to take a bullet or too, even they couldn’t stand up to four shots at once. One of the former gunners spasmed and fell to the ground.

Applejack regained her own wits at the same time and ran up to the two that had tried to assault her. Digging in, she leapt and lunged at one of them, twisted her hammer around, and delivered a mortal blow to the side of his head. The power was so strong that the mask snapped in two, sending one piece flying off and into the mask of his comrade. The resulting collision stunned him and made him stagger back, allowing Applejack to land on her feet, run up to him, and soon take him down with another two swings of her hammer. The final remaining goon didn’t have a chance to act before gunfire went off again, this time not from the Apple family but from a few soldiers that had managed to regain their bearings and counterattack. Two of the shots merely winged him, but the third bullet sailed into vital spot above his torso that sank into his chest. He fell to the ground soon after.

Pinkie hopped out, shaking her hands to dislodge a mess of firing pins and bolts, before she saw the next squad of goons coming in. By now, they had become fully aware of her and Applejack and were rushing in from both sides, trying to catch them in a wedge rather than go straight at them. Realizing that, she gulped and shouted. “Uh, Applejack?”

The farmer had already picked up on it as she readied her hammer and charged straight for the space between them. “Everyone get behind me!” she yelled as loud as she could. “We gotta smash our way out! Don’t give up!”

With that, she picked her next target and ran straight at him. The rest of the Apple family quickly fell in behind as they frantically reloaded their weapons, and the rest of the Civilian 39^th quickly started to consolidate with the remains of the other groups to bring up the rear.

---

What followed was a far more violent struggle than Applejack, Pinkie Pie, or any of the other members of the Civilian 39^th had expected. Suddenly forced on the defensive and being crushed in on both sides, they had little choice but to lock together and punch through. As powerful as the Warrior and Rogue were, the best Applejack and Pinkie Pie could do was throw themselves right at the enemy and attempt to break their line. Had they been normal soldiers it would have been easy, as there was no more than 250 of them in all. Yet each goon was worth at least five soldiers and only the two of them could deal with them toe-to-toe. Meanwhile, they kept crushing in on either side of them, trying to divide their already-hurting force into pieces so that their attackers from the north could move in and sweep them. They came close more than once as well.

Yet in the end, the two Anima Viri bearing members made the difference. The enemy was unable to overcome the two, and they continued to dig through the line and finally breached it. As soon as they did, the Civilian 39^th and the remainder of the company with them broke through and went into full retreat. For a short while, the enemy nipped at their heels and struggled to cut them down from behind. Fortunately, the goons weren’t terribly fast for all of their other plusses, and the soldiers that brought up the rear were cut off by their own burly comrades and unable to pursue as fast after them without splintering their own line. After a mere fifteen minutes pursuit, and with the sun rising and the fog clearing, the group was in the clear and able to fully run for it.

It was only when that happened that Applejack halted, prompting Pinkie and her family to do the same. She frantically motioned the rest of the company on, but as she did she took the moment to look back.

“What’s wrong?” Apple Split asked.

“Listen…”

Pinkie inclined her head to the air, and soon lit up. “Oh! I can hear the bugles again!” She paused. “Um…that’s a good thing, right?”

Applejack frowned and slowly shook her head. “’Fraid not.”

“That’s the…retreat call…” Candy Apples slowly muttered.

Even without hearing that sound, it became clear that was the case before long. With the cloud cover leaving and the sun rising, they could see clear across the fields that lay before Deadwood. Judging by the smoke and haze hanging over the field, it soon became clear that their company wasn’t the only ones who had fallen victim to a surprise attack. The other company had done the same, which meant that the attempt to split the Trottingham forces stationed at Deadwood had gone south. Now the bulk of the army was in full retreat of the enemy forces coming out to rout them.

Pinkie, noticing all of this, sank. Her hair almost seemed to actually lay a bit flatter against her head. “So…does this mean we won’t be charging into Trottingham?”

Applejack’s frown turned into a wince. She looked back at her, but could offer no consolation. “I’m…I’m sorry, Pinkie.”

“So what do we do now?” Candy Apples spoke up.

“Only thing we can do,” Applejack answered tiredly. “Fall back to camp while we can.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh answered, before hoisting his weapon and beginning to move again.

Applejack, dabbing at her own brow, soon was on the move as well. Pinkie grimaced a little before more reluctantly hopping along after her, while the rest of the company slowly began to pick up the pace again. Their own exhaustion from the combination of fighting and running was far more evident. Some were gasping as they limped along, and those who were helping the injured looked even more worn out as they helped them hobble or hoisted them on their backs.

Yet as it turned out, none of them moved much farther before their next break. As soon as Applejack led the group on another two hundred yards, she stopped in her tracks.

“Are we back already?” Pinkie spoke up hopefully.

The farmer pointed. “Look. Someone’s comin’.”

Sure enough, they were crossing near to one of the roads by now. A horse and rider bearing the colors of the Appleloosan army was racing down it at a full gallop. It wasn’t until he was practically bearing down on them that he rapidly pulled the reins on the horse, stopping so abruptly that he was nearly flung from his mount. He looked to the gathering rather anxiously. In spite of the fact he had been riding, he looked tired, sore, dirty, and out of breath.

“Y’all need to head due west. Fast as you can.”

“West?” Applejack echoed back. “What for?”

The rider turned and gestured to the horizon. “Look real careful like out there.”

Applejack hesitated, but did as she was told. Seeming to use her own poofy hair as a sun visor, Pinkie did the same. The rest of the Apple family behind them looked on as well.

The group had mostly been focused on keeping moving forward. As a result, they hadn’t devoted much time to looking too far ahead other than the immediate area. But now, on the edge of the horizon, they could just make out dark shapes moving and moving far too fast to be animals. Their speed was that of ships sailing. They also began to realize that what seemed to be clouds on the horizon was, instead, more smoke. After staring a bit longer, Applejack’s jaw loosened as it clicked.

“Airships…?”

“Whole thing was a trick,” the rider spoke gravely. “Thought they were holed up there waitin’ fer reinforcements, but they were comin’ ‘round the whole time. They hit our camps while we were away. Everyone we had left in the reserve got ambushed. Now the whole defensive line is fallin’ apart. Nothing’s left to stand up to ‘em.”

For the first time since Pinkie had seen her, a shadow fell over Applejack’s face as she began to look truly uncomfortable. The rest of the Apple family soon formed the same expressions. In spite of the fact they had just escaped a major battle, only now, after years of petty wars between Appleloosa and Trottingham in which their back and forth had failed to gain an edge, did they ever suffer such a loss. With this bit of news and what had just happened, for the first time since the Lunar Fall, it was a very real possibility that Appleloosa could actually fall to the Trottinghamites.

Pinkie’s expression showed she slowly realized that getting into Trottingham was the least of their worries. “So…um…what do we do now?”

“We gotta decide quick,” Candy Apples spoke up, nervously looking behind them. “If we’re the only ones who broke outta that fight, they’ll be turnin’ on us soon. And them airships they got could spin on us any moment when we’re out here in the open.”

“Eeyup…” Big Macintosh nervously added.

“Like I told ya’, there’s only one place y’all can go now,” the rider spoke up again. “Last place we can hold up and get a chance of beatin’ these sons of bitches back. We gotta head west now while there’s still any of the army left to fall back, and pray we can get some reinforcements from somewhere or there ain’t gonna be an Appleloosan Army to defend the country with ‘fore long.”

Applejack looked up to him as he started to turn his horse around. “Where’s that, exactly?”

“Where else? Fort Appleloosa.”

Comments

[MegaPyro]

Nice job

[PixelatedPerson]

Loving it so much so far still some questions of is Luna still alive, I still can't image celestia as truly dead

[Piccolo Sky]

10894874
I'll tell you that one of those questions will be answered relatively soon at least.