It is the third year of the Crystal War, and Equestria’s future is in doubt. Maintaining air superiority is the difference between victory and death. But the war has taken a heavy tole on the Equestrian Air Corps, who are forced to send greener and greener fliers into combat. Many of these “new bloods” won’t survive their first battle.
Even the legendary Wonderbolts are forced to field fliers fresh out of Basic. When they arrive at the Front, it’s down to the veterans to get them ready for the horror that awaits them. Veterans like Master Sergeant Lightning Dust.
War has made Lightning Dust cynical, jaded. These bright-eyed recruits are the last thing she wants to see at the Front. But they need her to survive. And maybe, just maybe, she needs them too.
As this story contains graphic imagery of war in certain chapters, I am placing a link to the Veteran Crisis line here, as well as links to the national suicide prevention hotline and a list of international hotlines. There is no shame in needing help. In fact, it is courageous to ask.
This story takes place in the same canon as The Tab, but neither are required reading for each other.
My Little Pony and its contents are the property of Hasbro, Inc. and its affiliates. Please support the official release.
I love the explanation of the history of the Wonderbolts. Also, we appear to have the same head canon regarding the ranks, I agree that the squadron switched between the two services throughout the centuries.
Although, the ranks I came up with were a bit different.
Enlisted:
Airpony Basic E1
Airpony E2
Airpony First Class E3
Senior Airpony E4
Sergeant/Flight sergeant E5
Staff Sergeant E6
Technical Sergeant E7
Master Sergeant E8
Chief Master Sergeant E9
Officers ranks:
2nd Lieutenant O1
1st Lieutenant O2
Captain O3
Major O4
Lieutenant Colonel O5
Colonel O6
Commander O7
Major general O8
Lieutenant General O9
General O10
I have followed you for a while now, and it’s nice to know that there’s someone else out there who is as interested as me in the military aspect of the pony universe.
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Judging by the number of militaristic fics around here, you won't be hard-pressed to find others who are interested in this kind of thing. Some of us even have military training and experience with warfare. I would wager that we have more people like this than we know. If anyone can know the real value of things like cartoony horses, it would be soldiers.
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Oh yeah, there are a lot of people with military experience on this website, like more than I honestly thought there were. And like you said there are a lot of war stories on here, although a lot of them are also written by people who usually don’t know what they’re talking about.
So far so good antiquarian👍🦄
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I both wholeheartedly agree and disagree. I agree because it's precisely those who are most acquainted with sometimes-necessary violence that tend to have the deepest appreciation for innocence and peace. I disagree insofar as it undermines or cheapens the appreciation for those who have not experienced conflict firsthand.
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Cheapens? I would argue the opposite, as well as any soldier I have acquittance with would. The more experienced of us can always see more, that's simply how it works, nobody ever asks you if you want that experience or not. You just have it and you are forced to live with it. Knowing things isn't always a good thing, most of the time it only makes your life harder.
That's exactly what allows you to see the value of things. You only the value of what you've lost.
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It's not exactly a bad thing to have no idea about this kind of thing, is it?
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You do bring up a good point, but it’s not fair to those who have experienced the real thing For people to pretend to know what it’s like. Personally, I prefer stories that are about the true nature of war. I don’t like the idea of romanticizing it.
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And what is the true nature of war?
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Well there’s a loaded question, I think it depends heavily on who you ask. Based on what I’ve read, and based on what I’ve heard from people who have experienced it, I think it’s something that you truly cannot understand without being involved in it first hand. So I don’t feel comfortable answering the question, but I can try. I would say that it is horrible, it is traumatic, and it changes your life completely. Some people recover from their wounds, physical and mental, and someNever do. It is an extremely complicated subject, and I don’t think I can do it justice.
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Precisely, you don't know. Don't be so quick to throw around how much you prefer the "true meaning of war" if you have no idea of what it is. Though, to tell you honestly, even those who have been there often have no idea what it really is.
War is many things. One aspect of it is destruction. That's what everyone is afraid of and what you most commonly see on the photos and films. War is easily the single most destructive event this planet saw in the last couple of billion years. Physical destruction is not the worst though, it can be rebuilt. People though, can't be. Everyone involved in warfare, civilian or military, has no way back. It doesn't matter how far they run away, they cannot escape the real horror of it. Those who died are actually the luckier ones, those who survived soon began envying the dead. That's the part of it that we all should be afraid of. This world has a lot worse things than death ready for us. Death is very merciful compared to life.
Destruction, however, is not the only thing that war is. War also does a lot of really good and necessary things for us. The reason why wars happen, is that someone didn't do their job. Though war people learn the meaning of responsibility. The thought that we all live with, when at war, is very simple: "Why?" The answer to this question is usually very obvious, but hard to accept. For a fight you need to sides and both of them are equally guilty. One for starting it all and the other for allowing it to happen.
Every single citizen bears personal responsibility for everything happening within their borders, both good and bad. War teaches people to treat their own country with responsibility. It also teaches what happens when we neglect our responsibility: people die. Individually, it is always very hard to accept that you personally killed thousands of people, that you are a murderer, but without learning this lesson our kind has no future.
And then, there is one thing that war does. War is a thing of immeasurable beauty. Its beauty is not like what you expect. I believe my own war is a very good demonstration of how beautiful it really is. There is a very special alleyway in my city. Only a single turn away from our central square, everyone who walks down the main streets can see it, precisely how it needs to be.
Every single citizen needs to see this place at least once. This is a place where one finds the purpose of our ongoing war. This
alley houses a monument. It's not a statue, neither it is a fancy black, polished stone with golden inscriptions. It's simpler, it's raw.
This is a monument to the very first people who died in our war. Nobody remembers when it appeared and nobody knows who made it, and we will never know, it isn't important. This monument is built with stones taken from the very streets where the blood used to flow. The stones are stacked upon each other to form a sort of an altar. On top of it always lie fresh flowers and stand frames with photos of our fallen brethren.
This is the place where nothing else matters. When we walk past, we always stop for a moment to look upon the faces of the people who died for us. Died doing what we all were supposed to be doing. We don't have to say anything, words have no purpose. The very fact that you stand there already says everything that needs to be said. We do this for around half a minute and then we walk off without a sound, but renewed determination to keep going, having our doubts cleared and purpose clear again. But for that brief moment, it doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, it doesn't matter where you lean politically, it doesn't even matter what is your nationality. For that brief moment, we all are a single people.
This is what makes war beautiful. Its beauty is very depressive, it hurts to look at, but it is beautiful nonetheless.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, one time's thug is another time's hero. It's funny to consider really, how timing affects opportunity affects destiny? If Socrates had grown up in Dawson City during the gold rush, would he have contributed so much to philosophy? If Neil deGrasse Tyson had been born in Alabama 1841, would he have still been an inventor?
Flip a coin, watch it spin, see tragedy twist into opportunity.
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Very well said indeed. A very complicated business.
"Sweet Tapdancing Celestia" is now my favorite line said by Lightning Dust on this entire site.
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Thank you. I rather liked it.
Sometimes the show writes fanfic by itself dont it? Lightning dust should be an expert on green fliers, she is one!
Wait, miss "not a migraine" sounds familiar. That description fits Angel Wings down to the bow painted on her helmet. The fact that the smirking stallion isn't Sky Stinger surprises me but the mane color is wrong and Vapor Trail isn't present. But I'm 90% sure that Lightning's new favorite is Angel Wings from "Top Bolt"
This story is off to a great start! (But coming from you, Antiquarian, that is no surprise.) You know how to appropriately handle subjects like war. I look forward to seeing more of this!
Lightning Dust is one of the characters who would scare me in a war setting. This story is shaping up to be a prime example of that worry, but the description makes me wonder if that will be averted. I hope it continues.
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Story's not dead, just backlogged with the rest of my writing. Thank you for your interest.
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I have it shelved so I’ll get a notification when it updates. C:
One wonders, if the cramper had laid him facedown in a 20' trench before he managed to do anything, what sort of conversation would it have been?
This kind of reminded me of another military fic starring RD's umpteenth great grand-dam named Firefly. She wanted to join the most elite and celebrated unit of the Equestrian Military but like Firestreak here thought she was one of Celestia's gifts to the world. The Drill Sergeant sees the potential in her, but knows the dangers of a young hotshot (doubly so because at the time presented in this story mares have a separate space in the military) and so gives her more grief than the other recruits. Thankfully it sticks and she goes on to do great things. It wasn't an easy road, but without her Equestria might not have survived and the Wonderbolts wouldn't have been founded in the first place.
I can't remember the exact words but in one chapter aboard an airship there's a speech where one of the military leaders makes a speech about the difference between bravery and idiocy. He said he'd rather have a hundred terrified troopers who would dig in and fight for the good cause over a dozen cocksure "fearless" warriors. I think this befits what you describe rather well. I can imagine quite easily Firestreak saying/thinking that all those hokey "stories" about evil enchantments and even Sombra himself don't scare him. And this in turn is why LD's so cheesed, because it's like looking in a mirror.
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Possibly one with Dash about what to write home to his parents. But the crash teams probably would've saved him, in which case same response but cranked up to 11 or 12 or so.
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Very, very, very correct.
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What if we split the difference, he's 20' on, his left wing only made it 10', and them fancy magic prostheses are reserved fer the proven and needed vets.
Goodness, I am in a grim frame of mind, suppose this sort of young foolishness brings out a worse side of me.
Therein lies the philosophical question then, in such a case his squad would definitely be safe from his showboating, heck he'd be "safe" from his showboating as well, medical discharges and all that. But on the other hand, they'd also be out their flak-bait daredevil who makes risky plans succeed.
Imagine my face reading this while taking a sip of my Orange Crush. I guess now I have some pony to root for.
Regardless of how long this story takes to update it, it's high quality and I love what is being built with these characters
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I'm glad the comedic timing worked out by accident, and glad you're enjoying the story.
It’s always good to see another update from you!
Huh, maybe he's not gonna die after all.
If it's any consolation to MSGT Dust, there are some mistakes I've made that haunt me to this day. Granted I'm a civvie, who once upon a time thought about joining the Navy, but due to medical issues at the time was told no.
The coarse humor on even Twilight's part really does a good job of breathing life and mental images into this story.
She still is a green airpony...
Great chapter!
I like the way MSGT Dust talks about "acquiring" equipment for missions that one needs now
It reminds me of an acronym I learned from watching a content creator called The Fat Electrician.
S.T.E.A.L
(Strategically Transfer Equipment to an Alternate Location)