The Great Equestrian War

by Lightning Cloud

Intentions

It’s been six months since this dawm war started. I’m tired and I don’t want to continue this fight, but if I don’t who will. There were so many bodies out here I couldn’t help to think, why them and not me? I knelt next to a body that lay before me. My hoof went towards his neck and held for a few seconds. No pulse. I let out a sigh and took his tags. He wasn’t someone I knew, but I could’ve known him. A shadow came from behind me as I rose to my hooves. “Hey Sparky” it was Red Cross, I could tell by the nickname. “You’ve been out here long enough, go back and get some chow”. I slipped the tags into my uniform and headed towards base camp.
I walked into a tent met by a tray and tons of other soldiers. The food wasn’t that good but it was better than nothing. I didn’t see my unit, so I thought they had eaten already. But “Lightning” followed by “Capitan” came from behind me. I turned to see Tasha and Dante with grins waving me over. I sat down next to Tasha, “hey Sparky”. I put down my fork and grinned. “How did that become my nickname all of a sudden”? Dante smiled, “Remember when you killed those griffons last week”? That was a terrible battle for me that day. I had been wounded and two griffons were charging towards me. In panic I used my electricity powers to kill them, I had nearly passed out due to the pain.
A soldier approached us in an odd matter, “Capitan Cloud, Capitan Knight”. Tasha had that solemn, tough look on her face. “Yes”? She waited for a response. “You are being summoned to the command tent”, he saluted then walked away. “Well we should get going then”, she insisted. We got up and before I left I shook Dante’s hoof, “good luck”.
Tasha and I made our way towards the tent and we eventually caught up to Rainbow Dash. “Hey Dash what’s up”? She turned and looked our way then turned away again. “Hey” I said as she kept walking. I put my hoof on her shoulder, “Dash what-”.
Dash knocked Lightning to the ground, “I don’t want to talk to you T-“. She cut herself off, she was about to say my name. I knew what this was about. “Lightning I have something to tell you”, Dash started. She was going to tell him, I didn’t want him to know, especially right now. Dash seen me and hesitated, “Lightning if you hurt Tasha, I’ll personally kill you”. A great relief swept through my body, and I wiped away my tears. “Lightning I need to talk to Tasha alone, can you go ahead”? Still shocked he started walking to the command tent again. “Tasha you need to tell him about Genesis. If you care about him, you have too. Because if he finds out himself, he’ll-”. “I know Dash, I’ll tell him, I have to find the right time”.
Capitans and higher began to flood the tent. I took up front at one of the three tables because Shadow Moon wanted me there at all times. Red Cross took a spot next to Shadow, followed by Vaccine. “Well, long time no see”. I turned to see one an old friend of mine. “Soto, is that you”? She smiled and took a seat next to mine. “So Hawkeye, who’s your friend?” a stranger following her. Soto turned towards him, “he’s one of my old friends, Sir, and his name is Lightning Cloud”. He gave me a hard look then he laughed and his expression changed in a heartbeat. “I’ve heard of you! You were the one of the four to fight in the training! I’ve been doing mostly lead fight coordination, but you probably know me”. I had, his name was Blitz and his specialty was fire. “In fact I have Colonel, how long will you be here”? “Well” he started, “It actually depends on the next battle. If we advance, my unit gets called back to Equestria”. I gave him a friendly grin, “then let’s make sure we win”. Tasha walked in along with Rainbow Dash; Tasha took her seat near me, and Dash next to Shadow. “Ok now we may begin”
It began with an introductory and immediately dropped a huge bomb after words stating that there was a spy in the camp. After words we moved directly into battle strategies. A few started to nod off, including Tasha. Everyone was well aware of what to do on the lines. “Sir” a whisper came from behind me; I turned to see a low ranked private. “Sir, someone is here to see you, they say it’s important”. “Did they say who they were?” I asked. No response. As I got up, Soto handed me a file, “its briefing. See me if you have any questions”. I turned to see Tasha, her eyes were closed and her head against the table. “Take care of her for me”, Soto nodded and I left the tent.
I thought more about the battle, we were losing too many soldiers, and we had to rely on more reinforcements. The enemy must have the spy pinpointing our troops with artillery. I stopped and looked around; I was in the middle of the low ranks tent area, during meal time. No one was going to be here. I started to be approached from all directions, as one came closer the rest stopped. “Lightning Cloud, we need to talk”.

---

Tasha was somewhat pissed off. The mare that was next to Lightning had woken her up in the middle of a great dream, Lightning was nowhere to be found, and since he was gone, she got stuck with the responsibility of the new squad paperwork. “Tasha” Shadow Moon said, “here is the list of new soldiers for your squad”. A stack of folders was placed in front of her and sighed at this sight, she hated paperwork. The other captains and higher ups got their orders and began to leave. She was going to have to fill Lightning in later. As she went through all the files, one caught her attention. They called him Mick; his file read that he had survived a sword through the chest. It also described him as a good warrior and faster than the average soldier. Tasha began to get hungry so she decided to make her way to the mess hall and exited the tent.
As she made her way there, she notices a pony sitting on a wall taking pictures with a camera. She noticed his orange coat and black mane, as she observed more she noticed the scar on his chest. “Hello, Mick”? She was never good at introductions; it was usually Lightning’s area. “Hello I’m Capitan Knight, your new-”. He turned toward her and smirked. Her face went pale and memories flooded her head. Blood, screams, and faces flashed in and out. Then she saw Mick, but at the same time it wasn’t him, she thought of Denver.

---

Two weeks before letter to Griffon Empire
I had been tracking Denver for three weeks now. Every attempt to eliminate him had been a failure and it was because of the griffons. He would use them as hostages, but would end up killing them anyways. I was ordered to use any means necessary, even if it involved killing, but I wouldn’t result to harming innocence. This would be his last escape from me, he had run out of Genesis and I still have two left. As I put away my field orders, a picture fell out. It was a picture of me and everyone else in the Genesis program. Out of everyone there, I had trusted Denver the most, He had reminded me of my brother Shaun who had died serving in the Royal guard. But Denver had killed all of the other Genesis agents, and now I had to do the same to him.
As I moved forward, I slowly came up on his camp. Another sound came off in the distance, it was more griffons. I hurried and injected my Genesis and drew my dagger. He heard my draw then bolted into the woods. I immediately did the same.
As I gave chase, we were beginning to get closer to the griffons. I couldn’t let any more deaths happen because of him. I used my wings to boost my speed, and then tackled him. As I tied him up I began to hear voices, it was the griffons, and they were right on top of my position. They were armed and ready to kill, and they knew exactly where I was. “Something’s not right, everyone, circle position!” the captain barked as they looked in my direction. I was going to have to kill them. I readied my dagger and leaped from the bushes, slicing the captain’s throat at top speed. No one had seen my action and everyone began to panic. I immediately did the same to two more guards. My genesis stopped, so I quickly injected my last one and continued to fight. Only one remained, and he was wounded. “W-what are you?” he shouted. A tear rolled down my cheek, I had to kill him, but I couldn’t look him in the face. “You’re a monster”! I pushed my knife into his chest and he let out his last breath. I ran back to where I left Denver with hatred for myself.
I moved Denver to a cliff next to the edge of a waterfall. I needed my own answers now, “so” I asked, “why did you do it”? He smiled and laughed, “I don’t have to tell you shit”. I nailed him in the face with my right hoof, “tell me why”! He looked up with blood on the side of his mouth, “personal reasons”. I then hit him with my left hoof and began crying, “tell me right now, you son of a bitch! You killed my only family”! He looked at me with a smirk, “I know”. My dagger instantly found its way into his chest and he began to cough up blood. “Burn in hell” I said. I pulled out my knife and kicked him off the cliff.

---

As more gathered to see what was going on, I pulled her closer. “Tasha, are you okay”? She could barely opened her eyes, “Lightning…” she said faintly. She cringed and went back to being unconscious. I felt her head; it felt like it could burst into flames. Among the crowd was Vaccine who I called over immediately. She helped me carry Tasha to her tent and gave her some medication to stop the fever. “Lightning” Vaccine said, “She’ll be fine in a couple of hours, go take a rest”. I looked over to Tasha and back to Vaccine. “I’ll stay for a while just to be safe”, I said. As Vaccine walked out she patted me on the back “don’t worry, she’ll be fine”.
I waited a good hour before leaving. By then it was 9:30pm so I decided to go to my tent and try to get some shut eye. But I couldn’t sleep; I just thought and thought about things. When I checked my pocket watch it was around 10:15 and I was still wide awake. As I closed my pocket watch the flap to my tent opened up, “Lightning we need to talk”. It was Tasha, “Why are you out of bed?” I asked. “I’ll be fine” she answered, “mind if I join you”? Tasha made her way over to my cot and climbed in with me, “I’ve had something I’ve needed to tell you for a while”.
She began with telling me about what the Genesis project was, and how she ended up there. I spent most of my time in silence because I couldn’t believe it. Then she told me about Denver, what he had done, and what she had done to stop him. “But I don’t think I stopped him” she said, “Today I seen him and I know it was him because of the scar. But I don’t remember the name he was using.” My facial expression changed in a heartbeat, “he’s the spy” I said in shock. Just then three soldiers threw open my tent flap nearly knocking it down, began screaming and threw me to the ground. “What the hell is going on?” Tasha screamed. The soldier began putting cuffs on me, “this asshole has been giving the enemies intel and killing us all”! Tasha lunged towards the soldier but another pinned her to the ground. They began escorting me out of my tent, I was being charged with treason.

---

Tasha tried to comprehend what had just happened but all she could do was sit and stare where Lightning and her had just been. She came too when somepony came into the tent to call her to the command tent. She made her way into the command tent and immediately said, “He didn’t do anything, he’s being framed Shadow”. Shadow, Red, Pestilence, Morning, and Rainbow Dash all became silent. Shadow Moon sighed, “I know he isn’t Tasha but until we find evidence, it’s impossible to say it’s not”. Tasha pulled some files out of her satchel and handed them to Morning Star, “here’s your spy, Denver, from the Genesis program. Compare his file to Mick’s, I’m pretty sure they are the exact same”. Morning observed both files for a few minutes, “Shadow she’s right”. Shadow quickly snatched the files and read them, “Red, go apprehend Mick before he can-”! The ground shook and a loud explosion could be heard around the whole camp. “What the hell was that” Shadow said as they all ran towards out of the tent. Tasha accidently ran into someone coming out of the tent, “Sorry about that”. The pony handed a paper to Tasha, “give these to Soto”. Tasha looked to see that they were marked for artillery to fire, “hold on, who-”, the pony was already gone. Tasha decided the smoke was more important at the moment, and ran towards a burning tent that many crowded by. Dante began to come out with somepony on his back, it was Vaccine. Red ran to Vaccine who had a glass shard, and now a pitch black mane, “you’ll be okay Vac, I’m her with ya”. Pestilence seeing his potion tent up in flames was infuriated, “WHAT HAPPENED HERE”!? Dante took a minute to catch his breath, “somepony rigged it to blow”. All of a sudden a soldier from Red’s squad came yelling Mick was nowhere to be found and that Lightning was missing and nowhere to be found.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long wait. I've been putting this off a lot to try to do better in school. But after I did I completely forgot about this and I regret doing so. So for those who have been waiting I thank you for it.