Useless
The whiskey burns down my throat as I take in another shot. It was strong. Damn strong. Almost strong enough to make a full pony cry. But I have no more tears to shed. I long stopped crying years ago, yet the grief I’ve held since then has stayed with me. Crying doesn’t fix anything nor does it bring back what you lost. All it does is just waste time.
The explosions above had long stopped spooking me. I hear the sounds of battle, cries of the dying, and orders of those coming to kill or capture us all. I hear the others panicking outside my door. Some are asking for orders. Others are praying to our now dead goddesses to save them from the humans and traitors. A few are taking swords to their neck, and dying like free ponies. I think about just ending it there, but I still got some of the drink left.
I stared at the bottle I held in one hoof. It was the last Sweet Apple Acres Whiskey in all of the world. Rainbow Dash gave it to me as a welcoming present when I joined the Freedom Fighters. She said we would open it after we achieved our victory. The day we would overthrow Twilight, kick out the humans, restore Equestria to her former glory, and have a nice drink on the land of a new Ponyville. Was that all just a distant dream? A fantasy that we held onto in this cruel reality we live in?
All the deaths, bombings, attacks, destruction, protests, kidnappings, propaganda, and more. I have done things that would have made the old me kick myself in the face. I have blood on my hooves. Blood of humans and ponies of all ages both young and old. I no longer deserve to be called Honesty. I sacrificed my morals, my soul, my very principles for the cause and what did it lead to? It lead to our hideout in the mountains getting bombed to oblivion with soldiers coming up and shooting us down one by one. All these years and what did it amount to?
Nothing.
Not a single damn thing.
Everything we had done... that I had done... was just useless.
Equestria was still humanity’s bitch and would never be what it once was. The Golden Age we had was forever dark. Twilight, that coward and traitor, was still alive sucking monkey dick. I wish I had just kicked her face and broken her neck the first time we met to save us all the trouble. Our fillies and colts would never grow up knowing the wonders of Equestria like it was in the good old days. They would be swayed by the human culture, their beliefs, their gods, and their technology. Buck them. Buck all of them to whatever hell exists for humans.
I should have known it was all over the moment Princess Celestia was murdered. Our Goddess was dead. What hope did we have when even our gods fail?
There was nothing left in me but this burning hatred I had for humanity. I wish we just killed them all in the first place instead of converting them. They weren’t worth making into us. They weren’t worth anything. What kind of reality did we enter when monsters defeated the heroes?
Yet, whatever hatred I felt is slowly going away. Now? All I feel is nothing. All I do is just drink and wait for my death at the hands of some angry human because I turned his fellow man into a pony. I’m not even scared I’m going to die soon. Hay, I’m welcoming it. My spirit was already dying when Ponyville was bombed and it went to rest in its grave when Twilight surrendered. I’m tired. I just want to go to sleep and never wake up.
Since there was to be no victory I figured to hay with it and just drink the damn thing now. Like the bottle, I was the last of a dying breed. I was the last Apple. My clan. My family. All dead from the war. Their bones scattered like the four winds.
And I’m not counting that backstabbing, monkey bucking, slut Braeburn. A traitor he is and traitor he will be to me forever more.
I continued to drink my fill as I looked around the room I shared with Rainbow Dash. She was the one who introduced me to the Freedom Fighters not to long after Twilight surrendered us to humanity. I joined in an instant. I wanted to kill as many humans as I could and free our nation. I wanted to make Twilight see that Equestria wasn’t dead.
Now we’re on our last legs as our doom approaches us. Rainbow Dash was out fighting, but if she wasn’t already dead then she would be soon. A part of me wanted to go out there and die fighting alongside her. The only true friend I have left. Yet, I just can’t move my butt from my chair. My body is done. My spirit is crushed. All I have left is this drink.
Another bomb from above goes off and the dirt from the ceiling in our underground base hits my head. I reach for my head, but all I feel is my mane. I’ve never felt complete since I lost my hat... since I lost everything.
I can still hear the planes soaring above as they unleash their horde of death upon us. We had no defenses in Ponyville. We never thought they would attack us or even get as far as they did. In a single moment, the town began to burn to the ground as flesh and bone is scattered across the streets I used to play around in as a filly.
My apple trees are blown to bits. The farms we had crumbled into dust. The graves of my family wiped out. So many faces I see on the ground, torn apart or dying in pools of blood.
Sweetie Belle is crying over Rarity’s corpse as I scream for her to come over here. It’s too late. A second later, a bomb explodes and she’s on the ground, her blood mixing with her sister’s as they leave this earth together.
I see Pinkie Pie for the last time as she goes to Sugarcube Corner to help the Cakes and the Twins... and then it explodes into nothing. I pray she escaped. Did something Pinkie-like to make it out. But there is nothing that remains of her. Her party is over.
Apple Bloom.
Sweet Apple Bloom.
A single explosion.
A bit of shrapnel to the head.
She felt no pain upon her death. I felt pain everywhere and wished I could die right there.
Yet I lived. I lived to see my world come to an end. I fought a useless battle to see it come back to life. Now I wait for it to all be over.
The door opens and I turn around to see Rainbow Dash, armored up and covered in blood. She and I stare at each other for a bit before she closes the door and sit down, taking in deep breaths. “They’re... inside... I got... as many as I could... did a few Sonic... Rainbooms... not enough...”
I didn’t answer. I just closed my eyes and said what we both knew. “It’s over.”
“...why?” asked Rainbow Dash, closing her eyes. “We’ve won against every other bad guy. Why can’t we win against humanity?”
“Maybe because we ain’t the good guys. Or maybe we really just won because of darn luck instead of fate...” I answered.
“No,” Rainbow Dash answered, shaking her head. “I refuse to believe that. We did things no other pony could ever dream of doing. We took down gods.”
“Yet, they killed ours,” I whispered.
Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof on the ground and spat. “I’m not surrendering. I’ll die fighting. At least Twilight will see how a real pony dies!” She stares at me as I just continue drinking. “You could have helped, you know?”
“Ah fail to see how Ah could have done any different,” I said as I poured a new shot. I nudge it over on the other side of the desk. “Drink up. It’s the last one you’ll ever have.”
Rainbow Dash slowly forced herself to her hooves and made her way towards the table. She’s changed so much since we joined. That once bright mane is all dulled out. Her wings are as dirty as a hog. Her body littered with scars, some of them from Twilight herself during that one time we tried to assassinate her.
Yes, I tried to kill my former best friend. You may think I have some regret over that but I don’t. To me, Twilight Sparkle is already dead to me. She died a long time ago. Just like all my other friends. Me and Rainbow Dash are the real last members of the Elements of Harmony. Or is that just a lie I tell myself? It’s funny. I’m honest to others, but sometimes I’m not honest to myself.
Rainbow Dash took the drink and took it all in one gulp. “We can still escape...”
“And go where? Everypony hates us. We have nothin’ outside of this little room,” I muttered, shaking my head. “We built our own grave. Now we lie in it.”
Rainbow Dash doesn’t respond to me. For a long time, there is only the sound of the battle outside. I’m still not afraid. I’ve been afraid to die before but that was when I had something waiting for me. Now, I got nothing. Nothing but a shallow grave with a tombstone that will state my name, date of birth, date of death, and luckily something nice. History will only see me as a terrorist instead of an honest farmer trying to do the right thing. Whatever that means anymore.
“I saw... Spike...” whispered Rainbow Dash, closing her eyes. “He looks good. Really grown.”
“Did ya talk or fight?” I asked, raising my head in curiosity.
“We talked, believe it or not,” replied Rainbow Dash with a sigh. “He says if we surrender now, Twilight will make sure we get a life sentence instead of the death penalty.”
“What did ya say?”
“I told him to shove it,” responded Rainbow Dash before she finished the drink and slammed the glass on the table. “I’m not going to run away... not again...”
I raised my eyebrow at her. She must have known I was curious because she looked at me with her teary eyes and silently cried. Slowly, I raised my hoof and wrapped it around her neck, letting her cry on my shoulder. I wished I could have cried with her, but I was still out of tears.
“I left them to die, Applejack,” whispered Rainbow Dash, as she let her body sink into mine. “During the invasion at the coast... all of us Wonderbolts were to be part of the first wave of defense... Me, Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot, and... Scootaloo...”
Until that moment, Rainbow Dash never once talked about what happened during that battle. The battle where the Wonderbolts were all annihilated except for her. Many praised her as a hero for surviving, but Rainbow Dash never once called herself that. In fact, it was after that battle that I saw her change from the once cocky and daredevil heroic pegasus into the depressing, battle-scarred pegasus I knew now. If anybody held any bigger hatred for humanity, it was Dash. I never once asked her what happened that day. I figured she would tell me when she was ready. I guess with our deaths looming over us now there is no better time.
“We flew in formation. Spitfire promised to buy drinks when this was over... she was the first shot down,” whispered Rainbow Dash as she shivered. “The guns... they tore her apart... tore them all apart... I saw their remains fall into the ocean and sink into nothingness... so much blood... so much of it on me... Scootaloo...” She held me closer as she gave out a sob. “Scootaloo and I were the last... she asked me what to do... I just saw everypony dying... our ships burning... pegasi falling to their deaths... I just... I ran...”
She slowly looked up towards my eyes with such guilt that I bit my lip. “I flew like a coward... I let her die... I lost the right to be Loyalty...” She took a deep breath. “That’s why I couldn’t just accept we lost... that’s why I told Twilight to kiss my flank... that surrender... what did they all die for then? To me, surrendering is spitting on the memory of all of them... I’d rather die than let them down again...”
I hugged her. I hugged her so tight that I could have squeezed her in half. I damned the humans. They took everything from us. They ruined us. I didn’t care if a thousand years from now it would be the greatest thing in the world for ponies and humans working together. I just cursed them all.
“Do you think... they’ll forgive me?” asked Rainbow Dash. “In Elysium that is?”
“She will... they’re all waitin’ for us... Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, everypony in Ponyville... it’s gonna be a huge welcome home party for us all...” I said as a single tear dripped down my heart. I guess I had enough strength to cry after all. “It’s going to be okay, Rainbow Dash. We’re going to be okay.”
“Y-yeah... I just...” She took a deep breath. “I’m just glad that I got to be with you in the end.”
“Hey, friends to the end, ya know?” I said with a chuckle. I looked at the bottle. It was almost finished. Just enough for two more shots. “How about we drink to our life and go out there killin’ as many as them humans as possible?”
Rainbow Dash nodded before she gave an old grin I hadn’t seen in awhile. “Betcha I can kill more before we’re dead.”
“Yer on,” I said as I reached for the drink.
That’s when the door slammed open. I turned to look for who it was but a second later I felt pain all over my body as the sounds of a “ratatata” was heard in echoing in my head. My body felt like it was torn apart as multiple objects entered my chest and legs, ripping my skin apart as I saw red all over.
I lost all strength to stand up and fell against the wall, crashing into my desk and chair along the way. The echo continued for a bit longer before it ended as my head slammed against the wall. The pain slowly started to fade as I opened my blurry eyes. Even with the damaged vision I could tell it was a human, aiming something at me. I looked down and saw my chest ripped apart and my legs looking chewed up.
They got me.
They got me.
Rainbow Dash.
I looked to my right. She’s just like me only her eyes are closed and half her cheek is missing. They got her too.
They got us both.
I stare at the bottle that lays before me, right between my dead best friend and myself. It’s broken and in pieces like I am. I didn’t even give a chance to finish it.
The human doesn’t even stick around, he’s already gone. It’s like were were just two ponies to kill and be forgotten.
My life starts laying out before me. Everything good and bad about it like a film biography about my life. I cry again as I see everything I had done or could have done. I see my family, my friends, and our adventures. I see what I’ve loved and lost. My life wasn’t perfect, but it was good. Damn good.
Now as it comes to an end, I start to feel cold. My eyes are slowly closing for the last time as I lay there beside my friend. Our blood mixing together on the floor as silence and cold surround me. For the first time in years, I say a prayer. My last prayer. I pray that Equestria will be okay. I pray for forgiveness for my sins. I pray... that one day the six of us will be united. I pray that I can see my family again.
I pray...
... pray...
...pr...
...
***
Terrorist Group Destroyed! Victory for Pony-Human Coalition!
The War on Terror has reached a major victory with the utter destruction of the Equestrian Freedom Fighters. Human and Pony forces surrounded the base hidden in the Macintosh Mountains using a combination of aerial bombing and magical artillery strikes to weak outer defences before bravely charging in. This marks the first time both pony and human forces have worked together to defeat a common enemy.
“It’s hard to believe that years ago I was fighting them,” said Private Evans Park. “Now I can say that I was proud to fight alongside them. I owe some a few thanks for saving my hide out there.”
While many of the terrorists choose to die fighting or commit suicide, a number of prisoners were taken upon overwhelming the base. Trials will be committed for the numerous war crimes the terrorists have done, including the bombing of Canterlot Square that resulted in the deaths of over a hundred ponies and sixty humans. Many were on the streets around the world when the news that the Freedom Fighters were defeated as hashtag #RIPFF and #HumanityStandsStrong exploded on Twitter.
“I’m just glad it’s all over,” said Ambassador Lyra Sentry whose husband, Commander Flash Sentry, was one of the leaders in the attack. “I pray for my fellow ponies who choose to fight against our new way of life, but they needed to be stopped for the sake of peace between our races.”
Ambassador Lyra Sentry was shocked when it was discovered that the Freedom Fighter’s leader, who committed suicide, was former Equestrian Secret Service Agent Sweetie Drops who was believed to have died under the name Bon Bon in the Bombing of Ponyville. She says she had no idea that her former best friend was behind this. When asked how she feels she responded, “I am heartbroken. Bon Bon was my best friend and we parted on bad terms when I sided with humanity. I lost her once and now I lost her a second time. I just pray she’s at peace.”
Among the deceased are also former Elements of Harmony, Applejack Apple and Rainbow Dash. Princess Twilight had nothing to say on the subject and wished to bury her former friends in a private ceremony. A planned vigil for all the losses is planned later this week.
For more Information, see Page 3