This is one of my first stories, so please bear with my somewhat contrived storylines
As many famous men have said, War never changes. Whenever we come into a war, we charge head on without thought until we are victorious.
But the end result is always the same, family members torn away from the loved ones, Parents never being able to see what their children grow up to be, People taken away from this world in the prime of their lives.
But, in every War there is always one special story. One of courage, one of sacrifice, one of questions, and if you're lucky one of love.
But amongst all the death and gore, people seem to stay hopeful that everything will be fine. They just think that this is all a bad dream, and soon they're going to wake and be able to embrace their loved ones again...
But this will never happen, we were unprepared for this War. Hell, we weren't even prepared for War in the first place.
We are up against an enemy that craves War, an enemy that thrives on it. A society that has been living on War for millennia on end.
We won't fight, we can't fight..... but we must, to save our people, to save our culture, to save the ones we love, to save ourselves.....
*Author's note: This is going to be a humanized story for the sake of my sanity, but there are a couple of things I would like to point out. This is taking place about 10, maybe 15 years from when the show is actually taking place. Secondly, much like in the story False Traitor, True Hero. The characters in this still have the characteristics that they have in the show. Pegasi still have wings and the unicorns still have horns. Also, I will still be using terms such as unicorn, everypony, and pegasus, just for the ease of everyone reading. Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy the story!*
Date 4-7-1021.....
I started to mull over the events of my day, I thought about the reason I got this dumb thing in the first place. “Ugh, how did I talk my self into all of this, I have never been good at writing anything! I mean I’m at least adequate at all of my other studies, I’m surprised they even let me graduate from that class!” As I paused to think, I heard ink being scratched to parchment, I looked over to see the quill moving as fast as its processors could go. “Hold on little guy, don’t worry” I said as I slowly walked over towards my quill.
“You don’t have to go that fast” As the words escaped my mouth, I saw it was moving faster than ever. With every word I said it moved up it’s speed by a quarter. I slowly began to move towards the quill, as I got close enough I leapt up in the air and onto to the quill. After I finally got it to turn off I started to fiddle with machinations and wiring inside the metal core.
“This is actually relatively advanced for a guy your size” I said slightly petting the feathers towards the top. “Don’t worry with the upgrades I’m making hopefully we won’t be running into any problems again.”
*knock* *knock* *knock*
“Aw hell, who could that be?” I slowly rose from my place to go answer the door, “Just hold on little guy, don’t go”
*~*~*
“No thank you, I don’t want any of products!” I yelled annoyed. As I started to descend the stairs again, I heard more knocking “What did I just say, I don’t want any of your “miracle products” be it a miracle cream or even an intelligence booster or booster of any kind!”
I swung the door open about to lecture whoever was on the other side, only to find a familiar face.
“You were saying something about a miracle cream, eh Iron?” The blue pegasus casually walked in, playfully shoving me and shooting me a smirk. “Yes please, Dash please come in. It’s not like I don’t have anything better to do.” I said sarcastically, while slamming the door behind me.
“Oh come on, lighten up man it’s a perfect day for flying outside.” She said rearranging all of my belongings. “Yeah, but remember I don’t fly, better yet I can’t fly at all.” I said sarcastically, while fixing all of my things. “So what brings you to this part of Equestria again? It’s been about three years since the Wonderbolts were broken up so they could serve in the military,” “Five years...” I was already halfway to my to the kitchen by the time she spoke.
“What did you say?” I said slowly resuming my actions, “I said it’s been five years since we broke up,” She said solemnly, taking a seat. I came back with a hot chocolate and a coffee. She picked up her drink and took a few sips before we continued.
“Either way, what are you doing out so far out in the middle of nowhere?” I said sipping my coffee. “I just felt like visiting some old friends,” “We’re friends?” I interjected. She shot me a look of both admiration and annoyance, “Yes, we are unfortunately, I just came to check on you actually.”
“Check on me, what do you mean?” I said putting my cup down. “Yeah, more and more people are being drafted into the military, I just wanted to check on some of my old contacts.” She said looking down at the floor. I had never seen her so... so sad in all the years I’ve known her. She was legitimately concerned with somepony else in a long time. I slowly got up and walked over to her, and put a hand on her shoulder trying to calm her down.
She leapt out of her chair and held me as tightly as she could, slowly I gave the act back. She sat back down wiping her eyes, “Rainbow,” “Don’t call me that, nopony calls me that anymore.” She said, tears stifling her speech. “Rainbow, listen you’re going to be fine, I’m doing fine right now, and all of your friends back in Ponyville will be fine too. Have you told them you’re here?” Before she could respond, I heard knocking at the door, “Hold that thought will you real quick?” I bolted for the door as fast as I could hoping to continue the conversation. *~*~*
“Alright there you go, thanks a lot Dinky!” As I waved goodbye to the pegasus, I turned to go back to Rainbow Dash. “Now where were you again?” I said tossing the mail onto the coffee table. “What’s all that?” She said drying her eyes. “Oh it’s just the mail, you can look at it if you like it’s just bills.” With this she started to flip through the envelopes until she came upon a starch white envelope. I took notice when she held up her hand to face.
“Rainbow, what’s wrong? What happened?” She didn’t say a word, she just started shaking her head; tears flowing freely down her face. She was trying her best to stifle a scream, “Rainbow, what’s happened?” She handed me the letter, I opened it up hastily not looking at the sender. I read through the letter, Rainbow had already started to sob little by little more each time I cleared a paragraph. The grimace that appeared on my face only did more to confirm her theories, by now she was completely silent waiting for me to say if it was real or not.
I sat there stupified, unable to comprehend what I had just read. I slumped in my chair, dropping the letter as I fell back, my expressionless face staring at Rainbow. The gradual building silence was shattered by Rainbow’s sobbing. “No! You can’t do this to me, not right now, not like this!” She screamed at me, tears flowing freely from her eyes.
I sat up, resting my hand on my face. I looked over at Rainbow, trying my best to make a comforting expression, “Rainbow, I’m going to need you to do me a favor, I’m going to need you to be strong for us right now, there is a phone in the back room, you need to call up the rest of your friends, everypony is gonna need to hear this.” She simply nodded, slowly got up and left the room.
I sat back down, running my fingers through my hair, my thoughts eating at me like a cancer. What am I going to do? What am I going to say? This is the first time I’m going to meet her friends. And even If every thing did go off without a hitch, what would I tell them? “Oh hi, as you may know I’m a close friend of Rainbow’s. And I know she’s been through a lot lately but you know I’m just gonna ditch her in her time of need, and not probably not come back!” Jesus, what am I going to do?
With all these thoughts, I almost didn’t notice that Rainbow still hadn’t come back and sit down. “Rainbow? Where the hell are you?” I looked all around the house before I heard a knock at the door. I slowly walked over, all the while wondering where the hell Dash was. “Yeah, hello?” I said annoyed. “Um, hi my name is Twilight Sparkle and my friend Rainbow Dash came here to talk with an old friend. I’m assuming thats you?” She said dryly. “Yes I’m Iron Revolution, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” I outstretched my hand only to be met with an icy stare of distrust.
“Um, please come in and sit down it might take a while for the others to come, I’m assuming you’re not the only one she called?” I said making my way towards the kitchen, “Would you like anything while I’m up?” She yelled from the den, “I don’t need anything.” “Okay then, I’ll just make tea.” I said placing the kettle on the stove. When I came back to the den, she was already set to interrogate me.
“So, what have you done to her? When she called me she sounded upset.” I quickly interjected, “What are you trying to say? Are you implying that I hurt her?” “No I never suggested that, I’m just wondering.” She said skeptically, surveying the room. “Please Miss Sparkle, I actually expected better from you. When Rainbow spoke of you I expected you to be far more trusting, and frankly more concerned with your friend, rather than with interrogating me.” I said dryly, with the kettle going off in the background. “If you’ll excuse me Miss Sparkle, I believe you tea is ready. I’ll just be right back with it, what flavor would you like? I personally prefer rasberry.” She just stared at me with an expression of disgust, surprise, and anger. “I’ll just get you rasberry.”
I walked off and came back as quickly as I left. Once I came back, she looked like she was about to explode. “Now listen here you two-faced bastard! What the hell have you done with her?” She screamed with her eyes absorbing all light from the room.I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared, but I mustered up what courage I had, so I could defend myself, “I haven’t done anything with her! Do you actually think I would hurt her like this!?! I am not a monster like you might think I am!” I returned in the same volume. She was surprised by my outburst, she was about to speak again, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.
“Ah, that must be somepony else.” I said casually walking off, “Oh and if you could do me a favor or two, you see that letter on the floor, by the chair?” She merely nodded in response, “When you read that, you’ll know why she was so upset, and also she appears to be missing from the house.” “What?!? And you haven’t gone searching for her?” She quickly interjected. I turned to her and said, “I was about to, but then you came here and started falsely accusing me and interrogating me.” She sat there, with a shocked expression on her face, I could never tell you why though. “If you could just think of some places that Rainbow would fly of too, that would greatly help my search effort.”
Well that went swimmingly, way to make a good impression there Iron.... Hell how am I going to apologize for that? I screwed up royally on that, hopefully I’ll find a way to fix it. I slowly walked towards the door, thinking on ways to repair the damage I've caused to my reputation. I swung open the door to find two people standing in the doorway, one with long braided blonde hair and one with voluminous purple.
“Where is she? What have you done with her?” They both screamed in unison. “And it’s always nice to be greeted in such a warm manner, honestly!” I sarcastically said to the two. They both rushed in and started to look around the place searching every crevice to make sure I wasn’t hiding their friend anywhere. I honestly couldn’t blame them, Rainbow never really talked about me around them. So when all of a sudden she leaves to come and see me, it doesn’t paint the best of pictures for a man in my case.
“Um, can’t I at least get your names?” I said as they slowly rose up from looking around my house. “Okay fine, ahm Applejack, ehn this here’s is Rarity,” said the blonde one in a very thick southern accent. “So you two are the famous Applejack and Rarity, huh?” I said, my voice heavy with fabricated enthusiasm. They both nodded suspiciously.
“You know Applejack I heard your farm makes the best apples in all of Ponyville!” I said trying to make nice. She blushed and dragged he foot across the floor, “Well I don’t know about the best,”
“Oh don’t be so modest! And Rarity, I heard you make some of the best gowns and suits in all of Equestria!” I said with a bow, she giggled in response. Okay good, maybe now they'll listen.
“Hey, can I actually ask you guys a favor? Applejack can you fix us some of your famous apple cider, more of you will be coming soon right?” I asked. She nodded with a proud smile on her face.
“And Rarity, can you make some fried eggs avec du fromage?” She nodded excitedly, ready to make a fancy dish. “All the supplies should be in the back, now go!” They ran off towards the kitchen, with as much glee as a they could hold. Good that should keep them busy.
I slowly walked over towards the den where Twilight was, she was just staring out of the window looking aimlessly towards the horizon. “Hey look, I just wanted to apologize for my behavior back there...” I began. She only raised her hand to stop me, “There is no reason to apologize, you did it with the best of intentions.” She said, taking an apologetic tone. She then turned to me and looked at me with...caring eyes. “You two must be really close if you’re willing to stand up for her like that.” She said as she took a seat.
“As close as friends could be, yeah.” I said taking my old seat. While saying this she only shook her head and laughed. I spoke again, “So you now know why she was so upset, yes?” She picked up the letter and tossed it over to me. I caught it and placed on the table, I didn’t need to look at it a second time, it had already caused enough problems. “So, who else is going to show up?” I said while I sipped on cold coffee.
“Well it sounds like Rarity and Applejack are already here,” When the words finally left her lips, we heard a loud crash from the kitchen along with several yelled obscenities. “Really? I hadn’t noticed. But on another note where do you think Rainbow would’ve flown too?” I asked. She just shook her head, “I really don’t know where she would go, maybe to Cloudsdale, maybe to her old training ground, the memorial.” I nearly choked on my coffee.
“Wait memorial? Where the hell is there a memorial in Equestria?” She slowly sat up and just shook her head. “You remember when the Wonderbolts were drafted?” “Yeah who doesn’t? The had a whole going away party and everything, what of it?” I asked
“Right after they were drafted they were put to use as Aerial bombers during the initial invasion of enemy territory, they were shot down...” she said sternly. “Well, how come the pubic wasn’t told?” I asked. Twilight just shook her head and said, “I have already said to much, I’ll just get Fluttershy to fly up and get her.” And with a swift POP and a flash of light she was gone.
When I was sure I was alone, I made my way towards my room to start packing my things. I packed all the essentials, tooth brush, clothing, books. Anything that would prove entertaining or useful in the long run. Anything to keep me sane. As I was organizing everything for my pickup, I came across an old picture that I had forgotten about after all these years. I looked at it, analyzed it, but only one thing kept coming back to my mind. “Ah, the good ol’ days...” I said quietly to myself. I placed it in my pack, hoping to at least have one good memory while I go through hell.
“What’s that Iron? Taking a stroll down memory lane?” A voice came from outside my window. I did a double-take when I looked at the window. “Wha- what? Rainbow? What the hell are you doing here, where the hell did you go?” I was just about to explode with worry, but she was starting to get a look on her face. An expression that I would get all to used to in times to come, Fear.
“Wait I-ah, look I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scream, I was just worried about you. Where did you go anyway?” I asked looking down at the floor, trying avoid eye contact. “I went up and spent sometime in Cloudsdale, flew around for a bit.” She said looking up towards the sky. I stood quiet for a second, wondering if I should say what I was thinking, “Did you visit the memorial?”
Her expression quickly changed from ones of solace to ones of extreme rage. “What? What did you just say?!” I kept a cool, dry tone to avoid a heated argument, “I said, did you visit the memorial?” “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about! There are no memorials in Equestria!” I finally just couldn’t take it anymore, something in my mind just went off and snapped; “Oh you know damn right, what memorial I’m talking about! The one to the fucking Wonderbolts! The one dedicated to the deaths of OUR FRIENDS!!”
I honestly don’t know what happened, one second I was on my feet, the next I was on my back. She had me pinned to the floor, fist raised to strike at any moment. “Go on, do it! All your friends believe I deserve this,” I then, suddenly lost all the bravado behind my voice, “I do deserve this, so please just do it already.” We locked eyes for what seemed like an eternity before we heard a small *ahem* emanating from the doorway.
We both looked up to find all of Rainbow’s friends standing in the doorway. I didn’t dare move a muscle, fearing that they would be ready to attack as if on que. I finally spoke up, “Um, how long have you guys been standing there?” They all looked at each other and looked back at me and Dash before Twilight finally spoke, “Long enough Iron, long enough.
*~*~*
“Um I don’t mean to be rude to you guys, some of you know I’ve been doing that too much today, but I just need some time alone with Rainbow, okay?” As they all gradually left, I slowly turned to Rainbow and said, “Listen I didn’t mean to get so angry like that back there, I lost control of myself for a moment and I just wanted to apologize.” She looked at me with a soft smile on her face, slowly stood up and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Heh, I haven’t had one of those in a long time.” I said nervously. She playfully shoved me, “Just try to get back to me in one piece, alright?”
As me and Rainbow descended the stairs back to ground level, I heard a knocking at the door. “Oh no, that must be them, Dash head back to the den to the rest of your friends, please.” She nodded as I went to go answer the door. When I opened the door, I saw two hefty men in dark green fatigues standing on my porch.
“Is the this the residence of a one, Iron Revolution?” The one on the left said. “Yes sir, that would be me.” I said trying to be as polite as possible. “You have, no doubt received our letter?” “Yes I have.” The two looked at each other, and then back at me, “The truck back there is taking new recruits in this area to the nearest military base for basic training and deployment.”
I slowly looked up at them and asked, “Hey look, one of my closest friends is inside and all of her friends too. Can’t I at least say goodbye?” The two nodded as I turned around to go back in. As I turned the corner to say goodbye, the entire room went silent. All eyes were intently focused on me. I began with, “Um, hi as many of you know my name is Iron Revolution. I was a close friend of Rainbow’s during her days with the Wonderbolts.” I looked down trying to hide my tears.
“As most of you may know by now, I have been drafted into military service. And I know I haven’t been the most gracious host today, in fact I’ve been a downright asshole, but you have shown me nothing but unyielding kindness, and I would just like to thank you for that.” I wiped my eyes clear and tried to hide my tearful stuttering. “I know many of your loved ones have been sent off to war, I know some of you haven’t heard from them in a very long time.”
I briefly paused to think carefully, “And this is probably the last time you’re going to be hearing from me, I just want you to know, please take care of each other while your family is away. Right now, you guys are the only thing keeping your loved ones sane on the other side. Don’t forget about them.” I couldn’t think of a good way to end my speech, so I just turned to leave. As I’m making my way I feel a tap on my shoulder, before I knew it I had arms around my neck, and lips to mine.
I didn’t even know what to think, all I knew was that I felt worse than ever before. When I opened my eyes I saw Dash hugging me and crying, all of a sudden, I’m swarmed by her friends and tears are rolling down my face. Once I regained control, I mustered up the courage to say, “Hey there is one last thing I need to do.” I quickly ran down the stairs, down in to the basement where I had left my quill and parchment. I levitated the rest of the latter into my pack , and finished upgrading the quill.
I made my way back upstairs, and gave everypony one last wave goodbye before I left. I turned back to see Rainbow..... as sad as she could ever be. I hated leaving her like this, I couldn’t leave her like this. But I had too, she’d be better off. I saw my home one last time before I tossed all stuff into the back of the truck and hopped on one of the seats. The very last thing I saw was a crying woman, the last thing I ever wanted to see...
I sat there, stone-faced and broken, my mind slowly trying to piece together what had happened just a couple hours before. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t feel. This can’t be real! I thought, This has to be a dream, just a bad dream. I kept trying to force myself to wake up from this nightmare, but no such luck would befall me.
“Listen kid, it won’t be long before we reach the base, but we’ve hit a snag. We’re short handed and command just sent orders to pick up more recruits.” My stomach dropped and my face contorted to a look of sadness and rage. Great, now they’re pinning their responsibilities on me! I wanted to scream. Not two hours ago, I was ripped away from my life to serve their cause. Now I have to bear the responsibility of doing the same to people and their families.
I head the noise of doors opening and slamming, then the pain of sunlight striking my face at full force. “Come on kid, get your ass outta the car,” Then man on the right said said. “Yeah, we got work for you to do,” the one on the left said. As my eyes adjusted to the newfound light, I finally got a better look at my handlers.
The two were nigh identical to one another. Both were very tall, burly men, with shaved heads. Save for weaponry, they were dressed as if a firefight was going to break out as we spoke. “Wow, a real life Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum!” I said sarcastically trying to mask my true feelings.
“Hey, don’t push us! We will not hesitate to report you for desertion if provoked.” Tweedle-dee said. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. He was obviously the alpha of the two goons. Tweedle-dum quickly followed his threat with a quick “Yeah!” Now that kind of behavior only re-enforces my assumption.
“Okay, okay. I understand. What do you need me to do?” I asked submissively. “That’s better,” Tweedle-dee stated sternly, “What we need you to do is this. We are running low on supplies and gasoline, we need to restock if we are to make it back to base.” I rose my hand to ask a question.
Tweedle-dum giggled and Tweedle-dum slapped him response. He scolded him, “Cut it out you mook!” ‘Dum lowered his and said, “Sorry boss, I didn’t mean ta.” Dear Celestia, it was like watching a re-run of The Three Stooges. “If I may ask sirs, I don’t see a town anywhere near here,” I asked, trying my best to sound innocent.
Tweedle-dee shot me a look and said, “Listen kid, the nearest town is a couple miles out of the way. I’m gonna need you to make the trip up to town, while we stay here and try to radio ahead to base, okay?” I smiled and nodded. I would do anything to finally get away from these two brutes, and it seemed like now was my chance.