The Last Crusade
"Private!" I jerked my head up and looked at my commanding officer, Sargent Windstream "Get over there!" He pointed to a half destroyed building with a window in the wall just to my left. "Set up there, we need to hold this line!"
I nodded and yelled "Aye-aye Sir!" and ran to the window. The Sargent went back to barking orders to other soldiers.
I lifted up my rifle and laid it on the window seal with the barrel pointed outwards. I brought my hoof to the trigger, ready to fire and the butt of the rifle was up against my shoulder. Out ahead of me was flat land with a church. Around the church were the ruins of a town. A town that once was home to hundreds of families, all living a decent and safe life. If only it could have stayed that way.
I began to shake as the anticipation began to build inside me. They're going to attack any second! Just remember what you learned in training. Just aim, fire, reload, repeat. Just think of them like they are disgusting rats, or cockroaches, or anything like that! Anything but living, breathing, thinking… I shook my head. You're going to be okay, you're going to be okay, you're going to be okay...
I began shaking violently, almost like I was in an earthquake. I shook like that until a soldier came up to me and put a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up at the unicorn stallion standing beside me, and he looked at me with pity and understanding.
"It's your first time?"
I nodded weekly and looked back out towards the church. "It's going to be fine. I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die..." I said mostly to myself.
He took a breath and took out a cigarette. "Private, here's the best advice I can give ya; just don't die."
I nodded, and said quietly "Seems kind of self explanatory."
"Just maybe," he chuckled. He looked back at me with a serious look. "l mean it though. I like you, you seem like a sweet kid, and I don't want your life to be cut short 'cause of this goddess damned war."
He lit his cigarette, took a deep breath, and let all the smoke out in one continuous stream. He looked at me. "Want one?"
"Well…" I began. "My sister told me that those are really bad for your health."
"Come on, you've gotta live a little! Especially in our line of work. You probably won't live long enough to face the negative effects anyways, so what's the big deal."
"I… I can't argue with that. Give me one." He nodded and popped one into my mouth. I just started to get used to the feeling of the cigarette in my mouth when he brought his lighter up to my mouth and lit the cigarette.
I took a breath in through the cigarette and it… it was weird to say the least. It felt bad like if I took a deep breath right above a smoky fire but it also felt good and kind of calming. I levitated the cigarette out of my mouth and let the breath out.
"Did that help?" he asked.
I nodded. "Surprisingly… it did, a lot, thank you."
He smiled "Always glad to h-" he was cut off by the sound of running and yelling coming from the church. "Damn it of course you have to get your asses in gear now!" He looked at me. "Get ready private." He then went over to his position just to my left in the same house (or what used to be the same house) as mine. He looked at me with a small, sad smile "Looks like you are going to have your first battle, private."
I nodded and got back to my gun, putting the cigarette back into my mouth. I looked out and my ears fell to the back of my head. I could see both inside and around the church; there were what looked to be hundreds of Griffins and Zebras, all looking at us. They outnumbered us ten to one.
"It's going to be okay," the same stallion as before said. "We're on the defensive, we have a chance."
I nodded but it didn't help my nerves, but a puff on my cigarette did, at least a little.
I got ready, and placed one front hoof on the trigger, ready to fire, and my other front hoof around the bolt handle, ready to bring it back.
I heard an enemy Zebra yell "Carpe Diem!" as he and the rest of the enemies all ran out of cover and charged us! "FIRE!" Sargent Windstream yelled at the top of his lungs, and everypony obeyed. All around me all I could hear was the defining sound of constant gunfire.
I followed their examples and aimed my gun. I lined up the crosshairs and BAM! I fired and missed. Thankfully they were still quite a ways away still. I brought my hoof back and slammed a new bullet into the camber. I aimed again, fired again … and missed again.
I reloaded again and looked down my sights. My eyes widened as I saw that a Griffin was pointing a gun right at me! I screamed and ducked my head. I felt the bullet go right above my head and into the wall behind me. I looked up at my right and froze. I was looking at a pony who wasn't as lucky as me.
I kept staring, unable to take my eyes away from the limp body infront of me. That could've been me! What if that was me! My family and friends would never see me again! And!!! I was finally broken out of my trance by something hitting my back.
I looked back and saw the stallion looking at me "STOP LOOKING, JUST GET BACK TO YOUR GUN AND SHOOT. TRUST ME, DOING THAT IS BETTER THAN WHAT YOU ARE DOING RIGHT NOW!"
I nodded and got back to my gun. Tears rolled down my face as I looked down the sights and fired again, once again I missed. They were starting to get a little close… I reloaded again and looked down my sights.
I was looking at a Griffin, one with black and white feathers. It almost looked like a zebra. I fired and … it hit it's mark. I watched as it stumbled as a hole was punched right into its chest. Some of its feathers changed to red. It fell and I never saw it move again.
I just … killed it. I just killed them! I just killed a living, thinking, breathing…
Almost as if he could read my mind the stallion beside me yelled "IT'S OKAY, JUST THINK OF THEM AS VERMIN, AND YOU'RE THE PEST CONTROL!"
"Pest control…" I reloaded and aimed again, and I killed again. I reloaded once again and looked out. They were getting really close now, to close! I began to panic. If they get to close we surely will all die! I'll die, he'll die, everypony will die!
I began hyperventilating and shot again. I reloaded, then shot, then reloaded, then shot. AIl around me I could hear ponies getting shot themselves, screaming in pain, and falling over. I was panicking, and I could barely think. All that I was thinking was "kill or you'll die! I don't even keep check whether or not I was killing when I fired. It was just aim, fire, reload, repeat.
I felt some sort of force punch into me but I ignored it and kept firing. A few seconds later I felt it again and I lost my balance for a few seconds before I got back to normal. I shot my gun again. I have to keep fighting, I have to keep shooting! I heard somepony yelling at me but I didn't care. I reloaded but for some reason it was harder this time… I fired again and again and again. I fired until I felt myself get hit another time. This time though it knocked me backwards, I tried to get up but just couldn't.
"Somepony get a damned medic!" I heard a pony say besides me. I looked up and saw the stallion who gave me the cigarette looking down at me. "It's going to be okay," he said "It's going to be okay." I tried to nod but couldn't. I couldn't even move my mouth! I looked over and saw a mare with a big red cross on her breast walk over to me and picked me up, saying something about how I was a lost cause or something like that. As I layed on the other mare's back I started to get sleepy. Just a little sleep, just a little bit can't hurt. I looked up at the dark night sky with a small smile. Good night Rarity! I then closed my eyes and fell asleep.
Sweetie Bell, 993 - 1012
I flew over the battle scared land. It being corrupted to every shade of black and grey imaginable by near constant warfare. That's why I didn't join the Army; it's too shitty down there and the stories of trench hoof! Even worse! That's why I joined the AirForce and the best part is that I get to try out their new flying machines, these things are awesome! The wind flew in my face as the biplane I was in bumped up and down like I was in a boat on a windy day.
I maneuvered myself over the enemy trench and lined myself so that I was parallel to it. I pushed one hoof forward on the throttle and the other on the stick. My plane went into a nosedive, and I readied my hoof on the trigger. I got closer and closer to the ground until… I pulled up at the last moment and pulled the trigger.
The sound of my cannons was defining, even louder than the engine. I stopped firing and pulled up at a sharp angle. Once I got to a safe altitude I looked over the side of the plane and down at the trench below me. All along the trench all I could see were half pulverized zebras and griffs, I didn't see very many survivors. I leaned up and didn't have time to contemplate what I had seen, what I had done. Instead I look up and gasped. Something was coming directly at me!
I screamed and pulled up and did a barrel roll. I looked back and saw what it was, it was a plane. Not just any plane though, it was a red one. A red one with the Zebranic Eagle painted along its sides in black. I began to hyperventilate. It can't be him! I thought he was over by Hoofington, not up here! I watched him turn around and come right at me! Worst of all I saw a male zebra in the cockpit.
I turned around and flew right at him. My trigger hoof was twitching, ready to fire as soon as I got close enough. Closer, closer! Fire! My planes auto cannons thundered to life and I could see almost in slow motion as his erupted to life at the same time. Then both of our bullets hit. I saw my hits sever both of his wings straight off of his fuselage. He went down, he went down!
"I shot him down, I shot down the Red Legate!" My excitement soon turned to terror as I began to fall too! No, no, no! I tried to pull up, it did nothing. I looked back behind me and screamed, I was missing both my tail and my wing flaps! I looked forward. I can't do anything! I'm a … falling duck!
I kept trying to pull myself up even know I knew it was in vain. I looked down at the ground. It looks like I'm almost a hundred meters off the ground. I kept falling, tears falling from my eyes in frustration, desperation, and terror. I gave up on trying to control the falling plane and looked back over the side. Looks to be fifty now. I leaned on the side and closed my eyes. Please, whatever god or goddess is out there please help me. I don't want to die, I'm not even twenty! I have a family, friends, please! Now only 20. I began screaming prayers to gods and goddesses I didn't believe in. Desperate pleas for help I knew wouldn't help me.
10, 5, 3, 2, 1. I felt the plane hit the ground. The sound of grinding and bending metal filled my ears, the plane beneath me bending and twisting in ways it never should have. Then a piece of the wing fell off, then the whole wing, then the other. Then I was flung out of the cockpit and into the air. I went towards the ground, my eyes wide. I think I was screaming but I can't quite remember. I tried to flap my wings but they didn't work and I just kept falling. I hit the ground and my world ended.
Scootaloo, 992 - 1012
I fired my shotgun into the chest of an incoming zebra as they rounded the corner. I then leaned down and pulled the pin out of a grenade I had in my grenade belt and threw it at the enemy. "Ma'am!" a soldier behind me yelled as he slammed a new round into his rifle's chamber. "There's too many of them! We're being overrun! The whole line is falling apart!
I turned to the soldier and yelled "I know! The General just ordered a full retreat!" I turned back to the other soldiers in the trench "Everypony, grab the wounded and follow me! We all need ta get to the escape tunnel!" I then turned and ran down a trench leading away from the battlefield. All the other ponies did as they were ordered.
As we ran through the trenches I thought about what we would do once we got to the tunnel. Maybe ah shouldn't go with them through the tunnel. They have wounded and won't be fast enough tah stay away from the enemy and if the zebra catches us … and if that were to happen everypony would die. And the tunnel leads directly to the Cambree Line which could be a big weak point if it is left as is...
We ran until we got to a concrete outcrop. I stopped and looked back at the soldiers who had followed me. "Everypony listen up!" They all looked at me intently. "Y'all are to run down this here tunnel and regroup at the Cambree Line! As you go past make sure to drop off all of your explosives. Now go!"
The soldiers nodded and ran past me, dropping off grenades and bombs of all sorts at my hooves. That was until the last solder, a young mare with a limp body draped over her back asked "What are you going to do, Sargent? And why do you need all these explosives?
I looked at the young mare and simply said "Go, Ah can't come with."
She looked shocked "You can't be serious, you'll die!"
"Go, now!" I yelled at her. She looked like she was going to say something but held her tongue and hung her head. All she said was something along the lines of "It's not my fault when she dies," and ran down into the tunnel, leaving a grenade at the top of the stairs.
I sighed and leaned down, picking up a grenade and putting it into the empty slot in my grenade belt. Ah'm going to do this. Ah'm going to do this! For them! I'm just one pony, and I could be saving hundreds!
I looked down the trench, ready for whatever was going to come my way. If Ah am gonna die, then I better take some of you fuckers with me! Almost like they heard me and took it as a challenge a griffin turned the bend in the trench and looked right at me. I fired my shotgun and the griffin's chest was pulverized. "That's for Apple Jack!" I yelled at the dead body in front of me.
Another griffin followed the first one and ended up like the first one, dead. "That's for Granny Smith!" Then two zebras turned the corner and tried to shoot me as I tried to shoot them. Both of them missed and both of mine hit their marks. "That's for Sweetie Bell n' Scootaloo!"
Two zebras came around the bend as a griffin flew down from the sky. Six gunshots rang out, five hit their mark. Three bodies hit the floor. "For the Princesses!" I brought my trigger hoof up to my chest and looked at it. It had turned red like I have dipped my hoof into red paint.
I took a deep and shaky breath. I readied myself and pointed the shotgun back down the trench. Then another zebra turned the corner but this time it was different, he was a flametrooper. My eyes widened as I looked down the large black hose of fiery death. I quickly leaned down and pulled the pin from two of my grenades before the zebra could do anything. I locked eyes with the zebra and smiled triumphantly "For Equestria!" Then the grenades went off, blowing my body into oblivion. It started a chain reaction with the other explosives making one massive explosion.
Apple Bloom's last thoughts were of her family and of her two best friends. If only they could have had one last adventure together…
Apple Bloom, 993 - 1012