Cannon shells exploded around me. The air was thick with the scent of blood and roasted flesh. All I could see was smoke from the craters riddling the battlefield and the injured ponies who desperately tried to drag themselves away from the front lines. Individual lives didn't matter; everypony knew that the front lines meant assured death.
I reached out to a young stallion, barely out of his colthood, who was desperately calling for help. His foreleg had been torn off clean by a stray cannonball. I reach out further to grasp his only foreleg remaining. Bang. Another shot landed directly into his face and out the back. Whatever remained of his head was launched twenty feet away. Blood squirted out of his neck, spraying and covering the ground which hungrily drank it up.

Nopony questioned why I, a little filly, was in such a dangerous place. All they cared about surviving the day, then the next, and if they were lucky, the one after that.

"Everypony, into the shelter!" the Commander pegasus ordered.

Everypony retreated into the safety of the crudely dug bomb shelter. We all could hear the sound of cannons outside, booming like thunder. The ground shook randomly, some tremors stronger than others. The injured ponies were lying on cots in the emergency care ward.

There was only one nurse, Nurse Trueheart. She was a middle-aged mare, mane tied in a simple knot to keep it out of her eyes when working. Her blood spattered cap was embroidered with the symbol of the red cross. She was a true medic, saving the lives of everypony and leaving no pony behind. Every pony's death while under her knife would be a death to her morality.

"Stay with me!" she commanded to the injured unicorn.

The unicorn's horn was snapped in half and the left half of his ribs punctured through his skin, revealing white among the red. There was no hope for this soldier, his time has passed. The unicorn took his last breath and ceased breathing.

Nurse Trueheart banged the table in rage. "Damn it. I told you to stay with me!" She took out a fresh white blanket and covered the corpse. She carried the body over to another room, filled with bloodstained bundles of ponies and pony remains. This was life in the front line bunkers. Death followed by death with every day. Nopony really knew why they were fighting anymore. All they knew was that one day they would have to fight no longer; either with their deaths or a victory.

"Doctor!" somepony shouted from one end of the shelter.
"Medic!" another pony shouted.

Every pony ran frantic around the base, constantly. The flickering lights that hung from the low ceilings were the only source of light, other than the sparks from the unicorns' horns.

"You, filly," Nurse Trueheart handed me a scalpel, "you're going to be my assistant."

This is when I first learned about medicine. Everyday more wounded soldiers would come in, and with each one I was able to hone my medical abilities.

I saw so many ponies, all bleeding and on the brink of death. Most of them did die, but for every pony I was able to save, I was reminded of the preciousness of life.

One pony had explosive fragments lodged in his chest. No vitals were seriously damaged. Procedure: extract fragments and stop internal bleeding. Survival rate: 95%.
I knew at once that dragons were involved in the war when a rush of ponies with 2nd class burns was carried in. Every inch of these ponies' bodies were severely burned. Even the bones had imploded due to intense heat. Procedure: amputation and skin graph. Survival rate: 30%.
The war proceeded to become more brutal. One pony with multiple stab wounds, most likely from bomb shrapnel, came in near dead. There was major damage to all vitals. There was nothing I could do but pray that his suffering would end. Survival rate: 0%.

This is how I earned my cutie mark, the mark of the red cross. I didn't even realize that I had my cutie mark until after the war, not that I would have celebrated it if I had known. No joy comes from war.
I was in those bunkers for the next month, and I gained mastery over surgical skills. I would not accept death, "I would fight him at all costs, and with these hooves I shall save everypony."

The noises outside continued to boom throughout the night, nonstop. It was unbearable to listen to the moaning and crying within those bunkers. But I knew that I had to continue on, brave and strong, these ponies were counting on me.

One day the commander shouted in terror, "Code 130, incoming! Get down now!"
Code 130, that was the order to brace yourselves for a massive airstrike.
The ground shook violently and the walls started to crack. Ponies tried to run out before the whole base collapsed. Some ponies didn't even have a chance to escape; they were immediately crushed by boulders of dirt and rocks. The ones who reached the exit were met by dragons which shot white-hot napalm onto anypony who tried to escape. The ponies immediately dropped onto the ground, screaming in pain. The napalm was like tar which stuck and burned every inch of their bodies and slowly killed them from the outside in.

I watched as a pony, missing both hindlegs, use his only good foreleg to drag himself outside. He died immediately when a pile of burning bodies fell on top of him.

Then enemy ponies armed with iron studded hooves rushed into the base. The remaining ponies on our side lay down with hooves up in surrender. The enemies forced us out into the battlefield where our executions were watched by our comrades. They would take one pony at a time into the largest crater and put on a 'show' for us which we were forced to watch.

The enemies were ruthless, torturing then killing the helpless. We all knew it was over. Nopony would come to help us. I witnessed a pony, a unicorn, hung from his horn while two ponies used clubs with rusted nails embedded in it to beat him to death. First, blood splashed everywhere like jelly. Then, the chunks of flesh littered the ground below him. As the flesh ripped away, the fragments of organs began spilling out. The unicorn looked on in horror as he saw his entrails being torn out, his red blood painting the dirt below him. They left him hanging, dangling in the wind as the last of his fluids dripped out.

The enemies were pleased with what they had done and brought up another one of our men. He was a fine blue pegasus, with a brightly colored mane. I recognized him as the second-in-command of our division. His flight skills were unmatched by anypony in Equestria. He would always talk about this family, back in some town in the sky untouched by war. He was a loudmouth, sure, but in a good way. He always bragged about his rainbow maned wife which he carried a picture of in the locket always kept close to his heart. His name was Sky Dash. He was a rebel, like his father, and refused to show any weakness to the enemy. As a result, his punishment was made gruesome, twofold. They tore his wings off with their bare hooves. Crack. Crack. Crack. We could see the bones as the wings ripped clean off. I tried to turn away, but my head was forced back.

Even still, Sky Dash refused to show pain. Angrily, the enemy poured a keg of explosive powder down his throat, suffocating him.

"One more chance. Scream for me and I'll let you die faster," one of them said to Sky Dash.

His friends pleaded to Dash to give up. Nopony could watch their dear friend suffer anymore.

Then they poured napalm over his body. We could see that even still his will to live was unshattered. He did not scream. He dropped to the ground and began to crawl. After a moment his body exploded as the napalm and powder came in contact. He died instantaneously. I remember his last words, which haunt me to this day, "My Little Dashie".

My eyes grew large in fear as I saw the next prisoner, for it was Nurse Trueheart. Those savages pinned her down and laughed at her futile attempts to fight them off.
"Get off, you brutes!" she yelled.
Then I felt myself being lifted by my mane.
"Hey, look what I found here! A little filly!" my carrier brought me to the crater, now knee deep in blood.

The one on top of Nurse Trueheart laughed. "If you keep resisting, you know what's going to happen to this pretty filly." He pointed to me.
She stopped protesting and only watched in fear as the stallion mounted her marehood. I was forced to watch, and was unable to make any sound. Nurse Trueheart, the pony who lived only to serve and save everypony she loved was being forced into submission. Her blood was added to the pool as the stallion continued to violently abuse her.
"AGHHHHH," she screamed, "MAKE IT STOP!"
"Shut up," said the stallion as he pushed her head into the pool. He grunted hard and then unmounted her.
Nurse Trueheart lifted herself out and began coughing blood. Two of the enemies restrained her and held her bloodied face up... at me. All the ponies were staring at me.
The stallion came up to me and smirked, "Your turn."
I tossed and turned, trying to avoid the inevitable. He took a knife to Nurse Trueheart's neck.
"You know what happens if you don't listen."
I had to. I had no choice. I couldn't lose her too. I stopped resisting.
"Good girl."

I had been rambling on to Berry about my story and hadn't noticed her mouth ajar, horrified at my tale.
"Oh," I forgot that other ponies would be extremely sensitive, "sorry, I think I've said too much."
Berry shook her head, "No. It's okay, keep talking."
There was a look in her eyes, not of empathy, but of guilt. But why?
"I mean, I think I've said too much, sorry, I don't want to..." she pulled me back down as I tried to scoot away.
"Redheart, when I said that I would be here to listen, I meant that."
I guess I had no choice.