The Great Equestrian War
Long before the founding of Equestria there were three tribes who lived in constant discord with one another. And it wasn't a surprise because these tribes were so diverse in cultures. The Earth Pony tribe was composed of peasants who grew the food with their mastery over the land. The swift Pagasus Ponies provided a military against non-pony hostiles and controlled the weather. The Unicorn Ponies provided magic which controlled cycles in nature. These ponies refused to share their talents, and as a result, they quickly drifted apart from each other.
The isolation built up tension between these ponies and all of them suffered equally as a result. The Earth Ponies were the first to protest against the Unicorn Ponies' lavish living and attacked them, claiming that they were pampered snobs who refused to share their wealth with the poor. As a result, the Earth Ponies refused to share their crops with anypony else. Outraged at the the Earth Ponies, the Pegasus Ponies refused to protect them from wild beasts. The Earth Ponies tried to defend themselves, but without an army, they could not survive if an Ursa Major happened to wander into their little cities. The Unicorn Ponies seemed to enjoy this as they watched and laughed safely from the tops of their castle walls as the Earth Ponies perished. However, the Unicorn Ponies too began to die out once they ran out of food. Starvation and disease ran rampant within their fortress. Inside, disease would eventually kill them slowly, while outside, the other tribes would hunt the stragglers who were brave enough to try and escape. Meanwhile, the Pegasus Ponies staged a bloody coup against their monarch and the kingdom resulted in anarchy. Chaos reigned in the Pegasus Kingdom and nopony did their jobs to keep the weather under control. After years of conflict, these three tribes where forced to tolerate each other in order to survive the worst winter ever.
The fairytale we tell little foals ends with these tribes finding harmony.
However, it is the untold story afterwords that everypony fears today. The truth is, after the tribes escaped the grasps of the stormy winter, they quickly degraded back to hatred. The leaders met, once again, to write a charter for alliance to ensure that the incident would never occur again. All leaders signed this charter, but secretly the unicorn elites plotted an Equestrian-wide massacre. Their leader, the Unicorn King, who lead and executed this plan.
It was that fateful day when all of Equestria was forever changed. The Unicorn King and his secret army lead the bloodiest purge, wiping out millions of Earth and Pegasus Ponies in a single day. Stallions, mares, foals. All of them were herded and massacred.
The King read his speech in the Royal Canterlot voice, booming and powerful.
"We are the superior race. We shall rid this world of the inferior races! Together, Equestria will be ruled by the pureblooded!"
He raised his hoof into the air and the Unicorns chanted, "Hail the King!"
The leader of the Earth Ponies and Pegasus Ponies would not watch as their tribe was being wiped out. They formed a strong alliance against the Unicorn Ponies, and together they fought side-by-side.
Eventually, the war ended, and the Unicorn King was forced to surrender. His lingering disciples scattered, forming cults and awaited to fulfill the prophecy of their King. The descendants of these disciples created a secret underground society which prepared for war.
The war started when I was just a colt, twenty years ago. At the time, I didn't understand what or why everything was happening the way it was. But, i understand now. This is why we are fighting in this war. The Unicorns must be stopped once and for all. Otherwise, we shall perish.
"No. No!" I was flooded with rage, "This war is terrible. Nopony should die because of some bucking grudge." I could see Nurse Trueheart in my head. "It's not fair." I cried and cried. "It's just not fair."
Why did she have to die like that? Was it because of the Unicorn King? No. It was those unicorns that attacked us. I hate those unicorns. I want to kill every last one of them for what they did to us. I wanted to feel every muscle tear, every vein split, and every breath they took as they choked to dead on their own blood. I wanted to listen to their screams and begs for mercy. But I wouldn't stop, no, I'd continue stabbing, ripping, tearing until they took their last breath.
What was happening to me? Why am I thinking these things? Nothing I do would matter. I couldn't save her. All I did was hide. I'm scared. I'm scared of the world, and even more what I have become.
I felt him embrace me. "I know it's not fair," he whispered. He just stood there, motionless, holding me in his arms. "War never is."
Something about his warmth, or the slow and steady heartbeats, calmed me. The visions of blood began to vanish away. Somehow, I didn't feel so scared, so alone, anymore.
He reached into his saddlepack and delicately brought out a worn square of paper. I looked upon it and saw a beautiful mare unicorn.
"My wife," he said slowly. He paused and took a breath, "they took her away after they found out about our relationship."
He continued to speak, but refused to look up. "Being an Earth Pony, and her, a pureblooded unicorn, it wouldn't have worked out."
I could tell that his face had sunk even deeper, "it didn't stop there. The next morning one of the unicorns came to me with a package. Guess what was inside?"
My heart froze. No. It couldn't be.
"It was her head. They killed her for being seen with me."
Silence.
"I wanted to kill myself. It was my fault that she died. I loved her, and she loved me. I blamed myself for everything. That's my first encounter with the war." He gazed up, looking into the stars. "But then, I saw the bigger picture. War only brings sorrow and more war. I heard the stories of my comrades, worse than my own. I wanted the nightmares to end."
Silence, again.
"This war is almost over, filly."
I looked up.
"We can finally leave these memories in the past."
How could I? The only life I'd known was ripped away from me.
He knew what I was thinking, "you should try, at least."
His speech reminded me of her.
"Find something you love to do, it'll ease the pain. For me, it's art. It seems like you have a talent for being a nurse?" he looked at my cutie mark.
I saw the red cross, just like Nurse Trueheart's, "I guess..."
"Either way, get some rest. We're going home tomorrow."
"Home? I don't have a home."
"Home is a place where you can be happy. I've heard of this place, Ponyville, which is untouched by war. It seems like a nice place to settle down, away from death."
I mulled it over. What other choice did I have?
"Alright. Ponyville it is. Thanks for saving me Mr..." I didn't even know his name.
"Pie. Call me Pie."
Everypony knew I was different. The adults gossiped about this 'new and strange filly'. "Who was she? Where did she come from? Who were her parents?" The colts and other fillies became quiet when I approached them. All they would do is gaze upon my cutie mark, unusual by the fact that I had one as young as I was. Others nervously backed away and disappeared among the crowds that watched me.
Nopony could understand me. Nopony would understand the war. Nopony at all.
The war ended soon after my arrival at Ponyville. Pie dropped me off at the Ponyville Hospital where I could recover from the physical and mental scars. None of the nurses could even begin to comprehend these wounds: they weren't even aware of the war. The mental scars were worse then the physical ones, because unlike cuts and bruises, they could never be healed. Events, like stepping into a puddle, would remind me of the blood soaked trenches that I had to wade through every day. My heart would race, and I would see those evil ponies. I would see them on top of me, forcing me to watch Nurse Trueheart's death again and again. It was too much for me.
I would skip school, which Pie scolded me for. Nopony in school liked me anyways. It's better this way. I thought that running off alone into the wilderness would clear my thoughts. But this way very wrong. With every passing day, the memories became even more haunting. I fell deeper into the pit of depression. Then I couldn't take it anymore.
I was in my room at Ponyville Hospital. I closed the doors and folded the shutters on my window. Nopony could see what I was about to do. In my hoof was a needle filled with a blue liquid. Cyanide. Life was too much for me to handle. It was burdened with the guilt of surviving the war on the sacrifices made by my friends. Whenever I close my eyes, I see them screaming while being tortured. Then I see them mounting me, laughing while soiling my purity. I can't go on any longer, not with this guilt. I held the needle in my trembling hoof. Ten seconds. It takes ten seconds for it to kill. A painless death and then the nightmares will be over.
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK
"Redheart! Are you in there?" somepony was knocking frantically on the door.
I quickly hid the needle under my gown. "Yes..."
I opened the door and a nurse tumbled into the room. "Mr. Pie... he's dying."
Author's Notes: Thanks everypony for taking the time to read this chapter :)! Feedback, like always, is greatly appreciated. If you want to know what happens to Pie, read through Chapter 3 of my other FF, "The Color Pink". As for those who came to read the grimdark gory scenes, those will continue next chapter.