Applejack chewed on a piece of straw as she adjusted her Stetson. “Ya’ll sure this is a good idea?” She asked Fluttershy through her walkie talkie.

Instead of the shy girl, it was Twilight who answered. “Yes, unfortunately, you have to take him out. Sorry.”

The man was a Solar Empire solider who was being watched. Apparently he had been giving top secret military information to the New Lunar Republic, and Celestia wanted him taken out. She sort of knew him, but didn't really care much for him. Too bad he would never know that she was the one who killed him.

Applejack hardly qualified that as an apology, but heaved a sigh before raising her gun. “Jus’ a lil bit more..” She said, steadying the weapon as her target moved into the best range for her to take a shot. When the man she was assigned to kill stepped right in front of her gun, she smirked. “It was real nice knowin’ ya partner.” She said as she pulled the trigger. The bullet zoomed through the air and right through the poor sap’s skull.

“Heh. Poor boy didn’t even have a chance.” She sighed shaking her head. She slung her sniper over her shoulder and tipped her head down as she made her way down the roof top.

“Sheesh, for such an honest girl you sure are trigger happy.” Rainbow Dash buzzed in.

Applejack rolled her eyes as she walked down a darkened alleyway as people began to surround the man’s body. She quipped, “Jus’ cause Ah’m honest don’t mean Ah ain’t got a job to do.”

The device bleeped.

“Good point.” The athlete responded.

Applejack sighed again as she made it back to her truck before driving to headquarters. She threw her gun in the armory, then grabbed a beer from Dash.

“Egghead wants to see you.” Dash grinned. She knew Applejack had done something that had pissed off Twilight and she wanted to see what the tactical technician was going to do to the gunman.

Applejack was beginning to think she was depressed the way she had been sighing this evening. She took a long swig of the drink then wiped the dribble from her mouth before stepping into Twilight’s office. “Whatcha want, Twi?”

“Do you remember why Celestia started this program?” Twilight asked turning around from her computer desk to look the farm girl in the eye.

Applejack nearly groaned. “To better arm the Elements of Harmony and use their skills for military purposes after the fall of the Celestial Kingdom, blah blah blah yadda ya! Look Twilight, Ah know this already it’s-”

The darker girl held up a finger and pushed her purple glasses up her face. “Correct. Now, what else is our purpose?”

Applejack growled. “To protect and serve the Princess while being her personal elite force.”

Twilight nodded. “Correct, again. Now, what you did today was sloppy. Incredibly sloppy. You cannot just take someone out on a crowded street and not expect people to notice.”

“What?! You told me to shoot him! It ain’t like Ah just decided on mah own to do it!” Applejack bursted.

Twilight raised a brow. “Fine. It was my mistake. But please be careful next time. No one knows what the other things that we do are. And the princess would like to keep it that way.”

Applejack didn’t say anything. She was too angry. She just clenched her fists and walked out.

Pinkie, the explosives expert of the group, giggled. “Wow! She really chewed you out!” She lifted up her safety goggles to beam right at the blonde.

Dash laughed. “Oh please! Twilight chews her out on a regular basis!” She stopped and then thought about it before laughing again. “I just thought about that!” she shouted, kicking her feet as she fell onto the floor into a laughing fit.

Applejack almost reached down to punch the marksmen in the face. But she didn’t want to hear more of Twilight so she decided against it and took another swig of her beer.

“Oh Applejack, that really is uncouth. A lady shouldn’t drink her alcohol like that.” Rarity, the former seamstress turned soldier scolded.

Applejack laughed. “Now Rarity, Ah’m sure you’ve known me long enough to know Ah don’t give a complete fuck about what a lady is and ain’t supposed to do.”

“Right. But it wouldn’t hurt to be a little civilized once in a while.” Rarity responded pointedly.

“And on that day, Applejack Apple gave no fucks.” Pinkie giggled, putting her safety goggles back on as she began to tinker with whatever she had been messing with before. The others learned to stop asking after a while, because they were honestly afraid of what concoctions the girl could come up with. She wasn't right in the head, that one. And they all knew it.

“Got that right.” Applejack agreed. “Ain’t nothing civilized about this place no more.”

Fluttershy, who hadn't really been assigned a job in the group yet, spoke up. She was deathly afraid of guns, and opted against carrying any weapon. Twilight thought she might as well be the Medic of the group that way she didn't feel left out or completely useless. “After Nightmare Moon and Celestia went to war the land has been divided.”

“The Lunar Republic.” Twilight corrected as she shoved her lab coat in a drawer. She had been experimenting with a new type of fabric. While working with her own group, Twilight spent some of her spare time developing military technology for the Princess.“And they didn’t go to war, there was a dispute that caused millions of lives to change.”

“So a war.” Applejack deadpanned.

“No, not a war, a sisterly dispute.” Twilight huffed.

“Ah don’t care what you call it, Ah say it’s a war.” Applejack responded.

Twilight decided not to argue with her any further when the main computer screen began to flash. "It’s Celestia.” She called. Everyone made their way to the desk where the computer was to see what orders she had for them.

“Ah wonder what she wants.” Applejack said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Twilight returned the eye roll before unlocking the screen. In seconds Princess Celestia dressed in a white neat and crisp general uniform appeared, with two royal guard soldiers standing at attention behind her.

“What’s the problem, Princess?” Twilight asked.

“The group of rebels known as D.I.S.C.O.R.D. has tried to start a revolt in what’s left of Ponyville by sending some of their recruits. You all must leave immediately and assist the troops stationed there.” Celestia explained.

“Are they armed? Or do we use the Elements?” Twilight asked.

“Twilight, you know how I feel about using the Elements.” the sun princess said sternly.

“Yes.. but perhaps we can reason with them this time? It would be better to negotiate and not kill innocent people.” the young girl pondered.

The commanding general shook her head. “I understand that the magic of friendship is deep within your heart still, but in this new world, friendship is not as powerful as it used to be.” Celestia explained softly, referring to the time after Nightmare Moon appeared again when they had tried to use the elements on her.

Twilight nodded, frowning. Since the war between night and day began 3 years ago, Celestia has been telling Twilight this for the longest.

Unfortunately due to some unknown spell, Nightmare Moon once again took over the body of Princess Luna and caused her to become a vicious dictator. Not wanting to send her sister to the moon again, Celestia rounded up her own army. Her barracks consisted of her loyal royal guards, the mane six, and civilians who were willing to give themselves up in hopes that the day will once again conquer over the night.

Nightmare’s troops were made up of people who worshiped the night, unloyal guards of Celestia, and civilians who wanted to do deeds of malicious intent. The war began after Twilight became a princess, about a year after her coronation. The girls tried to use the elements against Nightmare again, but it didn’t work. She was stronger than them now. To make matters worse she was now impervious to the magic of friendship. And so was her subjects. Nothing seemed to work, so the land was divided into to two territories, The New Lunar Republic, and The Solar Empire. Ever since Equestria split into two, the bordering territories have been constantly at war.

And that is where the Elements of Harmony come in. Now known as Team Harmony, the girls began to use weapons instead of the actual elements to keep the “peace.” Celestia was fully aware what she was requiring the girls to do, but there was no other way.

“You want us to take care of them?” Dash asked. Implying on the ‘take care’ part.

Celestia remained indifferent. “Do....what you six have to do. I will be listening in for a report, Twilight.”

Twilight saluted her superior. “Yes, ma’am.”

Celestia saluted her back before signing off.

Twilight sighed before turning to everyone. “Alright, you heard her. Let’s get moving.”

Applejack shrugged on her white uniform jacket before grabbing her pistols. “Why the hell are our uniforms white?! They’re a dead give away!”

“The New Lunar Republic’s uniforms are navy blue. This is because one group represent the night, and the other represent the day. Also, those are the respective times each military attacks because of the flamboyantness of their uniforms. This keeps things fair and just.” Twilight lectured as she shouldered her own jacket on. The only difference between her’s and AppleJack’s was the custom emblem signifying her rank as a princess.

The others put their uniforms on and grabbed their weapons before following Twilight out into the afternoon sunlight.

Fluttershy began shaking, she still wasn't used to the whole being in the military thing. The safety on her gun was on at all times, mostly because the rest of the girls thought her pulling the trigger herself would scare the crap out of her. Fluttershy was usually the decoy, not the one actually fighting.

Rarity groaned. “Oh this is just unacceptable! I cannot believe we have to go back there! Who knows what’s left of my boutique!”

Applejack kicked at the dirt under her feet. She didn’t want to think about what had happened to Sweet Apple Acres. Republic soldiers had raided them in the night, killing Granny and severely injuring Big Mac. She had tried to fight..but she was just way too outnumbered. They knocked her out, and when she woke several hours later she was alone. She had no idea where her brother or AppleBloom was. She presumed they were dead.

She hated going back to Ponyville because it just reminded her of how weak she had been three years ago. She always thought she was so tough. That she would be able to carry the weight of running the farm after her Ma and Pa died. Shit, she couldn’t even protect her own family from a bunch of punks. How did she expect to protect an entire country from them?

Applejack felt angry tears sting in her eyes. No, she wasn’t going to cry. Not here, not in front of them. Especially not after what they had done for her sorry ass.

She trudged on after Twilight, focusing on what was ahead of her. She didn’t need old emotions from before popping up on her now. She had a job to do.

A flask magically appeared in front of her face. She looked up to see that the flask was in the hand of none other than Rainbow Dash. She grinned. “I thought this might loosen ya up.”

Applejack took the flask from the former athlete and took a swig. The burn of sweet whiskey running down her throat actually did calm her down a little. She chuckled. “You know Twi’s gonna have a cow when she finds out that you’ve brought liquor on this mission.”

Dash snorted. “If anyone needs to loosen up, it’s her. She’s taking this way too seriously.”

Applejack frowned. She should have figured. After all these years Rainbow Dash still didn’t understand the severity of everything that they were doing. “Rainbow, people’s lives are at stake. Real lives. We can’t just treat this like some competition.”

Dash spread her arms and smiled as she felt the hot sun boring on to her skin. “Yeah, yeah, I know. But still, what better way to start a mission then drunk?”

Applejack rolled her eyes before punching Dash in the arm. “Ah could think of a few.”

Author's Notes:

idk what happened. this just popped into my head and i was like "stupid you have no idea about what goes on in the military" and then i stopped but then i kept going and next thing you know this is what was produced. sorry if all the military ranks are all messed up i have no idea what im doing. it would help a lot if people who comment correct me nicely. Thanks for reading, and please make sure to tell me what you think!