(note, in all these chapters, I will give little explanation of what the characters look like. for reasons that I do it natural, absent mindedly. So no fussing please.)

Scootiloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle, as per usual, were speeding through Ponyville, propelled by Scootiloo and her amazing combination of her flight incapable wings and her scooter pro-bilities. She rounded a corner, swung out wide, and parallel parked the combination of wagon and scooter to where the front end barely peeked out into the street, facing left towards it, so that they may leave quickly after school.

All three were rushing in when Miss Cheerilee stopped them just before they entered the main door.

"Hold on girls! Don't go in there. It's under quarantine. A kid had a very contagious virus. He's very sick and in a hospital now, but school will still go on. Come join us at the playground!"

"Cool!", they all chorused.

The three followed the teacher mare into teh playground just behind the school and sat in the already formed hemicircle. She opened the small case which sat next to her and took out a book, beginning to read to the students, and tending to class as usual.

"The small pony asked the soldier, "What's it like to be a soldier?" The soldier only stared down at the pony, giving her a smile. "It's not a good place for a little one to be. Maybe if you ask me once you're old enough.", The soldier answered her...", Miss Cheerilee read.

"Wow, it sounds cool. He sounds like some kind of secret agent or something!", Scootiloo whispered to teh toehr two of the Crusaders.

"You're right! Maybe if we find a war hero and make a bibliography on him, we could get our cutie marks in writing, publishing, and art work!", Sweetie Belle spoke aloud.

Luckily miss Cheerilee didn't hear and they continued.

"Well, wha bout it girls?", Applebloom whispered.

"Yeah!", both Sweetie and Scootiloo whispered in unison.

They all nodded in agreement and began paying mroe attention to the story miss Cheerilee was reading them.

Once class was over, the three head towards the scooter-wagon and soon were zooming through Ponyville, then through Sweet Apple Acres towards Applebloom's home. Once there, they met Big Macintosh, who stopped them before they had a chance to run off.

"Wh-h-h-h-oa~! Whats the rush this tahm little ones?"

The three looked at one another and Applebloom spoke up, "We're goinn to are clubhouse to plan out are new adventure. This time, we want to fahnd a retired war hero so we can question him about his tahm in the services! Or atleast thats what miss Cheerilee called the army."

"Now, even ah know better than to go snoopin round the army operations, even talkin to a veteran is not a good ahdea."

"What? Well, if we can't, then what do we do?"

"I guess ya'll just have ta sit this one out."

"Well thanks anyway, you sure do know more about the army than I thought! See ya Big Mac!"

"Eeyup. Thats raht, ah can tell you a few things, but not as much needed to wraht a book!"

"Well, thanks anyway Big Mac. See ya!"

Big Mac turned away and disappeared into the house where he trotted through, out of sight.

"Well girls, looks lahk we gotta cancel."

All three awed in sadness, then smiles reappeared on each's face.

"We can still hang out!", Scootiloo spoke up.

"Actually, I have to help Rarity with her dresses, sorry girls, but I have to go.", Sweetie Belle returned.

"And, I kinda promised Applejack ah'd help her with the zapapples! We're on the third sahn, almost tahm fer harvest!"

"Oh...", Scootiloo frowned.

"I'm sorry Scootiloo, but we do have our own chores."

"Yeah...Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow Applebloom."

Scootiloo mounted her scooter and was off, Appleblooms farewell just behind her. Applebloom felt kind of sad about it and went to her chores. The zap apples were kind of late. They didn't show the third sign all day long. Granny smith even waited outside herself to await the sign.

Applebloom looked into teh sky, the little adventure they had hoped to have earlier still fresh. She made her way into the house and got ready for bed. She was tired from the day of work, and fell asleep almost instantly. Her dream consisted of barracks of a war, filled with soldiers sleeping as gunfire around them sounded off every few seconds through muffled walls.

As she dreamt, the feel of the dream became stronger, the wind rushing through the barracks she was in felt cold as the commander walked in. He stood on his hind legs, not on all fours, keeping his right hand on a rifle applebloom had never even seen before, and the other hanging and swinging as he took each step.

Then the next sign for the zap apples came. The clouds gathered very quickly, a few bolts of lightning struck, one even arched towards Applebloom. The strike rang her ears in her sleep, taking affect in the dream. She had been struck by lightning. Now only if she could live. What happened as a lightning strike was actually a concussion grenade in ehr dream, which was lolled into the barracks by an enemy trooper.

Applebloom woke up, but not in her bed. The area around her was metal walled. The bed she was in was less comfortable than her original mattress. She looked at herself and saw her body was badly harmed in some places. She was covered in a bunch of bloody bandages. And every bit of them she felt.

"Applebloom!"

It was scootiloo! She was lying next to Applebloom int he bed to her right.

"Scootiloo! Oh my gosh! Are we dreaming the same dream?"

"No...", Scootiloo grunted.

"Applebloom? Scootiloo?"

It was Sweetie Belle. She was here too.

"Guys? Am I dreaming or is my arm literally riddle with pain?"

Applebloom stared at the two, then at her surroundings. She climbed out of bed shakily and leaned over Scootiloo's bed.

"If this is a dream, then tell me, does this hurt?"

Applebloom half-hit half-tapped Scootiloo's bandaged arm, achieving a small outburst from her.

"It...It hurts!"

"Sweetie Belle. Scootiloo. Can either of you walk? As in no pain?"

"My legs feel fine.", Sweetie Belle answered.

"Could you stand up? Not on all fours, but your hind legs."

Sweetie belle did so herself, standing up quite fine with perfect balance. Applebloom tried this herself, but with a bandaged leg, she could barely do so. She did it, but barely. Scootiloo was already standing near her bed, leaning over it, felling the world around her.

"Guys. I don't think we are dreaming at all. Did any of you feel a shock?", Scootiloo asked.

"yes, Scootiloo. Applebloom, say, I have a nice brother.", Sweetie Belle answered.

"I have a nice brother. What about it?"

"Your accent's gone."

"You're right!", Applebloom gasped.

"So you felt the shock too. Applebloom, did you feel a shock?", Scootiloo asked again.

"Yes. Thats what the blast was wasn't it?", she answered.

"Then what's happening? Is this an army barracks? Is this in the middle of a war zone? What year is it?"

"A case of amnesia?", asked a nearby soldier.

"I don't know. I literally don't know.", Scootiloo answered.

"Ok then. Here is what it is. You three are recruits. You joined of your own free will.", the soldier lied, "You are currently in the medical barracks. You all took a pretty bad crash on the way here. They took that heli down easily. You need to get your dog tag though, you seem to have lost them. So think of some new names. Applebloom is not only a dead giveaway, but also not a very fierce one either."

Applebloom looked at the soldier. He looked familiar.

"Mr. Cake?", she asked.

He looked at Applebloom with a very confused look.

"Yeah, but how did you know my name? I mean, not even my commander knows my name other than my code name Junkie, on account of the amount of sweets I consumed a day when in training camp."

"But, this makes no sense. We're fillies, you're Mr.-"

"Fillies?"

They each looked at one another. They were definitely fillies.

"Hah! Thats a good one. But your papers clearly showed that you were all atleast full grown mares. You've never been married. Never had children. Had nothing to go back to."

They looked at each other again and no longer saw each other as fillies, but as the full grown mares they were.

Applebloom sat down, cradling her head. Then something in her mind clicked.

"It was the zap apples! The lightning strikes must have brought us permanently into our dreams! Or worse!"

But they were wrong. Every pony that existed in the world before was now either a well fighting soldier, or has died due to obvious causes.

"But this makes no sense! I...we should have died if we were struck by the lightning from those clouds!"

"Lightning? Must have had a horrible dream. We haven't had lightning in years strike near here due to the magical lightning rod Celestia put over every barracks."

"Then, do we accept this? Our new lives?"

"You seem to be sure that you never lived here before. But I'm just a horse, I can't prove it. I advise just taking it. It's a war. And we can use every bit of help to fight off the enemy."

End of chapter 1.