”Cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I am.”
—René Descartes

It was a cold afternoon on the Crystal Mountains, as usual. Although the snow was as thick as a stone wall, there were no clouds to be seen for a snowflake to drop. Yes, the weather was cold but it was a soft one, not the kind of cold that would pierce through your skin like hundreds of needles to suck out the blood. Environment of Equestria was truly magical for an outsider like him.

He, on the other hand, dropped his backpack to the ground with all the stuff in it, without thinking twice to be sure nothing would break. He then took out his flashlight and pointed at the darkness ahead, the cave was going much deeper than he expected, didn’t matter. He could just settle here for the night, no need to have a misadventure into the unknown at all.

With a snap of locks, he opened the bag and took a box shaped object with metallic rods placed on it. He placed the box and pushed its button, just for the rods to start shining and radiate heat. He then took off his gloves to have a moment for his cold hands in front of the box. It wasn’t actually much, but for him it was like a warm bath after a busy friday. He then reached back to his bag to get the metal can.

Inside the can there wasn’t much, just a few dolmas. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful meal even under these hard conditions. A good amount of rice, put inside a vine leaf, rolled up and cooked with olive oil. The ingredients could be diversified of course but it was the same meal in the end. He slowly ate them one by one, savored each one of them with great passion. This was his last stock, so he had no other chance than arriving at the Crystal Empire tomorrow.

After finishing eating, he quickly got his sleeping bag from his backpack. The sun was setting, the more he rested the better. Before getting in the bag, he got to the entrance of the cave and took a look outside. It was damn high, one wrong move would cause you to fall to death. The thought gave a shiver down to his spine as he walked back to his settlement.

Before getting in the bag, he removed his chausses, vambraces and his chestplate. There was a white writing on his dark blue chestplate: EΔ-4

The immediate noise of sirens brought him back to reality, as the world shaked around him. However, he was sitting still thanks to the safety belt that held him as someone in the background was shouting. It took a second for him to come to his senses, he was in the dropship with his squad.

“Delta Squad! Prepare for the ejection!”

He took a look at the people, all of them were holding their weapons tightly. They were heading to the Manehatten frontline, the Empire was fighting against Equestria for eight years now. And by Equestria, well… Things haven’t been the same since the Empire came. Equestria was divided to many sides, all different from each other.

“E-Delta Four!”

After the conflict between the royal sisters started, first separation came along with it; Nightmare Moon, then Princess Luna, formed up her own army to take down her sister which backfired worse than anyone could imagine. Celestia, with all the pressure she had from the war, the loss and emotional isolation couldn’t take this well and she ended up becoming someone, or rather something else. With the rise of Empress Daybreaker, Solar Empire took the succession of Equestria under the rule of one.

“E-DELTA FOUR!” Commander’s voice banged in his ears, “DROP NOW! DROP!” With that, EΔ-4 ejected himself to the warzone in an instant. While parachuting to the ground, he witnessed another parachuting soldier getting caught by some thestrals in the air and thorn apart instantly, splattering blood and organs all over the air. He barely held himself from puking and increased his speed to avoid the same fate.

He spotted his squad and rushed over without hesitation. “Damn Four! We thought you died for a minute!” Delta Nine spoke.

“Oh you’d wish!” Four replied with a chuckle as he took out his sniper rifle.

He pulled the pin of the grenade, “Hell I would!” The explosive then met with a group of thestrals. “I lost 20 Kroms to Seven!”

“You son of a bitch!” Four burst out a laugh. His eye caught a thestral above the building, it was injured but still very much alive to fight, he placed the target on its head, just when it was about to take off, he pulled the trigger. The bullet reamed through its skull like a spear, causing it to fall like a baby doll. “That’s one.”

“Agh! Get the— fuck off me!” Four then turned where the voice came, another barn freak was on top of Delta Eight. He pointed his rifle at its chest, and fired without regret. Now-dead body dropped on Eight as it spasmed with blood coming from its mouth. “Ah shit! It got in my mouth!” He screamed with disgust.

“You’re welcome.” Four rolled his eyes as he repositioned. “And that is two.”

After like, four hours or so, Lunar forces started to retread and abandoned the front completely. The Empire lost a lot of men but it didn’t matter, there were always troopers to replace them. Or at least that’s what was taught to them, they were disposable…

The Eternal Army was the strongest on the planet, all previous victories proved it right. Simultaneous wars happened, loss of troopers was uncountable for the Eternal Empire but still, it wasn’t weakened one bit. Storm Kingdom, Abyssinia, Aquestria, Sirenia, Deer Princedom, Yakyakistan, Drake Order, Griffonia… All of them fell under the rule of the Eternal Empire. The last place to conquer now was Equestria, then the glory of the Empire would be accepted globally.

Of course, rebellions under the occupation were inevitable. The Emperor however, had a strict and unforgiving attitude towards these actions. When the Dragons revolted against the imperial order, the Empire's reaction was, with two words: nightmare fuel. When the revolt was suppressed, Dragon Lord Torch was taken as an experimental subject. The newly developed imperial weapons were tested on him, he was cut alive and tissue samples were taken from his body… Once, they cut open his skull and took samples from his brains while he was very much awake and alive. The most horrible part was, all of his people were forced to watch it, including his daughter Ember.

Another one was the Storm King. That megalomaniac did everything to stand against the Empire but fell too eventually. He was then taken to the experimental chambers as well but nobody ever saw or heard from him ever again.

The Emperor was a strong and wise man. There have always been rumors that he’s alive for centuries. Because according to the troopers who fought before another, would always say, the Emperor always looked the same. Other than the army, there was another important class called the Poles. Poles were the class that ruled the certain parts of the Empire in the name of the Emperor, they were governors of some kind.

Troopers were not given the right to get married, have a love life or to socialize with anyone else than the other troopers. All the troopers knew was, they would fight, die for the Empire, and if they survive until they reach their time limit, they would then retire with a salary to live in peace. That’s how things worked.

Section E was now preparing to leave the place, after another victory that proved the superiority of the Empire, Section C would come over and analyze the place and secure the area.

“Well look what I found here!” A voice rose from ahead. It was a Beta trooper and he was dragging something, something that was alive, it was a, somone.

A mare with the cream coloured coat, mint blue Mane and her accessories that the trooper was dragging. “Let go! I am not even a soldier! I—I mean no threat to anyone!”

The trooper didn’t seem to care, “Oh aren’t you a bit loud? Yoink!” He poked her muzzle.

“Let me go you— you— big meanie!”

Was this supposed to be an insult? It seemed like it but the Beta Trooper didn’t seem to mind, in fact he was amused. “Oh you heard it boys? She called me a meanie! Oh my heart! Oh the pain!” He mocked the pony as the other soldiers laughed. “Aren’t you a big plushie?” He shaked her so hard that she couldn’t even stand still when he dropped her.

Four wanted to intervene, “Come on Beta Six, just bring her over and stop messing around.”

“Delta Four, Delta Four… You are being a party pooper! Beta Six yelled.

“Six we have orders, stop it.”

But he wasn’t listening, he then took out his bowie knife and pressed on her throat, “What do ya say boys? Wanna have dinner early?” Pony’s eyes shot open with horror, would they really do such thing? She has heard about rapes and mass killings before but this was unheard of, and she’d prefered to have it like that. This time however, nobody laughed at all, instead utter disgust took over them along with confusion. Just when Four was about to speak, another voice rose from behind.

“E-Beta Six!” Commander yelled. “What is this nonsense?”

Anxiety took over Beta Six, “Uh sir! I was… I… Just—“

“Don’t you know the protocols soldier? Commander scanned the man from head to toe.

“I—I do sir! I—“ All other soldiers were watching with amusement now. Idiot didn’t see that coming.

Commander then came face to face with Beta Six, “Then do as you’re told, soldier.”

“I— Yes sir!” And without another word, he took the pony to the containment cell.

Delta Squad was now in the base once again. After two hours of travel from Manehattan they could finally have some proper rest. Four, went straight to his room, sat on his bed and rubbed his face. Another mission, another day. With that, he lied on the bed and dived into the darkness once again.

So I started to launch this story, let’s see how will this go.