@CMC Scootaloo  
I think you misinterpreted what I said

@neo4812
 
Thank you for that comment. Now I know another rascist person that I can avoid like the plague.

all they need now is for them to wear stars

@Background Pony #64EE
 
The latter. I can’t say I’m surprised; Equestria has a society that trusts children more and that puts more responsibility on children. So it’s not surprising that, in an alternate, war-ridden Equestria, Celestia and Luna wouldn’t shy away from sending foals into war.  
I like that, even though I feel bad for the colt, because it shows Equestria’s grim potential more than anything else ever did or does to the present day. Also adds a new context to “You know, for kids!”.

Either she’s a smol adult pony, or…kids are in a fucking war.

Despite no breakfast yet, I just went and put Cerise Sunrise (the foal) under closer analysis…..
 
Ever since I saw this foal getting sent to war, it was clear to me that it’s a filly because of the way the nose looks and the mane that has that typical cut we see on fillies so often. Only thing that confused me were the lack of eyelashes, but I explained that with an animation error because of the other evidence.  
Now I went and compared Cerise’s look with Button Mash and Rumble to prove my point in a short conversation in the character tag categorization thread and noticed for the first time that Rumble’s nose looks like the nose of a filly and that he has a feminine-looking face with that.  
Then I went and compared Cerise’s manecut with Noi’s and realized that it actually looks completely different! This isn’t the typical cut so many fillies have at all.  
So what we have here is really just a colt with a long mane and a bit of a feminine face….. I wish I would have realized that earlier.

@SaintAbsol  
Or Lyra already wept for Bon Bon.

That foal makes me wonder if these are civilian ponies being transferred away from the front lines.

Going by sizes in comparison to Doctor Whooves…  
Fillies, young mares, and young stallions joined the war effort along side adults.  
How old were the Main Six when they joined? If the time lines are parallel, it’s not a problem. But if the rainboom not happening altered far more than it caused… Damn…  
Is there a child soldier tag?

Ran into a glitch so I’ll have to repeat my comment.  
They got the paint scheme of a wartime steam locomotive right, they were dull-colored (often black), and similar to preexisting locomotives because the War Production Board prohibited building new locomotives from the rails up (meaning that they would not let the Railroads come up with entirely new designs during the war), they’d even take of most (if not all) of a locomotive’s streamlining in order to use the steel for weapons.
 
(Example below:)  

They got the paint scheme of a wartime steam locomotive right, they were dull-colored (often black), and similar to preexisting locomotives because the War Production Board prohibited building new locomotives from the rails up (meaning that they would not let the Railroads come up with entirely new designs during the war), they’d even take of most (if not all) of a locomotive’s streamlining in order to use the steel for weapons.
 
(Example below:)  

You might want to actually do something about the messed up timeline, Doctor.

@SeraphimDawn Seems like these would also be thematically appropriate :v  
Also this if you’re gonna throw’em any heavy equipment or if you expect about half of them to die :3

Hello the horrors of child soldiers.

That guard is clearly dispensing a military uniform there.

Demon’s run when a good man goes to war…

@Background Pony #16FF  
Maybe being sent out to live in the country, like what the better off Londoners did.

…hell, even the train looks melancholy.

@Maya @EyeGuy Wow damn, so many fellow ducklings running around lately.  
We should start up some kind of DB crime family. Only we deal in shitpost instead of bits.

@ExOttoyuhr  
+1 for reference.

@TheAntiCat  
My thoughts as well; they’re clearly carrying civilian belongings. Perhaps a group of fillies and colts will end up in an old house in the country, and will discover an enchanted wardrobe which lets them escape Equestria into a magical land…
 
(Protip: don’t eat the Turkish Delight.)

@EyeGuy  
this. it’s right in the rules
 

@FancyCat2008  
But the rule is that unedited screencaps from episodes are safe by default.

@meiyeezhu  
Canon or not, I’d argue a good percentage of the episode was “semi-grimdark”, possibly full on if you want to count the blasted post-apocalyptic hellscape of the final alternate timeline.