Aces' Diary

Chapter 9: End of the Legend

Gerhard was the first to run to the plane. He wasted no time in questioning anything. As he reached the aircraft, he noted that there were numerous bullet holes along the fuselage and wings.The first thing he did was to look for the pilot.

And, of course, he wasn’t there.

Tom approached slowly, gazing at the plane with admiration in his eyes. For him, the Red Baron was a legendary plane. He felt honoured to see it and had studied the way Manfred Von Richofen flew. Swift and beautiful, yet deadly.

“Where ist he, your Highness?” asked Gerhard. He looked into the cockpit. there was a stain of dried blood on the seat. What happened? he wondered.

“Follow us,” commanded Luna. She then used her magic, the ground shook violently as if she had triggered an earthquake with her magic.

After that, the ground nearby sank down silently, forming a stairway. Luna took the lead and headed down, followed by Gerhard and Tom.

Along their way downward, there were lit torches on both sides of the wall. How did she light all these torches? Tom wondered, but the question simply answered itself: magic.

Mind telling me about yourself, Tom? Thor’s whisper rang his head. It made him flinch, but he maintained his grace and continued walking.

How can yer do that, Thor? Tom asked in his head.

Do what?

Speakin’ in me head like this!

Oh. It’s just telepathic communication. Worry not, my friend, Thor said assuringly, You’ll only get a headache afterward. Then, your head will explode. Blood and gore everywhere, yeah! Tom face turned pale. Just kidding!

Fine, jus’ try not tah distract lil’ ol’ me, all right?

Will do! Thor replied enthusiastically.

Born in 1911. Mother’s dead from disease. Dad, been shot in ye filthy trench by a Hun. I held no anger, b’cus ey jus’ do their duty as we do.

So, it’s been eight hundred years already… Thor said sadly, I kinda miss Richard, he was a nice fellow.

Sorry fer that, Thor. But nothin’ can elude the time

Of course, it’s purely logical.

“Tommy, was are du thinking?” asked Gerhard, who noticed that the British ace was spacing out.

“O’ it’s nothin’, was wonderin’ how long will ye bloody stair be,” he lied, hastening his pace. The stairs seemed endless. “So, yer highness. How long’s ye stairs? We ‘av been walkin’ fer ten minutes!”

“Hush, it’s not any longer now, Mister Tom,” replied Luna, “We should have teleported thou in the first place...”

“Why didn’t yer do it?” Tom asked gingerly.

Princess Luna frowned. “We… forgot…” That answer hit Gerhard, making him grin uncontrollably.

“Enschuldigung, your Highness.” Gerhard covered his mouth, preventing any laughter from escaping.

The stairs finally ended in a hallway which led to a plain white room. In the center of the room was a glass coffin, holding the body of Manfred Von Richtofen, still dressed in his uniform.

In front of the transparent casket was a podium with a book on it.

Gerhard made a beeline for it, but was held back by Princess Luna’s magical grasp. She quickly cast a spell on him before letting him go. She nodded quietly, permitting him to move forward. She smiled lightheartedly, before she casting the same spell with Tom.

As Gerhard entered the room from the hallway, he felt a strange sensation around him. It was the lack of moisture in the air and coldness. This room was probably enchanted to preserve its content. He walked up the coffin, looking at the Red Baron’s lifeless body.

It was sorrowful to see a man with such a great ability in a coffin. He would have love to meet this man when he was more…alive.

Opening the book, he flipped it to the last page. Surprisingly, most of it was covered in blood.

“Tis a book written in an unknown language. The researchers tried their best to decrypt it, but no avail,” Luna explained. “Thine flying contraption is quite similar to the one upstairs, so we thought that either one of thou can read it.”

“Jerry can, yer Highness.” Tom said, pointing at Gerhard, who was engaged in reading.

“Would thou mindest to inform us, Herr Barkhorn?”

Gerhard perked up from the book. “Jawohl,” he replied flatly. “His name ist Manfred Von Richtofen; ein German name. Er ist quite eine legend back home. Best of the pilots. Ace of aces.” He paused, “But that was twenty years ago…”

“Git on with it already, Jerry. Tell ‘er what yer know from ye book!” Tom urged impatiently.

“Fine,” said Gerhard, picking the book up. “Dies ist his journal. Most of es was his log each day, except the last page.” He turned to the said page. “It was his last word…”

“Read it for us, Herr Barkhorn. Twas all we ask.”

Gerhard sighed, “Jawohl,” he said then cleared his throat. “April 21st 1918, Zu anyone who finds dies journal, please, give this zu Käte Otersdorf. She ist eine German nurse. I do not know how long kann I keep writing this. Käte, I should have listen zu you. Mein Kopf ist not healed completely, es ist bleeding. I also got shot, again…” Tom pursed his lips nervously. “I don’t think I will survive dies time. Find someone to settle with, someone who ist better than dieser arrogant pilot. By die time they take mir to das Krankenhaus, I would probably be dead. I love you, Kä—” He suddenly stopped.

“Why would y’ stop? Continue!” demanded Tom.

“Das writing endete there, Tommy. Er muss met his demise there.”

“Oh,” he murmured. “Sorry, Jerry.”

“Es ist in Ordnung,” said Gerhard, closing the journal and putting it back where it belonged. “Wir must leave now. Shouldn’t disturb him any longer…” With that, he exited the room and went back upstairs hastily.

Princess Luna simply followed Gerhard, leaving Tom alone in the chamber.

The said man walked up to the glass coffin and saluted the corpse. “Thanks fer inspirin’ me back then, Baron. Good bye,” Tom said and hurried off the tomb after the two.

It took a while before he could catch up with the others. From now on, I officially hate stairs! He thought offensively as he skipped two steps of stairs, almost stumbling onto his own leg. He cursed under his breath. Even an athletic man like himself could be conquered by endless stairs. Seeking for solution, he asked Thor with the telepathic link they had made:

These bloody stairs ar’ endless! Hav’ any idea how ta git to the top?

Have you forgot already? I *gave** you the power to teleport. However, your first teleport is inside the maximum range. Cut more heads to increase the maximum distance,* Thor said flatly, sending information of the heads required into Tom’s mind.

I’ll attend h’at later. Now, I need ta blink to the top, said Tom, raising his left hand and clenching his fist. Usual glow lit the mark alight, then he whispered: “Fero.” Immediately, he evaporated into the air, leaving a small cloud of black fog behind.

In a blink of an eye, Tom appeared again several metres away from his original position. Blink huh? Interesting name. Richard named it ‘apparate’, but I am yours now, so new name it is! Thor said cheerfully in his head. Tom chuckled at that statement and blinked again.

“Tommy, slow down!” Gerhard shouted from far behind. “Oh! Never—” there was a flash and a loud noise, “—mind!” Strangely, Tom heard his voice in front of him.

He blinked once again. This time, right on top of the stairway. “Blinkin’ like this is getting tiresome…” He trailed off there, staring blankly at Gerhard and Luna.

Gerhard looked at Tom worriedly. What’s wrong with him? he thought, waving his hand before Tom’s face. The British ace still froze there, drooling. His eyes fluttering endlessly, and then fell on the floor, out cold.

“He shouldn’t have blinked that continuously…” Thor said annoyingly. He would facepalm hard, if he had hands… “Help the poor devil, will you?”

Gerhard compiled by lifting Tom up. Luckily, the unconscious ace wasn’t too heavy, so he managed to put him on his shoulder. “So, was now, Princess?” he asked with a grunt.

“Thou shalt rest, Herr Barkhorn. This Night is rough enough,” said Luna. “Early at dawn, we shall send a party of researchers to study upon your flying craft. They shall be under thy supervision, and thou shall share the information with them. Understood?”

“Verstanden.” He dropped Tom there and saluted her. “Und was should I do about him?” He asked and pointed at the unconscious ace.

“Doth thou have any idea where he dwells?” she asked back. Gerhard declined with a shake of his head. “Doth thou have any place to sleep tonight?” He nodded. “Then thou shalt take him. Cometh thou upon thine own way of taking care for him whilst you walk.”

“Jawohl, now wir need zu exit this place…” He made a grumpy face and sighed, walking out of the hanger.

“Halt! This time we shall teleport us out!” shouted Princess Luna, lighting up her horn.

After a flash, the world spun around him. He tightened his grasp on Tom, not wanting him to fly anywhere. A second later, he could feel his feet again. He stumbled, almost falling on the ground. Probably need to get use to that… he thought irritably.

Gerhard took note of their surrounding once the headache from teleportation had gone. He and Luna were at the gate outside once again. The two bat guards still stood there with a flat expression. The moon was on the opposite side of the sky, making way for the sun.

“Sires, take us to Ponyville,” Luna ordered, walking to the carriage.

The two guards hastily towed themselves with the transport. Luna stepped on gracefully while Gerhard slowly hauled Tom with him to the carriage and dumped the knocked out Tom inside. Even if he was somewhat light, Gerhard couldn’t carry him all the time.

Helping himself to get on the carriage, Gerhard dropped his Walther P38. He immediately realized that it needed to be reloaded. The sidearm was picked up and reloaded. His ammunition were running low; only a single magazine left. Could the ponies make more ammunition with magic? *he pondered curiously.*

“Princess?” said Gerhard, gaining Luna’s attention, “Since Sie kann do Magie. Können Sie duplicate something like dieses?” He dropped his magazine and pulled a bullet out.

Luna pulled it out of his hand, inspecting the object closely. As the carriage took off into the air, the bullet slipped from her magical grasp. It flew overboard, tumbling down to the earth as the carriage ascended.

He frowned deeply at Luna, who was smiling and patting her own head sheepishly. She apologized and promised that she will make a new one; if she could...

Giving her another sample of the bullet, this time holding it himself, Luna began the examination. “What sorcery is this?” Luna muttered guardedly as she switched position to look at it from another angle.

“Ein Kugel,” answered Gerhard. “Es is ein shell filled mit gunpowder, which kann exploded on Kontakt mit feuer, capped mit ein shaped metal head, usually made of lead,” he explained boastfully. “Die Explosion will propel die lead through die barrel, making es travel straight vorwärts. Die speed des Projektils ist about five-hundred metre per Sekunde. Anything in its path will be pierced.” Luna’s eyes widened in excitement. The most powerful projectile weaponry she knew so far was just a crossbow, so Gerhard’s sidearm astounded her greatly. “Well, except thick Platte aus Metall und wall,” Gerhard added dryly.

Luna was about to ask another question, but Ponyville came into view on the horizon, and the carriage began to descend, attempting to land in the meadow next to town. Gerhard  holstered his pistol and crouched down, picking Tom up. He grunted softly as the British ace was swung onto his shoulder once again.

The carriage touched the grassy ground with a soft ‘thud’. The towing guards started to slow down, and stopped dead in middle of the field. He exited the carriage roughly with Tom.

“Thou couldst inform us more about thy armament soon via Twilight Sparkle,” said Luna, “Farewell, Herr Barkhorn.” With that, the carriage took off, disappeared on the horizon.

“Now, zu get back to Octavia’s Haus,” Gerhard muttered as he started heading toward Octavia’s place.

*****

*Meanwhile in Tom’s mind*

“Arrg…” Tom grunted. He was lying on the ground with his face in the dirt. Realizing this, he quickly got up to kneeling.

The sky above was as white as a blank canvas awaiting someone to paint it. Around him, there were several gigantic boulders floating in the air. On each boulder, clusters of grass grew freely. They easily reached a half metre long. Other than that, there was nothing.

“Where am I?” Tom wondered out loud.

“You’re in your head, Tom,” answered a mysterious, yet familiar voice. He quickly sprung up and turned to the source of the voice.

There was an alluring woman standing in his sight. She had long, curly red hair cascading down her neck. Her ice blue eyes gazed at him, like two sparkling sapphires. She had pink glossy lips, as if she had put on the finest lipstick. She wore scale armor over a fur hide. The uncovered parts were pale like snow in the cold winter days. Armed with a sword and a dagger in their sheaths on her waist, and a long wooden bow on her back.

“Who are ye, lass?” Tom asked cautiously, inspecting her weapons carefully.

“As I have said: you’re in your head, Tom,” the woman replied again in a calm manner.

“In me head?!” exclaimed Tom, “How is that even possible?”

“Calm down, Tom.” The woman approached him and pat his shoulder. “You just blinked way too many times, so your energy ran out,” she said smiling assuringly at Tom, who had a lot of questions in his head.

“Who are ye, anyway, lass? Ar’ ye me subconscious?”

“No, I’m Thor! Remember?” Thor said as she amused herself by pinching his cheeks softly.

“Thor?” Tom was dumbfounded. Thor’s voice was manly, sounded nothing like a woman at all when he was awake. “Aren’t ye a lad?”

“Nay, Tom. My original master was a woman in England, so she dubbed me after her own last name: Thorpe,” Thor clarified, backing away to the comfortable distance. “Anyway, you’re a long way from waking up. We’ve just exited the flying carriage a minute ago. That Bavarian you called ‘Jerry’ is carrying us somewhere.” She paused, lost in thought for a second.

“He’s reached a house. White pony with shaggy blue mane opens the door,” she said with a blank expression.

“That mus’ be Vinyl,” Tom said in relief, “Can ye please tell Jerry ta take me to Lyra’s?” he requested politely, “Ask Vinyl fer direction.”

“Will do,” Thor replied with a small beam on her face before spacing out again. “He’s now walking with Vinyl to Lyra’s house,” she came back and reported.

“Thanks.”

“Your welcome.”

Then, a silence between them occurred. The boulders around them floated slowly throughout the area, making themselves look like cloud.

“So… Wat do ye call this place?” Tom broke the peace.

“Richard used to call it ‘The void’. Quite a nice name, huh?”

“Aye, really nice.” Tom looked at her, noticing that she was spacing out again.

“You’re currently on a fluffy lounge chair. Sleeping like a baby,” she reported again, adding a hint of loving in the latter sentence.

“Glad ta know that. Now, wat should I do?”

“Wait,” she replied flatly while conjuring two chairs out of thin air. Sitting down on her chair, she conjured a cushion on another chair. “Have a seat, Tom.” She gestured to the comfy looking chair. “All we can do now is wait until you wake up.” Tom made a bored expression as soon as he heard it, slumping on his hand which was placed against his legs.

“What should we do ta kill ye time?”

“I recall that you postpone checking the power available a while ago.” Thor pondered out loud, “Would you like to have a look?” she asked while leaning closer to Tom.

“Aye, that would be great!” Tom replied with a shout, “On ye double, lassie!”

“Hold your horses, Tom. We’ll be right here for a long time.” She paused, “Now, the first power you can gain: ‘Divine Perception’. See through the obstacles, right to your foes and useful objects. I want ten heads for it. Not too tough for an exceptional swordsman like you, right?” Tom nodded smugly at his title.

“The second one is ‘Devil’s Speed’. Your overall speed and agility will increase immensely. Thirty heads.” Tom smiled gleefully. He was a fast runner. God, he even won a race against horse! Technically, though it was just Vinyl, who was easily exhausted.

“The third: Telekinesis. Propel animate and inanimate object with invisible force. Five heads. Cheap, useful and powerful when used correctly.”

“The last, but not least: ‘Bend Time’. Slow down the time itself for a short duration, could be upgraded later to stop time completely. Fifty heads…” She gasped for breath, “Those are all the powers which are available at the moment. More will come when the time is right.” She stood up and walked over him. “One last thing: I can change myself into any weapon you desire. From shiv to longbow. Name it, and I shall transform.” She looked down at him and beamed, “Consider this a gift for my new handsome master.” Thor smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Tom’s face reddened, steam came rolling out of his ears in embarrassment.

Thor moved her head to the point where only an inch of air stood between their faces, “We have a long night ahead of us, my dear Tom…” she said with a sly grin, making Tom gulp nervously.

The best options Tom could think of were: stop her, or just play along. He couldn’t decide; it all happened so fast.

“Lad, go fer it! How often does thing like this happen? Hardly evar! Tally ho and give ‘er yer whole nine yards!” A voice said out loud. Thor stopped, dumbfounded by the voice.

“Nay, lad. It’s wrong!” shouted another voice. “Ye jus’ met ‘er like… five minutes ago! An’ she’s a bloody sword fer god sake!” Now, Thor was making a weird face as the two voices argued.

“Stop!” Thor exclaimed furiously, silencing the two voices completely. “Thank you!” She said in sarcastic manner before launching herself at Tom, tackling him. On the hard stone ground, Tom was freaking out uncontrollably as Thor grasped his arms. “Hold still!” She commanded, and locked him in a passionate kiss. “Know this: I mean no harm. You must understand that I had been locked alone in that box for eight hundred years! Eight hundred bloody years!”

Her statement caused Tom to think. Eight hundred years of isolation was a great pain for anyone, especially a woman like her. By human’s nature, we are social creatures. If one was isolated for a couple of days, he or she would go bananas in the end.

After thinking carefully, Tom pulled her down into another kiss. After a few seconds, they broke from each other. “I completely, understand lass. Now, remove yer armor. Its weight’s killin’ me.” She complied without any further question.

“Now, bend over...”