Aces' Diary

Chapter 10: The Message

After dropping Tom at Lyra’s house, Gerhard made his way back to Octavia’s. It had been one of the most eventful nights he ever had. Now, he only wanted a long, uninterrupted sleep. But, suddenly, a thought hit him.

He needed to find his wife.

Princess Luna said that she had arranged a temporary dwelling for them, but she never mentioned the whereabouts of it…

Gerhard sighed in frustration. Why didn’t he ask her? He cursed at his own forgetfulness, which made him more frustrated. Ignoring the thought, he quickened his pace. The distance between Lyra’s and Octavia’s wasn’t so far at all. He walked up to the house and knocked.

There was a silence. Even though it was early in the morning, he doubted that Vinyl was still sleeping. Waiting patiently, he knocked again, adding more pressure on each hit. From hitting, it turned into banging.

“Coming, coming!” Vinyl shouted from behind the door. Finally the DJ opened the door with a coffee in her magical grasp. “Oh, it’s you,” she said annoyingly as she picked the newspaper up with her magic. “Where have you been last night anyway? You and Tommy ran after that huge bird, and were gone for the whole night.”

“Es ist eine long story,” explained Gerhard, “Kann I come inside? Es ist Kalt out here,” he said in a shivering tone.

“Sure, make yourself at home.” She backed away for him to enter, and closed the door after he had moved inside.

The decoration inside wasn’t so fancy. It consisted of simple furnitures and wares, ll of which were placed nicely throughout the room. The one and only peculiar object in the room was a double record player, sided with a pair of gigantic speakers. On first thought, Gerhard mistook it for a podium, like the one from Hitler’s speech.

“Was ist das?” Gerhard pointed at the ‘podium’.

“Oh it’s my nothing special. Just some of my DJ equipment. Awesome huh?”

“Ja, ja. I have no idea what that ist, but danke für die explanation anyway,” he thanked and sat down on the couch. “Verdammt, last Nacht was too eventful.”

“What happened, dude? You look really worn out,” Vinyl asked as she dropped down on the couch beside him.

“As I said, lange story. Vould you prefer die lange Version or die short Version?”

“Long version, please. I don’t have work until tonight,” answered Vinyl, sipping her coffee calmly.

“Jawohl. Kann I have some Kaffee, bitte? Haven’t sleep at all…” he said sleepily, slapping his face gently to maintain consciousness.

“There’re some left in the pot, dude. Help yourself.” She unrolled the newspaper and began reading. “And dude, you still have your costume on.”

Gerhard looked at his arm. There was still a Nazi party armband on it. He quickly removed the armband and stuffed it in his pocket. “Und where ist der pot?” he asked while trying to wipe the ‘toothbrush’ mustache.

“Kitchen. That door.” She pointed at the said door, which wasn’t so much of a door at all. It was technically a square hole in the wall.

Gerhard got up and made his way for the coffee in a very sleepy manner. He bumped into the wall beside the door. Stumbling backward, he regained his composure and proceed to the kitchen. Stars began to obscure his vision. He had to hurry before he fell asleep right there.

The kitchen was furnished with simple appliances. Fridge, stove, oven counters, and cabinets were installed nicely. On the counter, there was a coffee machine. Half of its pot was filled with black liquid, which was unmistakably coffee.

Gerhard opened each cabinet hastily in a desperate attempt to find a cup. Finally, he found one. He beamed happily as soon as he had his hand on the cup. Without further ado, he grabbed the pot and poured the coffee into his cup.

Gerhard wasn’t a fan of bitterness, so he opened a cabinet which he remembered that there was a jar of sugar in it. He opened it and sniffed the content, making sure that it really was sugar; not long ago back home, he mistook salt with sugar. It was a painful experience. He never wanted it to happen again.

After he was sure, he put five pinches of sugar in the coffee. His energy was running low from all those walking and fighting with vampires. He usually added cream in his coffee, but he found none inside any cabinet. Only sugar will suffice for now… he thought as he mixed the sugar with coffee.

Lifting the cup up, he poured the extra sweet coffee into his mouth. Just tasting it made him feel better already! He put the cup down and returned to the living room. Vinyl was still there, reading newspaper and sipping her coffee.

“Hey! How was the coffee?” asked Vinyl, perking from her newspaper. “And you still have your spunky mustache on…” she added.

“Was zum Teufel?! I thought I wiped es already.” He rubbed the spot under his nose repeatedly. “Und die Kaffee ist heavenly,” Gerhard said with a smile. “Now, die story. Last Nacht, I ran after…”

*****

Meanwhile at Lyra’s house

Tom was sleeping on the same couch as yesterday. The difference was no snoring could be heard, which made Lyra and Bon Bon very happy.

Opening his eyes slowly, Tom finally woke up. He rose up to sitting, rubbed the drowsiness from his eyes, and stood up to stretch. The sounds of pops and cracks could be heard.

That was one weird dream… Tom thought

Nay, it all happened inside your head, Tom. Thor said happily.

Tom did a double take and stumbled back onto the couch. So you are really a lass, Thor?

Last I checked, yes, she answered with glee. And thanks for that. That’s quite a stamina you got there. If she had an eye, she would have given Tom a seductive wink.

“What time’s it?” He pulled out his pocket watch, which told 9 o'clock in the morning. “Oh it’s been late in ye morning already.”

“It is?”

“Aye,” he replied shortly. “What productive stuff shall I do today?”

“Cutting some heads? Thor suggested gingerly.

“Nay, ‘ey ponies won’t be happy ‘bout it.”

“What about visiting that Teutonic soldier you keep calling ‘Jerry’?”

“Well, that was a brilliant idea! Need ta show som’ appreciation fer carryin’ lil’ ol’ me last night,” he said confidently.

“Tommy, who are you talking to?” asked Lyra, who was descending the stairs.

“Lyra! Meet me new mate, Thorpe!” Tom said excitingly as Lyra approach him.

“Where?” said Lyra, searching the room for Thor.

“Right here, Miss Lyra,” Thor said, emitting the usual green glow.

Lyra gasped in surprise. “You are a talking sword, Thor?” she asked enthusiastically and moved closer to the sword.

“Well, yes.” Thor replied.

“I’ve never seen anything like you before!” Lyra exclaimed in excitement, extending the hoof to touch Thor.

“Neither have I.”

“Ahem!” Tom cleared his throat loudly to get their attention. “Well, I need ta visit Jerry today. But first thing first: I need breakfast. D’ ye happen tah hav’ any left, Lyra?” he stated.

“Yep! Jerry dropped you early in the morning, so I prepared an extra for you!” She went into the kitchen and levitated a plate of omelette au fromage back with her. “Here you go! Bon appetite!”

“Much appreciated…” Tom said before he started digging into the omelette.

“So…” started Lyra, “About helping with my research.”

“Right,” Tom said after he had swallowed the omelette. “How can I help yar, lassie?” He dug another chunk of egg into his mouth.

“It’s human research!” Lyra exclaimed cheerfully, “All you need to do is answer my question, and correct the data about humans for me.”

“A‘right, I will answer yer question when I return from visitin’ Jerry.” Tom stood up, “An’ thanks fer ye omelette. It’s bloody brilliant!” Lyra beamed joyfully at the compliment. “Anyway, I’ll wash this before I go.“ He disappeared into the kitchen. The sound of water flowing into the sink was heard, followed by a clink sound of plates contacting with each other. Returning, Tom picked up Thor and bid Lyra goodbye before leaving.

        “Bye!” Lyra shouted from behind them, waving her hoof. Tom return the wave and made his way up the road, to Octavia’s house.

*****

        “Und das ist pretty much es.” Gerhard finished with a sigh. His stomach was rumbling furiously for a while now. He needed to eat as soon as possible.

KNOCK KNOCK

        Vinyl turned to the noise, stood up, and walked over to it. Outside, there was a grey pegasus mare with blonde mane. Her eyes seemed to have developed their own mind, darting around the area. Her cutie mark was several bubbles. What’s her talent? Gerhard wondered. Asking pony about the tattoo on their rear wasn’t a really good idea, so he kept his mouth shut and acted normally. She was obviously a mailmare, judging from her blue cap and the saddlebags filled with letters. She was strangely familiar, though. Where had he seen her before?

“I brought you letters!” exclaimed the mailmare, grabbing a couple of letters from the bag and giving them to Vinyl. “Can you give this note to Mister Barkhorn, Vinyl?” She grabbed another piece of paper out of her bag and handed it to Vinyl.

“Sure, Ditzy!”

“Thank you so much!” She rummaged into her second bag. “Here, have some muffin!” She handed Vinyl a paper bag.

“Awesome! Thanks!”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled and took off, soaring slowly through the air. She turned back and waved, still smiling.

BAM!

Ditzy crashed into the building on the corner, tumbling down to the earth. She quickly got up and carried on like nothing happened, still smiling.

Levitating the letters with her, Vinyl came back inside and closed the door behind her. She inspected each letter, picked two out, and left the rest on the table. One of the letter was for her, but the other one had Gerhard’s name on it, so she handed it to the recipient.

“Danke,” Gerhard thanked and tear open the envelope.

“Ihr Will, (Your welcome)” Vinyl replied as she opened her letter.

Gerhard perked up from his letter, “Du never told mir dass you sprechen Deutsch.”

“Ich kann etwas Deutsch sprechen, (I can speak little German)” She stated as she read the letter.

Gerhard was about to reply, but he had to read the letter first.

Dear Jerry,

Princess Luna has summoned you to my library and to give an elaborate explanation about your weapon, and to report about your flying contraption. She told me that a group of royal researchers will arrive at the train station at noon. Inform them about the mechanism as much as possible. Princess Celestia wishes to know if it could be repaired.

Come as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle.

PS: Princess Luna had told me that she forgot to tell you the whereabouts of the temporary dwelling. It’s in the plain which is west of the train station, shouldn’t be too hard to spot.

Gerhard sprung up in surprise. He completely forgot about that. He must hurry now. “Vinyl, I vill be at Twilight’s library. May or may nicht return in der Abend, guten Tag!” He darted for the door. But suddenly, his stomach rumbled again. He rubbed his belly in pain.

Seeing this, Vinyl threw the muffin bag at Gerhard. He caught it perfectly and took a quick peek at the contents. A smile appeared on his face as soon as he realize that it was a whole bag of muffins. He nodded appreciatively, muttering thanks.

Wasting no more time, he gripped the bag tightly and departed, waving to Vinyl in the process.

*****

Tom was just outside Octavia’s house, approaching the door slowly. He raised his hand, planning to knock a few times—

BAM!

—but the door swung open and hit him square in the face, pushed him to the side. The impact broke his nose. Blood cascading from his nose, he gripped them and groaned in pain. He bit his teeth and snapped the nose back in position. A burst of pain ran up his spine. He held the scream in, tear was welling up in his eyes. He never felt such pain since he broke his leg a couple of years ago.

Tom clenched his fist in the air, “God confound ye bugger who opened this door!” he cursed furiously.

Vinyl appeared from behind the door, “That was Jerry, dude. He said something about Twilight’s library and rushed off.”

“Many thanks, Vinyl.” Tom said flatly, trying to hide his pain.

“Do you need help with that nose?” asked Vinyl, but Thor began to emit the green glow again.

“That won’t be necessary, lass. I can handle this.” she said as her green iridescent luminance grew brighter.

After the glow had weakened, the blood on Tom’s nose flowed back in the nose, leaving no trace behind. The pain that had been on his face was gone like nothing had happened.

“It’s a miracle! Thanks, Thor!” Tom exclaimed joyfully as he rub his nose.

“Anything for you, my lovely master!”

“Thanks, I guess?”

“No problem at all!”

“That’s ye spirit, lassie. Now, let’s move tah that library.” Tom turned to the opposite direction where the library stood tall in the distance, and march down the road toward the library.

*****

Gerhard closed the door of the library. He had never been inside before. The whole place was carved from wood, including the bookshelves, which were filled with thousand of books. In the center of the tree, there was a round wooden table with a horsehead bust on it. Three desks were positioned on three spots on a fighter aircraft’s propellor pattern. There was a door across from the entrance, probably leading to a private study, judging from the sign hanging on it

“Welcome!” exclaimed Twilight, who was descending from the stairs to the second floor. “I’m expecting you. Have you had anything for breakfast? I have some leftovers, if you want.”

He shook his head in reply and held the bag of muffin for her to see. “Nein, I have diese Muffins.”

“Alrighty then. Let me go get some paper to write about your weapon.” She disappeared into the private study, then came back with couple of scrolls, a quill, and inkwell.

“I muss check on meine Frau first. Sie ist ein mechanic, who repair Christl before.”

“Who’s Christl?” Twilight asked innocently.

“Sie ist meine Flugzeug.” Gerhard answered, then realized that he was speaking his mother language, “Entschuldigung, sie ist my flying contraption,” he corrected himself with a sheepish smile across his face.

“Oh!” Twilight dropped the scrolls, “That’s a more important matter! The study of your weapon can wait. We must go now! it’s already 11 o’ clock. Those royal researchers will be here soon.”

Gerhard took a look at his wrist watch. It was 11 o'clock, just as Twilight said. “Dann wir must hurry.” With that Twilight, zipped into her private study again. She came back with a saddlebag full of scrolls and quills. “Mach schnell! Wir haben no need für das, leave it here!” Gerhard lifted the saddle back off her and picked her up.

“Whoa!” Twilight exclaimed in surprise as he started to run. “Put me down! I can teleport us there!”

“Entschuldigung, again…” He placed her on the ground gently, and pat her on the head.

“Please don’t do that.” She warded Gerhard’s hand off. “Spikeee!” Twilight called out.

A few second later, a purple lizard emerged from the top of the stairs. “What is it, Twilight?” it said with hint of boredom in its voice.

At first, Gerhard was shocked. Even a lizard could talk on this planet, what’s next? A cow?

“Spike, can you watch the library while I’m gone?” she asked with a smile.

“But where’re you going?” he asked curiously. As if Gerhard was invisible all along, Spike finally realized that he was standing there. “Are you one of those humans Twilight talked about lately?”

“I believe so,” Gerhard answered without hesitation, “Are you ein Komodowaran? (Komodo dragon)” he asked back.

“I don’t know what that is, but nope. I’m a dragon!” He pounded his chest proudly. “Spike at your service.” Magically, he pulled out a card which had a poorly drawn crayon portrait of himself, sided with info about himself. Gerhard squinted his eyes, trying to read the chicken scratches that Spike called writing.

“Leutnant Gerhard Barkhorn, JG-52, Luftwaffe,” he introduced himself, offering a handshake.

Spike accepted the offer and shook his hand, “Pleasure to finally meet you in person, Leut… Leut…” Spike sighed in frustration. “How do you pronounce it again?”

“Leut. Nant.”

“Leut-nant. Got it!” the dragon exclaimed merrily while shaking the ace’s hand repeatedly.

“Ahem!” Twilight coughed, getting their attention, “Now now, Spike. Can you watch the library while I’m gone?”

“You still haven’t told me where you’re going, Twilight,” said Spike, crossing his arms unsatisfied.

“Jerry and I are going to oversee the study of his ‘aircraft’. Am I pronouncing it right?” Gerhard nodded. “And to give his wife a visit.” He nodded once again.

“Can I tag along?” asked Spike.

“Nope, Spike. I need someone to watch the library.” Twilight replied dryly.

“Pleaseee.” Spike used the ‘puppy’s eyes’ tactic.

“Nope, Spike. Those eyes won’t change my mind.”

Spike dropped down on his knees, grasping onto Gerhard’s leg. He wouldn’t mind if the drake wanted to tag along, but Twilight needed someone to watch these precious books.

As if on cue, the door was kicked open, revealing Tom at the entrance. He walked in with a large smile on his face.

He’s up to something, thought Gerhard.

“Good morning, gentlemen!” Tom greeted cheerfully. “What’s going on here? Care to tell me, Gerhard?”

Tom’s behavior started to ring Gerhard’s suspicion. Normally, he wouldn’t hesitate to deny at all. Was something wrong with him? Or was it simply him being paranoid? “Wir need zu oversee das study of meiner Messerschmitt.” said Gerhard. “Wollen Sie mitkommen?”

“Maybe not this time, my fellow ace! I need a good ol’ break from time to time too.” Tom smiled sheepishly and put his tongue out.

Spike watched as the scene unfolded. His window of opportunity was here! He must grab it before it’s lost! “Please, mister. I wanted to tag along, but Twilight needed somepony to watch over the library! Can you please help me?” Spike switched from Gerhard’s leg to Tom’s. Again, using the ’puppy’s eyes’ tactic.

Tom thought for a moment before answering, “I suppose so, young dragon. I’m quite idle at the moment.”

“Can I come along now, Twilight?”

“Are you sure, Tommy? I don’t know how long will we be away,” said Twilight.

“It’s not a problem at all! Like I said: I have nothing productive to do anytime soon.”

“Okay, Spike. You can come—”

“Yeah!” Spike cheered victoriously, interrupting Twilight.

“—but I need to instruct Tommy on dealing with book returning and borrowing,” she finished with a facehoof.

Spike sighed in annoyance. “Just be quick, Twilight. I want to see the flying contraption!” he demanded

“Fine Fine,” Twilight murmured in frustration. “If someone returns a book…”

After twenty minutes of extremely detailed explanation later...

“And that’s pretty much what you’ll need to do!” she finished with a long breath. All that lecturing must have made her really thirsty, since she hurried into the private study. There must have been a fridge in there because she returned with a jug of water and a glass.

“Fräulein, es ist eleven thirty already.” Twilight choked on her water, spraying it onto Spike.

 “I can only teleport two at a time,” she stated, “Jerry, you go first.” Her horn lit up, engulfing the whole room in the violet glow. Gerhard remembered the ritual of teleportation. The sensation of disappearing from point A to point B was hard to get used to.

Gerhard braced himself, keeping his arm aligned with his torso. A bright light flashed, then the pain followed. This time, it wasn’t as bad as the first time.

In a blink of an eye, he found himself standing on the platform of the train station, the temporary dwelling could be seen far in the grassy plain. With another flash, Twilight departed back to the library, and returned along with Spike.

Gerhard took a peek at his wristwatch, indicating that it was almost half an hour until the researchers’ arrival. In the meantime, he could pick up his wife. She was essential in the reparation after all.

“Wir are early,” said Gerhard, “I vill go pick up meine Frau. You two wait hier.” With that, he left.

“May I accompany you?” Twilight asked from behind, trotting up to him.

“Ja,” he replied unhesitatingly, “Meine Frau would be happy zu meet you.” His stomach rumbled once more. He blushed. He completely forgot about eating. The food was in his hand: a bag of muffins. Why hadn’t he grabbed a muffin after all the time he held onto the bag? He had no idea.

Upon opening the paper bag, there were several muffins plus a piece of paper, which must be some kind of note. He picked it up along with a muffin, reading it as he took a bite of the baked goods.

Those vampires weren’t suppose to be there. If they were here, there’ll be more of them. Don’t let any of them bite you when you’re off guard, Gerhard Barkhorn.

—The Doctor