Aces' Diary

Chapter 3: More ponies…

Gerhard woke up; his vision was blurry. He shook the cobwebs out of his head, waking himself up further. It took a couple of seconds to adjust back to its original state. He heard a familiar noise: the loud roar of Messerschmitt’s engine. When his vision came back, he realized that he was in the cockpit of his ‘Eagle.’ The photo of his wife had been taped back to its original position. He smiled.

Ava, I miss you… he thought, looking at her face in the photo.

He took note of the surrounding outside. He was flying over sea. He looked ahead and saw an enormous white cliff standing out against the battering of the wind and the sea.

“Dover?”he muttered asking himself.

The cliff was enormous. Seagulls flew carelessly to their nests hanging on the cliff. Waves battered against the cliff, carving the white stone in the process. The docksides nearby were patrolled heavily with warships and armed boats fully occupying the docks. Anti-Aircraft batteries were emplaced everywhere, protecting the dock and the ships from Luftwaffe’s destruction.

I should report this to the HQ, he thought.The brass at BdU and Luftwaffe would love to know this. He moved his hand to the radio and tuned his radio to his airfield’s frequency. If he recalled correctly, the Messerschmitt’s Funkgerät 7 should be able to contact the base from his position.

“Hallo,” he greeted the radio operator on the other end.

*static*

“Hallo,” he repeated.

*static*

“HALLO!” he bellowed in anger, whacking his radio. Where was the radio operator? I swear if I ever get back, I’ll have him court-martialed… he thought furiously, sighing in frustration.

The static he heard was gone, replaced by a happy-sounding song. He whacked his radio again to fix it; beating the electrical ware always seems to work. The song was still playing.

To hell with this. I should fly back and tell them myself… he thought.

He looked outside the cockpit and spotted nothing in the air around him. He stepped on the pedals with his feet, trying to turn the aircraft around, but nothing happened. He pushed it again, and yet it did not respond. He pushed his flight stick down, hoping it would obey the command given. Again, it did not respond. His aircraft was still flying downwards, towards the town.

“Scheiße!” he swore, rage building up in his head. He calmed himself down and began to look for the source of the problem.

As he was looking for whatever was wrong, a cyan blur flew out of nowhere. It flew beside his plane, stopping and appearing to look at him. He took a better look at it. Strangely, it looked like a pegasus. Its coat was cerulean, and its mane (he believed that was what it was called) was in the entire color spectrum, as well as its tail. It had a pair of feathery wings, and a pair of magenta eyes.

“Hey!” it called out, tapping the canopy lightly.

He remembered what it was, a pegasus pony. He had a strange feeling, like he had seen it before. He tried to look back in his memory, but could only remember one thing.

He was gliding down from the sky before he bellied out and saw a cerulean pony flying near him while he was descending.

This is a dream for sure, he concluded, pinching his cheek to prove his theory.

It was painless, his suspicion confirmed. He closed his eyes and wait for himself to wake up, confident it would happen.

*****

Gerhard woke up, this time inside of a house. He refreshed his memory. He was patched up yesterday by a pegasus pony named Fluttershy, whom he recalled, was quite nice. He slowly rose to sit on the couch, trying to drive away the drowsiness. He blinked a couple of times to drive away the eye crisp and noticed dozens of animals around him.

So that was real… he thought.

“Err… g-good morning, Mr. Barkhorn,” a familiar voice came from the door. It was Fluttershy.

“Guten Morgen, Fräulein, (Good morning, miss,)” he greeted and gave her a tiny wave of his hand.

“Er.. Good morning, Miss,” he corrected himself as he noticed Fluttershy was giving him confused look.

Her confusion quickly went away the moment when he had corrected himself. He stood up and stretched, producing multiple cracks in the process, startling poor Fluttershy.

How cute… he thought, accidentally letting out a small chuckle.

He blew those thoughts away and continued on his exercises. He started with push-ups, and then squatted. After a couple of minutes, he stopped and sat up. He panted lightly, and he felt refreshed and healthy again. Even though the injuries from yesterday were haunting him, he held off the pain the best he could.

He looked outside, noticing that it was already morning. The sun had just risen, shining its golden rays through the window. The dew on the leaves reflected the ray of the sun, shining a bright gold as birds flew happily in the sky.

Fluttershy observed him doing exercises, wondering what he would do next. He turned to Fluttershy when he finished his routine.

“Would you mind if I go out for a run?” he asked, pointing outside.

“Umm… no… I don’t mind at all,” she replied, giving Gerhard a small smile of approval.

“I’ll be back within half an hour,” he stated as he checked his gears, and departed. When he was finally outside, he did another stretch and he jogged away from the cottage slowly, conserving his energy.

On the way back, he heard a movement from the bush as he jogged past it, he swore he could smell the sweet essence of food from within.

That might be a meat-eating bush, he joked and rolled his eyes. I should check it out anyway.

He slowed down a bit and approached the bush. He wasn’t really the sneaky type; his footsteps could still be heard clearly. Then suddenly, an audible mumble emitted from the bush.

“Take that, Jerry!” the voice shouted from the bush. It made Gerhard jumped in surprise. He pulled out his sidearm cautiously.

He took a peek inside; what he saw shocked him: a man was sleeping inside the bush. Iconic blue uniform of the RAF (Royal Air Force), British pilot. He also saw some cans and tools lying around on the ground.

Tommy sleeping in the bush with survival kit? he chanted amusingly. Interesting… He smirked deviously and stepped inside the bush, being as stealthy as possible. He cocked his pistol and pointed it at the British pilot head.

“Rise und shine, Tommy,” said Gerhard, lightly slapped the British pilot’s face to wake him up.

The British pilot woke up, slowly opening his eyes. He quickly grabbed his Webley when he saw Gerhard.

“Easy there. Mein trigger finger ist nicht stabil,” Gerhard warned, pressing his Walther at the British man’s forehead. “Nun, why are you hiding hier?” he asked.

“Why ask? You’re the one that shot me down!” he spat sarcastically.

“So, you’re that ace,” Gerhard said as he nodded continuously. “How’re you doing? No injury?”

“Lovely,” again, a disparaging response. “Now, CAN YE PUT THAT BLOODY THING AWAY?!” he yelled, pointing at the Gerhard’s Walther.

“Ordnung,” said Gerhard. “Don’t try anything stupid,” he warned before holstering his gun.

“Much appreciated,” he thanked. “Now, I saw a barmy thing yesterday.”

“Was war es? (What was it?)” Gerhard asked, quirking his brow.

“A yellow horse wit’ wings saved yer life from that mangy beast!” he exclaimed, “an’ evin patched yer ninny arse up too!”

“Firstly, Tommy,” Gerhard started, moving to a more comfortable pose. Technically, he shouldn’t show weakness to the enemy, but this was an exception. “‘Sie ist ein pony, not a horse,” he corrected, “und sie ist eine wunderbare Fräulein (and she’s a wonderful lady), I assure you that, Und… she could talk too,” he quickly added.

“Yer bum’s oot the windae!” he exclaimed. “Horses cannot talk!” An objection was given: “shaken, not stirred” style.

“Did you not hear, Tommy? I said pony,” Gerhard corrected him.

“Urg… Fine…” he sighed, massaging his temples to lessen the headache; he hated morning. “How could a pony possibly talk?” he inquired.

“I HAVE NO IDEA!” Gerhard gave a shout as answer, laughing maniacally right after.

“I must be dreaming…” he murmured with his hand on his face. Gerhard heard that. So, he slapped the British ace’s cheek hard.

He groaned in pain, rubbing his cheek. It had gone red from the brute force impact. “Why on earth would ye do that, ye nutter!?” He made a stink eyes, staring at Gerhard furiously.

“Es ist nicht ein dream, Tommy,” Gerhard answered. “Wir are trapped hier, in einem land full of multi-coloured ponies…” he explained. “So, temporary Cease-Feuer?” he suggested, offering a handshake.

The British ace hesitated for a moment before giving in and accepted the handshake. “Can I sleep in that hor — I mean pony,” he quickly corrected himself. “Can I sleep in that pony’s cottage tonight?” he asked, “I slept in ‘nis bush the whole night long.” His tone lowered. “An’ as yer can see: I slept in a BLOODY SLEEPIN’ BAG!” He burst into ranting, pointing at his sleeping bag and cussed rudely.

“AND IT’S ON THE BLOODY GROUND! BY THE KING’S NAME, IT’S NOT A SINGLE BIT COMFORTABLE! AND IT WAS COLD AS HELL!” He stopped to catch a breath after a long rant, adjusting his tie and returning to his calm demeanor.

“Err… Fine, follow me…” said Gerhard, feeling strangely uncomfortable.

“Jolly good.”

Gerhard walked back to the cottage along with the British ace. The bush was just about ten metres away from the cottage.

“Also, was ist your name, Tommy?” Gerhard started.

“Me name’s Thomas, Thomas McMorrow,” he introduced, pounding his chest gently. “Friends call me Tom, but yae isnae me friend. Dinnae even call me with yer German wheesht, Jerry.”

“I’ll stick mit Tommy, then.”

They arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage. Gerhard knocked the door. There came a mysterious female voice from inside, and it wasn’t Fluttershy’s.

“I’ll get it, Fluttershy,” the mysterious pony said. “Who would it be this early?”

Both aces froze in place when they heard that voice. The door had been opened; a lavender unicorn with dark purple mane and a stripe of pink highlight ran down her mane stood at the door. She just stood there and gazed at both aces, confusion and fear visible on her face. She just stood there and stared at them. Gerhard decided to break the silence. “Hallo, miss.”

“T… Twilight, who is it?” Fluttershy’s voice came from inside the house, approaching the doorway. “Oh, welcome back, Mr. Barkhorn,” she greeted when she saw the German pilot outside the cottage. “W..Who is he?” she asked “Umm, If you want to tell me, of course,” she added shyly.

“Uh… can we go inside, miss?” Thomas asked. “It’s cold out here.”

‘Twilight’ fainted. Both aces were shocked by her.

“O-Oh, my…” Fluttershy exclaimed “C-C-Could you carry h-her to the couch?”

Gerhard nodded and scooped her up on his arm. They walked into the living room. Gerhard put Twilight down on one couch while Thomas sat down on the opposite one.

“Umm, Mr. Barkhorn, would your friend like to have some tea?” Fluttershy entered the room and asked, waiting for the answer.

“That would be excellent, miss..?” Thomas answered

“M-My name is Fluttershy,” she introduced herself audibly this time. “Umm, and you?” she asked back.

“Me name is Thomas, Thomas McMorrow, pilot and ace of Wing 127. You can call me ‘Tommy,’” he added, moving his hand forward to shake Fluttershy’s hoof. The yellow coated pony was startled by the sudden movement and let out an ‘eep’.

“N..Nice to meet you umm, Tommy,” she said shyly, as usual. “Umm, would you like some tea?”

“That would be brilliant,” Thomas said. Then Fluttershy trotted to the kitchen. “Two cubes and some milk, please!” he added when she was inside the kitchen.

“Err, Tommy,” Gerhard said, “I should introduce myself as well. My name is Gerhard Barkhorn, ace of Jagdgeschwader 52, or Fighter Wing 52 and you could call me ‘Jerry’ like you always do, Tommy.”

Fluttershy came back with a tray containing a tea kettle and four empty cups. She put the tray on the table and poured the hot tea in each cup. She handed the first cup to Tommy.

“Thank you.” Thomas smiled at her. Despite it being very hot, he took a small sip. “This is amazing!” he said, praising her tea brewing skills. “You could best my favourite cafe in London easily!” His further praise turned her yellow coat to cherry red in the process.

“Ummm, i-it’s… n-n-nothing,” Fluttershy said shyly, trying to hide behind her curtain-like pink mane.

“I think she would fly by now, Tommy,” Gerhard said. “Und how’s our Fräulein (lady)?” he asked, gesturing his hand towards Twilight. “I think we owe her an explanation,” he said. Twilight woke up right after he finished his sentence. She slowly opened her eyes and massaged her temples,  trying to refresh her memory.

“Fluttershy, I just had a strange drea—” she froze before she finished the sentence as she noticed the two aces staring at her with awe.

Thomas facepalmed. “Oh lass, please don’t faint this time.”

“WHAT ARE YOU CREATURES!?” Twilight yelled, pointing her fore hooves to both aces. “Fluttershy get behind me!” she yelled and ran to the corner of the room, away from both aces.

“Calm down, Fräulein (Miss),” Gerhard said.

“Let me explain this, Jerry,” Thomas said to Gerhard. “Now, lass, here’s the thing: I’ve been shot down by from the sky b—”

“You don’t have wings!” she exclaimed, abruptly interrupting Tommy. “How could you fly without wings?!” she asked.

“Let me finish first…” Thomas said. Twilight simply nodded in response.

“As I said: shot down by him. I bailed and hit the silk.” Twilight was going to interrupt again. He raised his hand, gesturing the purple unicorn to let him finish. “I hid in the bush when I heard his Bf 109. He was gettin’ pounded by some kind o’ wolf, but luckily it didn’t spot me. So I threw a rock to distract it, and then that wooden wolf found him.” Gerhard squinted at him, looking angry. “Ey! I didn’t do that on purpose!” Thomas exclaimed. “So, Fluttershy heard it. She ran over there and scared that… thing away, saved his German arse, and patched him up. I followed her here and slept in the bush outside, over there.” He pointed at one of the bushes outside. “Then he found me sleeping in the damn bush, just earlier today.”

“Now, the questions. One by one, bitte (please),” Gerhard said.

“What are you?” Twilight asked.

“We’re humans, intelligent bipedal creatures,” Thomas answered

“And how do you fly? I see no wings on you,” Twilight asked. Fluttershy looked eager to know this too.

“We use das maschine (machine) called ‘Flugzeug’ (Plane),” Gerhard answered. “Er, I mean ‘plane’,” he corrected. “Excuse my mother language. It’s called German,” he explained when he saw the questioning look on Twilight’s face.

“That sounds like Germane…” Twilight muttered.

“And the plane I flew crash landed in the field yesterday,” Gerhard said, totally ignoring that comment.

“But mine crashed and exploded. I think it’s in the forest…” Thomas said. “Poor Edith, she was so fast, so beautiful…” he added with a saddened voice.

“Don’t be so sad, Tommy,” Gerhard said while patting his back. “I could lend you mine!” he joked. Thomas returned with a squint.

“Ha! real funny,” Thomas said. “Anyway, let’s go check your ‘Messer’.”

“Ja (Yes).” Gerhard said and stood up. “I think you would want to see her, she’s beautiful.” He noticed Twilight’s smile. “Let’s go, shouldn’t keep her waiting.”

“Fluttershy, would you like to come along?” Twilight asked.

“Umm, I guess so,” Fluttershy replied.

They all left the cottage and walked towards the field where Gerhard crash landed his plane. They reached the field and saw the wreck at the distance. A small crowd gathered around it. Both aces ran to the wreck.

“Anypony know, what’s this thing?” Mayor Mare asked the crowd, no answer came back. “Anypony?”

“Halten! (Halt!),” Gerhard shouted at the top of his lungs. the crowd turned their attention to him. They looked at him with fear and confusion visibly in their eyes. “Don’t you dare touch mein plane!” he yelled, approaching the crowd, which made them back away, except for the cyan coated pony with rainbow mane which he saw in his dream and while he was falling to his death.

“Hey! I remember you,” the pony hovered up from the crowd, pointed her hoof at him “You’re the creature in it!”

“Ja,” Gerhard said. “I’m the one that flew this beast. Now, would you ponies please give her some space here?” The crowd backed away for a couple of metres.

Twilight, Fluttershy, and Thomas arrived at the scene shortly after. Thomas looked at the wrecked aircraft.

“Whoa, I never really have had a chance to look at it this close!” Thomas exclaimed.

“EVERYPONY!” Twilight yelled, with some help from her magic to increase her speech volume. The crowd had been startled by her loud voice. “They’re humans…”

“I knew it, they’re real!” a mint green pony with short mane shouted. “Bon Bon! You owe me 50 bits!” A cream coat pony with blue and pink curly mane grunted and gave her friend a bag of coins.

“… They mean no harm. They just crashed their flying machines and are stuck here.” Twilight continued her announcement, after she had been rudely interrupted. Chattering came from the crowd afterward.

“Thanks for that,” Gerhard said.

“No problem,” she replied with a tiny smile.

The crowd began to disperse, except for the rainbow-maned pegasus, an orange pony wearing a cowboy hat, a pale unicorn with styled purple mane, a pink pony with puffy pink mane, the mint green pony from earlier, and the cream-coated pony with blue and pink curly mane.

The pale unicorn with styled purple mane gasped in shock. “Wah ah hahh!” she screamed and fell on the ground. “Oh, by Celestia! Darling, what happened to your clothes?! This is a crime against fashion! I’ll fix it for you right away!” She levitated Gerhard off the ground and ran away.

“Hold ya’ horses, lass!” Thomas shouted, trying to stop the pale unicorn. He got her attention, and she walked back to the scene.

“Oh by Celestia!” she exclaimed. “Your clothes should be fixed too!” She levitated Thomas with her magic and carried both aces with her.

“Hey, Fräulein!” Gerhard called the pale unicorn. “Put me down, please!”

“It’s Rarity, darling,” she introduced herself as she dropped both aces on the hard ground. “What about yours, dear?”

“Ich heiße Gerhard Barkhorn,” Gerhard said, getting up from the ground. “I mean, my name is Gerhard Barkhorn,” he corrected “Ace of Jagdgeschwader 52, Luftwaffe,” he said “Umm… I mean Fighter Wing 52, German Air Force,” he corrected himself “Excuse my mother language,” he said and helped Thomas to stand up.

“And I’m Thomas, Thomas McMorrow, Ace of Wing 127, Royal Air Force,” he said, finally standing up properly. “Call me Tommy.”

“So, you are both flyers?” asked the rainbow mane pegasus.

“Pilots,” Gerhard and Thomas said in unison.

“I only saw you in it.” She pointed at Gerhard. “But I think I saw another flying thing as well.”

“Dieses ist mein (This is mine),” Gerhard claimed.

“Sadly, my poor Spitfire crashed in the forest,” Thomas said with a frown. The Rainbow-maned pegasus seems surprised. “What?” he said in response to her reaction.

“Did you call the flying machine ‘Spitfire’?” she asked.

“Yes, what wrong about it?” he answered.

“I know a pony name Spitfire,” she said.

“Is that so?” he said.

“Enough with the little chit-chat, darling!” Rarity exclaimed. “Would you care to tell me, what in Tartarus happened to your clothes!?” she asked, pointing at Gerhard. His leather jacket had been torn into a big piece of rag. His uniform’s jacket had three lines cut into it.

“‘Wooden wolf attacked yesterday,” he replied. The remaining ponies except Fluttershy gasped. “It came alone out of nowhere and attacked me,” he went into deeper detail. “And it turned out to be that the wolf was lured away from him!” he pointed at Thomas. “He threw a rock to distract it, and it wandered to me!”

“Hey!” Thomas spoke up, “I didn’t do that on purpose, ok?”

“Ja, whatever…” He rolled his eyes.

“My name is Pinkie Pie. Nice to meet you both! Ohhh, you are new here, so I could throw you a party and because you had just arrived! I’m going to throw you a welcome to Ponyville party! There’ll be cupcakes. Do you like cupcake? I love cupcake so much! I ate like 20 of them last week—” She was stopped by the orange pony with blonde mane wearing a hat.

“Tha’ would be enough, Pinkie Pah,” she said with a southern accent. “Ah’m Applejack, nice to meet ya’ two,” she said. “Ah work at the Sweet Apple Acres right over thar! Ya two are always welcome to ma’ place!” she shook the two aces hand violently.

“N-Nice t-to m-meet y-you t-too, m-miss,” Thomas said, his voice shaking by her violent hoof shake.

“Hey, I’m Rainbow Dash,” the rainbow maned-pegasus said, “the fastest flyer in Equestria!”

“I bet my Spitfire is faster, but too bad she crashed yesterday,” Thomas said sadly.

“I’m sorry for that, but I know what would make you feel better!” Pinkie paused for a moment. “A PARTY!” Confetti appeared out of nowhere with blows of Trumpet, which made both aces jump, in confusion. “I must go prepare your ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party! Bye!” she finished and bounced away, leaving a smoke in her body shape behind.

“W-What?” Both aces exclaimed in unison.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Twilight said, calming them a bit “She’s just being Pinkie Pie. No one really know how she does it.”

Gerhard’s stomach growled violently. Fluttershy jumped and ‘eeped’, startled by the noise.

“Oh.” Gerhard put both hands on his stomach. “We haven’t had breakfast yet, have we?”

“No,” Thomas replied. “Let’s dig something up.”

“I still have some rations left at Miss Fluttershy’s cottage,” Gerhard said. “You mind German rations?” he asked.

“I could eat anything,” Thomas said, “as long as it’s food and not poisonous.”

“I need to run back there then,” Gerhard said.

“No need. I could go fetch it in ten seconds flat…” she boasted. “How does it look like?” she asked.

“Small green metal box with a write print of eagle on it,” he described the survival kit.

“Your ten seconds start…” Thomas said, looking at his wrist watch. “NOW!”

Rainbow Dash’s wings started flapping furiously as she soared through the air and flew towards Fluttershy’s cottage.

one… two… three… four… five… She reached the cottage, barging in through the window.Without wasting any precious time, she zipped back. six… seven… eight… nine…

ten… Rainbow Dash landed in front of Thomas and threw the box at Gerhard. He caught it perfectly in midair.

“Ten. Seconds. Flat,” she said, no sign of sweat visible on her coat.

“Wow…” Thomas awed “That was brilliant! We’re going to be good friends!”

“Indeed” she chuckled.

Gerhard opened it, grabbed two cans, and closed it. The label read ‘Hasenpfeffer’ and ‘Kartoffelsalat’. He forgot one thing: how would he heat it without fire? Thomas noticed this, so he asked Rainbow Dash.

“Miss Dash, could you go fetch a ‘mini stove’ from the bush, it’s about 10 metres from Miss Fluttershy’s cottage,” he asked.

“Will do.” She lifted off and flew back to Fluttershy’s cottage. Silence fell upon the crash site.

“So,” Twilight broke the silence, “what’s that?”

“Hasenpfeffer und Kartoffelsalat,” Gerhard answered. Rainbow Dash came back with the ‘mini stove’. She handed it to him. He set it on the ground. “I need Feuer (fire),” he said.

“Here.” Twilight used a spell, her horn glowing in purple. In a matter of seconds, purple fire lit the stove.

“Danke (Thanks).” He unsheathed his knife from its sheath in his boot, which frightened them. He stabbed both cans and pried them open, revealing the contents inside. The first can held creamed mashed mass, the second one held brown medium-sized rabbit meat with some vegetables. He sheathed his knife back in his boot. He put both cans on the stove, and a few minutes later, they were heated enough to take them out. “Could you put out the fire please?” he asked, Twilight complied and put out her magical fire. “We share half of each can, ja?” Thomas and handed him Hasenpfeffer.

“Understood.” Thomas accepted the can. He ate half of the meat and vegetable. At the same time, Gerhard grabbed a mashed piece of potato and scooped it up to his mouth. After he finished, he traded it with Hasenpfeffer.

“Darling, that looks delicious!” Rarity exclaimed. “Could I have a tiny bit please?”

“This isn’t what ponies should eat,” he said. “You eat vegetables, hay, and things like that, right?”

“That’s right, darling.”

“You wouldn’t want to know what it is,” Thomas said with his mouth full.

“Of course I do, darling,” she said.

“You had been warned,” Thomas cut in before Gerhard could answer.

“It’s rabbit.”

“What was that?” she asked. “I think my ears are deceiving me; I think heard ‘rabbit.’”

“Nothing wrong with your ears, miss,” Thomas said. “He really said rabbit.”

“Right” Gerhard exclaimed. Everything went silent, except for the birds chirping and the sounds of a slight breeze. Fluttershy bobbed her head dizzily before falling down on the soft, grassy ground.

“Why didn’t you warn me!?” she asked angrily. Both aces facepalmed.

“I did warn you!” Thomas crossed his arms. Gerhard quickly ate the remaining meat in the can.

“Now, that we finished unser (our) breakfast,” Gerhard quickly change the topic. “Let’s find somewhere for Tommy to sleep at night.”

“Right, I slept in the bloody bush last night,” Thomas muttered.

“He could stay at my house!” the mint green unicorn shouted.

“Really!?” Thomas excitedly exclaimed. He ran to the unicorn, and asked her “Are you really serious?”

“Yeah,” she answered and smiled upon him.

 “Thank you! Thanks a billion times!” He smiled and hugged her. “What’s your name?”

 “Lyra, Lyra Heartstring,” she answered. “No needs to be formal, just call me Lyra,” she added.

“OK! Lyra!” he happily exclaimed and hugged Lyra even tighter.

“UFF,” she grunted “I — I — can’t — breath.” Everypony including Gerhard stared at the overexcited ace.

“Oh, sorry.” He released Lyra from his deadly hug. She took a deep breath when freed from the hug “I owe you a lot!” he said

“It’s nothing, I have always dreamed of living with human.” She smiled, even though he almost broke her ribs.

“I must repay you somehow!” he exclaimed

“If you insist,” she said, thinking about what she could possibly want. “Ah! How about you help me with my research!” Her friend, the cream pony with curly blue and pink mane stared at her.

“Will do!” he happily replied.

Gerhard could only watch his overexcited temporary ally talking with Lyra. He smelled something, something horrid. He immediately remembered that smell, the abomination that almost killed him. He unbuttoned his holster, pulled out his Walther, and unlocked the safety. Thomas seemed to notice the stench as well, so he pulled out his Webley and cocked it. The ponies also smelled it too and seemed to know what it was. He waited for it to show itself. A howl and barking could be heard in the distance.

“Timberwolves!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

The ponies shivered violently, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash braced themselves for the attack. Applejack formed a pile of rocks, and Rainbow Dash flew up and looked for the wolves. Fluttershy hid behind her curtain-like mane, shivering and crying quietly. Lyra hugged her shivering friend. Rarity froze on the spot, shivering. From the trees, birds erupted from their nest. The howls and barks moved closer to the edge of the forest. Fluttershy’s shivering became more violent. Shadows and figures lurked around the forest, preparing for the attack. Gerhard released his magazine, checking how many he got: three shots left inside the magazine, and one already inside the chamber. He shoved the magazine back inside.

Seven Timberwolves leapt from the line of trees, attacking in pack this time. They barked at him and Tommy, probably marked as their quarry. Two of them charged at Gerhard, leaving him little time to dodge. He put a quick shot at one of the them, hit directly at its chest, resulted in a trip and broke apart. He barely dodged the second wolf’s charge, but got a chance to deliver a kick to its stomach. It lost balance and rolled on the ground. He aimed and shot the beast. The bullet pierced the creature’s head, breaking it into a thousand pieces of wood.

Two down, five to go, he thought.

A brave wolf stepped forward and charged the British ace. He cocked his revolver and shot it. The ‘bang’ from his gun was louder than Gerhard’s. The shot flew past its head as It evaded his bullet. He cocked his gun again and shot it, missing again. It leapt into the air, trying to pounce him. It was hit by multiple rocks, thrown from Applejack.

“Thanks!” he shouted and executed the wolf lying at his feet.

“No prob’, Tommy!” she exclaimed and kicked more rocks at the remaining wolf.

Three down, four to go, Gerhard thought and turned from his friend to the remaining wolves.

The remaining wolves decided not to attack the aces, but turned their attention to the ponies instead. The remaining wolves charged to Rarity, who was still frozen in place. Twilight cast a spell to the wolves, which hit one of them, paralyzing the wolf in place. Rainbow Dash dove down and delivered a double kick to the fastest wolf. It flew aside from the brute force and broke into pieces.

Abruptly, a loud trumpet erupted. The two remaining wolves were blasted away. It was Pinkie Pie with an 18th century cannon, cerulean coloured with two pink wheels, and a  two-inches fuse plugged into the barrel.

“Let’s party Pinkie Pie style!” she exclaimed.

Gerhard aimed at the fallen beast’s head and shot it, his last bullet instantly executing it. He grabbed a fully loaded magazine from one of his pockets, release the empty one, insert the loaded one in and pull the slide, it made a ‘click’ sound.

“I think that’s all of them,” Tommy said and blew his Webley’s barrel; Wild West style. He holstered his trusty revolver and buttoned the holster in a flash. He sighed, still feeling adrenaline rushing in his veins.

But it wasn’t over; the fallen wolves had somehow glued themselves back into an enormous wooden wolf. It howled and growled at them; its smelly saliva splattered everywhere. It decided to eliminate Gerhard first. It charged in and prepared to attack.

“Scheiße… (Shit).”