Aces' Diary

Chapter 4: Nightmare in the Locked Patient’s Room

The resurrected wooden wolf was charging in, its speed increasing as it neared him. Gerhard couldn’t dodge in time. The impact was critical; he flew through the air and fell on the grassy ground of the field. He grunted painfully, his ribcage cracked from the landing. Bruises and lesions scattered all over his body; some were bleeding. The broken arm from the belly-out struck even more pain to his limb. He lost grip of his Walther during his flight, but he still got his knife sheathed safely in his boot. The wolf ran to him, ready to leap and tear him apart.

Tommy drew his Webley from the holster and cocked it. He took aim at the enormous beast’s head and pulled the trigger. The .455 lead projectile penetrated its neck, the wolf flinched from the shot, but it didn’t deal much damage to the creature. It turned its attention to him, switching from the injured Gerhard to the British ace. It quickly approach him in a zigzag line, circling around to confuse him.

 He cocked his gun, preparing to take another shot. His eyes fixed upon the ferocious beast, trying to predict its movements. It leapt into the air, readied to tear him apart with its sharp wooden claws. He took this opportunity to kill it. He had salvoed every single bullet left in the cylinder before he barely dodged the beast’s pounce. Thomas’ salvo was effective. It groaned painfully and fell on the ground with a loud thud.

“DIE! YOU DEVILISH ABOMINATION!” he shouted victoriously.

It was still struggling to get up and kill both aces and the ponies. While it was trying to get up, he grabbed a fistful of bullets from his pocket. He broke the revolver top open, the shells springing out automaticly. He quickly inserting the bullets into the chambers. The wooden beast finally got up from the ground, trying to catch its bearing. It found where Tommy was and immediately charged him, trying to kill the British man. It leapt into the air in between. He was still loading the last two chambers, struggling to push the bullets in each chamber.

Gerhard still got some consciousness left. He hastily pulled his knife out. It was a good-sized gravity knife, the Luftwaffe’s eagle engraved on the handle. He flipped the small lever to the other side, spun it, and the blade popped out from the handle. He flipped the small lever back, locking the blade in place.

“Auf Wiedersehen, meine Messer (Goodbye, my knife).” he kissed it and threw it at the wolf.

Thomas knew immediately what gerhard was doing. He flung the revolver’s top back, locked it in place, and cocked it. He dropped on the ground, prepared to defend himself. If Gerhard missed, he would be ready to counter the beast. The knife cut through the thin air to its target. It met the beast’s head, cutting through the thick wood like butter. He salvoed half of the cylinder to be sure, resulting in the beast’s downfall. Its soul left the body midair, leaving hundreds of lifeless wooden bits behind. The remaining of the late beast fell on the British ace, causing many massive bruises to his body.

The last gunshot still echoed on the edge of the forest. Everything seemed to freeze in their places, except Gerhard. He was groaning in pain, all the injuries inflicted upon him causing great pain.

“H… Help!” He shouted with all his remaining power. “D-Doktor!” he shouted again to get everyone and everypony attention.

“Yes?” a mysterious voice replied from the bush; it was male for sure.

“No! Doctor, he didn’t mean you,” another mysterious voice scolded quietly from the same bush, this one was female.

“Whoops, my bad Ms. Hooves,” he said.

The ponies heard Gerhard’s scream. They ran to him and quickly, followed by Thomas. He began to blackout, his consciousness starting to fade from the blood loss.

“Quick! We need to get him to the hospital!” Twilight said as she lifted him up with her levitation magic. He grunted quietly. His consciousness was fading more and more every second.

“Too late!” Thomas exclaimed. “Put him down, I could do something.” he ordered. “Fetch me his survival kit!” he ordered, Rainbow Dash hastily picked the box and handed it to him

He ripped his jacket off, this made Rarity gasp and dramatically faint. He examined the German ace’s condition, he got a fairly big stab wound on his right shoulder , many cuts and a broken bone. He took the survival kit from Rainbow Dash and opened it, the last ration and other medical tools. Luckily, before the war he was a doctor. He put on the sterilized gloves on and grabbed a roll of bandage.

“Can you hear me!?” Thomas quickly asked “If you do, give me a sign” Gerhard winked, Thomas satisfied with the respond and continue to patch him up.

“L-Let me help” Fluttershy offered.

“Do you have any experience in this?” he asked, Fluttershy just nodded to reply. “Alright Miss, hold the pressure on his stab wound” he instructed and move Gerhard‘s arm a bit above his heart.

“O-Ok” she followed what she had been told and press the wound, that made Gerhard grunted.

“Stay with me, Jerry. You’ll survive,” he said to boost Gerhard’s morale.

The other ponies stood there, but they had no experience to patch the injured Gerhard. Thomas continued to treat other wounds. He chose to stitch the cut first. He inspected every cut and identified which were deep and shallow. He took out the needle and the surgical string, seems to be covered in dried blood. He was trying to thread the bloodied surgical string, struggling to do so. Rarity suddenly awoke from her faint and levitated both objects from his hands.

“Here, let me help you with that, darling.” She easily threaded the string into the hole.

“Thank you,” he accept the needle back and started stitching the deep cut. “Jerry, you might need this.” He put a piece of bandage in Gerhard’s mouth to prevent him from biting his tongue off. He started to stitch the first cut on Gerhard’s chest. “You’re a seamstress or something, ma’am?” he asked while he was stitching.

“Oh darling! I’m a proud fashionista of Ponyville, maybe even the best in the whole Equestria!” she claimed.

“Alright,” he exclaimed. “That explains why you acted like a loony when you saw our clothes,” he muttered quietly.

“What was that, darling?” she asked

“Nothing...” he said, finishing the last cut.

“Liar!” Applejack shouted. “Mista’, Ah’ could smell a lie a miles away!”

“Could ya save that for later!?” Rainbow Dash said. “We got a casualty here!” She pointed at Gerhard.

The bleeding seemed to have stopped. He grabbed some more bandages and a roll of tape from the box.

“Ms. Fluttershy,” he called her. “Keep the pressure on, I’ll wrap some more bandages.” She nodded and moved a bit, giving Thomas some space to work.

He wrapped the stab wound with the bandage and taped it tightly, but not too tight. Gerhard took a deep breath and sighed, feeling safe at last. Thomas continue to the broken arm. It was’t as serious as the stab.

“Jerry, brace yourself,” he warned Gerhard before grabbing the broken arm. Gerhard nodded and close his eyes, preparing for the pain that would start soon. “One, two, three!” He bent the bone back to the straight line as it was before. Gerhard’s muttered scream could be heard.

“Hold him!” Fluttershy ordered, completely forgetting about her shyness. Her friends obeyed and held down the poor man still. Gerhard screamed and shivered painfully. It died down after a couple of seconds.

The poor ace panted. After the pain was gone, he spat the bandage out of his mouth, His pant slowly died away.

“M-M-My k-k-knife,” Gerhard said, the pain affecting his voice. “G-G-et my knife.” Thomas nodded and walked away.

He pulled the knife from the remains of the beast. Some kind of green goo adhered to the blade. He swung the knife horizontally, hoping to get rid of it. The result came out opposite of what he wanted, it blended with the metal blade. The silver blade merged with the green substance, and it was emitting green light. He was going to ask the ponies, as they might have been able to answer his question. But then, he got a crazy idea.

I should cut something to test it, he thought and walked to the nearby tree. He slashed it, but nothing happened. It left an ordinary slash, nothing special. He walked back to Gerhard. He crouched down and handed him the knife.

“F-Flick the lever, I-It’ll retract back inside...” he instructed, his voice barely audible. Thomas did as he said, and it retracted inside. “P-P-Put it in meine(my) boot.” Thomas obeyed and stood back up. He saluted the fallen ace, then looked at the ponies.

“Everyone!” he spoke up, his shout got the ponies attention. “Is there any hospital nearby?” he asked, and took off the bloody gloves.

“That’s what I was doing!” Twilight exclaimed. “I was going to teleport him to the hospital when you stopped me!”

“Oh, sorry...” he said. “Anyway, we should to get him there immediately,” he suggested. “I’ve done what I can. Now, let’s go.”

“I only have enough power to teleport two at once. That includes myself,” Twilight said. “I’ll take him to the hospital Girls, could you guide him there?” she asked.

“No prob’, sugarcube,” Applejack nodded.

Twilight teleported away. The light from the teleport almost blinded him. He blinked a few times in attempt to regain his vision. Applejack tapped on his hip, getting her attention. He turned to her.

“Er... Sugarcube, Ah’ think we should git’ going.”

“Lead the way,” he replied and then followed Applejack.

They walked and... trotted to the village. It was a long way from the crash-site to the village. They used the dirt road; the road lined on the edge of an apple orchard. Streams flowed through the orchard, ending at a big round lake. They passed a barn, which probably housed cows, from the smell of it.

“So…” Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “How did you know him?” she asked, the others look really curious too.

“Just yesterday,” he answered “He escorted the bombers to bomb our capital, London.” They gasped

“W-Why would he do t-that?” Fluttershy asked

“He was doing his duty...” he answered. “My squadron flew up there to intercept the bogey,” he continued his story as they approached the bridge. “We fought face to face first,” he illustrated the scenario with his hands. Even when simulated with hand motion, it still looked intense. “And then we did some barrel roll—”

“Wow! That’s gotta be so awesome!” Rainbow Dash cut in. Thomas shushed the mare, glaring/staring at her for interrupting. She smiled awkwardly in defense and took a step backward to ensure not to break in again.

 “I got shot down by him.” He skipped the dogfight, which made Rainbow Dash frown. “I almost died back then, but luckily, I bailed and hit the silk in time before my beloved Spitfire crashed it the forest...” He frowned. Pinkie Pie was about cheer him up, but Rarity lifted her hoof to prohibit her.

“Did you say ‘silk’, darling?” Rarity asked

“Well, yeah. It’s a parachute, it helped me to reach the ground unharmed,” he explained and prepare to continue before anyone interrupted again. “I’m pretty sure I saw you, after I bailed out.” He pointed at Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, I was on the way home when I saw something in the sky.” She gestured up to the sky.

“I hid in the bush many times in a row yesterday. And the rest was like what he told you, I saw that beast and threw a rock to lure him away from me. It attacked him, then Fluttershy found the poor bastard and patched him up. I shadowed him; I even snuck in your cottage to check on him!” Fluttershy gave him an uncomfortable look, but he ignored it. “Then I slept in the bloody sleeping bag all night, ‘till I was rudely woke up. And you know the rest” He finished his story when they crossed the bridge.

They were in the town area now, the ponies scattered around the big building, which looked like an important place. They greeted him warmly, saying ‘hello’ or waving at him. He waved and nodded back to the pedestrians. The houses and building looked as if they were built in 15th century. They walked past the fountain, traveling straight along the cobblestone road. They arrived at a square; a big fountain was at the center. They walked past it and turned right. A massive tree stood at the distance.

“That’s Golden Oak Library! Twilight lives there along with her assistant, Spike!” Pinkie Pie pointed at the massive tree that she addressed as a library. “Spike is a baby dragon, they just moved in like last year. The old stallion that worked there had just retired!” Thomas didn’t catch much information due to how fast she spoke. He chose to remember what he understood from the hyperactive pony.

The rest of the trip went quietly. They arrived at the hospital. It had a red cross imprinted on the sign in front of the building and above the top floor’s middle window.

I guess the Red Cross isreally universal... he thought

The building was three stories high. It looked the same as the house in the town. They approached the building, opened the double door, and stepped inside. The hall was almost empty, save for a couple of nurses at the reception and a doctor walking around. Twilight trotted out from the corner.

“He’s in the operation room,” she answered. “I’m sure he’ll be ok.” she said smiling a little. “Thanks to your help; he would be in much worse state without it.”

Thomas smiled. He sighed in relief; it was like he just lifted a five-tonne boulder off his chest. Twilight looked at him, smiling. He didn’t want to lose the only human friend; the only enemy he had in this world. He would do anything he could to save that Kraut.

One of the nurses approached the group. She was a pure white pony with bubble gum pink bun mane. She had the red cross tattoo on her flanks.

Hmm... So, the tattoo on their arse resemble their job? He wondered, as the nurse slowly approached Twilight. She seems a bit nervous getting close to him.

“Miss Sparkle, the… thing you brought in just finished the operation. We managed to speed up the healing process a bit, but he will need to stay here for a few days...” The nurse paused for a moment. “It’s sleeping right now. You all may take a look at him, please be as quiet as possible.” she finished her report and then trotted away. The group was left uninformed about Gerhard whereabout.

“I think we should ask the reception about his whereabout,” Twilight suggested. Thomas nodded and walked up to the counter, trying not to scare the nurses stationed at the desk.

“Err... Hello,” Thomas greeted. “Do you know where is my friend?” he politely asked them without scaring the lives out of their little bodies. “You know, the one that looks like me...” he added.

“H-He’s in r-r-room 37!” the nurse at the counter answered, her voice slightly raised into a higher pitch at the end of the sentence. “G-Go up the stair and turn right, y-you’ll see it on your left.. she added when the group was leaving them. Thomas simply thanked them and walked away.

The group followed the direction given. Some hospital staff peeked from the corner behind, looking curiously at the group. The walk wasn’t long; they finally reached the room with the number 37 on the door. Thomas gently opened the door, afraid that he might wake the injured German or anypony inside.

The room was painted in white. A light bulb in middle of the ceiling lit the room. There were two windows on each side of the room, since it was located on the corner of the building. A person and a pony occupied the room; the bed on the right was occupied by a sleeping greyish pony with black hair. The one on the left, laid the sleeping Gerhard.

Gerhard was still sleeping on the undersized bed. He still wore his bloody uniform; the uniform had been ripped apart, probably by the doctor; this made Rarity scream, but Applejack stopped her and reminded that they were in the hospital. His pilot cap was placed on the nightstand. A tiny spot of dried blood stained the hat.

Thomas looked at his enemy, wondered if he was dreaming; was it nightmare or sweet dream? He has no idea. He knew that his enemy would not wake up soon, so he decided to ask Lyra about her offer. He stood next to the bed, saluted the sleeping ace, and turned to Lyra.

“Lyra, you said that I can stay with you, right?” he asked.

“Y-Yeah, would you like to go check the place out?” she asked back, seeming really excited when he mentioned that. Her friend: Bon Bon, looked at her.

“Aye, let’s go,” said Thomas. Lyra bounced happily out of the room. Thomas and Bon Bon followed suit.

The group was split. Only six mares left in the room. The silence lasted for a couple of seconds, then Twilight broke it.

“Girls, I think we should leave too,” Twilight suggested, “since he isn’t going to wake up any time soon.” The group nodded in understanding.

“Too bad he can’t attend my ‘welcome to Ponyville’ party...” Pinkie Pie’s mane flattened. “But I can still throw him a ‘happy recovered party’!” she shouted. Her mane inflated and become puffy again.

“Shhhh!” the nurse from earlier popped in.

“SORRY!” Pinkie apologized loudly.

“SHHH!” she shushed again.

“Sorry!” Pinkie apologized again.

“BY CELESTIA, COULD YOU BE QUIET!” she yelled.

“SHHH!” the whole group shushed back. The nurse’s face went as red as cherry. She rushed out in embarrassment. The group bursted into laughter, though they kept it quiet.

“Let’s go back ta do our work,” said Applejack after the laughter died down. The group said goodbye and then left the room.

*****

“This is our house!” Lyra claimed excitingly as she pointed at the house. The house looks like it was built in Middle Ages, but it looked a lot brighter. It was a two-story house with little balcony on the second floor.

“Nice house,” Thomas said while trying to remember the route from the hospital to here.

“Let’s go inside, it’s getting cold,” said Bon Bon as she opened the door and trotted in.

The sun was setting, and the moon was already on the horizon. The scenery of the village was absolutely stunning at twilight; the colour was not too bright nor too dark. The ponies at the nearby market were wrapping up their stall and going home. The houses began to turn their lights on. The light glowed in the incoming darkness. This land was peaceful, not like England. He didn’t need to worry about the air raid or any duty. This was the first time in a couple of years that he felt… Harmony.

The trio stepped inside the house. The doorframe was a little too small for him; he needed to bend his knee in order to get through. Bon Bon already turned the light on. The lightbulb in middle of the room shone brightly. The hall was combined with the living room. The stairs were on the left of the door. There were two doors in front of him. He didn't know what lay behind those doors, but he felt sure that Lyra will tour him around the house.

“Make yourself at home,” said Lyra. “That door is the bathroom.” She gestured at the door on the left. “And that’s our kitchen” she gestured at another door. “Upstair is our bedrooms. You could sleep on the couch. Just remember to take your boots off first,” she added.

“Alright, I appreciate your generosity. I’ll help you with your research about us,” said the British ace. “Could I borrow your towel?” he asked. “I think I should take a shower, after all that field operating.”

“Yep, I’ll get it,” said Bon Bon. She trotted upstairs. He waited for her to return.

Wonder What would that Kraut do right now....

*****

Gerhard woke up. His eyes focused quickly. He was lying on his bunk at the airfield. He slowly rose up, massaging his temples. He looked out through the window, it was still daytime. He stood up and walked to the door, the wooden floor creaked as he walked. He reached for the handle and swung it open.

The outside was really bright and colourful. The airfield was nothing but a field with some planes lining up. He walked out to the line of planes, purely Messerschmitt Bf 109’s. The engineer saluted him as he passed by. He saluted them back and carried on with his walk. He finally reached the end of the line, were his wife was busy with his plane.

She was a beautiful girl. She had silky blond hair and blue eyes; like how the propaganda said: The good German girl should be blonde and have blue eyes. She was in her greyish blue engineer’s uniform.

She noticed him approaching. She smiled and wave at him, he did the same thing his wife did.

“Guten Morgen, Schatz (Good morning, honey),” Gerhard greeted.

“Guten Morgen, Ger (Good morning, Ger),” she replied happily.

“Könntet Ihr mir einen Strich? (Could you fetch me a spanner?)” she asked.

“Verstanden.” He walked to her toolbox and grab a spanner. He walked up to her and handed the spanner.

“Danke,” she said and took the spanner. She continued her work and start humming.

“Ich hatte einen wirklich seltsamen Traum (I had a really weird dream),” Gerhard said.

“Was ist es (What’s it?),” she asked.

“Ich stürzte in ein Land voller reden pony (I crashed in a land full of talking ponies). Ich habe von einigen hölzernen Wolf verletzt. Und Tommy ace patchen mich. (I got hurt by some wooden wolf. And Tommy ace patch me up.)” he narrated what he saw.

“Eine seltsame Traum tatsächlich... (A weir dream indeed)” she muttered as she closed the engine lid.

The sudden sounding of the air raid siren startled them. They could see a swarm of Hurricanes and Spitfires in the distance. They knew what this means: a raid. They ran to the nearest trench. The guards manned the anti-aircraft gun: flak 38 vierling, 20mm. The Hurricanes dove down and dropped their bombs at the aircrafts on the ground; many of which were being serviced by the engineers.

They were almost to the trench when a Spitfire descended and sprayed bullets at them. Gerhard was lucky, but his wife wasn’t. She fell to the ground; multiple bullets had penetrated her back.

“AVA!” Gerhard shouted, his eyes went wide. He braked and turned back to his wife.

The raid ended. The swarm fled back toward the channel, leaving destruction behind. Most of the planes were disabled, half of them were on fire, wings fell apart from the fuselages. The black smog from the fire drifted into the sky, obscuring the sun. Every man and woman ran around, putting out the fires.

“Ava, bleib bei mir. (Ava, stay with me.)” Gerhard held her hand. “Lassen Sie mich jetzt (Don’t leave me now.)”

“G-Gerh-har-rd,” she said quietly. Her voice was shaky. “I-Ich l-lieb-be d-dich, S-Sch-atz (I-I l-lov-ve y-you, h-honey.)” her arm went limp, her grip was loosened.

The lifeless body of Gerhard’s love lied in his arms. Tears were welling up in his eyes. He felt a mix of anger and sorrow. He wanted vengeance, but he couldn’t do it.

‘Sogar nach dem Abziehen den Feind zu ihrer Knochen. Am Ende fühlt man nichts, und dann merkt man, dass man nicht anders von ihnen, nachdem alle. (Even after stripping your enemy to their bones. In the end, you feel nothing and then you realize that you weren't any different from them after all.)’ his wife’s voice echoed in his head.

He wiped his tear. Her eyes were still open. He gently closed them. “Auf Wiedersehen (Goodbye)” He felt someone tapping on his shoulder, the hand that had tapped him was pretty big and hard. He turned back, saw a dark blue pony with starry flowing mane.

“WHAT ART THOU? WHAT ART THEE FAFFING IN MY SUBJECT'S SWEVEN” she shouted, the strong wind from the shout pushed him to the ground.

‘That was one of the ponies for sure. But, how did she get here?’ He wondered. I’m sure that was English, but… I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHE SAID!’ he thought.

“Errr, can you be a bit softer?” he asked, smiling cheekily. “Und maybe speak the proper English?” She froze there, shocked that the creature in front of her speaks. Gerhard raised his brow, waiting for the answer.

“What art thou?!” she asked, with a bit lowered volume.

“Ich (I) am Gerhard Barkhorn, proud ace of the Luftwaffe,” he introduced. “Und (and) you?” he asked back.

“WE ARE PRINCESS LUNA, THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!” She covered her muzzle with her hoof.

“It’s ok,” he said assuringly. “You said something about me: fooling around in your subject’s dream, ja?” he asked. She slightly nodded. “So, this ist (is) just ein (a) dream?” She nodded again. “Verflucht seist du, Alptraum. (Curse you, nightmare)” Gerhard swore under his breath, so she wouldn’t hear it.

“State thy business in our subject’s dream, Gerhard Barkhorn.”

“This ist mein (is my) dream” stated Gerhard.

“Thine dream?” she said, sounded confused.Gerhard simply nodded.

“Ja, mein (Yes, my) dream,” he emphasized.

“What art thou doing in ye town o’ Ponyville?”

“From what I remembered: I crashed in this world, in the forest. Der wooden wolf attacked; I was heavily wounded. My enemy patched me up, and a pony named Twilight Sparkle took me to the hospital before I passed out.” The Princess stood there, thinking about what he said.

Several waves of air radiated from the spot he stood on, startling the pilot.

“Thou art waking up,” she said quickly. “We shall be gone at once.” Suddenly, she somehow flew backward, along with every object nearby. The airfield disappeared and was replaced with darkness.

*****

Princess Luna opened her eyes; the sight of the palace surrounded her again. The room was pretty quiet, since it was her royal chamber. She stood up on all fours; planning to go awake her sister.

We must inform our sister immediately.