Bridge over River Rijn

by Wheller

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8

Chapter 1

Chronology notes:
Stop! You are reading the seventh story in the Bonds of Eternity Series.

The first story in the series is Family found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1307/

The second story in the series is Nihil Novi Sub Sole found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1444/

The third story in the series is Friends in High Places found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1716/

The fourth story in the series is Trust found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/1973/

The fifth story in the series is Domino Effect found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2151/

The sixth story in the series is To Whom It May Concern found here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2465/

Bridge over River Rijn
Chapter 1

Rainbow Dash found herself pacing back and forth on the balcony outside Twilight Sparkle’s room. She had quietly snuck out of bed and out into the cool, February air. Already February, Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe it. January had passed them by; they had not noticed that the year 1001 and turned to 1002 during their trip to the Divide.

These were difficult times. Everyone living in the Ponyville public library couldn’t help but feel on edge. Rainbow Dash had already been having trouble sleeping, Nightmares of her old world death still haunted her, and sleep did not come easy for the pegasi mare.

Twilight too, did not sleep well, Rainbow Dash knew that many nights, Twilight would lie awake, quietly holding Rainbow Dash close to her, afraid that if she let go that she would be lost to her forever.

Even Vinyl Scratch spent many nights crying herself to sleep, though she would have never admitted it. Vinyl maintained that she was fine, but she had not been the same since Derpy Hooves’... make that Ditzy Doo now, last visit.

Rainbow Dash looked up to hear the flutter of wings, she smiled as her visitor landed on the balcony. “Thanks for coming on such short notice. I appreciate it.”

“Of course,” Princess Luna said as she sat down in the snow covered balcony. “What can I assist you with, Rainbow Dash?”

“I’m worried about Twilight and Vinyl,” Rainbow Dash said. “Well, to tell you the truth, I’m worried about all of us. I mean, it’s been nothing but constant conflict since we got back from the Hoofson bay, Legion, the Divide... all of it. I’m worried that if we don’t get a break, we’re all going to crack under the pressure... heck, you know things are bad when I have to be the voice of reason!”

Princess Luna nodded in agreement. “I have been keeping an eye and an ear on Vinyl Scratch since we returned from South Island. I find myself agreeing with you. This Legion... he is a threat to all in Equestria, and we rely on our heroes far too much. We put too much pressure on them.”

Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement.

“But, Equestria will hold long enough for its heroes to take deserved rest,” Princess Luna said. “I think a holiday for you all is in store... I am thinking... the Low Countries! I will make the arrangements; Hadrian Goyle owes me a few favours.”

...

“No!” Pinkie Pie called out as she dug through her closet, which had already had many of its contents thrown about haphazardly about the room. “No! No! No! Not impressive enough!”

Pinkie Pie pulled her head back out of the closet and turned around to discover the huge mess that she had made about her room/sometimes laboratory. She had noticed that she lost Gummy somewhere under everything. The toothless alligator was however the least of her concern.

“I’m never going to impress Twilight at this rate!” Pinkie Pie cried out in frustration. Pinkie Pie sat down and let out a sigh. Pinkie Pie had a secret, one that she had never breathed to a living soul, apart from Gummy who was unable to tell anyone else about it. She was in love with Twilight Sparkle.

Her hobbies of explosive making and chemistry had stemmed from a desire to impress Twilight. That Pinkie Pie was not just the jarring, random, hyperactive, baker and confectionary, but that she could also be quite the intellectual, and that she had a skilled and steady hoof. The plan had back fired horribly, and Twilight had just attributed it to her randomness.

Well, that was the persona that Pinkie Pie had built for herself, now she had to live with the consequences of it.

Pinkie Pie in public was far different than Pinkie Pie in private, when she was by herself, Pinkie Pie was as normal as any other pony, when she was by herself, Pinkie Pie had much more in common with Fluttershy, while in public, she had more in common with say, Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie looked around at the mess that she had created; she let out a sigh and began to pick it up. Pinkie Pie was different in public because she thought that her friends wouldn’t like her if they knew the real her.

The private Pinkie Pie was how she had been at home, before she had been kicked out and she had come to Ponyville. That had been the real her. She had had not a single friend at home; there had been fillies and colts that lived on nearby farms, real farms, farms that actually grew things. Pinkie Pie had lived a sad childhood, and as a result, none of the other children ever wanted to play with her.

After Pinkie Pie had thrown her first party, she didn’t want to work the “rock farm” anymore, she wanted to have fun. While her parents had enjoyed the party that she had thrown, they had not expected her to make a habit of it, when she did, they kicked her out.

She remembered that day well, for that day, had happened to be her birthday.

As a result, Pinkie Pie found her birthday was a day that she had wanted to forget. She thought back to her last birthday, Twilight and Co. had been secretly putting together a party for her. Pinkie Pie had not forgotten that it was her birthday, as she had claimed.

On the contrary, she had been trying to forget it.

Pinkie Pie shook the thoughts from her mind, thinking about it made her sad, she had to go out soon, she would be needing to put on her mask, and having a crying fit would just make it harder. She thought about Twilight, thinking about Twilight always put a smile on her face...

Or, at least it had in the past... that was before Rainbow Dash and Twilight had gotten together. Rainbow Dash and Twilight had sat all of them down and told them about the old world, and how the two of them had gotten together.

Pinkie Pie was starting to cry, she supposed, on some level, that she was happy that Twilight and Rainbow Dash were happy. She was happy that she was still friends with both... but she couldn’t help but feel jealous. She had loved Twilight since she had first come to town.

Twilight had said hello to her, and Pinkie Pie didn’t know what to say in response. (Though in hindsight, ‘hello’ probably would have been good enough,) she panicked and ran off, after calming down somewhat, and realising that she had probably blown her shot, she got the brilliant idea to throw the newcomer a party! That was sure to have worked!

It didn’t, Twilight had not been enthusiastic about the party, and once again, Pinkie Pie felt stupid for having blown her shot again.

Then Nightmare Moon came, and Pinkie Pie, along with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack banded together with Twilight to save Equestria! The rest, as they say, was history.

A knock came at the door, Pinkie Pie shot up in surprise. “Just a minute!” she cried out, and quickly ran into the bathroom. She couldn’t let anypony see that she had been crying. They would ask too many questions. Pinkie Pie hopped into the bathtub and turned it on, allowing cold water to run over her head and body for a few seconds before she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her, she then went back over to her door and opened it up. It was Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Dashie!” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. “Sorry! You caught me in the middle of a bath, what’s up!?”

“Hey Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash said with just as much cheer. “Sorry, about that, didn’t mean to interrupt, I just wanted to let you know that we’re having a meeting at the Library today at three, if you could be there, that’d be great!”

“Of course!” Pinkie Pie called out. “I’ll finish my bath and be right over! See you at three!”

Rainbow Dash waved goodbye, and trotted off, Pinkie Pie closed the door and let out a sigh of relief. That had been close.

Pinkie Pie looked at the clock, it was one thirty right now. She figured that she might as well go ahead and take a bath. She had time to kill.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Fillydelphia!” Vinyl Scratch proclaimed as the group trotted over the last snow capped hill. It had been a couple days since Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Vinyl Scratch, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Surprise had set out from Ponyville, following the southern road towards the port city on Equestria’s eastern seaboard. Fillydelphia was the most important shipping port, not only in Equestria, but in the entire planet’s western hemisphere.

“Got to hand it to you Rainbow Dash, you certainly know how to take a girl nice places! You’ll want to hold on to this one Twilight,” Vinyl said with a grin.

Everyone in the group chuckled, with the exception of Twilight, who had just looked incredibly embarrassed, and Pinkie Pie, who had deliberately hung back from the rest of the group as to not have the expression seen.

“Thanks, but Fillydelphia isn’t where we’re taking our holiday!” Rainbow Dash said. “Our destination is... well it’s a...”

Rainbow Dash turned her head to eye the white Pegasus mare who grinned widely. “A SURPRISE!”

“Exactly,” Rainbow Dash said, ruffling her fellow pegasi’s mane.

“Rainbow Dash...” Twilight said. “You told me you were taking us to Fillydelphia...”

“And here we are!” Rainbow Dash proclaimed loudly.

“You didn’t say anything about going anywhere else...” Twilight said, eyeing her suspiciously.

“You didn’t ask,” Rainbow Dash said, feeling extremely proud of herself, although, the more she thought about it, wasn’t any different than how she usually was. “Come on! Follow me!” she said as she picked up her step and trotted off towards the harbour. The rest of the group fell in behind her, choosing not to ask questions that they knew they were not going to get answers to.

Down in the harbour, the group couldn’t help but look around at all the ships in mooring. Most of them were of Equestrian origin, and one could tell by the rigging and the wooden hulls. Most of them were equipped with a steam driven paddlewheel, and had a single smokestack between the two masts.

Ships like these were common in Equestria in this day and age. Steam driven ships were needed so that Equestria could compete with the likes of Welara, South Island, and Zhosa-Borwa on the world market. One needed to get goods to other markets relatively quickly.

Rainbow Dash led them all along the docks to the far end. There was a single ship moored at the end of the docks unlike any other that was around it.

This one had a metal hull, some sixty metres in length. At the front of the ship was a tower, which held the bridge, along the side were several fixed large gun emplacements. And scurrying about the decks or maybe it was more accurate to say... hopping about, where kangaroos.

Everypony’s jaw dropped in shock, even Surprise.

“Everypony?” Rainbow Dash said. “Meet the HMSIS Dash! Yes, that is it’s real name, no, I did not name it.”

“What’s HMSIS stand for?” Pinkie Pie asked, poking her head around the group.

“Not a clue!” Rainbow Dash pronounced.

“That would be, ‘His Majesty’s South Island Ship.’” Said a voice belonging to a kangaroo who was leaning against the railing on the side of the ship. Everyone turned to look at him. Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle and Vinyl Scratch recognised him immediately.

“Trooper Willoughby?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“Fusilier Willoughby now, thanks.” Willoughby said, grinning down at the ponies below him. “I see you remember me now Rainbow Dash. Glad to hear it! How about you Twilight?”

Twilight nodded her head in affirmation.

“Benny? What are you doing here?” Vinyl Scratch asked looking up at him.

“Well a fine hello to you Vinyl Scratch, you didn’t write like you said you were going to, so I came to kick your arse!” Willoughby said with a grin. “Nah, when Princess Luna makes a request of the Governor General of South Island, in person, turning up in the middle of the night on his door step, he’s hardly in the position to say no. ‘A ship to take several Equestrian VIPs from Fillydelphia to Trotterdam, and Fusilier Benjamin Willoughby of the Royal Kingsland Fusiliers Regiment needs to be on it!’ I’m told it was quite a sight. I knew I liked her!”

“Trotterdam?” Twilight asked, glancing between Willoughby at Rainbow Dash.

“Okay, I can’t take credit for that part,” Rainbow Dash said with resignation in her voice. “That one was Princess Luna’s idea. I thought we’d all been under too much stress and needed a holiday, she helped me make the arrangements.”

Trotterdam was the most important port city in the world, a bustling city with millions of ponies, boer goats, schäferhund, and kangaroos. Situated along the Rijn River, it was the heart of the continent of Europa, the worlds most populated, and the heart of the Low Countries.

“We need this break, girls,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s been nothing but conflict since we got back from the Hoofson Bay, we go much longer, we’ll crack under the pressure! So come on, let’s go! Let’s have fun! Equestria will still be here when we get back.”

Rainbow Dash turned and looked directly at Twilight. “You always did say you wanted to see the Low Countries Twilight. Well now’s the time!”

Twilight found a smile forming on her face. “All right, let’s go!”

The group boarded HMSIS Dash causing Willoughby to smile brightly at them. “Great! I’ll let the lef-tenant commander know to depart!”

...

HMSIS Dash lived up to her name, she was a fast ship. Willoughby explained that the type of ship was called a “Corvette,” small, fast, and lightly armed compared to the Royal South Island Navy’s larger, heavier, slower, ships.

Twilight Sparkle found herself being sea sick for three days out of the week’s journey between Fillydelphia and Trotterdam, she spent most of those three days hanging over the side railing, vomiting profusely, while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie held onto her for support.

“You know, Twilight, I happen to know of a seasickness remedy!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

“What is it?” Twilight asked between fits of vomiting.

“Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol,” Pinkie Pie said with a bright smile.

Rainbow Dash gave her an odd look. “Equestrian? Pinkie Pie?”

“What? That’s what it’s called!” Pinkie Pie said. “I’ve heard ginger works too.”

At the same time, Rarity and Fluttershy passed the time by lounging on the bow, the kangaroos had been kind enough to procure some deck chairs while they were in Fillydelphia, Fluttershy sat, wearing a sun hat and sunglasses as she read a magazine. Rarity was content to sunbathe and chat with the kangaroo seamen; February had just turned to March, in the direct sunlight, it was quite warm out.

Surprise and Vinyl Scratch had taken to more mischievous activities, like using the Dash’s guns to shoot potatoes as far as possible. Vinyl would shoot them; Surprise would fly out and try to catch them, and getting in trouble with the ship’s Lieutenant Commander for it.

Of the oddest of these groups, Vinyl Scratch and Surprise were clearly the oddest. The two had turned from hated enemies, to working together as a necessary evil, to forging an actual friendship, something which Twilight and Rainbow Dash had originally considered impossible to have happened, but looking at it discovered that it was true.

On the fourth day, Twilight’s seasickness subsided after Pinkie Pie found some ginger in the Dash’s galley. Vinyl Scratch had been forced to pay for a replacement gun for the Dash. Rarity had nearly fallen overboard, but Fluttershy had caught her and dragged her back over the rails using all the strength that she could muster, which actually had proven that the meek Pegasus was a lot stronger than she looked. Rainbow Dash had caught a cold after accidentally falling asleep on deck and was confined to bed so that the seamen wouldn’t catch it.

The fifth and sixth days had involved Twilight and Pinkie Pie spending a lot of time together, something that the pink party pony was very happy about.

On the seventh day, Rainbow Dash’s cold subsided, and HMSIS Dash pulled into the Trotterdam harbour.

The Lieutenant Commander had asked that they stay below deck during the time it would take to dock. The Equestrian “VIPs” had proven to be more trouble than they were worth and he wanted to keep them out of the way in order to keep them from damaging any more of his ship than they already had.

Vinyl Scratch had apologised for the eighth time at that point.

Willoughby came and fetched them when they pulled in and finished up with docking and led them out of the lower decks and up out on top. That was when they caught their first glimpse of Trotterdam. The huge port was quite simply, the most amazing city that they had even seen in their entire lives.

“Well, here we are girls,” Rainbow Dash said. “I don’t know about you all, but I’m ready to have a good time!”

Rainbow Dash was the first to step off the ship, Twilight following close behind her. This was going to be fun.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was no sooner than the group of troublemakers stepped off the boat that they had found themselves, and by themselves, meant Fluttershy, causing another incident.

Fluttershy had been caught up in the wonder of Trotterdam and had not been paying attention to where she was going; rather she was looking up and around her at her surroundings. Being from a small town with a small population, this was rarely ever an issue, however Trotterdam was not a small town.

Fluttershy had accidentally walked into someone else on the docks. “Oh I’m so sorry, I... eek!” Fluttershy looked up and squeaked quietly, cowering in fear. She had just walked into a Schäferhund. Fluttershy had never seen one before, but they had been described to her as being like dogs. Fluttershy had assumed that they would look something like Applejack’s dog, Winona. This was not the case entirely.

This Schäferhund was a huge creature, at least three times her size with short, shaggy fur covering his entire body. His ears rose up and were twitching slightly, his eyes were small and beady, and they did not move away from the meek Pegasus that had run into their owner. He was snarling at her, exposing big, sharp, dangerous looking teeth. He was wearing a storm harness with two submachine guns attached to them.

Fluttershy wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and stop existing. “Please don’t hurt me!” she squeaked.

“So! What do we have here? That’s some pretty impressive hardware you got there buddy!” Vinyl Scratch said as she stepped into view, examining the Schäferhund’s submachine guns, the Schäferhund took one eye off of Fluttershy and began to look at Vinyl. “Maschinenpistole 9?” Vinyl asked.

The Schäferhund did not answer, however he continued to watch her as she circled him.

“Not bad... I suppose, I’ve found that 9mm calibre is a... well, a little on the weak side for me, if you know what I mean. Go big or go home, I always say!” Vinyl said. “If I’m going to use a submachine gun, I need 10mm calibre, minimum. I get it though, 9mm is easier to control, but if you’re using a submachine gun, you need a bit of power behind you, don’t you agree?” Vinyl asked with a grin.

The Schäferhund didn’t answer; he merely continued to watch her.

“Though, personally, I don’t like submachine guns that much at all. I’m more of a revolver kind of girl,” Vinyl said. “11mm magnum all the way, Emerald Ordinance knows how to make a good cartridge... best cartridge in the world. No?”

Once again, the Schäferhund didn’t answer.

“Well. Not exactly the biggest I’ve used. Got my hooves on a nephite 12.7mm pistol once. Now, you want impressive? That’s a good pistol cartridge... too bad they don’t let anybody else have it, am I right?”

The Schäferhund only gave a chuckle, nodding his head and turning towards her.

“You know what you are talking about, pony. I am impressed.” The Schäferhund said, he continued to chuckle and turned and walked away.

Vinyl looked over to Fluttershy and grinned widely at her.

“How did you do that?” Fluttershy asked getting up from the ground.

“He’s a Schäferhund, you just need to know how to speak their language... I’m a little surprised that Trotterdam lets him walk around with his submachine guns though,” Vinyl said.

“Probably because it would be a worse idea trying to take them away from him,” Willoughby said, as he hopped over to them. “Schäferhund see their guns as sort of a status symbol. They get violent when somebody tries to take them away from them... they have no problems with somebody asking them to hand over their ammunition though.”

They group walked out of the harbour and into the city proper, Rainbow Dash told them of the arrangements that Princess Luna had set up for them, they would be meeting up at the hotel for dinner at 1800.

“Oh I cannot believe we are here!” Rarity called out. “Come on Fluttershy! It’s time to go shopping!” Rarity grabbed Fluttershy and enthusiastically dragged the meek Pegasus off towards the city’s fashion district. Likewise, Vinyl Scratch, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Fusilier Willoughby went off in another direction in order to catch up with each other.

Pinkie Pie glanced around, she had been left behind, and she let out a small sigh, and then discovered that she had not been left alone after all. Surprise was sitting a few metres behind her, staring off blankly into space. Pinkie Pie turned around and walked up to her.

Pinkie Pie had not had much of the opportunity to get to know Surprise very well... but there was something about her that bothered Pinkie Pie, it wasn’t anything that she had done to her personally. It was just a sort of feeling that she had.

“Hi!” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully. “Looks like it’s just you and me! What do you want to do!?”

Surprise looked up at Pinkie Pie and studied her silently for a few moments, Pinkie Pie felt slightly uncomfortable having those huge, blood red eyes, trained on her, analysing every square centimetre of her.

“Why are you so sad?” Surprise asked.

Pinkie Pie was alarmed at the question. “Wha...at? I’m not sad! Silly filly! I’m Pinkie Pie, I’m always happy!” Pinkie managed an unconvincing smile. Surprise continued to watch with a neutral expression on her face.

“Okay!” Surprise said with a smile. “If you say so! Want to go explore the town!?”

“Sure!” Pinkie Pie said, sighing with relief on the inside, and the two of them began to skip merrily down the street.

...

Fluttershy and Rarity trotted down the road of the fashion district in Trotterdam. Rarity had become absorbed in her surroundings and was barely paying attention. Fluttershy looked around to discover that the street was filled with ponies, boer goats, and even a few kangaroos. Big, scruffy schäferhund were nowhere to be seen, helping to put Fluttershy at ease. Her heart rate had finally settled back down from the incident. Oh those teeth! How big they were!

Fluttershy was however, blushing profusely, because she noticed that many of the ponies on the street were smiling at her.

“Dat is het mooiste pony die ik ooit heb gezien!” one of the street ponies said, pointing Fluttershy out to his boer goat friend.

“Ja ja! Zij is niet slecht!” the boer goat said in response.

Fluttershy had no idea what they were saying, but the tone of their voices seemed to indicate that they were saying nice things about her, Fluttershy’s face was bright red.

Rarity stopped right in her tracks, causing Fluttershy to run right into the back of her. Rarity had found a shop that she wanted to go into and promptly dragged Fluttershy in with her.

One of the shop’s saleponies walked right up to them, smiling brightly at them.

“Hallo, mijn naam is Katrijn. Welkom in De Winkel. Hoe kan ik u helpen?” the salepony asked.

Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but then she realised that she hadn’t understood a word that the salepony said. She glanced to Fluttershy, who promptly shook her head, she hadn’t understood either.

“Uh... speak... Equestrian?” Rarity asked.

“Vy govorite po- kazak?” the salepony asked again, this language was clearly different than the one that she had spoken in before.

Rarity looked confused, again. She glanced to Fluttershy for help, but once again, the meek Pegasus could offer none.

“How about Wallish?” the salepony asked. “How about now? Do you understand?”

“Oh! Yes yes yes!” Rarity cried out. “I do apologise! I can only imagine what you think of us.”

“No no no... It is quite all right, we have many tourists from all over the world. My name is Katrijn. I would be very happy to assist you... I have a feeling you will be needing much help, no?” Katrijn said with a smile.

Rarity returned the salespony’s kindness with a smile of her own. “Well, if our previous attempts at communication were of any indication, we most certainly will.”

...

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Vinyl Scratch, and Fusilier Willoughby had found a nice, quiet place in the park where they could catch up. Vinyl had brought Willoughby back up to speed on events that had caused Twilight and Rainbow Dash to regain their old world memories.

Willoughby was quite concerned when Legion had been brought up. “Well hell Shelia. I thought this new world was supposed to make everything better!?”

“Some things are,” Vinyl said, her thoughts trailing to Scootaloo, who in this world had a loving family. She did her best to stifle back tears, she missed that filly.

“Still, a lot of it seems like it’s been all for nothing... except for you Rainbow Dash! I’m certainly glad you’re not dead.”

“You better be!” Rainbow Dash said with a grin.

The group sat quietly for a moment, then they looked out across the street to see that Pinkie Pie and Surprise were skipping merrily down the street, in perfect synch with each other.

“Okay... now that’s just more than a little creepy,” Vinyl proclaimed.

All of them agreed.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Pinkie Pie and Surprise trotted out of a sweet shop that had been along the river front, and made their way over to a park bench and sat down on it. Both of them were sucking on gigantic lollipops that were nearly the size of their head.

Pinkie Pie looked over to see that Surprise was staring at her.

“Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle?” She asked.

“What? What do you mean?” Pinkie Pie asked nervously.

“One of them makes you sad, is it Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle?” Surprise asked.

“What?! Neither of them makes me sad!” Pinkie Pie snapped defensively. “You’re crazy!”

“Yes,” Surprise said flatly. “Which one?”

Pinkie Pie started to become flustered, she was panicking she looked around and hoped to Celestia that none of their friends were in the general vicinity. She was lucky, they weren’t. Pinkie Pie let out a sigh of relief, and looked back at Surprise. The Pegasus could see right through her, and there was no use in denying it any longer.

“Twilight...” Pinkie Pie said, her ears drooping slightly. “Look, I don’t want to talk about it, okay? Not here.”

Surprise rose to her hooves and hopped off the bench; she stepped in front of Pinkie Pie and stared profusely at her.

“What are you doing?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Where do you want to go to talk about it?” Surprise asked.

Pinkie Pie kicked herself for her prior choice of words. “I don’t want to talk about it at all!” she said.

“Not an acceptable answer,” Surprise said, blinking once. “You have two choices, you get up and we go somewhere private to talk, or I bite down on your tail and drag you there. It’s up to you.”

“Or...” Pinkie Pie said, getting to her hooves. “I can run away.”

Pinkie started to move her legs to run, but no sooner than did she pick one of her hooves up off the ground did Surprise tackle her to the ground. Pinkie Pie groaned loudly.

“I’m faster than you are,” Surprise said. She got off Pinkie Pie and helped her to her hooves.

“Fine,” Pinkie Pie said with annoyance in her voice. She saw that there was going to be no way out of this mess, she and Surprise trotted down the street and made their way for the hotel that they would be staying in.

...

“Oh Fluttershy, you know, despite my initial misgivings, you really shouldn’t have given up modelling! You look simply fabulous!” Rarity proclaimed.

Fluttershy eyed herself in De Winkel’s mirror, she had put on a blue cocktail dress, and turned to look at all angles.

“It’s... nice,” Fluttershy said simply.

“Miss Fluttershy used to model?” Katrijn asked as she looked Fluttershy over. “I suppose I should not be surprised. She is quite beautiful!”

Fluttershy turned a bright red.

“Oh Fluttershy is quite adorable when she’s embarrassed, don’t you agree Katrijn?” Rarity asked with a grin.

“Oh yes! Very much so,” Katrijn admitted, perhaps far too enthusiastically to have been proper, given the situation that they were in.

“We’ll take it! It shall be perfect for tonight!” Rarity said with just as much enthusiasm. Fluttershy looked at Rarity with confusion; they had not talked about doing anything that evening, at least... not yet.

“Oh? Big plans? Night on the town, as they say?” Katrijn asked.

“Oh, yes yes yes!” Rarity said. “I have heard all about the club scene in Trotterdam! So fashionable! So... in!”

“Oh yes! Very much so Miss Rarity. Very much so indeed,” Katrijn said, she trotted around the corner to pick up the rest of their purchases. Rarity leaned in close and whispered into Fluttershy’s ear.

“She likes you,” Rarity said.

“What? Oh! I’m sure she is just being nice...” Fluttershy said with a small squeak.

Rarity chuckled. Katrijn was a quite attractive mare, about their equal in age, a crème coloured earth pony with a chestnut mane, which right now had been pulled back into a bun. Rarity could only imagine what it looked like while it was down. Katrijn was being nice, sure, but she was being nice for a reason that Fluttershy was either too shy to admit, or she was really that socially oblivious. Regardless of the reason, the fashionista had a plan.

When Katrijn returned with the remaining items, Rarity sprung into action.

“Katrijn? Are you by chance doing anything this evening?”

“Why... no, as a matter of fact I was not. Why do you ask Miss Rarity?” Katrijn asked.

“Well, it’s just that... well this is our first time in town, and well, we don’t really know where anything is. We don’t speak the language... we were lucky to have found this place, and I figured we could really use someone who knows the town to help us! We were wondering if maybe you would like to accompany us this evening? I know Fluttershy would love to have you along.”

Fluttershy looked at Rarity in shock; Katrijn gave them a big smile. “I would love to; I get off at nineteen hundred. I will meet you back here at say, twenty hundred?”

“Excellent! We shall see you then Katrijn,” Rarity said.

Fluttershy said nothing, just looking down at the floor as the two of them walked out of the shop.

“Rarity...” Fluttershy said. “What was that about!?”

“Fluttershy, Darling! I just got you a date!” Rarity said with a grin.

...

Twilight & co were half way back to their hotel for dinner when they ran into Fluttershy and Rarity. Rarity had informed them that they would not be joining them for dinner after all, as Rarity had set Fluttershy up on a date.

Naturally, Rarity’s presence would be required to insure that Fluttershy wouldn’t try to flee the scene.

Likewise, Pinkie Pie and Surprise did not show up for dinner either, though for what reason, the group did not know. Twilight was somewhat concerned, though, Vinyl Scratch was not.

“Relax, Surprise might be crazy, but so is Pinkie Pie. They’ll be fine,” Vinyl said as the four of them sat down to dinner.

Willoughby sighed at the chance for a meal. “I’m so glad to be away from South Island right now, a break is nice!”

“What? You tired of the sun, dirt, and the high instances of wildlife that and kill you?” Vinyl asked with a grin. “Eh Benny?”

“What are you kidding? No, that’s not it at all! My bunk mate at regimental command is a dingo; you should see the way he eats! It’s a nightmare!”

“They let dingoes into the SIA?” Vinyl asked. “Didn’t they have a huge problem with dingo raiders when we were last at South Island?”

“Oh no, you misunderstand,” Willoughby said simply. “Dingo raiders are a minority of the dingo population, there are plenty of dingoes in infantry regiments. Even in the old world there were.”

Their waiter walked up to the group and greeted them with a smile. “Hallo, wat zou je graag willen eten?” he said, causing everypony in the group to look at each other in confusion.

Wiloughby only chuckled at them. “Don’t worry, I got this.” Willoughby turned to the waiter and gave him a smile. “Hallo. Ons wil graag vier tuin slaaie asseblief.”

“Ja, meteen,” the waiter said and promptly went off to put the order in.

“You speak the language?” Twilight asked.

“Nope!” Willoughby said with a grin. “I don’t speak Nederlands... I do, however speak Afrikneigh, which is similar enough that the locals will understand... most of... what I say. You ever join a military? Learn a language; it’ll help, trust me.”

The waiter promptly bought back four salads for the group, right on what, and they quickly dug in. They could only imagine how the other’s first night in the bustling city was fairing...

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Pinkie Pie and Surprise arrived at the hotel. They had been the first of the group and checked in under their reservation.

Pinkie Pie had not realised until that moment how much expense Princess Luna had gone to until that moment. The Concierge escorted them to their suite, which had taken up the entire top floor of the hotel. Pinkie Pie’s jaw dropped right open. The suite was huge, eight bedrooms, each with their own bath. There was a kitchen, fully stocked with fruits and vegetables... and various meat products clearly intended for Schäferhund or Gryphon guests. These would be going untouched, actually, they would probably need to hide them, lest Fluttershy see them and have a panic attack.

Pinkie Pie opened one of the suite’s windows and promptly tossed all the meat products out the window, realising instantly that that had been a poor choice. From the street below, a voice in an odd accent that Pinkie Pie guessed belonged to a tourist from Welara called out.

‘IT’S RAINING MEAT!’

‘HALLELUJAH!’ called out another voice that sounded suspiciously like Vinyl Scratch.

Pinkie Pie promptly closed the window and hoped that no one had seen where it had all come from.

The main room was filled with a number of different incredibly comfortable looking sofas, each with an end table with a very fancy looking lamp on it. At the far end of the room was a giant television set. This had been the first time Pinkie Pie had seen one in person, they existed in Equestria, sure, but they were expensive, nopony in Ponyville was going to be able to afford one. She had seen pictures of one before in a magazine, but otherwise, that was it.

She promptly went over to it, turning the control dial to power it on. The television crackled to life, sound came out of box instantly, while the cathode ray tube took a few seconds to warm up. A monochromatic picture slowly came to life on the screen before her, Pinkie Pie sat down, having to get up and move back twice in order to comfortably look at it. Pinkie Pie didn’t understand what the people on the television were saying, it was all in Nederlands. She got back up and turned the dial again, hoping to catch something that she would understand. Lucking out, she had discovered something on a channel called “WBC,” which Pinkie Pie quickly discovered to be based in Welara.

‘...A combined Walish-Cheval force make haste for the Medius sea, hoping that swift response will put an end to the Said Canal crisis. The Misr government has so far, not issued a response to Welaran threats, this comes only a day after the Misr nationalisation of the Said Canal, the gateway to Bharat, and the closing of the canal to all but Misr shipping. A spokespony of the Cheval Republic had...’

Pinkie Pie promptly grew bored of the news programme and shut the television off. She looked up, having noticed that she had lost Surprise somewhere in the suite.

‘Surprise?’ Pinkie Pie called out. ‘Surprise!? Where did you go?’

Pinkie Pie trotted by a closet, not noticing that it was slightly ajar, Surprise burst from it, tackling Pinkie Pie to the ground. ‘SURPRISE!’ She shouted as she made contact.

Surprise had pinned Pinkie Pie to the ground, and having been startled, hiccupped loudly. She hiccupped again, and began to giggle, Surprise smiled widely at the event. ‘I made you smile!’

Pinkie Pie hiccupped again, nodding in affirmation, and took in a deep breath, within a few seconds, she released the breath to cure her hiccups. Surprise let her up and the two of them sat down on the floor and looked at each other.

‘Tell me what makes you sad’, Surprise said.

Pinkie Pie glanced down at the ground shamefully and let out a small sigh. Surprise had seen right through the mask that she wore. Pinkie Pie figured it was time to own up for it.

‘I’m in love with Twilight Sparkle’, Pinkie Pie said, her ears drooped, and she began to cry. ‘Ever since she came to town, I loved her, and then one day she starts dating my best friend. On one hoof, I’m happy that they’re happy... on the other hoof, I want Twilight to love me instead’.

Surprise wrapped her forelegs around Pinkie Pie and pulled her in for a tight hug. Pinkie Pie looked to the Pegasus and gave her a smile. ‘Thank you’, she said.

‘You’re welcome’, Surprise said softly. She continued to hold Pinkie Pie this way until the pink pony had stopped crying.

...

Fluttershy was nervous, to say the least. She had never been on a date before, not ever. Worst of all, Fluttershy wasn’t even sure if she liked mares in the romantic way. She brought this up to Rarity, who countered with the fact that Fluttershy didn’t know if she liked stallions in the romantic way either.

Fluttershy had to agree, Rarity had a point.

Fluttershy was already wearing her dress. Rarity had taken it upon herself into making Fluttershy look at her best, and had waited until just before they left to curl the Pegasus mare’s mane. Fluttershy was sure that if anypony else that they knew could see them now, that they wouldn’t have recognised her for how different she looked.

Rarity had put much effort into her mane, with her own take on a manestyle of a film actress native to the Low Countries, Auvergne Hoofburn, and was wearing a dress that was as equally blue as Fluttershy’s, though slightly longer, her reasons for choosing it being that she didn’t want to stick out, not this evening.

No, this night belonged to Fluttershy.

They met Katrijn outside de winkel. Her mouth fell wide open upon laying eyes on Fluttershy. ‘Geweldig!’ she cried out, causing Fluttershy to blush, she didn’t know what it meant, but she had a guess.

Katrijn was wearing a dress not unlike Fluttershy’s, but in black, and it had looked as if she had recently cut her hair short for the occasion. Fluttershy wanted to tell her that she looked beautiful, but found herself too scared to, at least until Rarity nudged her with a slight kick.

‘Katrijnyoulookbeautifultonight!’ Fluttershy squeaked in what looked like a single movement of her mouth to Rarity.

Katrijn smiled softly at the Pegasus, who was turning redder and redder by the minute.

‘Thank you, but I think this evening belongs to you, you are simply the most stunning mare I have looked upon’, Katrijn said, giggling slightly as Fluttershy had turned beat red.

‘Fluttershy surely is adorable when she is embarrassed, would you not agree Katrijn?’ Rarity asked.

Katrijn could only smile. ‘I believe she is adorable at all times’.

...

Upon making their way to a club it had become truly apparent that Fluttershy was so painfully shy, Rarity had noted that she had practically had to force her out onto the dance floor with Katrijn, Rarity watched as the two of them danced with each other, Fluttershy had finally started to relax, and Rarity could tell that she was having a good time. Fluttershy had clearly taken Rarity’s advice to heart, and was stepping outside her comfort zone, even going as far to rubbing up against Katrijn as they danced.

Rarity could only smile at how happy her friend looked, Katrijn was a beautiful mare and Fluttershy was very lucky, though Rarity preferred the touch of a Stallion.

‘You’ll have to pardon my saying so, miss, but you are far too beautiful to be here by yourself’, said a voice from behind her. Rarity turned her head slowly, batting her eyelashes at the newcomer. A pony stallion with an odd sort of accent, Rarity figured that he was a Welaran pony.

‘Oh, I am not here by myself, my friend has a date, she’s so painfully shy, I’m just making sure she doesn’t run off’, Rarity said simply.

‘Well, then’, the stallion said with a grin. ‘I suppose you won’t mind if I take a seat then?’

‘Not at all’, Rarity said, eyeing the stallion all over. ‘Not at all... I am Rarity’.

‘Tommy’, the stallion said with a grin. ‘First time in Trotterdam?’

‘Yes as a matter of fact’, Rarity said. ‘How about yourself?’

‘Third or fourth’, Tommy said. ‘I’m from Hoofsmouth, not too far, relatively speaking, quick pop off for the weekend that sort of thing... You’ll forgive me for asking, where you from Rarity? I can’t place your accent... Isle of Wright perhaps?’

Rarity smirked. ‘No, Equestria actually, little town called Ponyville, I’m here with friends for an extended holiday’,

‘Equestria?’ Tommy asked with a look of surprise. ‘Not expecting that, never met a filly from Equestria before’.

Rarity smiled and winked at him. Tommy smiled back and took a quick glance around the room. ‘Your friend, does she by chance have a pink mane and is wearing a blue dress?’

Rarity looked at him in confusion. ‘Why, yes! Why do you ask?’

‘Oh... just curious, she doesn’t look very shy to me’, Tommy said before turning back and ordering two drinks, one for him, and the other for Rarity.

Rarity looked out towards the dance floor. Her jaw dropped.

Fluttershy and Katrijn were making out.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Pinkie Pie had stopped crying by this point, and she and Surprise had sat down on one of the sofas and were watching television. WBC was the only channel that they could understand. Everything else was either in Nederlands, though they did notice that there was a few channels that clearly originated in Bundesrepublik Schäferhund, and one or two channels that, were Applejack here with them, would have described as ‘ponies speaking in fancy.’

Pinkie Pie didn’t really know what they were talking about on WBC, something called the ‘Said Canal Crisis’, Pinkie Pie had not the slightest idea what the Said Canal was, or even where it was. The voice on the television kept talking about Misr, the country in which the Said Canal was located. Pinkie Pie had not the faintest idea where it was, and despite their suite’s luxury, it did not have a map of the world in it.

The door to the suite opened, Pinkie Pie and Surprise turned around to see that Twilight, Vinyl Scratch, Rainbow Dash, and Fusilier Willoughby had just walked in, their jaws dropping at just how luxurious the place was. Pinkie Pie turned to Surprise to smile at her, after all, they had done the same thing. But Pinkie Pie was surprised to discover that Surprise had disappeared.

She had literally been there just a second ago, and now Surprise was gone. Pinkie Pie looked up and watched as Vinyl Scratch went over to open one of doors to take a look inside it. Pinkie Pie felt something, and looked behind her. Her tail was twitching.

‘Twitchy twitcha twitcha twitch!’ Pinkie Pie exclaimed, and then looked back to Vinyl Scratch. ‘Vinyl! Wait! No!’

Too late, Vinyl Scratch opened the door.

‘SURPRISE!’ Surprise cried out and tackled Vinyl to the floor, hugging the musical mare profusely. Vinyl groaned loudly, but hugged the pegasi mare back.

Pinkie Pie could only giggle at the scene before her, Surprise was a fast pony, and she could probably give Rainbow Dash a run for her money!

‘Hi Pinkie Pie... what’s that?’ Twilight said, walking up to her and pointing at the television.

‘It’s a television set Twilight!’ Pinkie Pie proclaimed with a smile. ‘Don’t you know?’

Twilight smirked a little. ‘Well, I know what a television set is Pinkie Pie, I’ve read a few books on the theory behind broadcasting, It’s just like regular radio broadcasting, except it has a visual component broadcasting at a higher frequency, the television is able to tune in and decode the signal for people’s viewing pleasure!’

Pinkie Pie didn’t know what she was talking about, but found that Twilight was sexy when she got technical. Pinkie Pie struggled to keep herself from staring at her, Rainbow Dash was in the room after all.

‘I guess a better question would be; what are you watching?’ Twilight asked as she went around the sofa and sat down on it.

‘Oh... uh, I don’t actually know! This is the only channel I could find that I understand what they’re saying. They’re talking about... the Said Canal crisis, but I don’t know what that is’, Pinkie Pie admitted.

‘Canal Crisis?’ Willoughby asked as he hopped over set his head in between the two, looking into the television set and watching for a few seconds before speaking again. ‘Eh, it’s nothing! The Walish and Cheval fleets are going to get there, and then the Misr are going to back down, that simple’.

‘Is South Island going to do anything about it?’ Twilight asked.

‘Well, the Prime Minister went to Misr with a plan for fair use of the canal, but obviously, that failed. Otherwise no, I think the Kingdom of United Welara and the Cheval Fourth Republic have got it covered’, Willoughby said simply. ‘Nope, I don’t think South Island or New Seeland is going to get involved’.

‘What’s New Seeland?’ Pinkie Pie asked.

‘Oh, right’, Willoughby had to remember that, while intelligent, his friends weren’t exactly the worldly type. Many things that he would talk about were lost to them. ‘Um, well, New Seeland is an island nation... once a Dominion of Welara... and inhabited by gryphons.’

‘What?’ was the simultaneous question from everypony in the room, except Surprise, who knew what was going through that pony’s mind?

‘The New Seeland gryphons aren’t like the ones you know, they might as well be their own species, only just related to the gryphons of the Twin Kingdoms, they call themselves the Maori. We call them Kiwis’, Willoughby explained. ‘They’re more like us, kangaroos, than the northern gryphons’.

‘Mostly harmless, but if you mess with us we’ll kick you in the face, and then invade your country?’ Vinyl Scratch asked.

‘Exactly’.

...

Fluttershy knew that there were people were watching her, but she didn’t care. She had focused them out, her mind’s eye saw only the pony before her. Katrijn was so beautiful; nothing could possibly distract her from her now.

Rarity had been right, that drink she had given her really did live up to its name of Liquid Courage.

Fluttershy was in pure bliss as she felt Katrijn’s tongue exploring the inside of her mouth. Fluttershy couldn’t help but notice that the kiss tasted like cherries, and she loved it. Fluttershy became bold, she took her tongue and pushed back, it was if hers and Katrijn’s tongues were fighting a war of advancement and retreat as they darted around their battlefield. Fluttershy was breaking through; she had pushed Katrijn’s tongue back into her mouth and made her charge.

Then their kiss broke, Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel mildly disappointed that it was over, but as she happy that it had happened nonetheless. Katrijn was looking at her slyly, both of them silently communicating what they wanted next. Fluttershy glanced over to the bar where Rarity was sitting, chatting with a green coated stallion wearing... well, a long coat that looked far too big for him.

‘I think Rarity is in good hooves’, Fluttershy said.

‘I do too’, Katrijn said, and with that, the two of them departed to a place where they could have some privacy.

...

Fluttershy felt like she was on fire as Katrijn had gently pushed her back onto the bed. They had made their way to the pony’s flat, somehow, with Fluttershy stumbling over herself at a minimum. The drink that Rarity had given her was liquid courage... but it might have been called liquid legs as well.

Katrijn was on top of her, kissing the Pegasus mare gently, both of them had gotten out of their dresses, they didn’t need them anymore.

Fluttershy felt like her stomach was burning as Katrijn gently nibbled on her neck. Fluttershy wrapped her legs around the mare and pulled her close. Fluttershy moaned softly as their wetness touched each other. Fluttershy had never felt so good in her entire life.

Katrijn smiled at her and worked her way free from Fluttershy’s hold, planting kissed down Fluttershy’s belly as she moved along, slowly sliding down to where she needed to be.

Fluttershy let out a gasp as she felt Katrijn’s tongue against her, the mare’s tongue slowly dancing across Fluttershy’s most intimate area. Fluttershy moaned, unable to contain herself, she was so excited. Fluttershy just couldn’t stand it anymore. Her back arched, her muscles tightened and Fluttershy let out a loud moan of pleasure.

Katrijn giggled slightly. ‘My... you must be shy if you came that quickly’.

Fluttershy looked up to discover that she had. She turned a bright red. ‘I... I hope I was okay for you’.

‘You were marvellous’, Katrijn said with a grin. ‘But I certainly hope that you have no intention of being finished... the night is young and I... I am so... aroused’.

Fluttershy blushed heavily but then turned and gave Katrijn a grin. ‘Let me show you what I’ve got!’

It seemed that neither mare would be getting any sleep tonight, nor unfortunately for the neighbours who lived in the flats above and below, and to the left and right. Neither would they.

Who knew that Fluttershy was a screamer?

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It was late by the time Rarity had stumbled into the suite, Twilight and Rainbow Dash had already gone off to sleep, as had Pinkie Pie, leaving Vinyl Scratch, Surprise, and Fusilier Willoughby up, watching WBC. They had ended up watching about a programme about a pony, who was actually an alien, who travelled around time and space in a blue box that was bigger on the inside than the outside, with his granddaughter, who was also an alien, along with her science and history teachers.

As silly as it sounded, it was actually a rather good show, though they had not caught the name of it.

Vinyl Scratch turned her head when the door opened and grinned at Rarity. ‘Have fun?’

‘Yes, very much so... though I’m sure not as much as Fluttershy’, Rarity said, smiling at nopony in particular.

Vinyl Scratch began to put the pieces together. ‘She’s getting laid! Isn’t she?!’ Vinyl exclaimed, probably louder than necessary.

Rarity refused point blankly either way.

‘Well, now that Rarity’s back I think it’s time to hit the hay’, Vinyl said simply, rising to her hooves and trotting off.

‘Yep! Same goes for me’, Willoughby said, hopping off to his room.

‘Surprise?’ Vinyl asked as she was about to enter her room.

Surprise turned and looked blankly at Vinyl for a few seconds before giving an answer. ‘I don’t sleep, ever’.

‘I think that says a lot about you, Surprise, well goodnight then!’ Vinyl said with a grin and shut the door behind her.

Rarity too, trotted off to bed, leaving Surprise alone. Now it was time. Surprise rose to her hooves and turned the television off, she trotted into the room that would be hers and plucked a pillow off of the bed, she began to flap her wings, floating silently as she snuck back out into the main room of the suite. She quietly crossed the room and gently pushed Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash’s door open.

Twilight was apparently taking a bath before she went to bed, because Surprise heard the water running from the bathroom, while Rainbow Dash was alone in the bed, fast asleep. Now was the perfect opportunity for her. Surprise would never get another chance like this.

Pinkie Pie would be happy, and Surprise would deliver happiness to her on the silver platter of a grieving mare.

Surprise hovered over Rainbow Dash, sleeping soundly and slowly lowered the pillow down towards her face. Surprise blinked, but to her shock, discovered that it was not actually Rainbow Dash who was sleeping in the bed, rather it was a bright pink Pegasus pony with an electric blue mane.

‘F... Firefly?’ Surprise mouthed silently. What was she doing!? Surprise was about to murder her bestest best friend! What troubled Surprise the most was the why, she had come into this room to kill, and she didn’t know why; Surprise nearly dropped the pillow onto Firefly’s face in shock. Surprise was panicking, she needed to get out of here, and she needed out now. Surprise flew out the door fast, slamming it behind her, waking Rainbow Dash up in the process.

Surprise dropped the pillow in the main room, threw one of the windows open and promptly leapt out it. Her wings spread wide and she glided out into the night sky of Trotterdam, she flew for a couple of kilometres before settling down into a dark alleyway.

‘Surprise?’ a voice asked from behind her. Surprise slowly turned to see that Firefly was standing behind her. ‘What are you doing, Surprise?’ Firefly asked.

‘I... I...’ Surprise stammered, however, she was not able to get another answer out, as Firefly had leapt on her and tackled her to the ground.

‘Why did you kill me Surprise?’ Firefly asked, her head hovering a few millimetres away from her face. Surprise did not get a chance to answer. ‘You killed me Surprise. Now I am going to kill you’.

To Surprise’s horror, Firefly’s face began to reform, she was no longer looking at a pony; she was looking at a dæmon. Its eyes began to fall out; its face grew wide and its mouth long, exposing rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth. The dæmon roared loudly, and Surprise made her best attempt to pull the chain knife out of its hiding spot in her mane.

The dæmon was too fast; it quickly batted the knife away from her and began to sink its teeth into her. Surprise let out a scream.

...

A group of schäferhund, each of them about equal in status with each other, as they were all wearing submachine guns at their side strolled down the street. The group was on leave from their posting in the Bundesrepublik federal army, taking a well deserved holiday in Trotterdam.

‘Hans, sie haben keine ahnung, wo wir noch gehen?’ One of the schäferhund asked who believed them to be lost.

Hans, the leader looked back in annoyance. Hans did know where he was going and what he was doing, sure, he was distracted, but it wasn’t every day when a pony showed up a schäferhund in gun usage. Hans had not been able to stop thinking about that unicorn with the fondness for magnum revolvers. Had she been a schäferhund, Hans would have likely asked her to marry him on the spot. Hell, he still should have! What did it matter that she was a pony, she knew what she was talking about.

Hans’ ear began to twitch. ‘Stopp!’ he called out and began to listen. He heard screaming. Hans took off, his section took off after him, and Hans rounded the corner to discover a pony lying on the ground, screaming her head off. There was no one else around; Hans had no idea what she could be so frightened of.

...

Fluttershy yawned as she woke up to sunlight filtering in through the windows, she quickly discovered that she couldn’t move, as Katrijn had wrapped her legs around her and was holding her closely.

Of course, Fluttershy had not minded one bit. She liked it a lot. Katrijn began to stir, she lifted her head up and placed it on Fluttershy’s shoulder; she leaned over and kissed Fluttershy gently on the cheek.

‘Good morning lover’, Katrijn said playfully.

‘Good morning’, Fluttershy said, rolling over and giving Katrijn a quick kiss.

‘Oh I wish I did not have to kick you out’, Katrijn said with a small frown. ‘I have to work’.

‘Oh, that’s okay! I understand. I need to go find my friends anyway. I hope they aren’t too worried about me’, Fluttershy said.

Katrijn said nothing, and the two of them continued to cuddle with each other until the last possible minute that they could, then Katrijn had to get up and get ready to go to work. Fluttershy gave her the hotel information for where she was staying; Katrijn looked at it in shock, saying that she had figured that Fluttershy was well to do, but not this well to do.

Fluttershy looked at her in confusion, and Katrijn told her that she was staying at the Hotel Pulitzer, the finest hotel in not just the city, but likely the entire Low Countries.

Fluttershy had looked genuinely surprised at the revelation, and explained what had brought them to Trotterdam, (being as brief as possible, Katrijn needed to get to work, after all.) telling her about how Princess Luna had made all the arrangements for them, Katrijn was amazed that Fluttershy was friends with royalty, but then promptly warned her not to repeat it to anyone else.

‘I believe you speak the truth, many others won’t because it sounds absurd to them, others will believe you and try to do things to you because of it’, Katrijn said. Fluttershy took the advice to heart as both of them walked out of Katrijn’s home.

Katrijn kissed her goodbyes, following up with a light smack on Fluttershy’s arse, turning the Pegasus mare’s face beet red. Both mares clearly wanted nothing more than to go back inside and spend the rest of the day making love to each other, though sadly, it could not happen.

They parted ways, and Fluttershy made her way to the hotel. Upon arriving, the concierge directed her to the suite that her friends were in. Fluttershy made her way up to the top floor and opened the door gingerly, to discover that everyone was in the main room talking near an open window.

Vinyl Scratch turned around and looked at her. ‘Surprise!?’ she asked frantically.

‘N... no, it’s just me’, Fluttershy said as she shut the door behind her. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘No!’ Vinyl said frantically, as she poked her head out the window and began to look around. She brought her head back in and looked back at Fluttershy. ‘When we all woke up this morning, Surprise was gone and this window was open’.

Vinyl looked around the room at her friends, looking incredibly distressed at the idea that Surprise was gone. ‘We need to go find her!’

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

'Surprise!' Vinyl Scratch called out as she galloped down the street. 'Surprise!' she called again, hoping to get an answer. Her ears began to droop as no reply came.

Fusilier Willoughby hopped behind her, he was not calling, but he did keep his eyes on the sky. His training taught him to keep his eyes up, where attacks from gryphon airborne infantry would almost always come. While not a gryphon, Surprise was a Pegasus, and would be one of the few in Trotterdam. Outside Equestria, pegasi were a rare breed, and while they could be found outside Equestria, no one knew where to look for them. Non-Equestrian pegasi were few and far between, shy and reclusive creatures that kept to themselves, if there was a central pegasi civilisation, and it was very well hidden.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had taken to looking down from above, against the mostly black background of the Trotterdam streets, Surprise was going to be very noticeable... assuming of course, that she wanted to be found. Surprise was incredibly sneaky, if she wanted to hide, she could hide and nopony or kangaroo would ever find her.

Rarity had taken a photograph of Surprise to the shop that Katrijn worked at, hoping that the high volume of hoof traffic, someone would have seen something.

Pinkie Pie and Twilight had gone off in the opposite direction, hoping to pick up the trail through use of Pinkie Pie's specialised detection ability.

Vinyl Scratch dropped down on her arse and let out a sigh, her eyes began to water, and she ripped the goggles off her eyes and allowed them to hang down around her neck.

'You really care about her, don't you?' Willoughby asked.

Vinyl Scratch looked up, and that was when it really hit her. Vinyl Scratch had never realised, not until just now that she cared about Surprise. Vinyl didn't know how, and she didn't know when it happened, but it did. Surprise had become her friend.

'Yeah, Yeah Willoughby I do', Vinyl said. 'I really do'.

…

Pinkie Pie walked past an alley and stopped dead in her tracks, her tail began to twitch and she looked inside the alley.

'See something Pinkie Pie?' Twilight asked as she stopped behind her.

'No...' Pinkie Pie said. Her voice began to trail off as she took a step into the alley; her tail began to twitch erratically. Something was here, something important. Pinkie Pie began to dig around in the corners, and that was when she discovered what her twitchy tail was trying to tell her.

Lying inconspicuously on the ground was the chain knife that Surprise had taken off one of the Hopeton ponies in the Divide. Pinkie Pie pointed it out to Twilight, who lifted it up and took a look at it.

Twilight felt uneasy about the weapon, while in the past she had carried a gun, and felt somewhat hypocritical for the line of though, the chain knife was such a gruesome looking weapon. 'This is Surprise's all right', Twilight said. 'I don't know who else would be carrying something like this'.

Pinkie Pie took it from Twilight and stuffed it into her mane where her messy hairstyle was guaranteed to both keep it in place, and keep it hidden from view. They both agreed that it wasn't something that they wanted to walk around with, anyone who would see it would panic.

Twilight took a look around the alley, and discovered that there were drag marks in the dirt that covered the road.

'Pinkie Pie, look!' Twilight said, she lit the dark alleyway with her horn and brought it low to the ground to better illuminate the tracks. 'Let's see where these go', Twilight trotted along the alleyway, following the tracks back into the street. Twilight looked up and saw that there was a clinic across the street. 'Huh... I wonder?'

Twilight and Pinkie Pie trotted across the street and took a step into the clinic.

'Hallo, kan ik u helpen?' a receptionist, who happened to be a boer goat, asked.

'Uh...' Twilight said, glancing at Pinkie Pie for help, but Pinkie Pie had none to offer.

The goat rolled his eyes and let out a big sigh, indicating that he was not going to help, regardless of whether he spoke their language or not, he was only going to talk to them in his.

'Pinkie Pie! Go find Vinyl Scratch and Fusilier Willoughby', Twilight said. 'Tell them that I think I might know where Surprise is and we need them here'.

Pinkie Pie nodded and galloped out the door to find them.

Twilight gave the goat a nervous grin, he returned with an annoyed scowl and went back to his work.

…

Pinkie Pie returned with the two a few minutes later. Willoughby hopped up to the desk and slapped a photograph of Surprise on the desk. The goat looked up in annoyance.

'Het jy dit ponie gesien?' Willoughby asked.

The goat took a look at the photograph for a moment, and then looked back up.

'Ja, kamer achttien, ga op de rug', the goat said simply.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Vinyl Scratch looked to Willoughby for an answer. He smiled at them and waved his arm. 'Come on', he said and lead the way back into the clinic.

Willoughby stopped outside room eighteen and pushed the door open slowly. Surprise in the room, huddled up into a ball on the bed, shivering intensely with fear.

'Surprise!' Vinyl called out and rushed over to the pony.

Out of nowhere, a big, scruffy schäferhund appeared out of nowhere and planted himself between Vinyl Scratch and Surprise, growling lowly as he studied Vinyl Scratch. Then he found himself taking a step back.

'You', he said.

Vinyl Scratch studied him closely, and discovered that she had seen him before. This was the same schäferhund that Fluttershy had accidentally run into yesterday.

'You', Vinyl said. 'What are you doing here?'

'I am protecting her', the schäferhund said. 'My Infanteriegruppe discovered her lying in the alley across the street screaming. We bring her here, she stopped screaming some time ago... but she will not sleep, the doctors tried to sedate her, but it did not work. I am protecting her from whatever frightened her.'

'Who are you, even?' Vinyl asked, scrutinising the schäferhund closely.

'Feldwebel Hans Fockewulf', the schäferhund said. ‘Panzer Lehr division.'

‘That’s great wolf-boy’, Vinyl said rolling her eyes behind her goggles. ‘Stand aside and let me see my friend’.

Hans made no objection and stepped aside, allowing Vinyl to approach the bed that Surprise was lying on.

‘Surprise?’ Vinyl asked, she received no reply, Surprise merely continued to shake and stare blankly into space. ‘Surprise?’ Vinyl asked again, gently prodding her with a hoof. ‘It’s me! It’s Vinyl Scratch. I need you to come back to reality now’.

Surprise blinked, once, twice, three times before lifting her head and looking at Vinyl Scratch. She said nothing, but glanced around the room at her surroundings. Once at Vinyl, then to Willoughby, then to Twilight, then to Pinkie Pie, and then to Hans, then back to Vinyl, and then back to Hans again, and then back to Vinyl again.

Surprise sat up, but continued to say nothing; Vinyl climbed up on the hospital bed next to her and pulled the mare close to her for a tight hug, causing an ironic look of surprise to appear on Surprise’s face.

‘Stupid filly! You scared the hell out of me’, Vinyl said. ‘I was so worried about you’.

‘You were?’ Surprise asked.

‘Yeah... you’re my friend, Surprise, I care about you’, Vinyl said, and then added a grin. ‘Do this to me again; I will personally kick the ever living day light out of you’.

Surprise smiled back at Vinyl, and took her hooves and placed them around Vinyl’s belly, hugging the mare back. ‘I could take you in a fight’, she said.

‘Bull’.

‘Group hug!’ Pinkie Pie called out and promptly tackle hugged the two mares, dragging Twilight with her.

‘No’, both Hans and Willoughby said simultaneously. The ponies giggled.

‘Well, we best be going’, Twilight said. ‘Let everypony know we can call off the search.’

...

That night, at dinner, Twilight and Co. Along with Fusilier Willoughby were joined by their new friends. Katrijn was sitting next to Fluttershy, and the two mares found themselves unable to take their eyes of each other. Likewise, Tommy Atkins, Rarity’s new friend that she had met in the club was sitting next to her, and the two of them engaged in casual conversation with each other. Hans Fockewulf was too big for a chair, he was however sitting on the ground next to the table, sitting quietly, despite the groups attempts to engage him in conversation, he apologised and reported that his Wallish wasn’t particularly good.

Just before it was time to serve the meal, Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat. ‘May I have your attention please?’ she asked. ‘We came here, to Trotterdam for a well deserved rest, well we certainly got it. We all had fun, and I’d like to propose a toast!’

Twilight used her magic to lift up her glass. ‘I toast to you, our friends, old and new. To friendship!’

‘To friendship!’

‘And though soon, it will be time for us to return home, know this’, Twilight continued. ‘As long as we have our friends, there is nothing that we cannot do.’