The Horrors Of War

Twilight blinked, before awkwardly smiling. "Uhh...guten tag?", she asked.

"Ah! Du sprichst auch Deutsch? Schön jemanden in der Nähe zu Hause zu sehen.", the man said. Twilight began to sweat nervously.

The other man chuckled and smiled. "Sie sprechen Englisch, Kind.", he said.

The younger man pouted slightly. "Fine...", he said.

The older man put down his mug and stood up. His helmet was about a couple inches from touching the ceiling.

"I'm Scharführer Dieter Weber. This is my second in command, Otto Schneider.", the older man said, in a similar accent to the younger man.

"Hello.", Otto said.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Schneider and Mr. Weber.", Twilight awkwardly said, before turning to Fluttershy.

"Uhh, Fluttershy? I'm not sure if you noticed, but there's a giant bush growing outside your house.", Twilight said.

"Oh, really?", Fluttershy asked.

"That's our Kübelwagen.", Dieter said. "Our means of transportation."

"Which is out of fuel, I may add.", Otto said, sourly.

Rainbow Dash snickered. "You ride in a bush?", she asked.

"And ya call it a Kübelwagen?", Applejack asked, smirking.

Otto smiled, as he walked out of the room, out the front door, and to the bush.

He pulled on the bush, and almost immediately, the leaves and twigs came off. A large vehicle, that looked similar to the American jeep, stood in place of where the "bush" was just sitting. It was bulkier, like a tub in the back, and it was tan, as well as heavily armored. A light gun emplacement was attached to a little pole in the back.

"Whoa...", Rainbow Dash said. "How fast?"

Dieter chuckled. "About fifty miles per hour, give or take.", he said.

"I can totally fly faster!", Rainbow Dash boasted, flashing her wings.

Dieter laughed loudly, before calming down. "Our planes can fly faster than our jeeps can drive.", he said, just as Otto walked back in.

"How fast can you fly, mein freund?", Otto asked.

"When not trying to do the Rainboom, which I will explain later, she goes four hundred miles an hour.", Twilight said.

"You measure my flying?", Rainbow Dash asked in a tone that was both confused and freaked out.

"Yeah, when we did that tornado operation, remember?", Twilight asked.

Pinkie Pie jumped up. "To find out more on that episode, watch Hurricane Fluttershy!", she said, before standing normally.

Fluttershy blinked, before blushing, remembering the moments of that flashback in her life.

"Yes, our newest planes can achieve speeds up to six hundred miles an hour. At least, our prototype can.", Otto said.

"Ah, yes. The 262.", Dieter said. "The Messerschmitt."

"Faster than me?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"No way. I wanna race!", Rainbow Dash demanded.

"You'd lose.", Dieter said. "Best stay out of a race you can't win."

"Besides, if a 262 pilot saw you, he'd shoot you down right away.", Otto said, before mimicking an explosion with his hands.

That alone was enough to scare Rainbow Dash. "Yeah...on second thought, maybe not.", Rainbow Dash said.

"I wonder how those Allied planes versus you flying ponies would go.", Dieter said.

Rainbow Dash gulped, imagining having to fight off terrifying flying war machines.

"I don't wanna know.", Rainbow Dash admitted.

Twilight smiled. "At least you decided to stay. The other humans decided to leave."

Dieter frowned. "Other humans?"

"Yeah, they wore green, and they had different helmets.", Rarity said. "Their fashion sense is horrible! Your coats are at least decent."

Dieter raised an eyebrow, before his hand went behind his back, clutching the Gewehr slung over his back. "Interesting.", he said.

Twilight got very uncomfortable with his change of tone, so she decided to quickly change the subject. "So, would you like to tour our town? We were attacked, so I apologize if there's a lot going on."

Dieter nodded to Otto, who nodded back. "Yes, we would like that. Thank you.", Dieter said to Twilight, the German officer grinning slightly.

"Wonderful! This way, please.", Twilight said. The six ponies left Fluttershy's cottage, escorting the two Germans to Ponyville.

The two looked around the town, the wrecked buildings and occasional blood stains on the ground. But what caught their eye the most were the Japanese jeep and tank wrecks scattering the town.

"What happened, exactly?", Dieter asked. Otto held his Gewehr as he peeked into houses and other buildings.

"Oh, these humans, they call themselves Americans, they came in and protected Ponyville from the Japanese. They killed so many, but they kept us ponies alive.", Twilight said. She noticed how Dieter's expression became unrecognizable once she mentioned the word "American".

"I see.", Dieter said. Twilight shuddered from the cold tone in his voice.

Otto walked up. "I found this.", he said. He was holding an old Grease Gun and a bloody American helmet. A single bullet hole resided in its hull.

"Can you get on the radio back in the Kübelwagen?", Dieter asked. Otto nodded and hurried back to the cottage.

"What's going on?", Pinkie Pie asked.

"Nothing important.", Dieter said.

Otto jumped in the Kübelwagen, before pulling a radio out from under one of the seats.

"Panzerdivision Donner, hast du gelesen?", Otto barked. The radio crackled, before another voice in the same accent replied back.

"Donner, wir lesen.", the voice said.

"Wir haben ein amerikanisch kontrolliertes Dorf. Bring deine Tiger mit.", Otto said.

"Was ist der Name dieser Stadt?", the voice asked.

"Ponyville.", Otto said.

The voice laughed over the radio, before he coughed. "Ja, wir sind gerade unterwegs.", he said.

"Kopieren.", Otto said, before hanging up the radio.

Deep in the Everfree Forest, an hour later

Zecora trotted to her little hut, carrying a bag of potions, when a rumbling sound caught her attention. She turned to see a couple trees in the forest tumble and crash.

"What's this I hear? What monstrosity can be near?", Zecora asked, as she backed nervously to her hut.

A massive tank, with sloped armor and a giant cannon rolled up to Zecora's hut. It had a camouflage color scheme, and its humongous treads sank a little in the mud. Right next to it was another Kübelwagen, with an MG-42 mounted on it. An officer, a driver, and a gunner were in the jeep.

About three other tanks were right behind the lead tank in a line. They were blocky and less sleek, but they still looked rather intimidating.

"Entschuldigen Sie mich! Wo ist Ponyville?!", the officer in the Kübelwagen yelled, over the rumble of giant engines.

All Zecora heard was "Ponyville", so she pointed towards Ponyville with a shaking hoof.

"Danke!", the officer said, before nodding to the driver. The Kübelwagen, and the four heavy tanks rolled away, leaving a path of destruction behind. Zecora quickly ran into her hut and slammed the door, leaving her bag of potions on the ground.

The King Tiger and its three Tiger subordinates rolled with the Kübelwagen, approaching Ponyville. The King Tiger rolled into the town first, ponies screaming and galloping away.

Twilight turned and saw the King Tiger, bigger than the American Sherman she'd seen earlier. Her eyes widened as she turned to look at Dieter.

"What're you doing?", Twilight asked.

"There are Americans here. We're securing this town, keeping it safe.", Dieter said, as he waved a hand. The other Kübelwagen rolled up, and the officer waved.

"Until they come back, right?", Pinkie Pie asked, excitedly. "You and the Americans are friends, right?"

Dieter grew a confused look, until he grinned. "Sure, let us go with that.", he said.

Besides, if the Americans did come back, the town would no longer be safe.

Dieter and the other officer began to talk, as the ponies walked to Ponyville's outskirts. Rainbow Dash flew away, needing some fresh air.

"I can't wait for Edward to come back. They're gonna freak over these guys!", Pinkie Pie said, excitedly.

"Yeah, I can't wait to introduce friendship to them.", Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash flew back, extremely giddy. "Twilight! They're here! The Americans! They're back!!", she cried excitedly.

Otto heard this. "Where?", he asked. "Where are the Americans?"

Rainbow Dash squealed as she pointed to the hill. Sure enough, an M-8 Greyhound was heading up the hill, towards Ponyville.

"Americans!", Otto yelled. Suddenly, the four Tigers rolled up to the edge of town, before aiming their giant cannons to the incoming Greyhound.

"Ooh, an official welcoming committee!", Pinkie squealed. "I can't wait!"

"Fire!!", the officer on the King Tiger yelled.

Pinkie smiled, expecting the party horn and the blast of confetti, but instead she was hit with the massive sound of cannon fire.

Several explosions nearly hit the Greyhound, causing it to swerve. The 37 mm gun fired, a shot pinging off a Tiger.

"What're ya doing?!", Applejack cried, as the Tigers fired again. Suddenly, several American jeeps and tanks, as well as hundreds of American troops charged down the hill, firing and screaming.

A bullet struck the ground near Fluttershy, and she squeaked, before galloping away. The other ponies ran off, as the Tigers advanced on the charging Americans.

"Oh no!", Twilight cried. "They're enemies!!"

Rainbow Dash slapped the back of Twilight's head. "Thank you, Princess Obvious!", she said.

A Tiger fired at a Sherman, immediately blowing it up. Two Hellcats fired at the King Tiger, both shells deflecting off the tank's sloped armor.

The tanks were all moving around, with the jeeps zipping around. The German jeeps and the American jeeps were having a dogfight, driving around, the mounted machine guns blazing.

"We need to get out of here!", Rarity said.

"How? We're boxed in!", Rainbow Dash cried. There was a whistling sound, before an explosion sent all the ponies flying.

Twilight's eyesight was completely black, and her ears were ringing loudly. She could hear a distinct buzzing sound, and a couple yells, but they were all muffled.

"Twilight!!"

Twilight rubbed furiously at her eyes, before looking around. She was seeing double of everything, as everything slowly moved away from her.

She looked down, before she realized she was being dragged away from Ponyville. She turned around, and saw a very familiar American dragging her away.

"You miss me, Princess?"