The Horrors Of War

Celestia turned around to see the King Tiger aiming right at her. She ducked at the last second, and the tank fired.

The super tank’s round ripped right through the princess’s mane, tufts of hair floating around her, before the round ripped into a house.

The house was full of gunpowder for fireworks on the holidays. The whole house exploded, the sheer force sending everyone and everypony flying. Even the vehicles shook and tipped.

Smoke billowed up and blocked out Celestia’s sun. The only sound was the crackling of fire and the rumbles of the tanks and cars.

Edward groaned as he got up. He secured his helmet and looked around. He saw Otto sitting over with a groaning Twilight.

“Ow...”, she groaned. She rubbed her head with her hoof, and flexed her wings. She saw the Americans getting up, some of them helping up her friends. Two Americans were helping Celestia to her hooves.

“Hey, are you good?”, Otto asked. Twilight slowly nodded.

“Thank you.”, she said. She turned to see Edward aiming a pistol at Otto’s back.

"Hey!", Twilight cried. She used her magic to grab the gun, and fling it away.

Then she used her magic to sit the American and the German down, keeping them there.

"No fighting! You're going to sit down, shut up, and Celestia help me, you're going to TALK THINGS THROUGH AND START ACTING LIKE FULLY GROWN STALLIONS!!!", Twilight yelled.

Everyone stared at Twilight. Even Celestia was surprised by her ex-student’s sudden outburst.

Twilight Sparkle sighed, and rubbed her head with her hoof. “This is a land of friendship and harmony, so you’d better not screw ut up.”, she said, much more calm now.

Edward sighed, before looking to Otto. “Just so you know, I don’t like this.”, he said.

“Neither do I.”, Otto said.

The Germans and Americans were separated, and the vehicles and weapons were piled behind a damaged building, Celestia’s royal guards watching over them.

“So...Heil Hitler?”, Edward asked.

“Shut up.”, Dieter said, fiddling with his officer’s cap.

Twilight watched the humans “converse” and “talk peacefully”, and smiled.

“We might be getting through to them. This might be over.”, Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash looked nervously, at an American soldier and a German tank driver, glaring daggers at each other.

“I don’t think so.”, Rainbow Dash said.

Pinkie Pie smiled. "Maybe we should give them cupcakes.", she said.

"Or apples.", Applejack said.

"Yeah, you do that, while I start some good conversation starters.", Rainbow Dash said.

"Dear, where's Fluttershy?", Rarity asked.

"Ooh! I think I see her!", Pinkie Pie said, pointing at the crowd of grounded humans.

Fluttershy was talking to a soldier, patting his leg with a hoof. "You look rather tense. Wanna talk about it? Talking is a very healthy way to relieve stress.", she said, kindly.

"The only tension I have is with these Germans. I just want my M-1.", the soldier said.

"Or maybe you want a bunny to cuddle with.", Fluttershy said, bringing out Angel, who just stared curiously up at the American.

"What?", was all the soldier could say.

"Looks like she's getting through to them too.", Twilight said. Pinkie Pie came in with a giant tray of cupcakes, before zipping around all the humans in a pink blur. In a split second, every soldier, gunner, and driver had a cupcake in their hand.

Pinkie Pie came back with an empty tray, saluting with a hoof at Twilight. "All done!", she said.

"Good. This is going well.", Twilight said, as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash came back.

"Where's Applejack?", Fluttershy asked.

"She's passing out apple pies from a stand in Ponyville.", Twilight said.

"Yes, it hadn't been destroyed and is still fully stocked.", Rarity said. "How are things going on your end?"

"Angel's comforting is helping very much.", the yellow timid Pegasus said, as the soldier sat on the ground with a deadpan look. Angel sat on his helmeted head, a deadpan look on his face too.

"Yes, I totally see that.", Twilight said.

Then all the mares all heard galloping hoofsteps. Twilight and the other ponies turned to see the CMC galloping towards them.

“Sweetie Belle! What happened?!”, Rarity asked, as her panting little sister stopped to catch her breath.

“Thousands of monsters! They’re all running this way! We’re all gonna die!”, the little filly unicorn cried.

Everyone looked up, and Twilight quickly spoke up.

“It’s nothing! Go back to talking!”, she yelled.

Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom were silent. “We ain’t lyin’! There’s really an attack!”, Applebloom cried.

"Don't you belive us?!", Scootaloo blurted out.

“I believe you, but if we tell them all there’s an attack, they’ll start another battle.”, Twilight said. "Look at Ponyville, it's on the verge of destruction!"

“We have to go over and stop the attack before it starts.”, Rainbow Dash said.

“Come on!”, Twilight cried, before she and the other Elements of Harmony galloped to where the three fillies came from.

They reached Sweet Apple Acres, and looked around.

"I don't see anything.", Pinkie Pie said.

"No...but I hear something.", Twilight said. She quickly shushed the others, and they all listened.

A rumbling filled the air, and something came over the hill.

"Quick!", Twilight said. She and her friends quickly hid behind a tree.

An army of Russians were slowly trudging their way to Ponyville, Spike, Ember, and the couple dragons walking in front of them.

"Didn't think they'd get tired that easily.", Ember said.

"Yeah...running for a half hour straight up a mountain will do that.", Spike said.

Ember giggled. "It was funny to see them all roll down the mountain.", she said.

"Yeah.", Spike chuckled.

"Spike!!"

Spike looked up, to see Twilight galloping towards him.

"Twilight!", Ember and Spike said.

A Russian aimed his PPSH-41 at Twilight, which made her halt almost immediately.

Spike turned to the Soviet soldier. "What's wrong?", he asked.

"Ty znayesh' yeye?", the soldier asked.

"What?", Ember asked.

"Ty znayesh' yeye?", the soldier repeated.

Twilight was confused, until she remembered something.

Her horn glowed, while the soldier was still turned to Spike and Ember.

She fired a burst of magic that struck the Soviet in the chest, making him stumble. The other soldiers and tanks quickly readied their weapons, as the soldier recovered.

"Chto eto bylo?!", the soldier cried.

Twilight smiled. "Eto bylo perevodnoye zaklinaniye, poetomu ya mogu ponyat', chto vy govorite.", she said, in perfect fluent Russian.

The soldier blinked, before he lowered his submachine gun. "Ochen' khorosho.", he said.

"YA khochu pomoch' vam vernut'sya v svoy mir, poetomu mne nuzhno, chtoby vy rasskazali mne, chto proizoshlo.", Twilight said. The soldier nodded, and motioned for the others to lower their weapons.

"Twilight?", Spike asked.

"Don't worry, I can talk with them now.", Twilight reassured, as she turned back to the soldier.

"Kak vy syuda popali?", she asked.

The soldier thought about this, before telling his answer. "Nu, byla vspyshka sveta i kakoy-to chernyy kon'. On nazyval sebya Poni Teney?"

Twilight gasped. She looked around, before trotting over to Spike.

"What's the matter?", Spike asked.

"The Pony Of Shadows is behind this!", Twilight whispered. Spike gasped.

"What?", he said. Suddenly, a loud rumble filled the air. The Russians looked around, before an explosion in the middle of their ranks sent them all flying.

Twilight hit the ground, as the Russian with the PPSH-41 got up quickly.

"Chto za-", he said, before he saw what caused the explosion.

A massive pony with black wisps of shadows was standing. It had a giant horn, and large wings. Its tail and mane moved as if there were a wind blowing on it, and its eyes were pure white.

"I'm back!", the shadowed monstrosity cackled.

"OGON'!!", the Russian yelled, before firing his weapon at the Pony Of Shadows.

Soon, thousands of rifles, machine guns, flamethrowers, and tank cannons were emptying themselves into the monster, while slowly backing away.

"Back to Ponyville! Now!", Twilight cried. She fired a continuous burst of magic at the shadows, with Ember, her dragon escorts, and Spike breathing their own fire at the monstrous pony. The Russian tanks fired, as the soldiers retreated up the hill, past Sweet Apple Acres.

"Otstupat'!! Otstupat'!!", a Russian yelled, as the horde of Russians ran up the hill.

In Ponyville, the gunfire from earlier had caught everyone's attention, and all of Ponyville, and the humans in it, was looking up the hill near the destroyed barn of Sweet Apple Acres.

"What in Equestria?", Applejack muttered.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity, Spike, Ember, the other dragons, and hundreds of Soviet soldiers started running up the hill, a lot of them turning around to shoot at something behind them, before running again.

"Die Sowjets!!", a German cried.

Suddenly, they all saw a giant black horse with black clouds orbiting it, following the retreating soldiers, tanks on either side firing at the monstrosity.

"The Pony Of Shadows! But it's been banished!", Celestia cried.

"Go, go, go!", Edward yelled. He ran to the building Twilight threw his BAR at, jumped inside, and grabbed his automatic rifle.

All the human soldiers grabbed their weapons and charged towards the monster of shadows, as the ponies of Ponyville all galloped away from the nearing battle.

The Russian tanks were bombarding the monster with armor piercing rounds. They weren't really hurting the Pony Of Shadows, but it was effectively keeping him down. There was a Russian antitank artillery gun pounding the pony as well.

"Fire!", Edward yelled. Hundreds of rifles and submachine guns opened fire, completely surrounding the Pony of Shadows.

The BT-7s, T-34s, Tigers, King Tigers, Shermans, Greyhounds, and Hellcats were all firing at the pony too. Celestia and the royal guards flew in to assist, as well as Twilight and the other dragons.

"Ha ha...hahahaha...HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!", the Pony Of Shadows cackled, as he sent out a giant wave of shadows that sent everyone flying to Sweet Apple Acres.

The ponies and humans all landed on the farmland of Sweet Apple Acres, scattering dirt, crops, and water. The vehicles had rolled back at least a couple meters, damaging and immobilizing them. The antitank gun fell apart, the hot firing mechanism smoking.

Edward looked up and surveyed the damage. Over two thousand humans and ponies scattered all over the fields. The tanks were stuck, and with the engineer squads stuck with the infantry, the vehicles were out of comission.

The soldiers got up, to see the Pony Of Shadows gone, but a plume of shadows on the far side of the hill.

The Russians had gotten up first, and saw that there was an army of miniature versions of the shadowed pony. Each one had a glowing black aura, and they growled at the humans.

"What do we do?", Twilight asked Celestia. The sun princess could only look at the incoming army.

"I don't know. The shadows have never had this much power before. It somehow learned to manipulate spells and enhance their abilities.", Celestia said.

A Russian officer walked up to the two alicorns, and smiled. "Ne volnuysya. My zdes', chtoby srazhat'sya i zashchishchat'sya. Ostav'te ikh nam, da?", he asked.

Twilight gulped nervously. She was about to protest, but the Russian looked away.

"ZARYAD!!", the officer roared, as the remaining soldiers got up and roared, as they all charged at the army of shadow ponies.

"What did he say?", Celestia asked.

Twilight looked at Celestia with fear. "They...they're gonna charge. They'll die.", she said.