1942.
In the middle of a river, a group of boats made their way to the shore ahead. Some of them were ferrying hundreds of Soviet soldiers, both young and old, mares and stallion. Among them was a yellow-coated pegasus, Fluttershy. She was visibly shivering, feeling uneasy. Her uneasy breath were quite audible to the soldiers around her.
She was a stranger to this kind of conflict. She never thought she would be put into this situation. But most of all: She was afraid, very, very afraid.
She opened her eyes after keeping them closed for minutes, a vain attempt to contain her fear. She saw a same sight she had seen when she got on to this boat. Multiple Soviet soldiers around her, unarmed. The sides of the boat stood the armed ones, keeping watch of potential attack.
In front of the boat was a unicorn. She wore a different uniform compared to her comrades. She wore a cap instead of a helmet, blue pants with red stripes instead of green ones.
The unicorn raised her head up, eyeing the troops with her yellow eyes. She spoke up.
"Welcome to the Red Army, comrades. You are about to begin the greatest moment of your life!" She stood up with her right hand on the boat's railing.
"The rotten cancer of the German Reich have devoured Europe like a plague. Their relentless conquest throughout the continent struck terror deep into the hearts of many and claimed lives of stallions, mares, and foals alike. Not satisfied with the prize, they turned east to our Motherland. Now the devils are at our very doorstep and it is your duty to stand guard, defend our homeland. Our task is simple: Do NOT let the Germans reach the Volga and to defend the city of Stalingrad!"
Just as the unicorn finished her sentence, a city appeared behind her in the distance. Its flaming ruins turned the sky orange with a shade of red, as if it was Hell itself.
Suddenly, a very high pitch sound was heard. Mere seconds later, a small boat ferrying supplies next to the one Fluttershy was sitting in burst into flames. The explosion caused waves that rocked the boat.
"Steel yourselves, comrades!" The unicorn shouted.
"Pegasi!" A stallion warned. A unicorn soldier projected a shield protecting the boat with his magic as he and others opened fire with their rifles and submachine guns.
"We must give our lives to defend the city at all cost, comrades, the Motherland calls for you!" The unicorn kept shouting.
Fluttershy was startled from the gunfire, her ears were ringing as she tried to lessen the effect by covering them with her hands. It did not do much good for her.
"We must not retreat! Not a single step backwards! There is no place for us behind this very river!" And the unicorn kept shouting.
Another explosion occurred near the boat, the waves rocked the boat once more. This time, it caused the stallion projecting the shield to lost his balance. He fell to his knees and the shield started to flicker.
The German pegasi were performing another strafing run at the boat. The female unicorn took his place and attempted to shield the boat. Just as the shield was beginning to encompass the boat, the pegasi unloaded lead onto the boat. The bullets tore though the fabric acting as an improvised roof and hit a handful of the troops. One of them dropped dead in front of Fluttershy, she let out a frightened gasp from sheer shock.
One German pegasus was shot and his body fell into the river. The Soviet soldiers ceased their fire once they were out of side.
"The spirit of the Motherland shall protect us and we will emerge triumphant!" And the unicorn kept shouting. The male stallion regained his footing and his shield no longer flickered. The female unicorn deactivated hers.
"From this moment on, 'cowardice' no longer exists in our language!" Another explosion occurred, this time the water splashed onto the front of the boat. But the unicorn refused to stop shouting.
"Do not count days nor miles! Count only the number of the Germans you have killed! Kill the fascists, this is your mother's prayer! Kill the fascists, this is the call of our beloved Motherland! The cry from our Russian earth!"
The boat finally arrived at the docks.
"Move! Out of the boat!" The soldiers obeyed the unicorn. The steps and chatter were audible to Fluttershy, who were still quivering in fear. Her breath was shaky and her hands were still tightly against her ears.
Then, she heard footsteps coming towards her. She felt a poke by someone's boot.
"Get out, quick!"
The Russian mare laid on the ground, her cheek pressed against the cold floor. Foul stench reached her nose and she slowly lifted her eyelids. She saw a mare groaning, her hands clutched against her wounds, back against a low, stone wall. Her face filled with agony, as if she was helpless.
As Fluttershy looked around, her pupils grew small. They were all dead. Her fellow soldiers slaughtered. Their bodies littered all around her, with blood pools and bits of inside all around her. One pony to her right had his foot blown off, another laid emotionless in front of her. The latter's pairs of eyes, still opened, gazed towards her in an empty, emotionless stare. The mere sight of carnage made her uneasy. She felt like vomiting.
The yellow pegasus slowly turned her head, she realised she was in a fountain. She raised her hand, trying to signal the wounded mare. The mare looked at her.
"Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked. The mare slowly looked at her and nodded.
Just before Fluttershy could speak further, she heard footsteps and a mechanical sound coming from outside the wall. Fluttershy quickly laid down, not forgetting to tell the mare to do so too.
However, the mare's blood was shot out of her head; accompanied by a sudden bang. Fluttershy tried to play dead, hoping it will save her. She closed her eyelids, but left the right one barely opened.
A figure appeared, walking outside a fountain. It observed the dead Russians in the fountain. Another appeared and stepped right into the fountain.
Fluttershy could hear her heartbeat grew rapid, as if it was exploding. She held her breath.
The figure kicked a body over and stepped on it, probably checking if it was alive. The figure then opened fire at the bodies.
Fluttershy could barely contain herself from being startled. She knew that one mistake could end her life. The bullets, fortunately, did not hit her.
As her eyes were closed, the footsteps grew louder, and louder. The soldier was right next to her. Her body was giving up in holding her breath, her lungs felt heavy in need for release. Then, she felt the soldier's gears moving and footsteps. Fluttershy assumed that the soldier went outside of the fountain, so she released her breath in a long exhale.
Then, she saw something moving in the corner of her eye. She turned her head to the right, and nothing was there. But as she was about to turn her head, it was true. A body was moving. The yellow mare saw the what was a dead pegasus slowly opened her eyes.
"Was she playing dead?" Fluttershy thought. The mare had white mane and blue coat. Fluttershy tried to talk to her.
"Shhhh" The mare placed her finger over her mouth. She slowly grabbed the ledge of the fountain, she poked her head out. It was like she was scouting the area. The mare motioned her hand, telling Fluttershy to stay down.
The mare lifted her head up further.
"Good, they're not here." She spoke up. Fluttershy slowly rose to her feet, she also looked around too. The two mares realised they were all that was left of their group. They were stranded in a middle of a square.
"Chyort, we are probably cut off from the rest." said the blue mare.
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy said in an alarmed tone.
"We have to sneak past the Germans to get back to our comrades." The blue mare stepped out of the fountain, she pointed at an apartment to her left.
She kept her head down, slowly opening the door. A gesture was sent to Fluttershy, telling her to follow. The yellow mare dashed into the store without hesitation.
As Fluttershy entered the building, the blue pegasus opened another door. It led them to the basement.
"What is your name, by the way?" said the blue mare as they descended.
"Fluttershy."
"Night Glider." Night opened the third door, it creaked a bit. She poked her head inside, before opening the door fully. "I guess it's just two of us now."
Both of them walked in, the air felt heavy. Fluttershy looked around as Night rushed towards a pile of wooden crates and searched them. The room was quiet, except for a field radio in a room which was humming light static. The chair was turned over, as if the pony who sat on it left in a hurry.
Night Glider, discovered that all of the crates were empty, threw the last one onto the floor. She dashed across Fluttershy's view and opened a large crate in a corner of the room.
"Ah," The pegasus interjected in satisfaction. "These will let us defend ourselves." She grabbed a rifle from the crate. The mare did not forget to pull the bolt back, to check if it was loaded with bullets. She turned her head to Fluttershy. "Grab one, Fluttershy."
Night Glider put her rifle down next to the crate, then she reached into the crate with both of her hands. She grabbed herself a few clips of ammo, before putting them into pouches on her belt. She also found a pistol, along with its bullets.
She noticed that Fluttershy was not picking up the weapons. "....Fluttershy?"
"Fluttershy?" she turned her head. She saw the yellow mare standing still.
"I....uh.." She gulped. "..never shot a gun before. I am also...new, to this kind of thing." She stuttered, delivering the sentence in a nervous tone.
Night Glider stood up, her blue eyes gazed at Fluttershy. "You are a recruit?"
The yellow mare nodded. "Da."
The blue mare sighed. "I guess your mind did not prepare you for this thing, didn't it?" Night Glider grabbed the pistol that she had found, her hand reached out and offer it to her. "Here, take this."
As Fluttershy grabbed the pistol, Night quickly place her hands on Fluttershy's. She placed Fluttershy's index finger outside of the trigger guard. "Here. Only insert the finger when you are sure you will shoot it, got it?"
Fluttershy nodded, Night let go of her hand. "And watch where you're pointing with that!" she added.
Night moved a dresser in the room, revealing a secret hole that led them to another building. "Through here."
The mares followed a secret tunnel created by blowing up walls connecting buildings' basements together. They soon emerged at a flower shop. What used to be, at least. The room was filled with smell of charred woods, and the ashes filled the air.
Night aimed her rifle at an intersection outside the store, scanning for any Germans. She turned at Fluttershy, who was holding her pistol nervously in her hands. The blue mare nodded at her, giving an "all clear" sign.
But she immediately had to reversed her own statement, she suddenly pulled Fluttershy downed. As they hid behind the counter, a squad of German soldiers rushed down the street outside.
"It pains me to see my hometown in ruins like this." Night Glider commented as she observed the Germans outside.
"You were born here?" asked Fluttershy.
"Da. I pretty much volunteered to fight because of the Fascists reaching my doorsteps." she saw that the Germans had passed by, she nodded again at Fluttershy.
They ran across the street and entered the building opposite of the store. They looked both ways to see any signs of enemies; thankfully, there were none.
The duo found themselves in a bar, the same smell of charred woods lingered in the building. Night decided they should rest for a minute or two. She sat down on the floor, behind the counter. Fluttershy sat next to her, still loosely clutching the pistol in her hands. After a while, Fluttershy spoke out of the blue.
"How long have you been fighting?" Fluttershy asked.
"I have no idea, I never keep track of it." Night sighed. "My first battle was defending the sky above the Don river, when the Germans reached Stalingrad I was transferred to the ground troops. Why asked?"
"I...." Fluttershy paused. The blue mare raised an eyebrow, then she spat it out. "...I am scared of dying." She dropped her head, looking at the floor.
"We all are, Fluttershy." She felt a hand patting her head. "You're gonna be alright. We see this kind of soldiers like you almost everyday."
"...and I was scared of the war as you are right now." Night looked at Fluttershy. "But I was able to learn to become brave." She smiled with an assured look on her face.
"We're Russians." she added. "Our determination is nothing to compare."
Fluttershy looked up at her. "I hope so."
The mood was cut short by a sound of wood creaking. Both pegasi froze for a moment. Night grabbed her rifle and aimed at the direction of the sound, it came from behind a door to their left. Night slowly crouched down, right side of the body pressed tightly against the wall, her rifle trained and ready.
The door was slowly opened and Night charged at the pony. But she stopped dead in her track. She was looking at a unicorn wearing an officer uniform. Both of them had their guns aimed at their respective torsos, had they did not recognise each other, they would be dead already.
"Sorry, commissar!" Night quickly retracted her rifle. "I thought you were an enemy."
The unicorn lowered her submachine gun too. "That was close." Night nodded in agreement.
The unicorn saw Fluttershy to her left, who was also lowering her weapon. She turned to spoke to Night. "Are you two trying to get back to our lines too?"
"Yes." Night answered. "We were just resting, when you showed up."
Fluttershy looked at the commissar, she recognised her. She was the commissar who was forcing her out of the boat earlier. She was also screaming at her to shoot at the enemy, instead of cowering. Then, Fluttershy noticed the unicorn's glance. She also appeared to remembered her as well.
Fluttershy cried and cowered. Tears falling from her face, she did not want to die. From above the cover, bullets whizzed by around her head. Around her were constant deafening bangs of gunshots.
"PICK UP YOUR GUN AND SHOOT!" A yell came from right next to her. Fluttershy's hand glowed yellow, they were forcibly pulled away from her ears. She was handed a rifle.
In front of her was the officer she saw at the boat, shooting a stern glare at her.
"DO YOU WANT TO LIVE!?" The unicorn shouted. "You're gonna die out here if you don't fight!"
"I'm not angry at you, but this is war. You have to fight to survive. Your life is at stake here." The unicorn spoke up as if she could read Fluttershy's thought. She did not mind about Fluttershy's cowardice, from the way she said it.
"She and I have seen some of the recruits like you, Fluttershy." Night Glider added. "You are not the first."
"I think we should go now, we'll never know how long until that district gets overrun." The unicorn walked towards the door and poked her head outside. She looked both ways constantly, checking for a threat. "Night, you are familiar with this town. You lead the way."
"Got it." Night slowly walked pass Lyra, she walked into the streets and aimed her rifle to the left. The unicorn did the same, but aimed to the right.
"Solechnaya street is not far from here. If that place is not overrun yet, it is the closest safe haven for us right now." Night said.
"You lead the way." The unicorn answered.
Fluttershy followed the veteran ponies. The street was eerily quiet, the silence covered the area. Unlike the veterans, who held their guns firmly, Fluttershy's nervousness caused her hands to shake. She was afraid that the enemy could jumped out at any moment. Even there was no troops on the ground, there could be a pegasus troop perched on top of a roof or a cloud above somewhere, observing her.
The yellow mare pointed her pistol at any potential place for a surprise attack. Be it the shattered windows of the shops, ruins of the buildings, or the opened windows which leads to the pitch black shadow.
The unicorn and Fluttershy followed the blue mare though turns of the street. They did not speak to each other along the way as they were concentrating on being on guard.
Night Glider made a turn once more.
"Alright, just one more turn....." She pointed at an intersection in front of her. "....and we will reach-"
Suddenly, gunfires were heard.
"Chyort! They are under attack!" The green mare looked at Night and pointed at a small building on the left. "Night, you and her take position inside that store and help them kill the Germans from there! I'll go into another building and do the same!"
Night nodded and Fluttershy hastily followed. They saw German soldiers firing to their left, probably the field base. As they hid behind covers, they could see that some soldiers were gunned down.
"Hab einen!" One of them, who was a stallion yelled. (Got one!)
Night got into her position, laying down and aimed her rifle at one of them. She turned to Fluttershy, who was shivering in fear. "You cover my back. If anypony got in here, shoot them."
Fluttershy nervously nodded. As Night fired her rifle, it was followed by a short, loud burst. Presumably from the unicorn's submachine gun. She could hear the Germans caught with surprise, they were panicking.
"Scheiße!" A female scream was heard, followed by gunshots.
"Auf der linken Seite!" Another stallion screamed. (To the left!)
Fluttershy aimed her pistol at the area to the right of the table they were taking cover. Fluttershy wished she did not have to shoot anypony, she wished that they died before seeing her.
However, she did not get her wish. As she heard rapid footsteps darting to her position, she held the pistol firmly. Her finger slowly slid nearer and nearer to the trigger. The footsteps grew louder and it was followed by a sound resembling somepony roughly sliding across the floor.
A mare appeared in front of her, darting for the cover Fluttershy was using. Fluttershy's finger was now firmly on the trigger, her hands was shaking as always. The German mare quickly noticed Fluttershy, she raised her rifle and aimed at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy closed her eyes and pulled her fingers back.
BANG! Fluttershy did not feel any pain or burn on her body, so she opened her eyes. It was a mistake. She watched the mare she just shot, struggled to stop the blood coming out of her throat. She shot the mare in the throat, and now she was watching her choked to death by her own blood. Fluttershy was horrified at the mere sight.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She could only muttered, she could have shoot her again to put her out of misery. But she could not. The mare collapsed to the ground, still twitching from the pain. Night got the last German, before turning towards Fluttershy.
"Alright, Fluttershy we're good to-" She saw Fluttershy's eyes widened in shock. Her gaze never leave the German mare besides her. Night quickly aimed for the German's head and shot her, putting her out of misery. Night quickly rushed by Fluttershy's side.
"It's alright, she could have killed you." Fluttershy's hands shook now so rapidly she dropped her pistol and was hyperventilating rapidly, but she managed to calm down. "Come on, it's not time for this."
A loud shout was heard. "Don't shoot, comrades!"
The unicorn walked out of the cover, with holding her gun with right hand above her head, gripping its barrel. Her left hand gripped firmly on her horn. Then, the blue mare did the same but with her left hand in the air since she was not a unicorn. Fluttershy followed and raised her hands and her pistol as well.
In front of them were the Russian soldiers with their weapons trained at them, with one manning a machine gun. As the mares walked closer, they slowly let their guards down. A stallion walked up towards the green unicorn.
"Lyra?" He greeted. "I thought you were dead when the square got overrun!"
She chuckled. "Nyet. I was among the dead, not one of them."
The three mares safely entered their destination. A bakery that was re-purposed as a makeshift base by the Russian soldiers.
I was afraid, so afraid that I wished I could go home. I was not like Night or Lyra, I did not have bravery like them. It was a baptism by fire. Throughout that day, I felt like I was appreciating every seconds I was alive. After we reached the outpost, I slowly but reluctantly accepting my fate as a soldier........I felt that when Night told me she was afraid like me, I thought that she had to went through what I have seen and felt in this very day.
Author's Note
When I was writing this chapter, I wanted to include the part when Fluttershy got scared shitless by her first combat. The part where Lyra was yelling at her to fight, but because I couldn't make any way to connect them together, it was sadly left out.
I will be doing Twilight's Story - Act 1 as this story's act 1 (Stalingrad) develops. Then, I will move on to Pinkie's and Rainbow Dash's.
