My Honour and My Fatherland

Chapter 2: They Shall Not Pass

Part 2

They're getting closer on their little feet, determination clear in their eyes. If they can see his own, they'll see the same steely determination, the same will, but not the same willingness to hurt others, kill others.

There's only three of them now, the other two having been led away by the pink one, who'd become straight haired like a balloon that's run out of air.

He breathes raggedly, his mouth quivering a bit as he lowers the mask back over his face, taking in big gulbs of air while he slowly closes the door again. Wouldn't want them to see what he's up to.

He lowers his hand into his bag as he edges closer to one of the windows, feeling for the round object within while looking at them out there with his eyebrows furrowed.

Wait: they're splitting up!

The white one is heading left, while the orange one is heading right. The purple one, however, is heading straight for the door. He can't see its face, but he's certain he knows what its feeling: he's feeling it too, afterall.

His eyes dart between them all as he begins to humn a little tune to himself, not a specific one, just a tune his head's making up on the fly as his hand digs around a bit in the bag.

He whips out his lighter as he heads back to the counter where he picks up the three largest rockets that he clutches tightly in his cloth covered hand. With the other hand, his thumb strikes the sparkwheel several times, sending glowing sparks flying.

When a flame finally erupts, his hands shake, and his eyes go wide, as he sees the blood on them. He tries to blink to make it go away before he sweeps at his hands, trying to get it off. It helps with the worst of it, satisfying him for now as he returns to his planning.

He can still hear their guns pounding away at the building, and he quickly ducks behind the counter, peaking over it to keep watch in case they try to get at the windows, the flame continuing to illuminate the small space around him.

They've been shooting all around the building, the bullets hitting the outter walls, but they can't seem to penetrate them at all for some reason. Maybe their guns have been weakened by the rain? Dry powder?

He shakes his head. No, that doesn't make sense, but he doesn't give it much further thought as a little grin finds its way onto his face while he gazes over the counter past the rockets.

He chuckles a bit, just a little, when suddenly, a loud crash is heard to the right of him over the counter. He whips his head around to see whatever it was before a blinding light erupts throughout the room.

He cries out, bringing his hands up to shield his eyes, dropping the lighter and the rockets in his hands as he does.

They're trying to blind him so they can rush him, they must be!

Just then, with the blinding light obscuring his vision, the ringing in his ears become the whistle of the captain while an image appears before his eyes of the man pointing his revolver at the enemy lines before he screams, "Charge!!!"

Still blinded, he runs for where he last saw the door, throwing his hand into his bag and retracting the round object, removing the safety cap on the top. He feels for the door, wrapping his free hand around the handle just as their bombs go off behind him, sending heat and sparks everywhere.

He throws open the door at the same moment he knocks the now unsafened cap against his helmet, starting the timer as he rears his arm back to throw, taking a deep breath before he screams at the top of his lungs, "They shall not pass!"

* * *

"No, no, no!" Twilight's eyes widden as through one of the windows of the bakery she can see some of the fireworks go off inside, the explosions setting fire to the more flammable parts of the construction. The creature itself finally emerges from within, sounding enraged with its arm reared back as if to throw something.

'This is it! Here's our chance!' She lowers her horn, lighting it up as she prepares her magic to stun or knock out the creature. Applejack's still standing close by the door, lasso in hoof and ready to throw the moment she sees the creature in full.

Just then, it shouts, "Ils ne passeront pas!" The words somehow sound familiar to Twilight, like she's heard somepony say something that sounded almost like that, or close to it.

Her short distraction, however, allows the creature to throw something round looking through the air towards her, catching her off guard. The round thing lands with a heavy thumb some ten feet away from her.

It has the appearance of a sort of small, black-greenish pineapple with a small cap on top of it that appears to have been pushed down with force like som sort of activation mechanism.

"What is-" Before she has a chance to finish her sentence, the little pineapple shaped thing explodes, sending dirt, dust and sharp metal flying through the air along with a shock wave that knocks her off her feet while terrible pain shoots throughout her body.

She groans as she tries to stand, shaking a bit as her movement only seems to intensify the pain. She looks over herself to see several small wounds and cuts on her forelegs and chest along with what appears to be tiny bits of metal stuck within some of the wounds.

"Twilight!" Applejack cries out before her attention returns to the creature who's now stepped out of the building itself, a small, sharp looking spade in one claw, and what she assumes is the cannon in the other.

Which it's aiming right at her wounded friend.

"Oh, no, ya don't!" She quickly swings her head around, lasso in mouth, and throws it hard. The lasso wraps around the creature's torso, and upon seeing her success she quickly tightens it, bringing the creature's arms down to its sides.

"Got cho!" She says with the rope still in her mouth, but the creature is quick to look her way, wheezing and huffing as it does. For a tense moment they stare at each other, gauging the other's intent, before it begins to struggle to get the rope off.

"Twilight!" Applejack cries out through her teeth as it swings its spade at the rope, cutting straight throught it. Her eyes go wide as it quickly drops the spade, and grabs the now cut robe before it pulls it hard towards itself.

With her still holding onto the rope with her mouth she's pulled along, landing with a hard crash onto the wet ground infront of the creature while a burning light begins to emerge from the windows of the bakery.

The lasso is dropped by the creature, landing at its feet, before it reaches down and picks up the spade, her eyes following it along as it's raised.

Her mouth starts quivering as she sees it raise the spade high above its head while the light from the fire within Sugarcube Corner shows her the dirt and blood clinging to its clothes. Most of all, however, it shows the lifeless orbs of the mask, black and empty, as if she was staring into the deepest, darkest abyss, more terrifying than the evil eyes of King Sombra.

She wants to move and run away, to get away from this murderous thing, but the fear has gripped her completely, paralyzing her body, and making it refuse any command.

As the creature gribs the spade tightly in its claw, she can see her life flash before her eyes: her first applefritter, Applebloom's birth, arguing with Big Mac. It's all over now.

The creature's head suddenly rears forward a bit after a ding can be heard from its helmet while a rock falls onto the ground behind it. It whips its head around to see Rarity standing behind it with a defiant look in her eyes, "Get away from her, you beast!" She shouts in a rather unlady-like manner.

It responds by swinging the spade at her head, but she's quick to dodge down to the ground with a shriek, making the creature swing the spade into the bakery's outer wall, getting the sharp weapon stuck in the wall.

She quickly rises and runs to her friend's aid, helping Applejack up onto her haunches with her hooves, before the creature whips around and points the cannon at them both while leaving the spade in the wall.

She brings Applejack's head to her chest, trying to shield her friend from this beast's wrath, "Don't you dare harm her!" She remains defiant, yet a few tears well up in her eyes as the realization comes that this may be the end for them both.

Just then, a flash of purple is seen out of the corner of her eyes followed by a blast of magic connects with the lens of the creature's mask, making it cry out as it smashes into the wall before falling backwards onto the steps that lead to the door of the burning building.

Both Applejack and Rarity whip their heads around to see a bleeding Twilight approaching, her legs, torso and face having several small wounds that bleed. She's breathing heavily, trying to fight through the pain that's racking her body.

They don't stop her from getting nearer while the endless rain keeps pouring down, sizzling out on the flames that have begun to eat through the roof.

Upon seeing the fire, the town ponies emerge once more, freightened and curious to know how and why Sugarcube Corner has caught fire, and why their princess is standing bleeding in front of it.

With her gaze still firmly locked on the creature, Twilight speaks, "Ar-are you girls okay?" She asks before wincing and drawing breath sharply when close enough to her friends, "I am, and so's Applejack, but we need to get you to the hospital, darling: you're bleeding!" The distress in Rarity's voice grows as she steps closer to check the wounds of her friend.

Twilight casts a passing glance over her wounds before back at Rarity, "Don't worry about me: I'm fine." She then switches her attention onto Applejack.

"Applejack? You okay." Applejack is barely responding, merely staring at the creature with a terrified look in her eyes, "I-it was gonna kill me." She says barely above a whisper with a quivering voice.

"I-I know, darling, but it didn't!" Rarity tries to lighten the mood, but fails miserably to such a degree that even the townponies wince.

"I-it was so close." Applejack mumbles again, "What woulda happened to mah family? Granny would be devastated, and-and Applebloom..."

The worry now grows tenfold within her as Twilight considers what to do with her traumatised friend for a moment before coming to a conclusion.

"Rarity?"

"Yes?"

"I think Applejack needs to go home, and see to her family. She's had enough for one night."

"Okay, darling, if you're sure. Come, Applejack, let's get you away from that ghastly thing." Applejack gladly accepts Rarity's help, the image of the creature with the raised spade still clear in her mind while thought of what would have happened afterwards follows.

Twilight follows them for a bit as they walk down the streets before she turns back to the still burning building, the flames having burned through the roof and are now licking the outter walls Pinkie's room.

With a nod of determination, she lights up her horn to-

Suddenly, she's thrown to the ground as something tackles her, and looking up reveals the creature, the glass lense her magic hit having been broken, revealing its eye. Wounds are surrounding its eye, having been inflicted when the lens was shattered by her magic.

Blood is slowly flowing down its face, and its eye is lit up with fury and hate to a degree she's never seen before in any of the monsters or villains she's ever faced. It quickly presses the cannon against her forehead, making her feel the cold barrel.

She begins to light up her horn, but it presses its thumb onto her windpipe, choking the air out of her, and breaking her concentration, making the purple shine fizzle out of her horn.

She tries to cry out to her friends, or anypony for that matter, but the pressure it puts on her throat prevents any sounds from coming out.

Their eyes connect as it looks into her own, the hate in them seeming to only grow the longer they maintain eye contact. Just then, a light begins to shine onto its face hitting it right in the eye.

* * *

He blinks a few times, trying to get the annoying shine of the flare out of his eye, before he looks at wherever its coming from, only to freeze dead in his motion when his gaze comes to rest upon what's shinning so much.

It's not a flare: it's the sun shinning so brightly, so magnificently, casting its light across the ruined landscape of muddy holes, torn bodies, maze-like trenches, and ruined houses.

But as the light trails across the land, it's as if the holes expand to form a lake outside the town, the bodies turn to leaves blown away by the wind, and the blood beneath them become nothing more than simple water puddles formed from the rain that's by now ceased its downpour.

The wooden beams of the trenches grow and turn into brown trees with the greenest leaves he's ever seen while bushes grow alongside them. The houses go from destroyed ruins to filled with life, warmth and joy as if they'd never been destroyed or seen a hint of war.

Those who inhabit those trenches and houses, which had been full of sharp knives, loaded guns and bombs ready to be thrown, are turning into more of these small, colourfull things, the uniforms they wear dissapearing in the wind only to be replaced by furry coats.

One in particular looking at him through a window, a mint green one with a white streak going through its hair, stares at him with wide, yellow eyes full of fascination and wonder. As he looks at it, his eyes adjust more to the light, and it hits him that it's not some monstrous beast or a Hun: it's a horse, a small one. Just a simple, little pony with a mint green carrot sticking out of its head.

As the realization dawns on him where he is, or rather where he's not, he begins to slowly let go of the little, purple pony's throat, sitting up gently as he does. He scans the world around him, seeing it for the first time with clear, open eyes.

"W-where-"

* * *

Twilight can hear the creature say something in a language that sounds familiar, but she doesn't understand it. However, wanting to finally end this, she takes the oppertunity while it's distracted by the sun to quickly light up her horn and send a great blast of concentrated magic right into its chest, sending it flying off of her and landing a few feet away on its back.

She quickly jumps to her hooves, her horn trailed right at the prone creature. She clenches her teeth as she lights up another spell, preparing all her magic to go into another, single blast. A moment passes without it moving, then another, and another.

Her heart rate slowly calms down along with the adrenaline rush, allowing her to think clearly once more. She takes in a deep breath before letting it out in a deep sigh.

"Twilight!" She hears the panicked voice of Rarity shout before a gentle hoof is placed on her shoulder, "Are you okay?!" She turns her head to her worried friend who has a terrified expression.

"I'm fine, Rarity," She manages to say through her ragged breathing, "it's over."

"A-are you sure?"

Twilight turns her gaze to the prone creature lying unconsious in the Ponyville street.

"Positive."

Rarity looks at her friend with worry for a few moments before she also breathes a great sigh of relief while Twilight sits down onto her haunches, trying to catch her breath.

"Applejack?" Twilight asks after a moment or two, wanting to know what happened with her farmer friend.

"I left her down the road when I saw the creature on top of you. Was-was it staring at the sun?"

"I think it was. It looked like it was distracted for some reason, and then it said something, something that sounded familiar. It sounded like Prench, actually, but I'm not sure."

"Prench? Are you saying we can maybe, actually communicate with this- this thing?!"

"Yes, Rarity, I think we can." Twilight rises after having recuperated some of her energy, "But we can discuss that further when the princesses get here, for now you get Applejack home, and I'll get the fire under control."

"Okay, darling, take care of yourself." After a quick, reassuring hug, Rarity hurries back to Applejack who sits waiting on a bench some ways down the road with a somber expression.

With her friends finally taken care of, Twilight turns back to the burning building, concentrating her magic to create a bubble around it, preventing the flames from spreading throughout Ponyville as well as choking its air supply, making the flames slowly fizzle out.

Meanwhile, a pink pony with hair as straight as a javelin arrives at the scene, edging closer as she takes in the situation before her.

Twilight is using her magic to tie the creature's arms behind its back with the remainder of Applejack's rope, making sure to tie two extra, strong knots.

Pinkie's heart sinks as she sees the fires slowly dissapate, leaving parts of her home charred and blackened in their wake, but it seems most of the building was spared from being turned completely to ash.

This isn't the main focus of her attention, even though it hurts her deeply to see her home in such a condition.

Instead, she sets her sights on the tied up creature she reaches just as Twilight finishes tying a third knot just to be sure.

"I'm glad you came back," Twilight says with a gratefull, tired smile, "I just hope the Cake twins aren't too much of a hoofful for Spike to handle back at the castle."

"Yeah..." Pinkie says without much emotion as her gaze travels from her hooves to Twilight, who gives a satisfied nod before speaking again, "Maybe you can keep an eye on it for me while I adress the townsponies? It'll only be until Princess Celestia and Princess Luna arrive."

Pinkie merely gives a small nod in return, and sits down on her haunches just besides the creature's head. Twilight, meanwhile, has gone on crowd control, explaining the situation to the town's ponies who look terrified at the thought of a hostile creature with destructive weapons.

Pinkie, though, isn't terrified at all. Instead, she feels a great sadness at everything that's happened as she looks from the damaged, smoking building to her exhausted friend, and finally down at the unconsious creature.

She isn't sure what exactly's compelling her to do so, but she can't help thinking whether this is truly the same creature she met back in the kitchen. The same one that's been so destructive, and caused such harm to her dearest friends. The same one that, for a moment, lowered its cannon and was willing to give her a chance.

She wants to, no, she must be sure.

She leans down to the creature's head, and with her mouth gently removes the chin strap of the helmet. It tastes like mud and blood, a filthy, ironish taste, but she doesn't care much for that right now.

With the chin strap out of the way, she lifts the helmet off of its head, placing it very carefully besides herself on the dirt road.

Next comes the mask, which is rather straight forward to remove as it easily slides off of its head after she finds the straps at the back of the creature's head.

She lifts it slowly, almost afraid of what she'll find underneath, only to reveal the soft features of the same creature she saw kneeling at the window back in the kitchen.

Everything looks the same: same face, mouth, small nose and eyes, the same light beard, same short, scruffy hair, and the same wounds down its cheeks. Only real difference is that now there's some minor, fresh wounds around its left eye.

It looks so peacefull without all the fear and hate all over its face, like a normal pony taking a nap. A really, really dirty pony that's had a really rough night.

She looks back at her friend whose still explaining the situation much to the horror of the ponies in town. Normally, she'd love to join the conversation, and come with some witty comment to lighten everypony's mood.

Normally.

"Oh," Pinkie looks back at the unconsious being, and can't help gently pet its cheek with her hoof, feeling the dirt and small hairs of its beard, "what happened to you?" She chokes out before a few tears hits its cheek, which mix with the blood and mud.

End of Chapter 2: They Shall Not Pass Part 2