//------------------------------//
// Arrival 
// Story: Derpy 262 
// by Killbles 
//------------------------------//

Klaus tilted the control stick slightly to the left, following his wing leader in perfect formation. He carefully scanned the skies, alert for any British or American aircraft. 
A faint crackle of radio static preceded his wing leaders transmission. 
“Sie sehen nichts?"
“Nein.” Klaus said back simply, returning his attention to the sky. The two jet engine in his Me 262 roared loudly, guzzling precious fuel. If they didn’t find something soon, they would have to return the airfield empty handed. Klaus sighed, he enjoyed the Me 262. It was a fast aircraft, the fastest in the Luftwaffe, but its combat ability was always curtailed by its frustratingly short range.
“Nun, es muss etwas sein. Mehrere Radar-Kontakte wurden hier zu sehen.” His wing leader shot back matter of factly. Klaus rolled his eyes. While the radar systems on the ground were usually reliable, the Allies had been able to spoof them before.
“Ich sehe nicht… Warten Sie… Was ist das?” Klaus wondered aloud. He pushed the speedy fighter into a shallow dive, moving closer towards the small mysterious grey object he could see.
“Was zur Hölle?” Klaus muttered as he drew closer to the small object. Now that he was closer he could see the thing was flittering around crazily, as if it was not entirely sure where it was going. It looked almost like a small horse with wings, but he was too far away to be sure.
“Acthung! Jabos!” One of the German pilots cried out. Klaus peeled away from the grey object, much more interested in hunting a real target. His blood was already racing from the prospect of a dog fight, Klaus snapped his head around to look of the incoming fighter bombers. 
“Ich sehe nur vier con ihnen.” One of the other pilots calmly responded. “Lager 258, sie müssen zur busis zurückkeheren.”
Using this new information, Klaus spotted the four retreating fighters. Thunderbolts, he realised. The American built planes may have been tough and well-armed, but they were much slower than the perusing German jets. The fighter bombers must be heading back to their airfield after escorting a large bomber mission.
“Sie haben uns nicht erkannt.” Klaus said over the radio as they snuck up to the unsuspecting fighter bombers. As they drew closer, a trio of bright flashing lights appeared off to the right, away from the allied fighters. The lights seemed to match the speed of Klaus’ jet and then speed up, an impossible feat for any aircraft.
“Was ist das?” Klaus asked concerned as the lights drew closer.
“Ich weiß nicht” one of the other pilots said, unsure of what the lights were.
“Ich werde schauen.” Klaus said as he banked towards the strange lights, his curiosity overcoming his discipline.
“Nein! Wieder hier!” his wing leader shot back over the radio.
Klaus ignored him and flicked his radio off, silencing his leader’s protests. He’d pay for it later but he didn’t care. He had heard tales about strange lights like these but no pilot had ever investigated them. There was never any record of them being dangerous so Klaus felt much safer chasing the lights rather than four planes armed to the teeth. As he closed on the lights, they became more erratic, flittering right then left and vanishing only to reappear moments later. 
“Was bist du?” Klaus asked, pulling underneath the lights.
As if answering his question the lights suddenly swarmed around his plane. Panicking, Klaus threw his jet into a steep climb but the lights seemed to follow him. Small arcs of lighting and a violet glow formed around the tips of his wings. A quiet buzzing filled the cabin as his aircraft was suddenly engulfed in the violet fire. Klaus screamed in fear as the world outside the canopy unexpectedly turned jet black and the small craft was thrown around violently. After what seemed like an eternity, another bright flash filled the cockpit and the world reappeared. Trying to calm himself down, Klaus took in the impossible sight. Somehow the once clear sky was now full of angry thunderheads and split with occasional bright flashes of lightning. The jet dipped suddenly as he hit turbulence.
“Scheisse!” Klaus yelled, grabbing the control stick. His pilot’s instincts kicked in and the impossibility of the situation was momentarily forgotten. Grappling for control, he managed to get his plane flying level. His problems were made worse by an orange light flicking on the dashboard. Klaus swore again to violent journey must have done something with his fuel supply as his aircraft was now running on its internal reserve fuel, he had maybe 10 minutes to land or the ungainly craft would plummet from the sky like a rock. Reigning in his speed in an attempt to conserve fuel and prepare himself for landing, he pushed the craft down towards the ground, desperately searching for a landing site. Even a field would do. Klaus felt his spirits lift as he broke through the bottom of the thick storm. There was a small village, maybe only a few kilometres away, close enough for him to land and find shelter. Pushing the stick forward, he descended faster, eager to get his plane out of the rough storm. Spotting what looked like a relatively flat field next to village, he angled his craft towards it. As he descended the last hundred meters, Klaus dropped the landing gear and prayed there weren’t any rocks hidden in the grass. His luck continued to hold as his jet roughly touched down and skidded to a halt over the sopping wet ground. Pulling the lever that raised the canopy, Klaus grabbed what few supplies he had in the cockpit. He stared at his luger for a moment and decided to bring it. He had no idea where he was and the locals might not exactly be sympathetic to his cause. Pulling his flight jacket closer around him, Klaus ran toward the relative safety of the village which was now only a few hundred meters away. As he approached, his mind tried to figure out what he was seeing that was wrong. Something seemed off with the town. Maybe it was that no one was outside or maybe that the village looked too out of place in rural France. As he past the first few houses he finally realised what was wrong. The houses seemed far too small, almost as if they were designed for people half his size. As he took in the sight of the village more, he noticed the second odd thing. The village seemed far too colourful and primitive for France. He knew of nowhere that had a similar architectural style to the one he was witnessing. He pushed the thoughts aside as he ran through the rain. Choosing a house at random he sprinted towards the door and rapped on the small knocker. 
“Hallo? Ist jemand zu Hause?”  He yelled over the rain. He knocked again after a few moments. A quiet murmur of conversation was heard inside. English, Klaus recognised in horror. He drew his luger and aimed it squarely at the door. If he was lucky, the occupant would be either unarmed or a English civilian who was caught in France when the war had started several years ago.
“Hände auf!” he yelled as the small portal swung open. The shout died in his throat as he saw what had opened the door.
A short pony, maybe slightly above waist high stood in the door, a surprised look on its face. The pony had a light tan coat and a forest brown mane. A curious hour glass was tattooed on its rump.
“Klein… Klein… Klein Pfred.” Klaus stuttered, his pistol falling limp in his hands.
“What the…” The pony said, making Klaus’ eyes bulge even wider. The shock was too great for him and he was left a stuttering wreck. 
“Klein…Pfred” was all he managed to stutter before he fainted in a heap.




Twilight galloped through the pelting rain, her saddlebags slapping roughly against her flanks. She followed the small grey unicorn that had shown up her door a few minutes ago through the deserted streets. While she couldn’t quite remember, she was fairly sure the filly’s name was Dinky. Ditzy the mailmare’s daughter. 
“This way Miss Sparkle!” Dinky yelled out over the pounding sheets of rain. She turned down a narrow street that led to the edge of town, slipping in the mud Twilight followed her coming to a sudden stop as Dinky rapped on the door of a small but welcoming house. The door quickly swung open and the pair was ushered in by a brown stallion. Twilight’s eyes were immediately caught by the strange creature resting on the lounge, a blanket draped over its wet body.
“Thanks Dinky, why don’t you go make yourself a cup of cocoa while I talk to Miss Sparkle? The stallion asked. Dinky nodded and left the room.
“Thank you for coming so quickly Miss Sparkle, I apologise for calling you out like this in such terrible weather.” The stallion said quietly to Twilight.
“Call me Twilight.” She said. She looked at the stallion curiously for a moment. “Have we met before?”
The stallion flushed in embarrassment. “No I don’t believe so. Ditzy holds you high regard though. I’m her husband Doctor Hooves.” 
“A doctor ? Always good to see another intellectual.” Twilight said with a smile. She suddenly became more serious. “I’m guessing your problem has to do with that?” she said gesturing towards the creature.
“Indeed. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Have you?”
No.” She pulled out one of the several books she had brought and started leafing through it quickly.
“Defining features?” she asked, not looking up.
“Bipedal, Four limbs, two ending in what appear to digits of which It has five digits on each; two of these appears to be opposable. It seemed capable of speech as it yelled something at me but I didn’t understand it. No hair covering its body except on the top of its head. It was also carrying that when it showed up.” He pointed at a curious metal object on the table near the creature. Leaving her book for a moment, Twilight levitated it over to her and examined it curiously.
“It seems to be made with a high level of workmanship, definitely not something made by ponies.” She looked closer. “It seems to have some sort of trigger mechanism connected to a stylised hammer of some sort, but what it does I have no idea.” She debated whether she should try to use the strange device. ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ She thought and tugged the trigger down with a touch of magic.
“Woah!” she yelled as the device discharged with a loud crack. She dropped the device immediately. “You ok?” she asked the Doctor who had jumped behind a chair when the device had fired.
“Fine.” The doctor said shakily, surprised at the loud noise the device had made.
Her curiosity reinvigorated, Twilight picked the device up again. “I think it fires small metal objects. See?” she held up a spent bullet casing. She rooted around for a moment longer before finding the bullet embedded in the floor. She levitated it over to the doctor. “It appears to fire these. What they do though, I don’t know, but I imagine they would be painful if they hit you due to the speed it left the device." He face scrunched up in a thoughtful manner. "I would say based on these findings, this device would appear to be some form of weapon. Much more advanced than anything I’ve ever seen or even heard of though.” She set the bullet and the gun down again and continued leafing through the book. A scowl appeared over her face as the number of pages she hadn’t read diminished.
“Nothing.” She announced slightly irked but excitedly. “It’s not something we’ve had contact with before. Imagine it Doctor! A whole new species we didn’t know about.” She clapped her hooves together excitedly. 
Dinky appeared a moment later. “What was that loud bang?” she asked, looking nervously at the still sleeping creature.
“Nothing to worry about Darling.” Doctor Hooves said calmly.
The creature groaned causing Dinky to squeak in fear.
“Where’s mummy?” she asked worriedly, turning to her father.
The doctor tilted his head to said as it was the first time he had ever thought of it. “That’s a good question; she should be back by now. Maybe she’s taking shelter somewhere from the weather?” he suggested.
“You don’t suppose this thing had anything to do with it?” Twilight asked.
“I wouldn’t think so.” The doctor curtly responded.
The creature’s eyes suddenly shot open and it sat up quickly in shock. It scrambled away fearfully from the ponies in front of it, discarding the rug that had been covering it haphazardly. Dinky squealed again and dived behind the Doctor.
“Was ist los? Wo bin ich?” it said, eyes wide with fear and confusion. 
Twilight looked at the Doctor and shook he head. She didn’t understand what it was saying at all. 
“Hello?” she asked, trying to look friendly.
Klaus’ eyes shot to the lavender pony. He had recognised what she had said; he had recognised what a pony had said! He disregarded that thought as preposterous, ponies didn’t talk, let alone live in houses. Maybe he had been hit and he was hallucinating. Maybe this was just a dream. ‘Maybe I should talk back’ he thought. ‘Can’t make anything worse…’
“Hallo.” He said nervously, his eyes flickering around the room, it appeared well lived in. Several photos hung from the wall. He noticed there was another pony in the photos that was missing. 
“My name is Twilight Sparkle. Do you have a name?” The unicorn asked.
Klaus screwed his face up. He understood a few words, but his grasp of English was limited. 
“Sprechen sie Deutsch?” he asked hopefully.
“I’m sorry, I don’t understand you.” Twilight said slowly.
Klaus didn’t really understand, but he guessed from the Unicorns expression of confusion that it didn’t speak German.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle, do you have a name?” Twilight asked again, miming some words to help get her message across. 
“I… Have name, yes.” He stuttered, trying to dredge up some English words from classes he had taken when he was in school.
“What is your name?”
“My name is Klaus.” He said back slowly, trying to keep himself from passing out again. He was talking to a lavender pony after all. Mad!
“Where are you from? How did you get here?” Twilight said slowly.
Klaus again only understood a few words. 
“I am Klaus Fliechfresser, I am from... Jagdverband vierundvierzig, Luftwaffe. I do… not know how I am here.” He let out a  breath as he answered. The talking pony seemed friendly enough but he was still a bit shocked by the recent events. “I am sorry. I... do not… know much English.” He added.
“English?” Twilight asked.
“Ja, is what you… speak.” He said.
Twilight flashed look at the Doctor before taking a note. Wherever this thing came from, some spoke the some language that they did. A fact she found very interesting.
“How… do… you talk?” Klaus asked looking at the three ponies. One he noticed was even smaller than the other two. A foal he guessed. “Where I am from…” he struggled with the word and reverted back to German. “Pfred.. do not talk.”
“Pfred?” Twilight said, struggling with the pronunciation of the foreign word.
“Ja, you are… pfred… Klein pfred.”
“So… Pony?” Twilight asked hopefully.
“Klein pony, yes. Pony do not talk. They make other sound.” He imitated neighing. “How do you talk?”
“I don't know, we have always been able to talk.” The Doctor said, bristling slightly at the strangers comment.
“What are you?” Twilight asked again.
“I am Klaus”
“No, that’s who you are. What are you?” she said trying to sound friendly.
Klaus looked her blankly.
“I am a pfred. You are…?” She added helpfully.
“Ah.. I am… Mensch... How do you say…” he racked his memory, “Human. I am man.”
“How did you get here? I haven’t seen a human before.”
“I fly.” He imitated flying with a hand.
It was Twilight’s turn to look at him dumbly. The so-called Human had no wings, and she doubted he could flap his arms hard enough to overcome the force of  gravity.
“How do you fly? You don’t have wings.”
“I do not fly… I do not know how to say. I can… show you? Yes?”
He stood shakily and walked to the door. He opened at and was rewarded with a strong gale of wind and a solid sheet of rain. He closed the small door quickly.
“Show me later.” Twilight said.
“Yes.” He said, sitting down sadly. The fear in his eyes was gone but he still looked very pale. The poor thing was probably suffering from shock Twilight concluded.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.
“I am.. okay. Am just… Schockiert.” He said, unsure of the word. He imitated surprise, so the ponies would understand.
“I see.” Twilight said writing something else. Klaus realised for the first time the quill she was writing with was floating. He sprung up again.
“Wie hast du das germact?” he asked slightly cautious. He did not believe in magic so seeing the pony so casually perform it surprised him somewhat.
“Pardon?” Doctor Hooves asked,looking up from the still shaking filly next to him.
Klaus shook his head, the ponies didn’t understand German. “How did… How did you do that?” he asked.
“What, this?” Twilight asked, levitating the quill again.
“Ja.”
“I’m a unicorn, I can use magic.” She said, tapping her horn gently. 
“Magie?” Klaus breathed. “Verwunderlich”
Then he fainted again.




Ditzy fluttered around aimlessly. She had no idea what had just happened, or where she was. One moment she had been battling through a fierce storm when a purple glow had surrounded her. A moment later she had appeared in a clear sky. In panic, she had flown aimlessly around. Her state of mind was not helped by the fact that she had been approached by a very loud metal bird. Luckily for her, it had flown off very quickly and left her alone once again.
“Where am I?” she asked, an edge of hysteria in her voice.
She panicked for a moment and fell a few meters as her wings locked up.
“Okay, calm down Ditzy. Just calm down.” She muttered taking several deep breaths. Looking around, she spotted a dark forest off in the distance. ‘Maybe that’s the Everfree’ she thought,’ Maybe I got lost.’ Setting her bearings, she flew towards the forest. She knew that Ponyville lay somewhere along its boundary, so if she headed towards it, she would find her way home. With a renewed sense of purpose, she flapped he wings and shot off towards the dark green tree line.

Ditzy flapped her wings tiredly. She had been flying for hours and although she had reached the forest, she could see no sign of her hometown. In fact, now she thought of it, the entire landscape looked different. A surge of panic started to well up again but she forced it down. Desperately looking around for any clues of her whereabouts, she spotted a small column of movement below her. What looked like several carts trundled along a dirt road that skirted the edge of the forest beneath her. A hint of hope flaring up, she swooped down into the trees, landing with a soft thump. Peering from the relative safety of the tree line, she took in a sharp intake of breath. The carts were unlike any other she had ever seen. They were clad in metal and each rolled forward on a pair of tracks. Each had a small turret on top where a few weary looking creatures were relaxing. A small flag with red and white overlapping crosses on a blue background flew proudly from one of the carts. A few of the creatures trudged alongside the strange vehicles. The entire spectacle left her in awe. She stood there, rooted to the ground in amazement as the convoy passed by.  She was snapped out of her reverie by a loud crack off to her right which made her spin around in surprise. She found herself staring at a pair of the pink creatures wearing dark khaki fatigues. Each one was carrying a long wooden and metal stick. They were talking in hushed tones, both intently staring at her. She opened her wings in panic, ready to fly off.
“No wait! Don’t go!” a voice called out softly.




Corporal Duffy raised a hand, motioning for the man behind him to stop. To his disbelief, a small pegasus had just swooped down out of the sky and landed about twenty meters in front of him. He turned to the Soldier behind him.
“Elliot, look! Is that a Pegasus?”
“Don’t be stupid Duffy, they aren’t real.” Lance Corporal Elliot shot back, crawling next to his friend.
“Look mate, there’s one standing right bloody there. See?” Duffy insisted, pointing at the impossible creature.
“That can’t be real though.” Duffy insisted following his friend's pointing finger. “We must be imagining things. I think this war has finally got to our heads.”
Duffy pointed to the unit insignia stitched on his upper sleeve. “See, a bloody Pegasus.” He said returning his gaze to the small grey Pegasus that had landed in front of him a moment ago.
“I think I need a cuppa about now.” Elliot responded, taking a tiny step back. A loud crack suddenly came from a small stick he had crushed under his boot. The Pegasus wheeled round and stared at them in alarm.
“Jesus Christ, it’s looking at us.” Duffy said.
“I can see that you tot.” Elliot snapped.
“No wait! Don’t go!” Duffy called softly to the Pegasus, as it opened its wings. Much to his surprise, it stopped mid flap. The look in its eyes went one of panic and fear, to one of curiosity.
“We won’t hurt you. Promise.” Duffy continued.
The small winged horse tucked its wings back in and took a cautious step towards them. “Are you hungry??” Duffy asked softly, pulling an apple he had pilfered from an orchard earlier that morning. He hesitantly offered it the wary creature.
“Hey Duff, look at its eyes.” Elliot whispered pointing at the two mismatched golden orbs. Now that the Pegasus was facing them, they could see that one of its eyes was slightly skewed.
“Must have a lazy eye or something.” Duffy whispered back, as he held the apple out, encouraging the small creature to come closer..
The diminutive creature took a few careful steps towards them, pausing ever now and then as if it was trying to figure out if it could trust them. It suddenly zipped forward and grabbed the apple out of Duffy’s hand, much to his surprise, and withdrew a few steps. The pair of paratroopers looked on in wonder as it devoured the apple hungrily. 
“Thank you.” It said mid-bite. “I was getting hungry after all that flying.”
“No proble-.” Duffy said, stopping mid-sentence as his brain suddenly froze. He turned to his equally astonished comrade. ”Did it just talk?” 
“Uh-huh.” 
“We’re definitely crazy now. Horses can’t talk.” Duffy said quietly so the Pegasus couldn’t hear them.
“A Pegasus isn't even supposed to exist.” Elliot reminded him slowly.
Ditzy looked up from the apple core at the two soldiers, oblivious to their conversation. “I’m Ditzy. What’s your name? Do you have names? What are you? I’ve never seen anything like you before. What’s with the metal carts and what are those sticks you’re holding?” she gushed, curious about these strange creatures with the funny accents and strange uniforms.
“Jesus Christ.” Elliot muttered, deciding to sit down before he fell down.
“Umm… Well...” Duffy spluttered. “I’m Duffy and this is my buddy, Elliot. 7st British Parachute Battalion at your service.” He said uncertainly. He was talking with a mythical flying horse after all.
“Nice to meet you!” she said cheerfully. She was slightly disappointed that they hadn’t answered more of her questions but she decided she quite liked these ‘British’ things.
“So how far from Ponyville am I? Where am I anyway? And where are you going?” she asked, sure that the two SAS things would know where she had to go.
The two soldiers looked at each other blankly. 
“Where?” they said in unison.
Ditzy’s face fell. “Haven’t you heard of it? It’s one of the largest villages in Equestria.”
“Sorry, Ditzy was it?” Duffy asked, still slightly dubious of his sanity. The Pegasus nodded.
“We ain’t heard of no Ponyville or Equestria. Sounds like some fairyland to me and I haven’t got the foggiest idea where they are. Sorry Darl.”
Ditzy’s ears drooped down. Well… well... then where am I?”
Without warning the metal cart at the front of the column exploded, making any further conversation impossible, a brilliant fireball erupted into the sky as its ammunition cooked off. Duffy and Elliot dived to the ground, pulling Ditzy with them.
“Ambush!” a nearby voice yelled over the explosion. “Contact front!”
Ditzy cowered in fear at the sudden loud cracks and the screams of pain she could hear.
“Welcome to France, Ditzy.”