//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 Playtime 
// Story: The little Knights 
// by Bronycommander 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 5: Playtime




„Sir?“ A voice next to Fletcher said as he opened his eyes, finding himself in a trench near Mondelein, seeing a soldier next to him.

“Don’t worry, they won’t get through here.” He calmed the stallion down as big metallic dragons were visible in the distance.

As far as Fray knew, those were some kind of new vehicles, designed by Solomon himself.

In the head of the commanding dragon, Solomon was confident of victory, grinning. “This is Grandmaster Solomon. Begin your attack.”

Without warning, two of the dragons started to sprint, making a drag race.

“What the hay are you doing, slow down!” The commander of one of the dragons yelled to the pilots.

“Here they come!” Fray yelled as they came closer, flying over his head in slow-motion, he couldn’t help but admire it.

“You just passed them you have to…Look out!” The commander yelled as the dragon was steered towards a family, only for one of the pilots to break sharp, causing the machine to crash.

Solomon could just stare in total shock at what just happened, as a magic hologram activated, looking like Princess Celestia. “Grandmaster Solomon, report on the attack.”

“Uhh…” Still being in shock, too much to get up with a reply, Solomon put a cup over Celestia.



Fletcher rubbed his head as he awoke in the middle of the night, wondering what he had just dreamed. Could have done with that in the war. It certainly would've made the behemoths less of a pain.

In the moment he closed his eyes, a strange noise entered his ears, it sounded like some broke a lock open.

“Can’t you be quieter?” A male voice hissed.

All Eternal Knights were light sleepers, so Wolf and Midnight were also awake by this, realizing what this meant.

Burglars.

“Stay here, I’ll take care of that.” Midnight said before his friends could react, using his wings to get out undetected.

Due to his eyes, he could see in the dark without problems as he came to the living room, seeing two men in back clothes.

They were scanning the room for anything valuable. Too busy to notice him as he flew high into the air and yelled, “Surprise!”

They jumped and turned around, only seeing his white eyes in the dark. Their masks showed only their eyes but it was enough for Midnight to see they were scared. One of them drew a knife, his hand shaking.

“S-Stay back!” He yelled in fear.

His friend grabbed his arm and lowered it. “Forget it, let’s get out of here!”

They didn’t even put up a fight, being so scared that they made a run through the window they had come from.

“What’s that noise?” Jens asked sleepy as he walked in.

“Burglars. I scared them off.” The bat pony explained.

The man yawned. “Uh-huh. Back to bed.”

In the morning, Jack and James picked up Patch and Wagensroll while Jens saw the window that got lock picked open. “Thank you, Midnight, they will think twice about coming back.”

“Your welcome.”

“I come back in the evening, you can use my TV, PC and console to pass the time if you want. I also bought you a little surprise.”

And that is?” Wolf asked, getting curious

The man reached for the fridge, getting out what seemed like a bag of fruit gums. “Those are Nimm 2 Lachgummi, fruit gums with fruit juice and essential vitamins in many delicious flavors. I thought they would taste you.”

“Thank you.” Fletcher smiled, appreciating it.

“It’s also very hot today, so stay in the shadow and drink much.”

“Of course.” Midnight replied before Jens walked out and closed the door. “Okay, okay, we need to figure a way out of this-“ Before he could finish, he felt how he got pocked from behind, turning around with a scowl. “Did you just poke me?” he asked the blue Pegasus.

“Yeah.” She said with a relaxed expression.

“Well, stop it!” The grey pony yelled annoyed.

The filly just grinned. “Why?”

“Because I don't like it.” In response to his reply, she poked him a few more times before he tried to swat at her. “We're not going to get back to adults if none of you behave like them. For Luna's sake, focus and we'll-”

“Poke.” The unicorn said as he poked him, only to pale as Midnight bared his teeth. “It was her!” And with that, he ran off, pursued by Midnight who hissed, with Wolf laughing at the situation.

Eventually, the two colts joined her laugher, lying on the ground. “I admit I hadn’t that much fun for a long time…” Midnight caught his breath.

They then tried out some video games, Fletcher used the PC, playing a Star Wars RTS game, called Empire at war against Wagensroll, who happened to play the same game on James’ PC.

Fletcher took the Empire, his relative the Rebellion.

They both were passive at first, upgrading their technologies and building up massive fleets and ground troops. The unicorn had the first turn, attacking Dantooine with a fleet of two star destroyers, several heavy and normal frigates and a few corvettes, along with Vader and a fleet commander, against a Level 2 space station.

“So much for Dantooine being abandoned.” Fletcher taunted via headset as his fleet broke through the defense without loses.

“It wasn’t of use for me anyway.” Wagensroll replied as his relative moved his troops towards Yavin IV. “I’m afraid the space defenses will be quite operational when your troops arrive.”

“That doesn’t matter. This day will soon see the end of the Rebellion.” The Eternal countered, confident of victory.

It turned out the Rebel defense consisted of the home one, with a level II space station and the Millennium Falcon, Red Squadron and dozens of bomber and fighter squadrons and a few frigates.

Wagensroll used a defensive tactic, ordering his fighters to attack the Tie-Bombers, while his bombers tried to attack the star destroyers with the frigates and home one, showing he was skilled in such games.

Fletcher however, ordered Vader to attack Red Squadron, while his fighters took care of the bombers, his frigates and star destroyers fighting the other ships, eventually breaking through. He hadn’t in mind fighting a ground battle, oh no.

“Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational station.” He brought the Death Star to the base, destroying it, securing victory.

“Good game, another match?” The green earth pony asked with his headset.

“Sure thing.”

This time, Fletcher used Veers to win his land battles, announcing with excitement, “General Veers. Prepare your troops for surface attack.”

As he went for Kashyyyk, Wagensroll grinned. As Fletcher’s fleet came into view, he sent several Mon Calamari cruiser as reinforcements behind the Imperial Fleet, causing the Eternal Knight by surprise.

“What?!”

“It’s a trap!” The Earth pony pronounced with pride.

Realizing he couldn’t win, Fletcher ordered the retreat. “Even an Eternal Knight can’t win every battle.” Wagensroll taunted.

Fletcher just grinned. “Maybe, but it’s unwise to lower your defenses.” He countered as Wagensroll had withdrawn troops for the defense of Kashyyyk from Alderaan, laughing as the battle began, only to swallow the wrong way, having to cough like he was choked.

“You choked by Vader now, Fletcher?” Wagensroll asked.

“Maybe.” He took a sip of his water bottle and ate some of the fruit gums, enjoying the sweet taste, looking briefly over Midnight and Wolf.

They played Call of Duty: World at War on the console.

At the moment, the two were placing the level “Heart of the Reich”, making the final push toward the main entrance of the Reichstag, using both a K98 for long range and an MP40 for short range, taken from killed enemies. Midnight had the player character by the name of Dimitri, Wolf a random soldier.

The two had attempted to try the level on Veteran at first, but the enemy AI's tendency to throw several grenades at the player at one time was too much even for them, so they tried it on Hardened.

On this difficulty, they had little trouble fighting through the enemies. “Cover me!” Wolf yelled as she went for the Flak 88s protecting the building.

“Copy that.” He switched to the rifle, firing at every enemy he saw, noticing a German with a Panzerschreck in one of the windows.

The colt aimed at him and fired before the soldier could use the anti-tank launcher, allowing the filly to blow up the last flak.

“Push them back!” The leading NPC by the name of Reznov yelled and they killed any remaining defenders.

The flag carrier, Chernov walked to the entrance by himself, getting burned by a lone German flamethrower.

“Chernov, NOOOOO!!!! Dimitri!” Reznov yelled as the Flamethrower fell dead to the ground.

Chernov was panting heavily, Reznov crouched beside his body and took his journal.

“Someone should read this... Move inside. This is what you came here for! Kill them all! Pound them to dust!” He yelled as they all entered the building, ending the level.

The intro cutscene was playing with Reznov saying, “The path towards our glorious victory has been a journey of blood and brutality. All of it has been necessary. When the flag of our Motherland flies atop the Reichstag... All of Berlin will know that the evil of the Fascist Reich has been wiped from the face of the earth.”

Then he read an entry of the diary. “April 30th, 1945: When he first spoke of Dimitri, Reznov told tales of a hero, someone we should all aspire to be like. His bravery on the battlefield is beyond question, but he has also shown mercy amidst the brutality of the Red Army. He is indeed a hero.”

In the previous levels, both ponies had to choose to spare Germans that were surrendering or bleeding to death or not, they took the former, knowing that killing them would not make them better than the Germans who killed dying Russians themselves.

At the start of the level, Reznov was seen giving his squadron a pep talk, before entering into battle.

“Steel yourselves, men, for the final push to victory. Today, we crush what remains of their fascist Reich. As heroes we will return to Russia's embrace... Our land... Our people... Our blood.”

Upon moving out, the main political officer gave also a speech.

“Your motherland needs your final commitment. The SS honor guard defending this building will fight to their last breath. Crush the last remnants of resistance and this night our flag will fly over this city...We must not falter. Show courage... Show strength... Show pride... But show NO mercy.”

The two ponies proceed to fight their way through, Wolf swapped her SVT-40 for a MP40, Midnight swapped his for a STG-44 instead.

“No matter if they fight to the last breath, nothing can stop us!” Wolf exclaimed as she and Midnight fought their way through the Reichstag until they reached the top of the stairs of the roof, where a giant armada of SS soldiers was making their last stand.

“The bloodied heart of the fascist empire will soon beat for the last time! Up there! On the balconies!” Reznov yelled as he fired his SMG.

At the other end was a fortified MG42 firing at the Russians, but Midnight took care of it with a well-aimed shot, while Wolf killed all solders with Panzerschrecks.

They slowly made it through the German defenses, the flagbearer was killed by the last remained defenders before an airstrike killed them all.

“They have nowhere to go! Move up! Clear a path for the flag! Claim our victory!” Reznov ordered as Midnight picked the flag up and moved towards the German Flag, noticing he and Wolf shared control over Dimitri.

However, as they were almost at it, a lone SS-soldier revealed himself, shooting Dimitri with a P-38, causing the Russian to fall panting to the ground, his vision blurry.

“DIMITRI!”

Everything looked like Slow motion as the German staggered and fell on his back, probably from injuries, straggling to get up as Reznov stabbing the German into the arms, then from the back through the torso, and kicked him off the roof before helping Dimitri up.

“You can make it, my friend. You always survive.” He cut the rope holding the German Flag. “The honor should be yours...”

With cries of “Ura!” from the Russian soldiers and the heartbeat of Dimitri, the two ponies made him limp over to the peak of the roof, and planed the flag beside the pole that held up the German Flag.

Reznov smiled at him and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “As long as you live... The heart of this army can never be broken. Things will change, my friend. As heroes we will return to Russia's embrace...”

The scene changed to a cutscene of real life videos of American soldiers talking and the bomber Enola Gay lifting off. President Harry Truman could be heard talking.

“General Eisenhower informs me, the forces of Germany have surrendered to the United Nations. The victory won in the West, must now be won in the East.”

The videos now showed the Enola Gay flying in the air and the explosion from the nuclear bomb that the Enola Gay dropped on Hiroshima. After the explosion, there was a video of General Douglas MacArthur speaking to a group of soldiers.

“We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring powers, to conclude a solemn agreement, whereby peace may be restored. It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion, a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past. A world founded upon faith and understanding, of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish, of freedom, tolerance and justice.”

After that scene, there were words in white text displayed. It read:

60 million lives were lost as a result of World War II. It was the most destructive and deadly conflict in human history.

As the credits rolled, they both stared in shock, not able to believe this war had been caused to so many deaths.

The civil war they had fought in had cost many lives, but it couldn’t compare to the losses of the Second World War, being relieved something like that hadn’t happened to Equestria.

Also, they were terrified of the Atom bomb, having looked at its destructive power in shock.

“Sounds like Fletcher got out at the right time. It sounds this war just escalating until...whatever that was. Does Equestria have anything that can do that to a whole city? I hope not.” The filly shivered at the thought of her home getting turned into an atomic wasteland. “I wonder though, if the Reichstag had no use after the Third Reich was founded, what did they saw then in defending it?” Wolf asked.

“Beats me. Wonder how Patch does keep himself busy.”





At the same time in Jack’s house

“You never catch me!” Patch yelled as he played BeamNG.drive, a vehicle simulation video game, featuring unique soft-body physics on PC.

He was driving a Grand Marshal on a long highway, being chased by two Al police cars of the same car type.

He pushed his car to the limit, causing the engine to overheat and to explode.

“Oh no!” The colt yelled as his car slowed down due to that and both police cars crashed into him, obliterating his car completely, being pressed into a cube, flying off the highway into the water.

The cops hadn’t had it better. The front of their cars was completely pressed into the cabin, the engine destroyed.

Patch laughed at this, crashing cars in this game was so much fun.

He then checked what other cars could be added, spotting something interesting.

“A drivable trashcan? Well, let’s give it a try.”

After having added it to the garage, he selected it, finding it strange to hear an engine sound from a trashcan.

As he drove it through the same highway, he exclaimed, “I could make a “Take Out The Trash' joke here but it's too easy.”





In the evening, Jens returned from work, seeing the three Knights smiling happy at him. “Welcome home!” They greeted in unison.

“Thank you. How about another movie after Dinner?” The young man suggested, earning grins.

“Sounds good to me.” Midnight replied. “Can I have sweet Popcorn this time?”

“Sure thing.”

Jens made wedges for dinner, the Eternal Knights enjoyed it, getting comfortable on the couch as their caretaker prepared everything.

As he putted in the disc of the movie, Star Wars: The last Jedi, the continuation to the Force awakes, he noticed that Fletcher was gone. “Where’s Fray?”

“On the balcony, catching fresh air.” Wolf replied before faint sobbing entered her ears, taking a look with Midnight.

What they saw next surprised them, yet broke their hearts.

Fletcher was watching the sunset, crying as an old memory came up in his head.

Fires...Fires at home. Higher than ever.

His father's voice over the screaming.

"Take our son, Alemannia! Find a way out of here...I'll make sure they don't follow."

Her mother's foreleg like a pillow round his shoulder.

"Where's father? Is he coming? Is he alright?"

"Run, Fletcher!"

A mare's voice.

Then her scream. So loud, so piercing. And the laughter of a mad steed.

"Scream, you filthy nag! Scream for me! Scream for the father you scorned!"

The sound of flesh slicing and splattering in his ear. No other sound quite like it.

The fire's reached his chest, his jaws grinding so tight they could shatter.

A ray of light forming a spear. So light. So beautiful.

The laughter ended.

"You...colt...Put that down! Put that d-"

The screaming was lower this time, like a mad dog in agony.

Rolling on the ground, one forehoof raised.

"No! Don't! Please! Please don't kill me! I beg-"

Then with a short, angry scream, he slams his forehooves upon the balcony's edge, before breathing heavily, blinking, then slowly lowering his head to weep quietly into his forehooves.

“Fletch, don’t cry.” Wolf comforted him as she slowly approached, giving him a hug.

“S-sorry…I…this entire situation we’re in now reminds me of back then when I was forced to flee my home…no one to comfort when having nightmares, having to kill to survive…” He cried into her shoulder.

Wolf and Midnight couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for him, forced of his childhood.

“Fletcher, I know it’s hard but it’s in the past, remember? You did what you could. And it was one of the reasons you joined us, wanting to prevent other foals from having the same fate. Would you want that Dinky suffers something like that?” Midnight asked.

“N-no…”

“There you have it. You can’t change what happened, but you can make the best out of it.”

“Indeed. I may have lost my family, but it made me who I am today, fighting to help others. Sometimes, a bad thing is the origin for something good.” Jens added.

The unicorn wiped his tears away. “Right. Sometimes, it’s just gets the better of me.”

“You’re not alone, Fletcher. But now, let’s enjoy the movie, shall we?” Meier asked, earning a playful salute from Fletcher.

“Yes, sir.”

After it had ended, the three foals chatted about it. “It’s good but if the Admiral told Poe about the plan, they could have saved this whole trip.” Wolf commented.

“Plus the Dreadnought should have targeted the cruiser first, the base can’t escape. But I loved the scene where Poe stalled Hux and the Hyperspace jump, as well when Luke stalled the First Order.” Wolf added. “The first and least, I could imagine that even Solomon hadn’t seen this coming had you used it against him, Fray.”

The green unicorn chuckled. “If I had done that, I had loved to see his face. And the way they made Yoda in, just perfect.”

“Agreed.” Jens said as they all went to bed.

In the middle of the night, a strange noise woke him up, sounding like quiet howling.

Carefully walking out, not sure what caused it, he followed it to the door of the balcony, seeing the blue filly looking at the full moon, her howling sounded sad.

“Are you okay, Wolf?” He asked, causing her to flinch as she startled.

“I’m o-okay.” She replied hastily, her voice cracking.

The man could quickly tell what was wrong. “You’re homesick, aren’t you?”

The filly turned slowly around, her eyes filled with tears, head lowered. “Yes…I miss my family, I don’t want to imagine how worried they must be…”

The man thought for a moment. “I can understand that. But no matter how long it will take, they will look for you, not giving up fast.”

That caused White Wolf to smile weakly. “You are right, they will not rest until they have found me. The Wolfsong never leaves a member behind.”

The man grinned. “Now that’s the spirit. It's almost three am.”

“Yeah.” The blue Pegasus then went back to bed.



Fletcher couldn’t remember what happened, but he found himself in a city of the Middle East, having to find Dinky. He had to prevent that she would suffer again, like when he was first dispatched to find her.

“Back in the desert, eh Fletcher?” A male voice next to him asked.

“What are you doing here?” Fray asked as he saw Solomon was the one the voice belonged to.

“Helping you find her, we both got dispatched to find her, remember?”

Confused, he just nodded before they both moved on, hearing gunfire in the distance.

Peeking around the corner, they saw locals fighting mercenaries of the Harmonious Guard.

The locals suffered heavily casualties, yet the PMC retreated as the sound of mooing echoed, causing the locals to look around in confusion, even the two stallions were confused.

“Uhh…. A cow I guess?” Fray looked around before something landed on the ground, causing him to cover his eyes from the dusk.

Once uncovering them, he stood there in shock.

It was a large half robotic, half organic creature, having a large mechanical turret-like head whose shape gave the impression of a distinct face and snout, and biological three-toed clawed feet, letting out the moo sound, it sounded rather angry as it stared at him. “Uh-Oh…”

“May I suggest a tactical retreat?” Solomon asked with fear.

“Agreed!” Fletcher shouted in panic as they ran before a shadow appeared under him and he got crushed.

The unicorn woke up with a gasp, looking around, relieved to see it was just a dream. “Phew…Working with Solomon…I would never do that.”

“You don’t say.” A voice said and he turned to his right, seeing Solomon as colt, sharing the bed with him.

Quick as a flash, Fray’s eyes opened, seeing Wolf and Midnight peacefully, causing him to rub his head.

I really, really should ask Luna why my brain comes up with such strange dreams lately.

Despite this, he quickly fell asleep again.



In the morning, he breakfasted with his friends, telling them what he had dreamed.

“That sounds very…strange, Fletch.” Midnight commented.

“Yeah, and very unlikely. You should talk with Luna about this, it could mean something.” Wolf added.

Before Jens could say something, his phone ringed, he was surprised to see that his boss was the caller. “Yes, sir?”

“Good morning, Jens. I just wanted to say I got a little surprise for our guest.”

The young man told the Knights about it, they didn’t mind to come with him but were eager to see what the veteran had in mind for them as they drove to the base.

They got led to the dining hall by him. “I thought it might be nice for you to meet someone of your physical age.” James explained as three young girls walked in.

The first had the same hair and eye color as him, the second had stylish brown hair and green eyes, while the third girl had short black hair and brown eyes. They all looked quite confused at the ponies.

“May I introduce: Ava’s, Anna’s and Lilly’s little sisters. Lisa, Clara and Linda.”

Lisa slowly started to smile and stretched her hand out. “Hello.” She had a South American accent in her voice.

Midnight shook it. “Hello, I’m Midnight. Those are my friends White Wolf and Fletcher Fray, Fletcher’s relative Wagensroll and his friend Purple Patch.”

Clara started to grin. “This so exciting! Meeting ponies from the show in reality!”

“Yep. Nice fangs and wings, Midnight. You too, Wolf.” Linda added.

The bat pony and Pegasus chuckled in response. “Thank you for the compliment, we don’t see that often.” Wolf replied.

“I guess you are also bronies?” Fletcher asked, earning a nod from the young German-American.

“Eyup. To be exact, female fans are called Pegasisters. And we are founders of a fan club.”

And so, the three children had a happy conversation with the five ponies about it, making Jens smile at the sight, as the Eternal Knights and the two earth ponies seemed to enjoy it too.

“Now, let’s do our work, my friend.” Jack tore him out.

“Right.”

Most of the time, Maier and Jack did guard duty on the base but they took part in foreign inserts in the past, assisting the Bundeswehr in its tasks in its own foreign inserts, so they had experience. James often did assist his men personally, together with his confidants, boosting morale, he cared for everyone under his command, earning him high respect.

The two men couldn’t ask for a better leader.

Around noon, they had their break together. “If I may ask general, how do you think you can help them to go back to Equestria?” Jens couldn’t help but feel curious about it.

“You will see, don’t worry about it. Speaking of them, how are they, Jack?” James asked the Brit.

“I last saw them near the barracks. And they do this at the moment now.” He showed them a recording of a Security Camera, which showed Patch in a soldier uniform watching a signal board.

“Intruder Alert! A RED Spy is in the base!” A female voice yelled.

“A RED Spy is in the base!?” Patch stared in shock before grabbing a toy pump-gun, dashing down the stairs, while saying "Hut, Hut, Hut!" with every step he took.

“Protect the briefcase!”

“We need to protect the briefcase!”

The scene then showed Wolf dressed as Scout trying to open the code-locked 'Briefcase Room' door. “Yo, a lil' help here!?”

Patch pushed her aside before typing in the code. ”All right, all right, I got it. Stand back son. 1, 1, 1, umm... 1!”

“Let's go, let's go-“

“INCOMING!” Linda yelled, being the heavy, shoulder-barging the door, destroying it. The three of them were sent tumbling and screaming into the Intelligence Room.

Wolf reached for the desk to discover the briefcase is perfectly safe. “AAAAAHHHH- Hey, it's still here!”

“Alright then.” The heavy replied before someone cleared his throat.

“Gentlemen”. The camera showed Midnight in the doorway, being the Spy, carrying Fletcher on his back, who played the dead Sniper. “I see the briefcase is safe.”

“Safe and sound, mm-hmm.” Patch replied.

“Yeah, it is!” Wolf added.

“Tell me... did anyone happen to kill a RED Spy on the way here?” Midnight asked, earning shrugs from the others. “No? Then we still have a problem.”

He deposited the Sniper's body on the desk, revealing a bloody Knife in his back. “...and a knife.” The soldier added.

Wolf approached the body and removed the knife. Oooh, big problem. I've killed plenty of Spies; they're dime-a-dozen back-stabbing scumbags - like you! Ow!” She attempted to do tricks with the knife like the spy did, only to cut herself with the blunt end on her hoof, dropping it. “No offense.”

“If you managed to kill them, I assure you, they were not like me.” Midnight said as he took the knife, flicked it shut and gave it back to the filly. “And nothing... nothing like the man loose inside this building.”

“What're you? President of his fan club?” As Wolf said this, the soldier and heavy chuckled as the bat pony faced her.

“No... that would be your mother!” He revealed a folder and slapped it down on the table, revealing several compromising photographs of the RED Spy and the Scout's mother, leaving the blue Pegasus to stammer out of shock and disbelief.

“Indeed, and now he's here to f**k us! So listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing that happens to you today.”

The soldier and heavy examined the photographs. Heavy leaned over and showed the Soldier one photo in particular “Oh!”

“Gimme that!” Wolf yelled frantically as she retrieved the photos as Midnight lit and smoked a (fake) cigarillo.

“This Spy has already breached our defenses...”

The scene faded to the RED spy, which was also Midnight, creeping through the corridors. He paused at a corner, as the camera pulled back to reveal a BLU Level 3 Sentry Gun with its Engineer, portrayed by Lisa. He slid a Sapper across the floor, disarming and destroying the Sentry Gun immediately.

“Sentry down!” The Engineer dropped her wrench and frantically reaches for her Pistol, only to have the Spy shoot her in the head with the Revolver. The dead Engineer crashed through a door and the Spy stepped over her and fired at a target off-screen.

The scene switched back to the Intel. The BLU Spy leaned over the dead Sniper, gesturing frantically. “You've seen what he's done to our colleagues!”

The scene showed Fletcher, still alive and sniping from a dusty attic. The RED Spy creeped up on him and stepped on a creaking floorboard, alerting the Sniper, who engaged him with his Kukri. Spy deftly dodged and parried Sniper’s flailing attacks and countered with fatal strikes; the Sniper is cut across his left cheek, gutted under the right rib cage, cut across the back of his skull, and is ultimately backstabbed.

“And worst of all, he could be any one of us...”

The scene then showed the RED spy fighting a BLU Medic, played by Wagensroll, breaking the Medic's arm, disarming him. The camera closed up on Midnight’s face as he disguised as the Medic, sans spectacles.

Wagensroll gasped. “Nein...”

Midnight killed the Medic with a well-placed chop to the throat, knocking off his spectacles, which he caught and wore, completing his disguise, before the scene switched back to him as the BLU spy, looking frantic.

“He could be in this very room! He could be you! He could be me! He could even be-“

The Spy is cut off as his head exploded violently. The camera switched to the Soldier, Shotgun in hand, with a confused Linda and a panicked Wolf.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

“Oh!”

“What? It was obvious!” Patch pumped his Shotgun, discarding the spent shell. “He's the RED Spy! Watch, he'll turn red any second now...”

He and Linda approached the dead Spy, the pony prodding the Spy's foot with his Shotgun. “Any second now... See? Red! Oh, wait... that's blood.”

“So, we still got problem...”

“Big problem...”

The Pegasus lingered behind, her expression sinister. She approached the Soldier and Heavy, retrieving the knife she pocketed earlier, and flicking it open easily.

“All right, who's ready to go find this Spy?” The Earth pony asked as the scout approached, she flickered and melted, revealing herself to be the RED Spy.

“Right behind you.”

The camera cut off, only the cries of pain of Patch and Linda could be heard before it stopped.

“I guess they had much fun with their roleplay.” James commented before they heard laughter.

“That was kinda fun! But honesty, even with his disguise kit, the dead Ringer and invisible watch, the Spy could never fool us!” Fletcher said with happiness to his friends.

“Yeah. But despite all the good fandom…I really hope we aren’t featured in…you know…” Wolf shivered at the thought, the others knew what she meant.

“Best not to think about it, Wolf. Besides, given how honorable our creators made us, I highly doubt they would ever go that low with us.” The bat pony spoke in a calming voice.

”I agree with that. Still, is it weird that I wonder who my creator is since we are on Earth?” Fletcher asked the others.

“Frankly, I’d want to meet my creator too.” Midnight admitted, feeling embaressed about it as they entered the mess hall.

“Hello again, I take it you enjoyed your roleplay?” Jens asked though it was obvious.

“Yes, the three girls are quite some good friends.” Patch replied, having enjoyed it very much.

“Glad to hear it. Actually, I know your creator, Fletcher.” James told him, causing the colt to raise an eyebrow.”

“You do?”

The veteran grinned. “He’s right in front of you.”

The unicorn gave a sly grin. “Prove it.”

James chuckled. “You were born in Farmany, Stuttegart, to Fabelhart and Alemania Fray, the Armbrust household, having earned your cutie Mark at the age of eleven, by taking part in a defense of a wight attack on a nearby orphanage.”

“That’s…correct.” Fletcher replied, wondering if this man was really his creator.

“You met Wolf and Midnight as they helped you clearing your home of corruption, thus joining the Eternal Knights. To continue your service to Luna, you choose nanomites as your way of agelessness and later became a hero to Ponyville in saving Dinky Hooves from an old enemy.”

“That…how…” Fletcher mumbled in surprise and shock before passing out, his relative with him.

“Fletcher is dead. Not big surprise.” Wolf joked.

“You couldn't have handled that with any less tact, could you, buddy?” Midnight asked with an unamused expression.

“Would you have reacted different when meeting your creator?” Jessie countered, causing Midnight to think.

“…Nope.”

“Me either.” Wolf added.

“Me too.” Patch replied.

Jens just stared, trying to process that his boss was one of the creators of the Eternal Knights. “Sir…did I...get this right?”

“Yes, you have. And you did a good job taking care of him. Now, get home, it’s getting late.” James pointed out.

“Of course, sir.” The young man gently picked the unconscious colt up and carried him to his car.

As Fletcher came to, he had a terrible headache. “Ugh…my head…” He slowly got up, finding himself on the couch in Jens’ house.

“Easy, Fletch.” The grey colt brought him an ice pack.

“Thank you. Can you believe that a veteran of two World Wars and leader of a PMC is my creator?”

“Well, he has some things in common with you, so it kinda suits. But best not to break your head about it.”

“Yeah. I wonder though how Wagensroll is processing this.”





In Günther’s home, the general tucked the green earth pony in. “Goodnight, Wagensroll, sweet dreams.”

“Night, dad.” The colt replied.

“Dad?” James asked in surprise.

“Well, since you are the creator of me and my relative, you are technically our father here.” Wagensroll explained.

“I guess you have a point. Sleep well.”

“You too.” The pony replied as the man put out the light, falling asleep fast.





In the next morning, Jens and the Knights breakfasted as the phone ringed.

The young man saw that Jack was the caller. “Morning, Jack, what is it?”

“Man, I won’t believe it! I just got news that…” The Brit sounded very excited.

“Calm down, what’s the big deal, my friend?”

“I just received news that…that…”

“That what?” Jens asked, not understanding why Jack was so excited.

“One of our comrades had a car accident this night and got brought into the local hospital. He was found dead this morning.

Murdered.”