Chapter 1: A Surprising Find
Dinky stirred in her sleep, her muscles felt stained for some reason, blinking, but her vision was blurry and everything was dark. What’s going on? She wondered as she couldn’t move or anything else.
Slowly, her vision became clear, and her heart skipped almost a beat.
Dinky was restrained on a dentist chair in a very dark room, only a light bump provided light, the walls were covered in blood.
“Well, looks like our patient finally woke up.” A deep voice with heavily breath said and she saw a unicorn stallion in surgeon clothes walking in.
The filly started to tremble as he held all kinds of surgeon tools with his magic, all covered in blood. “It will be my pleasure to fix you up.”
She tried to break free as the tools got closer, not wanting to die a painful death or be disabled in a horrible way for the rest of her life.
Zap!
With a scream of pain, the stallion dropped everything and Dinky saw a purple glowing light coming out of the shadow, apparently a unicorn, dressed in dark blue armor, face concealed by a black iron mask.
A Dark horse member.
“Leave her alone!” The pony yelled, the voice distorted by a voice changer as it threw the stallion to the ground, who simply knocked his opponent off him.
“Oh, you wanna be fixed too? So be it!” He lighted up his horn and fired a few spells, which the Dark Horse member blocked with a shield spell, blocking any other attack with defensive spells that knocked the stallion back, being very advanced.
Dinky watched in shock as the Dark horse member was unaware of a saw being levitated from behind by the stallion and got struck across the mask, getting thrown back. It breathed heavily as a part of the mask was damaged, exposing the face.
A mare with purple coat, eyes and mane, Dinky knew her. The mare’s expression was dark as she looked at the stallion. “You pay for that!”
Her horn light up and fired what looked like lighting towards the stallion, he could barely react as it hit him into the chest and he twitched, falling motionless to the ground.
“Dinky, are you alright?” The mare asked worried as he freed her and the younger unicorn hugged her savior tightly. “Shh, it’s over now.”
Dinky awoke with a slight gasp, breathing heavily as she looked around, finding herself in her bedroom, not restrained, no blood.
She sighed. “Just a dream. Just a dream. But her being a dark Horse member…” The filly mumbled before falling asleep, unaware of being watched.
“She was just dreaming it. For a moment I thought she know my secret.” The same mare from her dream let out a quiet sigh of relief as she stood in the hallway with her armor equipped before moving out.
As the morning came, the young foal stirred and stretched herself with a yawn. “I think it will be another wonderful day,” Dinky said as she walked to the window and opened the roller blind, only to be surprised.
“Snow?” She mumbled in confusion as Ponyville was covered in the white color of it. “Okay…” Dinky blinked and walked down for breakfast.
“Good morning, Dinky!” Her mother greeted her, her father did the same.
“Morning, Mommy, daddy!” She replied with a smile and breakfasted, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door and Derpy answered.
“Rainbow Dash, what brings you here so early in the morning?” She asked with a friendly smile.
The Pegasus chuckled nervously. “About the snow…the weather facility had a small malfunction.”
Dinky then walked up to her. “I don’t mind, I love snow!”
“Well, I'll let your friends know. If they're awake enough during the day. ”Her father said as he stepped into the Tardis.
Ever since Dinky met Blau Streifen and Katja, they regularly visited each other with the Tardis, it had been a few weeks now since the incident in the desert of North Africa on Earth.
The filly out on a winter cap and scarf as it was quite cold due the malfunction, grabbing a shovel to help clearing the snow, seeing the Eternal Knights, together with Patch, Wagensroll and Dawnwind helping too. “Good morning, uncle!” She smiled at the green unicorn who returned it.
“Morning, Dinky.”
Shortly afterwards, two young voices echoed in her ears. “Dinky!”
“Guys!” She hugged the two siblings, happy to see them too, they wore suiting clothes themselves, together with the saddlebag and back bag they had received I Africa back then. “Sorry for the weather, I hadn’t expected that.”
Blau waved a hoof. “Its fine, let us help you.” And together, they cleared the snow pretty quickly, enjoying.
White Wolf shoved the snow near a house away, it started to crack and she looked up in fear. “Uh-Oh.”
In a flash and with a loud rumble, a roof avalanche buried her, although she poked her head out quickly, spitting some snow out and male laughter could be heard.
“I guess that is why they call you White Wolf.” Caramel joked with a chuckle and the blue mare growled.
“Wow…that sounded really clever in your head, didn’t it?”
Caramel stopped to laugh with a slight scared expression.
Dinky then smirked, looking at the deer.
Dawnwind filched as something hit the back of her head, turning around with a scowl. “Who did that?!” In response a few more snow balls hit her, thrown by the three children and she slightly grinned. “Oh, you would wish you hadn’t done that.”
She, together with the Knights had a snowball fight with the kids, who were outnumbered, yet gained the upper hand, laughing the entire time.
Eventually, the adults gave up, yet the deer smiled. “I admit I hadn’t that much fun for a long time.”
Suddenly Wolf sneezed, followed by slight coughing, shivering slightly, causing Fletcher to ask with worry, “Are you okay? I hope you don’t get sick.”
The Pegasus waved a hoof. “Nah, just the cold from the snow, nothing more.”
It took them all until forenoon to clear the snow, getting greeted by the warm sun. The children used this to take off the winter clothes, going to a Meadow.
They all used the head gear they had been given back in Africa, Katja had folded her shemagh into a summer hat, sitting on a blanket, eating cookies and muffins they had been carried in their bag. “It’s a nice day, isn’t it?” Dinky asked.
“Yep!” Blau took a bite of his cookie. “You know, when that General hadn’t appeared with his army to save you and the others, who know what might have happened. It’s very impressive how they used this outdated equipment to the fullest extent.” He said as he and Katja had been told by Dinky about the Harmonious Guard, having been busy back then, thus not able to visit her at the time.
The filly shivered. “Yeah, it was good they had been there, I don’t want to imagine what those bad ponies had done to you.”
“Yes.” Katja looked at the sky, sighing. “It’s almost a month since Africa, I sometimes wonder what happened to Konrad and the others, if they have survived the war and such.”
“I couldn’t agree more, sis, without them, we hadn’t probably survived, but we will never know.” The young colt said and stood up, walking down, only to trip over something. “Ouch!”
“You’re okay?” Dinky asked as she helped him up.
“I am fine. Wait, what’s that?” He looked at what he had tripped over, having a trapezohedron-like form and dark green color.
Katja picked it up and inspected it. “I think it’s some sort of crystal. Maybe your father can figure out what this is exactly, Dinky.”
Suddenly, the crystal started to glow and the girl dropped it in fear. “What the?”
“What did you do?!” Blau yelled in alert and the crystal glowed brighter and brighter, they all covered their eyes before it overpowered their senses.
“Oh….my head…” Dinky groaned in pain as she came to, seeing her two friends were also waking up. “Are you hurt?”
“My head aches, but otherwise I am fine.” Katja said in dazed voice and looked around, finding themselves in a dark cave. “What happened?”
“If I would know that.” Her brother replied and noticed something. “Wait, where’s that crystal?”
“Gone.” Dinky was surprising as she couldn’t see it anywhere and took a deep breath. “Whatever just happened, stay calm. First, we should get out of tis cave to know where we are.”
The siblings nodded. “Right.” Katja said and her expression became confused. “What is this at the other end of it?” She pointed to it and they all weren’t sure if they saw it right.
It looked like a unicorn of the Royal Guard, waving at them to come close and pointed to a light source, appearing to be transparent. The children blinked to make sure they saw it right, but the unicorn was gone after they did so.
“Uhh…okay. Let’s take a look.” Dinky suggested and they walked towards it, covering their eyes from the light as Blau accidently kicked a small stone away.
“Hey, did you hear that?” A voice asked from the other side, it sounded familiar, but they couldn’t really tell.
“May be nothing, but…” Another familiar voice replied.
Another light flashed towards them and they heard the second voice again. “What? Never thought I would see you again.”
The light stopped and they uncovered their eyes, seeing a man in a field grey uniform with a matching cap, next to him another man in also a grey uniform, both were very surprised and so where the three friends.
“K-Konrad? Mateo?” Dinky asked in confusion.
Escher hesitated but replied, “Yes, it’s me and him. What are you doing here?”
“We don’t know, we were at home, enjoying the weather, and suddenly we found what looked like a crystal and it glowed…then we woke up in that cave.” Blau explained, still in shock.
Matteo took a deep breath. “First, try to calm down.” He looked at his friend with unease. “What should we do? The others would freak out.”
“We don’t have a choice, we got to risk it and hope they understand.” His friend pointed out.
“Right.”
Dinky, Katja and Blau followed them outside, getting greeted by a gently breeze and the warm sun, seeing a small camp up ahead with a Opel Blitz parked next to it, a few soldier were sitting around a campfire.
The three children looked around, a few houses adorned the environment, meadows and bushes as far as they could see.
One of the men stood up, looking at Konrad and Escher. “There you are, everything alright-“ He cut himself off once he saw the girl and foals, blinking on confusion, then slowly smiled. Hey, children, long time no see.”
They recognized him, it was Hans, wearing the same uniform as Konrad, but with a helmet.
“Uhh, can somebody explain this?” One of the other soldiers asked with confusion, his face and chin were broad, his eyes were green, hair black, having a slight athletic build.
“Of course, but it’s a long story. Do you remember the green Knight?” Konrad asked and the man nodded.
“Yes, I do. Wait…do you mean…” Escher nodded and the man blinked for a few seconds, trying to make sense. “I see, sir.”
“I don’t want to be impolite, but where are we?” Katja asked with uneasy in her voice.
Conti smiled weakly. You are in Italy, to be exact in San Celini, a secluded island to the south-west of Italy.” Before any of the kids could reply, Dinky’s stomach growled.
“Sorry, we haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.”
Konrad waved a hand. “Then, join us at the campfire.” They accepted and sat down taking out some sandwiches they had been provided with by their parents. “So, how’s it going?” He added and the filly smiled weakly.
“Well, almost a month passed since our adventure in Africa, Fletcher became our uncle and Katja and Blau were reuniting with their parents.”
“We visit each other regularly though.” Blau Streifen added.
Escher smiled weakly. “Glad to hear it. Here, things changed a lot. It’s now 1943 and the tide of war has changed.”
“How?” Katja wondered and he sighed.
“Well, with the Americans helping the British in Africa, we got defeated and the Africa Corps surrendered back in March. Ironically, Quince was our salvation.”
Dinky titled her head. “How that?”
“Due to the injury I suffered from him, I get sent home for recovery and Rommel arranged my friends got leave for our brave actions in fighting Quince and keeping you safe, thus sparing us all from sharing the fate of our captured comrades.”
“What about your friends?” The grey colt asked curious and he took a deep breath.
“My friend Frank was deployed in the Eastern front In Stalingrad last year in August after his leave was over. He belonged to the 6th army, which was defeated in early February this year, many died, went missing or got captured. He was repeated missing, and sadly, his family died in a bombing raid in December.”
“Sorry to hear that.” Dinky had sympathy in her voice.
The soldier smiled weakly. “It’s okay. Strangely, there were rumors of a unicorn in Stalingrad, but I think it was just the imagination of battle shaken soldiers.”
“What about James?”
“Oh, him?” Escher chuckled. “He got injured too, in a fuel canister explosion if I remember correctly, getting also sent home for recovery. Rommel thinks highly of him, saying he’s one of the best and most honorable soldiers he has ever seen under his command. Also, he shared something wonderful with me.”
“And that is?” Katja asked and he smiled.
“His wife’s pregnant.” All three children had a wide grin on their faces, beaming ear to ear as they heard it.
“That’s very nice to hear!” Dinky exclaimed in joy.
“Yes, given how good he is with children, I have no doubt he will make a good father.”
While Fletcher had told the young children about the man who created him in the fandom, he had never mentioned anything about his family, but it was nice to hear.
“Yeah, I wish him the best too.” The other soldier added and the kids now recognized him.
It was Tim, the young man had his sleeves rolled up and they remembered what had happened to Willi, a feeling of guilt overcame them.
“T-Tim…” Dinky trembled, her voice stuttering, “We are so sorry about Willi.”
“He died, because of us…” Katja lowered her head.
HIs expression was neutral, making them fearing he blamed then, disliking them.
“I don’t blame you, children.” He said, surprising the, slowly smiling weakly.
“You…don’t? But Quince killed him because…” Blau stuttered too as the young man held up a hand.
“He died on the front to protect you, he knew the risks.”
“Why are you here?” Dinky asked him and Konrad answered it for her.
“He serves as Willi’s replacement, the bakery was closed down, being war unimportant, as Goebbels has called out the total mobilization of all human and material resources. I keep Tim safe as good as I can, it’s the least I can do for Willi as the new squad leader.”
The children blinked, looked at his rank insignia to see if they understood it right and it showed a U-shaped lace. “Congratulations for your promotion!” Dinky smiled warmly at him and he laughed.
“Thank you. Finally, Linus had sent requirement for this promotion months ago. Ah, almost forget, this is David, our newest squad member and Eastern Front veteran.” He pointed to the man who had asked him earlier if everything was okay, tipping his helmet.
“Hello and pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise.” They replied in unison before they noticed he was holding that looked like a SMG looking similar to the Sten, having wooden parts and strangely a double trigger. Hans was carrying what looked like a rifle with a detachable magazine in the bottom.
“What are those?” Blau looked at them with curiosity.
“That’s the Gewehr 43, a semi-automatic rifle, produced to counter the semi-automatic rifles of the soviets, in fact, they copied some parts of the soviet rifle for it.” Hans explained.
“And this is the Beretta M1938, also known as MAB 38, the SMG of the Italian Army. I use it as the German and Italian troops are sharing weapons and resources, plus it’s very robust and favored.” David inspected it as he told them about it.
“And why has it two triggers?”
“Simple, for single and automatic fire. The fore trigger is for semi-automatic fire and rear trigger for full-auto, a very smart idea I have to say.”
Before any of the kids could answer, a new voice sounded. “Everything going well, Sergeant? And I thought all civilians were evacuated long ago.”
They turned around to see a German officer with the rank of Lieutenant, visible by the Collar mirrors: a silver oak leaf semi-circle, an aluminum-colored double rocker and silver piping on it. His build was average, the face and chin thin, his eyes had a calming blue, his hair blond, looking confused at the children.
Konrad saluted. “Allow me to explain, sir.”
“Granted.”
“Do you remember Africa and the Green Knight?”
“Yes, I do.” He paused for a moment, his expression was neutral. “You mean to say, those are the same children you took care in Africa?” He concluded, much to Konrad’s surprise.
“Uh, yes, sir.” He replied and told the officer everything, who listened patiently.
“So, it is true, what I heard, my condolences, children. I am Karl Vogel, Africa veteran and Konrad’s new superior.” His expression was friendly.
“Thank you.” Dinky replied with a weak smile.
“What shall we do, Lieutenant?” The Sergeant asked him.
“Get them a place to sleep, it’s getting late. Don’t worry, I do the talking.”
Only now, the threw young friends noticed the red evening sun over the ocean, it looked beautiful as they were led to a red villa, looking quite majestic.
“What is it, Lieutenant?” An officer in a blue Luftwaffe uniform asked, he was bald, his eyes blue.
“Reporting, Generalmajor, we found civilians in distress, requesting permission to give them shelter.”
“All civilians have been evacuated long ago, what’s the issue?” The high-ranking officer asked, looking at the kids with a neutral expression, as Konrad stepped ahead.
“Allow me to explain.”
“Explain.”
With that, Escher told the Generalmajor everything, his expression became one of fasciation. Well...Not to worry, young ones, you are quite safe among old friends. I heard the stories, but never thought they could be true. You can take the guest rooms in the villa.”
“Thank you, Generalmajor.” Katja appreciated it.
“It’s nothing, I just do my job.”
Inside, the three friends ate some bread for dinner, then went to the guest rooms, looking at two very big beds. “Goodnight, sweet dreams.” Konrad said as the children climbed in.
“Goodnight, my friends.”
“Night, Dinky.” The siblings replied and they all fell asleep, hoping that Fletcher would find them soon.