Chapter 4: Contact!
At first, none of them could believe what they just heard. Fletcher peeked again over his cover, only to duck as a bullet hit the wall next to him. “Damn!”
Yet, he could swear that Katja was apparently armed with the same rifle he had, her brother was prone next to her with binoculars, being her spotter.
“We got to take them out without harming them!” Midnight pointed out, trying to think of something. “Neolith, Abundo, try to flank them while we suppress them!”
They all nodded. “One, two, three…suppressing!” He, his fellow knights, Abstraction, Blue, Snake and the three Soviets fired their rifles, forcing the siblings to take cover.
Both Pegasus used this to take off into the air and flew towards the two soldiers.
But as they closed in, a hail of bullets buzzed past their ears and they instinctively dived for cover to avoid the gunfire. Landing behind a wall for cover, they saw in horror where the gunfire came from.
An Earth pony filly wearing riot gear, firing a light machine gun. It appeared to be a PKM Machine Gun by the looks of it, standing on her hind legs without any trouble of keeping her balance. In front of her was a unicorn filly in the same uniform as the soldiers at the cave, holding a ballistic shield with her magic, also firing a machine pistol that looked like a Micro Uzi.
Both foals slowly advanced towards the two Dark Horse members, the former walked on three hooves, firing the LMG with one hoof with little trouble. The ruins gave the foals the perfect cover from the sides, making it impossible to flank them.
They tried to push the Dark Horse members into the open, into the line of fire of the siblings. “I can’t go out or else I get mowed down!” Abundo yelled as they tried to stay in cover, getting pushed back to the others.
Fletcher looked out slightly desperate, Dinky and Lily worked well together and his non-lethal rifle couldn’t penetrate the shield or Lily’s armor at all.
“What are we gonna do?!” Blue yelled, she also knew they couldn’t hurt the children.
“What about your teleport spells?” Snake asked her and Fletcher and she understood what he meant.
Both unicorns teleported to the tower the kids were in, appearing at the entrance and were about to storm in. But they were surprised by the reaction from Blau and Katja.
The girl turned around, she was wearing goggles over her emotionless eyes, together with a Balaclava, her brother did too. Katja threw a grenade on the ground, also drawing a Makarov and fired to suppress both adults as smoke was released from the grenade.
As the smoke cleared, Blue and Fray saw the siblings running out of another entrance. Blau Streifen turned briefly around, shortened carbine version of the AK-74 was slung around him, standing on his hind legs to fire a few suppressive shots before retreating.
None of the knights could imagine how the children were able to operate so efficiently. They never wanted to kill or use guns.
“We lost sight, does anyone have a visual?” Blue reported on the radio.
“No!” Midnight replied before DD barked, looking towards a tower at the far end of the ruins.
They all moved in carefully, going from cover to cover before they got to the ground as a bullet hit a stone near Snake.
Again, Dinky and Lily came from a flanking position, trying to force the group into the kill zone of the siblings.
Yet, Venom Snake had an idea. “Keep them busy, Silent, Ochre, on me!”
Both nodded to acknowledge while the knights gave suppressing fire, Abstraction and Blue fired on Dinky’s shield, forcing her to stop in order to absorb the force of the impact, also indirectly forcing Lily to stop too.
The siblings got distracted by that, focusing their attention on the ponies, allowing Snake and his fellow soldiers to sneak up on them.
At the same time, Neolith and Abundo used the wings to flank the two fillies, shoving them to the ground and Abstraction quickly closed the distance. “Freeze!” He yelled, aiming his rifle at the two fillies, yet showed a good trigger discipline, not to hurt or kill them by accident and DD growled at them.
“Don’t move!” Snake yelled as he held up the siblings with the Russians.
Katja slightly startled, dropping her weapon and started to tremble as she raised her hands. “D-don’t kill me!” She pleaded scared.
Her brother dropped his weapon too but quickly turned around and tried to draw a knife on Snake. The mercenary leader reacted quickly, grabbing Blau’s leg and twisted it, causing him to drop the knife before being shoved on the ground and Lovec held him at gunpoint. This caused the colt also to tremble, putting his hooves on his back.
“Please…don’t!”
As Fletcher moved up to Dinky, he heard faintly sobbing from her. “Wh...wh...what did I do? H-h-how...how many...how many did I...” She looked up to her uncle, breaking into tears of guilt. “How many I hurt?”
“Shh…” He just gave her a comforting hug, Blue did the same with Lily. Blau ran into Midnight, Katja into Wolf for comfort, they whispered comforting words, with all other having looks of sympathy as Snake called the chopper.
D-dog stopped to growl as he noticed that the children were crying, and gave them a gentle poke, also giving a sad howl, as if he had also sympathy for them.
None of them could imagine what the children had gone through, the guilt they had to carry now as the choppers arrived, comforting them the entire way back to Mother Base as they still sobbed about what they had done.
Patch, Wagensroll and Dawnwind waited their arrival with Miller, the latter eyed with the kids with distrust. “Are they…” Snake just nodded at the question. “Never liked kids. Especially ones with guns…”
He hit Katja’s shoulder with his cane and to the surprise of the ponies and Soviets, she grabbed Snake’s rifle, pointing it at Miller while breathing heavy, a scared expression.
After a short moment, she looked confused at the rifle, as if she hadn’t been aware of her action before Miller grabbed the rifle and clamped it under his shoulder, taking the magazine out, as well as emptying the chamber, effectively disarming her.
“Bring them to the Medical team.” He said and the three Russians saluted.
“Yes, sir. Come along, children.” Sergei led them away to the sickbay.
“Whatever happened to them, it will be difficult to process,” Fletcher commented with pity and concern. “Dawnwind, Abundo, can you take care of them?”
“Of course, it’s the least I can do, being their counselor,” Dawnwind replied.
“No problem, Fletcher, It’s my job and no one at such a young age should suffer like that.”
Once arriving at the sickbay, the children got out of the uniforms, Katja’s normal clothes under it and the three soldiers gave them some hot chocolates, which the enjoyed, although shaking while they drank.
“I…I thought you…” Lily couldn’t finish as she looked at Sergei, who weakly smiled.
“No, as you see, we are all alive and well.” He then told with his two friends what happened and where they were and such before Dawnwind and Abundo walked in.
“Now, I know this is going to be difficult, but we need to know what happened, children.” The deer said with clear regret in her voice as the kids started to shake more, yet Dinky managed to take a deep breath.
“W-we’re got…captured by this….m-man…” She told with a shaking voice as the memories came back.
As soon as the music started, the scary man asked, “So, who and what are you?”
“Why should we tell you?” Blau managed to gather some courage and the man smirked.
“As I said, you intrigue me. And I may need your... services.” He said without emotion and Lily looked up in confusion.
“Huh?”
“I heard that your friends went missing. If you help me, I could help you.” He offered.
“Yeah, right. You expect us to trust you? After kidnapping us and killing all those soldiers?” Katja said with clear distrust in her voice.
“It was a misunderstanding by my men. It is only a small favor.”
“Even If it is, we’ll never help you.” Dinky said stern.
I give you a free choice, their survival could depend on you.” He pointed out, “I've never known choice. Where I was born, the language I speak... I've never had the freedom to choose for myself.”
The children looked slowly at each other. The thought of them being responsible for Lovec and his friends dying was something they couldn’t imagine.”
After a brief moment of science, Dinky replied, “Alright…what is the reason you need our help?”
“One of my soldiers has a very important job and I need someone as backup should go something wrong.”
It took the kids only a few seconds to realize what he meant.
“No!” Lily exclaimed in terror. “I could never k-k-kill…”
“We n-neither…” Katja stuttered in shock and the man sighed.
“Then the hard way.” He left the tape on loop and left.
While it was only music, eventually, hearing the same song over and over again for what seemed like hours made them irritated, as Blau tried to cover his ears to block it out. “Gah! Make it stop! Please!”
Footsteps echoed in their ears and they saw the man coming back. “Well?” He just asked.
“We’ll do it! Just please, make it stop!” Dinky pleased and he did as told, opening the door and they followed him without a word.
None of the children could describe why they tolerated being outfitted with uniforms and firearms, it felt so natural. As they were trained in firing them, they quickly got the hang out of it. Still, none of them could imagine why. Was it the magic of Equestria? Or something they had inherited from their respective parents?
Their minds scrambled for answers but couldn’t find any before the order came to assassin Soviet officers.
“That is all.” Dinky finished and both healers nodded.
“Okay. Mind some music?” Dawnwind asked and the children shook their heads. In response, the female deer put on a relaxing song on the radio and got to work with her fellow healer.
“I am aware this is all difficult given the situation but apart from music, watching TV or a movie or looking at paintings or pretty scenery can help. And sometimes even it helps if you stand by a river or a pond.” She advised.
“I agree. All those things are great stress relievers.” Abundo added.
Then without warning, the stomachs of the kids grumbled. “You must be hungry. Abundo, would you please get them some food?”
He sighed impatiently. “Very well but do not make this a habit. What should I look for?”
“Fish, please.” Katja replied. It wasn’t odd for Dinky and Lily. While ponies were vegetarians, they also ate fish and poultry on special occasions, though it was rare. And Katja had told her back in Africa that she was squeamish at the thought of eating animals but fish was for her okay, so she ate that during while they were on Earth in 1942 and 1943 to have the nutrient that meat provided.
Dinky was okay with fish, her father had the unusual habit to eat fish sticks with vanilla sauce sometimes, which took her some time to get used to it.
Still, she let out a sigh. She and her friends had killed others, something none of them ever wanted to do. Can I ever live with the fact that I…
Dawnwind saw her unsure expression, having seen it before when she had to treat traumatized members of Wolfsong.
“You're quiet.”
“Well...yeah,” Dinky replied and the deer nodded.
“Suppose that's to be expected.”
“I mean...” Katja shivered, “After what's happened...what we've done...”
“It wasn't you doing it.” Dawnwind pointed out with an honest voice, getting a confused look by the grey colt.
“But...”
“If a pony slays another with a sword, is it the sword's fault?” The deer interrupted with her question.
“Wh...Well...no but...We're not swords. We're ponies. With hearts and minds.” Dinky tried to make sense, not really understanding
“You weren't then.” Dawnwind countered and passed so the children could think about it. “You know...the Wolfsong take a lesson from the centaur in weapons. We believe that weapons that have been used for cruel and cowardly purposes have led a life of suffering and regret, longing to find themselves in safer hooves, kinder hooves.”
“You sound like...pretty wise people...ponies...deer, even.” Katja slowly smiled and Dawnwind returned it.
“I should hope so. Still...our traditions are often lost on ponies. And when taken up by the 'Uncloven' as some call them, they can lead to...unpleasantness.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know that male deer sometimes clash their antlers together?”
“Yes, why?” Blau wondered.
“Because Wolf saw that once and… charged at Wintermist, head-butting her and knocking both of them out. I found her walking round in ever-diminishing circles, eyes crossed with a silly grin on her face, blithering about how 'That dumb Ronno ain't so tough now'.“
This caused the children to giggle, just as she had hoped, cheering up their spirit.
Abundo made his way towards the mess hall, seeing the others having lunch and told them what he and Dawnwind had found out.
As expected, he earned shocked reactions and also of disgust. “Oh my…poor children,” Neolith commented with a slight gasp. “But whoever this trench coat with galleon-hat guy is, he will pay for that!”
Wolf just growled, the others nodded. “Using them as assassins is crossing the line for me,” Fletcher said with anger before taking a deep breath. “Yet, I hope they can recover.”
He still remembered how they suffered the last time. It wasn’t as bad as back in Italy but the guilt of having killed would be with them forever He and his fellow knights knew PTSD only too well, having experienced themselves, as well as seen countless allies suffer it during their years of fighting.
Abundo, Neolith and Abstraction had also seen it from other Dark Horse members, with the healer treating them whenever it was the case.
Patch and Wagensroll knew it from veterans they had interviewed.
Blue Murder, on the other hand, had suffered from PTSD when her husband died back then. She eventually came over it but still, she saw it from her former mercenary collogues from time to time due to their pasts, like witnessing Shadowplay or Tybalt having nightmares from their respective pasts of almost being burned alive and a slave respectively.
“It will be difficult, having to carry the guilt of killing, but I am confident they will recover, Fletch.” Midnight pointed but with a weak smile. “After all, they recovered from what happened to them in Italy and Isenstadt.”
“Right…”
“Abundo, what takes you so long?” Dawnwind called out as she walked in.
“My endeavors are not your concern, shaman.” He replied dismissively.
After Dawnwind walked out to look after Abundo, the children were lost in thought. How would their families and friends react to this? Could they cope with their actions?
Dinky let out a sigh. “Mommy…Daddy…I hope you can…forgive me…”
“I know it’s difficult, children, but I also know you can get through this.” Ifrit appeared in front of them.
“What makes you so sure?” Lily asked him in disbelief.
“In my life time, I saw a lot of traumatized ponies, Fletcher included.” Ifrit told with regret in his voice. “He suffered greatly and yet, he managed to recover from it, in no small part due to your help as well. So, if he could recover from such a deep traumatic experience, why shouldn’t you? You made it through the painful experience of that scientist.”
Dinky and her friends looked at each other, slowly realized he was right.
“R-right…Thanks, Ifrit.” Dinky managed to smile weakly and he found himself pulled into a group hug by the children.
While surprised by this action, he smiled slightly and gently broke the hug. “It’s my mission to help you.”
He then vanished as Dawnwind and the others walked in, bringing the food and the kids took it gladly.
They also now saw the three Dark Horse members without their armor, able to see their Cutie Marks. Abstraction had a paintbrush, a golden whirlpool but was tattooed three symbols representing pony heads at three points around his cutie mark and Neolith had a silver prehistoric pony skeleton embedded in clay.
“Hey there, children. Terrible sorry to hear what happened to you.” Abstraction said with pity in his voice. He, Neolith and Abundo had been introduced earlier to them on the flight to Mother Base.
“It’s fine….Abstraction.” Dinky replied, though seeing him without his armor, he was somehow familiar. “I could swear I saw you before…”
He chuckled. “Well, I am sure you saw me a few times with Lyra.”
“Wait…” Dinky’s eyes went wide as she realized, “You were the one I saw with Lyra when I was younger? But she never mentioned that she had a lover or anything.”
“That’s why because Bon-Bon promise me if anything happens to me, that she would take care of Lyra and my vanished seemed to have a deep effect on her.” The blue unicorn replied slightly embarrassed, blushing for a moment. How we went missing, it all started to months before the incident with the paymaster…”