"...Thank you." Pear Butter tried to contain her excitement, "I never thought I'd see the day when Brightie and I would get to see our children again."
"Don't worry. That's what we are here for." Frahm replied, "Remember, please do keep your lips shut about this.."
After confirming the coast was clear, Frahm returned to his post of overseeing the new artillery production line being set up by the enslaved ponies under changeling supervision. None of them were getting paid, and any slight disobedience against orders would immediately be answered with whips or the end of a barrel. The work conditions were as miserable as before.
Frahm had been assigned to guard duty in sector 5 of the citadel when Alspberg had just been appointed head of the Ministry of Arms Production and Labour Procurement. Twelve years had passed, he had been transferred to sector 3, and Alspberg's promises of reform were still void and null. Every day, the minister counted the coins and jewelry he had confiscated and rejoiced in his office, knowing full well they were from those ponies he had ordered to be captured and to be enslaved. The slaves worked to their early graves without even seeing their loved ones again for the Minister and the Queen. His loyalty towards Queen Chrysalis and commander Heldrec deteriorated every counting day as he oversaw the tragedies that the regime he served caused. At one point, he considered ending it with a resignation letter.
That was until Spartacus came along.
Spartacus promised everything of redemption and liberation to disgruntled officers like him, all without being seen. Not even the messengers had seen his face or knew his real name, but that hardly mattered. The National Banner was everything he wanted, and he hopped on board the underground train to freedom without hesitation. The first batch of enslaved ponies to be smuggled out of the Changeling Lands would depart in just a week, and all he had hoped was that the Equestrian Intelligence agency and the crazy new "humans" would cooperate on their end. The underground railway to freedom had just opened, and its passengers were waiting for the first train to depart.
"Captain?" A voice sounded next to Frahm as he was lost in his thoughts.
Frahm turned to see a stallion with a ruby-red mane. "Oh, right. What wrong, Mr. Bright?"
"Can I ask you something?" Bright Mac asked, "Is it true that... My wife and I will be leaving together?"
"Yes. Remember, don't tell anyone else, or we will be dead before we know it.."
Bright Mac took off his hat and took out a small, glowing bag of diamonds hidden inside it.
"If I can't make it, give this to Buttercup and have her take it to our kids. If both of us... then send it to my family in Ponyville."
Frahm pocketed it as he voiced his concerns, "You will be free soon. Don't think about that possibility, please. I guarantee you can see your family again in a week's time."
"I know when death comes knockin', and it is at the front lawn. This is it, captain. I'm quite possibly not going to make it."
Frahm knew that grin on Bright Mac's face too well. It wasn't out of happiness or fulfillment; it was bitter. He was so convinced he would never see his family again and was already preparing for what would happen after he was gone.
Frahm then asked, "Speaking of which, where did you even get these diamonds?"
"I got it when I was mining out the caves. We struck a diamond mine, and I managed to sneak a few out." Bright Mac put his hat back on, "was hopin' if any of my kids can use em' on somethin'. Bracelet, necklace, doesn't matter anymore. I...I want to at least give something back to my kids in the end."
Frahm could only offer his words of empty comfort. "I understand, but I'm sure you will go home again. I promise."
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December [CLASSIFIED] hours
Chief of Foreign Reconnaissance Markus Wolf, callsign "Mischa"
EIS Foreign Reconnaissance Division
[CLASSIFIED]
"Hello? Is this the Manehattan Crystalia Trade Company? I would like to ask about the Cuban cigars they grow in New Mareland." Markus asked through the phone.
"...Yes, will you please hold for the boss? I will tell him you are asking for the Cubans." The other side responded.
After a while of silence and the occasional flipping of switches, the voice of Major Ljubiša "Mauzer" Savić came through.
"Mischa, we got the files for the job." Mauzer said through the phone, "Sneaking through the border and covering the escape of fifty ponies? Not a problem."
"Good to hear it. However, I must warn you that Arkan has...switched sides." Markus said in a cold tone. "We also know he has someone in the parliament that leaks information to him. We haven't pinned down who he is, but before I can, stay wary and keep your mouth shut with the members of parliament, especially Yugoslavian ones."
Mauzer asked further, "Then why is he being transferred to the border next week? He would be moving spies and the slave trade routes straight through his own segment."
"I am already working with Brandt on this; he's got the all-clear signal from Schmidt while the high command agreed to it. The 33rd and the 30th MP battalions are already sent after him to make sure he can't do it openly. We can just notify him last minute." Markus replied. "the National Banner had just sent us a list of the first lists of spies and infiltrators that would set up their claw machines over Equestria via Arkan's section, including their aliases, hiding spots, and so on. We will arrest them should they slip through the military police."
"I see. I will have Captain Lazić handle the show in Manehattan." Mauzer put the folder on the table. "He's experienced enough to deal with the infiltrators here, and I need to go and oversee this op myself."
Markus smoked from his cigarette and said, "Fair enough. I will keep you updated, and call me should anything update on your end. Mischa out."
"Roger, Mauzer out."
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December 15th, 1008, 0030 hours
Sector 3 construction site of the Changeling Citadel of Vraks
Frahm couldn't bear to see what was happening, while Pear Butter just held her voice as she tried her best not to scream out loud.
"Come on! Where the fuck are your co-conspirators? Huh?" A guard soldier shouted as he kicked Bright Mac in the guts, and another struck him in the back with his rifle.
"Good, keep it up." The Guard sergeant ordered the two soldiers, "No point letting this scum die so soon."
The two soldiers stopped their beating as the sergeant announced to the surrounding audience of slaves, "Listen up, and listen well! This slave attempted to escape and was caught stealing valuable Imperial property of three packets of emergency food. If anyone attempts to follow his steps, then this is what follows!"
"It takes...more than that...to kill an Apple."
"Nobody asked you anything!" The soldier stomped on Bright Mac's stomach.
The soldiers with allegiances to the armed forces tried to hide their discomfort and looked away with such cruelty, while the soldiers who swore allegiance to the guard yawned and looked at their watches.
"It takes much more...to kill a free pony!"
Bright Mac smiled bitterly as he looked at his wife and Captain Frahm in the crowd. To Captain Frahm, it was a cruel "I told you so," and to Pear Butter, a heart-crushing final goodbye.
The sergeant sighed and ordered his men to load their rifles as the stallion shouted, "We will be free, my brothers and sisters! They will never kill us all, for it takes more to kill a free pony! You hear me, you slavers? You shall not..."
Two thundering gunshots echoed through the site, accompanied by two holes in Bright Mac's chest, blood gushing out of it as he lies lifeless on the ground.
"This was messier than I would have liked." The sergeant sighed a breath of relief, "Sir, would you like me to hang the body for all the slaves to see or send it to the incinerator?"
"...hang it, would you please, sergeant?"
As the guards hung the dead body and trotted away, grunting all along, Pear Butter could no longer control her sobbing as tears started to fall. Her compatriots tried comforting her, and Frahm only took off his peaked cap and walked away in shame.
Frahm hated his post even more, but he must stay and fight alongside the National Banner. He heard a ringing from the phone in his post overlooking the construction site, and he picked it up.
"Captain Frahm, sector-"
"I saw everything. Do you want to quit?"
It was Spartacus.
"Sir, I have to stay. Who else but me? I still can and will contribute to the cause."
"I understand it is having an effect on your mental health. Just say the word, and I will have you leaving with them."
Frahm thought for a moment and replied in a stern tone.
"No, thank you. I will die for this cause and don't intend to duck at these dire times."
"I will never thank you enough for your sacrifices." Spartacus sighed, "Good luck."
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December 21th, 1984, 2100 hours
Major Vasily Grolanpov
30th Guards Mechanized Infantry Division of the Soviet Army
Border outpost 7 kilometers Northwest of Sire's Hollow
Major Grolanpov sat in his office chair with two vodka bottles and a shot glass in front of him.
"Fuck...why did it...I just don't understand why." He groaned as he downed another shot, "Why did it have to happen...the fucking end of the world, just...fucking shit..."
As the second anniversary of armageddon draws near, the major coped with his sorrows just like last year: downing two entire bottles of vodka. The alcohol must have been significantly weaker since last year, as he still felt the burning regrets and guilt for his part in the world ending.
"And there goes the last drop I have." Grolanpov hit his head on the desk repeatedly, "fuck...just... I don't know anymore."
As he murmured to himself half drunkenly, the red phone on the desk rang. Even when intoxicated, he knew better than even thinking about not picking up a red phone call. Begrudgingly, he picked up the phone and put the handset to his ear, leaning on his chair and almost slipping out of it.
"M-major Vasily Grolanpov, speak..."
"Clearance code 812344." The other end sounded. "Direct orders from Novaya Moskva. Have your men on standby immediately. Orders will be sent to you via the encryption machine."
Major Grolanpov's eyes widened. "I didn't understand that, would you repeat, please?"
After a while, the major barged out of his office, shouting to the MP officer still standing guard while holding a piece of paper and putting on his peaked cap,
"Lieutenant, have everyone get up immediately! We got orders from high command!"
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.
Commandos wearing snow camouflage uniforms snuck across the snow-covered no mare's land under a clear, moonlit night sky, reaching across to the deserted Changeling side of the border. The soldiers in the outpost back up on the hill also raised their rifles, ready to support the commandos down in the frozen land should anything happen.
"Captain, this is cateye. You're in the clear. Keep going." The radio handset of the radioman sounded.
The squad advanced up to the designated spot marked on the map, hidden in the forest.
"Roki, head up to the hatch and remember to match the passwords before you let anyone poke their heads out." Captain Ljuti ordered as sergeant Vulović slowly sneaked up to the well-disguised hatch covered with leaves and grass.
Roki lifted the hatch up and pointed his Zastava M70 with a flashlight duct-taped to the handguard into the dark abyss that is the hole's entrance. As he turned on the flashlight and flashed twice, the inside of the tunnels sounded:
"The skies tremble as if the air is burning."
"Yeah, the storm is coming." sergeant Vulović replied. "come on out, one by one, hurry!"
The other Panteri commandos held positions and remained on alert for possible changeling patrols as ponies quickly got out of the tunnel and were guided towards the Equestrian side of the border.
One of the National Banner operatives got out as Roki asked, "Why the hell couldn't you have built the exit over at our side of the border? We are risking our necks here."
The operative smiled, "we promised them they would be back home by Hearth's Warming, and this tunnel is new after the one down south got busted by the Guards recently. We didn't have time to expand it."
Roki nodded as he raised his rifle into the darkness of the woods, looking out for any potential lost changeling soldiers patrolling the perimeter.
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.
.
Being the final pony to exit the tunnel, Pear Butter felt the cold night air and the smell of frozen grass and dead trees enter her lungs as she took a deep breath.
The operatives bid farewell to her and the creatures they called humans and returned to the tunnel. She looked at the porcelain jar she carried in a bag that Frahm got for her and whispered, "Come on, Birightie, we are almost home."
They made their way to the frozen no mare's land and made their way across. She carefully followed the hoofprints of the ponies before her and tried to get across as soon as possible, and midway across it, she heard someone shouting, "Who goes there?" followed by a burst of gunfire. She ducked down on the field and put her hooves above her head. Soldiers beside her raised their rifles in the direction the gunshots came from.
After a while, one of the soldiers patted her back and said, "The coast is clear, move!"
Pear Butter got up and ran as fast as she could across the frozen land. When she turned back, a dozen of those human soldiers also hurried across the field, with two of them carrying a black body bag.
She finally reached the Equestrian side of the border, the first time after nine years as a slave. Without any time to celebrate, she was guided by another group of human soldiers to walk up the path leading up to the house and up the hill she saw on the other side of the field.
"Well...uhh...welcome home, miss." The soldier at the gate greeted her, "You're the fiftieth pony...yep, that's everyone on the list. Come on in, ma'am; we've got hot cocoa if you want 'em."
The soldier guided her into the house and grabbed a cup of hot cocoa on the long table next to the entrance. Pear Butter received it and took a sip. Even though it nearly burned her tongue, it was still the best thing to have graced her in a long time on a winter's day.
The humans in the house are performing medical checks and handing out items to the ponies in need, and as much as she would have loved to take in the beautiful scenery, she couldn't help but feel immense sorrow from the bottom of her heart.
In a happier timeline, perhaps her husband would have been here, sharing the mug of cocoa and cuddling each other for warmth, discussing what to do when they meet their children they haven't seen in nine years. Maybe in another timeline, they wouldn't have been abducted but instead able to raise their children themselves all these nine years and see their achievements every step of the way.
Now, nothing is left but a mare going home with her husband's ashes after nine years of absence.
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The phone rang in the chancellor's office as the three figures sat around it and waited anxiously.
The chancellor picked up the phone in a flash. "Is it done? Are they safe?"
After someone on the other side of the phone finished talking, Schmidt let out a huge sigh of relief and replied, "Thank you." before hanging up. He then announced to everyone with excitement in the room,
"We did it. All 50 freed slaves are now safely across the border. We did it!"
General Jürgen Brandt and Markus Wolf applauded, with Wolf cracking a smile on his face.
"See? It wasn't so hard doing some good, you know?" In an almost sarcastic tone, Schmidt told Wolf, "Anyways, we will discuss more tomorrow. Good night, gentlemen. Get some rest, pat yourself on the back if you feel like it."
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December 23rd, 1008, 1000 hours
Sergeant Rodoljub "Roki" Vulović
European Federal Police Special Brigade "Panthers"
True Allegiance: European Intelligence Services
Train from Sire's Hollow to Fillydelphia, near Ponyville station
"We're almost there, Ma'am." Roki reminded the passenger beside him. "You're home. And you're the only passenger to get off here."
Still clutching the urn of her husband's ashes close to her heart, Pear Butter slowly opened her eyes as she saw the sunlight shining into the train cabin. "Oh, right. I'm just...a tad bit tired. Give me a minute."
Roki put his sunglasses back on as he asked, "You know, last time I visited Ponyville and your family for some questions and clues about some hideout near the town, I could tell that your children had more...distinct accents. You, however, had it less pronounced. I suppose you lost some part of it over time, no?"
"Really? I hadn't noticed...but the guards did used to say that they hated me and Brightie's accent. I guess after a few beatings, we tried not to use it...and we hadn't for a long time."
As the two spoke, the train whistle blew as the train attendant walked by and announced that the train was coming to a halt in Ponyville.
"And, before I forget it...thank you." Pear Butter stood up, putting the urn back into the saddle bag.
The train doors swung open, with the welcoming crowd waiting in anticipation, anxious to peek over for a look. Standing before the crowd was Granny Smith, Applejack, Applebloom, and Big Mac.
Even with nine years of absence and being taken away from Applebloom when she was still an infant, Pear Butter spotted and recognized her family immediately.
"Ma? I-is that you? You... are finally home, aren't ya?" Applejack tried her best not to cry in front of her friends, "After so long, we thought... you're just...dead..."
Pear Butter trotted up to her eldest daughter and gave her a heartfelt hug as Applejack started to sob uncontrollably. The sobbing later turned into crying mixed with incoherent sentences as Big Mac joined the hug with Granny Smith explaining to Applebloom who her mother was. The surrounding crowd, including those watching on the train, exploded into applause and cheering, with words of congratulations and best wishes flying over everyone's heads. Starlight Glimmer applauded with the crowd, Rainbow Dash cheered as Pinkie Pie fired her party cannon loaded with extra confetti, Twilight Sparkle smiled as she applauded lightly, while Rarity and Fluttershy were emotionally moved to tears.
As Roki looked into the sight of the reunion and the crowd's cheer and applause, he retreated into the train cabin after taking a few more glances, grinning all along.