"No! Oh god no!" Tom cried, tears streaming from his eyes. "You didn't have to do it, Dashie... Jesus Christ! You didn't owe me anything... nor this world..."
In the distance, he saw her continue to fall, a trail of blood streaming in her wake. He wanted to close his eyes, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He would give her that respect.
However, just then, he heard the roar of two familiar engines, and the crackle of his radio.
"Tom, this is Arty," a voice said.
"A-Arty?!" Tom sniffed. "You made it-"
"That I did, mate, but there's little time to chat. I have a lot to explain to you, but first I'm going to save your blue friend."
"How are you going to do that?!" Tom gasped. "And how the hell do you even - oh right."
"Oh, I knew a bit before then, Tom Mayflower. You've been watched for quite a while." He could practically see Arty's cheesy grin. "And an old 'Wiccan' trick, if you're wondering. However, I'm going to need you to be at Rainbow's location soon."
"How am I supposed to-"
"I see a car heading your way, get a lift."
"A-Alright. But who's with you?"
"Jacob."
"Yeah, I'm alive," the bloodthirsty Brit growled. "Took down god damned four 109's too. I don't know what the fuck is going on, but we owe that bloody horse a ton."
"What about Captain Harkness?""
"Took a hit and went down. Didn't see where he landed. I'm sorry Tom, I'm pretty sure he's gone... along with half our squadron, however, as for your friend..."
Suddenly, there was a blue glow around Rainbow, her descent slowing slightly.
"Arty... how the hell are you doing that?!" Tom cried. "Are you really some sort of wizard?!"
"I'll explain later," he grunted. "Get in that car, it should be right on top of you."
Tom blinked his eyes in disbelief, before turning about. Sure enough, driving along the road he was on was a small truck.
"Hey! Hey you! I need a lift!" Tom cried, waving his arms sporadically, grinning all the while at Dashie's apparent survival.
The truck suddenly screeched to a halt beside him, and Tom's eyes widened.
"You realize hitchhiking is dangerous right?" Captain Harkness smiled at him. "You never know who you're going to run into."
"Captain Harkness... how the hell did you-"
"Luck was on my side," he grunted. "Come on, get in. I just saw about seven German parachutes. We need to round them up before they ditch their uniforms. We'll do a sweep for five minutes-"
"Wait - Captain Harkness, listen to me," Tom gasped as he shoveled himself in.
Captain Harkness raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"
"It's a friend - a friend took down that bomber. She's currently being uh... brought to the ground inside Cardiff. Near the Spitfire factory. We have to get to her, she's going to need medical attention!"
The captain took a deep breath, as he swerved around a corner. "We'll get to the pegasus, don't worry."
Tom's eyes widened. "You know about her, too?!"
"Yeah, saw her portal, too. It's what distracted me - what got me shot down."
Tom shook his head, exasperated. "You act like you know what brought her here; who the hell are you?!"
The captain chuckled. "Let's just say I help keep the torch lit-"
He suddenly came to a screeching halt as two men ducked for cover at the side of the road - two men wearing German Luffwaffe uniforms.
"Speak of the devil," the captain growled, before whipping out a pistol and kicking open his car door. "Tom, pistol out. These guys may want to fight."
"A-Alright," Tom gulped, nervously gripping his revolver. One he hoped to never fire... at least not at another human. Fighting in the skies was one thing, fighting on the ground was another.
Slowly, they crept towards the brush the two Germans have knelt down in.
[German] "You two! Come out with your hands up and don't make any sudden movements!" Captain Harkness yelled.
"Don't shoot!" one of them cried in a heavy accent. "We surrender!"
"Captain... we don't have time for-"
"Don't worry Tom, we'll wrap this up quick."
The two Germans exited the brush, one with a very fierce look in his eyes, and both with their hands held high.
"Names and Ranks?!"
"Captain Klink," the one who spoke English spoke, looking very solemn.
"Hauptgefreiter Shultz," another growled, narrowing his eyes.
"Alright, I want you to approach me. No sudden movements or you know what will happen."
"Understood."
The two did so, Captain Harkness putting on a slight, permescuous smile as they did.
"By the way, nice build, Captain Klink."
The captain blinked. "Uh... danke."
"Fucking faggot..." Tom heard Schultz mutter under his breath. Captain Harkness didn't seem to hear.
A few minutes later, the two were in handcuffs and in the back of the car.
"Tom, keep an eye on them," Captain Harkness growled, and Tom did just that, eyeing the two Germans warily and keeping his pistol at the ready.
Soon, Captain Harkness sped off towards Cardiff.
"Captain... do you see her?" Tom asked.
"No, she must already be on the ground," the captain said. "It's alright, we'll get to her in time. Hopefully in enough time to cover this whole mess up. We're not ready for first contact."
"Get who?!" Schultz suddenly snapped.
"Oh, look who speaks English!" Captain Harkness smirked.
"Only when needed," he grunted.
"Schultz, keep it calm..." Klink sighed. "We are not on our own terms anymore."
"And it's none of your business, anyway," Tom said with a grunt.
"Oh it's all of my business if you're talking about who I think you're talking about. A certain blue Pegasus who just brought down our bomber?"
"Shit... that reminds me. That other bomber knows about her too," Captain Harkness groaned.
"A pegasus? What the hootin' hell are you smoking?" Tom grunted.
"You know damned well who I'm talking about. She's on your side, after all."
"You two aren't to speak about the pegasus to anyone," Captain Harkness snapped. "Understood?"
"We won't," Captain Klink sighed. "Who would believe us anyway?"
Schultz merely remained silent.
Tom raised an eyebrow. "Captain Harkness... you seem to know a lot; can you tell me who exactly Arty is?"
The captain sighed. "He's a Teranid, apparently."
Tom's eyes widened.
Captain Harkness gazed at him suspiciously. "You know what a Teranid is? What else do you know about Equestria?! How do you know about Equestria?!"
"What the fuck are you two talking about? Is that where that flying bitch came from?!" Schultz called.
"That bitch is my friend," Tom growled. "I don't want to shoot you, but I swear, if you try to pull anything against her your leg's going to be out of commission for a few months, ya hear?"
"Loud and clear, yankee."
"Good." Tom turned back to Captain Harkness. "It's a long story... a very long story."
"Well, you'll have to tell me later, we're here."
The Spitfire factory was, luckily, on the outskirts of Cardiff, and to Tom's horror, a huge crowd had gathered outside of it. Soldiers, civilians, children... gathered around a central point. High in the sky, Tom saw two Spitfires fly away.
"Oh no..." Captain Harkness sighed. "We're too late."
"Rainbow! Hang on!" Tom called, jetting out of the car and making sure the Germans were thoroughly handcuffed.
Both Captain Klink and Captain Harkness raised eyebrows. "Rainbow?"
Soon, Tom was desperately pushing through the crowd, half expecting them to just be gawking at his life long friend, until he heard their chatter...
"Is she going to be alright?! Should we call a veterinarian."
"The medic's got her right n' good. Don't worry, lad."
"She saved every one of us... she must have. How else did that bomber go down? How did she get that wound?"
"I still can't believe she can speak. This is truly amazing... were the Greeks right all along? Are their gods helping us?"
And finally, as he nearly wept in relief, when he grew close enough he saw a British Army Medic bandaging the wing of Rainbow... and that she was conscious.
"Hey, Tom," she said, smiling at him. "Guess I'm the hero of two countries now, huh?"
Tom couldn't help but laughing. "Two countries? Hooo boy, your ego's going to skyrocket cus of this, isn't it?"
Rainbow gave a wink. "I 'ain't' lying, country boy..." She gave a brief cough. "We have a lot of catching up to do."