16. The Pale Mare
Equestria : 1940
Friday 21 June - The Bridgehead, Equestria
“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.”
— Exodus 23:20
To be honest, Jon had already heard the first part of Celestia’s story about how she supported the Germans to rescue her sister from the moon, so curling up on the floor of the stable chariot and falling asleep was a perfectly logical move. After all, there was no place in the wide vehicle where he could sit down and talk with Princess Luna privately for a few hours as he wanted, and the whistling wind would have interfered with talking anyway.
Besides, getting the bejesus shocked out of him by a dark equine goddess warranted a little extra nap time.
He woke up to a lurch of the chariot that made the floor tilt forward and a change in the wind that indicated they were on the way to landing. After a brief yawn, he moved to pick up his tweed jacket only to find that Nightshade was curled up on top of it, and that he had been using her warm belly as part of his pillow.
“Whazup?” She gave a sleepy blink and looked around at the other ponies all looking over the front rail of the chariot while Celestia and Luna were discussing something between them in the back. “We there already?”
“Depends. What are you doing here?”
“Riding instead of flying,” said Nightshade with a squinting blink. “I’m still assigned as your guard, after all. Whither thou goest and all that.”
The two of them stood up with considerable twinges, both from sleeping in that position and generalized aftereffects of being struck by lightning, but once they had regained their feet, all of the pains went away.
Even at this altitude he could recognize a broad, green swath cut out of a lightly forested plain with a long straight aircraft runway across it. Instead of airplanes, there were dragons scattered around it, and more glitters of golden armor than Jon could count. The Royal Guards were everywhere, moving things from supply piles and around the stationary dragons in a casual way that Jon had never expected, particularly after having been exposed to a high concentration of dragons before. Mixed in with the guards were a huge number of dark figures, most likely the same kind of batponies that Nightshade was, although mostly without the armor. And as they drew closer, he could pick out other races in the mix, from griffons flitting from place to place, to a squad of minotaurs marching in a close square. And most shocking of all were the humans he could see in close coordination with the pony guards, moving with them in matched pairs all over the area.
“Behold, the Bridgehead, the consequence of my misjudgement,” said Celestia, making all of Twilight’s friends turn around to face their monarch. She said a few more things while Jon was soaking in the scene, but he could not hear them because of the elated screaming he was doing inside his own head.
It’s a raid. No, it’s a rescue! She’s going after the hostages being held in Germany, with dragons for transport and all of the races working together to pull it off. If she succeeds, she’ll show the entire world how far she would go to protect her ponies. It’s crazy, but brilliant!
He turned around in the chariot with a growing smile, only to have a second realization slug him in the gut like a sledgehammer. Princess Luna, the former Nightmare Moon, was still looking down into the valley and ignoring the way her sister was speaking in low tones to the rest of the entranced ponies in the chariot. Instead, Luna lowered her head a little more until it was nearly over the chariot’s rail, and Jon could see tears begin to trickle down her dark cheeks.
...and if Twilight Sparkle had not defeated Nightmare Moon and brought Luna back, this entire military force would have been driven against the mad alicorn. It would have been the only chance for the world to be spared from eternal darkness. Shining Armor would have led them, of course, avenging his slain sister and protecting Cadence. Dragonfire, magic, bullets, and desperation would have eventually brought her down, and Celestia would have returned from where Nightmare Moon had banished her to find…
He moved without thinking, since Luna was only a step or two away, and put one arm over her cold neck. A little surreptitious motion using Celestia’s words as cover allowed him to pass over his folded pocket square, which Luna took in her magic, used to dab away the tears and wipe her nose, then passed back to him. Judging that a brief, one-armed hug was not out of the pale, he gave her a gentle squeeze while returning the damp kerchief to his pocket, and from the hint of a smile that showed on her face, he had made the right call.
“Ahem,” said Celestia after a time. “Doctor Walthers, if we could have your attention for a moment? I have something everypony should hear.”
Giving Luna one last quick squeeze, Jon turned around to see every pony (and one dragon) staring at him. Thankfully, Celestia was smiling, or as much as current circumstances permitted. Several sheets of paper coiled into existence in front of her, and she passed them over to Jon, who read it out loud as he had been prompted, pitching his voice loud to carry over the wind as they descended.
“Berlin 5.5.1940.” Jon cleared his throat. “Sehr geehrte Prinzessin Celestia… Oh, wait. Equestrian. Right.”
He continued reading and translating as close as he could, going through the polite diplomatic language where the ‘Greater Germanic Empire’ expressed its ‘undying appreciation’ for the ‘unique situation of the Equestrian principality.’ It seemed like standard boilerplate language, ending in a pleasant note by Joachim von Ribbentrop, Reich Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Then he reached the second page. After reading silently for a few lines, he shot Celestia a nervous glance. “This can’t be right. They’re demanding that you give them a base with a runway of sufficient length to land their heavy bombers and fighters, as well as the port of Manehattan.” He looked over the edge of the descending chariot at the obvious runway, and turned back to her, but before he could say a word, Celestia shook her head.
“No German aircraft will land here as long as I draw breath. From Equestria, they could dominate the sea lanes, ravage shipping, even bomb North America. The dragons made this runway to accommodate our actions here this evening, and I plan on an Equestrian force of aircraft to use it to defend our lands against any sort of German attack.”
Jon hesitated, looked at Twilight’s stunned friends, then asked the question that seemed to come naturally. “You have aircraft?”
She nodded. “In the process of being purchased from Canada and the United States over the last few months, ‘liberated’ at the last minute from the countries who had been overrun by the German war machine, and other places. That is a discussion for another time. You see, that second document was hand-carried to our embassy in Manehattan, for my eyes only. Two days ago.”
I was wrong. This is not just a hostage rescue.
After scanning down the blunt German text, Jon looked back up. “They expect you to step down for Reichsprotektor Konstantin von Neurath? Really?”
“He would control the military while I would be given domestic authority over my ponies. For now. In return, the German Reich would ‘protect’ them, much as over three hundred of my little ponies are protected by being trapped inside the German and Italian war machine. They have been concentrated into seven distinct places, held as hostages for my good behavior. Read the bottom of the letter.”
He did, with a sense of unreality that only grew when he looked at the close group of Twilight’s friends and Nightshade. He took a deep breath before continuing, because Celestia would not have given him the sheet to read if she did not want the rest of the story to be known. “The letter implies that the Germans will kill one Equestrian citizen a month until Celestia gives in. They never say so directly, only that it is dangerous for ponies from a hostile power to live inside the peaceful Reich.”
“It says something else too, don’t it?” said Applejack, giving him a level stare. “You’ve got that look.”
Celestia nodded acceptance, so Jon continued. “It says that if she doesn’t give in to the terms of the ‘agreement’ here, they are going to make an example out of Manehattan with a weapon so terrible that no pony will be able to survive. Tens of thousands of ponies will die.”
Nopony even seemed to notice the large chariot setting down on the runway and the scurrying of pony attendants outside until Celestia stepped out and gestured for them all to follow. The guards who had been pulling the chariot likewise unhitched themselves and strode away at her unspoken order, leaving the small group alone on the fire-hardened pavement until Fluttershy of all ponies broke the silence.
“They can’t, right?” she asked. “It’s all a bluff. They’re just trying to make themselves look bigger to frighten…”
“They can.” Celestia’s voice was flat, nearly devoid of emotion. “My only choices were to surrender or fight.”
“Then we fight,” said Luna, who had remained nearly camouflaged in her larger sister’s shadow. The dark alicorn stretched in a slow motion that extended faded feathers and allowed her dull mane to cascade down her neck. “I am weakened from my ordeal, sister, but I shall rise with you to confront our enemies.”
“If we fought in this fashion, we would lose, and our subjects would pay the price for our loss.” Celestia gestured to the outside of the chariot, where ponies, people, minotaurs, griffons, and no end of dragons continued in their preparations. “This new demand from the Reich has affected our plans for the rescue. While the German armies are busy on the plains of France and the Italians vacillate, we must both rescue our stranded citizens and destroy the facilities which they scheme to use against us.”
“You’re going to use the cloud cover over Europe to fly the Royal Guard in undetected,” said Twilight Sparkle with a gasp. “It’s a very long flight, so… No, the timing is wrong. It’s too long to fly in and out without rest.”
“A portal,” said Jon as the pieces all fell into place. “The same portal spell you used to rescue the Titanic’s passengers and crew. You’re going to send your guards and…” He looked out at the mixed collection of armed and preparing soldiers. “Humans too?”
“And griffons and minotaurs and any who would assist us in our hour of need.” She pointed with one wingtip at the end of the runway. “Cadence and I shall—”
“And myself,” said Luna in a terse voice that booked no argument.
“And my sister,” added Celestia. “We shall cast the portal spell at the end of the runway and rotate it to each new destination as the assigned groups pass through. It shall exhaust our magical reserves for a long time, so the groups will have to fly back over the thick clouds presently covering Europe. If rest is needed, the returning groups can land at Dover or Spain, with a rendezvous in the Azores before the final flight back. It may take several days for them all to return.”
“Cool!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “When do we leave?”
Celestia fixed the hovering pegasus with a quelling glance. “You shall not. Your part in this is done. Volunteers from my Royal Guard and other Equestrian sources have been training and planning this attack for months. The most critical element was the dragons, who we brought in just last week.”
“Just a moment, Princess.” Twilight Sparkle’s voice had a considerable bit of the same pepper she displayed when facing down Nightmare Moon, and she stepped forward just as firmly. “You said the second letter had not arrived until the day before yesterday, and that you needed to adjust your plans. If so, we can help just as well as anypony. We didn’t have any time to plan when we went to fight Nightmare Moon—” Twilight flinched slightly and stole a glance at the enigmatic Luna, who remained perfectly impassive “—so you shouldn’t turn down our assistance now.”
“No, Twilight. And that goes for all of you,” Celestia added with a sweep of her eyes across her limited audience. “You all have risked your lives enough for me already.”
“But—” Twilight’s voice cut off immediately at Celestia’s firm glance, and she remained silently glowering when her princess turned to greet two familiar figures who were walking up to the chariot with the human one step behind the unicorn.
“Captain Shining Armor. Colonel Bradley.” Celestia gave them each a brief nod. “Please tell me you have as much good news as I do.”
Shining Armor paused with his mouth partially open while looking at the strange dark alicorn. Luna was barely visible inside of Celestia’s sizable shadow against the runway instead of gathered together like the rest of the passengers. In contrast, Colonel Bradley’s face lit up with recognition and a broad smile spread across his face. “You did it,” he declared, looking almost as if he were about to break into a dance. “You saved your sister.”
“Sister?” echoed Shining Armor, seemingly irritated at his lack of Equestrian intelligence as compared to the US Army human who took three quick steps up to Luna and gave her a brief bob of the head.
“Your Highness, Princess Luna.” Bradley fought his grin down to something a little more formal, and obviously uncertain on how a serving member of the US Army should greet an unexpected royal, he saluted. “On behalf of the United States Army, I cannot tell you how pleased I am to see you. Did Lieutenant Walthers assist in your rescue?”
“In a way,” said Luna, clearly taken aback at the human’s forward approach.
“Formal recognition of your Mister Walther’s contribution will wait,” said Celestia in clipped tones that showed her impatience. “Shining Armor, report.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Shining Armor saluted and passed over a clipboard covered in squiggly lines. “We have modified our assault to cover nine of the ten regions you indicated, but lack dragon transport to adequately carry out a retrieval at Telemark, Norway. It was the smallest collection of Equestrian civilians with the heaviest concentration of personnel required to carry out an extraction, so it was first on the list to be cut. I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
“After you sent that letter yesterday, we scrounged up every human in Manehattan who could shoot,” said Colonel Bradley. “Every merchant, clerk, and shoeshine boy regardless of nationality volunteered, except for Germans, of course. Rousted the heck out of a group of pony revolutionary Socialists who had been smuggling weapons into the city from the sub out in the harbor, too. Seems they were planning a little ‘spontaneous uprising’ against ‘Tyrant Celestia,’ if half of their members had not turned out to actually belong to your Night Guard, and it cleared up something that had been personally bothering me.”
Colonel Bradley passed several sheets of paper over to Jon, including a telegram receipt and a crumpled note that appeared to be some sort of incomplete get well card in Equestrian. “I don’t understand, Colonel.” Jon frowned as he considered the contents of the note, then passed it over to Celestia.
“The ringleader sent a coded telegram to a known Bund agent in the US a day before we got on the flying boat. Add in the note’s contents and we suspect she was behind the attack on Prince Blueblood as a means to embarrass the Crown. Our boys missed bagging the ringleader, but netted enough guns and ammo to kit out our boys for the additional strike points. Even with that, we’re still stretched thin, and two dragons shy of that last point.”
“I’m not cutting into the reserves,” said Shining with a stubborn expression that Jon had gotten quite used to seeing on Twilight’s face. “Without a backup dragon for transport in each of the strike packages, one of their injuries could leave dozens of our forces stranded in the middle of hostile territory. Including your men, Colonel.”
“They’ll be shot by the Germans if they’re captured and court martialed if they come back,” said Jon, feeling a little stunned.
“Any element of the US Army in this rescue effort is participating with my approval,” said Colonel Bradley. “Every single man is a volunteer. They’ll be on leave, acting on their own initiative like civilians. The rest of the volunteers from Manehattan are outside of my command structure, but most of them fought in the Great War so they know what they’re in for if captured.”
“The diplomats are going to explode,” said Jon. “The US is neutral. We’re not at war with Germany.”
“We are,” said Celestia softly. “Or more correctly, we will be shortly after eight this evening. I will move heaven and earth to keep all of the brave volunteers safe, both during and after their missions. They will be considered civilian auxiliaries to the Equestrian Crown, and as such, just as much my little ponies as the rest.”
The colonel grinned. “If everything goes according to plan, I’m going to go back to the War College in about two weeks with the biggest war story of all time. If not?” He shrugged. “It beats the hell out of guarding a mine in the states.”
A few more unpleasantries were exchanged before the two officers were dismissed, with Celestia following behind to look over the more detailed plan modifications. Twilight’s friends moved away also, headed for the welcome shade of a nearby tree while Jon took advantage of the lull to just look around.
From ground level, the preparations for war did not look quite so impressive. Admittedly, his perceptions of dragonkind had been warped by being in the extinct volcano surrounded by darkness and angry glowing eyes, so seeing dragons lazing around or flying in the bright daylight was an entirely different thing. Even the batponies seemed droopy, curled up in the shadows of trees for a brief nap or rushing back and forth in simulated assaults on simulated German facilities in the distance. It seemed obvious that Celestia was determined to coordinate the rescue mission for the hours of darkness, most probably the target’s midnight local time which would be…
He tried to remember if Equestria was four or five hours behind the German time zone, which made him check his broken watch out of reflex and completely miss the silent alicorn who slipped up beside him.
“My apologies,” said Princess Luna in a whisper, which nearly made him drop his wristwatch. “We did not mean to injure you.”
“Uh…” Jon turned the broken watch around in his hands and considered the nearby Equestrian princess who he had last emptied his revolver into. “Lightning,” he eventually managed.
“The Domain of the Night,” she said in that breathy whisper that brought goosepimples up the back of Jon’s neck while the watch was plucked effortlessly from his fingers by her magic. “We only meant to fling you away. Although We must admit to a certain amount of curiosity as to the nature of your impressive weapon.”
He moved without thinking, ejecting the cartridges and passing over the revolver butt-first to the looming princess, who examined it with great attention. “How clever,” she remarked, giving the cylinder a spin. “Each of the chambers contains the fire powder and projectile for a single shot.”
She passed the broken watch and the revolver back over to Jon, who reloaded it out of reflex under Luna’s watchful eye. She continued watching until he had returned it to the shoulder holster where it belonged, then lit her horn up again and floated several lead slugs over for Jon to catch in the palm of his hand.
“Your assault upon our person is forgiven, due to the circumstances,” said Luna. “Do be more careful in the future, however. We might have been injured.”
“There’s only four.” Jon stared at the oblong lumps of lead in his palm, then looked up. Luna made as if she were going to respond, then put on a contemplative look and coughed. Several rough coughs later, she spat into one hoof and held out the resulting flattened lump of lead, still shiny on one side.
“Beg pardon, and thank you for your time,” she said. “Now if you will excuse us, we need to see to our sister. Good day.”
Then she strode away, leaving Jon to stand there with the damp lead slugs in his hand.
“So… All alicorns are crazy?” Jon was walking slightly sideways in order to keep his eyes on the strolling batpony guard to his side, who was squinting in the bright sunlight. “And don’t tell me you didn’t hear anything from where you were hiding in the parked chariot. I could see your ears poking up over the edge.”
“I wouldn’t go as far as to call them crazy,” hedged Nightshade. “There’s only three of them now, which is a small sample.”
“Celestia’s about to open ten… No, nine portals into the German heartland to rescue a few hundred ponies and blow the Reich’s chemical plants to hell and back in the middle of the European war. Her sister just got back from a thousand year vacation on the moon. Cadence is the sanest one, and she seriously thinks Twilight and I would make a cute couple.”
“Yeah, that is pretty much off the rails,” said Nightshade, still strolling along with her hooves making sharp clicking noises on the dragon-fused runway. “Personally, I’d pair her up with a university professor or a researcher of some sort who really likes books.” By complete coincidence, Nightshade’s tail thwacked against Jon’s leather satchel, which still held the mystery novel he had not even started reading over the last week.
“Very funny.”
“I’d share,” added Nightshade. “One of us for the day, one for the night. Seems to be an up and coming theme.”
“And your Dragonlord would eat me,” ended Jon.
“A short life but a happy one,” said Nightshade in a joyous voice that was nearly a chirp. “You shot an alicorn. Five times. He’s got to recognize your giant b—”
Nightshade’s nose was warm and prickled under Jon’s palm, but thankfully she did not lick his palm while they walked. Their destination was what at first glance appeared to be a rather large rock amidst a group of scattered trees, if he had not seen the immense bulk of the dragon earlier and recognized his shape.
When they got closer, they could see a circle of young batponies around Stone, who appeared to be sleeping, or as much as a dragon the size of a small building could appear to be doing anything other than being huge. A larger young batpony had a heavy book in front of him, and was working his way through reading out loud in English, with occasional pauses and hesitations when the words were too large for his limited vocabulary.
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.
Stone gave out a low chuffing noise, and opened one immense eye just a slit in the bright sunlight. All of the surrounding young batponies abruptly stopped their quiet whispering to each other in order to squint at the new human and his muzzled guard, while the massive dragon simply let out a low chuckle much like an earth tremor before speaking.
“My dear Mister Walthers,” he rumbled. “Something is the matter with you. You are not the human that you were.”
Jon hesitated for a moment before asking, “Is that a literary reference? I don’t recognize it.”
The dragon simply chuffed out a short breath that smelled of brimstone and sulfur. “Humans. It does indeed seem that you have a tale to tell. Sit, and entertain the young ones.”
Confession was good for the soul. Confession while a pair of young batponies crawled up into his lap and listened to him was good for body and soul. Puff and Thistle had not gotten one bit less cute when viewed in the light of day, even though they kept their big golden eyes tightly closed in the sunlight. They wriggled impatiently when he started his story by telling about receiving the letter from Princess Celestia, then settled into rapt attention when he told about Colonel Bradley pulling a gun on him, although he left out the part about the bomb in the aircraft gas tank, just in case.
All of the batpony children loved hearing about the big flying boat, mostly because their parents had strictly forbidden them to fly anywhere near such a dangerous machine, which made Jon exaggerate the landing more than a little. He also left out the German encryption machine that Celestia had given Colonel Bradley, because that was certainly not something that should be waved about.
His young audience hopped around and flapped for joy when he described The Wizard of Oz, which only made him realize how little exposure these rural ponies had to humans. That made him go back and describe one of the human carnavals he had attended back in New Jersey as a boy, just to admire their rapt attention, as well as defining just exactly what human football and basketball were. It took a lot of work to get their attention back to the topic at hand, with a few more minor fibs about shooting at Nightmare Moon and some creativity to explain just how he thought Twilight and her friends had brought back Princess Luna.
The report I wind up writing for the State Department is going to get filed under Fiction and have more holes than swiss cheese. The only creature I can tell the whole truth to has wings and a horn.
“And then I came here to tell you little troublemakers all about it,” finished Jon. “Now, aren’t you all supposed to be sleeping?”
“I’m not tired,” declared Thistle from his comfortable spot curled up on Jon’s lap.
“Me neither.” Puff gave a sharp-toothed yawn and cuddled up to her brother, adding a little bit of pink tinged mane to the tiny pony pile in the middle of Jon’s lap.
“Come on you two.” Ember, the smaller bipedal dragon Jon had been introduced to before, scooped up Puff and Thistle and carried the protesting foals under her arms while following the rest of the herd of young batponies. “Let’s get you off to bed so Gran’pa Stone can get some sleep.”
Eat a bolt of lightning at dawn. Meet a new Equestrian princess for brunch. Send a bunch of cute little heart-breakers to bed at noon. Washington D.C. is going to look like a vacation after this.
He just sat there in the warm sunshine, feeling the levers of the world shift around him while pegasi darted and dodged in the distance, and hastily assembled human armed squads provided simulated cover fire. Brave ponies, people, minotaurs, and griffons transported by dragonback around the world, risking their lives to save a handful of Equestrian hostages. If Jon had not caught a bolt of lighting to the face a scant few hours ago, he would have been right there asking Colonel Bradley if there was a space for a linguist in one of the teams.
The distinct ‘tch-tch’ of disapproval sounded from behind Jon, and when he turned around, he saw a chubby yellowish earth pony with a covered tray on his back. His bright green eyes sparkled against the soft gold of his coat, looking very much like a pair of flawless emeralds on a bed of coins, with his perfect teeth shining like pearls and wisps of pure silver for a mane that drifted in the light breeze. The pony was smiling, at least, and looked as if he had just discovered something precious that he had been searching for.
“Doctor Walthers, I presume. We are Ping, of the Imperial Household. Oh, no. Do not get up,” the pony quickly said in clear, crisp tones with a most definite Asian accent when Jon shifted positions. “We have brought a humble repast for your refreshment in this late hour.”
One narrow slit opened in the immense draconic head next to Jon, revealing a golden eye which examined them like… well, a dragon. “Nothing for me?” grumbled Stone.
“You are a fat child!” declared the golden pony as he placed the tray down on the grass in front of Jon and extended small legs to make it into a table. “Too much lying around and eating. No challenges in your life.”
“True.” The heavy eyelid closed with a noise like a steamer trunk lid slamming about the same time that the first wafting scent of something batter-wrapped and fried drifted up into Jon’s nose and drew his eyes downward to the… He could have sworn the table was smaller a few moments ago. Now there was an empty plate on his side of table with several tidy silver tray lids shining in the sun while the golden pony busied himself by pouring a cup of tea from a porcelain kettle.
“It is good to see the Teacher of the Dawning Light finding himself at home with my distant relatives,” the pony said from behind the handle of the kettle. He pronounced another word, liquid with promise and grace, which made Nightshade perk up her ears and give him a wide-eyed look.
“Beg pardon, respected elder,” she responded.
“Xia, daughter of Rising Grain. Sit, please.” Despite the impossibility of it, there was another plate at the larger table now, and Ping proceeded to pour another cup of tea for the astonished batpony. “We must take our moments of joy in the sun where we can, for soon the winter will be here, and the grain will be put to the scythe.”
“Thank you, sir.” Nightshade settled down on the grass and regarded the set of chopsticks next to her plate with much the same expression as Jon had. She looked at him, and he looked at Ping, which made the old pony smile and give them both a nod.
“Go. Eat,” he urged. “Chicken tidbits braised in plum wine with vegetable rice, very good. Egg roll and won tons just like Americans, only without sticky fizzy drink. Much better than canned food given to rest of humans today. Special treat for one who helps bring our Chang’e back.”
“Thank you.” Jon felt a deep clunking in his mind of pieces falling into place. “Celestia spoke well of her missing sister,” he added, holding a tantalizing bit of chicken in his fork. “I’m really honored by your gift. I understand you used to cook for the Japanese emperor.”
There was an emotion of some sort behind those dark green eyes, but Jon could not determine if it was ire or exasperation so he shifted his gaze to the impassive batpony servant by Ping’s side, who had managed to remain almost completely unnoticed against his colorful companion..
“And you must be Anpan,” said Jon. “The young stallion who Laminia likes so much.”
The second the words came out of his mouth, Jon knew he had said too much. The batpony stallion blushed, the pony chef gave him a sly, sideways glance, and Nightshade went as far as to put a hoof against her forehead and groan.
“Oh, my,” said Ping, and moved to place a third and fourth plate on the table. “Romance? In the quiet Little Dragon who has studied at my side for the last five seasons? Sit, and tell us of your young mare. She is a mare, Doctor Walthers?”
Jon nodded, and Ping nudged the hefty batpony until he sat down at the now-larger table. He had not realized just how big the stallion was until he was seated next to the smaller Nightshade, most probably due to the fact that Jon had been looking down from altitude at both of them.
“Before this evolves into a misconception,” started Jon once they were all seated, “I must ask Anpan. You do know who Laminia is, right?”
The hefty stallion nodded, but remained silent.
After having spent most of a week with a chatty batpony who could not keep from talking about intimate relationships, Jon found it remarkably difficult to ask any more questions. He took a sip of his blistering hot tea and added a sugar cube while thinking, although Nightshade burst into the conversation almost at once.
“You have to be kidding,” she huffed. “They keep looking at each other out of the corners of their eyes but I don’t think they’ve said a word to each other since I’ve been in the castle.
“I said good morning.” The hefty batpony had a throaty tenor that flowed like liquid chocolate, a considerable contrast to the timid way he looked away and fiddled with his large forehooves at the table. “She ran into a doorframe,” he admitted.
The old golden pony nodded with his handleless-teacup gripped firmly in the crook of his fetlock. “Females are flighty, irrational, and react poorly to the unexpected.” He took a sip of his tea. “The only creatures more foolish are males in pursuit of them.”
Nightshade looked like she had just swallowed her tongue. Anpan simply nodded.
* * ✹ * *
Thankfully, their conversation wandered away from the topic of romance, although the discussion still distracted Jon away from trying to figure out just how the magic table continued to have food heaped upon it while the meal proceeded. There was the main course of delicious udon noodles with mushroom sauce and veggies in a miso broth, two soups, some sort of complicated bean salad that was as colorful as a bowl of gemstones, and three different desserts. To be honest, Jon had wanted to stop at the first of several daifuku, some sort of fruit and nut filled pastries, then had been enticed into a minty wasanbon to settle his stomach, and now was mostly engaged in a staring contest with some konpeito, which were innocent-appearing sugar candies with a density nearing lead.
The after-lunch discussion wandered over many Equestrian and American topics, which eventually turned to American jazz musicians and the difficulty of getting their new albums outside of the US. A quantitative discussion of Cab Calloway’s actual value to the progression of music was interrupted by several approaching ponies and one small dragon, all of whom looked more than a little tense. Jon used the distraction to drop one of the candies into his jacket pocket for later, but forgot all about it when Twilight Sparkle began to speak.
“I’ve discussed things with my friends, Doctor Walthers,” said Twilight straight off, in a direct line of words that Jon had thought he never would have heard before today’s events. “I checked the plans that Shining Armor and Colonel Bradley are following, with consideration how the Norwegian military assault was intended to free Moondancer and several other unicorns from Canterlot, and I think we can do it with a little help.”
“Do what?” asked Jon, a little confused by the abruptness and all of the eyes looking at him.
“Rescue my friend,” said Twilight, looking straight at Jon, “In short, we need a member of the Equestrian military and a human to command the last rescue mission in Norway.”
“Me?” said Jon.
“Us?” said Nightshade.
“And two dragons for transportation,” added Twilight.
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Our little Twilight has grown up.
A hostage rescue in Norway is a great way to unwind after preventing the rule of a returning evil alicorn bent on eternal darkness.
okay why would Germans ask Equestrians to give them airfield and manehattan before they have even began attacking England? And why would Germans threat them with a weapon that power full if they just could threat England with such weapon and maybe use it at them? And what comes to landing in Spain, I don't know what did Celestia do to convince Spain's government to allow that because remember that not too long ago they went thru civil war and a last thing they need is to give Germans a excuse to attack them. And Colonel would not have power to send Americans to such mission before asking permission from the government because if he did he would be court martialed.
And what is with this fear that Germans just executes everyone they capture? Because believe it or not they treated POW:s fairly well. Only thous from communist countries were treated badly.
Twilight is gonna show those Krauts what for!
9296558 Even before he started to attack England Hitler was planning to attack America. While they could and did cut off England from getting supplies a majority of which at this time were imported. Not so easy to do with America. They actually expected England to be an easy fight much like France.. As to killing off prisoners Germany under Hitler did alot of it either deliberately or through abuse
As to the weapon I have no idea without majorly rewriting history
9296634
what! i have never even heard of this, because Germans did not even have plans taking over whole of soviet union, only the western side of it. Germans did not have plans for world domination because even they would know that they don't have the manpower and equipment to transport them over the atlantic. Plans themselves don't equal actually doing it. Britain had a plan named "operation unthinkable", but that does not mean they would do it. After taking over Poland they wanted peace with British and France ho of course refused.
https://youtu.be/Mgr7lolewC8?t=441
What are you talking about? Jon didn't do jackshit other than shoot at you ineffectually then got knocked out and missed everything.
How exactly did Luna engulf the world in darkness? Did she generate a cloud cover, or make all the volcanoes erupt? I thought the latter was implied, but if so, shouldn't the world still be doomed?
And hey, looks like Jon actually has a purpose to be here after all! Let's see how long that holds up.
9294618
Not what I was asking. I mean, why does he think Twilight would worship Nightmare Moon?
Luna coughing up bullets makes me wonder if Walthers hit a lung. I'm glad that she's not still offended, and that she wasn't seriously hurt. You totally owned up to your promise of a princess getting shot, for all the good it did.
So they need two dragons, but the only ones I see are Stone, Ember, and Spi... Wait a minute, is the backup plan to embiggen Spike?
And so, before Japan has a chance to rouse a sleeping giant, Germany goes and pokes an alicorn. Even less wise, given how America's chipping in anyway. Now to see how well the newly minted Bearers handle a much more lethal mission than normal...
9296925 The ponies seem like such peaceful pushovers. And how appropriate that your thumbnail is both Derpy *and* a Kirin. Watch for it.
9296855 Naa, enbiggened Spike doesn't have wings, and Ember is about chest high on a human. Besides, would I put a dragon princess or a flightless young dragon into a war zone with gunfire and explosives?
9296634 In fact, a number of commandos that were captured during the first British assault on the Norwegian heavy water facility were executed. That's a wonderful link, mostly because it has the best picture I've seen of the generator facility. That's actually a *modern* photo, since the square chemical/hydrogen facility next to it was torn down in the 60s I believe.
9296847
He seems to have a tendency of ignoring the hard questions. Such as why, exactly, Jon is here in the first place despite being repeatedly proven to be superfluous, or why Twilight had a sudden personality shift in the word-for-word ripoff of the first episode.
9296847
Or why he keeps on having everypony want to bang Jon long after it stopped being amusing. (It never was.)
Sweet, time to rescue the hostages and stick a finger in Hitler's eye at the same time.
"Concentrated"? That's a fairly notable way to describe it.
Oooo, that's a good plan.
Feels like there's no need to send the Element Bearers along and risk them unless there's something that needs rainbow blasting.
Starlight, now is not the time.
This slightly feels like we just shifted into "meet the parents" except maybe more formal.
On the other hand, rescuing Moondancer and destroying the Nazi nuclear facility sounds like a good idea.
9296947
yes all captured commandos were executed because that order was given only if enemy was considered a commando who they considered spies. There fore they had not same rights as normal soldiers who Germans treated well. Because this is not 1941 or afterwards such order was not given. Special forces during that time was not a thing, it was completely new concept.
https://youtu.be/nXusKM5uX0s?t=3140
9296952 Yeah, the only one who'd want to bang Jon is Gilda.
She has a secret human fetis- (the aforementioned griffon suddenly attacks Alondro and rips his throat out with her beak. And so, Alondro dies... again. But at least Gilda's secret human fetish is safe! Ha ha, until I told you all about it! Ha ha ha...(( And so Gilda leapt upon the Internal Narrator and ripped his throat out with her beak. And no, I'm not stupid enough to mention her secret human fetish... .... ah crap. *RRRRRIIIIPPP!!*)))
9296534
Yes, she has. How exactly did that happen, considering she was an awful unlikable self-centered brat just a few chapters ago before abruptly shifting to something more akin to canon the instant she left for Ponyville? Character Development is usually best shown on-screen.
9296703
He assessed Twilight's ideal friends in time for Celestia to arrange for her to meet them in Ponyville.
9297068
When did he do that? All I remember is him commenting Twilight might do better with ponies different than her.
That's not just any Colonel Bradley is it?
Also how dare those Natzis hold my wifefu hostage
Unless this is one of the changes to history I'm not sure how friendly Fascist Spain would be to a bunch of tired ponies and dragons who just finished blowing up various bits of Germany. I suppose it was technically neutral.
9296947 Danged I forgot about those experiments and that Norweign facility
9296665 See this Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerikabomber Of course with Equestria in the mix the bomber wouldn't of been as necessary
That's quite an exact assumption that you immediately contradict.
9297910 You don't speak Bureaucrat very well, do you? Let me see if I can craft a few lines in English to convey the same idea. Ahem.
The reason I didn't write *that* in the story, is because so many people would read it in so many different ways (since Bureaucrat is a vague language like that). Treasure your youthful innocence.
9297286 Thankfully, the Luftwaffe had enough internal/external squabbling that they never really got a four-engine bomber off the drawing board.
9297219 Spain was very technically neutral. Reams of books have been written about it. They sent/allowed volunteers into the German army, which tended to get ground up in the Russian front. They had volunteers working with the French resistance. They fought *everybody* in one way or another, and Franco even *offered* to assist Germany on June 19 1940, but in general, it kept out of the fight. In short, I believe Germany really didn't *want* to invade Spain, because they would not get much out of the deal other than fractious Spaniards. And I don't know how many Allied bomber crews escaped through Spain after being shot down, but it was a lot.
Then we get to Portugal and the Azores. The Wikipedia article on that is well-worth the read, particularly the section on Operation Alacrity.
9297089 I just put in an Easter Egg Hunt in my blog for tidbits like this.
9297942
Even that was barely vague. You're giving exact numbers here. If the letter simply said that ponies were at risk and oh we're doing our very best but sometimes people get hurt and there's nothing we can do blah blah blah doing these things help us keep them safe something something whatever, it'd be fine. At this point you might as well make it a direct threat. Which I realize they do in the next line.
Why bother being vague about some hostages when you blatantly threaten war? And not just war a super weapon with which you say will wipe them off the face of the Earth. Hey I know we have this relatively small amount of hostages as insurance for you to comply but just in case you don't we state we will attack your whole country, directly, anyway. Doing both of these is extremely redundant. You make the vague threat so you can pretend it's not a threat.
Georg, how exactly did Twilight convince Celestia to embark on this crazy mission?
Imagined conversation:
A rescue
9928771 Fixed.
Also updated the story to show Starlight was behind the original flying boat bombing and the Cord roadster attack, just so I could tie up some loose ends.
He sure is going for those dark mares, isn't he?
Well. She already knew about that weapon though, and probably already took measures against it.
You're not a trained soldier, Twi. Maybe you're stubborn enough to keep going when the blood and guts start flying, but I'm not so sure that goes for the other five
Little magical powerhouse that she is, she could definitely help power the portals, though
Oh no... that's where Moondancer is.
Ah yes. Celestia has interesting ways to deal with uprisings
...okay
He wouldn't survive the first week. Death by snu-snu
That's from The Hobbit, right? The ending of the book.
Shame on you!
Feet that travelled many a mile... every mile adding to the tale.
Yea, but... European football, or American football?
Ha. At least he knows.
Ohhh. Anpan. Bread. That took a while to click. This is indeed Lumpy
Saw that coming.
Story wouldn't have had much of a climax without it anyway
I'm betting Nighty is the "member of the Equestrian military", hm?
I thought the bottleneck was the dragons, though. What, are you going to make Spike spontaneously sprout his wings?