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Scramble!!2,753 words
Cliffs of Dover4,510 words
"Sundial, do you read me? Over."2,358 words
Dogfight2,753 words
Crash Landing2,530 words
Wounds2,113 words
Crossed Paths2,288 words
Conflict4,491 words
Mistakes2,349 words

Mistakes

"What the HAY is going on here!?" The purple Alicorn repeated, leveling her eyes with John's.

John opened his mouth but was unable to explain his reasoning behind the brawl. Unsure of if the Ponies would even believe a word he said. After all he had started the attack.

"Es tut mir leid wegen deines Freundes." The German croaked out of his bleeding mouth.

The ponies looked to John who merely looked back.

"I don't speak Krout" He said, he would have shrugged but his arm was still hostage to Twilight's spell.

"Allow me. Perhaps we can get to the bottom of all this if we ask him." She said gesturing at The German Pilot. She walked forward separating the two and bringing the German to lie on his back in front of her. Twilight bend down, lowering her horn which flared for just a second then dimmed, the pilot's mouth, no it seemed to come from his throat, glowed before it to dimmed.

Twilight then rose again, helping the German to sit up. He felt his throat as if checking it was still there. John wondered what she did to him.

"Can you understand me? What is your name?" Twilight asked slowly.

The pilot's eyes widened before he opened his mouth, "Yes, I can understand you. My name is Wolf Valkyrie. I am... was a flying officer of the Luftwaffe."

Wolf looked to John, instead of a smug or even vengeful look the German, Wolf, had one of pity and shame.

"Englishman," He started.

"John" John cut in.

"John, I cannot express enough my sorrow for the loss of your friend. My goal was to not shoot down anyone but the information I hold deemed it necessary to... defend myself or it would have been lost with me." He continued, "Unfortunately I am unable to go any further into detail regarding the information, for I do not wish anyone but a select few to hear. I hope you understand."

Silence.

"You think that excuses it?! YOU THINK BECAUSE YOU HAVE SOME STUPID INTELEGENCE YOU CAN TAKE MY BEST FRIENDS LIFE!? I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" John yelled charging Wolf, until he was slammed into a magical barrier erected by Twilight. He fell back dazed. Quickly shaking it off he jumped back to his feet, realizing he had been encased in a bubble by the alicorn, he banged on obstruction. Cursing with tears rolling down his face.

Wolf walked up to him, but remained separated by the barrier. John was still able to hear him, "John, I am truly sorry. I hope to try and make it up to you, but a part of me knows I can never make up taking a friends life." Wolf then turned and limped away, refusing to be helped by Twilight.

Twilight looked to John, "I don't know what species you are, let alone who you are personally, but there is a lot of explaining you need to do later at the Library."

She trotted away, John could see the stress on her, apparently it wasn't every day two opposing pilots from a world war had a brawl in a bakery. The barrier fell, as Twilight dismissing it with her magic, John watched Wolf limping down the road, three fillies and a mare in a cowboy hat were walking with him. John looked down to see his revolver still lying in the dirt, he could have taken it, but Wolf hadn't. John picked it up, dusted it off, then holstered it. He looked around to see the crowd thinning, only a handful of ponies were left, and they were talking to each other rather than paying him any attention.

"So... are you guys like boyfriends or something?" John looked up to the shattered window to see Pinkie Pie looking down at them. In all the confusion and the scuffle he'd forgotten that she was left on the top floor.

"Um... no Pinkie, we're not a couple..." John slowly replied, "what made you ask?"

Pinkie shrugged, "There was an obvious sexual tension between you guys."

She then promptly turned and trotted down the hall towards the stairs. John blinked in confusion.

"What the fuck?" He said to himself.

Chalking it up to being Pinkie Pie being, well, Pinkie Pie. John walked, wincing at any dull aches and pains as he walked, he suddenly stopped.

"Am I forgetting something?" The lack of a thump over the head from an angry bunny answered the question and he turned back to Sugarcube Corner to retrieve the groceries and the angry bunny.

Golden Oaks Library
20 minutes later

A small purple dragon opened the kitchen door to the main library carrying a tea kettle and some empty tea cups. He ducked as a book, in the grasp of Twilight's magic zipped past him, before joining the several orbiting her as she flipped through them. To the normal pony, or in this case dragon, this would seem like odd behavior, but to Spike this was just a normal day in the office. Well, except the bipedal creature sitting cross legged eying the books that came to close to him, ready to duck if needed.

"I got the tea Twilight." Spike greeted.

"So you said you were from another... without magic and is currently in the largest scale conflict in your history and it's not even the first of it's kind in the century?!" She spluttered, her mane fizzling out a bit and her eye twitching.

"um... Ja you could put it that way," the bipedal creature responded putting an arm behind his head and rubbing it sheepishly,

Should have made something stronger, Spike thought to himself as he poured the tea from the kettle and handed the cup to the bipedal who accepted it and sipped gingerly, "Danke, Spike was it?"

Spike nodded, "Yep, and you're?"

"Wolf"

Spike then poured the second cup, looked up to see Twilight still frantically looking through books while more seemed to join the orbit around her.

"Could you be from an alternate timeline? A parallel dimension where everyone we know is your specie- wait... no that can't be right your not colorful enough. From another planet, or galaxy? Maybe you're from the past and this war kills you off. WAIT -COULD YOU BE FROM THE FUTURE!? ARE WE EXTINCT SOON!" She started hyperventilating.

"Is this... normal for her?" Wolf asked.

"Yep, give her something to stress about, weather it be about next Tuesday, or a world at war and she'll start... this." He gestured to all of her. "I think this should be called Twilighting or something." He shrugged, then tossed the full tea cup into the orbit where it was caught by Twilight's magic and was brought to her lips where she chugged it down.

The orbit of books seemed to slow a little as she finished.

"Sorry, sorry." She sighed, "one question at a time. Why is your world at war?"

"What answer to you want, the German side or the British side?"

The orbit started to pick up again.

“I can’t believe you did that!” Fluttershy exclaimed breaking the silence of the 2 as they neared her cottage. “Violence has never solved anything, and for you to damage somepony’s property, that’s horrible!”

“War comes with consequences. Both parties accept that some casualties are inevitably civilian.” John stated flatly, his attitude and personality had taken a morbid turn following the fight. “Best thing to do is to not think about it, keep moving forward...”

Fluttershy’s response was drowned by John’s thoughts, he had been so close to avenging his friend’s death. Only for it to be snatched from his grasp just as quickly. As they neared the cottage he looked to the burnt wreck of his Spitfire. The frame was actually more intact than he thought...

Maybe there was enough to work with...

November 14th, 1937

John lowered his welding mask, before igniting the flame and applied the heat to the two metal beams. William, as always was there to spot him, as John slowly fused the two metal plates.

John was taking a test to see if he was qualified to take an opening on frame welding. So far, he’d been doing well, this particular workshop also had an extra requirement for welders. Due to the depression the management had to cut some expenses. Now welders also had to know how to use the cutter’s torch so that they could cut as well as fuse metal.

John’s next test was the cutter’s torch. They had been contacted to cut up an old locomotive that’d been repossessed by a bank.

Whilst John was being tested, the workshop was as busy as it’d ever been. One particular crew were in the process of lifting Peckett 0-6-0 Saddle Tank Engine No. 2000, frames and all, off its wheels and onto wooden planks for further repairs.

{copyright Helston preservation railway in England. August 2022.}

The pistons and valve gear had been removed prior and the wheels were left behind as the loco rose from the tracks.

The bridge crane, a type of crane named due the way it bridged over two rails it ran along, supported the beefy tank engine through 4 chains that ended in large hooks that were hooked on the ends of the running board. The chain of one, specifically the front left, had been in dire need of replacement for a while now.

Unfortunately, today was the day it gave out, for the saddle tank’s weight was too much for its weakened steel. As one of the workmen leaned under to inspect something the weakest link finally gave with a mighty crack.

The locomotive, now unsupported in one corner, fell to the workshop floor. The workman scrambled to get out from under the falling Iron Horse but was pinned by the beast’s frame. By some miracle the crane still bore much of the engines weight stopping it from completely crushing the man, but was rendered inoperable when the corner opposite of the dropped one rose up and destroyed part of the winch mechanism.

Water splashed out of the top of the tanks, soaking the workmen around the engine.

"Who the hell left those tanks filled!?" shouted the Foreman as he ran out of his office after seeing the loco fall, "Get that man out of there, get the torches!"

Several men came running with a blowtorch, fuel, and a thick fire blanket that was quickly thrown over the trapped man, he already had a loco pinning him, they wouldn't let anything else happen to him. John knelt beside him holding his hand. The adrenaline was likely wearing off of him and as more seconds ticked by, the workman's grip tightened, and he began to stifle cries of pain.

Work stopped as everyone watched, the more experienced workman, John believed his name was Scott, got to work cutting the man free, cutting around where his leg was pinned making an arch. It was slow goings through the thick and strong steel frame of the locomotive.

"Blood!" one of the younger, possibly teenage boys cried out pointing. John looked to see blood pooling as John, using one hand ripped off his belt and tossed it to William.

"He needs a torniquet, apply this, quickly!" John continued to try and comfort the worker, who was getting paler alarmingly fast.

William began to wrap the belt around top of the wound.

"No, higher. You need to put it on his mid thigh or it won't do anything." John quickly corrected him.

"How do you know this?"

"I was a Boy Scout!"

William obliged moving the belt further up the leg, by now the other workers had managed to cut away the small part of the frame. They quickly pulled the man free and away from the accident, as sirens grew louder outside.

"Hey mate, you did it, medics are on their way you'll be ok you'll see." John said to the man, who's eyes focused on him, fear and pain filling them. But in them John saw the fleeting life.

"MEDICS, GET BACK!"

John turned to see several paramedics, both civilian and Military, rushing to aid. John reluctantly let the man's hand go, as he gave the medics room to work.

The crowd of workmen looked on in silent shock and horror as not 2 minutes later one of the civilian paramedics stood and shook his head,

"He's gone, we just missed him."

Murmurs and curses rippled through the workmen gathered.

The medics documented the time of death, and looking between two of them, John saw the injury in all it's horror, the calf and knee had been completely flattened, his bone, or what was left of it, had broken the skin in several places. Even as the now deceased man lay, blood still oozed out. John found he couldn't look away, everyone and everything faded to white noise as he could only stare in horror.

"John... JOHN!" William called to his friend.

John shook his head clearing his mind. "W...what?"

"The coppers want us to clear out... this place is a crime scene now."

John nodded as he and William walked out of the workshop. As they neared the car park, John looked back at the building now with police and government officials buzzing about. With political tensions and their ROD contract John was not surprised by the Government officials arrival.

"Hey, there's nothing more we could have done. It... was his time." William assured him.

John sighed, "I know... he was a newbie, like me. We joined at the same time."

"What was his name?"

"Henry... His name was Henry"

"John, are you ok?" Fluttershy asked, her firm, authoritative tone now replaced with worry and curiosity. While lost in pains of the past, they'd reached the front porch of her cottage.

John looked down at her, her kindness had saved his life, possibly twice now. In return he'd brought the worst weapon of mankind: hatred.

"I need some tools." He said, looking back at the Warbird, "I need to get us home."

Author's Note:

apologies to any welders out there, I have NO idea how welding is applied/used in terms of types of welds.

sorry for the cringe you endured while reading that last section.

UPDATE ON ARM INJURY:

I'VE GOT FINGER MOVEMENT!!!!

Nerve is still healing but my range of motion in my elbow is likely peaked... at about 95% the original range!!!
Doc was very pleased with the progress made. Sorry this took so long to get out, I'll be going back to school in a couple weeks or so, hopefully for the whole semester,

Happy Hearthswarming!
Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays!

(sorry if the ending feels off, I'm out of practice because of arm lol)

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