Chapter 8

“Oh God, my head,” Ian moaned as he leaned up from the pile of hay in a well lit barn. He looked quickly around and noticed his crewmates were starting to wake up as well. Across the room he could see the German crew doing the same. Frederic noticed the American watching them and he glared back.

“It appears that you vere telling the truth,” Frederic admitted. “Magic does indeed exist. Here at least.”

“Ah good, ya’ll are wakin’ up,” Applejack trotted into the barn followed closely by Pinkie Pie. “Ya guys aint goin’a try and kill each other now are ya?”

“I think we’ve put that all behind us for now,” Ian replied, not taking his eyes off the Germans.

“When you humans eventually get ta leave equestria then ya’ll can go back to tryin’ to kill one another,” Applejack sighed.

“But until then let's have a party,” Pinkie chimed in. She bounced towards the nearest human, which was Matt. “What’s your favorite type of cake?”

“Uh... pineapple upsidedown cake?”

“I love those!” Pinkie said clapping her hooves together and moving on to the next closest human.

“Don’t come any closer or I’ll get angry,” Bill growled as Pinkie stopped a foot in front of him.

“Don’t be such a grumpy, grump pants,” Pinkie smiled. “I’ll go away after you tell me your favorite type of cake.”

Bill remained quiet and continued to glare at the pony.

“He likes angelfood cake,” Ian said quickly, “Just make us all angelfood cake.”

“Angelfood? You mean princess-food cake?”

“Ye- yes, sure.” Ian willed the pony to go away.

“Okey dokey!” She trotted to the Germans. “What kind of cake do you like?”

“Go away pink thing.” Frederic groaned.

“They like German chocolate!” Matt yelled from across the room. “Oh and make some apple pies! That’s the most American food out there!”

“I never heard of German chocolate cake before. Applejack makes better apple pies than even me. How about I make three big cakes and two apple pies. Does that sound good?”

“Yes!” Matt cheered.

“Sure,” Ian said passively.

“Nein,” Frederic groaned.

“You want nine cakes?” Pinkie gasped. “Wow you guys eat almost as much as me!”

Pinkie Pie trotted out of the barn leaving Applejack alone with the ten humans. Ian looked around.

“Where is Patton?”

“He woke up ah full ten minutes before you fellas did.” Applejack said motioning her head in the direction of the house. “He is currently inside having a civil conversation with Granny, Big Mac and the others about his life. It is mighty interestin’.”

“I bet it is,” Ian chuckled.

“Ya guys want to come on inside for some fresh apple cider?”

Bill perked up. “Cider?”

“I had a perfect score too,” Patton explained. “But since I had such a poor time, I placed sixth. I was so close to winning a medal but I guess the whole experience was enough of a prize for me.”

Twilight sat there, writing down everything Patton had been saying. The General’s story about something called the 1912 Olympics had greatly intrigued her.

“So human nations that might not be friendly with each other sent their best athletes to compete in a series of different games all in the hopes to spread peace?” She asked him.

“Yes.”

“That’s amazing!” She went back to her writings as the door swung open and the Americans walked in followed shortly after by the Germans.

“Hey Rainbow,” Matt walked immediately to the pegasus lounging on the couch. “How are you doing?”

“I’m feeling awesome!” She smiled and Matt felt relieved that she wasn't mad at him still. But his heart sank as she continued. “Just don’t sit next to me. Okay?”

“Okay.” Matt sulked away and followed Bill to a barrel in the kitchen.

“Are you talking about the 1912 Olympics General?” Ian asked.

“I sure am,” Patton took a swig of his apple cider.

“My father, unlike you, was extremely angry when the judges said that you missed the target in the pistol shooting round.” Matt called from the kitchen.

“I guess I should have used a smaller gun,” Patton laughed.

Bill returned with a cup of cider and he took a drink. He instantly pulled it away from his mouth and stared at it angrily.

“This ain’t hard cider.”

“Well if ya want to freeze it you can put it in the freezer,” Granny Smith said, confusion in her eyes.

“He means alcoholic cider,” Ian sighed, watching the Germans congregate by a far window to talk amongst themselves.

“Alcohol is hard to come by ‘round here and the only pony Ah know that buys the stuff is Berry Punch.” Applejack said.

“God damn it!” Bill mumbled into another mouthful of cider. It might not have been alcoholic but he didn't deny that it was good.

Twilight noticed the distrustful look the Americans were giving the Germans.

“Why do you hate each other so much?” She asked cautiously

Patton sighed as the Germans turned their attention back to the crowd of people and ponies.

“It is a long story and to prevent my biased American mind from telling it falsely would you mind helping me tell it?” Patton pointed towards Frederic.

Frederic knew full well that the General only wanted to lessen the hostilities between them and that he would have gladly told the story from his standpoint just to make them look bad. The German Commander nodded in agreement and edged slightly closer.

“This all begins way back when I was a young man. When an Archduke of Austria was assassinated. That one moment would help set off a chain of events that would create two wars that changed and is changing the course of history.”

The ponies prepared themselves for what they expected to be a thrilling and heroic tale. The humans knew better.

Celestia had always enjoyed the sweet smell of apples. The Princess sniffed the air, momentarily forgetting about her troubles, as she made her way towards the pleasant home of the Apple family. Behind the barn she could barely make out what appeared to be two large metallic shapes but she gave them no heed. Luna and twelve royal guards trailed behind her, looking around at the pleasant countryside. They reached the house but she stopped to listen as voices wafted through the door. What she heard was the end of a story that she found very confusing. She stood there for many minutes as Luna watched her impatiently. Eventually the story came to an end.

“After we broke out of Normandy we took Paris then most of France. Now we are nearing the borders of Germany,” an authoritative voice could be heard saying, “We were heading towards a small French town when we ran into the remnants of an already battered tiger division. We wiped the whole group out except for one tank that hid in the town, picking our tanks off one by one.”

Another voice, thick with a strange accent, cut in. “Und ve took our revenge for the eradication of our division.”

“But before we could bring up more tanks to flank them our tanks burst into purple flame and ended up here.”

There was silence and Celesta waited a few more seconds to see if the dialogue continued. The voice of her faithful student was the first to speak.

“Your world sounds so,” she paused, “Violent and unforgiving.”

“That it is.”

Celestia decided that it was the best time to enter the room, much to the joy of her eager sister.

“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed happily as the royal sisters entered.

The ponies leaped to their hooves and bowed to her. The humans just stared at the Princesses wide eyed and confused.

“Hello Twilight,” Celestia smiled. “I came as soon as I could.”

Matt looked questioningly at Zeus who shrugged in return. Celestia noticed the confusion in their eyes.

“Hello humans,” she said pleasantly. “I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna. My student sent me a letter explaining what you are, some of your names and that you are confused as to why you are here.”

The humans remained quiet for a moment, then Patton stepped forward. Much to the unease of the two guards that followed the Princesses into the house.

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” he said bowing politely to the sisters.

“You must be General Patton.” She was surprised by the human’s respectfulness.

“Yes I am and it is a pleasure to meet you!” He beamed. Turning to the crew of the Sherman he said, “Men, Introduce yourselves.”

After a quick introduction of each American, with Bill being less than cooperative, Celestia turned her attention to the Germans glaring at her from across the room.

“What might your names be?”

Frederic stepped forward.

“Pony princess,” he said emotionlessly. “Ve vill not tell you our names. Ve have not told ze Americans a thing about us and ve vill not tell you. Even if you torture it out of us.”

“Damn Germans,” Patton groaned quietly.

One of the guards mumbled something under his breath as Frederic continued.

“It appears that you know something about how ve got here. I demand that you tell us, now.”

“How dare you-” one of the guards growled, but he was cut short by a sharp glance from Celestia.

“I will tell you how you all got here If you tell me your names.” Celestia smiled pleasantly but Frederic could see the warning in her eyes.

The German commander chewed the inside of his lip for a moment.

“Very vell,” he said grudgingly. “My name is Frederic, this here is Felix, Benjamin, Udo and Martin. Now tell us vat you know!”

Celestia smiled again. “The reason you are here is because I brought you here.”

The humans and ponies stared at the Princess as her words sank in. There were a few angry murmurs from the Germans as Frederic relayed the information but the crew of the Black Wolf remained primarily silent. Bill’s anger that had been gradually increasing over the past few days finally spilled over.

“You fucking bitch!” He stomped towards Celestia, lifting one of his fist up threateningly. “How dare you take us from our lives and drag us here to this pathetic land full of magic and bull shit! If I had my gun right now-”

One of the royal guard’s horn glowed a dull purple and Bill was lifted into the air and magically pinned against the wall.

“Watch yourself ape!” The guard warned.

“Don't call me an ape you stinking, dirty pony! Or I will kill you first!”

“Calm the fuck down Bill!” Ian screamed.

“Soldier,” Patton growled. “If you don’t stand down this instant I will personally shoot you.”

“Please shoot him,” Frederic sighed.

“I understand why you are angry,” Celestia tried to comfort him. “But we need your help.”

“We do?” Twilight had been watching the proceedings with a look of fear. “What’s happening?”

“Fuck you all!” Bill hollered to no one in particular.

“Don’t make me knock you unconscious,” the unicorn guard hissed.

“Allow me,” Patton smiled. The General walked over to the immobilized man and looked him in the eyes. “I promised that I would stop slapping people but you need it. I am pissed about this too but the least you can do is stay calm! One last chance to cool yourself.”

“Fuck you too old man,” Bill growled.

Patton slammed his fist hard against the side of Bill’s head and the driver slumped to the floor. He felt guilty for hitting the man but in truth he didn't trust the effects magic could have on the human brain. Punching just felt more healthy, for soe strange reason. The event had interrupted the conversation Celestia and Twilight were about to have and they stared at the General shocked. Frederic broke the silence first.

“General Patton, I like you,” he said with a crooked smile.

Patton huffed angrily and turned to the Princess.

“Carry on with what you were going to say ma’am.” he said sharply. The pleasantness in his voice nearly gone.

Celestia shook her head and smiled to herself. This human was perfect, exactly what Equestria needed.

“The reason I brought you here, away from your world-”

“Wait,” Matt raised his hand like a child in a classroom. “We aren't on our world anymore?”

“Shut up Shelly,” Zeus hissed.

“No,” Celestia continued. “You are not in your world or even in your universe. As I was saying-”

“So if we aren't in our universe,” Matt cut in again. “Then how did you get us from there to here?”

“Private Matthew Novak,” Patton growled. “If you speak again you will be joining Bill on the floor.”

“I want to punch him,” Zeus said.

“Sorry sir,” Matt said quietly.

Celestia sighed. “I will explain how I brought you here later. The reason you are here and why we need your help is because an event that has not threatened our nation in more than a thousand years is about to happen yet again.”

She looked around at their faces, lingering on her little ponies. Such innocent and joyful subjects, living their lives mostly in comfort and safety. They knew very little about what she was going to say and for that, she was thankful. The humans were a different matter.

“War is coming to Equestria,” she said heavily. As if the words were made of lead. “And I fear that without your help humans, Equestria will be destroyed and enslaved.”

__________________________________________________________
Enter stage right... the plot.
I have a stronger idea now to how I am going to proceed with this story and I think it is going to be epic.
Leave a comment and a thumb, if you want to.
I do not own MLP:FiM. People with more money do.