December 1944

The Eastern Front, near East Prussia.

There were two men clad in heavy winter gear and one of them was standing erect while the other was kneeling by a rock. Both of them were wearing Red Army uniforms which instead of their original kaki color were now white with the light snowfall. However it seemed the two men were completely unphased by the cold due to their lack of shivering or complaining, despite the somewhat windy and frosty conditions. Both faces of the men showed beginning signs of frostbite, with the redness accumlating from the cold weather and the frosty joints of their hands yet both men showed no sign of fatigue from the cold. In fact, both men showed determination, unfaltered by the wind or snow and spoke as if there was no cold winds blowing in their faces.

"How long have we been on frontlines? Long time eh?" asked the standing soldier.

The kneeling soldier nodded his head, replying with no shivering.

"For 3 years ever since Hitler attacked us. We've been out here by ourselves for long time."

"Da comrade. But now our people are back once again. We are not alone. We have purpose again besides surviving behind enemy lines."

The standing soldier pulled out some papers out of his bag, read the papers and spoke outloud again.

"Take objective Rasna. It is a German outpost located near your vicinity. There have been reports of sniper fire."

"Pretty specific eh?"

Both soldiers laughed at the kneeling soldier's remark. However after their short laughter together, the standing soldier spoke again.

"Do you see them? Over there, over by rocks. Look at them. Playing poker yet anticipating anything. But look comrade, take second look. Now do you see it? Do you see reason why they are so anxious? They are kids comrade. Kids. Huh. Can't believe it eh? Der Führer is losing this war. Only way he can win in his own opinion- use all men, even little boys! It saddens me comrade but war is war- we must do what we must to survive. After all, it is just the two of us out here. 'Reinforcements won't come until later today' says the paper" said the standing soldier, wisps of mist flying around with each pause as he pointed to distant figures.

The soldier who just spoke looked over his shoulder to the younger and kneeling Private right next to him and shrugged.

"Cold eh Dmitri?" the standing soldier asked the Private while he put up his papers in his bag, changing the subject at hand.

"Da. Reminds me of home. But I'm not complaining" replied the private with a frosty breath.

The standing soldier chuckled a little at Dmitri and raised an eyebrow covered in ice.

"Is that so?" the standing soldier asked sarcastically.

"Da Sasha. You should know this to be true bastard!"

Sasha and Dmitri both laughed, their breaths both combining into a small cloud of mist.

"Oh comrade it has been long time since last laugh. Heh. It's good to laugh again, especially in times of war." Sasha said.

Dmitri nodded his head and looked over and up to Sasha, who was still staring at the Germans in the distance. He kept looking at Sasha, noticing how weathered his face was and the streaks of grey running through his hair on the sides of his ushanka. Dmitri knew that Sasha was older than him and of higher rank but didn't actually know his age.

"Hey Sasha" Dmitri began.

"Da?" Sasha replied.

"How old are you comrade?"

Sasha smiled without looking at Dmitri and rested his hands on his hips.

"Old enough to have served in both World Wars." he said proudly.

"Wow. That is long time comrade."

"Da Dmitri. Da, it is. I've seen plenty Dmitri but what I've never seen is so much hatred until I first came across Nazi in Stalingrad.."

Sasha paused for a second and looked at the ground in thought then resumed his staring of the Germans as he continued what he was saying.

"...It amazes me comrade how much Nazi and Hitler hate the Jews. Personally I don't like them either. But I do not kill without reason. The Nazi's are murderers- killers without reason besides what their Führer tells them what to do. That, comrade, is a hard concept to fight. How do you fight ideology? You don't. You can only fight those who practice it and if that involves children, then so be it like what happened in Stalingrad. Oh Stalingrad...how we almost lost it. Never again Dmitri. Never again. That is why we must make them pay Dmitri. For what they did to our women, our children, our people. The price? Their blood and their capital, Berlin." Sasha gloomily finished, the light snow starting to build up on his shoulders and the top of his ushanka.

Sasha exhaled and looked over to Dmitri, who looked back at him.

"Well you know what time it is comrade."

Dmitri nodded and drew his rifle, aiming in the direction of the distant Germans.

"Remember Dmitri. Make them pay." Sasha gruffed, handing Dmitri a couple of grenades and some ammunition.

Sasha grimmaced at Dmitri, gave him a slight nod and drew his Ppsh-41. He then turned around and headed down the slightly steep hill they were on slowly and carefully. Dmitri watched Sasha carefully walk down the hill and made sure he was covered. However as Dmitri was watching Sasha, a flash of white grabbed his attention as it shined in his eyes.

"Sniper....but where?" Dmitri softly said to himself.

He scanned the immediate area and could only see Sasha's now small figure and the Germans. Dmitri knew he had to kill the sniper otherwise the sniper would alert the other Germans of Sasha's presence. But if he did choose to do so, the Germans would still know of their presence. Slowly but surely Dmitri was running out of time and his decision had to be made fast, for his and Sasha's sake.

CRAAACCKKK!
CRAAACCKKK!
CRAAACCKKK!

The loud gunshot of Dmitri's rifle echoed around in the immediate area, causing the Germans at the makeshift outpost to postpone their game of poker. Dmitri had done it; he doomed the both of them.

"Get up and move! Move dammit!" a German officer yelled at the lazy soldiers in the distance.

Dmitri watched as the Germans scrambled to respond, even a couple of them tripping over one another. Dmitri almost laughed at the silly sight occurring but knew he could not do such thing, especially when his comrade's life was directly on the line.

"Come on Sasha, you can do this!"

Sasha was already down on the ground for cover, looking over to Dmitri and signaling at him.

"I'm okay. Cover me. I'm going." Sasha signaled.

Dmitri responded and signaled that he was going to go down there.

"NIET! Stay put." Sasha signaled back.

Dmitri, now frustrated at Sasha's order, exhaled and nodded, signaling that he understood. Sasha nodded his head and continued his advance on the Germans but not before he signaled one more thing.

"For Mother Russia!" he signaled, hitting his fist on his chest and smiling at Dmitri.

"You're one crazy bastard Sasha. One crazy bastard." Dmitri said to himself, chuckling and smiling back.
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For a long time the Bear did not tell me what happened at that exact moment. He sheltered what had happened and always stopped talking whenever it was mentioned. There was even one time where he did not talk for 8 days. 8 days! I imagine that would be too difficult for you fillies to do. *laughter from the trio*. However, with time, he finally told me what had happened that fateful day.
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"Heh Sasha, oh Sa-"

"Right over there! Right there! There he is! Kill him!" shouted a German soldier.

Dmitri's face became wrought with horror as he saw the Germans scrambling over to Sasha's location and immediately causing him to react recklessly.

CRAACCCKKK!

A German soldier that was running slowed down, his knees buckling under him as his mouth became filled with his own blood and as a result, fell to the ground harshly.

"Sasha! SASHA!" Dmitri howled over the wind, running down the hill after him.

Sasha reacted to the Germans quickly, firing at them with courage and attempting to stand his ground. Sasha quickly mowed down any single German within 20 feet of him but eventually the Germans started overwhelming him with a superior deadly swarm of bullets, causing the snow beneath Sasha's feet to become as red as the Soviet flag. Despite being shot and injured horribly, Sasha continued to fight back, yelling with his dying screams that Mother Russia will live. Dmitri, witnessing Sasha's death and screaming with all of his might, bolted directly towards the Germans, not at all caring about his life but that of his fallen comrade.

"You BASTARDS!!! YOU'LL PAYY! ALL OF YOU!" Dmitri yelled, tears forming in his eyes and his anger fomenting.

The Germans looked over to the screaming Soviet sprinting at them and were both amazed and terrified at the same time from his courage.

"DIEE! DIIIIEEE!"

Dmitri reached Sasha's body and picked up his weapon, somehow dodging bullets and reaching the Germans that were standing in the outpost. He punched the first one whom he saw, pulled out that soldier's knife from that soldier's belt and stabbed him in his gut, all while the other Germans were shooting at Dmitri. Dmitri then ran to the next soldier, striking him in the gut with a bayonet on his rifle with a powerful charge, thrusting the man to the ground and slamming his boot down on the soldier's throat, causing it to rupture with immense bleeding.

"RRRAAAAAWWWWHHH!" Dmitri bellowed, his thundering and mighty war cry shaking the very snow the soldiers were standing on.

The few remaining Germans looked at Dmitri with such fear that they could do nothing but utter one thing.

"The Bear that Survived" they all said with their dying breaths as Dmitri killed them all with Sasha's PPsh-41, firing at their dead bodies even after they were dead until the weapon ran out of ammo.

"Die you bastard...die..." Dmitri said to himself quietly, the empty clicking noise repeating in his ears until he dropped the gun and walked over to Sasha.

Tears started falling down Dmitri's face, landing in the snow surrounding his fallen comrade and causing Dmitri's nose to become congested as he started sniffling. Sasha's body layed in the snow in front of him, his blood in the snow still fresh and his body still warm. Dmitri dropped to his knees slowly and kneeled in front of Sasha's body, grabbing Sasha's right hand and raising it up to his chest.

"You were like second father to me Sasha. If I have kid, I will name him after you. No one will forget your name, I promise. You will be remembered my friend, my comrade. Rest in peace comrade, rest in peace."

Dmitri then softly lowered Sasha's hand back down and passed his hand over Sasha's eyes, closing them in a sign of respect. He then reached into his bag and pulled out his towel. This towel wasn't any normal towel; it was one Dmitri's mother made for him when he was a child. It was a beautiful towel and had the colors of the Mexican flag on it, as well as traditional illustrations of skulls from the Day of the Dead.

"Here comrade. My mother made it for me when I was very young. May you use it wherever you are now comrade."

Dmitri then rested the towel over Sasha's head, the Mexican eagle safeguarding Sasha's body as Dmitri chanted a saying in Spanish commemorating the memory and legacy of his fallen comrade. Dmitri gave one more respectful nod to Sasha then got up, retrieving Sasha's orders and putting Sasha's gun on the snow next to him with his helmet on top of it as well.

"Goodbye my friend." Dmitri said to Sasha, turning around and walking away, towards the next objective.

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The Bear that Survived was perhaps the strongest man that ever lived. When I first met him I was astonished at how peaceful and sound he was. I didn't know he was the kind of man that I just described- how could I? Those are things that only experienced and wise ponies could tell and when I first met the Bear, I was just a young mare who wasn't either experienced or wise. What I just told y'all was only the beginning of how he became the Bear on Earth. But what's dinner if dessert has been eaten first? I suppose we should save the best for last, right? *There are murmurs of agreement* Oh alrighty then I should tell y'all about the day I met the Bear. It was quite some time ago, way before any of you young ones were around. Oh golly, that was so long ago. It all started when I met this young famous adventurous mare named Daring Do...