"Oh man this is awesome! Awesome! Awesome awesome awesome awesomeeeee! Are we gonna be like a group now? We're soo amazing together!" Daring Doo exclaimed happily.

"Comrade you are most funny. Unfortunately my stay here is short. I still have mission to carry out and mission does not include you comrades. No fear though, we can still all be comrades. So Annie, where is place I can stay? Killing dragon made me hungry and tired again."

"Well my pa's house ain't far from here Dee-mee-tree. It's right down this field, in the direction of the dragon's head."

Sure enough, there was a little wooden house in that direction. The house itself was not very large but one could tell it was built with much care, despite its homemade look. The trio walked and trotted over to the house and talked with one another, learning more about each other and bonding a little bit more. It did not take long for the trio to get over to the house and when the trio did, they all sat down by the door outside and waited for somepony to answer the door as Annie knocked on the door.

"Look comrades how beautiful this place is. Reminds me of home..before the war. Oh the war...how I remember it so.."

Dmitri looked down at the ground in solemness, setting his bag on the floor and cleaning his rifle, which to the other two just resembled an oddly-shaped stick. He then looked up to the other two in front of him, whom were lying in the green grass and looking at him.

"The wind..it's like the wind back home..Sasha would like it here...he always told me one day he would visit a beautiful farm after war was over. I don't know why. Sasha..heh..Sasha always said silly thing like that, all the time! Such a clown, heh! If only you were here comrade, if only you were here.." he finished, looking over to his side to the distant rolling hills.

Dmitri smiled at his finishing words and closed his eyes, exhaling at the same time with relief that his comrade would be remembered.

"Was Sasha a friend of yours Dmitri?" asked Daring Doo, carefully making sure she didn't come across as arrogant when doing so.

"Da. You could say that. He was good man but the war changed him, as it did everyone else. The Sasha I remember was a nice man, who would do anything for his kids. The Nazi's took his kids and Sasha was never the same again. He did things that no human should ever do. That is what war does comrades, it changes you. I just hope war doesn't come here. It would be shame to see Ponyville become nothing but ash and rubble."

Daring Doo and Annie looked at Dmitri with sympathy, even though the two of them haven't experienced anything close to war. Despite this, they tried to make Dmitri feel better. Daring Doo even went as far as hugging Dmitri and telling him "thanks buddy".

"So kind heh heh." Dmitri said with that deep, familiar hearty laugh of his while hugging her back.
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Daring Doo noticed right away that Dmitri's hug was rather strong but not overwhelming. In fact, it reminded her of hugs that her grandfather used to give. The funny part in all of this was her grandfather and Dmitri even shared the same weird smell of trees combined with alcohol. Daring Doo smiled at the coincidence; "maybe humans aren't so different after all" she thought to herself. She smiled at Dmitri and he smiled back at her and for a second, there seemed to be unfiltered trust and possibly something else between the two. But as quick as it appeared, it returned to a look of friendship and the two stopped hugging one another.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Annie smiled as well, for the both of them were able to raise Dmitri's feelings up. She then proceeded to knock on the door of her Papa's house once more, hoping he or at least her Grandmama would answer.

"Whose knockin' on the door all mad like?" gruffed a voice from behind the front door.

Annie recognized the voice as her Papa and answered right away.

"Me Papa. It's Annie. We've got guests Papa!"

"Guests? Well then, let 'em come on in! What are you waiting Annie?" Papa Acorn said, muffled by the small wooden front door of the house.

"Well I guess Papa says it's okay. Let's go inside possy!" Annie said eagerly.

Dmitri gathered his things and so did Daring Doo but not without asking Annie a question first.

"Possy? What's that?" Daring Doo asked, clearly confused and raising one eyebrow.

Annie was slightly shocked and looked at Daring Doo then to Dmitri for assistance to describe the word but Dmitri was just as confused, if not more so than Daring Doo.

"Possy? What is that comrade?" Dmitri asked, one eyebrow raised in a similar fashion as Daring Doo and repeating Daring Doo's question.

"Well umm..how do I explain it to y'all...It's...uhmm...a group. Kinda like a group, like a gang of friends. And well that's what I think we are at least." she said, smiling at the other two who both then nodded with acknowledgement.

Daring Doo started grinning rather excitedly and her ears reflected that excitement by standing at attention.

"A POSSY!? A GROUP!?? OOOHHH CELESTIA, THIS SOUNDS..."

"Awesome?" Dmitri guessed, finishing Daring Doo's sentence.

Daring Doo swung her head around to Dmitri and nodded excitedly, almost jumping in place.

"EXACTLY DMITRI!!"

"You are silly Daring heh." Dmitri chuckling, causing Daring Doo to chuckle as well.

Daring Doo and Dmitri finished chuckling and got up from sitting. The duo then followed Annie and entered her Papa's house and were met with the smell of apples and a feeling of hospitality.

"Howdy folks, welcome to Apple Farm, named after my little sugar cube, Annie!" gruffed a deep voice that was as smooth as silk but as strong as iron.

Dmitri and Daring Doo looked over to where the voice was coming from and saw it belonged to a middle aged stallion who was smiling at them. His face was quite weathered but his eyes still retained the vibrancy of his youth days, being the same color as an acorn. He was dressed in a ordinary settler outfit and his mane matched his dirty and plain outfit-dusty brown.

"Thanks for the welcome sir! This here is Dmitri. He's a human." Daring Doo said in a ascending tone like a child.

Papa Acorn gave a slight nod to Dmitri and spoke.

"It is a mighty pleasure to meet a human. I hope you enjoy what we got to offer here at Ponyville. My daughter makes some mean zap applesauce, don't you Annie? Maybe we ought to try some!"

Papa Acorn looked over to his daughter, who slightly blushed from her abashment. Annie folded one hoof over the other as she looked down at the floor shyly.

"I suppose so. It's alright . Some of the city folk like it but..well..I guess y'all will like it too." she said with such nervousness.

Papa Acorn was about to comfort his daughter but the room started filling up with beeping sounds, interrupting his thoughts.

"What in tardation is that?" Papa Acorn thought to himself.

He noticed he wasn't he only one wondering that; the trio standing before him noticed it too and all of them looked around for the sound, hoping they would find the source. Annie temporarily forgot about her embarrassment and started trotting around the house, even going as far as the bedrooms in the far backside of the house. However, she started realizing the beeping sound was not all around the house but rather in the room they were in. She headed back to the room, searched for the source of the sound and found it. The sound was coming from Dmitri and from the looks of it, he was completely unaware he was responsible for it.

"Uhm, Dee-mee-tree...the sound's comin' from ya'." Annie told him.

Dmitri looked at Annie in question but looked on his person and found the source. It was the Eye of Maxon that was beeping and it caused both Dmitri and Daring Doo to gain faces of worry.

"Oh niet...this is not good. They know I'm here..they know I'm here.." Dmitri started mumbling, looking at the device in his hands with disbelief.

"Who Dmitri, who is coming?" Daring Doo asked pleadingly.

"The one who comes for as all comrade. Death."

All the ponies gasped in shock at what Dmitri said.

"We must...we must get ready! The Germans will be here soon!"

Dmitri swung open the door and ran outside, his boots crunching on the fresh summer grass. He looked towards the sky and just as he expected, the dramatic shift of the sky started occurring. The sun was obscured as ominous grey clouds materialized out of nowhere, feeding off of the sun's warm light and leaving none for the fields below. Flashes of light rippled throughout the clouds, accompanied with thunderous roars so deafening, Dmitri had to cover his ears with his hands. Then, as soon as it had appeared, the storm dissipated, allowing the sun to take over the day again. But, the storm did not leave without dropping something off first in the field with Dmitri. That "something" was the largest tank division Dmitri has ever seen in his life, and the shiny metal from the dozens upon dozens of tanks blinded him with such brightness.

"Oh BILEETT!!!" Dmitri screamed at the top of his lungs, rushing on over back to Papa Acorn's house.

The others heard his scream and opened the door, only to see a sprinting Dmitri in the distance bolting for the door.

"Comrades! Comrades! They are here! We must hurry!" Dmitri yelled across the field to the others, waving his hands in the air wildly.

He continued to run as fast as he could, his heart beating fast and his breaths quick. He could only think about what he was going to say to the others' the real truth as to why he was in Equestria in the fist place. He had hoped he was wrong and since he had thought he was so he was going to leave after a night's rest back to Earth. But the Germans showed up much earlier than he expected, causing him to wonder the reason why. He pushed the questions in his mind aside because he knew the others had questions of their own as he finally reached the house.

"You okay there Sonny? Why, you're as pale as a ghost!" Papa Acorn exclaimed, helping the tired Dmitri inside and setting him on the couch.

Dmitri was still gathering his breath as he started talking, letting the other three know why he was shouting earlier.

"Comrades..there are..troops outside..they are not...friendly..and they are here to find me.." he exasperated

"Why do they want to find you?" Annie asked innocently.

"To kill..me.." He said, still catching his breath.

The others looked at him with shock at the weight of his words.

"But...that's not it. The Germans..the Germans..have plans to steal Equestria's magic power..they think..it will help win war..against my people..but they are insane! Lunatics! The Nazi..are not to be trusted! They will experiment..on all of you and when..they find out how to tap..into power..then they will kill you all...there is no point in reasoning..with them..they are not human..devoid of emotion...except hatred..of anyone and anything that is not them.." Dmitri finished, still huffing from exhaustion.

Papa Acorn trotted forward in front of Dmitri and grimaced solemnly, speaking with such tranquility.

"There has to be a way Dmitri. Maybe I can talk to them. I'm sure war is somethin' they don't want."

"You don't understand! None of you do! War, war is all they have left! They have lost families, they have lost their home Germany, they have lost everything comrades, except themselves. War is only shelter for Nazi now. Their leader, Der Führer, is a mad men who wants to see worlds burn and both of our worlds are in his sights."

"But we can make a deal with 'em. I can do this Dmitri, how do you think this humble town was founded? I had to unite ponies who thought they were different than us but I did it without conflict. I'll speak on Equestria's behalf and I'll talk of peace with 'em. You have shown us humans can be good. They are humans too Dmitri."

"But Pa! What about the Princesses??" Annie asked.

"Sometimes peace has to be made by those who know what struggle is, who knows what if feels to have nothing. These folks aren't much different then us. You remember what it was to always move around with no sense of home, don't you little Annie? I..I don't want anypony else to feel that feeling ever again." Papa Acorn said, his voice now slightly trembling as he looked at his daughter.

He then continued talking, resuming his earlier state of tranquility and looked over to Dmitri and back to his daughter.

"This is why I think I should speak to them instead of the Princesses." he finished.

"Niet, I can't let you do that." Dmitri interrupted, shaking his head at Papa Acorn.

"I know I can do this Dmitri. I appreciate your concern but if conflict can be avoided, it should."

Dmitri stood up and drew his pistol, aiming it at Papa Acorn much to Annie's and Daring Doo's surprise.

"You don't understand comrade. They will kill you. I can't let you go outside. I can't let you die for this war."

Papa Acorn stared at the pistol's barrel and back to Dmitri. He then trotted by Dmitri and opened the door as Dmitri lowered his weapon. Dmitri silently cursed to himself, kicking the side of the wall in frustration as he holstered his weapon.

"Comrades, this is not going to end well no matter what happens. I need your help Daring Doo."

Both Daring Doo and Annie were still flabbergasted by Dmitri drawing his weapon earlier but finally understood why he did so as he led them outside and showed them the Germans in the distance.

"Oh rattlesnakes, that's a lot of them." Daring Doo said while gulping.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Papa Acorn looked to the sky, admiring its beauty and ignoring the shining sun stinging his eyes. He looked back down to the ground, slightly startled by the immense size of the troops gathered before him but continued to trot towards them. As he got closer, he could hear them shouting to one another in a language that sounded like his own but wasn't quite like his. However, he did recognize one word and that word was shouted towards him.

"Stop!" shouted a gruff voice.

As if to emphasize the stopping action, all of the troops with their metal beasts trotted forwards, the horrendous clinking noise of the metal gears of the beasts' metallic hooves thundering in his ears. Papa Acorn did stop, attempting to show the troops that he meant no harm. The troops stared at him with such lifelessness he had never experienced before in another living being yet he decided to speak to them while forcing a friendly smile.

"Hello! I'm Papa Acorn. On behalf of Equ-"

But before Papa Acorn could finish, he was interrupted by the voice of one of the troops.

"English huh? How interesting.." said the voice with such a strange accent, differing greatly from Dmitri's.

Papa Acorn searched for the source and realized it came from up-top a metal beast. However this trooper was different in appearance then those around him; he wore a dignified uniform made of exquisite threading and bore a hat with a visor as black as the night sky. Papa Acorn also noticed the trooper had beautiful patches upon his shoulders, perhaps signifying his higher rank among his fellow soldiers and also noticed a symbol on the front of the helmet of what appeared to be death. The man up-top the metal beast smiled at Papa Acorn, looking down at the rather smaller Papa Acorn as he dismounted from his metal beast. Papa Acorn was slightly hesitant at the man in front of him who approached him in a predatory manner but stood his ground. The man, walking with his hand behind his back, stopped short of 3 ft from Papa Acorn and planted his feet firmly on the ground. He smiled once more, cleared his throat and spoke again with eyes and voice both full of such coldness.

"Tell me where the Soviet is and we shall not kill you or your family." he demanded in a most polite way.

Papa Acorn knew if he told the truth, his guest would die. As much as Papa Acorn wanted to make sure his family would be safe, he could not compel himself to sacrifice a life to save his own. And so Papa Acorn decided to lie because Dmitri's life was worth as much as the life of one of his own.

"I don't know what you mean mister. I'd hate to ask but what's a Soviet?" Papa Acorn said, half-telling the truth.

The false smile and kindness washed away in the man's face as anger and frustration took over.

"Where is the Soviet!?" the man asked again, almost screaming this time and grinding his teeth.

"I don't know mister I-"

"You are lying! You know where the Soviet scum is! You're probably sheltering him, aren't you? Oh I can see the look of fear in your eyes, like a Jewish rat before extermination! Well if you won't tell me, I have no use for you!!" the man yelled at Papa Acorn, causing him to tremble a little.

Papa Acorn gulped but remained silent, still in belief that he could reason with this man. The man crushed his beliefs by drawing his weapon and aiming it right at Papa Acorn's head.

"Maple, I'll be there soon." Papa Acorn silently whispered to himself, looking up to the sun & sky.

Papa Acorn closed his eyes and thought of his daughter, wishing he could say good bye in his last moments. He gulped and waited for the man to shoot him, becoming ready for his time.

"Comrade run! Run!" yelled Dmitri in the distance, interrupting his thinking and shocking him.

Papa Acorn immediately opened his eyes and wished he hadn't right away.

CRACK!

Blood splattered everywhere as the man's head exploded fatally, causing his body to buckle over and fall down to the ground. Papa Acorn's face and eyes became soaked in blood and he hyperventilated at the traumatic experience that had just occurred. He looked up to the soldiers that were left, whom looked back at him defiantly, causing him to gallop away as fast as he could.

"Kill him! Kill that bastard!" yelled a soldier out loud.

Papa Acorn galloped as fast as he could despite his eyes an face heavily stained with blood.

BOOM!
TATATATATATATA!!

"Oh golly! OH GOLLY!" Papa Acorn screamed as explosions erupted all around him, kicking up dirt into the air.

He kept galloping and galloping, hoping he would make it to his house in time to warn his daughter and Daring Doo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"HEY! GERMAN SUKA'S! OVER HERE!" Dmitri hollered at the top of his lungs towards the Germans.

He slinged the still-hot rifle over his shoulder and started sprinting towards the tank division in front of him with complete and total focus. He took out his device from his right side and turned on the oddly diamond shaped device, flipping a couple of switches until he heard a beep. Once he did, he drew out his pistol in his free hand and swinged his arms back and forth as he continued to sprint towards the tank division. However in his extreme focus, he failed to notice a flying Daring Doo right next to him.

"Hey Dmitri!" Daring Doo yelled over to him.

Dmitri looked to his left and was baffled not only at the fact that Daring Doo could actually fly but was right next to him so quickly.

"Daring Doo! What are you doing?"

"What I do best! Defeating all odds!"

She grinned at her answer and took off, flying rapidly towards the Germans.

"Over here! Over here!" Daring Doo yelled out to the Germans, teasing them in a childish way.

The Germans retaliated, firing towards her direction but failing to hit the elusive Daring Doo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Papa Acorn looked back over his shoulder and saw Daring Doo flying by the soldiers. She succeeded in drawing their attention from him just enough for him to change course from fleeing to going back towards his house. On his way over, he saw Dmitri running in the field with his weapon and device in hand and realize what Dmitri and Daring Doo were doing; she was distracting them long enough for him to do something. Papa Acorn grimaced wishing he could help but knew he wouldn't be much help and decided to enter the house. He found his daughter right away, watching everything from the window with such curiosity. She turned around and smiled at her pa with tears rushing down her face, hugging him right away.

"Oh Papa..I thought you died!" She sobbed into his loving embrace.

Papa Acorn kissed her on the head and softly ran his hoof over her mane.

"It's gonna be a-okay little Annie, it's going to be a-okay." he told her, comforting her in the best way he could.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Haha can't get me! Can't get me!" Daring Doo continued teasing the Germans, nearly gaining the entire attention of the tank division.

However there were a couple of soldiers on top on a tank whom did not pay attention to Daring Doo due to the sprinting Soviet soldier heading towards them.

"Over there, there is-ugh!"

The soldier failed to finish his sentence as Dmitri fired his pistol several times, killing both men by hitting their chests and heads. Dmitri slowed down to a stop by the tank and took a look around, watching to see if any other tank crews had spotted him killing their comrades. However, the rest of the tank division did not realize he had done so, thanks to the immense gunfire covering the dead soldiers' screaming and Dmitri's gunshots.

"Stupid Nazi" Dmitri mocked to himself, jumping on top of the tank.

He then headed over to the main hatch on top of the tank, pried the hatch open and shot the startled tank driver that was inside the tank a couple of times until the tank driver finally stop squirming. He proceeded to jump down from the open hatch into the tank, closed the hatch above him and shoved the tank driver's body aside so he could man the seat.

"It has been long time since I have driven Panzer. Well, sober anyway" Dmitri slightly joked to himself.

He looked around inside the tank for the ignition, found it and turned on the tank. The tank roared to life, lurching forward as Dmitri manipulated the controls of the tank to head towards the center of the tank division. He found it to be quite difficult to navigate the tank around until he cleaned the blood from the tank's optic visor, enabling him to cleanly cut his way through the division. Pretty soon, Dmitri started hearing radio chatter from inside the tank yelling and cursing at him in German to stay in formation. Dmitri found the radio receiver and brought it to his mouth, transmitting a message to the rest of the Germans.

"It's okay, I'm just getting a better shot. Don't worry comrades" he said to them over the radio chatter in Russian.

Silence took over the radio chatter as the Germans realized who had said that. He then heard shouts and yells from the radio, ordering the others to fire upon Dmitri's hijacked Panzer. But the Germans were too late; Dmitri had already fired way before they could.

"Dasvidaniya." he said over the radio to the horrified Germans.

Dmitri slammed a button on the Eye of Maxon, causing it to tremble and malfunction as it spat out colors, emanating from it in rings of rainbows.

"Here I come Sasha." Dmitri said to himself as he watched the rainbow rings spread from the Eye of Maxon to his wrist, elbow and eventually his entire arm and body before he passed out.

The rings of rainbow continued spreading from Dmitri, encasing the inside of the tank in rainbow and eventually permeated through the hijacked Panzer, spreading towards all of the tanks around him. Daring Doo looked won at the Germans, wondering why they had stopped firing and quickly realized why. She watched in both fear and amazement as the beautiful rings rippled out from the center of a sea of grey. She saw dozens upon dozens of Germans abandoning their vehicles and running away from in fear, as the rainbow rings seeped into every and anything in its path.

"Dmitri!" she said to herself, suddenly realizing the peril he was in and descended towards his location in response.

As she descended towards Dmitri, she did not notice that the rainbow rings had already touched her from when she was observing the phenomenon earlier and as a result, the rainbow rings were already slowly seeping through her skin and mane.

"Daring Doo! Daring Doo!!" yelled Annie's voice from down below.

Daring Doo looked over her shoulder and saw Annie pointing at her, which caused Daring Doo to take a quick look at herself. She saw both of her hoofs covered in rainbow and gasped in shock but shook off her fear, still set on saving Dmitri. She landed on top of the tank, found Dmitri passed out inside and attempted to drag him out of the tank. The pulses from the Eye of Maxon proved to be quite strong as each and every pulse pushed against her to the point where she fell off the tank.

"I can..do..this!" Daring Doo yelled with all of her might, drowned in the now louder sounds of the Eye of Maxon.

She gritted her teeth and used all of her might to pull one hoof in front of the other until she got on top of the tank again and finally reached Dmitri, grabbing him by her teeth and dragging him out of the tank.

ZOOT TANG PAWOH!

"What the-?" Daring Doo began, unable to finish her sentence.

An explosion so immense and powerful commenced, interrupting her sentence and engulfing Daring Doo, Dmitri and the entire tank division around them in a ball of rainbow. Then as suddenly as the explosion came, it dissipated, leaving only wisps of rainbow silently diffusing into the background of the field.

"Daring!? DMITRI!?? Where..where are y'all!??" Annie called out, rushing over to where Daring Doo and Dmitri were last at.

Papa Acorn followed his daughter out onto the field and noticed that not a single trace of them was left on the field.

"Papa, where did they go?" Annie asked her father, still looking around hoping to find the other two.

Papa Acorn looked at his daughter with solemness and shook his head, grimacing. Annie refused to accept what her father was hinting at and galloped away from the fields, trying to escape the truth she knew to be true.

"Annie come back!" Papa Acorn called out to her as he watched her gallop away.

However she continued to gallop away, not at all listening to her father.

"No they can't be gone! No! No! NO!!" She cried to herself, tears flying behind her.

She then found a tree to lay next to and stopped galloping, taking refuge in the tree's cool shade. She wiped her tears and inhaled, looking at the fields where her friends were just at moments ago. She then exhaled, trying to catch her breath. When she did, she spoke out loud, not at all worried of who could have heard her.

"I'll wait for you guys, I promise." she sniffled.
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"So Granny, did you wait? Did you wait??"

Applebloom smiled at her grandmother, curious to see what her answer would be. Granny Smith smiled at her granddaughter and her friends, a little surprised that she managed to make the connection.

"I did child. I waited days, months and years for them to come back. But it wasn't well into my later years that they finally did show up again. Oh I remember how young they both were. I had grown older with hairs of white while the two of them didn't age a single day from after that great battle. We then talked and talked with one another and I eventually learned what had happened to them after the explosion. But if y'all want to know, y'all gotta eat breakfast first! Come on children, I'ma whip up some breakfast right now! How do pancakes sound?"

"Awh okay Granny!" the trio all said collectively.

The trio then all squealed with excitement, chanting "Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!" over and over again as they followed Granny Smith into the kitchen.