- 12th December 1945 - Night
Night Glider is still cramped in the dark back of the truck full of other ponies, uncomfortably cramped in like sardines. Most of them are adults, but there are some fillies, taken in as captives, as if they were POWs when they are not. All of them have beat markings, they are starving, their ribs showing from underneath the skin. On top of that, they are dehydrated. Nopony knows where they are heading for. All they know is that they are no longer in Equestria, and they're somewhere in the Soviet Union.
Some ponies haven't survived the journey so far. Some have died a few days ago or just recently. Their decaying gangrene-infested bodies fills the back of the truck with horrid rotten stench. All of the ponies once lived happy lives, but have been stripped of that happiness, being left with nothing but misery. They only know about one thing, and that this will only get worse as time progresses.
Even being inside the truck and cramped amongst other pony's warmth, the biting-cold weather outside kept smacking everypony in the face. The cold felt desolate, desolate as the feeling of hopelessness. There is no hope, they've been stripped of having any rights.
Night Glider winces, turning her head and sees Double Diamond. He appears to be sleeping. She has him at least, right?
"Are you there..." Night Glider weakly nudges Double Diamond with her left forehoof. The pegasus gets no reply from the white earth pony.
"Hello... Are you- no, no..." Night Glider places that same hoof infront of Double Diamond's nose and doesn't feel any breathing.
Night Glider looks away and sighs, she couldn't even cry. So much happened that everything had just made her cry. Everything happening right now could be cried at, and nothing would change. She felt there was no point in crying. She's lost her closest friends. She can no longer feel her wings. The Soviets have taken everything away, what else can they take?
The truck comes to an instant, shuddering breaking stop, everypony jolting forward as it did. The engine is heard being switched off, as well as doors being opened. There's also some talking heard outside.
"Разгружайте по одному грузовику за раз. Взять взрослых, расстрелять детей," A voice spoke in a deep-sounding demanding tone. Those loud bangs sound very familiar, and everypony in the truck, gulps. Following next from outside is ponies screaming, crying and shouting, as well as frightening loud bangs. Some screaming are unintelligible, unable to be made sense of. But some of the desperate screams are, and they're horrifying.
POW! POW POW POW! POW POW! POW! POW!
"NO- STAY AWAY FROM MY CHILD-"
POW! POW POW!
"PLEASE- KILL ME INSTEAD! NOT MY DAUGHTER-"
POW POW! POW! POW POW!
"NO! DON'T HURT MY SON- LET GO OF ME!"
"MAMA HELP M-"
POW! POW POW! POW!
"AHHHH-"
POW! POW POW! POW POW!
"Сними следующую нагрузку!" The same foreign voice kept barking.
The screams and cries of ponies outeide began to quieten down, only because another sound kept getting louder.
POW! POW POW! POW POW! POW! POW POW POW POW! POW POW POW! POW!
Those loud banging noises began to die out. The terrible screams and hurting cries became quiet, petrified, weak whimpers.
The covers at the back of the truck began to be opened. The violent winter wind blows in, making everypony in the truck instantly shiver uncontrollably. That sudden plummet in temperature felt like being punched all over their bodies at once. Snowflakes drop from the sky, adding to the half-a-foot sheet of snow. The snow in Equestria felt cold, but it could be enjoyed, snowball fights galore. The snow that's in the place wherever they are right now, it burns touching the frigid-freezing white mushy sheets. There's also crimson red stains in them, meshed in with the snow.
There's 14 guards, 8 of them are white males and 6 are tanned Asian males. They are all wearing in completely grey military coat and completely black trousers. On their heads, they're wearing a hat made of brown fabric, which around the edges is covered with white wool. In the middle of the hat at the front was a red star outlined in gold, with a hammer and sickle in the middle in the same gold-colour. On their waists, they have a wooden-based rifle, strapped on with hard fabric that's a dark worn green colour. In their right hand, they're holding a black pistol. They began with their left hands, yanking the now weak ponies out of the truck by their manes. The ponies felt slightly better as they aren't cramped and are able to stand, stretching their legs.
There's a night-black barbed wire, attached to a stone pillar for every 5 metres, which stretches across beyond visual range. Near each pillar, there's wooden guard towers with a snow-covered roof. Occupying the guard towers are 2 more guards. At the entrance, there's a crooked rusty metal bar gate, which the ponies from the first truck are standing. Seeing through the barbed wires to the right, there's many run-down flimsy-looking wooden buildings. To the left there's leafless trees, which both human and pony imates are hacking at them with axes. Surrounding the whole sight are tall, leafless spruce tree forests.
"Oh my..." Night Glider shudders in horror at seeing what's happening to her left. There's a big puddle of crimson red, then a trail of dripped crimson red going off. Ahead at the end of the dripped crimson red trail is a pile of dead fillies and colts with red bullet holes in their foreheads, and their eyes are popped out. Next to the pile on the right, there's a big pool of ice-cold water.
There's also a group of 6 human inmates in thin clothing. They are grabbing a dead foal from the pile one at a time by their rear hooves and dipping them into the water. They pull the lifeless and now frozen corpses out of the icy water and chucking them on top of a mossy wooden wagon with 2 opaque wheels that are partially rotten. Supervising the group are 2 guards, pointing their wooden rifles at the inmates. The pile of unfrozen dead fillies and colts continues getting smaller, as the pile on the wagon gets bigger.
One of these guards walks over to the group of weeping, petrified ponies, while holding a black pistol in his right hand. He looks back at the pile, then looks back ahead with a spiteful smile. The ponies don't frown, they shudder at the soulless killings.
"You all had this coming, fascist vermins. You sided with Germany, and these are the consequences. We lost our children, so why do you deserve to keep your children, hmm? You're now nothing but mere recourses and materials to mother Russia," The guard spoke in English with a deep, broken accent. The ponies shudder as they could hear the cold-blooded hatred in the guard's voice.
"Please give mercy to us, we've done nothing ourselves!" A mare cried in fear. She is pale pistachio earth pony. They have a night blue mane and tail, which dangles down into turquoise curls. They also have turquoise coloured irises.
"Come here, I will show you mercy. You said please, so I will grant your request," The guard nodded, briefly glimpsing at his right hand. The mare fearfully and shakily steps over to the guard. The guard extends his right arm and aims at her forehead with the pistol in his right hand.
"You want mercy, right?" The guard asked again. The mare gulps and nods, then glares into the guard's eyes, lightly frowning.
"Anything that'll make you remember at least one victim's eyes staring into your soul..." The mare muttered, and begins to weep, because she knows what's going to happen next.
"Look into my eyes! These eyes are just one of many examples of innocent victims! How can you sleep at night after you kill somecreature innocent!?" The mare cried, keeping eye contact with the guard standing before her.
POW!
Showing no thought about those words, the guard pulls the trigger. The mare's eyes pop out of their sockets as a bullet punches a hole into the forehead and comes out the other end, bringing out splattered bits of brains and blood with it. The dead mare drops to the ground and lands on her side. The guard drops his right arm down. The guard smirked as he looks at the corpse, then looks back to the group of ponies.
"Anyone else want to be shown mercy?" The guard asked, glaring into the eyes of each pony.
Everypony looks through the barbed wires. They see exhausted inmates who are laying down on the snow beating kicked by guards and beaten by black metal truncheons. Seeing both options, almost everypony steps forward, a good 20 or so ponies, desperate to escape via any method.
"Whoever the first five drops to the ground quickest will be shown mercy," The guard muttered, shocked at how many ponies wanted his mercy. Those ponies drop to the ground almost immediately at the same time. The guard couldn't tell which 5 ponies dropped down the quickest.
POW! POW! POW! POW! POW!
So the guard shots 5 ponies at random in the head. Their heads drop and blood seeps out the bullet wounds in their foreheads, soaking and staining the pure winter snow with fresh, crimson red blood.
"Rest of you, get the fuck back up, you fucking cowards. You're just like the Germans, choosing death over being judged by noble judgement. You're all remnants of the Nazi way of thinking... you... Nazi sympathizers," The guard spoke, disgusted with the ponies as all he saw were just Nazi sympathizers.
The 15 ponies on the ground that survived struggle in getting back up, but slowly they do. They are shaking, their body temperature plummeting from laying in the snow. The guard then looks up, at the top of the guard tower on the left side of the gate into the camp.
"Дайте им пар!" The guard yelled to the 2 other guards on the tower.
One of the guards on that tower has hold of a hose pipe. The ponies notice there's also a pipe running down from the top.
"Добавление пара!" The guard holding the hose pipe yelled. Ice-freezing water spews out of the hose and rains down on the ponies. They shiver and try to get out of the way, but the guards on the ground pushes them back into the line of fire of the water hose.
Minutes of freezing torture passes. The guard holding the hose pipe turns it off. The ponies are intensely shivering, and their teeth are violently chattering. Their fur is frozen in place like ice.
The gate into the camp began to slowly open, creating scream-like creaking noises. Then 8 guards professionally march out of the entrance, march past the group of ponies until they are behind them. They unattach the wooden-based rifle from the fabric strap around them, then aims at the group of ponies.
The guards prod the ponies with the muzzles of their rifles. The ponies start trudging through the entrance, and into the camp they go. Then the guards outside starts closing the gate. As the ponies are being escorted like a herd of sheep, they hear more gunshots as well as screaming and crying.
POW! POW POW! POW! POW POW POW! POW! POW! POW POW...
Night Glider and the 15 other ponies didn't want to see what was going on back there. They knew that noise meant death.
"This isn't a war... this is a genocide..." Night Glider whimpered to herself, being careful to not be too loud so the guards don't hear.
The 8 guards take the group of 16 ponies to a small mossy wooden building. The entrance has no door, which is letting the freezing atmosphere blow into the building. It is dark inside, and has no windows. In the building, it's cramped with triple bunk beds. The beds aren't even beds, it's just a piece of thick, rectangular oak board attached to some logs. The logs have no ladder to get to the higher bunk beds. The beds have no sheets, no pillow, no blanket. Some of them are occupied by humans and ponies, some are even sharing bunk beds.
The 8 guards then marches off. The ponies head into the small wooden building they were guided to. They don't notice a change in temperature when they got in. They're still shivering and chattering.
"We have to *cough* stay warm *cough cough* somehow..." One of the ponies stated.
"We could snuggle up to one another *cough*. That's what the *cough* others must be doing," Night Glider suggested. Everypony likes that idea. They get onto spare bunk beds in a group of 4, using each other's warmth. They see all the bottom bunk beds are occupied and most of the middle bunks are too. There's only spaces left at the far end left corner and they head there. The ponies in better condition uses the middle bunk to climb up to the top bunk. The ponies that aren't doing too well get onto the middle bunks.
The 8 other ponies find the bunk beds next to the one the others got on have spaces left. The 4 better-able ponies climb to the bunks at the top. The 4 less-able ponies get on the middle bunk.
Night Glider sees a pony trying to get onto the middle bunk, but their rear legs are badly limping. They're a pink unicorn mare with poofy magenta coloured mane and tail. The irises of the mare are purple and their cutie mark is a cupcake. Her flank is also badly swollen.
"Sugar Belle- what happened?" Night Glider gasped, relieved to see the unicorn is at the very least, alive. Sugar Belle weakly turns her head. The caring and smiling baker has lost her smile.
"I don't want to talk about it..." Sugar Belle murmured.
"Let me help you onto the bed," Night Glider offered.
"No... it's fine..." Sugar Belle adamantly refused. She gives up trying to get onto the middle bunk, so she lays on the floor.
"At least let me keep you warm," Night Glider insisted.
"Fine..." Sugar Belle murmured. Night Glider lays down besides Sugar Belle, who places her head under Night Glider's. The pegasus can still feel her wings and are just about able to move them, so she lifts her right wing and covers the unicorn.
- 13th December 1945 - Early morning
Night Glider and Sugar Belle are sleeping in the wooden building the guards allocated them to. They then feel something gently prodding them, either a hoof or hand. They slowly wake up, and they then see a white male human prisoner crouching down to them. He's wearing thin clothes with a torn coat. He has a scar across his left cheek. He also has black hair and a black beard.
"Sorry, I'm just keeping you from guard abuse. If they catch you asleep, they'll beat you up, sometimes," Said the human.
"Agh..." Night Glider and Sugar Belle limp onto their 4 hooves while their tired energy-depleted bodies tried dragging them back down.
"I've been in these places for a decade. I know the miserable torture," Said the human.
"Who- who are you?" Night Glider stuttered. Sugar Belle meanwhile cowers from the human out of suspicion, keeping behind Night Glider.
"My name is Vasily, Vasily Kerlov," The human replied.
"W- where are we?" Night Glider asked.
"Somewhere in Siberia, not sure though. I was somewhere in Kolyma a week or so ago. Me and two ponies tried to escape. Me and the pony were caught while the other pony escaped. The caught pony was executed, and I was transfered here," Vasily replied.
"Why do you sound so comfortable!?" Night Glider got annoyed at Vasily. To her, it sounds as if Vasily is shrugging off the situation they're all in.
"When you've been in a gulag for a decade, you get accustomed to it, only if you're strong. If you're weak, you die within the first few weeks upon arrival," Vasily replied.
"What are your names?" Vasily inquired.
"Just call me Glider... *cough*- And she's Sugar," Night Glider answered.
"I should introduce you to my recent pony lad," Said Vasily.
"Who?" Night Glider asked.
"Big Mac-"
"Big Mac!?" Sugar Belle sprung out of hiding and jumps over to Vasily.
"You know him I take it? Yeah, he is still alive. I call him Mack for short," Vasily stated.
"No no no- I must see him!" Sugar Belle declared, her personality partially coming back to life.
"Right, follow me, because you ain't gonna go through the suffering for as long as we have," Said Vasily. The 2 mares follow the human out of the bunk bed building. As Sugar Belle is walking, she is limping.
"Sugar, why are you- What happened-"
"I said I don't want to talk about..." Sugar Belle sternly interrupted Night Glider.
"Sugar, you can trust me right-"
"This'll be the last time I'll tell you... I don't want to talk about it..." Sugar Belle growled, sounding very reserved. Whatever happened, the pegasus knows when somepony isn't willing to say why they're hurting, something very awful happened. Night Glider sighs and looks down to the snowy ground below.
Her body has become accustomed to the cold. But she can't get accustomed to deal with what she lost, her home, most of her friends, everything she cared about. Everything had been taken away from her so quickly.
Big Mac is hard at work out in the snow with leafless logs surrounding him. He's chopping a log with an allocated axe in his mouth's grip. Up and early to do his part, chopping the thick dead bark, all day, just like he has done for however much time passed. Big Mac has lost track of how much time.
"Will I ever go home... Has Sugar forgot about me..." Big Mac is doing his daily sighs. He accepts that he may never leave the gulag alive. So he always thinks of Equestria and Sugar Belle.
"Oi you, red one, stop. What are you moaning about?" One of the guards of the gulag, who is white, walks over to the stallion. The guard heard him speaking. Bic Mac stops hacking at the tree and looks at the guard, dropping the axe.
"Nothing, just thinking of my home and my wife Sugar..." Big Mac murmured, leaning down to grab the ace with his mouth. He returns his focus on the tree log he's hacking at.
"Well, you aren't going to see 'Sugar' again. Stop thinking about her and actually finish this log off. Take your mind off her, it ain't that hard," The guard said in a flat, monotone voice.
"She's probably cheating on you as we speak, so stop crying about it. You've brought this onto yourself, equine vermin. No one's at fault other than you, so man up," The guard added, sounding more spiteful. He then walks off.
Hearing things like that hurts Big Mac the most, much more than beatings. He deep down knows his Sugar Belle wouldn't cheat no matter what, but it still hurts hearing it. But he hasn't seen her for a long time, could she have got over the heartbreak she definitely had after he was called to the war?
"One day I'll be back with her..." Big Mac reassures himself. He slams the axe's sharp blade into the bark, then pauses to take a breather.
"Hey, Mack!" Big Mac here's Vasily's voice yelling to him. The stallion drops the axe from his mouth.
"Yeah Vasily?" Big Mac yells back as he glances right, the direction his human friend called. There is the Russian man, standing there.
"I got somepony you may want to see," Vasily yelled back over.
"Get them axes or these guards will have them," Big Mac yells back to the human. He leans down to pick up his axe with his mouth, returning to hack at his designated log.
"Who could it be?" Big Mac wondered to himself. For the next few minutes, which felt like an hour, he slams the axe's blade against the log. He's almost halfway deep into the log. A few more hits at the log, it could collapse down. But he pauses and drops the axe as he hears a scream coming from a mare.
"BBBBIIIIIIIIIIGGGGG MMMAAAACCCCC!"
Big Mac turns around and his ears raise up. It's a unicorn mare, but not just any unicorn mare. His eyes widened, it can't be surely, but it is, it's not him imagining...
"Sugar Belle!"
Big Mac slowly trots as he's exhausted, while Sugar Belle limps over to the big red stallion. Once in each other's spaces, they hug, both forehooves around each other tight. They cry and each other's frozen tears get onto each other. They quickly let go of each other before getting the attention of the guards.
"Glider's here and she's getting axes," Vasily stated.
"And Mack, how's the wagon getting on?" Vasily then inquired.
"I should have it done by tomorrow night," Big Mac replied, nodding.
"Do you think these guards will not notice a wagon?" Sugar Belle questioned the flaws she saw in this.
"That's why we'll make our move at night. The darkness of night will provide the cover we need," Big Mac reassures Sugar Belle's doubts. They then hear 3 clunking and crunching noises. They turn around and see Night Glider and 3 axes in the snow, infront of her forehooves.
"Got the axes," The pegasus miserably spoke, her eyes looking down to the snow below.
"Get cutting," Vasily quietly hissed. He, Sugar Belle and Night Glider gets hold of their axes and starts chopping nearby logs.
Just as they did, an asian-looking guard came to inspect them. The guard bends down and grabs a chunk of snow with his hands. He lobs it at Sugar Belle, which triggers the limping pain, making her fall down.
"Don't retaliate," Big Mac quietly hissed to Sugar Belle.
"You'll be dead by next week," The guard teased, then walks off.
"Is it me or are they bringing more guards in that know our language?" Big Mac thought, pausing from chopping his log.
"With more Equestrians, comes with more English-speakers. That's probably why," Vasily assumed while continuing chopping. Big Mac was about to return to chopping his tree, but he walks to Sugar Belle, who's struggling to get back up. He helps her get back up.
"Swap trees," Big Mac whispered to her. As they did, Big Mac notices Sugar Belle's flank is swollen.
"Sugar... what... did... they... do?"
"I don't wanna talk- I'll tell you later..." She murmured back. Big Mac knows the Soviets definitely done something, but he doesn't want to push on the subject.
"Vasily, have you got the food?" Big Mac asked, turning his head to face his human friend.
"Done it all Mack last night. They're in boxes, hidden in the snow by your wagon. We will get that wagon done. We will not pause. We will not falter. We will be free, or die trying," Vasily replied. Big Mac nods, then returns to chopping his log.
More prisoners, both human and pony come out with their axes. They start chopping nearby logs too. Big Mac pauses chopping and looks to his left, because he notices a familiar stallion. That stallion is sandy-coloured, and just like Big Mac, has a messy overgrown mane and tail, except the stallion's mane and tail is brown, unlike Big Mac's orange. But this stallion, Big Mac hasn't seen for a while.
"Feather Bangs, I thought you died at Stalingrad."
"Huh? Oh hey Big Mac- yeah no, I'm all fine. They transfered me from Perm-36 to this new gulag just today. With the flow of other ponies, it's filling up all the gulags and so they're creating and opening more of them," Feather Bangs explained.
"I was sent to one of the gulags at Kolyma, then also transfered here recently," Big Mac responded.
"Ooo... I heard the Kolyma gulags were bad," Feather Bangs shuddered.
"Yeah, this gulag is a tea party compared to the previous gulag I was sent to in nineteen fourty four," Big Mac responded.
"Again, I can't thank you enough that day in Stalingrad. I know we had our... our fair share of conflicts, but when I was injured by that artillery shell, you got me out of Stalingrad, and helped holding the line to get me out. Whatever mare you next meet, you have a selfless story of courage to impress them with," Big Mac weakly smiled. Feather Bangs chuckled lightly, then smirks.
"Yeah, I guess I do. But that's if I do make it out of here-"
"We," Big Mac interrupted Feather Bangs.
"Me and a few others are planning to bust out of here. We can take another friend with us. With you, we'll all get out of here tonight. But we should get back to logging," Big Mac added.
"Yeah, but it's good to see you're alive," Feather Bangs nodded. He returns to chopping his log.
"It's good to see you're alive too," Big Mac nodded. He returns to chopping his log.
A group of guards then came over to inspect their loggers, all of them being white, then scatter off to supervise different loggers. They don't do anything, they're just supervising, until one of the human loggers fell to the ground. When that poor logger did, 2 guards wield their truncheons, walk over to them and start beating the collapsed logger. He screams, begging the guards to stop. The 2 guards grab the logger by the shoulders and drags him off to somewhere. Nothing out of the ordinary, just another normal occurrence.
"Chop slower, they rather slow loggers than collapsed loggers," Feather Bangs whispered to Big Mac. He nods, then looks to Sugar Belle.
"Chop slower, they rather slow loggers than collapsed loggers," He whispers to the unicorn. Sugar Belle repeats that to Night Glider, who then repeats it to Vasily.
Sugar Belle's log began to lean and then fall. She responded too slow and screams, unable to get out of the way in time now. But somebody already responded quick enough.
"SUGAR!" Big Mac leaps and pushes the unicorn mare out of the way, both tumbling to the ground. The log narrowly misses both of them. When it crashed into the snowy ground, it kicks snow high up into the air, which fell back down around it. Sugar Belle calms down, and both help each other up. A guard got between them and reallocates them to another log. The guard does allow the 2 ponies to chop logs next to each other though, then walks off. As the earthy pony and unicorn aren't anywhere near other loggers, the guards don't bother in trying to supervise them.
"This is what I've been doing for the past year. Up and early, chop logs, rotten food, cho logs, and sleep. The the cycle repeats," Big Mac sighed.
"That's terrible..." Sugar Belle shuddered.
"You willing to tell me what happened to you, now we're away from the others?" Big Mac asked.
"Okay... after you left to fight, I couldn't stay at the barn. I moved back to the town. Then recently, the Soviets invaded Equestria, and they've been shooting colts, fillies, the elderly and enslaving the young adults. I and other unicorns, tried to help others escape, and I was caught. Then Tirek- Tirek's working with the Soviets. The Soviets asked where I helped the others escape... and when I refused to talk up, to make me talk... Tirek... he... he..." Sugar Belle explains some backstory, but began to cry when she brought up Tirek.
"I won't be mad. Whatever happened wasn't your fault," Big Mac gently spoke. Suagr Belle's forehooves then goes around Big Mac, tight, and cries more and spoke in her quietest voice.
"He raped me- he wouldn't stop slamming against my rear..."
Big Mac tightly hugs Sugar Belle as she cries into his red fur.
"And I told the Soviets everything- I didn't want him to do it again- It's all my fault my friends are here now too!"
"No, nothing is your fault," Big Mac gently whispered, his forehooves gripping tighter around Sugar Belle.
"You're secure with me. I won't let anything touch you again."
The cold bites at Big Mac, but the cold doesn't matter to him. What matters to him is letting Sugar Belle know everything will be okay, making her feel secure, keeping her warm. He starts gently rocking her slightly side to side.
"This will be the last time we'll be alone. From here, we stick by each other's side. No matter what happens in the future, we'll never leave each other's sight-" Big Mac feels Sugar Belle trying to pull away, and he finds out why. A guard is coming over.
"Buck!" Big Mac and Sugar Belle hastily grabs their axes and returns to chopping their logs. The guard that was coming over then walks off. That was a close call. The 2 ponies return to chopping their logs, and for the whole day non-stop. Another daily routine in the body-breaking gulags. Whether this will be the last day they'll have to endure the torturous camps, nobody knows, except them, as well as Night Glider, Feather Bangs and Vasily. They all expect this will be the last day in the gulags.
Thought I'd go into a bit of what's happening to deported ponies. As well, yay, Big Mac and Sugar are reunited :3
Next chapter will be introducing very interesting characters, one of them being a very famous combatant of WW2. So keep a look out for that :O