In Hell Itself

Rainbow blinked a few times, incomprehensive. Where was Stalingrad? She had heard of a Stalliongrad, but never Stalingrad. Of course, it was very likely that she wasn’t in the same world anymore, so name discrepancies were the least of her concerns. She needed to find a way back. From what she had seen here, she wanted back fast!

The distant cracking explosions continued in the distance. From here, they were merely an irritant to her. It was quite unlike the cacophonous thunderstorm she had experience earlier. What the explosions signified, though, was nervewracking. Every time one of those explosions sounded, it was to kill something. It was a horrifying thought, especially with the volume of fire. There were louder, deeper explosions as well. She kept listening. Hans cleared his throat, causing her gaze to drift back towards him.

“I think you know why we call it hell, ja?”

Rainbow nodded slowly. There was a thunderous explosion nearby. By force of habit, Rainbow’s wings shot open. She instantly regretted it. The wing is the most vulnerable and sensitive area on the pegasi’s body. They use it to sense temperatures and wind currents, and it is the catalyst for their magic. There are several drawbacks to this. Having a broken wing can lead to severe agony for pegasi, as a result of hyper sensitive nerves. This noted, it is needless to say that Rainbow fairly screamed in agony from her involuntary movement.

Hans thought that it was a scream of fear, “What? That one was two blocks away. The shrapnel can’t hit us from that distance.”

Rainbow Dash simply whimpered in response. The pain was unbearable, and she was sure that moving the wing had severely aggravated the fracture. She looked back at her wing, which now flopped by her side, incapable of movement. Bent out of shape, the arm continued to send pulses of burning pain. She knew that if this continued, she could totally lose response from her wing. No more flying, and no more opportunities to enter the Wonderbolts. She did not want that to happen.

Hans took note of the limp movement of her wing. Pausing to think, he decided to do something about it. He had never treated wings before, but he assumed that it wouldn’t be hard. He had fixed busted limbs multiple times during the heavy fighting that took place daily in Stalingrad. He was no medic, but he thought of himself as competent in bandaging.

“Let me see your wing,” he said, gesturing to her injured limb as he put his gun down. He made sure that it was still in reach if he had need of it.

She reluctantly stretched her wing out, flinching as the movement brought yet more pain. Hans felt where the wing was bent. Rainbow winced as pain once again shot through her wing arm. Hans nodded to himself. It was certainly a compound fracture. He reached into one of his bags, pulling out a field bandage. He forced the wing back into what he approximated to be the right position. He quickly bound the afflicted area. He pulled the bandage tight, once again setting Rainbow’s nerves on fire.

He stood up slowly. He listened to the distant gunshots, noting whether or not they were getting closer. They were not. Sufficiently satisfied that they were in no immediate danger, he left his gun on the table, next to his helmet. He stared at the wing incredulously. They were so small, and appeared so delicate. Were they even capable of lifting her? Of course, she was a winged, multi-colored horse that could talk. If that was possible, he supposed anything was.

“Sooo…” he heard her say, “Are you in charge around here?”

“Do you mean of this squad?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Nein. We had a lieutenant here not too long ago. What a foolish bastard he was! I told him not to stand. He did. A sniper blew his brains out. It was too bad, you know, he was very young. He couldn’t be older than nineteen. In the advent of his death, I had to take command.” Hans shrugged before continuing, “If you are talking about overall command, that would fall to General Friedrich Paulus.”

“What are you anyways?”

“My species…?” Hans was slightly thrown off by her question.

Rainbow nodded.

“Well, we are all humans, unless you are talking about Fritz here. I still haven’t decided what he is.”

Fritz, the only other soldier in the squad with an understanding of English, gave him the finger. Hans chuckled to himself. Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to get that it was a joke. She turned to Fritz.

“What are you, then?”

Fritz stared daggers at Hans, “I am a human too. I apologize for our esteemed Unterfeldwebel’s ignorance. Perhaps he should go back to school.”

“Fick dich!” Hans responded, grinning.

“Fick dich auch, Hans,” Fritz responded with a grin of his own. He and Hans were childhood friends, so he took some liberty. The other soldiers chuckled at the crude banter.

Rainbow Dash glanced between the both, ignorant to what was going on between them. She hoped that there wasn’t going to be a fight. She had seen enough for one day, and would do anything for sleep. Sleep would likely be impossible though, considering the thundering explosions that continually occurred. There was a whistling screech overhead. It pierced Rainbow’s ears, causing her to flinch. The soldiers threw themselves to the ground. Rainbow looked around, confused. Why were they so nervous? Her question was answered when a massive explosion blew in the wall.