Hans trudged towards the SS squad, Fritz and Rainbow Dash in tow. It was the last thing he wanted to do. He had no love for the Waffen-SS, and their brutal, unorthodox methods. But they were German, and likely had shelter. For Hans, that was enough. He exchanged salutes with the one who identified himself as SS- Scharführer Friedhelm Richtofen. He used the combat salute, raising his hand to his brow, parallel to the ground. In turn, Richtofen gave him the Nazi salute, his arm straight out. Hans sighed, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. There was the fanaticism that the SS was famous for.

Richtofen and his squad were staring at Rainbow Dash with a mixture of confusion and surprise, emotions that SS fighters didn’t often feel. Hans supposed they had never seen anything like her. At least, he didn’t think it was very likely. It wasn’t everyday that a cyan-furred, rainbow-maned pegasus suddenly appeared from another dimension. Rainbow, returned the gaze. There was some semblance of hostility in her eyes. It still surprised Hans to no small degree how expressive her face was, despite the fact that she was an Equine.

Richtofen’s cold, blue eyes seemed to bore into him, “” he asked in German.

Hans shrugged indifferently, “” he responded.

“” Richtofen’s gaze remained unwavering.

“” Hans sighed, “”

More explosions and gunshots rang out in the distance, causing several of the men to look around warily. Rainbow Dash, Hans noted, flinched. He supposed that that was not a great surprise. He had flinched the first time he heard gunfire. It was something you had to “get used to”, if that was even possible. Richtofen’s eyebrow arched at Rainbow Dash’s human-like response. He thought he heard the Scharführer muttering something about vivisections under his breath.

“” Hans stated. “”

The gunfire was getting nearer. Richtofen smile slowly, like a wolf. Hans was always concerned when he saw SS soldiers smiling like that. It usually meant that something was going to die, get tortured, or both. Richtofen gestured to his squad machine gunner, and instructed him to take position behind a pile of rubble in the middle of the street. It would be an effective choke point.

“” he instructed his men. “”

Hans sighed as he took position. He motioned Rainbow Dash over, as he checked his magazine to make sure it was full. She trotted quickly to his side, aware that things were going to become very hot, very fast. The gunfire ceased, and booted feet could be heard coming down the street. Hans clutched his reinserted his magazine and cocked his MP-40.

“We are going to ambush a group of Soviet soldiers,” Hans stated in English, “Keep your head down, and stay out of the way. This could be bad.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to protest, only to be interrupted by the sounds of heavy boot steps trudging down the street. Hans estimated that there were roughly twenty of them.

“Stay down, and don’t get shot,” he repeated.

“” the machine gunner screamed in German.

A cacophony of noise erupted as the MG-42 opened fire. Hans looked up over his cover, to see a screaming Russian decapitated by the stream of bullets. Blood spurted wildly from the stub of his throat as his head rolled away from his corpse. Hans blinked the image away, certain that he would be having nightmares of this for years after.

He aimed his MP-40, and fired over his cover in short, three-round bursts. The SS squad fired with unrivaled efficiency. Each shot was a headshot. Blood spurted wildly from opened craniums, and Hans saw pink brain matter splatter against a wall, as one of the Soviets jerked back, his head blown open by a well placed Karabiner round. The Russians attempted to return fire, but were too heavily suppressed to do much in the way of fighting back. Several attempted to charge the machine gun position, only to be hosed down by high caliber bullets. One had his arm amputated, gore coating his uniform and the ground beneath him. He went down screaming in abject agony. The SS troops ignored him completely, leaving him to writhe in unrelenting pain.

A grenade exploded, sending bodies both alive and dead through the air. The ground shook under the force of the detonation. He saw one Russian trying to crawl away, his legs mangled beyond recognition. Shrapnel studded his body, and blood leaked from his wounds. An SS soldier quickly dispatched the screaming soldier with a round to the head. The Russian’s face snapped forward as the bullet passed into his brain. He twitched for a couple of seconds, before falling still in a pool of his own blood.

“” One of the SS soldiers called out in Russian, “”

Hans believed that the SS soldier had told the Russians that they would not be harmed if they surrendered, or at least, something along those lines. It was a lie. The SS only took prisoners to extract information. They extracted it painfully and slowly. Once they had what they wanted, they would grant their victims mercy with a bullet to the back of the head. Never once had he seen it otherwise.

Two Russians stood, their hands raised. They stared at the Germans with resentment and unbridled hatred. Hans understood why. He would hate anyone who invaded and raped his nation as well. As the SS soldiers led the Russians away, Richtofen approached Hans.

“”

Hans simply nodded, trudging after the Waffen-SS squad, Fritz and Rainbow Dash once again in tow.

Author's Note

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