Chapters A train was rumbling through France to support the Wehrmacht units in Strasbourg because their reinforcements didn't arrive and was marked missing after no response on the radios. Flak guns on some platforms and containers of ammo, fuel and rations. Nervous German soldiers stared the smoke coming from the distance as they were almost to their destination until the familiar buzzing of aircraft were heard. P47 Thunderbolts flew in and rained down their 50. cal bullets and 127mm rockets at the supply cars which immediately exploded in a ball of flames upon impact. Soldiers were scorched by the explosion and others fell off the platforms. One Thunderbolt unloaded its APIT rounds into the engine stopping it. German soldiers tried to make it to the Flak but were strafed by the other P47's. Soon, the train was an immobile time bomb with smaller explosions occuring in the ammo caches in some of the cars killing the nearby soldiers with munitions flying around the area. Some soldiers got to an 88mm Flak Gun and fired at a Thunderbolt and hit its fuel tanks. The Thunderbolt burst in flames and began its descent into a forest where it exploded. Within minutes, the train was consumed by flames leaving no survivors.
An exhausted Waffen SS battalion led by Garren Schultz walked silently across the forest floor. A sudden explosion occured in the distance and heard planes and the sound of rockets being fired. A crack was heard in the distance and a soldier immediately collapsed. Another soldier was shot along with more of them. The SS dashed for cover.
"Scharfschutz!" a soldier called out. One soldier fired his Fg 42 at the trees only to get shot in the knee. Another threw his Steilhandgrante and heard a scream accompanying the explosion. Enemy machine gun fire was soon laid upon them pinning them down. Then, a flaming plane fell out of the sky and onto a platoon wiping out four men with the initial explosion and killing a few more from shrapnel leaving a handful injured. The remaining soldiers of the SS were soon near to victory against the partisans when a three M4 Sherman Corcodile tanks came and pushed on their left flank. The tanks spewed flames burning a soldier who began running around spreading the flames to the others and a 50. cal gunner began mowing Garren's force. Garren fired at the gunner and killed him and heard an explosion. For him, all went black, a grenade had exploded near him. The remaining SS soldiers fired their Panzerfausts at the Shermans and incinerated their crews. The partisans were dead and out came group of lost US Paratroopers took them completely by surprise on the left flank where the Shermans were burning. The SS were worn down in minutes as the Airborne troops pinned them down. The SS soldiers were now low on ammo. The battalion no longer remained as pockets of SS fired back with their remaining ammo. They managed to kill a few soldiers but were quickly overwhelmed by the rest of the regiment and the forest soon became a mass grave for the SS.
Oberleutnant (lieutenant) Albert Albrecht woke up and and saw blue skies clear of bombers and grass clear of battle. He saw his men with heavy wounds and saw them act as if they didn't have them.
"What happened to you Hans?" Albert asked his friend with a bullet wound in his neck. His friend chuckled," The real question is, what happened to you? You look like you came out of an explosion near you."Where are we? He thought. Most of them were wandering around and few had binoculars surveying the area.
"Herr kommandant, we have found a nearby village we can use for our HQ," a soldat said.
"Prepare to march!" Albert shouted.
"What's going on here?!" Albert asked.
"A bunch of these creatures showed up and marched into our town!" a pony exclaimed. "How harsh!"
"Hey what are you doing?" a pony with gold armor asked.
"A rescue mission," Albert replied coldly before shooting the pony in the head. "You brought this upon yourselves."
Twilight looked outside to see so much dead and burning buildings left by the strange creatures and their machines. She looked around to see the streets painted with blood. A curious pony walked out of her house and a crack was heard, her neck spewed blood and she collapsed. She was afraid to go outside now. Even with magic, the creatures seem to have ways to counter them. These were unlike the enemies of Equestria, their enemies were ruthless sure but they weren't as bloodthirsty as these new ones and they seemed to have technology that exceeded any of those found in all of Equestria. More cracks and shouts were heard accompanied by distant booms. On one of the buildings, there seemed to be a symbol painted in blood, a letter X with arms bent at right angles with an eagle holding it. There were 2 S letters that looked like a lightning bolt below the creature's insignia. Twilight dashed to get her quill and wrote a quick letter to Celestia. The symbol was frightening to look at. The creatures also didn't look like anything from the books she had read. They looked dead as if they weren't alive, but seemed to act as if they were. They weren't zombies because they didn't eat their victims but kill them with weapons that took their foes from afar along with machines that were used as weapons of war. With these, the creatures killed with ease. Some of them without weapons wielded clubs that they threw and exploded while others used them to beat their victims to death. These creatures were.... something else.
The SS and their newly rescued Panzertruppen camped in a large apple orchard. The soldiers reached out for apples as they passed by. The soldiers chopped down some trees to get some much needed food and collect firewood for the night. Some soldiers began watching the skies with their mounted flak guns on some of their halftrack. Few Wirbelwind flakpanzers from the train and a few mounted 88's on the halftrack but most were 20mm Flak guns mounted on some trucks. At some point, a battalion left the convoy to their intended destination and split up the division to hold key parts of their territory. Albert was in charge of his 112th Panzergrenadier Battalion and Garren's 49th SS Panzergrenadier Brigade.
German generals and commanders in France were confused. Their units sent out search parties and there were no signs of a battle. There were no bodies found except US airborne paratroopers and partisans. German rifle rounds were found but no weapons were present. Soon, the Germans were slipping off France and units at Strasbourg were slowly being pushed back by Allied advance. Little did they know they what was awaiting them behind their lines.
Gefreiter Dietrich von Olbrich and Alfred were holding out against a platoon of French soldiers supported by a SAU 40. Alfred, had a Panzerschreck and was shot immediately before firing the launcher. The SAU 40 went close until Dietrich threw his grenade at its tracks to damage it but the link didn't break. As the tank finally got closer, the track link split and was immobilized. An MG42 in a basement fired out of a window to slow down the French trying to take back their town. Soon, mortars rained down on the buildings, some roofs collapsed and killed anybody below. Snipers and machine gunners slowed down the French, but the bombardment of mortars were softening them up. Few soldiers at the outskirts killed some of the mortar crews, but most were inside the town fighting over every building with their French foes. Tanks were rolling into the town quickly clearing out buildings and streets. Machine gunners fired at every French soldier they could but it only delayed the inevitable defeat as more and more troops were running out of ammo without their supplies. Their reinforcements were reported missing and some groups that were out of ammo resorted to close quarter combat inside the buildings of the ruined town. Dietrich looked around and saw a few dropped weapons. Dietrich quickly went into an empty bunker with mounted MG's. He quickly dragged an ammo belt and fumbled with it. He saw the French closing in, he tried to fit the ammo belt and panicked as he kept trying to get the belt into the gun properly. Soon, the belt was loaded and Dietrich opened fire. He saw his bullets rip off the limbs of their targets and the SAU 40 fired and missed the bunker. He kept firing until the gun ate the whole belt and left nothing but spent rounds. Dietrich heard a small metallic clank behind him and shards of metal went to his back. His vision soon became blurry as French soldiers ran into the bunker to drag him. His breathing slowed and his eyes were getting heavy. He tried to keep them open, but he couldn't. Strasbourg was soon overrun as the Allies marched through France. The Allied advance brought them one step closer to Germany.
Dietrich opened his eyes and felt something surrounding him. He had limited movement and couldn't see. He felt the substance around him and quickly noticed it was dirt, he was buried alive. He screamed so loud his throat burned.He to dig his way up from the ground. He clawed through the dirt like a mole and soon was above ground when he saw German soldiers with critical wounds walking as if they didn't have them. The soldiers saw him and smiled.
"Another man? We're getting a lot of equipment and soldiers lately, what's going on?" somebody spoke up.
"Hello, we are from the 116th Panzer division, 16th Panzergrenadier," a soldier greeted. "You?"
"I'm from the 198th Infantry Division at Strasbourg," Dietrich replied. "French forces overran our defenses."Is this where the dead go? he thought. Everyone surely looked dead, but we're cheering as if they had a victory in this unknown land. Then, something caught his eye in the night sky. A silhouette of a large wagon being pulled by two horses and a large creature with something protruding out of its head.
"Aircraft!" he yelled. AA guns fired while few spotlights were activated and explosions in the air occurred. The low flying aircraft was low enough for rifle fire. Every soldier fired his rifle at it until it was gone. One creature fell and the aircraft descended slowly but didn't crash. Dietrich walked around the camp and found a parchment of what seemed to be a message that probably fell from the aircraft. Dietrich quickly went around asking for the location of an officer.
"Go see Oberstleutenant Albrecht, he's our officer," a soldier responded. "He's right over there." The soldier pointed to a man with heavy wounds, his face was scarred and he had a large gunshot wound, a 50.cal.
"I found this parchment that fell from the craft, I believe it may be important," Dietrich announced.
"Fools!"Albert smiled. "They will soon see the power of the Waffen SS and our Panzergrenadiers. We will start a new Germany!" Albert threw the parchment into the fire and walked to his tent. Hours of walking, Dietrich decided to sleep, he didn't find a tent for himself, so he climbed on a tree and slept there with his Luger pistol tucked in his hand and his rifle within reach. He thought about where he was, what would he do? He already died, what would he do now? He just got here today, he didn't know anything about the world, how would they start a new Nazi Germany? Each thought seemed to bring up more questions. Slowly, Dietrich closed his eyes.
Dietrich's eyes popped open, the tree shook. He looked around and saw some soldiers already patrolling in the distance, others sleeping soundly with their tents. The tree shook again, the apples falling.Dietrich held out his hand and caught one, he aimed his Luger pistol down and strapped his Karabiner so it wouldn't fall. Dietrich put his eye just outside the leaves to conceal his presence, he saw an orange pony bucking the tree. Dietrich thought of Stalingrad where he ate horse meat when he was starving with his squad. The thought of it made his stomach growl, Dietrich aimed carefully and tried to steady his aim. His hunger made his hands wobbly and Dietrich had the target in sight until gunshots from a nearby SS patrol scared it off. Dietrich hopped off the tree and grabbed the fallen apples, biting into them. At least it wasn't a total loss, he thought. The SS patrol walked away, leaving a trail of blood slowly pouring out of their legs, they didn't seem to notice at all. We must be lifeless, Dietrich thought. He walked around the camp searching for food and found a wolves made of wood being chopped by axes and piled for firewood. This new world had tons of convenient materials, there was wooden wolves for fire, an apple orchard to feed off of and ammunition magazines and clips mysteriously filling themselves up. Luck of the swastika I guess Dietrich thought, he wandered around the camp picking off apples and piling them into an empty crate nearby, he took two of them to eat.
Meanwhile, Albert studied the items his men got, he found an old map labeled "Equestria" and a book titled "Equestria Encyclopedia". He opened the book and map to study and learn more about his enemy. For hours, he read and read, as time passed, he didn't seem to notice Dietrich entering his tent.
"Herr kommandant," Dietrich spoke up.
"What is it?" Albert grumbled.
"The men request your permission to go out hunting for provisions for the camp," Dietrich explained. "The soldier's rations ran out and some of the apples taken weren't ripe."
"Sicher," Albert replied. He had ignored what Dietrich said and didn't care for food since his stash of rations mysteriously was full like the ammunition crates that soldiers started rumors about. Dietrich left and nodded to the men, and began their hunt. Johann, Eric, and Franz followed Dietrich around the apple orchard, they took down birds with 9mm Parabellum rounds from their Luger. Johann collected the dead animal and placed it in a rucksack, Eric and Franz picked ripe apples from the trees and smiled at each other, the two had lived next to each other during their childhood and both worked on an apple orchard near Mainz. The group wandered around for an hour and stumbled upon a barn.
"I don't think they'd mind us looting," Johann snickered. "If they spot us, kill them if they are like the Jews."
"You SS soldiers are nice," Franz joked. "I'm pretty sure they won't spot us looting from the barn."
"You two be quiet!" Dietrich whispered. "Somebody's coming! Get into the barn and hide!"
"Awww, we should have slit its throat," Johann said. "We could've had a feast for the camp!"
"These are sentient creatures," Eric said. "Some of them use magic and held us captive by taking our guns away!"
"If we kill it, then its family will get worried," Franz said. "I guess they can't take losses well."
"Why not kill the cow and harvest it?" Eric suggested.
"Nein, we'll leave a trail to our battalion," Dietrich said. "I wonder how the other battalions are doing."
"Obersfuhrer Garren Schultz," the soldier said. "I woke up late and everyone was gone."
"We are hunting for supplies," Dietrich said. "There is a camp where your SS and rescued Panzergrenadiers are."
"Ah, so, does this mean I don't have to babysit your SS?" Albert laughed.
"Ja," Garren replied. "Heil Hitler!"
"Heil Hitler," Albert responded. "Oh, there is a book your men found when we attacked a village not far from here. It provides the basic details about this 'Equestria'."
"What?" Albert asked.
"I already know some of these creatures," Garren said. "I got bitten by wolf of wood."
"MEDIC!" Albert screamed.
Medics came inside Albert's tent where they found Garren lying down with a bite surrounded by color of wood.
"What is this?" one of them asked. "We can't cure this, but we can try to slow it down."
"It says we need medicinal herbs mixed with its poison," Albert announced.
"You got any of the poison from the verdammt creatures?" Albert asked.
"Nein, we disposed of it," a soldier replied. "It was useless."
"Find one and bring it to me, jetzt!" Albert barked.
"FIRE THE FLAK GUNS!" Albert screamed. "Fire them at the those winged creatures!"
"If they return with those clouds again, shoot them down!" Albert ordered. "Last thing we need is rain to flood our trenches and sag our tents."
Meanwhile, Dietrich, Eric, Franz and Johann returned to the barn to to find a large stash of food all over the barn, there was a large cake that was big enough to feed the whole camp an entire slice.
"I think we should cut out a piece, so we could take it," Eric smiled.
"Nein, I don't think we can carry that much cake," Johann said. "I'm sure that the medics won't approve."
"Ok, let's take some of the candy, to raise morale," Franz said.
"That we can take," Eric replied.
"Take what you can and burn this place to the ground," Dietrich whispered.
"You took what you needed right? Make a fake trail to draw them off," Johann said.
"Oh, Sheisse," Johann cursed. "Ficken ponies again?"
"Better be a Jew," Franz said. "We haven't killed anything in a long time."
"Put on your gas masks," Eric suggested. "We'll at least scare them."
"What is happening?" Eric whispered. "I'm seeing orange."
"Is it the lens?"Franz asked.
"Nein, our lens were clear, it's our eyes," Johann said. "We're dead remember? And somehow, we're all alive."
"Halt, stop right there!" It said in a nervous, shaky voice.
"Yes we can, now get out of here before I rip you to shreds!" Johann replied.
"That's it! You asked for..." the pony was knocked out by Johann. Johann took off his gas mask and spit on the unconsious pony.
"They're like Russian women," Johann laughed. "They are annoying."
"This should be the antidote according to the book," a medic said. "It'll put him under, but he'll recover."
"Convenience........ it's everywhere," Albert chuckled.
"How did he get such a wound?" Dietrich asked.
"To be honest, I don't know," Albert replied. "How's our supply runs?"
"We looted some candy to keep the morale high," Dietrich reported. "We also got some ripe apples along the way, and a few other food that Eric and Franz should be distributing now."
"I've contacted the other battalions," Albert sighed. "They said they captured a few scouts in golden armor and they're being shipped here for transport. I want you to meet them right outside the orchard and bring the prisoners here. I want you and that good man Johann getting information out of them."
"What are we doing?" Johann asked. "Looting or something else?"
"Gathering intel," Dietrich replied. Their objective excited Johann, who couldn't wait to torture the ponies that annoyed him and his fellow comrades. As they walked out of the orchard, a convoy of SdKfz. 222's and Opel Blitzes along with Zundapp motorcycles. A few SS soldiers step out and shove a tan colored pony with blue mane.
"Oberststurmfuhrer Koether sends his regards," an SS soldiers said. "Enjoy getting the information."
Johann tied the pony to a Rommel's Asparagus pole and unsheathed his butterfly combat knife.
"Tell me the information I need to know or I will carve through your flesh!" Johann growled.
"You don't scare me you savage," the pony replied.
"You should tell him the information mein freund," Dietrich insisted. "Or else what he says WILL come true. I've seen him."
"Don't take me for a fool," he replied.
"You think I'm joking? You are wrong," Johann chuckled. "Now, tell me your name and what you were doing before you are caught and you'll live."
"Ok! Ok! I'm Flash Sentry, I'm a new recruit, I've been assigned to scout strange activity in this area," the pony grimaced.
"Recruit? No wonder you got captured easily," Dietrich joked. "You got bad luck, schwein!"
"Do you know any locations around this verdammt area?" Johann questioned. "Or do you want less of your flesh and muscle?"
"A few actually," Flash winced. "Ponyville, which got attacked, Canterlot, our capital and that's all I know."
"Tell me who your leader is?" Johann asked.
"I can't tell you that!" Flash breathed out. Johann stuck the knife in the wound and slowly pushed it in making Flash scream in pain.
"It's Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, they rule at Canterlot," Flash said.
"Where is it?" Dietrich asked.
"It's overlooking Ponyville, and it should be on a mountain, you can't miss it," Flash explained. "Am I free now?"
"Yes, Flash, you are free from this world," Johann smiled. He untied Flash and led him away from the camp where he stuffed a gas grenade into his mouth and kicked it as hard as he could to embed it into Flash's throat. The gas burned the throat and went into the lungs. Flash felt as if he drank lava and his insides were in flames, he died from the gas that began to come out of his nose, ears and eyes before dissipating into the wind. Johann and Dietrich walked back to the camp with a smile on their faces.
"I enjoyed that," Johann said. "Call me next time when you need another to be questioned."
Franz dashed after the tracks and sprinted through the apple orchard, ignoring the aching in his legs, he wanted to rescue his close friend who had been away for most of the war. He ran after the tracks and soon spotted a group of ponies wearing golden armor accompanying a cyan colored pegasus outside the village of Ponyville, Franz took aim and fired his rifle at the heads of the guard. He fired and pulled the lever faster than he had done before. One by one the guards collapsed, as the cyan pony picked up Dietrich, Franz shot it in the leg scaring it off. Franz shot at every pony who dared to come near his squad leader, more guards came to assault him. He fired his rifle at their heads, the area around him covered in blood and brain matter. He dragged Dietrich's body to a nearby cart and pushed it towards the forest, his rifle ammunition ran out as he heard the annoying click of his rifle. He sliced through flesh with the bayonet, the hatred and rage controlling his every move, he had killed around 50 ponies. He didn't care anymore, he showed no mercy to his victims. As he fought, he was tackled from behind by a Royal Guard, the pony pinned his arms and legs down. Franz lifted his mouth towards its neck bit out as much flesh as he could. The pony leaned backward with blood spewing out on the stone street. All the ponies backed away and he pushed the cart with Dietrich's body in it it unnopposed.
"YOU AND YOUR WEAK ARMY!" Franz yelled. "You don't know who your fighting do you? You will soon feel the might of the Wehrmacht! Prepare to die soon!"
April 12th, 1941 Tobruk
Franz hadn't recieved a letter in weeks, he and his platoon were going to El Adem road. He thought about Dietrich and the Eastern Front, he always wondered if he was alive. Soon, he heard distant gunfire and the truck stopped. Men jumped off the truck and began running towards the sound of guns and cannons. Past the trucks and motorized vehicles, Franz saw Panzers under fire from anti tank guns hidden in a ditch. He saw Oberleutnant Holger and one of the soldiers crawling towards the AT guns. He dashed up to them and crouched, firing his rifle at Australian soldiers manning the guns. He sprinted across the sand and tackled one of the crew members manning the gun, he beat the soldier's face with the butt of his rifle and shot another. Infantry soon overran the AT positions. Franz cleared out his area of the enemy and began positioning himself to the other end of the ditch. Australian infantry charged in a straight line, Franz fired his rifle taking one down. An MG 42 was firing and mowed down a few soldiers before the gunner got shot in the neck. Riflemen fired and fired taking down the Australian soldiers who continued to charge. Some German soldiers began climbing out of the ditch and running back to their lines. Franz soon saw Australian soldiers engaging in hand to hand combat with some of his platoon members. He lunged at one and stuck his knife into his neck, another tried to tackle him and Franz responded by shooting him in the eye with his rifle. As enemy soldiers began to flood the trenches, Franz began to run out of the ditch, he took cover behind a destroyed Panzer and saw a grenade on the other side ready to detonate.
The bystanders were speechless. They gasped at the massacre caused by one creature, it was obvious that he and his friends had better training than Equestria's Royal Guard. Franz looked around him and saw all of the Royal Guards dead, blood coated his hands and face, he saw the death he caused and was relieved that he wasn't injured.
"Your soldiers are an embarrassment! A joke! They fight like Jews!" Franz cried out. "Capture more of my freunds, you will die!"
"What happened?" Dietrich asked.
"You were captured and knocked out," Franz replied. "I followed you, slaughtered every pony in the area." Pointing to the street, Dietrich was surprised.
"A slaughter? Didn't expect that from a soft-hearted city kid," Dietrich laughed.
"You are our squad leader and a close friend," Franz said. "I overheard Albert saying you'd be promoted to Unterfeldwebel (staff sergeant). Officers are valuable you know, don't want to risk them torturing you and getting information."
"We should should go," Dietrich insisted. The two turned around to see more torches on the other street, Franz pulled Dietrich into a nearby house and closed the door.
"Check the back door," Dietrich insisted.
"We aren't getting out this way," Franz whispered back. The two crept up the stairs and began finding a place to hide, they heard the door open. Dietrich went up to the attic to hide while Franz went under the bed and covered himself in with nearby toys. Footsteps began, Franz checked his Luger and then the footsteps were near. He saw the hooves of the pony nearby, he went for his knife as the pony exited the room and slipped out of the bed. Franz crept behind the pony and stabbed it in the back of the head. Franz dragged the body into a closet and buried it in clothes. He went up into the attic where Dietrich was hiding behind old furniture and boxes while holding a rifle outside the window. The huge mob of angry townsponies were searching for the two soldiers.
"We can still escape by rooftop," Franz insisted. Dietrich made no delay, he placed a landmine right on the stairs to slow down the ponies if they get spotted. The two quietly rushed through the rooftops, they came upon a balcony in which the door was locked. Franz smashed it with his MP 40 and went inside.
"Let's burn this place," Dietrich suggested. "Soon, they'll search this one, we need to buy some time by getting them to fight fire instead of finding us or we could get them to split up."
"Did you rig these?" Dietrich said.
"No," Johann replied. "This is World War 1 era explosives, the rust and old detonator says it all."
"Who did it then?" Franz asked.
"A soldier from the First World War," Johann said. "He's probably dead by now."
"The mask is German, somebody's been working," Johann went through a desk with a journal with documents and maps.
"We should take this information back," Franz grabbed the documents from Johann and stuffed them into his pack.
"It killed a member of the German Army!" Franz pointed to a skeleton wearing a Pickelhaube helmet and had a knife stuck in one of its ribs. Johann saw an old tag by its hand and picked it up, he rubbed the dust off and read the tag. Johann knelt down and dropped his rifle.
"What is it?" Franz asked.
February, 1945
Germany's Siegfried line has crumbled under Allied boots, Mother Russia is on the way to Berlin. But, both sides are attacked by sentient ponies. The Fuhrer is outraged and his generals are confused by the attacks. In the fuhrerbunker, Hitler and three commanders are discussing the matter.
"WHAT IS THIS!?" Hitler screamed at the three commanders who cringed.
"But, my Fuhrer, we need to combat the Allies and this mysterious attacks on our troops!" Colonel Fritz Vollmer stuttered nervously.
"What you forget Vollmer is that the Allies are also being attacked," SS General Erhard Schweitzer replied. "Both the Wehrmacht and the Allies would be halted to try and fight off these attacks which gives us time to prepare for both."
"Schweitzer, you dummkopf! We don't have the necessary supplies for this preparation," Major General Viktor Kliemann said.
"Or do we? A radio station picked up a very faint transmission from one of our missing troops," Schweitzer said. "We they said, that they weren't anywhere in Europe and something about verdammt ponies attacking them, though that is all what the men heard. We must find them."
"How did you receive the transmission?" Kliemann asked. Schweitzer shrugged.
"Start a project to locate our missing troops," Hitler sighed. "I need them on both fronts, NOW!"
Meanwhile in Equestria, Albert's battalion was packing up their tents and were moving out.
"Listen! There have been reports of attacks on our nearby scouts patrolling around that verdammt village!" Albert announced. "We will show them their mistake!"
The sound of the thundering engines quickly filled the air, the soldiers wearing their camouflage uniforms and SS Totenkopf wearing their standard full black. The battalion marched out of the orchard and quickly moved in position one kilometer from Ponyville. Artillery guns were settled down and crews began loading shells in the gun breeches. The screeching of Nebelwerfers were followed by the roaring of 150mm artillery pieces, smoke covered nearly the whole village. The barrage continued, their shells whistling down on the helpless village, smoke nearly obscuring the sun. Rifle men assembled in front of the artillery guns with Panzer tanks at their side. Panzer IV's assembled at the flanks. There was a large number of guards ponies assembling in front of the burning village, the Germans readied their positions with mortars and flamethrowers to counter close quarters. The guardsponies charged and mortars began to blaze. Riflemen fired and killed most of them in just a few shots. Machine gunners mowed down the large numbers and flamers creating a wall of fire that melted the flesh off the enemy. Panzer tanks slowly advanced as the long range artillery continued to pound Ponyville to dust, Dietrich saw the Panzers crushing the foes with their treads. The clanking of the metal instilled fear onto the guards ponies, flamers advanced along side the Panzers turning the lush green grass into a grey and brown wasteland. The riflemen began a full sprint towards Ponyville behind the Panzers and flamers, the treads crushing through makeshift barricades and flames slicing through ranks. The riflemen dragged the injured ponies to their officers who shot each of the prisoners in the head. The Totenkopf squads made firing squads that tortured any survivors and threw gas canisters in crowded buildings. As the battalion entered Ponyville, the artillery stopped, Dietrich heard the gunfire in the distance as German soldiers assaulted the village. Dietrich sighed and wished he had gone along in the charge instead of manning the machine gun post with the artillery detachment.
Johann and Franz marched through the streets bursting through doors and killing and looting the ponies.
"Take anything that looks valuable, if we get enough, we might have enough to share with Dietrich," Johann smirked.
Franz burst into the bedroom and was thrown back by a unicorn who threw him into a bookcase with magic. Franz responded by taking a large book and threw it at the unicorn and stunned it momentarily. The angry SS soldier took out his blade and stabbed the unicorn in its stomach repeatedly. The pony was surprisingly still alive, the acids slowly spilling out of the stomach and eating away at its insides.
"How do you like that? You should never mess with us!" Franz spat.
Franz stopped harming the pony and left it to its suffering. Johann smiled at his friend, he opened a poorly hidden trapdoor and threw a grenade inside. Screams emerged from the basement and then an explosion, Johann laughed when he saw the carnage the single grenade caused. They continued through the alley ways, killing off ponies hiding away.
"These is easier when the enemy is helpless and idiotic at tactics and rely on magic," Johann laughed.
"Hey! Stop being mean!" yelled a pony.
"Hey! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Franz roared with his eyes slowly fading to orange. He aimed his rifle at the pony.
"Tell us what your name is and you will not be killed," Johann growled.
"NEVER!" the pony said and ran away.
Franz shot its leg tripping him. Johann sprinted and lunged forward and stuck the knife into another leg, immobilizing him.
"You refuse, you die," Johann said and shot the pony.
Hans rushed through the streets choked with debris. Panzers moving forward, bringing destruction with them. Hans climbed on the back of a StuG IV and manned the MG 42 on it.
"LETS DRIVE THE ANIMALS OUT OF THEIR HOLES!" a commander cheered on the radio.
"Come and face your fate you animals!" a soldier screamed.
"BLOW THEM TO HELL, KAMERADEN!" another shouted.
Hans continued to fire the machinegun, the bullets slicing through enemy ranks who dared to resist. As the German battalion conquered Ponyville and prisoners were taken leaving nobody escaping. The swastika hanged upon the town hall, German soldiers cheered and SS soldiers began marching through the streets and searched for survivors. The SS set up road blocks and checkpoints at roads and alleyways leading to the outside of Ponyville and snipers watched the streets. Death camps were soon set up around the town, soldiers began to fortify the town with flak towers and artillery positions. The other battalions camped nearby began to set up defensive walls outside the town, turning it into a stronghold.
Throughout Equestria, countries began to panic of the new enemy. Some of them began to mobilize for war, alliances were soon made and all pointed towards the Wehrmacht who was ready for the oncoming attack. The Wehrmacht sent SS kommandos to infiltrate, sabotage and assassinate key targets to disorganize the governments. Total war, was underway.
Johann, Franz and Brandenburgers Kaleb Weindorf and Martin Freideberg had walked for weeks. Their location was near the city of Stalliongrad where they needed to sabotage the factories that would produce Equestria's war machines and manufacture supplies.
"Can't wait for their city to go boom!" Kaleb spoke pulling out his suppressed STG 44.
"Where did you get those?" Johann asked eyeing the suppressor.
"Stealth is essential to the Brandenburger," Martin replied handing the two SS soldiers a suppressed Sten Mk2 and a suppressor for their sidearms. "You'll need these to take out the guards quietly."
As they journeyed towards Stalliongrad, the skies became grey as the Wehrmacht uniforms. Winds began to pick up urging the group to move faster. The squad soon was near the city, Kaleb observed guards standing at a checkpoint illuminated by a streetlight. Martin crouched and silently walked up close to him holding his suppressed Luger pistol and fired the shot in the neck. The soldiers crept through the dark alleyways, slowly making their way through the city and towards the industrial areas.
"It's going to be hard if we keep going this way," Johann whispered. "We need a sniper or someone killing guards or anypony in our way!"
"Ok, I'll do it," Franz said. "We'll get the jump on them."
"I'll go with you," Kaleb Weindorf declared.
The two soldiers went vaulted through a window and snuck to the roof. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop, following Johann and Martin in the streets. Kaleb and Franz took out the guards from above, clearing the way for Johann and Martin in the dark streets below. As the night was slowly ending, morning fog began to settle obscuring the view from above. Johann and Martin creaked open a door to feel a point of a spear. The two slowly rose with their hands up and dropped their weapons.
"Stop! What are you doing?" The lead guardspony barked in a Russian accent.
Franz and Kaleb opened fire on the ponies below, the bullets shredding through their armor and bones. Johann grabbed the squad leader's neck and kneed him in the throat and crushed the windpipe. Johann whistled Westerwald lied as he and Martin dragged the bodies into a nearby dumpster and lit it on fire with his lighter. Hours passed, and they made it to the factory. It was nearly sunrise, Kaleb and Franz were on the roof of the factory attaching bombs to the smoke stacks while Johann and Martin were attaching charges near the assembly lines and control panels and support columns. The four met at a nearby alleyway and detonated the charges. The walls burst and the smoke stacks collapsed on nearby buildings and facilities.
"Hey, I forgot to set it to one hour," Kaleb confessed.
"You idiot! You set it to one minute!" Martin scolded.
"Sorry,"
The falling smoke stacks cut through the buildings and which resulted in collateral damage. A power line disappeared in a ball of flames as heavy rubble was thrown against it. Other factories targeted by other Brandenburg squads exploded and soon, shots were fired throughout the city of Stalliongrad. Brandenburger teams were plotting assassinations throughout the city as the bombs went off. The flames from the chaos slowly spread from building to building creating thick black smoke that swallowed the sky.
Johann and Martin rushed through the streets and jumped on a wagon that strayed downhill. The two fired their guns at everypony in the way. Franz and Kaleb ran through the alleyways that were soon chock full of debris as bombs went off in various buildings. Johann and Martin zipped past Franz and Kaleb who exited a nearby alleyway. Johann attached a charge on the wagon and jumped out with Martin who quickly directed it towards a group of guardsponies who were engulfed by flames and smoke. Guts and bones flew from where they stood. The two followed Franz and Kaleb to a train and jumped on. Johann rushed to the engine and killed the engineer and the conductor, he pulled the lever and released the brakes. The train started to move and Johann went to the passenger cars and rounded up the remaining ponies into a cattle car.
"Franz!" Johann shouted. "Keep these prisoners in this car and kill them if they try anything."
Franz nodded and Johann went to Kaleb and whispered. "Keep yourself hidden, if Franz is overwhelmed, kill the prisoners."
"Franz! Kaleb! Martin! Come here, the Luftwaffe!" Johann screamed. "We need to get off now!"
The four soldiers ran to the end of the train as the 109's strafed the train cars as the engine was in the tunnel. The train cars exploded and rained down debris and guts. Franz, Kaleb and Martin jumped off the side and Johann jumped off the train car as the train exploded behind him, the blast propelling him forward.
Hours earlier
Patrik Hessel looked around in his cockpit. He and his squadron were flying for an unknown amount of time, he eyed the instruments and meters for minutes. Then suddenly, a flash blinded him and the other crews. The pilots held the stick in one hand and covered their eyes with the other. Then, the blinding light was gone, he eyed the fuel meter and saw that his was full.
"Hey! What happened? The fuel meter is full again!" Karsten Sattler said.
"Mine too!" a pilot said followed by more.
"Uhh, I don't think we are in German airspace anymore," Kevin Schur stuttered.
"What makes you think so?" Karsten laughed.
"Explain that flying horse at your left," Kevin responded. "It's a verdammt pegasus from mythology.
Karsten saluted at the pegasus before lowering throttle to get behind it. He then aimed at the creature and fired his Fw's cannons and machine guns that quickly shredded the pony to pieces.
"Ok, I need time to think," Karsten said. "I'm just overwhelmed, what happened?"
"Keep calm, Karsten," Patrik said over the radio. "Just keep flying and we'll just bomb the nearest city."
A few hours later, there was silence. Patrik eyed billowing smoke from a distance about a couple kilometers away.
"Hey! Look! Smoke, let's check it out, it could be the missing troops," Patrik said.
The planes turned in the direction and flew towards it at full throttle.
"It looks like quite a firestorm down there eh?" a pilot chuckled.
"Let's bomb what was missed," Niklas Dannecker commanded. His JU 87 and was followed by others, their screeching sirens deafened the ponies below and began their bombing run. Niklas flew low and noticed a Brandenburger and Panzergrenadier running across the rooftops and saw another squad of Brandenburg soldiers as he tried to regain his altitude.
"There are Brandenburg saboteurs down there along with some infantry squads!" Niklas exclaimed. "It's a sabotage operation!"
The pilots cheered upon hearing the news and began to start their strafing and bombing runs across the streets. As the planes finished their runs, they began to head for somewhere to land. The Wehrmacht cheered for the arrival of the Luftewaffe fighter group and Equestria was soon a land of fear for their enemy could harass the skies and the ground.
Garren Schultz wandered through the ruin buildings of Stalliongrad. The chaos that started at dawn had turned the city into a wasteland. Dead bodies were lying everywhere, he saw blood flowing into the sewers and drains outside. Garren walked into an apartment building, as he went up the stairs he felt the building shake a little. Well at least its a bit stable, it'll do he thought to himself, he laid down in a prone position eyeing the other buildings and streets. He brushed his blood soaked boots on a rug and hid under a bed, he eyed the streets when something flashed by his scope. He saw a pegasus flying, he went into his scope and held his breath. He aimed and fired, the bullet being manipulated by wind and gravity, it took the jaw clean off leaving the tongue. The pegasus fell down to the earth, Garren smiled as how another popped out to try and drag the body. Garren pulled the bolt of his Karabiner and fired again hitting the second in the neck where the bullet was lodged. He smiled at how foolish the targets were, instead of taking cover, they try to help their fallen friends. These were much easier targets as their opponents were weak and didn't know how to respond unlike the Allied forces.
Shot after shot, bodies began to be added onto the streets, behind him he heard the door burst open and froze. He heard the trotting of a horse and began to slow his breathing. He felt the hoof step on the rubble and began pressuring on his leg. He slowly tried to shift his leg away and heard a crack and a thump. He crawled back out and he felt a sudden sharp pain in his shoulder, he quickly pulled out his knife and swung behind him and lodged it into something. His eyelids began to be heavy and Garren strained to keep them open, he saw that he lodged his knife into a pony's chest, he tried to pull it out, but couldn't gather the strength. Garren crawled towards a hole in a wall and slipped through and was unconscious.
Garren slowly opened his eyes, he looked around.
"Hey, wake up!" a young voice yelled.
Garren felt a soft kick and stood up. The young American tanker aimed his Thompson sub machine gun at him. Garren set down his rifle and Luger, he stared at the tanker. His jacket tainted with blotches of red and a sleeve ripped, the googles on his cap cracked and bloodied. Garren was dragged when suddenly, an explosion shook the building with a deafening roar. The tanker stumbled forward and Garren slipped away. Sprinting as fast as he can, Garren vaulted through a window and slipped down the the walls. An explosion burst behind him threw him off and fell onto a wooden cart. He slowly opened his eyes, his bones aching, he saw the tanker crawling out through the rubble and was met by guardsponies who aimed their weapons at him. He was dragged away into an alley and Garren crawled out of the cart remains. He began limping back to an outpost set up near Stalliongrad. As the pain began to recede, Garren walked but there was pain left, guilt. He wondered about the tanker dragged away, he wondered who will rescue him. What about the others? They will rescue him, right? He thought. Garren couldn't stop thinking about what would happen to the tanker.
He ran, running back towards the building that had collapsed. He darted through the alley way where the ponies had took him, it lead to another road. He slowly walked and hid behind a bush, there was a cart rolling nearby. What a verdammt coincidence, he thought. He climbed on and buried himself under a blanket and saw food and water, he was exhausted. He put his hand into a box and picked out some bread and split it in half. He quietly ate the bread and put the other half in his pocket. Garren watched slowly raised his head and eyed the streets, he saw the tanker being dragged by the guardsponies. He jumped out and threw his knife at the pony pulling the cart, he ran after the guardsponies and the tanker. Up in the orange flaming sky, he saw rockets looming overhead, smoke trails showing the perfect arc of the rockets. Katyusha he thought. Or was it the Panzerwerfer, he remembered that the Panzerwerfer rockets were in 6's or 9's. Garren continued pursueing the ponies, when they went into an open road, Garren aimed quickly but carefully. He held his breath, steadying his aim, and fired. The bullet zipping through the air and into the brain of a guardspony. Garren saw that the ponies were slowed down, he fired another shot leaving one guardspony to die. He walked quickly towards the struggling guardspony.
"I heard that you ponies talk about friendship right?" Garren smiled. "You are getting in the way of that for me and my friends. How does it feel to always talk about friendship, but break it up for us hmm?"
"You creatures KILL us!" the guardspony replied. "You are savages!"
"Savages? No, we don't kill, no, no, no. We fight for what we believe in," Garren said. "We fight with bravery and not cowardly like you, we execute our orders without hesitation, that's how we fight. Your army is flawed, they are weak, cowardly and worthless pigs who run towards the face of death with no purpose at all in this world. The Wehrmacht is superior to your army and soon have great allies or friends that will not be broken up by you pathetic people."
"Hey kraut," the tanker wheezed. "I think my leg's broken, so shut up and get me out of here."
Garren saw that the guardspony escaped and carried the tanker on his shoulders. He began to walk back to base with the tankeer on his shoulders.
"Hey, I got your back alright?" the tanker said. "So, you don't have to swing around so much."
Garren replied with silence and set down the tanker in the cart.
"Hey, smartass, how are we gonna move, this thing is too heavy you know," The tanker pointed out.
Garren sighed and sat down, his eyes slowly closing from exhaustion.
