Das Ende begrüßt einen Neuanfang
My name... is Peter Müller, and I was there... from the very beginning to the end of it all. From when the first bombs fell on Poland and rolling across the country in the Panzer III, to the sands of Afrika... destroying the British tanks in my Tiger. Now... here I was, fighting the Americans within my own country... Kertz along side me, driving the old tank wherever we were ordered. I still had fight in me then... but now... now, there is nothing... I see that now. I finally see that now.
Hartmann... the poor kid... probably saw that earlier then me... maybe he didn't. He didn't deserve to be fighting in this war though, the poor kid was shaking from the moment we were strafed in Stefan. By then... we had not even made it to the battlefield then, but that was the norm. I should've had him stay in the tank... but I relented... under my own poisonous words... the words I fed to Schröder. Schröder... the little dog that followed me around... the devil I created. Kertz was right when he said that I fed him the party line... I was a fool... but I am done with the lies I told myself... I am done fighting.
Flames were licking all across the sky as aircraft droned overhead across the Rhine to assault their targets with their overwhelming firepower. Back in Stefan, Schröder was still fighting... firing aimlessly at the advancing Americans. Kertz... my poor old friend, lay dead in front of me... shot by the kid. It was all my fault... but there was nothing I could do but surrender. There... I decided to take off the only thing that truly held me to my duty anymore... my Iron Cross. It meant nothing to me anymore... the things that I once fought for... the idea of the country that I served... all gone now. Standing up... I put my hands up signalling to the Americans that I wanted to surrender. They took no notice of me though... only that of Schröder, still fighting them with courage that could've been used for a more noble cause. Apparently, Schröder took notice of this and yelled out "No!", and soon after came the crack of two shots... but I felt nothing as soon, the world became black. Then... came the light.
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The Everfree forest was a... mysterious place, but still a calm and tranquil place in the right areas, free of Timberwolves and such. Still, danger was never far and one could easily get lost in the tangled mess of tree, vines, bushes... and whatever else the forest had in store. However, when all of those factors were not present, the forest was like any other forest... peaceful. And in this peace, Chief Engineer of the Bismarck, Walter Lehmann for solace to reflect.
Granted, it had been a few months since the whole incident regarding the U-Boat crew and its fanatical commander, but that was all in the past really. The announcement of the incident as well as the official public reveal of the Kriegsmarine enclave within Equestria did send sparks throughout the world... but in time, things simply died down and a sense of normality returned to Equis... that is... until a large assortment of ships, namely the Wilhelm Gustloff, General Von Steuben, and Goya, sailed into Manehattan with thousands of apparent German refugees (under escort of course). That whole entire ordeal caused a sort of large scale administrative and moral fracas within Equestria due to the fact that now they had thousands of civilians and armed soldiers who were not of the same branch and somewhat same moral code of the Kriegsmarine sailors that were already present. The issue was somewhat solved thanks in part to the "Elements of Harmony" with a sort of reservation being set up north of Manehattan, complete with its own true large naval base for the Kriegsmarine ships. But still... that was still only a few months ago. Life had been quiet since then and the world was... harmonic.
As Lehmann walked through the forest, he began to finally feel at peace after months at sea. However, he was very much alert at the same time, ready to draw his officer's Walther when ready in case any timberwolf decided to try and feast on the German engineer. The skies above, though covered by trees, were visible and clear blue, not a cloud in sight. The birds all around were chirping and the forest was simply... alive. After a few minutes, Lehmann had found a rock and decided to take a short break before he would make his way back to the Inn in Ponyville. He had a meeting tomorrow with Twilight regarding the main propulsion system of the Bismarck, a mechanism that the Princess could never seem to get enough of. Ponies had steam engines of course... but outside of their navy, the only steam engines used were rather weak and outdated engines in their trains.
Sitting down and pulling out his favorite pipe, Lehmann slowly lit the pipe and began to simply stare into the wilderness. He did not know how long he was staring for, but he was soon taken out of his trance when a large bolt of lighting came crashing down from the sky above a few miles away from him. Normally, it would not bother him as due to the time he would spend in Ponyville, he knew of Rainbow Dash's pranks with storm clouds. This bolt however... this was something he had never seen before... almost as if God himself threw down that lightning bolt. And with everything they had been through... it probably wouldn't have surprised him at that point. He probably would've even investigated it as well... but he relented when he looked at the time on his watch, and elected to simply phone the appropriate authorities to notify them of the incident... hell, Twilight and her friends would probably deal with it anyways once he told them. So there he was... making his way back to Ponyville... unaware of the preying cat that spawned out of the lightning bolt along with its divided crew.
*** *** ***
Birds... a sound I had not heard in a very long time. My ears had been accustomed to the sound of gunfire and death... that I had completely forgot about the beautiful sounds of birds. But... how was I hearing birds? Am I in heaven? Or is this my own twisted hell for which god had sent me to in order to pay for my sins... What did it matter though... I was no longer tied to my Fuhrer's oath... an oath I felt bound to with that Iron Cross around my neck.
For a while... I relented from opening my eyes... fearful of what I would see. However... my own curiosity got the best of me... almost as if I were a child in a whole new world. When I did... I was granted a sight I had not seen since the days in France leading up to the invasion in Normandie... a land untainted by bombs or shellholes... a simple... peaceful... forest. Nothing more, nothing less. But there was something else... something I never thought I would ever see again... It was Stefan.
There it was before me... our panzer, Stefan, what had gotten me and Kertz through the sands of Afrika to the rubble of the once great cities on the Rhine. There it was... its tracks completely on... not a scratch on her. Even the left front track side-skirt which was lost before the final push was there. It was almost as if it had gone back into the factory to come out nearly brand new. There I stood... in full amazement... as if... I was in a trance. For how long I stared at Stefan... I did not know. What I also did not know... was that I was not alone. Behind me... stood a tired and broken figure, just like me... but it was not me... it was Kertz.
Author's Note
Hello everybody! Welcome to the somewhat sequel to Der Unterseeboot! Complete with more conflicted moral beliefs as well as a few characters from the last story! This story isn't a crackpot-fic... I mean it to be serious like the last one. The whole idea of this really simply came from when I was thinking about making a bit of a sequel or even prequel to Der Unterseeboot (the latter has a story file made but nothing typed up yet) and I thought back to one of my favorite campaigns from a very divisive game... Battlefield 5. The Last Tiger by far is probably the best campaign I played in a while, even though it was an hour long with something that one could actually... enjoy and feel for. Yes... it is more or less wehraboo-ish with the whole Tiger Tank last stand against hundreds of Shermans but the story and moral of it all is great. The only actual story campaign I can look forward to now is for Titanic Honor and Glory... and based on what we know of the game's dev cycle... it may be coming soon since the ship itself is 80% done and they are now having 3-D models being made... however... the southampton and new york maps... nobody really knows about those so it will still be a while... plus character models cost a lot of money... but my hopes are still up as always! No false promises have been made by the lord and savior Tom Lynskey so hey, props for honesty! Anyways... going off topic now.
As always, if you wish to, like and comment. All questions and comments are warranted as long as they are kept respectful and gentlemanly (or ladylike if any ladies are interested in war stories made by a 16 year old fanfiction writer). See you in the next chapter everyone!
