Author's Note

ATTENTION!

Some necessary intel for you to fully enjoy / understand this fic.

Firstly: Since this fic involves two foreign characters that will thus also speak a foreign language, I will be using three different ways to mark direct speech - depending on the situation. These three ways are as follows:

"speech" - normal direct speech. What you read is exactly, what the characters are saying

"speech" (speech translated) - normal direct speech with translation. Will be used when the characters in the scene don't all understand the language spoken. (Will only be used with non-english languages)

"[speech translated]" - immediately translated speech. Will be used, when all characters in the scene speak the same language, but it's not english.

Secondly: Some necessary information on a particular german letter that I presume all of you have thus far already stumbled upon.

The "ß" is not a B. It's a sharp s, spoken like a double-s, but with the difference that the preceding vocal is long.

The letter is called s-z, by the way and came about, when the old-german s (looked like an f) and the old german z (looked somewhat like an italic s in handwriting) were amalgamized into a single letter.

Thirdly: I'm gonna skip translating ranks if they don't translate 1:1 into english. Here's a list with those that come up in this chapter. should there be any other throughout this story, I will note them down in the author's notes as well.

OG - Obergefreiter - PFC, but a bit lower
HG - Hauptgefreiter - PFC, but a bit higher - not a Lcorp
HFw - Hauptfeldwebel - SFC, but slightly different in execution

Aggressive Defense

Nobody could've seen it coming, on either side of the rift between realms. Nobody could've known that a portal would open, with one side in the Everfree and the other inside of a german military base. Nobody could've known that a pack of Timberwolves would seize the opportunity and jump into new hunting grounds. Nobody could've known, that the portal would collapse the moment the response team tried to enter.

It was a foggy morning, typical for the rural german countryside in fall, especially when a river is nearby. The base of the 803rd armoured engineers was busy, even though the day had just barely begun. The morning roll call had just finished and the soldiers immediately busied themselves with their tasks - maintenance, bureaucracy, preparations for the next big exercise... slacking off...

At first, nobody noticed how a slight shimmering glow emanated from the middle of the parade ground. However, when the portal opened and a horde of wooden canines suddenly emerged in their midst, the prior calm was replaced with a wary silence.

And then the chaos ensued.

The wolves pounced, attacking anyone they could get their splinters on, but the soldiers would not just let themselves be eaten. After the first shock had passed, the officers rallied their troops and ordered their men to stand their ground.

They split into two groups. One would hold the assailants back with anything they could get their hands on. Brooms were used as polearms, scissors as swords and old wardrobe doors as shields, all in an effort to buy time while the second group would go to the armory and get properly equipped.

After a few intense minutes, the battle ended when the thunderous roar of a dozen rifles silenced every last one of the attacking wolves. In the aftermath, many had to be treated for wounds of varying degree - some even critical -, but miraculously only one soldier was killed.

Still, this raid could not remain unanswered and so, a squad of volunteers was equipped for an expedition.

A captain volunteered to lead the expedition and together with him, twelve soldiers stepped up - Tom Straßenbauer and Felix Eisenhans among them. They assembled in front of the portal, all prepared in full combat dress and ready for some action, but before they would enter into the unknown, the captain stood before them one last time and called for an equipment check.

"[I'll list off, what each of you should've received. Each soldier is individually responsible for checking his gear and rearming as necessary!]" the captain said, before taking up a clipboard and reading aloud: "[1 Vest - SK1 (equals Lvl 3A), 1 G-36 Assault Rifle, 10x 30 rounds 5.56x45mm - 5 filled into magazines and 5 as reserves, 2 MREs. Furthermore, mandatory equipment includes the gas mask and wetclothes.]"

Once the captain finished, a few soldiers excused themselves to fetch equipment they forgot - the gas mask in most cases - and once everyone had returned, the captain continued.

"[Right. Now, for the special equipment: Eisenhans, you've got the MG, Straßenbauer, you're his assisting.]"

In response, Eisenhans patted the MG3 he already held and Straßenbauer turned to show the spare barrel case hanging from his backpack.

"[Kretschmer, you've got the Panzerfaust.]" the captain continued and Kretschmer showed him both, the cartridges hanging from his back and the pouch with the launch piece.

"[Lastly, Riese, you've got the Radio.]" He said and Riese showed him the radio set stowed away into the top of his backpack.

"[Alright. Any questions?]" the captain asked and Riese raised his hand.

"[Why are we bringing a radio if there's no one out there that we could radio?]" He asked and the captain answered.
"[It's not about us radioing someone, but someone radioing us, in this case the squads that go in after us. Any other questions?]"

When nobody else had a question, the captain continued: "[Alright, everyone don gas masks and then, we go in. Eisenhans, Straßenbauer, you take point.]"

The squad did as they were told and once everyone had donned their mask and the captain gave the signal, Straßenbauer and Eisenhans jumped through the portal. However, as soon as they were through, something seemed to gro wrong. the portal started wobbling and the middle that acted almost like a perfect window before, now became fuzzy and distorted. The soldiers following Tom and Felix just barely stopped, before the portal became filled with small lightnings and started shrinking.

"[Fuck!]" Eisenhans cursed, as he watched their only way home slowly close behind them. Straßenbauer tried to test, if they could still jump back, but jolted back when one of the lightnings hit his hand.

"[OW!]" He exclaimed as his hand was zapped and the portal collapsed completely.

The two stranded soldiers stood silently in the woods they now found themselves in, alone, in a foreign land and with no way to return.

"[I knew we shouldn't have done this on a tuesday.]" Straßenbauer commented off-handedly.

"[Yeah, very funny, Tom. Any idea what we should do now?]" Eisenhans asked with a hint of panic creeping through his voice.

"[... Air check.]" Straßenbauer then said and kneeled next to Eisenhans. He grabbed the front of his mask and Eisenhans made ready to slap it back on, in case Straßenbauer was paralyzed or otherwise unable to re-don his mask. Straßenbauer then cautiously lifted the front of his mask and took some short sips of air, as if sipping hot coffee. His sips slowly became larger and deeper, until he took a full breath.

"[Air seems clear.]" Straßenbauer announced.

"[Thank god.]" Eisenhans sighed, as he and Straßenbauer took off their helmets, to remove their masks and then put the helmets back on again. "[I hate wearing gas masks. Makes my face all sweaty.]"

"[Yeah, but you know what's even worse than wearing gas masks?]" Straßenbauer asked.

"[What?]"

"[Running with a gas mask.]" Straßenbauer stated, making Eisenhans shudder.

"[Oh god, please don't remind me. We did that only once in basic and it was already more than plenty for me.]" Eisenhans said. "[So anyways, what do we do now?]"

Straßenbauer shrugged. "[I dunno, you're the superior here.]"

"[Hahaaaaa, very funny.]" Eisenhans said unamused. "[I'm an HG, you're an OG. You know full-well that neither of us is actually technically 'superior'...]" He then looked around and pointed in a random direction. "[But if you insist, I guess we should march that way]"

Straßenbauer followed Eisenhans's point and saw a slight incline that led them directly towards what appeared to be the morning sun.

"[Gotcha. Any particular reason?]" He asked and Eisenhans shrugged.

"[Not really. I just trust my gut to be just as keen on being shot as I am.]"

"[Fair point. Alright, let's go then.]" Straßenbauer said, as he took his position slightly diagonally behind Eisenhans and they both marched into the sunrise.

An hour of marching and no sign that this forest would ever end. If they didn't know any better, Eisenhans and Straßenbauer would've thought that some cosmic deity purposely kept them trapped in there. However since both had (more or less involuntary) experience in navigating the german forests, they knew that it could very well just be a very large forest.

"[Guess we should take a break. No use wearing us out right now.]" Eisenhans offered.

"[Is there ever any use in wearing us out?]" Straßenbauer asked sarcastically, as he set down his backpack and sat on it.

"[Yes. For example that one time, when we accidentally swiped HFw Hermann's phone off the table and we both hauled ass so he didn't find out it was us.]"

Both shared a short, but hearty laugh at the memory.

"[Ah yes, HFw Hermann, god bless that man. If he wasn't stuck in medical after the attack, he'd've probably already conquered this place by now.]" Straßenbauer joked.

"[Yeah, but unarmed. Why waste ammo, when your presence alone is powerful enough to make your enemies just spontaneously drop dead?]" Eisenhans added and they both shared a chuckle.

But their jolly little break was suddenly interrupted, when they heard rustling in the underbrush next to them.

Both immediately fell silent and readied their weapons. Eisenhans grabbed the MG3 and Straßenbauer attached a bayonet to his G36, before putting the spare barrel and an ammo box next to Eisenhans on the ground.

A few tense seconds passed in complete silence, but the soldiers knew that this was distinctly not good. The birdsong that had filled the air up until now had completely subsided. Neither dared to even breathe, lest they'd make a noise loud enough to be heard by whatever was stalking them.

A few more moments passed with nothing happening, but the birdsong yet didn't return. Then, suddenly, Straßenbauer felt this severe feeling of dread and this strong, tickling itch in his back, as his instincts went into overdrive.

"[Behind us!]" He screamed, as he whirled around and spotted a shape lurking in the shadows.

He grabbed the ammo box and Eisenhans grabbed the spare barrel, as both hauled ass to get away from whatever that beast was - and just in time. Only moments after they started running, the beast tried to pounce and once it realized that its prey had managed to evade, it let out a mighty roar that shook the earth.

Once they'd gained enough distance, Eisenhans slammed his MG3 down onto its bipod and started slinging lead, while Straßenbauer did the same with his G36.
It was only now that they came to see their opponent in full - a Lion-Dragon-Scorpion hybrid, that stood tall enough to touch the treetops. However, even the mighty manticore couldn't survive over a dozen 7.62 bullets slung directly into its face and that, combined with the 5.56 support from Straßenbauer, made the beast drop relatively quickly.

"[Holy fuck, what was THAT?!]" Eisenhans exclaimed, once they saw their assailant collapse.

"[Umm, I'm not quite sure, but if I remember greek mythology correctly, this might be a 'Manticore'. Interesting.]" Straßenbauer commented.

"[Wha... I mean, the question, why a greek myth beast exists in this dimension, aside: How the FUCK are you so calm about this?]" Eisenhans asked loudly, adrenaline clearly still rushing through his veins.

In response, Straßenbauer turned around and looked at him incredulously, while holding out his clearly shaking hand. "[I'm just better at hiding it, my dude. Now, come help me move this guy. Kitty here - of course - dropped precisely onto our stuff.]"

Eisenhans gave an annoyed groan at their misfortune, before bringing the box and spare barrel with him to where the manticore dropped. There, he and Straßenbauer pushed several times together, to even get the massive beast to move a little. After multiple tries, they managed to get the corpse to roll over just barely enough so that Eisenhans could grab the backpacks, while Straßenbauer held the corpse in place, as best as he could.

Once their luggage was freed from its fleshy trap, Straßenbauer let the corpse drop and leaned against a tree with a strained groan. "[Fuck my life, that was heavy. How 'bout you go on a diet, laddy?]" He wheezed, while patting the manticorpse.

"[Speaking of weight...]" Eisenhans started, before holding the MG over to Straßenbauer. "[Your turn.]"

Straßenbauer rolled his eyes and groaned a bit more. "[Great. Any observations for me to take into account?]" he asked.

"[Yes, actually.]" Eisenhans stated and pointed to their previous position, where two thick skidmarks were visible. "[The ground here is very soft. The recoil was pushing me backwards, even though I had dug my entire feet into the ground.]"

"[Splendid. Well, I suppose, we should get going again. Maybe we'll make it out of this accursed forest within the day.]" Straßenbauer whined, taking Eisenhans's Backpack and stowing his G36 into it. Eisenhans, in turn, took his G36 from his backpack and stowed the extra ammo box into his big belt pouch.

They then both went to don the other's backpack, however while Straßenbauer did so with little difficulty, Eisenhans was clearly surprised by the apparent weight.

"[Good lord, what do you have in there?!]" Eisenhans asked incredulously.

"[Your ammo... or, well, mine now.]" Straßenbauer answered, tapping the MG for emphasis.

"[How much fucking ammo did they give you?!]" Eisenhans groaned, as he adjusted the straps to try and alleviate some of the strain.

"[Two 200-boxes and two 100-boxes 7.62.]" Straßenbauer answered, which made Eisenhans raise an eyebrow at him.

"[200-boxes? What did they think, we'd be doing out here? Dig trenches through this accursed forest or what?]" Eisenhans groaned in annoyance.

"[How would I know? Let's just hope that they filled them with 100-belts or we'll have to get creative.]" Straßenbauer sighed. "[Well, at least we have the two 100-boxes to work with, for now. Should last us a bit.]"

"[You mean, 'should last us until one of us gets a trigger cramp'.]" Eisenhans snarked.

"[Granted. Speaking of which, how much did you shoot?]" Straßenbauer asked and Eisenhans answered: "[Dunno, 30-ish? I only got three bursts in.]" Eisenhans recounted.

"[Alright. Guess, 70 shots will have to suffice for now. Come on, we should get going.]" Straßenbauer said finally, before marching on, roughly into the direction they were heading before and Eisenhans fell into step in the same position, Straßenbauer held at first.

Twilight was unsure what had happened. All she knew was that she was just sitting at the breakfast table with Spike, when she suddenly heard something that sounded like rapid fireworks going off and echoing in the distance. Yet, when she looked outside, there was nothing to be seen.

She asked Pinkie Pie about it, yet the party mare knew as much as she did, which was odd, since Pinkie always knew about all the festivities going on, no matter where or when. What was even more odd, however, was that, when she asked her other friends about it, both, Applejack and Fluttershy stated, that it sounded like it came out of the Everfree...

Equipment Check:

Ammo:
569 rounds 7.62x51mm

586 rounds 5.56x45mm (total)

Food Rations:
2 MREs (can last 3 days, when used sparingly)
2 opened MREs (can last 2 days, when used sparingly)

4x 1.5l Water bottle (4l left in total)

2x 1l Canteen (empty)