Chapter 5
He couldn't concentrate on his work. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't keep his mind off her. His productivity was suffering, which was unfortunate, because he had orders that he needed to fill.
Heinrich Büchsenmacher couldn't get Twilight Sparkle out of his mind, no matter how hard he tried to forget. The little pony from Equestria who had just wandered into his workshop one day had changed his life forever. Then something happened. They were attacked by that inspector from La Police Internationale, Pierre La Roche, Heinrich had been knocked unconscious. Twilight must have been as well... then what? When Heinrich came to, La Roche was gone, and Twilight didn't remember who he was.
Heinrich had become deeply depressed in the days following Twilight's departure. Twilight hadn't exactly been kind or affectionate towards him, but he still loved her. He couldn't get his mind off her. His work was suffering. He was already in danger of losing his licence from Sturm GmbH for producing storm harnesses. And he'd just gotten an angry letter from both Rijnmetall and Sauser this morning, wondering why his numbers had dropped off completely. Heinrich had ignored the letters. He knew this was a bad idea; ignoring correspondence from the companies who licensed him to produce their weapon designs outside of the Bundesrepublik was going to get his licences revoked.
But Heinrich didn't care. His heart wasn't in it any more. He looked to the picture frame on his workbench. Inside it was a photograph of Twilight Sparkle sitting on the banks of the River Rijn, looking out over the water. Heinrich had taken the photograph while Twilight wasn't looking directly at him; she'd kicked him hard in his flank after he'd done it, it had still been worth it.
This photograph was all he had left.
There was a knock at the door outside his workshop, Heinrich looked up towards it. 'Ja? Hereinkommen', he said. The door pushed open, and Heinrich looked up two other Schäferhund walked into the workshop. He recognised both of them immediately. Hauptmann Adalbert Schmidt and Feldwebel Hans Fockewulf, Heinrich had served in the Wehrmacht Heer with both of them in the Legion Adler during the Hispaña Civil War.
Heinrich's mind drifted back to those days, eight years ago, the fascist Hispañan Nationalists went to war with the Hispaña Second Republic. The Legion Adler was put together by the Bundesrepublik, staffed with volunteers from the Wehrmacht to fight against the Hispaña Second Republic, who was backed by the Cheval.
Long story short, the nationalists were close to winning, but when it became clear that they were. The Republicans asked the cheval to invade, which they did, sweeping the whole of the Hispaña Second Republic under their banner in a month. The cheval invasion had nearly sparked an international Incident. Causing a war of words between Chancellor Saul Goebbels of Bundesrepublik Schäferhund, and the Cheval Third Republic President François Lerune, which would have entered into open war had the incident not been mediated by Princess Celestia of Equestria. In order to keep open war from breaking out, the Cheval Third Republic agreed to release all foreign volunteers fighting for the Nationalists, and to allow the hispaña nationalsts to leave for the Bundesrepublik Schäferhund or the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms, in exchange, the schäferhund agreed to allow the Cheval Third Republic to annex the Hispaña Second Republic. The cheval would later go on to reorganise their country into the modern Fourth Republic.
'Heinrich? Are you all right mein freund?' Adalbert asked.
Heinrich snapped out of his daze, he shook his head and looked up at his former commanding officer. Adalbert Schmidt had been in command of Heinrich's company in the Legion Adler; Heinrich had served as his hauptfeldwebel, the equivalent of a company sergeant major in Welaran Commonwealth armies. Heinrich gave an unconvincing nod in response to the question. Hans Fockewulf walked further into the room.
Hans too, had served in the Legion Adler, as the leader of the first zug, the equivalent of a commonwealth platoon. Their kompanie had been made up of three züge, and while the first zug was supposed to be lead by an oberleutnant, their oberleutnant, whom Heinrich did not remember the name of, had been killed within ten minutes of being deployed, leaving Hans Fockewulf in charge. That Oberleutnant had never been replaced.
'Mein freund, you are not all right', Hans said. 'You've forgotten to add the bolt of the submachine gun you are working on'.
Heinrich looked down at his work. Indeed he had, In this state, he would have likely not noticed. The client he was making it for would not be happy when he went to use the the submachine gun and found it unable to fire.
Fortunately, in that case, Heinrich wouldn't get in trouble for it, because the client would likely be killed by his enemies right away. Actually, as Heinrich thought about it, he figured it would make a great gift for an idiot that he didn't like. Though, there weren't very many people that Heinrich didn't like. Except maybe Pierre La Roche, Heinrich was never going to like him.
'Indeed I have', Heinrich said as he continued to look at it. 'Forgive me meine freunde, I am distracted'.
'Ja, we can see that', Adalbert said. 'Mein freunde, what troubles you?'
Heinrich looked back down at his work.
'It is a woman', Hans said.
'It is always a woman', Adalbert said, nodding in agreement.
Hans trotted up to the work bench, where he noticed the photograph sitting on it. He stopped at took a closer look at it. 'Heinrich, mein freunde, is this the woman that troubles you?'
'Ja...' Heinrich said with a slow nod.
Hans took a closer look at it. 'I... I know this pony'.
'It is a pony?' Adalbert asked in shock. 'Heinrich? What are you thinking?'
Heinrich ignored him, but turned to Hans in bewilderment. 'You... know her? You know Twilight Sparkle?' he asked.
Adalbert couldn’t help but chuckle at the name, but he kept it quiet and to himself.
'Equestrian? Purple coated unicorn? Ja, I know her', Hans said studying her. 'My Infanteriegruppe came across her party. They were looking for one of their friends. My Infanteriegruppe found their friend, it was odd, there was a kangaroo with them, he gave my gruppe dirty looks when the Equestrians weren’t looking, not surprising with one from the Welaran Commonwealth'.
‘Ja... not surprising’, Heinrich said with a nod. ‘The Commonwealth is almost as bad as their cheval friends, trade restriction here, and warship over there. Oh? You want to expand your sphere of influence, no you can’t do that. We however can, and will’.
‘There was something else...’ Hans said as he pondered. ‘There was a local with them, a Nederlands speaker, seemed rather close with one of their party... a shop keeper... Katrijn? I believe, ah yes, the day worker of De Winkel, the high fashion store in the fashion district’.
‘A local?’ Heinrich asked. ‘Interesting... Well, enough about this, you clearly both had a reason for coming here, what can I do for you? Ammunition? I have several boxes of 9mm in the back’.
‘Ah, nothing like that mein freunde, have you forgotten what tomorrow is? The anniversary of the founding of the Legion Adler? There is going to be a party for veterans tomorrow evening, will you be in attendance?’
Heinrich kicked himself. This wasn’t something he should forget. Fighting in the Hispaña Civil War was an important experience for him. For all the Schäferhund who volunteered. Heinrich nodded. ‘Ja mein freunde, I will certainly be there’.
Adalbert smiled. ‘Excellent! You must get out of this workshop more often, spend some time with your own kind at the firing range. I would hate for your skills to become rusty, hauptfeldwebel’.
‘Of course hauptmann. I will finish this submachine gun, in the right way, and I think I shall do just that’, Heinrich said with a respectful nod.
‘Glad to hear it, we shall let you work. Auf wiedersehen mein freund’, Adalbert said with a smile as he and Hans turned and left the workship.
‘Auf wiedersehen mein hauptmann’, Heinrich said with a nod as he turned back to the work. He stripped the submachine gun back down; this was unacceptable for someone of his skill. He would have to build it back up from the start. Heinrich thought about what Hans had said about this nederlander shopkeeper. This Katrijn pony, one of the few others who knew Twilight Sparkle, Heinrich thought about it for a moment, he was desperate to speak to Twilight Sparkle again. Things had not ended well for him, he knew that he had to let her go... but he couldn’t do that just yet. He needed to speak to her one last time, then he could be at peace. Heinrich knew that was the only way to get himself back on the right path. He finished up his work on the submachine gun, and then placed his schirmmütze on his head and stepped outside. He needed to find this Katrijn pony.