Luna returned to Canterlot without any difficulty, despite having a frown face. It was still noon, so she has plenty of time to recompose herself in the matter, not just because she was captured by unknown creatures, but also was saved by them and knowing personally the Afrika Korps.
'Maybe if I tell Tia...No it's not gonna go friendly. She will have a search warrant because of this.' Luna thought as she pondered the possibility of telling her sister about the humans. In one sense, she could tell the entire world about the humans, but in the other sense, her sister will give the search warrant. Luna also knew that the humans mastered the art of war, much more than the Griffons.
'Okay....What am I gonna do now?' Luna asked in her thoughts. She is still pondering her decision when the door flew open, much to Luna's surprise. Behind the door was Shining Armor, Twilight's older brother and husband of Princess Cadence.
"Hello Shining Armor! What brings you here?" Luna asked the Captain of the Royal Guards.
"Oh nothing princess. A random letter just got stuck on your wings, strapped." Luna unfolded her wings, and indeed, a letter is strapped in her wings. Using her magic, she quickly got the letter and reads. What she will read will shook her world all together.
"Dear Luna,
If you are receiving this message, then we decided to go back to our home world. We, the Afrika Korps, can't stay here and do nothing to fight with our comrade. We are soldiers Luna, and we will fight to the last bullet. If you have questions in your mind, don't think about them right now. If you know something to send us back to our current destination, Tripoli, North Africa, date: September 1943, then we gladly appreciate. However, we must also conclude that our memories in here, but not our past history, shall be erased. The memories here in your land could trouble us, and could falter our operation.
Also, your friends are very interesting to us, but sadly, we can't introduce ourselves properly to them because we need to go home. Don't weep for us princess, for when we die, the stars will carry us to everlasting peace, finally breaking free from the never ending nightmare of chaos and destruction. We hope you understand this message.
Sincerely,
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
and Afrka Korps
P.S. Meet us with your friends in the town. We will discuss it."
Luna can't believe it. Her new found friends, whom she befriended easily for just a day, is now leaving her! But she knew too well that they are soldiers, and she knew soldiers will carry their orders no matter what the odds stacked against them. But she felt her heart broken because of this news, and tears began to ran down to her cheeks. Shining Armor noticed it.
"Uhm...Your highness, is something wrong?" He asked. Wiping the tears out of her cheeks off, she replied:
"None Captain Shining Armor. Now, fetch me my sister and the Elements of Harmony. We will go to Ponyville at once."
"Uhm...Princess, I have to ask. Why-" He was cut off by Luna's 'death' glare.
"DO WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD! I will not handle to much stress in my mind right now."
"Y..Yes Your Highness." Shining replied as he got to his work.
'I do hope I could get one last time with them.' Luna thought as she trotted out of her personal chambers.
-15 Minutes Later-
"Why Lulu? Why did you got us here in Ponyville?" Celestia asked her sister when Shining Armor got them gathered to Ponyville.
"Why did you summon us here Your Highness?" Shining asked when he was also summoned.
"You'll know." Luna replied as they waited and waited for the passing minutes go by. Suddenly, a thick swirling cloud of dust was spotted, and the ponies ran for their homes, except for the princesses, the Mane 6 and Shining Armor. Out of the blue, the same 'turtles' were spotted, and the Captain of the Royal Guards got into a defensive stance, but Luna assured it was no threat. The 'turtles' stop, giving some distance between them and the ponies. Luna trotted towards the 'turtles', and Celestia said:
"LULU! WHAT IN EQUESTRIA ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Relax Tia. They are no threat I assure you." Luna replied, still moving towards the Panzers. "Come out of there, men of the Afrika Korps! There is no harm in here for your kind." Immediately, something got on the top of the 'turtles' and got to see a face, a shaved ape face to be exact for the ponies. One after the other come out, revealing many shaved apes, with the supposed leader in front.
"Ah Princess! I do hope you spotted that letter secretly attached on your wings." The leader said.
"Don't worry Rommel. Captain Shining Armor here help me." Luna said, pointing her hoof at the Royal Guard. The creature moved towards Shining, bent down and said:
"Hello Captain Shining Armor. I am Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commanding officer of the Afrika Korps." When Shining heard the creatures rank and name, his jaw dropped to the floor. Nopony got to the rank of Field Marshal before, even today! Punctuated to the fact it's the commanding officer of the so-called 'Afrika Korps', he was more than enough to be afraid with this creature.
"Don't worry. I'm the commanding officer of this group, and I ordered them before to attack if felt threatened." With an assuring sentence in his head, Shining Armor shook off his worries and said:
"Phew. I though all of your men there are dangerous, to say at least with those 'turtles' there." He said, pointing his hoof at the Panzers.
"Oh those. Those are the Panzers, and we owe them." Rommel replied.
"Wait, so they obey your orders?"
"Not really. We operate them you know." The creature replied, taking Shining Armor back.
"Don't worry Shining. It's just that they are professional soldiers of their German-What was that now?" Luna asked.
"German Wehrmacht. Means German Army. We are soldiers of the Afrika Korps, a division of men to fight in the hot deserts of North Africa to say at least."
"Thank you. Now, if we could, I think it's a farewell to these humans."
"Ja. I think we should." The human said, and walking towards his men, and shouted the order:
"MEN! HONORARY GOODBYE SALUTE!" The leader about face and saluted, quickly being followed by the others. The ponies gazed at the humans, looking at exceptional awe at the Afrika Korps. They are very disciplined and well organized, easily surpassing the Royal Guards because of it. After the salute, the leader said:
"Now, in a formal goodbye, we want to go back home in the date what I said in the letter. If one of your spells has it, then fired it at us, because we need to go."
"It's okay Rommel. I know also you want to forget the memories of you and your men in here. I would gladly accept." Luna replied.
"Then so be it." Rommel said, getting the men back to their Panzers and rolling back to their FOB.
'It will be a long day.' Luna chuckled in her mind, making the ponies confused in the matter.