//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: The Germans Move // Story: The Night Of Days // by Poodicus //------------------------------// Chapter 3: The Germans Move         The sound of digging could be heard from where Capps was sitting, as he watched over the Germans who were being forced to dig graves for the men who had lost their lives during the night that had just passed them, on a tiny hill not too far from the town. “Dig faster Kraut.” One of the men near Capps yelled at the Germans. Capps continued to watch and saw that a certain purple unicorn was also watching the men dig, with the most quizzical look on her face. He got up from where he was sitting and walked over to her, only to sit down next to her. “What’s wrong?” He asked as he sat down. Twilight was so out of focus with what was going around her watching the men, that she hadn’t noticed Capps walking up to her, making her jump in fright. “Oh! Forgive me Mr…. Um….” “Capps, just call me Capps. Or Cap’n if it makes you feel better.” Capps said with a smirk. “Mr. Capps…. I’m sorry for nearly jumping out of my skin right there, I was just startled at your voice.” Capps shook his head. “It’s alright. Anyways, something on your mind?” He asked. Twilight nodded. “Why is it that the ones in grey are the only ones who are digging? Why aren’t you helping at all?” Capps turned his head back to the men digging and chuckled a bit. “What? What’s so funny?” “Sorry, sorry, forgive me.” Capps said as he covered his mouth and waved his hand while calming himself down. “The reason I guess I was laughing is because, well, they’re digging because we told them to.” “Yes, but why?” “Why? Well, because their prisoners.” “Prisoners? What did they do?” Capps took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering. “They fought for the enemy and surrendered to us, making them prisoners of war.” “War?” Twilight asked, and Capps nodded. “What’s that?” Before he could answer though, Capps was called by one of the privates. “Hey Cap’n! They need ya at CP!” “Alright! Be right there!” Capps yelled back as he waved his hand. He then turned to Twilight and apologized. “Sorry, guess I’m going have to answer your question another time.” Twilight frowned a bit, sad that she couldn’t learn something new right away, but decided to let him go. “Alright then, I hope to hear about it soon.” Capps smiled and nodded, then got up and began to run towards Town Hall, where the Americans had set up temporarily a command post. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~         “… Dietrich.” “Yes Jürgen?” “Go out there and check to see if there are any Americans around.” Jürgen said as he pointed in the direction in front of him, as he hid behind some sandbags at his post, holding the MG42 that was given to them and looking down its sights. “No way, you do it!” “Would you two please shut up?” A third voice spoke, making the two Germans look behind them. It was their comrade Hans, sitting behind some sand bags on the opposite side of them, reading his favorite book. “With the amount of noise you two are making we won’t need to go out looking for the Americans.” “How can you be so relaxed Hans? We have no idea where we are, our comrades are being killed right now as we speak either by the Americans or by the weird animals in this damn forest! I mean, look at poor Josef over there!” Dietrich exclaimed as he pointed to a statue made out of stone that looked just like their friend. “Poor bastard never saw it coming.” Jürgen commented. “None of us did, who knew a snake with a chicken’s head could do something like that?” “He’s better off dead, both for me and him. He doesn’t have to put up with this bullshit anymore and I no longer have to drink his shitty coffee.” Hans said, before setting down his book and getting up with his Gewehr 43 semi-automatic rifle. “I’m going to go take a piss. You two keep your eyes peeled for anything moving down that clearing.” As Hans walked a little ways away from the post, he unzipped his pants and began to relieve himself of his stress. After doing so, he zipped his pants back up and began to walk back to the post, when he heard a voice call to him. ‘Come to the ruins.’ It said. Hans quickly brought his gun to his hands as he began to scan the area for anything that might have been suspicious. “Hello?” He said out loud, seeing if anyone would respond, but he didn’t get one. “Huh, must have been my imagination.” He said to himself as he strapped his gun back around his shoulder, only to bring it back into hands seconds later. ‘Come to the ruins.’ The same voice repeated. Again, Hans brought his gun to his hands. “Alright, who’s out there?!” He demanded as he continually scanned the area, but again, got no response. He began to back away slowly, back to his post, and when he finally got back, he saw that Jürgen and Dietrich were arguing with each other. “What are you two idiots up to?” “Hans! Dietrich won’t admit that he said something in a creepy voice and it’s calling me a liar!” “You are a liar! I didn’t say anything!” “What are you two, five?” Hans asked with a disgusted look on his face. ‘How did I ever get stuck with such idiots?’ “Stop bickering like a couple of schoolgirls and go back to watching the clearing.” It was then that the voice came back. ‘Come to the ruins.’ It repeated once more. Hans quickly scanned the entire area once more, gun in hands, when Jürgen spoke. “See! You did it again!” Hans turned to Jürgen and spoke. “What do you mean ‘he did it again’? What did he say?” “He said ‘Come to the ruins’ in that really creepy voice again!” Jürgen replied. “Is that right….” Hans said quietly to himself as he looked at the two with suspicion. ‘So it’s not just me, huh?’ Once again, the voice spoke, but this time, a dark marking on the ground was made, almost as if it was a line that it wanted the Germans to follow, as it went down the open clearing. ‘Come to the ruins.’ “What’s that?” Jürgen asked as he looked at the dark line. “Maybe the voice wants us to follow it…. Go follow it Jürgen.” Dietrich told his friend. “What? No way, you do it!” “Shut up! Both of you!” Hans said in a hushed but angered tone. “All three of us are going to follow it. Whatever is calling for us obviously wants us to follow the line.” “What if it’s another animal that wants to kill us? Huh?” Dietrich joked. “Who’s the idiot now?” “That’s why you two are coming with me.” Hans replied with a grin. “Now get up!” He said as he pulled the two off the ground by the collars of their neck, then reached down and picked up their guns, handing them over to their owners. Hans began to walk down the line with gun in hand, Dietrich and Jürgen quietly but reluctantly following. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~         As Capps entered the town hall, he heard one of two Lieutenants talking to somebody, but he didn’t know who. “And so during the evacuation, we also need to transport the PoWs, otherwise they might sabotage our efforts of defending this town against the Germans.”  Capps went to door that he heard the voices from and knocked on the door that was wide open. “Sergeant Major Capps reporting.” Capps said as he saluted the soldiers inside the town hall, when he saw a large white horse with both a unicorn’s horn and the wings of a pegasus. “Glad you could make it Sergeant Major.” One of the two Lieutenants inside the room that were present as well said as he saluted back. He then pointed to the white horse. “Allow me to introduce you. This is the ruler of this land, Princess Celestia.” The Princess bowed a bit and smiled at Capps. “It’s very nice to meet you.” Capps saluted the Princess and nodded as well. “Same goes for me Princess.” The Lieutenant that hadn’t spoken earlier finally spoke up. “Before you got here Sergeant, we were debriefing the Princess here about the current situation. As we stated before-“ He then pointed his finger down on a map in front of them. Capps guessed it was a layout of the town and the area around it. “It’s most likely that the Germans, if they attack at all, will be attacking from the west, coming out of the forest. We only have five MG’s that we’ve captured from the Germans, each with about 250-500 bullets, considering how many belts they came with.” He then pointed to five separate spots on the map. “These are the places that I think would benefit the most from having MG’s.” “We are also in the process of making sure that the town gets evacuated, as we were also able to capture a German mortar, meaning they could have more and could be able to fire them non-stop into the town. It’s also possible that they might have artillery.” The first Lieutenant said, then turned to Princess Celestia. “Is that alright Princess?” The Princess nodded. “I shall make sure that the evacuation process to Canterlot begins immediately. I thank you for doing this.” “It’s no problem Princess, it’s what we do.” The first Lieutenant smiled and nodded back. He then turned to Capps. “Sergeant.” “Sir.” “Do you remember the companies we placed under you for this fight?” “Yes sir.” Capps said as he nodded. “But I don’t understand why you want me to lead.” “You might have not notice Sergeant, but we’re short on officers at the moment. Believe it or not, you’re the fifth highest-ranking officer in town. Well then, I want you to go and take all of the men who are in those companies and have them set up in these positions.” The first Lieutenant said as he pointed to the map. “The fallback lines shall be here, here, and here.” Again, pointing to the positions, each getting closer to the center of the town. Capps saluted once more. “Sir.” And then began to walk out of the room, leaving the Lieutenants and the Princess to continue to talk about the evacuation. After half an hour of assembling the companies under his command, Capps had positioned himself in one of the houses. Despite being told otherwise by the command post, Capps stayed, not because he liked killing or war, but because if his brothers were to die on the frontlines, then he should be there for them. He sat in one of the two story houses, Henderson and Danny who had come into town early that morning, along with two other soldiers he didn’t know. “Cap’n?” Danny spoke up. “Yeah Danny?” Capps answered, his back leaning up against a wall as Danny and Henderson were near the window, surveying the area outside. “Do you really think they would attack? I mean, why wouldn’t they just leave the forest through some other way?” Capps let out a breath through his nose. “The forest is surrounded by mountains on all three sides; this town is the only thing that isn’t blocking it. They have nowhere else to go besides here.” “I see…. Cap’n?” “Hmm?” “How do we know they’ll attack as a single group? Rather than coming in through like they did last night?” “We’re going to be using the Kraut mortar to launch a flare up into the air, possibly at night, and we’ll keep doing it until every single Kraut comes out of that forest.” Capps answered. “Why night? Wouldn’t that make it harder to see them then?” Henderson asked. “Yes, but we won’t be doing it until much later tonight, maybe a few hours before the sun rises, that way it’ll be a while before they would actually get to town.” Capps explained. “Oh, alright….” Henderson said, before focusing back on surveying the area outside with Danny. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~         The Germans had finally reached the end of the line, and saw that they were lead to the ruins of what looked like an old castle to them. “Do you think we should go inside?” Dietrich asked. “Whatever brought us here obviously does want us to go inside.” Jürgen responded. “Shut up you two, keep your voices down.” Hans snapped at them, when he began to hear voices coming from the ruins. “Do you idiots hear that?” Indeed, all three began to hear voices coming from inside the ruins, making them curious and check it out. What they saw inside surprised them, as they saw not just a few soldiers, but perhaps half of the 352nd Infantry Division. “Well… guess I’m glad we’re not the only ones.” Jürgen commented as he saw the men. The three began to walk inside the large hall that the men were in and began to mingle with the group, thinking they could learn something, when a large voice coming from what Hans guessed was the throne, getting everyone’s attention and silencing them. “Ah, it seems everyone is here.” A large black cloud seemed to say. At first the men were startled and surprised at the cloud, both for not seeing it even manifest at the throne, and more importantly, for speaking. “Did… Did that cloud just speak?” One of the many men asked out loud. “Yes, well, I would have preferred a more appropriate form mind you, but due to unseen circumstances on my part, I was weakened by some pesky ponies and their so called “Elements of Harmony”. But enough about that, as I’m sure you all wondering why you are here and why I am able to speak.” The cloud replied. Everyone inside the room was already stunned by the fact that the cloud was talking that nobody could ask what was going on. “Right, well then, who here is the highest ranking among you?” The cloud asked the group, and the men began to look around, both confused as to why it would ask such a thing, when suddenly, one of the men in the group raised his hand. “I believe that is me.” The man said as he got in front of the group and onto the steps leading up to the throne, standing as proud as he could be. Indeed, he had looked very different from the men in the group, as instead of wearing a helmet, he wore a cap, and instead of wearing multiple weapons, he wore medals decorating his chest for various accomplishments, and even looked older than the others, quite possibly in his 30’s or maybe even 40’s. “Hauptmann Lutz Eisenberg.” “I see…. Very well then Mr. Eisenberg, I suppose you and your brethren are doing here in this world?” The cloud asked, and Eisenberg nodded. “If you would be so kind to tell us.” “Very well, I suppose you deserve that much. You see, the truth is I was the one who had brought you all here, with the most unfortunate fact that your enemies had come along for the ride. You see, your human mind might not be able to comprehend something like this, but the truth of the matter of fact is that I am far older than any of you could hope to achieve. Nearly 1,000 years ago, I was imprisoned by somebody that I wish to be dead. That is where you and your fellow men come in.” The cloud then began to swirl around in a circle near the throne, where by doing so, somehow had projected an image using its magic to show the Germans of what had happen. “You see, the being that has destroyed my efforts of world domination over and over has been her… Princess Celestia.” The Germans saw a white horse inside the image, covered in jewels, but what stood out the most to them was that it had both a horn and wings. “You see-“ The cloud continued. “I am quite sure you have figured out that this world is not like your own. Here, fairy tales from your world are reality, and some of those said fairy tales, unicorns and pegasi to be precise, rule these lands, with their goddess of a Princess ruling over them.” “You said you brought us here.” The Hauptmann interrupted. “I suppose it’s because you wish for us to dispose of her because you cannot do it alone?” If the cloud could smile, it would have. “You catch on very quick Mr. Eisenberg. Yes, indeed, I have brought you here just for that matter because of the fact that nobody in this world is capable of the destruction of your race.” The cloud began to swirl again to show them another image. It was the image of a town nearby. “Your enemies are set up here, and are anticipating your arrival soon. Along with the help of Princess Celestia, they tend to stop you from doing any damage to her kingdom. I intend to stop just that. All I ask is for you to pledge your undying loyalty to me.” “Interesting….” The Hauptmann said as he pulled out his Luger and began to examine it, seeing if it was working properly. “Tell me Herr…” “Nightmare.” The cloud answered. “You may call me Nightmare.” “Herr Nightmare… I wish to know two things. One, which way is said town?” “The town is to the east of here.” Nightmare answered. “I see… And tell me, you say you are weak right now. Does that mean that the form you are in right now is, let’s say, your physical form?” “Well, yes, but I do not understand-“ But the Nightmare was cut off as Hauptmann Eisenberg began to unload the cartridge of bullets from his Luger into the Nightmare, hoping it would work. Much to both his surprise and delight, it did work, as the Nightmare began to bleed from the holes that the Hauptmann had created. After the cartridge was out of bullets, and the Nightmare heavily wounded, Eisenberg spoke. “Remember this Nightmare, we are Germans, the only ones we give our loyalty to are the Fatherland and to the Führer.” “Y-You bastard.” The Nightmare exclaimed as it coughed up blood from the mouth it had created. “Y-You’ll p-pay for this!” And with that, the Nightmare flew out of the ruins, hoping to rest up and heal itself for a later date, before it would bleed to death. Hauptmann Eisenberg turned to the men and spoke. “Men! Today is a glorious day for the Fatherland! Today! We start our voyage of taking these lands in the name of Germany! Heil Hitler!” He saluted to the men, who saluted back. “Heil Hitler!” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alright, sorry about if this chapter seems rushed, as I was sort of having a writer’s block as I couldn’t really think of anything. Yes, there are a few things in here that will make you go “Wait, that doesn’t make any sense.” or “How the hell does that work?” in which I reply with “Piss off, I’m tired and wasn’t able to think of anything.” Fun Fact about this chapter: While in the middle of writing it, I took a ten minute break so I wouldn’t burn out and began to surf Youtube for anything I could watch. Sure enough, I actually remembered I ended up favoriting a scene from a certain childhood movie that I absolutely love, even to this day, and would constantly rewatch the movie over and over just for that certain scene (Why? Because I was too stupid at that time to realize that you could also rewind a VCR to a certain point, rather than needing to rewind the entire movie and rewatch it xD) Anyways, that movie? Walt Disney’s 1971 Live Action/Animated film, “Bedknobs and Broomsticks”. The scene I enjoy watching the movie over and over for? Near the end where the main character (A witch) brings to life suits of armor in a museum to fight off the evil Nazis who have secretly invaded England and have set up a base there. Alright, that does it for me. Good Night.