Welcome to the new colossus

by Bronycommander

Chapter 5 Burning up

Chapter 5: Burning up

Dinky stirred in her sleep, yawning and stretching herself, seeing that Johann had already left for work.

The sun was rising, it was a wonderful sight, the child enjoyed every second of it.

Then she took notice of a bowl of oatmeal with a glass of apple juice and an apple on the table, with a small sign and a postcard next to it.

I made you breakfast.

Johann

She smiled at this, enjoying her meal while she read the postcard, which showed Earth and the Reich’s motto, “One world, one future, one Führer!”

Dear Dinky,

Thank you for the postcard! I’m doing well and so does mother. Whenever I look at the night sky, I know you up there, somewhere in the universe. I already miss you.

I can’t complain about Mesquite, it’s pretty nice here. I have heard they want to make a movie about Blazkowicz, so there are much more soldiers present than in Roswell.

No matter how long it will take until you can go home, I stay by your side, that’s what friends do. Looking forward to read your next postcard.

Peter

The unicorn grinned, pleased to hear he was doing well, wanting to reply but couldn’t figure out what she could write as response.

Maybe watching some TV or listen to music will help.

The girl got comfortable on the couch and turned the TV on, it showed a news report.

“In other news, the Minister of Public Security, General Engel has resolved to clean up the streets of America from quote all criminal and terrorist elements.” the news speaker announced.

the picture switched to the woman. “The terrorist attack on Roswell was a wake-up call to the American people. We are not as safe as we think we are.”

“Later tonight, we interview Lady Helene herself about the upcoming movie, the most expensive production in cinematic history chronicling the hunt and capture of Terror-Billy. We will ask Lady Helene the most pressing question of all. Who will play Terror-Billy? Can any actor truly channel the pure evil of one of history’s greatest mass murders?”

The filly switched the TV off, no longer able to hear this propaganda. William had killed many Germans, but he wasn’t evil. Still, he had to agree with the movie being the most expensive, given how long he had managed to avoid capture.

To get her head free, the filly used her magic to turn the radio on. It played The Comet Tails – Weltraumsurfen, a song about surfing in space, with Germans being the best surfers.

While it wasn’t her taste, she bobbed her head to it, kinda enjoying the melody, reminding her of the stunts the Wonderbolts did.

In the moment the song ended, the door opened and Jonas walked in. “Good morning, Jonas.” She greeted with a smile, happy to see him.

“Morning Dinky, I hope you have slept well?” The girl nodded. “Glad to hear it. I made you an Atmospheric Suit, in case you should land on the surface. Would you try it on?”

The suit looked identical to the protection suits the soldiers were wearing, except it had a helmet with visor, fitting perfectly. Of course, Jonas thought to include her tail and horn. “It fits perfectly, thank you. Can I help you with something?” She asked him eagerly.

“I like your helpfulness but no, there’s nothing at the moment you could help with. Johann and Günther are patrolling the surface near the Oberkommando. If you like, I could saw you it.”

“Great Idea!” She exclaimed, flowing him to the transport pod.

“I’ll go first. Using it is very simple, just provide credential at the terminal.” Jonas stepped in.

“Okay.” She replied as he demonstrated for her, the pod closed and moved out of view.

A few minutes later, it came back, opening. “Transport capsule ready for boarding.” A computer voice notified her as she stepped in, having to stand on her hind legs.

“Please provide credential.” A deep computer voice said to her as the door closed.

Dinky then noticed that she wouldn’t be able to use the terminal with hooves, lighting up her horn to tip in the credential.

Without warning, the terminal sparkled, causing her to yelp as she startled. What the?

“Warning, malfunction. Navigational systems corrupted…Initiating emergency drop…” the computer voice glitched before she felt how the pod got thrown out like a rocket.

She wasted no time to hold on into something, shutting her eyes tight, bracing for the impact. Hoping she would survive this.

“Touchdown in T minus 3…2….1…”

The landing was rough, she grunted in pain as the pod hit the ground hard.

A warning tone echoed in her ears, the door had been fallen off from the impact, only the glass was remaining, lightly cracked.

Knowing she had to get out of here, Dinky lighted up her horn, firing a spell that was meant for non-lethal self-defense but could break glass, having it learned from Sparkler.

As she jumped out, she immediately felt the brutal heat and heavy air, it was like Ponyville in August.

The emergency radio hadn’t survived the impact, only pieces were left.

Dinky looked at the coolant display, it was full but slowly draining.

She had to make it back inside or to a coolant recharging station in time or she would immediately die of overheating when the coolant was empty.

The filly walked through a tunnel-shaped rock, her eyes went wide in awe upon seeing the transport hall from the outside, a big facility with the sun rising in the background, it just looked beautiful.

While the suit kept her alive and cool, the extreme heat made her body sweat, running down her mane.

I feel like I’m burning up. I definitely need a shower or bath after this.

Under her was a catwalk with a recharging station, so she climbed down the rocks, spotting something in the distance at the other end of it.

It appeared to be the unicorn robot, having his back to her, seemingly unaffected by the hostile environment. Strangely, he stood on his hind legs for a few seconds, waved his forelegs fourth and back, before getting down.

Upon turning around and seeing her, he moved towards the filly in a quick sprint, making her fearing he might see her as intruder, trembling.

“Are you lost?” The robotic stallion asked, surprising her.

“Uh…yes, the capsule I used had a malfunction and dropped me on the surface.”

“I see. Please follow me, your safety is important.”

A beeping sound ringed in Dinky’s helmet, slowly increasing in speed, the outside of her vision becoming red/orange.

She gasped as the coolant was almost empty. Had she been staring at the robot for minutes?

Luckily, a recharging station was right next to her, but she was too short to use it. The filly pointed to the station. “Could you give me a hoof, please?”

“Affirmative.” The stallion replied, his forehooves transformed into hands, gently picking the filly up, holding her up, so she could use the recharging station, taking the pump nozzle and sticking it into the opening of the supply system of her suit, the warning sound stopped and her vision became clear again.

As this was down, she followed the robot across the catwalk to a small hill where a Zitadelle patrolled the area, the unicorn exchanged low pitched sounds with it, probably to tell Dinky was not to be harmed she assumed before getting led into an airlock, the cool air being very pleasant for her.

This part of the facility appeared to be a repair shop for the rover vehicles of the Germans, the soldiers were informed of her presence but surprised to see her on the surface.

The two walked to a commander. “She got separated from her father due to a malfunction of the transportation capsule.” The stallion reported.

“I understand. Escort her to the living quarters of the Oberkommando, I’ll inform the Erstecommander.” The officer replied.

“Of course.”

The filly’s escort led her to another airlock, the heat was there again as they stepped outside.

The robot helped her again with the recharging station as they had walked up the catwalk halfway. The next airlock led to what seemed to be a room with Atmospheric Suits hang up in dressers at the wall, the filly took notice of a completely quadrupedal machine, looking like a dog with a single red eye patrolling the room.

They had to step out and walk up another catwalk to get to the lobby.

Inside, a few engineers crossed their way, wearing green uniforms with hats and glasses.

The foal saw also small robots driving around, making electronic noises, looking like a vacuum cleaner. Dinky had been told those were protocol robots, making her wonder why they then looked like mobile vacuum cleaners.

She got to an elevator, enjoying the view of the surface and city in the sky as it drove up.

After the elevator came a small Science Lab, the scientists were too focused on their work to notice their visitors.

The airlock at the other side, led to an area being under construction but was still walkable, the soldiers not bothered by Dinky had all, greeting her friendly.

Once at the other side, the two ponies entered, coming finally to the living quarters of the Oberkommando.

Another commander crossed their way. “You must be Dinky, right?” she nodded. “I will take care of you until Johann arrives.”

“Thank you, sir. Is there a shower? I would need one.”

“Of course.” They were right next to the living quarters. As there were only male soldiers, the filly felt a bit uncomfortable about this. “Don’t worry, we keep watch.” The man assured her.

“Okay.” She took the suit off and walked in, the shower room was empty.

Dinky turned on the shower, adjusted the temperature, then took position under the warm stream of water. She let out a sigh of relief with a happy and satisfied expression as the water washed away the sweat, lifting her head and looking directly into the stream, she let it flow over her face and her closed eyes.

After that, she proceeded with shampooing her whole body, being covered in shampoo from the tip of her horn to the end of her tail, she turned on the shower again, having to grumble as she had to adjust the temperature again, then began with washing the shampoo off.

She was in a world of bliss as the water flow over the rest of her mane, her back and the upper side of her tail. Halfway through the process, she turned to face the stream again and got up on her hind legs, making sure the water would reach the lower part of her chest, her underbelly and her lower abdomen. Finally, she turned around a last time, bent down a little and raised her flank. Lifting her tail out of the way, she let the water stream over her rear, cleaning it too.

Feeling refreshed, the unicorn turned the shower off, grabbed a towel and rubbed herself dry. “Much better.”

Stepping outside, the officer said, “Your father will arrive in a few minutes, to pass the time, would you like some music? I can play the Theremin.”

She knew what a Theremin was, an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the thereminist. “Sounds good to me.”

She followed the commander to his living quarters, the robot followed too, standing guard outside the door.

As Dinky took a seat, the German started to play.

She couldn’t describe what he played, it was nice but kinda spooky with the high-pitched tone.

After he was done, the filly applauded. “That was nice.”

“Thank you, took me years to master it.”

The door opened and Johann walked it, looking very relieved. “Can’t say how happy I am to see you’re okay, I feared the worst after I heard the capsule had a malfunction.”

“I’m sorry that you got scared.” The filly lowered her head in shame.

“There is no need to be sorry, Dinky, it was an accident,” Bauer replied to cheer her up, giving her a hug, then turned to the commander. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He replied.

“Well, perfect timing, one of the lead scientists wants to demonstrate the other model,” James said as he and Jonas joined them.

The group together with the green pony got to the labs, where they saw a man in a white lab coat, having brown hair and green eyes, a scar over the left eye, having a broad face and average build.

He seemed to be quite aged, in his late forties at least.

Once he looked at his visitors, Dinky couldn’t help but feel fear as his expression was cold, like Deathshead.

“Welcome, gentlemen. I’m pleased to see you all present for this demonstration.” He greeted them with a British accent in his German.

“I hope this will be worth my time, Dr. Lyle Richmond,” James said unimpressed.

“Of course, Herr Erstecommander. You already have seen the Ulor model. For this test, I wanna thank General Engel for providing me with volunteers.”

The steel plate covering the window to the test room slid open, revealing two men, one being Caucasian, the other one was African-American, both restrained on chairs, eyes downcast, like they had given up all hope, making Dinky feel sorry for them.

The scientist pressed a button, activating an intercom. “Gentlemen, you are given the chance of freedom and prove your worth for the Reich. Defeat my newest robot and you are given granted your freedom.” He pressed another button, the men got released and a weapon locker opened, containing an MP61 and Assault Rifle.

The African-American took the Assault Rifle, the other man the SMG.

“Now, witness my newest, creation, the knight of fire, of the sun!” He announced proudly, as a gate opened and metallic sounds could be heard, the shadow of a unicorn became visible.

“Ihr seit Asche!” came a robotic-sounding yell from it as its weapon became visible, a compact and conventional version of the Dieselgewehr.

Dinky’s eyes went wide as the unicorn stepped out of the shadows.

A stallion in dazzling golden armor and a trailing gown of white with ribbons of saffron, ochre and crimson, having a collar made of giant dove wings and the back of his shoulder pads curved upwards into a great arch above him like a halo, his hooves being made of brass, making a clang with every step.

But most fascinating was the head.

There was no visible face, instead, the robot had a golden mask of a tranquil, cherubic young steed.

“Give him hell!” The Caucasian man shouted, firing his weapon together with the African-American at the stallion, the bullets bounced harmless off.

They both looked at each other in despair, then fired again at the robot until they ran out of ammo.

Dinky closed her eyes, Johann hugged her tightly, looking away as both knew what would happen now.

The stallion closed slowly in, his weapon raised, both men stepped back in fear until they were trapped against a wall.

It seemed like hours as the unicorn had concerned them, at his mercy, until a hissing sound came from his weapon.

Screams of pain echoed as the robot unleashing a steady stream of fire, the yellow/orange color reflecting in his armor, the 2 men rolling around until they stopped screaming, having died a painful death.

The stallion then saluted before walking out of the room.

“I call this one the Black Sun Sentinel, named after the same project the Germans did years ago.” The doctor told with pride and satisfaction.

Dinky looked at James, he was hiding his fear and disgust well. “I see. What’s the purpose of this one?”

“Well, while the Panzerhund is very effective in clearing out enemies. It has, despite having the smartest non-human intelligence in existence, problems to acquire targets hiding in buildings too small for it to reach, so I finished General Strasse’s project by creating those two robots.

The Sentinel is slow but heavily armored as you have seen, and can switch between a steady stream of fire or fireballs to acquire targets at short range as well as at long range.”

“A clever idea. I hope for your sake we don’t have to make more field tests.” James’s expression was neutral but sounded slightly disgusted.

Dinky just trembled, how could the scientist be proud of killing humans in such a cruel way? She wanted to protest but couldn’t get out a single world.

“It wouldn’t matter, those subhumans are replaceable, I’m confident the Oberkommando will appreciate my work.” Richmond sounded like he had enjoyed watching them burn.

“I will inform my superiors about it.” Günther just replied.

Johann carried her in his arms as they left, hearing Lyre mumbling, “Getting learned by General Strasse himself sure has paid off.”

The filly sobbed, not able to bear this kind of cruelty.

“Why? How could he do this?” She cried in shock.

Her father patted her. “Shh, calm down. It’s sadly so in this world, only those who are seen “fit” are allowed to live.”

It pained the German-American to see the child so sad, then he got an idea of how he could cheer her up. “Could you come with me to my quarter?”

“Uh…sure,” Johann asked surprised.

In his Quarter, James opened a safe, containing several antiques from American history, fascinating Bauer quite a bit.

“Every single one of them was recovered from a sunken ship of the US Navy, I guess they wanted to bring it to a safer place. Such beautiful art would have been destroyed in anyone else's hands. Now, where is…Ah, there it is.”

He got out what appeared to be a small ceramic figure of a unicorn striking a heroic pose, with a Pegasus doing the same pose next to it. “While it is unknown where the unicorn had its origin in the Human culture and the Pegasus having its origin in Greek mythology, the American art really understood to make it beautiful. I thought you should have this, Dinky.”

The filly slowly started to smile, it reminded her of her mother and sister. And a bit of her father as he dreamed sometimes about being a unicorn. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.” He returned it.

As the filly and young man walked out, they noticed another commander walking into James’ quarters, looking not very pleased to see the antiques. “Did you just give a child…this…?”

“Yeah, what’s the big deal? I just keep it in a place of honor.” James replied calmly, yet Dinky noticed in his eyes that he was rather annoyed by this.

“Why do you even bother with this primitive, worthless statue of phantasy?” His comrade asked slightly aggressive.

“It’s not worthless at all, but a priceless piece of American culture.”

“We should just destroy this piece of Yankee trash!” The officer yelled.

In a blink of an eye, Jessie had grabbed him by the collar with an angry grunt.

Dinky and Johann stared in shock at him, seeing the fear in the commander’s eyes as James let out a hiss.

After a short moment, he let his fellow officer go. “My apologies, commander Müller. I forgot not everyone is able to appreciate art as I do. Now, if you excuse me, I’ll escort our guests back to their living quarters.”

“Sorry for my outburst, I just can’t stand it when someone insults such beauty. I may have immigrated to Germany but I still care for America.” James said, his head lowered.

“It’s okay, everypony has such moments,” Dinky replied, not blaming him at all.

Back at their quarter, the filly put the statue on the table then climbed into the bed, feeling tired.

Before drifting away, she looked at it, hoping her family would find her soon.