• Published 11th Dec 2018
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A Black Sun Rises - Bronycommander



A month passed since the Adventure of Dinky, Katja and Blau Streifen in Africa. But another, much bigger challenger awaits them on Earth

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Chapter 9 The show

Chapter 9: The show

Everyone groaned as they slowly woke up, feeling slightly numb, having the same thought. I’m…alive?

Dinky held her head as she looked around, finding themselves in what looked like an infirmary. “Where…are we?”

“Ah, you’re awake.” They heard a voice and saw Konrad with his squad mates walking in. “It was a close call. We had overheard one of Böhm’s officers talking about you and got you out just in time.” He sounded relieved.

“Thank you for the help,” Fletcher replied with a smile before noticing that the expressions of his three young friends became slowly one of guilt.

“We’re so sorry, Fletcher…” Dinky lowered her head, sounding sad. “It’s our fault the Angel died…”

In response, Fletcher hugged all three. “Shh, you aren’t to blame, she sacrificed yourself so you could live. I don’t blame you either for being fooled, that you are okay is the only matter for me.”

Dinky sniffed. “…Okay… It’s still sad she died, she inspired so many.”

“Yes, she did. The sacrifice she had made, and news of her death spread like wildfire. I heard in the town of Bitanti, the population had forced us out of the town, and liberating it themselves.” Konrad explained. “And you probably did us all a great favor by stopping Böhm, Fletcher.”

The stallion waved his hoof. “I did only what was necessary to keep the kids safe, Karl had it also made it without me.”

“Can you please say where we are?” Blau interrupted and Karl stepped forward.

“On Sendari, an island to the north of Crete. We have a naval base here. The allies don’t know about it, so we thought this might be a safe place for you.”

“Okay. How did you manage that? You are deployed in Italy, not here.” Katja asked and the officer grinned.

“I have good connections. It's built into the rock, so Allied bombers will have a hard time. Come, we’ll show you around.”

He led them to a balcony, overlooking the interior of the base. A U-boat pen was in the middle of it, a workshop to the far left of it, with an armory to the far right. As usual with a navy base, they saw many navy soldiers patrolling around, but also a few Heer soldiers were guarding it.

As Karl led them outside, the PA system sounded. “And I asked him: ‘Did your mother made your uniform?’ Wait, is this still turned on?” This caused the kids and Fletcher to chuckle.

“Had been funny if this happened to Solomon. Or did it and I can’t remember?” Fletcher mumbled as they get outside, seeing that the base had some connected bridges outside, patrolled by Heer soldiers and Jäger troops.

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful view of the sea.

They spent their time helping out in the base and watching U-boat coming and leaving, until they decided to eat in the cantina.

“It’s pretty nice here, but kinda boring.” Blau sighed. “I wish something exciting would happen."

“I hear you. But at least it’s nice and quiet if you need some rest.” Hans replied as they saw David walking past, carrying what looked like a gramophone, appearing to be wet.

“What happened with that?” Blau asked surprised.

“Found it in a U-bend.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” The colt said, not able to believe what he just heard.

“No joke – someone must have stuffed it down the U-bent,” David replied.

“Ugh. Does it still play a tone?”

“If you want to try it it’s up to you.”

“Uhh, no thanks,” Blau said with slight disgust in his voice.

Suddenly Tim ran in, completely out of breath. “What’s wrong?” Konrad asked him.

“We…got visit…The Führer inspects the base.” He said, trying to catch his breath, everyone looked at him in surprise.

“The Führer? Here?” Hans blinked in disbelief. “Ten Reichsmarks it’s a double, like in Africa?”

“Maybe, but I doubt the trick we used in Berlin will work a second time.” Dinky feared before an announcement was made.

“Attention! The Ceremony is about to begin. The Führer will shortly be in attendance.”

They all walked on the balcony, seeing how the Führer was led by a navy officer, two Jäger as bodyguards behind him, walking up to a podium, a large stone eagle was hanging above it.

What happened next, was nothing anyone could have expected.

The chains holding the Eagle snapped and the Führer looked up in shock before he, the officer and a few unlucky soldiers got crushed under it.

The children gasped in shock at what they just had witnessed.

“No! Kill the Assassin!” The voice on the PA system sounded and an alert with red lights was ringing in the entire base, with all soldiers inside sweeping the base.

“Oh god…” Tim mumbled shocked.

“We better get you out of here, I got a bad feeling about this!” Karl suggested and they all nodded without hesitation, following him to a boat outside.

They barely drove a few meters before a gigantic explosion raged through the base, destroying it completely, sending a few debris towards them.

“Watch out! Katja yelled as a big piece of metal was hurled towards them, Fletcher lit up his horn to brake it’s fall, but it hit them still at a high speed, knocking them instantly out.


“Ugh…not again…” Fletcher mumbled as he woke up, seeing that he and the others were again in an infirmary. Where are we now?”

“At Paestum, outside of Salerno,” Konrad said and they all saw him sitting in a chair next to him. “We got back to Italy after the base got destroyed, being the only survivors.”

“What happened?” Dinky asked him, but able to understand how the base could blow up.

His expression became one of unease. “Well, it appears the safe-fail of the ventilation system was a bit faulty but the base commander didn’t care…until it probably overheated and created a chain reaction.”

“I see. Good thing you reacted so quickly. Can we help you out?”

“Sure thing.” The NCO replied with a smile.

As Fletcher and the kids walked out, they saw that Paestum was a series of Roman ruins, with a communication center in the south, a motor pole in the north, a munitions stockpile stored in the excavation and a temple on a hill.

They Germans were dug-in and well protected among the ruins, so Fletcher and his young friends knew they had a good chance of survival, should the allies attack here.

It slowly became evening and they dinned together. “Get a good sleep, we keep watch.” Konrad said and Fletcher nodded.

“Alright, see you tomorrow.”


None of them could tell how long they had slept before an explosion started them, almost bolting out of their cots. “What the?” Fletcher wondered and grabbed his weapons, running outside with the kids and they saw searchlights pointed towards the sky AA-fire lighting it up too, realizing what was going on.

“So Avalanche has begun.” Fletcher commented as he saw Allied Paratroopers in the sky.

“Yes, it goes as the Allied High Command has planned. Might be better for all of us.” Konrad commented.

“It’ll be all over by Christmas.” David added, sounding rather tired of the war.

“Or us right now!” Katja yelled pointing at a plane that was going down, crashing towards them and they all jumped instinctively out of the way, the explosion was deafening.

“That…was close…” Fletcher said dazed as he looked around, the kids were fine, yet the others were nowhere to be seen and the wreck was on fire, blocking their view of the other side.

The motor pole and munitions were also burning, probably from the Allied paratroopers.

“Look who we got here.” The kids turned around as they recognized the voice, it was the paratrooper known as Travers. “Stay behind me and keep your heads down.” He said, apparently not paying attention to Fletcher and they nodded, hoping Konrad and the others had survived.

They all joined another squad with a radioman, his radio buzzed.

“All Airborne units, enemy radio traffic is heavy. Command has instructed all units to locate and sabotage all enemy communications equipment.”

Let’s go!” Travers said and they all moved out, towards a ruin with Scaffolding around it, propaganda messages echoed from it but all the fighting noise made it unintelligible.

Fletcher and the kids stayed in cover behind the Allied soldiers, hoping none of the German troops were their friends as the Americans slowly gained the upper hand, pushing through to the tent on the other sides were the communication equipment was located.

The tent on the far left had the one they looked for and the paratrooper threw a grenade in, destroying it. “Great work, Travers!” The radioman praised him before his radio buzzed again.

“All units within range of this transmission. Be advised, General Clark has sent a demolitions team up from the beaches. Rendezvous with the friendlies near the amphitheater.”

“Let’s go then!” The radioman ordered ad they all moved out.

It was only a short way and they saw the rounded building, two trucks with ammo crates were parked, before two soldiers jumped behind crates for cover. “Get down!” One of them yelled before the trucks exploded. ”Good work. Now let’s get out of here!” He added before a loud metal clang sound echoed in everyone’s ears and he fell to the ground, his helmet was shot off.

“Where’d that come from?” The radioman asked as Fletcher and the kids got to cover.

“Don’t stop firing! No prisoners!” They heard a German voice and saw Waffen-SS infantry surrounding them from the upper parts of the building.

“We’re outnumbered!” A fellow soldier yelled to the radioman as bullets’ hit the ground near them.

“Stay low everybody. We gotta hold em’ off!” The radioman returned fire, the children pressed themselves against their cover, covering their ears, with Fletcher firing his MP40 blindly to suppress the enemy.

He knew the situation wasn’t the best, but he had to protect the children, no matter what. He had been in worse situations and survived, why shouldn’t he survive this too? He stayed calm, the Americans did too. Dinky looked at her friends with a slightly scared expression, they returned it. They didn’t wanted to die, the words of making no prisoners made them scared they would die, slightly trembling as the bullets hit the ground next to them, but at the same time, they felt safe with Fletcher by their side, even though they were outnumbered. Both sides tried to suppress each other, not moving from their positions.

Out of the corner of his eye, the stallion saw how Travers used this to run up the stairs, flanking the Germans, taking them out with well-placed headshots before they had a chance to react.

Having survived the ambush, the Allied soldiers with their four VIPs then moved towards a big metal gate at the hilltop temple, flak fire could be heard from the other side and one of the soldiers pointed at the gate as two others planted explosives on it.

“There’s our target.” He looked at Travers and the stallion. “Travers and the Green Knight, huh? We hit the beaches yesterday. General Clark sent me and my men here to mark those eighty-eights for destruction. He’s got Warhawks ready and waiting to do a fly-by. You sure know how to fight, care to join us? I guarantee ya, it'll be a blast.”

The American nodded and Fletcher replied, “I’ll do whatever is necessary to keep them safe.” He gave the kids an assuring smile, they returned it before the gate was blown open, blurring their vision and making their ears ring for a moment before the Airborne troops moved in

Dinky and the siblings went behind a fallen over column, pressing themselves against it and shrieked as bullets hit the stone.

“MG42, top of the stairs!” Travers pointed out and Fletcher saw it too as he took cover behind the same pillar.

Switching to his rifle, Fray took aim and fired, the shot throw the SS-soldier backwards, also shooting the helmet off, allowing the Allied troops to push forward.

As it was not their fight, Fletcher and the children stayed back, waiting for a short moment, hearing screams and shots before they saw the paratroopers running towards them. “Get clear!” one of them yelled and they didn’t hesitate.

Just as they reached the end of the stairs, the Warhawks arrived and dropped their bombs, engulfing the temple in a gigantic explosion.

“Okay, the AA guns are destroyed and the area is secure. You all did great.” Travers praised them. “Get some rest, you earned it.”

“You did well, too.” Fletcher replied as he led them to a tent the demolition squad had apparently built up and they all fell asleep fast on the cots, glad it was over for now, yet hoped their German friends were alright.


In the next morning, they breakfasted as they saw Travers, together with the paratrooper that had invited them to join, walking towards them. “Good morning. How is the situation?” Fletcher asked both.

“The enemy is retreating to the north. Our commanding officer is aware of your young friends since Sicily, and for their safety, he has ordered us to escort them out of Italy. With a plane to Africa and there to Britain.” Travers explained to them.

Fletcher and his young friends looked at it each other. It sounded like a good idea, Dinky and the siblings would be safe from the war, and Fletcher could take care of the interference without having to worry about them.

“Okay, led the way.” Fray replied.

“Sure thing. Oh, by the way, I’m Corporal Kish, 36th Infantry Division.” The other man said and only now they realized he had a different uniform, lacking a parachute as he led them to a truck and they got into the back.

It was only a short ride before the truck reached an airfield and they stepped into a plane, together with a few other soldiers, mostly wounded paratroopers, having bandages around their bodies.

“Oh, this will be fun! Remember the airship flight, sis?” Blau asked her with glee and she nodded with a weak smile.

“I do.”

They all got comfortable as the plane took off, leaning back, enjoying the flight. Dinky, Blau and Katja were eager to see Britain, wondering if they could meet William’s family, also hoping he was still alive and doing well.

Fletcher also hoped they would have a great time in Britain, yet a slight worry refused to leave this head. “Are sure this route the pilot takes is safe?” He asked Kish, who nodded.

“The route we take is the same we used to get here, and with the Germans retreating to the north, there is no way of enemy AA guns or fighter planes being a threat.”

“I hope you’re right.” Fletcher replied with unease.

“Hey!” One of the paratroopers spoke up and the others started to look at him with smiles. “I got a good one! Whaddya get when you cross Hitler and a cockroach?” He asked and all waited for the answer.

“You get-“

He never finished as a metal clang sound greeted the ears of everyone and a blood splattered from his forehead, with everyone screaming in shock upon seeing it.

“What was that?” Dinky exclaimed and Katja screamed as more metal clanks followed, pouring holes into the plane, with the sunlight shining through, and Fletcher clutched the screaming kids protectively, casting a shield spell around them.

He did it just in time as the plane got shot up more and everyone safe for them, Travers and Kish got killed, as they were right next to the knight and children, their expressions were also slightly shocked.

Suddenly there was a loud rumble and Kish yelled at the pilot, “What was that?!”

“Just a piece of the tail! I think it’s okay…” The pilot replied before there was a loud groan.

“It’s tearing apart!” Blau yelled as the back of the plane broke in two, he, his sister and Dinky tried to hold on but the G-forces were too much and they got thrown out, screaming.

“No!” Fletcher yelled and grabbed a parachute from one of the dead bodies, jumping after the kids with Kish and Travers.

The children screamed, It felt so natural to scream as their lives flashed before them, the ground coming closer and closer, knowing it was impossible to survive a fall from this height.

“I got you, Dinky!” Fletcher yelled as he felt how he grabbed her in midair, holding her tightly as he opened his parachute, Travers caught Katja, Kish caught Blau.

“Everything’s gonna be fine.” The stallion said as they softly touched the ground, with the children trembling heavily, not responding, just staring.

It seemed like hours before they slowly hugged their saviors. “T-thank you…” Dinky stuttered and Fletcher hugged her back, patting her back.

“Don't worry.” He replied with a smile.

Kish’s expression became one of disgust as he noticed something wet on his clothing, realizing what it was. “Eww, I was carrying you!”

All three children lowered their heads in shame before Travers spoke up. “Hey, would you react different if you had been in their situation?”

Kish thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No, but we should move on.”

“Right.”

They had landed near a country road, moving along it, having no idea where they were or where the next town was. “How…how could this happen?” Dinky wondered.

Travers thought for a moment. “Maybe, the Germans got some hidden AA positions recon didn’t discover. Can’t be our own, they know we were coming. But it’s over now.”

None of them had an idea how long they walked, maybe an hour before a town was visible in the distance. Somehow, it was familiar to the children but they couldn’t tell why.

Only as they came closer they saw it was a coastal town and the kids stared to smile as they realized what the town was.

Bitanti.