CMC Watch Bedtime Stories

by Lord Blundergosh

For Whom The Bell Tolls: Mysteries of the Third Reich Part Two

All three Crusaders were visibly puzzled by the story’s opening illustration. Illuminated with what appeared to be two spotlights shining from their own corners at the top of the room, a strange and massive bell-shaped machine stood in the center of some sort of laboratory or warehouse. If one were to ask them to guess what this thing was even for, they probably wouldn’t even know where to begin, truly it was a device that didn’t belong anywhere except science fiction. Besides the shape, it’s strangest feature was the bright lens or disk placed in its center; with a little imagination, one could almost call it an eye that was intently analyzing the viewer.

The narrator began explaining how the “German war machine’s” efforts to turn the tide of the conflict in its favor gave way to numerous tales involving advanced and dangerous weaponry. However, amidst the rumors of alien technology and paranormal experimentation, one story in particular stands out. A tale of a mysterious machine, the ultimate purpose of which remains an enduring enigma. What was Die Glocke?

“Ah wonder, is this German war machine supposed ta be their leader?”

As Apple Bloom said this, for whatever reason, she automatically became fascinated by the idea that these Germans were some sort of machine worshippers. Her mind pictured a large gathering of humans surrounding and bowing before the large, bell-shaped machine. Her daydreaming was interrupted almost as soon as it began once Scootaloo responded.

“But I thought that Hitler guy was supposed to be the King?”

“Well, what else is the German war machine suppose’ ta be? Think it might be their top general at least?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s just a cooler way of describing the German military.”, Sweetie Belle answered.

After the ever familiar intro had finished, the girls were shown an image of a human wearing a strange-looking helmet that covered his ears and wielding an unfamiliar, elongated instrument in his hands. Something about the way he stood outside the barbed wire told the trio that he was guarding the building that was on the other side, whose front had sort of an apple-slice shape in Apple Bloom’s eyes. This building was apparently a testing facility situated a short distance away from the “Czechoslovakian” border; it was known to its inhabitants as “Der Riese”, which translates to the “The Giant”. The soldiers stationed there had little knowledge about what the scientists in charge were working on, other than that it was rumored to possess the potential to turn the tide of the war. The soldiers were both well-equipped and provisioned, to a higher standard than much of the Wehrmacht but few of them had seen active service.

“Is that really how Germans pronounce their W’s? How do you get a V sound out of that?”, Sweetie Belle puzzled.

“That’s another fun word these Germans got. I mean, say out it loud if you wanna get what I mean.”

Apple Bloom tried to do as Scootaloo suggested.

“Vaaair-macked…?”

Scootaloo visibly cringed as the word left Apple Bloom’s mouth. The way it was mispronounced and butchered in the farm filly’s country accent really sucked the cool out of it.

“Never mind.”

Most of the soldiers on site had spent much of their short military careers protecting secret projects such as this. The sound of the artillery fire that was gradually creeping closer and closer was causing them no small amount of anxiety. The Crusaders for a second got a taste of that anxiety when they heard some distant booms from outside. Thankfully, they quickly realized that sound wasn’t canons like they thought, but was just the sounds of thunder that had been popping in and out of their evening.

“With how all these lightning strikes have been timed, you have to wonder if the weather team is secretly screwing with us.”, Scootaloo grumbled as she turned back to the orb.

“It’s amazing that we keep forgetting about the storm outside.”

While Sweetie Belle finished that last remark, the narrator detailed how the scientists went about their work in a deliberate and methodical fashion behind the perimeters of overlapping barbed-wire fences and reinforced concrete machine-gun nests. Their concerns over the approaching Russians was only secondary. Wanting to understand the humans’ Second World War, Apple Bloom had been trying to keep track of these countries relationships to one another. It was then that she noticed one thing the Soviets and Americans had in common: they apparently both fought the Germans.

“Wait, so does that mean the Russians n’ Americans were fighting on the same side in World War Two? They made it seem like in they were enemies in the first part, though.”

Meanwhile, the scientists were apparently working with highly volatile materials that bore a far greater threat to their lives if mishandled than any advancing army. Inside the main hangar of the testing facility, new test subjects were ushered into a room with the massive bell-shaped machine, which had a guard standing on either side of it this time. They were referred to by those in charge as “volunteers”, but in reality, the only reason they were here was because the alternative would have been a long crop from the end of a short rope. Few things in life motivated an individual more than the prospect of a death sentence.

At the mention of hanging, Sweetie Belle began unconsciously rubbing around her own throat. As someone who wasn’t around forty years ago when Equestria still had capital punishment, Apple Bloom couldn’t help but find these German’s practice of threatening prisoners with death unless they participated in a potentially lethal experiment barbaric. Scootaloo, for her part, had more mixed feelings on the matter.

“I mean, how bad were these guys’ crimes? Cause if these guys really do deserve death anyway, then maybe this experiment isn’t so wrong.”, she thought with an uncharacteristically low amount of confidence in her reasoning.

Once the last of the test subjects were ushered in, the guards retreated, locking the doors behind them as they withdrew. High up above, in the viewing platform, the assembled scientists and military officers looked on dispassionately as the small throng of men made their way through the sprawling interior towards odd-looking bell-shaped object in the center. Momentarily, a technician threw the switch, which activated a nearby power source and after a few moments, a faint thrumming noise could be heard coming from inside the strange object. The men standing close to it glanced nervously at one another as the sound began to grow in both volume and intensity. From their elevated position, the observers noticed the air immediately around the object begin to shimmer and blur.

The Crusaders found themselves straitening in attention and leaning forward as they heard how one of the volunteers suddenly dropped to the floor, his legs buckling beneath him. He had made no sound as he had fallen, but his collapse caused the others to cry out in a mixture of fear and surprise. All three fillies then winced as the orb played the cries of these men, except they sounded not like screams of fear, but ones of sheer agony. This seemed to be confirmed by the screen showing one man howling to the heavens above while another was appeared to be clasping onto his own head as if something was trying to burst from it.

It was described how some of the test subjects began backing away from the object, whilst others bolted back towards the doors. The incessant vibrations had continued to increase, and more of the panicked men began to stumble and fall. After a few minutes, it was all over, with the last of the test subjects now lying motionless on the ground. The trio of fillies gawked at the grim sight of the volunteers’ bodies laying in the puddles of their own blood. Of course, none of them had a clue on what even just happened; the subjects were let into the chamber, the strange bell-shaped machine was activated, then the men all screamed in agony and the next moment they were all inexplicably dead. They could at least tell that the machine itself caused this, that much was obvious.

The signal to cut the power was given and the deafening hum began to subside. As the soldiers re-entered the hangar and set about recovering the liquefied bodies that now lay scattered around, several technicians in white lab coats made their way directly towards the object. A glass cylinder of dark red fluid was removed from inside and whisked away for further analysis. They considered the results of the experiment to be mixed. Hearing this caused Apple Bloom to snap out of her shock and slipped into outrage, inspiring her to verbally snap at the screen.

“What? They ain’t died painfully ‘nuff for yer tastes?”

While Apple Bloom remained rightfully appalled, the other two fillies grew confused as the narrator described how despite obtaining the desired results, the scientists found the efforts to enhance the object’s “external shielding” to be far from sufficient. They were being given the impression that this was supposed to be either an offensive super weapon or a torture device, so why were these technicians concerned about whether it could provide defensive capabilities? Despite their disappointment, the men conducting the experiment found this to be of little consequence. More materials would be found. More volunteers would be delivered. And, as they believed, the Reich would be victorious.

Testimony relating to the mysterious device known as “Die Glocke”, or “The Bell”, first surfaced in the “Polish” media in 2000, after a journalist named Igor Witkowski published a book detailing his investigation into the secretive experiment.

“Hmmm, didn’t we once try to write a book to get cutie marks in literature?”, Sweetie Belle said with a stroke of chin.

“Yeah, we did!”, Apple Bloom’s eyes twinkled with reminiscence before quickly being replaced with befuddlement. “Why did we give up on that one so quickly?”

“None of us wanted to write a whole novel by ourselves, but we also couldn’t agree on the story we wanted to write about together.”, Scootaloo explained.

Even though her tone was mostly casual and dispassionate, Scootaloo was secretly disguising the anger she had been holding onto since that afternoon from long ago where they heatedly argued over whose story idea was the best. She still deeply held the conviction that her plot involving Rainbow Dash fighting her way through Chrysalis’ hive to collect the 200 bits that the changeling monarch owed her was the best one.

As Witkowski’s face was shown on the screen, the story told of how he claimed to have gained access to confidential records belonging to his nation’s Military Intelligence services, some of which detailed the post-war interrogation of an “SS Gruppenfuhrer” named Jakob Sporrenberg. Witkowski’s book, The Truth About The Wonder Weapon, enjoyed some brief success but did not achieve widespread circulation. It was, however, read by a number of people outside its country of origin, one of whom was the “British” writer and Ufologist, Nick Cook. Witkowski’s material was scarce and lacking in corroboration, but it intrigued Cook to an extent that he too began investigating the reports, determined to bring the story to an international audience.

Apple Bloom had raised an eyebrow before eventually asking, “Hol’ up, there’s an official field of science all about studyin’ UFOs?”

“In the human world, I guess.”, Sweetie Belle replied simply.

Witkowski’s face which had already faded and in its place came Sporrenberg, seemingly in full uniform, staring off into the distance. It is said that buried within Sporrenberg’s depositions - before his appearance at Poland’s War Crime Tribunals - was a lengthy description of a scientific apparatus, the existence of which the German government had gone to great lengths to keep hidden from their opponents. The device was believed to have been used to produce an unknown fuel source, but was so hazardous to operate that it caused the deaths of many scientists who worked on it.

Scootaloo expectantly turned to Sweetie Belle and asked, “What do they mean by fuel source?”

“It means something that is used to power machines.”, she answered. “Like how coal powers trains.”

“So, they sacrificed all those guys ta somehow make fuel for their war machines?”, a bewildered Apple Bloom asked with one eyebrow raised.

“That’s dumb!”, Scootaloo spoke up once more. “That’s like if we made rainbows out of blood drained from pegasai. Who’d do that?”

The machine had been nicknamed “The Bell” because of its physical appearance.

“No shit, narrator.”, all three fillies flatly said in unison.

Sporrenberg described it as being around four meters high and two and a half meters wide, made entirely of metal and with a hemispherical domed top. Huge amounts of power were needed in order to operate it, which in turn created a blue and violet haze around its hull.

“If it really consumes so much power, how is the fuel it produces even worth it?”, Sweetie Belle silently questioned.

The next image cut to a man in the same room with “The Bell”. His eyes clenched tightly shut and his lips expanded wide open to display his gritting teeth. Through this look of searing pain, the man used both of his hands to desperately grasp his stomach. As if something were about to burst out of it. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle snapped to Scootaloo’s direction immediately upon hearing her sudden cackling fit.

“Sorry! I’m sorry! It’s just- (*sniff) it looks like he’s got the trots!”, she finished saying before letting out just a few more giggles.

During its initial stages of creation, the SS Lieutenant General explained that an invisible field was somehow generated around the apparatus, which extended out to roughly two hundred meters. When plant and foliage samples were placed within this zone during the machine’s operation, they would slowly decompose into a greasy organic fluid. However, it was the effect it had on humans and animals in its immediate vicinity that was most horrific.

“Oh, Celestia! They did it ta animals too!?”, Apple Bloom thought.

The unknown forces being emitted from inside the device somehow formed solid crystals in the tissue of any living creature exposed to it. The bloodstreams of these unfortunate victims would clot and solidify into a thick gel-like compound, causing a near-instantaneous and agonizing death. Once the machine was switched off, the blood would then naturally return to its liquid state, pouring out of the bodies and pooling on the floor around them.

Apple Bloom continued to simmer over these people’s callous disregard for others’ lives. For her part, Sweetie Belle wondered if Sombra had a spell that did the same thing to ponies as this machine. She then counted herself lucky that she and her friends were only mind controlled when Sombra came to Ponyville. If he had found out that they were each related or connected to one of the Element bearers, they might have ended up like those poor volunteers if the shadowy tyrant was feeling vengeful enough. Scootaloo, meanwhile, was rethinking her stance on letting these would-be hangmen be used for this experiment.

“I change my mind, I definitely wouldn’t wish this on anypony! Even if they were killers.”

This process would supposedly kill five out of the seven original scientists assigned to this project, until an effective means was found which could shield them from its effects. It remains unknown exactly what this force was, but Sporrenberg states that it was powerful enough to to lift the device off the ground for short periods of time, allowing it to hover a few feet in the air. The story then transitioned to an image of two scientists who had opened up the machine to take a look inside. Within its metal housing were two cylinders, which were designed to rotate around one another in an anticlockwise direction at great speed when the power was switched on. Unknown substances were added to these cylinders, which in turn went on to achieve the experiment’s ultimate goal; the creation of an unknown crimson-colored fluid.

With her head resting on one of her forehooves, Sweetie said, “Hmm, I’d probably guess they were using some kind of blood magic if it weren’t for how rare and not understood magic in this world was said to be.”

Many have speculated the compound which Die Glocke produced was “Red Mercury”, a theoretical material believed to boost the fission power of nuclear weapons.

“Okay, we’d better find out what nuclear weapons are before this three parter is over.”, Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom quickly nodded in agreement, “Yeah, what’s so gosh darn special about ‘em?”

Other commentators, keen to point out that there has never been a verified example of Red Mercury being created or analyzed, have instead theorized the machine was some sort of rudimentary “particle accelerator”. It is possible that the Germans managed to obtain samples of “thorium”, which the process was able to convert into a further material known as “Protactinium”. This substance would naturally start to deteriorate immediately upon the point of creation, meaning that, after approximately a month, it would degrade into what was effectively weapons-grade “uranium”. Scootaloo turned to see if she could ask her friends to explain any of this to her but immediately knew better when she saw their expressions. Apple Bloom looked on in slack-jawed silence and even the walking, talking dictionary herself looked stumped when trying to follow all this alien technobabble.

The Reich’s efforts to secure the material needed to manufacture atomic weaponry are supposedly well documented, and so this theory about The Bell’s true purpose can be considered realistic. An alternative hypothesis is that the Germans were looking to solve another pressing issue that was impairing their ability to continue the war; the need to find a form of sustainable and renewable energy.

“Neither of these explain why this thing let out a force that painfully killed anyone close to it.”, Sweetie Belle objected. “At least, I don’t think they do.”

“Honestly, what does fuel have to do with turning someone’s flesh into crystals and their blood solid?”, Scootaloo rhetorically asked.

“If they don’t start explainin’ how those two things are connected, Imma start assumin’ the Germans did it for shits n’ giggles.”, Apple Bloom said with a scowl.

Even from the outset of World War Two, Germany was woefully short of the basic resources it needed.

“That would actually be really embarrassing if they actually started a war with the rest of the world knowing that they didn’t have what’s needed to win.”, Scootaloo said.

As the conflict continued, her scientists were locked in a perpetual struggle to combine their existing fuel sources into innovative new compounds and applications, but none proved practical for widespread use.

“Who’s ‘her’?”, Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie her chin with her hoof until something occurred to her, “Is there also a ‘Princess Germany’?”

“(*groan) For Celestia’s sake!”

Apple Bloom’s complaint had drawn both sets of eyes on her, to which she continued, “There’s no such thing as Princess Germany! Or Princess America either. They’re obviously referrin’ ta the countries themselves as ‘she’ and ‘her’!”

After a small moment of surprised silence, Sweetie opened her mouth to speak only to be stopped by Apple Bloom raising her hoof up as a gesture to remain quiet. Nothing else to do, the unicorn simply pouted, crossed her forelegs and went back to watching the story. As the narrator told of how other theories about Die Glocke were much more fantastical and terrifying, the story cut to a new image. It showed a German officer accompanied by two scientists looking down at the machine, through a window, from a room that was most certainly designed to keep them protected from its deadly effects.

Some suggest that the harmful field it generated may indeed have been fully intentional, and that the German’s intended to mass produce these devices and then activate them on the front lines.

“I can’t imagine that ‘death field’ somehow being accidental.”

The other two wholeheartedly agreed with Scootaloo. The idea that a feature like that was simply a byproduct and not the main purpose of the device was too big of a pill for them to swallow. Especially if these Germans were deliberately exposing human test subjects to said field of death. What other reason does one do that other than to see how effectively you can kill people with it?

The subsequent mass casualties that would have resulted from their deployment would not only have been catastrophic to the armies of their opponents, but would have given the Reich a huge psychological edge. The fact that the device was witnessed hovering above the ground has led many to believe that is was some form of anti-gravity technology, intended to power a new generation of fighter aircraft such as the Haunebu.

“Well, that’s one thing that finally connects this back ta the first part.”, Apple Bloom pointed out.

“Oh, right. This is a three parter.”, Sweetie Belle said.

But by far the most terrifying potential application for the device comes from the testimony of a scientist name Otto Cerny. The Crusaders instinctually focused their attention even harder, knowing they were probably about to hear the craziest part of this story. Cerny was one of a number of German academic who were taken back to the United States after the war under Project Paperclip, where they were utilized in the American rocket program. The three fillies were amazed that these humans had apparently built rockets, something that was only conceived scientifically a few years ago and has recently become a big staple of sci-fi comics. Except one of them had gotten a little too hung up on the project’s title.

“Project Paperclip? That’s a pretty lame name for a project involving rockets.”, Scootaloo remarked.

“Mah sis told me that governments like ta give all secret operations bland nicknames. That way enemies and spies can’t tell what their about or how important they actually are.”

Sweetie Belle turned to Apple Bloom and said, “Which she knows because she’s actually a secret agent. Or even a Mare in Black!”

Apple Bloom met Sweetie Belle’s grin with a deadpan glare.

“Can it.”

It is alleged that Cerny stated that The Bell had the ability to show the operators images from the past and future, via a concave mirror that had been mounted upon it. With widened eyes and open ears, the trio watched as the narrator clarified how this raised the horrifying possibility that the Germans somehow stumbled across the ability to move through time, and that Die Glocke was a prototype for a working time machine. As ridiculous as this sounds, who knows what the world would have been like if the Reich had succeeded in altering the past?

“I can’t believe we’re getting into more time travel stuff so soon after the CrossWade Interlopers.”, Sweetie Belle said.

“It probably didn’t show them anything helpful though, cause they apparently still lost.”, Scootaloo commented.

“Hmmm. Ah wonder if this ‘Bell’ is what showed ‘em that their best chance at a future was in Antarctica?”, Apple Bloom wondered aloud.

Despite all these rumors, there is no photographic or scientific evidence to prove Die Glocke ever existed. Skeptics believe that these storieswere merely the efforts of a disgraced war criminal attempting to curry favor with his captors. But when certain elements of the device’s story are subjected to closer analysis, it is startling how they corroborate with what we do know about the closing days of World War Two. The remains of the testing facility referred to in Sporrenberg’s testimony can still be visited, situated not far from the town of Ludwikowice in Poland. Deep tunnels were dynamited into the bowels of the nearby Wenceslas mine, to hide the activities of the German scientists from allied aerial reconnaissance, but it is the presence of two decaying concrete structures at the site which is most intriguing.

Both consist of a series of concentric concrete posts, laid out in similar fashion to the stone circles found at Stonehenge in Great Britain. This has earned them the nickname of “the henges”. It is not known exactly what their true purpose was, but some believe these structures may have been testing rigs, which Die Glocke was tethered to when in use. Sweetie Belle looked at the bare-bones remains of one of these “henges”. Despite its lack of a roof, it’s circular shape reminded her of Carousel Boutique. Apple Bloom saw something else however.

“If ya squint yer eyes, tilt yer head and picture a roof, ya can almost see town hall.”

Doing as Apple Bloom suggested, Scootaloo replied, “Eh. I don’t see it.”

Jakob Sporrenberg spent the majority of the war in charge of SS Policing Units in “Lublin” district of Poland, but in 1944 he and the majority of his staff were transferred to “Norway”. The reason it is difficult to write his testimony off as pure fabrication is because it has been subsequently corroborated by another German officer, “Hauptsturmfuhrer” Rudolf Schuster.

“Try sayin’ THAT title three times fast, let alone pronouncin’ it.”, said a perplexed looking Apple Bloom.

The other two fillies agreed; while hearing the narrator himself pronounce it made it easier, they hated to imagine having to guess the correct pronunciation of “Hauptsturmfuhrer” by only seeing the word written. It probably would go similarly to their first time having to recite that “Pickled Pepper” tongue twister at the playground or in daycare when they were really young.

Schuster was similarly stationed in Lublin during the war, but was later captured by American forces. During his postwar interrogation in Berlin, completely independently of Sporrenberg, he also described Die Glocke to his captors. Schuster explained that as Russian forces had heard the testing facility, he had supervised an excavation of both the device and the technicians working on it, to an unknown location.

“How close were the Russians? Cause if they were like five miles away when the Germans began excavating those machines, I’m gonna call that story a bunch of horseapples.”, Scootaloo said.

“I mean, think of all those cars and flying machines they’ve got. Is something like that really so impossible in such a world?” Sweetie countered.

Of particular interest in the story of Die Glocke is the senior officer allegedly attached to project, an SS General by the name of Hans Kammler. The Crusaders feel a little intimidated looking upon this General in his fancy-looking uniform. Whoever he was he certainly looked important. Most eye-catching was the skull & crossbones emblazoned on the front of his cap.

“Are we sure these Germans aren’t pirates at all?”, Scootaloo wondered.

Kammler was ambitious and despicably loyal to the Nazi regime, and in the closing stages of the war, he managed to gain control of Hitler’s Wonder-Weapon programs.

“Ah wonder if this guy is like Hitler’s Tempest Shadow?”

“If you mean like he’s his number one badass…”, Scootaloo said in response to Apple Bloom. “…then nah. I’m pretty sure anypony who’s in charge of projects like this are usually desk jockeys.”

“Ah was thinkin’ more like his second in command, but ya still raise a good point.”

Indeed, once they had gotten over being imprisoned at her hooves, all three fillies had come to appreciate one aspect about Tempest or… Berrypop Fizzletwist(?): she is unquestionably awesome. And she has further taken her awe-inspiring reputation with her as the newest rising star in Twilight’s night guard. As for Kammler, whatever chance for developing a similar respect for were further dashed when the narrator told of the time he ordered his men to open fire on a convoy of refugees who were blocking his passage through the Arnsberg forest. Two hundred men, women and children died, and Kammler would become one of the most sought-after fugitives for War Crimes investigators.

“What a scumbag!”, Sweetie Belle scowled in disgust.

The Crusaders knew of Tempest’s ruthlessness both through first-hoof experience and from personal tales told by their sister figures. They’d even heard of both her relentless style and otherworldly capability from a recent story in the papers of her leading an operation where she busted (and painfully pummeled) a bunch of rogue royal guards who were secretly plotting to rob the royal treasury. But this man, Kammler, had made his ugly character plain and visible for all to see. He was nothing but a coward. Apple Bloom herself regretted even raising any comparisons to Tempest.

According to the narrator, he apparently committed suicide as his pursuers closed in on him and was declared legally dead three years after the war ended. Kammler’s body was never found, and reports that he had successfully found his way to South America, or he had been extracted by US agents to assist in Project Paperclip continued to surface. That last bit induced a lot of mixed feelings amongst the three fillies. For the past several years, Equestria has seen numerous successes reforming its enemies. Still, something felt wrong about not having this war criminal serve time for the death of two hundred innocent people.

“How can rockets be so important that they’d let someone like THAT get off scot-free?”, Apple Bloom pondered in slight disbelief.

Like most other military forces at that time, Kammler’s command had been broken up and redistributed into other units as the German armies had retreated. So it is impossible to know the true fate of him and the soldiers under his command. Postwar records have indicated that as late as April 1945, General Kammler and approximately six hundred of his staff made their way from Poland into Austria, accompanied by “lorries”(?) filled with equipment. By the time American infantry units had entered the region, all trace of him and whatever he was escorting had vanished. Unsurprisingly, this news was more than a little disappointing to each filly watching.

Reports linking Hans Kammler to Austria are of particular interest, due to the stories and legends associated with Untersberg region of the country. For centuries there have been tales of groups of people disappearing, or experiencing time slips in the Untersberg mountains.

Apple Blooms widened in realization, “They’re not gonna say what ah think they’re gonna say, are they?”

“Oh, they might.”, Sweetie Belle replied.

In 2011, a book by an author named Stan Wolf made a startling claim; Wolf cited witness testimonies from shepherds in the region who were said to have seen a force of Nazi soldiers walk through a wall of sold rock, never to be seen again.

Apple Bloom blinked a few times as she processed what she heard. She certainly wasn’t expecting to hear about soldiers moving walls like ghosts. Honestly, she thought they were going to explain that the Nazis were using “The Bell” to travel through time and kidnap random people passing through for whatever sick experiments they had in mind.

“Okay, never mind whatever ah was thinkin’. Cause this is way weirder than what I expected.”

“So Die Glocke can also let you move through walls on top of everything else it does?”, Scootaloo questioned.

“Wow!”, Sweetie Belle’s breathy voice marveled. “Does it come with cup holders too?”

Much like everypony else in Equestria, Sweetie was enamored with the hot new fad doodad that was the cup holder; it was quickly becoming a standard for every model of travel cart to have.

Another witness allegedly encountered young German soldiers living in the mountains’ cave network, aging at an inexplicably low rate, seemingly unaware that the war they were fighting had been lost.

“Kinda like those German sailors from part one.”, Scootaloo pointed out.

The narrator raised the possibility that Kammler and his scientists had sufficiently mastered Die Glocke to allow them to escape the allied forces, traveling either backwards or forwards in time to evade them. While he admitted this was an outlandish claim, he insisted that it became more believable when factoring the events that occurred in the “Pennsylvanian” village of “Kecksburg”, twenty years after the war ended. On the afternoon of December 9th, 1965, radar operators tracked an object from the skies above Kecksburg. The local authorities were able to secure the crash site of this object, and recover it before members of the press could access the location.

“I wonder if they had some help from the Men in Black to pull that off?”, Sweetie Belle privately inquired.

From the limited testimony of those who witnessed this object’s recovery, it’s said to bear a staggering resemblance to Jakob Sporrenberg’s description of Die Glocke, a metal craft shaped like a bell and covered in strange runes and hieroglyphs.

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow, “I don’t remember them describin’ The Bell as havin’ any runes.”

“Or hieroglyphs.”, Scootaloo added.

It is speculated that Die Glocke somehow traveled forwards in time from 1945, materialized in orbit above the Earth and accidentally crash-landed in North America. Another idea is that Allied forces successfully recovered both Kammler and his technology from Nazi Germany, and that the Kecksburg crash was the result of American experimentation with The Bell. In spite of all these theories, it is still highly unlikely that there will ever be a definitive explanation on whether Die Glocke actually existed or if it was merely a tall tale which has taken on a life of its own.

“Ah mean, nopony who’s said they’ve seen it can agree on whether it’s an aircraft, a weapon, a fuel generator or a time machine.”, Apple Bloom began. “So what’s ta stop me from assumin’ it’s mostly made up?”

All that can be done is to follow a frustrating and disjointed trail of evidence, which stubbornly suggests that there may indeed be a degree of truth behind the tale. Looking broadly at German weapons experiments of the era and discounting those stories alleged to involve extra-terrestrial technology or “satanic”(?) rituals, the narrator purported that it was not beyond all possibility that the German scientists managed to create a weapons system far ahead of its time. However, until any concrete evidence comes to light, all one can do is wonder…

Once the story came to its close, Sweetie spoke up.

“So, anypony else find it weird that this is the second time in this three parter that they said America secretly and tested German tech? I swear, Princess America is sounding craftier the more we hear about her.”

Apple Bloom put her face in her hooves and groaned, “Ah thought ah told ya, that’s the name of the country, not a Princess!”

“Who’s to say it’s not both?”, Scootaloo interjected.

Apple Bloom turned to the pegasus and asked, “What do ya mean?”

“Well, we know that the country is called America, or the United States or whatever.”, she began replying. “But where do you think the name comes from? Maybe the country is named after a royal family that’s been in charge of it since the beginning? Like, the America dynasty or something.”

Apple Bloom opened her mouth and raised her hoof to respond before immediately reversing those actions and looking off to the side in thought.

“Let’s just get ta the last part already.”, she finally said with a dismissive wave of her hoof.

Author's Note:

Remember to both leave a like AND comment your thoughts down below. I really could use some feedback

By the way in case anyone was wondering how Scootaloo’s RD vs Chrysalis story would have turned out..

Comments

[Nopro120]

Heck yeah this just keeps getting better.

[Random_Reader_101]

a blessing from the lord

[Mr cold ghost]

I’m loving their misunderstanding about princess America!

[littleman001]

“That’s dumb!”, Scootaloo spoke up once more. “That’s like if we made rainbows out of blood drained from pegasai. Who’d do that?”

I see what you did there!

[Lord Blundergosh]

11048464
Ayyyyy 😁

[Mr cold ghost]

So after the mysteries of the third reich what are you going to tackle next?

[Lord Blundergosh]

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I’ll give a small hint in the footnotes of the next chapter.

[Grey Ghost]

I highly appreciate that Luke Cage reference.

[Lord Blundergosh]

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And I appreciate someone finally catching that reference

[Popamile]

As Apple Bloom said this, for whatever reason, she automatically became fascinated by the idea that these Germans were some sort of machine worshippers. Her mind pictured a large gathering of humans surrounding and bowing before the large, bell-shaped machine. Her daydreaming was interrupted almost as soon as it began once Scootaloo responded.

lol wrong genre there Apple Bloom