Panzer Lehr

Chapter 5

“So let me get this straight.” Twilight muttered as she scribbled madly on a sheet of parchment. “Your country has been in two world wars? And you were in the middle of fighting the second one when you came here?”

The group was waiting at the Empire station for their newly restored train.

“Unfortunately yes.” Said Schlesinger. “The first war was more or less unintentional. An overly complex alliance system sparked a world wide conflict. Naturally, because we lost, we copped the blame for the war. The second war was our leaders fault. He ordered us to attack a neutral country. Britain and France, the two nations I told you about before, took offense and declared war on us. We crushed France, but Britain managed to cling on.” He shook his head.

“Then our leader made an even bigger mistake. He ordered us to attack an empire. The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, USSR. We had some early success, then winter came. We could fight the Soviet troops, but we weren't equipped to fight the cold. We suffered two disastrous defeats. That’s about when me and my men arrived here.”

Twilight quickly wrote this down. “How do you think your war would end?”

“That war was a losing effort.” Schmitt interjected from a little further up the platform. “First Moscow, then Stalingrad, then Kursk. The fighting around Prokarovka showed us the scale of the Soviet reserves. We just didn’t have the manpower.”

As Twilight wrote what he said he glanced back down the line. “Where’s the train? It was supposed to be here 10 minutes ago, fully loaded too.”

“They reported they were having trouble with the boiler.” Said Cadence, who was standing a short distance away with her husband beside her. “I’m sure it will be here soon.”

As if on cue there was a distant whooshing sound of steam being released, followed by a high pitched whistle. The huge engine slowly chugged into sight, black smoke billowing from it’s funnel. Behind it were the flatbeds, each loaded with one of the German vehicles covered in a tarpaulin, followed by the box cars and the two passenger cars. With a loud screech of metal against metal the engine stopped in the station, the rest of the train sticking out down the line behind it.

The crew, which consisted of the four German engineers and a few crystal ponies, climbed down from the engine and onto the platform. “The train is ready sir.” One of them addressed Schlesinger. “We even found time to renovate the passenger cars. The coal tender is full, as is the water tank, all vehicles are secured on board.”

Schelsinger nodded and turned to Krous. “Get your men into the box cars. I want to see all the ponies who are coming with us in the rear passenger car for a briefing.”

Krous nodded and moved to pass the order on to his men. Schlesinger looked to Cadence and gave a curt bow. “I thank you on behalf of my men for your hospitality.”

Cadence smiled at him. “On the contrary, I should be thanking you. If it weren’t for your men, the empire would have fallen long before the Crystal Heart was recovered.”

“Then on that note, I bid you farewell.” Schlesinger gave another bow to Cadence, a sharp salute to Shining armor and then walked off the platform.

He walked along the train, pausing half way along to look up at the Tiger under it’s tarpaulin, before climbing up to the passenger cars. He pushed open the door of the rear car and gave a low whistle. The carriage had obviously been first class in its time and although much of the finery had gone, it was still evident that some emphasis had been placed on it’s building.

He sat down on one of the reupholstered seats and waited for his comrades to arrive. The doors at both ends of the carriage opened. From one end came Schmitt and Krous, from the other, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. “We are ready to leave sir.” Schmitt reported. Schlesinger nodded and Schmitt leant out a window and waved down the length of the train.