Dieter’s time in Canterlot was pleasant, even if he was not. Naturally, Dieter still thought poorly of the Equestrian nobility, seeing them as snobby and hypocritical. As such, Dieter found his stay barely tolerable. The ponies were assumptive, looking at him as some sort of beast. In truth, Dieter enjoyed their fear. As an SS officer, fear was common in all those who saw them. After all, the SS’s brutality had been famed throughout the Third Reich. Fear was always expected.

Some of the nobles could really irritate Dieter though. Many had called him an abomination, a demon. Perhaps in many ways they were right. Dieter had been fighting for decades. War was his life. He had gotten too used to it. For this reason, he could barely put up with the civilians who assumed that the military was a useless institution created for drop-outs and fools. What did they know? Dieter could barely restrain himself from violence every time they insulted him with their ignorance.

Dieter began to discuss military reforms with the princesses. Dieter never liked doing administrative work, but it was something to do. Dieter found a certain subject anomalous: magic. What was magic? To the ponies it seemed to come naturally. It obviously was rarely used in any military capacity. Magic, however was obviously a power. How could power not be applied to war? Dieter scoffed when he heard of the “magic of friendship” as Twilight called it. If friendship were truly magic, then people wouldn’t be shelling the crap out of each other, and Dieter would be out of a job.

Dieter had been truly offended when Celestia had asked whether or not guns were magical. Dieter had given her a long winded introduction to ballistic weaponry and its capabilities, leaving Celestia wide-eyed. Dieter followed this up by explain what grenades and shells were. Dieter finally gave her a firsthand demonstration of his weaponry by shooting Celestia’s pet phoenix, Philomena. Celestia had stood there stunned. Dieter figured that the bird had not long to live anyways, since it was too sick too even move. When Dieter had extracted the lead bullet to show Celestia, she fainted. She was in comatose for four days, Dieter had been told. Dieter noticed that for those four days, the night didn't end. On the bright side, the bird had been delicious.

Luna had thought that Celestia’s reaction was hilarious, and remained the only pony willing to talk to Dieter. That soon ended as well, when Dieter had given Luna a particularly bloody and gruesome account of Stalingrad. Luna had been horrified by the cold, matter-of-fact way that Dieter described disembowelments, strangulations, dismemberments and decapitations. Luna refused to see him afterwards. Rumors began to spread around Canterlot that Luna was having nightmares, and was not sleeping well. Dieter had been amused greatly by that particular story. It was probably true.

It was on a sunny day that Dieter began sparring against Royal Guardsponies to pass time. The Guardsponies had proven themselves quite adept at one-on-one combat, but Dieter was better. Each round always resulted in a severe injury for each guardspony. Most of them had been pegasi. Dieter had eventually gotten bored, and was glad when Shining Armor had finally stepped up to the challenge presented.

Dieter and Shining Armor stood off against each other in the ring. Shining Armor was the prime example of passion in warfare. Dieter was the pinnacle of cold indifference. Dieter was limited to his combat knife, since using his gun in sparring was considered a cheat. Shining Armor really didn’t like Dieter. Dieter had a grave disrespect for both princesses in Shining Armor’s eyes, and Dieter’s lack of emotion really turned Shining off. Shining would be glad to hurt him, at least to simply teach him a lesson.

“You’re going down!” Shining Armor called across the ring. Dieter simply shrugged, raising his knife and falling back into a combat stance. He raised his hand, gesturing for Shining Armor to come at him.

Shining Armor charged with his horn extended, his cobalt mane and tail flowing out behind him. Dieter realized that it was imperative to avoid the horn. The horn was as much goring weapon as it was a channel for “magical energy”. Dieter decided to toy with Shining Armor first. He side stepped, and extended his right leg. Shining Armor tripped with a cry and landed face first into the dirt, breaking his nose. Dieter gave one of his wolfish smiles.

Shining armor stood back up, glaring at Dieter with hatred in his eyes. Dieter had abandoned all emotion. This happened every time he fought. He would give away any signs of humanity for logic. He could be brutal and ruthless simply because he buried himself. Dieter’s face became frozen in an expression of cold concentration.

Shining Armor charged again. This time, rather than side-stepping, Dieter simply extended his fist. Dieter’s hand collided with Shining Armor’s chin. There was a loudly audible crack as Shining Armor’s head snapped back. It wasn’t lethal, but it would hurt. Shining Armor was struggling to get up again. Dieter knew that to let him get up was to display weakness. He brought his foot down, snapping Shining Armor’s right front leg. Shining Armor screamed in agony. Dieter did not seem affected. The audience winced. Dieter kicked Shining Armor in the stomach, shattering several of his ribs. Shining Armor screamed again before falling unconscious.

Dieter paused for a moment before sheathing his blade. He spun on his heel and marched out of the ring. The audience shrank away from him, seeing the brutality he was capable of. This display of coldly calculated violence had lasted less than a minute.

Author's Note

In this chapter, we see Dieter screw around with just about everyone in Canterlot. Please feel free to give me new ideas. Your opinions are always welcome!