Twilight had eventually gotten over her shock. She bombarded Dieter with a multitude of what he considered to be inane questions. She asked him about everything, from his uniform to where he came from. He answered each questions levelly. Fluttershy remained silent throughout the trip, her head bowed, as though she was afraid of him. She likely was, Dieter thought. Apparently killing was not the best way to make acquaintances. The questions continued. He continued answering.

Dieter eventually gave Twilight an entire summary of the war, from that fateful day, the 1st of September 1939 to his near-death in Berlin. Quite a few of the details appeared to make Twilight physically ill. Dieter continued. Twilight became increasingly sickened as Dieter described the atrocities committed by both sides on the Eastern Front, and the fact that millions had died there. Twilight began to think that bringing him to Ponyville was not a very good idea. This man was a hardened killer.

“You killed how many…uh…people?” Twilight asked in terror.

“One hundred and eighty-six,” Dieter had responded. He paused. “ No. One hundred and eighty-eight.”

Twilight was horrified. This man had killed the equivalent to half of Ponyville’s population. Not for the first time, she began to question the logic of her choice. This man could possibly be hostile, and had the capability to massacre everypony in the town. She could only hope that he remained as friendly as he had been. If he was not, they were doomed.

They continued on in silence quite some time. Finally Twilight asked him another question. How did his weapon work? She wished that she had not as he went into a long winded description of his weapons’ capabilities. The way he casually described how the weapons dealt death was terrifying for Twilight. Yet it was also fascinating. The Human’s technology far exceeded what she had considered possible. She wished she could take notes, despite her revulsion. She simply hoped that she could remember the hours worth of information that he had described to her.

A twig snapped, and Dieter suddenly pivoted on his heel, bringing his MP-40 up to his shoulder. His hard, cold, blue eyes pivoted in his head as he scanned for possible targets. Finally, seemingly confident that there was no threat he slowly lowered his weapon. The sudden movement reminded Twilight just what kind of world he came from. He came from a world of war. There had been two major in ones within the first fifty years of what the Humans called the 20th century. 90 million people had died, and that was simply a wild estimate. What kind of race could descend to such depths of depravity? What race could kill so many of their own? As a pony, war was a concept that seemed alien to Twilight. Their culture, the one that Princess Celestia had set up was one of pacifism. Such violence seemed unreal, yet she had seen it firsthand. It was chilling.

Twilight decided to tell the Dieter about Equestria’s history, from Discord’s rule to the modern period. She even told him of the Elements of Harmony. Dieter simply stared at Twilight with nothing short of incredulity. Twilight did not understand. What was so strange about the history of Equestria? She thought that it was awfully rude of him to scoff at her species’ heritage. Perhaps he thought of their species as soft. After all, his species had killed millions of their own in what seemed like a more or less constant state of war. Twilight though was interrupted as they entered Ponyville.

Dieter stared at the town before him with distaste. How soft could this race be? He had been taught almost all his life that everything consisted of the survival of the fittest. The ponies obviously were not fit. The village contained so many multi-hued buildings it horrified him. There was no uniformity, no order. He followed Twilight from the edge of what the ponies called the Everfree forest. He had no idea what scared them so much within the forest. It was nothing compared to Stalingrad.

He saw a cyan pegasus with a multicolored mane come racing towards him, its wings pumping furiously, her mane and tail causing a rainbow colored streak. He knew that it was going to attack. He rolled at the last moment, drawing his combat knife. The cyan pegasus struck a brown pony with a black mane at high velocities. The brown pony, he noted wore a suit, and had the bearing of one who thought he owned all he saw.

The brown pony, a colt he assumed, began to berate the cyan pegasus. He saw Twilight staring at the knife with fear. She shook her head at him, signalling that he should put it back. Dieter raised an eyebrow.

“She’s a friend, please don’t hurt her!” Twilight squeaked.

Dieter sheathed his knife. He approached the quarrelling ponies. He noted that the brown pony had three money bags as a “cutie mark” as Twilight referred to the symbols upon the ponies’ flanks. He frowned. The pony turned towards him, preparing to accost him for the intrusion upon what he believed to be a righteously indignant lecture. The pony’s tongue stopped as he saw not a pony, but a large, imposing figure.

Dieter leaned in close, “Are you a Jew?” He asked quietly as the pony shrank back from his intimidating form.

Author's Note

Sorry. I edited the last few sentences, since they seemed a bit clunky.