“The Man Beneath The Uniform”
Applejack
Camp “Plains”, Appleloosa, Equestria
September 16th, 15 ALR

A bird swooped overhead, chirping happily as Applejack slowly made her way through the camp. It had been nearly two weeks now since things were turned on their head by Conrad’s arrival, yet Applejack still couldn’t get used to how quickly things had changed. The situation had gone from desperate times at the farm to a life on the run, training to fight against a government that was bound to show no mercy, something that nopony could have really predicted.

As Applejack walked through the various rows of tents, she caught a glimpse of Rarity training the strongest ponies how to fight using rakes and shovels. While Applejack struggled internally on whether it was right to be training these ponies to fight, she did like the fact that Rarity was here with them, helping to train the ponies. Conrad also contributed to the training of the ponies, but he taught them more about discipline rather than actual combat skills.

As Applejack’s thoughts drifted to Conrad, she frowned deeply to herself. Despite being with Conrad for nearly two weeks, she knew very little about the human soldier who had saved them from a worse fate. He always seemed solemn and quiet, keeping to himself whenever possible. Whenever he did talk, his voice was always flat and distant, preferring to keep his talks curt.

As she walked along, she unwittingly passed Conrad’s tent before her ears caught something strange... something she never heard from him before: singing. It was rather soft, but Applejack was sure it was singing. Perplexed, she slowly crept up to the tent and listened in.

“And it is as if it spoke aloud:
‘Are you thinking of your fiancée?’
Back at home, a maiden weeps for you
and she's called Erika.”

Applejack was mystified. Not only was Conrad singing, but he was singing about a mare of some kind. To hear that he cared about a mare enough to sing about her was something that she never thought she would witness.

Finally, after a few minutes of listening she finally decided to be brave, and entered the tent to investigate this side of Conrad that she had never before witnessed. Sitting on a makeshift bed in the back of the tent was the German soldier, too busy fiddling with and cleaning several parts of his weapon to notice Applejack’s presence. His helmet was thrown off to the side, and he sat in a relaxed manner on the bed.

Applejack took a moment to compose herself, then sat down on a chair across from Conrad. “Who’s Erika?” she asked softly.

Conrad jumped a bit, hand shooting to his belt for his smaller weapon before he saw that it was Applejack and relaxed again. “Please don’t sneak up on me like that, I could have killed you,” he said sharply as he picked up the weapon he dropped and inspected it for any blemishes before looking up at Applejack. Applejack smiled sheepishly, her ears drooping a bit.

“Sorry Conrad, ah just heard you singing about someone named Erika and wanted to know about her, if you don’t mind me askin’,” she replied calmly. Conrad stared at her for a few moments, then smiled softly at her.

“Erika isn’t a real person really, it’s just a song that we sang back in the Heer. As much as I’ve always wanted to meet a girl of my own, I joined the army before I could find one,” he replied calmly. Applejack frowned at this, getting to her hooves and walking over to Conrad. She looked him over a bit, and then sat down on the bed next to him.

“Ah’d think that someone like ya would find a special girl to fall in love with... to hear that isn’t the case is a bit shockin’ to me. Why did ya join the army anyway Conrad?” she asked. Conrad sat there quietly for a while, then slowly put the piece he was cleaning back into the weapon and placed it on the other side of him.

“Well, I joined because I wanted to follow in my brother’s footsteps and serve my country. You see, Germany went to war about two years before I joined, and my brother decided to join the SS. Before he left, he told me not to be sad that he was leaving, but proud that he was serving his country, and urged me to do the same. So I waited two years to finish school, and when I turned 19, I joined the Heer,” he explained. Applejack listened quietly, nodding as Conrad finished.

“Ah see. You mentioned that your country went to war... do ya know why?” she inquired. Conrad frowned at this, then thought on the question.

“It was more of a pride thing really,” he responded absentmindedly. Applejack’s frown returned at this, a bit disturbed at how he described the cause of a war to be pride. After all, the Relocation Act was passed to “preserve Unicorn pride and society”. Uncomfortable, she shuffled her front hooves and looked at the ground.

“A... pride thing? Why go to war over pride? Surely there are better ways to boost national pride than war,” she asked slowly. Conrad turned his head to face Applejack, clearly sensing Applejack’s discomfort. He went quiet for a long time, then looked at the ground.

“Well, there was this huge war a few years before I was born, something that everyone called the Great War. It was called the Great War mainly because it involved most, if not all of the great powers of the world. Millions died, and in the end Germany was defeated due to strategic betrayals. Our enemies took the chance to humiliate us, and we were soon after devastated. Our economy was dying, and our morale was at an all time low. Then, out came Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. They promised to make Germany better, and with no better alternative people all over our country were supporting Hitler, waving flags and marching in the streets. We wanted to prove to the rest of the world that we were still strong after losing the Great War. For the first time in a decade, Germany actually believed in itself again,” he explained.

Applejack pondered Conrad’s words for a bit, trying to comprehend a war in which millions of lives were lost. Were humans really that violent? How many lives had Conrad taken in his war? The more she thought on it, the more fearful she became of the soldier she sat with. “Are humans really that cruel? Killing each other by the millions, then humiliating each other instead of working together to rebuild society?” she asked softly.

Conrad looked straight ahead, his face changing to a more solemn expression. “Usually when humans fight, we don’t draw as much blood as we did in the Great War. My dad once told me that the Great War was when the world finally perfected the art of killing each other, as firepower outclassed mobility and the world was drawn into a battle of attrition. When I was in Stalingrad... I saw things that no man should see. So many of my comrades gunned down, only to be replaced with fresh faced men who had only one destiny, and that was to die for the Fatherland. In fact, I would be among the dead if it wasn’t for Princess Luna,” he replied in an ominously distant voice.

The tent was silent for a while as Applejack struggled to come to terms with what Conrad had just told her. She felt a burning pity for Conrad in her gut, knowing that Conrad was suffering greatly from his experiences. Her ears drooped as she looked at the ground. “Ah’m sorry ah asked Conrad. Ah shouldn’t have brought up such painful memories with mah nosy questions. Ah just wanted to know ya better, since you’ve always been so distant,” she apologized.

Conrad stood up, turning to face Applejack with a very small smile. “It’s alright Applejack, there was no real way of you knowing about my past experiences, after all I haven’t been the most talkative to you. It’s hard for me to open up to others especially when I know that the threat of death looms above, but I’m going to try and change that, starting with you. You were the first pony that I met, and as your protector... I guess I owe you more than to leave you in the dark,” he explained. Applejack returned the smile, standing up as well.

“That’s... that’s very nice, thank ya Conrad. Ya don’t have to open up to me if ya really don’t want to, it’s not right to force ya to do anything ya don’t feel comfortable with,” she responded warmly. Conrad laughed, and then shook his head.

“It’s okay Applejack. If we’re going to see your people free... then I should be more open with you. After all, openness breeds trust.”

Applejack nodded, walking to the entrance to the tent before turning to face Conrad. “Thanks Conrad. Ah gotta go talk to Princess Celestia, but I’ll keep you in mind in case I got any more questions. Hopefully our next conversation will be about a nicer topic, but until then, goodbye,” she finished warmly before leaving the tent.

Author's Note

I actually made the deadline. WOOT :D Let's celebrate with...a picture.

Here

You get one picture. And if any of you out there are good artists, and draw *gasp* fan art, I'll be certain to stick that art in the description :D