“Purpose”
Conrad Schmidt

“This is for Nikolai you son of a bitch!”

The Soviet soldier’s rifle fired, but to Conrad’s utter surprise it hit the wall next to him. Silence reigned as the world around the two young men ground to a halt, holding it’s breath as the they stared down each other. It only took a minute of silence before Conrad broke the silence.

“What... you didn’t kill me. I thought you killed me!” he exclaimed in disbelief, pulling himself to a sitting position as he clutched his shoulder. The Russian chuckled as he lowered his weapon, giving Conrad a firm nod.

“Well, Vasily Nemtsov did kill you... or at least he was about to before your soul and body was pulled from Earth by Luna’s magic. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re dreaming. And before you ask, no, I’m not Princess Luna,” he replied with a toothy grin. Conrad pulled himself to his feet slowly, wobbling as he kept his eyes on the Soviet in front of him, getting a good look at him.

At first glance, he was a perfectly normal Russian, with short brown hair and a messy yellow uniform, but what stood out about him rather quickly were his unnaturally bright yellow eyes. A bit disturbed, Conrad looked at the ground awkwardly, not wanting to stare into the strange eyes of the man in front of him. “Well if you’re not Princess Luna, then who are you?” he finally asked.

The man in front of him laughed, snapping his fingers as the world around them disintegrated into a large grassy field. “You can call me The Puppetmaster for now, I’m sure you’ll learn my true name soon enough. I’ve been watching you for a long time now Mr. Schmidt, and quite frankly you impress me. You’re just one man, one soldier against an entire regime. Many would call your situation suicidal or even hopeless. You on the other hand have promised to press on, despite such terrible odds,” he explained, tossing his rifle to the side.

Conrad frowned at this statement, trying to pull apart the Puppetmaster’s statement and figure out what exactly he wanted. “Well... yes, I will press on to help free the earth ponies from Twilight’s regime. Not only is it a right thing to do, but I can’t do much else now that I’m stuck here on this planet,” he responded flatly.

The Puppetmaster’s grin only widened at this as two chairs and a table materialized in front of him. Taking a seat, he gestured for Conrad to join him before two cups of milk appeared on the table as well. “Very noble goal Mr. Schmidt, but do you honestly believe that there is such a widespread genocide going on? How could the unicorns possibly take on the extermination of so many with so few forces? If you ask me Mr. Schmidt, I believe that Luna used one camp that just happened to be having trouble with the government to incite a rebellion, knowing full well that she’d be able to trick you into doing her bidding. After all, to her you’re nothing but a simple pawn in a game for power,” he said calmly. Conrad was hesitant for a moment, then sat down on the other chair and grabbed the cup of milk. This “Puppetmaster” character was trying to manipulate him in a way that was way too obvious for comfort.

“Nonsense, if you saw those ponies you’d know they were being starved on purpose. There were plenty of apple trees full of apples, yet they were forced to starve thanks to the unicorn’s regulations. If the unicorns are so willing to starve one camp, why wouldn’t they starve others?” he retorted calmly. The Puppetmaster simply shook his head, taking a drink of his milk.

“It’s because Sweet Apple Acres has always been a hotbed of talk against the government. You personally should know how important it is to control the population and eliminate the naysayers...after all, the SS did it all the time back in Germany. Didn’t your brother Albert ever tell you about the work he did in Dachau?”

Conrad froze at this statement, his eyes narrowing as he put the cup of milk down on the table. “You can’t be serious. My brother told me in a letter that he was busy guarding one of the big party officials...why would he lie to me?!” he inquired. The Puppetmaster simply smirked as he finished his milk, placing the glass down on the table with a dull thud and materialized a folder with the signature eagle and swastika emblazed on it.

“Oh dear, Albert lied to his brother! How very noble of him... shielding his brother from the harsh realities of the SS’s Totenkopfverbände. Unfortunately for you Conrad, your brother was actually assigned to Dachau, and while he was there he did some particularly nasty things that I don’t think you should really know about. It’s amazing really how good the SS are good at training their troops to not care about the people that are unfortunate enough to cross paths with them, I mean they turned your brother from such a caring individual to such a cold blooded killer…”

Conrad shot to his feet, reaching for his pistol only to find that it wasn’t in his holster. The Puppetmaster only laughed at this, getting up as well as the table and chairs dissipated. The two men stared each other down, silence reigning for what seemed like an eternity until Conrad finally spoke.

“What exactly do you expect to achieve by this? You come into my dreams and hurl these lies at me, but what do you honestly expect to get from me?” he growled. The Puppetmaster only grinned, folding his arms onto his chest.

“I want you to know who you fought for back home. You didn’t fight for the Fatherland... you fought for a regime that quite frankly be one of the worst regimes history has ever known. You want to fight the unicorns because you believe you’re fighting for a good cause, but you’ve never fought for a good cause before, only a maniac who will go down in infamy,” he responded calmly. The surroundings flashed to Berlin, where the two men stood on the sidelines of a large military parade, where hundreds of soldiers were marching past Hitler who stood on an elevated platform, his hand held out rigidly in a salute as he observed them pass. Then as soon as the vision had started, it was over, but their surroundings had changed. Now, instead of a green field, there was a flat mud field devoid of life.

Conrad’s mouth was dry. He tried to formulate a response, but the words died before they could pass his lips. The Puppetmaster’s words sank deep, chilling his very soul. He remembered vividly the oath he made during his training, how he pledged his allegiance to the leader of the German empire and people, Adolf Hitler. Was he actually serving Germany, or was he really just serving Hitler?

As Conrad debated internally, the Puppetmaster walked over to Conrad, placing his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Remember your place Mr. Schmidt. You are no better than Twilight’s troops, and fighting her will not earn you redemption. I can give you a chance at real redemption...all you have to do is walk through this door and go home. When your father asks if you wish to follow your brother’s footsteps... you say no. Only then will you truly be redeemed,” he whispered as a white door materialized in front of him.

Conrad looked at the door quietly, wondering if the Puppetmaster was right. Deep down, he knew the Puppetmaster was giving him a chance to go back to before he ever joined the Wehrmacht, a chance to avoid the hell of Stalingrad. Tentatively, he reached for the doorknob, only for the door to suddenly disappear.

Standing there instead of the door was none other than Princess Luna herself. The Princess of the Night stood there quietly for a few moments, glaring at the Puppetmaster before clearing her throat. “I wondered where you went after Twilight’s coup. Tell me, what exactly are you trying to do here Discord?”

The man chuckled at this as he stepped forward. “I’m trying to give this man a second chance instead of using him as a pawn of war, Princess,” he replied calmly. Conrad looked at Princess Luna for a few moments, then back to Discord as he waited for one of them to make a move. Finally, it was Princess Luna who moved first, shaking her head firmly.

“He is the only hope for the earth ponies and pegasi Discord. If you just send him home to forget about all of this, you are consciously allowing a genocide to happen. Is that really what you want?” she replied sharply. Discord simply laughed, shaking his head slowly as he closed the gap to stand right in front of Luna.

“It’s a lot more complicated than that Luna, you just assume that the earth ponies and pegasi are being massacred because a few disappear from camps. You wouldn’t understand because you’ve been busy trying to sabotage Twilight in any way possible, all because you lost your power to the unsatisfied public! So before you go around accusing me of supporting genocide, make sure you know just what you’re fighting for Luna. I’ll be waiting for you at the end of the road you choose.”

And with that, Discord snapped his fingers, disappearing in a cloud of black smoke leaving Luna and Conrad standing in the field alone.

Luna then turned to Conrad, a deep frown on her face. She opened her mouth to speak when Conrad raised his hand to quiet her. “Save it Princess, I’ve already heard enough tonight,” he said rather sharply.

Luna looked at the ground for a bit, then nodded. “Very well Conrad.”

And with that, she disappeared as well, leaving Conrad alone in the green field of his dreams.

Author's Note

Deadline number 2 has been met...I think I can get used to making deadlines now :D