“Wald der Träume”
Conrad Schmidt

Conrad fired another shot at the Soviets charging his position, determined to keep them from breaking the line. It was the second day of the Soviet counteroffensive and things were looking grim for the German soldiers of the Sixth Army as the German front line was slowly squeezed tighter and tighter by the encroaching Soviets. However the men fought on, knowing that surrender was not an option and that the eyes of Germany were on them.

Another explosion rocked their building as the Soviets pressed on, seemingly unfazed by the massive casualties they were taking. Conrad’s friend, Friedrich Dresler, quickly ran over to him firing off a burst of rounds from his captured Soviet submachine gun as he ran by the window. “Goddammit Conrad, there’s just so many of them! It’s like fighting a swarm of goddam bees!” he shouted as he loaded a fresh drum mag into his PPsH.

Conrad nodded as another explosion rocked the building, making him flinch a little. “Yeah... they just coming back for more, they don’t care how many we kill. At this rate, we’ll be overwhelmed in no time.” he replied quickly before peeking around the corner of the window, taking a shot, then pulling himself back quickly behind the window. Friedrich however disagreed with Conrad’s assumption, firing off another quick burst of rounds out the window as a few more Soviets bit the dust.

“Nonsense, we can take them. All we need is for the Luftwaffe to continue delivering ammo and food and we should be able to keep them at bay. There can only be so many they can throw at us,” he finally retorted. Conrad chuckled, taking one last shot out the window before reloading his rifle. However, he was unable to reply as a large artillery shell slammed into the building, causing a massive amount of damage. With a loud crash, the portion of the second floor that was above Friedrich gave way, instantly crushing him. Conrad had managed to dive out of the way to the center of the room before scampering to the other side of the room as the debris crashed down, causing smoke and dust to quickly fill the room.

Coughing violently, Conrad tried to collect himself as he tried to figure out what had just happened. One moment he was sitting there, the next moment… Friedrich! When it finally hit him, it hit like a sack of bricks as he rushed over to the massive pile of rubble that he had just been in a few moments ago, trying his hardest to pick through the rubble and find his friend as tears streamed from his eyes. One moment he was there, the next he was gone.

The world seemed to go quiet as Conrad tried to dig his way through, as if to grieve for the fallen Friedrich. Unnoticed by Conrad, the remains of the building started to disintegrate around him, slowly being replaced by the dark, tall trees of a pine forest. Only when the sound of rustling branches and the smell of pine entered his nostrils did he finally notice that something had changed. Confused, he took a look around and noticed the incredibly tall pines around him.

“What the... how the hell did I end up in a forest?” he asked himself softly as he slowly turned around and marvelled at the trees, not noticing the concrete rubble that he was just digging in disappear. Then, seemingly from nowhere, a woman’s voice answered his question.

“You’re in the Forest of Dreams Conrad Schmidt. I felt like it would be a better place to talk than that physical manifestation of Tartarus that you call Stalingrad.”

Conrad was even more confused by this, and quickly turned around in an attempt to find the source of the voice. “Who said that? Show yourself!” he called out, gripping his rifle tightly. The forest remained quiet for a few moments before the woman chuckled.

“I’m sorry about that, I forgot that I hadn’t manifested myself into a form that you could see. Let me fix that,” it exclaimed before there was a bright flash in front of Conrad, forcing him to cover his eyes as he was temporarily blinded. When the flash subsided and he lowered his hand, Conrad found himself staring at the most awe inspiring creature he had ever seen in his life.

Standing before him was a rather tall, dark blue mare with a purplish mane sprinkled with white dots that flowed elegantly behind her, almost as if to simulate a shimmering night sky. The mare also adorned two furled wings on her sides, and a very long horn on her head. Lowering his rifle, he just stared at her for the longest time, completely speechless.

“I am Princess Luna, Princess of the Night and former co-ruler of the Kingdom of Equestria. I’ve watched your dreams for a long time Mr. Schmidt. You’re probably one of the first humans that I’ve ever watched actually. Your grief for your fallen comrades, weariness of war, I watched it all. However, the strongest thing that I detected beyond all that grief and weariness was your loyalty to your country. The belief that you were serving your country and your people,” she explained, walking slowly until she was right in front of him. Looking down at the Princess, Conrad took his time to process what she said as he formulated his response. She was certainly right about his belief about serving his country, for that was the only thing that kept him from deserting.

“I’ve always wanted to serve Germany the best I could, even if the war was hell on earth. However, why do you intrude on my dreams? Why are you here speaking to me now?” he asked calmly. Luna chuckled, taking a seat on her rump.

“Well, I’m here to tell you why you’re here, in Equestria, and not dead in the ruins of Stalingrad. You see, I needed someone to help me out with a major problem, and it just so happened that you were a perfect candidate for who I needed. It also just so happened that you were about to die when a pony wished on a star for someone to help them, and I used that power to summon you here to Equestria.” she explained. Conrad scratched his head, wondering just how powerful this Princess was to pull him to another world, but quickly dismissed the thought, as it wasn’t nearly as important as the fact that she had summoned him here for a purpose.

“So, you need my help. I’m going to go ahead and guess that it has something to do with toppling Twilight?” he asked calmly, making sure to keep his voice devoid of emotion. Luna simply nodded in response, getting to her hooves.

“You guessed right Mr. Schmidt. While Princess Twilight passed the Forced Relocation Act five years ago, very recently she’s been accelerating her plans for the non-unicorns of Equestria. Thanks to my inside pony in Twilight’s government, I now know that she’s liquefying the Relocation Camps one by one and sending them to remote ‘Processing’ camps. Once ponies are shipped there, they don’t return. This is incredibly concerning; I fear that Twilight is beginning a genocide against the non unicorns in Equestria. I believe the processing camps are actually camps where they indiscriminately kill ponies but I cannot do anything about it, at least by myself. Hence why I summoned you,” she explained.

Conrad frowned deeply, thinking about what Luna had said. Things were clearly going downhill in Equestria, but Conrad still noted the fact that he was only one man, and that he could only do so much. “I’m sorry Princess, but I don’t think I’ll be able to help your here. I’m just one man, and you’re asking me to go up against an entire government and topple it. I’d need an army behind me, one that was professionally trained and equipped to do such a task, something clearly I don’t have. I wish I could help you, but it’s just impossible under current circumstances.”

Luna remained quiet, looking at Conrad for a bit, then walking around him as if she was analyzing him, before quietly shaking her head.

“You underestimate yourself Mr. Schmidt, and what resources are at your disposal. You have an entire camp of ponies who hate their current living conditions, and want to fight back around you. They could be trained to fight with what they have. It may not be the best, but by fighting back you could prove to all of the ponies suffering in relocation camps that they aren’t doomed to suffering, but can pick up arms and fight. I picked you Conrad because you were one of the best examples of a soldier that I had ever seen. You’re loyal, brave, unwavering when you fight for a cause. Look deep into your heart, and know that you have a chance to win here, but only if you take it.”

It took a few moments for Conrad to realize what she was saying, and when he did, it hit like a freight train. Luna was right, he wouldn’t be alone if he started the fight against Twilight. He knew for a fact that Applejack would stand by him, and would probably draw the others from the farm to fight as well. It didn’t require conventional warfare to defeat an enemy, sometimes you had to break up and harass them anyway you could, just like those Soviet Partisan fighters back on Earth. The more he thought on it, the more confident he got in himself. He would help these ponies be free... it was definitely better than the alternative, being dead on Earth. A good man repays his debts. Grinning, he finally nodded in approval to Princess Luna.

“Perhaps I’m not as powerless like I think I am. I’ll do my best to free the Earth Ponies,” he exclaimed in a confident tone. Luna smiled at this, dipping her head in thanks.

“Thank you Mr. Schmidt, Equestria will never forget your decision. Now before you go, I need to tell you something. When you wake up, go to Captain Rarity and ask her about freeing the Prisoner of Sunny Hills. Once you rescue the Prisoner of Sunny Hills, tell her the following phrase, and she will know what to do: ‘"Where the Nightmare began, a nightmare will end"’ Good luck Mr. Schmidt, the eyes of fate are upon you.” she replied before turning around and slowly walking back into the mist.

With Luna gone, the forest started to shimmer, breaking apart quickly as Conrad split from the Forest of Dreams back to the waking world, ready for the coming storm.

Author's Note

I went back and changed a few dates around. And yes, I know I didn't explain the language issue in this chapter...basically, Luna's teleportation magic gave Conrad the ability to speak Equestrian. Next chapter I'm looking forward to writing...and I hope you look forward to seeing what I got in store for you next :D