//------------------------------// // The Confrontation // Story: Nopony Escapes Stalag 13 // by DJSaltine //------------------------------// The darkness enveloped the shady figures running through the forest, their tall figures sneaking cautiously among the undergrowth. Suddenly, a giant light exploded above in the sky, revealing the figures to be none other than Corporal LeBeau and Corporal Newkirk, returning from a previous mission. Both of them were startled at the sudden light, but quickly became entranced in it. “What was that?” LeBeau asked, his accent thick with French. “Now, how should I know?” Newkirk responded. He looked around to the forest. “We’ve done our job, now let’s get back quickly!” LeBeau nodded his head before they both headed back to the underground. Had they kept their heads up in the sky, they’d have seen a shadowy figure flying high into the moonlight, its head searching below. * * * * * * “UP! Everybody up!” Sergeant Schultz shouted to the prisoners, his presence blocking the door despite his commands. Complaints filled the barracks as cold POWs got out of their ‘comfortably warm’ beds. “C’mon Schultz, three more minutes,” complained Carter as he rolled over in his cot. “Carter, get up and get in formation.” Without any complaints, the rest of the prisoners inside the barracks got out and went out to the crisp air outside. They all stood as they had been instructed and waited for Schultz to count them. As he rounded Hogan’s spot, he realized he was two short. A look of horror overcame his face as he attempted to figure out who was missing. He sneaked up behind Hogan. “Hogan, there are two prisoners missing,” he stated in a whisper. “They’re probably still in dream world,” Hogan replied slyly. Schultz smirked and scoffed. “I’m pretty sure I got everyone out of the barracks, Hogan.” Hogan shrugged his shoulders a bit. “Suite yourself.” Inside the barracks, LeBeau and Newkirk hurried up the secret passage and huddled into their own beds. Schultz looked at the group of prisoners and quickly hustled inside. He neared the Newkirk’s cot and pulled the covers up, leaning his head in close. Underneath, Newkirk turned his head to face Schultz. Their faces were only about two inches away from each other. “You wanna knock before walking in on one’s beauty sleep, Schultz?” Behind Schultz, LeBeau pulled himself out of his cot. “You’re gonna need years of sleep to make yourself any prettier.” Both LeBeau and Newkirk started arguing with each other, causing a great commotion. Schultz broke it up. “Both of you; outside and get in formation.” Newkirk became silent. “Why didn’t you just say so Schultz-y.” “Yeah, we’d ‘a been up and out already,” LeBeau responded as they both hopped out of their respective cots and walked in line. Schultz followed close behind, his face in a mixture of confusion and pride. “Repo-o-o-o-ort!” Klink’s voice echoed throughout the camp as he stepped out into the crisp air. Schultz stepped forward to confront Klink. “All prisoners present and accounted for, Kommandant.” “Excellent, Schultz.” He looked to the prisoners. “Return to the barracks.” The prisoners of war began to move back to their own cots. Schultz leaned closer to Klink. “Was this called because of the explosion?” Klink rolled his eyes, starting to walk away. “No, Schultz, this was not…” he stopped and inched nearer to Schultz, “did you say explosion?” He looked to Schultz in worry. “Yes, sir. There was a giant bright light that exploded in the sky.” Schultz smirked lightly. “It was very beautiful.” “I don’t care how it looked; I just want to know why.” Klink looked to the distance. “Sir!” A distant voice echoed down to Klink. “A squad car is approaching!” Klink’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “We weren’t expecting anyone…” He hurried to meet the car before it entered the camp. The car pulled up to the area that Klink was standing. Inside, Burkhalter stared out the window. “Klink, I want you to keep all the prisoners in the barracks and meet me in your office, there is something you have to see.” “Thank you, Burkhalter, you don’t know how important your trust in me is!” Klink stated proudly. “I don’t trust you, Klink. I just need your men to watch this thing until I return,” Burkhalter stated annoyed as he closed the window and had the driver drive ahead. Klink saluted him, but kept his feelings of hurt to himself and continued to his office. Hogan looked out the barracks window at Klink and Burkhalter’s conversation. “It seems like Burkhalter’s decided to give us a surprise visit.” Kinch agreed. “Seems so, Colonel.” He stepped back and opened the bunk to the underground. “I’ll listen on the radio.” “Good call.” Hogan watched as the car drove up to the entrance of the office and Burkhalter take out a small lump covered by a giant white cloth. It looked like a body. Carter came up from behind Hogan. “I don’t like the way that looks, Colonel.” “Me neither.” He motioned his head to the underground. “Let’s go see what’s going on.” * * * * * * “What is it, sir?” Klink asked, his eyes mesmerized at the orange body that lay unconscious on the ground. “If I knew what it was, I wouldn’t have brought it to you,” Burkhalter snapped harshly. Suddenly, it started to move. And speak. “What happened, Twi?” it muttered quietly. “It-it spoke!” Klink sputtered. “It did that several times in the car,” Burkhalter responded, losing his usually degrading tone for the moment. The body twitched as if awakening. “When she awakes, you say nothing.” Klink stuttered his next words out. “Yes sir; silent as a mouse!” “More like a rat,” Burkhalter muttered to himself before the orange horse… thing awoke. She opened her eyes to reveal boldly green irises. They took in the noteworthy surroundings; a giant desk covered in papers and a box that held something, several filing cabinets, and two tall beings that stood on their hind legs, one lanky and balding, the other was rounded and appearing to be cross. “Where am I?” she asked, as she lifted her front right hoof to the top of her head, feeling for her hat. Burkhalter opened his mouth to speak, but Klink interrupted. “Stalag 13: the prisoner of war camp with a perfect record.” Burkhalter glared to Klink, but stayed silent. It appeared to take all his energy to avoid any obvious insults to Klink. “A ‘prisoner of war camp?’” she asked, rubbing her head, namely the bump that formed from the previous accident. “What’s that and who are you?” Burkhalter stepped forward before Klink could cause anymore damage. “Honestly, it doesn’t really matter, but I am Albert Burkhalter, General der Luftwaffe to the fuehrer.” Klink quickly interjected himself. “And I am Wilhelm Klink, Kommandant of Stalag thirte…“ “She gets it, Klink,” Burkhalter interrupted. He looked to the odd-one-out and, with an air of grace and poise, asked, “And who are you, my dear?” “And what are you?” Klink added, his lighting up. “Uh…” she stated, thinking carefully. “My name is Applejack, and I’m an Earth Pony.” She looked around the room. “Um, how far am I from Equestria?” Both Burkhalter and Klink looked to each other in confusion. Burkhalter looked back to Applejack. “We don’t know where that is.” Applejack’s face showed her surprise and concern. She darted her eyes to the floor, twitching back and forth in thought. “How did you get here?” Burkhalter asked, his voice faking concern. Applejack looked up from the floor. “My friend Twilight Sss…” her eyes darted around in worry, “Snarkle… casted a new spell that was supposed to send us to Cant…” once again, her eyes darted about the room, “…alant… but something must’ve gone wrong.” Burkhalter nodded. “I see… and then when you came to… our world, you stumbled about and bumped into our squad car.” “Is that what I hit?” she asked, rubbing her lump. “And that light that Schultz mentioned…” Klink began, piecing it together- an odd feat, for sure, “that must’ve been you coming into our world.” Applejack looked down. “Could be. I do remember a bright light.” “Now,” Burkhalter said, attempting to close the conversation, “I’m sure you’re exhausted. Klink!” “Yes, sir, Burkhalter,” Klink stated, saluting and at ready. “Accommodate Miss Applejack here with the guest room.” “Yes sir,” Klink moved himself over to his desk and prepared to call someone. “…Personally,” Burkhalter finished. Klink froze, his face slightly paler, “Yes sir…” Burkhalter picked up the cloth that hid Applejack while she was unconscious. “It’ll be safer for you to not be seen by the prisoners, so we’re going to cover you with this and Klink here will lead you to your bed.” Applejack cautiously put the cloth over body. “Erm… Much obliged…” and awaited Klink’s movements. Klink walked to the door. “This way,” he stated and lead the way to their guest house. As soon as Klink left, Burkhalter stared suspiciously at Applejack as she followed blindly behind. * * * * * * “Sounds like something really strange is going on, Colonel,” Kinch stated plainly. “I wouldn’t doubt it, Kinch,” Hogan replied, thinking deeply. "What do you think she meant by 'Earth Pony?" Hogan thought hard on that. "I'm not sure. Could be a code." "No code I ever heard," Kinch replied, unimpressed. LeBeau climbed down the ladder to confront Hogan, followed by Newkirk. “Colonel Hogan,” he began, “we got the underground tunnel completed, sir.” “Good. That means we’ve got an escape route in all four directions,” he smiled. “That’ll really help us evade the krouts." “There was something else, Colonel,” Newkirk interjected. “There was a huge light that just sort of exploded in the sky.” “A light that exploded in the sky?” Hogan replied, tilting his head forward to ensure that he heard correctly. “Yeah, a huge one,” LeBeau added. “Is contact to HQ still out?” “Unfortunately, yes,” Kinch joined in. He looked to the communication device they had. “I probably won’t be able to get it up and running for about a week.” Hogan looked to the device as well. “That won’t be…” Suddenly, voices could be heard from the hidden audio system as Klink returned to his office. “Wait a minute, hold this conversation…” They all leaned in and listened. * * * * * * Klink opened the door and closed it quickly behind him. “She seemed to be able to set herself up well enough.” Burkhalter was sitting on one of the chairs the stood in front of Klink’s desk, his chin resting on his hand in thought. “Doesn’t matter,” Burkhalter mumbled. “You know, I almost hate to admit it, but she does seem rather cute.” Klink moved himself over to his desk, smirking to himself. “She was lying.” Burkhalter never took his eyes away from the desk. “Excuse me, sir?” “She was lying about her friend and where she came from,” Burkhalter raised his head to face Klink. “She probably won’t tell us anymore… but maybe…” he looked over to the doorway. “Maybe she’ll talk without her knowing…” Klink tilted his head. “Without her knowing?” “I will need a bed tonight,” Burkhalter got back on point. “Yours should suffice.” Klink twitched in worry. “Mine, sir?” “Of course.” “But where would I sleep?” “You’ll find a place,” Burkhalter got up and began out of Klink’s office. “Heil Hitler.” Klink stood up. “Heil Hitler.” As soon as Burkhalter left, he sat back down, his face full of exhaustion and worry. * * * * * * “What do you think he meant by ‘she’ll talk without her knowing,’ Colonel?” Kinch asked as he shut the machine down. Hogan stood up straight before leaning back slightly. “Well, I think I’m going to be meeting our mystery girl tomorrow.” Newkirk looked over to Hogan. “What’re we going to do about the explosion?” “You two go back out there and see what you can find,” Hogan thought out loud. “Come back in the morning and give us what you find.” “Whatever you say, Colonel,” LeBeau replied as he and Newkirk began their way outside again. “What about you, Captain?” Kinch asked. “I’m going to rest; I’ve got a date tomorrow,” Hogan replied with a smile.