//------------------------------// // Your Heresy will Stay Your Feet. // Story: Iron Wings // by Select Few //------------------------------// Time: 2:39 P.M., 06,29,4 PHA Location: Alliance Armed Forces Command Headquarters Oberst Franz, Infiltrator in the Alliance Armed Forces, the so-called “Unstoppable Force”, and the Mechanical Griffon, had one thing in common with Princess Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic and Savior of Equestria at that very moment. They were bored out of their minds. They had arrived at the AAFCHQ about two hours after the radio call. Once they arrived, they were ushered into a much smaller meeting room than the one that Franz had been in before. Instead of the dark browns and light greys of the other room, this one was dark green and light brown. The lighting would make a new moon seem bright, and it looked like it was only meant to hold five or six people at most, seven if someone laid on the table. Speaking of the table, it was much, much smaller than the previous one. This one was seated more like a desk, with three chairs on the side farthest from the door and three chairs on the side closest to it. It was in the latter that Franz and Twilight sat. “Did you have to make it so tight?” Twilight asked, complaining (again) about the bonds that Franz had placed her in when they arrived. As opposed to the nylon ties she had been bound with in the ship, these were more like a heavy chain, enchanted to be able to contain even a raging minotaur. Twilight was no raging minotaur, and thus was contained quite securely. Franz had elected to stay in his mission garb, if only because it was more comfortable than his dress uniform. Whereas the vest had holes in the back to accommodate wings, he was forced to remove his wings then replace them every time he had to dress up. Plus, Franz had a feeling that he would be needing his equipment very soon. After another half hour of waiting, the Generals finally arrived. Franz immediately jumped into a salute, unfortunately dragging Twilight, who was chained to his wrist, along with him. “At ease, Oberst.” The large male griffin from before said, taking his place at the right of the table. The dragon sat in the middle and the female griffin sat at the left. To Franz, it was as if someone had just taken the last meeting and shrunk it down to bite size. To Twilight, who had never seen an Alliance Military Council before, it was highly unnerving. The griffin on the left smiled at Franz. What appeared to be a comforting smile to Franz appeared to be a predatory grin to Twilight. There were many more of this moments that seemed one way to Franz and a completely different way to Twilight, but we won’t mention the rest here. “So, you were successful in you mission, Oberst?” The white griffin asked, leaning forward on the table. “Tell us everything that happened.” “If it’s all the same to you, Ma’am, I’d rather just get this over with.” Franz said, nervously rubbing his talons. “Straight and to the point,” The black griffin said, shifting his weight and causing his leather chair to squeak, “I’d like that. None of the bureaucratic Kuhscheiße we usually have to deal with.” “Very well, if everyone agrees, we’ll cut straight to the point.” The dragon said, then put some papers into a drawer hidden under the table. “Were you able to retrieve the artifacts?” Franz pulled up a black duffel bag and placed it on the table. “If you mean the Elements of Harmony, then yes.” “Excellent! Give them to us, Oberst, and we can officially end your mission.” Twilight spoke up at this. “Franz, please! There is still time to return the Elements to Equestria! Don’t do this!” Franz hesitated with the bag. Every eye in the room was on him. Finally, with a sigh, he slid the back over to the Generals. “I’m sorry, Kleine Prinzessin, but I have to but the duty to the Fatherland above all else.” “Wise words, Oberst” The dragon said as he picked up the bag. He placed it under the table and, while he was still doing that, said “We’ll put them on your grave.” In the blink of an eye, the dragon pulled out a mechanical spellcaster and shot Franz in the chest. He fell to the floor, dragging Twilight down with him. She could only watch as his vest was covered in the fluid leaking from the hole in his vest. “Why did you do that?!” She asked, unable to see the Generals due to her being chained to a corpse, but still able to hear them moving around. The white griffin moved over to the side of the table with Twilight and leaned against it. “He had served his purpose.” “Had he? You have no use for the Elements; You can’t even use them!” Twilight said, crying from shock, fear, and anger over the needless death. “What, these things?” asked the dragon, pulling one of the Elements from the duffel bag. “This was never about them.” He threw the necklace against the wall where it shattered. “No, my dear Twilight… This was always about you.” “Me? What did I do?” She exclaimed, the shock from this newest revelation cancelling out the tears from the previous one. “What could you possibly want from me?” “Did you notice that?” The white griffin asked of the black griffin, “How her immediate question is ‘What did I do?’ It’s almost as if she knows she’s guilty of something, she’s just not sure what.” The black griffin merely stared at Twilight, an odd mixture of anger and curiosity painted on his face. “You want to know what you’ve done, ‘Prinzessin’?” The dragon said, spitting out the last word in a mocking tone, “You’ll not find any answers here.” The dragon raised the mechanical spellcaster and aimed it at Twilight. “Any last words, Sparkle?” “Actually, I’ve got a few.” A voice from beside Twilight said, as Franz sat up, helping Twilight up along the way. “What the hell- How did you survive?!” The dragon asked, waiving the spellcaster around wildly. “You’ll find out in a minute.” Franz said, standing up. “Now then, I have some questions for you.” “Fine, ask them.” The dragon yelled, still waiving the spellcaster around, “It won’t matter in a minute.” “Oh, it really will.” Franz walked up to a chair and sat Twilight down in it, so that he would be free to stand on his hind legs and point with his talons. “Ein: Why are you wielding the spellcaster of a Generalmajor? You should be firing Fire bolts at people, not Magic ones.” “Simple enough to answer, I like this one better. No worries about accidently setting the building on fire.” The dragon leveled the spellcaster at Franz. “Next question, bird meat?” Unfazed, Franz continued. “Zwei: How did she become a General?” He pointed at the white griffin, who looked confused. “Whatever do you mean, Franz?” “I mean, Pure Coat griffins are extraordinarily rare. And do you know why?” He waited and, when no one answered, brought a talon to his face. “Considering that you live in a library, Prinzessin, I had hoped that you would have an answer to that.” Twilight felt embarrassed for a second. “Just because I live in a library doesn’t mean that I know every random fact in existence.” “Still, though. I had hoped it would be common knowledge.” “Would you get on with it?!” The dragon was obviously growing more irritated with each passing moment. “Very well. The reason that the reine-beschichteten are so rare is that most hatchlings don’t survive for very long.” The room went silent for a moment. “W-Well, I’m one of the few who did survive. I used my uniqueness as a strength, not a weakness, and that’s how I became a General while you’re only an Oberst!” “Unlikely.” Franz said, bringing every eye back to him. “Because those that do survive to adulthood do so only barely- And have to remain on life support for the entirety of their lives.” The white griffin stammered for a second. “I-Well-I mean-You can’t seriously believe-I…. I have no answer to that.” The white griffin said, slowly lowering herself off the desk and unto all fours. “Wait,” Twilight wondered aloud, “If she isn’t a griffin, then what is she?” Franz pointed to the dragon. “I suspect that she is the same thing as whatever he is, because he’s obviously not a dragon.” “Don’t be absurd, Franz.” The dragon said, letting out a chuckle as he did so. “What could possibly make you believe that?” “That brings me to my final point, drei: The duffel bag with the Elements? It was coated with enough Dragonsbane to put a full-sized dragon in a coma. You should be dead right now.” The thing that looked like a dragon pointed a claw at Franz. “As should you, A mistake that will soon be corrected!” Franz put a talon in the air, as if to say “Aha!” and reached into his pocket, right where he had been hit by the spellcaster. “That reminds me, you’re a lousy shot.” He pulled out the can of Explosion-In-A-Can, which now sported a large hole in the side. The fluid on his vest was apparently the contents of the can, which was now almost empty. “Had you been using the proper spellcaster, we would all be fliegen Lebensmittel right now. And that would be bestürzend, because then I couldn’t reveal my ace-in-the-hole.” The dragon, unsure to go ahead and shoot Franz or hear his supposed trick, let his curiosity get the better of him. “Alright, Oberst, let’s see this so-called ‘ace-in-the-hole.’” “Ich dachte, du würdest nie fragen. Kleine Prinzessin?” “With pleasure.” Twilight lit up her horn and removed the Hilfsmittel from her horn. Then she used her magic to throw the chains off of her and Franz and wrapped them around the Generals. The black griffin, mostly silent until now, finally spoke up. “What Zauberei is this?! Hilfsmittel are supposed to completely nullify magic! Not even the Sonnengöttin could remove one!” “A funny thing about Hilfsmittel, General:” Franz said, leaning up against the bound imposters. “They have to be turned on to work.” Twilight finished. And with that, the threat to both the Draco-Griffin Alliance and Equestria was ended, and the two nations remained at peace forever after. “Oh, you didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?!” The dragon and white griffin said as one. They turned into a purple and green mist and floated out of the chains, leaving the black griffin with enough room to simply shrug them off. “Ich hatte gehofft, es war, ja.” Franz said, watching the mist float around the room before settling in a corner. “But then again, it wouldn’t be fun if it were easy.” Oberst Franz and Princess Twilight watched as the mist began to take shape. First, it was a rough circle, but soon enough it grew legs and wings. A head came next, followed by a long, misshapen purple horn. Eyes, a mouth, and ears came last. Franz just looked at the creature. “Kenne ich dich?” The creature merely laughed at his question. “You do not know us,” it said, then pointed at Twilight, “But she does.” Twilight looked at the creature, trying to figure out where she had seen it before. “Wait, did it say ‘us’?” “Ja,” Franz said, nodding. “So do you know them?” Twilight squinted, trying to remember. “Well, individual parts are familiar, but when taken together, it doesn’t make sense. Unless…” The creature giggled, one of the most terrifying sounds that Franz had ever heard. “Unless…?” “No…” Twilight took a step back, eyes widening. “It can’t be…” Franz grabbed Twilight by the shoulders. “It can’t be what, Kleine Prinzessin?” “That’s impossible!” Twilight was in a state of panic, barely registering Franz’s presence. For all she knew, the world contained only her and the creature. “You were purged, and you were forcefully exiled from Equestria!” “Well, we’re not in Equestria, are we?” It gave another one of its horrifying giggles. “And that fact that this is happening makes it possible, doesn’t it, ‘Prinzessin’?” Franz couldn’t think of what else to do to snap Twilight out of her current state, so he did the only thing he knew to do: He slapped her. Again. “Ow! What was that for?!” She angrily asked him, temporarily forgetting the creature on the other side of the room. “Wirst du mir bitte sagen, what that thing is?” Franz asked, pointing at said thing. Twilight took a deep breath and said, “It’s two of Equestria’s greatest foes, somehow combined into one being: “It’s Nightmare Chrysalis.”