Iron Wings

by Select Few

Canterlot

Time: 3:28 PM, 06/27/4 PHA
Location: 9.5km above the ground, near the Equestria Border.

Franz looked out the window of his ship as the land outside sped by in a blur, but paid no attention to it. He was still attempting to grasp what exactly he had been ordered to do.

“Sneak into the capital of a hostile nation undetected, discern the location of their most powerful magical artifacts, steal said artifacts, and get back to Command without being caught?” Franz thought, then let out a nervous laugh. “Leerer Himmel, what could go wrong?”

He flew in silence for the next few minutes until his instruments indicated that he was almost within visual range of the border. He pressed a button on the side of cockpit, and felt the ship hum with energy as the cloaking gems were activated. A few seconds later and all you could see of his ship was a faint distortion in the air. He crossed the border out of his home country and into an environment where, if he were discovered, would mean either death or torture for the foreseeable future. “Let’s keep such pleasant thoughts at bay for now, ja?” He angled his ship towards a mountain far off in the distance, one that he knew held a city on the opposite side.

“It will be nightfall before I arrive. That should make part of my job easy.” He set the ship to autopilot, and began to pour over the map of Canterlot the AAF had provided him. It was three years old, but they seemed confident that it was still up to date. He looked over the roads and alleyways, devising an escape route should things go awry.

“If I put my ship down over here, and glide down over here, I can take a shortcut through this road and over this wall and…”

He spent the next three hours planning and memorizing his plans. When he took control of the ship again, the sun was just beginning to set. He still had another hour and a half until he reached the mountain, then another five minutes to go around it and arrive in Canterlot. He could cut the time in half, but to do so would require him to drop the cloaking spell and reveal himself to the Equestrians, thus negating his reason for being here at all.

Franz took this time to go over his equipment and make sure that he had everything he would need. First up was his vest: A jet black thing completely covered in pockets of varying shapes and sizes, and worn over a simple black shirt.

Inside the vest was where he kept his equipment: Explosion-In-A-Can, a lighter, his enchanted goggles, five smoke grenades, ten smoke bombs, a blowgun with six darts coated in a potions made to knock out its victim instantly, fifty nylon ties, and a roll of duct tape.

He had intentionally left two pockets empty, in case he found anything that he needed to carry during his missions. He would oftentimes fill one with pebbles, which he would use to distract guards and lure them away from their posts and into an ambush. Most fell for it, though some either didn’t notice it or knew better than to investigate the noise coming from the dark, out of the way passage. He left the rest of his equipment in storage aboard the ship.

When Franz arrived in Canterlot, the first thing he noticed was that the town seemed all but empty. When the castle came into view, he saw the reason why: Nearly everyone was gathered around the road to the castle and its courtyards. There was some sort of ceremony going on at the extravagantly decorated citadel, with ponies celebrating something or another. Knowing these ponies, it was intended to either keep up the spirits of the general populace after the recent declaration of war, or to celebrate what was, in their minds, an impending victory.

Franz ignored the party, and instead took the opportunity to set down closer to castle than he had initially planned. With virtually no one within the city, he was able to land a mere five blocks away from the festivities unnoticed. Still, he waited until night actually fell before departing his craft and slowly gliding down to the rooftop closest to him. He slowly travelled from rooftop to rooftop, each building bringing him closer to the castle. He had to stop at one building on the edge of the party, as there was a mass of ponies between it and the next one that would notice him if he flew.

“Verdammt. I guess I’ll have to wait here until the party is over. Either that or cause a distraction, but somehow I don’t think they’ll all go investigate a pebble thrown against a-”

As Franz was figuring out a plan of action, a loud crash sounded from the far side of the party. A fuchsia mare who had had far too much to drink had attempted to dance with an ice sculpture atop one of the tables. She slipped on water seeping from the melting figure and fell off the table, bringing her frozen companion with her. The resulting crash caught the attention of everyone in the area, who crowded around the dazed mare as her friends checked her for injuries.

Franz saw his chance, and quickly flew across the open ground and on top of the building closest to the castle. Taking a quick glance to be sure that the crowd was still distracted, Franz half-flew/half-climbed the wall of the castle up to an open window. He put his ear right beneath the window and, hearing nothing, climbed into the room.

Inside was a storeroom, which Franz guessed belonged to the kitchen. All manner of spices and vegetables were stored in barrels along the walls and floor, and the air was thick with the smell of both fresh and dried herbs. Franz quietly moved to the door and slowly opened it, just enough for him to see through. On the other side, a lone guard was facing away from Franz, watching a well-lit hallway that led further into the castle. Franz silently crawled up behind the guard and, with a well-aimed strike, sent her to the world of dreams and illusions. He hid the unconscious mare in the storeroom and, locking the door behind him, began to explore the castle.

He was looking for a vault or information hub of some sort, anything that would either hold the Elements or provide a clue to their location. He hid from any patrols he came across, and knocked out any lone guards he found. After half an hour of fruitlessly searching the castle, he decided to try a more direct way of gathering the intelligence he needed. Finding a patrol of two guards, Franz followed them to a more secluded part of the castle. He was about to strike when one of the guards, a pegasus stallion, removed his helmet and began to talk to the other guard, an earth pony mare.

“Listen, Buckler, I… I had something I wanted to ask you.” The pegasus said, nervously twitching his wings. The mare turned to face the pegasus and sat down. “Well, go ahead and ask it, then.”

“Uh, well, I just wanted to ask… Well, you see, the thing is… I wanted to know if…” The pegasus could barely speak, not even completing a sentence before trying to start over.

“Just spit it out, Quarrel.”

“Um, I was wondering if you’d… liketohavedinnerwithme?” He said in a single breath.

“Oh. Wow.” The mare was stunned. “I didn’t realize you felt that way about me.”

The pegasus had stopped twitching his wings, and was waiting for an answer. After a moment, the mare opened her mouth to reply, but before she could utter a single word she grabbed her neck and collapsed to the floor. The stallion rushed to her side. “Buckler? Buckler, are you alright?”

“Es tut uns leid zu unterbrechen.” Franz leapt out of the shadow he had been hiding in and grabbed the guard by the neck. He threw him against a wall and then pinned him to the floor.

“This might sting a little.” Franz grabbed the guard’s wings and snapped the bones inside them. The pegasus’ exclamation of pain was cut off by Franz grabbing him by the neck again. With a flap of his wings, Franz pulled the both of them through a window and above an empty courtyard. “I have questions, and you are going to answer them. If you do not, well, I doubt that your little friend wishes to have dinner with a spot on the ground, ja?”

The guard looked at the ground far below them, then back at Franz. He took a moment to collect himself. “What the hell, man?! What is wrong with you?!”

“Falsche Antwort.” Franz let go of the guard dove down, following the guard’s descent.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH AAAAAHHHHHHHHH OKAY! OKAY, I’LL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS JUST DON’T LET ME DIE! AAAAAAHHH BY LUNA’S STARRY PLOT I’LL TALK OH CELESTIA I DON’T WANT TO DIE AAAAAAAAAAaaaaahhhhhh…

“…How long have you been holding me?”

“Since ‘Luna’s starry plot’. Now, you are ready to answer?” Franz said, holding the guard like a newly hatched eyass.

“Just don’t drop me again, you crazy mother-“

“Gut! We will be good friends, you and I! Now then, onto the matter at hand: Where are the Elements of Harmony?”
The guard just stared at Franz like he was crazy. After a few moments, Franz was getting impatient. “I would hate to end such a promising friendship so soon, Kleine Feder, but my arms are getting tired.”

“You honestly expect me to know where the Elements are stored? You might just be as crazy as you look.” The guard squirmed in Franz’s grasp, but was held firmly in place by the griffin. “Are you saying that you don’t know where they are, kleiner Spatz? Because that would be… disappointing.” Franz made a small opening in his arms and the guard fell a little.

“NO WAIT! I do, okay?!” The guard was beginning to sweat, and Franz was legitimately having trouble keeping him steady. “They’re in Ponyville! The Elements are in Ponyville.”

Franz briefly recalled seeing Ponyville on some of the maps of Equestria, but the town had been deemed too little and ultimately too unimportant to bother with. “Es sind immer die kleinen Dinge.” Franz thought, then addressed the guard. “Danke, freund. You have been most helpful.”

The guard looked at the ground, still far below them, and gulped. “What happens now?” he asked his griffin captor.

“Now, I put you back where I found you. I’d keep you around, but I doubt meine mutter would care for a new pet, after what happened to the last one.”

Franz flew the guard back to the hallway with the unconscious mare. He set him down beside her and watched as the guard ran over to check on her.

“Ah, junge liebe. I can’t have you alerting the others, though. Sorry, mein freund.” And with that, Franz kicked the guard into the wall. He slowly slid down to the floor, and painfully travelled into the realm of dreams.

Franz flew back through the window and crawled along the stone walls of the fortress. He knew that it wouldn’t be long before someone discovered one or more of the guards, but he hoped to be out of the city by that point.

He was about halfway back to his ship when he heard the alarm horn blown from one of the castle towers.
“Glänzend.”

Franz abandoned all attempts at stealth and flew at full speed towards his ship. Magic bolts and spears landed around him, and it was only luck and a little skill that kept him from being either fried or impaled.

A flaming spear landed right in front of him, forcing him to stop. “It appears that I made them angry.” Franz thought, resuming his mad dash to his ship. When he finally arrived, he jumped in and started up the ship. To the ponies chasing after him, it appeared that he had suddenly vanished. One of the unicorns fired at the spot Franz had disappeared, and was surprised when it impacted what appeared to be empty air. Seeing this, every other unicorn guard in the area threw everything from fire bolts to energy balls at the same spot, each attack hitting the seeming tangible air.

Franz didn’t take too kindly to ponies shooting at his ship. He rotated it around to face the largest mass of them, dropped the cloaking spell, and charged up his weapons.

“Jetzt bin ich dran.”

Franz fired into the squad of unicorns that were still lobbing spells at him, burning a hole right in the middle of them. Where before had stood some of the finest mages in Equestria now lay only a circle of ash. The rest of the squad looked at the circle with both awe and despair.

Not being one for open combat such as this, Franz took the opportunity of their distraction to activate the propulsion spells and speed away at almost the speed of sound. The unicorns who had recovered weren’t able to get any more shots on target, and the pegasi were not capable of chasing down the speeding ship. All that remained for them was to count their losses and bury their dead.

• • • – – – • • •

Franz slowed down once he reached the other side of the mountain. He reapplied the cloaking spells and set his ship to hover. Pulling out a map of Equestria, and found his target and plotted a new course.

“Let’s hope Ponyville is as unimportant to the Equestrians as it was to us.”

Author's Note:

It was around this point that I had to stop myself from cursing in German every time something mildly inconvenienced me.