> Iron Wings
>  by Select Few
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iron Wings: A War Story
By Select Few


Time: 9:53 PM, 04/12/4 PHA*
Location: Manehattan, Fort Apus.

It had been business as usual for the guards so far. Walked around a little, talked to the research mages stationed there, walked some more, ate, etc. For a fort, it was rather boring. No one ever tried to break in, because as far as the general public knew, there was nothing worth stealing inside. Some guards wondered why the fort was even needed. Equestria hadn’t been in any kind of conflict for centuries, save for random attacks on small towns by mythological creatures, of course. Even with that, Manehattan had never been the target of the beasts’ ire.

That wouldn’t change tonight. For the general populace of Manehattan, nothing would be different from today, tomorrow. The guards at Fort Apus, however, were in for a wild night. For hovering over the fort, hidden from sight by a nexus of magic-infused gems, was a ship belonging to Leutnant Franz, an infiltrator sent to retrieve an item stolen from the Draco-Griffin Alliance by the inhabitants of the fort. At the moment, Franz was quietly traversing the roof of one of the fort’s many buildings. He didn’t know the layout of the fort, but that knowledge wasn’t necessary to find the item; a scrying spell placed on his target was leading him straight to it. In most cases, the items he was sent to retrieve would be placed in an area designed to block others from scrying them, but these ponies were either too cocky or too stupid to do so.

Franz wished his superiors had told him what the stolen item was, but all they said was to follow the spell, that it would lead him to the item. Brigadegeneral Amsel was always vague, but this was less information than even he normally provided. With such secrecy involved, Franz assumed that whatever was stolen must have been something vitally important to the Alliance. However, the relatively low amount of guards at the fort made him question that assumption.

“Perhaps they don’t realize the importance of whatever they took,” Franz thought as he silently flew from one rooftop to another, “though that begs the question of why they took it in the first place.”

Franz continued on quietly for a few minutes, only needing to hide from guards a couple of times. As he landed on top of what he assumed was a warehouse of some sort, the spell told him that his target was on the inside. Slipping on a pair of goggles enchanted to allow the viewer to see the heat given off by most living creatures, he crawled along the rooftop until he was right over the stolen item. He couldn’t see what it was through the roof, but he counted six ponies in the room with it: One beside the item, two talking over near a wall, and the remaining three walking around. He could tell that the three walking were wearing traditional pony armor, so he assumed that they were guards.

“The other three must be scientists of some sort.” Franz thought. He reached into one of the many pockets on his vest and pulled out a spray of some sort. He sprayed it in a circle above and a little left of his target, and then put an ‘X’ in the middle of the circle. He put the spray back into the pocket and got a lighter out of another pocket.

“Now for the fun part.” He threw the lighter onto the area where he sprayed and flew a little ways away from it. As soon as the flame from the lighter came into contact with the spray, it exploded in a violent display of science. When the smoke cleared, it would reveal a jagged hole about twice the size of the area sprayed. Franz didn’t wait for it to clear, however. As soon as it blew, he flew through the hole and rammed one of the stunned guards into a wall, knocking him out. He flew unto another guard and, throwing his helmet off, slammed the dazed unicorn into the floor. The other guard, an earth pony, had recovered by this point and was charging the griffin with the intention of tackling him to the ground. As he approached Franz, however, the griffin flew into the air and back down on top of the guard. As he got up, he picked up the guard and flew him into the ceiling. He dropped the guard back down onto the floor, content that he would not be getting back up for a while. The scientists had fled the room as soon as Franz had blown a hole in the ceiling, presumably to gather more guards.
With no one else to incapacitate, Franz approached his target. It was in a crate with the top covered by a grey cloth, so Franz couldn’t see what it was quite yet. He approached the crate, intending to remove the cloth and see what the fuss was about. He went up to the crate, grabbed the cloth and-

And was tackled by the earth pony guard from earlier.

“It’ll take a lot more than that to be rid of me!” The guard said, pinning Franz to the floor.  Franz flapped his wings and rolled over, pinning the guard to the floor instead.

“Du willst mehr? Du hast es.”**

Franz reached into a pocket on his vest and pulled out a set of talon guards, the edges sparking with electricity. As the earth pony tried to rush the griffin, Franz aimed a punch directly at the pony’s eye. As the punch connected, the guard was thrown back and stunned a little by both the power and shock of the impact. Franz took this opportunity to tackle the guard and throw more punches into his face and stomach. The guard tried to throw Franz off, but the weight of the griffin was far more than that of the pony and he remained pinned. Eventually, the guard passed out from the brutal assault. Franz hit him one more time, to ensure that he stayed down for good this time.

Slipping the talon guards back into his pocket, Franz went back over to the crate containing the item he was sent to retrieve. Glancing over his soldier to make sure that, yes, the guard was still down, he grabbed the cloth and pulled it off.

What Franz saw caused him to take a step back. No wonder his superiors had kept what was stolen a secret. Had word of this gotten out, there would be no stopping a war between the Alliance and Equestria, though Franz believed that a war was inevitable now anyway. For the Equestrians had stolen something far too valuable and far too precious to simply forgive the theft. No, in Franz’s mind, this crossed the line, spat on it, and sped off into the sunset.

For inside the crate, nestled in straw and wired up to who-knows-what, was a dragon egg.

And it was hatching.





> Orders
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time: 8:39 A.M., 06/26/4 PHA
Location: Fort Faust, Griffinland*

It had been a few months since L. Franz went on his retrieval mission. The egg hatched shortly after he landed at the griffin fort, though very few knew about it. As soon as he stopped his ship, he flew directly to the infirmary and gave it to them, where it was quickly placed under heavy guard. He was debriefed as soon as he left the medical ward, and had been placed on standby since. 

During this time, relations with Equestria became strained. The Princesses accused the Alliance of sending raiding parties across the border into Equestria. The Alliance responded to this by accusing the Princesses of the same thing. Trade between the two factions ground to a standstill, and the Alliance barred any citizens of Equestria from entering their lands. Talks between the nations invariably led to petty insults and threats of violent retaliation.

Today, a dispute along the border had turned into a small battle between the two groups. The Alliance won, but at a price; over half of the forces sent into the fray never left the field of battle. A small scouting party was sent to patrol along the border while the wounded were brought back to the fort. Franz was ordered to remain at the fort for the time being, while Command figured out what to do about the events of the day.

It happened that Franz found himself in the office of Brigadegeneral Amsel, listening to the chatter around him and awaiting orders. He stood in a corner of the bland office, being careful not to knock over a ficus while staying out of the way of the officers constantly entering and exiting the room. 

After a few minutes of this, a letter materialized itself beside Amsel before slowly falling to his desk. Amsel picked it up and unfurled it, his eyes slowly going over the words written on the parchment. Finally, he rolled it back up and set it in the topmost drawer of his desk. He leaned forward in his chair, and issued a single command to the only other figure in the room.

“Leutnant Franz, gather all of the officers currently onsite and bring them here.”

Franz put up a quick salute and marched out the door. As it happened, there were only four other officers at the base at the moment, the rest were out in the field or gathering reports from the other bases and nearby towns. Franz found Oberleutnants Hahn and Loewe, Hauptmann Vogler, and Stabshauptmann Nussbaum and brought them into the Amsel’s office. 

Once everyone was inside, Franz retook his place by the ficus and waited for Amsel to speak. He didn’t have long to wait.

“Ehrenmänner, what I am about to say is more important than anything else I have said in my life. Listen closely; I’d rather not repeat myself.

“At around 4:29 this morning, an Alliance patrol on our side of the border passed an Equestrian patrol on their side of the border. Insults were passed, tempers were high, and someone on one side attacked the other side. Neither patrol survived to say who attacked whom, but that doesn’t matter anymore. What does matter is that reinforcements for both sides arrived shortly after and joined the fight. The battle lasted until about 6:42 when a ceasefire was called. This much you know already.

“I received a letter from Alliance command a short time ago. This battle, no matter who started it, was the last straw in their minds. At 8:00, a decision was made.” Brigadegeneral Amsel took a breath, as if to steady himself for what he had to say next. 

“The Draco-Griffin Alliance has declared war on Equestria. Effective immediately, any Equestrian soldier you see is to be considered a combatant, and dealt with accordingly.”

The officers stood in a stunned silence, Franz included. He knew that war was inevitable, but for it to finally arrive was still a shock to him. He was thinking, wondering how this would play out when Amsel spoke again. “SH. Nussbaum, H. Vogler, O. Hahn and O. Loewe, you are dismissed. L. Franz, stay. I have orders for you.”

As the other officers filtered out through the door, Franz approached the table. The dark crimson griffon on the opposite side of the desk stood up and, reaching into his top pocket, pulled out a small black diamond made of cloth.
“Leutnant Franz, you have been promoted to Oberst in the Alliance Armed Forces. I wish we could have a ceremony as is normal for these kinds of things, but under the circumstances that is impossible.”

Oberst Franz stood still while Amsel pinned the diamond on his uniform, signifying his new rank. When he was done, Amsel sat back down in his chair and signaled for Franz to sit as well. As Franz lowered himself into a chair across and to the left of the Brigadegeneral, he spoke.

“It is an honor, Sir, but why am I being promoted now when I have been on standby for the past few months?” Amsel waited a moment before responding.

“This is to make your job easier. You are the best at what you do, Infiltrator, and now that we’re at war for the first time in Freyja-knows-how-long, you’re going to have a lot of work to do. Best to cut out as much red tape as possible, ja?” He reached into the topmost drawer of his desk and pulled out the scroll from earlier. “I have your first set of orders from Command, Oberst. You are to head to Alliance Armed Forces Command Headquarters, where you receive your second set of orders. You leave tomorrow. Dismissed.”

Franz left the office of Brigadegeneral Amsel, and left the fort’s Administrative building. He stood still for a moment, trying to absorb what had just happened.

“One moment I’m a Leutnant, the next, an Oberst. I don’t know if that has happened before.” He thought, leaning against the wall of the building he had just exited. “I wonder what they want me to do that they couldn’t just say it in the letter. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow. Speaking of, I should go pack.” He left his spot on the wall and walked over to the barracks where he had lived the past year. You aren’t allowed to keep a lot of personal items in the AAF, so he didn’t have much to pack. Once that was finished, he decided to groom and clean up his appearance. He went to the showers and began to disrobe.

First, he took off his jacket. It wasn’t much to look at, a dull grey that matched the color of the fort walls. It had his name written above the right breast pocket, and the flag of Griffinland on his right sleeve. On his left pocket were his ribbons, only a few at the moment, but he was confident that that more would be added in time. Beneath that was a plan black shirt. He placed it and the jacket on a hanger and hung it on the peg beside him.

Next were the pants. Shorts, really, but they did their job. They here the same grey as the jacket, and were hung through a hole in the hanger.

Finally, with a quiet pop, he removed his wings.

When he was younger, an accident had cost him his natural wings. Not willing to spend the rest of his life on the ground, the young Franz had constructed a set of artificial ones. This first pair worked about as well as could be expected of something built by someone fresh from the roost, and he had almost given up on flying ever again when a machinist zebra came into town. She saw the young griffin struggling with his fake wings and felt pity for him. She offered to make a set that would not only allow him to fly again, but would allow him to fly better than before. He quickly agreed, and six months later the pair of wings were finished. She had made them to look as natural as possible, and only the most discerning eye could tell that something was off about them. She had also enchanted them to allow for smoother flights. However, the machinist was unable to make them as light as a real set of wings, so the young Franz had needed to build up the strength to be able to wear the wings before he could test them out.  When Franz was finally able to take to the skies again, the machinist vanished. He was never able to thank her properly, but he was pretty sure that she knew he was grateful.

The weight of the wings was a boon when it came to fights. His opponents would assume that they could knock him over, only to be crushed by his weight when they tried.

They did cause him to suffer from a major fear of magnets, though.

After his shower, Franz straightened his feathers in a mirror. His dark brown body and light grey head were fluffed out from the shower, but a few passes with a soft brush and they were back to normal. He put his wings and clothes back on, and checked the time.

“2:53. I don’t have much else to do, so I guess I’ll tinker with my ship. Best get it ready for the trip tomorrow.”

While Franz was perfectly capable of flight, he much preferred to use his ship when possible. It was a strange combination of griffin, pony, and zebra technology and magic. It was shaped like a backwards horseshoe, and hovered slightly above the ground. Engines powered by magic were located at the back of the ship. They were dark at the moment, but would glow a bright purple when activated. Gems along the underside and inside of the arms of the ship acted as weapons. When the right button was pressed, an electrical charge would activate the spell matrixes inside the gems, causing them to fire out a ball of pure energy at near-hypersonic speeds.

The light grey of the ship helped it blend in with the snowy landscape and rocky mountains that dominated Franz’s homeland. That wasn’t necessary with the cloaking spells that were contained within gems located around the hull, but he felt like it was a nice touch.

He tuned up his ship for a while, making sure that everything was in working order. Once the sun set, he returned to the barracks, removed his uniform and wings again, and went to sleep.

• • • – – – • • •

The trip to the capital of the Alliance went by uneventful. What would have taken him nine hours to travel by himself took him only two hours by his ship. He landed on top of the building marked as the Alliance Armed Forces Command Headquarters and made his way inside. He made his way up to a young dragon at a desk that he assumed was a secretary of some sort and let them know why he was there.

“The Generals are busy at the moment, but will see you as soon as possible, sir.”
Franz assumed that he would be there for a while, and he wasn’t disappointed. After an hour of waiting, he was finally led into a large room. A massive oak table dominated the room, taking up about 1/3 of the total floor by itself. The large amount of chairs around the table told Franz that this room was mainly used for meetings between the various division heads and military leaders.

Seated at the far end of the table were three Generals that Franz did not recognize, two griffins and a dragon. He saluted each of them in turn, and took a seat at the table.

The dragon looked at him for only a second before speaking. “You must be Oberst Franz, ja?”

“Ja, General. Though I must admit, you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t know who any of you are.”

The griffin on the right, a large male with a black body and a grey head, spoke up at this. “If you did know who we were, we would have you burned were you sat.”

Franz got a little nervous at this. Who were these people?


“Don’t get upset, Oberst. General Barth is a little rough, but I doubt he would actually have you killed.” The griffin on the left said. She was a light grey, almost white griffin, one of the rare cases of the head and body being the same shade.

“We are the heads of the Alliance Special Forces. You do not need to know our names, Oberst.” The dragon said, then got the conversation back on track. “I assume that, since you are here, you are ready to find out why you were called here?”

Franz sat up a little straighter in his chair. “Ja, General. I am ready.”

“Gut. Now then,” The dragon pressed a button on the table, and a screen lowered down behind him. “You are aware that we are officially at war now, ja? Your remarkable ability to sneak into anyplace and get out alive is exactly what we need to finish this war quickly.”

A map of Equestria showed up on the screen. A red square appeared over the city of Canterlot, and then zoomed in on it.

“Your first task is to infiltrate the capital city of Equestria, and find the location of their most deadly weapon. Then, you are to find the weapon and bring it back to us. Without the weapon, Equestria will surely surrender. And while we hold the weapon, we’ll be free to make the conditions regarding their surrender. What do you say?”

Franz thought it over for a moment. “What am I after, exactly? The last time I went to Equestria with only a vague description of my target, I only barely arrived in time. I’d like to know what I’m after before leaving, thank you.” It took a second for Franz to realize how he had spoken to his superior officers. “Uh, if that’s fine, that is, Sir.”

The white griffin smiled at him. “Relax, Oberst. I wouldn’t agree to a mission like this without knowing what I was after, either.” The dragon nodded his head in agreement. “Indeed, had you not asked about it, I would have been worried. Now, your task is simple.”

The screen behind him changed into an image of the target that Franz was to attempt to steal. Franz looked over it for a moment and said “I’m supposed to steal their jewelry? Because I don’t think they’ll surrender over a bunch of necklaces.”

The generals chuckled at that. Well, two of them did. “No, no, no, Franz. You’re not stealing their jewelry.” The white griffin said.

“No, your task is to steal the Elements of Harmony.”

> 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.”

> Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time: 5:24 A.M., 06/28/4 PHA
Location: 1km above White Tail Woods.


The rising sun hit Franz directly in the eyes, dragging him from the much needed sleep he had been in and into the world of the living. He had set the ship to autopilot the night before, and had intended to rest up before the next step in his mission. The sun had different plans, it seems. 

At least he had made it to the edge of Ponyville with little trouble. Once he escaped Canterlot, he doubted that anyone would be able to find him for at least half a week, maybe less if his “friend” remembered anything. Still, plenty of time for him to find the Elements and get out.

Ah, yes, the Elements. Franz had no idea of where to begin the search, so he intended to scout out the town today and to strike tonight. As long as no one ran into his cloaked ship, he should be able to do this without being detected. He set the ship into a low hover, floating just inches about the trees of the forest. He angled his ship towards the town and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He got them adjusted so that the town was clear and the forest just beyond it wasn’t, and then set them on a shelf just behind the cockpit.

And then he waited.

It only took an hour for the first sign of life to appear in the town. Ponies pushing carts and rolling barrels could be seen walking the large road that split that part of town in two. Those who had booths set them up in a large empty part of town, which Franz assumed to have been designed with this very purpose in mind. They put up banners noting the prices of their wares, then set upon the task of unpacking their goodies and putting them on display.

None of this was what Franz was looking for, however. “If I were to hide my most powerful artifact, I would make sure that it was guarded by someone I trusted entirely. A high ranking military individual, A close friend, something like that.” Franz thought as he adjusted his grip on the binoculars and looked around the town. “The ponies that live here don’t exactly fit the first description, so I’ll just have to watch for someone who looks out of place.”

He looked around the town again. “Looking for someone who looks odd in a town whose population makes a peacock jealous. Klingt einfach genug.”

It was on his fourth scanning of the town that the library opened and someone who definitely stood out exited the building. Franz adjusted the binocular and, upon finding that his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, began to grin.

“Then again, perhaps this is the easiest part after all.” He put away the binoculars and began to plan his attack. Once he had a plan he was happy with, he sat back and waited for nightfall.
• • • – – – • • •
Time: 9:59 P.M., 06/28/4 PHA
Location: Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville.


Getting into the library was remarkably easy, though that might just be because Franz was used to breaking into high-security bases and “impenetrable” fortresses, not the local library of a farming town. He just climbed through an upstairs window. That was it, it wasn’t even locked. Inside he had found what appeared to be a bedroom, though the only occupant was the creature that had alerted him to this place earlier.

“I’d heard that nobility was keeping dragons as pets, but to see one so openly on display… es macht mich krank.” A brief spray of Dragonsbane pollen ensured that the dragon would not be waking up for the next few days, but Franz had to be careful; too much pollen would gift the young dragonling a one way ticket to the stars. It wasn’t really pollen, but a special mix concocted by the Dragon arm of the Alliance, meant to put down any dragon who opposed the new order. Of course, it hadn’t been used in centuries, but every Infiltrator was given a small supply, just in case. When Franz had seen the dragonling earlier, he prepared a dose based on what he had been able to deduce about the dragon’s age based on his height and development.

It had taken half of his supply to get the right dose.

With the dragonling taken care of, Franz carefully made his way down the stairs to the library proper. Franz began to look around for a safe or suspicious painting or something similar.

“Ok, if I were to hide something like the Elements in a library, where would I put it? I’d have a room hidden by a bookcase, most likely. Have some random book be the lever. Hmm… knowing ponies, it’s probably something obvious like ‘Safes for Dummies by Not A. Lever’ or ‘Totally not a secret room behind this bookshe-‘” “…Sie haben mich verarschen.”

Right behind him was a shelf incased in glass. Inside the case was a cloth display, and on top of the display, exposed to the library and any would-be thieves, were the Elements of Harmony.

“If this doesn’t at least have some sort of defensive spell, I’m going to slap whoever runs this place.” Franz approached the case and carefully, ever so slowly, removed the glass cover. Then, he proceeded to put the five necklaces into one of his empty pockets. Finally, he took the crown and tried to put it in the pocket with the other Elements. It wouldn’t fit, however. Not wanting to waste time, Franz put the crown on top of his head and prepared to fly out the way he came. An idea struck him, however, and he flew back down to the floor.

“Oh, look at me! I’m a little pony! Ich liebe es zu tanzen! Lassen Sie uns einen Regenbogen!” Franz began prancing along the ground, still wearing the crown, and paid little attention to the rest of the library. The only other occupant was knocked out for a few days, so why should he worry?

“Spike! Would it keep it down in here?! I’m trying to-“ A voice from behind him cause Franz to stop in his tracks. He turned around and saw a lavender unicorn- No, wait, she had wings too. “What did they call them again?  Pegacorns? Unisuses? Aluminum? No, that’s not right.”- standing in a doorway that revealed stairs that led down beneath the earth. She has slightly bigger than most ponies, but it was barely noticeable. She was staring at the griffin with a look of worry and disturbed curiosity. “Uh… Who are you, and what are you doing?”

Franz looked at her for a moment. “Are you the owner of this library?” He asked the “Alicorn! That was it.”

“Yes. Yes, I am. But you still haven’t answered my questions. Why are you in my library, and what is that on your he- WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY?!”

“Nach den Sternen, does she have a mouth on her.” Franz approached the mare and stood right in front of her. “First things first, Fräulein.”

And then he slapped her.

She raised a hoof to her check and started to rub it. It was slightly red from the impact, but Franz hadn’t hit hard enough to permanently damage her. “What the hay was that for?”
“Pfui! Pony curses!” Franz shook his head. “That was for leaving your most powerful artifacts lying out in the open in the middle of a war, Fräulein.”

The mare just looked confused at this. “War? What War? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Na toll, sie sind dümmer als ich dachte.” Franz raised a hand to his face, then looked directly at the mare. “The war with the Draco-Griffin Alliance? The one that was declared not three days ago? That war.” 

The mare continued looking at the griffin with confusion on her face, though now it contained a hint of irritation as well. “I’m sure that if we were at war, the Princess would have told me immediately. As she hasn’t, I can only conclude that you are either lying, or have been hitting the cider a little early.”

She walked around to a table that contained an empty scroll, a quill and an inkwell. “See? Not a single letter in sight. Also, Das war ziemlich unhöflich.”

Franz was surprised at that last part, but the only outward change was a small frown on his face. “Sie sprechen Deutsch?”

“Ja.”

“Ah, großartig. Ich liebe es, wenn sie nicht verstehen können mich. Anyway, I’ll be heading off now. I have a war to fight, you know.”

As Franz turned to leave, his wings were enveloped by a purple glow. “You’re not leaving with the Elements!” The mare said, trying to hold him there.

“If you cared so much about them, Fräulein, you would have had them secured better.” Franz replied, formulating a plan to get out of the mare’s grasp. He came up with several, but only one that he really liked. He only had to get her to talk for a few moments…

“I didn’t need to. The Elements are useless without their bearers.” The mare said, a small bit of smugness showing through in her tone. 

Franz had not been privy to that information, and assumed that neither had his superiors. “Bearers, Fräulein? What bearers?” He had to decide what to do about this new information, and whether or not to continue with the physical Elements.

He still had to escape from the library, but that part should be easy, Ja?
“Each Element of Harmony represents a separate Element of Friendship. Both are necessary for the survival of Equestria, so the elements choose their bearer based on who best embodies each trait.” The mare lectured the griffin, who was digesting the information.

“So… The Elements themselves choose their bearers? How do they deem someone worthy?”

“Well, I’m not too sure about most cases,” The mare said, placing a hoof on her chin. She put her hoof back down and continued “But in my case, a series of tests devised by the sinister Nightmare Moon allowed me to realize that each of my friends embodied each of the Elements. As the Element of Magic, all it took was the spark of friendship to reawaken the Elements, and defeat Nightmare Moon!” The mare was getting more and more excited, standing on her hind legs as she exclaimed the final word.

“Wait, did she say…” Franz paused for a moment. “So, you are one of the bearers of Harmony, ja?” It made sense, now that he thought about it. The mark on her flank matched the symbol on the crown.

The mare stood a little taller as she finally introduced herself. “Indeed I am. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, the bearer of the Element of Magic.”

“A Princess AND a bearer? This just got interesting…” Franz prepared his escape. The mare still had his wings in a magical grip, intending to hold him there until either he gave up the Elements, or someone came along and called the Royal Guard. “So, you must be pretty important to Equestria, ja? Why are you down in Ponyville?”

“I’m not so important that I can’t still live with my friends. Ponyville is the place I’ve come to call home. Anywhere else would simply be a place to live.” The mare sat down in front of the table. “Now, are you going to give back the Elements or not?”

“Nein, Klein Prinzessin. But you have given me far more than I had intended to take when I arrived, so Danke.” Franz reached back to his wings and found the little button that was hidden beneath his feathers.

Princess Sparkle just continued to sit and smile at Franz. “Well, you aren’t leaving here until you do, so unless you want to be here all night, I suggest you-“
*POP*

The mare just stared in shock as the griffin removed his wings and rolled onto the floor. The surprise caused her to lose her concentration and the wings fell to the floor with a heavy clunk. She shook her head to regain her focus, but when she could see straight again the griffin was gone. 


“Where did he go?” Princess Sparkle started to get up to look for him, but right as she did something sharp stabbed her in the neck. When she turned to see what it was, she saw Franz removing a dart from her neck and placing it back into a pocket on his vest. As her vision began to blacken, she was only aware of one phrase:

“Gute Nacht, Prinzessin.”

And then everything faded away.

> Roadtrip
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time: 7:46 A.M., 06/29/4 PHA
Location: 10km above Equestria, near the Alliance border.


A rustling in the back of the ship told Franz that the Princess was waking up, and the groans that accompanied them told him that she was experiencing a headache as a side effect of the drug. Setting the ship to autopilot, he left the cockpit and walked back to his newly acquired captive. Feeling a bit mischievous, Franz opened a window that let in sunlight directly onto the drowsy mare.

“Guten Morgen, Prinzessin!” Franz said in a loud, obnoxious tone. Walking over to pat her on the head, he closed the window and let the dimness return to the cramped room. “I trust you slept well?”

“Ugh… What did you do to me?” She tried to rub her forehead to alleviate some of the pain, but found that her hooves were bound. “… What is going on here? Because I think I know, and I don’t like it.”

Franz chuckled at that. “Nein, Nein, Kleine Prinzessin, nothing like that. Be glad I’m not Hans, though.” He suppressed a shudder. “I don’t think we ever got the cheese out of that turbine.”

“I’d comment on how crazy you sound, but my head feels like it’s trying to drill its way out of my skull.” Unable to rub her head by herself, she settled for simply laying it down on the dusty pillow that she had woken up on. It had been part of an entire furniture set that Franz had received as payment for protecting an officer his first year in the military, but now the pillow was the only item left in one piece.

Well, mostly in one piece.

Twilight tried to suppress a sneeze as a feather from the pillow tickled her nose, but was unsuccessful. Although it did manage to relocate the offending feather, the sneeze only exacerbated Twilight’s already excruciating headache.

Franz grabbed a bottle of green-and-blue liquid and pulled the top off of it. Taking a sniff, Franz had to choke down a coughing fit as the terrible odor reached his nostrils. “*Ahem* Ja, that’s- *Erk* that’s ripe.” He brought the bottle to Twilight and placed it at her mouth.

“Drink this. It will make the headache go away.”

Twilight took one whiff of the contents and pushed her head as far away from the bottle as she could. In her current predicament, that amounted to about 8cm.

Franz just rolled his eyes and grabbed her head. “You have two options, Kleine Prinzessin. Either sit here all day with a headache that, vielleicht möchten Sie wissen, will only get worse, or you can drink this kuh erbrochenem and be rid of it. Einfach, nicht wahr?”

Twilight contemplated her choices, then decided to drink it after a slight bit of turbulence made her bang her head against the wall. She drank it down as fast as she could, then nearly vomited it back up after she was done.

“Ugh…” She said, finally regaining control of her stomach. “What was that?”
“Does the Kleine Prinzessin have a firm control over her digestive tract? Franz asked, pouring himself a cup of tea at the counter. He started stirring it before turning around to face the Princess.

“What? I guess so.” Twilight said. “I mean, yes. Of course I do.”

Franz took a sip of his tea before answering. He grimaced a bit at the taste, and lowered that cup.

“Poison joke digested by cow before being vomited up. Erbrechen is then collected and mixed with various herbs before being roasted over goat tongue and boiled with dragon sweat.” He took another sip of tea. “Eck. This stuff never tastes right. Überhaupt nicht wie Mutter macht es.”

Franz looked over to Twilight, who had turned a lovely shade of green. “You… You aren’t serious, are you? You’re making that up, right?”

Franz sipped a small amount of tea out of his mug, then poured the rest down a drain. “I’ll admit, I fibbed a little. A kleine Lüge, nichts mehr.”

Twilight’s face appeared relieved, and her tone indicated as such when she said “Phew. For a moment, I thought you were serious.”

Franz turned to leave the room, but not before tossing another remark over his shoulder.

“It’s actually roasted over tongue of Hydra.”

The Princess could no longer control the royal stomach, and heaved all over the floor.

Franz was at her side in an instant, cleaning her face and moving her to the side of the pillow furthest from the vomit. “Hey, hey, hey… Is Kleine Prinzessin okay now? I would never have told you if I thought you would react so heftig.”

“Urk…” Twilight composed herself as best as she could. “Why… Why would you even keep something like that onboard? Why would you make me drink that?!” She demanded, though it came out more as a hoarse whisper in her current state.

“Headache is gone, ja?” Franz asked Twilight, poking her head.

“Ow! Stop that! No, it is not go- Wait a minute.” Twilight closed her eyes for a moment. “Actually, yes. It is gone.” Twilight opened her eyes and looked at Franz. “How did you know it would work?”

Franz grinned and rubbed his neck. “Kleine Prinzessin is not the only one to be on receiving end of a dart.”

After a few moments of idle chatter, a tone played over the ship’s speakers. Franz perked up and went over to the cockpit. “Ah!” He called out, loud enough for Twilight to hear. “We have cross the border into Griffinland!” He walked back to the room that Twilight was tied up in, and sat across from her. “Soon we will arrive at AAFCHQ, and then all of this will be over.”

He walked over and began securing the different items that he had used during the course of the trip in preparation of landing. “Don’t get me wrong, Kleine Prinzessin, our time together has been fun. It was not, however, my original intention when I brought you aboard my ship.

Twilight tried to sit up straighter, but was unable to due to the binds on her legs. “What exactly was your intention, then? If you wish to use me to activate the Elements, I will tell you now that it won’t work. Not without the other bearers present.”

Franz wagged a finger at her. “Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, Kleine Prinzessin. I have no intention of using you to activate the artifacts. Far from it, I took you to ensure that they could not be used against us.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I’m not following your logic there. How would I prevent the Elements from being used?”

Franz frowned a little. “I had hoped that you would work it out on your own. Der Plan ist einfach: The Elements themselves could be recovered by your people. Hölle, ich nahm sie ohne Problem überhaupt. But without you…”

Twilight realized what he was getting at. “… They won’t be able to be activated at all.”

Franz clapped his hands. “Precisely! Plus, I’m sure that your government would pay a large amount for the safe return of their Princess, should the need arise.”

Twilight struggled to get up. “Don’t you realize what you’ve done?! You’ve endangered Equestria, nay, the entire WORLD by stealing the Elements. If you don’t return them immediately, who knows what could happen?!”

Franz just turned to walk back into the cockpit. “Was auch immer passiert, passiert.”

Twilight looked down at her hooves, then back up at Franz. “I didn’t want to do this, but this is your last chance.” She managed to get upright, albeit at an odd angle due to the binds. “If you don’t hand over the Elements right now, I’m taking them from you and teleporting off this ship,”

Franz turned around and smiled, smiled at her. “Das würde ich gerne sehen.”

Twilight huffed. “You asked for it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though.”

Twilight, newest Princess of Equestria and the Element of Magic, prepared herself for a long range teleport with multiple items that were out of view. She hadn’t tried something like that before, but she was confident she could pull it off. She focused on the spell, felt the power well up within her. It was like the sun had descended from the heavens and planted itself in her chest. She was no longer a pony. She was power incarnate. She channeled the pure energy that made up her very essence and directed it to her horn. She put the final touches on the spell, calculating and adapting it for any variables as she imagined them. Finally, she shot the energy out of her horn and transported her mind, body, and soul back to Ponyville, with the Elements in her grasp.

At least, that should have happened. In reality, as soon as Twilight directed the magical power into her horn, everything shut down. She fell to the ground, feeling as if some vital part of her had been ripped out and shredded to pieces.

She struggled to sit up, dazed and confused for the third time that day. “What… What happened?”

Franz was clapping as he stood in the doorway between the room and the cockpit. “Well, I’m glad to see that the old zebra wasn’t scamming me after all.”

Twilight fell back down onto the pillow, feeling weak. “What have you done to me?”

Franz walked up beside her. “Nichts.”

He poked her horn- or rather, he poked an item attached to her horn at the base. “It’s composed of some form of Zauberei or another. Basically, the Hilfsmittel- That’s what it’s called- nullifies any magic it comes into contact with. But it doesn’t merely cancel it out, oh no. The Hilfsmittel drains whatever it nullified of any magic whatsoever.” He poked her horn, her actual horn this time.

“Congratulations. You’re an earth pony with a useless horn and decorative wings.”

> The Best Laid Plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time: 8:13 A.M. 06/29/4 PHA
Location: 10km above Griffinland, near the Equestrian Border.

Twilight’s face went pale white. “No... m-m-magic? Why? How could you do this? Is it permanent? What will Celestia think? She’ll strip my Princess-hood! Banish me from Equestria! I’ll never see my friends again!” Her eyes shrunk to tiny pinpricks. “Oh, no. My friends won’t want to be my friends anymore! Without my magic, I’m just a… just a…”

Franz didn’t like where this was going. “Just a what, Kleine Prinzessin?”

“A nobody! There’s nothing special about me! Magic is who I was, and you took it from me! You monster!” And with that, the newest princess of Equestria, the Element of Magic and the savior of the kingdom four times over, broke down and cried.

Franz went over to her. “Nein, Nein, Prinzessin.” He tried to comfort her, but she batted him away. Or, she tried to, anyway. It was a difficult task to perform with your legs bound together. “Stay away from me!”

“Prinzessin, you’re overreacting. Sich beruhigen.”

“Overreacting? OVERREACTING?!” Twilight yelled at Franz. “YOU TOOK THE ONE THING THAT MADE ME SPECIAL!”

“Es ist nicht von Dauer!”

“…”

“…”

“…Why didn’t you say so?” Twilight asked, finally calming down.

Franz starting petting Twilight’s head, which earned him a glare. Ignoring it, he continued. “I would have, Kleine Prinzessin, but you would not let me.”

“Oh.” Twilight blushed for a second, but recovered quickly. “Well, would you have reacted differently, had you been in my place?”

Franz thought about this for a second. “wahrheitsgemäß? No, I would likely have reacted the same way.”

Twilight was about to say something, but was interrupted by a voice coming from the cockpit.

“Oberst Franz, come in Oberst Franz. Can you hear me? Verdammt Maschine, warum kann ich nicht senden Sie einfach eine Schriftrolle? Come in Oberst Franz!”

Franz stood up and headed towards the cockpit. “Ah, that would be my superiors. Don’t go anywhere, Kleine Prinzessin!”

“Would you stop calling me that?! I’m not little!” Twilight yelled after him.

“Compared to me, Prinzessin,” Franz said, only his head sticking out of the cockpit and into the room, “Only your Sonnengöttin is not small.” And with that, he disappeared into the cockpit.

“Oberst Franz, reporting in. Go ahead, Brigadegeneral.”

“Ah, Oberst Franz! I was beginning to wonder if this Stück Scheiße was even working!” Amsel’s voice was distorted, but still understandable. “So, how did the artifact jagd do?”

“Wunderbar! I even caught a Prinzessin!” Franz said, laughing.

There was a short silence and then, “Repeat, Oberst Franz. It sounded like you said you had captured a Prinzessin?”

“Ja! Listen!” Franz yelled back into the room that Twilight was in, “Kleine Prinzessin! Say something for Der Brigadegeneral!”

“Equestria will make you pay for this, Franz! Just you wait!”

“Sie ist feisty, ja?” Franz snickered. “But, she’ll come in handy later on.”

“…Oberst Franz, your orders said nothing about taking ponies. You were only supposed to retrieve the target and return.” There was concern in Amsel’s voice, and rightly so. Where before the war was merely business for both sides, the theft of one of the Princesses of Equestria would fuel the fires of the Equestrians, making this conflict far more personal.

“It’s fine, Brigadegeneral. She is part of the target that I was sent to capture. A Vital-Komponente, as it were.” Franz said into the microphone. At this, Twilight yelled from the back of the ship, “You know, I can hear everything you guys are saying, right?”

“Sie ist eine Haftung, Oberst. Wer weiß, was sie konnte von Ihrem Schiff alleine lernen?”

“Sie spricht Deutsch, Brigadegeneral. Kein dafür brauchen.” Franz said, albeit a bit more quietly.

“Great, so you had to kidnap the only princess who could learn all of our secrets, AND translate them back for their government?” Amsel was audibly upset now. Franz was getting irritated, too, but for very different reasons.

“What would you have had me do, Amsel?! Had I left her, they could easily have taken the Elements back and used them against us! Then where would we be?!” Franz was yelling into the radio now, and it was only by virtue of Autopilot that they did not crash into one of the many mountains along the border.

Amsel was quiet again. “…Franz… Did you say Elements? As in, Elements of Harmony?”

“Ja, Brigadegeneral, I did.” Franz replied, no longer yelling but not quite speaking at a normal volume.

“Franz. Why would you take the Elements? We have no use for them, and their theft puts not only Equestria but the Alliance in danger as well.” Amsel was quiet now, his voice barely a whisper. In the back of his mind, Franz registered that there was genuine fear in it, but in his current mindset he ignored it, intent on winning the argument first and foremost.

“Because I was ordered to. I was told to go into Equestria and take them, so obviously we have some use for them.” Franz answered, thinking that he had won the argument with that sentence.

“Franz. Franz, listen to me.” The fear in Amsel’s voice was obvious now. No, more than fear, there was absolute dread flowing in his voice, surrounded by doubt and swimming in uncertainty. Franz had never heard that in Amsel’s voice, so he quelled his anger and paid close attention. “Franz, I want you to take the Elements and the Prinzessin back to Equestria. I don’t care how you have to do it, just get them back there. Do you hear me?! That’s an order!” Amsel was yelling into the radio now, and both Franz and Twilight could hear the urgency in his voice. “Take the Elements back to Eques-“

*BANG*

The sound of a mechanical spellcaster blared through the radio speaker. A powerful invention of the Zebras, a mechanical spellcaster allowed for non-magic users to harness the power of a few powerful combat spells, namely the magic and fire bolts. Deadly in the hands of a master, and they only took a few weeks to of training to use. This technology quickly spread through the military ranks of most non-magical races, though the nations that contained magic users were slow to use them. Many races currently use the mechanical spellcaster as a status symbol. The higher your rank, the more powerful spellcaster you received. These races include the Zebras, Minotaurs, and goats.

But by far the most prominent advocate and user of the mechanical spellcaster is the Draco-Griffon Alliance.

“Amsel?” Franz tried to contact him, but received only silence in response. “Brigadegeneral Amsel, are you there?”

“Belay that order, Oberst. Continue as originally planned.” A familiar voice played over the radio, though Franz couldn’t put a name to it. When he realized that, he knew exactly who it was.

The dragon from Special Forces shut off the radio, but that didn’t stop a message from reaching Franz, nor did it stop Twilight from getting it, too.

Something was terribly wrong in the Alliance, and Franz was the catalyst.

> Your Heresy will Stay Your Feet.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.”

> You Will Be
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time: 3:34 P.M., 06/29/4 PHA
Location: Alliance Armed Forces Command Headquarters


“Oh please, that name doesn’t do justice to our majesty. Call us instead the Nightmare Queen!” Cue even more insane and downright disturbing laughter. Franz was sure that the name they chose was adequate, if only for the chills that laugh sent down his spine.

“I don’t know about you, but that laugh angst die Hölle aus mir.” Franz removed his soaked vest and held it in one hand. “Oi, Kleine Prinzessin, Ich habe eine Idee.”

Twilight tore her eyes away from the Nightmare Queen long enough to glance at Franz. “Ja? Was ist das?” Franz lifted his vest a little to draw her attention to it. “Ich werde dies auf sie werfen, schießen Sie einige Feuer auf sie und teleportieren uns hier raus. Kannst du das tun?”

Twilight thought for a moment, going over the calculations in her head.  Finally, she nodded. “Ja, ich denke schon.”

“Lass es uns tun.” Franz flew up high and, spinning around as fast as he could, launched the jacket at their foe. At the same time, Twilight fired a ball of fire at her, and then covered herself and Franz in a magical field. When it was at full strength, she teleported the two of them 5km away, on top of a hill overlooking the compound.

“Do you think that will be enough to stop her?” Twilight asked, only to be shushed by Franz. He seemed to be counting on one talon, and pointing at the compound with the other.

“…drei…zwei…ein…” He extended his arm all the way, then pointed it up at the sky.

“Bang.”

*Kra-BOOM!*

The explosion completely decimated the eastern half of the structure, and the force was so strong that, even from 5km away, Franz and Twilight where knocked back a few feet.

Twilight was the first to recover. She shakily stood up and surveyed the destruction. 

There were micro-explosions going off at the site of the explosion, though all the smoke made it impossible to tell if the Nightmare Queen survived. Seeing the immense destructive power they had unleashed, Twilight severely doubted that she did.

Twilight tried to walk over to Franz, but as soon as she took a step pain shot up her left hindleg. “I really, really hope that isn’t broken.” She said, mostly to herself as Franz was still on the ground a few feet away. She limped over to him and started shaking him.

“Franz! Franz, wake up!” She nudged his side, and when that didn’t work, and idea wormed its way into her head.

“Payback time…” Twilight raised her left foreleg, being careful not to put too much weight on her injured hindleg, and carefully aimed.

Then she punched Franz in the face.

“OW! Okay, I’m awake! Geez! Was ist los mit dir?!” He rubbed his face where she had hit him.”

“That was for slapping me. Twice.” She limped towards him a little. “Now that this is over, can we finally go home?”

“Zwei Dinge: “Ein, I am home and Zwei, Es ist nicht vorbei, bis die fette Stute singt.”

“I really don’t think she’ll be getting up after that, Franz. She took enough explosives to level a high-security compound directly to the face. I don’t see how anypony could survive that.” Twilight said, taking a moment to inspect her leg. It wasn’t broken, but it looked to have a very bad sprain.

“Tell that to her.” Franz pointed a little off to the left of Twilight. Flying above the city, in a swirling vortex of smoke, dust, and debris, was an enraged Nightmare Queen. When she spotted the two who had dared to defy her, she flew towards them at speeds reserved for a certain rainbow-maned pegasus. While she did go beyond the speed of sound, she did not create an ever-expanding orb of darkness that could only be described as a rainbow made of stars. If Franz ever says that she did, he is exaggerating the details. Again.

She was upon them in a second. While Franz figured that he could outmaneuver the Queen, he wasn’t so sure about Twilight with her injured leg.  Quickly developing a plan, Franz flew right past the Nightmare Queen, grabbed Twilight, and made a mad dash towards his ship.

It was hovering in midair, while the building it had been parked on had collapsed to the ground in the explosion. When he was about halfway to the ship, however, the Queen flew past and knocked him to the side. He was able to recover, but not before getting a long slash along his side. The suddenness of the pain caused him to nearly drop Twilight, but she opened her wings and helped steady them.

The Queen wasn’t done with them yet. Every time he would try to get to his ship, she would knock him to the side or towards the ground. Instead of gaining ground, he was actually losing it. After being pushed back past the point they had started from, Franz had had enough.

“Prinzessin, Can you teleport us to underneath that building over there?” He yelled, pointing at a part of the compound that had collapsed onto its neighbor in an inverted ‘V’ shape.

“It’s a shorter distance than earlier, but you’ll have to hold still for a couple of seconds.”

“Not sure how long we’ll have. As soon as-“ He dodged backwards just in time to avoid being slammed into a wall by the Queen. “-as soon as I stop moving, we’re sitting ducks!”

“I only need a second, Franz!” Twilight built up the magical energy required, though she lost a little bit every time her flying chauffer changed directions because of the pain that shot through her leg when it bumped against her other ones, and had to build that energy back up again. Every bump was a second wasted, but she knew that if Franz stopped at the wrong time, it wouldn’t matter how much energy she had saved up.

“Ready… JETZT, TWILIGHT!” Franz stopped just short of being impaled by the Queen’s Horn. Twilight took the chance to release the energy all at once. The result was a very rough teleport that ended up with Twilight upside down.

“Well, that could have gone better.” Twilight joked, flipping herself right-side up. And looking around for Franz.

“You think?” A voice from above caught Twilight’s attention. “What are you doing up there, Franz- FRANZ!”

The griffin had been impaled by a rebar through his back leg. Blood was beginning to pool around it, and spilling through his feathers.

Have you ever been impaled? Not a fun experience, let me tell you. There was this one time I-

Ah, but this is not my story. It’s Franz’s. And right now, he needs all the attention he can get.

“Prinzessin…” Franz began to speak.

“Shh, Hold on, Franz! I’ll think of something!” Twilight began to pace around the broken building, being careful to avoid getting under the blood slowly dripping from above her.

“Prinzessin, I already-“

“It’s okay! We’ll find a way out of this! We’ll get home, get patched up, and be okay!” Twilight began to pace faster across the floor.

“Prinzessin, I just need to-“

“Oh, why didn’t any of my books prepare me for this?!”

“Prinzessin, there is-“

“I mean, I could at least have taken a first aid class!”

“Prinzessin.”

“Then I would know what to do in this situation.”

“Prinzessin.”

“There must be some way, something I’ve learned that can help here!”

“TWILIGHT!”

Twilight stopped pacing and looked up at Franz. “Yes, Franz? Is there something you need? Something I can do to make you more comfortable?”

“I just need to know if you know any heilzauber.”

“What? I mean, yes, but they require the wound to be free of any objects.”

Franz grit his beak. “Kein Problem.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Franz. “What do you mean, no problem? There is a three foot pole sticking out of your-“

*SCHLLLUUUUUUCK*

Twilight stopped in midsentence as Franz slid his leg off the metal rod. Blood began to spill a lot faster out of the wound.

“Now would be a good time for the heilzauber, ja?” Franz said, grasping his wound to stop the blood from spilling so freely.

“Heilzauber. Right.” She put her horn up next to his leg. “This may sting a little.”

He raised an eyebrow as if to say “Seriously?”

“Heh heh. Sorry.” She zapped his leg with short burst of magic, and when it was over all that was left of the wound was an angry red mark. “Well, that will do for now. Why don’t you use the Heilzauber on yourself? It would make travelling easier.”

But Twilight shook her head at this suggestion. “It doesn’t work like that. My Healing magic can only fix flesh and muscle, not bone or other hard substances.”

“Wessen Idee war das?” Franz asked, then shook his head. “No matter. I have a plan as to how we’ll get out of this.”

The mention of a plan made Twilight perk up. Anything was better than randomly flying around and hoping not to get hit, and the longer they stayed here, the higher their chances of being discovered.

“Okay, we’ll make our way to the versenden. Then, We’ll set a course to Ponyville. That is where the rest of the bearers are, ja?”

Twilight was unsure of how to answer that, but the Queens shadow passing over a window made up her mind for her. “Yes, the others are in Ponyville.”

“Gut, then that part will be easy.” Franz straightened up a little. “We’ll go to Ponyville, round up the bearers, and use the Elements on the Queen. I doubt that she’ll survive a second blast of that size, especially with the prügel she took with that first one.”

“One small problem, Franz:” Twilight said, limping over to a window. “Aren’t the Elements buried somewhere under all this rubble?”

“Nein, Kleine Prinzessin. Not the real ones, anyway. The real artifacts are hidden onboard the ship, in the cabinet beside where you were bound.”

Twilight’s eye twitched. “You mean I was beside the Elements the entire time?”

“Ja.”

“…Anything else I should know?”

“…It really was boiled over a goats tongue. The Hydra tongue is optional.”

“I’m never drinking anything on your ship again.”

At that moment, the Nightmare Queen burst through a wall behind them.

“Gotcha.”

And the chase was back on.

Now that both knew the goal, Franz was able to focus on flying while Twilight kept an eye on the Queen, and even took potshots at her when the moment allowed. She managed to hit the Queen once, and while she was stunned Franz and Twilight made it to the ship.

They both crawled inside, with Twilight verifying that the Elements actually were in the ship and Franz setting in a course to Ponyville.

As he was lifting off, The Queen recovered from Twilight’s spell and rammed the ship.
Everything was thrown around as the ship was tossed through the air. Once he got everything steady, Franz checked the damage.

The Queen had knocked out one of the engines. There was no way they could outrun her know.

Not unless she was distracted.

Franz needed only a moment to decide what to do. He set the ship into autopilot, grabbed a spare set of talon guards from the wall, and flew up to the door.

“Hey, Prinzessin!” Franz called out to Twilight.

“What is it, Franz? Have we already left the compound?”

“Nein, Twilight.” He took a deep breath. “You’ve got to continue on your own, Kleine Prinzessin.”

Twilight noticed that he was standing right beside the door. “Franz… What are you doing?”

Franz opened the door and jumped out. He said only one thing through the door before seeing his ship, and Twilight, for quite possible the last time.

“Erinnere dich an mich zärtlich, Kleine Prinzessin.”

Then he shut the door and flew away, directly at the Nightmare Queen.

> Left Behind 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time: 4:03 P.M., 06/29/4 PHA
Location: The Lair of the Nightmare Queen (Formerly the AAFCHQ)


“Erinnere dich an mich zärtlich, Kleine Prinzessin.”

Franz’s plan was simple: Distract the Queen long enough for Twilight to get away, then survive long enough for her to return. That was what, eight hours? He was sure that he could do it, if he could avoid getting hit.

Unfortunately, while Franz was thinking this, The Queen zipped past him and went after the ship.

“Oh, no you don’t.” He thought, trying to think of a way to get her attention. Looking around, he didn’t seem much except for rubble and rocks. “Verdammt! Nothing useful! Nothing around except for…” If this were a cartoon, a light bulb would have appeared above Franz’s head. “If this works, I’ll eat my dress hat.”

He flew as close as he could to the Queen and, with the grace and style of a rabid wombat, threw a pebble at her head.
*Poing*

Immediately, the Queen turned her attention from the ship and onto Franz. She slowly flew towards him and, hovering right in front of him, said “Do you have any idea of what you have just done?”

Not missing a beat, he looker her in the eyes and said “Es könnte nicht schlimmer sein als diese.” Rearing back, he slammed an electric talon-guard covered fist into the Queens face.

She barely flinched.

“My turn.” She hit him with a quick stunning spell and sped off. When he recovered and didn’t see her, he thought that maybe he had hurt her after all, and she had run off to hide.

That is, until he heard a high-pitched whine coming from above and getting closer. He looked up and saw the Queen heading right for him, the cone of air resistance bending before her to show that she had almost reached hypersonic speeds. He only had enough time to think one thing before she slammed into him: “Das wird zu saugen.”

*Boom*

The force of the impact, coupled with the fact that she reached went supersonic just before hitting him, caused Franz to break through four walls before stopping on the fifth. Slamming into it, he slid down the wall and onto a twisted pile of metal. Shaking his head, he got up and looked around for the Queen.

He crawled through the rubble, being careful to not dislodge any pieces that were keeping the structure up. “I’m already fighting a Dämon, I don’t need to have a gebäude fall on me as well.” He eventually made it out of the failing facility and into the crater left from his initial attack. Virtually nothing was left of the original building. In fact, all that remained were the chains that Twilight had worn earlier and everything that was underneath them. “If only these ketten had some locks, ja? We could use them on the Queen.” Taking the lull in the fighting as a chance to rest, Franz moved the chains and looked at what was underneath.

There was a common rumor among the Alliance that the Equestrians worshiped their princesses as goddesses. Franz didn’t know if that was true or not, but he felt that someone was smiling down on him right then. For buried under the chains, protected from the brunt of the explosion was the Hilfsmittel that Twilight had worn earlier. “If this works, I’ll take back every bad remark I’ve ever made about the Sonnengöttin.” He tested the activation sequence. “Come on… Come on… Ja! Sonnengöttin gelobt werden!” He deactivated the Hilfsmittel and put it on his arm for safe keeping.

And it promptly fell off. The locking mechanism had been damaged in the explosion. 

Franz’s thought processes cannot be displayed in its entirety due to Equestrian Censorship Law, Section 5, Sub-section 38, but here is a small bit of what went through the poor griffin’s head:

“…stupid son of a Eidechsenliebhaber, Cow-kissing motherless Hund Gehirn…”

After calming down (and revoking his praise of Celestia), Franz rigged the Hilfsmittel to attach to his left wing for now. Franz then went scavenging for anything else that he could use in his next encounter with the Queen. Sadly, most items that might prove handy were destroyed in the explosion or the fighting, but he had been able to find a functioning mechanical spellcaster in the remains of the armory. It shot fire bolts, and had about six charges on the gem. “Besser als nichts, nehme ich an.”

Franz had also been able to find some armor, though every piece had been damaged in some way. He was able to mix and match the pieces into a semi-full set, and put it on. He ditched it five minutes later when he discovered that it slowed him down far more than he’d like. A single mistimed dodge, or a single misstep, and he’d be done for.

Finally, he headed to the remains of the supply room to see what he could find. He would be here for a while, so he might as well get comfortable.
• • • – – – • • •

Five hours later, and the two combatants had finally met up again.

The sun had already set, and the moon was about a quarter of the way through its nightly sojourn across the sky. They had met in a mostly untouched part of the compound. Here the buildings still stood, though the glass windows had been shattered by the sonic booms of the Nightmare Queen. Franz had been lighting fires atop the buildings here using flares he had found in the supply room, whether as a taunt or challenge, no one really knows. We do know that she accepted it, though, and met him in the middle of the undamaged section.

This was to be more than a battle of survival, this was to be a show of skill against power, of agility against strength. This was no mere battlefield; it was an arena. They squared up against each other, each trying to decide what angle of attack would work best against their opponent. When each side was sure they had a winning tactic, they slowly walked up to each other. Face to face with each other, the two combatants that would soon be locked in a battle to the death shared some pre-battle banter.

“You can still join me, Franz.” The Queen said, her voice taking on a silky tone not at all like the one she had while threatening to murder him and Twilight earlier. “Think about it: I made you Oberst. Imagine what else I could do?”

“I’ve been Oberst, what, three days now? And I have yet to see any benefit to it.” Franz replied, his voice a little strained from the events of the day. While he was tired, she seemed to have endless energy. “If the rest of your “gifts” are the same, I think I’m better off without.”

“Are you sure?” She slid up beside him. “Oberfähnrich Duerr seemed to enjoy his promotion to General. Oh, he acted tough on the outside, but inside he was still a child. He would never have made about Leutnant if we hadn’t made him an offer, one that he was glad to take up.”

“Duerr war ein Narr, Ihr Angebot anzunehmen.” Franz moved away from the Queen. “Tell me, where is he now, Falsche Königin?”

The Queen seemed to think about this for a moment. “Well, let’s see here… The last time I saw him, he was slipping out of those chains you tried to trap us with. After that was-“

“Save it, Falsche Königin.” Franz jumped away from her. “I know exactly where he is.”

The Nightmare Queen giggled lightly. That sound still unnerved Franz, but he didn’t let it show. “And where would that be, Kleiner Vogel?”

“We’re breathing him right now.”

The pair stood in silence for a few moments more. After just standing there looking at each other, the two entered into an awkward silence.

“What I don’t understand,” Franz was the first to break the silence, “is what you stand to gain from all of this. You manipulate das militär, send me on a schatzsuche for artifacts that you don’t even want, all for the sake of ein pony?”

“What do I stand to gain?” She laughed, laughed at the question. After a few moments, she composed herself and answered, “Why, I stand to gain the world.

“When both my halves were separate, their defeat was linked to the ‘Princess,’” she spat the word like it was poison, “directly in the case of Nightmare Moon, and by proxy in the case of Chrysalis. Had she not sought out the Elements, then every hour would be as beautiful as this one.” The Queen gestured towards the sky. “And even after that, that pony, that Princess, that INTERLOPER Sparkle managed to thwart yet another brilliant plan! Had she not been so overly protective of her brother, had she stayed in the caves where she BELONGS, or had she not freed that pathetic Cadence, then we wouldn’t be standing here today!” She slammed her hooves back down at the last word, making small craters where they landed and causing cracks to spiderweb across the ground.

“So this is all a revenge thing?” Franz said, crossing his arms. “You’re doing all of this, just because of a grudge?”

“IT IS MORE THAN A GRUDGE!” The Queen yelled, almost knocking over the griffin and shattering any glass that had dared to stay intact. She breathed heavily for a moment, before standing back upright and regaining an air of dignity. “How about that. You’ve managed to make me mad. Congratulations, you’ve managed your only victory this night.”

“Does that mean that you’re finally ready to fight?” Franz asked, slightly shifting his standing position.

“I guess it does. May the most deserving mare win.”  The Queen primed a spell, but before she could fire it off Franz had bashed her horn with an electric talon-guard. She jumped backwards to fire off a different spell, but her horn only fizzled when she tried to channel it.
“So you managed to jam my magic for the time being.” She anchored her hooves into the ground. “Too bad that won’t save you.” She opened her mouth and shrieked. Her sonic assault caught Franz off guard and forced him to cover his ears. While he was stunned, the Queen charged at him. Only a last second roll spared him direct impalement, though her horn did manage to cut a shallow line along his flanks.

“Agh! Sie haben etwas Neues gelernt, wie es scheint! Have any more surprises?”

The Queen crouched down low. “You have no idea.” She suddenly flew high, high into the air. Once she was about 6km about the compound, she let out an unearthly howl.

That alone was enough to disturb Franz, but the fact that several howls responded cemented his decision to take the fight to the air. As he took off, he noticed several hundred of what looked like wooden dogs rushing into the ruins. Within moments, they filled the road beneath the Queen. “You wanted to see some of my new tricks? Here they are.”

“And just what are they?” Franz flew towards the Queen, intending make the fight close and personal. She flew up at the last moment, and only a quick dive to the left saved Franz from a devastating kick to the face.

“You like them? I call them puppets. They’re technically Timberwolves, who would hardly follow just anyone. That’s why I infected them with small pieces of me.” She flew down and started petting one on the head. “Aren’t they simply adorable?”

Franz was trying to figure out a viable strategy against them, so he decided to humor her. “Not really, they look like forest litter.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” She said. She lifted her hoof above the wolf she was petting and brought it down in a devastating smash, shattering the wolf into pieces. “Still, you can’t complain about complete devotion.”

Franz had come up with a plan that he was willing to try. “You know what I call them?”

The Queen was still sitting amongst the wolves, with as many crowding around her as possible. Not even the death of their brethren by her hand was enough to shake their loyalty to her. “Oh, do tell. I’m dying to know.” She said in a mocking tone.

“Timber.”

“You felt the need to tell me that you call the timberwolves ‘Timberwolf’?”

“Nein, just ‘Timber.’” And with that, Franz pulled out the mechanical spellcaster and fired a bolt at the wolf closest to the Queen. At it went up in flames, it ran around the mass of wolves setting even more alight. Soon the Queen was forced to fly back into the air, as every wolf that had answered her call burned to ashes. She snarled at Franz. “You’ll pay for that!”

“Ich werde für eine Menge Dinge zu bezahlen, wie es scheint.” He fired a bolt at the Queen, which she predictably dodged. Franz had anticipated this, and had flown in the direction she was mostly likely to dodge. His guess was correct, and he slammed a fist into her gut. She barely noticed, however, and he had to dodge back to avoid her counterattack. She fired a spell at him, her horn apparently working again, which he just barely managed to avoid.

And so they fought on through the night. Franz was agile enough to avoid most of the Queen’s attacks, but she as strong enough to barely notice when he got a strike in. Any strike that the Queen managed to land were devastating on Franz, who had to hide inside buildings and beneath walls to recover from them. After a few hours, they were both run ragged. The Queen had used a lot of her magical reserves, and Franz was pretty sure that he had internal bleeding.

Franz’s luck ran out, though, when the Queen parried one of his attacks and rammed him into the ground over and over again. The first time, he might would have been able to have brushed off the attack. The second time, he felt his beak crack. The third time, he was pretty sure he broke some ribs. And the final time, he wasn’t sure that spines were supposed to bend like that. 

“Well, it seems that our little battle is almost over!” gloated the Queen, standing over the broken body of Franz. “Have anything to say, little bird?”

“Ich könnte ernsthaft verwenden ... ein Wunder, jetzt ...”

Suddenly, Franz saw something shiny above the Queen’s shoulder.

“Is that my miracle?”

It was. The object sped directly into the Queen’s head, briefly stunning her. It bounced off of her head, hit the ground, bounced again, and rolled to right in front of Franz.

It was a roll of duct tape.

“Danke basierte Gott”

Franz quickly grabbed the tape and hid it beneath his feathers. When the Queen regained her faculties, she was unsure of what had hit her.

“Your pathebabalala…” She shook her head to clear it. “Your pathetic tricks can’t save you now. You’ve lost, and I live.”

Franz began to make a coughing sound, and at first the Queen thought him to be choking on his own blood. Then she realized it was something far worse.

Franz was laughing. At her.

“What is the meaning of this?! Why are you laughing?! You lose!”

Franz struggled to stand. He wiped away the blood that had collected out of his mouth.

“Oh, oh, Verzeih mir. It’s just that-“ He was interrupted by a coughing fit. Yeah, definitely some internal bleeding. “..I was never trying… to kill you.”

“What?!” She grabbed the dying griffin and slammed him against a wall. “Then what was the point of all this?! Why expose yourself instead of hiding as long as you could?!”

“What was…the point?” Franz gasped out. He took a deep breath, looked the Queen in the eyes and said “Um Sie abzulenken.”

It was at that moment that Franz’s ship flew right past them and directly into a building.

> Big Damn Heroes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time: 1:01 A.M., 06/30/4 PHA
Location: The Lair of the Nightmare Queen.

“Ich hoffe wirklich, das heißt, was ich denke, dass es bedeutet.”

Out of the flaming remains of the ship stepped six mares, all but one wearing a bright gold necklace that contained a gemstone replica of their cutie marks. The sixth mare had a crown on her head, with a massive gemstone replica of her mark at the top.

Franz didn’t recognize five of them, but he knew the one in the crown right off. “Kleine Prinzessin! So… nice of you to…d-drop by.” Hearing his voice, the six mares turned to look in his direction. When they saw the sorry state he was in, they visibly cringed. One of them, a yellow pegasus, looked ready to faint.

The Queen seemed to recognize them easily enough, however. She tightened her  magical grip on the griffin’s neck and glared pure hatred at them. “How did you get here?!”

“Das wäre mein Tun sein.” Franz said, trying feebly to claw at the Queen, but she remained just out of range. “I programmed the ship to fly to Ponyville, wait thirty minutes, then return back to this schmutzige Grube.” The Queen turned back to face Franz, bringing her death glare with her. “You… You knew. How could you possibly have known? Did you plan for your own demise?”

“Nicht ganz.” Franz squirmed a little under her magical grasp, but was unable to escape the Queen’s powerful hold. The pain involved in trying made him decide to not do that again.

Twilight gathered the girls around her, forming a semi-circle around the Queen and Franz. “Let him go, Nightmare! You’ve lost!”

“Lost?! LOST?!” The Queen let out a laugh somehow far more insane than any of her previous ones. “You fools, I’ve got you right where I want you! As soon as I dispose of this little bird, I’ll destroy all of you as well!”

Franz coughed, but an intentional one designed to get the Queen’s attention.

“If you’re going to kill me, Albtraum Königin, could you at least execute me like a griffin?” 

“And what idiotic way is that?” The Queen asked, Looking at Franz but keeping an eye on the ponies as well.

“A simple matter, r-really…” He said, really starting to feel his injuries. “Grab me b-by…the wings and…” He took a sharp inhale. The longer he was held vertically, the more his broken pieces tried to shift to his bottom. “…and take a l-long, sharp dagger. Use the d-dagger to stab me, right in the heart. That… is the t-traditional grif-griffin execution.” 

The Queen thought it over. “Well, it is slower than the death I had in mind. Very well, I’ll grant your wish.” She released her grip on his neck and instead pinned his wings to the wall.

A sudden explosion behind them made everyone turn their heads. It was the armory collapsing, and all was soon quiet again.

“Well, on to business. Any last words, Franz?” The Queen said, looking directly at Twilight when she said that. “Just four.”

“And what would those be?” She turned to face him.

Only instead of being pinned to the wall, he was right in her face, holding the broken Hilfsmittel in his hands.

“Du bist ein Idiot.”

He slammed the Hilfsmittel over the Queens horn and, with a quick application of duct tape, fixed the problem of not having a working lock.

“What is this?! What have you done?! No!” Something was happening to the Queen. Very slowly, but speeding up quickly, the dark purple was receding into the device, leaving only a sickly green in its place. Within a few seconds, every trace of the purple was gone.

The green insectoid mare was struggling to remove the Hilfsmittel, but it wouldn’t come off. “No! Please! Come back! I need you!”

She tackled the wingless griffin and pinned him against the wall. “Bring her back! I need her, bring her back to me!”
Franz simply stared her in the face. “Do you really want to be with her again?”

“Yes! I would give anything, just please bring her back!”

“Anything, you say?”


The green mare was still trying to get the Hilfsmittel off of her horn. “Yes, anything!”

“Gut”

*BANG*

The green mare stopped struggling with the device on her horn, and instead felt the new hole in her stomach. It was still sizzling from the heat of the fire bolt, the last shot in the spellcaster. As the mare collapsed, so too did Franz. Right before she closed her eyes for the last time, she asked a simple question.

“Why?”

Franz looked at the ground, the weight of his wounds becoming too much to bear. “Because… if one of you… lived, then the other… might… return.”

The green mare hadn’t lived to hear the answer, though.

The assembled ponies were shocked at what they had just seen. They had thought that they were just coming to purge the Nightmare from another victim, not be witness to an execution.

“Kleine Prinzessin?” Franz asked weakly. Drawn from her stupor, Twilight approached the heavily injured griffin. “Yes,

Franz? What do you need? Just let me know, and I’ll get it.”

“I don’t suppose… you have a… Heilzauber… for this, ja?”

“I’m sorry, Franz, but I don’t think there is a Heilzauber strong enough for this.”

“Nein, Ich dachte nicht. Listen, Prinzessin… When they bury me, don’t…don’t let them put Oberst…Oberst Franz… on mein stein.”

“What would you rather have, Franz?”

Franz was quiet for a moment. “Put my t-true rank…on it. The one fr-from before this all… all started… Mark me as…	Leutnant…Felix…Franz.”

“Alright, Leutnant. You have my word.”

“Danke… Prinzessin.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the other element bearers giving them some space.
After a while, Twilight asked the question they had all been wondering. “Franz, if you had a plan to beat the Queen by yourself, why did you want the Elements here?”

Franz just smiled for a little bit before answering. “Because… what would have… happened… if I failed?”

And with that last sentence, Leutnant Felix Franz, The top Infiltrator of the Draco-Griffin Alliance, the Mechanical Griffin, and a hero of the Alliance, passed away.

> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Time: 2:33 P.M, 11/03/4 PHA
Location: Draco-Griffin Alliance Rehabilitation Clinic.


Okay, so I lied. It turns out that you can’t just blow up a major command hub without gaining a lot of attention from the real military. A few moments after Franz had blacked out, several platoons of Alliance Forces arrived at the scene. Since they were technically in a state of war, it took several hours of explaining just why a group of six ponies wielding the most powerful artifacts known were standing around a destroyed military compound.

The Equestrian Armada that showed up a few hours later on a mission to rescue Twilight didn’t help matters, either.

Still, everything worked out in the end. Franz was taken to a military hospital, where they patched him up as best as they could. Still, he had taken a beating. His days of Infiltrating were behind him, and he became the youngest griffin to retire from the military with full honors.

Franz spent the next few months in a rehabilitation clinic, after having to relearn how to walk. He was visited regularly by the Princess Twilight Sparkle, who exchanged tales about Equestria for tales about the Alliance. I hear they still meet-up whenever they can, and are still talking about the day Franz pretended to be a pony princess.

The Elements of Harmony and Leutnant Franz were able to patch relations between the Equestrians and the Alliance, and the war was officially ended on 08/01/4 PHA. The two factions are now in the process of building a friendly relationship with each other, in the interests of harmony.

You’ll meet your truest friends in the most unlikely of places.
-Felix Franz, Ambassador to Equestria.