//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: Whistling Rain 
// by Schwabauer 
//------------------------------//

Twilight looked into the eyes of the lead biped. In those eyes she saw determination. Resolve. Resignation. And above all else, fear. Fear weighed heavy in those eyes, his unblinking gaze holding Twilight’s. Despite the freezing temperatures the biped’s forehead had sweat beads on it. They pooled in the crease lines on his face. 

This is what broke Twilight’s resolve. She took a step back and looked away from the man’s gaze. Her shattering resolve caused Fluttershy’s reluctant compliance to fail. She too began too slowly back away. Rarity followed suit, then Pinkie Pie. Applejack and Rainbow both looked at them, confusion in their eyes. 

“Gals, where are ya goin’?” 

‘Yeah! We gotta give these invading scumbags a beating!” 

Twilight shrank away from the two of them, her head pressing down into her neck. She was disturbed by their... eagerness to harm what looked like clearly harmless creatures. “Applejack, Rainbow, we can’t hurt them. They clearly aren’t like those soldiers at the fort. They are innocent!” 

Applejack looked down; shame painted on their features. Applejack responded with a hoof on the back of her neck, and a downtrodden statement of, “Well, golly Twilight I guess we didn’t think about that.”  

Rainbow Dash on the other hoof, was not impressed. Nor was Grapefruit, who had trod closer over to the group after seeing the entropy. Dash responded with a rebuttal, stating that, “Twilight! They are invading the Crystal Empire. Celestia herself told us to get rid of them.” 

Grapefruit, and several of his ponies, nodded along with Dash as he stepped up and opened his mouth. “Yes, Twilight, we were ordered to remove the invaders. If you don’t use the elements, my company will remove them manually.” 

Twilight went bug eyed. Her hoof trembled as she pointed at the two accusatorially as she responded with, “You... you wouldn’t be following orders then! We were just told to deal with the fort. This village didn’t even exist yet. You just want blood. The blood of innocents.” 

Dash snorted. She began to hover off the ground as she grew agitated. Her eyes returned Twilight’s accusatory point with a withering gaze. Her voice shrill, she accused Twilight of going soft and getting attached to these weird monsters. 

Rapidly the discussion degraded to three ponies arguing, often rebutting and out shouting at one another. The ponies among the guard let their attention be drawn away from the raggedy militia towards the ongoing entertainment. Their ready stances shifted from spears pointing at the bipeds to being leaning posts to watch the spectacle. 

One of the bipeds took notice and tapped another on the shoulder. He whispered into his year, a hand cuffed around it, before taking off sprinting in the direction of the pillaged fort. The guards were far too enamored with the now screaming match between Twilight, Dash, and Grapefruit. The rest of the main six sat watching the argument with fear and apprehension, glancing and whispering to each other with baited breaths. 

Eventually even the bipedal villagers began to uneasily settle into relaxed paces, backing towards their unfinished homes. Soon the uneasy, slow and reluctant backing away was replaced with a steady, careful backwards pace. And none of the ponies noticed that their queries were leaving, so enamored they were with the screaming match in front of each other.  

The bipeds then began disappearing into the tents and cabins, ducking out of view of any attentive pony. Of which there were none. Not one guardspony kept their eye on what should have been their center of attention. Not long after many of the bipeds began leaving their homes, the entire family present with bags filled with personal possessions and food. They began to disappear into the woods. All the bipeds did. All but two who, much to the chagrin of their families, stayed behind and hid in the trees, watching the ponies and the narrow footpath towards the fort.  

One guard got it in her head to glance at the line of enemies that were watching the angry discussion between her leaders. And then she noticed the narrow line wasn’t there anymore. She wheeled towards the simple village, her head snapping around as if they may have just shifted to the left or right. Her hopes were dashed when she couldn’t see any of them. She notified her sergeant, who in turn began to inch towards his direct superior. Captain Grapefruit. 

“Captain Grapefruit, sir.” He began, before standing respectfully at attention. Grapefruit paused his screaming match for long enough to glance at his subordinate.  

“Yes, Sargeant Desk?” he said, trying to keep his agitation out of his voice. And failing miserably.  

“Sir, the bipedal invaders seem to have fled”. 

“WHAT”. 

“They seem to have fled sir”. 

Grapefruit glared at the sergeant for a moment before turning towards the village and could in fact confirm that the bipedal invaders were absent. He turned back to Twilight and spat at her, “Well, I suppose you got your way whether I agree or not.” 

With that, he angrily turned about and began marching away. Before he remembered he was still tasked with escorting the Elements of Harmony around. He returned, still supporting his angry mood, and glared at Twilight and the rest of the elements. He decided to get in one last jab before telling them to get ready to go home saying that “Unlike you, I will do as Celestia tells me”. 

And with that he began to walk back towards the wagons. After a moment, his company of now seventy guardsponies followed along, many copying his distasteful look, others glancing sympathetically at Twilight and the others. Rainbow Dash cast a glance at Twilight before flapping her wings and hurrying after Grapefruit silently. 

Twilight herself turned towards the rest of the elements, her closest friends, and saw similar looks of unease and dismay reflected at her. Pinkie’s normally inflated hair and joyous smile has been replaced with smooth, finely combed hair and a dead sad frown. Rarity’s over dramatic style had once again won out, thick lines of mascara dragging down her face. Fluttershy too was crying at the prospect of hurting these innocent beings, leaning against Applejack who had her hat over her face in an ashamed fashion. 

After surveying her friends, Twilight pulled them together, and had a slightly smaller group hug than normal. And she soon had tears of her own flowing down her face. 





General Ernst Schellinger sat in his office, reviewing the force placements in the region. His office in question was in the region, and theater, capital. It held both the governor for the theater and the office of the minister for the region. 

As of now he has remained out of the field, no active campaigns requiring him to move his headquarters with the main force of the army. In the capital city of the theater had an army built of eight twelve pounder howitzer batteries, seven line infantry companies, two light infantry companies, two Frie-crops companies, three dragoon squadrons, and three hussar squadrons. They resided in the ring of artillery forts around the city, supplying ample protection from any attacking force. 

In the rest of this region sat a stone fort, five line infantry companies and a horse squad. They were situated near the southern border of the province and maintained a watchful eye on any colonists going out along their road. Further out in a semi-circle ring around the region, in the untamed wilderness that colonists were settling and beginning to farm, sat five wooden forts each holding three companies of line infantry, and a squad of light dragoons. 

As of now, everything was going well. There had been no desertion, for the Prussians got their pay weekly. Food stocks were still going strong in the outer forts, but General Ernst still made note to set aside additional funds to ship smoked fish and grain to the forts. The Jäger companies that were scouting the primitive locals had been reporting back their findings, helping him learn of their diets and language. Add to this a native being captured by them and now being held to learn their language and he was confident that diplomats would make contact soon. 

The Jägers, Ernst’s jägers, were to begin a small campaign of disruption of supply lines and observation of enemy military units. Small squads were given special duty and were expected to begin infiltration any day now. He hoped to have reports on their effectiveness in a short number of months. 

Ernst’s musings on the current standings of his soldiers were interrupted when one of his guards knocked lightly on the door. Ernst looked up expectantly at the door, and said, “Come in.” 

The soldier walked in, a letter in his hand. He gave a crisp salute and handed it to his general. “Sir, it’s from Karl Schellinger, Minister of the Army of Bavaria.” 

Ernst nodded and reciprocated the salute. He then took the letter and dismissed the soldier. Opening the letter, Ernst muttered to himself, “What has you writing to me, dear cousin?” 

Inside the envelope was a lengthy letter, detailing the situation in Bavaria and the rest of Prussia. Things Ernst already knew. Further down he inquired of the Bold New World Ernst was stationed in, and how the colonizing went. A short paragraph beneath detailed the birth of Karl’s third son, much to the surprise of Ernst.  

And in the letter was closed with a joke that made Ernst chortle. It read “With love, a man who knows you Prussians march till they die, we Bavarians until they drop, the Saxon’s till they’ll tired, and the Westphalians if they feel like it.” The joke was humorous enough that Ernst still had a smile on his face when he retired to the family home that night.