It was the darkest night of the year, and the Bavarian border was just ahead. An invisible line on the mountain side, dragging through the rocks and trees marked the difference between protection and open hostilities. Once Twilight and Captain Kake lead the force across the border, they would not receive any further support from the Equestrian army. The two thousand exiles, now elite Crystal soldiers, carried three times their normal weapons, prepared to equip sympathetic locals.
Twilight glanced down the ravine when passing a clearing in the trees and saw the softly glowing flames of nearby Bavarian fort, just two hundred hooves beneath them, nestled in the shadow of the mountains and guns pointed out into the valley beneath it. Dozens of miles away the dim glow seeping just over the horizon indicated another fort. Twilight estimated that they just barely had overlapping sight lines from the highest point in the forts to detect large bodies of troops.
Despite the Bavarian’s efficient placement of forts, they lacked any outposts atop the mountain to watch the little used trails snaking just below the tree line. The trails, just wide enough for a single pony and maybe a small cart, ran all the way to the distant mountain pass that connected the Protectorate to ‘New Bavaria’.
Moving on from the clearing, Twilight pressed on into the night, moving slowly and occasionally stopping to watch her troops trudge silently along the trail. Within two days they’ll be in the Protectorate and ready to recruit locals to resist the overwhelming force of the Prussian Empire.
Luna and Celestia were alone in a planning room. A single massive map of the Crystal Peninsula was carved into the table, the hills and mountains to scale. Markers for different units sat on the table, showing the exact movements of the Sister’s units and rough approximations of the Prussian, Bavarian and Protectorate units.
“Celestia, I stayed quiet on sending Twilight and Captain Jelly Filled Kake to lead an insurgency? It won’t effectively amount to anything. You’re wasting two capable leaders and all those soldiers. If you remember the conquest of Shetland...” Luna trailed off, looking to Celestia as she did.
Celestia nodded, cracking her neck before replying, “But we learned something important in Shetland, those thousands of years ago, that insurgencies rack of costs of occupation and turns their forces inwards instead, giving us longer to build and prepare before the invasion. As for my choice of officers... it’s simple. After decades of manipulation, guiding Twilight to a single goal... that is now struck useless by the loss of two elements. I spent countless years quietly guiding those families towards creating a weapon to free you Luna, and to defend us against the resurfacing evils. And one day to become another princess. Her friends were integral to that. They had begun to drag out more creativity and leadership skills. But she snapped back to her reclusive self when Rainbow and Rarity died. It’s all useless now. This is the best use for her. As for Captain Kake? He’s a mediocre officer in all fields. Easily replaced by any other officer from our academy.”
Luna nodded, keeping her dissent to herself before returning to the planning and training of troops.
Sergeant Gerhard stood at the customs point between New Bavaria and the Crystal Protectorate. His daily task was simple. Let civilians continue through unimpeded, while inspecting merchants for goods and following the tax spreadsheet. It was a simple job. Safe too. He no longer had to worry about the slinging of shot, whistling of artillery or the crashing of bombs seeking out his life.
Now he and his company just sat in the customs outpost in the slowly growing village, taking care of their families and safely watching the border. He enjoyed the dull drudgery of being a tax collector and family man, just watching his daughter and two sons grow and play.
Today was quiet. Gerhard had just finished taxing a Protectorate trade caravan, the first and only of the day so far. He sat in a chair in the booth, smoking a cigar as he watched through the glass, waiting for any other groups to cross. He scratched his mustache, chasing an itching shred of skin around his face.
After taking another pull from his cigar his door opened, and Corporal A. Stro walked in, musket in hand. Sergeant Gerhard shifted his stance and stood, facing Corporal A. Stro as he said, “Sergeant, we saw a large group of ponies come down the mountain on our side of the checkpoint and ignore it entirely, trotting towards the Protectorate.”
“Show me,” Sergeant Gerhard said, following Corporal A. Stro out into the sunlight. The fifteen soldiers on duty that shift stood at their various stations, waiting for patrons to come along. About three hundred feet away a column of ponies carrying or dragging large canvas sacks and bags, covered in cloaks, walked along, angling towards the road ahead of the checkpoint. Gerhard considered them for a moment, before saying, “Must be a trade caravan of some kind. Probably not from ‘round here. Don’t know about the customs. Avoiding the town for some reason is odd though. I’ll ask them about it once we get there.”
The pair of NCOs got all fifteen soldiers in an open order formation and had them begin to casually walk towards the party, quickly gaining on the slowly moving formation. Corporal A. Stro and Sergeant Gerhard led the way. The leaders of the group noticed the approaching Bavarians and brought the massive caravan to a stop.
Gerald raised a hand in greeting as he set his musket on the ground with his other. He puffed out his cigar and spoke around it rather than remove it. In mostly fluent ponish, cigar mudding it a bit, he said, “You just bypassed the customs point back there. I know that it’s new, so I’ll let you go this once, but you still gotta pay. Whatever yer hauling should fit one of these descriptions. If it doesn’t it’s probably tax free” Fiddling with a pocket, he pulled out the tax sheet and a notepad. The rest of the company did the same, pencils at the ready for goods counting
“I see, thank you. I’m terribly sorry for this bother. I didn’t realize there was customs point between the Empire and Equestria,” the purple unicorn at the front said, shrugging apologetically.
Gerhard sniffled, “Itsna problem. We'll just have to check yer bags extra carefully before sending you on yer way...” Gerhard looked up from his clipboard, “What do you mean between the Empire and Equestria? This is the New Bavarian Border,” Gerhard reached for his musket, as did Corporal A. Stro. The rest of the squad were close behind, “Listen, we’re gonna hafta inspect your luggage. Plese put all of your goods on the ground so that we ca-”
A magic bolt of plasma from the lead unicorn hit Gerhard in the chest, cutting his sentence short. He keeled over into the dirt, dead before he hit the ground. More magic flew out from the ranks and the purple unicorn, cutting down all of the infantry in less than three seconds. Corporal A. Stro was knocked to the ground and the body of another soldier fell atop him. He lay motionless but breathing gently.
The crystal ponies and earth ponies in the horde grabbed spears to put on sharpened horseshoes and set to work dealing with any survivors. A single brutal, efficient stomp crushed Corporal A. Stro’s skull, leaving his blood to mingle with the snow.
“Herr Krämer, the Bavarians reported a large group of armed ponies coming from the mountains and moving North towards a group of isolated villages. They wiped out the Bavarian Border guard. The Bavarians have sent two regiments after them but are requesting assistance. They estimate that the enemy forces number at least three thousand and may recruit more as they march.”
Cadence and Krämer both turned and looked at the aid who had interrupted their meeting. Cadence had a look of concern, while Krämer maintained a passive look. He stood and flipped his top hat back on, “Send a force of ten thousand to deal with them. Assign General Karlson to the unit and tell him to make an example out of any survivors. Let General Karlson handle the rest.”
The aide nodded and left, quickly hustling down the corridor to look for General Karlson. Herr Krämer spun on his heel and sat back down in front of Cadence, setting his cane and hat to the side, “Now, where were we?”
“What- How are you just going to not talk about the rebellion? Surely this will interfere with your plans?” Cadence said, mild shock peeking through for a moment before she hid it again.
Krämer laughed a little, “To be honest, I expected the rebellion sooner. But your people are so much more docile than the others we’ve conquered. I’m ahead of schedule right now. But thank you for reminding me, I do need to redirect some of the construction crew temporarily. I was planning on building some mills over there, and that’ll have to wait.”
Cadence sighed and shook her head, “Please ensure that General Karlson does not destroy any of my ponies in the process of killing the rebels. And let any surrendered leave. Please, Sir Krämer.”
Ludolf Krämer merely nodded, beckoning another aide over and whispering in his ear before sending him after the first.