The mid stage of the Reinland Crisis arose once the royal families of both Prance and Farmany had been ousted from their seats of power and largely eradicated.

In Farmany, the Morgensterns had been wiped out as the Gildenpakt attempted to set up a seat of power. However, as the various nobles and knights bickered and squabbled, the unity swiftly fell apart and each member retreated to their own lands, effectively splitting Farmany into a huge collection of feudal states.

While in Prance, L’Ecurisier actively hunted down and slaughtered royalist sympathisers, the Tarpan among them, and placed nearly every city under martial law while sending their troops across the countryside, searching for any foe and often pillaging from those who attempted to remain neutral.

As swiftly as they’d found favour with the common pony, the new regimes became hated and dreaded nationwide. Having lost the love and faith of the ponies they ruled, Prance and Farmany fell back into the great underlying problem that had nearly laid them low.
Destitution.

As their own resources ran out, they looked over the border towards the Reinland between their two nations and considered the age-old tradition of taking what one needed from others one didn’t want having it.

Archmage Mimic recounted the problem.
‘When a nation is faced with invasion, one has two choices.
To either look too strong to invade or look too harmless to be worth invading.
Neither helped in this case.
A strong enemy presented plentiful plunder.
A harmless enemy presented easy plunder.
With both nations attempting to act strong so as to avoid being invaded, the borders saw multiple clashes that their respective governments treated as little more than showing off.
War seemed inevitable and would almost certainly ruin both of them.’

And as the two governments focussed on preparing for war over the border, a greater threat to their new authority loomed in their own lands.

As Celestia and Luna ventured to the lands of vassals, allies and friends, the bloodline of the old kings ran strong again.

Farmany: Steigen Der Gefallenen

Legend tells the story well of how Fletcher Fray and Conrad Von Morgenstern set out from humble Talforesters to seize and found the city of Lunich.
Count Grollen Von Nahkampf had fallen to Fletcher years ago and three more leaders of the Gildenpakt fell to this new rebellion. Only one of the siege commanders survived, the one who had given them the most brushes with death over the siege. Roanbrand Von Eichenhuf, son of the lamented Grand Duke Eibener of Talland who’d died as a result of Lombard’s meekness, and who sought out Conrad at the Siege of Lunich, being the one to cut off his foreleg. Talland’s capital lost to him, Roanbrand retreated north to the city of Spuremberg where he accumulated resources and horsepower to prepare to face Conrad again in open combat. Roanbrand, perhaps foremost among the Gildenpakt, possessed a keen eye for strategy, a firm sense of honour and great charisma from his fellow pony. He would be a difficult foe to face.

Conrad, meanwhile, gave Fletcher leave to retake his home in Stutegart. Beside the Eternal Knights, Fletcher reclaimed his city, challenged and slew Donnern Von Nahkampf, Grollen’s son and heir, on the high towers of Armbrust Castle and at last ascended to his right as master of the his family and its lands and titles. It was there that he found a sight that shocked him.
His grandfather, Faulkner Fray, laid in the dungeons of Armbrust Castle, barely alive, his once-strong body wracked by wounds and disease, having spent his entire decades-long imprisonment protecting those sharing his cell. Two distant grandnieces of his.
Ruhlinda, a filly of twelve, and Adalie, just nine.
Their parents and grand-parents were dead, Faulkner and Fletcher the only remnants of their family. Having fulfilled his duty to protect his family, Faulkner passed the fillies into Fletcher’s care before at last succumbing to injury and illness.
In an about-turn, Fletcher passed on the heirship of the House of Armbrust to Ruhlinda, having already sworn to keep fighting and needing somepony at home to keep Stutegart safe. So it was that Ruhlinda became the Archduchess of Trabia, the youngest pony ever to assume such a title.

With Southern Farmany in their grasp, the Morgenstern Restoration began focussing on cutting off the Gildenpakt’s point of operations in Staachen, Fologne and the Reinland from their centres of power in the east. Schnella Finisch began a campaign of information and spread the word to the cities who Conrad knew had long supported the Morgensterns.
The reply came from Pferlin, the majestic city of lakes, where the Barzemmers had once stood.
Sabelryse Barzemmer was a hero that had stood beside Fullemagne and Ballistix when Farmany was young, a gigantic black stallion who slew wild Ursine with his bare hooves and founded the great city of Pferlin. His descendent, the graceful and strong-willed Sothilda, lived hidden in the streets, working as a weaver while the city was run by the scheming and unscrupulous Blaschewurz von Gegenlieber, a clerk in the Barzemmer household who’d aided the Gildenpakt in taking the city.
Sothilda worked to form a rebel band of her own, planning to meet up with Conrad’s and cut the Gildenpakt’s influence in Farmany clean in two.

This would be quite an arduous task as the journey from Lunich to Pferlin took them through nearly a thousand miles of enemy territory past Spuremburg, Flankfurt, Haynover, Streipzig and Trotsdam, none of which supported the rebellion.
So Conrad and Fletcher began work. Leaving out the message of where they were and how they were commuting, Conrad’s spies infiltrated the main cities and spread word that the rightful King of Farmany had returned.
Promising to undo the mistakes his grandfather had committed, Conrad began a personality campaign, using the failure of the Gildenpakt and the chaos it had caused to rekindle the faith Farmany had in the line of Morgenstern. Luna, Midnight, Wolf and Saracen left Lunich to aid in this campaign.

Support came slowly but surely.
The first of these was in Flankfurt, led by Currywurst Flankenfurter, a flamboyant knight and artist, masquerading as a drag act in a theatre, began an underground campaign of intelligence and sabotage.
Later in Brandenbird, the local griffon population, persecuted by the Gildenpakt and offered freedom by the Morgensterns, rose up in an active city takeover, under the command of an old Pullet veteran, Colonel Schleifer Van Fingerlecken.
And in Fleamen, a group of Musicians were founded by a bizarre old donkey who somehow trained his dog, cat and rooster to play instruments, playing tunes for the return of Morgenstern, always vanishing from the guard and keeping the ruling families awake at night with their caterwauling.

Conrad knew, however, that the memories of Lombard and his dismal reign still lingered in the minds of Farmany’s populace and to earn forgiveness for his grandsire, he must do what Lombard never could.
Bring glory to Farmany and its fighting ponies.
Thus the Landsknechten were founded. Brightly armoured and clothed, bearing great broadswords called Zweihuffers and heavy steel pikes near twice as tall as they were, the Landsknechten arose first from the few nobles still supported the prince as well as the more honourable bands of mercenaries and travelling squires. Trained to a fault and fiercely disciplined, they were a shining memory of all Farmany had been in its glory days and were purpose-built to herald its return.
Their target was Brebida, to repay the toll exacted upon them by the rebellious sheep-folk.
On what became known as Batterbock Day, Conrad and some four-hundred of his best Landsknechten rode out of Lunich to a praying crowd.
The next day they returned with the daughters of the noble families taken after Lombard’s defeat, Lombard’s niece among them, and each knight bearing a trophy of two hollowed ram’s horns.
Brebida bent the knee once more and never again rose.

This created a massive surge in popularity for Conrad and his fighting ponies. Many were now sure that Conrad did not possess the weakness that had brought down his grandfather and more and more young stallions and mares heading south to join the Landsknechten.
This prompted retaliation from the Gildenpakt. Various nobles stopped sending fighting steeds to the borders in order to contend with the current threat. But whenever one lord or baron focussed on fighting Conrad, one of his neighbours would seize he chance to invade. This was Conrad’s greatest strength, the members of the Gildenpakt wanted to kill each other almost as much as they wanted to kill him.

Only one among them brought Conrad to fear. Roanbrand Von Eichenhuf, who was busily mustering an army in Spuremberg, calling upon his full Tallander host, combined with an army of hardy Traxons and mercenaries from the Alasarian Horszek.
Conrad’s army met them at Mulebach. Outnumbered nearly three to one, Conrad set up formations across the fens and prayed to Luna they would not be forsaken this day.
Roanbrand’s knights attacked at dawn in a great charge but this was where Conrad’s sparse numbers came in use. The boggy fens made an organised gallop nigh impossible and, with their broadswords and pikes, the Landsknechten cut down any who came their way, standing far apart on patches of dry land and each defending their individual position, their armour and bucklers protecting them against arrow and bolt. Roanbrand’s first wave was utterly routed and so he tried a different tactic.

The Tallanders, Traxons and Alasarians began a slow advance against the Landsknechten and surrounding each knight in small groups, wearing them down in a team until they could strike the killing blow. With this tactic, he sought to separate each Landsknecht from his comrades and cross the lines almost unperturbed, once more seeking out Conrad on the field of battle. Morgenstern’s fate looked bleak as sheer numbers and simple but efficient tactics were set to overwhelm his force.

Then came the sound of horns and drums. Roanbrand’s reserve came rushing down the hills, missing their weapons and screaming in terror. They were followed by a great host of Pferliners, Flankfurters, Brandenbirds and Fleameners, marching under the command of Sothilda Von Barzemmer, Luna and her bodyguard watching over her, having seized the undefended Spuremberg and advanced directly south, cutting the Gildenpakt in two as planned.

Once more, Roanbrand was forced to flee, chased out of Farmany for good, taking up refuge in the Voivode of Pommelrania in the Conskan valley. Conrad had a suspicion, however, that his old nemesis was far from finished.
With their combined forces, Conrad, Fletcher, Sothilda and Luna advanced onwards to Streipzig and, after a lengthy siege, accepted the surrender of Castellan Tilian Der Lindenwolder who sent out a plea from Traxony for his nearby allies to lay down their arms and open their cities to the Morgensterns. Since Streipzig had been where a great many of the Gildenpakt members had sent their families for safety, this was largely successful and the nearby domains of Furingia, Schweinlin and Nagdeburg swore oaths of loyalty to Conrad, leaving the Morgenstern restoration in control of South and East Farmany.
With the majority of his enemies in Eastern Farmany subdued, Conrad began his advance west towards Fologne and the Imperial City of Staachen.

Prance: La Perle Lustrée

In Prance, the situation was quite different. A beasthunt was put out for Saumon le Rosery and Tormalina de Trouscabelle, L’Ecurisier demanding their immediate capture, dead or alive.
The lovers had retreated to Pittany, land of the Petons, a vassal state of Prance’s neighbour, a mighty island kingdom that was its ally as often as its enemy; Stalbion, better known as the Gritish Isles.

During this era, the Trillion Siblings, Valiant the Black, Chevron the Red and Glamour the Gold, ruled jointly as the kings of Stalbion with Pittany one of its several allied states on the Stirropean shores (Through marriage, King Gallant the Great had secured alliances with Pittany (Lady Gwendonienne marrying Prince Valiant), Neighmandy (Lady Huitrielle marrying Prince Chevron) and Ranjou (Lord Mantone marrying Princess Glamour). Under Prince Valiant, the Tarpan and many other minorities were treated with care and respect and here, Saumon and Tormalina lived in peace, the mare now heavily pregnant.

In the east of Prance, however, news of the slaughter of the Dauphin had brought about the wrath of the Duke of Boargundy, Cétace le Cachalot, an uncle of Thon and Saumon and a fearsome war hero known as La Baleine (The Whale). Barring the way to the frontier, his small but powerful armies made the Prench crossing to the Reinland very difficult.
[Note: Boargundy, like many regions of Stirrope, bears its name from its original residents; a boar kingdom defeated by Grand Dauphin Trunqueteur le Nezbouche in the early stages of the Dauphin Expansion of Prance. The Boargundian ponies keep the name to remind others of who their ancestors fought both as praise to them and a warning to others. The same can be said of the Torleanais who defeated the bulls and the Chevignonnais who defeated the goats]

L’Ecurisier at this time was going through leadership crises, two key power players among its First Citizens. Advocating for peace and reassuming control of the damaged land was Silurian de Barbillon, a wise politician and philosopher but largely unpopular having been a tax collector before the fall of Dauphin. Advocating for war in the Reinland and the invasion of Farmany was Espadon de Marlinier, very popular with the revolutionaries and fast gathering appeal, known for his successes in War against Tirek and the later skirmishes against the Mouflon Separatists.
Adding to their appeal was their company. Espadon’s closest ally (And mistress) was Thermidorea d’Homard, a peerless lady of war who’d fought and slain the Wolf King of Gràzes and his pack.
Meanwhile, Silurian’s chief supporter was one he and most others had little to no respect for.
Nocifer de Lophins, better known as Nocifer Degoutants (The Disgusting). A former prison guard who’d gained support from L’Ecurisier by opening the gates of Mareseille to the Revolutionaries and murdering his liege along with his family, Nocifer was a robber-baron and a notorious predator of foals.

But in order to bring down La Baleine and thus bring Dauphin support to an end for good, one side needed all the support. Espadon was swiftly garnering an army with which to take Boargundy and reinforce the Reinland. But Silurian was certain that he’d take a detour to Faris to oust him from power once La Baleine was defeated.
Desperate, he consulted his friends at the Church.
[Note: Before the alicorns were seen as deified figureheads in Stirrope as well as Equestria, the various states and domains of the continent had various religions dependent on their culture. Stalbion had Arthon, the Bearlion King of Blades. Farmany had Adelar, the Black Eagle Who Battles The Storm. Caballera had Toro Furioso, the Black Bull Who Rides The Winds. Prance had Calypso, the Guardian of the Seas and the Mother of the Hippocampi. Often called ‘Beata Meria’, her religion was widespread and remains popular to this day, unlike some of the other national faiths who’ve largely regressed over the centuries. A near continental faith was that of the Agneia, the Lamb of Faith, but the Agneian See, near Bitaly, was destroyed during the Invasion of Tirek, its practices taken up by smaller branches of the faith that are now quite popular in Equestria]

The centrepoint of the Merian Church in Faris was the Cathedral de Notre Mare. The Archdeacon at the time was an kind but feeble stallion named Coelacanth but the real power lay with a formidable figure who presided as Civic Attorney over the Palais de Justice. A stallion simply known as Judge Hellfire.
His real name has faded into obscurity. There are records which suggest his name to be Dagon Profondin but this remains to be confirmed. Regardless, Hellfire had grown up in the slums of Fersailles to an abusive and destructive household. Believing the problems in Prance to be the fault of those who were strangers to it, Hellfire had advocated for the purging of minority groups, the Tarpan in particular.

When Silurian consulted Hellfire, the Judge decreed that his troubles were a punishment from Meria for allowing the fugitive Saumon and his Tarpan wife to live unchecked and that their capture and execution was paramount. Hellfire then claimed that he, and by extension Meria, would help Silurian if he was allowed to take a spot in his inner circle.
So it was that Hellfire rose to L’Ecurisier and brought with him a force of secret police collected from his most fanatical followers, criminals he’d absolved in return for service.
The force became known as The Guillotine.

Hellfire split his force in two and had one head to Pittany, the other to Boargundy. There, they both began respective slander campaigns. In Pittany, the local Prench citizens were told that the native Petons and the Bitish overseers were planning to seize Prench properties and place the citizenry under semi-slavery while on the Boargundian warfront, the soldiers were led to believe that Espadon de Marlinier was seeking to become Duke of Boargundy himself and take up the mantle of Grand Marlin, bringing back the monarchy. In very little time, both sides erupted into anarchy.
Espadon was brought down, imprisoned and brought to Faris, charged with treason and executed. Thermidorea was missing in action.

And in Pittany, a mob of anarchists burned their way through the known Tarpan settlements until Saumon and Tormalina were found. The two seemingly had given up their hiding place as they rushed visibly across the countryside and were swiftly captured and contained over the Stalbion borders to avoid the wrath of Prince Valiant who put down the remaining anarchy.
Hellfire himself journeyed to Reinnes to see the couple judged, found guilty and burned at the stake.
However he was curious about why they’d been so conspicuous. The answer came later as friends and confidantes were captured and interrogated.
Saumon and Tormalina had hidden their daughter, giving up their lives so that she would live.

Hellfire then demanded Silurian seek out and slay the last Princess of the Dauphin before she came of age. Silurian refused, unwilling to put the full force of Prance’s armies to hunting down a filly.
Hellfire then seized control. Using his influence to declare his master, along with any political enemy of his, enemies of Prance and Meria, Silurian followed Espadon’s fate as Hellfire took command of Faris.
The only true hope for justice the Farisians held was the death of Nocifer. Surely a stallion so depraved and perverted, they supposed, would be first in line for the bonfire in Hellfire’s eyes.
Unfortunately, Hellfire decided to offer Nocifer an incentive. He would be sent to Mareseille, to rule as its Grand Justice, and manage the frontier on Boargundy and the Reinland while Hellfire focussed on finding the daughter of Saumon and Tormalina. For his service, Nocifer would be granted total absolution from all sins, allowing him to rule his domain however he wished, never punished, never condemned. The degenerate stallion needed no persuading and left immediately to take his depravations to a whole new level.

Years passed and Hellfire’s hunts amounted to nothing. Yet in the river valleys near the city of Poulainne, a humble peasant family held the secret that may have spelt doom for the mad judge.
Melusine, daughter of Saumon and Tormalina. Brought up alongside her adopted sisters and brothers as a farm-hoof, she took an interest in chivalry and knighthood. Journeying to Torleans, she practiced the sword under a mysterious female mercenary named Moulin Rouge. Distinguishing herself quickly, she became famous for one feat after another, slaying bridge trolls, driving off wolf packs and saving more damsels and yeoponies than one could count.

Eventually, Hellfire journeyed to Torleans to oversee an investigation into a possible Tarpan sanctuary. Accusing a miller and his family, Melusine’s neighbours, of sheltering Tarpan, he locked the family inside the mill and ordered them burned. Melusine came to their rescue, slaying his bodyguard and standing before Hellfire, declaring his tyranny at an end. It was then that Hellfire roared that the daughter of Dauphin had been discovered and ordered the maid brought down, bringing the full force of his Torleanais guard down on her. Wounded many times, Melusine was bailed out by Moulin Rouge and her troupe.

Moulin Rouge revealed Melusine’s parentage, something she had been confided in during her capture at the hooves of La Baleine. Moulin Rouge, as it turned out, was Thermidorea d’Homard who had become disillusioned with the revolution after Hellfire’s rise to power and had been tasked by La Baleine to bring his niece safely to Boargundy.
With her subjects crying out for her, her nation set for a long and costly war and her parent’s killers tyrannising all below them, Melusine took up her royal namesake and journeyed with haste to visit her uncle and rebuild her family’s legacy.

Passing the ridge of Chevallon, Melusine and Moulin were beset upon by the Guillotine, led by one of their most fearsome generals, Requin-Blanc Le Grandent. Surrounded and outnumbered, the two warrior mares fought till sundown until their swords became too heavy to hold. Before Requin-Blanc could land the killing blow, however, bolts of fire and blinding light rained down on them from above, prompting them to retreat.
An alicorn landed before Melusine and Moulin, pearl-white of coat and primrose-pink of mane.
Princess Celestia of Equestria had come to Prance.

Sounds very interesting and well written, Fletcher really has been through a lot

6120440
Thanks. Glad you like it.
Sadly, he may be in for a bit more before this is over.

6120974
I know, more than anypony (apart from his fellow knights) For some reason, I had to laugh when I read Currywurst Flankenfurter

6120979
Yep!