• Published 2nd May 2021
  • 4,817 Views, 752 Comments

The Iron Chancellor - Radical Centrist



Otto Von Bismarck (Unifier of Germany) and Paul Mauser (Inventor of the standard issued rifle of Germany) are thrown into a post-Windigo Equestria as Griffons. How will the early-medieval civilisations change with these Victorian era imperialists?

  • ...
17
 752
 4,817

PreviousChapters Next
"Lesgooo," -dahbeebee

"Wake up sleepy head!" Jerry shook Greens' limp body, splattering his drool all over the floor.

"U-u-urgh!" Green woke up, his eyes dancing around in nausea by the sudden shaking. He grasped his mouth with his hoof and held up a vomit.

"Oops... Sorry about that..." Jerry dropped Green down, whose face was now visibly green. "Anyways... I got some good news for you both~!"

Green cringed by the bitter taste of his acids but focused on recollecting his memory from yesterday. "Doctor, questions, Nina, building, griffons... The fight!" "THE FIGHT!" Green exclaimed. Jerry frowned in worry.

"A fight? What do you mean?" Jerry asked worryingly, leaning closer to Green.

"The fight! That happened yesterday!" Green asked helplessly, as he was still processing the information.

"Yesterday? You fell asleep early with Little yesterday." Jerry corrected Green with a smile, pointing towards the sleeping Little.

Green wheeled around, noticing Little breathing lightly, eyes closed and peacefully sleeping. "Whuh-?"

"Awwww, did Greeny get a nightmare?" Jerry jokingly remarked, making Green blush in embarrassment.

"No, I did not!" Green crossed his hooves and turned away from Jerry.

"Oh really? Then what's this about a fight?" Jerry continued, trying to figure out how much Green remembered.

"..." Green remained silent, eyes closed defiantly and pouting.

"Come on... Don't be like that!" Jerry played on, nudging Green in the barrel slightly.

"... It was two griffons... Both talked at first, then they fought. A sudden thunder and one of the griffon fell... Then they all started ripping themselves apart!" Green listed, eyes starting to tear up and bile beginning to rise, as he remembered the bloody scene.

"That's... Haunting... Do you really think that lowly of us?" Jerrys' beaks trembled, acting as if he was hurt from Greens' depiction.

"N-no! Just a nightmare!" Green corrected, afraid of offending the scary griffon.

"Well... Nightmares come from the mind, you must think very badly of us to imagine us fighting each other!" Jerry continued acting hurt, facing away from Green to hide his grin.

"No! Well... Yes... But no!" Green stuttered, feeling extremely conflicted. "It's just that... Our parents told us griffons eat ponies and are moralless murderers!"

"Huh... They think the same as us..." Jerry thought, scratching the underneath of his beak. "Well do I look like I'm going to eat you?" Jerry turned back towards Green, with a baby face that looked ready to cry if the answer was a 'yes.

"After all this, I would say no. But I don't know why my parents would lie about you..." Greens' expression weighed down with guilt, he thing his head down in shame for believing something so quickly without evidence.

"I'm sure they aren't bad ponies, it's natural for creatures to be afraid of new creatures." Jerry reconciled, making Green lighten up a bit.

"I guess so... Ugh... Why does my flank itching so much?" Green started to run his blank flank as if suffering a phantom pain. Then his eyes lightened up in realisation.

"Goddammit..." Jerry braced for what was to come.

"YOU SHOT ME WITH SOMETHING!" Green shouted in anger, as he peeled back a bandage to reveal a small spot of loosened skin.

"Hmmm..? Where?" Jerry feigned ignorance, as he manipulated his facial expression to look confused.

"RIGHT HERE! THAT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Green began to clench his teeth, as he was angered that Jerry was trying to dismiss yesterdays' events as a dream.

"You sure? Because that spot looks more like a big bite." Jerry leaned closer to the spot.

"BUT YOU SHOT ME! Green was unconvinced.

"Yes, in your dreams. You probably felt the big bite, and your mind created that image." Jerry remained confident in his argument.

"What about the things they were holding?! I had never seen them before in my life!" Green remained stubborn in his suspicions.

"You mean these?" Jerry whipped out a pistol, making Green flinch, as he knew what they were capable of.

"Yes! Those! I saw them yesterday!" Green desperately argued.

"Your interrogator, Doctor Nina had carried one in her holster. You probably saw them and correlated them to a griffon." Jerry evaluated logically, even fooling himself.

"But-!" Green was suddenly cut off by a claw in his mouth, as Jerry took a serious expression and met Greens' eyes.

"Green. You had a nightmare. What happened yesterday was merely a figment of your mind, and the bandages are probably from the nurses to better heal the bite." Jerry told Green coherently, grabbing onto his head and leaning it against his beak to make a point.

"Bu-"

"No buts!... Also, your little sister is waking up!" Jerry pointed to Greens' side, Little tosseling lightly, as she began to wake up.

Green looked back forwards, but Jerry had already disappeared, a note-taking his place on the bed, as a window nearby was open, and its curtain fluttering in the winds.

"How is he so fast?!" Green questioned no one in particular, but he grabbed the note and began unfurling it.

"Nghhhh... What happened?" Little asked tiredly, running her eyes with her hooves. "I can't seem to remember anything..."

"We both fell asleep early," Green explained to his little sister, who promptly ate it up.

"What are you holding?" Little asked, as her vision was no longer blurred and saw Green scanning intently on the note which Jerry left behind.

"... I can't read this, but it feels important..." Greens' illiteracy failed to recognise the note as a summon to the governors' office.

"Who gave it to you?" Little asked, leaning closer to observe the note as well.

"Jerry." Little stared surprised for a second at Green and looked around worryingly to avoid being jumped. "Don't worry, he's already gone."

Little calmed down and snatched the note from Greens' hoof. Green simply stared at the adjacent wall, waiting for Little to finish looking. Then there was a knock on the door.

"Coming in!" A griffon entered, followed by two others all dressed in sharp, grey uniforms. The one leading spoke up.

"Two ponies, Green and Little are to meet the governor immediately." He announced to the room, causing the two ponies to become confused. "Why isn't he facing us?

The leading griffin then faced the two ponies on the bed and gestured to follow. The two griffons accompanying him approached the two ponies and picked them up by the barrels.

"Uhhh... Are we being foalnapped?" Little asked Green with a confused expression.

"No, we are saving time." The griffons carrying them chined in, making Green shut his mouth. They passed through the deserted hallways of the guestrooms, several paintings on the walls distracting Green and Little of their current situation. One specific painting had caught Littles' attention, being a portrait of two griffons, one wearing a spiked helmet and the other wearing what looked like a shiny black upside-down stump.

"Who are they?" Little asked no one in particular, pointing towards the painting.

The griffon carrying her briefly glanced at the pointed painting and looked back forward with a smile. "Those two are our god-emperors Bismarck and Paul. Long may they reign!"


Bismarck had tried so hard to introduce Protestantism to the uneducated masses, however, they resisted in every turn, as they were more fond of regarding him and Paul as deities ever since their ascension. He had tried to justify their growth as a sudden growth spurt, however, no one bought it, as by that point many had been educated enough to know how growing works.

So he had given up, as he knew the difficulties in convincing zealous folks to change their minds from his experience dealing with the Catholics. He just hoped that the gods wouldn't smite him for his insolence.

"Still worried about our godhood?" Paul asked him, sitting across the table with a cigar pipe lodged in between his beaks. "Y'know, I never really thought that it was such a big deal." He reasoned with an indifferent shrug.

Bismarck simply glared at him. He was by no means a moralist, but he wasn't a complete secularist either. But Paul seemed to be completely indifferent to religion, probably due to his times as a travelling arms provider who had to ignore the immorality of his trade frequently as to not be destroyed by their guilt. He shared many of his principles, as he would ignore many of the good books' words to get his way.

"But enough of that! Bismarck thought, as he refocused his attention to the telephone he had in front of him. It had been a pain to connect the entire empire with telephone lines, but the effort was worth it, as it allowed him to monitor even the most remote areas of his Empire without being wracked with worry from delays with letters.

Paul stuffed another batch of tobacco into his pipe, and lighted it up, prompting Bismarck to grab a cigar and puffing it. The wait wasn't unnerving, but the riots occurring in front of their guests had been. "We can't let them know any of our weaknesses." They both thought, as the room soon became choked with smoke. Thankfully, their immortal bodies hadn't removed the dampening effects of the miracle drugs, and they could still enjoy their tobacco with impunity.

Then the telephone began to ring.


Governor Picard waited for their emperor to pick up. He was sweating nervously, as normally he wouldn't have to speak with them directly, and would instead report to the generals, who would in turn report to the parliamentarians then finally to the heads of state.

He worried as the riots could be an implication of his incompetency, and he was at risk of being sacked or possibly even exiled or executed for being responsible for the massacre. He knew this much, as the previous governors of Strasburg had been all sacked for being unable to stop the countless riots between the 'native' griffons and the settling 'German' Griffons. One had even been exiled to a remote post in the far east, dooming him to obscurity which was considered worse than death. Picard swallowed a lump forming in his throat, and steadied himself to talk.

"... Are the guests safe?" Bismarck asked through the phone without introduction, causing Picard to jump in surprise momentarily.

"Y-yes! They are unharmed and believe what they saw was a simple nightmare your holi- highness." Picard stuttered and scolded himself for nearly saying 'holiness', which deeply displeased the emperors.

"... We heard there was a commotion in your city governor," Bismarck muttered as if dismissing the information.

"Yes, only a small riot your highness." Picard leaned closer to the phone, hoping that his lie would hold.

"You consider 102 griffons dying a small riot?" Bismarck asked dangerously, doubling Picards' sweat.

"Where did he get that number?!" Picard screamed internally, but quickly regained his integrity. "I assure you, your highness, the casualty wasn't that high. Perhaps our police chief exaggerated?"

"It's too late for the blame game Governor Picard." Bismarck started bluntly. "Our spies and lieutenant of military police had told us what had happened."

"..." Picard shut his beak, as he knew that the further he spoke, the larger the ditch he was digging himself in.

"You have campaigned in the promises of unity and co-existence, yet you gave me and your people massacres and mistrust." Bismarck continued, plunging daggers of words deep into Picards' back. "You're done."

"Your highness! Please reconsider! I had delayed the inevitable longer than my predecessors in this office!" Picard pleaded,

"Your delay caused an immense amount of death governor. The highest of any governor of Strasburg." Bismarck affirmed, "You are hereby exiled to the eastern islands citizen."

The doors of Picards' office bursted open, revealing two griffon officers. Picard dropped his phone in surprise, wheeling quickly to the quickly-approaching officers.

When they came close, they grabbed the phone from the ground and set it down, ending the call. The other griffon showed Picard a shackle.

"You are coming with us. Do not try to run, or else make us waste a bullet." The griffon shook his pistol in his holster, Picard simply drooped his head and allowed the shackles to encase his wrist.

"Get ready to spend the rest of your life marooned on an island dumbass." The other griffon joked, digging his baton into Picards' sides, which made him flinch in pain.

"Damn my luck..." Picard thought, as he regretted being a governor and having to deal with this mess. I should have just kept working as a salesman... Picard thought, as he was escorted to a car, destined towards the railway to the eastern ports.


"Are we there yet?" Little asked as she was being flown by the griffon to the governors' office.

"For the hundredth time, NO!" The annoyed griffon carrying her raged, as he was beginning to think about just dropping her to the ground.

"Are we there yet?" Little asked again,

"N- oh hey, we're here!" The griffon looked up to see the governors' office fast approaching, so began to slow down for a steady landing. The other two followed.

Green and Little looked towards the governors' building and were thoroughly disappointed by how underwhelming it was. The hospitals looked better than this... They both thought.

The leading griffon snapped his claws in from of the two ponies, breaking their attention away from the building. "I will now escort you into the governors' office, so follow me." He ordered, walking immediately towards the entrance, whilst his company flew away.

Green and Little shrugged and began following the griffon, but a shout from behind stopped them.

"WAIT!!!" A diving griffon with a document held in front rapidly speeded towards the two ponies, exhaustion visible in his expressions.

He crashed into the dirt below and rolled to a stop directly in front of the leading griffon. "*Huff* Message from the- *huff* head of state; Governor Picard is now exiled, meaning his audience with the two ponies is cancelled." He relayed and promptly sunk his beak into the dirt in exhaustion.

"I see... Then I assume the second candidate will take the office?" The leading griffon asked, leaning towards the collapsed griffons' head.

"Yes, governess Jane will assume office until the next election." The collapsed griffon said, muffled by the ground.

"Then I will dismiss myself, farewell ponies!" The leading griffin flew off, leaving Green and Little bewildered by their carelessness.

The collapsed griffon looked back up and stared at the ponies, who in turn started back.

"Nope," The griffon immediately rose and flew away, leaving the two ponies in the dirt. "I'm not going to waste my time babysitting ponies!" He thought, as he flew further away.

"What just happened?" Little asked, her eyes twitching in incomprehension.

"Don't know, but I think we are on our own for now," Green replied, and looked back at the entrance of the office.

"So what now?" Little asked,

"I guess we could get in the office and wait. From what we heard, this 'governess Jane' might arrive anyyyy second now..." Green deduced, slowly walking towards the entrance, which made Little follow.

"Hopefully there's a griffon we can talk to." Little hoped, but by how quiet the office was, it was unlikely.


Jane and three other griffons rolled up to the office, followed by several other griffons who arrived by flight. Jane had always admired the emperors' use of cars and locomotives to drive instead of flying to their destination, so she copied them and parked the car outside the office.

"Why is the office so far from the main city?" Jane complained as it took a considerable amount of time to reach the place.

"Then previous governors of Strasburg always disliked the chaotic and loud noises of the main city, so they moved it here, surrounded by forests." The secretary relayed, flipping through documents to make sure what he said was right.

"Well effective immediately, we will be moving our office to the one in the city, the peace here compared to the city is disgusting to me." Jane proclaimed, which caused her assistants to grumble or nod in agreement.

"What should we do about this place then?" The secretary asked,

"Grab all the paperwork from the office and put them in the car, we will be relocating them to the new office," Jane ordered, taking the initiative by entering the office first.

"It's not new, just not used for a long time." The secretary corrected, making Jane grumble in annoyance.

The group passed through the office, the doors lining the hallways being opened and the files retrieved to be dumped into the cars' trunk and back seats. Jane and the secretary stopped at the Governors' personal office.

"Lets' see how diligent Picard was in his works shall we?" Jane told his secretary, who merely nodded in response. "Papers, prepare to meet your new mast- Ponies?!" Jane froze, as she saw two ponies gorging candy from the jar atop Picards' desk.

The two ponies immediately stopped snacking and started at the two griffons at the door.

"Uhhhh... Bad timing..?" Green coughed out nervously,

"It was Greens' idea!" Little pointed a hoof at Green,

"Traitor! It was yours too!" Green countered, dipping his hoof in the jar to get another candy.

"The two ponies... What are you two doing here?" Jane asked the ponies but hoping her secretary would know. But he was also clueless.

"Aren't you supposed to be still cooped up in the guest rooms?" The secretary asked the ponies,

"Well yes... But the governor wanted to see us or something, but he got exiled before we met him, so we decided to stay here for a 'governess Jane'" Green answered, chucking another candy into his stuffed mouth.

"... You know that eating too much of those will make you sick?" The secretary warned the ponies, who simply shrugged,

"Worth it! Because this is SOOOOO sweat!" Little exclaimed in joy and began training aimlessly, as she was suffering a sugar high.

"It will also rot your teeth and turn them black." The secretary warned more seriously, with made Green and Little drop their jars immediately.

"You are going to need to brush your teeth to prevent that," Jane calmed the ponies down, "Also, I am the so-called 'governess Jane', but please, call me Ms Jane."

Upon hearing her name, the two ponies immediately stood up and braved themselves. They approached her carefully and with determination in their eyes. "What see they up to now... the secretary thought, as he did not like the sudden change of mood.

"Ummm... Ms Jane, could we ask you for something?" Little asked sincerely, her form held low and formal, like how her mother, Opal had taught her to act when encountering a unicorn.

"Hmmm..?" Jane playfully hummed, "Are they going to ask for more candy? Or perhaps a toy?" She did not expect the next question.

"We would like to go home." Green definitively stated, holding back tears of wanting to return to their worrying family.


"Poor little kids..." Jane thought, as she was currently hitting in the digits to call the emperors directly. She was extremely nervous of their reaction for calling them directly, instead of calling the lower branches first, but she felt that she had to act immediately to send the two ponies home to their probably distraught parents. She felt disgusted in Picard for not dealing with this sooner but also disgusted in herself for not immediately organising their departure. After all, this sort of matter had to be approved by the emperors.

Green and Little idly sat near the nervous Jane, finally relieved that they would be quickly sent back home, but still worried by how nervous their promiser was. Jane began to call.

She could only hear her rapid heartbeats, as the defeating silence from the phone seemed to extend to minutes and Jane becoming more nervous every second of silence until she heard a sound.

"This is Emperor Mauser, why have you called without an appointment?" Paul asked, annoyance bleeding through his tone which made Jane shudder in fear.

"I'm incredibly sorry your highness, but this is an urgent matter that must be corrected immediately without delay," Jane stated, sweating due to her implication that her matters superseded bureaucracy.

"Very well, but this better be important," Paul replied, still quite annoyed that his design he was working on had to be left to answer the phone.

"First of all, I am governess Jane of Strasburg, and have taken governorship from Picard after his exile." Jane introduced herself, as she wasn't sure if the highness knew of her yet.

"I know who you are, get to the matter." Paul impatiently demanded.

"Well your highness, as you know there are two pony guests in Strasburg..." Jane was now too nervous to ask for their release, as she had no idea if the emperors wanted to keep them or 'remove' them as they had witnessed the massacre.

"Cut the context and get to the request governess, time is precious!" Paul doubled down, making Jane tremble harder, however, Green and Little settled her down, as they grasped her legs in support. They were confused as to how the banana-shaped was talking, but they knew that Ms Jane was terrified by the speaker from it.

"... They miss their parents, your highness and I would like to immediately send them back home," Jane asked the emperor with renewed vigour, but her confidence quickly plummeted when she was met with silence.

"How much did they see?" Paul asked blankly, but Jane knew that this was a life-and-death situation.

"They know no more than the average griffons your highness, and the 'incident' is forgotten." Jane gestured the two ponies to leave the room, as she did not want them to hear any more of their conversation. They promptly left and shut the door quietly.

"It would be so easy to just kill them..." Paul thought, "Send them off by themselves and leave them to the elements perhaps..." He planned, "But they might survive and tell how we left them to die..." Paul wasn't a diplomat, however, his decade spent with Bismarck had taught him about how to make a good first impression, and Bismarck had thought it was high time for the German Empire to shed their isolationism and begin communicating with their neighbours. "What better first impression than sending our greatest machines to escort desperate children to their distraught parents?" Paul deviously thought, as his grin widened into a toothy smile.

"Your highness?" Jane asked carefully, as the Emperor had not said a single word for several minutes.

"Where do they need to go?" Paul asked with a lightened mood, his question implying his approval, which lifted a great weight from Janes' chest.

"They say it's to the north, your highness," Jane replied with enthusiasm.

"Take them to the main Alsace barracks, in there, ask for a volunteer squad to escort the ponies to their destination." Paul instructed, "But don't tell them about any rewards, I only want the sympathetic to lead the mission, I wouldn't want some egotist squad to become the first diplomat into the great unknowns." Paul rambled the last bit out, a common habit of Emperor Mauser when he had an elaborate plan.

"At once your highness!" Jane triumphantly jumped in success, as she wasn't only helping the ponies. She had just guaranteed her re-election by being able to convince an Emperor, and being the orchestrator of the first mission into the boundless Equis continent. She was overjoyed.


Green and Little looked amazed outside their carriage, their noses pressed up against windows, their breaths forming vapour on them which momentarily blocked the outside view. Jane had explained to them that they were in a train, which was a form of carriage, but not pulled by another pony but with 'engines' and 'fuel'. They had never achieved such speed before, as everything outside looked like a blur and they felt superior, knowing that even the noblest of unicorns wouldn't be able to experience what they were going through.

"Thank goodness that the barracks are close to the city," Jane said, trying to answer their future questions. "Normally it would take a day to reach if you were lucky at another city."

"Why are the barracks so close to this city?" Green asked, still facing the window.

"Well Strasburg is extremely close to the northern border of Alsace, and having barracks near population centres are a great way to boost enlistment!" Jane explained, which made Green more confused than before.

"What are you defending against?" Green asked,

"I'm sorry, but that's confidential Green..." Jane replied with a slight frown of sympathy.

"Why would they build a city so close to danger then?" Green asked confused.

"Again sorry, confidential." Jane again dodged, "it tends to be easier to establish a settlement upon the corpse of another settlement..." Jane thought, as she remembered how the 'uncivilised' griffons were wiped out by disease, as the parliamentarian of Alsace had deemed them jot part of his jurisdiction, so had not sent them vaccines, medicine or help, causing the majority of them to die or flee.

"We will be alright, right?" Little asked Jane, worry displayed all over her face.

"I'm sure there will be volunteers willing to take you back to your parents sweety," Jane reassured, ruffling Littles' mane. "You'll be all fine."

Little nodded and looked back towards the window, meanwhile Green had picked up a newspaper from the side compartments.

"How come all you griffons are literate?" Green asked as he attempted to decipher the letters on the newspaper. "How long would it take to learn how to read and write?"

"Well, in the German Empire primary education is mandatory, so knowing to read and write is assumed knowledge," Jane explained, trying not to leak any of her pride in her explanation. "Also it takes around 2 months for a griffon to learn the basics, but it might be different for a pony.

"... What? You think we're dumb?" Green asked Jane, whilst holding the newspaper backwards.

"No... Just different." Jane held in a chuckle and left Green obsessing over his paper.

"How come you have the same letters as us?" Little asked as she leaned in to look at the newspaper and recognised the letters as the same ones the unicorns had on their chariots.

"Oh! This is quite the story, you see our emperors had tried to introduce their own written language, but the remaining scholars of the eastern lands begged them to keep the Equish language. This was of course rejected by them, but the scholars wouldn't yield! So they starved themselves to the brink of death and convinced the emperors to keep Equish. But they smoothened the letters and removed many letters deemed 'unimportant, and it is said that they grumbled during the entire process, muttering something about 'English' and how 'Britain' had truly become global." Jane narrated, Green and Little listening intently, but also slightly confused.

"How would starving themselves convince them?" Green asked sceptically, as he thought starving ponies wouldn't make good persuaders.

"The scholars held great historical knowledge, and by starving themselves, they showed every griffon that they were willing to sacrifice themselves to preserve the language, which garnered a lot of attention and sympathy," Jane explained, making Green nod slightly.

"Aren't they the boss? Why did they listen to them?" Little asked, confused as to how a ruler could care about their citizens.

"Many of us are still not quite sure. Some say that they did it out of generosity. Some because many griffons already knew the Equish language. But many think it had to do with Emperor Mauser, as he freaked out when the scholars told him that Equish was the universal language, and immediately pushed Emperor Bismarck to adopt it." Jane stated, scratching the back of her head in thought.

"Do you have anything here that could teach us how to read?" Green asked, grabbing several pamphlets, magazines and books from the compartments.

"Actually, it's currently standard procedure to have literacy books in trains due to the 'old' griffons, so we should have some here..." Jane rang a bell, which made a griffon enter their room.

"Could my guests have the literacy books, good sir?" Jane asked politely at the attendant, who simply grunted in acknowledgement and walked out.

"Was that rude?" Little asked Jane, as the attendant didn't even reply to her.

"Yes... Probably didn't have a good sleep," Jane assured Little, leaning back on her seat. "Why in Tartarus is out attendant a native griffon?! Don't they know the dangers they pose?!" Jane panicked internally but kept the mask of tranquillity.

"Will we get to keep the books? Also, do we need a teacher?" Green asked as he knew they were departing shortly.

"The books are quite self-explanatory, so you won't need a teacher, and yes you can keep them," Jane answered, remembering the contents of the book.

"How are we supposed to learn from the books without knowing to read?" Little asked, confused at the logic.

"They have symbols and pictures alongside words to pronounce." Jane had also been sceptical of the books, but after a read had understood its methods. "If it's good enough for the natives, it's good enough for ponies." Jane thought, as the attendant entered the room again, but held two books.

The attendant, without a word, approached the two ponies and dropped the books in front of them and left.

"Sheesh... How little did he sleep to be this grumpy?" Green shook his head in disappointment, whilst Little immediately opened the cover.

"Is this your first time with a book?" Jane asked as Little seemed to be obsessed with the thin pages.

"Yup! And so many pages as well!" Little joyously responded, flipping the pages so the wind would judge her mane.

"Well hold onto them for now, because we seemed to have arrived," Jane announced, as she could see the barracks through the windows.


"YOU ARE ALL A DISGRACE! THE GERMAN ARMY DOES NOT CONDONE DISGRACES! IF IT WAS UP TO ME, BY GOD I WILL DISCHARGE YOU ALL!" A lieutenant screamed out, wandering around the pedestal whilst shouting to his soldiers.

"YOU!" The lieutenant pointed towards a female soldier, whose head which was held low in shame suddenly rose in attention,

"WHAT IS THE GERMAN ARMY?!" The lieutenant was pissed that the soldiers weren't facing upwards.

"The strongest and the most prestigious army in the world sir!" The private answered confidently but knew her mistakes.

"THEN WHY AREN'T YOU ACTING LIKE ONE!!!" The lieutenant dropped down from the pedestal and was now right in front of the private.

The private didn't answer, keeping his posture firm and looking up. He was too afraid to get the answer wrong.

"YOU. ARE. HOPELESS!" The lieutenant grabbed the privates' pikehelm and threw it aside, he then grabbed both of the privates' rank slides and ripped them off his shoulders.

"Get the hell out of my face citizen." The lieutenant pressured, as he was now beak-to-beak with the private.

"Message sir! The governess of Strasburg is coming!" A corporal flew down, briefly glancing at the distraught private who was now limbering out the field.

"Governess? From Strasburg? Do they want us to shoot the natives again?" The lieutenant jokingly remarked but hoped to god that it wasn't the case.

"I don't know, but from what I heard she has two ponies with her." The corporal shrugged and stood beside the lieutenant, scanning the private before him.

"But just to be sure, should we call up all the soldiers?" The corporal asked, the massacre from Strasburg fresh in his memory.

"Do it, and make sure the armoured squads are here too, we wouldn't want ourselves being scratched again now do we?" The lieutenant gestured the corporal to go ahead, as he thought the governess was keeping the ponies safe in the garrison whilst retaking Strasburg from the natives with their help. It's going to be bloody... He thought.


"They better have a good reason to call us up during breaks..." Nina grumbled as she was resting her head on top of the hatches of the tank.

"They don't need a reason sergeant, we are soldiers after all," Albert replied, his legs perched on top of the steering wheels.

"I just hope they aren't making us go to Strasburg again... Did you hear what happened there?" Jack asked ominously,

"Of course we heard it Jack, we all live there!" Nina popped her head into the tank to ridicule the gunner.

"Hey Nina, while you're up there, could you bump the antenna a bit? Radios' kinda choppy." Harold asked, whilst forgetting with the radio. Nina nodded and peaked out to nudge the antenna a bit, fixing the problem.

"I'm glad we don't need the lines now, but those radios have some pretty shit range," Gelde said whilst being upside down on his seat.

"At least it's better than nothing dude," Harold shuddered a bit, as the thought of having to use flags to communicate between units would be suicide in real combat situations.

"Look pretty boys, lieutenant dickhead sighted at 12'o'clock." Nina gestured his crew to climb out and line up next to the tank, which made Harold trip Gelde over on the floor. After many curses, they formed up.

"You may be wondering why you are all here soldiers," The lieutenant began, "But it does not involve going to Strasburg." He finished, reassuring his company.

All the squads in the company sighed in relief, especially Ninas' squad as they wouldn't be doused in blood again.

"But it does involve the governess of said city, who will be arriving soon." The lieutenant then scanned around the field and spotted a car heading his way. "Don't make me look bad." He warned as he approached the slowing car.

Jane stepped out of the car, looking around concerned. "Where is the rest of the companies? Why is there only one?!" She inquired the lieutenant, who cleared his throat to explain.

"We weren't told to gather governess, and we didn't have time to recall those who were deployed or training. We were the only ones available who were close enough." He explained, which doubled the Governesss' concerns.

Nina briefly glanced at the Governess, who was now gripping her head in distress. "What could be that important that she needs an entire battalion?" Nina thought until two familiar ponies leapt off the car. "Green?! Little?! What are they- ohhhhh..." Nina suddenly realised the governess motives, as she could see the familiar expressions the ponies had made during her interview. "They want to go home...

"Argh! Fine, I guess I will have to make do with what I have..." Jane conceded, throwing her claws in the air and walked over to the pedestal.

Once atop the pedestal, she spoke, "*Ahem* Soldiers of...-"

"223rd Squadron," the lieutenant added,

"-223rd squadron, currently with me are two ponies, the larger ones' name being Green and the little ones' name... Little. As you might have heard, they have been guests in Strasburg ever since their discovery injured and unconscious near a river." Jane hopeless tried to make the squads before her sympathise with the ponys' situation, but they were too annoyed or tired to listen. All but Ninas' squad, as Nina had told her squad about the ponies she interrogated, and how much they needed their help.

"...So I'm asking for some volunteers to escort them to their homes, back to their families, so their parents will not be wracked with guilt and these ponies can be happy again." Jane finished her speech, but it was met with underwhelming silence, as the griffons all around didn't even flinch in compassion.

Green and Little simply shrank themselves down, as they realised their efforts useless, and began to sob quietly. The lieutenant coughed.

"I may not be an empath governess, but not even an insane griffon would willingly risk their lives to travel into the unknowns whilst being cut-off." The lieutenant justified his companys' silence and placed a claw on Janes' shoulder in conciliation.

Jane turned around to council the sobbing ponies but was too heartbroken to speak. "Surely with more griffons, there will be more volunteers..." She hoped, as she knelt to hug the broken ponies.

"I'll go!" The ponies suddenly lit up, recognising the voice. "That's Nina!" They both thought.

Nina had stepped forward, which emboldened her crew to follow, as Harold and Albert stepped forward as well.

"Count us in too!" They said simultaneously.

Jack hesitantly stepped forward shortly but didn't announce her entry.

Gelde was indifferent, as he was looking away with crossed arms.

"Come on Gelde! Don't be a wuss!" Albert softly nudged the indifferent griffon, who withdrew even further.

"This is a suicide, and you all know it," Gelde stated, looking back forward to face the backs of his crew.

"Dying first in the unknown will guarantee a plaque in our name," Harold weighed the risks

"Whilst succeeding will guarantee a plaque and possibly a medal!" Albert announced the award.

"..." Gelde turned away again, still in thought.

"No more clean-up duties?" Jack squeaked, posing his reason as a question.

Gelde blankly stared at Jack, who shrank in response. "... You son of a bitch, I'm in!"


"Think! Nina, Think! Do you really believe that you will be able to travel unknown territories whilst being cut-off from supplies?!" The lieutenant grilled the sergeant, who was currently packing her bags to leave.

"We will bring enough rations for three months. If that's not enough, we can simply forage food." Nine replied whilst stuffing her sleeping bag.

"Foraging food is highly unreliable, even more so without intel! How will you deal with fuel?!" The lieutenant wasn't really worried about losing the crew, despite the time it took to train them. But more concerned about losing the tank, as it could be picked up by the uncivilised natives.

"We have enough fuel for a 2000km journey, I highly doubt the ponies floated any further away than 800km." Nina evaluated, but even 800km seemed exaggerated.

"Emperor Mauser will not stand one of his vehicles being lost in the unknowns..." The lieutenant warned venomously.

"He already has measures to prevent that from happening. Y'know? The dead man's switch?" Nina reminisced the lessons they took, as the instructor displayed what would happen if the tank was disassembled incorrectly, and without specific tools. He explained it would explode, and showed them a video of how it worked, as it disintegrated everything inside by what the instructor called 'Substance N' (can reach temperatures of 2400 degrees Celsius and explodes in contact with water) which would melt the tanks into gooey steel and explode, ejecting shrapnel and hot metal bits to anyone who tried to reverse-engineer it. This didn't surprise anyone present, as it was the same man who designed the guns to explode into a molten mess if disassembled incorrectly.

"Why are you even risking your life for? Is the life of those two ponies more important than your crews?!" The lieutenant tried to make Nina guilty but had the opposite effect.

"Lieutenant, are you aware that I'm no longer in your company? So you have no right to my crews' safety. That's my responsibility, and they have all volunteered for the task." Nina stood over the lieutenant, who shrank in response.

"I will dismiss myself. Goodbye Lieutenant." Nina walked off, her bag slinged over her back whilst leaving the lieutenant frozen in her empty room. "Goodbye dickhead," Nina thought, as she shut the door and slid a doorstop on the edge, using her boot to wedge it into the door. She was free.

Author's Note:

Ninas' crew is driving a German Panther (medium tank).
Nina - Commander
Albert - Driver
Jack - Gunner
Harold - Radio/hull machine gunner
Gelde - Loader
(Due to there being no material restrictions, there are no compromises in its design so reliability is high)
720 Litres of fuel
Can travel 100km per day in bad terrain

Also, fuel is going to be 'magical' so that the nightmares of logistics and refuelling in a medieval world can be avoided without a migraine. (Fuel is going to be 8x~12x more efficient due to the 'magical' environment)

PreviousChapters Next