You are Anon, a Hauptmann (Captain) in the Wehrmacht.
You are leading a charge through Kiev when suddenly, a large, blueish vortex appears in front of you.
After discussing it with your squad, you all decide to enter the portal.
When your vision clears, you find you and your squad are now in the middle of a small town with colorful ponies walking around.
the small ponies moving around in the center of town stop
how out of place you lot are, in your feldgrau uniforms, carrying rifles, ammo, radios and wearing steel helmets
"Was sollen wir jetzt tun, Herr Hauptmann?"
you look over to the Unteroffizier who asked the question
you have no answer
a small, purple pony thing approaches you
it has wings and a horn
what the fuck is this thing? a fairytale creation?
"Hi! This is Ponyville. I'm Twilight and you are-"
English! The language of (one of your) enemies
"ENGLISCH SCHWINE!"
a Gefreiter to your left raises his rifle and points it straight at the head of the purple pony
now you've got the town's attention
"Soll ich scheissen?"
'Scheiss, idioten!'
"Nein! Nicht Scheissen gefreiter. Legst du dein waffe nach unten!"
the private lowers his rifle but still angrily stares at the pony thing
You put your hand over your pistol holster, feeling for your walther
you walk towards the curious creature, which now shakes with fright
it's a small animal, definitely horse-like or rather, pony like in shape, but scaled way, way down
it reminds you of the small pony your dad had on your family estate back in Prussia
a few other ponies suddenly appear behind it
one of them speaks with a heavy, very distinctly american accent
Ein Amerikaner?
"Now you keep yer dirty hooves off my friend, ya hear?"
the voice is definitely female, and it looks mad
"I intend no harm to your friend, I merely wish to investigate."
"Investigate? whadaya mean?"
"Where I come from, such a creature has never been encountered. This thing is of utmost interest to me."
Your men begin to move up behind you
some disembark from the half tracks they had been riding in
you discard your heavy helmet and pull out the Schrimmutze you wore when not in combat
moving your hand away from the holstered Walther, you beckon over your right hand man, Oberleutenant Fruhling
"Oberleutenant, du war ein Tierarzt. Was denkst du uber dieses pferd?"
"Ich... Ich denke... das ist sehr bizarre"
"What is your name?"
you turn to the purple pony in front of you
"I'm twilight sparkle..."
"Your friend?"
"I'm Applejack."
A flurry of pink knocks you down onto the ground
instantly, a couple of guys behind you have their rifles pointed at the pony on top of you
"I'm PINKIE PIE~~"
you lift the small pony off of you and stand off
brushing off your uniform, you pick your cover up and nod
"Pinkie Pie... got it."
Three other horse things have stepped out from the crowd and now stood behind the purple pony
"I'm Rainbow dash" a blue one stated, with an air of confidence
"I'm Fluttershy..."
Quiet and meet, quite contrasting with the pony that preceded her
"And I'm Rarity."
the last white pony said, with a haughty and accent that conjured up images of old British nobility
"I'm Hauptmann von Verbogen, 3rd Company, 112th Panzergrenadier regiment. This is quite the interesting introduction."
you take a quick look around you
the towns...ponies? have formed a large group behind these six ponies
and behind you, your men have roughly formed up into a loose formation behind you
the NCOs and the officers have pistols drawn, ready to react
some ding-a-ling even unmounted an MG34 from one of the halftracks and is now carrying the machine gun around
"It seems as though your kind are rather peaceful. I can assure you, that even though we may present an intimidating message, we intend to bring no harm upon you. You have my word, as an officer of the Wehrmacht."
you offer out your hand to the purple pony, who uneasily extends one of her forelegs in kind
you shake hands (or is it hooves?) and there is an uneasy peace
"Now what, Ms. Twilight Sparkle?"
"Well... if you're in charge... could I ask you to come with me?"
"Why?"
"I need to tell the Princesses of this... you are as mysterious to us as we are to you."
Princesses?
"And what about my men? Also what do you need me to do for this meeting with the Princesses?"
"we will discuss that in private. In the mean time... ALRIGHT EVERYPONY."
Purple pony takes flight
"Please, carry on. This is a very strange occurrence, I understand but we will sort things out eventually."
"Come."
"Alright. I'll bring my men along as well, since you did not answer my question."
you turn around and face the company
"Get on the half tracks and get those tank engines fired up. Move ladies!"
The NCOs get to the chase
the formation breaks and platoon by platoon, the men get back onto the trucks, tanks and half-tracks
you nod
"We are ready. Where are we headed?"
"Just follow me."
beckoning your troops to follow, the column lurches forward in front of a large plume of diesel
Twilight trots at a quick pace, some distance in front of you, while the others observe some distance behind you, gawking at the heavy equipment
it's not a long walk before you stop in front of a massive crystalline structure
"Alright, have your men stay here."
"Okay. Column, HALT. Park the vehicles in a loose half circle. Get some guys on the ground for security. And Feldwebel.."
"Sir?"
a gruff looking sergeant pops to attention in front of you
"Do me a favor and dig my waffenrock out. I will need it."
"Jawohl, Captain."
you brush yourself off and walk towards one of the parked half tracks
taking your peaked cover off, you readjust the wire frame, making sure it looks nice and squared away
carefully, you remove your pistol holster and set it down on the hood of the halftrack
"Have you got it yet, Feldwebel?"
"Yes sir, I have."
the sergeant hands you the carefully folded tunic and pants, as well as a perfectly shined pair of boots
good. Now let's get changed. We are going to have royal company
grabbing your uniform and your pistol, you walk to the door of the castle
a leutnant approaches you
"will you be needing any assistance, sir?"
"No, Leutnant, I don't think I will. But thank you for offering"
The leutnant renders a quick salute
"not a problem, sir."
the blue pony named Rainbow Dash poked her head out of the door
"So uh... are you coming inside today? or do we need to bring out a couple of beds for you and wait until tomorrow?"
"I'm coming, Ms. Dash."
you hurry into the beautiful castle
inside, the grandiose structure takes your breath away
you had been inside the Hall of Mirrors in Paris in '40. You'd seen the Lourve and many buildings throughout Europe, but you have yet to see a building made of solid crystal
the walls catch the sun's rays and the whole palace seems to shimmer in the light of day
it's gorgeous
"Well come on, alien colt, let's go!"
Rainbow's voice snaps you back to reality
"Right. Coming."
you follow the blue pony into a grand throne room
the five ponies from earlier today are seated around a giant crystal table
the blue pony takes a seat at what you presume is her throne
A small dragon appears as well
whoa... a dragon. If you kill it, do you become a saint?
"Captain von Verbogen... please, do get comfortable. the princesses will be arriving shortly. They've had some domestic issues to settle
Twilight leans over to the dragon and whispers something before turning back to you and smiling
"Captain von Verbogen is too much... you can call me von Verbogen or even Namenlos, my first name. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get changed."
the ponies giggle
"Okay, Namenlos." they reply in unison
fafter changing, you just stand around in the room. Not much happens
then suddenly, a brilliant flash of light fills the throne room
you use your face to cover your eyes as the spectacle is too bright to watch
the smell of a crisp summer day fills your nostrils
you move your hand and look
in front of you, stand four ponies
They look... different from the six you were interacting with
the central one is quite regal looking indeed, with an exquisite snow-white coat, long, tapered horn, a pair of feathered wings and gorgeous gold jewelry
a smaller, dark blue pony stands next to her
you must say, she is quite a looker, though it is quite hard to admit that to yourself
on the white pony's other side, a pink pony eyes you curiously
these two also have long, tapered horns and wings
finally, a much more masculine looking pony is standing firm on the side of the pink one
he is dressed in what could only be described as a military style uniform
where these... the princesses?
the one in the military uniform looked more like a prince
"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! Princess Cadence! Shiny!"
Twilight jumped up and ran over to greet the four ponies
her five friends followed suit
so that answered your question
they are indeed the princesses
the ponies hugged and greeted one another as though they were the best of friends, before finally, all eyes fell upon you
"Is this the mystery creature that you talked about, Twilight?" the white one Twilight called 'Princess Celestia' asked
"Yes, it or rather, he, is." Twilight replied
"Most intriguing. Such a peculiar body shape..." the one named 'Luna' added on
you grew a bit uneasy
while still a considerable amount taller than them, there was a certain... aura emanating from these new arrivals that you couldn't ignore
the Celestia one in particular had an aura of power that was particularly strong
you stand there, observing
the Luna one stops in front of you and looks up at you
her horn lights up and you can feel the medals on your waffenrock move
what kind of fucking sorcery is this?
"Hey! be careful with those. That Iron Cross is not replaceable."
"Iron Cross? huh. Is that like your cutie mark?"
Cutie mark? what?
now the 'Cadence' pony and 'Shiny' pony have joined in on the fun, so to speak
Cadence looks over at Luna and the two...girls? giggle a little
"I must say, he is quite well dressed and maybe even a little cute."
you blush and back up a bit
Shiny pony gazes at you with a steely expression
bearing game on point
"Are you in any military service, strange one?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact I am."
Shiny's deep voice throws you off
maybe Shiny is a prince... not a princess
"I'm an officer in the Deustchen Wehrmacht."
"Deutschen Wehrmacht?"
"My country's army. Best in the world."
"Your country?"
that seems to have caught Celestia's attention
"And what country would that be?"
"Uh... Germany..."
"Germany... not on this planet, I presume." she chuckles
"You must tell us all more about yourself, and your kind."
"I guess I can do that. I guess I'm completely alien to you?"
"Correct"
"Well, alright."
"Let's go somewhere where we can all have a seat." Twilight suggests
"Good idea, Twilight." Celestia nods in agreement
you follow the group as they walk down the crystal halls into a massive, gilded room
inside, plush sofas and large, soft cushions, big enough for even someone the size of Goering to sit down and lie down comfortably are placed around a large, warming fireplace
the ponies all group together onto three large sacks, leaving the rest of the furnishings available for you to choose
going with a comfortable looking sofa, you sit down and remove your cover and pistol
everyone in the room turns and looks at you
"do enlighten us, dear guest." Luna begins
"I will try to. what do you guys want to know?"
"well, your name would be nice. perhaps a bit about your world, what kind of a time you were living in and some knowledge about your kind."
"OK. Well... i'm Captain Namenlos von Verbogen. You can just call be von Verbogen or Namenlos."
"Anyways... I come from an extremely powerful nation on my planet. You could say we're the masterrace, though I don't really care too much about that assertion. My kind has become the master of our planet, really. We've come up with marvelous ways of curing disease, grow food, and our ingenuity has allowed us to become the apex predator."
at those final four words, the ponies go slightly wide-eyed
"Anyways... we were embroiled in a war. Our powerful army has managed to destroy the rather feeble resistance in the countries that opposed us and I was participating in a fierce city battle when I just... dropped into this world with my company of 250 men..."
Celestia pipes up
"wait... Namenlos... you mean to tell me that there are more creatures like you? Do tell... what kind of species even are you?"
"Well... I'm a human. We're a kind of... super-smart super animal."
"Super animal.. interesting. Well you mentioned war... what kind of wars do you guys fight... the whole concept is quite foreign to us, since we have been at relative peace for over a millennium."
With that last sentence, Celestia starts to look a little nervous
you don't really take much notice of that
"Well... we are fighting quite a new kind of war. Propaganda calls it Blitzkrieg or lightning war. We use a lot of motorized things and rapid fire weapons to move quickly and efficiently against the enemy."
"Interesting.... fire weapons... you mentioned that there were more of your kind here. Would you mind if you took us out and let us see them?"
"I suppose. We can go and take a look."
you lead these curious creatures outside
as soon as you walk out, a couple of Gefreiters and an unteroffizier milling around snap to attention
"At ease. Unteroffizier?"
the sergeant once again, snaps to attention
"Find Oberleutnant Fruhling, please."
"Jawohl, Herr Hauptmann."
"Anyways, these are my men erm..."
you turn to the white pony/horse by your side
"erm..."
"Princess Celestia." she states
"Princess Celestia. We are an armored infantry company, so we have some heavy equipment. Feel free to take a look around."
the dark blue one has already taken off
"This stuff is most interesting! Say, are these diesel powered contraptions? Here, we've only managed to make diesel engines small enough for large scale industrial application!"
looking over nervously at the blue blur, you turn back to celestia
"I better make sure she doesn't hurt herself."
a lot of your soldiers are watching with great curiosity as this blue pony weaves between the parked trucks, half tracks and tanks
"Hey, wait up. Be careful, there's a lot of dangerous stuff over here."
"Dangerous? You don't even have swords or spears. This stuff just looks super cool!"
Luna stops beside a tank
The crew, who were smoking on top of the vehicle, stop and look at you uneasily
"Uh... sir...?"
"Don't worry, Feldwebel... she is benign."
"Okay. Unterfeldwebel, pass me a smoke."
Luna was tapping at the sturdy, steel treads of the machine
"Is this some kind of weird animal you've managed to enslave and serve as a beast of war or something?"
"No, rather... it is a beast we have managed to create with our own hands. This is a beast of steel, dear Princess."
"you... made this? that's funny, Hauptmann. How could someone as small as you make something as huge as this?"
"Well I didn't make it personally... we have a lot of factories that make these things."
"I see... we have factories too, just not tooled to produce such a thing. What is it named?"
"This? the panzerkampfwage VI. Tiger."
"The panzerkamp... six... Tiger?"
"Sounds sexy"
she proceeds to examine the tank, including sticking her face directly infront of the Radio operator's MG34
Celestia and the others had joined you at this point
you noticed that the Feldwebel was staring at the gathering wide-eyed
"Trust me Feldwebel, they are kind and will do us no harm."
Celestia examines every detail of the tank and inspects everything, down to the last wrinkle in the steel armor plating the tank
"This machine... is most interesting. Do you happen to have any more?"
"Why... I do. A platoon of three came through to this world with us during our assault. Why?"
"Just interested. Do you use these beasts in packs? Like a pack of wolves hunting?"
"I suppose you can put it like that."
"And I noticed that your men all held weird looking... contraptions. What's the point of that? Are those tools used to fix these things and the "Accompanying machines?"
you laugh at the visual that popped into your mind
a squad of riflemen, trying to get the tread of a Tiger I back on with a couple of Mausers and an MP40
"No, Princess. Those are our weapons. We were fighting a war, remember?"
"Well...those are some weird looking weapons. They don't have an edge or a sharpened tip. I'd have thought that using this beast was more than enough to defeat any opponent. Is it not enough?"
you shake your head
"It is not. There are tanks-these things-that are capable of defeating even the mighty Tiger. And Tigers can get swarmed by foot soldiers so we have infantry to protect them. They use their rifles and other guns-the sticks they hold in their hands-to fight back."
Celestia nods. But she seems disconnected, as though she was thinking deeply about something
"Quite interesting indeed. Where do you plan on staying for the night?"
"We have a ton of gear... It wouldn't be too hard to just stake out a perimeter to camp for the night. We're used to that kind of thing anyways."
"That works. Before you guys turn in for the night, can we have some discussions in private, back in the castle. Twilight, would that be ok with you?"
"Absolutely, Princess Celestia"
Celestia beckons for Luna to follow her
Cadence and Shiny, along with Twilight and her friends go about and do more exploring
You watch as some of your men begin to interact a little with the strange creatures
Walking back inside, you are flanked by the two princesses
Luna has a big grin on her face and is panting a little
"Have fun out there?"
"I had a lot of fun, for it was most exciting to see such awesome pieces of machinery. You humans must be truly brilliant."
Celestia beckons you over
"Dearest Hauptmann... your amazing display of strength has led me to discuss some important matters with you."
you immediately perk up
"Our nation has been at peace for many hundreds of years. We get the occasional... disturbance, but we've not had to fight a war against a foreign state in quite literally a millennium."
"However, there are rumors... rumors of a growing force. A force that seems to be more and more resentful to my rule."
You've got to be shitting me
literally less than a day in and you're already getting asked to fight a war?
"We aren't asking you to fight.. just patrols and report back. You have the equipment and you seem very professional. I trust that you can carry out your job well, yes?"
"I... I guess. But what's in it for us?"
"If you keep my borders safe, I can assure you there will be... plenty of rewards. Land, gold... possibly more if you choose. Whatever is physically possible and reasonable, I will provide."
"Seems fair... it's not like we have anything to do in the mean time. But there aren't a lot of us..."
"Then I can arrange for my armies to begin training with you, if you wish. We can also see that some factories be retooled to allow for the production of whatever you need. It seems you have a lot of sophisticated equipment that may need replacing."
"That is correct. Seems fair enough. So when do we start?"
Thank god these ponies have diesel
the rail infrastructure just isn't capable of handling the massive tiger tanks... or even the half tracks
it's been a month since you've arrived
you've learned quite a bit about this place
Those unicorns, with their magic, made the retooling of factories an effortless task
now with freshly replenished ammunition stores and with field uniforms newly repaired, your company of soldiers marches (or is it motors) towards the rugged frontier of Equestria
some military officers in the Equestrian army tag along, observing
pulling out your notebook, you read through some of the notes that you had taken at a briefing with Celestia and some other officials a few days earlier
"... bad lands... desert. Dragons... griffons... hostile, been getting more and more aggressive. Reports of isolated attacks on soldiers in outposts... incursion into their land is not recommended."
Interesting...
another twenty or so minutes of riding off road passes before the entire column halts
you get out and your Hauptfeldwebel gets out
"Why have we stopped?"
you walk up to the front of the column, where a Panzergrenadier, clutching an MP40 stood in front of a sign
"WARNING: ENTERING BADLANDS AUTONOMOUS REGION. DRAGONS AHEAD."
the private looks at you and asks
"Sir... do we go on ahead?"
before you can respond, an Equestrian military officer struts up to you and answers for you
"Of course you go! The Princesses gave orders to observe activity inside the autonomous regions."
you turn and look down at the pony
you give him a sour look and turn back towards the private
"Yes, Private, let's move. I'm moving up to the front of the column so I can observe."
"Yes Sir. Let's get moving."
you clamber into the lead truck, next to the driver
there is a sense of unease as the column lurches forward and crosses into the hostile region
the entire column moves slowly
you can hear the sand and rocks underneath the tires of the truck grind as you make your way through this unforgiving terrain
the drive is quiet
the driver hums panzerlied as you clean out your Walther's magazine and fiddle around with the shoulder marks
it's quite uneventful...
almost too quiet
in the distance, as the sun sets, you spot a large oasis
"Unteroffizier,"
you beckon to your driver
"Head towards that oasis... will be a good place to refuel and buckle down for the night. We can replenish our water and the trees give us some cover."
"Jawohl."
the oasis is a decent size
the shade has kept a lot of the surrounding ground relatively warm and the water in the actual oasis is refreshingly cool
"Hauptfeldwebel, make sure every man fills his canteen and disinfects the water."
"Jawohl."
the vehicles have been parked in a defensive formation, with the tanks forming a loose outer ring
as the men finish filling their canteens, many go and start grabbing the tents and other gear out of the trucks and others work together to get fuel to the thirsty vehicles
there is an uneasy stillness in the air
something doesn't seem quite right, but there really isn't much you can do
let's just get the stuff set up and eat chow. It's getting dark
within an hour, a large number of khaki colored tents are standing, forming a ring around the oasis
men are stripping down, out of their dust covered gray M36 field coats and into undershirts and shorts
many of the guys or kids really, joke and mess around
a few clean their rifles to get the grit and dust out of the actions and above all, out of the sensitive ammunition
north africa veterans for sure
you sit down on a rock, and watch as the red orange sun sets below the horizon
some fires started by your men to heat food lights up the encampment
guys are signing songs, laughing and eating
it's just like back on Earth
*Schwaff*
the distinct sound of a longbow arrow cutting through the air catches your attention
a scream from someone, in the darkness, followed by panic from your men, suddenly overwhelms your sense of serenity
you're under attack
"WHO WAS HIT?"
"ONE OF THE MILITARY OBSERVERS, SIR!"
your men break into complete chaos
at least with firearms, you can see where the shots are coming from
"GET THOSE TIGERS STARTED NOW! TAKE COVER! ALL MEN, TO ARMS!"
the Tigers' crews jump up, and crouching, rush towards the tanks
within a minute or so, the mighty roar of four Maybach V-12s drowns out the noise of your men
You grab your helmet and run through the panic-stricken men
"GET ON THOSE MGs, KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN!"
you holler that line over and oer
your men begin to regroup and use the vegetation and a small sand berm near the encampment as cover
as you rush through the lines, you stumble upon the body of the downed pony
his uniform's gold collar is stained red with blood
an arrow had gone straight through his neck
there's no time to think, you have get your men into a defensive position
the tigers have repositioned and are now all facing in the general direction from which the arrow came
it's almost pitch black
your camp fires will broadcast your position to anyone within 50 miles of you
but it's too late to put them out
you have to sit tight and wait
just wait
they're coming
you can feel it
a rumble echoes down from the mountains around you
they're directly in front of you, but the darkness makes it hard to see
however, the fires behind you outline yu and your men perfectly
a mass of black blots out the sliver of moonlight
arrows
"INCOMING!"
the hail of steel tipped projectiles rains down upon your men
one skids harmlessly off your stahlhelm, and into the sand beside you
"FIRE AT WILL!"
you give the order to fire but there is seemingly nothing to shoot at
some of your panicked men begin to blindly fire off
the two military observers still alive clasp their ears as the sharp crack of rifles pierce the night
"SOMEONE QUICK, WE NEED TOPUT THOSE DAMN FIRES OUT"
you beckon over a radio operator
"get me on line with the tigers. NOW!"
the radio cackles to life
"SIR, WE ARE BEING FIRED UPON BUT WE CAN'T MAKE ANY VISUAL CONFIRMATIONS!"
it's Leutnant Abel
"CALM DOWN LEUTNANT! WE NEED YOU TO SHOOT SOME SMOKE GRENADES, WE NEED COVER AS WE PUT THE FIRES OUT!"
"Y...YES SIR!"
seconds later, massive plumes of gray smoke form
it's impossible to see more than a yard in front of you
"Two men, you and you"
you point to two scared obergefreiters
"Get those damn fires put out!"
"Jawohl, Herr Hauptmann"
"Jawohl, Herr Hauptmann!"
as they leave, your turn over your shoulder
it's the Hauptfeldwebel
the damn spiess
he's stuck by you through these intense moments of chaos
"Hauptfeldwebel! I need you to run through and tell some of the men to get flares up after the smoke clears a bit! We need to make visual contact so we can start lighting these sons of bitches up!"
"Jawohl!"
you turn towards one of the visibly shaken pony officers
"Let's get ready to fuck some shit up."
as the smokescreen dissipates, a couple of luminous flares light up the ground in front of you
you can't believe your eyes
500 meters away, stand at least a thousand griffons? They are holding swords, spears and longbows. Many are wearing chain and plated armor
what the fuck
they are visibly disoriented, probably from the choking smoke that has now drifted towards them and the intense light of the chemical flares
now is your chance
"STAND TO! ALL MEN, PICK A TARGET! FIRE AT WILL!"
there is momentary pause
the radio operator, still standing behind you, is still holding the radio
it comes back to life
"Sir... are we to fire too?"
"YES LEUTNANT! Dump some shrapnel and your MGs into those things! Now!"
all at once, the defeaning noise of 4 8.8cm Kwk 36 L/56 guns and hundreds of small arms going off tears through the air
panic is evident among the enemy lines as the griffons scramble to look for cover
your men are dropping the creatures at an impressive rate
one shot
one kill
pulling your walther out, you rally your men
"GIVE THOSE FUCKERS HELL!"
then something changes
as a second volley of flares go up, you can see the steely resolve in your adversary's eyes
They're getting ready to charge, just like the damn russians
they are going to kill you, regardless of how man of them fall in the process
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
the combined war cry of thousands of these beasts strikes fear into your heart
you have the edge in firepower, but can you repel this many of them?
there is only one order left to give
"FIX... BAYONETS!"
officers and NCOs throughout the lines repeat the order
the soldiers carrying rifles attached the fearsome weapons to the ends of their rifles, as some men armed with MP40s and machine guns blazed away in the general direction of the enemy
huge plumes of dust and sand were kicked up as the tigers unleashed round after round of devastating shrapnel ammunition
the military observers were completely overwhelmed
one even had to take a seat
the sound of the first wave of enemy combatants is getting louder
"FIRE FASTER, POUR IN MORE FIRE! LET'S GO!"
your men fight with the ferocity and desperation of a caged lion
amazingly, you realize that you have yet to take a single human casualty
but that doesn't necessarily mean you won't take any at all
the screams of your men as they bellow to each other for ammo or for targets and the battle call of your foe creates a great cacophony of noise
then suddenly, only human voices are heard
"CEASE FIRE!"
the order travels down the line of men
eerie silence
the moans of those unlucky enough to have been hit by fire, but not lucky enough to die or go unconscious become the final measures of the concerto of war
it's a horrific sound
you realize that in your 4 years of wartime service in war, you've never experienced something quite this horrible
it was a complete rout
"Is everyone OK?"
a few weak "yes"s answers your question
"hold tight... they may come again."
an intense three hours pass
nothing
the sun has begun to rise
and they have not come again
it's time to reap a grim harvest
a harvest of bodies
after eating breakfast without incident, and with sentries reporting absolutely no activity, you tell your men to go out and tally the bodies
already, the smell of death permeates the air
corpses have already begun to swell under the ferocious desert sun
it seems as your harvest will be a bountiful one
your men walk about in the open, counting bodies
the one casualty you sustained is wrapped in a poncho and kept in the shade
standing on top of one of the Tigers, you survey the utter carnage
it's awe inspiring
your little outpost held off thousands of these things, and killed hundreds in the process
you feel like the defenders of the station at Rorke's Drift
the faint aroma of gunpowder lingers in the air
don't you just love the smell of gunpowder in the morning?
your men now stack the bodies into sizable piles
some take souvenirs
a helmet, a dagger, some personal items
you jump down from the Tiger and walk up to one of the Equestria observers
the expression on his face is one of utter shock
"What do you think?"
the grey stallion is speechless
"I... I did not know such a small force could boast so much fire power... It leaves me in complete shock after having witnessed such a tremendous spectacle. You may be the answer to all of our problems, dear von Verbogen."
you chuckle nervously
"I don't know about that... I think we need to get to Celestia and tell her about what happened. This was not just some sporadic event. They tracked us down and tried to eliminate us. And we need to get that body back before it stinks up the whole convoy."
"I agree. Bodycount?"
"Give me a sec."
you turn and head off towards the open ground where your men are piling bodies
"Someone give me an estimate on the numbers of casualties we inflicted!"
you Spiess yells from behind a pile of bodies
"We counted around 700, sir!"
well damn, a 700 to 1 kill ratio isn't bad, is it?
"good work. Get the men back and get ready to get back on the move... We need to report back to Celestia. This attack was no accident or some random event."
"Yes sir!"
you ride back in the truck carrying the body of the fallen pony
Captain Green clover was his name
30, father of one. a ten year veteran of the army
besides you, a young leutnant is sharing down at his dirty boots
"What's wrong, Leutnant?"
"I... I just... it was too much, sir."
you sigh
he must be one of the newer Leutnants
fresh-faced, only a little stubble and sligh build
he looks no older than maybe 20
"Hey. Just stick close to me from now on, OK?"
"Y..Yes sir..."
with that, you lay back and close your eyes
flashbacks of the vicious fighting playout in your memory as you drift off into an exhaustion-induced sleep
finally, the end of the grueling 22 hour drive back to canterlot is in sight
around you, some of the guys are quietly cleaning their gear, others sleeping while still others are playing cards
lifting up the canvas cover of the bed of the truck, you watch as the ponies and buildings in downtown Canterlot fly by
another twenty minutes later, and the convoy stops
you jump out of the truck and proceed towards the front of the convoy
Celestia and Luna are there to personally meet with you
they seem rather nervous
"So... how did it go?"
you look at the sun princess as she finishes asking
"Not too good. We were ambushed at took one casualty. But that's not the bad part. The bad part is the fact that the attack seemed to be deliberate. Like we had been followed, and they attacked with such force it was clear they bore intent to completely eradicate us."
Celestia and Luna glance nervously at one another
"We best discuss this in the castle. Are your men tired? Have them go back to their quarters and rest while we talk about our next moves."
"Okay."
you run back towards the first truck
poking your head inside, you tell the driver to radio the Spiess
"Tell the Spiess to get everyone back to the barracks."
before the driver can reply, you've run to the truck you were riding in
poking your head inside, you point at two men sitting on the right side
"You two, get your rifles, and get the body out."
you jump into the vehicle and find the Leutnant from earlier
"Leutnant... um."
"Leutnant Abel sir."
"Abel. Come with me."
you jump back out, followed by the Leutnant and the two men carrying the poncho-wrapped body
"Alright you three, come with me."
as your men get out of the trucks and form up for company roll, you and your three guys walk briskly along, towards the castle entrance
"you two, stay by the body until i get orders for you. Abel, come with me."
and with that, you entire the castle, where Celestia and Luna are waiting
you and abel head into the castle
The two royal sisters stand their and greet you
you return their greeting with a solemn bow
"The body is outside. We need to talk about this attack."
"B...body?"
you look at Luna
"Yes body. We took a casualty, remember."
Luna winces
"It's combat, get used to it, Princess."
"Anyways, we need to discuss this occurrence, urgently."
Celestia nods
"I agree. But we need to do something with the casualty. Show me the soldier who was killed."
you nod and beckon the Princesses to follow
Abel, who looked rather dazed during the whole conversation, perhaps taken aback by two talking ponies, hastily put his schrimmutze on and followed
outside, your two men were standing by idly, smoking until you stepped outside
immediately, the soldiers snapped to attention and discarded their cigarettes
you point to the drab poncho at the soldiers' feet
"In there."
Luna cringes a little, and backs up behind you
"Open it up."
you order one of the soldiers
he nods and hesitantly crouches down
Luna hides behind you, but pokes her head past your body, a morbid sense of curiosity driving her
Celestia stands by, stoic as always
a strange smell emanates from the poncho as it is unwrapped
inside is the body of the downed captain
his face is still grotesquely distorted from obvious pain
the uniform, still stained with his dried blood, is now getting tight, as the corpse has begun to swell
Celestia lets out a small gasp, and Luna, regretting her decision to look, shrieks in horror
she grabs your waist and buries her face into your back
"no no no nono no!"
Celestia looks grimly at the body
"Well... there isn't anything we can do for him. Let's get the body to the morgue so it can be properly embalmed and then set on ice."
you nod
"You two, commandeer a truck and get that thing to the morque. We will notify next of kin. I have matters to tend to now. Princesses, the discussion...?"
"Yes. Come, von Verbogen. Come on Luna and erm...?"
"Leutnant Abel, Ma'am."
"come."
Celestia leads the three of you into her private chambers
"this coversation cannot be heard by anyone other than us, for if this information leaks out, we may have a full-blown war on our hands."
you scoff
"Dear Princess, we may already have a war on our hands. We just don't know how big of a war we have."
you sit down on an extravagant sofa in her room
Celestia sighs
she sits down, along with Luna and Abel, on the same sofa
"I don't want to discuss actual fighting. I want to talk about what we can do to be prepared."
you nod in agreement
"I suggest, that you reverse engineer some weapons we have, and begin production of them. Some factories have already been retooled to manufacture uniforms, uniform items and replacement parts and ammo for us, why not just go the whole nine yards and start making things like tanks and guns?"
Celestia listens intently, and this discussion about weapons of war seems to have perked Luna's interest
"Just modify these weapons to accommodate for the anatomical differences in our species. I have over 100 men who are proficient in all aspects of war and who can be put to work retraining your army for a new kind of war. It won't be that hard for these 100 men to train 1000, who can in turn propagate that training throughout your army. Agree?"
"I agree."
Celestia then looks curiously
"But what if I need your men for missions in the borderlands? Or if I need your men for dealing with domestic threats?"
"Well, it seems your magic has been capable of dealing with domestic threats just fine. Border threats... well... we can't hold off large assaults forever. We need to get your soldiers trained... Or..."
a crazy idea, an idea that borders the impossible pops into your mind
"Or what? Don't leave me haning!"
"Or... We could..."
"Maybe... you could reopen that portal... and we can try to get more of our soldiers through the portal into this world."
Everyone's jaw drops
"Namenlos... " Luna starts
"that's-"
"Impossible"
Celestia finishes her sister's sentence
"Why? Why is it impossible? It happened once before."
Celestia sighs and shakes her head
"That portal was opened by accident. A magic spell gone awry. I was performing a bunch of spells to make sure my magical powers were not going rusty, but all that pent up energy somehow ended up messing one single teleportation spell up... and that ended up happening."
"But can't you save your energy? Have it build up again and just try to get that to happen. We are going to need men and machines. 250 of us isn't a lot to begin with and with escalation almost certain, that number will seem even smaller
"To signify the responsibility you will be entrusted with, under royal decree, you are now promoted to Marshall of Equestria. You will also serve as a comissioned officer in the Equestrian army. You need to choose an Aide as well."
Oberleutnant Fruhling, who had been your second in command from Thr Netherlands to Kiev, was not even given a thought
"Leutnant Abel is suitable, I think."
Celestia nods
"Very well."
she produces a set of Generalmajor shoulder boards
"Generalmajor Abel, you will serve as Marshall von Verbogen's chief aide. I have great faith in you two. And as a result, a tremendous weight has been placed upon your shoulders. Godspeed."
"Now, we must convene a meeting of all staff at once!"
Celestia goes outside her quarters, and through the doors, you watch as she whispers something into the ears of a guard nearby
he dashes off and Celestia comes back in
"Let's go to the dining room, where we can be at peace."
you sit quietly, next to the head seat of the table
Abel sits quietly, next to you, picking at his shrimmutze
all around you, officers whom you presume to be part of Celestia's general staff sit quietly, covers on the table, cigars puffing away
among them is 'Shiny'
never occurred to you before, but is his name really 'Shiny'?
the sound of horseshoes clacking down on the hard marble floors draws everyones' attention
As Celestia's head and body appear through the doorway, a uniformed stallion jolts up
"ATTENTION ON- DECK!"
instantly, everyone snaps to attention
"at ease, everypony."
At Celestia's word, everyone sits back down and nervously glances amongst themselves
Celestia sits at the head of the table, with Luna taking a seat across from you
she shoots you a small smile, before going completely stone-faced
"Gentecolts, gentlemen, I have gathered you here to discuss a grave matter. And I will need your utmost cooperation."
Celestia's voice draws everyone's attention
Celestia's tone is grim and serious
"Haup-Field Marshall von Verbogen here was just on a patrol, on the outer edges of our vast kingdom. I think what he just experienced should be told to everyone."
you nod your head
"Yes... gentlemen... we seem to have a situation. I understand that for months now, there have been isolated reports of attacks on Equestrian-excuse me-OUR soldiers. And the talk of rebellion have been at the edges of many pairs of lips for months as well. But, never has a concentrated force of such magnitude been brought to bear against an Equestrian formation. They deliberately attacked us, in the middle of the night yesterday, and killed one of us."
"This is nothing less than an act of war. Agree?"
Celestia's statement takes many by surprise
"Your... your majesty..."
Shiny is the first to speak
some of the generals begin to glance nervously at each other
"That is a very bold statement.. your majesty!"
"I understand, Shining Armor. But that kind of aggression can only be taken as a deliberate act of war!"
Aha! Shining armor is his name
another officer speaks up
"but your majesty, We are in no condition to fight a war!"
"please explain, major general." Celestia tells the officer who just spoke up
"We have thousands of soldiers, but many are poorly trained, poorly armed and ill equipped. Our armies can't fight a long, sustained war of attrition, which is a tactic these scoundrels almost certainly will resort to. Magic can't be used to fight either, we just don't have enough of it to deal with a concentrated force. We certainly can't win if they rebels manage to get foreign help. We aren't ready to wage a war and we, in our current condition, certainly can't either."
Shining Armor pipes up
"I agree, your majesty. And what will the rabble do if news breaks out? They will surely go to the streets and exhibit anarchical behavior. We can't do it, Princess. We must negotiate!"
Princess Celestia glances at you before shifting her gaze to the two rambling officers, then to Luna and finally back to you
"That is unacceptable! We will not negotiate with an enemy that has openly attacked us! Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, you do agree, right?"
the major General butts in before Celestia or Luna answer
"NO! We cannot wage a war!"
"Besides, how would we even supply our army? It's so spread out, and many outposts are very isolated." Shining adds on
"ENOUGH!"
this whining and the constant use of the phrase 'Can't' has agitated you and now, you've been pushed over the edge
pulling out your ceremonial dagger, you embed the steel blade into the table
"ENOUGH OF THIS 'CAN'T' BULLSHIT! IS THIS A JOKE TO YOU? DO YOU WANT THESE SONS OF BITCHES..."
you point right at the complaining officers and look straight at Celestia
"TO FUCK OVER YOUR ENTIRE NATION? BECAUSE THESE SHITHEADS ARE SUGGESTING WE JUST BEND ON OVER AND LET WHATEVER THE FUCK IS REBELLING AGAINST YOUR RULE FUCK US IN THE ASS. YOU REALLY WANT THAT?"
Celestia tries to calm you by placing a soft hoof on your shoulder
"Wait von Ver-"
"ARE YOU? IF YOU WERE SMART YOU'D HAND OVER THE ENTIRETY OF THE MILITARY AND HAVE US TRAIN IT FOR WAR. NEGOTIATING WILL ONLY RESULT IN TROUBLE FOR US! WE WILL NOT NEGOTIATE!"
the aristocratic officers of Celestia's military talk worriedly amongst themselves while you huff angrily
one speaks up
"Celestia, you cannot hand over our men to... to these strangers! That would be disastrous to the security of our kingdom!"
"Stranger? I don't think Celestia would put the rank of Field Marshall of any old stranger, Lieutenant General."
the LtGen is at a loss for words
"What I thought. Now, Princess. Are we going to negotiate and let the bastards cuck us? Or are we going to do the right thing and get this rusty machine ready for war?"
Celestia looks concerned
"I agree about not negotiating, but are we really ready for a war?"
she looks at her sister
"Dear Luna, what is your opinion on the matter?"
Luna places a hoof under her chin
"I think that... while we certainly have the industry to sustain a war, we may need some time to get soldiers and equipment on the ground, at the front. Especially if we go through with the whole retraining of the army under the humans."
"WHAT??"
the cries of all the officers on the board combined instantly causes Luna to snap her attention away from her sister
"Trained... by that human? What is this madness?" one of them objects
"Need I remind you that I come from a place where war is as much a part of our culture as religion is. We live and we breathe war and my kind has been shaped by conflict. If you want people to train your soldiers for war, we would be ideal for that task."
"I will NOT obey your orders!"
"you will obey them. Need I remind everyone here that I am the most senior ranking officer here?":
silence
just what you thought
"Now Celestia, what do you think? Will we go ahead with training and militarization of industry?"
"I think that sounds like a game plan."
"Good. now we need to start on a schedule and inform the citizens of your country. The proclamation to your subjects will be interpreted as a declaration of war, you must realize that."
"I do. You I'm new to this game?"
you smile
"Forgive me."
Celestia grins back
"Anyways... the training will take time. We need to get the soldiers focused on the areas of the attacks and based on what I've experienced and the reports I've seen, most of the attacks have been focused in the southern region of the empire. We need to pull soldiers in from the north and outer edges of the empire from the east and the west as well. The we will begin training those first few soldiers. The rest will be used to fortify positions in the south. If all hell breaks loose, they'll need to fight a stalling action while we get a new model infantry regiment trained."
"Sounds like a plan."
many of the officers are disgusted by what little say they've had
the get and one by one, dismiss themselves
inside, you laugh as you watch the sour faces pass by you
"Alright Princess. I need to get back to my men and brief them on the upcoming mission. good night, Celestia. Good night Luna."
you give a small bow to the younger princess
"Oh um Marshall... you don't need to sleep in the barracks any longer. You can reside in the castle, with your aide. The barracks are for common soldiers and junior officers."
"OK Princess!"
you don't really process her offer
you just need to get back to the men
then suddenly, it hits you like a ton of bricks
your aide
you've forgotten
about
Fruhling
you hope that the blunder is not a big one
Fruhling is, after all a level-headed and able officer
he will get promoted one way or another
but back to the mission
walking into the living area, you are greeted by a corporal
he looks at your rank insignia, face full of confusion
"Long story, Gefreiter. Now I must address everyone before we have lights out."
"Y-Yes sir!"
the room goes quiet as you and Abel stride to the middle of the barracks floor
Fruhling is right in the front
shit
avoiding eye contact, you begin to speak
"Alright. We've had a hell of a time these last two days. And the road is going to get bumpier. Celestia has asked that we begin to train the soldiers of her army, slowly but surely to turn it into a formidable force. She will supply the weapons, gear and men, we will supply the information needed. So tomorow, by 0900, I need all of my officers and non commissioned men to be outside this building, and we will go to the royal palace for our meeting. Other than that, it's going to be a normal day of gear maintenance and PT. Also, those showing up tomorrow, bring all of your personal gear, and also at least one of each small arm we have in our possesion. Carry on."
"CARRY ON, AYE SIR!"
you can feel Fruhling approaching as you face and step off
shit
turning around, you are face to face with Oberleutnant Fruhling
"Evening sir."
"Good evening, Oberleutnant."
you can tell he is eyeing the new gold shoulder boards you are wearing
"Promoted?"
"yup."
"I see."
Generalmajor Abel then appears behind you
"Sir, are we going?"
Fruhling's eyes open
"Abel? when did you get promoted?"
shit
"I was chosen to be von Verbogen's aide, Oberleutnant."
"By whom?"
Abel points at you
Fruhling nods slowly
"I see..."
you stare blankly past Fruhling
it was difficult to tell when he was mad, but you knew Fruhling well
and you could tell he was not taking the promotion of Abel well
why did you not pick Fruhling! You let your emotions get in the way of making a professional decision
"well herr Generalfeldmarschall, herr Generalmajor, I must attend to the men."
Fruhling nods curtly in abel's direction before giving you a piercing glance
"Abel, let's go."
Abel draws in his breath and the two of you exit the barracks
a cold wind lashes as the two of you walk from the barracks to the palace grounds
"Sir, why did you not chose Fruhling? He was your right hand man for years."
"I on't know and it was a stupid decision."
Abel recoils
"No, I don't mean I regret making you my aide-well that's not true. But I regret the decision not because I think you are incompetent, but because Fruhling simply should have been promoted. He is more experienced. You understand where I'm coming from?"
Abel nods
"I understand sir."
"Well, I don't think Celestia will be too pleased if I backtrack and I don't think you will be either. I'm sure Fruhling will get promoted one way or another. He is an excellent officer. I just hope he cools down a bit. He doesn't look like it, but inside, the man can be a ticking time-bomb sometimes. I've seen it happen first hand."
Abel slowly nods
"Anyways. We better rest up and get ready for tomorrow. Big day ahead of us."
as the two of you enter the castle, a guard tells you two to follow him
he leads you two to two adjacent rooms
"your quarters, generals."
"Thank you." you both respond
"Well, good night sir."
"Good night, Abel."
you push open the heavy doors of your room
it's extravagantly furnished, with an exceptionally done paint job
the floors are made of large slabs of marble and large, plush carpets cover some parts of the floor
it's breath taking, especially some of the finer details of the room, like a gorgeous painting of a warrior hanging over your desk
a rustling from behind the bed catches your attention
you walk towards your bed
"Who's there?"
shit... has Fruhling come to get revenge
suddenly a thousand thoughts go through your mind a second
how did he get here so fast?
how did he even know?
is it really him?
this doesn't seem like something he would do...
you reach for your pistol
or at least for where you normally would have put it
except you stopped wearing that thing a while ago
it's still hanging in your old office, in the barracks
dagger it is then!
no edge, but it still has a sharp point
you reach for your dagger
your hand hits an empty scabbard
fucking shit
your dagger is still in the table
suddenly, the thing pops up from behind the bed
without thinking, you rush it, in an attempt to subdue it with brute force
"AHHHHHHHH!"
"ahhhh!"
it's not Fruhling
whoops
"Get off me, you're heavy!"
"LUNA? What the hell are you doing?"
"nothing! I'm just exploring!"
"Exploring? Exploring what?"
the moon princess makes a gesture with her fore arms
"exploring EVERYTHING!"
getting up, you brush yourself off
"What are you doing here?"
your tone makes it clear you want a serious answer
Luna gets up and walks past you, situating herself on top of your bed
"I just want to talk about these military things with you."
"It's late, I have things to do tomorrow and you want to talk about what?"
"military things. Like the technologies you guys have. I find that stuff most intriguing."
"What-listen can you just leave and we can talk about it later. I need to get cleaned up for bed."
the moon horse rolls over and looks up at you
"No. Go shower and then we can have talks about these things after. I'll wait. I have all night."
"what. you have all night but you don't have to do much tomorrow."
"Go."
you give Luna a passing glance as you walk towards the bathroom
no use fighting it, she's stubborn
you close the door and ease out of your waffenrock
a sigh escapes your lips as your neck is finally able to get some relief from the stiff collar
turning on the shower, you wait for the water to warm up as you disrobe further
"well... let's just get this over with, answer whatever the pony want answered, and go to sleep."
after a quick 5 minute shower, you brush your teeth and quickly slip into your briefs and undershirt
picking up the rest of your uniform, you quietly exit the room, expecting Luna to have fallen asleep due to inactivity, you are surprised to find the blue pony standing mere inches away from the doorway
"I've been waiting!"
dang it
Luna trots over to the bed, where a pile of books has formed
"I've located some military history books from your bookshelves and looked through some of them! I find this stuff quite boring, how does one even see spending a career in this field as 'exciting'?"
you walk over to the bed, hair still wet
dropping your uniform down, you sit down next to the pile of reading material
"Well, it's kind of a tradition."
"A tradition? Like a cultural one? Are all stallions required to do military service? On your world, that is."
"No, not that kind of tradition. It's a... family tradition."
despite initially not wanting to talk, you couldn't help but get drawn into the conversation
you've been immensely interested in the military and all aspects of military history all your life, and the conversation getting started was right down your alley
it was also quite nice that you were talking about this kind of thing with a girl
"Family tradition?"
"Yes. See in Prussian tradition-Prussia is where my family is from-aristocratic families usually do some kind of service in the military. My dad was a generalleutnant in the Army, and I followed in his footsteps, becoming an infantry officer."
"I see... but not everyone does that, I presume?"
"Correct. But in a time of war, a country can force a lot of its able-bodied young men to fight in a war, since wars call for large armies."
"But how would you train them to fight? How would you equip them? How do you even fight wars?"
you gonna learn today
"Good question. It's a lot to cover in one night though."
you already know how Luna is going to react
"but... I want to know...! I know! you tell me as much as you can tonight! and I'll come back until you've told me everything!"
and you've just underestimated how much you thought she wanted to know
"wh-fine. What do you want to start with?"
"hm... those are some pretty broad topics. I'm curious about how you force all the people in your land to join the army. Wouldn't they rebel?"
you laugh
"No, they wouldn't dare. and most don't even think of that notion,"
"what? why is that?"
"Well, we have a really effective program of making people think a certain way... you know, propaganda."
Luna nods
"And people that don't answer the call usually face very severe punishment."
"I see... how severe? Fines? Warnings? We rarely give out those kinds of punishments to our citizens... how severe are your punishments?"
wait what. fines and warnings? that's it?
"well... for the most extremem people, the defeatists, who refused to fight because they believed we would lose our war no matter what, they well..."
"They what?"
"they were rounded up by our police forces and executed."
"executed...?"
"Capital punishment?"
"what!? they are killed?"
"Well... yeah."
Luna buries her face into your sheets
poking her muzzle slightly above the sheets, she whimpers
"that's horrible... why would you guys do that?"
"Why? it's the way things work."
you pick up one of the books from off the bed
It's titled 'Militaria: A history of Equestrian Military power, 1000-present'
leafing through the book, you ask
"Do you guys not do that?"
Luna looks at you with a slightly disgusted expression
"of course not! We aren't savages! We don't even force military service upon our subjects, even if we have a war..."
"Do you even remember the last time you've had a war?"
"n...no..."
"well, then you don't have much say in this matter do you?"
Luna blushes
"well... why do you need to force colts to fight?"
"Well, the wars we fight are truly breath-taking in their scale and intensity and awesome in the destruction they cause. We fight with millions of soldiers over thousands of miles. So we obviously need manpower."
"you really do enjoy killing each other over there, don't you?"
you grin
"I guess we do."
"interesting. you can tell me about that stuff later. I really want to know about all the different instruments of war. They look super awesome and pretty powerful. And also these uniforms. Super nice, I love the gray color."
"The uniforms are quite nice, just a tad bit on the stiff side. Why do you want to know about the uniform?"
"Well, I want to know EVERYTHING about you guys, and the uniform is part of that isn't it?"
you chuckle
"I suppose it is."
Luna takes the uniform and using her magic, smooths it out and lays it flat onto the bed
she points at the Iron cross hanging from above the left pocket
"what's that?"
"That's an Eisernes Kruze. Iron Cross."
"what's it for? and what's an Iron Cross anyways?"
"It's... it's for bravery. And it's a military decoration."
"Oh-hoho, bravery?"
Luna pushes up against you
"what do we have here? a war hero? we don't have many of those in Equestria..."
"Well... i mean I know quite a few EK recipients from back home."
dang it you blew it
"Wanna know about the EK's history?"
Luna's ears flatten out a little
"S...Sure...?"
"Well, this decoration has been around for over a century-human time of course."
Luna laughs
"Centuries are the same here."
"Oh. Well, yeah. It was a Prussian decoration that was normally awarded to military personnel only."
you take the small black cross and play with it as you continue
"The actual design was based off of some symbols used by knights and..."
you continue the lecture
unaware that Luna had long fallen asleep
"Luna?"
you look over your shoulder
"Oh."
the pony has fallen asleep on your trousers
the clock on the night stand next to your bed indicates that it's nearly 2 in the morning
how much did you lecture?
carefully, you pull the trousers out from under the princess's head and folded neatly
you place the pants down on the floor, then fold up the waffenrock, placing the tunic on top of the trousers
too lazy to hang up the uniform, oh well
getting up, you begin to replace the books Luna removed from the bookshelf next to your table
finishing that task, you quietly tip toe over to the bed
what are you supposed to do with Luna?
there is no way you're carrying her back to her room
you don't even know where that is
you blush at the thought
looks like you'll be sharing the bed tonight
gently lifting up Luna, you shift some of the sheets around and tuck her in, on one side of the bed
then, you slip into the other side
"G...good night"
much to your surprise, you get a response
a very quiet "good night" is uttered from Luna's lips
you stare at her
something seemed... strange about her
a pony... so human like, it's bizarre
could you call her beautiful?
she certainly was
maybe you should just reach out and touch her
a ray of light shone directly onto your face
the curtains on the windows weren't closed fully and what seemed like the entirety of the sun's energy seemed to be focused on a few square inches of your face
did you actually sleep with a Princess last night?
well, just sharing a bed, not THAT kind of sleeping together
roll over, you are face to face with a very awake Princess Luna
"Good morning, sleepyhead."
startled, you almost roll out of the bed
"G-good morning.."
she stares right at you with those large, blue eyes
"uhm... what have you been doing?"
"just watching."
"That's all?"
"yeah."
"want to get up?"
"not really."
she sighs and closes her eyes
"want to stay in bed for a few more minutes with me?"
