--After Meeting with Princess Celestia--

POV: Colonel Burkhardt Panzinger

As I walked out of the Throne room, I thought to my self that it was almost too easy. I thought I would have to at least offer up something in exchange, but she just easily agreed to let us establish an embassy. Though the fact that it is in a complex likely containing other embassies, it is a minor obstruction that might very well turn into an advantage.

Outside of the throne room, a white earth pony with brown eyes, brown hair, and wearing a white shirt, a brown dress skirt, red ascot, and had a pair of glasses resting on her muzzle. In one hand she had a clipboard and was also holding a set of keys with the same hand. "Hello there, I am Raven Inkwell, and you must be Mr. Burkhardt." She said in an unfamiliar accent.

"A pleasure to meet you Miss Inkwell. I would prefer to be called Colonel Panzinger, Mr. Burkhardt will work for now." I say.

"Very well Mr. Burkhardt. I have been informed that I am to show you to the embassy complex, and to show you to the building that you and any associates will be using. I just have a few minor things I need to ask as we head there."

"Very well. Lead the way."

"Follow me." She said as she started to walk down the main hallway, "So, I need to ask, do you plan on providing guards from your own nation, or would you like to use the Royal Guards?"

"We will be using our own guards. I have my own personal squad that is waiting outside of the main gates, that can do until the rest of the company arrives in a week and a half."

"I see. And how many personnel are in a squad and company respectfully?"

"Typically 8-14 in a squad, and 80-150 in a company. In regards to my personal squad, there are 14 of them."

"Thank you for the clarification. We use similar designations for the guard, but I wanted to clarify for the documentation," she said while filling in a document on the clipboard

"It is no problem at all, proper documentation is very important in any organization," I say to which she nods in agreement, as we exit out of the castle, and into the courtyard.

"Now, how many personnel are you currently planning to house in the embassy building aside from yourself and the guard?

"Ideally, I would like to have 50 dedicated staff for diplomatic related issues, and 30 for support."

"What exactly do you mean by support?" she asked

"Cooking, cleaning, handling logistics, maintaining and repairing equipment that can't be handled with a regulation field maintenance kit."

"Why exactly do you need dedicated personnel for cooking?" she asked as we neared the main gate at the other side of the courtyard.

"Well, the River Riech is made up of five different races, Earth Ponies, Unicorns, Pegasi, Griffins, and Zebra. And while it would be simpler to feed everyone the same thing, Having cooks prepare specialized meals for each race not only improves morale but also makes sure that everyone is getting the nutrition they need." I say as we exit out of the main gates, "Now if you will wait just a moment, I need to go collect my guards." Looking around, see my guards gathered around a table and benches across from the castle. In total, by squad consists of 5 unicorns, 2 zebras, 3 earth ponies, 3 pegasi, and a griffin.

As I approach the group, I see that Sargeant Simone Minadone a male griffin with black feathers, with white tips and green eyes is arm wrestling with Corporal Irena Prokop a scarlet red earth pony with blond hair and teal eyes. And like the rest of the squad, are dressed wool grey field tunics, wool trousers, and had each of their Mp 40's resting against the side of the table, and had their sidearms in their holsters. Irena liked her Colt model 890, while Minadone had a Luger. Currently, they are in a deadlock with both of their faces strained, and the rest of the squad is either rooting for Irena or Simone. Considering this was a common occurrence in this group I wait to see who wins before saying anything.

I watch for several minutes as first Simone starts to push Irena's arm down, only for her to grip the stone table with her other hand and push Simone back to the middle and beyond. Only for Simone to respond with the same tactics. Eventually, though, Irena pushes Simone past the point where he can recover and Simone's claw hits the table. At which point Irena jumps up and says, "I beat you this time featherbrain."

To which Simone replies, "Might I remind you this is only your 7th victory, and you have lost against me 33 other times."

"Very good you two. Now if your done playing around, we need to get a move on." I say, to which everyone realizes at that moment that I had returned.

"Sir!" Irena said saluting, "How... how long were you watching?"

"Long enough. Now, all of you, grab your gear, Princess Celestia agreed to allow for us to establish an embassy, and we are heading to the complex now." I said as I turned around and walk back to Miss Inkwell

"Interesting composition of guards you have." She says

"That they are." I say as the squad falls in behind me, "Now, shall we continue?"

"Of course." She said walking down a street left of the main gate. "I must ask, how what determines eligibility for your military and who gets assigned what ranks?"

"I am afraid the ranking system and how to obtain each one is classified to noncitizens of the River Reich. However, I will tell you that everyone is required by law to serve 7 years in the military between the ages of 18 and 35. They can serve their time consecutively, or nonconsecutively."

"Interesting. I remember from old documents that we use to do a similar thing 600 years ago before the nobles pressured Princess Celestia to make it volunteer only. To which she agreed if there was a clause put in that would allow for conscription in times of war. To which the nobles agreed. Surprisingly."

"Quite interesting. I will have to look into your history once we get set up at the embassy."

"Speaking of the embassy, we have arrived at the complex that holds all foreign embassies." She said as she turned to her right.

Looking right, I saw a massive courtyard that had rows of identical buildings on either side, each with a different flag flying on a flag pole outside of the building, with two main paths running on either side of a large green space with smaller paths leading to each building. Quickly counting, I saw 13 buildings in this area, six on each side and one at the end, and each of these buildings were massive. "Miss Inkwell, how large are these embassies?"

"Oh, each embassy is 1,500,000 sq ft."

"Mein Gott." Well... I guess I can tell command that we will have no problem with bringing a half-battalion like the major wanted to in the first place.

"If you will follow me, you will be put in the one at the end, next to the embassies for the Griffon Empire, and Minotaur Autocracy." She said as she led us down the massive courtyard towards the building at the end. It took us a while to get there, the entire length of the courtyard has to easily be 2 miles.

"Miss Inkwell, why are these embassies so big?"

"Well, to answer that, you need to understand that his area of Canterlot was built over 700 years ago and use to be the homes of 13 prominent families who were through a series of political marriages, were all related by some degree. These 13 families, decided in a rare show of cooperation at the time, to create a massive combined estate that would house their entire families and staff for generations. However, 550 years ago, all thirteen heads of each family were found guilty of not only mass corruption but had plans to overthrow Princess Celestia and establish themselves as the leaders of the country. As a result, all thirteen families were stripped of their titles, their lands confiscated, their assets were seized, and the heads of each family were executed while the rest were banished to the frontier cities of Equestria. And in the 550 years since then, 7 of the families have died out, 4 of them became prominent families in the frontier town that today are large cities, 1 family after years of providing evidence that they had no idea about the plot to overthrow Princess Celestia had some of their titles returned, and currently live here in Canterlet, and the last family got kicked out of their new home on the frontier and have been moving from city to city performing magic shows ever since."

"A fair punishment to traitors. Though I have to feel bad for the family that was punished even though they had nothing to do with the plot." I said as we approached the building at the end, "So... what family did this building use to belong to?"

"Well, that Griffin Empire is in the one that used to belong to the Bluebloods, and the Minotaurs are in the one that used to belong to the Galtungs, so that would make this one the one that used to belong to the Pferd's."'

"Small question, of those three you mentioned, what were the fates of those families?"

'Well, both the Galtung's and Pferd's died out, and the Bluebloods was the family that proved their innocence."

"I see. Thank you Miss Inkwell. If we are done, we will take out leave and start setting up in the embassy."

"I have one last thing to do before I take my leave. We need to establish an exchange rate for our currencies. To do that I just need to ask you the prices of four things, and all you need to do is tell me how much they cost."

"Of course. Please, ask away."

"Ok, what is the price of a ton of wheat, a ton of raw iron, a ton of lumber, and a ton of a ton of raw copper cost."

It took me a few minutes to remember from the briefings what the prices of goods were, but all I could remember was the price for iron and copper, "Uh... A ton of raw iron costs 95 Marks, and a ton of raw copper cost 6500 marks. Sargeant Minadone, you come from a family of air shipbuilders, how much is a ton of wood today? Corporal Prokop, do you know how much a ton of wheat cost?"

"Sir, before we left, a ton of wood costs 40 Marks." Sargeant Minadone said

"Sir, If I remember correctly, a ton of wheat costs around 300 marks." Corporal Prokop said

"Thank you three very much. Just give me a moment to calculate the conversion ratio." Miss Inkwell said as she started writing something out on her clipboard. After a few minutes, she looked up and said, "Ok, it looks like the average conversion rate is 2.739 bits per mark." she said handing me a document with her signature and the conversion rate. "Until I can get this conversion rate approved by the Princess, any merchant or bank will honor what is written on that document. I would recommend going to a bank and converting your money into bits if you need to go shopping. And with that, I will leave you and your guards to get acquainted with your new embassy building. Have a good day." She said as she started walking back the way we came.

As she left, I told my troops to follow me into the building. Entering the building, the first thing we saw was a grand entrance that went up four floors and had a grand staircase leading up all four floors. Each floor had railings that overlooked the entrance.

"Ok," I said turning to my troops. "I want you all to fan out in groups of two and explore this building. I want a full report in 3 hours of the layout of the building, the locations of rooms, and a list of anything interesting that you find. Make sure to check for any secret passages or locations where we could add secret passages."

"Sir, yes sir!" They said in unison as they split off into groups of two to explore the building.

Once they were gone, I pulled a sealed envelope out from my jacket, on the front was the Emperor's seal, and before leaving I was given orders to read this after meeting with the Princess. Walking over the corner of the room, with my back to the wall. I opened it up and read the letter inside.

Colonel Burkhardt Panzinger

While your main assignment is to oversee diplomatic relations in Equestria, you will also serve as the main point of contact for our spies currently in Equestria, and the spies that will arrive. This task is vital to the interests of the Empire, and as you read this document, should you have successfully established an embassy, you are being promoted to Brigadier General. If you have not yet established an embassy, your main task will be to do so at any cost. Including bribery, coercion, and intimidation. Once the embassy is established you are to send an encrypted communication back to command and your new rank will be officially appointed.

Let me make this clear to you Burkhardt Panzinger. Establishing an embassy in Equestria is key to our future operations, and you will be in charge of our spies in Equestria, with you only answering to me. Once I have received word that your task has been accomplished, you will receive an encrypted message when I have a task for you. When you receive a letter from me, it takes top priority.

Do not fail me.

Emperor Ulrich Schachner, the Black Kaiser

Author's Note

Colt 890 is just an 1911 renamed for the year it entered production in the River Reich.

Standard Army Uniform
New Image due to dead link:
Based off the German M40 Uniform
For comparison, the National History Museum in DC is 1,500,000 sq ft. with only 325,000 sq ft for exhibitions and public space. (according to Wikipedia)

Extra lore for River Reich: What each kingdom's culture is loosely based on.

The Nimbusian Pegasi are Old Greek (Think Byzantium)
The Skyfall Griffins are Italian (Venice or Genoa Merchants)
The Golden Hoof Earth Ponies are Polish
The Zebra of Pontia are Morrocan
The Unicorns of Arcadia are German

Map of River Reich that you can zoom in on.
Go to https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/ and click the brown button on the top, and load this file you can get from https://drive.google.com/open?id=14PwA-gXQgrQ1IwmddYs36MHeEI4meD2e , and you can play around with the map.