Panzer Lehr

Chapter 8

The sun had long since set below the horizon and darkness had consumed the border region between Equestria and the Griffon kingdoms. The border was marked by a mountain range that ran across the length of the continent from the Shining Sea in the west to the Jewel Sea in the east.

Lieutenant Krous stood on the deck of the small airship and leant against the side rail, listening to the soft thrum of the engines below deck and watching his breath turn into fog before his face. It was bitter cold at this altitude, and he was glad that he and his troops had been equipped for winter combat. His greatcoat was definitely seeing its share of work. Behind him on a slightly raised area stood Cruiser, reading a map and occasionally adjusting their course using a large wheel.

“So, how exactly will this plan work?” Cruiser asked. “I wasn’t exactly given the full details before we left.”

Krous turned to face him. “The plan is simple. When we reach the griffon capital you will set the airship to hover high above the citadel. My men and I will then jump and use the parachutes to land on the roof of the citadel. We will deal with any guards, and then move into the castle itself. We will locate the Princess and bring her to the roof. We will then send a signal to you, you will fly the airship down and we will evacuate, hopefully before anyone notices.”

Cruiser considered the plan. “It’s risky.” He said. “Remember, this thing isn’t a battleship, it’s an air balloon. We take too many arrows or one hit from an artillery piece and our mission is over.”

“If our luck holds they won’t detect us until we’re already out of artillery range, and we have enough firepower to deal with any who try to give chase.” Krous said. Cruiser shrugged and went back to reading his map.

Krous looked down over the edge of the airship’s carrying section and saw that they were starting to leave the mountains behind. Below were rolling foothills, stretching out to a plain in the distance. A large cluster of lights off to one side caught his attention. It looked like a large town nestled amongst the foothills. “What town is that?” He asked.

“Town?” Cruiser moved away from the wheel and over to the rail to look. “There’s no towns in this area…” And yet the lights were clearly visible. He frowned and headed back to his map to check their position.

Krous took a set of field binoculars from a holder on his side and looked out at the lights. With the increased magnification he was able to make out more details, in particular that what he had first thought was a very well lit road leading into the town was actually a large number of individual lights, and they were moving. “That isn’t a town.” He said. “It’s a military encampment.”

Chaser came back to the rail with a spyglass and looked in the same direction. “That’s enormous...” He said with a hint of disbelief.

“Based on what I can see, I’d say that camp is big enough to hold somewhere between 60 000 and 80 000 soldiers.” Krous lowered the binoculars. “They’ll sweep the Equestrian army aside like toys. A literal wave of steel.”

“How can we expect to stop that?” Cruiser asked. “The Equestrian military is only 6000 ponies strong, less than a 10th of that at best.”

“We won’t be able to win a war of attrition.” Krous said. “Can we send a message to Canterlot, let them know what’s coming?”

Cruiser shook his head. “No. The teleport spell on magic scrolls has a limited range. From here we’d be lucky to get one as far as Stalliongrad let alone Canterlot.”

Krous sighed explosively. “Then we proceed with our mission. Douse all lights so we don’t risk getting spotted by patrols.”

A band of dark cloud loomed ahead of them. “Rain squalls.” Said Cruiser. “They’ll give us good cover, for a while at any rate.”