Chapter 5: Glory Comes To Those That Seek It

Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.

-George S. Patton

        May 12, 1828 Anno Domini

Upward stroke. Riposte. Back off a bit, eye your opponent carefully, then... Strike! Unleash a wave of blows, give your opponent no time to react. Yes, yes, good, his opponent's backing off, but wait! The opponent blocks his blows with ease, guessing his movements perfectly now. His eyes turn into thin slits as he presses his blade with all his force against his opponent’s. It has turned into a deadly stalemate, his eyes focused intently on the blade’s wielder, who looked as if they had not a care in the world.

An idea came to him. He moved his free hand to the broadside of his blade. Pressing harder and harder on the hilt of his sword, he began a deadly competition of will and attrition. His opponent diverted some of their attention to his new found strength, and countered with some of their own, diverting more and more power to their own sword. Harder and harder they pushed, both looking for some opening in order to claim victory for themselves. His rage and drive powered his push, while concentration and sheer power were on his opponent's side.

At last, an opening. His opponent's attentions were diverted ever so slightly by the book in her hooves. A small bit of magic was used to turn the page, transferring enough of her attention just to give him the chance he needed. Unleashing more force on his blade, it was just enough to push his opponent's back further. Desperately, she tried to bring more power to her own blade, enclosing it in an even greater field of magic, yet it was too late. Charles slashed again, knocking the sword airborne, sending it twirling in the air, and straight to the ground.

Twilight looked at the tossed sword with annoyance, before sending Charles a defiant stare. “You got lucky on that one.”

Charles smirked at her words, tapping his blade against the palm of his free hand in an idle gesture. “I got lucky by you being more interested in your books than more important activities like this. That makes us now... seven to four, correct? You’re slipping, dear Twilight. Perhaps you should devote your attentions from reading to fighting, and you would strike me down more often.”

Twilight scowled. “Seven to five actually. And considering the nature of these little spars, I’d consider that a balanced record on my case. Wouldn’t you say?”

        His smirk turned into a contemplative frown. She had a fair point, as she always did in such occasions. When he had offered this little diversionary activity a couple of years ago, she was flabbergasted at the thought of it. Her, being his sparring partner in his sword practices? Even ignoring the relatively minor fact that she didn’t have sword-fighting experience, and instead asking just how she was supposed to actually fight with hooves for Celestia’s sake, he had a one-word response that made it all seem very clear suddenly. Magic.

        Once that problem solved itself, they had begun these bi-weekly spars in relative seclusion. Charles had procured a stock sword from the armory with a worrying ease, him already having a sword that he took great pride in using. They had even found a private space of the Palace itself easily enough, large enough for agile movements to be performed, yet out of the way enough to ensure some measure of privacy. There the two had begun practice, Charles preferring to teach them both the moves of swordplay from some acquired books in the Library.

The only other knowledgeable person of their activities was Antoine, who had caught some glimpses of their fights on visits there. He was quite amazed at Twilight’s abilities in actually keeping up the sword with magic alone, let alone move it with the dashing precision she ‘wielded’ it with. Twilight still had no context as to suggest the full extent of magical abilities allowed in Europe, the minor performers in the city streets being her sole knowledge of other magical users in the land, yet Charles had informed her she would be fine.

Charles nodded to himself, giving in for now. “I suppose you’re correct. I do remember you nicking me on the shoulder quite well, now that I think about it.”

Twilight’s small scowl instantly turned mournful. “Sorry about that,” she said in her usual honesty.

        Now it was he who had a scowl on his face. “Meh, a minor injury at best. In my pursuit to remain in peak fitness, I must endure such things with solid standing. What kind of leader would I hope to be if I could not even withstand a blade? None, that’s what.”

         Twilight supposed it should have been obvious to her that he would be so stubborn. He always was, even in his worse states of being. She took another look at her book, finishing her page before speaking. “I can still be sorry you know. I mean there’s not much chance of me being hurt, what with, well, you technically not fighting me personally, but I needed to have more focus! I’m so inexperienced, I need more control, more focus...”

        Charles rolled his eyes at her concerns, putting the blade in the sheathe at his side at last. “Twilight, rest assured that you have more power and control then most magical users could even dream of having. Your poise, your grace, that is something that only a mare of your talents could possibly achieve. To even think of perfecting such beauty would be a foolish endeavour, at the very best. If you devoted more of your attention to battling me than reading, your force of will alone would utterly destroy me.”

        It was, as usual for him, a unique way of comforting her. Twilight only sighed at his attempts. “I know I’m good, but only relative to everypony else here! Back home though, I read tales of great magicians, who could do things that would, literally, blow your mind! Here though, I’m stuck, unable to do anything even remotely stressful to me. I have all this power welled up inside of me, and nowhere to practice it consistently, instead of irrational times. I feel just like-”

        “A caged bird.”

        “Yes, exactly!”

        Considering her words, Charles found a devilish smile cross his lips. Walking over to her prone position on the floor, careful to avoid the floating book right in front of her, he sat down next to her, patting her mane gently. “I can understand Twilight. The contentment this place gives us can only last for so long. You and I are both ambitious people, people with a desire to learn, to know, to even help others. In our own unique ways at least. No one would blame you in the least for moaning about your fate.”

        Twilight nodded along with his words, pouting in an attempt at making herself seem frustrated. To Charles though it made her look adorable, more so than she usually looked at least. Feeling her slacken beneath his touch, he leaned in closer to her ears, which were pressed sullenly against her head. “What if I told you I had found an open ear to our plights?” Charles said teasingly.

        Twilight immediately perked up at that, ears wide and open to his words. Angling her head to face his, which had back its previous smirk, she looked at him curiously. “What? What do you mean?”

        “Oh Charles, that’s wonderful!”

        Even though she had no idea what that meant for her, she still spoke honestly. As much as she would like to leave on her own terms, seeing Charles get his desires at least brought some joy to her. But only after a moments contemplation of this did she realize that meant he would be leaving her behind. “Do... do you mind if I go though?”

        The crack in her voice signaled how saddened the small possibility made her. The prince noticed her discomfort, and drew out the comforting strokes of her mane. It was a very beautiful mane, he idly noted, an eccentric yet somehow still fitting match of colors that made her look absolutely divine. There was no innuendo in his observations, just a simple fact that he knew to be true. Like many such facts about her, like her lustrous coat, her admirable wit, and everything about her personality transformed his experience during his years here from dreadful to above tolerable. For that he was always thankful to her.

        He leaned in closer to her, using his free hand to grasp her muzzle, bringing her gaze back up to him once more. “Twilight, I would like you to come with me. If you reciprocate my offer, it would please me greatly.” he whispered to her.

        She smiled up at him. "Really?"

        His smirk turned into a gentle smile, one he saved only for her and her alone. It was a nice smile, Twilight admitted to herself. He really should smile more. Lately he had only scowled or kept a neutral expression at best when encountering anyone, even when he did not seem to be angered in the least. But strangely, he always had a smile for her. As much as it shamed Twilight, she did like the, what was in his own way,  special gift only for her eyes to dare look upon.

“Mein liebchen, I would be honored if you were to come with me. The very thought of leaving you behind would be like a knife to my heart, seeing you stranded here. And I would be stranded surely as well, without your kind words to guide me in my hours of need. So if you would do me the honor, Miss Sparkle, would you wish to accompany me?”

        There was no response from the mare for a few precious seconds. Charles feared the worst, a denial of his plea, a denial of both his dreams and his friendship with her. But before he knew just what was happening, her hooves drew him into a big hug. “Do you even need to ask? Silly.” Twilight muttered into his ear.

        Charles smiled into her mane, which he was now pressed into very deeply. Inhaling, he found it a pleasant experience. “In hindsight, it was foolish of me to even think otherwise."

        She nodded in amusement, saying nothing further. They simply sat there, in each others arms, or hooves in Twilight's case, happy that their dreams were finally coming true. As Charles stroked her mane with caring and adroit fingers, Twilight hummed lowly from the nice sensation. Intimate moments like this were appreciated by both sides, and they did not wish to spoil it with further needless words that would only exacerbate how they both already felt. At last, everything was going on a fine path for them.

---

        The Next Day

        Antoine found Charles where he usually was. Sulking intermittently to himself in some corner of the palace, sitting on a small bench, reading something in whatever topic the teen, no, the young adult found himself interested in at the moment. The major knew him to be smart before he knew him better, but it was only on closer inspection that he found the depth of his genius. Whatever took his eye he devoured gleefully, always on the lookout for more information and knowledge

Just a year past he had taken up a love of ancient Latin, gathering all the resources and scriptures he could on the subject, and dragging Twilight along into reading them with him. At the time the major had derisively stated, in good jest, that it would take years for them to even think of learning it well without a proper tutor in the language.

        They had mastered it in a few months at the very most. While it was expected of most learned folk to learn the language of the dead, the haste with which they did it prompted more than a little doubt from some corners of the palace staff. Antoine did not though. He believed in them. Once that fiasco was over with, he did not dare doubt them on anything they set their mind on after that, for good reason. But their genius made him sullen at times. Sometimes he wondered about his purpose in even attempting to teach them.

They were natural geniuses, people who would inevitably change the world. ‘If Charles lives long enough to change it,’ a darker part of his mind whispered. He shushed the voice away with no further quarrel, not wanting such evil thoughts to plague him. No, he had a purpose he realized. When he spoke to the young man about his father, about the great campaigns that in a few strokes of brilliance catapulted his father into the ranks of history, and saw the loving gleam in his eye as a result of those teachings, well, it made him more confident about his status.

Truthfully, he had grown fonder of him more than Twilight, to his great guilt. But Charles sought him out more, made him feel more... needed. Twilight was capable on her own, but even when the prince had learned all he needed about his father’s glory days, Charles still demanded to hear Antoine's version of things, to hear Antoine's words. Even when he tried to tell him about the more, unsavory aspects of his fathers life, they either passed over his head completely, or he ignored them. He could never be sure with the boy, to his own worriment.

Even then though, he enjoyed, neigh, loved talking with him. Antoine felt honored above words that this young man would consider him so reliable a source on the most important aspect of his life, especially considering his affiliations that were at least known to the lad, and made sure to never make that trust unworthy. The very thought of it made him shiver all the way down to his hooves in guilt. But right now, he could only hope to ensure his worries were unfounded, even as a traitorous voice inside of him told him otherwise.

Charles raised his eyes to him as he trotted towards the prince, lowering his novel as the major approached. “Antoine, good to see you.”

“The feeling’s mutual, my student,” Antoine replied.

Antoine silently cursed himself for being so obvious, yet right now, stressed as he was, he could give himself some slack. With what he had heard, and desperately hoped was untrue, he had every right to feel nervous. “You would be right sire. I have urgent matters to discuss with you.”

His eyes flickered from the book to the major before returning to their original status. “Continue.”

The prince’s cavalier attitude was not helping Antoine at all. Taking a deep breath, he voiced his concerns the best he could. “Sire, please do not tell me you’ve somehow managed to convince the Kaiser that you and Twilight should be sent somewhere in Kroatien, on the border of the Sublime Porte itself no less! I can’t even begin to imagine you doing something so reckless, so I sought to prove this falsity by your own word.”

Charles gave him a blank look, to which Antoine sighed. “Okay, I can see you doing that,” he admitted, “but please say otherwise!”

Shaking his head in bemusement, Charles lowered his book, setting it on his bench before rising to meet the Major at least relatively eye-to-eye. Antoine swore the boy had grown another inch since they’d met a few years ago, but with humans he was never sure. Twilight had though, that much he was sure of. To think, they were both already seventeen. They had known each other for just four years, yet they had formed such a large part of his life. If what he feared was true though, they could be taken from him all too abruptly.

 To his own dismay, Charles only confirmed his fears. “You are not mistaken, major. I am headed to Kroatien, I just finished my talk with the Kaiser an hour ago in fact, and will be headed out, with Twilight, tomorrow. Is there a problem with this Antoine?”

There was a scowl on the boys face now, a dark one. Feeling conflicted for only a moment, Antoine stomped a hoof to the floor, shaking it and Charles noticeably from the shock of it. “What are you thinking?!”

Antoine was giving him a fierce, and somehow pleading glare, one that bristled heavily against the prince. Trying his best to counter Antoine’s glare with one of his own. “What am I thinking? I’m thinking that I am fulfilling my ambition, and doing what I and Twilight think is best for ourselves. Why do you sound so angry Antoine, do you despise us leaving your care that much?” he accused, his bitterness evident.

The major gritted his teeth at the accusation. “Not in the least. I’m angry at you being so reckless and demanding. It’s going to get you in deep Scheiße if you don’t stop this foolishness!”

“Foolishness? Is trying to ascend to my rightful position within the military a foolish endeavor as you describe, or is it a necessary step that I must take if I am to go anywhere in this world? Huh? Tell me Antoine, I would love to know.”

Antoine was left stunned for a moment by the sheer audacity of his words, before feeling anger rise up in him, further then before. “It is not a necessary step in the least for you. You are still seventeen Franz, and yet you think you are ready to lead men into battle? That is foolishness. I am only attempting to show you some sanity, in hopes that you might gain some.”

It was only now Charles realized he felt nails digging into the palm of his hand. Strange, he did not remember tightening his hands into fists. “Let me tell you Antoine a fact that you know. That I have prepared for as long as I have known you and more to earn the chance to lead men and ponies, whether in peace or in battle. You know I have studied, that I have prepared, that I am ready!”

Antoine was left amazed at the zeal in his tone, and the obliviousness in the content of his words. “Ready, Franz? You believe yourself ready to lead troops, you a young man who, while smart, has never the experience of leading others, you, who believes that the world should bend over backwards just to satisfy your desire to become a perfect copy of your father!”

There was no response from Charles at that statement. Only his head angling downward, his hair covering his expression from the major. Antoine himself felt incredibly guilty now, so lost was he in the rage and fervor of his explanation that he had spoke something far too daring, far too hurtful to one he considered closer than almost anyone else in his life. The news had come as a shock to him, so he confronted him as soon as possible, spilt out his emotions, and now... this. “Charles, I’m sorry, so terribly sorry. I didn’t mean that, but, I’m just worried about you.”

        The prince didn’t respond. Instead he only shook slightly, a few gasping sounds escaping his throat and out into the air. Antoine, fearing that his words might actually have caused more harm then he had previously though, pressed closer to him, almost nuzzling him. “Charles, I’m-”

        He stopped, as he realized Charles wasn’t crying at all. He was laughing. A barrage of short, almost unbelieving laughs emanated from him, as if he found the whole situation somehow amusing. The prince raised his head back, showing the major fully what was going on. “Oh Antoine, I don’t know why but somehow I have a tendency to attract apologies when none are needed,” he said through now muted gasps of laughter.

        Antoine was trying to wrap his head around just what was happening. “Pardon?”

        Charles ceased his amusement, only giving him a small smirk now. “Nothing. But I am not offended in the least. Instead, I want to prove you wrong. I want to prove that I am not going to be a copy of my father, but simply someone worthy of his legacy. I have no delusions of grandeur, no foolish ideals that will be tested or broken. I simply demand only a chance to prove myself, to prove me worthy of the name of Bonaparte. Don’t you understand?”

        Antoine looked divided now, conflicting loyalties and ideas making him unsure now. He understood what he wanted, perfectly in fact. Though understanding did not mean he fully supported him. Not in the least. Worry for both him and the men he would lead trembled in him. Antoine knew the young man thought he was ready, but he was still so young in comparison to everyone else in his field. War was for old men, not boys of his age! And yet he demanded to be a part of it anyway. Gruffly mumbling to himself over this dilemma, he grasped at the nearest flaw in his plan he could see. “What of Twilight? I cannot believe she would willingly go along with this.”

        Charles looked almost smug as he replied. “On the contrary, she is fully supportive of this move. She wants to leave here, she wants a chance to see the land she could only read about 'til now. As much as she loves the inside and the books within, everyone has their limits. And being constrained as she, as we are, would surely give us demands for more freedom as we are demanding now.”

        That gave Antoine a lot less leeway in this argument now. If they were both sure about this, he could not bring them out of it. Both were stubborn, and combined trying to sway their beliefs was like trying to move a dumb rock. A giant dumb rock. He lowered his head a bit, the futility of the situation reaching him at last. “And... are you sure of this? Are you sure you’re ready to go out there, to lead others, even in peace?”

        The prince nodded, dashing his last hopes of some form of reason from him. “I am sure. If I was not I would be locked in internal conflict, my mind slowly fighting itself to death. You know the recent spring of illnesses I have acquired, that have taken their toll on me more and more as the days go on?”

        Antoine nodded, feeling a tug at his heart. He was deathly worried during his longest bed-stay yet, even if he refused to show it. Twilight filled that role enough for the both of them. “Aye, I have. Your point?”

        “My point is that I need to get out of here. The more I stay here, in this structure, in this dreadful climate, the more ill I shall become, I know it! I am only thankful that I have caught the Kaiser in one of his open moods, lest I be confined here for even longer than I already would be.”

        Charles stepped closer to Antoine, encircling his arms around his neck. “Don’t you see major? If I stay here, I will wither away in a slow painful death, a worse kind I cannot imagine. My body, as much as I hate to admit, is crystal, a fragile mess unworthy of the name I bear. My mind is the only keen thing in me, and I treasure it beyond belief,” he pressed his forehead against Antoine’s muzzle, a sudden gesture that surprised the old stallion beyond belief. “Major, I ask of you to please understand me. Understand what I need to do, to survive, and more importantly, to do my family proud.”

        Antoine deliberated on what to say in the wake of this new confession. He wanted to deny him, to tell him that he was being foolhardy and impulsive, but that would not work, even if he felt like saying it now. Charles was intent on going through with this, and he was only asking for his blessing out of a desire for assurance from him, but it was not necessary in the least, he knew that much. And could he not give him that much? He understood some of his passions, the need to prove himself worthy, the need to make himself useful. Seeing this young man in front of him was like seeing an echo of his younger self. So in the end, he gave in. “I... I can understand Prinz. If you truly desire this, I will support you fully.”

        Charles closed his eyes, hugging him further against him. “Danke Antoine. This means more to me than you could know.”

        Unsure of what to do at first, Antoine unsteadily began to circle his hooves around him, before hugging him in turn. “I think I have a good idea.”

        Charles smiled against his furred neck. “Not in the least. After all you have done for me, and all you have taught me, and helped me, helped me learn about the man I could never know. It’s made me happy beyond belief, happy to know these things, to know Twilight, to know you. To me, you’re the closest to a...” Charles stopped suddenly, realizing how far he had gotten with his emotional confession already.

        He separated from the embrace suddenly, leaving the major wary of what was going on with him. Charles’ words touched Antoine deeply, and whatever he was about to say surely would not have been that bad, right? “Hmm? What is it Prinz, are you okay?” Antoine asked, feeling a little worried now.

        Charles shook his head, turning away from him now. “I am fine, it’s just that,” he paused to consider his words, “I was about to speak beyond any reasonable lines of comfort for both of us. If you’ll excuse me, I must be off now. Please forgive me Antoine, I need to... go.”

        Beginning to step away, he reached a few feet away at most before Antoine’s words stopped him. “Prinz Franz, if you wish to speak something to me, I will listen and not judge in the least. There is no reason to act so hesitant, especially after your stout defense just previously,” he said, attempting to console him.

        Charles was divided on what to do, his uncertainty about Antoine’s own reaction sparking an inner conflict within him. What to do, what to do... What he wanted to say seemed far too forward, far too personal to even think of saying, yet his heart yearned to do it, in the hopes of his approval. And maybe, even his comfort, but that was a foolish wish, he knew all too well. The major looked at him while he was stuck in this inner conflict, knowing that it must be big to matter so much to him. That was why he decided to canter over to him, and confront him more personally.

        To his own mild amusement, Charles nearly jumped when he appeared next to him, smiling in a welcoming manner towards him. “Come on Prinz. You can tell me if you want. There’s no need to act so worried over a most likely minor thing.”

        That did a little to help his discomfort, but Charles was still unsure. It seemed far too personal, too daring, too disturbing in intent for him to speak so openly. But Antoine seemed insistent, and despite his own qualms in regards to this situation, Charles did want to say it, in the perhaps vain hope that the stallion would see his point. “I... I...” he began unsteadily, doubt still vivid in his mind.

        Both amused and frightened by his hesitance, Antoine tapped him playfully on his side with one of his hooves. “Out with it lad, I’m sure it’s not nearly as bad as you think.”

        The words were right on the tip of his tongue, yet he was still so conflicted. But suddenly, something in him snapped, causing his words to come full force out his throat.

“You’re like a father to me!” Charles blabbed out instantaneously, before donning a horrified expression.

        They both were silent from shock after that, no immediate words spoken to deal with the situation. Charles did his best to look away from the major, breathing heavily from the stress that now burdened his shoulders, expectantly and hopefully waiting for positive response. Antoine looked equally stunned, no idea of just what to say to that. What could he say to that? It was a painful absence of sound, absolutely dreadful in its very nature. He looked away as well, ashamed of both himself and the situation they were in.

        Finding no response from the one he so dearly wanted affirmation from, Charles sunk his head deeper, feeling a pain in his chest that was not for once due to the aching in his lungs. “If you’ll excuse me, I shall be off now,” Charles dejectedly muttered, more to himself than Antoine.

        Antoine wanted to do something, anything to assuage both his doubts and fears along with Charles’, but nothing came to mind. Only a painful puddle of conflicting emotions and responses that threatened to tear him apart from the inside. Before he knew it though, Charles had already left the hall, out of his sight, and out of whatever statement he could provide that would offer some comfort to him. If he had any. Antoine sighed miserably to himself. “That kid will be the death of me one day,” he said, before leaving in a slow and miserable trot.

---

        May 20th

        Let’s see, quills? Check. Parchment of various types? Check. Saddlebags? Check. Saddle? Check. Food? Check. And most important of all, books? Also, check.

Twilight listed off each of the various items she would be taking with her on their trip. The hoard in her small house was very messy, to her, and needed organizing. For the fifteenth time now in fact. It was always prudent to organize, and she took that maxim very seriously. Even now she was sorting her books, putting items in the saddlebags strapped against her sides, and strapping said saddle tightly against her all at once, to prevent any sudden and unfortunate mishaps. Always best to ensure as few accidents happened as possible.

        Ducking her head to avoid a glowing book which passed over her, Twilight checked off yet another item on the list hovering in front of her. Excellent. That was everything then. But maybe she should check everything again. Just to make sure. Others, mainly Charles and Antoine, might call her obsessive in this regard. But she took a special pride in making sure that everything went perfectly.

 After all, wasn’t bureaucracy the most lovable station, those kind folks who made sure that everything went smoothly. Oh yes, she had many years of practice now, from her first years at the palace organizing grander and grander book forts that slowly encompassed the entirety of her room with the prince, that got instantly demolished as soon as someone stepped carelessly. Which happened. Always.

        One of the books hit the side of her head, her annoyance sapping her concentration. Glaring at the text harshly, she harshly threw it, with her magic that is, over to the shelf. And yes, that was everything as far as she was aware. She had stashed up supplies and whatnot for their trip, at least part of their trip Charles had planned. Oh yes, he had told her what he had planned yesterday, and as terrifying as it seemed, something about it tempted her. After some minor persuasion she agreed, if only out of the prospect of some excitement spicing up her day. As contrary as it usually was to her personality, doing something so daring for once was a likable idea. At least when her friend presented it so well.

        Scanning the hoard of items once again, Twilight checked off her list. Again. Some might say she was obsessive in her cataloging. Instead of such oppressive terming, she preferred the term ‘devoted’. Much nicer on the tongue, wasn’t it? Her quill brushed against the parchment again. Check, and check! Now that that was wrapped up, again, they were ready! Ah yes, today was the day they were headed out now, which was the reasoning for her recent storing. Charles had managed to get the Kaiser to take up his word a week earlier, and the Kaiser had agreed to it.

It took a week to organize his promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, and prepare his battalion for his coming. According to the prince himself, they wanted to pamper up his meeting with them as much as possible. That meant a dainty carriage, that may or may not have been able to even carry her, not that she would want to ride in one anyway, and a long series of boring ceremonies organized by a local Hungarian noble. Even Twilight, who usually took solace in idle dullness, found the process repulsive. Thus, the plan.

        They had already done with their last farewells for who knows how long they would be gone. Mortiz was stone-faced as usual, giving them only a wave of his hand and some muttered goodbyes before turning back to his brew, which she was pretty sure was smuggled in from the pungent odor coming from it, but she said nothing that alluded to that idea. Though she could swear as she left, that she could hear muted sobs coming from the old gizzard. Wanting to let the Count keep his dignity, she did not bother to point this out. Twilight at least had wrote a letter to de Foresti, who was doing quite well as far as she knew. She asked her friend if he wrote a letter to the older Italian as well, earning a non-committal ‘yes’ in response.  As much as she liked Charles, he could be, to use only kinder terms, rough.

        And then there was Antoine. He smiled kindly at her yesterday when they parted. It was on his own recommendation that they do it yesterday, before they left instead of the exact time. When she asked why, he only said something about priorities before diverting the course of the conversation. They hugged, said some kind words to each other, and left. Strangely enough, she had not seen Charles and Antoine together in the last week. They did not even speak about the other, or even appear angry at all. Just total, deliberate ignorance of each other's presence. Very peculiar.

But when she had even suggested a problem between the two to Charles a few days past, he became unusually quiet, before telling her it was none of her business. The topic was dropped right there, no further questions dare being spoken. She was shocked enough that he would act so uncouth to her, so very unlike how she usually saw him. Whatever it was, she knew it to be great in its effect on both of them. Twilight couldn’t do a thing about it though, and that hurt her more than anything else, honestly. This inability to do anything at all, the sheer powerless in a situation. Given her extensive magical talents, the situation was almost ironic really. Painfully so.

Given enough time she would have loved to find some way to solve this, but they were leaving today. When they returned though, she would be sure to find out the problem. No matter how long it took! They were her friends after all, and it only natural. The main worry she had though was how it would affect Charles’ mind. When he would actually lead his troops, he’d need a keen mind, and if he had some distraction overhead it might impact him quite negatively. The best she could hope for she supposed was either just waiting for a more opportune time to speak of this, or wait for Charles to open up himself. So it had to be the first option than.

A knock sounded at her door. “Come in,” she answered without a glance, still mentally checking over her list again.

The door opened and Charles entered with soft footsteps. He had an almost amused smirk as he saw her checking things on her list. “Ça va Twilight?” he greeted.

“Ça va,” she answered, eyes still focused on her list.

The annoyance Charles felt was almost palpable, yet he suppressed them in favor of playing along with her, for a moment at least. “I assume you’re still busy?” he asked with a slight tilt of his head.

Twilight bit the tip of her lower lip, taking account of everything once again. “I think so. It might be best to organize everything once more though...” she said, thinking that last sentence out loud.

“Let’s not,” Charles deadpanned, grabbing the list out of the air, “I’m more than sure we’re fine. You have your saddle?”

She gave him a blank look, before she pointed a hoof to the clearly visible saddle on her backside. “Oh, yes, didn’t see that,” he admitted sheepishly.

Shaking her head bemusedly, Twilight actually forgave the list thing due to that silliness. “That you did. You sure you want to go now, then?” she asked seriously.

He nodded, a stern expression set on his face. “Yes. We’ll meet by our escort near the gate, and we’ll enact ‘the plan’ right after we greet them,” he said with a devilish smirk.

That they were so close now enacted a series of giggles from Twilight, bubbly and sweet sounding bursts that gave the prince a kind smirk. Stepping towards her, he cusped her head, bringing her eyes up to his. “Thank you again for going along with this Twilight.”

Nuzzling into his hand, she gave him an equal smile. “Hey, I know how much this means to you. How can’t I do it?” she said, as if that was all the reason she needed.

His smile grew just a bit more fond from that. “Tu es trop bon Twilight. Sometimes I don’t even know with you...”

Twilight rolled her eyes at his gesture. “What? You sound like it’s strange that I’d like to help you. I swear mon ami, you believe everyone else to be incorrigible.”

He separated from her, looking at the ceiling for a moment in quiet contemplation before his eyes focused back on her. “Not incorrigible mein liebchen, simply as human, or pony, as they are. You continually astound me though with your presence, your grace, your, well, everything honestly. Have I mentioned how you make me think, how you inspire me so?”  he confessed to her.

The unicorn was torn between uncertainty or blushing at that short speech, and settled instead on diverting their focus back onto the main topic. “Well, even so, we should probably leave now,” she said just a little abruptly.

Charles felt a little embarrassed now, speaking so openly to her, but after the emotional barrage he had suffered upon himself in the last few days, his mind was wandering. He and and Antoine had purposely avoided one another after that horrible debacle he had created, and Charles was only glad for it. What was he thinking, telling a goddamn colt that he thought of him as a father? It was an act only born from desperation, his own emotional weakness toying with him once more. Damn his weakness, damn it so!

“Charles, you okay?” Twilight asked suddenly, breaking him from his spiel.

He realized now that his head was bowed, and his mouth muttering shapes he was himself unsure of. He must have been into that angst-filled debacle for a while to entrap him so well. How absolutely pathetic of him. Raising his head to meet her worried eyes, he spoke quickly and without interruption. “I’m fine Twilight. Let’s go.” He turned without awaiting her response, heading out the door.

Left standing there worried by his sudden about-face, Twilight followed him out as soon as her mind cleared. After checking everything was secure again, though on her part it was at least done relatively quickly. Once that mess was dealt with, she, saddlebags at her side, headed outside. It didn’t take her long to find her friend. He stood near the main gate of the palace, leaning on a column right by it, past a few stout looking guards who kept a watchful eye on him. Whether out of fear for his safety, or fear of him escaping, Twilight did not know, and did not care to.

“Hey, wait up!” she said, running towards him.

The prince, who had his black-clothed arms crossed, sent her a look. “I was waiting for you,” he said neutrally, as if nothing had just happened.

As much as she would have liked to confront him on what was bothering him, experience and more told Twilight that would not work in the least. If he wanted to act as if nothing was wrong, that was fine with her. For now. Trotting closer to him, she stopped when he pushed himself off the column, walking through the gate and motioning her to go along with him. They walked side by side, turning left on one of the stone walkways before even one of them spoke. “So you think you can handle this?” Charles asked without warning.

She knew what he was talking about. The Plan. Twilight knocked her hooves against the hard stone beneath her in practice, feeling the stone against her hooves, or as much as she could feel from the nerveless areas of her body. Just a few days ago he had actually tested her hooves to see if she needed horseshoes or not, the items being something she knew of as a filly but unknown to actual experience. Once as a little filly, she remembered being told by a random stranger that if you needed horseshoes, your legs would become robotic abominations, something which sent irrational fears up to her to this day at the mention of them. That fear turned to annoyance and embarrassment on her own part when Charles first burst into delirious laughter upon her telling him that tale a year ago.

From what they had both read up, ponies needed horseshoes in case their hooves decayed naturally or became soft, too soft to actually step on the bare ground. Considering that they would be spending a good amount of time on hard surfaces or at least some rough terrain, it was a very valid concern. To Twilight’s pleasure, she didn’t need them, her hooves testing finely. It made her strangely prideful for her own private and admittedly foolish reasons. More importantly though, it meant this part of the plan would work perfectly. Unless it did not. But as always, Twilight was an optimist.

“We’re here,” Charles whispered over to her, pointing towards a distant object.

“Uh... are you sure?” she said in disbelief.

“Sadly, yes,” he sighed out.

What they saw was a ridiculously ornate carriage, covered in gaudy golden tops and exaggerated angles and positions. Both sets of wheels looked too large to even consider driving for any long length of time with, if the two statues on the back of it did not crush the supports under their weight. The baubles and decorations on it were a true example of overspending, and needlessness along with it, including fluffy tassels inside the carriage itself. The ropes and bindings tied to it were also expensive looking, though why or how rope could be expensive, Twilight did not even want to think. The main problem though was the very small space of the actual riding portion of the carriage, meaning that Twilight would not be able to ride inside it, not that she would have wanted to, but the point still stood.

 It was manned by two men in expensive colorful clothes and gaudy, obvious white wigs, along with two earth ponies manning, or ponying, the front of the carriage.  For God knows whatever reason, the ponies also wore white wigs. “I just... I don’t even...” Twilight babbled, at a true loss for words due to the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

Charles patted her side comfortingly, knowing her pain. “I know Twilight, trust me I know. Just imagine this though, this right here was the least I could get, after telling the Kaiser to not be extravagant. This is actually one of the more down to earth carriages that aren’t used for regular folk at least. I shudder to think what he would have done otherwise.” He made a mock chilling motion, causing Twilight to do the same, but for real.

Twilight was consoled by one fact though. “At least we aren’t actually going to ride on that thing. Or you won’t, seeing as that thing looks like it’d barely fit a pony.”

“Aye mein liebchen, but hold steady. We’ll start on my signal.”

“You’ll know it when you see it,” he said with his signature smirk.

“You fill me with confidence Charles,” Twilight replied flatly.

“Better that than I fill you with some-” he stopped himself suddenly, “Never mind, too creepy.”

Before Twilight could question him on this though, they had arrived at the carriage, which Twilight had mentally dubbed ‘The Reining Monarch’, which was to her quite a decent pun. The two pompous men stood at attention on their approach, saluting towards him. One of them stepped forward, greeting them with a raised chest. “Prinz Franz von Habsburg, we are ready to take you and your,” the eccentrically dressed folk chanced a queer look at Twilight before returning it to him, “Companion to your destination.”

        The prince glanced at the carriage before answering, a scowl on his face. “I see. And how is this supposed to carry a fully-grown pony?” he asked in a snide manner.

        “Uh...” both men looked back and forth between the carriage and the rapidly annoyed Twilight, trying to come up with an answer, “She can... trot along with us?”

        “And how long would our trip be in such a miserly vehicle?” he demanded to know.

        The guide looked much more confident in his next answer. “About two to three weeks sire.”

        Both prince and pony rolled their eyes at the dreadfully slow time. Trotting closer to their intended mode of transport, Twilight shook her head at it repeatedly. “Is there any way it could go faster?” Twilight asked further, already knowing the answer.

        A displeased frown found its way on the mans lips as he glared at Twilight’s backside, before donning a strained smile for the prince. Flashing an oily smile, the man said, “Sire, we mustn’t go too fast after all, we would not dare risk injuring yourself in any hasty maneuvers, would we not? Besides, I’m sure you would prefer the slow and steady pace, and take in the sights of your voyage.”

        The way he deliberately answered him instead of Twilight did not escape either of them. Charles’ scowl deepened as he motioned Twilight to his side. “I see. Well, I am afraid I will not be on this vehicle than. A week at most is all I shall spare in the trip itself. I would rather not have my future troops waiting for me that long,” he said mockingly.

        The two drivers both had confused looks now, as they tried to decipher what he meant by that. “Sire, if you’re not going with us, how will you arrive?”

        Charles shrugged his shoulders, before leaning over to Twilight, checking to make sure the saddle and other riding ornaments were tightened well enough. Not too tight to harm her, but not loose enough to make him slip off at the first moment he sat on top of her. Yes, he and Twilight had spent more than a few hours going over this. Both of them having a sort of weird feel about the whole thing, what with being friends for so long, and now he would be riding on top of her. But fortunately, a few words of confidence and her own desire to ensure this worked out well got them both through the awkward moments. Now they just had to make sure this didn’t screw up before they even had a chance.

        “Sire?” he asked again when no response came.

        Charles sent a dirty look his way, before turning back to Twilight’s gear. “I’ll be riding out, on my friend here to be more precise.”

        “What?!” the two men both shouted at once.

        “Exactly,” Charles smirked to himself, and then rapidly pointed in a random direction, “Wait, what in the world is that?”

        Both of them were easily distracted by the gesture, during which Charles pulled himself onto Twilight’s back. Grabbing the reins and keeping them a steady grip, positioned himself rightly as the two caught on to what he was doing. “Twilight, run like the damned wind!” he commanded fiercely with a booming voice.

        Taking that as the signal, albeit a rather obvious one, Twilight, mainly out of a rare sense of playfulness, reared back almost fully on her hindhooves. Charles was nearly thrown backwards, but held on well enough to her bridle, a bit shaken though. He even managed to pull out the sword at his hip, painting a rather fine looking scene for the onlookers around them. And as soon as it began it was over, Twilight stepping down with a mighty stomp, running as fast as she could or ever had. The loud clopping of her hooves against the hard cobblestone roads sounded throughout the street, as the unicorn cantered full force through the city, easily dodging the few pedestrians as she and her friend rode past, Charles’ sword still held high in the air.

        The two guides were left with their jaws dropped at they watched the prince they were supposed to guide ride off. “We are so dead,” one moaned out, while the other could only nod in bewilderment.

        Back to our two protagonists, who were still headed for the nearest exit in the city. Twilight glanced back at Charles as she dodged another stunned passer-by. “Run like the damn wind? That was your signal?!” she decried, swearing without knowing it, so lost was she in her annoyance.

        Charles shrugged his shoulders as best he could, already having put his sword back so as to not accidentally stab her or anything. “It’s a decent way to inform you, you have to admit.”

        Twilight could only roll her eyes at this explanation. “You are incorrigible sometimes.”

        “And you are--ARRGGHH!” Charles screamed, as Twilight without warning jumped over to avoid a small cart, knocking him around a bit.

        Charles could practically feel her grin, even on the bridle. “I should have gotten a tight bit...” he mumbled, stewing.

        “What was that?” Twilight asked with a voice that could melt iron.

        A chill found its way down his spine, one unrelated to his various ills. “Nothing mein Liebchen, nothing...” he hastily replied.

        They pressed on for a few more minutes, dodging the few carriages or passer-bys at this time of day. Surprisingly, there was little resistance to their escapade. Twilight was more than worried that her general inexperience with running for so long would hurt her chances of riding away, yet their were no guards on them yet, even when they were nearing closer and closer to one of the city exits. “Strange, I’dve thought they would at least send someone out by now,” Twilight noted.

        “We just now ran out Twilight. It’ll take them a half an hour at least to organize a search party. And 'til then, we’ll be on our way to Slovakia, and then into Ungarn proper,” he assured her.

        Twilight looked a little doubtful about this, not that her friend could even see this what with being on her back and all. “Are you sure? Don’t they hire pegasi for this sort of thing?” she reasoned.

        Charles was quiet for a moment, mulling that over. It was sensible, though he knew they didn’t do so. In fact, why didn’t they? It was a conundrum to him, so simple a problem with nary an answer to solve it. “I’m afraid not Twilight. The best answer I can come up with is pegasi here don’t have these simple mundane jobs yours do. The few we have serving are mostly out in the outposts of the Reich, watchful of any threats. I swear though, it’s still baffling to me the things you speak about pegasi and other quandaries back in, uh, Equestria,” he forced out, sounding slightly awkward in his vocal delivery.

        If Twilight could, she’d give him a pleading look right now. “Are you still doubtful that I’m from there? And that you don’t believe me even after all I’ve told you?” she sighed out, more mournful than she had intended to sound.

        As much as he’d like to believe her tales of coming from a magical fantasy land, the more rational and not-childlike portion of his brain got the better of him sometimes. It was not like when they were kids, when he was eager to believe her stories of a supposed Utopian landscape where ponies and humans were equal under the strong hoof and wise judgement of a pair of Goddesses. No, the implications of the two mythical alicorns, who in the rest of the world were known only to fans of mythology or a few insane cultists,  who controlled the sun and the moon were far too disturbing on their own to consider. He didn’t want to offend her though, not in the least. “I believe that you believe yourself,” he settled on a few carefully chosen words.

        Twilight was about to sigh again, but the sight of the road leading out of the city drew her attentions more so. “That’s the best I’m going to get, isn’t it?” she said quickly.

        “Yes.”

        “Might as well go with it.”

        And with that, they dashed out of the city, only a few boggled guards at their posts catching a glimpse of the purple mare that had passed them by. Charles smirked to himself at this victory. Though that did not stop him from noticing the slight hastening of Twilight’s breath, and the increase of the speed between breaths. He didn’t need her collapsing on him or anything. “How much farther do you think you can go on Twilight?”

        “I’m fine,” she assured him, though the high pitch in her voice made him doubtful.

        “Nonsense if you are. We’ll stop at a the nearest town for a quick rest, God knows you aren’t used to running this long if at all. Besides, we need to stop and collect ourselves.”

        Twilight looked like she was about to debate the point further, but Charles continued to speak. With a strong sense of finality, he declared, “I’m jumping off right here if you don’t stop at the nearest town. It was foolish of me to not take into account how your stamina would play into this, we’ll use the resting spot as an opportunity to steel our resolve and plan our route ahead.”

Becoming crestfallen now at being, what was to her, a failure towards her friend, Twilight nodded her consent. If she was failing this badly, perhaps it was best they just stop when they could. The sunken state Twilight was in was apparent to the prince on her backside, who sighed softly. “Women,” he muttered, careful that she would not hear him.

 He didn’t desire turning her disappointment into rage after all. But maybe throwing her a bone would content her. Drawing up his studies of the surrounding landscape during the past few months, he came up with a viable solution. “If it matters that much to you, the closest spot we could even dare to rest in is around 20 miles out if my maps were right. Rauchenwörth I believe it’s called. Would you be fine stopping there?” he offered.

“... Yeah, I would.”

Somehow, Charles knew Twilight was smiling. A thin, honest smile. And that alone made him okay with their current progress. Besides, it was not as if they would have any trouble overcoming what little obstacles they may encounter. Together their will, their strength, their passion would triumph, and one day, oh yes one day, the whole world would be aghast at their very presence. If, a darker portion of his mind wondered, I live to see it.

---

        Around one hour later

        Rauchenwörth, when they finally arrived there in the dawn of twilight, was nowhere near the splendor of the Imperial capital. Despite it’s relative closeness, the town, though the term hovel would be more correct in its description, resembled a run-down hive of decrepit nature. As Twilight trotted up the main road, breath still shaken from the long travel, here. Both her and Charles were disturbed by the run down state of the place. The few standing houses looked deliberately decrepit, the people, both humans and ponies, had dirty and mangled hair and bodies, and the whole place reeked of a foul stench. “Is this place always like... this?” Twilight said in the kindest words she had available.

        Charles grunted, giving dirty eyes to some of the persons that had come out of their pits to gaze upon them. More than a few looks were amazed at the presence of such a fine-dressed man and very beauteous unicorn in their unimportant little corner of Österreich. Some inched close to them as they passed by, but Charles kept steady glares on all of them which kept that back a bit, not wanting these rabble anywhere near Twilight. “I wouldn’t know Twilight, but I would assume so. Not every place has the fortune of being the capital of the largest Reich in central Europe, though that does not excuse the poor state either the people or this town's official have allowed it to degrade too. Sadly, places like this are of low importance to the Reich’s officials, the larger cities like Wien and Salzburg taking up more of the nobles' precious time,” Charles said with obvious rancor for the higher ups he so detested.

        Twilight hummed softly, not too pleased with the answer but accepting of it. She knew all too well how deliberately vicious Charles could be at times towards those he hated, if not physically then verbally. Still, the poor state the place was in was worth some worry. “Do you think we could do something to help them?” she asked, sending kind looks to some of the villagers.

        He rolled his eyes at her suggestion. “No, Twilight, we are too busy, and besides even if we did have the time, which we do not, it would be better put to use actually doing something productive instead of helping these decrepit volk,” Charles replied with more than a hint of distaste at those around them.

        “You sound almost disgusted by them,” Twilight said, her displeasure with him evident.

        The prince stopped his glaring to glare down at her, a useless gesture but one that was symbolic to him nonetheless. “Because I am. These volk, these degenerates are content to waste in their own filth rather than raise themselves up from the position in the world, to, instead of fulfilling their goals and ambitions, they waste away in the backdrop of history, never daring to rise, never! I can tell your thoughts on the matter from your kind voice alone Twilight, but let me tell you, they do not deserve affection or even pity from us, but scorn I say. Anything else is too much for these rats,” he finished his monologue with a baneful scowl at those around him, pushing them further away.

        Now that irked Twilight. She knew she had it good in some areas of life, even with her more torturous younger experiences, and was never unappreciative for what she did have. As her last remnants of her old memories of Equestria and the Princess reminded her, she always had to do her best to help and be kind to others! And putting down others for their station in life did not do that in the least.  “Charles, you’re saying as if it’s the easiest thing in the world to just change your life, to just make everything better out of nothing. Not everyone has the same opportunities as you,” she chided.

        Charles felt his mouth twitch at her criticism. As much as he would have liked to deny her assertions, they were mostly right. Even with his numerous qualms against his state of life, he lived with life thrown to him on a silver platter. It was a life he did not care for, not the one he wanted in the least, living the life of an Austrian prince, but it was a life all the same. He lived well, relatively speaking, even with his debilitating illnesses, and he learned, learned all he could learn from the vast stores of knowledge available to him. And, most of all, he had Twilight. That alone proved her argument true, though not in the way she knew or intended.

        Grumbling quietly to himself now, Charles forced out an answer to her. “I.. suppose you are right Twilight.” He nearly choked on the words, hateful of this loss, though that hatred was directed towards himself instead of Twilight.

        Twilight smiled, knowing she had won this round. Though the building they had come across made her stop and raise her head to get a better look at it. “Does this look like a fine place to stop at?” she questioned.

        Charles looked where her eyes were focused. It was a slightly better looking place than the rest of the town, a nice two-story building, an inn by the looks of it. Serviceable, if nothing else. He nodded to himself. This would do well. “Sure. Let’s go inside, see if the service and rooms are decent, then plan.”

        “I swear mein Freund, every thing's so simple to you,” she said concernedly.

        “Is it not? We only need to get to Ungarn, and find the locations of my new battalion. Once there, I’m sure whatever trouble might result from us suddenly dashing off will disappear in a flash,” he brushed her concerns off.

        He slung off of her, falling to the ground with a light stomp. With one last glare at the encroaching persons that circled around them, he headed inside, Twilight right at his side. The interior of the inn was only slightly better than the outside, the surfaces not grimy beyond belief at least, but still far below both their usual standards. The few patrons at the establishment, sitting at rotten wooden tables playing various games to pass the time, sent them curious glances as they entered, though none so intrusive as those outside had given.

 Walking forward, Charles’ boots and Twilight’s hooves echoing loudly against the creaky boards beneath them, went up to the back of the large room, to the sole clerk manning the front. “We’re here on a visit. I’d like to get costs for your rooms. One human, one unicorn.” Charles said stiffly, motioning to himself and Twilight.

        The clerk, a plain-faced brown haired human, looked suspiciously at the strangely well-dressed male in front of him, and the fetching unicorn at his side. “What kind of visit are volk like you here for?” the clerk said with a frown.

        Charles took out a handful of thalers from one of his pockets, the result of several weeks of saving up his weekly family pension. “The kind of business you do not need to ask about,” he said, dropping the silver coins on the counter in front of him.

        The clerk took one look at the coins before pocketing them with a greedy grin. “A decent enough explanation for me.”

        Twilight looked disturbed at the blatant bribery, feeling an eminent sense of wrongness from the whole proceeding. Sure, she knew Charles was no saint, but seeing him do something morally repugnant dampened her mood. “Excellent. Our rooms?” Charles asked further.

        While he was feeling around in his pocket, testing the feel of the coins, the clerk pointed backwards. “We have decent lodgings for the good sir in the back. The unicorn though, well, no rooms’ll fit her I’m afraid. There are some fitting stables outside though, that are empty at the moment.” the clerk replied.

        There was about to be protest about this set of arrangements from Charles over this offer, finding the offer of Twilight being treated and housed like some common pony being absolutely ludicrous, until Twilight answered for him. “That will be fine. Anything else then, mein Freund?” she glanced at him, almost baiting him by the looks of it.

        Charles nearly bit his tongue in frustration, refusing to say anything to the contrary. They didn’t need a fight on their hands, not in unknown territory like this. “Nein, alles in Ordnung. I believe it’s getting late, so shall we be off?” he said, taking a glimpse through a window towards the slowly darkening sky.

        “Gut, hier ist der Schlüssel.” The clerk pulled out a small key, and handed it to Charles.

        “Danke. Twilight, shall we turn in for the night then?” Charles winked conspiratorially at Twilight, hinting towards his true meaning.

        Her face, muzzle and all, remained blank though. “What? I thought we were going to plan for the-”

        The unicorn was silenced as Charles put a hand over her muzzle, shutting it tight. After he gave her a pleading look, the prince glanced at the clerk, who had a very raised brow at the exchange before him. “Mares. They say the craziest things, you know?” Charles chuckled uneasily, feeling very ill at ease in such suspect places.

        Once the clerk nodded slowly, unsure of what else to do, Charles whispered over to Twilight “We’ll discuss it later, at night preferably. Get in the stables, see if they're decent, and in an hour or so, preferably with as little outside interference as possible we’ll talk, got it?”

        Twilight looked at him in askance, her look alone practically demanding ‘get your hand off of me!’ Charles looked sheepishly at said hand, before whispering ‘sorry’ over to her. That wasn’t enough to make Twilight stop being annoyed or anything, but it was just another notch on a long line of grievances with him. “One of these days Charles, one of these days...” she whispered back.

        Charles was unsure if she was serious or not. He realized though he didn’t really want to know. “Is that a yes, then?”

        “Must I?”

        “You covered my mouth, you apparently didn’t inform me of this later rendezvous, and you just indirectly insulted my sex.”

"And?"

The dead-set look he received was answer enough. Charles almost blushed at it, feeling a little guilty over the admittedly impulsive decisions, but he had to dammit, it wasn’t as if he had time to plot a distraction or a way to prevent Twilight from blurting out their plans! Though forgetting to tell Twilight his sudden adjustment was very much his fault, even he knew this “Sorry mein liebchen,” he apologized, sounding as humble as he could, which wasn’t exactly much.

        Twilight didn’t answer for a moment, instead still giving him the stern look, making him fear the worst. That is, her staying annoyed at him and refusing to speak for a few hours until the whole thing blew over, or he was forced into more heavy-set apologies. The latter situation had happened only once before, in a situation a year ago involving her tail and his sword practice. The sheer dread of the memory was enough to make him fear another such occurrence, enough to make him nearly plead with her again, until Twilight suddenly smiled. “Apology accepted,” she said, before nuzzling his neck.

        “If you two would cut the incredibly long whispering between yourselves, would you go to your respective rooms now?” the clerk interrupted, knocking them away from each other in a fit of embarrassment.

        “Ah, yes. See you... tomorrow then Charles?” Twilight said unconvincingly, though no one seemed to notice her horrible lying skills.

        “Yes. Good day.”

        And with that Charles was off to find his own room, leaving Twilight standing awkwardly in the front of the counter. “So yeah. I shall be off now. To the stables. Doing nothing suspicious,” Twilight stiltedly said, planning her devious escape.

        The clerk looked at her blankly. “Ma’am, I live in a hole of a town where I am paid less than it costs to groom your coat if my guess is correct. I honestly could not give less of a damn about whatever you and your... whatever that guy is to you, are up to.”

        Twilight blushed at his harsh words. “We’re, um, not planning anything.”

        “Suuuure, and the Kanzler Metternich doesn’t have dreizehn Mätressen at once.” he replied uncannily.

        “... What.” was all she could say to that.

        “You heard me.”

        “I see,” Twilight stammered out, really, really regretful to have heard such ‘ick’ information, “I’ll be heading out now.”

        The clerk waved her off apathetically, taking out his newly acquired coins to count them. “You do that,” he said.

        And so she did. Twilight headed out of the inn, finding the sky outside much darker and the air cooler since when she and her friend first entered the small town. Thankfully, there weren’t the hordes that had encroached upon them at their visitation as well. Trotting to the right side of the enclosure, she found the stables the clerk told her about. Instead of being a stable though, it was more a small shack, without even four walls to support it, and a few bales of hay being all the bedding that was available to her. Growing up in either the luxury of either Canterlot or the Schloss Schönbrunn, it was an unappealing sight to her.

        But... these people here, both humans and pony, lived in such states daily. If they could do it, so could she! No, she wouldn’t complain. Besides, the hay looked comforting to lay on. And tasty too! Cantering over to it, she tenderly placed a hoof down in the pile, before laying down comfortably in it. It bristled a bit against her fur, but it was a tolerable annoyance. Yes, she thought as she nestled in further, I can live with this. She could live with it even more so once she took out a book from her saddlebags with her magic, levitating it in front of her to read from its contents. Ah yes, Voltaire. Once Charles had recommended the scholar to her, she had found him charming in his wit and prose.

        It was only when she was fully laid down that she realized there was probably going to be a ton of hay in her mane after this. Brushing it out would not be fun in the least. She had brought a brush for the occasion, one of the many items she had packed in preparation, but to say she was unskilled in cleaning her mane was a kindness she ill afforded herself. Twilight actually had Charles brush her mane when the occasion came up, a situation which proved very awkward when it came up, but he did a dang good job with the purple mane. Hearing him gripe about ‘needing to clean his hands’ afterwards was a great trade-off to having her mane be a messy flop of hair.

        A small rustle in the background diverted her from her reading. The lavender-coloured mare looked back and forth across the landscape, seeing only a few bushes and trees. Nothing odd. Shrugging, she returned to her book. Then she heard it again. Now, this was starting to bother her. Closing her book and placing it besides her, the mare scanned the area for any suspicious sightings. “Anyone there?” she said, hoping to find some response.

        There was a slight ruffling in one of the bushes near her. A small fluff of hair popped out of it, accompanied by a head, the head of a small brown-haired girl. The child looked nervous at revealing herself, and didn’t dare head out any further. Twilight smiled kindly at the little thing. The mare was still tired, sure, but she could divert some time to this little side quest. “Hello! C’mon over little one, if you want to say hi, I won’t mind,” Twilight beckoned her over.

        The girl looked scared still, but the honesty emanating from Twilight’s words turned her opinion. Tip-toeing out of the small bush, Twilight was greeted to the full sight of the girl, a small little child with a ragged dirty brown dress and equally dirty hair. She stopped once she exited the bush, still nervous. Twilight was heartened by the little adorable act, wanting to draw her in further.  “Don’t worry, I won’t bite!” she joked.

        The girl smiled at the joke, giggling cutely as a result. Smiling along with the unicorn now, the girl jogged over to the laying unicorn. The child had dazzled eyes as she took full sight of the majestic creature in front of her, making an ‘ooh’ sound with her mouth. Twilight giggled herself now at the child's, well, childishness. “Haven’t seen a unicorn before?” Twilight said half-seriously.

        Her smile turned into a frown now. “No,” the girl at last spoke, speaking very softly, so quiet that Twilight would not have heard her as well as she did if not for her relatively better range of hearing.

        The unicorn moved to comfort her, standing up now and attempting to shake some of the rampant hay out of her mane. The child began giggling again upon seeing her futile attempt at cleaning herself. When she was done, Twilight’s mane looked even messier than before, puffing out in numerous directions now. “Looks like I’m not helping myself now, am I?” Twilight laughed at her own expense.

        The girl looked down suddenly, blushing brightly as a thought came to mind. Twilight picked up on this recent bout of color, and leaned down to her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

        Her blush grew further, as a few muttered words that barely rose above a whisper, so low that even Twilight couldn’t hear it. “Come again?” Twilight asked.

        Gulping, the girl looked up to the pretty unicorn, and smiled politely. “Can... can I pet your mane, miss?” she asked very politely, blushing scarlet red now.

        Well, that was unexpected. Twilight almost fell like blushing herself now. “Um, little girl, why do you want to do that?” the unicorn awkwardly responded.

        The girl smiled brighter now, eager to explain to the lustrous unicorn. “Oh, well, no one’s ever seen such a cool looking pony like you before, and I bet you can do all sorts of cool stuff with your magic, and, uh...” she paused for a moment, “... I like ponies.”

        Her bright smile as she said that last part didn’t increase Twilight’s chances at refusing her in the least. Making her decision up in short order, Twilight nuzzled the girl, who reciprocated the gesture with a hug. “Sure I will! Just to ask though, what’s your name?” Twilight asked.

        At her question, the child seemed divided on whether to tell her, not sure whether her intentions were just or not. But, this pony looked very nice, and adorable too! So that, according to child logic, meant she was trustworthy. “My, uh, name is Marie. It’s not a unique name, I know...” she berated herself.

        Twilight was aghast at her self-anger. “No, no, it’s a beautiful name, don’t dislike it! Mine’s Twilight by the way.” the unicorn tried to console her.

        Marie blushed once again, lowering her head once more. “I’m sorry Ms. Twilight, I’m kind of bad when it comes to talking to people. Mein Vater sagt oft. Well, more that I act too much like the hermit of Macedonia, but yeah...” she explained.

        Wait, what? Twilight thought. Hermit of Macedonia? “Marie, before we do that, well, thing with my mane, can you tell me who’s the hermit of Macedonia?” Twilight asked graciously, curious to know more.

“Well, she’s as, far as I know, she’s a hermit!” Marie said seriously.

The unicorn just barely prevented herself from falling flat on her face at that appalling answer. “... And?” Twilight asked further.

        Marie, realizing her lack of a good answer, continued. “Well, I’ve never met her, but one time while my daddy was away to work with some Turks in Macedonia, he told me he got really sick! But then, while he was getting really ill, a shy hermit cured him of his ills, and he got all better!” she said dramatically, making exaggerated gestures while she spoke.

        “I see,” Twilight said, becoming rapidly unconvinced now, but keeping up a mask for the girl anyway, “That’s... nice. Now, you wanted to...?”

        “Pet your mane!?” Marie asked delightedly, forgetting everything else in an instant.

        Twilight was starting to get just a bit weirded out, but she couldn’t throw a promise away now, could she? “Uh, yes?” she said while leaning forward for the young child.

        “Yay!” she shouted with joy, beginning to do so now, tender putting her hand on the unicorns mane.

        The lavender-coloured mare stood uneasy as the child began to pet her mane lovingly, drawing soft gasps or ‘ahs’ of delight from her as the stroking of her dark-purple mane went on. Though she was only a little girl, Twilight wasn’t used to this sort of, frankly, personal contact. It was creepy is the gist of what she was thinking. On the other hoof though, Marie looked so happy to do this, and from the clothes she wore Twilight doubted she was afforded many comforts. The very thought of denying her this simple pleasure made the mare feel very guilty, so she raised no protest. Even when the deutsches kind was a little too hard in her pats, it was a minor price to pay to give the kid some measure of happiness.

        A loud grumble emanating from Marie’s stomach halted their activities though. Marie was very embarrassed at the sound that came without warning, while Twilight was concerned by its implications. “Have you eaten yet?” Twilight asked worriedly.

        Marie backed off from the mare suddenly, feeling ashamed by her obvious distressed state. “I ate. Yesterday,” she whispered to herself.

        Twilight barely stopped herself from hugging the poor thing, and bit her lip when trying to decide what to do. Taking a glance at the saddlebags still at her side, a thought came to mind. Her horn suddenly glowed with magical energy, causing Marie’s eyes to widen in amazement. The unicorns saddlebags had the same glow appear around them, as they opened, a large apple floating out of it and falling into Marie’s quickly out-stretched hands. “Wha- how?” Marie babbled out, astonished at the just plain magical feat.

        Amused at her naivety, Twilight patted her head with a hoof. “I just used magic, silly,” she made a fake horrified look for a moment, before putting her patting hoof on the tip of the girls mouth, “Just don’t tell anyone that, okay? I might get in trouble, you know?”

        Marie nodded shakily, still almost delirious at the sight before her. “So... I can eat it then?” she asked, unbelieving.

        “Yep!”

        “Awesome!” the girl yelled, before biting into the apple, savoring its fruity deliciousness.

        Twilight smiled down at the adorable little girl. Sure, it might impact her and Charles’ food supplies just slightly, but it was worth it to her. Without warning though, the rest of the scenery exploded with children. Kids similar in hygiene and size to Marie popped out of trees, bush’s, et cetera, and crowded around Twilight in a hurry. “Can we have some too?” they all asked at almost the same time.

        Finding no words to describe the sudden emergence of these kids, Twilight looked down questioningly at Marie. The kleine deutsches kind blushed yet again at the new found scrutiny. “Uh, some of my friends wanted me to talk to you first, to see if you were nice or not,” she said with a toothy smile.

        Twilight sighed irritability, sizing up all the kids around her. They all looked at her with wanting eyes, in all their unwashed glory. The mare batted around the thought of politely refusing giving out more food, using such rationalizations as her not having enough to both give to them and sustain their trip, or that it was rude to expect so much from a stranger. She thought, but did not voice these complaints. Instead, she lifted more food out of the bags with her magic, sighing once more. “Who wants some food?” Twilight grumbled.

---

        One hour later

        Charles hummed a pleasant tune to himself as he walked outside into the night sky, his mind ablaze with thoughts on how to proceed from their current situation. After finding his quarters in the inn hospitable, he had planned and plotted how he and Twilight should continue their journey to his future post. He was prepared to discuss this with her in the dawn of midnight, so as to give them both ample privacy and cover from watching eyes, compared to the eyes they had attracted on their way to the piss-hole of a town. Though the night was nice, he had to admit, so he stood for a moment outside the door, mulling over his current plans once more before going to meet Twilight.

Hopefully, they would leave the town by early tomorrow, so as to not give any pursuers his grandfather had sent out more headway on him. Sure, he and Twilight were lucky enough to have escaped pursuit on their way out, but that was only due to the unexpected nature of their departure. It still gave him excited chills just thinking about how a weeks planning had catapulted them both on this course, to the closest thing to freedom the two had experienced in years. Simply exhilarating, that’s what it was, and he yearned to do something just as fulfilling again. He had a good feeling that his new posting in Hungary would fulfill that goal well. If their journey went well, good fortune having smiled on them so far.

        But even good fortune could not last them the whole trip. They’d need to be quick, fast, and knowledgeable of the land to make the rest of the trip to Hungary. Sooner or later, search parties would track them to at least their general location. The problem would be dodging them until then. Sure, Twilight was determined, but as clearly demonstrated earlier, she would not be able to sustain long trips. At least at first, practice might help her over time, but they wouldn’t exactly have time for practice.

It was foolish of him in hindsight to not talk to her about her stamina, though really there wasn’t much he could do about it he supposed. She wasn’t an earth pony or anything, or not even a Pegasus, God forbid he actually try and fly one of the famed ‘winged hussars’ for example, so her stamina was naturally limited in certain respects. Not in magic though, certainly not that. In fact, maybe he should have asked her about teleporting him there. If she could that is, if she was able to Twilight would have mentioned it earlier, though it was always better to be assured from her personally.

He barely knew magic, and felt apprehensive when Twilight used it so blatantly and powerfully around him, though he took care to hide this. Magic was just so... alien to him, a direct contradiction of all the rules of the earth. Not that he feared Twilight for this, but he wanted to be cautious. He still remembered their first few attempts at joint teleportation across a relatively small distance. Not fun, not fun at all, he thought darkly.

On the other hand, even if they were captured, he doubted they’d face much, if any retribution. As he said to the annoying handler, Charles simply wished to get to his post faster. Spending a few weeks in some ugly carriage did not appeal to him in the least, so he just took things into his own hands. Or, Twilight’s hooves in this case.

If they were caught by whatever parties that may or may not come across them, Charles feared only a light scolding at best, and then being sent on a more official envoy to his posting. And by official, he meant extremely guarded. That was the extent of the punishment the prince who had little such denial for most of his life expected, and perhaps it was even true to an extent.

However, Charles’ mind wandered again, The Kaiser might delay my trip by a month or so. How dreadful! That was an earnest thought from him, and truly the worst thing he thought could happen for running out of the city without warning to recklessly rush across the land to achieve his goals. Twilight worried little above that, convinced by his own confidence alone. So, as Charles at last walked to the side of the stable the clerk had told him Twilight inhabited, he expected to meet the mare either awake and reading something, or asleep, in which case he would awaken her duly.

And so he was most surprised when he found said mare, surrounded by a horde of urchins playing around her, eating food, tugging and petting her mane, riding on her back, and some even being lifted into the air by her magic! The kids were all smiling vividly, and even Twilight had a content, if tired look on her muzzle. Charles could only stare blankly at just what in the hell was going on here, before making his presence known. He had a certain amount of tiredness, so his words came out with more force than he intended due to his grogginess. “And who are you all?!” he shouted.

        All eyes turned to the encroaching slender man in black, looking almost like a pale ghost with the moonlight behind him. Terrified at this new presence, and fearful of any potential punishment, the children quickly dashed off in just a moment in all directions. Not before a little dirty brown-haired girl went up to Twilight and kissed her cheek though, causing the mare to nuzzle her before she departed. “What in the world just happened here?” Charles demanded to know, eying the girl as she at last left.

        Twilight gave him a ‘really?’ look. “What happened? Well, you came in, scared a bunch of kids, and now you’re asking me what’s going on?” she answered him with a hint of snark in her voice.

        The prince narrowed his eyes at her, but laid off his gaze after a moments thought. He didn’t need this right now, and he just wanted to get this over with. They were both more than a little tired now, he was assured of this. “Fine, I’m some sort of creature right out of a Grimm tale,” he spotted her opened bags, “Oh dammit, don’t tell me you let them eat our food!”

        Sitting back down in the hay pile, while closing her bags with magic, Twilight ignored his accusing look. “What if I did? They looked hungry!” she reasoned.

        Charles rolled his eyes at her naivety. Curse his previous objectives, she was wrong, and he needed to prove her so, damned be the consequences! “Yes, because they’re peasants. If they’re not hungry they’re working, and if they’re not working they’re probably slavering over how to best manage their meagre existence. That’s their life Twilight, interrupting it has only given them a brief respite at best, and further demands from decent volk like yourself at worst. You’ve only hurt us by doing this,” he explained, his anger apparent to her.

        “And you’re saying that we shouldn’t help them, simply because it would be inconvenient for us?”

        “Because it is! How much of our food did you give away?” he accused harshly.

        At this statement Twilight turned her face away from his, her expression turning scarlet with guilt. “... A little,” she whimpered.

        Charles raised a brow at this, nodding to himself in an ever-growing sense of victory. “And how much is ‘a little’?” he mockingly questioned.

        Feeling now how light her saddlebags were in comparison to before, Twilight buried her head in the hay in agony. “Fine, I screwed up, okay! Is that what you wanted to hear?” she choked out through the hay now in her mouth.

        A frown slowly developed on Charles’ face. Pinching the bridge of his nose abruptly, he figured he might have gone too far on her. After all, what else did he expect from one as kind as her without him to help ease her away from less practical solutions? This exact thing, that’s what. In the end he could only blame himself for not being there to guide her. Even if she was a pony, she seemed to have a regular women’s temperament in regards to her treatment of others, so it only made sense that she needed a decent man’s help to steer her clear of such a course. Admirable of her, truly it was, but still irksome in times like now.

        Making his mind up, he walked his way over to where the mare lay, kneeling down in the messy hay next to her. Dirty as the environment was, Twilight’s stability mattered far more to him than silly gropes like that. He leaned over the sunken mare's body, patting the hump of her back. “Twilight, it’s fine. I’m...” he paused for a moment, trying to force the words out as he always did in these cases, “Sorry, because I overreacted. You meant well, and I should not have gotten on you because of that. Will you forgive me?”

        He waited patiently for a response, and when he heard a muffled ‘yes’ from her, he smirked victoriously. Another one bites the dust, he supposed. Twilight raised herself from her sunken position, lying on the side of her body and facing the prince from across herself now. “You’re lucky I know you enough to tell if you’re sincere. Otherwise I’d still be on you for that,” Twilight joked, before turning serious once more, “I am sorry though. If it’ll actually affect us in any way I mean.”

        Charles shook his head rapidly. “No, if we conserve we should be all right. Or if we scavenge, buy new foodstuffs with the decent amount of thalers we have, and such. No, we’re fine,” he moved to assure her.

        An attempt at lightening the mood came to mind, and he attempted to do so. “Besides, at least we’re even for that time with the cake, remember? Your last birthday?” he recalled fondly.

        Twilight was torn between laughing or burying her head once again at the embarrassing events. “I thought we weren’t going to mention that again?” she said pointedly.

        Charles’ smirk grew wider at her aghast attitude. “Oh no, I simply must remind you of how you-”

        “Fränzchen.”

        That was all it took to shut him up. His face fell into a frown again, while Twilight looked particularly victorious at the outcome of this round. “How about me move on now?” he said suddenly.

        “Let’s.” the unicorn agreed.

        He coughed briskly into a closed fist, almost as if to brush away the previous topics at hand. “Anyway, before we were side-tracked, we were on our future course of action, correct?”

        “True. So, what’s our main course after this?”

        “A relatively straight-path. Our meeting spot was apparently somewhere around Buda, so once we get into Ungarn itself I’m sure we’ll be fine. The challenge is avoiding any search parties that may have already been sent out.”

        Twilight nodded, getting it so far. Then visible doubt blackened her face, before she voiced some worries.  “What I don’t get though is why you’re so insistent on going through with this in the first place. I mean, I know you want to get to there quicker, but is saving time really that important to you?” the mare asked, trying to find some explanation.

        Charles grunted, not having much of a chance to enunciate his reasoning until now. Twilight had had faith in him so far though. It was only appropriate to give her due cause for his actions. Taking a small breath, he drew closer to her, feeling the cold of the night begin to get to him. “It’s difficult to describe Twilight. I know you’re not as... far-sighted as me in certain areas, yet this is a personal desire. The want, no the need, to get there on my own terms, to prove myself not some fancified-fop to those I shall be leading, a carrion who feasts on their glory and travels only in gilded carriages.

He balled his hand into a fist. "No, I seek them to see me as a man who shall arrive to them on his own terms, to make my way to them and make them know that I have arrived for them and them alone, that I seek to work for them and their benefit. I wish to see the land on my own terms as well, I admit, for otherwise I would be consigned only to specific routes and designations. No, here I, no we, shall have some leeway in regards to where we shall head. Even if it is not Wien, I must say, there is a certain... rustic charm to this place.”

        Twilight listened attentively to his monologue all the while, nodding when appropriate and doing other such small gestures which heartened him. Finally when he finished, she said the first thing that came to mind. “That’s still kind of needlessly complicated,” she pointed out.

        Charles’ face began scrunching up in an apparent fit, before he burst out into laughter. “I suppose it is mein Liebchen, I suppose it is! But greatness was never built on ease now, was it?” he said through his mirth.

        Twilight smiled back at him. “I guess it’s not. And, I guess we’re too far to stop now. Celestia knows I should have stopped you. Maybe I could teleport us back if you’re really interested in stopping this, though now that I think about it, showing up at the palace instantaneously in a flash of light may not helpful to us at all.” she said with a hoof to her chin.

        Nodding along with her suggestion, Charles placed a hand on his chin as well, posing a Thinker-esque pose. “Could you teleport us to Ungarn anyway? It’d certainly save us the trip.” he said half-seriously, honestly curious to see if it was possible or not.

        The idea was trashed when she shook her head. “No, I need to know where we’re going before I even think of teleporting me alone, not even counting you, over such long distances. When it’s somewhere relatively close, in eyesight let’s say, it’s fine, but otherwise...” she shook her head again, “Way too dangerous.”

        Charles hummed again, disappointed but not defeated. “Fine. Are we all set, then?”

        “Good. We’ll get our rest, and head out early on the morrow. You ready to continue Twilight?” he asked, sounding much more grave and serious now.

        That did not deter the unicorn in the least though, as she nodded in compliance. “Yeah, I am. If I wasn’t, did you think I would come this far with you to begin with?” Twilight said easily.

        He gained a hint of an honest smile at that comment. “True, true. I wonder why I doubted you really. You’re so reliable Twilight, so dependable, unlike... others,” he sneered after saying the word.

        He certainly put much vitriol into his words. Twilight was not sure who he was specifically referring to, but she had a decent idea. The problem was getting him to confirm her suspicions or not. “Want to talk about it?” she prodded carefully.

        There was a sunken nature in his expression at that question. A sullen look had befallen his features, and he looked downward at the hay beneath both of them, not feeling up to task right now. “I’d rather not,” was all he said.

        Twilight bit her lip in a fit of worry, trying to guess what to do. “You know, we’re going to end up discussing it eventually. Might as well make it now,” she said, rationalizing off their previous talks like this.

        A slight tug upward at the edge of his mouth indicated that that had done the trick. Bemusedly, he asked, “Have our talks really gotten so predictable?”

        “Yeah. I wouldn’t say that’s bad though. There’s a certain comfort in predictability, in knowing what to expect. Helps make life easier sometimes, you know?” she reasoned.

        “That it is, that it is,” he nodded as he spoke, raising his head up to meet her sight now, “But I would prefer to wait. Maybe later, but not now. I’m still unsure what worries me myself honestly.”

        The almost tender admission was enough to deter Twilight from any further attempts, for now. At the very least, he seemed willing to talk, if not ready. A sudden yawn found its way out her muzzle as she thought this over. Charles noted this with drowsy eyes of his own. “Getting tired, are we?” he said plainly.

        “Indeed. It’s been a long day, and it’s dark. Time for sleep.” Twilight half-mumbled out, snuggling in further into the hay.

        The unicorn closed her eyes as she tried to sleep. There was quiet for a few seconds, until Twilight opened her eyes again, finding Charles still there, laying down now and just staring into the sky. “Aren’t you going to go back inside?” she asked slowly, her brain stuck in an almost shut down state.

        He mumbled something incoherent to her in her current state. “What was that?” she asked further.

        “I said I’m too tired to get up. Besides, there’s a certain nostalgia to sleeping with you again, even if it is in some shit hole in the middle of nowhere.”

        She was surprised, so much so that she did not chastise him on his vulgarity. Twilight did not expect him to be so fond of those past times. Sure, she remembered and loved sleeping with him, having semi-slumber parties everyday with the only companion available during her younger days at the palace. Only the soft sheets and each of their presences offered that sweet comfort to both of them. There actually was a certain nostalgic value to it now that she thought about it. It made her feel all warm and content, even in their dilapidated state. Snuggling in to herself again to try and find a more pleasant sleeping position, Twilight mumbled out one last word before falling to sleep. “Night.”

        “Night.” the prince mumbled back, his eyes falling at last.

---

        May 25th

        “I swear Twilight, if I encounter one more village with not a single Deutsch speaker among the populace, I will stab someone.” Charles complained vividly on top of Twilight.

        The two were making their way past the outskirts of another Hungarian village they had travelled through. They were growing ever closer to Buda and Pest by the day, a fact which pleased them both greatly, though the increasing lack of German speakers was a nuisance. There was only so much you could tell by hand motions and shouting in German alone, though to be fair shouting in German got them this far. German had a way of working like that. On the other hand or hoof, they had encountered no further trouble in regards to travelling. Surprisingly enough, they had neither encountered or even heard of any search parties looking for them as they went on. Twilight was unsure of whether to feel grateful or suspicious of that, though Charles took it with only a sign that they were heading on the right course of action.

        Both of them looked more disheveled since their first day out. Subsisting mostly in rotted old inns with barely a change of clothes for Charles would do that, and their lack of any proper bathing compared to the relatively nice settings in the palace made Charles’ hair and Twilight’s mane more rugged and pointed out. Neither complained though, it was too much a pride thing for either of them to even contemplate it, and besides, it was not as if they were want for food at least, their stores holding up even after Twilight's act of charity. That did not stop Charles from keeping a close eye on her when they were near children though. Better safe than sorry after all.

“Perhaps we should have actually learned Hungarian before we decided to go to Ungarn,” Twilight said, feeling very stupid at this oversight.

Charles shook his head at her suggestion. “No, most everyone in this part of the land speaks Croatian anyway. I think we passed a few Slovak villages though, I’m not sure, but the point stands either way. Besides there’s no use for learning the languages outside these backwater provinces. Jeder gute Mensch spricht Deutsch, und nicht irgendeine Sprache,” he derisively declared.

That was a dark comment to Twilight’s ears, but she had no rebuttal for it at the moment. Right now she was more focused on keeping a steady run, making sure to have spaced breaths and stretching her legs out when she moved forward. After the first few days, she had gotten into a steady routine actually, and could withstand these long treks more efficiently, a very good thing to her. Efficiency was always one of her loves after all, next to certain other close things. Charles was particularly admirable of her growing stamina, a fact which he lavished on whenever possible. Not that Twilight denied him or anything. Bashful as she was at times, flattery, especially from him, was always welcome.

“So,” she said, hoping to divert their attentions to somewhere else, “Any ideas for what we’ll do when we actually get near Buda?”

The prince released his grip on the reins, intertwining his hands temporarily in a thoughtful pose. “Depends. If we get there with no trouble, I could assume we would be taken to my new command. If there is trouble however... Well, I’m going to assume the goodwill of mein Opa will last,” he said without much confidence.

If Twilight wasn’t running she would have smacked her head in frustration. “We really did not think of the consequences of this fully, did we?”

“In hindsight no, but I believe our exuberance would be a fitting excuse. If nothing else we have done nothing truly wrong, only set out on our own way to our destination. Punishment for such a relatively light misdemeanor would seem a crude gesture, but...” he trailed off, his mouth becoming parched.

        Charles grabbed the reins a bit, pulling them back gently in order to notify Twilight of his intent. As she slowed down, looking back at him to see what was the problem, Charles asked. “Let’s stop at a river or pool. I’m feeling a tad thirsty at the moment, and I doubt we could get anything decent back there. Sound good?”

        “Yeah, I’m starting to get a bit thirsty myself. Bathing in some water would be nice as well. The air’s getting a little thick for my tastes,” Twilight added with an unpleasant face.

        Sniffing the air, Charles could only agree with her. They had little chance to clean themselves after the first few days, and the two sets of spare clothes he brought were already used up. Right now he relegated himself to his usual black attire, his spares getting worn already. Twilight’s hair was also getting scruffy, the lavender-colored fur becoming messy in certain areas of her body; her mane not much better, though still delightfully luscious, to Charles’ own approval. A good stop at some river would do them both good.

        “Good point. Hang on, let me check...”

        Charles reached a hand into one of the saddlebags at Twilight’s side, frisking inside for a few moments to try and find something. Feeling something thin and smooth to his fingers, he pulled it out quickly. It was a small piece of parchment, with an assortment of handwritten lines on it. He had taken to copying some local maps from the palace’s library in their preparation, to be used in situations such as this. Taking a good, long look at it, Charles’ fingers tracing delicately along the thin map as he searched, he pointed suddenly to a certain spot. “Yes, here! A mile or so forward I believe, there’s a small river. It’ll be just off the road we’re on right now actually.” he said triumphantly.

        Nodding, Twilight looked forward again, beginning to hasten herself again. “That is awfully convenient.” she spoke almost suspiciously.

        He leaned forward to close the distance between their heads, in order to hear each other over the high sounds of her hooves clip-clopping hard against the dirt beneath her now. “No need to chastise good fortune mein liebchen. After all, I am certain my destiny has and shall continue to lead us well. There is no other way we could have gotten as far as we have otherwise.”

        If Charles could look directly at the unicorn’s face, he would’ve been amused by the confused look that suddenly befell her. “I didn’t know you were a man who believed in destiny Charles,” Twilight almost wondrously said, her disbelief at the situation evident in her tone.

        “I do not,” he corrected her, “What I call destiny is simply what I deem my destiny to be. To say that I believe my fate is controlled and sealed is a foolish and quite frankly terrifying notion in its implications, so I use destiny as I seek to use it. My destiny is my ambition, my goals, and I shall climb towards them further and further, day by day, until I accomplish it. Destiny, mein liebchen, is what I demand it to be, and it shall listen to my call.”

        Twilight nearly shivered at the end of that. As usual when he got into minor rants like this, he spoke with such fervor and delirious passion in his words that it was hard to not get drawn closer to him by the sheer force of his charisma alone. Not that Twilight actually could get closer to him than she already was, but the point still stood. The confidence, the force of will, the iron in his words, they were as clear as the stars in the night sky. And as he was wont to do, he made her listen to him fully by the power of his voice alone. It was unnerving to Twilight, the effect he had on her at times, but she had no question as to why she was so receptive to him. Perhaps he was just that charismatic? Perhaps...

        “Twilight, we’re here!” Charles’ voice called.

        Skidding to a halt, Twilight found that they were there. To her right, not a few meters beyond the road, lay a small stream, not wide enough to be impassable but still fairly large. Slipping off of her and onto the ground, Charles crossed his arms and took a good look at the stream. “Seems fine, would you not say?” he asked with a small glance her way.

        From what she could tell, the stream looked clear enough. Not translucent or anything, but more than enough to serve their purposes. “Sure. Ready to take a little stop then?” Twilight she said in good humour.

        “Indeed.”

        The two walked over to the stream, bypassing a few small rocky outcroppings along the way. As they proceeded closer and closer to the Balkans, the geography got further and further mountainous and rocky, though thankfully the main roads were still clear. It was an interesting sight though for the young adult mare, who loved the unique sights of the land and took great pleasure from gazing upon them as they travelled. Charles was, well, noticeably less excited about ‘a bunch of giant rocks’ in his own words.

        Reaching it at last, the two leaned over the stream, taking in their muddled reflections in the water with amused faces. “You’ve certainly seen better days mein Freund,” Twilight said with a smile.

        “Hmph, I could say the same for you. Though I shall not, since saying even the kindest insult to your mane would be an insult to beauty in general.” he flashed a smirk her way as he said so.

        Giving him only the smallest blush at the compliment, Twilight looked down at the water again before talking further. “Mind getting this stuff off of me? I wouldn’t want to get our remaining foodstuffs wet and all, unless that’s your intent,” she spoke with a good-spirited laugh.

        “If you so insist mein liebchen, your wish is my command.” He unbuckled the reins and dropped her saddlebags to the ground.

        Wriggling around for a moment, testing her body after finally being unburdened for the first time in days, Twilight did a quick sprint around Charles. That earned a cross-armed look from the prince. “Having fun?” he asked, only the barest hint of any amusement in her acts visible.

        Twilight nodded her head happily. “Yeah I am! I always loved reading about these places in books, but to see them, to feel them,” she took a deep breath, taking in the warm air with a delighted expression, “It’s amazing! If I knew how this was, I’d have wanted to leave sooner.”

        Charles rolled his eyes at her amusement, suppressing a smile. It was almost adorable how she acted at times, the mare behaving  like the filly he met so long ago during moments like these. A warm glow erupted from his heart at the sight of his friend so happy. Even if she was a little too exuberant, he would not begrudge her for that though. Heavens no, it was as much a treat for him as it was for her. And even if it was not, it made her happy, so who was he to complain?

 Right now though he would have to cut their merriment short. Time was of the essence, and they could not afford to waste it in semantics and adorable joy. “That as it may be Twilight, I say we should hurry. We’ll get washed, ready ourselves once more, and continue on till the next town or sunset hits us. Agreed?”

        Stopping her jaunt, the mare’s ears pressed against the top of her head. “Eh, sure.”

His heart tugged when he saw her ears press down, as it was a gesture Charles was all too familiar with by this point, and the moods from the mare it forewarned. He wondered how he had gotten so used to these expressions from the other species, and was answered by the amount of time he had spent with Twilight. Years with another culture or species made you notice those little hints, those nudges that indicated mood, and it proved vital in conversation. Sometimes he wondered if he knew more about pony body language than that of his own species as a result of this long period of friendship, but surely that was a foolish thought at best.

“Do you wish to get in first, or should I?” he motioned towards the stream as he spoke.

A much brighter blush appeared on the mare’s face now. “Uh, you should probably go first, while I’m over there, because, well, clothes and all.” Twilight awkwardly stated, gesturing towards his garments with a hoof.

Feeling a blush reach his pale cheeks as well, Charles hastened to keep a calm disposition, and failed. “Ah, yes, uh, that’s right. You... go over there then, and I’ll, uh, undress.” He nearly gargled his words, while making a shooing motion towards some nearby trees.

“That sounds prudent!” Twilight yelled hastily, before running behind said trees in a mad dash.

        Groaning lowly at the miserable set of occurrences, Charles sat himself down next to the stream, undressing himself slowly. He did glance behind himself every few seconds in a paranoid manner though, on the lookout for any sudden viewers, whether they be civilian, watchmen, or man-hunter. Or unicorn. Once he was done though, he stood up, placing his clothes down next to the running stream. Satisfied, Charles began to dip a toe into the water, edging back at first due to the coldness of it, but slowly settling in. The water ran up to his waist when he stood up fully in it, and the cold water was a refreshing if startling experience to him.

        Moving upward towards the source of the river, to the right of where he entered it, he found a decent spot to sit down and did so. The water just barely reached up to the edge of his neck now as he sat on his rear, toes sunk into the dirt, his knees in front of him, all bent and huddled close to his chest. Charles faced directly where Twilight would be a few meters out, and sought to get her out of her hiding spot. “It’s fine now Twilight, just go over to the left side of the stream and, well, do your thing,” he said with a bewitched expression, unknowing of the hygiene habits of women, let alone mares.

        “Your left or my left?” Twilight called back.

        “Your left!” he shouted, not wanting some horrible mishap to occur or anything.

        It was awkward enough doing this now that they actually realized the intrinsic details of this operation, but he did not need a fully grown mare jumping into the water next to him. Space would fill up very quickly in such a case, plus the more... well do I really have to mention it? I don’t think so. Anyway Twilight headed out from behind the tree, proceeding to the stream and settling in herself far away from the prince. “You know, this is really good! A little cold, but good!” she shouted towards him.

        “Good for you,” he mumbled to himself, before sinking himself further into the river.

        A contented sigh escaped his lips as the water rippled around him. Yes, this was pleasing. Relaxation, that’s what he and Twilight needed. Time away from the idleness of the palace and in the depths of nature, a moment to just themselves. His worries were so soothed by the water, he almost forgot about his goal in the first place. Almost. Charles and Twilight lavished in the river for a few minutes, until the sound of hooves and footsteps banging against the dirt caught both their attention. Curious as to the sound that was getting nearer and nearer as time went on, Charles was about to raise himself from the river to find the source of the noise.

That motion was put to an end as three men walked into sight above him. The lead one had on a simple military style uniform, while the other two wore standard white soldiers uniforms. All of them leaned over, expecting to find the prince, but their eyes bugged out when they found him in less than presentable circumstances.  “Welp, this is awkward.” the lead one cringed as he spoke with a thick Hungarian accent, speaking what was all on their mind.

        “Indeed it is.” Charles replied, looking up and trying hard to not die from the blood rushing to his face.

        “Uh, Charles, it seems we’ve been found out,” Twilight called over from afar, dealing with some intruders of her own.

        “Too late, Twilight,” was all he could reply.

        Fighting off the urge to smack his face at the stupidity of this situation, the leader of the men leaned forward further, extending hand down to Charles. “I’m sure you’d like to get dressed before you and your pony friend want to discuss things with us,” the leader guessed while smiling deviously at him.

        With a glance backward, the leader told the two behind him to direct their eyes elsewhere. Seeing no better way out of this now, Charles took the offered hand, and was pulled upward by the man. Finding his clothes where he left them, thankfully nearby, he dispensed some minor thanks to the leader of the men, before beginning to dress himself as soon as possible, not caring if his clothes got wet by his still moist body. The leader gave him the decency to do so without keeping his eyes on him... much. Putting his clothes on in a roughshod yet serviceable manner, Charles frowned deeply when he turned to their leader again.

Now that he had a good look at the man, Charles was struck by the contrast in his dress. He had a black, plain military uniform with a brown fur cape at his side being his only decoration. The uniform matched his dark, bushy beard and moustache almost too perfectly. In fact, bushy was a good word to describe him as a whole, as his whole beard looked like it was simply an extension of his top hair, and his eyebrows looking like caterpillars ready to move at any moment. All in all, he looked like a mix between some highborn noble, a simple lieutenant, and a bear. Almost as if he was a manticore version of the three, the legendary creature being a surprisingly apt simile for the situation.  The strange and alien figure of the man did not help Charles' current jumble of thoughts at all.

“And you are whom, to feel the need to so graciously interrupt me?” Charles asked, his temper flaring.

        The black-haired man kept a cool disposition despite the hostile intent of his words. “Why, the man who volunteered to find our wayward Prinz und Pony, of course. Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék, to be more precise,” István apathetically stated, listing his long name off as if it was a chore.

        Charles' eyes narrowed at the name. He had a bad idea over who this intruder and his lackeys were. There were numerous things that tipped him off, the accents, the added decorations in the uniforms of the two soldiers in comparison to other soldiers, and the name itself. "A Ungarn noble, I presume?" Charles guessed.

        "You would presume right mein Prinz," the leader answered with a wink of his eye, confirming his suspicions.

        Amazingly Charles' eyes narrowed further at the answer. Only the guns on the two men beside the leader and Twilight's lack of presence preventing himself from attempting to escape right now. "What's one of your kind doing out here? Were you sent to drag me back to Wien in chains?" Charles accused, his suspicions evident for all to see.

        If he was offended by these accusations, István did not show it, instead shaking his head in denial. "If I was sire, would I be nearly as forthcoming as I am now?" before Charles could answer István continued, "No, I would not. I am here simply, well... you'll see. Suffice to say I am not taking you back to the Reich court. Instead I am a guide, and nothing more."

        This was sounding too good to be true to the prince. "And just what would that entail?" Charles asked further.

        "I would rather tell you this in the presence of your 'companion', seeing as you both were willing participants in this at least."

        Stewing silently, Charles bit his tongue before responding. "Fine," he choked out through gritted teeth.

        Twilight appeared not a moment later, escorted by two guards of equal dressage as the ones before him now. As he caught sight of her, Charles felt his mouth suddenly begin to dry in an instant. What struck Charles so greatly was Twilight's appearance, the water from the river still clinging tightly against her fur, and most especially her mane. It was slick and shiny now from the water, giving it an almost vibrant look to it, and her downed mane caused Charles to give special attention due to its radiance. Her mane was an absolutely amazing sight to him, a sight he absorbed for as long as possible.

Only one thought crossed Charles' mind now. To paint, to draw, to do anything to immortalize this image. He had never wanted to paint a picture of the mare more so than now, so stunning was the sight. It was one of those rare images that needed to be drawn, to be put on a monument for all to see for the rest of history, so glamorous was it. That radiance he saw was diminished when Twilight stopped next to them, shaking the water off her fur, causing the droplets to hit the two guards next to her.

István and his own two guards barely could withhold their own laughter upon seeing the guards flanking Twilight get absolutely soaked with water, now eyeing the mare with very annoyed eyes. "Uh, sorry?" Twilight timidly said, wanting to hide under a rock now.

Charles was still so enraptured in the beauty of this scene though, that he had almost missed István's next few words. Preparing to stop any grievances from being aired, István cut in to greet the mare. "Ah, gut, sehr ausgezeichnet. Now that Fräulein..." he paused a bit to recall the name, "Sparkle ist hier, wir müssen sprechen."

The Count's heavily accented German caught the eye of Twilight, who looked questioningly at him. Charles also managed to shake his way out of his self-induced daydreaming, intent on learning more about the mysterious Count. "Forgive me for not introducing myself, Fraulein. I am Count István." István greeted with a small bow, dropping the rest of his title for brevity's sake.

Twilight gave him a kind smile at the nice greeting. "Hallo, Herr István. I suppose you're here to take us back to Wien, right?" she mournfully questioned, resigned to a remorseful acceptance.

"Not quite, Fraulein," István cut in, "I am actually taking you both near Buda, to meet with Prinz Franz's battalion."

Now this was definitely too good to be true. "What? Why, I want to know what's your aim in this. No noble like you would sully himself by doing such a personal task, so spit it out," Charles demanded.

The Count shook his head in denial.  "No aim at all Prinz. I actually volunteered to take this position to meet you, while I was here in a break from my travels from the Welt,"  István told him.

Charles did a double-take. "Come again?"

"Exactly. While your Opa was... displeased at your behavior, he thought it would be too harsh to take you back to Wien after you had come so far. So, I just offered to bring you to your post, under my auspicious gaze. The men here were simply to help me track you. It's remarkably easy to find a purple unicorn and sharp-dressed young adult riding around in the countryside," he said bemusedly.

The remark certainly put a damper on both their spirits. "Well, at least we tried..." Twilight apologetically stated to Charles, nearly driving him mad again at her desire to say sorry unnecessarily.

"Try you did dear, and I must say, despite no formal training, you actually did quite well. I mean, we were just passing by when we saw you in the distance. If we turned the other way, you would've been free to go your way onto Buda. Where we would then find you anyway of course, but the point still stands."  István complimented them with a wink of his eye.

He certainly was not making them feel better about their plan. "Charles... we're kind of stupid, aren't we?" Twilight deadpanned, actually smacking her face with a hoof now.

A rapid twitching of his right eyelid was answer enough to her. István, finding these two quite amicable compared to his usual companions here, smiled at them both. "Ha, do not despair. As I said, it was still a close call, and a brave effort at the least. Certainly more brave than most things I see out here. Either way, the Kaiser would not call the hammer down on you much I'd guess, you being family and all. Plus, it gives me an ample excuse to leave the city for the countryside. I love travelling, and being stuck in Buda, as much as I love it, can get grating. Plus the scenery looks absolutely divine today. Lovely weather we have this time of year, wouldn't you say?"

The two were struck by his non-chalant behavior in the face of this serious situation. Definitely having fun by this point, István offered them both a conciliatory look. "Forgive me, I'm just so excited to be out here! You know, how about we discuss this on our way to Buda and Pest? I'm sure us all standing here, some of us more than a bit wet now," István stopped himself from giggling as the wet guards frowned deeply," is not going well for us. So let's discuss what will happen as we travel, ja?"

The two exchanged significant glances with one another before responding to him. "Sure?" Twilight unsteadily answered, still unsure of the proposition, yet seeing no other option available to them at the moment.

"Excellent. Shall we?" István said, gesturing towards the road ahead.

---

Two hours later

"And that's when I say, if you put the word 'offered' in a sentence one more time, I'll chop your fingers off myself with a kilij."

The small group of men and the ponies István and his group rode on were travelling up the road, listening to István tell stories and quips instead of the interrogation Charles and Twilight expected. A chorus of laughs rang out from the men and the ponies they rode at István's joke, Charles included. Twilight, walking next to the prince, seeing as Charles insisted on walking what István said was a relatively short distance to Buda, didn't find it funny in the least. These men certainly had a morbid sense of humor. Though from what István told them, his friend was truly an awful writer. His descriptions alone were enough to make Twilight cringe.

"You're stories are good Count, though if you would not mind, I would prefer getting back on topic now," Charles said, wanting to learn what he needed, even if he was enjoying the current situation.

István frowned, not that the two could see it or anything, as he was ahead of them in the makeshift convoy. He turned his head to take in the slender boy, no, young man behind him, eyeing him up carefully. Slim, blond hair, a bit pale; but still, quite handsome. Charles had a most pleasing figure to the Count, who had little experience with such handsome men at the Hungarian court and parties he attended so often. Those were always full of such plump and stuffed up figures that they looked like they could explode at any moment though. Not this man though, he looked sharp, imposing in his height, and most importantly, an ambitious edge in his eyes that had a fire in him he had never seen before in anyone before.

True, he looked like he had seen better days, but hadn't they all? Even better, the prince looked to be from nice German and Italian stock, a guarantee considering his lineage. Truly wondrous. Not that István would do anything besides ogle. He had little leeway for his deviance in regards to his private space alone, and he did not need to bring further complications to it. Just another thing to drink down, along with everything else he did in his life and for his country.

"Count?" Charles asked again, looking weirdly now at István, who continued to gaze at him with half-lidded eyes.

"What? Oh, yes," István mumbled, his wandering mind shaken out of its spiel, "If you insist Prinz Franz. I do find our current status much more enticing though, would you not say? Less stressful, and I'm sure you and the kind Fraulein over there would be grateful for less stress after the ample voyage you have done. I must congratulate you on that again by the way, that tale will give me some good thoughts to stew over when I am bored, I assure you," István complimented with a cheeky smile.

Charles frowned irritably up at the man. "Nein. I want answers. Now, preferably."

        Twilight leaned over to him to whisper into his ear. "Charles, are you sure? I mean, it doesn't look like we're in trouble, he's practically said that already, so why not just wait until we have a decent spot to discuss this in?" she offered.

        "I must agree with the purple mare there," István interrupted, smirking as he caught the two by surprise, "Though if you must insist, I shall let you ride me on as you will."

        The almost sultry tone the Count said those last words in sent a tumble of emotion through Charles. The problem was, he wasn't sure if he liked it or not, so hard it was to make out the feelings that came and went without warning. He stiffened his posture as he continued to walk though, setting firm eyes on the Count once more. "I would insist," he answered.

        István waved a hand through the air as he looked forward again, uncaring as could be. "Fine, go ahead."

        "Excellent. Now, you said you're our guide, right? What does that mean?" Charles began his questioning with a rapid barrage.

        Pausing to formulate a response, István put a hand to his chin. "Hmm. Depends. I have volunteered to, in light of your rampant departure from Wien, watch over you in your command of the battalion you shall lead. I shall play no part in your affairs, I shall not intervene in anything unofficial, I will only be a lookout to ensure you don't try and cross over the Russian border for whatever reason. So long as you and the fine mare there do what you were going to do anyway, it will be as if I'm not even there." The Count seemed confident in the validity of his statements.

        Charles was most definitely not convinced by that, the whole answer sounding suspicious and made up in advance to appease him. Twilight accepted it though, her trusting nature shining through, the mare letting out a pleased hum. "Okay Count, that seems legitimate. But just what are we going to do once we get to Char- I mean, Franz's battalion?" she said, hastening to correct her almost mistake.

        István noticed the near slip, but decided not to comment on it. "We're just going to do some maneuvers near the Bosnian border of the Ottoman Empire. Nothing extravagant or anything, just a few practice movements to give him a hang of handling large amounts of men. That sound fine to you, Prinz?" István said, flashing a smirk Charles' way.

        Resisting the urge to grumble, especially because his feet were getting sore from walking so long now, Charles nodded. "Fine with me. So long as we actually do something."

        István chortled. "Oh we shall do something Herr Prinz, we shall. I can already tell, we're going to have a bunch of fun, us three."

        He meant it too. István could see himself getting quite keen on these two, oh yes indeed. They would surely bring some fun to these parts! The Hungarian Count began laughing loudly again, causing everyone around him to look at him weirdly as he did so. Neither Charles or Twilight knew why, but a cold shiver ran down their spines at his words. Almost as if their bodies were attempting some weird version of foreshadowing at István's tempting words. That would be too abstract to be true though, right?

---

        May 26th

        István clapped his hands together at the sight before him. "There they are. The boys who will begin to look up to you. Let's hope you do them good."

Before István, Charles, and Twilight was a large campsite, filled with around a hundred or so humans and an equal number of ponies. The humans were all armed in standard plain white uniforms, with cavalry swords sheathed at their hips or near them, while the ponies were all earth type, with the standard variety of colors present in them. It was a uniform group of soldiers, all looking the same from a distance, discussing and chatting with each other before they were expected to do anything for the day.

         Charles sized the rabble up from his far-off position as he and the other two drew closer on the road, nodding to himself in silent approbation. "They seem worthwhile. If not, this whole trip will have been for naught," he noted as he took in the scene, taking a deep breath of the cool air around them.

        Once the three had arrived at Buda and Pest yesterday, they spent the rest of the day there, discussing more mundane matters before they would travel to the battalion a few miles out from the city. They had decided to walk the rest of the way, on István's suggestion, on the basis of spending time with the prince and unicorn, and to tell them about the land of Hungary. Twilight was noticeably interested in the medieval history of the land, the dual nature of the split capital of Buda and Pest especially, while Charles was, well, noticeably less excited in these more mundane affairs. As was usual for him, anything outside his admittedly broad scope of interests escaped him entirely.

        What did interest both him and Twilight though was István's attempts to teach them Hungarian. The Count had offered it to them yesterday, as a way to help them understand the mostly Hungarian speaking battalion, and they both took him up on the offer instantaneously, ever-happy to learn more for differing reasons. István had offered them a few starting sentences as an example already, and they took to it rather well. The Count made a special note of how quickly they took to new languages, a sign from his report on the two that proved true. Charles hoped to have them both fluent in the language by a few weeks at the very most. After all, he couldn't exactly command his future troops if he didn't even understand their native tongue, now could he? Of course not.

        István hurried ahead of them, waving back at them. "Come, I sent a messenger to bring news of our arrival, though I doubt they will expect us to come so informally. Best to give them a pleasant surprise, should we not?" he devilishly asked.

The Hungarian Count's proposal, to the irritation of Charles, brought them both some form of amusement, causing them to nod at him. They had only known him a short while now, but the two companions, Twilight especially, had already grown sweet on the thirty plus year old man. Charles was interested further when the Count revealed earlier he was a lieutenant in the Hungarian, as István liked to call, Honvédség. It was a rank he had earned through merit alone. That only made the young prince like him further, though it did not lessen his anger at basically being assigned a nanny for his command.

At their agreement, István led them further along, and within a few minutes they reached the camp. A spotter saw them at a distance, and it did not take him long to see that they were some very important guests. The whole camp was in an uproar at the news, causing the three to be very amused as the sight of dozens of soldiers, human and pony, scrambling to present an official greeting proved a riot. "Are all soldiers this determined to be courteous?" Twilight said, amused.

István  shrugged, smiling at the scene. "Usually. They know golden boy here is going to be their commander, so they want to be official in order to gain his approval. Almost like children acting all prim and proper to make their dads happy at them. Ain't it a sight to see?" he said, turning to Charles to get his reaction.

The Count was only met with a blank look from the prince. "Golden boy?" was all Charles said, stuck between a mix horror and confusion at the term.

Neither the unicorn of the Count could resist laughing at him for that. "Oh yes, golden boy. At least it fits you well."

István was smirking that damned smirk Charles' way now. "I'm going to get you for this Count. One day," Charles threatened half-seriously, pointing a finger directly at István's chest.

"And I shall be ready for you sire. For the day you get me, is the day I would be ready to die, for you would not find me any other way," István said with a laugh.

Intervening by stepping a hoof between the two, Twilight looked at each of them in a conciliatory manner. "Let's save this for later, okay? We're almost there, might as well not make his troops see him and a Count act like petulant children to one another," the unicorn told them both off.

Biting both their tongues due to the look of disapproval from the mare, the men nodded their agreement; not before István stuck his tongue out Charles' way though. Actually rolling her eyes, Twilight sighed. This was going to be a long trip. Thankfully, for all parties involved, they made it to the camp in little time after that. The soldiers were so busy organizing themselves, they did not see any such heckling, a blessing in of itself.

The soldiers were arranged in single file horizontal line, one for each species. The humans were up front, while the ponies were right behind them. Both species had the utmost stiffness in posture, stone-faced to the best of their abilities. That did not deter some of them from sending the prince some choice looks, some sizing him up, some hoping for words of approval from them. Charles took the lead of the party now, walking ahead of István; the Count made no motion to dissuade him from this course.

There was no greeting from the prince. The soldiers stood, awaiting a response from their new commander, but nothing came. Charles instead walked a straight path in front of the first of the two lines of troops, gazing into the eyes of each soldier he crossed, giving each of them a few seconds of his time to make an opinion on him from appearance alone. He had a analytical and confident look that made each of the soldiers that looked at it stand straighter, like the gaze alone made them want to act more respectful. Then, when he was done with the humans, he did something that stunned both races; he did the same for the ponies. Giving them analytic yet still somehow caring looks, the same treatment as the humans. It was a miracle to these mostly Hungarian men, who never saw such respect given from a noble before.

When he was done, Charles stood a few feet in front of the center of the first line, István and Twilight off to his right side. There was silence for a few moments, sweat and shivers finding their way to some of the troops in the nervous void, until Charles finally began in German. "You men, you ponies. You soldiers. Tell me, will you let me lead you?"

It was not an order, a command, nothing the troops or even István expected. It was a simple question, an honest one at that. Even given in German, the few troopers that did not understand the basics of the language got the gist of it. There was no response at first, a deadly silence as Charles looked expectantly at all of them, till a single trooper raised his hand in a salute, speaking loudly and clearly for all to hear. "Yes sire, if you would do us the honor of leading us men of the 25th Hungarian Cavalry, sir!"

At the soldier's sudden answer, the rest of the human troops saluted as well, offering him cries of approval and respect. Charles nodded at this, a curved smile finding its way to his lips now. He raised his eyes over to the ponies in back now, who were still unsure over his earlier behavior. "And what of you ponies? Will you accept me as commander, or not? I have no interest in leading troops who do not need my presence."

A few whispered words passed between some of the earth ponies, a rare feat of subterfuge Charles would allow for now. Finally, a single mare, with a dark blue coat, raised her hoof as a makeshift salute. "Sire, I would be honored!" the mare shouted.

"I would be honored as well!" a colt said after her.

The rest of the ponies did the same, saying the same general thing to him. Exactly as Charles hoped they would. Nodding again, Charles stepped forward a few steps, in an attempt to look closer and more personal to the troops. "Excellent. I am Prinz Franz von Habsburg, grandson of the Kaiser Francis II himself."

There were some sudden shouts of approval at the mention of the Kaiser's name, a few soldiers thinking this was some sort of test to weed out traitors or dissidents. It was not though, as evidenced by Charles' next few words. "But I am also the Prince Imperial, Napoléon François Joseph Charles Bonaparte, son of L'Empereur Napoléon I himself."

Gasps, some in horror, some in surprise turned to curiosity, were heard among the troops. Charles ignored them though, continuing. "I seek to prove myself worthy of my father's name, but now, I seek not only that! I desire to be worthy of you, the men and ponies I shall lead now, the brave troopers who put their trust in my command."

Confusion now, that was the main feeling among the troops. Twilight bit her lip in fear, feeling that Charles was digging himself a hole now. As the mare began to step forward a few hoof-steps, István stopped her with a raised hand. "Trust him. I don't know what the hell he's doing, but I think it's working." István muttered to her, the barest hints of approval leaking through his voice.

"So I ask you, soldiers of the Reich!" Charles demanded of them, shouting with a furious force, raising his hand high in the air as if to reach for the sky itself, "Will you place your faith in me? If you shall, you follow my orders unbidden of questions and complaints, save when they are just, and I will ensure to work my hardest to prove myself a just leader. So answer me, answer me I say!"

The answer was quick and forceful. One soldier, one of the first that answered Charles earlier, stepped forward and gave him a Roman salute, his right hand extended high into the air. "Heil Prinz Franz!" the soldier shouted.

The rest followed like grass to the wind. "Heil Prinz Franz! Heil the Reich!" the soldiers shouted, those who could not speak German imitating their compatriots who could.

Even the ponies were making the salute as best they could with their hooves, though they could not raise their hooves too far into the air. Twilight was dumbfounded by the nigh uniform response. "How did he get them to do this?" she asked herself.

"Simple," István answered her, smirking approvingly at the resolute Charles, "He forced them to answer him, and do you think any of them would be the first to deny him? No, he got one man to start it, and the rest followed easily, like lambs to the slaughter. Not nearly as bloody though, but you get the point. He put them on the spot, and they were forced to answer the way he wanted, fearing a negative response otherwise. Truly effective."

Twilight felt uneasy at the answer. It seemed too cynical in regards to people's reactions. Couldn't they just answer that way because they legitimately believed in his words, that they wanted to be decent soldiers under his watch? She preferred to believe this idea, it was much less disturbing to her. The main point still stood no matter the philosophy behind it though, that Charles had gained the trust of the soldiers, and their approval.

István's interest in the boy only grew due to this course of action. Remarkable, he was. Young, fit in a certain sense of the term, forceful, and most importantly, he had a force of will that shined through already. It sure did on these troops at least, who were still 'Hailing' him out of either fear or respect, that István was not sure of. This was much more interesting than going on one of his trips through Europe, him having already seen enough for him to have an opinion over where Hungary should be headed. Who knows, perhaps one day the boy would help him force through his reforms, if he rose high enough in station that is. That was too far ahead in the future to worry about though. Right now, it was best to enjoy these simple pleasures, while he still could.

And finally, Charles stood triumphant as the soldiers continued their salutes. The prince nodded at them when it was appropriate, giving them just enough bait to continue their doings. The situation was exactly as he thought it would be, even more so in fact. Even with the constant ails plaguing both his mind and body still, he would have the triumph of this moment, always. The cheering soldiers, the uniform chanting, the sheer unbridled force of it all.

By God, this was with only one hundred men, imagine a chant like this with a thousand, a hundred thousand, a million! It only made Charles love the military more. Such strength, such discipline, such power. This display confirmed one of Charles' most long held beliefs. That the masses longed to obey a leader, that they wanted, no, demanded it. These volk, these soldiers of the Reich, they needed a leader, and got it in the form of yours truly. France needs a leader, and she shall get it, an invasive voice whispered in his mind.

He would be that leader.

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A/N-Hey everyone! Thanks for reading, and sorry for the long wait since last chapter. Schooling and all. But I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter, and once again, if you didn't or had some complaints, feel free to tell me. Thanks again to the usual folks who helped me. If you don't know their names by now, well, go back and learn them.

Also, some commentary by myself: I originally wanted to make this longer, but decided on the behest of IronTiger to end it where it now is. It ends better, but if some of you think this is a let-down after the end of last chapter, sorry. I promise, next chapter, things heat up...

Something else to note is that I changed some of the details of this universe from chapter three, after noticing they don't make sense. They won't play a large part on the story as a whole, but if you're interested, try and find them. It's a small thing, but a change nonetheless, so apologies for me becoming an Orwellian editor that retcons his story on a whim.

Once again though, thanks for reading, and I hope whoever's hitting themselves for bothering to read this useless note of mine has a merry Christmas! Till next time, ciao!

 All credit for that pun goes to Valence.

 Hungary

 Hungarian for 'Defense Force.'