Gold Muffin stared forward in the half-track, blue eyes unblinking. The changeling stallion wore a gray ushanka atop his head fin, flaps pulled down tight over his ears. The ridge of the fin was still faintly visible in the overall shape of the cap. The hammer and horseshoe of the Stalliongrad Soviet was still stitched onto the frayed fur. Otherwise, he wore a purple uniform with brass buttons and the Imperial Snowflake proudly displayed on his right foreleg.
I don’t think those two symbols go together, Flurry thought to herself. She looked to the other occupant. Her wings rustled against her black jumpsuit.
Alesia Snezhnaya sat across from the Gold Muffin, staring forward with unblinking blue eyes. The alicorn gave the mare credit: changelings did not need to blink as often as ponies due to their pupilless vision, but Alesia somehow blinked less than the stallion across from her.
The earth pony mare still wore her tan hat with the silver-studded gem of Severyana, but the rest of her uniform was a horrific mix of a tan jacket with purple pants. She also had the Imperial Snowflake on her right foreleg. It was the only thing the two had in common.
“So,” Flurry began, “Governor Alesia, how is Stallion…” She coughed into a hoof. “How is Severyana?”
“All the paperwork still calls it Stalliongrad,” Alesia ground out. Her eyes were locked on the changeling. The mare had mastered the ability to talk with the most marginal movements of her lips. Her muzzle’s perpetual frown bounced between ‘mildly unhappy’ and ‘sneer of derision.’
“We have offered to rename it Flurrygrad,” Gold Muffin said in his borrowed accent. He sounded more from Stalliongrad than the mare that was born there. Alesia’s accent bore twangs of Zebrica in certain pronunciations, picked up from the decades abroad.
“I do not want it renamed,” Flurry said. A wing reached up and touched the crystal band around her shaved-down mane. Her armor traveled separately in the convoy with other equipment. She propped herself up on the bench and looked out the porthole.
They were taking a side road, winding through abandoned villages on the interior towards one of the tunnels outside Stalliongrad. The shield over the Crystal Empire prevented equipment from passing through it, apparently unable to differentiate between a shell lobbed from an artillery piece and a shell on the back of a truck. Over forty tunnels had been dug under the shield in the past several months, but it was now more a detriment than a benefit.
Flurry’s glacial blue eye looked up to the pink-tinged sky, then back down to the overgrown grass lining the unpaved road. The half-track had treads and managed it well enough, but it was a rough ride on metal benches. The machine gunner swiveled incessantly as well in the front. They passed a square patch of growing grass beside the road, then another beside it.
It took the alicorn a moment to realize the grass grew in patterns because of the foundations of buildings. The Changelings razed the whole village. Snow buried the ruins, then grass grew over them in spring. The cycle repeated again and again. For years.
Gold Muffin felt her emotions twist. “The Hegemony relocated most ponies to industrial centers to work,” he said from the other bench.
“You did it first,” Alesia retorted.
Flurry pushed herself away from the bench and laid between them, legs folded underneath her and facing the back door. The tip of her horn was at eye level for the two sitting on the bench. “You did not answer my question, Governor,” she prompted.
Alesia clicked her tongue. “They are not as slovenly as I feared.”
“They have been starving in ruins,” Gold Muffin hissed.
“The severity builds strength,” Alesia sniffed. “It crystalizes resolve.” The mare’s frown looked proud for a moment. “We have always been a hard breed.”
“Not as hard as the crystal ponies,” Gold Muffin chittered.
“They are not actually made of crystal,” Flurry nickered. “You’ve been around enough of them, Muffin.”
“That is not his name,” Alesia commented. “He took a new one during the…war.”
“Revolution,” Gold Muffin corrected. He broke eye contact with the earth pony to look down at the alicorn. “I took a pony name to show solidarity.”
“I thought they would have respected your differences.” It was difficult to tell if Alesia was asking a genuine question or mocking, but Gold Muffin’s eyes flashed as he sensed her intent.
Flurry raised a wing to his muzzle. “Gold Muffin has been with me a long time,” the alicorn said to her. “I do not care if he is a communist.”
“He cares,” Alesia retorted. She folded her hooves against her uniform and her bulky legs crinkled the sleeves. The earth pony was solid from years of fighting. Flurry had heard she drilled troops herself, and her muzzle had the hard edge to reflect it.
“Don’t try to tell me my emotions,” Gold Muffin hissed. “I am loyal to Thorax and Flurry Heart.”
“A monarch-to-be and an alicorn,” Alesia remarked. “The revolution came full circle.”
Flurry raised both wings and held them before their muzzles. “Okay,” she sighed. “I slacked on my history lessons with Far Sight.” And we never covered Stalliongrad. “Governor Alesia and Advisor Gold Muffin, would you like to educate your Princess?”
The changeling nodded first, ushanka flopping. Alesia snorted, but her eyes twitched to Flurry before her head dipped slightly. Flurry slowly lowered her wings and folded them back to her sides. She chewed on her cheek for a moment.
“Okay. Gold Muffin first. Why did the revolution happen?”
Alesia breathed in and pulled her frown into a sneer.
Gold Muffin smiled at her, fangs flashing in the half-track. “The Boyars were corrupt. Severyana was far from Celestia’s sun, and she had entrusted the ruling council for centuries. As all nobles do, they increased their privileges at the expense of the working class.”
Flurry stared up at him.
“Most nobles,” Gold Muffin amended with a chitter. “Stalliongrad was an industrializing city, but unlike rest of the east coast the squalor only increased. Caramel Marks’ tour found ponies with flower marks suffering in assembly lines as the cutie mark system all but broke down for paper profit. Her work was incendiary, but it meant nothing to the average Equestrian.”
Gold Muffin jerked his horn to the windows. “Many still lived their marks in villages and towns. It meant nothing to them. There was no need for reform under Celestia’s sun. But in Stalliongrad, her desire for change took root under the clouds.”
“How did this turn to ponies welding armor plates to tractors and burning down mansions?” Flurry asked.
“The Boyars,” Gold Muffin shrugged his wings. “They beat down the early unions, bought off the Royal Guard in Stalliongrad, dragged ponies off to prisons that make Tartarus look nice. The Royal Guard was not the 'Royal Guard' beyond Canterlot. It consisted of local ponies closer to militias than a dedicated force central under the Princess.”
That's all my father did as his job for the first few years. Flurry took a deep breath. “Celestia would have stopped it.”
“Why?” Gold Muffin chittered. “They were her ruling council over the area. When the uprising began, it was her Royal Guards in the streets. Thugs under golden armor, slaughtering the ponies they took oaths to protect.”
Flurry’s horn sparked.
“Your father,” Gold Muffin swallowed, “he was barely more than a cadet. Much of his rapid rise through the ranks occurred due to Celestia curbing the Royal Guard afterwards. She did not expect the violence to escalate.”
The spark popped with a fizzle.
Flurry took a breath. “So Celestia willfully allowed the Boyars to run Stalliongrad into the ground over decades because monarchies are an inherently exploitative government without the possibility of compromise?” She squinted. “Why are you here with me?”
“In a proper revolution, the proletariat forms a dictatorship until power can be shared.” Gold Muffin waved a hoof over her horn. “It is a stepping stone to true communism. The Red Princess is close enough for now.”
Flurry blinked.
“I understand your confusion,” Gold Muffin chuckled with a hiss. “You have already assented to communes and self-management. The transformation into a communist economy has already begun. The Pax Chrysalia itself is capitalism. The thesis and antithesis will create a synthesis.”
Flurry searched for a response. “What?”
“Thorax is a communist.” Gold Muffin stated it as if it was obvious. “He believed that love could be shared between changelings without the need of the Queens or the old ways. And he was right. He took the lessons of Caramel Marks and applied them to us.”
He has never talked about Caramel Marks. Flurry suppressed her disbelief and kept that to herself. Gold Muffin did not seem to notice, too engrossed in his explanation of changeling communism.
“The Changeling Queens have relied on the subjugation of the working drone for thousands of years. They claim that without their rule, we would have no future. The caste of Queen, Warrior, and Drone must remain as it was for changelings to live.”
Gold Muffin leaned his head against the metal side. His voice twisted and his Stalliongrad accent faded into a mix of a softer lilt. “Look at the Pax Chrysalia: The Love Tax, the factories, the industry, the corporations. All of the trappings of capitalism wrapped in our traditions. It has destroyed us as much as it destroyed Equestria.”
“Okay…” Flurry dragged the word out. Her eyes swiveled to Alesia. “Your turn, Governor. Why did the revolution happen?”
Alesia exhaled with a heavy snort. Did she hold her breath the entire time? The mare removed her cap and scrubbed her navy mane with a hoof before replacing it. She scowled harder at the roof of the half-track as if she could unscrew the rivets with her mind.
“The Boyars were weak,” the mare snarled. “They were corrupt.” She did not say more.
“So you agree with Gold Muffin?” Flurry prompted her.
“No,” Alesia snorted. Her eyes switched to the changeling. “Celestia was also weak. It flows from the top: strength, or weakness.” The mare’s lips twitched. “She was a foal wearing a crown, listening to everything her little ponies whispered in her ears in her gilded castle. If she was as ruthless as the communists believed, she would have crushed their rebellion in sunfire.”
Gold Muffin opened his mouth. Flurry raised her right wing in warning. “Don’t interrupt.”
“We are a hard breed,” Alesia snorted, “and far from Celestia’s sun. They sensed her weakness and exploited it, and she was too weak to stop them. They grew weak themselves.”
“So what?” Flurry huffed. “She knew and did nothing?”
“I was in the Royal Guard during the Winter War,” Alesia nickered. “She did not know a thing. She had no idea how badly her little ponies were treating each other beyond her castle walls. Her visits to Severyana were little more than a carefully managed stage play.”
Flurry Heart thought about the Thestrals and Las Pegasus. “It’s just good business.” She grimaced. “If you were a Royal Guard, were you bought like Gold Muffin said?”
The earth pony bared her teeth at the changeling. “We had to pay for overpriced food just the same as the rest of you. We took what we could get.”
“You could have joined us,” Gold Muffin rebuked. Flurry stuffed her wing against his muzzle.
“Some did,” Alesia admitted with a voice that sounded like two rocks grinding together. “I think I killed a few changelings during skirmishes. Ask him about that.”
Flurry looked to a suddenly reluctant Gold Muffin. “What?”
He hesitated. “It’s commonly thought that Queen Chrysalis sent-”
“Equestria lost almost a quarter of its country due to weakness,” Alesia snarled. “Celestia backed out and signed an armistice. She left us to fight a losing battle with enemies on her border. Enemies in her borders and already plotting.”
Gold Muffin pushed pink feathers out of the way. “Because you were killing everypony in the street!”
“She could’ve come in and executed the Boyars!” Alesia ranted. “And Steel Stallion! Stopped the revolution in its tracks!”
“And you?” Flurry asked her. She switched her stare to Gold Muffin. “And him?”
Gold Muffin and Alesia settled against their benches. The earth pony clanged a hoof against the metal and lashed her tail, but did not offer a response. The changeling whistled between his fangs. “She was trying to save lives.”
“She was trying to save her sister,” Alesia countered. “You think a truly militarized Royal Guard and a scarred Equestria would have welcomed Nightmare Moon? She would have been met by artillery.”
Flurry did the math in her head. Twilight had gotten her cutie mark. She was Celestia’s student. She thought about the Tree of Harmony. “What did ponies say about it at the time?”
Gold Muffin shrieked in laughter. “Nothing! Celestia could not let that story stand! The Proletariat had risen up against her.”
Alesia rolled her eyes. “She lost a quarter of her country and a major base of industry. The Griffonian Reich began to fall apart from a secession like that. The average Equestrian could not conceive of a reason to reject the Princess of the Sun. Few even knew the role of the Boyars.”
“Aquileia rebelled when Grover II ascended the throne,” Flurry pointed out. “There was a history of revolts in Griffonia. Wingbardy seceding after the death of their king and the loss of the Idol wasn't unprecedented.”
“Just so,” Alesia whickered. Her stare turned mildly wry. “You know their history better than ours?”
“I grew up in Aquileia and Nova Griffonia.”
“I still heard the Equestrian news in Zebrica,” Alesia muttered. She knocked her head against the side of the half-track. “Celestia sent your aunt through Stalliongrad to defeat a cultist.”
Flurry licked her lips. “Starlight?”
“The communists were in the middle of a famine and she hooved over a propaganda win to plaster posters over empty shelves,” the earth pony continued with a groan. "She remained weak, thinking she could win her ponies back with lukewarm kindness after cool dismissal."
“Celestia imagined she would dissuade us with your aunt’s example,” Gold Muffin ‘agreed’ with the earth pony. “Princess Twilight was very gracious and proved to be an apt study of Marks’ works.” His stare turned sharp for a moment. “Of course, she had never read them before. One can only wonder why.”
Flurry could not help but ask. “Uh, Rainbow?”
Gold Muffin looked askance and pulled his ushanka down. “She…enjoyed the local life.”
“We make the best vodka,” Alesia deadpanned. “Communists cannot ruin that.”
Should ask her about it. “Rarity?”
“Kept critiquing our uniforms,” Gold Muffin summarized.
“Your aunt took a communist as her student to reform her,” Alesia chuckled. “Quashed their hopes quite well.”
“Starlight Glimmer was not a communist, and Equalism was a cult,” Gold Muffin hissed. His wings buzzed. “Do not confuse true ideology with egomania.”
“She renounced her ways,” Flurry pointed out.
“That did not stop it,” Alesia said without anger. “I met Equalists in Zebrica, even. Insane even by the standards of communists and convinced that the founder was turned by foul magic. Equestria meddled in Stalliongrad's backyard. They did not appreciate it no matter how Starlight pretended afterwards.”
“I don’t think my aunt thought of friendship as foul magic,” Flurry said flatly. The half-track turned and all three swayed for a moment, then it began to slow.
“We are near the shield.” Alesia checked outside her porthole. “The Kaiser’s griffons went up the coast. They beat us here.”
“We’ll link up with Grover beyond the shield wall,” Flurry ordered. “The Kaiser wants maps of the rail lines to get supplies moving.”
Gold Muffin and Alesia accepted that and nodded. Flurry studied them both for a moment. More like Price and Bronzetail than Golden Delicious and Light Narrative. They would probably never like each other, but they could work together.
And Gold Muffin had either not caught the flimsy lie or not challenged it. Or maybe Thorax told him and he knows. A survey of the supply network was hardly a reason for the Kaiser to go himself to the Crystal City. The offer had been amazingly formal in Canterlot and stated via Benito at their one shared, awkward dinner.
No one said anything about the incident with Heart’s Desire.
No one also made eye contact the entire dinner except Ember and Queen Velvet.
It was a total surprise when Benito suddenly announced the Kaiser would travel to the Crystal City at the end of the dinner before walking out with Grover. Flurry Heart nearly choked on her potatoes and Jadis thought she’d been poisoned. Right now, Frosty Jadis rode with Flurry’s armor in a decoy vehicle in another line heading to the shield. Spike and Thorax remained in Canterlot.
“Severyana will remain a waystation and little else until the construction begins,” Alesia nickered. “With the East Coast and Imperial Coast, it can be rebuilt within decades.” The mare spoke of it proudly, and Flurry noted the creases around her eyes.
You won’t live to see it. And you know it. “I will do my best, Governor.”
Alesia looked down her muzzle at the horn point. She hummed in the back of her throat. “Weakness flows from the top, Princess.” Flurry waited. Alesia flicked her eyes to Gold Muffin. “Princess Twilight was humble. Do you see her in the Princess?”
“Yes,” Gold Muffin said without flinching.
“She was born a noble, not made one from a forgettable minor house. Almost like mine.”
“From nothing,” the changeling retorted. “Mi Amore Cadenza was adopted and made a Princess to propagate the position of alicorns as rulers. Just like the Queens.”
“Chrysalis is taller and stronger than you, is she not?” Alesia asked. “She has hair at the very least. How does equality work to Caramel Marks against this?” Her hoof waved above the pink horn point, then gestured to the wings folded tight against the jumpsuit for space.
“I’m not better than anyone else,” Flurry tried. “I’m not worth more.”
“Her soul,” Gold Muffin whickered. “Not the body. The mark, not the mare.”
Alesia leaned back against the metal. She bounced as her eyes wandered. “You allowed Baltimare to leave, Princess.” It was not an accusation, and Flurry did not like the gravel in the back of Alesia’s throat.
“Yes.”
“May I ask why?”
Flurry sighed. “We needed the port to push through towards the Everfree. Sunset in New Mareland remains a vital shipping lane. I do not agree with Golden Delicious and it was not an easy decision.”
Alesia stared down at the alicorn laying between the benches, then stared at Gold Muffin. Her muzzle stretched into a smile. Flurry Heart had never seen Governor Alesia smile. The mare’s muzzle twitched like it was unused to the expression. It was more a promise of violence than a confirmation of joy.
“The port,” Alesia repeated to Gold Muffin. “Not the ponies.” She settled her cap over her eyes with a twist of her head. “Your Red Princess, comrade.”
Then she laughed with a snorting chuckle that rang through the half-track. Gold Muffin shuffled his hooves against the bench. He looked out the window rather than look to Flurry Heart.
“I never knew either Stalliongrad,” Flurry said to him.
“It was a better home than home,” Gold Muffin said softly. “The Governor and I agree on that if nothing else.”
“Tell me about the Cryusha.”
The changeling smiled out the glass. “The Soviet almost had them done. The rockets are less accurate than normal artillery, but they can hold the front. Your Imperial Army is formidable, Princess.”
I’ll wait until I see it. Flurry looked to the mare either sleeping or pretending to sleep. “Is Governor Alesia too harsh?”
Gold Muffin licked his fangs. “It is a harsh world, Princess. So be it. The Queens and Chrysalis shelled Stalliongrad to oblivion because we dared to stand up to them.” His eyes shifted away from the window. “They did not show weakness.”
“What will happen without them?”
Gold Muffin buzzed his wings. “Who knows? Changelings have always been ruled by Queens, always taught to obey. It will be a brave new world.” His stare went far away. “I am glad they are all dead.” His accent completely disappeared into a mix of Herzlander and the changeling’s native lilt. “We will finish the job with Chrysalis.”
“I agree,” Alesia snorted under her hat.
The ride to the shield wall was quiet after that. The pegasus in the turret shouted a warning down below as the half-track sputtered to a half on a bumpy plain. Flurry Heart stepped out into a light rain. Her horn hummed. Directly against the shield, the clouds broke apart and scattered before reforming further into Equestria. Magic was thick in the air.
Gold Muffin buzzed his wings and did not follow Governor Alesia and the Princess outside. He smiled apologetically. “I’d rather not get my wings wet!”
There were no changelings under the shield ahead of the shutdown. Gold Muffin could’ve taken one of the tunnels, but Flurry Heart did not press him. His gossamer wings reflected pink light even standing in the hatch to the half-track, and it looked like flames raced across them.
Flurry smiled back and nodded her horn. “Thank you, comrade.” She paused. “Actually, one last question.”
Gold Muffin tugged his hat off and raised his ears.
“Did Discord ever do anything with Stalliongrad?”
“He pronounced it chaotic enough and fucked off,” Alesia answered behind the alicorn. The mare’s voice did not waver or show emotion. Flurry glanced at her flat expression over a wing, then returned to Gold Muffin.
He shrugged a hoof. “Yeah. He did replace Steel Stallion’s statue with himself. That was annoying. The chocolate rain and pudding puddles helped with the famine, actually.”
Flurry sighed. “Thanks.”
Gold Muffin nodded and shuffled back into the half-track. The Princess and Governor Alesia trotted to the edge of the shield wall. A tunnel emerging from the earth was carved out of the rock and dirt to the left. It was one of the smaller tunnels, gently sloping to allow trucks through single-file.
A line of Reichsarmee half-tracks in gray and orange were parked beyond it. Griffons milled around, remaining a healthy distance from the shield. Flurry could see the crackles on the enchantments from the knights’ armor even at their distance. The hum in the base of her horn increased as she approached the tunnel’s entrance.
Flurry stopped at the legion of ponies in crystal armor on the other side. It was thicker than the Royal Guard armor and full-bodied like her own set. Flurry could only tell who were mares or stallions by the shape of the muzzle in the half-helm. They snapped to attention before a crystal stallion in a crisp purple uniform. He held a hoof to his chest and shouted through the shield. “Princess!”
How the hay are they going to hold guns? “Colonel Heartsong!” Flurry called back.
Frosty Jadis limped out of the tunnel and waved a hoof with two other crystal ponies in white uniforms. The mare’s rifle was slung at her side. Flurry and Governor Alesia trotted around along the shield to them.
“The tunnels have been a little muddy, Princess,” Jadis reported. She still knelt in said mud in the white uniform, then shook her black boots off one hoof at a time.
Flurry scanned the soldiers. “New uniforms?”
“For the snow,” Jadis explained. “No ambushes, Princess. We’re in the clear.”
The Reichsarmee divisions broke rank and six dogs came forward with Kaiser Grover VI between them. He wore the black overcoat and gloves from their first meeting outside Stalliongrad while Benito followed nearly at his tail. Flurry squinted into the distance through the shield. Stalliongrad was the obvious meeting point, so one of the decoy convoys headed there.
“Princess,” Grover nodded once he was in range where the griffon did not have to raise his voice. He brushed his gloves off on the brown grass growing back from the end of winter.
“Kaiser,” Flurry nodded her jeweled band. “Hello, Benito.”
The dog stared blankly at her. He switched the stare to Alesia and they seemed to engage in a frowning contest. Benito’s actually holding his ground. His jowls deepened the frown and his whiskers twitched.
“Henrik is ‘holding down the fort’ in Canterlot,” Grover continued in Equestrian. “My presence is not known. The Bronzehill engineers will inspect the rails.” A wing pointed back to the smattering of dogs and griffons loading equipment into the trucks.
“Very well,” Flurry accepted. “Would you like to cross on hoof? Or paw and claw?”
Grover was silent for a moment. “You mean through the shield?”
Flurry turned to the pink, sparkling wall. It stretched high up into the sky at a curve, though it was hard to tell this close to the dome. Her horn tingled more when she faced it than when she faced away from it. The drizzling rain fell into her eyes as she squinted upwards and the alicorn blinked.
“I wasn’t planning on it, but we can,” Flurry shrugged both wings. “No weapons.”
Grover paused, then lifted his left wing and unclipped a broom-handle pistol. It was black and shaped with the blocky Changeling design. He passed it to Benito casually before tapping the golden Reichstone. “It reacts badly to enchanted material, yes?”
“Yes.” Flurry raised an eyebrow. I thought you said it wasn’t enchanted?
Grover gave her a half-lidded look for a second. Everyone thinks the damn thing is.
He removed the Reichstone and shook the water from it. Two dogs knelt and opened an ornate wooden box between them. Grover carefully placed it in the padding and watched them close it. He ran a claw over his tan head feathers and discreetly cracked his neck.
Flurry suppressed a smirk.
Governor Alesia and Benito remained in their frowning contest, but the dog unclipped his belt and removed his saber and pistol. “I should walk through with you, my Kaiser.”
“That is not necessary,” Grover corkscrewed his tail. “Remain with the Reichstone.”
“We should ensure it is safe for dogs to pass through,” Benito returned in Herzlander. “This magic is unstable. My fur puffs up near it.”
“Just so,” Grover agreed after a heartbeat. “Very well.”
The two stepped around the tunnel and closed the distance to Flurry and Alesia. The alicorn moved to meet them atop the tunnel’s entrance and just before the shield. They slowed and stared at each other in the rain.
Grover’s head feathers pressed down into the fur around his cheeks and the water smudged his glasses. He blinked more often to see. The water made his head look narrower along with his beak with the fur slick.
I probably look the same. Flurry felt what was left of her mane stick to the crown after several minutes standing exposed. Her jumpsuit was already slick and clung to her fur. She smiled and raised her wings. “Ladies first?”
Grover waved a claw at the shield. He did not extend his arm fully so the talons did not pass through. “By all means.”
Griffons could pass through the shield, though the Reichsarmee had never tried. Bronzetail had told Flurry in Manehattan it was standing orders to leave it alone. That order was probably never rescinded.
A lot of griffons had moved from the frontier to the Crystal City. Flurry could see a few patrols circling on the Imperial side of the shield. She paused just before stepping through and looked down. According to the new maps, she was Diarch of Equestria and in the Principality of Equestria.
Flurry took a deep breath and exhaled, pushing it out with a foreleg. She trotted through the shield and felt the magic caress her fur like feeling the draft from a warm, toasty fire. It did not dry her off; it was just a feeling that filled her barrel.
Flurry opened her eyes and turned around, now the Princess of the Crystal Empire and in Imperial territory. Governor Alesia followed her unflinchingly and shook her head to the side. Water spilled off her hat.
“The convoy will split on the way to the Crystal City,” she reported. “With the shield down, the Imperial Coast and Governor Josette will have more work to do. I have work in Stalliongrad.”
“You may call it what you wish, Governor,” Flurry offered.
“I call it home,” Alesia answered. For the first time, something resembling pain entered the older mare’s voice. “I have heard words are wind. It does not matter what is said. Only what is done.”
Flurry nodded. “Dismissed, Governor.”
Alesia bowed and backed away, finally snapping her blue tail over her flank and marching to a small group of soldiers in similar tan uniforms. Must have been the mercenary unit. Flurry had heard they were called ‘Whites’ during the war, but all the ponies wore tan and purple now.
She returned to Grover on the other side of the shield. The griffon stared back placidly, tinged pink. He paused and removed his glove to wipe his glasses before hooking them back onto his beak. The Kaiser tugged the glove back on slowly and carefully, then stepped through the shield left claw first with wings pressed against his side.
Flurry Heart noticed the slight flinch in the eyes just before contact, and the quicker movement of his rear paws. His tail flit through afterwards and looped around a hind leg before uncoiling. He clacked his beak.
“Did it shock you?” Flurry asked.
“It felt like an ice bath,” Grover commented. He stopped a wingspan away and shook out his hind legs.
Flurry hummed. “Felt warm-”
Benito stepped through with a yelp. His tail swung between his legs and he shook his paws. “Maar take this!” he snarled. The graying dog kicked a clump of dirt through the humming pink wall.
“Are you alright?” Grover called to him.
The dog stalked up to the two of them as Heartsong and several guards approached. “It felt as if I was struck by lightning, my Kaiser,” Benito barked. He spared Flurry a severe brown eye.
“I didn’t do it,” Flurry shrugged her wings.
The look indicated he did not believe her.
“Princess,” Heartsong dipped his head. “If we depart now, we can be at the Crystal City by dusk.” Several canvas trucks waited beyond the armored ponies. Frosty Jadis crossed in the tunnel and waved again to the Princess. The other dogs followed with the Reichstone and several boxes.
Flurry’s horn glowed and she cast the detection spell. The wall of pink magic crackled with blue sparks on contact, and several of the dogs’ sheathed swords jittered against their sides. The box containing the Reichstone did not react, but no one seemed to catch it.
Except Grover. He exhaled through his nostrils and lashed his tail. “We will travel in separate trucks. It will be safer that way.”
“Of course,” Flurry kept her ears from pinning. “I’ll meet you at the outskirts.”
“Agreed.” He gave a two-talon signal to Benito. The dog raised his paws and crossed his arms, giving some signal to the Reichsarmee on the other side of the shield. Flurry turned and walked away with Heartsong and the guards.
“Princess,” Heartsong intoned. His voice was reverent. “The Crystal City illuminates the night. You will be pleased with the progress we have made.”
“It’s good to see you again, Colonel,” Flurry said neutrally. “You’ll have to tell me about the armor.”
“The smiths have been busy,” Heartsong smiled wider. His muzzle glittered. “The Spellguard of House Amore has been remade.”
Flurry remembered the sketches Obsidian showed her. “That’s not the same model.” Her eyes swept over the ponies in the line, and they stomped their hooves three times in unison.
“No,” Heartsong agreed. “This armor is enchanted for close combat in the narrow forts and tunnels in the mountains. It is made in the image of yours.”
Flurry Heart moved to the truck waiting for her. Her helmet sat atop a crate. She looked between the purple crystal and the ponies waiting beyond it. “Are they still the Spellguard?” There was not a single unicorn among them.
“The smiths chose the name ‘Stormtroopers,’ Princess. After you.”
The changeling queendom always struck me as some weird soft communist state. With their strange cast system and hierarchy, the upper classes seem to live and rule like an autocratic monarchy whilst treating the drones with some communist policy’s. The distribution of love equally for example among the drones (just the drones though) certainly appears to be communist.
This makes me want to laugh and cry for Little Flurry.
11746920
What you're describing is just a medieval society; something like subsistence economy at the bottom level where the peasants are given just enough to live and the rest flows up the caste structure to a market economy with merchants, knights (warriors) aristocracy (generals/leaders) and the king (queen) at the top. I see some capitalist use with corporations and factories being operated by business owners who live-or-die by quotas but I don't really see any communist thinking at all. If it is, then medieval Europe was communist too.
Stormtroopers, glorious. Imagine a squad of these marching towards you in a snow storm with fanatical determination to ruin your day.
now are they based on the German ones or the star wars troopers or maybe the 40K Stormtroopers?
Sabaton stormtroopers gets louder
I don't think its really valid to give a bussword to a purely Biological way of thinking. The changelings live like that because they are bugs, the queen gives birth to the hive (Which requires a lot of resources), the warriors protect the hive (which require a bit less), and the drones expand the hive (all the rest is given to them, so the hive might expand as quick as possible). You can make comparisons, but its a anthropocentric way of thinking when analyzing a completely alien way of governing.
But I'm gonna guess that this is intentional because Chrysalis must be comically evil. Thinking about some of the things chrysalis did I have to wonder if she just isn't a random ELF agent who got very invested in making chrysalis look bad, she is evil but completely self destructive, bordering treasonous.
Requisite "Let's hope they're better shots" joke regarding the stormtroopers :P
Nice world building chapter! Will be interesting to eventually learn why individuals have different experiences with Flurry's and the Heart's magic. It's obviously not sensing the personalities or intent of the individual, otherwise Flurry's changelings would be able to pass through; so the experience probably is race specific. Maybe based on how magically sensitive a race is?
Maybe the secret will be revealed eventually!
My headcanon is that Celestia grew increasingly obsessed with recovering her sister as the date of her return approached, and by the last decades of the IXth century she was at a point were she completely disregarded all her other duties in pursuit of that obsession. The dire state Equestria found itself in by the Xth century, then, was partly the result of decades of having an absentee and neglectful absolute monarch that effectively handed over the State to a decadent nobility unaccustomed to having any serious responsibilities.
In particular, I like to think that Celestia eventually learned about how dire the situation in Severyana was, and that despite everything else she was actually getting ready to travel there to address the crisis when Twilight got her cutie mark and Celestia choose to disregard her subjects in favour of nurturing a potential Element of Magic. Her decision to suddenly cancel her trip wasn't properly communicated to the ponies of Severyana, who, thinking she was in the city, marched to the palace to petition her. A scuffle caused by miscommunication and corruption in the guard and the nobility ensued, and the result was a pony Bloody Sunday, which destroyed the Princess' reputation and paved the way for the Revolution.
11747064
And here I thought griffon square was bad.
11747028
A feudal economy is too structured and modern for the changelings pre-Chrysalis, from what we know they probably resembled the "barbaric" tribes of the Classical Era, with each Queen acting as the leader of a specific clan. Funnily enough, some have described such societies as communistic (Engels, for instance).
The big problem with imagining a primitive changeling society is that they are a parasitic species that depends on the existence of nearby sources of love for sustenance. Generally speaking, they must have either managed to make some sapient species into cattle and developed an animal husbandry based economy, or they based their economy on slavery and raiding like the Barbary states or some African kingdoms during the Atlantic slave trade, or they lived an entirely covert existence attached to some other unsuspecting civilization, or something else. All solutions to the love gathering problem then result in different societal structures.
11746972
Flurry Heart is an imposingly tall sovereign in bulky armor that stands taller than most of her ponies. Her officers tend to wear gray or purple uniforms. She has governors over broad areas of her empire. It's the Imperial Army. Jadis has a white uniform and black boots. This setup has been a long time coming.
11747064
Stalliongrad is currently getting reworked, but there's not that much lore about what it was doing during the show's events. If you look at a map, Starlight's village was north of Stalliongrad and the Mane Six had to pass through the territory. This is not brought up in the mod. Discord and Tirek are not really brought up. In all, a communist revolution in a country led by an immortal god-empress that's the textbook definition of built different is a little odd. Celestia may have been slacking (for debated reasons), but she's not Tsar Nicky.
On that note, I choose to believe Rainbow Dash got wasted on vodka and only learned how to shout "I am the machine!" in HorseRussian on the trip to Starlight's village. There also might have been Death of Stalin type shenanigans after the Starlight incident in regard to whoever agreed to let an insane cultist setup her village in the first place and make them all look crazy.
Guys,I still don't get what kind of tanks in the story are representative of,if this is a ww2 situation and hegemony and it's machinery is n*zi Germany with powerful but expensive tanks with boxy shape and circles turret makes it literally tiger1 ,then my best guess for Reich tanks are British or Soviet (heavy armor with low range and medium penetration with high rate of fire; I can only imagine of British black prince or Soviet kv series, and for their light tanks something like Cromwell or comet or m24 chaffe for newer models and crusader series or m5a4 Stuart for older models or again Soviet t22 ,t34 and bt5 for older models),(not American because America really didn't have good heavy armor in ww2 to begin with, also no other tanks are better fit for those that we see in story)
This is my theories, I myself like to imagine British heavy armor for Reich and n zi Germany tanks for heer when I read the story.
11747102
Yeah, it must have been the result of a perfect storm of sorts. Continuing with my headcanon, some assumptions:
a) As a result of history and geography, Severyana had a very distinct national identity and saw itself as a separate country from Equestria, although one ruled by the same monarch under a personal union type deal (Austria and Hungary under the House of Hapsburg, for example).
b) Celestia, for whatever reason, totally or near totally neglected her duties during the IXth century, and before that she was a very present absolute monarch. The nobles were totally incapable of filling the void she left.
c) The Boyars were a particularly vicious and decadent breed of nobles. Inspired by their griffonian counterparts, with which they maintained close contact, they led a greed-fueled industrialisation effort that quickly spirals out of control. They totally mishandle the "social question" and their chronic infighting prevents them from ever forming a united front. As they lead Severyana's industrialisation, an independent capitalist class doesn't form, while their rapacious greed and exploitative attitude also stifles the emergence of a middle class.
d) Partly a consequence of the previous two points, a dispute between the Boyars and the Weather pegasi escalated until the later refuse to service Severyana, creating a famine.
e) The Griffonian Revolution slightly predates the Stalliongrad Revolution. The disruption of commerce caused by the collapse of the Griffonian Empire (and the acts of raiders like Hermann Meyer) brought havoc upon the ports of Severyana. The chaos brought by the collapse of the Empire also rapidly spreads to Nova Griffonia, where central authority collapsed and anarchy ensued, raiding incursions from the North dramatically increased as a result and the border effectively disappeared. Furthermore, after the revolution was crushed many revolutionaries fled to Peterhoof, bringing their ideas and experience into the city.
The last three points create the crisis that predates the revolution, the second one justifies the utter failure of the government to deal with the crisis, allowing it to continually escalate, the first one means that after the ponies of Severyana lost all faith in their Princess they readily saw secession as an acceptable if not necessary course of action (Celestia's utter disinterest partly justifies why Equestria did nothing to prevent said separation).
The situation then keeps escalating (in part thanks to the actions of Changeling infiltrators) until the country explodes into a civil war between various factions, notably including nationalists (whites) and communists (reds), but also more fringe forces like the Equalists (Glimmer founds her commune after the communists win), earth-pony supremacists, and Republicans. Eventually the Communists win (Steel Stallion dies either shortly before or after they achieve victory), and Stalliongrad is born.
11747123
I would add that in the mod major religion in the severyana was belief in Luna and moon.
The Soviet anthem was blaring in my head as I read this chapter. Time to see how the Crystal Empire has rebuilt.
11747036
With how zealously devoted the Crystal Ponies have shown themselves to be towards Flurry, I can only imagine these Stormtroopers are going to be the equivalent of 40K's Cadians or Kriegers. Which is a terrifying prospect.
11747136
I see them as a minority more than a major religion (more akin to the russian jewish community than the Orthodox church), but their existence helps to justify point 'a' either way. They would have also helped destroy Celestia's reputation after she fails to help the country, aiding in the secession of the country. (I'll shut up now)
Flurry really needs to start thinking about what kind of world she wants to create after this is over, but she can't because she doesn't believe that she will be around to witness it. Hopefully Alesia and Muffin's history lesson will help her start to think about the aftermath. Looking forward to the eventual return of Flurry's father, so they se can finallly have closure. Sad times ahead.
FUCK. Looks like the radicalization is getting more extreme. I Hope Flurry can turn it down a notch. she probably doesn't care either way, though. Even if Equestria becomes constitutional, it appears likely the Empire will remain an absolute monarchy.
11746920
>Leader: does the bare minimum of reshuffling food to prevent the idiotic peasants from starving
> Modern Westoid: "OMG this is L I T E R A L L Y Communism" >:(
There is a lot more to communism than just redistributing food. Hitler Did it. FDR did it. It has very little to do with communism. And soviet communism DIDN'T have a caste structure. There was room for mobility between the different classes in their supposed "classless" society. A caste system like the ones the changeling lands have prevents this, much like feudalism.
11746972
We all want to give the poor girl a hug, but she would probably throttle us out of paranoia before we could :(
11747109
The fic author has stated previously that they don't know much about tanks and whatnot. Probably unsure of the specifics.
11747102
Great, now I'm going to be spending the rest of the story wondering if this was a purely aesthetic choice because Star Wars references are just fun (and the look is honestly kind of cool), or...
Is this indicative of Flurry "falling to the dark side" at some point in the future, a la Equestria at War's "Toll of War" mechanic for Celestia/Daybreaker? Guess we'll have to wait to find out if Flurry actually does manage to trip over that absurdly low bar for being on the "Light Side" that Chrysalis has set and somehow topple down to the changeling queen's level...
What would Evil!Flurry be called? Strom Front? Heart Breaker? All hail: Maelstrom, the Crystal Empress Reborn! Whose heart is indeed as hard as crystal after all...
11747148
Dying faith, antagonistic to the reigning monarch = many anti-monarchist atheists + distinct culture + large and poor ploretariat + anti-unionist incompetent nobility + large corruption + absent monarch with better things to do = revolution
Seems absence has made certain hearts grow fonder.
One hopes that zealotry won't become a problem later.
...One really, really hopes.
11747102
This isn't the first time you've done this, it's doubtless not the last, and it's excellently (and humorously) executed every time.
Nicely done.
And this look into the political and economic side of things is as fascinating as ever. I'm no expert, but it certainly comes across as realistic and intricate as any actual historical case. Well-chosen adaptations of actual historical cases for some, if I understand correctly.
Kudos to you and the EaW mod writers, both.
11747102
Flurry Heart: UNLIMITED POWER!
(Blasts Chrysalis with lightning)
Chrysalis: (falls from her high tower while incoherently shrieking)
Stormtroopers now. Well if you count Flurry's nuke spell as her Deathstar then all that's missing is the Imperial March.
I have to imagine it was a combination of ignorance and Luna's return that lead to Celestia's mismanagement of Stalliongrad.
Huh... would that make Flurry, Vader then? Because she has darker, bigger armor and uses more powers then the regular troopers?
The thing about flurry and the crystal ponies is.. that she already went the daybreaker route, shes doing basically whatever necessary to keep her ponies safe, she goes into the frontlines often, fucking nuked around 200k changelings and wiped out a whole forest, the news travel fast, the reich griffons are mostly scared of her, but what about crystal ponies? they are most likely incredibly proud and see her as the rightful goddess, i saw it coming miles away, she saved them from the worst possible situation after all.
11746920
The red scare propaganda that has been propagated for decades has been a complete disaster for the human race, people have no clue what communism actually means and will just freely attribute anything to it. To see someone call food distribution of all things communist, when such a policy has existed since the beginning of time and is not specific to any one ideology or system, is truly despair inducing.
11746920
11747519
Okay! Before we launch into a discussion on the full tenets and values of communism: Alesia and Gold Muffin's "debate" was a parody. Both got things wrong. And Flurry's ignorant of the finer details. It's fairly obvious that Flurry is not as "Red" as the communists want her to be, nor is she as "White" as Alesia would prefer. Ponies can see what they wish in her actions, like the Princesses before her.
At the end of the day, she got the last member of the Stalliongrad Soviet to sit and...maybe not make peace, but come to an understanding with the last White Severyanan. They both lost their home, even if they had different ideas of what it should be.
love the conversations and debates
though changelings as capitalists, eh...after seeing las pegasus, that kinda sets a new milestone xD
honestly, the lore around Severyana/stalliongrad is epic, and considering the mass dmg to the region now, i can only imagine what its final days in the original war were like.
11747663
That one had the Jreg ancapistan song painted all over it
Ah the Sturmtruppen, they have the trait of being tenacious and aggressive like their princess.
Final, climatic, light-saber battle between Flurry and the Queen? I'm sooo in!
11747143
Well we already saw Crystal Pony Suicide Bombers so they definitely have that Krieger spirit.
I been thinking about what the Albino Deer said. Bonito or the Kaiser's head will roll. Since Henrik is Grover's Doppelganger I can see the Deer mistaking him for Grover in the vision. Meaning he could die in place of Grover. Probably killed by a changeling disguised as Bonito. Especially since 2 chapters ago none of the guards checked if Benito was a changeling when he escorted Flurry to Grover's room. At the time it might have been the real Benito but if no one challenges him then a disguised changeling can sneak through. I'd hate to see how Kathrine will react to Henrik's death.
Sorry for any misspelling
11748977
I wouldn't be so sure about him.
11748145
I dont remember that, when was it?
11748716
I can see that happening.. it would be incredibly sad too
11749209
the start of Part 41
11749247
holy fuck, i forgot about that part, yeah i can see how easily the crystal ponies would become zealous when it comes to flurry heart, and how angry they still are, willing to crush and get vengeance from all the pain they were inflicted to, that wont go away for generations at least.
FUCK whatever the outcome is, the crystal empire is changed for a long time for sure.
11749409
That devotion to her may be what stops the Crystal Ponies from brutalizing the changelings, the rest of the continent is angry too and may not listen to Flurry when they get to proper changeling territory. But I guess we will have to wait and see.
"only one of us can be the queen of ashes"
She will drop bomb on vassapolic itself.
11749727
i think she will drop it on the shield, she did it before, and it killed cadence, whats stopping her from thinking it wont work again?
I believe next chapter will be incredibly interesting, what if she drops the nuke on the shield while both monarchs are under it? She might think it will Kill Flurry, and then the changelings can attack from all the tunnels mentioned before, all those infiltrators missing, that might be when benito or "grover" will die
On the subject of Celestia and Luna. I think the reason why so much went wrong for Equestria was given in the first chapters of this fic. The last words that Cadence gave to Flurry were “Love is the death of duty”. I think this was both the last lesson Flurry’s mom taught her and the reason why Equestria collapsed from a serious invasion. Celestia may have been so focused on getting her sister back that she neglected her duty to her little ponies as their leader.
This is shown in the increasing number of times that pre-war Equestria was not as great a place as Flurry and the readers are initially lead to believe. From centuries of discrimination against bat ponies to lack of oversight into the rich and powerful, not even mentioning the military being ruinously unprepared and neglected for large scale conflict of any kind. Heck, by admission of Applejack, the princess’ continuously ordered the military to pull back out of desire to keep their ponies alive!
And that leads into Celestia and Luna LOVING their ponies too much to cary out their DUTY to protect them. And in the end it hurt them more than if they had fought when they could. The same extends to Celestia restricting her sister from directly leading from the front, she didn’t want to lose her sister, no matter how small the chance may have been. This might even continue to the present day in the story based on the known actions of the sisters. They begged for Cadence and Twilight to join them in abandoning their duty to protect the ones they loved the most. But the two younger alicorns stayed and kept up the shield for as long as they could, in spite of knowing that they would meet terrible fates if they did.
But it looks like Cadence’s words to Flurry stayed with her to this day. She is doing her DUTY first and foremost. She is doing what the others failed to do when they should have. She would never have to do the many terrible things she has done and will do if her predecessors had done their jobs right the first time. But maybe that is her domain, her mother had love, she might be capable of doing whatever is necessary to do what is needed of her to protect and lead her ponies. If what is needed to fulfill her duty is to be capable of killing without emotional attachment then so be it.
Of course I don’t actually know if any of this is what is actually going on, but it’s the conclusion I have currently come to. Please feel free to point out holes in my logic! I have been doing mental gymnastics for months trying to figure this out and would like to know what others think!
11750841
I liked your comment but I didn't like it.
11750930
Overall I agree with this reasoning. Personally though I go with idea that after 1000 years of ruling Equestria without her sister, Celestia simply puts Luna over her realm. And I hardly would blame her if that's the case. Living through 40 generations without only existing family member? And when you get that member back, now you have to risk losing her again, this time permanently? It's no wonder Celestia made such choices. She already gave Equestrians over 10 centuries of peace and harmony. Luna? Wouldn't be surprised she followed Celestia out of guilt for Nightmare Moon thing, though according to AJ it for sure wasn't just that.
Overall, assuming best sisters will ever get some screen time again, I am hoping Daybreaker will be addressed one way or another, given her relevance in EaW. Would be interesting if Celestia admitted she was on the brink to turn into it, and that terrified her to the core, paralyzing her from directly intervening ever since.
11747109
Based on the mod since here it's basically up to reader interpretation:
Hegemony - Third Reich
Equestrian+Crystal Empire - British Empire
Griffonian Reich - it's a mess... mix from several nations. I like myself like idea they are Kaiserreich version of Germany
Stalliongrad - Soviet Union
Reich and Hegemony seem to be using already late/post WW2 tanks (E-50s, Panthers, KTs), though Hegemony was mentioned several times to be using often outdated tanks as well (PZ IIIs and IVs).
11751154
Well , they tried to hide their tanks among older models, tiger1 have the same shape as panzers , and with circles turret with a really deadly gun to hunt other tanks from mail away , they are hella expensive as well make it my best guess,
Reich heavy armor is a slow, low range, medium penetration,high rate of fire, thick armor; make it something like British black prince or Churchill VII or Soviet kv series,
I also don't know about the ww2 late/post war era we still have griffon knights and now pony knights, Reich is barley start using semi auto rifles, we don't even see panzerfaust , only antitank rifle, and we won't cover jet engine plans as well;but we have night vision goggles, this universe should not be competed to ours , but for a tanks games nerd , I can only be comfortable with this tanks.
11751037
like a glitch or something? or just that you liked my comment but really didnt agree with it?
I'll add that i actually understand and get the reason Celestia might of just left, both weak will along with the fear of losing her sister, considering shes been ruling for more than a thousand years, not that i agree with it, but.. i guess i get it.
11750930
Since I can thoroughly empathize, I'll break my own promise to shut up to quickly endorse your conclusion: I 100% agree with your reasoning, and your explanation might even be the only way of justifying the way the alicorn sisters have acted since the war started without assassinating their character.
Overall, if I had to add anything, it would be that we mustn't forget that perfect information isn't a thing, and that that can explain a lot of the problems in Equestria. And also that Celestia's overall philosophy and style of ruling is more conducive to peaceful stagnation than anything else, like say economic growth and innovation, which may also explain the relatively weak position of Equestria pre-war (kind of like China just before the century of humiliation starts). Which is to say that Equestria's poor state might be explained by factors other than Celestia's negligence (although it makes sense to think she was negligent towards the end, and that it probably didn't help).
11751299
I get your point, given I am also into military equipment. But here is basically up to your own interpretation, since author once or twice said that he isn't going into particular detail in this aspect. And I personally simply go with idea that Reich is using different German WW2 vehicles than Hegemony. Reich's E-50s vs Hegemony's Indien Panzers, latter which looks more insectoid for me to be used by Changelings.
In regard to tech and comparison with reality... we're talking about world filled with magic and different sentient species where nuclear bomb was developed and deployed near a decade ago. Enough of a reason to justify different development speed of specific techs. Though I believe Panzerfausts are indeed coming, and are going to become symbol of Changelings' Endsieg when story will reach theirs' land.
I like the mention of Discord here. He is still a prescence in the world and remembered if not fondly. I like to think that he is paying attention to events even if he finds the Chaos of War boring. And at some point might pop in to check on old friends to see how they are doing. I doubt he would be thrilled if l one of them was gonna off themselves, suffer in a coma, or be killed by the Princess of Rope. The toys are no fun when they start to rot.
11751643
Agreed, didn't like it.
Imperial March intensifies
Shouldn't it be pistol and sword?