//------------------------------// // Part Seven // Story: The Princess and the Kaiser // by UnknownError //------------------------------// Duskcrest vomited when they arrived in a flash of magic, but said nothing to Flurry. He instead looked urgently down the main street of Evergreen at the herd of creatures. Ponies and griffons were crowding into every house or store that had a radio. One of the trucks left on the street had the engine running. Flurry looked to her right. There was a small grocery store packed with ponies. It was run by a sweet earth pony couple that made her a cake one year. Flurry started towards it. Dusty swayed on her hooves, disoriented from the teleport, but reached out with her magic and snagged her pants. “Princess, we need to clear-” Flurry Heart snarled and sent a wave of magic pulsing through the store. Ponies’ fur bristled as they twitched in unison. The crowd turned as a herd and stared at Flurry’s crackling horn in the doorway. No changelings. The crowd was quiet; they parted as Flurry walked through the store and past bare shelves. The green earth pony couple sat beside the radio, using empty fruit crates to prop it up higher for everypony to see. They bowed as she approached. Flurry stared up at the radio. “This is the Equestrian Liberation Front. We have liberated Manehattan from Governor Lilac and Queen Chrysalis. As I speak, our ponies march west to retake our home.” She didn’t recognize the voice. It sounded like a mare. “Ponies,” the voice implored, “ponies everywhere, now is the time to fight back, to strike with everything we have against the Changelings.” The radio crackled with static. “Now is the time to take back our homes. The light of Equestria will never die as long as we remember it.” The message repeated. Dusty and Duskcrest walked up behind her. “I don’t know that voice,” Flurry said quietly. It felt like a failure to admit it before her ponies. “Starlight Glimmer,” Dusty answered. “She stayed like Princess Twilight, went underground.” Flurry Heart barely remembered a light purple mare, Twilight’s apprentice and regretful communist. She turned to the crowd behind her. They looked from the radio to their Princess with hope. “I need to return to Weter,” Flurry began. “Send word to every town and village along the border. Arm themselves and prepare.” “I’ll get word to my militias,” Duskcrest said. He flapped his wings and lifted above the crowd, flying over them and out the building. “I'll round up the guards,” Dusty nodded. “We left the trucks at the scrapyard. We can make it back to Weter on a full tank.” “No time,” Flurry replied, lighting her horn. “Stand back everypony,” she shouted. Ponies rushed back to give her space. Dusty stumbled towards her with wide eyes, then jumped back as Flurry Heart vanished with a crack. Flurry couldn’t make it back to Weter in one move. She teleported herself into the sky above the grocery store, flapping her wings. Dusty ran out of the store and shouted, looking around. She looked up and shouted something up to Flurry. Flurry took a deep breath, looked west and teleported again. She continued the process over two dozen times. By the time she saw Weter below her, her nose dripped blood and her ears rang. She flapped unevenly down to the ghetto outside downtown. Griffons flying home in the sunset had to dodge her abruptly in the waning light. “Watch it, pegasus!” One female griffon yelled as she swerved to the right, only to freeze as Flurry passed her with a bloody grimace. The alicorn landed hard in the street several buildings down from her tenement, cracking the pavement on landing. The street was deserted, even the usual guards were missing. Flurry could hear dozens of radios repeating the same broadcast from open windows. Flurry coughed and shakily galloped down the street towards her building. Despite the blinding hornache, she prepped a few sparks for a shield. A stallion leaned out a third-story window on the left. “Princess!” He was immediately knocked back as a stream of heads crammed into the window, ponies of all tribes and ages. “It’s the Princess!” “The Princess is here!” A few more heads poked out of windows on the right side of the street. “Princess Flurry Heart!” A pony knocked the glass out of their window frame in their rush. Flurry heard it crash behind her and reflexively cast a shield over her head. Three bat ponies and Falx were armed inside the double doors to her building. They waved her in with wide eyes. Flurry’s forelegs buckled and she collapsed to her haunches in the foyer as they slammed the doors shut, muffling the shouting outside. “Princess, do you need help?” The shotgun-wielding bat pony asked. He was wearing his old Lunar Guard uniform. “Of course she does, brother! Look at her!” The two other bat ponies answered in unison, flanking their brother and clutching rifles. “No,” Flurry replied. She snorted blood into the white sleeve on her foreleg. She lifted her head to Falx. “Where’s Thorax?” “Dockyard,” Falx replied. “You weren't expected back until tomorrow.” “You heard the radio.” “Everypony on Equus has probably heard it by now,” the female bat pony on the left answered. Hoofsteps pounded down the central staircase. Jadis appeared on the landing. She screamed at the sight of a bloody Flurry Heart. “By the Heart!” She rushed down the stars, stumbling on her right foreleg. Flurry forced herself to stand and hold Jadis back with her own outstretched foreleg as the crystal mare rushed up to her. “I’m fine.” Jadis batted Flurry’s foreleg aside with her own maimed one. Flurry stumbled. “You are absolutely not fine!" she shouted. "How dare you treat yourself this way again!” Her scowl wavered and broke into a wide smile. She seized Flurry into a crushing hug. “Oh, I can’t stay mad; this is so wonderful!" she squealed. "Two heroes of the Crystal Empire back under one roof!” Flurry grunted. “What?” There was a massive crash on the second floor and part of the railing for the stairs crashed down onto the landing. A large green and purple dragon stumbled down, bumping his wings into the walls. He slid down the rest of the stairs, flaring his wings and carving furrows in the wood with the claws on his feet. His long, purple tail snaked behind him. The dragon stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stared at Flurry. Flurry Heart stared back at Spike. She forced magic into her horn and cast. Spike looked down at the blue glow on the scales on his belly. “Twilight’s spell,” he choked out a laugh. “There’s easier spells, now,” Spike added gently. “Not as reliable,” Flurry answered. Spike started crying first when they crashed into each other in the hallway. “I missed you so much,” Spike said, hefting Flurry and carrying her up the stairs. He groaned. “You’ve gotten big.” “So have you,” Flurry answered, sniffling and relentlessly nuzzling his chin. Spike’s chuckle rumbled in his chest as he carried her into the hallway. Several armed ponies in gray uniforms stood along the hallway, wearing armbands with the six Elements of Harmony on it. Flurry didn't recognize them and tensed. Spike felt her shift. "They're with me, from Equestria. They're part of the delegation," he explained. Spike tucked his wings in and ducked to enter Thorax’s room. Falx and Jadis followed. There were two more uniformed ponies inside guarding the window who looked suspiciously at Falx. Jadis fetched a rag from the kitchen while Spike set her down on Thorax’s ugly couch. “I heard you lived here with Thorax,” Spike said, crouching and sitting carefully on the floor. “I was heartbroken to hear you were both away, and a just little upset to find a changeling faking your voice inside your room.” Spike glared at Falx, who still stood in the doorway. Flurry leaned on the couch to look past Spike and Falx. The door to her room across the hall had a massive scorched hole in the middle. She made eye contact with Falx. “In my defense,” Falx began with a chitter. “I was never knew what Spike’s voice sounded like until he knocked.” Jadis returned from the kitchen with a wet rag and a battered first aid box clutched in her crippled hoof. “Luckily, Sir Spike the Brave and Glorious, Defeater of Sombra, is known for his patience and wisdom.” Jadis tossed the cloth to Flurry, who pressed it against her muzzle. “He waited for an explanation before squashing the bug,” she said teasingly to the changeling. “Thank you, Jadis,” Falx recited with a sigh. Flurry Heart waved away the first aid kid with a wing. “I don’t need anything.” “Princess, your muzzle is caked in blood,” Jadis protested with a glare. “It’s magic burnout,” Spike replied. “It happens when a unicorn overtaxes their reserves.” He looked thoughtful and tapped a claw to his chin. “Did you teleport all the way here?” Flurry shook her head. “I had to jump forward a few miles at a time. I lost count at twenty-seven,” she mumbled, muffled by the wet rag. “That’s better than Twilight could do at fourteen.” “Twilight wasn’t born an alicorn,” Flurry retorted. “You’re the only natural-born alicorn,” Spike countered, “so we don’t know your limits.” He laughed again. “I remember you used to zip around the palace, blowing holes in the crystal looking for that stupid snail toy.” “Whammy,” Flurry answered with a light chuckle. She had outgrown it by the time the Empire fell, but she woke up in the dead of night sometimes after dreaming about it. “I bet I made some of the crystal ponies reconsider King Sombra,” she joked. Jadis looked horrified. “Never!” she spat. “Anypony who wanted that foal back deserved to be overrun by the Changelings.” “It was just a joke,” Flurry defended herself with a nervous look. “I would die for you a thousand times before I submitted to the King,” Jadis responded. Spike waved a claw at Jadis and took the first aid kit. “I’m sorry, Jadis. We were just joking about better times. Flurry just needs rest.” “Fine,” Jadis huffed. She smiled at Flurry. “You at your worst could not match Sombra. You have a kind heart, Princess.” Flurry removed the rag. “Thank you.” She looked back to Spike. “I thought you stayed with Twilight in Canterlot.” Spike closed his eyes. “I did,” he sighed. “I refused to leave her. I helped bolster the defenses for a last stand after we were encircled. She had a shield over the city, just like your mother. There were too many ponies and not enough food. Things were desperate.” He opened his eyes and looked out at the street through the window. “What happened?” Flurry prompted. “She teleported me away,” Spike growled. Smoke drifted from his nostrils. “She asked for a private meeting, told me to leave. I refused. Told her even if I wanted to, it was too late. She smiled.” Spike swallowed and the smoke drifted to the ceiling. “She flung me into the Dragonlands,” Spike continued. “I was so pissed I grew my wings,” he gestured to his body. He was two ponies tall, and fit. If he got any larger, he would have difficulty with pony architecture not meant for pegasi. “I was halfway back, dodging fighter planes when I heard Canterlot had fallen.” “Spike is the only pony, er, person, we know of that was in Canterlot,” one of the uniformed ponies at the window, a pegasus, added. "And not a known traitor," the other pegasus added. “You’ve been in the Dragonlands?” Flurry asked. “Mostly,” he wiggled a claw. “A dragon stands out in Equestria, especially with all those black buggers running around.” “Will Dragonlord Ember help?” Flurry asked hopefully. She was a reluctant ally of Equestria. The dragons were utterly backwards, near completely illiterate, and usually too large to use any mass production techniques, but they were still dragons. Ember had sent volunteers to fight in the war, but stayed on the volcanic island herself. Spike sighed again. “She will, but only if she thinks we’re already winning. Her father died during the war helping us. If the Changelings can kill a dragon that size with a ton of tank shells, nothing is safe.” “She doesn’t think Starlight can win?” Flurry snorted. “Starlight and Trixie,” Spike corrected. He suppressed a smile at Flurry’s look. “Yes, the entertainer. She’s vicious with tricks and illusions. She helped get me into Manehattan the night the rebellion started. I think she could be part changeling.” Spike crossed his arms. “It started two nights ago. Starlight just took the radio station. The Changelings were trying to keep it quiet to stop a mass revolt, but it’s too late now. Chrysalis' dream of a 'Pax Chrysalia' is falling apart.” “Then why are we sitting here?” Flurry answered, standing up with a grunt. “We’re ready to fight! We have stockpiles in the mountains. I can give the order now and we’ll be across the border tomorrow morning!” “You’ll give the order?” Spike hummed. “How?” “On the radio,” Flurry answered confidently. “Weter Radio will let me on. Let’s go.” Flurry passed Spike and started towards the door. Falx blocked her. “Sit down, Flurry," Spike said slowly. "You’re hurt and need to rest.” She turned back to Spike. The two pegasi with him looked at her as Spike twisted around on the floor to face her. Flurry lit her horn and cast the detection spell again. A fresh drop of blood fell from her nose. Aside from Falx, no changelings. Spike looked at her sadly. “I’m here to negotiate support with President Blackpeak,” the dragon said. “He’s a coward, don’t bother,” Flurry dismissed. “I already met him.” Flurry blinked slowly. “He refused?” she guessed. “Yes.” “So what?” she scoffed and flared her wings. “We don’t need his permission. Let’s go.” “He forbid volunteers. They won't let you on the radio.” “He can’t do that,” Flurry argued. Her stubby tail lashed against her pants. “He can, nearly everypony is a registered citizen.” “I’m not, not yet.” “Flurry,” Spike begged, “you can order ponies to charge over the mountains, but Blackpeak will declare it treason. They’ll have no support.” “They’ll have me. I’ll go with them!” Flurry shouted. “Can you make fuel? Food? Trucks? Enough to keep supply lines going? They won’t even make it a quarter of the way to Manehattan or the Crystal City.” Flurry swallowed. “There’s spells for all that.” “No, there’s not.” Spike shook his head. “You know that. You need an air force and a navy on top of all that. We need the full support of Nova Griffonia.” “Well, how do we get it!?” Flurry screamed. Her wings lifted her off the floor and the window rattled. Everypony winced. “We can't, not yet,” Spike answered calmly. "Once Starlight and Trixie advance the frontline, Blackpeak will have to cave and join the war. If we take Canterlot, it's guaranteed. Starlight thinks they're holding Twilight there." “No.” Flurry shook her head. “You did not come here just to tell me to wait.” "Princess," one of the uniformed ponies started, "we will gladly escort you to Manehattan once the front has advanced far enough away." "How long will that take?" Flurry asked, flapping her wings to stay airborne. Her horn brushed against the ceiling. "The war just started. We're making good progress, but it takes time, Flurry," Spike said. "I came here to see my friends, not to order you around. We can get ready, but we need to avoid panic in the streets." Spike gestured at the window. Flurry drifted over to it. There was a crowd of ponies outside the building, armed and arguing with the guards. One of them saw the Princess in the window and waved. The crowd began to look up at her. It was the same look as the one in the grocery store. I can't fail them. "When did you meet Blackpeak?" Flurry asked. Spike took a moment to respond. “I flew in today with my escort. I met him this afternoon.” Flurry looked at the sky through the window. The sun had set. “He’ll be at his house.” Her horn lit up and she ignored the fresh smear of blood from her nose. Falx and Spike lunged for her from opposite ends as she cracked away in a violent burst of blue light. She knew where Triton Blackpeak’s house was. It was on the opposite end of Weter, in the leisure district. He lived in a three-story mansion with wide windows and balconies, typical fancy griffon architecture. He was rich from the armories that worked ceaselessly along the coast. He didn’t show off his house publicly, but Thorax took her by once. Sometimes the communists have a point, she thought as she trotted down the street after the teleport. The glamour of Canterlot and the Crystal Palace soured in her memory after years of living poorly like her ponies. Flurry Heart appeared before the gate to his house in a flash of blue magic. The two guards slouching against the gate jumped and readied their submachine guns. Flurry tore the guns from their claws before they did something stupid. Flurry looked between them and nickered before snorting a splash of blood and mucus onto the ground. The one on the right was a young black griffon with orange eyes. The one on her left was older with a graying mustache. The younger griffon looked more terrified, so Flurry stared at him. “Blackpeak,” she grunted. “H-he’s occupied,” the griffon stammered. Flurry ripped the magazine out of his submachine gun and crunched the rest of the gun into a ball. The other gun floated behind her. Another stream of blood came out of her nose. "Not asking." The older griffon’s right claw drifted towards his sidearm under a wing. Flurry glanced at him. “Really?” He set the claw down and looked away. Flurry returned to glaring at the younger griffon. “Go.” The griffon nodded several times and flapped his wings. He hopped the gate and began running towards the house, passing by a giant fountain with an eagle on the path. Flurry stared at the other guard as she waited. She tucked his gun under her wing, inspecting it briefly. It was new. He wasn’t used to it, and preferred the old bolt-action rifles. There was a sense of boredom and mild loathing, which probably meant he hated his job. I wonder if his pistol feels the same way, she thought to herself. The younger guard returned and opened the gate. “President Blackpeak is always delighted to see you, Flurry Heart,” he lied. “Please, this way.” Flurry walked up the drive, still carrying the other guard’s gun, who trailed behind her. She tossed it into the fountain as she passed by and shot him a glare over her shoulder. He stopped to fish it out. Flurry Heart was led through the foyer, up a mahogany staircase, and down several halls to Blackpeak’s study. There were many guards inside the mansion and along her path. All of them had drawn their weapons and tracked Flurry as she passed. Flurry ignored them, staring straight ahead and focusing on keeping her hooves steady. She had used a lot of magic in a very short time, but she was currently too angry to sway on her hooves. Triton Blackpeak’s study was lined with bookshelves. Flurry took one breath to look around, then dismissed all of the books as fake. The trick was the binding; it was too stiff and had no wear or tear. Blackpeak sat behind an oak desk in a white night shirt, balancing a pair of reading glasses on his beak. His feathers were grayish-blue, which wasn’t a common combination. He blinked golden eyes at Flurry as if he was surprised to see her. Flurry looked down at her blood-smeared white sleeves. He might actually be surprised, she allowed. “Flurry Heart.” Blackpeak removed his reading glasses. His beak twitched when he broke eye contact to look at her nose. The blood hadn’t dried yet. He leaned back against a plush, red velvet chair. “It’s time to strike Chrysalis,” Flurry stated. “I know why you feel that, and I understand your frustration,” Blackpeak said, clasping his talons together. “You’ve spoken to the dragon?” Flurry ignored the question. “Are you refusing to get involved again?” “My predecessor refused to get involved in the Great War,” Blackpeak answered, “but I would have done the same.” “Why?” Flurry grunted. She wiped her nose on her sleeve again. “The Reich is across the ocean," he lectured, "building naval stations and air bases along their west coast. They intend to invade us.” “Their army is in the south, fighting Wingbardy,” Flurry countered. “They have to move southeast after that to take out the borderlands in the Evi Valley. Their army has been in the same place for over a year; they’re not moving anytime soon.” “Interesting strategic assessment,” Blackpeak nodded thoughtfully. “Is that in the Kaiser’s letters?” Flurry still received and answered Grover's letters, both the bombastic fakes and hidden replies. Princess Flurry Eros Say War Go Well Say Say Say Mean War Not Go Well Do Ponies Lie Princess Too Bye Friend Flurry had replied with her spell in poor Herzlander: Kaiser Grover, Yes, My Ponies lie to me. Lie to keep safe. Lie to protect feeling. Tire of lie too. Hope war go good. Bye Friend. Flurry shook her head and a drop of blood fell from her muzzle. “It’s obvious. And you know what’s in my letters.” “I don’t actually; I have other griffons do that,” Blackpeak admitted. “But since we are speaking honestly, I will say that I have no interest donating guns and griffons to a doomed war.” “It’s not doomed,” Flurry protested. “Chrysalis has the second largest army on the planet, which includes the second most tanks,” Blackpeak shrugged. “Starlight Glimmer has taken one major city and a few surrounding towns, relying on scavenged equipment from her enemy.” “Nova Griffonia has tanks.” “Please, we have one division. It’s not worth the comparison.” “The Changeling border guards are weak.” “Even so, it’s not worth the risk. I will not clip our wings by joining a war that could last years. The Reich could invade before the next election.” “You said you had no interest sending griffons.” Flurry grasped at his wording. “There’s mountains and hills full of my ponies ready to fight for our home.” “I would hope, that after so many years, they would feel that Nova Griffonia is their home,” Blackpeak remarked. He raised a brow. “Your ponies, are they?” “Yes,” Flurry replied. “You do little enough for them.” Blackpeak blinked at her and chuckled. “Fair, fair. But I do more than any other griffon you could elect. You think Redtail and communists will respect your crown? Or Ironclaw? He believes ponies are inferior.” “Equestria will be indebted to you if you help, so will the Empire.” “Two fallen countries." He waved a claw. "I made my company on investments, Flurry Heart. My armories are an investment. I have a sense for these things.” He tapped a claw to his beak. “That sense is telling me Starlight Glimmer and the Equestrian Liberation Front is a bad investment.” “You want to live next to Chrysalis?” “Chrysalis isn’t that bad of a neighbor.” Blackpeak flapped his wings as a shrug. “She’ll invade you the moment she detects weakness.” “We’ve been weak for years,” Blackpeak countered, “but so is she. She can’t attack us without losing control of her territory.” He squawked out a laugh. “It’s already happening now.” Flurry took a breath. “Fine, an investment then.” Blackpeak stared at her with a brow raised in curiosity. Flurry closed her eyes. “If you help me retake my throne, I will help you fight the Reich. I swear it as a Princess of Ponies.” Blackpeak’s beak twitched. He stared at her. A minute ticked by on the clock audibly. He burst out laughing. “By Boreas, look at you!” He looked again and laughed harder. “Bleeding all over my carpet and swearing a little oath to fight your quill buddy!” He laughed so hard that he nearly fell out of his plush chair. Flurry Heart's wings flared out, nearly reaching the bookcases on either side of the study. Her horn sparked with a wick of blue flame as she felt fresh blood on her lip. Blackpeak slowly regained his composure. He looked at her horn and his right claw drifted under his desk towards a drawer. “Even if I wanted to send a volunteer force,” he began, “I would have to pass it through the legislature. There are five ponies in a chamber of sixty. How many griffons in there do you think will vote to go die for you?” “I don’t need your permission,” Flurry replied. "I'll go on the radio." She failed to keep her voice level. “I suppose not. I can't stop you and neither can the griffons at the station. Ponies might be stupid enough to follow a foal to war. Kemerskai will see it as a provocation. He won’t fight to put you on the throne. I’ll have to declare your communities in revolt and send the coastal militias to evict the ponies who stay, probably the young and the old. Unless you're planning on making them fight?" Blackpeak asked sarcastically. Flurry's horn winked out. Blackpeak took in her slumping stature and brought his right claw back out, empty. “You were just a little foal, but it didn’t end well last time the mountains rebelled. It didn’t end well for Highhill either.” “If you lose,” Blackpeak finished, “there will be nowhere to run. Your ponies will have to pray to Celestia or whoever for a ship at some bombed-out port to take them anywhere else. They won't be welcome here.” Flurry took a few short breaths. “Don’t count on our votes next election,” she threatened. The alicorn turned on her tail to walk out of the study. “Very well,” Blackpeak shrugged. “I suppose Kemerskai will win.” Flurry stopped. “He hates you, you know,” Blackpeak added. “Hates you almost as much as he hates me. He’s a terrible influence in the coastal cities. He won’t just make you renounce your crown: he’ll exile you to the River Republic.” “I won’t go,” Flurry promised. She did not turn around to face Blackpeak. “Oh, that will mean war for sure, which means Chrysalis will surely invade,” Blackpeak gasped with mock horror. “The mountains and the south will suffer first, of course, where most of ‘your’ ponies live.” Flurry’s legs shook. She blinked back tears. She refused to look back at him. He sighed. “You play the game poorly, filly. Leave it to the adults.” Blackpeak rang a small bell on his desk. Two guards stepped out from the hallway. “Please escort Miss Flurry Heart out. Arrange for an escort back to Ponyville if needed, and I suspect it will be needed.” Flurry followed them wordlessly down the hall. Another two guards trailed her. “Miss Flurry?” Blackpeak called out from the study. “Try not to bleed on my rugs on the way out.” Flurry Heart did not look back. She did not look back as she exited the house; she did not look back at the snickering guards she passed. At the gate, she did not look over at the old griffon guard who was trying to dry out his submachine gun. He placed it on the ground and fanned it with a flapping wing. Flurry’s horn sparked and the gun slid across the driveway and over to her forelegs. She picked it up and clutched it to her chest. “I’m keeping this.” Flurry Heart lit her horn and vanished with a blast of magic. She returned to outside the tenement, clutching the gun. Blood from her nose dripped onto the stock. Her ears were ringing. The bat pony guards screamed something into the building. Ponies looked out windows. A few stuck guns out and aimed up or down the street. In the street, a few ponies were crouched behind parked vehicles, blocking the street entrances to the ghetto. Thorax galloped out the doors and crouched in front of her. Spike followed him into the street at a sprint. Thorax mouthed something at her. She gently shook her head and the ringing subsided. “What?” “Are you hurt?” he repeated. There was shouting up and down the street as armed ponies took positions in windows and doorways. “No. Tired,” Flurry answered slowly. He reached out with his front hooves and slipped the gun out from her forelegs. “Did somepony try to hurt you?” he asked gently. Flurry shook her head again. “I took it,” she whispered. “Okay,” Thorax nodded. He held the gun out and one of the bat ponies grabbed it. Spike knelt down beside her and picked her up. “Magic Exhaustion hurts like a broken horn, but Thorax tells me you’ve had way worse,” he said genially as he carried her into the building. “Something about Feather Flu, right?” Flurry nodded, breathing sharply. Her wide wings fluttered as she clung to him. Thorax stayed in the street and was calling out to ponies. Spike brought Flurry into her room and laid her down on the bed. She took a moment to let go. Princess Flurry Heart stared up at the poster on her ceiling. “Don’t leave.” Spike sat on the floor and took Flurry’s hoof. She did not look at him.