Princess Flurry Heart frowned at the map as she traced a new line across Equestria.
The radio on the table played a pop song Flurry vaguely remembered from before the war, a hit single from Sapphire Shores. The broadcasts from Manehattan had been taken over by a pony named Vinyl Scratch, who played just about anything she could in-between status updates on the frontlines. Spike assured her she was a real pony and reliable.
Flurry flapped her wings and landed on the floor, staring at the oversized map she pasted to Thorax’s wall. She enlarged an old map of the continent of Equus with a spell, then spent an afternoon collecting several pages of notes and referencing a map of Nova Griffonia and the Changeling Hegemony. She drew the borders of the protectorates under Queen Chrysalis and Starlight’s advance, and placed scraps of paper under the major cities in Equestria and the Crystal Empire with estimates of Changeling forces and equipment.
She had far more scraps of paper stuck to Nova Griffonia, particularly the Crystal Mountains and the south. They estimated the number of Ponies and Griffons ready to fight, as well as supplies. Ponies at the southern border reported that the garrisons in Equestria appeared to have vanished; the roads were abandoned. Duskcrest reported that the pegasi and griffons that scouted the mountain range found abandoned Changeling outposts and guard stations. If they launched an attack from Nova Griffonia, they would take Chrysalis by complete surprise.
But Spike was right; they didn’t have enough supplies stockpiled to make a push, not on their own. Stalliongrad was the largest Equestrian city at the southern border of Nova Griffonia, but it was two days away and supposedly stripped by the Changelings. The mountains to the south and southwest would take a week to traverse using the old roads. The tundra to the west and northwest above the Crystal Mountains didn’t even have roads.
Flurry looked at the previous frontlines. Her short-cut, blue and pink tail lashed in irritation.
From Manehattan, Starlight had taken Fillydelphia to the south and Detrot to the north. Fillydelphia was a major air and naval base; Detrot was turned into a hub of armor manufacturing during the war. The Changelings kept the factories, employing slave labor to keep production. The exact frontline involved mostly guesswork; Thorax only received rumors from the ponies that were smuggled from dockyards or across the border, and the radio was rarely descriptive. Starlight had liberated millions of ponies from Chrysalis’ rule.
“Starlight is slowing down,” Flurry said.
“It takes time to train ponies, Princess,” Sun Flare answered. He was one of the pegasus officers that traveled with Spike.
“She’s still slowing down too much, look.” Flurry tapped the map with the pencil nub in her magic. “She took Fillydelphia two weeks ago; Trixie’s still in Neigh Orleans.”
“The ponies we’ve liberated aren’t like us, Princess.” Barrel Roller, the other pegasus officer, reminded her. “They haven’t fought for years. They’ve suffered in slave camps and been drained by the Changelings. They need time to rest and recuperate.”
Flurry looked at the series of lines she had drawn on the map over the last three months. She shook her head and the light from the window glinted off the golden band under her mane.
They’re barely halfway to Canterlot.
Spike stayed with them in her building, deeming it too dangerous to fly down the coast to the frontline and rejoin the Equestrian Liberation Front. The other ponies spread out, sleeping on spare couches or chairs across the ghetto. Most citizens were happy to take in a freedom fighter.
Thorax agreed on the danger, but Flurry suspected they were delaying a return to avoid dealing with her. They promised to take her when the battle lines had moved far enough away, but Spike refused to define ‘far enough.’ The ELF had no ships or planes beyond what they seized from the Changelings; the ocean around the east coast was prowling with submarines to blockade the rebellion. The air above was filled with fighters and bombers.
Flurry was tired of being told to wait while her ponies died.
Spike slept on the couch below the map, snoring despite Flurry’s conversation and the radio. The dragon slept on Thorax’s couch most days, draped over the entire frame and sagging it to the floor. He joked that it felt like his old basket. The crystal ponies in Ponyville were ecstatic to see their knight again, and he was sleeping off some genuine Crystal cooking.
Despite his constant worry over Flurry Heart’s safety, Thorax looked healthier than he had in years with his oldest friend by his side. Thorax heard rumors of rebellion every year, but the actual uprising surprised him. The Changeling Governor Lilac grossly underestimated the strength of the resistance, or perhaps Chrysalis refused to send her critical support. Either way, Lilac was assumed dead when her building was bombed on the first day of the uprising. Resistance was growing across Equestria and the Crystal Empire for every day that Starlight still fought. The Changeling radio in Canterlot kept declaring that the ‘minor acts of terrorism’ would be suppressed soon.
And Princess Flurry Heart sat in her room. She wasn’t even allowed to go to the mountains to practice anymore.
President Blackpeak declared neutrality in the war. Spike and the Equestrians weren’t surprised, especially not after Flurry returned that night. They never asked her what exactly happened, but she figured Thorax had ways to find out.
He took the submachine gun away; Flurry didn’t ask where it went.
If the front reached the southern border of Nova Griffonia, Blackpeak would have no choice but to allow ponies to cross over and join the war. Ponies would do it without his permission anyway, and Flurry wouldn’t tell them to stand down. His only move in that case would be to send some of the militias funded on his payroll to secure the border, which would leave the coast vulnerable. He might even have to join the war properly in a defensive alliance with Equestria.
I don’t want to fight Grover for Blackpeak, but it might be the only way.
If Starlight took Canterlot, Spike and the soldiers would return regardless of where the front was; Flurry was confident about that. There were rumors that Twilight Sparkle was still alive and a prisoner of the Changelings, bolstered by the few times in the early occupation that ‘Twilight’ appeared on Changeling radio to urge ponies to accept their new overlords. The fake Twilight hadn’t appeared for several years.
Flurry Heart didn’t believe her aunt was alive, anymore than she believed her mother was alive.
But she had to keep up hope, for her Ponies if not for herself.
Thorax entered the room behind Flurry. She felt his stare on her back as he sighed. “Still looking, Flurry?”
“There was an update,” she replied.
Thorax slipped out of his brown jacket slowly. He was wearing brown pants and boots today, so he was busy actually working for the government. Sun Flare and Barrel Roller stared at Thorax from their spots by the window. All of the Equestrians were tense around her changelings. Flurry understood, and sympathized, but she hoped that her casual demeanor would set them at ease over time.
“What’s going on today, Uncle?”
“The Imperial delegation from the Reich is still making demands,” Thorax said.
The Reich had arrived three days ago with two destroyers, waving a white flag and an invitation for diplomacy. The Griffonian Reich still considered Nova Griffonia an estranged colony; they never issued a formal response to the declaration of independence. Some trade still flowed back and forth, though the old joke about Flurry’s letters became closer to reality with every month.
There were no more refugees from Griffonia. These days, it was easier to flee towards the Riverlands.
“Blackpeak can’t accept anything,” Flurry dismissed. She stretched her wings.
“No, and they met Kemerskai,” Thorax revealed, “or rather, Kemerskai met them.”
“I’m sure that was a fun meeting,” Flurry laughed.
Thorax buzzed his wings. “How would you like to storm up to Chrysalis and stab her again? I’m sure it was very cathartic for Kemerskai, and it sent a message to Blackpeak.”
Spike let out a snore and a puff of smoke. Flurry shoved the pencil into Spike’s nose with her magic. He snorted awake. Flurry managed to retrieve the pencil before he scorched it.
He rubbed his snout. “Please, Princess, have mercy and stop doing that.”
“You’ve slept off those crystal cupcakes long enough, hero,” Flurry answered.
“Oh, I was still dreaming about them,” Spike said, smiling. He smiled wider at Thorax. “Welcome back,” Spike said. “Glad to see the political machine hasn’t crushed you yet.”
“Despite all efforts,” Thorax laughed. “Blackpeak thinks the delegation is trying to send coded messages back to the Reich. We’ve been working with codebreakers to check.”
“Are they?” Spike yawned. He brushed his claws against the ceiling as he stretched. He didn’t cut a new groove into the ceiling this time.
“No, but it seems like they’ll be here a while. Chrysalis’ submarines aren’t discriminating on ships crossing the ocean.” Thorax trotted into the kitchen and picked up a cold pot of coffee. Flurry walked over and held her horn under it, lighting it with a bright spark.
“Gas out again?” Thorax sighed.
“Hot water, too. Took a cold shower this morning,” Flurry replied.
“Pointless requesting a repair,” Thorax remarked. “I’ll have Leaky Line search through the pipes, see if it’s on our end, or if they’re prioritizing downtown again and rationing.”
There was a sharp, two-toned whistle out in the street. Thorax immediately tensed and opened a kitchen cupboard with a rear hoof. He dragged out a belt with two pistols attached. Sun Flare and Barrel Roller took positions on either side of the window as Thorax slipped the belt on with magic. Spike crouched and retrieved the rifle under the couch. It looked small in his claws, but he checked the bolt with a careful claw.
Flurry didn’t go to the window; she stepped out into the hall and listened. Ponies rapidly cleared the street, or took cover in doorways and arches. After some rapid discussion outside, Jadis limped up the stairs. She saw Flurry in the hallway. “Night Flight spotted two military trucks with a lot of griffons headed down the road, Princess.”
“Are they certain they’re headed here?” Thorax asked, poking his head through the door.
“Dusty thinks so,” Jadis said, “and I agree.”
“It’s nearly dusk; it’s a good time for a raid,” Spike said from the room.
“Two trucks aren’t enough to flush out all of Ponyville,” Flurry said. “How long until they get here?”
“Two minutes,” Jadis guessed.
“Get to your room, Princess,” Thorax demanded.
“Please Uncle,” Flurry scoffed. “I can shield the entire block if they try anything.”
“You can do that from your room.”
Flurry opened her mouth to argue.
“Don’t argue, please?” Thorax asked.
Flurry slammed the door to her room closed and locked it with a spell. She paced from her desk to her bed, which was only about a body-length-and-a-half apart. She grew tired of it quickly and sat scowling up at the Wonderbolt poster.
Time passed by slowly.
Flurry heard hooves down the hallway, then down the stairs. The radio in Thorax’s room turned off. Flurry could hear low conversations through the floor.
“Princess Flurry Heart?” an amplified voice called out in Aquileian from the street. Flurry could hear it faintly from her room.
The ghetto was silent.
“I wish to speak to Princess Flurry Heart,” the voice called again. It was not a natural Aquileian accent; it cut the consonants off too harshly.
Like Herzlander, Flurry thought.
There was a long pause. Nopony replied.
“I know the Princess lives here,” the voice continued. “Bring her out.”
“That sentence,” Flurry shouted back in Aquileian, “is a very good way to get shot.” She was shouting from her room, using the Royal Canterlot Voice at half-power. It made the floorboards rattle and dust fall from the ceiling. Her ears rang.
Somepony pounded on her door. “Stop!” Spike shouted. “I’ll punch through the door again!” he threatened.
“I am unarmed and alone,” the voice replied.
“Like Maar!” she shouted back, using a griffon swear. “You brought two trucks full of griffon soldiers here.”
Spike punched her door. Flurry’s spell held and he staggered back, muttering curses. Flurry dispelled the lock and opened the door, glaring at Spike, who was shaking out his right claw.
“Aquileian ponies live here too,” she said. “Idiot is going to get himself shot in the middle of Ponyville.”
“I am Colonel Elias Bronzetail of the Griffonian Reich,” the voice said from outside. “May I speak with the Princess?”
Thorax groaned. “Oh, this is going to cause so much trouble with Blackpeak.”
“I’m going,” Flurry declared. “Is he actually alone?”
“The trucks stopped at the entrance," Barrel Roller called back from the window. "He’s the only one that got out. What’s he saying about you?”
Even if ponies didn’t know Aquileian, ‘Princess’ was the one word that was identical in every language, courtesy of Celestia.
Flurry ignored the question and summoned a small shield around her body. Walking down the stairs, she forced Spike and Thorax to follow her at a distance and the ponies in front to back away from her. Dusty Mark was at the door with a dozen ponies taking cover on the ground floor.
“He’s outside the building,” Dusty reported.
“Huh, means he knew where I lived,” Flurry replied. “You see if he’s a changeling?”
“No, I’m not sure if I want to cast a spell on him and start a firefight,” Dusty snarked.
Flurry waved a wing at the ponies at the door. “Step back and open the door,” she commanded.
“Let us go first,” Spike asked from behind Flurry. He pushed at her shield.
“Unless he’s actually a suicide bomber, I’m fine in here,” Flurry retorted. The ponies opened the double doors. The hinges creaked; the doors also needed a new coat of paint two years ago.
Colonel Elias Bronzetail stood in the street in a thick tan jacket and pressed leggings. He was a gray and black griffon by color, and his beak was light brown. His paws and claws were bare, but he wore a brown officer’s cap with a golden griffon pressed onto the peak. A yellow and orange armband with the black shadow of a roaring griffon wrapped above his right elbow.
Well, he certainly looks like a Reich officer, Flurry decided. She stepped into the doorway, still in her shield.
The Colonel looked up at her from the street and dropped the megaphone. He immediately blushed and covered his eyes with flared wings. The sudden movement caused everypony to aim at him.
Flurry ignored his response. “My friend will cast a spell on you to make sure you are not a Changeling,” she said in Aquileian. “Do you understand?”
The officer cap moved up and down in a nod.
“Lower your wings,” Flurry asked with an annoyed nicker.
“You are indecent, Princess,” the griffon stuttered. “Please, I will wait.”
Flurry blinked and looked down at herself. She was naked, as she usually was in the ghetto. The alicorn giggled.
“Many ponies here cannot afford luxuries like fine clothes,” she laughed in Aquileian. “I can fetch a potato sack if that will make you comfortable.”
The griffon twitched, caught between looking at the Princess and demanding she demean herself for him. “Your friend may cast her spell,” he answered, not responding to Flurry’s challenge.
Dusty did so, sitting on her flank and holding the revolver between her hooves. “He’s fine, Princess.” The gray unicorn considered her statement. “Maybe not fine, but he’s not a spy,” she conceded.
“Many Equestrians and crystal ponies do not wear clothes,” Flurry explained to the griffon. She looked for a holster and didn’t see one, unless it was hidden under his jacket. She reached out in her magic. She didn’t feel any weapon near him.
“He’s unarmed,” Flurry announced.
“How do you know?” Dusty asked, speaking from the side of her muzzle while she still aimed at him. “We’ll have to search him.”
“I used a spell."
“You know how to detect weapons?” Dusty asked suspiciously.
“Far Sight showed me,” Flurry deflected.
Dusty looked across the street towards where he lived. “I’ll have to ask him to teach me that spell,” she commented.
Bronzetail muttered something under his wings in Herzlander.
“What?” Flurry asked.
“I said, the Kaiser demanded I treat you with respect, Princess,” Bronzetail answered.
“That was a lie,” Thorax replied from Flurry’s other side. “Well, maybe not all a lie, but he’s hiding something.”
“Yeah, obviously,” Flurry answered. “My uncle says you’re lying,” she replied back in Aquileian.
The griffon took a moment. “I said, 'I don’t understand how Equestria was ever considered a beacon of progress with two nudists on the throne,'” he squawked.
“That’s true,” Thorax nodded.
“He’s telling the truth?” Flurry confirmed.
“Yeah, but he’s also right about Equestria. You know, changelings would have a much harder time copying a pony and all their outfits.”
“Rarity would love to hear that,” Spike said, “but I got no idea what this guy’s saying.”
“Come inside,” Flurry called out to the griffon. “Wait on the first floor. I’ll go put something on. Your griffons stay in the trucks.”
Flurry turned to Dusty. “Keep an eye on the trucks. If there’s movement, call out.”
“Yes, Princess,” Dusty saluted.
Flurry returned upstairs and fetched a blue skirt that covered her flank. She left the matching blouse in the dresser. She walked downstairs and paused on the landing before the first floor, looking down at the Colonel sitting in the open hallway. A few families stuck their heads out the door to watch.
“I’m disappointed,” Flurry began with a mocking tone in Aquileian, “that the Kaiser’s officers lack the discipline to not look under my tail.”
Only Dusty, Thorax, and two ponies at the door understood her. Thorax sighed and pressed a hoof to his muzzle.
Bronzetail risked looking up to glare at her. “I’m disappointed that a Princess shows so little care for her appearance,” he answered back.
“I’m also disappointed that the Kaiser’s officers think nothing of driving armed griffons into a pony ghetto,” Flurry said with more anger. “You understand how that effects your appearance, yes?”
Bronzetail took a deep breath as his wings twitched. “I apologize,” he said.
“I apologize for my appearance,” Flurry nodded. “We have no hot water today.”
Bronzetail looked to his sides at the guards and the ponies poking their heads through the doors. “I see,” he said slowly. “I wish to speak to the Princess privately.”
“Absolutely not,” Thorax answered in Aquileian. He nodded to Spike.
Bronzetail took a moment to register the large dragon and his tail lashed nervously. “I have something for the Princess that is for her eyes only.”
“What?” Thorax asked, frowning.
“A letter.”
“The letters from the Kaiser are public knowledge,” Thorax replied. “They are not secret, nor are her responses.”
“This letter is different,” Bronzetail declared. He reached slowly into his jacket with his left talon as he leaned on his haunches and raised his right claw into the air. He pulled out a sealed envelope very slowly. “This letter is for the Princess, directly from the Kaiser himself,” Bronzetail flipped it over and showed the wax seal on the envelope.
“We’ll check it first,” Thorax said.
“No, it is for the Princess, not a changeling,” Bronzetail sneered back.
“Poison,” Thorax hissed. “A wax seal means nothing. I could open it and reseal it with a candle.”
“It is the Kaiser's own personal stamp!” the griffon protested.
“I could fake that, too.”
“Of course you could, changeling!”
“Enough!” Flurry shouted, stomping a hoof on the landing. “Were you present when the letter was sealed?” she asked the griffon.
“The Kaiser gave it to me himself.” He lifted his head in pride.
“That’s not an answer.”
“No,” he frowned. “It was already sealed.”
“Give it to the changeling,” Flurry ordered.
“You don’t trust Grover?” Bronzetail asked, furious and a bit shocked, judging from the flared wings.
Interesting, Flurry considered. He called him Grover. “I trust Grover far more than I currently trust you,” the alicorn answered, “so please pass the letter over to my friend.”
He jabbed a claw out and thrust the letter towards Thorax. He took it in his magic and nodded to a pony across the hall. The pony burst into a flare of green fire before accepting it; Arex took the letter and walked towards the basement.
The Colonel’s tail lashed angrily. “You trust those changelings?” he squawked.
“His name is Thorax,” Flurry corrected, “and I’ve known him since I was a foal. His brother was killed by Chrysalis for his defection.”
She smiled at Thorax. “He’s my uncle now.”
She frowned at Bronzetail. “Watch your tone.”
“They control minds.” Bronzetail narrowed his bronze eyes.
“Chrysalis guards that knowledge jealously, as have all the Queens of the past. You think she would allow us something we could use on her?” Thorax asked.
Bronzetail frowned and glared at Flurry. “Your spell, it detects changelings?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“Always?”
“Yes. My aunt Twilight invented it.”
His gaze softened and he looked to the floor. “That would have been nice,” he sighed.
“What did changelings do to you?” Flurry asked.
“I lost a friend,” Bronzetail answered with another sigh.
“Everyone here has lost a friend to them,” Flurry said, consciously not using ‘everypony’ or ‘everygriffon.’
Bronzetail looked at the ponies peeking out of the doors again, then looked over at Dusty. He glanced at her revolver and nodded. He removed his cap and tucked it under a wing. "I understand your suspicions, and I am sorry for alarming your ponies. We mean you no harm."
Flurry nodded.
Arex returned, carrying the open envelope. “We could run more tests,” she told Thorax, “but it’s clear for all the basic stuff. Frost Fall picked it up with her muzzle and she’s not dead yet, so it’s probably fine.” Arex looked concerned and her wings buzzed. "It says some stuff-"
Flurry snatched the letter from Arex's green aura with her horn before she could pass it to Thorax.
She read the first line.
Princess Flurry Heart,
I am happy…
It was entirely in Herzlander. Flurry could pick out some words and names, but the letter was far more casual and complicated than she could deal with. She could tell it was written with the same claw as the others, the vowels had Grover’s normal loop and flair.
I think Grover overestimated my Herzlander.
Flurry could spend several days picking through the dictionary under her bed, or she could ask Thorax to read it to her. Flurry had to consider it for a moment while her wings twitched.
“Thorax, I need you to read it out; it’s in Herzlander.”
“I must ask that it be read in private,” Bronzetail begged, “and that I be present as it is read.”
“Do you know what it says?” Flurry asked.
“No,” Bronzetail said, “but I do not trust Thorax as you do. I must take your response back to the Kaiser as well.”
“Fine,” Flurry conceded. “Let’s go to Thorax’s room.”
“No,” Thorax cut in, “not while you have your map and notes up.”
Flurry huffed. Stupid, forgot about all that. She waved a wing towards Thorax and Spike. “Go to the street,” she ordered. “Back into the street, Colonel,” she said in Aquileian to the griffon.
All three stepped out and Flurry descended the rest of the way down the stairs and out the building before looking around at the onlooking ponies. Spike loomed over the griffon, who tried not to look nervous. He gave a signal to the trucks parked at the end of the street.
“A little privacy, please everypony!” Flurry called out.
“You heard the Princess!” Jadis shouted into the street.
Flurry summoned a large, round blue shield that covered the four of them. She concentrated and the bubble turned mostly opaque.
“Now, no one can see or hear us in here,” Flurry said. “Or shoot us. It would take artillery to break this shield.”
“If you try to attack the Princess,” Thorax warned Colonel Bronzetail in Aquileian, “I will order the dragon to eat you.”
“You say something about me?” Spike asked. “I thought I heard ‘dragon.’ I don't know much Aquileian.”
Bronzetail swallowed and raised his claws up. “I understand. I’m just bringing a message.”
Thorax lifted the letter in his magic and scanned over it with his blue eyes. “Princess Flurry Heart,” he recited, “I am happy to finally be able to write to you-”
“I do not know what he is saying,” Bronzetail cut him off. “I do not speak Equestrian.”
“Can you do it in Aquileian, uncle?” Flurry asked.
Thorax, impressively, rolled his eyes without pupils.
“Princess Flurry Heart,” Thorax recited in Aquileian, “I am happy to finally be able to write to you without tricks. If this letter has been opened, do not trust any message within.”
Thorax blinked. “Well, we couldn’t trust that statement either.”
“Please, no commentary,” Flurry asked with a snort.
“The war goes poorly, though my military tells me otherwise. We have taken Griffonstone, our most holy city, but it is a ruined wasteland of stone and misery. Our navy struggles off the south of Griffonia. Wingbardy will not fall until we take Karthin on the coast. My army has to go through mountains and swamps; our tanks are useless.”
“Clever little Kaiser,” Bronzetail hummed.
“When the Changelings recalled their embassy, General Thranx begged to remain with me. He was there when we met. He had been a good friend; he told me many truths about Chrysalis that Eros avoided. I took him under my wing and allowed him to stay. He served as a great commander and a friend. He died suddenly in spring.”
Bronzetail swished his tail and looked away.
“Chrysalis killed him. I have no proof, but I know it in my heart. My griffons lie to me and say he died peacefully, but they would not let me see the body. My loyal dogs guard my palace fiercer than most griffons, telling me my time will come. I am tired of lies and waiting. I am tired of seeing beaten griffons, my subjects, paraded by me in triumph. Things must change, and I will change them. I want to be different from my ancestors.” Thorax paused for a moment and licked his fangs.
“Princess Flurry Heart: I, Grover von Greifenstein, swear to the Gods that I will help you reclaim your throne when I come of age. If the Gods do not hear me, I swear it to Maar.”
“Lies! The Kaiser did not write that!” Bronzetail protested. He tried to snatch the letter from Thorax, but Spike clamped a claw around the back of his neck and hauled him up on his back paws. He twitched and waved his claws desperately around his sides to swat at Spike, more like a cat than a bird.
Thorax levitated the letter up to the griffon’s beak. He stopped struggling to read it.
His beak fell open in horror.
“You must destroy the letter,” he rasped. “The faithful love the Kaiser. He has committed foul blasphemy.”
“It’s just words,” Flurry replied.
“Maar is as real as any Nightmare,” Bronzetail rasped back. “Grover was chosen by the Gods to lead us. If he rejects the Gods, he rejects his crown.”
“This could make good blackmail material,” Thorax suggested in Equestrian. He floated the letter back down and took it in his hooves.
“Oh, we’re going to blackmail the most powerful griffon in the world?” Spike asked. “Can I set this guy down now?”
“I’ll destroy the letter,” Flurry promised to Bronzetail in Aquileian. She switched to Equestrian. “Please set him down gently, Spike.”
Bronzetail fell heavily to all fours and gasped for air. He pressed his back legs against the shield, moving away from Spike.
“I hear about your rebellion every day," Thorax continued, "and I pray to Boreas it succeeds. I even pray to Maar in my heart.”
Bronzetail made a choking noise and his pupils dilated. Spike stared at him warningly. “You’re going to have to explain what his deal is,” the dragon said to Thorax.
“Chrysalis is a threat to every Pony and Griffon. Archon Eros will not allow me to declare war. He will not allow me to send volunteers. Until I turn sixteen, I am not allowed to make my own decisions.” Thorax lowered the paper to look at Flurry.
Flurry met his stare evenly. “Continue.”
“Send your normal reply with Colonel Elias Bronzetail, I trust him. Do not trust any other griffon with the delegation, they are servants of the Archon. I believe I have found a way to respond in kind.”
Thorax stuttered, then continued to recite the letter. “May I have a lock of your mane? Only give it to the Colonel.”
Bronzetail frowned at Flurry, now more confused than agitated.
“You’re not doing that,” Thorax noted.
“Continue,” Flurry replied.
“I’m sorry that was creepy but I figured out the spell. I still have your crown.”
Flurry laughed; Bronzetail squinted at her.
“One day, I will see you in Nova Griffonia. Grover.”
Thorax lowered the letter. “That’s it,” he finished.
“Give it to the griffon,” Flurry ordered. She turned to Bronzetail. “Verify what the letter said, then answer my questions. If you refuse, you will not leave this shield.”
Bronzetail took the letter with a grimace, picking it out of Thorax’s magic. He crouched down and read through it while Spike loomed over him. He looked up at the changeling when he reached the end of the letter.
“It is accurate,” he squawked out. “It must be destroyed.”
“Not yet,” Flurry said. “Questions first.”
Bronzetail clutched the letter to his chest with both claws. “Ask.”
“Why does Grover trust you?”
“I served under General Thranx,” Bronzetail started. “I knew him well. The Kaiser summoned me to the palace before we left. He asked about Thranx and told me I was to be promoted to his position when I returned. He passed me the letter with the official papers. The Nova Griffonians can’t search through our documents.”
“I assure you that they can,” Thorax stated.
“It has not left my side for two weeks,” Bronzetail answered. “I sleep with the damn letter. There was another letter that was very insistent on what to do and the price of failure. I destroyed it on the boat.”
“Very convenient,” Thorax remarked.
“It was prudent,” Bronzetail argued.
“Who was Thranx?” Flurry interrupted. She remembered a muddy changeling left behind during her outburst with her fake mother; Grover had used the name during their private discussion.
“Thranx was a panzer commander with the Changeling embassy. Chrysalis gave the Kaiser a tank as a gift when he was eight and Thranx taught him to drive it. He was a good friend and a fair commander.”
Bronzetail laughed. “It was a rare trait during the early wars. After your ‘escape,’ the Changelings recalled their embassy a few months later, arguing we hadn’t done our duty in our alliance. Thranx begged the Kaiser to stay, going around the Archon.
“I was there. He said many things about Chrysalis that would warrant his death,” Bronzetail sighed, “and he said them before the Imperial court. His commander, Field Marshal Synovial, ordered him to be seized. The Kaiser intervened.”
He gave Flurry a wry glance. “Like with you.”
“What happened?”
“He stayed,” Bronzetail shrugged. “Eros couldn't publicly oppose his charge, only apologize. Thranx wore the form of a griffon well. There was some grumbling about allowing a changeling to order griffons to their deaths, but we knew he had the Kaiser’s favor. They spoke whenever he was in Griffenheim, and he shared knowledge with our spies.”
“Chrysalis would have never let him live,” Thorax sighed, shaking his head.
“She was far away on another continent. After the initial screeching on the radio, there was silence,” Bronzetail shrugged.
“He was poisoned in Griffenheim," Bronzetail said, "in his apartment. We think it was after a date.” Bronzetail closed his eyes. “It took him a long time to die. The holes on his legs cracked open and purple pus fell out. I don’t wish to speak of it.”
“Condensed Manticore Venom,” Thorax said. “Very rare.”
“Is there an antidote?” Bronzetail asked.
“Only for the first day.”
“We found him after two, so it would have made no difference.” Bronzetail waved a wing in dismissal. “His death was a humiliation and covered up. Chrysalis did not gloat over the radio, perhaps she was content in his suffering, or she hoped we would keep trading for rubber.”
“Couldn’t a changeling detect another changeling?” Flurry asked Thorax.
“Yes, unless he got careless.” Thorax hummed. “It’s more likely a griffon killed him for payment, then Chrysalis cut loose ends.”
Bronzetail clacked his beak, then deflated. “It is a dark time when a griffon will betray his Kaiser. I did not tell him the truth when we spoke. I don’t know how the Kaiser knows. I am ashamed.”
“Grover’s smarter than you think,” Flurry added.
“It is a dark time when a pony knows the Kaiser better than his own griffons,” Bronzetail huffed, but tilted his beak in a smile at Flurry.
“How do you know Aquileian? Your accent is Herzlander,” Flurry pointed out.
Bronzetail blinked. “I grew up on the border of the Duchy of Feathisia and Aquileia. Many griffons spoke both languages for trade.”
Flurry looked to Thorax, who nodded his confirmation. Well, he seems pretty devoted to the Kaiser. “You’re supposed to take my response back to the Kaiser?” Flurry asked.
“Yes,” Bronzetail answered. “I will meet him to be promoted and pass the message back. I will not read it or see it.”
“I’ll need you to read it, because I’ll need your help,” Flurry said. She stretched out her right wing towards him. “May I have his letter?”
Bronzetail hesitated, clenching it in his claws. “You do not understand the danger of proclaiming worship of Maar,” he said. “Maar is an evil god; any griffon that worships him is executed.”
“I know the story of Nightmare Moon,” Flurry said.
“It is not the same,” Bronzetail shook his head. “Maar opposes the Holy Trinity, especially Boreas. The regent is Archon Eros, the griffon chosen by Boreas to be his representative on this world."
“Eros will kill Grover for some words on a paper?” Flurry protested.
“More likely he’ll kill me for knowing about it.” Bronzetail extended the letter to Flurry. “The Kaiser ordered me to aid you, so I must aid you.” He closed his eyes.
Flurry took the letter with her wing, then lit her horn. The letter floated in front of her muzzle. She tried to pick out the sentence and commit it to memory.
Princess Flurry Heart: I, Grover von Greifenstein, swear to the Gods that I will help you reclaim your throne when I come of age.
Two years for the both of us, Flurry thought. Starlight and Trixie might not last two years. They might not last two months.
Flurry’s horn sparked and the letter burst into flame, burning away to ash in the time it took to blink.
“I’m not blackmailing my friend,” Flurry told Thorax. She dispelled her shield and looked around at the cleared street. One of Bronzetail’s soldiers awkwardly stuck his head out of the back of the canvas truck. Princess Flurry Heart turned to the griffon.
“My reply,” Flurry said, “depends on what you can do to help us right now.”