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.”