Grover stopped for a moment to pull out his notes. He continued walking on his hind paws, using his wings for balance. He could not do it forever, nor could any griffon, but he jotted down another idle thought with a worn pencil.
Farmland 4 Quadrants
“Spying on me?” Princess Flurry Heart asked. The armored pony turned around fully, incapable of seeing out of her heavy helmet. Even on his hind legs, Grover only met her eyes while she stood solidly on all fours. The Kaiser tucked his notebook into a coat pocket after a cursory glance over what he had written so far.
Clear Room 4 Expansion
NW Factories Repaired
SW SE NE Occupied
Rocket Range 3.5
Reload Too Long
Cheap
“I am assessing the quality of your forces for future engagements,” Grover answered. He lowered himself to all fours. Benito had followed him on the tour while the other engineers inspected the railyards and poured over a map. The dog folded his arms, stuck in a perpetual squint.
For once, I am thankful for my glasses. The lenses and frames helped with the glare. The Crystal City was the capital of the Crystal Empire. It was named for its architecture, unlike any other city in the world. Crystal ponies had a talent with shaping and molding that surpassed even griffons in one regard. Every building was made with some variety of crystal in a myriad of shapes and colors.
It was absurdly bright, even with the pink shield filtering the sunlight and the smoke from several factories mixing with a few clouds. Light refracted off the sides of the taller buildings into the roads and squares. There were few lampposts, and they clashed with the rest of the architecture. Installed after it returned, I assume.
“How many are still in the city?” The Princess flexed a wing rather than turn back around. Grover could not see her upper lip, only the bottom of her narrow jawline. The helmet covered more than the standard Royal Guard helmet, even if it was derivative.
“20,000,” the pinkish stallion answered. “Another 75,000 are in the field along the shield wall with the rockets. We’ve arranged a further demonstration of the motorized frames-”
“That won’t be necessary, Colonel,” the Princess interrupted. “I don’t need to see my rockets maim my future farmland again. I trust Gold Muffin’s engineers.”
The crystal stallion bowed his head. “Of course, Princess.” The alicorn did not see the gesture; her back was to him. The crystals in her wing slid against her primary feathers when she pulled her wing into place. She could not push them flush against her armor.
Her armor was an engineering marvel, but it was insanity. The armor made her a juggernaut, a deep swirling purple crystal with gunmetal joints on her limbs. No griffon knight wore armor on their wing joints so one could fly and maneuver, but that clearly was not her concern. The crystal had been chipped all across the body and under the wings; the legs were similarly scuffed. The damage was superficial, but she had to have taken withering fire in the Duskwood or Celestial Plain.
The weak point would either be the wings or the helmet. The crystals helped deflect bullets through her feathers, but the metal brace across the band of her wing guarded the true muscle and bone. That only left the helmet, and her unarmored jaw or the eye slits proved a tempting target. Or the horn. It is only bone. Grover stared up at the central spire. The Princess’ pink horn stuck out above six other points guarding the base, appearing sharper than the purple points.
The horn cocked to the side, but only slightly. The Princess could roll her head against the metal gorget shielding her neck. “What?” she teased. “Is my capital not to your liking?”
Grover cocked his own head to see through the eye slits. The Princess stared back placidly, leaving small cracks in the cobblestones of her streets as she trotted through the city. “I thought Canterlot was the capital.”
“Of Equestria,” the pink jaw explained. “The Crystal Empire is ruled from my city.”
“Which one do you intend to rule from?”
“Both.”
Grover stared flatly up at the armored alicorn. “Which one should I tell my investors to prioritize?”
“The Crystal City has more room for expansion, but Canterlot will be the administrative center.” The helmet and horn tilted back. “I’ll spend more time in Canterlot. I suppose my home is the Griffonstone to Griffenheim.”
“You have never seen pictures of Griffonstone,” Grover scoffed. “Your city’s sewage system works.”
“It’s a thousand years old.”
“But it works,” Grover waved a claw. The alicorn turned back around and nodded. The small procession resumed walking the streets, moving deeper into the snowflake towards the towering palace in the center. The city was arranged in sectors, and the streets gave it the pattern of a snowflake from the sky.
Grover shared a look with Benito over a wing. The dog remained tense with a paw on his holster, scowling at the windows and roofs. “Do you spy something?”
“No,” Benito huffed. His ears pinned. “These ponies concern me. They keep their distance.”
That was true enough. Aside from the small procession of crystal-plated guards, the city moved as it usually did. Ponies did not line the streets to cheer, and work continued in the factories they had toured on the outskirts. Rockets and shells were piled in boxes besides cans of bland food.
Pairs of Imperial Guards, distinguished by their gray uniforms instead of white, stood on every street corner. Their uniforms had flexible boots and high collars, masking most of a shiny coat. They stomped a hoof when their Princess passed them, but otherwise scanned the streets.
Grover cocked his head to a two-story house. The walls were made of crystal, as was nearly everything visible, and a blue light flickered in the window. It was the first house he had seen with signs of life inside.
The griffon increased his pace. The Princess moved slower in her armor, but her strides were long. He took two steps for her one, claw and paw skipping on the cobblestones.
The white-uniformed pony following behind the Princess shot him an appropriately frosty look over her withers. “Princess?” Her white tail screwed.
“Let him through, Jadis,” the Princess said over a wing. She must have guessed. Her head did not turn all the way back to see. “Kaiser Grover? You have more questions?”
Grover slid his wings past the cold-eyed mare, and she slowed her limp to march beside Benito. The dog and crystal pony traded a side-eye and assessed each other, then looked to opposite sides of the street.
“How many ponies live in the city?” Grover asked. He had to walk a wingspan away and partially turn his head. The Princess’ wings were partially extended by the locks of her wing joint armor.
“How many of my subjects live in the Crystal City?” she called ahead.
“Governor Lily has not done a full census,” Colonel Heartsong apologized. “We have seen more arrivals from the frontier and the old Yak lands. Three of the residential quadrants have been filled.”
“Several million,” the Princess estimated. Her helmet turned partially upwards to point her horn to the sky. “Largest city in the world.”
“I would have to look at a chart, but I believe Vesalipolis holds that record,” Grover replied.
“Changelings lie,” Frosty Jadis snorted behind him. “Who can know how many reside in the shadow of their foul Queen?”
“If that is true now, it will certainly not be after the war.” The helmet lowered and Grover caught her icy eye in the slit. She remained looking ahead. “What else?”
“We can discuss anything more specific in the Crystal Palace,” Grover offered. He stepped over a crack in the cobblestones. The wears and tears of battle damage had been mostly filled, but the repairs were easy to spot. The crystal caught the light differently in the houses.
Grover flexed his head feathers as he searched for a conversation topic. “You fought through the city in an aerial assault, Princess?”
“I did.” She did not offer more.
“Daring.”
“More daring for my soldiers. And my ponies that threw off their chains.”
“The city is remarkably intact. Your crystal ponies work hard.”
Heartsong snorted with pride.
“They can also party hard,” Flurry commented in a slightly lighter voice. “The Crystal Faire is great.”
Why was there not a parade? Grover had travelled across his Reich. There was always a parade upon returning to Griffenheim during the wars. In most cases, it was a Triumph of defeated military equipment and soldiers. Most were pardoned afterwards; the true leaders were hanged publicly with bound wings.
There were no hangings. The lampposts and balconies were bare. But ponies did not line the streets to cheer and see their Princess. The factories churned along at the outskirts like it was just another day.
Perhaps they fear spies, Grover considered. The shield prevented changelings from crossing, but he did not doubt his absence from Canterlot had already been noticed. The day journeying under the shield to the Crystal City had been tense even with the pink tinge in the sky.
The Crystal Empire was vast, and with the shield raising the temperature across most of the north, the permafrost and tundra gave way to scattered bits of green. There was still snow in the far north, but the trip from Severyana was pleasantly smooth. Even with dated infrastructure and roads.
“Do you think the storm will return with the shield down?” Grover asked aloud.
“The weather will probably stabilize,” the alicorn shrugged her opposite wing. “The weather will shift back north, but probably not as bad as before.”
“Probably?”
“That’s my Air Marshal’s theory,” the Princess nickered.
The journey from the outskirts to the city center took longer than Grover expected. He hummed. Truly is larger than Griffenheim. “How was this city built?”
“By hoof.”
“A thousand years ago or more,” Grover clarified. “Mining from the Crystal Mountains and brought to a central plain? How? On sleds?”
“Records weren’t exactly great,” the alicorn said languidly. “Everypony’s memory was scattered too. The Crystal Library had records of Amore’s reign, but she ruled just after Discord.”
“Is everything called the ‘Crystal Whatever’ in your empire?”
“Nope,” the Princess grinned under her helmet. “Snowberry Park was nice.”
“We are proud of our heritage,” Jadis huffed behind Grover. He felt the mare’s glare on the bob of his tail.
“But yeah,” the Princess continued, “sounds plausible for the start. Fortress that radiated outward over time, central location for the north, flat plains in every direction, plenty of room to expand. That’s why Grover Number One picked Griffenheim, right?”
“Griffonstone was remote,” Grover agreed. “It was the birthplace of Griffonkind: tall, rocky, windy, treacherous, and mountainous. A poor city to siege, but a poorer one to grow.” He thought back on the conversation. “You said the library ‘had’ accounts.”
“Changelings. Sorry if you were looking for some light reading.”
“My apologies.”
The procession turned a corner on the street as tall spire of the Crystal Palace loomed ahead of them. The armored guards fanned out. Grover spotted the Imperial Snowflake flying above low rooftops on a strange flagpole before they crossed into the plaza before the palace.
Grover blinked at realizing it was the turret of a tank propped up against the ruins of a statue’s base. They used the muzzle as a flagpole. The snowflake hung a little limply in the light wind inside the shield. There was an echoing stomp and clang as soldiers snapped to attention along the square.
Colonel Heartsong turned around with a beaming muzzle. “Your crystal ponies, Princess.” He visibly caught himself. “And your ponies-in-all-but-name, of course.”
The Princess of the Crystal Empire stepped forward once and raised her head and wings. Grover made a show of adjusting his cufflink and glove to step to the side. The knife-like crystal at the end of her left wing sang in the air close enough to prickle the feathers around his ear.
He adjusted his glasses casually. Thank Boreas beaks are not too expressive.
There were less than a thousand ponies standing at attention in the square, further split into smaller little sections. Barely worth a battalion. Most were wearing the white uniforms and black boots like the Princess’ sniper, but a few wore gray or purple at the front of the divisions. Griffons and Yaks stood separately in the same dispensation of uniforms.
A crystal pony in a drab purple uniform waited under the flagpole beside two crystal-plated ponies. The Princess walked to her as the army stomped or beat a claw to their chests. The blue mare knelt and pressed her head to the cobblestones while the guards bowed; she was not wearing a military cap.
“Governor Arctic Lily,” the Princess greeted. “Rise.”
Grover cocked his head. Bowed low for a communist. The mare’s stance was stiff and formal, not feigned casual. Her ears were forward and matched her serious eyes. If she is faking devotion, she does a good job for a pony.
“Princess,” the governor’s tone was stiff and cold. “Per your instructions, the Imperial Army has been split into divisions to maximize their combat effectiveness. The Imperial Guard will remain based on your father’s Royal Guard.”
“Griffon light scouts for air patrol with pegasi,” Colonel Heartsong picked up. “Yaks for mountaineers and stormtroopers.”
“Excellent.” The helmet swiveled to the Yak brigade. Several stood to the side in crystal-plate armor. They wore heavy packs with ease. Grover eyed the nozzles on the side near their forehooves.
“Have the flamethrowers been tested?” the Princess asked.
“Yes,” Heartsong nodded. “High Commander Tempest wishes to use them for bunker clearance when available, but mostly to scorch perimeters clear of our supply points.”
“We can arrange a demonstration-”
“Unneeded,” the Princess interrupted.
Governor Lily took it gracefully and dipped her head. “As you command.”
The helmet continued to turn, and the griffon caught her jaw flexing as the alicorn chewed on her inner cheek. “How are the units commanded?”
“As before,” Heartsong assured her. “Officers have been chosen by experience or recommendation. Commissars have been appointed directly.”
Grover turned his head to the bright purple uniforms at the front of each tiny herd. Those crystal ponies stood the straightest. Purple is poor camouflage. They will be the first target. He narrowed his eyes in thought. Perhaps their visibility is the point.
“Their duties will differ between the army and the guard, but the role remains the same,” Heartsong explained in a nicker. “They have authority in judicial matters.”
“Such as?” the Princess asked easily.
“As you ordered,” Heartsong echoed. “Matters of prisoners, collaborators, and general orders. All of them have been fully briefed.”
Grover returned to staring at the young crystal mare beaming bright with a snowflake on her purple cap. She was a washed-out gold with sparkling freckles on a still rounded muzzle. She was barely the Princess’ age.
Perhaps younger. A pistol was strapped to her flank above another snowflake. Grover had seen several ponies stitch rough approximations of their cutie marks onto their pants, but the entire plaza was filled with snowflakes as far as one could see.
“Excellent work,” the Princess decreed. One armored hoof raised only marginally off the cobblestones, then set back down. The crystal flank skirt wiggled slightly.
If she had a tail, it would be lashing. Grover caught the Jadis’ eyes tracing his to the Princess’ flank and adjusted to the courtyard. The ground curved just before the double-doors to the palace, under the deep blue arches. Black scorch marks marred the legs, but it did not appear to structurally damage the supports.
This close, Grover could not tilt his head all the way back to see the top of the spire without knocking the Reichstone off his head. The central balcony just above the entrance was wide, but it was made of wooden scaffolding attached to slightly-off color crystal. Another balcony off to the side was partially shattered.
She carved her way through her home.
Grover paused.
Of course she did.
He tried to imagine fighting through the halls of Griffenheim Palace. It had happened during the revolution, then almost again when the barracks revolted from the army reforms. The damage had long been repaired. Grover looked over his wing to the dog standing behind him. Benito was busy swiveling his head around the courtyard at the tiny army.
He made his career being in the right place at the right time to save father. Benito wore the medals on his coat at formal events, but he did not discuss it very much. It was a long time ago. Father was young. It was absurd that he should fight. What more could I have done? Swung a wooden sword?
“Thank you,” the Princess said to some report. Grover snapped his head back down as she moved on, following the two Imperials towards the palace. The ragged little army shifted to form a line with whinnied orders from the gray-uniformed officers. The alicorn slowed to allow them to shape up.
Grover and Benito followed the procession between two single-file lines across the courtyard. He kept his beak still. They do not have the numbers to hold the front.
“Who are we?” one of the crystal-plated soldiers called out.
“We are the Imperial Army.” The thousand-odd soldiers stomped or pounded their chests. The Princess raised her wings and kept them extended; the soldiers she passed dipped their heads.
“Who do we serve?”
“We serve the Princess.” A filly in a slightly oversized white helmet nearly shouted it next to Grover’s head. Her black boots stomped hard into the cobblestones. They reached the arches and the Princess slowed as she walked through the shallow dip in the ground. Grover felt his claws slide underneath his leather gloves.
“…died cradling a colt.” The griffon clacked his beak and his eyes wandered to the scorch marks staining the blue crystal. Benito’s muzzle was set into a frown as he assessed the army.
“Who do we fight?”
“Our enemies are the enemies of the Princess.”
I hope she does not have many of them. They will overwhelm you in sheer numbers. Grover stopped at the stairs to the double-doors. More Imperials pulled them open with a squeal, and the griffon noticed the awkward fit on the hinges. Rebuilt as well.
The Princess of the Crystal Empire turned around in the doorway. She tossed her head back and flexed her wings. The crystals sang with her voice. “My subjects!”
Grover was grateful she did not put the full power in her voice. He only flinched. The little parade stomped three times, but did not cheer.
“It warms my heart to see you,” she began, “and the Empire will stand through all the battles to come. As long as we live, we have not lost!”
The army stomped three more times.
The Princess turned around and disappeared through the doorway without saying anymore. Grover hummed. Perhaps she will say more on the radio. He turned around to see the reaction.
The golden filly was crying, summoning all her strength to remain still. Her lips trembled. At first, Grover judged her expression was one of disappointment, but griffons had to learn to read eyes instead of beaks. Her eyes were sparkling through the tears. The gray officer next to the commissar had the same expression. Most of the crystal ponies looked…
Reverent. Grover spared a look up at Benito, then waved a wing for the dog to follow him inside. He had only toured Bronzehill once, but the dogs lined the streets and howled loud enough to make his ears ring. When his father died, the entire county had shut down in grief. Even that traitor Ignatius nearly collapsed.
The armored ponies shut the doors behind the small group. Grover and Benito stood with the half-dozen crystal guards and the Princess’ inner circle. Colonel Heartsong, Arctic Lily, and Jadis half-circled the alicorn.
The Crystal Throne stood on a solid dais as part of the room. The steps up to it were steep and sharp, even with a purple rug softening the look. There was no softening the edges of the crystal lattices radiating from the seat. Three banners hung above it.
The one to the left was white with the heraldry of a blue kite shield and a purple spark. A Crystal Heart with two gold laurels underneath swayed on a pink banner to the right. The banner just above the throne was a deep purple. A burning Crystal Heart was surrounded by a blue shield and wreathed in flames.
The helmet and horn tilted to regard them. The alicorn’s half-folded wings twitched a few times, rubbing the crystals together with sharp scrapes. Governor Lily’s ears folded beside her flat cap.
“Princess, I understand that you thought it was a waste of cloth-”
“It’s fine,” the Princess interrupted. “They look well done. Thank you.”
The governor nodded in relief.
Grover observed Flurry’s helmet linger on the pink and white banners instead of her own. His hearing was not as good as a pony’s, but the drilling outside resumed as the small army broke apart. The city was not cheering at their Princess’ return.
The factories hummed and the ponies marched along the streets. It was orderly, efficient, and though the shield had raised the temperature, cold. The flagpole outside was a turret of a destroyed panzer, and every soldier they passed wore a gun. The ponies in the factories hammered rockets and rivets.
The helmet swung between the pink and white banners.
This city does not belong to the Princess of Love.
It finally stilled on the purple banner. The pink horn aimed at the flaming Crystal Heart.
It belongs to the Princess of War.
“We’ll do it now,” Flurry declared. “Governor Lily, get on the radio. Give the word.”
“Princess,” Heartsong huffed, “please, wouldn’t you like to rest?”
The windows were tinged pink, but the sky receded. It was nearing dusk. Flurry shook her head and walked away from the throne, moving to a hallway. “The army’s in position. Any longer and the Changelings will realize something is happening.”
The governor and the colonel shared a quick glance, then nodded together. “As you command, Princess,” the communist bowed.
Without looking back, Flurry snapped a wing up. “Rise. Jadis, go with them. Tell me when we’re ready.” She vanished into the hallway. Frosty Jadis stopped mid-limp, then turned away. She stood at the hallway entrance and partially blocked the doorway with her body. Benito folded his arms before her, then shrugged and leaned against the wall.
“Kaiser Grover?” the alicorn’s voice called out. “You can come down if you want. Otherwise, we set aside a room.”
Grover looked over Jadis’ head. The crystal pony glared at his beak and her cheeks purpled. She stepped to the side slowly, dragging her left foreleg along the floor in an exaggerated shuffle. The black boot squeaked on the tile.
Benito pushed himself off the wall with a paw and stepped forward.
“The Princess decreed the Kaiser may pass,” Jadis intoned. Her cold off-blue eyes flicked to the dog. “You are not invited.” Benito’s muzzle pulled back in a snarl and he bared his teeth silently. The graying fur around his shirt collar puffed up.
“Remain,” Grover ordered. “There are no changelings here.”
“I am not worried about changelings,” Benito retorted.
“The Kaiser is the Princess’ honored guest,” Jadis sniffed. “We are duty-bound to show him hospitality and defend him with our lives.” She gestured to two armored guards and waved them forward to take her place.
Benito walked to the other side of the doorway and leaned against the crystal wall. Grover raised his left wing and opened his coat, checking that the pistol was secured. He unclipped the holster as a precaution, then walked down the hallway.
There was a stairwell leading down, below ground to a basement. The walls were lit by glowing crystals humming with magic rather than electric lamps. The brightness was different, closer to candlelight and lanterns than the constant glow.
Flurry Heart did not wait for him, and for a moment Grover feared he would get lost, but the way was obvious. Many of the rooms were packed with boxes and the doors clearly labeled.
Stockpiling rations and ammunition for a potential siege. The Kaiser bumped his assessment of the Crystal Empire’s preparations up. The trainyards had been repaired and connected back to the outposts and mining towns along the Crystal Mountains. The Yaks had even assisted in carving a few new routes to the shield’s borders.
There was another stairway down at a curve. Grover felt wind blow across his feathers. He flexed a wing critically and felt the drift. Connected to the mines? The griffon moved slower until he came across a pair of crystal-plated guards at the base of the stairs. They nodded. Another pair was at a junction armed with submachine guns, then two unicorns in white uniforms beyond them.
The unicorn on the left scanned him and nodded, but did not say anything. Grover felt the crystal guards marginally relax behind him and move their guns away. The wind continued to blow from the doorway in pulses. It was heated. Hot springs under the city? Probably why the location was chosen.
Grover followed the wind down a quiet hallway. There was another staircase and he felt the wind curve as it shifted along the crystal. Most of the doors were closed, except one unassuming door on his right. Lights flickered from inside and shadows danced on the opposite wall. Grover idly peered inside on his way past.
He flinched and stumbled back against the wall. His glasses were knocked askew on his beak, but he was grateful for the blurry vision. A croon bubbled in his chest and his claws twitched.
Mi Amore Cadenza was suspended in a cocoon. The autopsy scars ran red, ragged around her pink fur. Her eyes were closed, but she was far too thin. Her wings were pressed tight against her body, interrupting the scars. Her mane and tail pooled around her.
Grover swallowed spit in his beak. The living twitched in the cocoons from the reports. Mi Amore Cadenza was still. Most only survived a few months. The Hegemony used it as a punishment in punitive extractions.
Thousands of crystals and burning little candles surrounded her body. The floor was once a deep blue crystal, but it was mostly wax around the cocoon. It would have taken thousands of candles.
“Sorry.” The voice echoed from the stairwell. Grover blinked and pushed his glasses back into place. A massive shadow loomed in the stairs, then stepped out. A purple crystal greave clanked on the crystal floor. “I should have warned you.”
Grover exhaled and smoothed out a sleeve. “It is…” he trailed off. “She looks different from the pamphlets.” The Crystal Heart on her flank was stretched tight over bone.
“It’s a small picture.” Hooves clomped along the floor down the hallway. Flurry Heart took up the entire width in her armor, and her horn nearly touched the ceiling. Grover felt the shadow fall on his beak, and the wind blew past the crystals in her feathers with a keening song.
There were a thousand questions to ask. Instead, Grover said, “I am sorry.”
“You didn’t put her in there. She was dead before we ever met.” The helmet swung to the doorway, and the purple crystal swirled in the candles and sparking crystals.
“Crystal ponies burn their dead,” Flurry said softly. “The ash blows in the cold winds, and their souls share their warmth with the living one last time. Dad was a unicorn. He would have been buried.”
“Your father is buried,” Grover answered in a ramble. His voice cracked. “Technically above ground in an off-shoot of the mausoleum, but I was waiting for the submarines to lose their range-”
“Thank you,” Flurry cut him off. Her horn flashed and she pulled her helmet off, setting it down in the room. Her eyes were dry, and she observed the cocoon with an expressionless muzzle.
Grover remained in the hallway.
The Princess’ horn remained glowing and a series of clicks happened on her back. Her wings flexed and the crystals loosened. “My parents weren’t crystal ponies. My mother was born a pegasus. I’m not sure what to do with them.”
“Did they have a will?”
“Sunburst would have known,” Flurry removed the wing armor and placed it in the clearing leading to the cocoon. She paused as she slowly unclipped a hind leg. “Am I supposed to be buried with you?”
Grover looked up and down the empty hallway. He licked the inside of his beak several times. “No, not as a foreign ruler. Your funeral rights are yours.”
“I have a will,” Flurry said with vague amusement. “I didn’t write down what was to be done with my body.” Her voice lost all mirth and she stared back at the cocoon. “I know this is fucked-up. I’m…not…”
“It’s a shrine,” Grover replied. Wind blew through the hallway near constantly at an odd beat. He flexed his wings. “I understand. The bones of particularly holy griffons are said to have the ability to heal. Beckbeak’s bones are in his altar. Some griffons make a pilgrimage.”
“That sounds grisly,” Flurry grimaced. “What he’d do to deserve that?”
“My great grandfather found him annoying.” Grover waved a claw. “It is not a punishment. He was stabbed to death praying before the altar. The Temple of Boreas has some of his wing bones in a reliquary.”
The alicorn’s ears twitched. She pulled the legs of her armor off and started to remove the flank skirt. “If I die before you, make sure I’m burned please. I don’t want my wing bones ending up somewhere.”
“Sure,” Grover agreed with a clack of his beak.
Flurry removed the last of her armor and stood in her jumpsuit. “Where do griffons go when they die? In the sky, right?”
“To the light of Boreas,” Grover responded. “In the sky.”
“The sun?”
“Not exactly. Heaven. Those sworn to Arcturius believe they join him in eternal battle against the darkness of Maar.”
Flurry looked at the cocoon. “Just…light?”
“It’s metaphorical,” Grover shrugged. He swiveled his head up and down the hallway. “The battle belief of Arcturius comes from the old gods before the Archons secured power,” he said in a lower voice. “Much of the old ways were rolled into the Trinity for easier understanding.”
“But they’re happy?” Flurry asked. Her head swung around the candles and she shuffled her bare hooves. The crystal and metal armor sat in a pile.
“Supposedly,” Grover said. He avoided looking into the room with the Princess facing her mother. Her lean flank was nearly in his beak. She turned around and stared down a narrow muzzle at him for a moment with cold, sad eyes.
“You don’t think it’s true.” Her tone made it clear it wasn’t truly a question.
Grover closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. “People can believe things that aren’t true.” The Reichstone shifted atop his head and he bumped it back into place with a wing.
He snapped his eyes open when he felt Flurry’s wing brush against his as she walked past him, towards the wind coming from the stairwell. She did not verbally respond until she began to descend the stairs. “You can come.”
Grover left the room and followed her down. The wind was never truly strong, but the heat intensified. He could time the gusts now, one every second or so. The warmth in them felt like standing close to a fire.
His claws brushed against black fabric at the base of the stairs. Flurry Heart had discarded the jumpsuit. Grover felt his feathers flush just before a powerful gust of wind hit his beak. His glasses fogged from the heat.
He looked up to see the Crystal Heart floating in the center of an elliptical room. It was smaller than he expected, a bright blue, shining carved heart spinning in a circle in defiance of all reasoning. The crystal reflected on the walls, and the surface swirled like flames roiled inside.
The walls sagged slightly, reinforced with metal beams. Scorch marks carved into the floor, ceiling, and walls. The crystal was deformed in some places like molten lava had run across it.
A light pink, foggy blob faced him from several wingspans away. A wing waved.
Grover looked down at the jumpsuit under his gloves and backed up the stairs. He unhooked his glasses as a precaution. “Blessed Boreas.” The straps of the holster pinched a sweaty undershirt. The griffon was suddenly aware the wind felt like standing far, far too close to a bonfire.
Flurry Heart stepped back into the stairwell, completely naked. Her short mane had the beginnings of blue and purple curls, but they wriggled like earthworms atop her head. “I don’t want to melt my armor,” she explained. Her eyes were slightly mischievous. “You afraid to look?”
“I have no interest in looking,” Grover answered. “Why is it in the basement?”
“The Changelings had it down here,” Flurry tapped a hoof on the bottom stair. “And, uh, do you want to try and move it?” Wind blasted across her feathers. “It used to be outside. In all honesty, this is safer for it and everyone else.”
Magic wind. Grover frowned at himself. It is thaumatic resonance from the artifact, he corrected in his head. “Was it like this before?”
“No.”
Grover removed the Reichstone and set it down on the step beside him. He shifted onto his haunches to stare down at her. Flurry Heart leaned against the doorway to the stare back. She had to look up, and her horn tilted back.
A glove ran through his head feathers, gliding through sweat. He took a breath of charged air. “This almost killed you.”
“It did kill me,” Flurry corrected. “They said it would.”
“Sombra and Amore,” Grover recalled. “You believe the Crystal Heart is a weapon.”
The alicorn shrugged a wing slowly, and the wind ruffled her feathers. “What’s a shield but a weapon that protects?” She licked her lips. “It is a weapon.”
Grover observed her short, light pink fur. She seemed unbothered by the wind. “What does it feel like to you?”
“A nice hug,” Flurry answered. She raised an eyebrow. “You’re sweating.”
Grover flicked more sweat off his wings and rubbed the feathers across his coat. “Yes.” He raised his beak to the ceiling. “Do you…” he paused for a long moment.
Flurry cleared her throat with a ringing giggle.
“Do you know what you are doing?” Grover finished.
“No,” the alicorn answered easily. “I am fully trusting my alicorn intuition.”
“That is not a thing.”
“Says the griffon,” Flurry laughed. It echoed around the room and chased the wind. Afterwards, she confessed, “I need to do it now before I lose my nerve.”
Poke around the ancient artifact and hope it does not explode. “You are hoping to roll a natural twenty after rolling a natural one,” Grover deadpanned.
The alicorn made a noise in the back of her throat. “What?”
Grover frowned down at her and lashed his tail. “Ogres and Oubliettes. Your father played it.”
“Is that the boring nerd game?” Flurry asked bluntly. “Spike showed it to me once. Too many spreadsheets.”
“It is not boring and you lack imagination,” Grover scoffed. “It is engaging.”
“I thought you needed friends to play it,” Flurry snorted back. She caught herself and her eyes widened. “Shit. I’m sorry, that was too mean-”
“Fuck off,” Grover waved a claw. “I read the guidebooks. There was a controversy over the depiction of Maar and Eros considered banning them. I would have to order griffons or dogs to play with me.” His eyes flicked to the wall. “They would surely lie about their rolls.”
“I’d offer to play with you but I would cheat. Is alicorn a class?”
“A race,” Grover responded. He regarded her with lidded eyes. “No. It is overpowered.”
Flurry squinted in thought. “Which class lies to everyone?”
“A rogue?” Grover suggested.
“No, the fun kind of lies, not the stabby kind.”
“A bard,” the griffon said with amusement.
“I’d play a changeling bard,” the alicorn declared. “Sounds fun. What about you? Paladin of Boreas?”
“Cleric,” Grover answered. He clacked his beak. “That’s the-”
“Healing,” Flurry groaned. “Oh, that’s more boring than a paladin. You gonna stand in the back and pray extra hard?”
Grover’s wings jittered and he squinted at her in suspicion. “You know a lot about a ‘boring nerd game.’ Were the spreadsheets boring, or did you get intimidated by math?”
Flurry stuck her tongue out and refused to answer.
“It can teach strategy and tactics,” Grover huffed. His voice cracked. “It does not surprise me that your father was a talented party leader in his youth.”
“Hey, can you not?” Flurry pitched her voice higher and sweeter. “Not every filly wants to marry their father. I’m only part unicorn.”
Grover’s retort strangled itself in his throat. He wheezed with a cut-off squawk. The griffon leaned back on the stairs awkwardly.
The alicorn gave him an unimpressed look. “I can use all the jokes and slurs.” Her stare turned wry. “I did grow up in a ghetto, after all.”
Hooves echoed down the stairwell, followed by deeper thuds of boots. Frosty Jadis appeared first with her limp. Her eyes swept past Grover to the naked Princess below him in the stairwell. Her voice remained ice. “Has the griffon offended you, Princess?”
Benito stepped down with a paw on his sheathed sword. The dog looked to Grover, then the naked alicorn, then back to Grover. His jowls twitched and ears pitched forward. “My Kaiser?” he asked in a neutral tone.
“We’re fine,” Flurry said.
“We are fine,” Grover said at the same time.
Jadis glanced up at the dog. “I dislike this arrangement.”
“I like it no more than you,” Benito commented.
The crystal pony nodded. “We are now friends.”
Flurry rolled her eyes. “Are we ready?”
“The city is braced, Princess,” Jadis nodded. “Should it please the Princess, could you attach yourself to the chain?”
Flurry frowned and stepped back into the room. Grover followed her to give Benito and Frosty Jadis room to enter. He nudged the Reichstone to the side, and the dog carried it into the room. The griffon turned to the left and suppressed a laugh.
A large metal chain was bolted into the wall with a harness at the end. It looked like a chainmail coat cut for a tall pony. Flurry frowned at it and levitated it up to her body. The chain links clinked on the crystal floor.
She dropped it after sizing it up. “It does not please the Princess,” she said formally.
“We must insist,” Jadis countered.
“If this goes wrong, this isn’t going to help.” Flurry raised a wing and counted down on her feathers. “One: this is going to melt. Two: you’ll scorch your hooves off trying to reel me in. Three: nopony’s strong enough, not even Spike.”
Jadis unslung her rifle. Her ears pinned and disappeared into her white mane. “Please, Princess,” she pleaded. She was here the first time. She watched her die. Grover looked between them. Flurry smiled down at her crystal pony and trotted closer. The alicorn enveloped her in a hug with her wings.
“I’ll be fine,” Flurry pulled away. “Grover and I talked it over. I know what I’m doing.”
Grover felt Benito’s stare on the back of his neck. “We should back up into the stairwell,” he announced. He heard the dog move up the stairs slowly and walked backwards himself.
Jadis chambered her rifle and laid in the bottom of the doorway. She shuffled back after a moment and aimed into the room. Grover slid a claw to the pistol before realizing the mare was preemptively lining up a shot at the Princess’ legs.
“That is not necessary,” he said in Equestrian.
The crystal mare flicked her ears. “I do not take orders from you. I waited too long last time. I will take the shot, and your dog will assist in carrying her to the medical staff in the hallway above.”
The Kaiser looked over a wing to Benito. The dog nodded in confirmation. “There is a team waiting.”
Blessed Boreas. The wind crested around Grover’s beak. He lowered himself in the stairwell to see through the doorway. The pink blur stood below the Crystal Heart. There was a golden glow above her. Grover hooked his glasses back on.
Flurry Heart closed her eyes and stood motionless underneath the Crystal Heart. The wind continued to pulse up the stairwell, and Benito tugged off his gloves and wiped sweaty paws on his pants. Grover pulled his own gloves off and stuffed them in his jacket.
After another minute, the griffon weaved his wings out of it and shrugged it off. The long black coat fell to the floor. The interior lining was sweaty. Grover had dark stains under his wings from the residual heat.
Flurry remained standing under the Crystal Heart. It spun above her.
Nothing happened for several minutes.
Maybe we should call out? Grover thought back. She said she could get lost in the memory. Or…Maar damn it, she barely explained how it worked. His wings pressed against his sides. Magic can be studied. There are schools dedicated to it in Yale. I should-
The wind shifted. Grover lost his train of thought and tensed. Benito and Jadis remained breathing steadily. The dog wiped sweat off his whiskers. “Did you feel it?” Grover whispered back to him.
“Feel what, my Kaiser?” Benito asked. “The heat?”
Grover spaced out his feathers on his right wing and felt the air current when it rushed past. Something prickled between his feathers. He looked to the alicorn underneath the Crystal Heart. She had not moved and her horn continued to glow gold.
The wind blew past again and Grover pressed two primary feathers tight as it gusted through. There was a sharp, burning sting and he grit his beak. He opened his wing up and watched a blue spark vanish before it hit the steps below.
Benito saw him tense. “My Kaiser?”
Grover did not respond. He stared into the room and a blue spark followed the wind into the lens of his glasses. It pressed up right against his left eye, and Grover saw it magnified for one heartbeat before it faded with a tiny pop.
It is not a spark.
A hum built in the air.
It is a snowflake.
Below him, the crystal pony braced her forelegs and leaned down the sight.
The room erupted into light with a roar of fire. Magical chimes tolled and echoed along the walls. Grover was forced to look away and saw the image of a flaming Crystal Heart seared into his eyelids while he blinked. Benito stumbled back up the steps.
Grover whipped his head back. Frosty Jadis had closed her eyes, but forced them open and kept aiming. The rifle barrel moved upwards. He did not understand until he squinted into the room.
Flurry Heart was floating, slowly drifting up to the Crystal Heart. Her wings were extended, but they did not flap. Her eyes remained closed. It was hard to tell; the golden light around her horn burned so bright it appeared white.
A skilled unicorn could levitate themselves for brief periods. An alicorn certainly could. But there was no magical shine around her entire body. She simply floated up to the Crystal Heart.
Its rotations slowed, now visibly roiling with fire. Sparks erupted with every burst of wind that slammed through the hallway. The alicorn began to slowly circle it in synchronization. A beam of white fire erupted from the Heart and connected to Flurry’s horn. She floated placidly, and Grover was seized with the visual of her mother in the cocoon.
Jadis swore and lifted the rifle. The barrel tracked the alicorn and her hoof tensed. Grover leaned over her and stuck his head into the room. He looked to the left.
The coiled chain remained on the wall. The wind rattled the links, but it remained intact. The room was swelteringly hot, but not melting. He slammed a claw down on the rifle’s barrel and shouted down into her ears. “No!”
Grover squawked in pain as something wrapped itself around his tail. Benito snarled and pulled him back from the doorway. The griffon reflexively flapped his wings and yanked the rifle out of the pony’s hooves as he fell back.
Benito grabbed Grover’s belt and held him in place, hauling him back up the stairs. “Give her the rifle!” he barked in Herzlander. “We’re leaving!”
Jadis turned around with a snarl and reached for the gun. Grover batted her hooves away. “Trust her!” he shouted in Herzlander. “Benito, let go!” Benito ignored him and hauled him up another step. Grover kicked at him with his hind paws and snapped his wings back, but the dog continued to struggle upwards. Jadis whinnied and reared up.
Grover had the time to make eye contact with a furious crystal pony before she slammed his head into the side of the stairwell. His beak bounced off the crystal and his glasses fell to the side. Jadis yanked the rifle into her hooves and stumbled. She fell with a neigh and rolled back to the base of the stairs. The mare flopped over onto her stomach and tried to line up another shot.
Benito released Grover in surprise. He still kept one paw on the Reichstone, so the dog fumbled the grab when Grover glided downwards and tackled the crystal pony into the room. The rifle skittered away and spun to a stop under the Heart.
The room was oppressively hot and the gusts of magic burst across the two of them. Jadis kicked at Grover’s knees with whinnies, and he wrapped two claws around her muzzle. The griffon straddled her back and snarled into the air, tasting fire and hope and love. Stop.
Benito dropped the Reichstone with a thud in the stairwell and wrapped his arms around Grover’s neck. The griffon slapped at him with wings strikes and tried to shove his primaries in his eyes. The dog tried to haul him off and back into the stairwell. Grover screeched in pain as a hoof connected with his knee.
The room burst into light and the wind carried them all into the stairwell. Grover flared his wings just before impact and was knocked upwards. Benito tumbled to the base of the stairs with a yelp. The crystal pony slid across the floor and collided into him with hooves and paws everywhere.
Grover sank his talons into the crystal of the doorframe. He was upside down, pressed into the roof of the stairwell by the spread of his wings. The wind kept him there. Fire roared in his ears and the heat scorched his beak. He squinted into the light and wrenched a claw free to shield his eyes.
Flurry Heart was engulfed in white flames from horn tip to tail. She continued to rotate around the Crystal Heart. The wind whipped around the room, but the flames did not move with the gusts. The lash of fire connecting her horn to the Crystal Heart ebbed and pulsed. There was a flash around his talons and Grover reflexively shut his eyes.
When he opened them, he stared through his talon at the alicorn. Grover turned his claw over. It glittered in the light of the fire, and his beak reflected the flames from the Crystal Heart.
The Crystallization is well-documented, the rational part of his brain reminded him.
The bird part screamed, You are now made of shiny crystal and you agreed to marry that.
Grover looked up at that.
The flames receded from the alicorn, white fire sucking into a vortex at the tip of her horn. A long, flowing trail of fire with separate streaks of purple and blue coiled and roiled from her flanks. When the fire vanished from her head and into the tip of her horn, a matching mane and tail flowed out. They whirled around her like tongues of purple and blue fire.
The blue Crystal Heart on her flank sparkled, and the shimmer radiated out from there. Her body reflected the pulsing magic of the Crystal Heart, and a blue spark inside her barrel flashed in time with the gusts of wind. The Crystal Heart began to spin faster and the alicorn slowed.
It matched her heartbeat. Grover watched the pony’s mane and tail separate and flicker together; blue and purple weaving calmly in defiance of the wind. A beam of white fire shot out of the Crystal Heart and slammed through the roof, bursting through a patch of discolored crystal. The beam rang like a windchime in a storm, and the sound echoed.
The beam continued for three dozen heartbeats before the fire retracted into the Crystal Heart. The rotations slowed. It hummed and the sound resonated through the room. The wind faded. Now longer pressed to the ceiling, Grover tumbled to the floor with a pained squawk, landing atop Benito and Jadis. All three moaned.
Flurry Heart slowly lowered to the floor, still with wings outstretched. Grover squinted, half-blind by the light and nearsighted. Her barrel flashed with a faint blue spark in time with the wind. If he wasn’t looking for it, it would resemble all the other glitters across her body. Her fur was tinged pink, and the purple and blue coils settled into swirls in her mane and tail. Her mane framed a narrow muzzle, and the swirls of her tail brushed the floor behind long, lean legs.
Wings flexed and caught the light from the Crystal Heart. They shone a deeper pink at the primary feathers and the shine raced from wingtip to wingtip like a wave. Her horn sparkled at the tip like a lighthouse beacon. Flurry opened her glacial blue eyes.
The most beautiful pony Grover had even seen frowned and looked impossibly melancholy for a moment. Her eyes turned down to him, laying paws and claws upwards atop a dog and crystal pony. He cocked his beak out of the way and peered upside down at her.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Flurry asked in her mash of accents. Her high-pitched voice remained the same. “Sound off.” She switched to Herzlander. “Who’s dead?”
“Princess,” Jadis coughed from under the pile.
“My…” Benito wheezed. “My Kaiser…”
Grover rolled off him and landed on all fours. His talons clacked on the ground. He flinched and tapped them again, listening to the clink of crystal on crystal.
Benito extracted himself and steadied Jadis. The crystal pony glittered bright above her white uniform, light blue fur sparking in the light. Her short-cut mane had evolved into a fancy bun around both ears.
Grover’s eyes widened at Benito.
Benito’s eyes widened at Grover and he howled, “My Kaiser!?”
You truly are a diamond dog, Benito. His fur sparkled. He raised two paws in horror at Grover, then at his own paws, then grabbed his muzzle. Grover spotted the long white scar on his right paw flash in the light.
“It’s just aesthetic,” Flurry whickered. “You’re still fur and flesh.”
Grover rubbed his claws together. They did not feel any different or stiffer, but the sound when he tapped two talons together was distinctly more crystal than claw. He slapped his beak and it sounded like a pathetic gong.
“Turn us back, you witch!” Benito snarled. Spittle flew from his muzzle. He took a deep breath and braced his paws on his knees. “Turn…” he panted. “Oh Gods.”
Grover walked over and guided the dog to sitting against the wall. “Deep breaths.”
Flurry levitated the rifle over to Frosty Jadis. “You shot the Crystal Heart last time, you know.” The Princess took a step and stumbled on a rear hoof, tangled in her tail. She clicked her tongue and extracted her leg.
Jadis accepted the rifle and inspected it. “The Kaiser interfered this time.”
“How long does this last?” Grover asked. He inspected his darker arms and the brighter colors of his tan feathers and fur. The brown bob of his tail clinked on the floor.
Benito’s breathing slowed and he glared at his paws with shining eyes. He stuffed them in his jacket and retrieved his gloves, tugging them over his paws. He felt the fur atop his head afterwards and frowned.
“I think it grew out,” Grover assessed.
“I haven’t worn a mullet since I joined,” Benito snarled in Herzlander. “No wonder we do not like magic.” He pushed himself up the wall, leaning an arm on it heavily. “Can this even be cut?”
“Of course,” Jadis snorted. “The effect is permanent on us. Do you think we go to a sculptor to change our manestyles?”
“Check your heartrate with the medical team,” Grover ordered the dog. “Go lie down.”
Benito gave Grover a sour look at the phrasing of the order.
“Jadis, your limp looks worse,” Flurry said. “Go with him.”
“Princess,” the crystal pony whimpered, “the team is here for you.”
Flurry flapped her wings and lit her horn. She jogged in place for a moment, and her hooves sounded like bells on the floor. The alicorn literally flashed a grin. “I’m fine.”
Benito started, “My Kaiser…”
“I am fine,” Grover said to him. He pushed the dog to the stairs. Benito and Jadis ascended together, moving slowly and stiffly. Both began to mutter in the stairwell, unaware their voices carried back down due to the faint wind pulsing through the room.
“I need a drink.”
“As do I.”
Grover looked at Flurry and blushed. His head feathers flexed. The alicorn continued to kick her hind legs idly at her tail and paced, trying to adjust how she walked.
“I never wore my tail this long,” she complained. “Burned it off last time. Guess it owed me interest.” Her horn glowed and she trotted to the wall, trying to see her reflection in the crystal. “Never let my mane grow out this long either.”
Grover’s beak was dry. “Would,” he swallowed, “would you like your jumpsuit?” He fumbled for it and found his glasses underneath. One lens was cracked. He hooked them back into his feathers regardless.
“Doesn’t have a tail-hole,” Flurry responded. She shook her tail for emphasis. “This thing is going to be a pain in the ass, pun intended.” The alicorn finally turned around and looked at Grover.
A dark pink ripple ran across her muzzle and trailed into sparkles. She glanced to the side. “I, uh, figured you would know it would crystalize you when you asked to come.”
“Better than being turned to ash,” Grover responded awkwardly. He closed one eye and looked at the two Flurries in his cracked lens. Shit. This is my only pair.
Flurry noticed. “I can fix that.”
Grover unhooked the glasses and walked forward on clinking claws. He offered them to her. The alicorn bit her lip and her horn glowed again. She plucked the frames from his claw and held them up to her muzzle, focusing on the crack.
The griffon watched the blue spark in her chest flash slightly quicker. Air gusted across his feathers with the sound of windchimes. The shattered lens healed and Flurry exhaled.
“It’s important to teach your harbinger of the apocalypse repair spells,” Flurry jested. “Saves on glassware.”
The glasses floated back. Grover plucked them out of her cold magic and settled them back on his beak. He squinted slightly. “This is temporary, right?”
“It usually is,” Flurry clarified. “Should wear off in a week or so.”
“Is there a spell to remove it?”
“It doesn’t work on the dead.”
Despite his feathers seemingly made of crystal, Grover was still sweating in the room. He backed into the stairwell. He waved a claw in front of his beak, seeing Flurry through it. The image was blurry and fading away. “If we eat food-”
“Don’t start asking those questions,” Flurry nickered. “It’s magic.” She gathered her jumpsuit and folded it under a wing. Her muzzle flashed. “Oh.”
Grover followed her stare. The Reichstone had fallen on its side during the scuffle. The gold gleamed in the light and the gemstones sparkled. The griffon walked over to it and hauled it up, turning it over in his claws. It wasn’t damaged.
In fact, it looked better in every conceivable way. Grover looked down at her and unclenched his beak. The Princess scuffed a hoof on the floor and it chimed. “Sorry.”
Grover said the thought aloud. “It’s finally magic.” He laughed to himself and tapped a talon to one of the emeralds. “Shame it will wear off.”
“Sorry,” Flurry apologized again.
“For what?” Grover chuckled. He watched another darker pink stripe flash across her narrow muzzle. His laughter faded. “Did you see anything? Your crystal pony was planning on shooting you.”
“I know,” Flurry shrugged. Her eyes lingered on the stairs. “No, I didn’t see anything. I thought I’d see her again.”
“Amore?” Grover laughed a final time. He saw his beak glitter beneath his glasses. “You could rub it in her muzzle. You know, if she said she ‘bore no foals’ that does not strictly mean you are not related.”
The alicorn's smile flashed faintly. “Yeah. Would’ve liked to call her out.” She jerked her horn up the stairs. “Let’s see if I did this right.”