Part Eighteen
Grover,
We will attack when your forces land. Ponies and Griffons will stand together and defeat Chrysalis. Once Nova Griffonia is defeated, we’ll move south. The border is lightly defended. Ponies will need to be reassured. The previous Princesses spoke frequently against the Reich.
Flurry groaned and crumpled the letter up in her magic before tossing it on the pile next to her desk. She missed in the dim light. The alicorn turned on the stool and added a bit of extra magic to the lamp on her dresser, causing the bulb to glow brighter. It illuminated the massive hole in her wall where her door used to be, now cleared of debris. Her writing desk was up against the far wall, and thus spared when Thorax crashed through.
Flurry Heart stared through the hole in her wall into Throax's room. He had smashed through his wall as well, but she could barely see into the living room and kitchen in the dark. He had returned late that night after planning the exodus of the Herzlander refugees out of the ghetto with Katherine, their unofficial spokesgriffon. The changeling didn’t say a word to Flurry, but nodded through the hole in the wall and went straight to his bedroom. The pink alicorn didn’t want to talk to him anyway.
The floor had been roughly patched up with spare timber from the basement, but most of the scraps had been dragged downstairs to the central boiler. It would function as kindling if the heat went out again during a cold front. It was mid-spring, but northern Equus was known to have abrupt cold fronts after the collapse of the weather patrols in Equestria. Flurry’s hasty repairs meant that the building was stable, if now a bit uglier. Her room was drafty with the extra holes; she kept her flight suit on.
Flurry dipped her quill into the ink pot and sighed. She’d rather write with a pencil, but that wouldn’t exactly be a formal response between two sovereigns, even if Grover was the only one to actually read it. She didn’t care for royal etiquette, but there was a system in place for a reason. It was the same reason she used a royal seal of her mother's cutie mark on her letters. Every Princess used their mark on their documents, but Flurry was still a blank flank. She tried to not let it bother her. Most ponies bloomed late after the war.
She brushed her soup bowl and empty mug to the edge of the desk and retrieved another piece of paper from the pile on the bed. The pile was significantly smaller than when she had started writing hours ago. She had more paper in the drawer anyway.
Arex had brought her a bowl of soup and a mug of water after nightfall. Her ponies had brought out the community pot and were making soup for the refugees in the twilight. Flurry could hear the noise from her room. A few griffons were singing Herzlander drinking songs. Arex had looked down at her draft.
“Would you like some help, Princess?” she had asked.
“No,” Flurry said tersely. “I’m writing in Equestrian. Grover knows it.” She accepted the bowl and cup in her magic and placed them on the desk. “Thanks,” she replied absently.
That had been several hours ago. Flurry forgot about the soup and ate it cold once her stomach started to growl. She made no progress on the letter. The princess knew what she needed to say, but she didn’t know how to say it or what else to ask. This wasn’t a negotiation. Grover couldn’t reply to her again. For the first time, she was writing as a Princess to the Kaiser, not between orphaned friends.
“I shouldn’t mention the previous princesses,” Flurry mumbled. “He already knows about it. This makes me look weak. Just a simple acceptance, no battle plan.” She raised an ink-stained hoof up and rubbed at her crown. Her mane was a tangled mess.
It would be a long flight to Griffenheim. There was always a chance the letter could be intercepted. Celestia could counterspell the magic and read it; there was a chance another could as well. This was important. She had to be vague, but committed. She had to make it clear that she was going to do her part.
Flurry coughed and lowered her hoof. Thorax didn’t understand. This was the last chance to save Equestria and the Crystal Empire. This was the last chance to regain her throne and finally go home. Her ponies had suffered enough.
The Aquileians were going to be a problem. They tolerated her relationship with Grover, but they thought it was foalish nonsense, a trading of barbed replies across the ocean. They wouldn’t like an alliance, but Flurry had a hard time imagining they would take up arms against her. Even if they did, the alicorn could deal with it.
The native griffons were also an issue. The mountain and frontier griffons had rebelled against the government once; they would never agree to rule from Griffenheim, far across the ocean. They would fight for Flurry against Weter, but they wouldn’t fight with Grover. Flurry had already discarded three letters asking about the status of Nova Griffonia. Dusty might have claimed it once belonged to the Crystal Empire, but Grover was the Kaiser of Griffonkind. The land and the griffons on it were a small sacrifice to save their home.
The light of Equestria will never die as long as we remember it.
Flurry leaned back on the stool and closed her eyes. “I have to do this.”
You must do what you think is best for your ponies, even if it is contrary to their will.
Flurry nodded. “I have to do this.” She picked the quill back up in her magic.
“Princess?” a voice called out from the end of the hallway. Nightshade peered through the broken wall. “Are you all right?” she asked. “I heard talking.”
“I’m fine,” Flurry called back softly. “I’m just talking to myself.” She waved a wing in dismissal and the bat pony crept back down the hallway. Flurry shielded and warded her room after the mare left, blocking the hallway. She needed to concentrate. She couldn’t afford distractions. The alicorn began writing a new letter.
Kaiser Grover,
I accept. We will gladly support your invasion. Some of the forces loyal to me are native Nova Griffonians and Aquileians. They will hesitate to fight for the Reich. I need assurances and pardons that the griffons under my command will not be harmed when the invasion begins.
“If he doesn’t agree, then we’ll…” Flurry struggled to think of something.
Griffons can leave if they wish; I will not cause my subjects more harm.
“No, he’ll agree,” Flurry said. “He’ll agree. I shouldn’t even mention it.”
Flurry tossed her draft into the pile next to the desk and restarted. She wouldn’t ask about the Nova Griffonians. They could discuss it afterwards together.
You play the game poorly, filly. Leave it to the adults.
“We don’t owe the Nova Griffonians or Republicans anything. We can fight them,” Flurry decided. “The frontier griffons will help, and the Aquileians. Some might not understand, but they don’t matter.”
Our Princess spends more time helping them like they're her own ponies, than any griffon from Weter.
“It’s not a betrayal. They’ll be fine,” Flurry reasoned. “Maybe some camps. It’s fine.”
Kaiser Grover,
We will support your invasion. The militias on the coast belong to the Nova Griffonians and the exiled Republicans. We can crush them quickly with support for your soldiers to land and move south against Chrysalis. Nova Griffonia will need to be garrisoned and controlled.
Flurry Heart set her quill down and glanced at the empty bowl of soup.
It’s better than the mines.
She knocked the bowl away and under her bed with a wave of her horn.
Flurry gasped and managed a chuckle. “No, no, not work camps. It's different. They were traitors.”
Her family attended some meetings. The police found pamphlets in their home.
“He needed to keep the Reich together. It doesn’t matter. He’s not Chrysalis.”
Everypony in those camps should’ve been shot.
Flurry crumpled the paper up and knocked it to the floor. Her magic reached over to her bed and grabbed at the bedsheets. She was out of paper. She tried to open the desk drawer to get another blank letter, but the drawer jammed again and rattled against her hoof. The alicorn yanked on it hard and pulled the entire drawer away from the desk with a crunch.
She dropped the drawer on the stack of discarded letters and retrieved a blank page. It was fine; the desk was always a piece of junk. Flurry dipped the quill into the inkpot and held it above the page, thinking about what to write.
Nothing came to her.
She roughly set the quill down on the page and rubbed her eyes with her forelegs. She yawned and struggled to inhale. It was late, but she had to do this tonight. The sooner she sent a reply, the sooner they could get to work. The Herzlander refugees needed to be dealt with as well.
Forgive me, my lord.
Flurry coughed a few more times and unzipped her flight jacket. The dust was getting to her and she was having trouble breathing. She stood up, shrugged off the jumpsuit, and started to pace around her room, flapping her wings to clear the air.
“Who’s left? There’s no one left,” Flurry said to herself as she walked.
There is no one left to appeal to.
“Dad was right. The Reich is it. The River Federation is a mess and Zebrica is full of warlords. What other choice do we have? Equestria is dying.”
He did what he could, when it counted.
“Equestria is dying,” Flurry repeated. “This is the only chance we have left. It can’t be for nothing. Everything we’ve went through has to be worth it.”
Everypony has lost somepony. The only thing we can do is keep going and make the losses mean something.
Flurry stopped and stretched her wings to work out a kink. Her wing span almost rivaled Spike’s. She preened an errant feather and shook out a rear leg. The light pink alicorn was taller than most stallions now, but the height was all in her legs and lean muscle. If Flurry was honest with herself, she wasn’t attractive like her mother; she was just an oversized teenager. She adjusted her little crown with a forehoof. It was starting to chafe under her mane.
Flurry coughed again and flapped her wings. She squinted in the light but couldn’t see any dust. She lit her horn and poured more magic into the lamp on the dresser. The bulb began to hum and burn so bright she couldn’t look directly at it. She looked around the room and cast a cleaning spell, the third one of the night. There wasn't any dust left.
She took a deep breath but her chest felt tight. “Why didn’t he say anything about the riots?” She couldn’t get it out of her head.
Things must change, and I will change them. I want to be different from my ancestors.
Her tail whipped against her leg. “He didn’t have a choice.”
I can only offer my apology that I allowed the madness to go on for so long. It ends now.
Flurry coughed again and gasped for air. She had difficulty swallowing; her mouth was dry. She trotted into her bathroom after grabbing the empty mug off her desk. It wobbled slightly in her magic. The bathroom had been spared the worst of the damage to her room, but the light was out. Flurry left the door open so the lamp on her dresser lit up the bathroom. She trotted to the sink and moved her toothbrush aside. The mirror above it was still crooked. She couldn’t see her reflection at that angle.
Flurry filled the chipped mug in the sink. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
How is my Equestrian? I hope it is good!
She gulped down the water and splashed some on her muzzle. She sighed in relief, feeling a little better.
I learn all the languages of my subjects.
Flurry choked and dropped the mug. It shattered onto the floor.
“No,” Flurry laughed. “No, Grover wouldn’t do that. He’s not here for that. He promised.”
Princess Flurry Heart: I, Grover von Greifenstein, swear to the Gods that I will help you reclaim your throne when I come of age.
“He promised,” Flurry nodded to herself.
She looked at the mirror and reached a foreleg up to adjust it and see her reflection.
Cerie looked back at her with watery eyes.
He promised to help me.
Flurry smashed the mirror with her hoof and backed out of the bathroom over the glass shards. Her wings spasmed against her sides and her tail. She coughed again and tried to take a deep breath. The crown was digging into the fur below her mane.
She stumbled against her desk and knocked the stool over with a wing. Flurry Heart kicked the stool away and it crashed against the bed. She coughed again and gasped for air. It felt like she was choking. She braced her hooves against the top of the desk and stared down at the blank sheet of paper. She had left her quill on top of the page and the ink dribbled off into big, round dots that ran down the paper.
Flurry blinked and the ink turned to blood. It pooled onto the floor below the desk.
The Grovers have always been cruel.
The crown tightened around her head. Flurry couldn’t breathe. Her crown was choking her.
They were cruel in different ways, but cruelty is ultimately all the same.
Flurry Heart grabbed at the gold band with both forehooves and tried to take it off.
You at your worst could not match Sombra. You have a kind heart, Princess.
It was stuck. She tugged wildly and stumbled away from the desk on her rear legs.
I cannot in good conscience allow the fate of Equestria to depend on the charity of an evil griffon.
The crown came free and tumbled out of her hooves. It fell to the floor with a light plunk and rolled on its side for a few hooves before falling over. The golden band sparkled in the light from her lamp. Flurry collapsed onto her side, staring at it. She opened her mouth to scream, but she couldn’t stop gasping for air.
Please reply. Please. Can’t be blank.
She held a hoof to her barrel to do the breathing exercise her mother taught her.
My family or my throne.
Her hoof shook; she couldn’t push it away. The crown glittered in front of her muzzle.
Love is the death of duty, Flurry.
“I’m sorry,” she choked out to her crown.
He has reason to help us.
“I’m sorry,” she thrashed her head against the floor. “I can’t.”
If he didn’t return with a sealed reply from you, his family would be killed.
She curled her legs and tail in and tucked her wings around herself. She wept and took shallow breaths.
I am proud to be your friend, Princess Flurry.
“I can’t do it,” Princess Flurry Heart sobbed and looked away from the crown.
The next morning, Flurry Heart found Thorax on the steps of the tenement, looking down the street. He wore his brown Nova Griffonian uniform and a saddlebag. Flurry sat down next to him with a sealed letter in her right wing. Her flight suit was zipped up and purple-pink mane cut short, per regulations for the flight helmet. She didn’t wear her crown.
The sun had just risen to the east and broken through the clouds. There were a few other ponies either keeping watch or returning from night shifts at the factories. It was shaping up to be a warm spring day. There would be patrols and flight practice. Flurry would be expected to attend.
Thorax glanced over at her, but said nothing. He held a coffee mug between his front hooves. This one still had a handle. He wedged it into a hole on his left hoof to lift the mug and take a sip.
Flurry extended her wing and revealed the letter. “How’s Frederick?” she asked.
“Still out of it,” Thorax reported. “It’d be better to have one of the changelings fly to deliver it.” He took the letter in his magic and inspected the wax seal on the envelope.
“Grover’s expecting Frederick,” Flurry replied. “We’ll send him. He won’t trust a changeling.”
“As you command, Princess,” Thorax answered. He tucked the letter into the saddlebag and took another sip. "He'll need time to recover."
Flurry stared out at the empty street. “Where’s Katherine and the rest of the griffons?”
“On their way to the frontier,” Thorax said. “There’s few enough right now that we can put them in one remote town to deal with when the invasion starts. They’ll probably just try to fly away again once it’s clear who we’re fighting for.”
“Where would they go?”
Thorax shrugged.
Flurry sat quietly for a moment and let the early morning light warm her exposed wings. “Are there other refugees still at the dockyards?” she asked.
“Yes,” Thorax answered, “but they’re being held up by the Republicans.”
“Get them out and to the frontier. Shore up the border against Chrysalis,” Flurry said.
Thorax shook his head. “We don’t have time. We need to plan, and they're a liability.”
“I told him no.”
Thorax set the coffee down and turned to face her. Flurry kept staring out into the street.
“And I said that if he ever cared about me,” Flurry sighed, “he would let Frederick’s family go.”
Thorax’s licked at his fangs and tried to respond. “Why?” he finally managed and scooted across the step towards Flurry.
“I don’t know,” Flurry admitted. The changeling leaned against her and she wrapped her wing around the smaller stallion.
“If this is about what I said…” he started.
“It’s not,” Flurry shook her head. “Not everything.”
Thorax paused and nuzzled her. “What do you want to do?”
“I’m a pilot,” Flurry responded. “I swore an oath to defend Nova Griffonia.”
“It’ll be a hard war,” the changeling sighed.
“Nova Griffonia has me.”
“I'm sure they'll like having a princess fly for them,” Thorax offered.
“I'm not a Princess,” Flurry said. “I’m just an alicorn.” She leaned her head atop Thorax’s, careful of his fin and horn. “I love you,” Flurry Heart whispered.
“I love you too,” Thorax whispered back.
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Unexpected….so Flurry has literally given up her throne to fight Grover. They probably won’t win though, and Changelings will invade from the west as well and quickly overrun Flurry’s militias. So nova griffonia will get destroyed either way it seems. Has Flurry gone insane?
Another great chapter! Really excited to see what happens next!
What? All that build up to get you home back and you chicken out
This isn't gonna end well... I bet Chrysalis will attack the second Empire's forces land on the shoers of Nova Griffonia, just to kill flurry. Flurry just voluntereed for death, not even River Federation striking at reich from back will save her.
I'll be honest, I was not expecting this.
I'm very exited to see what happens next!
Is this paranoia, or is Grover really out to get Flurry?
Probably not a popular opinion, but the self-doubt is delicious. The spice to Flurry’s inner conflict.
And every time she changes something, it’s more radical and desperate! All her second-thoughts and mind-changing is causing her to dig on her heels even harder every time she hops over to the opposite trench.
Fredrick still has time to recover. Flurry still has time to change her mind.
If she does, her own forces will see her as erratic and undecided.
If she doesn’t, years of building rapport (as well as, possibly, countless atrocities engineered by Grover to mask troop movements) will go to waste and put her in a weaker position than she was in when she started - demoted from equal to potential puppet in big G’s eyes. I’m sure that the ponies back in the motherland will be pretty miffed as well, if they are still capable of higher thought, that is.
Very exited to see what happens.
Flurry, snap the fuck out of it. My girl, you are the fucking princess of Equestria, don't back off because Sunbutt says "bird bad".
So we had an event sequence like Luna has in Manehattan but with Flurry regarding joining forces with Grover...She went Harmony, right? I'm confused here. Or did she choose a harmonic approach but remained non-aligned, because her joining Grover here would flip her to supremacy?
You know, I have a silly thought, but it'd be interesting if Grover pulled out the Mane 6's book and started talking about Friendship and that Flurry didn't live up to her aunt's lesson. Can you imagine? That's a perfect mean to tease Flurry with.
But no, honestly though I would advise Grover to reply with some sort of kindness, because that would leave Flurry with a long-lasting feeling of distaste. Same way the quotes from previous chapters changed her mind here, him keeping his promise would be devastating emotionally. Flurry would get 70+ acceptance to diplomacy from the Griffon Empire as character trait. Something like that can be as influential to a person as coefficient a in a qudratic function.
When reading this chapter I realized the presuppositions that I followed. Everyone here expects these two to hook up, or at least end up together. However, this is EaW we are talking about.
11290782 I mentioned how their supposed relationship may end up more as a tool or something to sacrifice in the name of something bigger (like the highest value in Flurry's hierarchy, that is, the good life of ponies)
Well, maybe this is just a story about two teens who will have some feelings, but they will go away? Nobody promised anything. There's going to be some romance, but since there also is the sad tag, we can expect these two to cross and result in Flurry and Grover to just stop caring.
Overall, nice chapter, keep up the good work!
Wait a second... Was the magic letter Coded as well?
11311859
Flurry brought up that Grover can't exactly reply again. Unless he gets another cross-country flier and holds their family hostage...
I wouldn't exactly place Grover and Flurry's ideology on the Hearts of Iron 4 pie chart. If you need to, consider Flurry harmonic. Some of those Harmonic nations can do messed up stuff, man.
11311653
That is the open question on the paranoia. Grover downplayed what was going on with Frederick, and ignored the riots in the letter. Flurry's consistently reiterated that she trusted Grover. Everyone else has lied her in some fashion, but Grover's friendship has been an anchor. She's been in denial about what was happening in the Reich, and finally had to acknowledge that her friend murdered his subjects and ran them down. He didn't even bother mentioning it and justifying it to her. If it was just a smoke screen for an invasion, then there's no reason to hunt down Katherine and random villagers in a land-locked province in Herzland. She's put too much faith in a promise between the two of them. It's not like Grover said he was planning to announce a grand invasion to restore her to the throne.
11311724
It's not just Celestia, and it's not just Thorax. Flurry Heart the Princess knows she needs to bite the bullet and accept the help, even if it means alienating her friends and screwing over the griffons she's helped over the years. Flurry Heart the Pony can't go through with it and potentially condemn them. By the time the Reich makes landfall, what does she do if Grover says that the Aquileians are to be hanged or arrested? They're exiles like the Republicans. What happens if the Reich garrisons Nova Griffonia as they move against Chrysalis and start rounding up the frontier griffons in front of their pony neighbors? It's a sacrifice she needs to make as a Princess, but she can't go through with it. As above, she realized she can't trust whatever Grover agrees to on paper.
How well does she actually know him, and how well does he know her? Flurry's panic attack/breakdown stems from a personal betrayal from a friend on top of the stress of making a hard call as a Princess, so she turns away from both. It can be read as a mistake, but it's a very sympathetic mistake made by a sixteen-year-old filly who just realized her friend is a monster. I'm glad that I can surprise the readers with where the story is going at the very least. Last note, the 'Romance' tag is there for a reason.
11311908
Suppose I should address this quickly:
No.
Grover wrote in code because he didn't have access to the magical spell that Flurry used on the back of her letters. The previous letter with Bronzetail wasn't written in a code, either, but he handed it off himself to a trusted associate instead of going through the Archon and the regency. He had an Aquileian unicorn learn and cast the spell this time, so he didn't have to bother with a code. The spell is entirely possible for a unicorn to cast, it's just difficult. He also told Flurry not to worry about the unicorn that helped him, so that's a bit ominous.
Don't really know much about Equestria at war but that dream sequence/hallucination seemed strange considering her prior conviction. Perhaps its her insecurities and doubts all coming together... or some external prodding from the sisters.
Though I may just be being paranoid. A great chapter nonetheless.
also what youu mean by romance tag what does it staand for?
11312477
Nailed it. It was originally drafted as a dream sequence, but that left too much open for interpretation, like if Luna is influencing her. The hallucinations are a bit much, but it's late, Flurry's very stressed, sleep-deprived, and her wall of denial is collapsing around her.
I appreciate you giving this a chance! I expected my core readers to be Equestria at War fans, but I'm trying to make it accessible to the wider audience.
Btw, where is Vivienne Discret? I remember she also took refuge in Riverlands.
11315621
I think flurry joked that she was hanging out with celestial and Luna
Not trying to be mean, but surprised at some comments here not quite getting the point that if Flurry had gone ahead with her plans with Grover as they were, she would have discarded her humanity (or species equivalent) and become a monster just like a lot of the people she previously fought or hated. Which I thought the story was leading up to for some time. Sacrificing refugees and people who trust you for political gain is something Chrysalis or the Nova Griffonian president would do, and if she had gone along with Rainbow Dash's suggestions she would have been a serious war criminal by any standard, and realistically you just don't just flip a switch and stop that mentality once the war is over. She would build a tyrannical state as bad as her enemies. "All the ones worth saving/keeping alive would already be on our side" is a good mental gymnastic to justify something horrible akin to genocide of a different people.
That's even if Grover intends to keep his word, it would be mostly the Reich, not the equestrians, retaking Equestria and holding all the cards, and people change a great deal over the years, he might consider Flurry a "friend" but you can still think of friends beneath you, and by all accounts Grover has done vile stuff and might not be all there.
She still might cave to "the necessary evil" later, or fail militarily against the Empire, but she is drawing a line and making a stand just as her father, mother and aunt did, even if futile, rather than resorting to the cowardice of abandoning those in your charge like Celestia or Luna, or becoming the very evil she fights against.
At least that's my interpretation lol. Great Story either way, I'm dubious of a lot of these war fics as having a lot of war porn and little substance but this one stands apart. Kudos to the Author.
Flurry was about to do some really messed up stuff, but I'm glad she changed her mind. That was a close call.
hey i was curious whether or not you were going to include zebrica the story
Jesus, what an intense chapter. Poor Flurry.
When I read this for the first time I didn't know why you included Cerie in this story. After all we alredy had Jacques to represent Aquileans and would later be introduced to Altiert, Eagleheart and Fierté. From my perspective it seemed bizzare to spend any time on some random secretary. Not to say that I didn't enjoy her character but I just didn't understand why she was even in this story to begin with, you know?
Then on my second reread I finaly got it.
She serves as a perfect paralel to Flurry. Flurry spend years mentaining her hope in Grover fulfiling a promise he made on a first day they met when he was 10 years old. Because there was no one else to ask and more importantly because she belived he was her friend. But now she realizes that Grover might be full of shit. After all he promised to be better than his ancestors to Flurry and now Empire was bathed in blood.
Her seemingly misplaced trust mirrors Cerie desperately hoping her boss will keep his end of the deal when there is proof to the contrary simply because she doesn"t think there is any other option. Writing 10/10.
Holy shit.
That was unexpected.
Good fucking Chapter!
There's always a choice but he chose poorly when his ideals were challenged by the people