The Princess and the Kaiser

by UnknownError

Part Nineteen

“On your six!”

Flurry pulled her stick back and the fighter spun into the air, barely dodging the hail of gunfire that would’ve torn through the tail of the plane. She looked over her shoulder and lit her horn as the pursuing fighter gave chase, following her upwards. It was a standard Griffonian Reich fighter, painted gray and orange.

She smiled. The alicorn hadn’t blown her cover yet, not today. She spun to throw the fighter off and adjusted her flight cap and headset as snowflakes streaked across the canopy of her fighter. Her pursuer adjusted and leveled off to fire another burst.

“Anypony got him?” Flurry asked and prepared a shield.

“I got him, Falcon Four,” a raspy voice chuckled.

She twisted away as one of her wing mates stormed in from the side to rake the enemy fighter across his fuselage. The Reich plane burst into flames and began to spiral through the clouds and towards the ocean below. Her wing mate, a fighter painted with a hideous and poorly done rainbow mural, spun back into the fray below her.

“Good kill, Falcon Two,” Flurry complimented. She leveled her own plane off and fired a burst at another naval bomber that was readying for a dive. Its wing flared with black smoke and the bomber began to turn away, back to the east. Flurry pursued and lined up the stricken plane, dodging the tail gunner on the bomber. She pressed her right hoof down on the button on the stick.

Her machineguns gave a measly burst of four rounds and clicked dry. A warning light came up on her console, right next to the blinking warning that she was low on fuel. The naval bomber continued to retreat through the sky and Flurry scowled at it. She adjusted her laying position on the seat and moved to kick the lever to open the canopy. She caught sight of today’s chalk marks along the side of the seat.

Twelve kills isn’t bad, Flurry reasoned. She turned her fighter away from the naval bomber with a sigh and scanned the sky. Her wing mates were doing well, but the battle was stacked against them. Her fighter squadron was assigned to the ocean outside Nouveaux Aquila on the coast of Nova Griffonia. Today’s goal was to keep air supremacy and stop the Reich's air force from supporting the naval battle below.

The Griffonian Reich had already attempted one landing in late summer there, and had barely been beaten back with a vicious sea battle that left both navies crippled. Flurry had run out of ammo early that day as well, and had resorted to dive bombing the landing craft with her spellwork fired from an open canopy. She returned to base that night with a fighter whose nose and wings were scorched black with the heat from her spells and a half-melted glass canopy.

The melted slag of the landing craft still washed up on the beach, and no griffon had time to tow away the two heavy cruisers Flurry sank in the harbor. Instead of getting a medal for turning back an invasion, Flurry had been reprimanded for closing off the harbor by Colonel Skywatch.

Flurry grit her teeth and channeled her annoyance into her spell, summoning her bubble shield around her plane and flying towards a squadron of Reich fighters moving to intercept her air wing. Before they could react and disengage, her horn sparked and she teleported with a crack.

Flurry Heart and her plane reappeared just in front of the lead fighter and slammed into it. At her speed and velocity, she plowed through the fuselage like paper, and banked to catch another two of his wing mates behind him, taking a wing and tail. The remaining fighters spun away and began desperate evasive maneuvers. They were pursued by her wing mates in short order.

“Bowling Ball!” a voice called over her headset.

“No strike, only spares,” Flurry replied. “Falcon Four reporting: I’m out and low on fuel.” She stretched out her wing and carefully marked three more hashes with the nub of chalk between her feathers.

There was a chorus of agreements through the headset. Flurry looked around, but the sky was mostly clear. A few individual dogfights were playing out in the distance, but it looked like they had won this morning. Flurry allowed herself a small smile.

Thorax had been right; it had been a hard fight. Flurry sent the panicked and half-mad Frederick Sharp back to the Griffonian Reich with a sealed letter after he recuperated. He had no memory of the basement or the changelings. Thorax sold him a story that he collapsed on the roof and was nursed back to health, which was technically true.

Flurry had promised Frederick that the letter was not blank, but did not disclose its contents. He began sobbing again, but he didn't tell her about his family. Flurry guessed he wasn't supposed to. The griffon flapped away quickly and unevenly, back to the east with a satchel full of provisions and watery eyes.

Flurry Heart had no idea if he made it back. There was no announcement on the radio. Grover didn't send another letter. Thorax and the changelings decided not to try to inform the Nova Griffonian government; it would lead to too many questions. Besides, if her letter reached Grover, he would surely have altered his plans.

Flurry didn’t know what Grover knew; it seemed to her that she didn’t really know him at all. Perhaps he thought the letter never made it to her, because the Reich still launched a massive surprise invasion of the continent of Equus on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration. It had ceased to be a holiday years ago for the ponies, and the griffons never celebrated the solstice.

Nova Griffonia barely weathered opening assaults and attempted landings. The coastal cities were heavily fortified and defended with anti-air batteries, but the Reich had millions upon millions of griffons to throw at the poor colony and Chrysalis. The Reich planes were mechanically better than theirs, bolstered by half a continent's worth of industry, but the pilots flying their planes were subpar, and their endless replacements continued to decrease in quality as the war dragged on. The navy was enormous, but similarly stretched thin by the logistics of trying to supply multiple armies in Equestria and harass the Nova Griffonians to the north.

Flurry hadn’t heard the Changeling radio give any updates, and Thorax was much too busy with official work for Blackpeak and the code-breaking department to verify any rumors. Flurry knew based on the reports from Duskcrest and Dusty that the land border was poorly defended right now, which meant that the landings in Equestria had been initially successful, but there was radio silence from Baltimare and Manehattan. The broadcasts from Griffonia were obvious propaganda shills, with griffons with heavy Herzlander accents promising that they were coming to liberate Equestria and the Crystal Empire. Celestia had been quiet as well in the River Federation.

It had been several months of war, and Flurry Heart still had no idea if she made the right choice.

“Right,” the raspy voice of Falcon Two cut through, “that’s a wrap, fillies and chicks. Orders to disengage and return to base.”

There was an immediate chorus of protests and Flurry’s ears twitched at the swearing.

“I don’t make the rules,” Rainbow protested back. “I just pass them along. Navy’s falling back anyway. We’re done here.”

Flurry Heart rolled her fighter to the side to look down at the ocean and pulled off her flight goggles. The ocean was splotched black with oil slicks and burning petroleum. A few ships sat motionless and were rapidly disappearing from her view as they were swallowed by the waves. From her height, she couldn’t make out which ships were the Nova Griffonian’s or the Reich’s, but the alicorn hazarded a guess that the three small ships desperately running south were theirs, chased by two larger dots and one massive battleship that she could clearly make out.

“Is that the Reich’s flagship down there?” she asked and touched a hoof to her headset to stabilize it.

“Yeah,” Falcon Seven responded in a Herzlander accent, “the Artur from Skyfall.”

Flurry glanced down at the huge ship. “I’ll see everyone back at base,” she said.

The radio devolved into static as the pony and griffon pilots in the air wing whinnied and screeched encouragement over the radio. Flurry winced as they tried to overpower each other.

“Enough!” Rainbow shouted in her best Wonderbolt drill instructor voice. “Take care, Falcon Four, Thorax’ll kill me if ya don’t make it back. I’ll find you in the afterlife and haunt you forever,” she threatened.

“Acknowledged, Falcon Two,” Flurry answered.

“Watch your fuel, Princess,” the pegasus warned.

Flurry rolled her eyes, pulled her headset off and tossed it next to the flight cap by her withers. Her rear hoof kicked the lever and the canopy slid open to the chilly, late fall air. A few snowflakes drifted into the cockpit and nestled into her shaved-down mane. The sky was relatively clear as the fighters broke off to return home, all except for one little plane that looked down towards the ocean. Flurry took a deep breath and channeled her magic.

She jerked the stick down and began to dive.

She sped towards the ships while the wind whipped through her short mane and tail. She had to squint against the snowflakes and wind. Her goggles would have helped, but Flurry had learned the hard way that some of her spells were too hot for headwear.

Flurry summoned her bubble shield as the ships came into clear view. Two Griffonian heavy cruisers flanked the massive battleship that was easily double their size. The heavy guns on the front deck boomed as they tried to bracket the fleeing destroyers. One of the destroyers was lagging behind its comrades and listing to the side.

Time to dance. Flurry Heart adjusted her dive towards the battleship and the engine screamed. The first burst of flak ricocheted off her shield. Flurry unbuckled her seat straps and charged her spell as she closed in. She would have to drop the shield to fire. After several months of this, she knew what to expect, as well as her targets.

A griffon on deck would spot her and see the shield around the plane. They would panic and relay it to the captain. The captain would order evasive maneuvers and frantically call for any fighters in the vicinity to intercept. He would order every gun they had to fire at her plane as a last resort.

It was already happening. The battleship began to turn abruptly, forcing the heavy cruiser to its port side to turn to avoid a collision. The gun turrets began to ponderously turn up. Trails of machinegun fire joined the flak in the sky. All of it bounced off her shield, if it even came close to hitting her.

Flurry continued on her dive, screaming towards the aft deck under heavy fire. She was close enough now to make out individual griffons on deck. A few sailors had already taken flight around the ship and were deserting to the cruisers. A few griffons had taken out rifles and were aiming up at her plane. Flurry smirked and looked towards the empty ocean to the left, where the cruiser had twisted away.

Just before she slammed into the deck at full speed, she teleported with a crack. Her plane reappeared just above the waves and Flurry examined the broadside of the cruiser, picking a spot behind the command tower. She teleported between the cruiser and the battleship, and neither had adjusted their aim to account for a teleporting pilot. A skilled unicorn might be able to summon a shield around their fighter for a moment, but nopony could do that and teleport several times. She leaned out of the canopy to the right, letting go of the stick and shoving her horn clear of the glass.

She didn’t have time to charge her laser, so she settled for a low-powered shot. She released the spell, aiming just above the waterline. The blue beam warped the glass of the canopy and scorched the paint black on the right wing. It trailed above the water, creating a plume of steam from the residual heat that followed it towards the ship. The beam sliced through the plating with no resistance.

Flurry’s aim was true. The middle of the ship buckled and a great plume of fire erupted from the deck, scattering the sailors. The entire ship bucked into the air with the force of the explosion as Flurry’s laser ignited the ammunition stockpile. The griffons on board didn’t have time to evacuate; the ship nearly split in two from the blast and Flurry ears rang. She dropped back into the cockpit and pulled up, veering over the buckled command tower.

She resumed her shield as she plowed through the smoke. She collided with a flying griffon; he crunched against the shield and dropped listlessly towards the water. The alicorn turned in a wide arc around the sinking cruiser and looked back towards the battleship.

It still hadn’t adjusted its aim. The destroyers were essentially forgotten as the ship contended with the lone pilot. Flurry listened for any other planes above the screams and twisting metal, but she only heard her engine, begging to sputter with low fuel. She smiled. They were alone with her.

Flurry charged her spell and her horn trailed blue sparks though the sky as she closed in on the battleship. More griffons on deck jumped and flapped away as she flew low to the waves. A few began to fire at her with rifles and pistols. The bullets pinged off her shield, but most shots missed. She approached the side too quickly.

I might not punch through the armor, Flurry decided and pulled up. Her bubble crashed though the antennas behind the command deck as she barely cleared the battleship and took aim at the cruiser on the starboard side. It had stayed in position, but the guns were still trained on the retreating destroyers. She risked dispelling her shield and firing a long-range, wide beam from above. The air erupted with gunfire a moment after she released the spell. She teleported again, reappearing behind the battleship.

Flurry assessed the damage. Her shot was off-target, but she still punched a massive hole in the deck and cleaved through the armor. The ship looked like a kraken had taken a giant bite out of the side, near the stern. It was a crippling shot and the ship was already listing. Griffons were already abandoning the cruiser for the battleship and clogging the sky.

Flurry banked towards the battleship. It was turning again, away from the destroyers and towards Griffonia. Flurry checked the stern to see if they were flying a white flag. The roaring griffon on the Reich flag still blew defiantly in the breeze. She could see Artur spelled out near the rudder.

Katherine had told her several legends about the Reich during their joint language lessons. Artur the One-Winged and Roland the Righteous were heroes that joined Grover the Great on his conquests, leading his armies. Artur had been maimed in his service to Grover, but still pleaded to fight for his liege, sent away to recover and return when he was most needed.

You won’t be returning from anything, Flurry snarled. She fired a shot towards the rudder, blowing it apart. She aimed low and fired again, slicing through the water towards the propellers before resuming her shield. The Artur continued on its own momentum, but was now stuck in its turn. Flurry broke off and veered away, flying just above the waves. Her own engine sputtered frequently.

Flurry sighed. I have to end this. She circled back around towards the battleship and lit her horn, passing over the listing cruiser, which was now on its side. She had gained the needed distance to charge her spell. The griffons on board probably realized the same, because they either bailed and flew away or began to pour gunfire towards her plane.

The anti-air turrets couldn’t hit a plane flying this low; the sailors were relying on mounted machine guns and small arms. They were prepared for dive bombers aiming at the decks of the ship, not the highly armored sides. Nothing had the power to punch through talons-thick, reinforced armor plating.

Flurry Heart continued towards the broadside of the ship, leaning out of the cockpit for one last shot. For a brief moment, she took in the majesty of the silhouette in the morning light. The Artur cut an impressive figure on the waves, fearsome and mighty, painted with the orange, yellow, and black of the Reich around the massive turrets. There had to be thousands of griffons on board. Grover must be proud of it. He always complained that his navy wasn’t very good.

Flurry released her spell, aiming below the water. It wasn’t just one laser. She kept pouring magic into it, creating a continuous beam of fire that erupted into a cloud of steam as it made contact with the waves. The clouds obscured her little plane's approach and the gunfire went wide. One bullet pinged off her left wing, but most of the machineguns were firing too high.

Flurry jerked her horn up and her beam cut into the sky, trailing steam. There was a great roar, like that of a wounded beast, but it was obscured by the boiling clouds. Flurry dropped back into the cockpit and twisted away, rising though the clouds of steam and looking to the left to admire her work.

The battleship continued under its momentum, but now in two pieces, cut neatly in half. Flurry punched through the armor on both sides, cutting through the ship as if it was a slice of bread. The stern was already sinking into the waves and the bow section capsized as she watched, the heavy turrets dragging the ship under in less than a minute. The command tower disappeared last, with a few griffons leaping from it and flying to the east. Most would not make it to landfall. A few decided to fly south.

Flurry turned her plane south and looked towards the destroyers. The two able vessels had slowed to help their stricken friend, which was listing more severely and trailing smoke. Griffons were flying between the decks. Some were carrying wounded; a few carried ponies. Griffons with rifles and small arms stood at the sterns, waiting to intercept the Reich sailors that flapped towards them.

Flurry Heart flew low over the water and passed the destroyers while her engine sputtered in protest. The sailors on deck stopped to cheer. Flurry waggled the wings of her plane in reply, then climbed high into the sky above.

She prepared to teleport back to base, aiming to appear high in the sky above to avoid collisions. Before she released her spell, she wiped her nose on the sleeve of her flight jacket. Her sleeve was greasy and flecked with snow, but there was no blood. Flurry smiled widely and laughed. I’m getting stronger, better than last time.

Flurry Heart and her plane vanished in a flash of blue light.

Comments

[UnknownError]

11318473
Well thanks, I appreciate the kudos. I'm trying to avoid the war porn sequences. On that note, please enjoy the new chapter of war porn!

[OldWorldBlues1221]

I have to ask, what exactly is Flurry’s endgame here? She seems dead-set on opposing the Empire, so has she given up on freeing Equestria, seeing as how the Empire is the only nation capable of beating the Changelings?

[DrDallagher]

flurry is just going to run into the same, if not more problems than equestria. i agree with 1221, what is her goal?
this turn just seems sudden to me, the entire story she's been going darker and making sacrifices trying to get things done better than the other alicorns, and now she suddenly isnt? just seems a bit forced to me IDK

[TheOPcharacterWriter]

I'm interested in seeing what will Grover do. 'Couse Grover should just be harsh and if he had any good intentions half of them should get deleted under the weight of Flurry's actions. For him she's a traitor.
Whatever happens, it has no right to be pleasant unless some Barrad magocracy type lore event will make Grover lenient.
Even my suggestion, which I still think is the right thing to do, would realistically make Grover a target to assassins from countless factions in the Empire.

Author, you're pretty sharp (you get the joke, because you have a sword for the avatar picture) So I trust you with having something nice up in your sleeve.

However, I do have a critical accusation against Flurry and her idealistic turn that don't exactly go in pair with her responsibilities as a leader.

I see a parallel with the geopolitics after WW2. Countries like mine were under Soviet influence after the Red Army came in, however the atrocities committed by the Germans were stopped as they were kicked out. To this day there are talks about if it can be called a "liberation".
Here its kinda the same. You have the changelings who murder and exploit the ponies in most vile and cruel way and then you have Grover who in the mind of Flurry, Thorax and all other harmonists and creatures opposed to him, see his actions as nothing more than imperialism.

The changelings remain, the ponies will remain slaves, sex toys, love producing cattle and all that. Grover wins, you'll have a conquered Equestria that in the worst case will suffer less by not being love producing cattle. I doubt that will happen.

So, with all respect, but at least from what I can work with, that is, the chapters I can go through, I think Nietzsche's argument against Christianity can be used against Flurry. Flurry directs her focus into some abstract point beyond the earthly life, and she does not use the circumstances to gain in the present. She, because of some murky morals (At least I don't see enough of it in the story, therefore murky, not meant to be interpreted as false) follows in line the expectations of her ideology and in return she sacrificed practical gains that would come by joining Grover.

“They’re killing us slowly, every year,” Flurry continued. “I hear about the Love Tax, but I don’t hear about programs to encourage Ponies to get together and make more little Ponies. Chrysalis doesn’t plan for the future; she doesn't have an heir. She can’t imagine a world without her and that tower in Vesapolis. She will kill everypony and proclaim victory on the ashes.”
Chapter thirteen

Which is fine, I don't condemn this. A fight between Flurry the person and the job of a princess is needed, its just that I fear we might reach some moment where this obvious conflict will be tried and sold as not being one.
Maybe this is her realizing that she can kill two birds with one stone (you know, since griffons are birds and uh... I will stop) she knows Grover will win and she can also remain true to her beliefs. Win-Win.

Point being, maybe it will in the future, but right now things don't add up.

11318473
There's an easy solution: order Twilight to blast her with the elements of Harmony. Luna went to the moon, Flurry will be stuck in the Crystal Heart.

[Dankmemes]

i want to ask What is the romance tag for

[UnknownError]

11318828
...for the Romance? Please just trust me.

The Romance tag means there will be romance in the story. If there is not romance in the story yet, that means there will be romance later.
Flurry Heart and Grover are the main characters. I know why most (maybe some) readers are invested, and it'll get there.
Hopefully, I didn't delude anyone based on the opening chapters that this will be a straight shipfic from the start. I apologize if I did.

[UnknownError]

11318776

A fight between Flurry the person and the job of a princess is needed, its just that I fear we might reach some moment where this obvious conflict will be tried and sold as not being one.

That's already happened a bit, but there will be further sacrifices and compromises.

I've seen a few comments about Flurry's game plan. It boils down to 'fly the plane.' Come on guys, she's sixteen and a little depressed.

[UnknownError]

11318708
As for the Flurry going dark, I've gotten a lot of "Gee, Flurry's real stupid for turning away Grover," which is true, but there's depressingly little, "Sweet Celestia, how many griffons did that teenager just kill?" Y'all know those ships have crews of thousands, right? And it's not the first time she's done this, judging from the cheers of her squadmates? She melted landing craft to slag...fried chicken?

The narration doesn't make a big deal out of it because Flurry doesn't, but it should be obvious that there's something...off with Flurry from growing up during the war and being exposed to so much death and destruction.

[Pogmin]

11319062
Dude, you got an audience of people that play HoI4. Casualties are literally the last things on our minds unless it's all of them.

[Redundant]

Don’t mind me, in this little corner, theorising about how Flurry can use this experience of fighting against Grover here to justify abhorrent policy in the future.

“I fought imperialism! I took down entire ships off the coast of Nova Griffonia. All I do is for the Empire, for Harmony!” - Empress Flurry Heart, holding the flag of the Crystal Empire above one of the only building remaining in Vesalipolis

But it’s nice to see Flurry sticking to ‘the good side’, even if it means racking up enough of a kill count that shell eventually just have to paint her plane white with chalk.

[Dankmemes]

u have a theroy that grover did all the bad things becouse he had become opssed with keeping his promise so in his mind he is doing all of it for flurry and whean he finds out flurry is fighting agenst him well..... emotional damage

[name1232]

Great chapter I wonder how hrover and flurry would react if or when she and grover meet again

[PearlyDoesStuff]

Flurry commits mass murder and feels nothing :tm:
In any case, this story is as good as ever. Flurry and Dashie going off on an airwing and counting murders is real fun. Also, waiting on Sunbutt and Moonbutt to do something useful instead of sitting around being coddled by River Swirl or Boreas-knows-who unified the Riverlands.

[Knifepony]

I had thought you might've used Diellza. There was an opportunity for that, earlier. That librarian might still be.

[a pony in a man suit]

Flurry Heart can now say she has sunk Griffon Bismarck.. Go Flurry!

[szaronko]

Holy.... So that's what she chose... I guess I understand and I rooted for her when she decided to say no, but now when I see what this actually leads to I think it was stupid. So many unnecessary casualties... Sure, fighting alongside with grover would cause a lot of suffering to some griffons, but what she's doing now is she is causing way more suffering than if she actually decided to go with grover. It kinda hurts to see that.

And it is very terrible choice strategically as well. I could imagine ponies winning if they only had to fight with changelings, but now they have to fight not only with changelings but with the reich as well. There is no way this would work out... I really hope flurry has some sort of plan that we don't know about yet

[Sylica telca]

This is not what I expected