Part Twenty-One
Flurry Heart landed on the outskirts of Yarrow and brushed some sleet off her flight suit with a wing. Yarrow was a decently large coastal town, once known for its fishing trawlers that braved the icy sea to the north. Now, it was part of the bunker network that stretched along the coast and the fishing boats were scrapped for extra metal and wood. Their hulks were abandoned on the outskirts of the town.
No wonder rationing is getting so bad, Flurry thought as she approached on hoof. Nova Griffonia depended on fishing to make up for the lack of trade. Without either, it was only a matter of time before they ran out of food. Flurry had already heard rumors and fear-mongering from ponies that the griffons were keeping them around as livestock. Which was absurd, Flurry snorted to herself. She couldn’t find a single verifiable source in history of a griffon eating a pony, and she spent three weeks looking through the public library in Weter when she was younger.
Flurry noticed a wall of sandbags at the end of the street she was approaching. The single-story brick houses were similarly boarded and reinforced at the large windows. Like any city, the outskirts were the poorest. A few griffons lounged on the roofs and peered through binoculars.
A griffon screeched on a roof and several heads poked up with rifles from behind the sandbags. “Halt!” one squawked in Herzlander. “Identify yourself!” An anti-tank gun stuck out from an opening in the sandbags.
Flurry stopped a decent distance away, next to one of the boat hulls. “Flurry Heart,” she answered in her amplified voice.
A few of the helmeted griffons disappeared behind the sandbags for a moment before one stuck his head up. “Leave!” he shouted, “or be fired upon!”
“I need to speak with Kemerskai,” Flurry retorted. “It’s important.”
“Leave!”
Flurry sighed and summoned her bubble shield. Five bullets pinged off it in the time it took to blink, causing small blue ripples along the shield. Flurry took a breath and stepped forward.
The anti-tank gun fired, roaring into the mid-day.
The round ricocheted off her shield and blew the hull apart, covering the area with wood shrapnel and dust. Some of the griffons at the barricade screeched in alarm. Flurry observed all of it with detached interest and flapped her wings. Her shield, now a proper bubble, shone through the clouded air and attracted more gunfire as she flew lazily above the sandbags and landed behind them in the street.
She looked over her shoulder at the dozen griffons crouching behind the sandbags, looking back at her in shock. A pair were reloading the anti-tank gun. She gave them an unimpressed look. “You know you’re facing the wrong way,” she said in Herzlander. She stuck out a wing and pointed east. “The Reich is that way.”
One of the griffons screeched, lunged forward, and fired his rifle point-blank against her shield. The bullet bounced back and struck him in a rear paw. He screamed in pain and dropped the rifle, falling back with flailing wings and cradling his bleeding leg. Another miltia griff dragged him back.
“Should I wait here, or keep going to find Kemerskai?” Flurry asked conversationally. A few soldiers alternated between raising and lowering their guns while looking between each other.
“I’ll keep going,” Flurry decided. She waved a wing at a griffon with a radio pack. “Let him know I’m here.” The alicorn flapped her wings and proceeded down the street without being shot at again. The chapels to the Trinity worshipped by the griffons were tolling their bells in alarm in the town, and a few griffons dropped from the sky and took shelter along makeshift fortifications or inside their homes. Flurry passed them by without issue and ignored the fearful and hateful stares.
These weren’t her griffons, the ones she helped or fought for. These were the coastal griffons, the relatively privileged and well-fed, that had only seen ponies when they built the fortifications along their coast for piecemeal pay. Flurry flew by a fully-crewed anti-air battery on the roof of a grocery store. The crew oriented the gun towards the alicorn.
“Don’t,” she warned in Herzlander. “It’ll bounce off.”
The crew didn’t fire. Flurry continued past a few more anti-air batteries and noticed a large following of armed griffons behind her. She landed near a fountain in front of a larger church with tolling bells closer to the middle of town. The griffons circled her from above, and no griffon landed. The bells ceased and Flurry heard a truck engine approaching.
A military truck turned a corner from the west and stopped in the street. A few griffons leapt out of the back, armed with submachine guns. A griffon with a launcher across his back leapt down last and unslung it, aiming right at her. Two griffons broke from the group and approached.
Flurry recognized Alexander Kemerskai Junior. The brown griffon was wearing a green uniform, but had added several medals that hung loosely on the opened jacket. He had upgraded from a standard green cap to a white officer’s cap with flared ridge. Flurry resisted snorting.
The other griffon was an older, white-furred griffon with an eye patch and brown suit. Flurry vaguely recognized him as Schnabel Sunglider, the former President of the Griffonian Republic after the elder Kemerskai finally allowed elections. The pair stopped a healthy distance from Flurry, and Kemerskai gestured with a wing towards his griffons. They circled her bubble with guns ready.
“We need to talk,” Flurry called out in Herzlander.
“We have nothing to discuss,” Kemerskai answered.
“Blackpeak,” Flurry shrugged.
“You're here to make me an offer for that chicken?” Kemerskai laughed. “Tell him that Maar spits on his ancestors.”
“He’s our enemy, too,” Flurry countered.
“Really?” Kemerskai feigned shock. “And after all those years you’ve been kissing up to him.” He pantomimed wiping a tear away from his eye.
“The situation’s changed,” Flurry said.
Kemerskai narrowed his eyes. “Tell me,” he commanded.
Flurry looked around at the gathered griffons. “We should speak in private.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” he sneered.
“I’ll go somewhere with you,” Flurry sighed.
Kemerskai seemed surprised by her deference and spoke quietly with Sunglider. Sunglider waved a wing at the church and the other griffon nodded. He gestured to a church with the wing. “In there, wait out here until summoned.”
Flurry nodded and sat next to the fountain. She kept her shield up. The griffons took up defensive positions and aimed everything they had at her.
Kemerskai entered with several of his soldiers and kept Flurry waiting for nearly an hour. No griffon left the church, even from the windows, so Flurry concluded it was a power move. A few other griffons in high-class uniforms arrived by flight and entered while she waited, sparing Flurry a vague glance before being checked at the doors. The griffon with the launcher yawned and set it down, shaking out his claws and pulling out a cigarette from a pocket. The griffon was yelled at by an officer, so he lazily pulled out his pistol and vaguely pointed it at Flurry's shield as he smoked.
Flurry Heart decided she liked him the most.
“Alicorn!” one soldier finally squawked from the doorway. “Enter.”
“Can I drop the shield?” Flurry asked sarcastically.
“No,” the griffon answered with a hard beak.
Flurry blinked and studied the doorway before lighting her horn and shrinking down the shield. It barely fit around her and she had to shuffle up the stairs and through the open doors. At the very least, the guards stepped aside for her to enter, but that might have been just self-preservation; she wouldn't have hesitated to knock them over.
The church wasn't a church; it had been converted into a supply depot, definitely long before she arrived. The pews were stacked against the windows and any artwork had been removed. Ammo crates, spare rifles, and an artillery piece were stacked up against the walls. Kemerskai and nine other griffons were waiting for her where the altar used to be, replaced by a long table. Armed griffons watched her from the wings of the chapel.
Flurry slowly shuffled forward and extended the shield slightly to improve her gait. “May I drop the shield?” she requested in Herzlander.
“It would be better if you did not,” Sunglider responded. “We feel more comfortable with your magic visible and contained. I am told you injured one of our soldiers.”
“He injured himself,” Flurry responded. “The shot ricocheted off the shield.”
Sunglider nodded and accepted her explanation, but Kemerskai looked upset. “Your Herzlander is very good,” Sunglider complimented to defuse the situation.
“I learned from the refugees you shunned,” Flurry replied. The alicorn stopped before the raised platform and looked up at Kemerskai. On even ground, she was taller than him, but he seemed to relish looking down at her.
“Why are you here?” Kemerskai asked. “You insult us and rile up our town.”
Flurry scanned over the assembled griffons. “You trust every griffon in this room?”
“The only one I don’t trust is you,” Kemerskai answered and held a claw on his holster.
Flurry took a breath. “Blackpeak is making a deal with Chrysalis. He’s already sent messengers.”
“I know nothing about this,” Kemerskai said.
“You’ve pulled out of Weter. They crossed over to the south two days ago.”
“Or perhaps you are lying, hoping that I attack Blackpeak and justify a war for him. You are nothing but a dog for him, after all,” Kemerskai spat. “What proof do you have?”
“If you want to wait for proof,” Flurry said, “it will be tanks crashing through the border. My ponies can’t hold them.”
“Your ponies,” Kemerskai seized on her word choice. “Is that why they chose you to come to me, Princess? I thought you turned away from your crown.”
“Shut up about the crown,” Flurry replied, exasperated. She jostled her short-cut curls with a raised hoof. “Do you see a crown? I threw it away months ago. I’m here to ask for your help.”
Kemerskai raised his beak and laughed. “I have no reason to help you.”
“If we combine our militias, we could take out Blackpeak’s loyalists without risking a prolonged civil war.”
“Or weaken the coast for your friend to finally land. We’ve held him off.”
“Grover’s not my friend,” Flurry growled. “And you’ve done nothing. You’re sitting behind sandbags and waiting to die.”
Kemerskai clacked his beak and the other griffons rustled their wings. “I will not suffer your insults,” he squawked back in a low voice.
“How many Reich soldiers have you killed?” Flurry asked smugly.
“I fought on the front lines for my father during the war. We would have won if the Aquileians pulled their weight.”
“I’ve killed thousands,” Flurry smirked. “I’ve roasted them in their landing crafts and burned their ships. I’ve taken down their best fighters and sent them screaming to Maar. You’re mad if you think I’m working with him.”
Kemerskai looked at her flight suit, ruffled and dirty. “You claim a lot, Private.”
“You’re not that deluded." Flurry shook her head. "You know that I’m part of the reason this country hasn’t fallen yet.”
“You’re part of the reason this country is in this position,” Kemerskai stated. Flurry blinked, momentarily shocked before he continued. “You shilled for Triton for years and allowed him to corrupt the Republic.”
It was already corrupt, Flurry almost said, but instead replied, “This is the chance to fix that.”
“As if you care about the Republic,” Kemerskai scoffed, clacking his beak.
Flurry paused and assessed the situation. She was losing the argument. She was never going to convince him with platitudes, so she settled for the truth.
“You’re right,” she admitted. “I don’t care about the Republic, and I don’t care who’s in charge. If you want to be president, fine. I don’t care, as long as Chrysalis doesn’t come across the border.”
“Blackpeak cancelled the election because he knew I would win,” Kemerskai said and preened a wing. “And you could be lying about Chrysalis.”
Your father ruled as a dictator over the Griffonian Republic for thirty years, Flurry thought. He cancelled elections, too.
Flurry instead said, “If I am telling the truth, Triton is going to be reinforced. You can’t beat him then, once the tanks get here. When they’re done with the frontier and the south, they’ll move down the coast. You’ll be stuck between the Reich and the Changelings.”
“You’ll be dead,” Kemerskai remarked.
“You’ll die, too,” Flurry replied. She sighed. “Look, I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to ask you for help, and I have no idea what I ever did to make you hate me so much.”
Kemerskai leaned down and sneered at her. “You paraded through this country for years, lording over your ‘subjects’ and making a mockery of the principles of equality and fairness. You still do it,” he pointed at her with a claw. “You defy orders, secure in the knowledge that your position affords you shelter.”
“I’m a citizen of the Republic,” Flurry stated, “and I’m an alicorn. I can do more. It's not my fault no one realizes that.”
“And are you a Princess? You never dismissed your title…” Kemerskai trailed off.
Flurry closed her eyes. “I’m just a pilot.”
“A non-answer,” Kemerskai clacked his beak. “No true Republic would let you sit and sow dissent in their borders, like that sham of the River Federation. If they were a strong state, they would attack the Reich now, while it’s distracted, instead of waiting.”
“Like you’re waiting for Triton?” Flurry asked, knowing it would upset him.
Kemerskai’s feathers ruffled and he leaned back. Before he could snap at her, Sunglider pulled him aside. The pair turned back and the other griffons circled around them, speaking quietly. Flurry sat down and waited, feeling where the crown used to rest against her fur.
She didn’t remember where she put it after that night. The night she composed her reply to Grover felt more like a nightmare than real life sometimes. She searched all over her room a few days later, but never found it. Sometimes she wished she could wake back up in her cloud bed in the Crystal Empire and try everything over again.
Kemerskai and Sunglider broke from the griffons and approached the end of the platform. Flurry stood and looked up at them. “What is your plan?” Kemerskai asked in a subdued voice, still cautious.
“We have two weeks, maybe less,” Flurry answered. “We have the frontier and the south. With your help, we can surround Weter to the north as well.”
“My griffons will take Weter,” Kemerskai responded. “We have loyal griffons there, and Blackpeak is weak. I will be sworn in as the rightful President of Nova Griffonia and Triton Blackpeak will hang.”
Flurry nodded.
“The ponies and other refugees may stay in the frontier,” Sunglider added. “They can fortify the border in case of attack. We need to coordinate with the frontier militias to decide who attacks Blackpeak’s griffons, and where and when.”
“We’re based in Evergreen,” Flurry said. “I can teleport four griffons with me there. Anymore than that and it gets unpleasant.”
“Teleport?” Kemerskai asked.
“You want to get this done quickly or not?” Flurry challenged.
Alexander Kemerskai looked down at her with unreadable brown eyes. “There is one condition.”
She rolled her eyes. “Name it.”
“Your first act once I become President will be to publicly renounce your crown and affirm your loyalty to me and the Republic.”
Flurry hesitated and tried to swallow.
“You are correct,” the brown griffon admitted. “You have done much to help the war effort. I will promote you to Captain and you’ll be given command of an air wing. But you will answer to me. If you cannot do that, you will leave Nova Griffonia.”
“What about the ponies here?” Flurry deflected.
“They will be my citizens and I will protect them,” Kemerskai responded.
"You campaigned on a platform that called us all monarchist scum," Flurry retorted.
"Yes," Alexander admitted, "and they are. I know very well that they will never love me as president, but you will be an example to them, like you were an example for Blackpeak. All I expect is that you do your duty as a citizen to the best of your ability. As a commander, you will have leeway to fight battles the way you want to fight them." Alexander paused. "Unless they conflict with my orders."
Flurry closed her eyes and her wings drooped. “Fine,” she said softly.
Kemerskai didn't smile at her capitulation. Sunglider cleared this throat.
“I will go with her,” Sunglider volunteered, but didn’t look very thrilled. “We’ll take some long-range radios and report back.”
Kemerskai waved a wing in acknowledgment and turned back to his griffons.
“I can leave whenever they’re ready, but I have to fly tonight,” Flurry added. She turned to leave and wait outside.
“Don’t worry about that,” Kemerskai remarked absently over his shoulder. “Another air wing will deal with the bombers.”
Flurry Heart stopped and looked back, but Kemerskai had already stalked over to his commanders.
Blackpeak’s voice rang in her head. You play the game poorly, filly. Leave it to the adults.
Flurry Heart waited outside, still in her shield; she ignored the glares from the soldiers. The smoking griffon waved the pistol at her in greeting. Flurry actually smiled back at him, and the young griff blushed.
After another hour, Sunglider and three griffons emerged, one lugging a heavy backpack radio and headpiece. Sunglider adjusted his eyepatch. “I apologize for the wait,” he said. “It was hard to find volunteers.”
Flurry nodded absently and dispelled the shield. “Get in closer,” she requested, “and be ready to flap your wings. You’ll be above the roof of a grocery store on main street.”
“You’re that accurate?” Sunglider asked.
Flurry teleported instead of replying, taking them with her.
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That’s it…Flurry has lost her marbles for sure.
Flurry definetly lied about renouncing her claims. She's just using the far more stupid Kemerskai Jr. to get the bugs off her case, and she'll turn.
Also, Nightmare Flurry.
11322197
That's the thing - she takes up a new identity as a librarian in the Harmonist path. If you had described that Griffon as Black-and-Orange I'd be laughing.
I wonder if this alliance will last, or if it will collapse the moment that they are no longer in an immediate threat. I'm kinda hoping for the former but expecting the latter.
11322672
Aw hell, it's been a while since I did that path. I might've sprung for it and loosely implied that Katherine was a deep-cover Diellza for the fans if I remembered.
I also realized after publishing the first few chapters that Grover II's wife was canonically named Giselda Discret. I didn't think she had a name, but I already committed to Guinevere for the King Arthur references scattered throughout.
Flurry straight up abandoned her only hope because he said that he had pony subjects… what a dumbass lmao.
11322791
Ponies in the Griffon territories do not speak Equestrian, but the Local language, which would usually be Aquilean. Grover was talking about learning Equestrian there.
11322791
Man, y'all are so hard on the girl. The languages thing is intended to be a reach, but Flurry was already spiraling at that point.
To recap, Flurry Heart had an emotional breakdown because her friend, who seemed like a good person, kidnapped, tortured, and blackmailed a griffon to take a letter to her, threatened to kill his family if he failed, and didn't even bother explaining it or justifying it in the letter. She spent several chapters trying to justify Grover's crackdown to herself, but then he completely ignored it when he wrote to her. "He has his reasons to help me" is a massive understatement and a lie of omission by Grover. And if he could lie about that, what else could he lie about? She's been clinging to his promise like a lifeline for years, and suddenly realized he wasn't trustworthy.
Maybe Grover was a dumbass first? There's reasons why everything went down that way, that will be addressed when they meet in person.
(...)
She's expressing her hostility to Grover through the effectiveness with which she kills the Reich's soldiers. I guess that's what you meant by some harmonists doing messed up stuff.
And of course her proudly announcing how many she has killed and then having troubles with making some declaration...
Default mare models and Default stallion models, this reveals a characteristic of her: words really do matter to her. Explains the symptom of those quotes appearing in part eighteen that changed Flurry.
*takes a hip flask*
GodDiscord, help Equestria.In context of the above, this is ten times more accurate. Her intimidating others with her alicornhood and gathered intel won't make ends meet at some point.
Secondly, looking from a Machiavellian standpoint, she made an error: She should've made a promise, rather than swear to renounce her title, so that when the times come to break it, she could pat herself on the back and rationalize her decision with a change of circumstances, that promises are made ahead and the future may strike down that objective from her list if conditions won't allow for it. To swear is to give a guarantee, its far worse not to keep it then to break a promise.
11323270
Did she promise or swear anything?
And who made the bigger mistake? This was the most important part:
11323320
Its a definitive answer, body language shows she sumbits, you even wrote in objective narration that she capitulated but Kamerskai didn't smile at it. C'mon now, she made it clear to Kamerskai that she knows she must do it. Its a plain and simple yes. She breaks it, she will turn out more mischievious in his eyes and those around. It would be more cost-effective if she threw a few more words so that her answer wouldn't be a pure yes. That's my point, its not the end of the world.
Idk, in the worst case scenario it is my ignorance of the english language that made me misinterpret/overinterpret the text, and if that's really the case I have to apologize: Its my foult, what I wrote was stupid and I take it back. I'm sorry I used the word "swear" in an dishonest way and I'll try to never again do that mistake and avoid doing similar to it ones.
I really can't care less for a character that is opposed to the main protagonist whose mistakes I point out because I'd like to see her succeed. Maybe I seem picky and mean but I do it in good faith and with honest feelings.
Don’t worry about all the things Flurry has committed herself to. Renouncing her crown? Serving the son of an alleged Dictator? Simply silly wordplay to get the griffons to put their guard down!
And is it really a guarantee if you’re talking with a rep*blican?
Princess Flurry Heart of the Crystal Empire, Rightful Princess of all Ponies, wouldn’t have dug herself into a hole! - She has, like, divine right or something that makes her good-er than others.
11323094
Fact that Grover went and launched the invasion of Equestria while still having that long ass border with what I assume is a fully Federated River Federation is what makes it sting a bit more for Flurry. Flurry's pretty much betrayed him and while she does have very good reasons for doing so (The death or imprisonment of thousands of griffons as well as heeding the advice of your parental figure, vs trusting your Pen Pal who you might have a little crush on? That's a rational choice). But still, Grover seemingly has yet to break his word. Flurry kinda has, or at least put him in a much worse situation by not trusting him while he trusted her. From an emotional standpoint, that makes people side more with Grover, because people are emotional my dude.
Personally, I really hope the inevitable conversation between the two isn't one sided in Flurry's favor, I'd really expect Grover to be quite mad at her if his reasons were good. He's put his empire on the line, the dream of a United Griffonia that his ancestors toiled for generations to make possible, all just so that he wouldn't break his word to a friend.
Put it like that, is it really a surprise people are willing to forgive a little bit of family threatening, and a few tanks being rolled in during protests?
11323094
imma keep it real with u chief
Literally no one sees it the way you think you're portraying it
11323789
Nah, I completely expected most readers to call Flurry an idiot. She should've swallowed down her reservations and accepted.
It's a fair take and I knew her decision would be stupid/controversial when I drafted it.
Accepting would have been the smart, pragmatic, royal decision, even if it meant maybe screwing the Aquileians, Herzlanders, and loyal Nova Griffonians and hoping for the best, but characters can't make the smart/right choice all the time.
I'm not defending her refusal as correct, but I will point out that Flurry Heart is an emotional, impulsive filly who has far, far too much weight on her shoulders, most of which she puts on herself. She doesn't whine or moan about it because she views it as her duty, but that doesn't mean she's really prepared for it. She runs herself hard until she physically breaks, like with the Feather Flu, or mentally, like after visiting Blackpeak.
11323577
I have an answer below this, but thanks for replying! Please remember, Flurry's pretty emotional too. Don't worry, their conversation in person is one of the reasons I wrote this.
That is quite noble.
11324085
I’d still argue that the decision she made was better than siding with Grover after what he did. What he did was morally unacceptable. My personal belief is that in these cases, you want to do it in a way that your children and grandchildren can be proud of.