Part Thirty-Two
Flurry Heart watched the setting sun from the top of Weter Radio.
“Princess?” Rainbow asked again and waved her metal wing in front of the alicorn’s muzzle. The light danced between the metal feathers. “Did you hear what I was saying?”
Flurry hummed and turned back to her captain. The alicorn wore her flight suit minus the cap, replaced by her little golden band. “Something about the debris field outside Weter,” Flurry stated.
“Yeah,” Rainbow nodded. “We’re still cleaning up and sorting the scrap metal from the planes, but I think we took down at least four hundred last night,” the pegasus boasted.
“I wish I could’ve been out there,” Flurry said wistfully. “I need to stay under the shield.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Rainbow swung her artificial wing. “I barely noticed you were gone.”
Flurry snorted and cracked a grin. “You have to explain to me one day how you fit your ego inside the cockpit with you.”
“Same way you fit yours, Princess,” Rainbow scoffed. “You tuck your tail and squeeze your hind legs together.”
Flurry broke into a laugh, and her high-pitched whinnies echoed across the rooftop and startled the patrolling guards. When she was finished, Flurry coughed and asked, “What’s tonight look like?”
Rainbow scrunched her muzzle. “The eggheads told me that there’s another huge air wing of bombers coming in from Vedina just across the ocean. The Reich is throwing more planes at you.”
Flurry walked to the edge of the roof and looked out towards the harbor and the ocean beyond. For every plane that crash-landed in Nova Griffonia, two more plunged into the ocean. Bodies slick with oil washed up on the beaches for the past several days.
Whether out of sheer stubbornness or a test of her abilities, the Griffonian Reich was committed to prioritizing Flurry’s defense of Weter. The other coastal cities had scarcely been attacked for the past three nights. The bombers were escorted by a swath of fighter planes, but they had to group close together to drop on the city. Rainbow and the experienced veterans of Nova Griffonia were making quick work of the novice pilots and crews, despite the Reich's newer models.
Over the past several nights, Flurry watched the large bombers fall from the sky, trailing smoke and fire from their engines until they crashed against the side of her bubble shield. The first time it happened, the alicorn heard screams from an adjacent roof as the plane exploded and broke apart on impact.
Flurry had only felt a pinch at the base of her horn, like when her father would jab her forehead with a quill. He used to do it to get her attention after her eyes glazed over during an Aquileian language lesson. Some days her mane would be tinged black from all the ink from the poking.
By the third fiery crash, Nova Griffonians were taunting the planes. Last night, there were too many impacts to celebrate. Flurry looked over to the High Hotel. Every room was lit up and occupied, with several rooms crammed with extended family sleeping on the floor.
Weter had become a haven under her shield.
“Do we know anything from the prisoners?” Flurry asked over her left wing to Rainbow. The pegasus grimaced.
Some of the pilots managed to ditch their stricken aircraft before the crash. Every griffon could fly; most tried to fly back across the ocean to the Reich. They wouldn’t survive, unless they caught a stray cloud over the ocean to rest. A few of the pilots tried to fly to the frontier, only to be flown down and killed by angry militias. Flurry had ordered that pilots that surrendered were to be taken prisoner, but after months of bombing runs, no one was eager to listen to their pleas. When their deaths were reported, the pilots were said to have “fought back,” sometimes with clipped wings and clear signs of torture.
Flurry understood her subject’s anger, but she still broke the neck of the Nova Griffonian that dumped a wingless, beaten Reich pilot in front of the alicorn and had the wingspan to claim the pilot lost his wings in a crash.
“You, uh, you ask Thorax?” Rainbow asked back awkwardly and shuffled her hooves.
“I haven’t seen him today,” Flurry responded.
“He is busy with counts!” Katherine shouted from her telescope. The dark red griffon had decided to stay in Weter for the night, instead of with the Herzlanders to the south. Flurry was grateful for the company; she was only a year younger than her.
“Uh, yeah, counts,” Rainbow nodded.
“She means our supply inventories for Evergreen,” Flurry explained. “How’s getting the planes over there going?”
“Fine,” Rainbow said quickly. She pulled her flight goggles down over her magenta eyes and flared her wings. “I just came by to give you an update, Princess. I should leave before you setup the shield. Got flying to do.”
Flurry nodded and wave a wing in dismissal. “Good hunting, Rainbow. Good luck.”
“You, uh, you too,” Rainbow stammered.
Flurry squinted and watched Rainbow fly away faster than the alicorn could manage herself. She flapped her big wings then adjusted an errant primary feather with a gentle touch of blue telekinesis. I hate these things, Flurry grumbled to herself. I’m only fast because I’m an alicorn.
She checked her watch and waited for the stroke of the hour before casting her shield again. After several days of spellwork, Flurry didn’t need to double check from the sky. The shield shimmered into being around Weter and her ears pricked up at some cheering from nearby rooftops. Sounds like more than yesterday. She smiled.
Flurry dragged her comfy chair over to Katherine and the telescope. Katherine was wearing a plain red dress with some saddlebags set aside. She fiddled with the telescope, trying to adjust it to see the stars.
“I told you that was a waste of time,” Flurry said. “The shield’s going to make everything look blue.”
“I want to see if there is, ah, I don’t know the word,” Katherine grumbled. “Bendy light.”
“Bendy light?” Flurry chuckled.
“Yes, I want to see if your shield makes the stars seem like they are in different places.” Katherine peeked through the telescope and frowned.
Flurry opened her mouth in surprise. “Light diffraction,” she offered.
“Just so!” the griffon exclaimed happily and gave Flurry a wing hug. Flurry returned it with a laugh. “Light ‘diffract.’ It is different in Herzlander.”
“I’ll save you some time,” Flurry offered. “The shield’s magic; it doesn’t work like that. There are studies about it.”
“Pony studies,” Katherine protested and clacked her beak. “No griffon has ever written a serious study about pony magic like shields.” The griffon smoothed out her dress and peered back through the scope.
Flurry sat quietly and read some reports from a small light on the tip of her horn. A crew of Herzlanders lead by Kristoff Klinndig were set up near the Crystal Mountains, waiting for Flurry to arrive tomorrow morning and blast a hole though Mount Grimpeak. The food distribution in downtown Weter needed more guards.
That’s for Fierté, Flurry thought and set the paper aside in her saddlebags.
Fierté was uneasy in her new job as governor, but was rapidly improving. Flurry skimmed over several reports on the quality of the unionized factories in the Industrial District. A few of the unions had protested that the quotas for materials was unreachable, but Fierté had reinstituted the lash as a punishment. Unsurprisingly, the quotas were easily met without needing to resort to naval discipline by her sailor militias.
Flurry came to a complaint about ponies squatting in some of the mansions. Many of her ponies had lost their homes, or been relegated to shanty towns out in the frontier. A few of the more vulnerable and elderly ponies had been moved to the Leisure District with their families. The griffon that wrote the complaint was protesting the supposed racism, pointing out that Flurry had declared that there was to be equality between griffons and ponies.
There was a note from Josette at the bottom. Third letter I’ve gotten from the same griffon in as many days. He just wants his mansion back. Can I kill him?
Flurry huffed and fetched a pencil from her saddlebags. Before she started to write a response, her horn began to vibrate and dull thumps echoed above her head. Flurry glanced up to the beginnings of a bombing run. Through the explosions, Flurry glimpsed a bomber burst into flames and collide with one of its wing mates.
Flurry snorted and wrote back: I trust your judgement. Didn’t you recruit some changelings from Thorax? They’re good at quiet disappearances. She tucked the letter into her saddlebag to give to Fierté later.
If there’s a later, Flurry thought belatedly. Tomorrow would be a new month.
Grover had not responded to her, nor had he withdrawn his forces. To the contrary, the Reich had only escalated their attacks. The fleet attempted to bombard the coastline two days ago, only to be driven back by a desperate aerial attack with Flurry personally climbing into her fighter and sinking another three cruisers and two battleships. The death toll must have been enormous, but the fleet returned the next day, looking to destroy what was left of Nova Griffonia’s navy.
Maybe he never got the letter, Flurry thought again. It was possible Hellcrest never managed to deliver it. If so, the Reich’s increased aggression was in response to the perceived weakness of Nova Griffonia.
But there hasn’t been a radio address, Flurry considered. Surely, the Kaiser would say something. Changeling propaganda claimed that the Reich’s advance had stalled due to the heroic actions of changeling jaegers behind the front lines. More likely, the Reich’s soldiers were struggling to ‘liberate’ an ungrateful Equestria.
Unlike Starlight and her rebellion, Grover had a strict, disciplined, professional army under his wings. The radio in Manehattan intermittently broadcast a heavily-accented Herzlander with vague reports and proclamations of victories in the field; it didn’t stoop to plead with the Equestrians to cooperate, or name any specific locations of the supposed victories. Grover himself hadn’t been on the radio since the declaration of war against Nova Griffonia and the Changeling Hegemony.
Flurry was sure he was alive, at the very least. He was the last of his family and unmarried. His death would mean a complete societal upheaval in the Griffonian Reich, and all the lands it had recently reclaimed. I’m counting on that at least, Flurry sighed and rubbed her crown. Another flaming bomber crashed against her shield.
She continued through her papers as bombing runs stopped and restarted above her. Her ears perked up and she heard distant cheering from the street and other rooftops every time the bombers turned back, but her own guards remained stoic. Flurry continued to sit and make idle notes until Katherine plopped down on the roof next to her chair after the bombers had stopped for a time. Probably to rearm and refuel, Flurry assumed. It happened often enough.
“Do you stay up all night?” Katherine asked with a yawn. “Up here?”
“Not all night,” Flurry said idly. “If I don’t fall asleep up here during the raids, I catch a few hours on a mattress downstairs.”
Katherine frowned. “That must not be healthy.”
“Alicorn,” Flurry answered. “I sleep when I can, and there are spells when I can’t.”
“Still doesn’t sound healthy,” Katherine said in Herzlander.
“How was your night sky?” Flurry snarked back in the same language, flipping over a casualty report on the northern garrisons. Lower than I expected.
“Terrible,” Katherine squawked and set her saddlebags down heavily on the roof beside her. “All the bombers ruined it. I had to wait between the flocks of planes.”
“I could have told you that,” Flurry laughed. “I did, actually.” The alicorn glanced up and gestured skyward with a hoof. “You got a good gap right now.”
Katherine hummed. “That’s not why I’m here.”
“No?” Flurry blinked.
“Spike asked me to distract you tonight,” Katherine said low voice and looked at the guards on the rooftop. They were all New Marelanders; the chances of them knowing Herzlander were slim.
Flurry didn’t react, except for a slight breath and her horn sparking blue. Katherine didn’t comment as the changeling detection spell washed over her. “Why?” Flurry half-snarled towards the dark red griffon, leaning forward in her chair to glare across the roof.
“They wanted me to distract you in case you tried to leave early,” Katherine explained. She swallowed and smoothed out a trembling wing. “Rainbow Dash is probably on another roof; she’ll chase you with Spike.”
“Chase?” Flurry asked, then realized what the griffon meant. “They want to stop me from leaving to deal with Grover.”
“Just so,” Katherine confirmed with a shrug. “I don’t know how many are involved.”
Flurry Heart ground her teeth as her muzzle spasmed violently. They don’t think I can do it. I should have expected this. She pushed her foreleg away from her chest in a calming breath and asked the obvious question, “Why are you warning me?”
“I would prefer if you killed him,” Katherine answered simply.
Flurry looked over at the young griffon, pale blue eyes wide in surprise at the statement. Katherine had never been bloodthirsty; she didn’t have any military experience. The Reich didn’t draft their female griffons into service, and Katherine was too young during the reunification wars to serve behind the frontlines as a nurse.
Katherine stared back at Flurry with sad golden eyes. “Did I tell you about my family?” she asked.
“Yes,” Flurry said, “you told me about your parents and brothers.”
“I meant about how they were taken,” the griffon clarified.
Flurry shook her head.
“Katerin is small and poor,” Katherine began. “Many griffons live and die in the same village. My family lived there for generations, flying in the same sky and tilling the same ground. We never questioned the Grovers. We prayed at the small shrine in the village and always listened to the priest.
“The first revolution did not touch our village. My parents prayed for young Grover V when the Griffonian Republic took Griffenheim. Their faith was rewarded when the Republicans were driven north to Cloudbury, a place they had never heard of before.
“I was the only griffon in my family that could read,” Katherine stated bluntly. “I was lucky to be chosen to serve in the estates. I was luckier to teach the older griffons as part of the Archon’s spiritual welfare programs. I enjoyed the library; I enjoyed teaching my brothers before they went to war, and they were proud to fight the Republicans in the north.”
“You’ve told me that,” Flurry said quietly.
“My brothers did not come home after four years, and I heard stories of griffons returning broken and scarred.” Katherine’s voice wavered. “But my brothers sent letters and pictures, and they were proud. Karl had little medals on his uniform!” she gushed. “I told Papa what they were and what they meant, and we went to pray and listen to the priest, like always. We thanked the Gods and accepted the prayer pamphlets, like always.”
Katherine stared up at the clear sky and stars; her voice darkened. “My brothers wanted to fight for the Kaiser when the protests started. My parents clacked their beaks at the radio and papers. They were happy it was crushed. It was all students and urban griffons, not us. I was in the library when the soldiers arrived. They arrested the librarian; said she kept illegal books, but she was a sweet griffon. I squeezed through a window and flew home.”
Flurry batted her tail to the side while Katherine kneaded her claws on her dress. “You’ve never told me this,” she observed. “The Friendship Journal was illegal, wasn’t it?”
“What kind of Kaiser is threatened by friendship?” Katherine scoffed. “She had worse books than that. The first time I read a theory that Grover the Great stole his crown from a dragon’s hoard, I nearly threw the book into a fire myself,” she tried to laugh, but it came out harsh and forced.
Katherine continued, “The priest was named a Republican for preaching that the Gods made all griffons equal. He never meant Grover, and even if he did, that is not so bad an idea. My family had too many of his pamphlets; they were too devout. I hid in some bushes while our house was ransacked. They were all taken away.”
“That’s awful,” Flurry protested.
“Our priest also preached at several villages to the west. I flew there to warn them.” Katherine’s feathers crinkled. “Thus, I was a Republican and terrorist as well. I did not mean to be, but I led so many to the coast, neighbors and friends and strangers, carrying all we could. We offered everything to the boats, but they only wanted rich griffons. That poor pony took pity on us, and his partner stabbed him over it.”
“I, uh, I always wondered about that,” Flurry interrupted. “The griffon died, right? And the pony taught you to steer? Did you learn their name?”
“He tried to tell me,” Katherine offered apologetically, “but my Equestrian wasn’t very good. He bled out explaining the compass and controls. I’m sorry.”
Flurry waved a hoof and stood up. “I’m sorry,” she apologized back. “That’s awful. None of the Herzlanders have ever really talked about what happened.” Flurry hugged the griffon with both wings and forelegs.
“We all left family behind,” Katherine replied, then narrowed her eyes and pushed the alicorn back gently. “Are you better than us?” she asked.
“What?” Flurry reared back.
“Do you think you’re better?” Katherine repeated. “Do you think the Gods chose you? You have more proof than the Kaiser.” The griffon gestured to Flurry’s wings and horn.
“If they did, I need to ask them for my mark,” Flurry deflected awkwardly. “I’m not sure how special I could be when most foals know their talents before I do.”
Katherine was silent. She scanned the alicorn with her eyes.
“I don’t know,” Flurry said honestly. “My life isn’t worth more than one of my ponies. Or my griffons.”
Katherine pulled her bags to her chest. She finally said, “If you’re going to leave, you should teleport away first.”
“Princess!” a mare shouted in Equestrian.
Flurry turned away from Katherine as she fiddled with her bags and looked across the roof. Jadis limped across the rooftop in her uniform; her rifle hung by a strap at her side. The blue crystal pony huffed and tried to hurry.
“What’s wrong?” Flurry shouted at the approaching pony.
“Reports from the radar stations,” Jadis panted. “The planes are turning back.”
Flurry’s head snapped up to the sky through the shield. It was clear, if a bit cloudy. She looked east and didn’t see any movement in the sky. “Are they sure? What about the fleet?”
“We think the ships are moving south, but…” Jadis trailed off. Her eyes widened and she unslung her rifle, bracing her maimed hoof against the stock.
Flurry stared at her, confused, until she felt the gun barrel press against the back of her head.
“What did you offer him?” Katherine asked in Herzlander. Her voice shook.
“Katherine…” Flurry started, numb.
“What did you offer him!?” Katherine screeched.
The barrel pressed deeper into her fur. It’s cold. The alicorn looked at her guards from the corners of her eyes. They had been alerted and readied their weapons as well. Jadis crouched and shuffled to the side to get a clear shot.
“I promised to open another front with Chrysalis,” Flurry said, speaking in Herzlander from the side of her muzzle. “I brought it up in the meetings.”
“What else?” Katherine demanded. She choked back a sob. “I know you offered him something else. He wouldn’t have accepted otherwise.”
“We don’t know he accepted,” Flurry tried. “Katherine, please put down the gun.”
“You haven’t checked your watch,” Katherine chided with another sob. “The bombing run stopped at midnight.”
Flurry glanced down at her foreleg, but didn’t move her head. Jadis finished moving to the side and took aim. Flurry slowly stepped to the side to block Katherine from view. The griffon was along the alicorn’s left side; Flurry was a little taller than her. Jadis scowled at the Princess.
The gun barrel trembled slightly. “Don’t move!”
“If any of you shoot her, I will kill you,” Flurry said in Equestrian.
“They’re sworn to protect you,” Katherine said in Herzlander. “They’ll kill me. Tell me.”
“What do you think I offered him?” Flurry stalled. “I promised to protect Nova Griffonia. Do you think I offered him that?”
“You’re a Princess of Ponies,” Katherine responded. “I think your ponies will always come first.”
“I’ve killed ponies because they mistreated griffons,” Flurry answered. She stepped to the side again and extended her right wing to further block Katherine from the other guards. Katherine followed her.
“I have a duty,” the griffon said, ignoring the alicorn’s reply. “I have to look out for the Herzlanders. He’ll come for us.”
“I will kill him if he tries.” Flurry felt the pistol barrel shake.
“You’ll give up on all your ponies?” Katherine asked with a squawking sob. “No, no, you can’t do that. You won’t. You never considered giving us up? You wouldn’t give us up to save them?”
Flurry bit her lip. Jadis mouthed, “Duck.”
“Tell me! I-I’ll know if you’re lying!”
Flurry closed her eyes. She felt the pistol barrel press against her fur and skin. It was rusty. How did I know that?
The alicorn concentrated and felt the weapon. It was an old revolver, stolen from Edvald. His father had used it when he fought for the Republicans. Flurry felt the imprint of the previous owners and opened her eyes.
“I did,” Flurry admitted in Herzlander. “I was going to give you up. I was going to give the Aquileians up, and the Nova Griffonians, and the Republicans, as many griffons as it took.”
Flurry twisted an ear back to hear Katherine, but she just kept shuddering and trying to hold the pistol straight. “I thought I could do it, then Grover sent a griffon from Yale. His name was Frederick Sharp. Grover told me he was going to attack and asked for my help to take Nova Griffonia. He agreed to help me years ago; he swore it to Maar.”
Katherine spat. “D-don’t lie!”
“He did,” Flurry insisted, “but I couldn’t go through with it. Frederick’s entire family had been taken, like yours, and Grover just ignored it in the letter. Frederick was sixteen, just a student. I told Grover to let him go, and I felt like a failure.”
Flurry whirled around and faced Katherine, standing up straight and flaring her wings. Katherine stumbled back with wide, terrified eyes and jammed the revolver under the alicorn’s muzzle. Flurry shuffled her hooves to keep the guards behind her, lashing her tail in warning.
“I did offer him something else, and if he accepted, I’ll tell you after dawn,” Flurry stated. "Your priest was right. All our lives are equal."
Katherine was utterly terrified. Tears spilled down from her beak and mixed with snot. “T-tell me,” she whispered with a small, trembling voice.
Forgive me, my lord.
“That’s a single-action revolver,” Flurry said softly. “You need to pull the hammer back before you can pull the trigger.”
Katherine’s eyes flicked down to the gun and she struggled to pull the hammer back with both claws.
“And you need to load it,” Flurry continued.
Katherine froze and looked up the alicorn.
Flurry gently lowered the gun with a hoof and pulled Katherine against her; the revolver spilled to the roof. The griffon broke down sobbing and groveled at Flurry’s hooves.
The alicorn nuzzled her. “I promise,” Flurry whispered, “if he comes after any of you, I will kill him. I don’t care what it costs.”
Katherine didn’t respond with coherent words.
The guards and Jadis circled the pair with rifles ready. Flurry kicked the revolver over to Jadis with a rear leg. The crystal pony looked down at the rusted pistol disdainfully.
“It wasn’t loaded,” Flurry said, twisting her head over her shoulders.
“That’s not an excuse,” Jadis snorted and slung her rifle against her flank.
Flurry scanned over the guards. “Nightshade, lend Katherine a wing,” she ordered the bat pony. Nightshade didn’t look thrilled at the order, but stopped baring her fangs and approached Katherine from the side and let the young griffon lean against her.
Flurry stomped over to Jadis. “I don’t want her harmed, or arrested, or anything.”
“Princess, she just tried to kill you.”
“It was empty,” Flurry repeated with a roll of her eyes. “She also warned me that there was a plot to prevent me from going to Griffonia. Did you know about that?”
Jadis looked away with folded ears.
“I figured you did,” Flurry snarled.
“We just want our Princess to be safe,” Jadis muttered.
“Katherine wants her griffons safe,” Flurry echoed. “She’s afraid I’ll sell them out to Grover in exchange for a ceasefire.”
“She doesn’t trust you,” Jadis summarized. “I thought you were friends. Guess griffons just can’t trust ponies.”
“I won’t hold that against you because you were born a thousand years ago,” Flurry remarked with a frown.
“I apologize, Princess,” Jadis immediately snapped. Flurry chewed on her lip.
“She’s me, Jadis,” Flurry sighed. “She’s me without magic, without a crown, without an army, without anyone to turn to.”
Jadis looked over at the weeping griffon; Nightshade awkwardly patted Katherine on the back while stringy bits of snot stuck to her beak. The crystal pony blinked and looked across the roof.
“You were good with Falx and Thorax,” Flurry stated.
“I knew them from before the war,” Jadis responded.
“Get to know her, please?” Flurry requested. “She’s my friend. It’s not an order, just a request.”
Jadis nodded.
“Who else is downstairs?” Flurry asked. “Is the radio room still going?”
“Spike is around,” Jadis admitted with a cringe, “and we’re still getting reports.”
“I’ll keep the shield up for a few more hours, then I’m going to take a look myself.” Flurry’s eyes narrowed. “Get my plane ready.”
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Why do I feel like Grover is gonna team up with chrysalis?
KATHERINE HAS OFFICIALLY BECOME A DAWNCLAWER
NO MORE WHOLESOME BIRB
Seems like Grover is turning back, Flurry probably offered marriage, Spike and Thorax need to wake up to reality.
11358298
Dawnclaw kills an innocent child. At this point in time Grover is no child and very much not innocent.
11358219
Unlikely.
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Find out next chapter!
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Which is the point of Katherine's backstory. She would've never considered killing Grover until the crackdown that took her family away. She was a loyal subject.
The implication is "instead of in the Herzlanders". I suggest "instead of with the Herzlanders"
Relegated.
Details like these I adore. Showing somebody (you) went through the extra step of including this minor detail really helps to cement this story and its characters firmly into the ground as understandable, and even relatable individuals.
I wonder if minor details or brief conversations like these come naturally to you whilst writing, or if they're something already known and decided ahead of time.
Quite right Katherine! For those not knowing what I mean. The language Herzlander is based upon is German. The German word for "light diffraction" is "Lichtbeugung", which translates to Light-Bend.