Part Thirty-Three
Rainbow Dash landed in front of the plane just as Flurry was climbing into the cockpit.
“Good,” Flurry quipped and chucked her crown at the pegasus. Rainbow had to rear up to catch the golden band. “You’re getting slow, old mare.”
“Where are you going?” Rainbow replied with narrowed magenta eyes, ignoring Flurry’s jest. She slipped the crown around a foreleg to walk forward.
“I’m going to look for the fleet,” Flurry answered. The alicorn adjusted the seat and tested the stick. The rudder swung left and right while the flaps moved. She nodded to herself.
Rainbow inspected the plane. “How’d you get it out of the hangar?” the pegasus asked, looking towards the large, metal building off the runway.
Flurry tapped her horn, then clipped her flight cap on with a flourish of magic. The alicorn fueled and taxied the plane to the start of the runway alone; the other pilots and groundcrew were suspiciously absent when she arrived. The fuel had also been recently drained from her plain brown fighter, so Flurry had to siphon the fuel tanks of four other planes.
Flurry checked her watch and looked east. Celestia would raise the sun in less than an hour. Rainbow approached and hopped onto the left wing of the plane with a wing flap. Her metal wing creaked slightly.
“You’re going out alone?” Rainbow asked. “If you give me a minute, I can get another plane and go with you. We’re wing mates.”
“That’ll take too long.” Flurry shook her head and continued to check the gauges. “The ground crew’s gone.”
“Well, uh, you know this base was just outside the shield," Rainbow shrugged. "It wasn’t a good point to take off.”
“Probably,” Flurry admitted, “or somepony told them all to leave to slow me down.” She looked up from the cockpit at the pegasus on her wing. She raised her eyebrow.
“I didn’t do it,” Rainbow said quickly, the puffed her feathers out on her good wing. “I can still catch up to you, no problem.” She shook her foreleg and spun the golden band around her fetlock for emphasis.
“Sure.” Flurry returned to the controls and started the engine. The plane roared to life and the propeller started to spin.
“Give me a second!” Rainbow shouted and balanced herself on the wing. “I’ll go with you!”
“I have magic. You don’t!” Flurry shouted back and slid the canopy shut with a flash of magic.
Rainbow staggered as Flurry began to move the plane down the runway. The blue pegasus tapped her metal wing on the canopy and tried to shout over the engine, but her voice was lost in the noise.
Flurry noticed a shadow flick over the canopy before the entire plane shuddered from a heavy impact on the right wing. The engine sputtered. The alicorn quickly cut the engine and whipped her head over to glare at the dragon damaging her plane.
Spike flexed his claws and pulled them out of the metal, leaving a jagged scar on the wing. He gave Flurry an even look before rubbing the frill on his head and motioning for her to open the canopy. When the alicorn kept glaring at him, he reared a claw back to punch through the wing.
He’ll probably cut a fuel line, Flurry assumed. She sighed and unlocked the canopy, pulling it back with her magic.
“Spike was the one who radioed ahead for the team to leave,” Rainbow helpfully supplied.
Flurry gave the unapologetic pegasus a withering side-eye, before Spike stomped up and leaned over the cockpit. The metal groaned worryingly under his weight. “Where are you going?” the dragon asked simply, as if asking where Flurry was going for breakfast.
“I’m going to look for the Reich’s navy,” Flurry answered.
“Why? They’re pulling back.”
“I want to see for myself.”
“We can see them moving south on radar,” Spike countered. “It’s a new invention that Twilight helped develop; it’s pretty accurate. Maybe you heard of it?”
“I know what radar is.” Flurry rolled her eyes. “Grover was supposed to agree to a ceasefire. I need to make sure it’s not a bluff.”
“How?” Rainbow interrupted.
The alicorn turned back to the pegasus. “Let’s see if they shoot at a lone plane,” Flurry said. “I have my shield, and I can teleport. I’ll be fine.” She shrugged a hoof and moved to start the engine.
Spike grabbed her hoof before it hit the switch. “If they do shoot, you’ll come back?” he asked casually.
“Yes,” Flurry responded quickly and tried to pull her hoof free.
Spike tightened his grip. Flurry stared at the purple claw around her foreleg for a moment. Spike breathed deeply over her head, but made no move to release her leg. The alicorn exhaled and looked up, meeting Spike’s reptilian eyes with an icy stare.
“Are you going to let go?” Flurry asked.
“I’m not Thorax, but I know you,” Spike growled. “I watched you grow up and I know when you’re lying."
“Let me go,” Flurry requested.
“I don’t think you’re going to come back if they open fire, and they will.”
“Let go,” Flurry ordered.
“You’re going to do what you said you would,” Spike kept going. “You’re going to fly to Griffenheim, burn it to the ground, and die.”
“A Princess should keep her promises, shouldn’t she?” Flurry spat at Spike’s muzzle.
“We have a plan,” Spike snarled. His tail thumped against the wing in agitation. “A better plan. Did you even think about it?”
“Your plan,” Flurry snorted, “is stupid. It just buys us a few more years of waiting to die. No one else is ever coming to help us. We’ll be ground down piecemeal by whoever wins." Flurry raised her free hoof and poked Spike's chest. "I listened to you during the rebellion when I should’ve gone to Manehattan on my own. I will not sit by and watch again.”
“You think you could’ve done a better job than Starlight and Trixie?” Rainbow broke in, glaring at Flurry from the opposite side.
“I think I should have been there for my ponies,” Flurry retorted, “even if it meant dying. Like my mother. Or Starlight.” She met Spike’s eyes. “Or Twilight.”
Spike’s grip loosened slightly and he looked away. “Starlight’s missing. If the Changelings caught her, they would’ve made a show of it.”
“Unless they never found her body,” Flurry disagreed. “She could’ve died in a thousand different spells and fires during the retreat.”
Spike didn’t have an answer to that.
“Twilight’s not dead!” Rainbow insisted and her raspy voice broke. “We knew she was in Canterlot during the rebellion. Chrysalis would keep her alive to gloat!”
Flurry shook her head. “Chrysalis pretended to be my mother years ago; I’m sure she could pretend to be Twilight. Canterlot was a trap that destroyed the rebellion.”
Rainbow’s metal wing spasmed. "You don't know that!" she shouted in Flurry's muzzle.
Spike tugged on her leg. “If you’re right,” he swallowed, “that’s more reason not to go off on a suicide run. We need you here to lead.”
“You forget about Celestia and Luna?” Flurry asked with a chuckle and wiggled her trapped hoof. Spike still held on.
“They have other duties,” Spike said after a pause.
Flurry whinnied in laughter; it sounded manic. Rainbow backed away from the cockpit with pinned ears. The golden band slipped down her hoof and jangled against the metal on the wing.
Flurry snapped her head over to the noise and jabbed her free foreleg at the crown. “That’s their duty,” she shouted, “not whatever is on their flank!”
“It’s not worth your life!” Spike roared.
“It’s worth more than that,” Flurry roared back and ripped her foreleg free from the dragon’s grip. The sleeve on her flight suit tore away. Flurry fired her horn into Spike’s chest and knocked him back from the plane. Rainbow flapped her wings and leapt off the other side, dodging another spell from the alicorn.
Spike rolled back to his feet as Flurry started the engine. The alicorn stood in the cockpit and fired a wild sleep spell back at the dragon as he inhaled and gouged a hole in the tail of the plane with a claw. The spell caught him on the side of the head and Spike spun away, breathing fire in a wide arc away from the plane and falling to his knees.
Rainbow landed again on the side of the cockpit. Flurry hooked her forelegs around Rainbow’s front hooves and reared her head back, angling her horn out of the way to strike. Rainbow whickered in pure fear and raised her metal wing to slice at the alicorn.
Flurry saw Rainbow’s pupils dilate and hesitated, releasing the pegasus. Rainbow stared back at her. She was actually afraid.
“Just let me do this, please,” Flurry pleaded.
“I’m the Element of Loyalty,” Rainbow panted. “You don’t do it alone. I’ll follow you the whole way, not matter what you do, unless you kill me right now.”
Flurry smiled sadly at Rainbow and lit her horn. "I don't need to."
Flurry tore the straps attaching the prosthetic to Rainbow's wing joint.
Jarred loose, the enchantments on the wing failed and the feathers spasmed. Rainbow looked shocked as Flurry shoved her off the side of the plane with a hoof. The crown, left on the wing, tumbled to the edge and started to fall off, but Flurry caught it in her magic and tossed it into the cockpit.
Flurry slammed the canopy in place and picked up speed on the runway. She looked over her shoulder to see that Spike had recovered and was taking flight to catch up. Rainbow was standing on the tarmac, one wing extended and trying to fix the straps. They were too far away to make out their expressions.
Spike tried to roar something as Flurry took off, but the words were lost in the wind. The alicorn teleported the plane higher into the sky, then pivoted east towards the ocean. She sniffled and blinked back a tear, then pulled her goggles down as the sun started to rise.
Flurry Heart flew southeast. She kept her radio on, but didn’t respond to any hails from Nova Griffonia. They gave up quickly, probably realizing who the rogue plane was. Once over the ocean, she turned south and stayed low, scanning the sky and ocean for any movement.
It was quiet. The rising sun reflected off the white caps in the ocean, and the water was a clear, deep blue. Flurry pulled the canopy back and let the wind blow across the nose. Her crown jangled around the stick, where Flurry had looped it for safe keeping. Her hooves were steady on the controls.
I’ll have to ditch the plane and teleport. Proceed on wing into Griffonia to avoid fighters. Maybe the invisibility spell. Drop it once I’m close.
Flurry knew where Griffenheim was, at least on a map, and the Royal Palace had a fairly unique, spherical architecture from pictures. He’s too smart to be there. I’ll have to fly to the River Federation and raise Tartarus along the border.
Flurry climbed a bit higher into the sky for a better vantage point. Celestia always did invite me to come stay with her. Flurry tried to smile at the thought, but it was more of a grimace. Maybe the River Federation will send her to stop me. Or maybe they’ll welcome the attack and finally do something.
After an hour of flying south with a few teleports, Flurry caught a glint of metal in the waves ahead of her. She squinted and pulled her flight cap off with a hoof, leaning forward to see it. She angled the nose of the fighter toward the object and dove towards the thing.
It was a convoy of destroyers, probably a screening group escorting larger ships. The destroyers were painted in a wildly slashing color scheme that made them hard to see in the waves. The antennas on the bridges had been neglected and caught the sunlight.
Dazzle camouflage, Flurry realized. It was mostly to hide their silhouettes from submarines. Flurry leveled off and approached just above the waves. There were only six of the small ships, spread out in a line and pushing south at a hard clip.
All of them flew the black and orange flag of the Griffonian Reich.
Flurry checked her fuel, scrunched her nose at the gauge, then circled above the group of ships. She didn't shield her plane, but kept her horn primed for the gunfire to start. They didn't open fire, so Flurry gradually eased lower and flew in tighter circles, waiting. None of the guns took the bait, but the alicorn noticed some were tracking the plane. Maybe they think I'm just a scout plane. Flurry turned away and moved lower to the water.
This time, she swung back and aimed straight at the lead destroyer. Her bubble shield flickered around her plane as she approached. She saw the guns turn and griffons begin to fly above the deck as the plane neared the ship. She was already too low on the water for the anti-air guns to hit her, so the griffons would need to rely on machineguns and small arms.
Flurry pulled up and banked down the line of destroyers once she was close enough to hear the alarms blaring on the ships. She turned in a wide arc and doubled back, flying back along the ships close enough to make out individual griffons on deck; her bubble shield skimmed the top of the waves in a spray.
She could hear shouting while several griffons flew and sprinted along the deck. You know who I am, Flurry thought. You know I’ve taken larger ships than you. Are you afraid? Flurry banked away and turned to make another pass. She angled to get even closer to the deck of the destroyers, just above the waterline and an easy target, flying parallel to the entire convoy.
Flurry Heart dropped the shield.
One shot rang out and went wide, flying over the plane into the horizon. She didn’t see the griffon who fired, but her horn sparked as she prepared to teleport. Orders were screeched across the deck by frantic officers. Flurry noticed the officers were facing the crew, not the alicorn buzzing them in a fighter. They flapped their wings in agitation and several griffons broke off to return below deck.
She passed the rest of the convoy without another shot fired in her direction. Flurry tapped on the stick and bit her cheek. Fine, I’ll give you something to shoot.
Flurry turned for another pass. Once she set the nose in a straight line along the convoy again, the alicorn shut the engine off and let the plane glide above the water. Flurry took a deep breath, unclipped her belt and stood halfway out of the cockpit with the wind blowing in her mane. She turned to face the sailors and deck crew as she went by.
She was close enough to catch the twitching wings and shaking claws on the sailors. Most had lowered their guns, but a few clutched them like Flurry remembered holding onto Whammy. They were waiting for her to attack, but they weren’t attacking first. Flurry stared the officers down as she drifted by, and a few stared back.
On the last destroyer, one of the officers on the stern gestured towards their flag. Flurry looked at it and blinked in shock. He had raised a white flag. It was clearly a linen sheet from a bed, but they had taken the time to lower the Griffonian standard to be beneath it.
Flurry sank down into the cockpit and restarted the engine; it sputtered for a moment before fully kicking in. The Reich did not surrender. Flurry heard enough stories from former Reich soldiers. Surrendering without a fight was grounds for a court martial and execution. Even normal prisoners didn't have good odds. The pilots captured from the bombing raids weren’t worth trading back.
Flurry licked her lips and flew further south, gunning the engine past the convoy.
The destroyers were part of a screening escort for a larger group. Flurry picked out a battleship in the horizon first; it stuck out like an errant feather. She was now firmly in contested waters between Equestria and the Reich. Changeling submarines would probably be a concern. As she closed in, Flurry made out at least thirty ships, mostly cruisers with one battleship, which meant it was one of the main battle fleets left for the navy.
She squinted and realized they were all flying white flags already.
The alicorn ground her teeth and pulled up, flying above the guns without a shield, well in range of the anti-air. You know who I am, how many of your friends I’ve killed. You can’t possibly think I can take you all. Flurry circled around the fleet from the sky, flying in a predictable pattern to attract fire. One burst of flack could cripple her plane; she kept her horn primed to teleport.
After the warning light for the fuel tanks came on, Flurry dove towards the battleship and blew past the tower. Griffons were flying from ship-to-ship, but not frantically, just relaying messages or shift changes. Flurry inspected the guns, all of which were lowered and not engaged towards her little plane. One sailor with a mop stopped and watched her fly over the ship before resuming his business.
By the time she had enough, Flurry Heart sat quietly in her plane, listening to the engine sputter. She reached down with a hoof and touched her crown, then pulled the stick back and climbed into the sky. She turned north, back towards Nova Griffonia. The alicorn wordlessly slipped on her flight cap and locked the canopy. The fuel light was blinking; she would need to teleport to make it back.
Flurry laughed, then hiccupped and wiped away a few tears with a hard scrub of her fetlock.
She thought about her letter.
Grover,
I will write in Herzlander, so there are no misunderstandings. By the time you read this, I will have control of Nova Griffonia. This letter was sent with Admiral Hellcrest.
I am the last of the line of House Amore, and I am claiming the lands of Nova Griffonia as the rightful territory of the Crystal Empire. The ponies and griffons that choose to live here are my subjects in perpetuity, as are their descendants.
Should everything go to plan, Alexander Kemerskai Junior and Triton Blackpeak will be dead, along with the government of Nova Griffonia. You have until the first of the month to withdraw your fleet and cease hostilities with me.
If you do so, I will strike against Chrysalis in the north. She will come for me anyway.
If you do not withdraw, I know I cannot defeat you both. I will be forced to fly to Griffenheim and kill you. I will burn and destroy your palace. I will glass the land so nothing can ever be built there again. I can do this, and I will, even if it means my death.
Our empires will die together.
If you accept, consider Nova Griffonia a dowry.
Through my hoof in marriage, I promise the oil fields of the Crystal Empire, the crystals of our mountains and the minerals of our mines. I promise our magic, in knowledge and skill, in war and peace.
You will have an ally capable of leveling cities and ships in equal measure. You will have the magic of an alicorn, something none of your ancestors could ever claim. You will have the legitimacy you badly need to complete this invasion before the River Federation attacks you. You will have everything that Chrysalis desired, except for the love of my ponies.
I am the last true Princess of Ponies, and you will never have them. The ponies are mine, to govern as I please, forever. The thrones of Equestria and the Crystal Empire are mine, and I will have them or I will die.
Flurry.
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Thats sound more and more as supremacist and absolut regime
I can't fucking WAIT for their one on one conversation!
YUP SHE OFFERED MARRIAGE
THE GAMING BEGINS
Like mother like daughter, Love (*tactical political marriage) triumphs!
At this point, the title of "Princess" is too underrated for Flurry Heart. How about "Empress" of Equestria and The Crystal Empire?
nova griffons gonna be mad bout that
11360583
She already claimed the territory over the radio, not too much extra to get mad about. "You are my subjects. Forever."
11360412
"YOU ARE MY SUBJECTS FOREVER." (She's making it clear that Grover will not have the authority to dictate her domestic policy.)
11360574
That's a good discussion. She could claim the old title of Crystal Empress and be equal rank to the Kaiser.
11360472
Surely her mother wouldn't approve of Flurry essentially selling herself...but mom and dad are dead.
Beautiful letter.
Her nose? Surely the wind was already blowing past the nose of the plane.
"ground", I think.
With Flurry and Grover lacking the means to exchange letters, the romantic in me can't help but imagine the increasingly focused attacks as an alternative means of communication.
Grover might consider Flurry something of a warlady/wargoddess now, and might be trying to send a reply through a language she can understand (combat) that he cannot send through correspondence:
>>throws increasingly many hundreds of tons of ships and hundreds of planes against Flurry's unstoppable might
"This is how much I value Nova Griffonia."
>>calls them off
"This is how much I value you."
Why do I think Grover have laugh his ass maniacally after he read flurry's letter
HAIL THE EMPRESS AND THE KAISER!!!
This fic is too damn addicting. Its pacing minus the first chapter is satisfying.
That letter was epic.
Marry me or die.
Very poetic.
I CAN NOT BELIEVE THATS WHAT SHE OFFERED!!!